Beijing: Happy Halloween USA !

Teacher’s Union Contributes to Drop Out Rates

Scott Ott spears the NEA for indirectly contributing to the high school drop out rate. The U.S. educational system is extremely sub par relative to other Western nations and getting worse. Mostly because of our arcane public school system which relies on a dysfunctional government and Congress to subsidize basic public education.

(WASHINGTON) - With a new study showing that more than 1-in-10 U.S. public high schools has a dropout rate of 40 percent or more, the National Education Association (NEA) today hailed its union members, “who work hard everyday in America’s highly-productive dropout factories.”

“We make a measurable difference in the lives of kids,” said an unnamed NEA spokesman. “On 1,700 dropout factory floors nationwide, our union strives to get the product out the door.”

The NEA source touted the results of a new Johns Hopkins University study, commissioned by the Associated Press, which shows that, nationwide, in 12 percent of secondary schools, “40 percent of our product makes it to the marketplace quickly, without the delay often caused by graduation requirements.”

As Congress prepares this week to put more money into the federal No Child Left Behind program, the NEA can boast that in states like South Carolina and Florida more than half of the schools have already achieved the coveted “dropout factory” status which qualifies them for a surge in federal funding.

“In previous generations,” the union source said, “It could take up to three years to move the product through the factory, and out the door with a diploma. We’ve found that if you focus on what logistics experts call ‘through-put’ and de-emphasize the diploma, you can get the product on the streets a lot faster.”

“While we’re particularly proud of our designated dropout factories,” he added, “let’s not forget that even the average public school has a 30 percent dropout rate, and our record of accomplishment with blacks and Hispanics is even more stunning.” — as reported by satirist Scott Ott / ScrpappleFace

Isn’t it nice to see our tax dollars alive and well contributing to failed programs like “No Child Left Behind” ?

UK Drama ‘Britz’ to Generate Sympathy for Female Suicide Bombers

Here we find just one more over the top attempt by certain established leftist media in the U.K. to cultivate sympathy and legitimacy for perverted radical muslim thought… Amazing !

Drama focuses on would-be bomber A controversial Channel 4 drama will depict a young Muslim driven to become Britain’s first female suicide bomber. Britz attempts to understand what would lead a second generation Muslim to turn against the country of their birth. It blames Britain’s “draconian” anti-terror laws - in particular, the contentious subject of control orders - and foreign policy for alienating the Muslim community. The two-part drama is by award-winning director Peter Kosminsky.

Critics could accuse it of justifying the actions of Britain’s homegrown terrorists. Britz tells the story of two siblings from Bradford, West Yorkshire - brother Sohail (Riz Ahmed) is an ambitious law student who joins MI5, while sister Nasima (Manjinder Virk) is studying to be a doctor but becomes radicalized and turns to terrorism. Nasima becomes part of a terror cell which plots to kill hundreds of men, women and children in the centre of London. The film mixes fact with fiction - some of the characters are made out to be associates of the real perpetrators of the July 2005 London bombings. But Kosminsky said he hoped radicalized Muslims would not feel vindicated by the film.” I really hope not. In the end you must judge for yourself but I hope that nobody who sees it would think there is anything triumphant or joyful about Nasima’s journey. “We went to lengths to make this [suicide bombing] not seem like an exciting or glorious thing,” he said. Britz will be on Channel 4 [BBC] at 9pm on October 31 and November 1.

(hat tip via Twitter / mrpresident)

“In the end you must judge for yourself but I hope that nobody who sees it would think there is anything triumphant or joyful about Nasima’s journey. We went to lengths to make this [suicide bombing] not seem like an exciting or glorious thing,” - Peter Kominsky — What a joke! This has to be one of the most feeble excuses for exploiting a dysfunctional social phenomenon on record. Did Peter Kosminsky just want to make a quick buck or are there other political overtones at play? What do you think? Just one more sick version of an artistic protest on film directed at the British, American and Israeli policies regarding the defeat of islamic jihadists. Why does Kominsky find it necessary to depict terrorists as a sympathetic figures if not to make a political statement? Sick… Both muslims and non-muslims alike should condemn any glorification of suicide bombing. Unless of course they belong to a jihadist group, in which case they are certainly enjoying and welcoming this film. Never hurts to pick up a few more recruits on the rebound– ZZ

California Wildfires: Protecting the Border

Have a Hillary Halloween

Bin Laden: Iraqi Insurgents Pathetic

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden lamented the lack of unity among insurgents in Iraq in a new audiotape. Analysts say that Mr. Bin Laden’s latest tape adds to evidence that the group has failed to extend its strength or spread its message inside the troubled country. Here is one reporters update…

(2007-10-23) — In a newly-released audiotape, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden spoke directly to Muslim insurgents in Iraq, calling them “a pack of sniveling sissies for collapsing in the face of the recent U.S. military surge.”“When I see how you cower,” Mr. Bin Laden said, “I’m ashamed to wear the flowing robe of Muslim boldness and the fierce, yet festive, head-dress of a jihadi. I have wives who are braver than you… in fact several of them.”The al Qaeda mastermind noted that his own “courageous concealment” has stymied U.S. attempts to kill or capture him, while he ridiculed al Qaeda in Iraq fighters as “pathetic little pigs trembling at the voice of the big bad American wolf.”“Why don’t you all shave off your beards,” he asked rhetorically, “and apply a nice cucumber-scented moisturizer to your smooth, hairless faces? You don’t deserve to enjoy the glory of the coming Muslim caliphate. You’re not worthy to lick the drippings from the wall of my cave.” — as reported by satirist Scott Ott / ScrappleFace

According to The Washington Post, the military believes that Al Qaeda in Iraq, which established itself in the country after the US’s 2003 invasion, is largely a spent force, partially due to military strategy and partially because the movement’s own operatives’ attempts at enforcing their version of Islamic law have alienated many Sunni Iraqi tribesmen in Anbar Province, where it has largely been based.

Dalai Lama Does Tiananmen Square

— [Hat Tip: Jeff Koterba ]

Video: Into The American University Abyss

One of the more interesting statements on the plight of the American student in a Vision of Students Today. Alvin Toffler would have been proud! Hat tip to the students of Kansas State University… and Megitt33 for passing it along:

Ahmadinejad’s Manhattan Project Progresses

With the resignation (dismissal) of Ali Larijani as Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, more direct control over the rhetoric and negotiations will be placed in the hands of lunatic at large, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The following is a excerpt from the New York Times describing the political ramifications of the change in personnel. The successor to Larijani is Saeed Jalili who is seen as being less experienced and will require more direct guidance from the demented President.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday said Ali Larijani, who recently resigned as the country’s top nuclear negotiator, would attend talks on Tuesday in Rome alongside the country’s new top negotiator and the European Union’s foreign policy chief.Larijani, his successor Saeed Jalili, and the EU’s Javier Solana are meeting in an attempt to ease tensions between the West and Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.

”Based on the supreme leader’s and president’s suggestion, Mr. Larijani, alongside Mr. Jalili, will attend the negotiation with Solana on Tuesday,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters during his weekly news conference.

He emphasized that despite Larijani’s resignation, Iran’s ”nuclear policy, strategy and aims are unchangeable.”

On Saturday, the Iranian government said Larijani was being replaced by Jalili, a little-known diplomat. The move was seen as a victory for the hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that could push the country into an even more defiant position in its standoff with the West.

The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons — a claim Tehran denies. Oil-rich Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes including generating electricity. The U.N. Security Council has imposed two sets of sanctions over Iran’s refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.

Larijani was viewed as more moderate than Ahmadinejad and the two often clashed over how to negotiate with the world on the nuclear issue. Analysts speculated the intense rivalry between the president and Larijani, who answered directly to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was behind the resignation.

Though it was not clear whether Larijani left his post under pressure, his departure was interpreted by many here as giving Ahmadinejad a free hand in dictating his views to the less-experienced Jalili. — [Hat Tip: NYT]

And this from the Associated Press also confirms what sources suspect is the motivation:

(TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Iranian government announced Saturday that its top nuclear negotiator had resigned, a move seen as a victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that could bring about an even tougher stance in ongoing talks. Government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham, said Saeed Jalili, a little-known deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs, was to succeed Ali Larijani as lead negotiator effective immediately.

Larijani in many cases held a hardline view on the nuclear standoff between Iran and the West but was also considered to be a more moderate figure than Ahmadinejad within Iran’s hardline camp. He was seen as more committed to a diplomatic solution over Iran’s nuclear program while Ahmadinejad is seen as not favoring talks with the West.

Larijani’s resignation was interpreted by many here as giving Ahmadinejad a free hand in dictating his views to the less experienced Jalili. — [Hat Tip: AP]

And so just who is Saeed Jalili and what’s his temperament like? Jalili is the current head of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council and reports to Khomeni along site Ahmadinejad. He will now apparently also be assuming the chief negotiator role driving further the Iranian ambitions regarding their “peaceful” nuclear energy program and capability in the region. He has is much let moderate than his predecessor and many suspect he will be getting complete guidance from Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs…

Saeed JaliliBorn in 1965, Saeed Jalili, PhD is Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs. In a December 18, 2006 interview with the Boston Globe, Jalili, who says “in America, nobody dares to drink water without the permission of Israel”, brought up the spectre of the 1953 coup. A separate Boston Globe article about Iranian citizens published the same day (12/25/06) referenced the exchange:

And any discussion of improving ties quickly gets caught up in events of the past. Iran and the United States can’t get beyond the litany of slights that each nation feels it suffered at the hands of the other.

In an interview in Tehran last week, Jalili, the deputy foreign minister, began a discussion of the current US-Iran stalemate by recalling 55 years of history, starting with the British-inspired intrigue in 1951 that led two years later to the US-backed coup against elected Iranian leader Mohammad Mossadegh as Iran was about to nationalize its oil industry.

From the Boston Globe interview with Saeed Jalili:

So what is necessary to break through this [stalemate between Iran and U.S.]?

Jalili: First, on the broader principles of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, they should respect our rights. And we are ready to have the confidence building to show that we are not diverting from the peaceful production any material. The IAEA said they didn’t find one document showing any diversion from our peaceful program. Some of the great powers know this and they have made clear that they didn’t want confidence building - they just want to deprive Iran of its inalienable rights.

And after 50 years, we do hope the US apologizes for the [1953] coup provoked by the US against Iran. They should not miss this time, they should not miss the opportunity.

This March 2006 excerpt quoting Saeed Jalili on the nuclear issue was reported by the IRNA and on Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs web site:

He brought to mind the move of then prime minister Mohammad Mossadeq of nationalizing Iran’s black gold (oil) in 1951, and said that at the time the US and Britain also opposed the initiative and the CIA overthrew the popular government of Mossadeq and acquired control of the country’s natural resource.

The US secretary of state in Bill Clinton’s administration, Madeleine Albright, apologized for the role the US played in the overthrow of Mossadeq, he said in clear reference to US interference in Iran’s internal affairs dating many years back.

“There is no doubt (Iran) plays a significant role in international foreign policy as far as oil is concerned. But its impact on Afghanistan and Iraq and the whole region will be overshadowed by possible pressures and sanctions against Iran,” Jalili said in reply to a question on whether Iran would use oil as a weapon if sanctions were imposed.

Socks The Cat Claws Back at Hillary

(WASHINGTON) As the “first pet” of the Clinton era, Socks, the White House cat, allowed “chilly” Hillary Clinton to show a caring, maternal side as well as bringing joy to her daughter Chelsea. So where is Socks today?

It turns out that once the presidency was over, there was no room for Socks any more. After years of loyal service at the White House, the black and white cat was dumped on Betty Currie, Bill Clinton’s personal secretary and political janitor, who also had an embarrassing clean-up role in the saga of her husband’s relationship with the intern Monica Lewinsky.

Some believe the abandoned pet could now come between Hillary Clinton and her ambition to return to the White House as America’s first woman president. Her treatment of Socks cuts to the heart of the questions about her candidacy and her persona. Is she too cold, calculating and manipulative to win the presidency? Or does it signify political invincibility by showing she is willing to deploy every weapon at her disposal to get what she wants?

“In the annals of human evil, off-loading a pet is nowhere near the top of the list,” writes Caitlin Flanagan in the current issue of The Atlantic magazine. “But neither is it dead last, and it is especially galling when said pet has been deployed for years as an all-purpose character reference.”

Flanagan’s article, headed No Girlfriend of Mine, points out that Clinton wrote a crowd-pleas-ing book Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids’ Letters to the First Pets, in which she claimed that only with the arrival of Socks, and his “toy mouse”, did the White House “become a home”.

Being Clinton, she also lectured readers that pets are an “adoption instead of an acquisition” and warned them to look out for their safety. (Buddy, the chocolate labrador, it should be noted, bounded into a road soon after leaving the White House and was promptly run over. [RIP Buddy])

Despite these misadventures, Peggy Noonan, President Ronald Reagan’s former speech-writer, believes Clinton is doing a good job of humanizing herself. “I am not saying she has learned to be herself,” she observed. “I think after a year on the trail she has learned how not to be herself, how to comfortably adopt a skin and play a part.”