Tuesday News Bucket

18 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on October 30, 2007 at 8:07 am

   working out? AP/Yahoo

   It’s a nickname no principal could be proud of: “Dropout Factory,” a high school where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year. That dubious distinction applies to more than one in 10 high schools across America.

   “If you’re born in a neighborhood or town where the only high school is one where graduation is not the norm, how is this living in the land of equal opportunity?” asks Bob Balfanz, the researcher at Johns Hopkins University who defines such a school as a “dropout factory.”

   There are about 1,700 regular or vocational high schools nationwide that fit that description, according to an analysis of Education Department data conducted by Johns Hopkins for The Associated Press. That’s 12 percent of all such schools, no more than a decade ago but no less, either.

   While some of the missing students transferred, most dropped out, Balfanz says. The data tracked senior classes for three years in a row _ 2004, 2005 and 2006 _ to make sure local events like plant closures weren’t to blame for the low retention rates.

   The highest concentration of dropout factories is in large cities or high-poverty rural areas in the South and Southwest. Most have high proportions of minority students. These schools are tougher to turn around, because their students face challenges well beyond the academic ones _ the need to work as well as go to school, for example, or a need for social services.

2. 

   ask on October 30, 2007 at 8:12 am

   If the Kyl-Lieberman amendment was to give diplomatic leverage in dealing with Iran, why is it that the Russians have the initiative?

   Russian FM due in Tehran on surprise visit

   TEHRAN (AFP) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is to visit Iran later on Tuesday for talks with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on an previously unannounced visit, the Iranian authorities said.

   A source in the Iranian presidency, who did not wish to be named, said Lavrov was coming later in the day while the media were told he would be meeting with Ahmadinejad at 1600 GMT.

   No explanation was given for his trip, which comes two weeks after a landmark trip to Iran by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

   The visit seems to coincide with IAEA’s visit this week…

   Top IAEA nuclear official to visit Iran

   The UN nuclear watchdog’s deputy director general is to hold talks in Tehran with Iranian officials next week on an accord over their atomic drive, the ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday. AFP

   • 

     CabinGirl on October 30, 2007 at 8:17 am

     Yeah, beating people over the head and calling them ugly names is always so successful in opening a productive dialogue.

     I guess it’s true:  When the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

     • 

       ask on October 30, 2007 at 8:26 am

       So true.

       Here is a more extensive article on Lavrov’s and IAEA’s visits.

       • 

         on October 30, 2007 at 7:51 pm

         In the contentional sense I could reply that Lieberman, having all of the timely contemporary knowledge of  current world affairs seems to date back to the Lawrence Welk Show.

         Yet on some other boards I explain that Lieberman due to some family history and genetics responds to  his Manchurian mind control microchips with such zeal as to be embarrassing.  The debate rages on as his controllers point to the majority of zombified Americans as “proof” of victory.
         Whole industries depend on this and industry is light years ahead of a non-regulating government.

3. 

   CabinGirl on October 30, 2007 at 8:15 am

   this time, in Iraq: WashPo

   The largest dam in Iraq is in serious danger of an imminent collapse that could unleash a trillion-gallon wave of water, possibly killing thousands of people and flooding two of the largest cities in the country, according to new assessments by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other U.S. officials.

   Even in a country gripped by daily bloodshed, the possibility of a catastrophic failure of the Mosul Dam has alarmed American officials, who have concluded that it could lead to as many as 500,000 civilian deaths by drowning Mosul under 65 feet of water and parts of Baghdad under 15 feet, said Abdulkhalik Thanoon Ayoub, the dam manager. “The Mosul dam is judged to have an unacceptable annual failure probability,” in the dry wording of an Army Corps of Engineers draft report.

   At the same time, a U.S. reconstruction project to help shore up the dam in northern Iraq has been marred by incompetence and mismanagement, according to Iraqi officials and a report by a U.S. oversight agency to be released Tuesday. The reconstruction project, worth at least $27 million, was not intended to be a permanent solution to the dam’s deficiencies.

   I don’t think the Iraqis should be holding their breath waiting for the US to fix it…after all, the levees in New Orleans went unrepaired because we had already spent that money blowing up Iraq.  

   Heck, I even wonder if BuschCo views this as just a form of mass waterboarding and a way to rid itself of populations they find inconvenient.

4. 

   ask on October 30, 2007 at 8:19 am

   Watch Mark Leon Goldberg (UN Dispatch) and Matthew Lee’s (Innercitypress) vlog on Bloggerheads.

   An hour-long discussion on current UN issues (divided in chapters – see below the player).  Lots of substance, little crap.

5. 

   CabinGirl on October 30, 2007 at 8:22 am

   AP/Yahoo

   Once again, Hillary Rodham Clinton leads in a poll. This time, she was top choice when people were asked which major 2008 presidential candidate would make the scariest Halloween costume.

   Asked about costume choices, 37 percent in an Associated Press-Ipsos survey this month chose New York Sen. Clinton, the front-runner among Democratic presidential contenders. Fourteen percent selected former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who leads Republicans in national polls.

   No other candidate exceeded 6 percent.

6. 

   CabinGirl on October 30, 2007 at 8:30 am

   that are just too long to excerpt for the Bucket:

   Scary:  The Effects of Legal Toxins in Toys on Male Sexual Development

   Food for thought (I think we all need more sleep): NY Mag on the cognitive effects of a lack of sleep in children

   And this Nature episode (on PBS) about the impact of bee colony collapse was excellent, and you should watch the whole thing if you get a chance: Silence of the Bees

   Have anything to add?

7. 

   ask on October 30, 2007 at 8:35 am

   What a contrast:

   Iraq cabinet approves law to end contractors’ immunity

   BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s cabinet approved a law on Tuesday to remove private security firms’ immunity from prosecution in Iraq, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters.

   “The cabinet has approved a law that will put non-Iraqi firms and those they employ under Iraqi law,” Dabbagh told Reuters after a cabinet meeting.

   Dabbagh said the new law, which has now been referred to parliament, would revoke the immunity given to foreign contractors under Order 17, a controversial measure passed by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in 2004.

   The law would also make foreign guards subject to searches at Iraqi security force checkpoints and require them to carry weapons licenses. Foreign security companies would also have to register in Iraq.

   Blackwater Immunity Deal: Huge Conflict-of-Interest

   State Department investigators of the September 16h Blackwater Nisour Square shooting have granted limited immunity to Blackwater operators who were present at the incident, according to the Associated Press.  But the press reports missed a key fact: The State Department’s investigators are from the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the very bureau of the State Department that contracts with Blackwater for the services in question and that is responsible for operational control of those missions. Can you say conflict of interest?

   This is a milestone in government outsourcing.  To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time a contracting agency has ever granted legal immunity to a contractor or contractors’ employees faced with potential criminal penalties.  

   Tell me again; which is the country supposed to be based on the Rule-of-Law.

8. 

   CabinGirl on October 30, 2007 at 8:55 am

   someone is out-parenting Britney Spears: Plain Dealer

   A woman found a baby in a field early this morning in Cleveland.

   According to police, this is what happened:

   A Cleveland man told police that his 5-month-old son must have bounced out of his stroller while the two were crossing a field in the 1600 block of East 85th Street.

   “He said he hit a bump and the baby must have bounced out of the stroller,” Lt. Thomas Stacho said.

   A woman thought she heard a cat crying at 4:30 a.m. and investigated. She found the baby and called police. The baby was taken to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. “He’s fine,” Stacho said.

   The father realized the baby was not in the house and began looking for him. He walked across the field again and met up with the woman who had found his son. She called police again, telling them she had located the baby’s father.

   Responding officers said the father was “highly intoxicated,” Stacho said.

   A prosecutor will decide whether to charge him with child endangering. Children’s Services is taking emergency custody of the child and will investigate the home, Director Jim McCafferty said.

   Stacho said the father has visitation rights. The mother has custody.

9. 

   dada on October 30, 2007 at 1:20 pm

   caveat emptor: let the buyer beware

   laissez-faire…and the consumer is ‘faire game’, in BushWorld®:

   Tougher consumer protections opposed by agency chair.

   On the eve of an important Senate committee meeting to consider the legislation, Nancy A. Nord, the acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff.

   […]

   Ms. Nord, who before joining the agency had been a lawyer at Eastman Kodak and an official at the United States Chamber of Commerce, criticized the measure in letters sent late last week and this afternoon to the Democratic leaders of the committee. She was critical, for instance, of a provision to ban lead from all toys.

   […]

   She opposed making it easier to bring criminal prosecutions of companies that knowingly sell defective products and also criticized a measure that would make it easier for the commission to publicly disclose reports of faulty products.

   […]

   Through an agency spokesman, Ms. Nord declined to discuss her opposition to the legislation.

   nyt

   wallmart is happy…<insert smiley face here>

   lTMF’sA

   

   • 

     ask on October 30, 2007 at 1:26 pm

     Good to see that the watchdog is alert, keeping the predators away….not!
     What a joke.

     • 

       dada on October 30, 2007 at 2:51 pm

       anoter one of chimpy’s ‘acting directors’ of a major govt agency.

       ‘acting’ like they care…not a whit.

       l wonder how many that makes now?…have to avoid any accountablility to congress, and the nasty spectre of a confirmation process is to be avoded at all costs…see mukasey: doj.

       2009’s a looooooong way off.

       lTMF’sA

       

10. 

    dada on October 30, 2007 at 1:23 pm

    the latest cbs poll finds

    even though gore has not indicated he will enter the race, and has done no campaigning, he’s considered a very desirable candidate by a large number of people:

    “CBS Poll: Gore Trails Hillary by Only 5 Points, Is Ahead of Other Front-Runners Among Democratic Primary Voters”

    (CBS/WBEN) – Hillary Clinton continues to be the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president, and many voters say they’ll consider supporting her in November 2008 if she becomes the Democratic nominee.

    Still, there are obstacles. Many voters think a Hillary Clinton presidency will divide the country rather than unite it. And when Al Gore is added to the list of Democratic candidates, he trails by only five points.
    …

    Although he has not declared his candidacy, this poll indicates that were he to enter the race, Al Gore could be a serious contender. Near the end of this questionnaire, his name was added to a short list of candidates vying for the nomination. He came in second among Democratic primary voters at 32% – just five points behind Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama trailed behind them in third place with 16% percent.

    We note that his favorable/unfavorable rating among registered Democrats in this poll is currently at 46/29. That’s better than than any of the others in the race (Clinton: 26/63 *43/31, Obama: 38/24, Edwards: 30/30)

    brad blog

    clinton’s campaign cannot be happy with these results…eh?

    lTMF’sA

    
    clik image to go to draftgore.com

    • 

      CabinGirl on October 30, 2007 at 3:21 pm

      I wish he would run.  We were watching Pat Buchanan’s 1992 RNC speech the other day, where he ridicules Gore for suggesting that the environment was the greatest challenge ahead.

      And here we are, 15 years later, and Al is STILL right about the environment.

11. 

    ask on October 30, 2007 at 2:38 pm

    Putin commemorates Stalin purge victims

    MOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin warned Tuesday against political ideas that are “placed above basic values” as he for the first time joined public commemorations on the 70th anniversary of mass killings ordered by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

    Putin’s presence at the Butovo firing range, where some 20,000 priests, artists and other “enemies of the people” were executed in 1937-38, was a noteworthy gesture by the former KGB officer, who has restored Soviet-era symbols and tried to soften public perceptions of Stalin.

    Rights activists, however, said the visit to mourn victims of the “Great Purge” was an election ploy and warned that the consolidation of power that has occurred under Putin risks returning Russia to the repression of the communist era.

    Here’s an absolutely fascinating biography on Stalin: Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar

    We are only just beginning to grasp the true nature of Stalin’s power. Compared to the Hitler state, there are still huge gaps in our understanding of the Stalinist regime. Stalin’s personal character is an obvious enigma: it is hard to tell when insane paranoia supplants scheming rationality. But the tyrant’s hold on the Bolshevik Party is just as puzzling. Was he a strong or a weak dictator? Did he direct the Terror or did others do it in his name? And how did Stalin’s influence infiltrate into the daily lives of those who called themselves the Stalinists?

    Simon Sebag Montefiore takes us one very large step forward towards an understanding of these difficult issues. Despite its title, his book is not a biography of Stalin, although the tyrant’s sinister presence can be felt on every page. Sebag Montefiore has written something rather more interesting and original – an intimate account of daily life in Stalin’s entourage.

12. 

    anarchronarchist on October 30, 2007 at 5:15 pm

    America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
     – Evan Esar

    Then should 98% of teachers earn nothing in order for the ‘professional’ class be paid millions? I would say that we treat our athletes, with noted exceptions, much worse than teachers.