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Secret
- 
US
- 
Foreign
- 
Government- 
Intelligence
- 
Surveillance
- 
Journalists
- 
Academics
- 
Telephone
- 
Internet
- Civil
Liberties - 
Law
- 
Politics
- 
Michigan
- "Court
orders dismissal of U.S. wiretapping lawsuit: A divided
appeals court says plaintiffs weren't harmed by surveillance program."
... "A U.S. appeals court has ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit against
the U.S. National Security Agency for a wiretapping program because it
said the plaintiffs haven't been hurt by the agency's actions." ... "A
divided three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
ruled today that the lawsuit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union
and a group of journalists, lawyers and academics, be sent back to a district
court judge to be dismissed. In August 2006, Judge Anna Diggs Taylor of
the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled
the NSA program, which monitored telephone and Internet communications
without court-ordered warrants, was illegal." ... "Judge Ronald Lee Gilman
disagreed with the two-judge majority, arguing that the NSA program violates
FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court], which establishes wiretapping
procedures, including warrants. "When faced with the clear wording of FISA
... the conclusion becomes inescapable that [the program] was unlawful,"
he wrote." ... "The appeals court ruled that the plaintiffs could not sue
because they can't prove they were affected by the program, and at the
same time, ruled that details about the program, including who was targeted,
are state secrets." (1, 2)
-By Grant Gross
-Computerworld
John
G Roberts
- Race
- Politics
- 
Children
- Education
- 
History
- "Justices
reject school integration efforts: The 5-4 ruling
amid strong dissent suggests a sharp change in direction for the Supreme
Court and education policies." ... "In a decision that may herald a new
era in the long struggle over racial integration in public education, the
Supreme Court declared Thursday that officials may not use race to assign
children to schools, even if the goal is greater diversity." ... "Some
lawyers following the case said the ruling could spell trouble for racial
guidelines in as many as 1,000 school districts across the nation. But
each district's program differs, and it is unclear how sweeping the effect
of Thursday's ruling will be." ... "The ruling also raised questions about
how the high court, with its [Republican] conservative bloc strengthened
by the addition of [John] Roberts as chief justice in 2005, will deal with
the legacy of the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision that ignited
half a century of struggle over busing and other efforts to promote racial
integration in schools." ... "The court's four [Democratic] liberal justices
accused the majority of turning its back on Brown and the promise of racial
integration." ... ""This is a decision that the court and the nation will
come to regret," Justice Stephen G. Breyer said in a long dissent delivered
in the courtroom." ... "Breyer delivered a 68-page dissent that accused
Roberts and the majority of reaching out to strike down policies that were
bringing about greater equality." ... "Calling the Brown decision "this
court's finest hour," he said: "The last half-century has witnessed great
strides toward racial equality, but we have not yet realized the promise
of Brown."" (1, 2)
-By David G. Savage -LAtimes
Torture
- 
Terrorism
- Detainees
- Human
Rights - Law
- Education
- Teens
- "Scholars
urge Bush to ban use of torture." ... "[Republican]
President Bush was presented with a letter Monday signed by 50 high school
seniors in the Presidential Scholars program urging a halt to "violations
of the human rights" of terror suspects held by the United States." ...
"The handwritten letter said the students "believe we have a responsibility
to voice our convictions."" ... ""We do not want America to represent torture.
We urge you to do all in your power to stop violations of the human rights
of detainees, to cease illegal renditions, and to apply the Geneva Convention
to all detainees, including those designated enemy combatants," the letter
said." -AP
via -SeattlePI
US
- 
Vietnam
- 
Military
- History
- 
France
- Academic
- Mitt
Romney
- 2008
Election - Politician
- 
Utah
- "Mormon
church obtained Vietnam draft deferrals for Romney, other missionaries."
... "As the Vietnam War raged in the 1960s, Mitt Romney received a deferment
from the draft as a Mormon "minister of religion" for the duration of his
missionary work in France, which lasted two and a half years." ... "Before
and after his missionary deferment, Romney also received nearly three years
of deferments for his academic studies. When his deferments ended and he
became eligible for military service in 1970, he drew a high number in
the annual lottery that determined which young men were drafted. His high
number ensured he was not drafted into the military." ... "The exemption
for Mormon missionaries created controversy at the time. Non-Mormons in
Utah filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 1968. The suit was
still in court two years later, at a time when "the church and the Selective
Service System work hand-in-hand in deferring the missionaries," according
to an article from the period published by The New York Times." ... "Richard
Leedy, the lawyer who brought the suit, said in a telephone interview that
he did so because "the substantial number of deferments to missionaries
made the likelihood of us non-Mormons going to Vietnam a lot more likely.""
-By Michael Kranish
-Boston/Globe
Education
- 
Science
- Politics
- Parents
- "Voucher
Students Show Few Gains in First Year: D.C. Results
Typical, Federal Study Says." ... "Students in the D.C. school voucher
program, the first federal initiative to spend taxpayer dollars on private
school tuition, generally performed no better on reading and math tests
after one year in the program than their peers in public schools, the U.S.
Education Department said yesterday." ... "The report, released by the
Education Department's Institute of Education Sciences, examined test scores
from more than 2,000 students who entered a lottery for admission to the
voucher program. Scores from students accepted in the program were compared
with scores from those who weren't. The study followed two groups of students
in their first year in the program, 2004-05 and 2005-06." ... "The report
also found no evidence that students in the program were safer than their
counterparts, even though their parents thought they were." (1, 2)
-By Amit R. Paley and Theola Labbé with contributions
by Magda Jean-Louis -WashingtonPost
Poverty
- 2008
Election - 
Music
- 
Entertainer
- 
Food
- 
Health
- Education
- 
Water
- "ONE
Vote to launch anti-poverty campaign." ... "The anti-poverty
campaign of U2 [music entertainer] frontman Bono is promoting a $30 million
effort to pressure [2008 election] Republican and Democratic presidential
candidates to make the oft-forgotten issue a priority." ... "Dubbed ONE
Vote '08, the bipartisan political push aims to get [Republican] President
Bush's successor to commit to taking concrete steps in the first 100 days
to combat hunger and disease while improving access to education and water
across the globe." -AP
via -USATODAY
"ONE
Vote '08"
Monica
Goodling - 
Tim
Griffin - 
Alberto
Gonzales - 
Paul
McNulty
- 
Karl
Rove
- 
Harriet
Miers
- 
Noteworthy
- US
Attorneys - Military
- Students
- Race
- Politics
- Law
- 2004
Election - 
Arkansas
- 
Florida
- "Raging
Caging: What the heck is vote caging, and why should
we care?" ... "Last week, in her testimony before the House judiciary committee,
[Republican] Monica Goodling referred several times to "vote caging" possibly
done by Arkansas' soon
to be ex-interim, never-confirmed [Republican] U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin.
Yet Goodling was questioned about this almost not at all, nor did the media
do much more than report the words of the former liaison between the [Republican
President Bush's] White House and [Republican] Alberto Gonzales (why a
"liaison" is required between two institutions with no boundaries between
them is incomprehensible, but perhaps another story). Meanwhile, liberal
talk radio, Robert
F. Kennedy Jr., and the blogosphere went nuts. So, which is it: Is
vote caging the most underreported part of this U.S. attorneys scandal
or the most over-hyped?" ... "One of the reasons the mainstream news reports
(including mine [Dahlia Lithwick])
barely touched the vote-caging story was that nobody had any idea what
Goodling was talking about. "Vote caging, what's that?" we e-mailed each
other at Slate. The confusion seemed to extend to Goodling herself. The
subject came up in her testimony about former Deputy Attorney General Paul
McNulty. In saying he had not been forthright with the House judiciary
committee in his testimony on the firing of the U.S. attorneys, she cited
three areas, one of which was McNulty's failure "to disclose that he had
some knowledge of allegations that Tim Griffin had been involved in 'vote
caging' in the president's 2004 [election] campaign," when he spoke to
Congress." ... "Vote caging is an illegal trick to suppress minority voters
(who tend to vote Democrat) by getting them knocked off the voter rolls
if they fail to answer registered mail sent to homes they aren't living
at (because they are, say, at college or at war). The Republican National
Committee reportedly stopped the practice following a consent
decree in a 1986 case. Google the term and you'll quickly arrive at
the Wizard of Oz of caging, Greg Palast, investigative reporter and author
of the wickedly funny Armed
Madhouse: From Baghdad to New Orleans—Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales
of a White House Gone Wild. Palast started reporting allegations
of Republican vote caging for the BBC's
Newsnight
in 2004. He's been almost alone on the story since then. Palast contends,
both in Armed Madhouse and widely through the liberal
blogosphere, that vote caging, an illegal voter-suppression scheme,
happened in Florida in 2004 this way:"
Food
- Poverty
- Government
- 
Money
- School
- Children
- Health
- Politics
- Religious
- 
Oregon
- "Oregon
Gov. Will Live On Food Stamp Diet: For One Week,
As He Battles Proposed Cuts In Federal Program." ... "This is Hunger Awareness
Week in Oregon, and for the next seven days, [Oregon Democratic Governor
Ted] Kulongoski and [his wife, Mary] Oberst will be cutting way back –
down to the budget one would live on if relying on food stamps – a diet
they hope others will also follow for a few days to better understand the
plight of those who have no choice." ... "It won't be easy, but the less
than bountiful fare is for a cause, reports CBS News correspondent Stephan
Kaufman, as Kulongoski begins lobbying Congress against cuts in the
food stamp program proposed by the Bush administration." ... "The Oregon
governor is also a strong advocate of school breakfast and lunch programs.
"When the federal government cuts back on them," says Kulongoski, "you're
actually depriving children of opportunity to basically have a healthy
life and at the same time, to be able to learn while they're in school.""
... "Oregon's first couple are the most-high profile people so far to take
part in a "food stamp challenge," a growing trend sponsored by religious
groups, community activists and food pantries across the country. The goal
is to walk the proverbial mile in the steps of those who rely on food stamps
to feed a family, to kindle both awareness, and, hopefully, empathy." (1,
2)
-AP via -CBSNews
Virginia
- University
- Mental
Health - "Police:
Cho taken to mental health center in 2005." ... "Cho
Seung-Hui was referred to a mental health facility in 2005 after officers
responded to accusations he was suicidal and stalked female students, police
said Wednesday." ... "Authorities received no more complaints about the
23-year-old English major until Monday when he killed at least 30 people
before taking his own life on the Virginia Tech campus, university police
Chief Wendell Flinchum said." ... "The gun owner who sold him the Glock
9 mm, one of the guns used in the rampage at Norris [Hall], said the resident
alien from South Korea easily passed a background check last month before
purchasing the weapon." -CNN
Iraq
- School
- Children
- Mental
- Health
- "70%
of Iraqi schoolchildren show trauma-related symptoms."
... "About 70% of primary school students in a Baghdad neighborhood suffer
symptoms of trauma-related stress such as bed-wetting or stuttering, according
to a survey by the Iraqi Ministry of Health." ... "The survey of about
2,500 youngsters is the most comprehensive look at how the war is affecting
Iraqi children, said Iraq's national mental health adviser and author of
the study, Mohammed Al-Aboudi." ... "The study "shows the impact of the
violence and insecurity on the children and on children's mental health,"
said Naeema Al-Gasseer, the Iraqi representative of the WHO [World Health
Organization]. "They have fear every day."" -By James
Palmer with contributions by Brian Winter and Emily Bazar
-USATODAY
Imus
- Racist
- Gay
- 
Woman
- Journalist
- Politician
- 
Radio
- Business
- University
- Women's
- Sports
- Opinion
- "[Howard]
Kurtz: "Imus made fun of blacks, Jews, gays, politicians. He called them
lying weasels. This was part of his charm"." ...
"On April 12, during a report on the controversy sparked by Don Imus' remarks
about the Rutgers University women's basketball team, ABC's World News
aired comments by Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz, in
which he said: "Over the years, Imus made fun of blacks, Jews, gays, politicians.
He called them lying weasels. This was part of his charm." Kurtz's quote
aired shortly after CBS Radio announced
it would discontinue broadcasting Imus in the Morning." ... "Despite
Imus' propensity for incendiary remarks, Kurtz has previously been a guest
on the Imus program, a fact he acknowledged in his April 12 Washington
Post column.
Kurtz wrote: "Journalists like me who have gone on Imus's show have done
so because we enjoyed the opportunity to talk about politics and media
without the stuffiness of so many other programs. And it's probably true
that too many of us looked the other way when he went over the line with
some of his cruder comedy bits." Yet, as Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
documented,
Kurtz wrote in his 1996 book, Hot Air (Crown) that "Imus's sexist,
homophobic, and politically incorrect routines echo what many journalists
joke about in private."" -MediaMatters.org
Radio
- 
TV
- Business
- Opinion
- University
-Women's
- Sports
- 
People
- Gay
- Religion
- Politics
- Don
Imus - "It's
not just Imus." ... "On April 11, NBC News announced
that it was dropping MSNBC's simulcast of Imus in the Morning in the wake
of the controversy that erupted over host Don Imus' reference to the Rutgers
University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." The following
day, CBS president and CEO Leslie Moonves announced
that CBS -- which owns both the radio station that broadcast Imus' program
and Westwood One, which syndicated the program -- has fired Imus and would
cease broadcasting his radio show. But as Media Matters for America has
extensively documented, bigotry and hate speech targeting, among other
characteristics, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and ethnicity
continue to permeate the airwaves through personalities such as Glenn
Beck, Neal
Boortz, Rush
Limbaugh, Bill
O'Reilly, Michael
Savage, Michael
Smerconish, and John
Gibson." -MediaMatters.org
Don
Imus - Radio
- Media
- University
- Women's
- Sports
- People
- Politics
- "CBS
Fires Don Imus Over Racial Slur: Dismissal Caps Week
Of Uproar Over Radio Host's Comments About Rutgers Women's Basketball Team."
... "CBS announced Thursday that it has fired Don Imus from his
radio program, following a week of uproar over the radio host's derogatory
comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team." ... ""There has been
much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people,
particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society,"
CBS
President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said in
announcing
the decision." ... "One of those discussions took place at noon today
with a coalition of leaders from the civil rights and women's movements,
who said it was time for Imus to go, reports CBS News correspondent
Nancy Cordes." ... "Losing Imus will be a financial hit to CBS Radio,
which also suffered when shock jock Howard Stern departed for satellite
radio early last year. The program is worth about $15 million in annual
revenue to CBS, which owns Imus' home radio station, WFAN-AM in
New York, and manages Westwood One, the company that syndicates the show
across the country. CBS Corp. is also the parent company of CBSNews.com."
(1, 2)
-AP -CBSNews
Don
Imus - TV
- Radio
- 
Employee
- University
- Women's
- Sports
- Civil
Righs - Advertising
- Politics
- "MSNBC
Drops Imus Program Amid Furor Over Remarks." ...
"MSNBC said Wednesday it will drop its simulcast of the "Imus in the Morning"
radio program. The decision comes amid growing outrage about radio host
Don Imus' demeaning comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team."
... "Imus triggered the uproar on his April 4 show when he referred to
the mostly black Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."
His comments have been widely denounced by civil rights and women's groups."
... "The program originates from New York radio station WFAN and is syndicated
to other radio stations by CBS Radio. Both, like CBSNews.com, are part
of CBS Corp." ... "MSNBC's decision to drop the simulcast came after a
growing list of sponsors — including American Express Co., Staples Inc.,
Procter & Gamble Co., and General Motors Corp. — said they were pulling
ads from Imus' show for the indefinite future."
-WCBStv.com
John
Edwards
- Free
Speech - 2008
Election - Don
Imus - Media
- Entertainment
- Business
- Politics
- Language
- Women
- University
- Sports
- "Edwards
On Imus Spat: 'I Believe In Forgiveness: Presidential
Candidate Stays Mum On Future Imus Appearances." ... "Democratic Presidential
candidate John Edwards' spoke exclusively to CBS 2 on Wednesday morning
about the Don Imus and Rutgers University controversy, and though he feels
Imus deserves a second chance, he wasn't so sure about his future on Imus'
popular radio show." ... ""I believe in redemption, I believe in forgiveness,"
Edwards said of Imus, who was suspended earlier in the week after calling
the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy headed hos."" ... "Unlike candidates
Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, who say they will continue to appear on
Imus' radio show, Edwards says he hasn't seen enough from the shock jock
to make that decision just yet." ... ""What he said is wrong because it's
wrong. It has to be condemned, we have to speak out when people use this
kind of language," Edwards said. "This is a very serious matter, it should
be taken very seriously."" -By Marcia Kramer
-WCBStv.com
2008
Election - Don
Imus - Media
- Television
- 
Humor
- Business
- Employee
- Language
- Censorship
- Politics
- Women
- University
- Sports
- Daughters
- Human
Rights - People
- 
Illinois
- "Obama:
Fire Imus: [Illinois Democratic Senator and Democratic
Presidential candidate] Obama [is] First White House Contender to Call
for Imus' Firing Over Racial Slur." ... "In an interview with ABC News
Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., called for the firing of
talk radio host Don Imus. Obama said he would never again appear on Imus'
show, which is broadcast on CBS Radio and MSNBC television." ... ""I understand
MSNBC has suspended Mr. Imus," Obama told ABC News, "but I would also say
that there's nobody on my staff who would still be working for me if they
made a comment like that about anybody of any ethnic group. And I would
hope that NBC ends up having that same attitude."" ... "Obama said he appeared
once on Imus' show two years ago, and "I have no intention of returning.""
... ""He didn't just cross the line," Obama said. "He fed into some of
the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with
today in America. The notions that as young African-American women — who
I hope will be athletes — that that somehow makes them less beautiful or
less important. It was a degrading comment. It's one that I'm not interested
in supporting."" ... "Tuesday, the basketball team held a press conference."
... ""I think that this has scarred me for life," said Matee Ajavon. "We
grew up in a world where racism exists, and there's nothing we can do to
change that."" ... ""What we've been seeing around this country is this
constant ratcheting up of a coarsening of the culture that all of have
to think about," Obama said." ... ""Insults, humor that degrades women,
humor that is based in racism and racial stereotypes isn't fun," the senator
told ABC News." ... ""And the notion that somehow it's cute or amusing,
or a useful diversion, I think, is something that all of us have to recognize
is just not the case. We all have First Amendment rights. And I am a constitutional
lawyer and strongly believe in free speech, but as a culture, we really
have to do some soul-searching to think about what kind of toxic information
are we feeding our kids," he concluded." (1, 2)
-By Jake Tapper with contributions by Clayton Sandell
-ABCNEWS.com
School
- Children
- Internet
- Messaging
- Law
- Politics
- Foley
- Florida
- "FBI
Opens "Preliminary Investigation" of Foley." ...
"The FBI has opened a "preliminary investigation" of disgraced former [Florida
Republican] Congressman Mark Foley over the sexually explicit Internet
messages he sent to congressional pages, all male high school students
under the age of 18." ... "It's possible Foley could be prosecuted under
laws he helped to enact, as the co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing
and Exploited Children." -By Brian Ross
-ABCNEWS.com
George
Allen - Virginia
- College
- Sports
- Political
- Terrorism
- History
- 2008
Election - 2006
Election - "New
'N Word' Woe For George Allen: Well-Known Professor
Says Va. Senator Used Racial Slur; Allen Denies It." ... "A noted political
scientist joined one of [Virginia Republican] Sen. George Allen's former
college football teammates in claiming the senator used a racial slur to
refer to blacks in the early 1970s, a claim Allen dismisses as "ludicrously
false."" ... "Larry J. Sabato, one of Virginia's most-quoted political
science professors and a classmate of Allen's in the early 1970s, said
in a televised interview Monday that Allen used the epithet." ... "Sabato's
assertion came on the heels of accusations by Dr. Ken Shelton, a radiologist
who was a tight end and wide receiver for the University of Virginia in
the early 1970s when Allen was quarterback. He said Allen not only used
the n-word frequently but also once stuffed a severed deer head into a
black family's mailbox." ... "Separately, the Washington Post reported
that Christopher Taylor, 59, an anthropologist at the University of Alabama,
said that during a visit to Allen's Virginia home in 1982, Allen referred
to turtles in a pond on his property and said that only "the [racial slur]
eat them."" ... "Allen, a Republican, has been mentioned as a possible
presidential candidate in 2008. Questions about racial insensitivity have
dogged him during his [2006] re-election bid against Democrat Jim Webb."
-AP via
-CBSNews
Secret
- US
- International
- Government
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Law
- Free
Speech - Privacy
- Telephone
- Internet
- Civil
Righs - Journalists
- Educators
- Michigan
- "NSA
eavesdropping program ruled unconstitutional: Justice
Department says it will appeal judge's decision." ... "A federal judge
on Thursday ruled that the U.S. government's domestic eavesdropping program
is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately." ... "The Justice
Department said it would appeal the ruling, saying the program was "a critical
tool that ensures we have in place an early warning system to detect and
prevent a terrorist attack."" ... "In a 44-page memorandum and order, U.S.
District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, -- who is based in Detroit, Michigan
-- struck down the National Security Agency's program, which she said violates
the rights to free speech and privacy. (Read
the complete ruling -- PDF)" ... "The defendants "are permanently enjoined
from directly or indirectly utilizing the Terrorist Surveillance Program
(TSP) in any way, including, but not limited to, conducting warrantless
wiretaps of telephone and Internet communications, in contravention of
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Title III," she wrote." ...
"She further declared that the program "violates the separation of powers
doctrine, the Administrative Procedures Act, the First and Fourth amendments
to the United States Constitution, the FISA and Title III."" ... "She went
on to say that "the president of the United States ... has undisputedly
violated the Fourth in failing to procure judicial orders."" ... "The lawsuit,
filed January 17 by civil rights organizations, lawyers, journalists and
educators, "challenges the constitutionality of a secret government program
to intercept vast quantities of the international telephone and Internet
communications of innocent Americans without court approval."" -With
contributions by Bill Mears and Andrea Koppel
-CNN
US
- World
- Government
- Intelligence
- Free
Speech - Privacy
- Civil
Liberties - Journalists
- Scholars
- Michigan
- "Judge
nixes warrantless surveillance." ... "A federal judge
ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is
unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it." ... "U.S. District
Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit [Michigan] became the first judge to
strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates
the rights to free speech and privacy as well as the separation of powers
enshrined in the Constitution." ... ""Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the
public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution,"
Taylor wrote in her 43-page opinion." ... "The American Civil Liberties
Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers
who say the program has made it difficult for them to do their jobs. They
believe many of their overseas contacts are likely targets of the program,
which involves wiretapping conversations between people in the U.S. and
people in other countries." -By Sarah Karush
-AP via -HoustonChronicle.com
Kids- Behavior
- 
Enforcement
- 
Texas
- Drugs
- "At
schools, less tolerance for 'zero tolerance'." ...
""Zero tolerance" discipline policies that are enforced widely in U.S.
schools are backfiring: They may be promoting misbehavior and making students
feel more anxious, the American Psychological Association (APA) said Wednesday."
... "The group called for more flexibility and common sense in applying
the policies, reserving zero tolerance for the most serious threats to
school safety." ... "Zero-tolerance policies spread in the 1990s as a tool
to fight drug use and violence on campuses. Schools often suspend or expel
students for having weapons or drugs, which can include over-the-counter
medicine, says educational psychologist Cecil Reynolds of Texas A&M
University. Verbal threats, fighting or sexual harassment also can get
kids booted, he says. "There are cases such as the kindergarten boy who
hugged two classmates. His teacher reported him for sexual harassment,
and he was suspended."" ... ""The 'one-size-fits-all' approach isn't working.
Bringing aspirin to school is not the same as bringing cocaine. A plastic
knife isn't the same as a handgun," Reynolds says. He led an APA panel
that summarized research on the topic." -By Marilyn
Elias -USATODAY
Kansas
- School
- Religion
- Science
- History
- Law
- "Evolution’s
Backers in Kansas Start Counterattack." ... "God
and Charles Darwin are not on the primary ballot in Kansas on Tuesday,
but once again a contentious schools election has religion and science
at odds in a state that has restaged a three-quarter-century battle over
the teaching of evolution." ... "Less than a year after a conservative
Republican majority on the State Board of Education adopted rules for teaching
science containing one of the broadest challenges in the nation to Darwin’s
theory of evolution, moderate Republicans and Democrats are mounting a
fierce counterattack. They want to retake power and switch the standards
back to what they call conventional science." ... "The Kansas election
is being watched closely by both sides in the national debate over the
teaching of evolution. In the past several years, pitched battles have
been waged between the scientific establishment and proponents of what
is called intelligent design, which holds that nature alone cannot explain
life’s origin and complexity." ... "Several moderate Republican candidates
have vowed, if they lose Tuesday, to support the Democratic primary winners
in November." ... "The acrimony in the school board races is not limited
to differences over the science curriculum but also over other ideologically
charged issues like sex education, charter schools and education financing.
Power on the board has shifted almost every election since 1998, with the
current conservative majority taking hold in 2004." (1, 2)
-By Ralph Blumenthal -NYTimes
Science
- Government- Religion
- Politics
- "Public
Schools Perform Near Private Ones in Study." ...
"The Education Department reported on Friday that children in public schools
generally performed as well or better in reading and mathematics than comparable
children in private schools. The exception was in eighth-grade reading,
where the private school counterparts fared better." ... "The report, which
compared fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math scores in 2003 from
nearly 7,000 public schools and more than 530 private schools, found that
fourth graders attending public school did significantly better in math
than comparable fourth graders in private schools. Additionally, it found
that students in conservative Christian schools lagged significantly behind
their counterparts in public schools on eighth-grade math." -By
Diana Jean Schemo -NYTimes
Government
- Military
- 
Computer
- Database
- Identity
Theft - People
- 
Homes
- Education
- Consumer
- "Data
on 2.2M Active Troops Stolen From VA: Pentagon Says
Data on About 2.2 Million Active-Duty Troops Among Material Stolen From
VA Employee." ... "Nearly all active-duty military, Guard and Reserve members
about 2.2 million total may be at risk for identity theft because their
personal information was among those stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee
last month." ... "In a new disclosure Tuesday, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson
said the agency was mistaken when it said over the weekend that up to 50,000
Navy and National Guard personnel were among the 26.5 million veterans
whose names, birthdates and Social Security numbers were stolen on May
3." ... "The number is actually much higher because the VA realized it
had records on file for most active-duty personnel because they are eligible
to receive VA benefits such as GI Bill educational assistance and the home
loan guarantee program." (1, 2)
-Hope Yen -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
Parents
& Teens - College
- Money
- Politics- Consumer
- Labor
- "Despite
Pledge, Taxes Increase for Teenagers." ... "The $69
billion tax cut bill that President Bush signed this week tripled tax rates
for teenagers with college savings funds, despite Mr. Bush's 1999 pledge
to veto any tax increase." ... "Under the new law, teenagers age 14 to
17 with investment income will now be taxed at the same rate as their parents,
not at their own rates. Long-term capital gains and dividends that had
been taxed at 5 percent will now be taxed at 15 percent. Interest that
had been taxed at 10 percent will now be taxed at as much as 35 percent."
... "Mr. Bush pledged in 1999 to veto any bill that raised taxes." -By
David Cay Johnston -NYTimes
Canada
- Woman
- Mother's-Day
- Financial
- Education
- 
Accounting
-Family
- Politics
- "Want
to move up? Marry down." ... "Unlike many others,
Christine Ellison has risen to the top of her field while still being able
to celebrate Mother's Day. But her success had more to do with equality
at home than equality at work: She put in the long hours required to earn
and maintain a coveted partnership in a national accounting firm while
her husband stayed home with their child." ... "Unintentionally, Ms. Ellison
was acting out a template that some feminist thinkers argue is the only
way to restart the stalled progress of women in society in general: Elite
women must change not just workplaces, but also their intimate lives, in
order to break the "domestic glass ceiling" -- the family duties that explain
why women are vastly underrepresented in the most powerful positions."
... "How? Don't study liberal arts in college, they say. Hesitate to have
more than one child. And marry "beneath" you, taking a spouse with lower
earning potential so that yours never will be the career it "makes sense"
to compromise." ... "Ms. Ellison was already up for the partnership when
she first became pregnant. So she worked from home for four months, and
then her husband, an electrical engineer named Jim Fulsang, took six months'
parental leave from his job. In the end, the pair decided that Mr. Fulsang
would quit to be with baby Michael in their Woodbridge, Ont. [Canada],
home." ... ""I've invested so much in my education and career," she says.
"Anybody who knows us well knows that our decision is financially logical.
And he's more suited to be at home."" (1, 2,
3,
4,
5)
-Tralee Pearce -GlobeAndMail
Oil
- Business
- College
- 2006
Election - 
Calif
- 
NY
- "Senate
votes to extend $70 billion in tax cuts." ... "The
Senate voted Thursday to extend $70 billion in tax cuts but heatedly clashed
over whether the plan would continue to boost the economy and create jobs
or would penalize middle-income families in favor of the wealthy and big
oil conglomerates." ... "Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., noted that a person
who earns more than $1 million a year would get a tax break worth $41,977."
... ""Well, you might say, `What does someone who earns $41,000 get back?'
$46. Not even enough to fill up your gas tank in some cases," she said.
"Whose side is the Senate on?"" ... "Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the
chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, noted that Republicans
decided to drop a provision allowing Americans to deduct up to $4,000 in
college tuition costs worth $4.5 billion." ... "Instead, Schumer pointed
out, Republicans included a tax break for oil companies worth $4.3 billion
despite the industry's record profits." ... ""The choice is stark and clear
- big oil or middle-class families," Schumer said. "The Republican Congress
chose big oil and that's why voters want change."" -By
Jill Zuckman with contributions by William Neikirk
-ChicagoTribune via -MercuryNews
China- Free
Speech - Education
- Computer
- Internet
- Politics
- Police
- "As
Chinese Students Go Online, Little Sister Is Watching."
... "For several hours each week she [sophomore Hu Yingying of Shanghai
Normal University] repairs to a little-known on-campus office crammed with
computers, where she logs in unsuspected by other students to help police
her school's Internet forums." ... "Once online, following suggestions
from professors or older students, she introduces politically correct or
innocuous themes for discussion." ... "Politics, even school politics,
is banned on university bulletin boards like these. Ms. Hu says she and
her fellow moderators try to steer what they consider negative conversations
in a positive direction with well-placed comments of their own. Anything
they deem offensive, she says, they report to the school's Web master for
deletion." ... "Part traffic cop, part informer, part discussion moderator
— and all without the knowledge of her fellow students — Ms. Hu is a small
part of a huge national effort to sanitize the Internet. For years China
has had its Internet police, reportedly as many as 50,000 state agents
who troll online, blocking Web sites, erasing commentary and arresting
people for what is deemed anti-Communist Party or antisocial speech." ...
"But Ms. Hu, one of 500 students at her university's newly bolstered, student-run
Internet monitoring group, is a cog in a different kind of force, an ostensibly
all-volunteer one that the Chinese government is mobilizing to help it
manage the monumental task of censoring the Web." (1, 2)
-By Howard W. French -NYTimes
Kansas
- School
- Web
- "5
Kan. students arrested in alleged plot." ... "Five
teenage boys fully intended to go on a shooting spree at their high school
but were stopped after one of them discussed the plot on a Web site, law
enforcement and school officials said." ... "The boys, ranging in age from
16 to 18, were arrested Thursday, the anniversary of the Columbine massacre,
just hours before they planned to shoot fellow students and school employees,
authorities said." ... "Apparently, they had been plotting since the beginning
of the school year. [Cherokee County Sheriff Steve] Norman said school
officials began investigating Tuesday after learning a threatening message
had been posted on MySpace.com." -By Marcus Kabel
with contributions by Heather Hollingsworth -AP
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Kansas
- Abortion
- Law
Enforcement - Doctors
- Teachers
- "Judge
rules for Kan. abortion rights group." ... "In a
victory for an abortion rights group, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that
abortion clinic doctors and other professionals are not required under
Kansas law to report underage sex between consenting youths." ... "The
ruling by U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten was a setback for Kansas
Attorney General Phill Kline, an abortion foe." ... "Kline contended a
1982 Kansas law requiring doctors, teachers and others to alert the state
and law enforcement about potential child abuse covers consensual sex between
minors. He argued that the law applies to abortion clinics, and later extended
that to other health professionals and teachers." ... "Kline said he had
not decided whether to appeal." -By Roxana Hegeman
with contributions by John Hanna -AP
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Government
- School
- Money
- Politics
- 
Montana
- Oregon
- "Democrats:
Land Sales for Schools Unneeded." ... "Two Democratic
senators said Thursday they have found a way to pay for a program to fund
rural schools without selling 300,000 acres of national forests, as the
Bush administration has proposed." ... "Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and
Ron Wyden of Oregon said their plan would raise $2.6 billion over the next
10 years for the rural schools program by closing a tax loophole they said
allows some government contractors to avoid tax obligations." -By
Matthew Daly -AP
via -HoustonChronicle.com
Government
- Business
- School
- Politics
- 
South
Dakota - "S.D.
delegation opposed to land sale idea." ... "A plan
by the Bush administration to sell public land in South Dakota and elsewhere
to help pay for rural schools is meeting opposition from the state's congressional
delegation." ... "Some 300,000 acres of national forest and other public
lands would be sold. Included is 14,000 acres in the Black Hills National
Forest, the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, and the Fort Pierre National
Grasslands." -AP
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Government
- Business
- School
- Politics
- History
- "Large
Sale of Forest Planned: The White House wants to
help pay for rural roads and schools by auctioning 300,000 acres of what
it considers non-vital parcels." ... "Congress must approve the plans,
which several experts said would amount to the largest land sale of its
kind since President Theodore Roosevelt established the U.S. Forest Service
in 1905 and created the modern national forest system." (1, 2
) -By Janet Wilson with contributions by Julie Cart
and Stephen Clark -LAtimes
Government
- Business
- School
- Politics
- California
- "California
environmentalists oppose Bush plan to sell forest land."
... "Environmental groups sharply criticized the Bush administration's
proposal to sell up to 85,000 acres of national forests in California to
pay for rural schools, saying the loss of protected land in an already
crowded state would be devastating." ... "California would lose the most
acreage of any state under the plan, which calls for the sale of more than
300,000 acres in 34 states. The list includes up to 500 parcels in 16 national
forests located across the Golden State, with the Central Valley and Northern
California potentially losing the most open space." ... "The plan also
lists possible, smaller, sales in seven national forests in Southern California,
including the Los Padres, Angeles and San Bernardino forests." -By
Gillian Flaccus -AP
via -MercuryNews
US
- Foreign
- US_Debt
- Education
- Health
- Money
- Politics
- Military
- 
ND
- "Bush's
Budget Sparks Bipartisan Protest." ... "The administration
defended President Bush's $2.77 trillion budget plan on Tuesday against
congressional attacks that the cuts it sought to deal with exploding budget
deficits would unfairly harm government efforts in education, health care
and farm programs." ... "Democrats said Bush's proposed budget for Fiscal
2007, beginning Oct. 1, was seriously understating spending that will be
needed to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and did not include the billions
of dollars needed in future years to make sure the alternative minimum
tax designed for the wealthy does not pinch more and more middle class
taxpayers." ... "Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., produced charts showing that
the amount of federal government debt held by foreigners before Bush became
president totaled $1 trillion and now in the first five years of his administration
has more than doubled." -AP
via -CBSNews
Opinion
- Samuel
Alito
- Government
- Abortion
- Education
- Religious
- Executions
- Military
- Terrorism
- Politics
- "How
Alito would shift high court on key issues: His confirmation
hearings begin in the Senate Monday." ... "Where O'Connor rejected restrictions
on abortion, Alito is likely to uphold them, legal analysts say. Where
O'Connor voted to uphold an affirmative action plan at the University of
Michigan Law School, Alito is more likely to vote with conservatives who
viewed it as an impermissible quota system. He is likely to vote to uphold
the kind of public displays of the Ten Commandments O'Connor voted last
summer to strike down, analysts say." ... "In death penalty cases he is
expected to side with conservatives who reject the "evolving standard of
decency" test embraced by O'Connor, which has made it more difficult for
states to carry out executions. He also will be more likely than O'Connor
to let stand death sentences despite claims that defense lawyers weren't
effective enough. And even though O'Connor is viewed as a reliable vote
in states' rights cases, Alito is expected to be an even stronger champion."
... "One looming question about Alito is how he might vote in cases challenging
President Bush's unilateral assertion of powers as commander in chief to
wage the war on terror." -By Warren Richey -CSMonitor
Pakistan
- Religious
- Schools
- Politics
- Terrorism
- London
bombings
- 
UK
- "Pakistan's
Islamic schools resist expulsion order: ·
Ban on foreign students followed London bombs · Leaders claim Musharraf
ruling is discriminatory." ... "Leaders of Pakistan's 13,000 madrasas have
vowed to defy a government deadline to expel foreign students by December
31, saying the regulations discriminate against religious schools." ...
"President Pervez Musharraf required Pakistan's madrasas to expel about
1,800 foreign students after the July 7 bombings in London highlighted
the extremist links of some schools. Three of the London bombers were of
Pakistani descent, and the Aldgate bomber, Shehzad Tanweer, attended a
Lahore madrasa that has since been linked to Islamist militants." -By
Imtiaz Gul -Guardian.co.uk
Oregon
- Kansas
- Religious
- Science
- Education
- [satire alert!-] "Passion
of the Spaghetti Monster." ... "Bobby Henderson is
holed up in the boonies -- Corvallis, Oregon -- hard at work on his next
entry into the fray over just what students should learn about the origin
of species." ... "When the Kansas Board of Education proposed balancing
evolution instruction by teaching intelligent design, said to be a scientific
theory that supports an "intelligent creator" of all life, the decision
outraged many, including 38
Nobel laureates (.pdf)." ... "Henderson responded with a satirical
letter
to the Kansas board demanding equal time for a different, "equally scientific"
theory of intelligent design, in which a Flying Spaghetti Monster created
the world." -By Kathleen Craig
-Wired
Government
- Law
- Military
- Terrorism
- 
Alaska
- Oil
- 
Environment
- Health
- Education
- Jobs
- Money
- "Senate
Extends Patriot Act, Kills Alaska Drilling (Update1)."
... "The U.S. Senate broke a legislative logjam and cleared the way for
its holiday departure last night with a series of short-term compromises
that extended the Patriot Act and blocked drilling for oil in Alaska's
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." ... "Democrats prevailed in getting Senate
Republican leaders to abandon the oil-drilling plan, which was attached
to the defense budget." ... "[House] Lawmakers passed a $142.5 billion
budget for health, education and jobs programs that cuts funding from last
year's spending plan, sending the measure to Bush for his signature. The
House approved the measure 215-213 on Dec. 14." ... "The health budget
reduces funding for the No Child Left Behind education initiative, special
education and job training. It freezes funding for the National Institutes
of Health and low- income heating assistance." -By
Catherine Dodge -Bloomberg
Dick
Cheney - 
Seniors
- Health
- Education
- "Senate
passes budget cuts: Cheney passes tiebreaking vote."
... "The Senate Friday morning passed a $40 billion deficit reduction bill,
but only after Vice President Cheney cast the tie-breaking vote." ... "Opponents
and supporters of the measure in the Senate were deadlocked 50-50 on the
bill, until Cheney cast the deciding vote." ... "For the first time in
eight years, the spending measure cuts funding for several entitlement
programs." ... "Programs affected include Medicaid and Medicare, and funding
for student loans." -By Greg Robb
-MarketWatch
Pennsylvania
- Religious
- Science
- Education
- "'Breathtaking
Inanity': How Intelligent Design Flunked Its Test Case:
A federal judge minces no words as he comes down against evolution's rival."
... "Intelligent design is a religious idea and a Pennsylvania school board
may not introduce it into the classroom, a federal judge ruled today. Judge
John E. Jones III ruled that the Dover Area School Board improperly introduced
religion into the classroom when it required science teachers to read a
brief statement during the 9th grade biology class telling students that
evolution was “Just a theory” and inviting them to consider alternatives.
The only alternative specifically mentioned was “intelligent design,” the
notion that life is so complex that it could not possibly have been the
work of natural selection alone and must have been the work of an unspecified
creative intelligence. “We find that the secular purposes claimed by the
Board amount to a pretext for the Board's real purpose, which was to promote
religion in the public school classroom,” Jones wrote." (1, 2)
-By Sean Scully
-TIME.com
Books
- 
Library
- Languages
- "Study:
1 In 20 Can't Read English." ... "An estimated in
one in 20 U.S. adults is not literate in English, which means 11 million
people lack the skills to perform everyday tasks, a federal study shows."
... "The 11 million adults who are not literate in English include people
who may be fluent in another language, such as Spanish, but are unable
to comprehend text in English." -AP
via -CBSNews
Government
- Education
- Money
- Seniors
- "Court:
Disabled Can't Escape Student Loans." ... "America's
seniors and disabled cannot escape debts from old student loans, the Supreme
Court ruled Wednesday, freeing the government to pursue Social Security
benefits as part of an effort to collect billions in delinquent loans."
... "The Bush administration had argued that the ability to withhold Social
Security benefits is an important tool in the pursuit of $5.7 billion in
student loan debt that is over 10 years old. Overall, outstanding loans
total about $33 billion." -By Gina Holland
-AP via -SFGate.com
Hurricane
Katrina - New
Orleans - 
Louisiana
- "First
New Orleans Public School Reopens: First New Orleans
[Louisiana] Public School Reopens, Allowing All Students to Attend Selective
Magnet School." ... "On Monday, Franklin Elementary became the first regular
public school in New Orleans to reopen since [Hurricane] Katrina devastated
the city on Aug. 29." ... "Some private schools in New Orleans began reopening
in October, but no public schools had opened, with the exception of two
charter schools that are outside the local board's control." (1, 2)-AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
World
- Education
- Parents
- People
- 
UN
- "World's
first working $100 laptop: Tech evangelist Nicholas
Negroponte wants to outfit the world's children to improve education."
... "Nick Negroponte would like to sell you a $100 laptop, especially if
you're head of state in a large developing country." ... "That's why he
is at the World Summit on the Information Society, the giant UN-sponsored
gathering that starts Wednesday in Tunis. Negroponte plans to show for
the first time a working prototype of his new device, intended for hundreds
of millions of mostly-poor students worldwide." ... "At the Media Lab at
MIT, which Negroponte founded 20 years ago, researchers are working not
only on the engineering to make such an inexpensive product possible, but
on computer interfaces to enable kids to learn without teachers, and on
a curriculum to teach them every sort of subject." -By
David Kirkpatrick -Fortune
via -CNN /Money
Pat
Robertson
- Pennsylvania
- School
- Science
- Disaster
- TV- Politics
- "Evangelist
says voters reject God: A US Christian evangelist
has told a Pennsylvania town not to ask for God's help if disaster strikes
after it voted against teaching intelligent design." ... "On Tuesday, Dover
[Pennsylvania] voters ousted the local school board, which had tried to
introduce the concept as an alternative to the theory evolution." ... "Pat
Robertson told his TV show that the town had turned its back on God." ...
""I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster
in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city,"
Mr Robertson said on The 700 Club." ... "The founder of the conservative
Christian Broadcasting Network and Christian Coalition has faced criticism
for past provocative statements." ... "Following his comments on Thursday,
Mr Robertson issued a statement saying that he was simply trying to point
out that "our spiritual actions have consequences"" ... ""If they have
future problems in Dover, I recommend they call on Charles Darwin. Maybe
he can help them.""-BBC
/News
Pennsylvania
- Religion
- Science
- Education-
"'Intelligent-design'
school board ousted in Penn." ... "Voters on Tuesday
ousted a Pennsylvania local school board that promoted an "intelligent-design"
alternative to teaching evolution, and elected a new slate of candidates
who promised to remove the concept from science classes." ... "The board
of Dover Area School District in south-central Pennsylvania lost eight
of its nine incumbents in an upset election that surprised even the challengers,
who had been hoping for a bare majority to take control of the board."
-By Jon Hurdle -Reuters
Kansas
- Science
- Education
- Politics
- "Kansas
education board downplays evolution: State school
board OKs standards casting doubt on Darwin." ... "Risking the kind of
nationwide ridicule it faced six years ago, the Kansas Board of Education
approved new public-school science standards Tuesday that cast doubt on
the theory of evolution." ... "The 6-4 vote was a victory for "intelligent
design" advocates who helped draft the standards. Intelligent design holds
that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher
power." ... "Critics of the new language charged that it was an attempt
to inject God and creationism into public schools, in violation of the
constitutional ban on state establishment of religion." ... "All six of
those who voted for the new standards were Republicans." (1, 2)
-MSNBC
New
York
- Religion
- Science-
"Cornell
president condemns intelligent design." ... "[New
York] Cornell University Interim President Hunter Rawlings III on Friday
condemned the teaching of intelligent design as science, calling it "a
religious belief masquerading as a secular idea."" ... ""Intelligent design
is not valid science," Rawlings told nearly 700 trustees, faculty and other
school officials attending Cornell's annual board meeting." ... ""It has
no ability to develop new knowledge through hypothesis testing, modification
of the original theory based on experimental results and renewed testing
through more refined experiments that yield still more refinements and
insights," Rawlings said." -By William Kates
-AP via -Newsday.com
Pennsylvania
- Parents
- Religious- School
- Politics
- Law
- "Critic
of evolution attacks scientists." ... ""The National
Academy of Sciences treats intelligent design in a way what I consider
utterly misleading. Talk about scholarly malfeasance!" said Michael Behe,
a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania." ...
"Behe also criticized the American Association for the Advancement of Science
in testimony in a federal lawsuit brought by 11 parents who are challenging
their school district for introducing intelligent design to science classes."
... "Behe personally believes the designer was God but said that belief
was not part of his intelligent design theory." -By
Jon Hurdle -Reuters.co.uk
Pakistan
- 
Earthquake
- Parents
- People
- School
- Psychology
- "Grim
future for young quake survivors: Schoolchildren
learn to cope with losing classmates." ... "Imagine being the only child
in class to survive after friends and teachers were all buried beneath
the rubble." ... "This is the scenario now facing young student Mohammad
Waseem after his school in Muzaffarabad [Pakistani-controlled Kashmir]
was destroyed by the South Asia earthquake." ... "Children were among the
hardest hit by the disaster since many were in school when the magnitude
7.6 tremor struck." -By Matthew Chance
-AP -CNN
Oregon
- Parents
- Drugs
- "Student
suspended for bringing vitamins to school in backpack."
... "Jessica Booth, a senior at Oregon City High School, is on suspension
after school officials say she brought vitamins to school without prior
notification." ... "Her mother says she thinks the school overreacted to
Jessica's over-the-counter supplements, which she says her daughter needs
for lactose intolerance." ... "Booth also claims school officials told
her that the pills could have led to arrest and jail." ... "Jessica's mother,
Michelle Booth, says she thinks the school overreacted to the vitamins,
and that threats of arrest, jail time and the five-day suspension are unwarranted."
-KATU.com
Pennsylvania
- Religion
- Science
- Education
- "Teacher
Says Board Effort on Evolution Was Resisted." ...
"Science teachers at the high school in Dover [Pennsylvania] repeatedly
resisted the school board's efforts to force them to teach creationism
on equal footing with evolution in biology class, according to a former
teacher who is among those challenging the board in a landmark trial."
... "The conflict in Dover grew so heated that in public meetings board
members called opponents "atheists," threatened to fire the science teachers
and invoked Jesus' crucifixion as a reason to change the curriculum, two
witnesses testified on Tuesday." -By Laurie Goodstein
-NYTimes
Colorado
-
-
- "Air
Force issues religious guidelines." ... "Seeking
to curb a climate at the U.S. Air Force Academy that several cadets have
said is intolerant of non-Christians, the Air Force offered new guidelines
Monday that discourage public prayer, disappointing critics who had sought
an outright ban." ... "The report on the investigation into religious insensitivity
at the academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., noted that in July 2004, an
Air Force chaplain had exhorted cadets to ask classmates about their religious
backgrounds and to warn non-Christians that they would "burn eternally
in hell."" -By John Hendren
-LAtimes via -ChicagoTribune
Colorado
- Religion
-
- "Air
Force guidelines discourage public prayer." ... "The
Air Force released guidelines for religious tolerance yesterday that discourage
public prayer at official functions and urge commanders to be sensitive
about personal expressions of religious faith." ... "The guidelines, which
apply to the entire Air Force, were created in response to allegations
that evangelical Christians wield so much influence at the Air Force Academy
in Colorado Springs [Colorado] that anti-Semitism and other forms of religious
harassment became pervasive." -By Robert Weller
-AP via -BostonGlobe
Colorado
- Religion
-
-
- "Bush
nominates new Air Force Academy leader." ... "President
Bush on Tuesday nominated Lt. Gen. John Regni to become superintendent
of the [Colorado] Air Force Academy, which has been rocked by sexual abuse
and religious insensitivity scandals in recent years." ... "If confirmed
by the U.S. Senate, Regni will replace Lt. Gen. John Rosa, 53, who plans
to retire to become president of The Citadel, his alma mater." -By
Andrea Shalal-Esa -Reuters
-
- "Abuse
found in military schools." ... "A culture that devalues
women in uniform tolerates rape and sexual harassment at the Army and Navy
academies, according to a Pentagon task force report released Thursday."
... ""When women are devalued, the likelihood of harassing and even abusive
behavior increases," said the panel of military officers and civilian experts.
It proposed wide-ranging action, from better admissions screening to revamping
antiquated military rape laws." -By Steven Komarow
-USATODAY
- 
- CA
-
-
- "Graduation
Day, Six Decades Late: Now in their 70s and 80s,
Japanese Americans interned during WWII don caps and gowns for high school
ceremony." ... "A [California] state law that took effect in January allows
high schools to issue retroactive diplomas to Japanese Americans who were
unable to complete their education because of their incarceration during
World War II." ... "Nisei, the American-born children of first-generation
Japanese immigrants to the United States, make up the largest number of
those affected by the law." -By Lisa Richardson
-LAtimes
Kansas
-
- Religion
- "Kansas
Board Advances a Draft Critical of Evolution." ...
"The State Board of Education has approved the latest draft of science
standards that include greater criticism of evolution." ... "The draft
says the board is not advocating the teaching of "intelligent design,"
which contends that some features of the natural world are best explained
by an intelligent creator, not evolution. But the language favored by the
board does come from advocates of intelligent design."
-AP via -NYTimes
Religion
-
-
- "Bush
Remarks On 'Intelligent Design' Theory Fuel Debate."
... "President Bush invigorated proponents of teaching alternatives to
evolution in public schools with remarks saying that schoolchildren should
be taught about "intelligent design," a view of creation that challenges
established scientific thinking and promotes the idea that an unseen force
is behind the development of humanity." ... "Much of the scientific establishment
says that intelligent design is not a tested scientific theory but a cleverly
marketed effort to introduce religious -- especially Christian -- thinking
to students. Opponents say that church groups and other interest groups
are pursuing political channels instead of first building support through
traditional scientific review." (1, 2)
-By Peter Baker and Peter Slevin-WashingtonPost
Connecticut
-
-
-
-
- "Conn.
Nears Strict School Junk Food Ban: Connecticut Lawmakers
on the Verge of Adopting Most Far-Reaching School Junk Food Ban in U.S."
... "Connecticut is on the verge of adopting the most far-reaching ban
in the country on soda and junk food in public schools, in an effort to
curb rising rates of childhood obesity." ... "Advocates say Connecticut's
ban would be the strongest because it is so broad, applying to all grades
and all school sites where food is sold." (1, 2)
-By Noreen Gillespie -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- "Recruiters
Go To School." ... "Pressured to meet quotas, some
U.S. military recruiters have bent or broken the rules for enticing young
people into the service. And on the eve of a day of atonement of sorts,CBS
News Correspondent Jim Acosta reports that a little-known provision
in the federal No Child Left Behind law gives these recruiters a secret
weapon when aiming to recruit high schoolers, and catch the attention of
students as young as 14." ... "What frightens some parents is that the
law also gives them access to each student's personal data, including address
and phone number." ... "Any school that doesn't comply risks losing federal
funding." (1, 2)
-CBSNews
Kansas
-
- Religion
- "Now
evolving in biology classes: a testier climate: Some
science teachers say they're encountering fresh resistance to the topic
of evolution - and it's coming from their students." ... "On Thursday,
the Science Hearings Committee of the Kansas State Board of Education begins
hearings to reopen questions on the teaching of evolution in state schools."
... "The Kansas board has a famously zigzag record with respect to evolution.
In 1999, it acted to remove most references to evolution from the state's
science standards. The next year, a new - and less conservative - board
reaffirmed evolution as a key concept that Kansas students must learn."
... "Now, however, conservatives are in the majority on the board again
and have raised the question of whether science classes in Kansas schools
need to include more information about alternatives to Darwin's theory."
... "But those alternatives, some science teachers report, are already
making their way into the classroom - by way of their students." -By
G. Jeffrey MacDonald -CSMonitor
Kansas
- Tennessee
-
-
- Religion
-
- "Evolution
on trial in Kansas." ... "Evolution is going on trial
in Kansas." ... "Eighty years after a famed courtroom battle in Tennessee
pitted religious beliefs about the origins of life against the theories
of British scientist Charles Darwin, Kansas is holding its own hearings
on what school children should be taught about how life on Earth began."
... "The Kansas Board of Education has scheduled six days of courtroom-style
hearings to begin Thursday in Topeka [Kansas]. More than two dozen witnesses
will give testimony and be subject to cross-examination, with the majority
expected to argue against teaching evolution."
-Reuters via -CNN
- Psychology
- "The
Bully Blight: Scientists find that getting picked
on is more harmful than anyone knew." ... "Bullies have lurked in hallways
and on playgrounds ever since history's first day of school, and until
recently, dealing with them was considered just another painfully useful
life lesson. But that attitude is changing. In 2002 the American Medical
Association warned that bullying is a public-health issue with long-term
mental-health consequences for both bullies and their victims. Just last
month UCLA researchers published two new studies showing that bullying
is much more widespread and harmful than anyone knew." ... "subsequently
lead to more victimization." The studies also indicate that schools take
too narrow a view of what constitutes bullying." (1, 2)
-By Michael D. Lemonick
with contributions by Elizabeth Coady, Avery Holton, Sora Song, and Sonja
Steptoe -TIME.com
-
-
- Tom
DeLay
- Florida
- Travel
- "The
Foreign Junket: Who Paid for the Malaysia Trip?"
... "On Aug. 30, 2001, then majority whip Tom DeLay, his wife, his staff
and two Florida Republican House members arrived in Malaysia on what was
billed as an educational trip." ... "A Heritage senior fellow who was on
the trip tells TIME that it wasn't Heritage. He says that Belle Haven Consultants,
a for-profit, Hong Kong-based firm linked to the Malaysian government,
played a key role. "Heritage had nothing to do with it," says the senior
fellow, former Wyoming Senator Malcolm Wallop. "Belle Haven did."" ...
"It would be a violation of House ethics rules if a group other than the
official sponsor paid for a trip for a member of Congress." -By
Massimo Calabresi
-TIME.com
Hacking
-
- "Schools
Boot Snoopy Grad Students." ... "It was a scandal
so awful that Harvard Business School rejected more than 100 applicants.
MIT called it an ethical breach. Stanford called it troubling." ... "As
CBS
News Correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports, it wasn't exactly hacking.
Someone had posted the backdoor instructions and the students accessed
their own files three weeks early."
-CBSNews
-
- Robots
- Connecticut
- "Robot
misses contest after being banned from plane." ...
"Students from the University of Evansville [Indiana] were unable to compete
in a contest in Connecticut because airline security refused to let them
board a plane with a small robot they built." ... "Students Bruce Rahman
and Chris Miller and engineering professor James Reising had planned to
fly to Hartford, Conn., on Saturday for the Trinity College Firefighting
Home Robot Contest, an annual competition with more than 100 teams from
several countries."-AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- Food
- Cloning
- Animals
- Connecticut
-"Produce
from cloned cattle 'safe': Milk and meat from cloned
cattle appear safe for human consumption, a pilot study has found." ...
"Scientists in the US and Japan found that meat and dairy products from
a bull and cow cloned using the "Dolly" technique met industry standards."
... "The team says its results suggest cloning techniques could be used
to boost food production, particularly in developing countries." ... "Two
beef and four dairy clones were used in the research, all derived from
a single Holstein dairy cow and a single Japanese black bull." ... "The
scientists, led by Jerry Yang from the University of Connecticut, compared
the produce with that from normal animals of similar age and breed."-BBC
/News
-
- 
- Robots
- "La
Vida Robot: How four underdogs from the mean streets
of Phoenix took on the best from M.I.T. in the national underwater bot
championship." ... "The robot competition (sponsored in part by the Office
of Naval Research and NASA) required students to build a bot that could
survey a sunken mock-up of a submarine - not easy stuff. The teachers had
entered the club in the expert-level Explorer class instead of the beginner
Ranger class. They figured their students would lose anyway, and there
was more honor in losing to the college kids in the Explorer division than
to the high schoolers in Ranger. Their real goal was to show the students
that there were opportunities outside West Phoenix. The teachers wanted
to give their kids hope." (1, 2,
3,
4,
5)
-By Joshua Davis -Wired
-
-
-
-
- Archives
- Secrets
- "Guarding
the Past: The Archivist's Mild Manner Belies the
Uproar Over His New Job." ... "They're: Sniping at Allen Weinstein from
ivory towers." ... "Suggesting he could become an accomplice in presidential
coverups." ... "Many historians are wondering if Weinstein will make sure
that the [National] Archives' documents of great historical value -- especially
supersensitive presidential papers -- are open and available to all scholars
or if he will engage in some sort of politically motivated subterfuge."
... "A host of historians are also disturbed by the way that Weinstein
got his job in the first place. In a surprising move, Weinstein was chosen
last spring while John Carlin -- a Clinton appointee and a former governor
of Kansas -- was still in office. Nearly two dozen professional organizations,
including the American Historical Association, cried foul. The groups worried
about "the politicization of the office," [history professor Jon] Wiener
says." ... ""My concern was about the process being subverted," says Bruce
Craig of the National Coalition for History, an advocacy group for the
profession. "There is a law." The 1984 law, which created the National
Archives and Records Administration, stipulated that the archivist will
serve an indefinite term and can be removed only if the president gives
a reason to Congress." ... "So far, President Bush has not given any reason
for Carlin's dismissal and Weinstein's appointment." ... "Some historians
suggest the ouster occured because Bush believed he might lose the 2004
election and was concerned that his father's presidential papers -- and
his own -- could fall into unfriendly hands. "All presidents want their
secrets protected," Wiener says. "It's the archivist who is in the middle.""
(1, 2,
3,
4)
-By Linton Weeks -WashingtonPost
- 
-
- Ohio
- Microsoft
- "Kill
Bill: Microsoft's army of lawyers was no match for
a kid from Kent State." ... "For the past four months, [student David]
Zamos has been fighting four high-powered attorneys. They claimed he violated
trademark and copyright laws by selling two unopened pieces of software
on eBay for $203.50." ... "Cleveland lawyers Robert Chudakoff and Edward
Simms, along with San Francisco lawyers Roy Bartlett and Cameron Alston,
allege that the sale cost Microsoft hundreds of thousands of dollars in
"irreparable damage." They demanded that Zamos hand over his eBay profits
($143.50) and cover the company's court costs and legal fees." ... "Microsoft
even went so far as to accuse Zamos of unfair competition, claiming that
his $143.50 in profits forced the company to sustain "substantial impact.""
-By Denise Grollmus -CleveScene.com
- 
-
-
- "Laura
Bush Meets Afghan Women." ... "Laura Bush says she
has been waiting a long time to tell the women of Afghanistan that American
women stand with them." ... "Mrs. Bush's plane landed on a pockmarked airstrip
at Bagram and she immediately took a helicopter to visit a teacher training
institute where Afghan women are learning basic literacy skills." ... "Million
of women and girls have returned to work and school since late 2001 with
the fall of the hardline Taliban, which banned girls from getting an education[.]"
... ""I have been so looking forward to going to Afghanistan," she told
reporters on the tarmac of the military base in suburban Maryland. "When
I really realized the plight of the women under the Taliban, I also found
that American women really stand in solidarity with the women in Afghanistan.""
-By By Deb Riechmann -AP
via -CBSNews
-
-
- Food
- "Oregon
moves to limit junk food in schools." ... "Oregon's
state legislature is considering putting limits on sales of soda pop, candy
and other junk food in public schools, saying that such food is part of
the reason that too many U.S. children are obese."
-Reuters via -CNN
-
-
-
- "Thief
steals UC-Berkeley laptop." ... "University of California-Berkeley
police are investigating the theft of a campus laptop computer containing
information on 98,000 individuals." -CNN
-
"Notre
Dame keeps Irish language alive." ... "In Ireland,
the Irish language is viewed by some affluent citizens as a peasant language
that should be allowed to fade into oblivion." ... "But at the University
of Notre Dame, where students pay nearly $40,000 a year to attend, the
little-used language is enjoying a renaissance." ... "The Keough institute,
established in 1993, allows students to examine everything from the language
to Irish history and dance. It is named for Donald Keough, an Irish-American
alumnus and former president of Coca-Cola Corp., who helped fund it and
a $13 million Keough-Notre Dame Center in Dublin, Ireland, that opened
in 1998." -AP
via -CNN
Education
- Law
- Politics
- "Nation's
Charter Schools Lagging Behind, U.S. Test Scores Reveal."
... "The first national comparison of test scores among children in charter
schools and regular public schools shows charter school students often
doing worse than comparable students in regular public schools." ... "The
findings, buried in mountains of data the Education Department released
without public announcement, dealt a blow to supporters of the charter
school movement, including the [Republican President] Bush administration."
... "The data shows fourth graders attending charter schools performing
about half a year behind students in other public schools in both reading
and math." ... "Charters are expected to grow exponentially under the new
federal education law, No Child Left Behind, which holds out conversion
to charter schools as one solution for chronically failing traditional
schools." ... ""The scores are low, dismayingly low," said Chester E. Finn
Jr., a supporter of charters and president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation,
who was among those who asked the administration to do the comparison."
... "Charters are self-governing public schools, often run by private companies,
which operate outside the authority of local school boards, and have greater
flexibility than traditional public schools in areas of policy, hiring
and teaching techniques." (1 of 2)
-By Diana Jean Schemo
-NYTimes
-
-
- "Speaking
in 'approved' tongues: Should the government be allowed
more oversight of foreign language study?" ... "As in many college departments,
intellectual independence is a theme at Columbia's Department of Middle
East and Asian Languages and Cultures." ... "An office door is decorated
with a sticker that reads "Subvert the dominant paradigm," and the topics
of faculty-authored books on display range from Iranian cinema to Israeli
literature. But some academics worry this independence may be at risk as
legislation increasing oversight of international studies programs makes
its way through Congress." ... "The bill, called the International Studies
Higher Education Act (HR 3077), reauthorizes about $80 million in funding
for international and foreign language study, but with a twist - now the
government would allocate more resources to programs that emphasize national
security." -By Kimberly Chase
-CSMonitor
-
-
- "UCLA
Denies Role in Cadaver Case: Probe Targets Director
of Willed-Body Program, Suspected Middleman." ... "The University of California
at Los Angeles denied involvement Monday in the sale of cadaver body parts
for profit after the arrest of the head of its medical school's cadaver
program and a second man over the weekend. Authorities are investigating
whether about 800 bodies donated to the program over the past six years
were illegally sawed into pieces and sold to medical research companies."
... "Henry Reid, 54, director of the university's program that makes donated
bodies available for medical education, was arrested Saturday for investigation
of grand theft for allegedly selling corpses and body parts. Ernest Nelson,
the suspected middleman, was arrested at his home in Alta Loma, Calif.,
on Sunday night on suspicion of receiving stolen property." -By
Kimberly Edds -WashingtonPost
-
- "Supreme
Court allows states to deny divinity scholarships."
... "The Supreme Court, in a new rendering on separation of church and
state, voted Wednesday to let states withhold scholarships from students
studying theology." ... "The court's 7-2 ruling held that the state of
Washington was within its rights to deny a taxpayer-funded scholarship
to a college student who was studying to be a minister. That holding applies
even when money is available to students studying anything else." ... ""Training
someone to lead a congregation is an essentially religious endeavor," Chief
Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote for the court majority. "Indeed, majoring
in devotional theology is akin to a religious calling as well as an academic
pursuit."" -AP
via -USATODAY
-
-
- "Feds
Seek U. of Michigan Abortion Records." ... "The Justice
Department is seeking abortion records from the University of Michigan
Medical Center and several other university hospitals as part of a lawsuit
over the federal ban on what critics call partial-birth abortions." ...
"The government insists it does not want specific information about patients,
only general information on abortions that were performed by the seven
plaintiffs in the case." ... "But hospitals have been reluctant to produce
the information. The University of Michigan refused several weeks ago based
on privacy grounds, spokeswoman Kallie Michels said Wednesday." -By
Dee-Ann Durbin -AP
via -Miami/Herald
-
- "France's
ban on religious symbols in schools gets approval."
... "France's lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to
ban students from wearing Islamic head scarves and other conspicuous religious
items in public schools." ... "The classroom ban, which also applies to
Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses, was approved 494 to 36. In
early March, the measure will go to the Senate, where there is little opposition."
-By Elaine Ganley -AP
via -StarTribune.com
- -
- "Army
War College article says invasion of Iraq was 'strategic error'."
... "A report published by the Army War College calls the Bush administration's
war on terrorism unfocused and says the invasion of Iraq was "a strategic
error."" ... "The research paper by Jeffrey Record, a professor at the
Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, said the president's
strategy "promises much more than it can deliver" and threatens to spread
U.S. military resources too thin. Record also wrote that Saddam Hussein's
Iraq did not present a threat to the United States and was a distraction
from the war on terrorism." -By Bob Johnson
-AP via -SFGate.com
- "France
to Ban Religious Symbols from Schools." ... "French
President Jacques Chirac has voiced support for a law which would ban the
wearing of Muslim headscarves, Christian crosses and other religious symbols
in public schools." ... "Chirac's announcement came in response to a report
published last week by a government commission, which proposed the ban
of religious symbols in the country's state-run schools. "In all conscience,
I consider that the wearing of dress or symbols which conspicuously show
religious affiliation should be banned in schools," Chirac said." ... "The
decision comes after months of debate on the role of religion in French
society and the difficulties the nation has encountered in the integration
of its five million-strong Muslim population."-DW-World.de/english
- "Inspired
by a Movie, Brothers Win a National Science Contest."
... "In the 1999 movie "October Sky," the teenage sons of coal mine workers
in rural West Virginia build rockets and improbably wind up winning a national
science contest." ... "That movie inspired two brothers from Connecticut,
the sons of a nuclear engineer and a special education teacher, who took
top honors as a team in this year's Siemens Westinghouse Math, Science
and Technology competition." -By David M. Herszenhorn
-NYTimesvia-Google-News
-
- -
"Iraq's
students say, 'Welcome back, professor'." ... "In
recent months, university presidents report that dozens of professors have
returned from exile and are looking to get their jobs back. At the US-led
Ministry of Higher Education, staffed by expatriate professors, hundreds
more have e-mailed from England, the US, and the Netherlands to inquire
about returning. They also want to offer donations and scholarships, and
to start partnerships." -By Christina Asquith
-CSMonitor
-
- "More
women aspiring to be doctors." ... "For the first
time ever, women outnumbered men among people applying to U.S. medical
schools for this fall -- a milestone in the slow but steady increase in
the number of aspiring female doctors." ... "Women have yet to surpass
the number of men actually entering medical school. Nationwide this fall,
women were closer than ever to making up the majority of new students,
constituting 49.7 percent of the entering class of more than 16,500."
-AP via -CNN
-
-
- "Web
sites vanish so fast scientific papers just can't keep up:
Disappearing links cause consternation -- it's not academic." ... "In research
described in the journal Science last month, the team [dermatologist Robert
Dellavalle and his co-workers] looked at footnotes from scientific articles
in three major journals -- the New England Journal of Medicine, Science
and Nature -- at three months, 15 months and 27 months after publication.
The prevalence of inactive Internet references grew during those intervals
from 3.8 percent to 10 percent to 13 percent." ... ""I think of it like
the library burning in Alexandria," Dellavalle said, referring to the 48
B.C. sacking of the ancient world's greatest repository of knowledge. "We've
had all these hundreds of years of stuff available by interlibrary loan,
but now things just a few years old are disappearing right under our noses
really quickly."" -By Rick Weiss-WashingtonPost
via -SFGate.com
-
- Microsoft
News - "Microsoft
Vows To Crush The Mouse That Roared." ... "A federal
jury ruled that Microsoft should pay tiny Eolas Technologies and the University
of California $521 million for infringing on their patent for sending software
applications over the Internet. But Microsoft, as is its habit, insists
that the jury verdict is not the end of the story but the beginning, that
it did nothing wrong and even if it did that the remedy is out of whack
with the wrong. This is what Microsoft often says after losing a trial
and before the inevitable appeals." -By Dan Ackman
-Forbes
-
-
- "Trust
Betrayed? School Security Tapes of Kids Undressing
Viewed on Net, Suit Says." ... "A Tennessee school district where security
cameras were installed in a middle school's locker rooms is accused of
allowing images of children changing their clothes to be viewed over the
Internet." ... "The parents of 17 children, ages 10 to 12, have filed lawsuits
in federal and state courts against the Overton County School Board and
Edutech Inc., the company that installed the cameras in the district's
Livingston Middle School. The suits seek more than $4 million in damages."
-By Dean Schabner -ABCNEWS.com
- "Research:
Teens victimized in police Explorers program:
At least a dozen teenagers assigned to work with police departments as
part of the Boy Scouts' Law Enforcement Explorers program have allegedly
been sexually abused by officers during the past year. In the past five
years, such molestations number at least 25, according to criminologists'
research being released Wednesday." ... "Law Enforcement Explorers is a
co-ed program affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America. The broader scouts
Exploring program also places 14- to 20-year-olds with firefighters, medical
providers, lawyers and others to learn about those careers. In 2002, about
43,000 Explorers were assigned to police and sheriff's departments around
the United States." -AP
via -CNN
-
"Backlash
brews over rising cost of college." ... "Anew, feisty
mood appears to be developing in Congress toward higher education, a quest
for accountability on cost and quality not seen in recent memory." ...
"Take Howard "Buck" McKeon. For years, the Republican congressman from
California has watched the price of higher education race ahead of inflation,
and he aims to slow it down -somehow." ... "In March, he floated the idea
of a new college-affordability index that would track tuition increases.
Any institutions that raised tuition more than twice the rate of inflation
two years in a row would see their eligibility cut for federal student
aid." -By Mark Clayton
-CSMonitor
- "Paper
finds Air Force Academy negligence." ... "The board
overseeing the Air Force Academy heard reports of sexual assaults and misconduct
20 years ago, but its yearly reports remained positive, The Denver Post
reported in Sunday editions." ... "A review of 25 years of records by the
academy's 15-member Board of Visitors, charged with presiding over morale
and discipline at the academy, found that members did not pursue reports
of sexual assaults and asked few questions."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
- "Iran
dissidents raise their voices: An influential
group of Iranian dissidents have issued an unprecedented declaration defending
the right to criticise their leaders." ... "Following five nights of violent
protests around Tehran University, the 248 reformists said the people of
Iran had "the right to fully supervise the action of their rulers"." ...
""Sitting or making individuals sit in the position of divine and absolute
power is a clear heresy towards God and a clear affront to human dignity,"
said the strongly-worded statement."-BBC/News
- "Iran
student protests spread to other cities." ... "Anti-regime
protests in Tehran, led by students, have spread to other cities, while
Iran's Islamic establishment has slammed US support for the demonstrators
as interference in the country's internal affairs." ... "Domestic media
on Sunday reported gatherings by thousands of students and other people
in the cities of Isfahan, Shiraz and Ahvaz in support of the Tehran protests."
-By Najmeh Bozorgmehr
-FT.com
-
- "Police
arrest hard-line militants following violent raids on Tehran student dormitory."
... "Police on Saturday arrested dozens of pro-clergy militants who smashed
their way into university dormitories and beat up sleeping students in
a wave of violence aimed at putting down protests against Iran's Islamic
government." ... "The arrests appeared to be an attempt by Iran's ruling
hard-line clerics to rein in their militant supporters, reflecting fears
that the violence might only stoke the past week's anti-government protests,
which were the largest in months." -By Ali Akbar Dareini
-AP via -SFGate.com
-
- "Tehran's violent
protests spread." ... "A third night of student protests
outside Tehran University's dormitories exploded early on Friday into the
surrounding middle-class neighborhoods, with large gangs of students fighting
running street battles against vigilantes armed with sticks and chains."
... "At one major intersection, demonstrators hurled bricks at trucks of
riot policemen who were rushing to lift barricades and douse fires that
protesters had ignited in the streets. The protesters chanted "Death to
Khamenei" a slogan that can bring a jail term in this country, where Ayatollah
Sayed Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme religious leader, goes unquestioned."
-By Neil MacFarquhar-NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
- "U.S. is behind
protests, Iranian cleric asserts: Khameni says
no mercy will be shown" ... "Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme
cleric, accused the United States on Thursday of trying to foment disorder
in the Islamic Republic, warning after a second night of protests outside
Tehran University that the government would show no mercy toward those
acting in the interests of foreign powers." ... "The sudden appearance
of hundreds of protesters on the capital's streets, although disorganized
and insignificant in number, evidently contributed to a case of jitters
within some circles in Iran's jigsaw of a government." ... "The unease
was certainly increased by the fact that opposition-run Persian language
television stations beamed into Iran from the United States helped swell
the protests by calling on people to go out into the streets, although
their reports on the numbers and the extent of the demonstrations proved
wildly exaggerated." -By Neil MacFarquhar
-NYTimes via -IHT.com
- "The
University of California Names Insider as President."
... "The University of California Board of Regents today chose an insider,
Robert C. Dynes, to be the new president of the nine-campus university
system. For the last seven years, Dr. Dynes has been chancellor at the
University of California at San Diego." ... "Dr. Dynes, 60, a physicist
from Canada who once considered a career as a professional hockey player,
will succeed Richard C. Atkinson, who announced last fall that he would
retire in October 2003. Dr. Dynes will step into what is considered one
of the most influential and prestigious jobs in public education. The system,
the nation's largest, has 192,000 students and 157,000 faculty and staff
members." -By Dean E. Murphy
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
- "Dallas
teen wins National Spelling Bee." ... "A 13-year-old
eighth-grader from Dallas nailed "pococurante" to win the 76th Scripps
Howard National Spelling Bee on Thursday." ... "It was Sai Gunturi's fourth
time in the competition." ... ""I studied it," a beaming Sai said of the
word after winning the contest, $12,000 and other prizes. "That's why I
was kind of laughing." The word means indifferent or nonchalant." -By
Darlene Superville -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
-
- "4
students to pay fines for 'Napsterlike' sites." ...
"Four college students will pay the major music labels fines ranging from
$12,000 to $17,000 each for sharing music on campus networks, the first
time file-swapping individuals have agreed to pay damages to the music
industry for copyright violations." ... "Students at Princeton, Michigan
Tech and Rensselaer were sued in early April for setting up what the Recording
Industry Association of America called "Napsterlike" internal networks
that shared up to 1 million songs on campus servers. The RIAA asked for
$150,000 a song; the four settled out of court Thursday for $60,000." -By
Jefferson Graham -USATODAY
- -
- "Recording
industry targets users of Kazaa, Grokster with warnings."
... "The Recording Industry Association of America, a trade association,
will collect the user names of those it suspects are offering copyright
material with the Kazaa and Grokster file-sharing services, RIAA President
Cary Sherman told reporters during a conference call Tuesday." ... "He
called the effort "educational" and said "there's no enforcement connected
to this."" ... "In a separate action, the RIAA has sued four college students
who allegedly offered more than 1 million recordings over the Internet,
demanding damages of $150,000 per song." -By Alex
Veiga -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Higher
Espionage: The CIA finds a warmer reception
on campus since 9/11, as it openly seeks scholars' expertise. But critics
say such close ties compromise academic values." ... "The promise of closer
university/CIA ties is a better-informed government, perhaps resulting
in a US foreign policy that is wiser or more grounded. But concerns abound
- especially when it comes to preserving the standard of scholarly objectivity
and meeting the CIA's demand for secrecy." ... "... many on campus voice
concern about the lifetime secrecy agreements scholars must sign in order
to see classified material. From then on, they must submit for agency review
anything that bears on the topics covered by the pact." -By
Mark Clayton -CSMonitor
-
- "4
Top Officers at Air Force Academy Are Replaced."
... "The Air Force is replacing the four top officers in charge of its
academy in Colorado Springs, officials announced today, after a scandal
in which dozens of women attending the academy said they were raped and
accused the institution of systematically punishing victims who came forward."
... "The decision to remove the academy's top officers so publicly surprised
even critics of the Air Force, who have been watching as accusations accumulated
that the academy failed to protect women from sexual assault and instead
investigated the victims for wrongdoing. Three military investigations
of the academy are being held, and the response to the women who said they
were raped is to come under public scrutiny in Congressional hearings."
(1, 2)
-By Diana Jean Schemo
-NYTimes via -Google-News
- "Male
and Female Cadets To Be Separated in Dorms:
Air Force Implementing Other Changes at Academy." ... "The top two leaders
of the Air Force yesterday outlined for the first time steps they expect
to take in response to a sexual misconduct crisis at the Air Force Academy
-- among them, separating the dormitory rooms of male and female cadets."
... "Air Force Secretary James G. Roche and Gen. John P. Jumper, the Air
Force's chief of staff, said they also intend to start providing victims
of sexual assault with individual counselors who would track the handling
of complaints." ... "But the idea of segregating the academy's dormitories
by gender drew criticism from rape counselors and specialists in sexual
violence in the military, who suggested it could prove counterproductive."
-By Bradley Graham -WashingtonPost
-
- "As
budgets shrink, class sizes expand." ... "From California
to Florida, states are on the verge of rolling back what was once thought
to be the most promising frontier of education reform: smaller class sizes."
... "Five years ago, when surpluses were the rule on Capitol Hill and across
the nation, President Clinton pledged $12 billion to the idea. A year earlier,
California alone promised $800 million. Yet now, states pinched by shrinking
budgets are looking for programs to cut, and class-size initiatives are
among the first on the chopping block." -By Mark Sappenfield
-CSMonitor
-
- "Adult aggression,
children’s TV tied: Long-term study links violence
and television." ... "Both boys and girls who watch a lot of violence on
television have a heightened risk of aggressive adult behavior including
spouse abuse and criminal offenses, no matter how they act in childhood,
a new study says." ... "The analysis argued against the idea that aggressive
children seek out TV violence, or that the findings were due to the participants’
socioeconomic status or intelligence, or their parents’ childrearing practices."
-AP via -MSNBC
-
-
-
- [PDF]
- "Longitudinal
Relations Between Children's Exposure to TV Violence and Their Aggressive
and Violent Behavior in Young Adulthood: 1977-1992."
Abstract: "Although the relation between TV-violence viewing and aggression
in childhood has been clearly demonstrated, only a few studies have examined
this relation from childhood to adulthood, and these studies of children
growing up in the 1960s reported significant relations only for boys. The
current study examines the longitudinal relations between TV-violence viewing
at ages 6 to 10 and adult aggressive behavior about 15 years later for
a sample growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. Follow-up archival data (N
450) and interview data (N 329) reveal that childhood exposure
to media violence predicts young adult aggressive behavior for both males
and females. Identification with aggressive TV characters and perceived
realism of TV violence also predict later aggression. These relations persist
even when the effects of socioeconomic status, intellectual ability, and
a variety of parenting factors are controlled." -By
L. Rowell Huesmann, Jessica Moise-Titus, Cheryl-Lynn Podolski, and Leonard
D. Eron -Developmental
Psychology via -APA.org /Journals
- "Net
speed record smashed: Scientists have set a
new internet speed record by transferring 6.7 gigabytes of data across
10,978 kilometres (6,800 miles), from Sunnyvale in the US to Amsterdam
in Holland, in less than one minute." ... "Using a quantity of data equivalent
to two feature-length DVD-quality movies, the transfer was accomplished
at an average speed of more than 923 megabits per second, or more than
3,500 times faster than a typical home broadband connection." ... "The
data were sent across the Internet2 network. This is operated by a consortium
of 200 universities working in a worldwide effort to develop and deploy
tomorrow's internet." -By Dr David Whitehouse
-BBC/News
- 
-
- "Students,
teachers protest in Iowa." ... "Students on college
campuses and high schools across Iowa led anti-war rallies, skipped class
or walked out early in a show of unity with classmates demonstrating nationwide
Wednesday." ... "Poets and speakers condemned President Bush’s threat to
use military force to disarm and oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein."
-AP via -QCTimes
-
-
-
- "At
Tufts, elder Bush defends US Iraq policy." ... "Defending
his own stewardship of the 1991 conflict, Bush said the coalition that
aligned against Iraq then would have crumbled if the US had decided to
march into Baghdad to remove Saddam Hussein from power. If that had happened,
the world would not have witnessed the gains made in the 1990s in the Middle
East peace process, Bush told a crowd of 4,800 in the Gantcher Center gymnasium."
-By Marcella Bombardieri
-Boston/Globe
-
-
- "Newspaper:
Texas Tech professor carried plague on airlines."
... "The Texas Tech University researcher accused of lying to the FBI about
missing vials of plague bacteria repeatedly carried live samples of the
germ aboard commercial airliners, a newspaper reported." ... "Butler is
charged with falsely reporting as missing 30 vials of the potentially lethal
plague bacteria that he actually had destroyed. News of the supposedly
missing vials last month triggered a terrorism alert."
-AP via -CNN
- "USF
professor accused of terrorist sympathies, others arrested."
... "A University of South Florida professor previously accused of having
terrorist ties was arrested early Thursday by federal agents, one of several
people arrested in Tampa, Chicago and overseas, authorities said." ...
"The university ... [has] claimed the professor raised money for terrorist
groups, brought terrorists into the United States, and founded organizations
that support terrorism." -By Rachel La Corte
-AP via -Miami/Herald
-
- Accounting
News - "Bush's
Budget to Favor Military, Education: Proposal
Projects a Record Deficit." ... "Among the previously undisclosed spending
plans in Bush's 2004 budget are $100 million for the State Department to
advance democracy, literacy and economic opportunity in the Middle East,
and $756 million for school choice programs, including a plan for a pilot
school voucher program in the District, according to sources briefed on
the budget." ... "He calls for growth of $30.5 billion in spending that
is subject to Congress's annual appropriations process. The military would
get about $15 billion of that, and homeland security would get $4 billion."
... "The White House projects a $307 billion deficit for this fiscal year,
and $304 billion next year." -By Mike Allen and Jonathan
Weisman -WashingtonPost
Microsoft
News -
- "Apple
Lashes Out at Microsoft Settlement." ... "In reaction
to the Redmond, Wash., software giant's $1.1 billion settlement of a California
class-action case, Apple Computer Inc. Monday night issued a statement
criticizing the settlement proposal." ... "As part of the settlement announced
last Friday, Microsoft pledged to donate two-thirds of the unclaimed funds—in
the form of vouchers—to California schools, with one-third of the unclaimed
funds going back to Microsoft." ... "Apple contends that in these types
of cases, "fewer than 25 percent of customers redeem these types of vouchers."
The Microsoft vouchers are available to customers who purchased Microsoft
software between 1995 and 2001. The vouchers range in value from $5 to
$29, depending on the product purchased." (1, 2)
-By Darryl K. Taft -eWEEK
Eliot
Spitzer - OPINION
- "Eliot
Spitzer vs. the Chicago Boys: Corporate crooks,
dirty air, pricey drugs -- they're all the doing of the University of Chicago's
free-marketeers, says N.Y.'s Attorney General." ... "As a voice of laissez-faire
economics, the University of Chicago has shaped much of the dialogue over
market regulation in recent years, starting with Ronald Reagan's Administration
in 1980. Free markets, the theory goes, will correct most excesses by making
it impossible for those guilty of bad behavior to survive. "They've said
that intervention by...government is wrong," Spitzer said. "But they haven't
taken into account that markets can have structural flaws."" ... "For example,
environmental polluters are not being punished by the market, he charged,
and that means all of society pays the price for pollution. Relying on
the market to fairly price prescription drugs has also failed, he insisted,
since some severely ill people rely so much on one particular drug that
they will pay anything to get it." -By Heather Timmons
-BusinessWeek/Daily
-
- "Ex-Regents
official: U of Iowa should pay president more." ...
"The University of Iowa president’s salary is “severely limiting the pool
of people that will apply for the job,” former president of the Board of
Regents said." ... "The salary of $281,875, puts Iowa next to last among
public schools in the Big Ten Conference, after the Indiana University
at Bloomington, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac."
... "Mark Yudof, the president of the University of Texas system, was among
the highest-compensated university leaders last year. More than half of
his $787,319 in salary and benefits comes from private sources."
-AP via -QCTimes
-
- "High schools
give it up for Pentagon: Law requires giving
recruiters access to juniors, seniors." ... "A little-noticed provision
in a new federal education law is requiring high schools to hand over to
military recruiters some key information about their juniors and seniors:
name, address and phone number." ... "The No Child Left Behind law, signed
last January, pumps billions into education but also gives military recruiters
access to the names, addresses and phone numbers of students in 22,000
schools. The law also says that schools must give the military the same
access to their campuses that businesses and college recruiters enjoy."
... "Students and parents who oppose the law can keep their information
from being turned over to the military, but they must sign and return an
“opt-out” form." -By Ken Maguire
-AP via -MSNBC
- "Global
goofs: U.S. youth can't find Iraq: Young Americans
may soon have to fight a war in Iraq, but most of them can't even find
that country on a map, the National Geographic Society said Wednesday."
... "The society survey found that only about one in seven -- 13 percent
-- of Americans between the age of 18 and 24, the prime age for military
warriors, could find Iraq. The score was the same for Iran, an Iraqi neighbor."-AP
via -CNN
- "Penn.
bill to require pledge in schools: Students
in private and public schools would be required to recite the Pledge of
Allegiance or sing the national anthem each morning under a bill unanimously
passed this week by the state Senate." -AP
via -CNN
Environment
-FAQs - FindLaw
- Google>Directory
>Groups -
HardinMD
- IPL - LII
- LookSmart -
MiningCo/About
- RDN.ac.uk - RefDesk
- ScoutReport
-VLib - WebRing
- Yahoo.
- "U.S.
soldiers train for battle in streets of Iraq." ...
"Since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Pentagon has been preparing soldiers
and Marines to fight battles in villages, towns and cities. Those cluttered
landscapes had been largely ignored as a training ground since the days
of World War II, when GIs slugged their way across Europe by seizing hundreds
of hamlets in close combat with the German Army." ... "The reason for the
renewed focus: By the end of this decade, three-quarters of the world's
population will live in metropolitan areas. And that's where the U.S. military's
top commanders expect to fight, in part because no conventional army would
want to battle America's high-tech, smart-bomb equipped force in the open."
... "At bases from Fayetteville, N.C. to Seattle, the Army and Marines
have built scale models of downtown areas to simulate the complexities
of urban fighting. Several blocks in size, these artificial cities are
used to teach soldiers and Marines a range of skills, from how to spot
booby-trapped buildings to fighting enemies who would have no qualms about
using civilians as human shields." -By Dave Moniz
-USATODAY
IA-
"Iowa
ranks last in poll of testing standards." ... "Iowa
has the worst educational testing standards in the country, according to
a national study released Tuesday." ... "The goal of statewide testing
standards is to improve student achievement; however, Iowa students typically
score better than the national norm on standardized tests." ... "The state
prefers to spend money on improving teacher quality than on developing
and administering statewide performance tests, Stilwill said." Ted Stilwill
is Iowa's education department director. -By Kathy
A. Bolten -DesMoinesRegister
/ News