Displaying HTML in Posts

No matter how hard I try I cannot seem to get HTML to actually display in a post (by display I mean that it is not parsed by the browser, it shows up as visible text on the page). I write a lot of posts relating to HTML, and I cannot get tinyMCE to let me display HTML.

For instance, if I wanted to demonstrate how to write an html link, I type <a href="index.htm">Index</a> into the editor. At first it shows up as visible text, but if I open the HTML editor, the code is not escaped as I would expect it to be. Instead it shows up as <a href="index.htm">Index</a>. If I then close the HTML editor, what I wanted to appear as plain text suddenly becomes a link. If I save or publish the post without ever opening the HTML editor, the same thing happens.

Even if I try escaping my HTML in the HTML editor, <a href=&quot;index.htm&quote>Index</a>, when I hit update it turns back into a link.

The last option, typing the escaped HTML into the wysywig DOES work, sort of. If I save the post and continue editing, the href attribute suddenly becomes xhref, makes this method useless just as much as the others.

Does anyone have a solution to this? Its worth noting that the version of tinyMCE available from its website doesn’t do this. Any HTML typed into the wysiwyg is escaped in the HTML editor. Was this modification of tinyMCE intentional for use in WP?