For Christmas this year, my wife and I decided to pick out our own gifts. She created an online shopping cart from JCPenney, and I spent hours researching the difference between XM and Sirius satellite radios. A few days before Christmas, I logged in and ordered her clothes, and she set up an account with Sirius and ordered my radio. Ok, I ordered the radio, too, but it sounds better to say that she did it.

I was excited to get over 100 channels of CD-quality music and talk, available at my fingertips anywhere in the country. I was so eager to listen that I installed the receiver in my van on Christmas Eve night so we could listen to it on the way to Annapolis the next morning. I was really starting to like my gift . . . until my wife announced that, effective January 2, she would be driving my van to school, and I would have to drive the Equinox. So, you guessed it, she got her Christmas gift . . . and mine!

When we take any trips together, we always take the van. That's where the car seat base is, and one of the reasons for buying it was to reduce the number of miles we were putting on the Equinox. So usually at least once a week, I get to drive the van! Of course, since she listens to the radio at least two hours a day, my wife has some channels already picked out, and she usually takes control. For the past couple of weeks, we've listened to Blue Collar Comedy and Laugh Break - alternating as the mood strikes. Sometimes, Blue Collar Comedy has some vulgar language or crude humor, so we switch to Laugh Break, which bills itself as family friendly and, so far, hasn't had anything offensive.

This weekend, it seemed like Kathleen Madigan was on Laugh Break quite a bit. I don't know much about her, but most of her material was funny. She said it seems like Republicans don't have as much of a problem getting bills passed as Democrats. Of course, we know that, at the time, it was because we had the majority in both houses. But Kathleen pointed out another reason that the Republicans had such a high success rate with some of their initiatives: they know how to name them.

One of the most widely known pieces of legislation that has resulted from the current administration and the Republican-controlled congress is the Patriot Act. Kathleen pointed out that no one in their right mind would vote against a piece of legislation called the "Patriot Act." If they did, they'd be viewed as unpatriotic. When it comes to education legislation, the Republicans again had the right idea in choosing a name. Instead of calling the bill "The Education Bill of Blah Blah Blah," they put a twist on it and called it "No Child Left Behind." Again . . . who's going to vote for leaving children behind??? More appropriate titles would include "The Federal Intervention in Education Act," "The Threaten School Districts with Takeover Act," or "The No Teacher Left in the Classroom Act." Then again, who would vote for those bills - even if their titles do accurately reflect the intent of the legislation?

Then we have our Missouri legislators (and even the Governor.) Last year, Governor Blunt had his "65 Percent Solution," which anyone could see was not a solution, no matter how it was spun. The pro-voucher chair of the House Education Committee has sponsored legislation to set up a scholarship fund for school choice that would give tax credits to contributors and drain up to $40 million from the state's general revenue. Over the past few years, she's tried titles such as "The Angel Scholarship" and "The Betty Thompson Scholarship," but apparently she made a call to D.C. this year to get some advice on naming - because she's now calling it "The Milton Friedman 'Put Parents in Charge' Education Program." How can you justify voting against putting parents in charge of their children's education? No one votes for "The Use Public Money to Fund Private Institutions Bill," but when you mask the truth with a lie about putting parents in control of their children's education, then it takes on a whole new meaning.

No matter what it's called, a piece of legislation is only as good as the bill itself. A tuition tax credit bill will always undermine the local public school district and divert public money to private schools - no matter what the bill is called. As we round the first turn in the 2007 legislative season, we must be vigilant of attempts to pass a wolf off for a sheep, whether it's done internally by hiding bad policy inside a good piece of legislation, or externally by putting an appealing name on the outside of a rotten bill.