$42,000 A YEAR - AT 8:37 P.M. ET:  That's what "top" colleges charge for their services these days.  Those services too often include four years of liberal indoctrination.  And if that's what you're looking for, you get your money's worth, right up through graduation, as Fox News reports:

It's not enough that Democrats have command of some key real estate in Washington. This month, they've also got the ear of just about every college student in the country.

Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and White house chief of staff Rahm Emanuel all have multiple invites to be keynote speakers at graduations this spring.

And while President Obama is pulling a hat trick at Notre Dame, Arizona State and the U.S. Naval Academy, you won't see one of that last institution's most famous graduates on stage anywhere this year.

John McCain ... Sarah Palin ... Mitt Romney ... Rudy Giuliani ... they aren't on anyone's program in 2009. Rush Limbaugh or Newt Gingrich? Persona non grata, thank you very much.

So whatever happened to conservatives?

Education watchdogs say it's nothing strange for conservatives to be shunned from the academy, and that the one-sided invitations have become a permanent fixture of the ivory tower.

COMMENT:  Colleges receive millions in federal aid each year, yet many of them have become propaganda mills.  Yet, there are no questions asked in Washington. 

Imagine, Oprah Winfrey can be graduation speaker at Duke, but John McCain, who served this country with such distinction, can't get a major invitation.  During World War II, it was common for college presidents to instruct their charges in their obligations to their country.  Today, such sentiments are mocked, and called "stupid." 

Of course, there are still many fine college instructors and courses.  But enough has gone wrong to warrant some serious soul searching.  But who will do the searching?  And in what condition are their souls?

May 15, 2009