What's with the heavy bookbag?

My son is in the 11th grade. I used to complain to his school about him not getting textbooks. This year he was put in GT and AP classes. The GT and AP kids get textbooks while the general classes do not (Maybe they need books too?)One unintended consequence of finally getting books to take home -- my son's backpack weighs about 45 pounds. Modern textbooks are thick, use heavy gloss papers and massive pictures have replaced extensive text. Schools pay a fortune for these books too. They run $50 to $200 each and average at $100. That's a lot of money for a lot of pictures. Should school districts demand more reasonable and effective books?

Congress does not want us to know what they will vote on.

Repeated efforts this week by members of Congress to allow the public 72 hours of internet access to either the current health care proposal or even ALL new bills have been blocked by the leadership in the House and Senate. Transparency, the conveying of information to the public in real time, was a campaign promise of the President and many members of Congress. Now, it appears that those who want to follow-up on these promises are marginalized and trashed. What's your take on this?