Another week has gone by and with it, two cherished and reliable American institutions. Polk Brothers is closing all of its stores and mob CEO John Gotti took a fall in court Thursday.

The Teflon Don was up for the fourth time when the charges finally stuck. He was convicted of six murders, obstruction of justice, bribery, loan-sharking, illegal gambling and tax fraud.

Gotti could get three life sentences plus 105 years for doing some of the same things that guide our foreign policy.

The charges stuck this time because one of his underlings rolled over on him and broke the sacred code of silence. Honor has truly gone down the tubes.

Bill Clinton finally mustered the guts to bare his soul and admit “youthful experimentation” with marijuana. Of course he made sure he was in England and didn’t inhale.

If this is true, he should be disqualified simply for being Unclear on the Concept.

In a forest near Crystal Falls, Michigan, scientists found a 1,500-year-old fungus covering 37 acres. Things like this remind us how insignificant we are in the scheme of things. Meanwhile, Bush announced a plan to give $4.1 billion as part of a $24 billion aid package to the former Soviet Union to rescue their economy and promote democracy (and prop up Yeltsin.)

Now the the Buchanan primary scare is over, priorities are back in order. Anyone with the gall to remind Bush that we “can’t afford” health care or education or to question the wisdom of skating through history on a blank check will be labeled “isolationist.”

Maybe the states need to try a new strategy. Seal your borders, declare yourself an independent nation and declare war against the U.S. Within hours, the military will roll in, execute on o two people for conspiracy, and everyone else will get millions in war reparations.

Closer to home but no less tragic, Reaganomics has invaded NIU . Like the multi-headed Hydra, the proposed STudent Live Center has returned from the dead with a vengeance.

After being attacked by students and everyone else with a shred of common sense, the proposal resurfaced as the Campus Life Building.

The new plans call for a larger building, despite falling enrollments and rising interest rates. The need for new space is so crushing that administrators have no idea who will fill the empty space in the “old” student center when organizations move into the new building.

The original proposal was estimated at about $7 million. How much will the larger building cost? Nine, $12, $15 million with cost overruns?

Officials insist they will be able to do this without raising fees. Just like Reagan cut taxes, increased defense spending and cut the deficit during the 80s.

Technically, they could pull it off without raising the fees of anyone reading this. The cost would simply be dumped on future students, who will still not have adequate classes, a better library or any improvements remotely related to their education.