The Los Angeles Times is reporting a doozy: VP wife Lynne Cheney has long opposed the National History Standards because they contain too much actual history and haven't been politically slanted in favor of her more "positive" vision of America's past. When she realized that the Department of Education was circulating a 10-year-old guidebook for parents, "Helping Your Child Learn History," that mentioned the national standards, her staff communicated its displeasure to the Education Department. Subsequently, the department decided it was necessary to kill the new edition and reprint it with references to the standards removed. Though about 61,000 copies of "Helping Your Child Learn History" had been distributed, the remaining 300,000-plus copies were destroyed. Asked about the decision, one department official said they had been "recycled." The inevitable hush-up ensued: When The Times initially approached the Education Department to inquire about the booklets, the department issued a statement saying it had taken the unusual action because of "mistakes, including typos and incomplete information." Later, Susan Aspey, the department's press secretary, admitted that typographical errors were not the reason. Asked about the role of Cheney's office, Aspey responded: "The decision was ours to stop distribution and reprint. Both offices were on parallel tracks and obviously neither of us were pleased that the final document was not the accurate reflection of policy that was approved originally." A representative for Cheney said her office did not order the destruction of the booklets. "Unequivocally, [neither] Mrs. Cheney nor her staff insisted on having the history publication recalled," said spokeswoman Maria Miller. "And that's just the bottom line." However, neither department officials nor Cheney's office would discuss the episode in detail. Both refused to allow interviews with the staffers involved. Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Jean Merl, "Booklet That Upset Mrs. Cheney Is History: The Department of Education destroys 300,000 parent guides to remove references to national standards," L.A. Times, Oct. 8, 2004.