The value of higher education - in Germany

Germany's defense minister - "Baron Cut-and-Paste" - was outed as having lifted, without attribution, more than half of his doctorate thesis. Arguably, at least to him, even the pretext of having received an actual doctorate was worth his apparent downfall - he has resigned, although only after much pressure. [BBC News - German Defence Minister Guttenberg resigns over thesis].

But German politics like that anywhere in the world care little for ethics - standing by their man no matter how unethical or, often the case, how immoral . As well stated by a Social Democrats opposition leader: "Chancellor Merkel had been wrong to assume that what her defence minister had done as a private individual had no bearing on his position as minister."

Any bells ringing in Portland?