Something you should know about the Manhattan Institute before you read anything by them...

Buying a Movement on the Manhattan Institute:

"...advocates privatization of sanitation services and infrastructure maintenance, deregulation in the area of environmental and consumer protection, school vouchers and cuts in government spending on social welfare programs; it is the preferred source of information of NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani"...

More on the Manhattan Institute:

The Manhattan Institute was founded in 1978 by William Casey, who later became President Reagan's CIA director. Since then, the Institute's track record with authors has been notable. Funneling money from very conservative foundations, the Institute has sponsored many books by writers opposed to safety-net social programs and affirmative action. During the 1980s, the Institute's authors included George Gilder (Wealth and Poverty), Linda Chavez (Out of the Barrio) and Charles Murray (Losing Ground).
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Along with ongoing subsidies from a number of large conservative foundations, the Manhattan Institute has gained funding from such corporate sources as the Chase Manhattan Bank, Citicorp, Time Warner, Procter & Gamble and State Farm Insurance, as well as the Lilly Endowment and philanthropic arms of American Express, Bristol-Myers Squibb, CIGNA and Merrill Lynch. Boosted by major firms, the Manhattan Institute budget reached $5 million a year by the early 1990s.

Dubbing it an "iconoclastic research group," a New York Times news article on the last day of 1993 declared: "What distinguishes the Manhattan Institute is its work to translate its ideology into concrete proposals that appeal to a wide spectrum of political beliefs." The impacts have been national: "Despite its focus on New York, the Manhattan Institute has had its greatest influence in other cities. Mayors in Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Jersey City and Phoenix have praised it and adopted some of its advice."

Oh. And the reason why I bring this up again: Susan Ohanian has an essay by Gerald Bracey rebutting a Manhattan Institute report on education (written by Jay Greene and Greg Forster).

Note: Jay Greene of the Manhattan Institute signed his name to the bottom of the NYT ad complaining about that (horrible, nasty, unfair, biased, lions and tigers and bears oh my!) NYT charter school report .