Ever wonder where your state reps got all those books they stand in front of when they're making poorly conceived TV commercials?

Over the last two years, the state has reimbursed [State Rep. Mark Cohen] $28,200 on bookstore spending sprees, a review of expense records shows. He spent $1,118 in September alone, making nine trips to bookstores.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that a lot of people who read this article came away upset by Cohen's profligacy.

I can understand where they're coming from, but as someone who spends a fairly exorbitant amount of money on books myself, I don't have any particular problem with taxpayers picking up their legislators' Amazon tab. Sure, $14,000 a year is a bit excessive, but in theory, his defense - that he was improving himself as a legislator - is a valid one.

But check this out:

Cohen's book bill for 2004 and 2005 is more than what the Philadelphia School District spent to stock library shelves at the two high schools and two middle schools in his legislative district. The four schools, which have a combined enrollment of 5,000 students, spent $21,600 on books and periodicals in that two-year period, officials said.

Think about that for a second. Four libraries on $10,000 a year. What's that, three new books per library per week? And people wonder why so many high school graduates can't read? It's because entire graduating classes have had to share their library's eight books - each of which is a tattered copy of Crustaceans of the North Pacific ("With 16 Color Plates!") from 1965 - amongst themselves.