Are you beginning to see a pattern here?

Public schools that accept federal money have to follow federal educational mandates or risk being closed down or having the entire staff fired under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

Auto companies who receive bailout money can be told by the government how they will run their business and in some cases, what kind of cars they can make.

Financial institutions that have been bailed out by the government can have salary caps imposed, and bonuses canceled by the government.

And now, newspapers that are about to be bailed out by the government will not be allowed to endorse political candidates.

When will people learn that when you make government a partner in your enterprise, the government always becomes the controlling partner?

The whole situation reminds me of a scene in the wonderful mafia movie GoodFellas, where the mob boss, Paul Cicero, is made a partner in a local nightclub in which many of the wiseguys hang out on Friday and Saturday nights (Bad Language Alert!):

Now the guy's got Paulie as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Paulie. Trouble with the bill? He can go to Paulie. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy, he can call Paulie. But now the guy's gotta come up with Paulie's money every week no matter what. Business bad? Fuck you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? Fuck you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning huh? Fuck you, pay me."

It's not a perfect analogy, but you get the idea. The tragedy is that in this day and age, comparing our government to the mafia isn't too far off base.

Good Day to You, Sir