U.N. must respond to humanitarian need, or everyone refusing support is guilty of MURDER!

AP
U.N. seeks $1.7M to feed Iraqi refugees

By SARAH DiLORENZO, Associated Press Writer Thu Mar 15, 1:56 AM ET

UNITED NATIONS - The World Food Program has launched an appeal for $1.7 million to help feed tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees who are continue to arrive in
Syria and increasingly without the resources to sustain themselves.

Worsening violence in
Iraq has forced many more Iraqis into neighboring countries, the U.N. body said, and many leave before they have time to make financial arrangements.

"Up to mid-2006, many Iraqi refugees entering Syria had adequate resources to cover their needs," the agency said in a statement Tuesday asking for donations. "As targeted violence continues in Iraq, the number of those fleeing and arriving unable to sustain themselves is rapidly increasing."

While the majority of refugees rely on extended family networks and savings to support themselves, the agency noted, many in the recent wave have no such support and have not even had time to sell their belongings before fleeing.

"Many of these are people who don't have financial reserves to meet the daily needs of their families, including the schooling of their children," said Pippa Bradford, WFP's representative in Syria.

Bradford added that as refugees have flooded into Syria, where they already number 1 million, the competition for jobs and work permits has become increasingly stiff, forcing many Iraqis into illegal and exploitative jobs.

The agency currently provides food assistance to 7,000 people and plans to help 2,500 more each month until the end of the year.

Last month, the Damascus office of the U.N. refugee agency said about 40,000 Iraqis arrive in Syria each month, almost double the rate from only a few months ago. The refugees have placed a strain on Syria, causing a rise in the prices of housing and goods and overcrowding the country's schools.

Syria's Interior Ministry said in December that the country has admitted more than 800,000 Iraqis fleeing the raging violence. An estimated 1.8 million Iraqi refugees are scattered throughout the Middle East, according to U.N. figures.

Can Bush's "hanging to dry out" be far behind?
Britain votes to stay nuclear despite revolt

By Adrian Croft Wed Mar 14, 6:36 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's parliament backed Prime Minister
Tony Blair's plans to renew the country's nuclear arsenal on Wednesday as opposition votes helped Blair survive a major rebellion by members of his own party.

Eighty-seven politicians from Blair's Labour Party voted against his plan to spend 15 to 20 billion pounds ($29 to 39 billion) on new nuclear-armed submarines to replace ones that go out of service in about 2024.

It was the biggest rebellion against Blair since a 2003 vote backing war in
Iraq and the largest rebellion on a domestic issue in Blair's decade in power.

The revolt could have overturned Blair's 67-seat majority in the 646-member lower house of parliament, but backing from the opposition Conservatives helped Blair secure a 409-161 vote in favor of renewing the Trident nuclear weapons system.

The rebellion was a further blow to Blair's authority over the party as he prepares to step down in the next few months.

Rebel politicians pledged to keep fighting the decision, which will mean Britain keeps a nuclear deterrent into the 2050s.

"This is not the end of the story by any means," Labour legislator Jeremy Corbyn told Sky News. "This is a very big rebellion ... in favor of peace."

As lawmakers voted, anti-nuclear demonstrators rallied opposite parliament, chanting "Trident, No!" and holding up banners saying "No to a new nuclear arms race."

Other protests were held outside the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh and at the Faslane nuclear submarine base in Scotland.

NEW THREATS

Blair is convinced Britain must renew its nuclear weapons, saying new threats from countries like
North Korea or nuclear terrorists make it unwise and dangerous to disarm. But he faced deep-rooted opposition within the Labour Party, which advocated unilateral nuclear disarmament until the late 1980s.

"We must lead the world in campaigning for the eradication of the nuclear threat and we must lead by example," said Nigel Griffiths, one of four Labour politicians who quit junior government jobs in protest at the renewal of Trident.

Opponents say Britain no longer needs weapons to deter an attack from a nuclear-armed Soviet Union, and renewing the arsenal will make it harder to persuade countries such as North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons.

They say the new system is a waste of money.

Blair said there was "absolutely no evidence" it would improve the prospects of other countries disarming if Britain gave up its nuclear weapons. "I think the reverse is the case," he told parliament.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Britain will reduce its stockpile of operationally available nuclear warheads by 20 percent this year to fewer than 160.

Britain's nuclear arsenal is the smallest among the five
U.N. Security Council permanent members who are legally recognised as nuclear states under the non-proliferation treaty.

It consists of four British-built Vanguard-class submarines that carry 16 U.S.-supplied Trident long-range missiles, armed with British-built nuclear warheads.

Blair offered an olive branch to Labour rebels by saying parliament could vote again between 2012 and 2014 on whether to approve contracts to build the new subs.

(Additional reporting by Peter Graff, Kate Kelland, Katherine Baldwin, Sophie Walker and David Clarke)

...a step by Israel toward admition to overbearance...I doubt it! Too Bad!
U.N. chief criticizes Israel, Lebanon

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer Thu Mar 15, 2:25 AM ET

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday criticized
Israel and Lebanon for violating the resolution that ended last summer's Israeli-Hezbollah war, and suggested an independent mission examine the monitoring of their border amid allegations of arms smuggling.

In a report to the
U.N. Security Council, Ban cited violations by both countries of the U.N.-drawn boundary known as the Blue Line, Israeli claims of arms smuggling across the Lebanese-Syrian border, and Hezbollah claims that it is rebuilding its armed presence and has plenty of weapons.

In considering further steps to ensure full implementation of the arms embargo in the resolution, the new U.N. chief suggested that council members "consider supporting an independent assessment mission to consider the monitoring of the border."

He said the authentication of detailed information from Israel about alleged breaches of the arms embargo across the Lebanese-Syrian border would require independent military assessment.

Security Council Resolution 1701 authorized the cease-fire that brought an end to 34 days of fighting between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas on Aug. 14. The war was triggered after Hezbollah guerrillas crossed Israel's northern border, killed three soldiers and returned to Lebanon with two captured Israeli soldiers.

The resolution called for both sides to respect the Blue Line drawn by the U.N. after Israel ended its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000. It authorized 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers to help Lebanese troops take control of south Lebanon, which had been under de facto control of Hezbollah. And it instituted an arms embargo that blocks any entity in Lebanon except the national government from obtaining weapons from abroad.

In the report, Ban warned that without progress on "core issues" including Israeli and Lebanese prisoners, the disputed Chebaa Farms area, halting Israeli over-flights of Lebanon, and respect for the arms embargo "progress on 1701 could be severely tested in the months to come."

He singled out a significant increase in Israeli air violations by military jets and unmanned aerial vehicles in February and early March.

While the Lebanese government continues to protest that the over-flights are a serious cease-fire violation, he said Israel maintains they are "a necessary security measure" until the two abducted Israeli soldiers are released and the arms embargo is fully respected. He urged Israel to reconsider its policy.

Ban said he was nonetheless pleased that the overall commitment of the governments of Israel and Lebanon to the resolution "remains strong."

He said he also was encouraged by the near full deployment of the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL and the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon — and the absence of any other "positions" along the Blue Line, an apparent reference to Hezbollah militants who controlled the south.

"However, this report is submitted against the background of an acute and continuing political crisis in Lebanon and mounting Israeli concerns about the unauthorized transfer of arms across the Lebanese-
Syria border," he said.

Ban called on all Lebanese parties to recommit to the government's seven-point plan, which says in part that the Lebanese state should be the only authority and should be the only one with weapons.

"An understanding that incorporates the principles of no rearmament of unauthorized groups and no movement of arms other than through the consent" of the Lebanese armed forces "should also be encouraged, especially in the current volatile security environment in the country," he said.

Ban also said the Chebaa Farms, captured by Israel during the 1967 war, "remains a key issue" in implementing the resolution. The
United Nations determined that the area is Syrian. But Lebanon claims Chebaa Farms — a claim backed by Syria — and Hezbollah continues to fight over the disputed land, arguing that Israel's occupation justifies its "resistance."

What self-respecting reptile want fur and tits stuck in his/her teeth?
Odd little critter sheds light on mammal evolution

By Will Dunham Wed Mar 14, 7:18 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have unearthed a fossil of a mammal the size of a chipmunk that skittered around with the dinosaurs, with a key feature in the evolution of mammals -- the middle ear bones -- fabulously preserved.

Writing in the journal Nature on Wednesday, the scientists said the unusual critter retrieved from a fossil-rich rock formation in northern China provides rare insight into a crucial element of mammalian evolution: ear structure that enabled highly sensitive hearing.

The mammal, named Yanoconodon for the Yan Mountains in China's Hebei Province, lived 125 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, the third and final act of the Mesozoic era, sometimes called the Age of Dinosaurs.

Its body was shaped very oddly for a mammal -- with an elongated torso and short, stubby limbs.

"In a way, it's sort of a salamander-like body form in a mammal," lead researcher Zhe-Xi Luo of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said in an interview.

The scientists think Yanoconodon -- 5 inches long and weighing about an ounce (30 grams) -- was nocturnal and ate insects.

It lived in a lush environment with fresh-water lakes, early flowering plants and many other animals. These included a variety of dinosaurs that would have liked nothing more than to make it a furry snack.

Luo said Yanoconodon is particularly important because it displays an intermediate stage in the evolution of mammalian ear structure.

Mammals possess hearing superior to all other vertebrates, and that trait has been fundamental to mammalian life. Many early mammals are thought to have adopted a nocturnal existence that kept them away from the multitudes of dinosaurs and other nasty beasts looking for an easy daytime meal.

Scientists long have searched for clues on the origins of mammalian ear structure. The first true mammals appeared about 220 million years ago, not long after the first dinosaurs, but the process of acquiring the anatomy of fully modern mammals took many more tens of millions of years.

A sophisticated middle ear of three tiny bones called the hammer (malleus), the anvil (incus) and the stirrup (stapes), plus a bony ring for the eardrum (tympanic membrane), give mammals an acute sense of hearing.

Scientists believe these bones evolved from the bones of the jaw hinge in the reptiles from which mammals are thought to have evolved. Luo said the Yanoconodon provided a definitive piece of evidence of this evolution.

The ear bones in Yanoconodon are fully like that of modern mammals, but remain connected to the lower jaw, which is not the case with modern mammals.

Stupidity and Bigotry lead to oppression and persecution, in "Christ's" name!
Furor over Baptist's gay-baby article

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer Wed Mar 14, 11:10 PM ET

NEW YORK - The president of the leading Southern Baptist seminary has incurred sharp attacks from both the left and right by suggesting that a biological basis for homosexuality may be proven, and that prenatal treatment to reverse gay orientation would be biblically justified.

The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., one of the country's pre-eminent evangelical leaders, acknowledged that he irked many fellow conservatives with an article earlier this month saying scientific research "points to some level of biological causation" for homosexuality.

Proof of a biological basis would challenge the belief of many conservative Christians that homosexuality — which they view as sinful — is a matter of choice that can be overcome through prayer and counseling.

However, Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., was assailed even more harshly by gay-rights supporters. They were upset by his assertion that homosexuality would remain a sin even if it were biologically based, and by his support for possible medical treatment that could switch an unborn gay baby's sexual orientation to heterosexual.

"He's willing to play God," said Harry Knox, a spokesman on religious issues for the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay-rights group. "He's more than willing to let homophobia take over and be the determinant of how he responds to this issue, in spite of everything else he believes about not tinkering with the unborn."

Mohler said he was aware of the invective being directed at him on gay-rights blogs, where some participants have likened him to Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor notorious for death-camp experimentation.

"I wonder if people actually read what I wrote," Mohler said in a telephone interview. "But I wrote the article intending to start a conversation, and I think I've been successful at that."

The article, published March 2 on Mohler's personal Web site, carried a long but intriguing title: "Is Your Baby Gay? What If You Could Know? What If You Could Do Something About It?"

Mohler began by summarizing some recent research into sexual orientation, and advising his Christian readership that they should brace for the possibility that a biological basis for homosexuality may be proven.

Mohler wrote that such proof would not alter the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality, but said the discovery would be "of great pastoral significance, allowing for a greater understanding of why certain persons struggle with these particular sexual temptations."

He also referred to a recent article in the pop-culture magazine Radar, which explored the possibility that sexual orientation could be detected in unborn babies and raised the question of whether parents — even liberals who support gay rights — might be open to trying future prenatal techniques that would reverse homosexuality.

Mohler said he would strongly oppose any move to encourage abortion or genetic manipulation of fetuses on grounds of sexual orientation, but he would endorse prenatal hormonal treatment — if such a technology were developed — to reverse homosexuality. He said this would no different, in moral terms, to using technology that would restore vision to a blind fetus.

"I realize this sounds very offensive to homosexuals, but it's the only way a Christian can look at it," Mohler said. "We should have no more problem with that than treating any medical problem."

Mohler's argument was endorsed by a prominent Roman Catholic thinker, the Rev. Joseph Fessio, provost of Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla., and editor of Ignatius Press,
Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. publisher.

"Same-sex activity is considered disordered," Fessio said. "If there are ways of detecting diseases or disorders of children in the womb, and a way of treating them that respected the dignity of the child and mother, it would be a wonderful advancement of science."

Such logic dismayed Jennifer Chrisler of Family Pride, a group that supports gay and lesbian families.

"What bothers me is the hypocrisy," she said. "In one breath, they say the sanctity of an unborn life is unconditional, and in the next breath, it's OK to perform medical treatments on them because of their own moral convictions, not because there's anything wrong with the child."

Paul Myers, a biology professor at the University of Minnesota-Morris, wrote a detailed critique of Mohler's column, contending that there could be many genes contributing to sexual orientation and that medical attempts to alter it could be risky.

"If there are such genes, they will also contribute to other aspects of social and sexual interactions," Myers wrote. "Disentangling the nuances of preference from the whole damn problem of loving people might well be impossible."

Not all reaction to Mohler's article has been negative.

Dr. Jack Drescher, a New York City psychiatrist critical of those who consider homosexuality a disorder, commended Mohler's openness to the prospect that it is biologically based.

"This represents a major shift," Drescher said. "This is a man who actually has an open mind, who is struggling to reconcile his religious beliefs with facts that contradict it."

___

On the Net:

Mohler's column: http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id 891

Bush Administration acting against DEMOCRACY!
U.S. acting against Kurdish rebel group

By DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 48 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The United States is dealing with Turkish complaints about Kurdish separatists operating in northern
Iraq and has not ruled out military action against the rebels, the U.S. official assigned to handle the problem says.

Retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, a special envoy tasked with countering the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, said Wednesday in an Associated Press interview that U.S. pressure has resulted in moves against the group's operations by Iraqi and European authorities.

Turkish officials repeatedly have accused the United States of insufficient efforts to prevent attacks into Turkey from Iraq by the PKK, which has waged a guerrilla war for autonomy since 1984 at a cost of 37,000 lives. Turkey also has threatened military incursions into Iraq against the rebels, which the United States fears would alienate Iraqi Kurds, the most pro-American ethnic group in the region.

Ralston said the United States has not yet met Turkish demands for the capture of PKK operatives and destruction of a rebel base in a mountainous area of Iraq near the Turkish and Iranian border. He said, however, that the United States would consider options against the group available to a U.S. military stretched by many challenges in Iraq.

"All options are on the table," he said. "The PKK is a terrorist organization and needs to be put out of business."

Ralston, a former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe who is to testify on U.S.-Turkish Relations in a congressional hearing Thursday, stressed the importance of resolving the deep-seated Turkish worries about the PKK. Turkey, a crucial
NATO ally, provides vital support to U.S. operations in
Afghanistan and Iraq through Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, one of the most important U.S. military assets in the region.

"This is a country that has suffered greatly at the hands of the PKK," Ralston said. "We ought to be working with our ally to try to solve this problem."

Ralston said negotiators from the United States, Turkey and Iraq are close to a deal to close a Kurdish refugee camp in northern Iraq that Turkey says is a haven for the PKK. In late January, U.S. and Iraqi forces searched the camp, known as Makhmur, and found artillery shells they believe belonged to the PKK, Ralston said.

He said PKK fighters have held a cease-fire since October that was arranged by Masoud Barzani, leader of Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region, after a discussion with Ralston.

"We would prefer the PKK announce they are laying down their arms and renouncing violence," Ralston said. "But on the good news side, to my knowledge there have not been major incidents since that time."

Under pressure, the Iraqi government legally banned the PKK in January from operating in Iraq and closed its offices. Ralston said some of the offices had reopened under different names. U.S. and Turkish pressure, he said, also led this year to the closure of PKK fundraising operations in France and Belgium and arrests there of more than a dozen Kurds accused of supporting the PKK.

Officials from Turkey, Iraq and the
United Nations will meet next month to resolve a few remaining issues preventing the closure of the Makhmur refugee camp. Ralston said negotiators need to agree on arrangements for repatriating refugees to Turkey and what to do about those who do not want to go.

Benny reveals himself to be a pig, anti-life; anti-planet; anti-GOD!
Vatican condemns writings of theologian

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer Wed Mar 14, 4:18 PM ET

VATICAN CITY - The
Vatican on Wednesday condemned as "erroneous or dangerous" some of the writings of a well-known champion of liberation theology but took no immediate disciplinary action against the priest involved.

It was the first such move under the nearly two-year papacy of
Pope Benedict XVI, who as
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger led the Vatican's crackdown on theologians judged to be perilously straying from church doctrine.

The Vatican began building its case in 2004 against the writings of the Rev. Jon Sobrino, a Spanish Jesuit, calling the procedure "urgent" because of the wide diffusion of his works in Latin America.

The judgment by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith "deals specifically with the works, not with the person," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters.

He said it was the congregation's "duty to explain what was found erroneous in the writings, and thus to alert the faithful."

"Other sanctions, such as whether the person could teach or not is an open question to be dealt with by the competent authorities," Lombardi said.

The Vatican declaration, called a Notification, effectively serves as a caution to Catholic faithful who may read Sobrino's work, although it does not specifically forbid them to do so. It was signed by American Cardinal William Levada, head of the congregation, and carried Benedict's approval.

A spokesman at Jesuit headquarters in Rome said Sobrino did not plan to make a public comment on the Vatican decision.

"Sobrino says that his faith is the faith of the Roman Catholic Church, but he expresses it in less-traditional ways," said the spokesman, the Rev. Jose De Vera.

The Vatican has objected to liberation theology, citing its basis in Marxist analysis of society — particularly the idea of class struggle in the promotion of social, political and economic justice for the poor.

During his two-decade tenure at the congregation's helm, Ratzinger, who is a theologian, worked to cripple support for the "liberation theology" movement that is especially popular in Latin America.

Sobrino has been based in
El Salvador for decades and was close to the Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, an insistent critic of human rights abuses in the country. The churchman was slain in 1980 while celebrating Mass.

Lombardi, himself a Jesuit, said that six of Sobrino's fellow priests were murdered for their "social commitment with the Salvadorian people."

The Vatican singled out two of Sobrino's theological works, "Jesus the Liberator: A Historical-Theological Reading of Jesus of Nazareth" and "Christ the Liberator: A View from the Victims."

It said the works "contain propositions which are either erroneous or dangerous and may cause harm to the faithful."

Although it expressed support for his work for "the poor and oppressed," the Vatican accused Sobrino of distorting the nature of Christ — in particular the core belief of Christianity in his divinity.

Lombardi said that several of Sobrino's positions put into question "very basic points of the church's permanent faith."

___

Associated Press Writer Daniela Petroff contributed to his article.

No-Child Left Behind is nothing but a dredging tool creating prospects for the mindless military...
Education law faces renewal amid reform calls

By David Alexander Wed Mar 14, 9:39 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A far-reaching education law
President George W. Bush hails as one of his signature achievements is being reviewed by Congress this year amid widespread demands for it to be reformed.

Critics of the law, the No Child Left Behind Act, complain it puts too much emphasis on testing, fails to hold states to the same educational standards and is a huge federal intrusion into matters traditionally left to state and local government.

"NCLB in its current form is burdensome and demoralizing to teachers," Edward McElroy, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told a congressional hearing this week.

Many question whether the law is working. The aim is to achieve universal proficiency in reading and math for all students by 2014, a goal few people believe is achievable.

The most recent national test results -- from 2005 -- showed minimal progress since 2002. The number of fourth graders performing proficiently in reading improved slightly to 31 percent, but eighth and 12th graders showed little change, at 31 percent and 35 percent.

"Unacceptable achievement levels continue to plague our schools," the independent Commission on No Child Left Behind, headed by former Bush Cabinet secretary Tommy Thompson and former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, said in a report last year.

For all its flaws, there are strong incentives for Congress to reach an agreement to reauthorize the law, which would continue in its current form unless a deal is reached. That has Bush, a self-confessed C student, visiting schoolrooms in a bid to gain political headway on the law he has made the domestic cornerstone of his presidency.

With test results showing American students lagging their counterparts from Finland to Slovakia to Hong Kong, the president sees education as key to future national prosperity.

"Our students are going to have to compete for jobs with students in China or India or elsewhere," he told educators in Indiana.

WAR ON POVERTY

The No Child Left Behind Act was the 2002 version of an education law first passed in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty that has been extended ever since. It channels some $12 billion annually to help disadvantaged children, a fraction of the cost of meeting its requirements.

The current law capped a 20-year effort to bring accountability and testing to schools nationwide after a warning that mediocre education was jeopardizing America's economic future.

It for the first time required states to set standards for reading and math and conduct tests annually in certain grades. It also established penalties for schools where students failed to learn.

That has been its primary accomplishment.

It has met opposition in Utah and Connecticut and a spate of other jurisdictions and produced distorted outcomes.

Many teachers feel pressed to stop teaching the broader curriculum in order to help students learn to take the reading and math tests.

"Educators tell us they are required to administer test upon test upon test, including school, district and state tests," McElroy said.

And while states were required to set standards, they were allowed to decide the level at which students could be considered proficient.

As a result, in 2003, state exams found 87 percent of Mississippi fourth graders were proficient, whereas national tests found only 18 percent at that level. Other states had similar disparities.

Calls for change are coming from all sides.

Dan Lips, an education analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation, favors letting states opt out of the law without losing funding. A group of three Republican lawmakers will introduce a similar measure this week, he said.

"States would have the freedom to take their share of federal funding free from the existing rules and regulations and spend it on state-level initiatives," Lips said.

The Commission on No Child Left Behind proposed more than 50 changes. Educators and business groups have offered suggestions, as has Bush, who wants to use scientists and engineers in the classroom, even if they're not teachers.

"It's not cool, but it's important to emphasize math and science," Bush said.

Withholding funds unless allowed access by junior rotc and recruiter slime, is child molestation/RAPE!
Education law faces renewal amid reform calls

By David Alexander Wed Mar 14, 9:39 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A far-reaching education law
President George W. Bush hails as one of his signature achievements is being reviewed by Congress this year amid widespread demands for it to be reformed.

Critics of the law, the No Child Left Behind Act, complain it puts too much emphasis on testing, fails to hold states to the same educational standards and is a huge federal intrusion into matters traditionally left to state and local government.

"NCLB in its current form is burdensome and demoralizing to teachers," Edward McElroy, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told a congressional hearing this week.

Many question whether the law is working. The aim is to achieve universal proficiency in reading and math for all students by 2014, a goal few people believe is achievable.

The most recent national test results -- from 2005 -- showed minimal progress since 2002. The number of fourth graders performing proficiently in reading improved slightly to 31 percent, but eighth and 12th graders showed little change, at 31 percent and 35 percent.

"Unacceptable achievement levels continue to plague our schools," the independent Commission on No Child Left Behind, headed by former Bush Cabinet secretary Tommy Thompson and former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, said in a report last year.

For all its flaws, there are strong incentives for Congress to reach an agreement to reauthorize the law, which would continue in its current form unless a deal is reached. That has Bush, a self-confessed C student, visiting schoolrooms in a bid to gain political headway on the law he has made the domestic cornerstone of his presidency.

With test results showing American students lagging their counterparts from Finland to Slovakia to Hong Kong, the president sees education as key to future national prosperity.

"Our students are going to have to compete for jobs with students in China or India or elsewhere," he told educators in Indiana.

WAR ON POVERTY

The No Child Left Behind Act was the 2002 version of an education law first passed in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty that has been extended ever since. It channels some $12 billion annually to help disadvantaged children, a fraction of the cost of meeting its requirements.

The current law capped a 20-year effort to bring accountability and testing to schools nationwide after a warning that mediocre education was jeopardizing America's economic future.

It for the first time required states to set standards for reading and math and conduct tests annually in certain grades. It also established penalties for schools where students failed to learn.

That has been its primary accomplishment.

It has met opposition in Utah and Connecticut and a spate of other jurisdictions and produced distorted outcomes.

Many teachers feel pressed to stop teaching the broader curriculum in order to help students learn to take the reading and math tests.

"Educators tell us they are required to administer test upon test upon test, including school, district and state tests," McElroy said.

And while states were required to set standards, they were allowed to decide the level at which students could be considered proficient.

As a result, in 2003, state exams found 87 percent of Mississippi fourth graders were proficient, whereas national tests found only 18 percent at that level. Other states had similar disparities.

Calls for change are coming from all sides.

Dan Lips, an education analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation, favors letting states opt out of the law without losing funding. A group of three Republican lawmakers will introduce a similar measure this week, he said.

"States would have the freedom to take their share of federal funding free from the existing rules and regulations and spend it on state-level initiatives," Lips said.

The Commission on No Child Left Behind proposed more than 50 changes. Educators and business groups have offered suggestions, as has Bush, who wants to use scientists and engineers in the classroom, even if they're not teachers.

"It's not cool, but it's important to emphasize math and science," Bush said.

With whom is George picking a fight NOW? Can someone coral this idiot before he makes everyone our enemy?!
Germany seeks consensus on U.S. missile shield

By Louis Charbonneau 39 minutes ago

BERLIN (Reuters) - The decision to build a U.S. anti-missile shield in eastern Europe cannot be a bilateral one, especially when the decision will have consequences for other European states, a senior German official said on Thursday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler said in an interview on German radio that Chancellor Angela Merkel would make this point when she arrives in Poland on Friday for a two-day visit.

"She will argue something very important, that this can't be done on a bilateral basis when the decisions will have consequences for other European states," Erler said.

Last week Polish officials, including the deputy foreign minister, said Warsaw needed a bilateral security pact with the United States because it was concerned that
NATO lacked the resolve to counter any serious threats.

U.S. Lieutenant General Henry Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency, is in Berlin to explain to German foreign and defense ministry officials and German lawmakers the U.S. plan to install a missile battery in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic.

Moscow sees the planned U.S. shield as an encroachment on its former sphere of influence and as an attempt to shift the post-Cold War balance of power.

Erler said the missile shield plan has created problems that need to be discussed within the NATO military alliance. He said it was good that Washington has now acknowledged the need for serious discussion inside NATO.

NEW ARMS RACE, PROBLEMS WITH IRAN

He reiterated Germany's concerns that the missile should could spark a new arms race in the post-Cold War world.

Also, the decisions of nuclear powers Britain, France and the United States to modernize their nuclear arsenals are making matters worse for non-proliferation efforts, Erler said.

"That means three of the most important states are building up arms," he said.

Clearly referring to
Iran, which the West fears is developing atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian energy program, Erler said it would now be difficult to convince countries with nuclear ambitions to give up such programs.

"That makes it harder and harder to then argue that we want to have other countries ... desist from developing nuclear weapons," Erler said.

During a visit to Kiev on Wednesday, Obering proposed more talks to convince Moscow to accept the plan meant to protect Europe, and U.S. forces there, from missiles fired by what Washington calls "rogue states," such as Iran and
North Korea.

"We had a reaction from the Russians that was unexpected. They referred to changing the strategic balance between the United States and Russia. We disagree with this respectfully," Obering told a news conference in Kiev.

The interceptor missiles and radar, he said, would "have no effect" on Russia's thousands of warheads and their positioning was such that they would anyway prove ineffective against them.

Russia says the shield has no logic since Iran lacks a missile capability which could reach the United States. Moscow has implied the real purpose is to guard against Russian weapons and has promised countermeasures.

In Poland, an opinion poll by CBOS showed 56 percent of Poles oppose government plans to host the anti-missile shield.

Opinion polls in the Czech Republic, which has also been asked to host parts of the shield, have shown similar results.

(Additional reporting by Dave Graham)

Giuliani pisses on NYC firefighters heroism and hopes...doesn't need them!
Clinton a hero, Giuliani a no-show for firefighters

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent Wed Mar 14, 6:27 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Firefighters, hailed as heroes on September 11, cheered
Hillary Rodham Clinton when they gathered on Wednesday to size up U.S. presidential contenders minus Rudolph Giuliani.

Clinton, a 59-year-old Democratic senator from New York, and Giuliani, the 62-year-old former Republican mayor who led New York City during the attacks, are front-runners in polls months before the November 2008 vote.

Clinton and Illinois Democrat Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) were among the 10 presidential candidates who spoke from the two parties; Giuliani said he was busy.

On a stage flanked by photos of the World Trade Center devastation, Clinton evoked memories of those days, telling the cheering International Association of Firefighters: "You were there when we needed you."

Giuliani angered the 280,000-member union when he cut off efforts to recover the remains of September 11 victims before all had been found.

IAFF President Harold Schaitberger said Giuliani's actions were "so egregious" that union leaders debated whether to invite him, although they ultimately did.

Earlier this week, Giuliani said "the firefighters are my heroes," but unions had political agendas. He cited scheduling conflicts as his reason for missing the event.

"In some ways, the foundation of his entire candidacy is on the back of 9/11, and I view that as a pretty shaky foundation," Schaitberger said of Giuliani.

The forum featured contenders from both parties lavishing praise and promises on the union, which helped Sen.
John Kerry win the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination with its early backing.

Unlike most union political events, which are usually heavily Democratic, the bipartisan nature of the firefighters' union attracted four Republican candidates to the forum.

The union is more than 90 percent male and split roughly evenly between Republicans and Democrats, Schaitberger said. It has endorsed Republicans in the past, including Clinton's Senate opponent in 2000.

The union backed Clinton during her 2006 Senate re-election campaign, and Schaitberger enthusiastically introduced her as his "good friend."

Democrats also promised to back collective bargaining rights, promote universal health care plans and more adequately fund and equip the fire teams who were the first responders in emergency situations.

"It's a noble calling to see a building ablaze and to want to rush in," Obama said. "We love you for what you did on September 11."

Schaitberger said the union would make an endorsement later this year.

Abrupt end to talented personality...!
Family says Jeni committed suicide

Tue Mar 13, 8:51 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - Richard Jeni committed suicide after being diagnosed earlier this year with clinical depression and suffering bouts of psychotic paranoia, the late comic's family said Tuesday.

Jeni, 49, was found Saturday with a gunshot wound and later died at the hospital. An autopsy was performed Monday, although the coroner said an official cause of death would not be announced for several weeks.

"The family of Richard Jeni would like to put to rest any assumptions as to the cause of Richard's death. ... Richard Jeni did take his own life," the family said in a statement.

"He was not down or blue, he was ill," the statement said. "Perhaps Richard's passing will encourage people to have sympathy, compassion and understanding for those who are afflicted with mental illness."

Jeni, whose real name was Richard John Colangelo, was a longtime regular on "The Tonight Show," in addition to doing standup comedy.

He also created comedy specials for HBO and appeared in the films "The Mask," "The Aristocrats," "National Lampoon's Dad's Week Off" and "Burn, Hollywood, Burn."

Impovrished in Russia hurting!
Vodka and isolation: welcome to rural Russia

By James Kilner Tue Mar 13, 9:56 PM ET

ZIMNITSY, Russia (Reuters) - Friday is when the action happens in this isolated Russian village, six hours' drive north from Moscow along icy roads, past smoggy industrial towns and through vast pine forests.
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That's the day the mobile shop makes its weekly visit selling life's little luxuries to Zimnitsy's 10 inhabitants.

"I've bought bread, frozen fish, cigarettes and vodka," said 53-year-old Vitaly as he bent over to load his tattered rucksack. "What more can a Russian want?"

Village life in Russia seems to have been dragged unwillingly into the 21st century.

Zimnitsy once was three or four times bigger and boasted its own full-time shop, but the crumbling wooden houses now bear silent witness to a population movement away from Russia's countryside into the cities.

Alcoholism, devout religious faith and a sense of scratching a living on the fringes of civilization -- the hallmarks of the Russian countryside down the ages -- linger, sometimes just below the surface.

Vitaly looked up and grinned from beneath his ragged fur hat and grubby, thick-rimmed glasses. He wasn't finished yet: "I know English," he said and stood up straight. "To be or not to be, that is the question!" he bellowed, evidence that Shakespeare has penetrated even rural Russia.

The four people in the queue for the green goods truck in the center of the village took no notice, concentrating instead on keeping their positions in the line.

They stamped their felt boots to keep warm. Temperatures of around 20 degrees Celsius (4 degrees Fahrenheit) below zero froze their breath.

SICKLY AFTER-TASTE

Some, though, have chosen to move here. In one house, Sergei Kopylov was philosophizing: "It's better to be first here than second in St Petersburg," he said.

He reached for a large clear bottle and poured another glass of samogon -- the Russian word for homebrewed alcohol.

Kopylov is 50 years old. But his long unkempt beard, unwashed hair, gaunt features and heavily lined face made him look 20 or 30 years older.

"To Russia," he said and slugged the clear samogon down his throat. Fermented from cow's milk, it is stronger than vodka and leaves a sickly after-taste.

Kopylov's cracked, dirty fingers lifted a fork full of iced cabbage to his mouth which he swallowed to wash away the taste.

It was midday and Kopylov was in fine mood. Five shots of samogon had jollied him and he had stocked up on sausages and fish from the mobile shop.

He shares his house with four cats, three dogs, his speechless father and his girlfriend, Tatyana. He used to live in cramped communal accommodation in St Petersburg but gave it up for a quieter life in the countryside.

Dirt coated the wooden interior walls of the house and a wood fire kept the place warm.

An energy-saving electric light bulb dangling by a single wire from the ceiling, a digital clock flickering in the corner and a mobile phone hanging by its cord from a nail in the wall were the only modern intrusions into the 19th-century scene.

Further down the lane an old woman lives alone in a Spartan wooden shack, Kopylov said. She spends her days praying, collecting fire wood or drawing water from a well.

DACHNIKI AS SAVIOURS

Russia is growing rich on from its minerals and energy resources. Moscow's streets are jammed with the latest Western cars and European chefs cook up fancy dishes in the restaurants.

Along the shores of Lake Seliger, just six km (four miles) through the woods from Zimnitsy, the Dacha or holiday home is returning. Muscovites and others -- known as Dachniki -- are either buying old houses or building new ones.

After a post-Soviet Union slump, the villages around popular beauty spots are returning to life.

"The Dachniki have been our saviour," said Viktor Vinogradov, who has lived in Priozyornaya on the lake all his life. He fishes and builds houses for the Dachniki. "They come here with their money and spend it."

Back in Zimnitsy, Kopylov had been showing off by thrashing his sleigh, pulled by a ragged-looking horse, through the snow.

He marched into his house primed for another shot of samogon.

"You can't just understand Russia with your head," he said. "You have to understand it with your heart."

Welcome to Rural Russia!
Vodka and isolation: welcome to rural Russia

By James Kilner Tue Mar 13, 9:56 PM ET

ZIMNITSY, Russia (Reuters) - Friday is when the action happens in this isolated Russian village, six hours' drive north from Moscow along icy roads, past smoggy industrial towns and through vast pine forests.

That's the day the mobile shop makes its weekly visit selling life's little luxuries to Zimnitsy's 10 inhabitants.

"I've bought bread, frozen fish, cigarettes and vodka," said 53-year-old Vitaly as he bent over to load his tattered rucksack. "What more can a Russian want?"

Village life in Russia seems to have been dragged unwillingly into the 21st century.

Zimnitsy once was three or four times bigger and boasted its own full-time shop, but the crumbling wooden houses now bear silent witness to a population movement away from Russia's countryside into the cities.

Alcoholism, devout religious faith and a sense of scratching a living on the fringes of civilization -- the hallmarks of the Russian countryside down the ages -- linger, sometimes just below the surface.

Vitaly looked up and grinned from beneath his ragged fur hat and grubby, thick-rimmed glasses. He wasn't finished yet: "I know English," he said and stood up straight. "To be or not to be, that is the question!" he bellowed, evidence that Shakespeare has penetrated even rural Russia.

The four people in the queue for the green goods truck in the center of the village took no notice, concentrating instead on keeping their positions in the line.

They stamped their felt boots to keep warm. Temperatures of around 20 degrees Celsius (4 degrees Fahrenheit) below zero froze their breath.

SICKLY AFTER-TASTE

Some, though, have chosen to move here. In one house, Sergei Kopylov was philosophizing: "It's better to be first here than second in St Petersburg," he said.

He reached for a large clear bottle and poured another glass of samogon -- the Russian word for homebrewed alcohol.

Kopylov is 50 years old. But his long unkempt beard, unwashed hair, gaunt features and heavily lined face made him look 20 or 30 years older.

"To Russia," he said and slugged the clear samogon down his throat. Fermented from cow's milk, it is stronger than vodka and leaves a sickly after-taste.

Kopylov's cracked, dirty fingers lifted a fork full of iced cabbage to his mouth which he swallowed to wash away the taste.

It was midday and Kopylov was in fine mood. Five shots of samogon had jollied him and he had stocked up on sausages and fish from the mobile shop.

He shares his house with four cats, three dogs, his speechless father and his girlfriend, Tatyana. He used to live in cramped communal accommodation in St Petersburg but gave it up for a quieter life in the countryside.

Dirt coated the wooden interior walls of the house and a wood fire kept the place warm.

An energy-saving electric light bulb dangling by a single wire from the ceiling, a digital clock flickering in the corner and a mobile phone hanging by its cord from a nail in the wall were the only modern intrusions into the 19th-century scene.

Further down the lane an old woman lives alone in a Spartan wooden shack, Kopylov said. She spends her days praying, collecting fire wood or drawing water from a well.

DACHNIKI AS SAVIOURS

Russia is growing rich on from its minerals and energy resources. Moscow's streets are jammed with the latest Western cars and European chefs cook up fancy dishes in the restaurants.

Along the shores of Lake Seliger, just six km (four miles) through the woods from Zimnitsy, the Dacha or holiday home is returning. Muscovites and others -- known as Dachniki -- are either buying old houses or building new ones.

After a post-Soviet Union slump, the villages around popular beauty spots are returning to life.

"The Dachniki have been our saviour," said Viktor Vinogradov, who has lived in Priozyornaya on the lake all his life. He fishes and builds houses for the Dachniki. "They come here with their money and spend it."

Back in Zimnitsy, Kopylov had been showing off by thrashing his sleigh, pulled by a ragged-looking horse, through the snow.

He marched into his house primed for another shot of samogon.

"You can't just understand Russia with your head," he said. "You have to understand it with your heart."

The answers, my friend, are blowing in the wind...
Mauritanians vote in poll to restore civilian rule

By Pascal Fletcher Sun Mar 11, 4:31 AM ET

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Mauritanians began voting on Sunday to choose a president and restore civilian rule to the Saharan Islamic state after 19 months under a military junta.

Voters and international observers hope the poll can establish a multi-party democracy in the largely desert former French colony, which has experienced several coups and years of authoritarian rule since its independence in 1960.

As polling stations opened, men in flowing robes and turbans and women in colorful veils formed queues and squatted patiently on the sandy streets waiting to vote.

"We've never had an election like this before ... we hope it will change a lot in the country, God willing," said Ahmed Ould Brahim, 46, an unemployed mason. "We want more education and work, less corruption and tribalism."

Just over 1 million voters across the country, which is twice the size of France and straddles Arab and black Africa, are being asked to choose between 19 candidates.

The election, following multi-party legislative polls late last year, will be the first time power has changed hands freely via the ballot box in this largely desert former French colony.

Candidates include a veteran opposition figure, a former military ruler, an ex-central bank governor and a descendant of black slaves in the racially diverse nation, which has traditionally been ruled by a white Moorish elite.

If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the total votes in the first round, a second round will be held on March 25.

Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall and members of his junta, whose bloodless coup in 2005 ended more than two decades of rule by President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, barred themselves from standing and have vowed to respect the new head of state.

They organized a referendum reforming the constitution in June to limit a president's period in office.

RACIAL GRIEVANCES

Many voters said they want the new president to ensure wealth from the country's natural resources are distributed more fairly and to end inequality among the mixed 3 million population of white and black Moors and black Africans.

"We have everything in our country, fisheries, oil, mining. What we want is good government," said Diatahir Mamadou, 47, an unemployed driver who lives in Nouakchott's sprawling Keube shantytown, mostly inhabited by black Mauritanians.

"And we want no more racism," Mamadou said, expressing the feelings of black Mauritanians who say they have suffered discrimination and slavery under a centuries-old caste system that kept the white Moorish elite in power.

Slavery was outlawed in 1981 but rights groups say it continues in some areas.

International observers say Sunday's poll could be the freest and most open ever held in Mauritania, in contrast to the past when a single leader and party kept a tight grip on power.

"This can be a model of democracy to follow in Africa and the Arab world," said Marie Anne Isler Beguin, chief of the
European Union observer mission.

But some voters said they did not know who to vote for.

"They all make promises and then do nothing. I don't know who to trust, black or white. Only God knows," said Zeinabou Sey, sitting with her children in a ramshackle hut as dust swept by from the Sahara, where most of the population live as nomads.