A rare glimmer of optimism

Read here. Have a nice Sunday.

VERY REVEALING CLINTON RHINEBECK WEDDING PHOTO

OTHER CLINTON-MEZVINSKY WEDDING NEWS HERE.

DEMS TO HOLD FUNDRAISER BY HONORING BLAGOJEVICH

ONLY KIDDING.

NOT BLAGO; CHARLIE RANGEL.

WHAT FREEEEEEKIN' AMORAL IDIOTS.

BUT I GUESS IT'S TO BE EXPECTED OF FOLKS WHO STILL ADMIRE BJ CLINTON AND CONSIDER PELOSI AND REID AND BARNEY FRANK AND CHRIS DOOD TO BE RESPECTABLE.

"THE BICYCLE THIEF" SCREENWRITER DIES

Suso Cecchi d'Amico, the favourite screenwriter of director Luchino Visconti best known for her work on "Bicycle Thieves" and "The Leopard", died in Rome aged 96, Italy's ANSA news agency reported Saturday.

RIP.

Secretary Duncan and Race to the Top

Jim Horn


Arne Duncan stood before the NAACP convention last week to repeat his claim that "education is the civil rights issue of our generation." He also declared "the only way to equality in society is to achieve equality in the classroom." Since Mr. Duncan did not spell out what he meant by equality or civil rights, let's see if we can extrapolate his meaning from the policies he is pushing hard to be adopted across America, even if his heavy-handed forcing means ignoring the lawful Congressional role in making federal education policy. 





Apparently, Mr. Duncan does not believe that the equality shortage in classrooms that we have known about ever since poor children started going to school can be helped by fair housing policies, better transportation policies, improved health policies, or new jobs policies, any of which we know could affect the poverty levels of urban and rural America, where rates are now the highest, after taxes, of any industrialized nation. According to Mr. Duncan, it would seem that policy shifts or new efforts in these areas are unimportant, for it is "only" in the classroom that we may hope to achieve equality. 





Well, what kind of equality in the classroom would that be? Apparently, it is first and foremost a segregated kind of equality, a segregation that is aided by the spread of charter schools, which remains a top priority of the Administration. Two studies last year, in fact, showed incontrovertible evidence for the segregative effects of charter schools, whether run by non-profit or for-profit corporations. 





So by ignoring segregation within charters, we must assume that the kind of equality that Mr. Duncan is talking about does not depend upon the sharing of social and cultural capital that occurs when socioeconomic classes are educated together, and it is the kind of equality that apparently pays no attention to the facility and funding advantages accrued when middle class parents lend their voices to decisions within the schooling community. 





Secondly, it has become a harsh, punishing kind of equality centered on remediation, ever since the "let a thousand flowers bloom approach to charters" has been replaced by an urgency to ramp up and bring to scale the "no excuses" KIPP schools and the KIPP behave-alikes. In these "no excuses" schools, equality demands total compliance by children who go to school nine or more hours a day and then have 2 to 3 hours of homework each night. Plus Saturdays and part of the summer. In order to be equal in these school and, thus, make up for the poverty that puts these students behind, they must be willing to give up their childhoods, family, and friends for a chance at passing the necessary tests that may or may not prepare them for college some day. For even though the "no excuses" chain gangs remain the dominant model for corporate education reform, we know very little about how these children will fare in independent learning environments after years of total compliance and behavioral/psychological modification. 





Thirdly, it is the kind of equality that denies the importance of the other massive inequalities within the communities where these poor children live. It is the kind of equality that does nothing to aid the child who must dodge bullets on the way home from a 9-hour school day, or who must return home to find nothing to eat. It is the kind of equality that refuses to enroll a child whose parents are not willing to sacrifice their child to a schooling regimen that parents of the leafy suburbs would consider abusive to children if it were their own being subjected to it. 





Fourthly, it is the kind of equality that depends upon assessments that put poor children at a great disadvantage all along the line, for there is no standardized test used in schools today, whether in third or thirteenth grade, that does not demonstrate, on average, a direct correlation between family income and testing outcomes. 





In short, it is the kind of equality that depends upon a race that has many starting lines but only one finish line, a race wherein the hordes of losers claim their place among those who deserve to be the "unequal," children who will be dropped out, pushed out, and eventually forgotten behind the walls of the workhouses and correctional facilities that mark the destination in the school to prison pipeline. 





If Arne Duncan's views on equality are evidenced in his actions, it leaves us with a troubling realization. For to understand that for Mr. Duncan to be right in saying that "education is the civil rights issue of this generation," we must stand shamefaced in admitting that civil rights now demands from equality what we previously could expect only from oppression.

Jim Horne,

From Susan Ohanian’s post.

ANOTHER HORRIBLE MEMBER OF THE GOLDSTONE STAFF

The Jewish Chronicle writes about German judge Christian Tomuschat, another of Goldstone's loathsome cronies:

German judge Christian Tomuschat is facing increased pressure to step down as head of the UN panel charged with reviewing the implementation of the Goldstone report's demands.

Critics say Mr Tomuschat has already likened Israel's self-defence actions to "state terrorism", and thus cannot provide an unbiased assessment of whether Israel and Hamas have properly investigated and then tried those alleged to have committed war crimes during Operation Cast Lead.

Mr Tomuschat, professor emeritus at Humboldt University, Berlin, was named this summer as head of the panel, which is to submit its report in October. The other members of the committee are attorney and special UN rapporteur Param Cumaraswamy of Malaysia and former New York State Supreme Court Justice Mary McGowan Davis.

At issue are Mr Tomuschat's past statements on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a 2002 essay on responses to terrorism, he wrote - commenting on Israel's military response to terrorist attacks - that a state that orders retaliation against "presumed terrorists" knowing civilians might be killed "deserve[s] the same blame as those targeted by them".

[...]Hillel Neuer, director of the Geneva-based NGO, UN Watch, said that he should indeed step down.

"A panel tasked with assessing the effectiveness of Israel's war crimes investigations, headed by someone who has already made up his mind and declared himself on this precise question - against Israel - is not only absurd but a travesty of justice."

The appointment of an open critic of Israel is further evidence, he said, of an anti-Israel bias on the UN Human Rights Council, which includes as members states that are dictatorships, are implicated in genocide or otherwise have shady records on human rights.

[...]

In his 2002 essay, Mr Tomaschut also suggested that the victim of a terror attack might be to blame for his own suffering: "Any state under terrorist attack should "analyse its own conduct and ask itself whether it has made mistakes which have given rise to frustration, hatred and despair."

No doubt this awful man also harbors more than a considerable amount of anti-Americanism, since many of the same people who hold these sentiments towards Israel have the same ones towards America.

We have another example of a German who's failed to learn from the grave crimes committed by his predecessors, and a man who has no business being involved in politics. And yet another example of how the UN is worthless. Tomuschat should definitely step down, but probably won't.

A TED KENNEDY MONUMENT TO BE BUILT IN THE KOPECHNE CEMETERY

A TED KENNEDY MONUMENT IN THE KOPECHNE CEMETERY?

IT WOULD BE NO MORE DISTASTEFUL THAN THE GROUND ZERO MOSQUE.

IF MUSLIMS CAN BUILD A MOSQUE AT GROUND ZERO, THEN THE KKK MIGHT AS WELL BURN A CROSS AT THE LORRAINE MOTEL.

THE PICTURE WE ALL CAN'T WAIT TO SEE: THE CHARLIE RANGLEL PERP WALK

DOES THE EMIR OF LONDONISTAN - (AKA PRINCE CHARLES) - THINK HE'S THE MAHDI?

APPARENTLY.

ANTI-JIHAD/ANTI-INTIFADA MOVE FROM SARKOZY: WANTS TO STRIP CITIZENSHIP FROM FOREIGN BORN WHO THREATEN COPS

BBC:

President Nicolas Sarkozy said French nationality should be stripped from anyone of foreign origin who threatened the life of a police officer.

He said nationality should be revoked from people who "threatens the life of a police officer or anybody involved in public policing".

Mr Sarkozy made the comments in Grenoble, which saw clashes between police and rioters earlier this month.

At least 50 cars were burnt and police were fired on.

The violence began after a local man died while fleeing police, after allegedly robbing a casino.

THE "LOCAL MAN" WAS A MUSLIM AND THOSE WHO RIOTED WERE MUSLIMS.

STRIPPING CITIZENSHIP FROM THESE ISLAMOTHUGS IS A GOOD MOVE.

THEY DON'T BELONG IN THE WEST; THEY'RE ONLY HERE TO OVERTHROW OUR CIVILIZATION AND REPLACE IT WITH SHARIA.

Ever downwards towards Depression

A good analysis of the ever deepening economic crisis appears in the Asian Times this morning, titled "Unholy trinity sets up bank failures" written by Chan Akya which may be read from this link.

Another worthwhile weekend or summer holiday article of note is in the American Spectator, linked here and titled "America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution". I found one particular comment to this article very apt as follows:

Cincinnatius| 7.16.10 @ 3:34PM

Here, here! The apathy/ignorance of the America electorate over decades has allowed the formation of a "political caste" in America. Another way to describe it might be a "political peerage", which I find interesting considering the repugnance that most Americans have for the concept of "better by birth", though many Europeans readily accept the premise. Somehow, Americans forgot the principle espoused and endorsed by Washington, "power comes from the consent of the governed." Now, those in power are more inclined to tell us to sit down and shut up, we know what is best for you, like a parent often tells an unruly child who is throwing a fit for something he doesn't need. Perhaps it is time the American people started acting like rebellious teens, who are often ready to throw the baby with the bath water in order to assert independence. I know one thing, we can't continue to allow our "betters" to act with impunity. Plato said it best, "Either be interested in politics or be ruled by your inferiors."

ATTATURK TATTOOS ON THE RISE IN TURKEY

AL ARABIYA/DUBAI:

Tattoos of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s signature, founder of the modern day secular Turkey, is becoming more of a popular choice among secular Turks.

“This tattoo is getting more and more popular every day, especially among young people,” Murat Arti, a tattoo artist and the owner of Tattoo Murat in the Sisli district of Istanbul, told the UAE-based THE NATIONAL newspaper.

“They think the government is trying to make them forget Ataturk. The government is even trying to change the constitution now.”

IS IT A SIGN OF THE TIMES OR TOO LITTLE TOO LATE?

TEA PARTY VIOLENCE - IN RED CHINA!?

NYTIMES:

A blast rocked a local tax office in central China, killing at least four people and injuring 19, in what police say appeared to be a deliberate attack, the official Xinhua news agency said Saturday.

Friday afternoon's explosion occurred at a district tax office in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, Xinhua said.

Initial investigations showed the explosion was a planned attack, Xinhua cited the city's police department as saying in a statement.

China is struggling to contain social tensions, and anger over issues ranging from the cost of health care to a rapidly widening rich-poor gap in the past has exploded into violence.

UPDATE:

Four people have been killed and 19 injured in a blast at a tax office in central China that police say appeared to be a deliberate attack

PEOPLE EVERYWHERE JUST WANNA BE FREE.

WE DID THIS TO BRITAIN IN THE 18TH CENTURY, AND IT MAY HAVE TO HAPPEN AGAIN IN THE USA, EUROPE - AND EVEN CHINA.

WHO HATES ARIZONA'S ANTI-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION LAW? COMMIES AND RECONQUISTAS

DONALD HAS THE SCOOPS:

• Communist ANSWER Coalition Spearheads Immigration Protests in Phoenix — Special Forum Edition, 'Moments With Fidel'

• Protesters Raise Mexican Flag Outside Phoenix Jailhouse

A CORRUPTOCRATIC TWOFER: MAXINE WATERS TO GET CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS TRIAL, TOO - (ALONG WITH RANGEL)

HOT AIR:

Or is it?

The back-to-back trials of a pair of black lawmakers represent an unprecedented use of an ethics adjudication system that has rarely been used by House members accused of breaking House rules…

POLITICO first reported earlier this week that the committee was expected to unveil its charges against Waters before leaving town for the recess.

Her decision to go to trial appears to have postponed the release of the committee’s formal charging document, called a “Statement of Alleged Violation.”…

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have complained that the OCE has unfairly and disproportionately targeted them, and many have signed onto a legislative effort to de-fang the office.

Smart play by Waters to force a trial. With the Rangel case already on the national radar and the CBC unhappy that its members are in the crosshairs, she probably figures, with good reason, that it’s unlikely the ethics committee will come down hard on her. Which raises the question: Can this clusterfark get any worse for Democrats? My friends, it can.

WE POSTED ON MAXINE'S CORRUPT WAYS WAY BACK OVER A YEAR AGO:

Thursday, March 12, 2009

ANOTHER CORRUPT DEMOCRAT LIBERAL CONGRESSPERSON EXPOSED: MAXINE WATERS

NYTIMES:

Top federal regulators say they were taken aback when they learned that a California congresswoman who helped set up a meeting with bankers last year had family financial ties to a bank whose chief executive asked them for up to $50 million in special bailout funds.

Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, requested the September meeting on behalf of executives at One- United, one of the nation’s largest black-owned banks.

Ms. Waters’s husband, Sidney Williams, had served on the bank’s board until early last year and has owned at least $250,000 of its stock.

Treasury officials said the session with nearly a dozen senior banking regulators was intended to allow minority-owned banks and their trade association to discuss the losses they had incurred from the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

But Kevin Cohee, OneUnited’s chief executive, instead seized the opportunity to plead for special assistance for his bank, federal officials said.

“Here you had a tiny community bank that comes in and they are not proposing a broader policy — they were asking for help for themselves,” said Stephen Lineberry, a former Treasury aide who attended the meeting. “I don’t remember that ever happening before.”

Ms. Waters declined on Tuesday to comment on the meeting, or to say whether her husband still owned shares of OneUnited.

THIS ISN'T THE FIRST TIME SHE'S BEEN IMPLICATED IN A SCANDAL:

LOS ANGELES - Rep. Maxine Waters family members earned more than $1 million in the last eight years doing business with candidates, companies and causes she helped, a newspaper reported Sunday. Waters' daughter and son pocketed fees from campaigns endorsed by the congresswoman while her husband worked for a bond underwriting firm that received government business from her political allies, the Los Angeles Times reported. Waters, an influential Democratic lawmaker since 1990, whose district includes parts of Los Angeles, would not answer detailed questions on the business dealings, insisting her family's fortunes were kept apart from her political activities.

. . . The Waters' close financial ties are not expressly prohibited by state laws or congressional ethics rules. The Times reported that Waters and her children are linked through a political organization called L.A. Vote that publishes an election mailer listing campaigns she endorsed. Some candidates are included free of charge, while others pay tens of thousands of dollars, it said.

. . . Of the $1.7 million that L.A. Vote collected in the last eight years, nearly $450,000 went to Waters' daughter, Karen Waters, and her consulting firm, public disclosure reports show. About $115,000 was paid to the congresswoman's son. Waters' husband, Sidney Williams, was paid nearly $500,000 for consulting work with Siebert, Brandford & Shank, a municipal bond company, and with politicians his wife supports, public records show. The Times reported that Williams helped the company win a $40 million school bond sale approved by school board members that paid Waters' mailer operation to advertise her endorsement.

AT THE VERY LEAST, SHE AND RANGEL AND MURTHA AND DODD AND REID AND PELOSI AND EMANUEL SHOULD BE CENSURED FOR THEIR CORRUPTION.

THE DEMOCRAT PARTY HAS BECOME NOTHING MORE THAN A COALITION OF THE CORRUPT AND THE GULLIBLE.

A Disappearing Way of Life

When a city is hugely dependent on a single industry and has been for almost a century, it is a hard blow when that industry decamps. Even though symptoms have been widely available and acknowledged of that very withdrawal. The Detroit-Windsor joint reliance on vehicle manufacturing by the Big Three of the North American automotive industry had a good, long run. It made for reliable employment on both sides of the Canada-U.S. divide.

When the automotive monopoly of North-American built vehicles came to a shuddering halt after the introduction of foreign imports whose quality was far superior to that of the North American models and the purchasing public lost its loyalty to the North American brand, and the foreign-owned competitors began opening manufacturing plants and employing North American workers, the writing was on the wall.

Add to that sorry little tale the complication of an industry hit with the double-whammy of consumer disinterest and a failing economy worldwide, and the recipe for disaster ensued. And then, both the United States and Canada stepped up to the plate to rescue companies whose importance to the economy was too great to allow them to flounder. Investing billions of tax dollars to keep General Motors and Chrysler afloat.

What an immense relief; valuable jobs in a still-viable, albeit friable industry, saved. And then, a year later, the rescue package gone slightly stale, even while the company is on the road to recovery, General Motors closes down its Canadian branch operations. Windsor now has another shuttered factory, this one laying off 500 dedicated workers at its transmission factory. Sad faces; some early retirements, far more unemployed.

A day later a beaming Barack Obama announces his administration's pleasure, from Detroit, at General Motors' commitment to re-building its traditional presence in the city. Bringing back employment to a depressed sector of the economy. All those billions that the U.S. Treasury committed to rescuing General Motors paying off quite handsomely.

How utterly irksome.

Cool limousines

92 Stunning Sand Sculptures