21st Feb2012

When the Best is Mediocre

by iSpit
(This article is excerpted and is not the complete article. Click Here to view complete article)
American education has problems, almost everyone is willing to concede, but many think those problems are mostly concentrated in our large urban school districts. In the elite suburbs, where wealthy and politically influential people tend to live, the schools are assumed to be world-class.
Unfortunately, what everyone knows is wrong. Even the most elite suburban school districts often produce results that are mediocre when compared with those of our international peers. Our best school districts may look excellent alongside large urban districts, the comparison state accountability systems encourage, but that measure provides false comfort. America’s elite suburban students are increasingly competing with students outside the United States for economic opportunities, and a meaningful assessment of student achievement requires a global, not a local, comparison.

 

We developed the Global Report Card (GRC) to facilitate such a comparison. The GRC enables users to compare academic achievement in math and reading between 2004 and 2007 for virtually every public school district in the United States with the average achievement in a set of 25 other countries with developed economies that might be considered our economic peers and sometime competitors. The main results are reported as percentiles of a distribution, which indicates how the average student in a district performs relative to students throughout the advanced industrialized world. A percentile of 60 means that the average student in a district is achieving better than 59.9 percent of the students in our global comparison group. (Readers can find all of the results of the Global Report Card at http://globalreportcard.org. The web site contains a full description of the method by which we calculated the results. For a summary, see the methodology sidebar.)
For the purposes of this article, we focus on the 2007 math results, although the GRC contains information for both math and reading between 2004 and 2007. We focus on 2007 because it is the most recent data set, and we focus on math because it is the subject that provides the best comparison across countries and is most closely correlated with economic growth. Readers should feel free to consult the GRC web site to find reading results as well as results for other years.

 

Results from Affluent Suburbs Nationwide

 

Affluent suburban districts may be outperforming their large urban neighbors, but they fail to achieve near the top of international comparisons (see Figure 1). White Plains, New York, in suburban Westchester County, is only at the 39th percentile in math relative to our global comparison group. Grosse Point, Michigan, outside of Detroit, is at the 56th percentile. Evanston, Illinois, the home of Northwestern University outside of Chicago, is at the 48th percentile in math. The average student in Montgomery County, Maryland, where many of the national government leaders send their children to school, is at the 50th percentile in math relative to students in other developed countries. The average student in Fairfax, Virginia, another suburban refuge for government leaders, is at the 49th percentile. Shaker Heights, Ohio, outside of Cleveland, is at the 50th percentile in math. The average student in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, is at the 66th percentile. Ladue, Missouri, a wealthy suburb of St. Louis, is at the 62nd percentile. And the average student in Plano, Texas, near Dallas, is at the 64th percentile in math relative to our global comparison group.

 

All of these communities are among the wealthiest in the United States. All are overwhelmingly white in their population. All of them are thought of as refuges from the dysfunction of our public school system. But the sad reality is that in none of them is the average student in the upper third of math achievement relative to students in other developed countries. Most of them are barely keeping pace with the average student in other developed countries, despite the fact that the comparison is to all students in the other countries, some of which have a per-capita gross domestic product that is almost half that of the United States. In short, many of what we imagine as our best school districts are mediocre compared with the education systems serving students in other developed countries.

 

Pockets of Excellence
While many affluent suburban districts have lower achievement than we might expect, some districts are producing very high achievement even when compared with that of students in other developed countries. For example, the average student in the Pelham school district in Massachusetts is at the 95th percentile in math. That means that if we were to relocate Pelham to another developed country in our comparison group, the average student in Pelham would outperform 95 percent of the students in math. That’s very impressive.
Of course, Pelham is a small district that is home to Amherst College, among other institutions of higher learning, and serves a rather select group of students. But not all college-town school districts are equally high achieving. As we have already seen, Evanston, Illinois, is at the 48th percentile in math in a global comparison. Palo Alto, California, the home of Stanford University, is at the 64th percentile. And the average student in Ann Arbor, Michigan, home to the University of Michigan, is at the 58th percentile in math relative to students in other developed countries. So, the 95th percentile math achievement in Pelham is outstanding, even for college towns.
Spring Lake, New Jersey, has a similarly impressive record of having the average student at the 91st percentile in math. It is a very small and affluent community on the New Jersey shore that has somehow escaped the influence of Snooki and The Situation. Waconda, Kansas, a small rural community, also is at the 91st percentile. Highland Park, Texas, an affluent community near Dallas, is at the 88th percentile.
Interestingly, of the top 20 U.S. public-school districts in math achievement, 7 are charter schools (some states treat charter schools as separate public-school districts). And most of the 13 traditional districts remaining are in rural communities rather than in a large suburban “refuge” from urban education ills.
Pools of Failure
In total, only 820 of the 13,636 public-school districts for which we have 2007 math results had average student achievement that would be among the top third of student performance in other developed countries. That is, 94 percent of all U.S. school districts have average math achievement below the 67th percentile. There aren’t that many truly excellent districts out there.
Of the 13,636 districts, 9,339, or 68 percent, have average student math achievement that is below the 50th percentile compared with that of the average student in other developed countries. Most of our large school districts are well below the 50th percentile. This is especially alarming, because these lower-performing large districts comprise a much greater share of the total student population than do the relatively small higher-performing districts.
The average student in the Washington, D.C., school district is at the 11th percentile in math relative to students in other developed countries. In Detroit, the average student is at the 12th percentile. In Milwaukee, the average student is at the 16th percentile. Cleveland is at the 18th percentile. The average student in Baltimore is at the 19th percentile in math relative to students in other developed countries. In Los Angeles, the average student is at the 20th percentile. The average student in Chicago is at the 21st percentile in math. Atlanta is at the 23rd percentile. The average student in New York City is at the 32nd percentile in math. And in Miami-Dade County, the average student is at the 33rd percentile in math.
Not 1 of the largest 20 school districts is above the 50th percentile in math relative to other developed countries. Those districts contain almost 5.2 million students or more than 10 percent of the country’s schoolchildren. The rare and small pockets of excellence in charter schools and rural communities are overwhelmed by large pools of failure.
No Refuge
The elites, the wealthy families that have a disproportionate influence on politics, clearly recognize the dysfunction of large urban school districts and have sought refuge in affluent suburban districts for their own children. But the reality is that there are relatively few pockets of excellence to which these families can flee.
In four states, there is not a single traditional district with average student achievement above the 50th percentile in math. In 17 states, there is not a single traditional district with average achievement in the upper third relative to our global comparison group. And apart from charter school districts,  in over half of the states, there are no more than three traditional districts in which the average achievement would be in the upper third.
The elites in those states have almost nowhere to find an excellent public education for their children. But state accountability systems and the desire to rationalize the lack of quality options have encouraged the elites to compare their affluent suburban districts to the large urban ones in their state. These inappropriate comparisons have falsely reassured them that their own school districts are doing well.
This false reassurance has also perhaps undermined the desire among the elites to engage in dramatic education reform. As long as the elites hold onto the belief that their own school districts are excellent, they have little desire to push for the kind of significant systemic reforms that might improve their districts as well as the large urban districts. They may wish the urban districts well and hope matters improve, but their taste for bold reform is limited by a false contentment with their own situation.
But the elites should not take comfort from the stronger performance of affluent suburban districts relative to large urban districts. As the Global Report Card reveals, even our best public-school districts are mediocre when compared with the achievement of students in a set of countries with developed economies.
Of course, the Global Report Card does not isolate the extent to which schools add or detract from student performance. Factors from student backgrounds, including their parents, communities, and individual characteristics, have a strong influence on achievement. But the GRC does tell us about the end result for student achievement of all of these factors, schools included. And that end result, even in our best districts, is generally disappointing.
Jay P. Greene is professor of education reform at the University of Arkansas and a fellow at the George W. Bush Institute. Josh B. McGee is vice president for public accountability initiatives at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.
Category : News, World News
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14th Feb2012

Gentleman Jack Presents: How to Host a Formal Dinner

by iSpit

You may be fooling yourself if you’re not worried about your ability to be at ease with fine dining at a five-star restaurant, or taking charge of hosting a business or social dinner. If you wish to climb either the social or corporate ladder, you must have a veneer that is smooth and polished. While it may be a jungle out there, animal house manners won’t cut it for formal events.

Learn the Terrain
Begin by frequenting several upscale restaurants. These establishments should reflect the image you wish to project about yourself. Learn their geography, layout, menu, where the best tables are, and the names of the servers. Develop a rapport with the wait staff and the maitre d’, and have them recognize you. It will be your responsibility to take charge of every detail of the forthcoming event, from picking up the phone and extending the invitation yourself to paying the bill and the valet parking.

Extend the invitation to your guests at least one week before the meeting. Tell them the reason for the meeting, and where and when it will be. If you make your invitation by phone, send a confirmation card to arrive two days before the scheduled date. This acts as a reminder in the event of an oversight.

Prep the Event in Advance
Make reservations in your name as far in advance as possible. When booking the table, specify where you would like to sit. Learn the table numbers of the best locations, and request a specific table at the time you make your reservation. Prearrange the menu if time is an issue or if more than six people will be attending. If you will be entertaining at a restaurant with which you are unfamiliar, either ask to have a menu faxed or sent to you, or download it from the Internet. Learn the menu for possible suggestions. You never want to look unprepared.

On the night of the event, arrive early to allow yourself time to check the arrangements and the menu. Greet your guests in the lobby, or go to the table and ask the maitre d’ to escort them to your table. Don’t order a drink, munch on the breadsticks or open your napkin once you’ve sat down. Your guests should arrive to see you sitting at an undisturbed table.

Orchestrate the Meal
As the host, you decide the seating arrangements. Point out a chair for each guest and ask him to sit there. The most important guest gets the most desirable seat at the table. In general, seat your most important guest looking into the restaurant, but if your restaurant is noted for its view, seat him looking out. If your guests are late, state that you just sat down yourself upon their arrival.

Ensure that you have asked for a large table if you think you may have to spread out papers. When there are two of you at a meal, sit at a right angle to your guest (unless you are at a booth). Sitting across from one another at a square table is considered an adversarial position.

As the host, it is your responsibility to give the silent signal that the meal may begin by placing your napkin on your lap. Unfold your luncheon napkin all the way when you sit down. Once everyone is seated, offer your guests something to drink. “What are you having to drink?” is classier than “Do you want a drink?” If your guests order a beverage, you should too, even if you don’t want one. It doesn’t have to be alcoholic.

First Pleasure, Then Business
Don’t jump into your business until after all the orders have been taken and the appetizers have been served. If you are hosting a luncheon, use the first 10 minutes for “small talk.” For a dinner, allow 30 minutes. This gives everyone a chance to relax and establish rapport. Invite colleagues of your guests only if they are essential to the meeting. The exception is if a guest is from out of town; in this case, it is courteous to allow him or her to bring a spouse. Arrange to bring a partner of the same gender to occupy the spouse while the two of you are conducting business.

Once seated, turn off your cell phone. It is rude to your guests and other diners for you to talk on the telephone while sitting at a dining table. If you need to leave the table in the middle of the meal, put your napkin on the seat of your chair, not on the table. You want to leave the table looking as neat as possible; this is also a signal to the server that you will be returning, and not to take your plate away.

Pay the Bill with Grace
When hosting a lunch or dinner, the worldly businessman doesn’t fuss with the check. There are sophisticated ways to handle paying the bill. You may give your credit card ahead of time, and request that the server add 18% to the meal. The server will then run your credit card ahead of time, and return it and the receipt for you to sign at the end of the meal.

You may also request that the receipt not be brought to your table. Arrange either to pick it up on your way out or have it sent to your office. You may also request that the bill be held at the maitre d”s station. Excuse yourself as the meal is coming to a close, and go there to review and sign the slip, and pick up your receipt.

Category : Exclusive
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06th Feb2012

Mumia Abu Jamal – Of Idiots & Sages

by iSpit

Prison Radio announces that it will continue to record and distribute Mumia Abu-Jamal’s radio essays in the face of State censorship and State sponsored torture. Mumia is being kept in solitary in SCI Mahanoy’s dungeon. Its restrictions and conditions belie its modern construction. The defeat for the State, having to openly declare that Mumia will live, and the fact that they can no longer legally execute Mumia, has meant a severe backlash. After his transfer off of death row, Mumia was thrown in the hole at SCI Mahanoy.

The prison administration excuse that “paperwork” is holding up his transfer to general population in this medium security prison is transparent. The disinformation is part of the strategy to create confusion and disorient. Make no mistake. These conditions are clearly designed torture. They are being enacted to elicit Mumia and our silence.

Mumia Abu-Jamal is being held in extremely repressive conditions. And like thousands of prisoners, residents of solitary confinement and isolation units in every hole in every prison across the country, Mumia is being subject to draconian, dehumanizing and brutal conditions. He is chained in leg, waist and wrist irons, behind Plexiglas during visits. Subject to strip searches before and after visits. Unable to walk freely. Having bits of paper to write notes on, with a rubber flex pen. No shelves, no books. Limited access to new reports, letters delayed. Resitricted visiting. Lights on 24hrs a day. Only one brief phone call to his wife. No access to adequate food or commissary.
“Solitary Confinement is simply torture.  It has been well known for a long time.  It is savagery Mass incaceration is an incredible crime.  All of these things are a true international scandal.   He is a striking case, but it is far more general.  Maximum security prisons in the United States are horrendous. They make Guantanamo look like a vacation resort. Same with Death Row.  Executions in the United States are far beyond the norm. There are very few countries except ones that we would prefer not to mention that use the death penalty either at all or anything like the U.S. does. Noam Chomsky, Professor MIT, Cambridge Mass.

Of Idiots ~ and Sages

 

[col. Writ 1/11/12] © ’12 m.a.jamal

Noam Chomsky, for Mumia Abu-Jamal.

 

Prison and government officials are trying to censor and silence Mumia Abu-Jamal.  I stand as one of many Americans who believe that there is tremendous value in his voice being heard.  I and others will fight to make sure that both his voice and his body are free.

 

Of Idiots and Sages

 

How much is your child worth?

 

How much is your grandchild worth?

 

These are not trick questions.  They arise from the news that North Carolina

 

Recently announced cash compensation to thousands of survivors of their State sterilization program that ran from 1929 to 1974 ~ and astonishing 45 years!

 

North Carolina was but one of many mostly Southern states that sterilized people whom it considered as ‘defective’.  In this, they were supported by authorities as august as the U.S. Supreme Court, which, in its now-infamous Buck vs. Bell (1927) decision, found that a state could properly sterilize its citizens, and citizens had no constitutional right to oppose it, for, in the words of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: “Three generations of imbeciles are enough!”

 

A North Carolina task force recommended payment of $50,000 for each survivor.

 

North Carolina shouldn’t be the whipping boy here, for such practices took place nationally with Federal government support.  Historians and scholars  Mary Frances Berry and John Blassingame, in their 1982 work,  ‘Long Memory’”  The Black Experience in America” (NY Oxford University Press) tell us that as late as the 1970’s, the U.S. Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare were “forcing 100,000to 150,000 people to be sterilized annually”! {p.353} Over 90% of these people were Black.

 

This horrific state practice and the U.S. Supreme Court’s chilling reasoning in support thereof, gives us some insight into how social prejudices and attitudes percolate into all sections of society – and despite their self-evident madness are seen by seemingly enlightened sectors as perfectly reasonable –only to be later tarnished as repellent with the passage of time.

 

If a state, or nation, could sterilize its own so called ‘citizens’, deny people the right and ability to have children, what is such a state (or nation) but a dictatorship of arrogance and power?

 

One day, perhaps sooner than we suppose, we shall look back at the phenomenon of mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex as proof of a mad society.

 

Perhaps such a future state will pay reparations —(oops) …er, I mean compensation to their survivors in 75 or 80 years.

 

If any survive.

 

–© 12 maj (Mumia Abu-Jamal

 

Noam Chomsky for Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Category : Audio, Interviews
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31st Jan2012

States Hit Turbulence in School Overhauls

by iSpit
The Obama administration is stepping up pressure on states to make good on their commitments under its Race to the Top competition, after all 12 winners either scaled down plans or pushed back timelines to overhaul their public-education systems.
The U.S. Department of Education warned last week that Hawaii, which won $75 million in Race to the Top funding, is so far off track that the state could lose its money if it doesn’t start making good on its pledges. It was the first state to receive such a stern warning, though federal officials have threatened in the past year to withhold smaller amounts from Rhode Island and Delaware.
“If things don’t change, Hawaii is going to end up in a tough spot,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said during a press call Thursday. Hawaii education officials say they are making progress but acknowledge they have hit stumbling blocks to following through with the state‘s promises.
Race to the Top, President Barack Obama‘s signature education initiative, offered $4.3 billion to states that promised to transform their education systems. Competition for the grants prompted dozens of states to change laws governing teacher evaluations, adopt new academic standards, alter their approach to fixing low-performing schools and support the growth of charter schools, which are public schools run by nongovernment groups.
Eleven states and the District of Columbia won the competition and then submitted ambitious overhaul agendas with timelines for completion. But all the winners since have applied for-and received-permission from the U.S. Department of Education to alter their plans.
The Education Department has approved scores of waiver requests, including allowances for Massachusetts to delay plans to develop online courses for teacher mentors and for Rhode Island to push back plans to open more charter schools. Some states, including Florida, got sidetracked by overly optimistic target dates to hire contractors for developing student data systems or to create mathematical formulas for linking teacher evaluations to student test scores.
Delaware, Rhode Island, Georgia, Maryland and Hawaii got permission to push back by a year efforts to link student test scores to teacher evaluations that, in some cases, were to be used for tenure decisions.
New York was held up by a court battle with the New York State United Teachers union over a proposed evaluation system.
The delays and adjustments could give ammunition to critics of Race to the Top and affect future funding for the program, which has come under attack from House Republicans who object to a competition that rewarded states only if they adopted Obama-favored initiatives.
Mr. Duncan acknowledged that some states have “further to go” but said, overall, he is “extraordinarily pleased” with the progress. “This is really, really tough, hard work. There is a reason this work hasn’t happened for decades in this country.”
Most states are moving forward. Tennessee this year launched a teacher-evaluation system that rates all educators based on test scores. The policy has faced criticism because most teachers work in grades and subjects that aren’t part of standardized testing. Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman acknowledged the policy might need to be tweaked but said he was “thrilled” state officials didn’t wait to launch it.
The widespread delays are causing concerns beyond the Education Department. Chiefs for Change, a group of 10 state superintendents who advocate for education overhauls, sent Mr. Duncan a letter in August saying the winners “must be held accountable” for implementing plans on time.
Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, a nonprofit group that advocates judging teachers on performance, said she isn’t surprised by the delays. “A lot of the states promised the moon and now, some of them are having trouble delivering,” she said.
Hawaii officials have sought permission to postpone almost every major component of their plan. Federal officials had gone along, until last week when the department sent the letter demanding that state officials get permission before spending any Race to the Top dollars. Federal officials also will send a team into the state in early January 2012 to assess the progress.
The major stumbling block is the state‘s inability to reach contract agreement with the Hawaii State Teachers Association. Hawaii promised in its application to link student test scores to teacher evaluations and use them for tenure and merit-pay decisions. They planned to launch the new system in the lowest-performing schools. All of that has been delayed.
Stephen Schatz, assistant superintendent in the Hawaii education department, said his state has lived up to some promises, including online student assessments and training some teachers on new, more rigorous statewide curriculum standards.
“We know implementation has been a bit rocky at times,” Mr. Schatz said. “But I am confident we will get back on track.”
Alvin Nagasako, executive director of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, declined to comment and referred questions to association president Wil Okabe, who couldn’t be reached.
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25th Jan2012

Egypt Unrest: Women Protest Against Army Violence

by iSpit

Thousands of Egyptian women have held rallies in Cairo against their treatment by security forces.

Demonstrators brandished photos of a woman who was beaten and dragged along the ground, exposing her underwear – an incident that has outraged Egyptians.

The rally took place in Tahrir Square, which has seen five days of deadly clashes between protesters and troops.

The ruling military council has said it deeply regrets any “transgressions” against women protesters.

‘Shocking’

On Monday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Egypt‘s police and soldiers of deliberately targeting women.

Speaking in Washington, Mrs Clinton said that women were being humiliated in the same streets where they had risked their lives for the revolution.

“This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonours the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform and is not worthy of a great people,” she told an audience at Georgetown University.

She called the events of the past few days “shocking”.

At Tuesday’s rally in Cairo, some women shouted: “Our honour is a red line”.

Protester Nawara Negm said the security forces were deliberately trying to humiliate women.

“They know that people who don’t care about their own lives they care about their mother, wife and sister. So they wanted to humiliate the whole Egyptian people by humiliating women because they know it’s very sensitive,” she told the BBC.

“[The ruling generals] have to go, they are traitors.”

In a statement, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces expressed its “strong regret to the great women of Egypt over transgressions that occurred during recent incidents in the protests outside parliament and the cabinet”.

‘Deranged’

Earlier, General Adil Emara, a member of the military council, said that the attack on the woman was an isolated incident and was under investigation.

“We have nothing to hide,” he insisted

The council also said it would open an investigation into accusations that soldiers carried out virginity tests on women protesters in March.

Earlier, security forces clashed with protesters who returned to protest against the military for a fifth day.

At least 13 people have been killed since the latest clashes began on Friday, just after the second round of the country’s parliamentary elections.

There are reports of injuries resulting from Tuesday’s clashes, but so far no deaths.

Meanwhile, a retired Egyptian army general who still acts as a military adviser, Abdul Moneim Kato, caused outrage by saying that some protesters deserve to be thrown into “Hitler’s ovens”.

The leading presidential hopeful, Mohamed ElBaradei, said the remarks showed a “deranged and criminal state of mind”.

The military council assumed presidential powers after Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down as head of state in February.

Protesters returned to Tahrir Square in November, accusing the generals of delaying the transfer of power to a civilian government.

Category : News, War, World News
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9 Comm
19th Jan2012

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman: Worlds Largest Drug Kingpin

by iSpit

He’s gonna read this and throw one of those “Blow” parties like in the movie

The U.S. Treasury Department called Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman “the world’s most powerful drug trafficker” Tuesday. The fugitive Sinaloa cartel leader also got a boost from Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo, who said she believed in Guzman more than in the government.

It was the latest in an odd series of encomiums for Guzman, who was included this year on the Forbes list of the world’s richest people, with an estimated fortune of $1 billion.

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City issued a statement saying three of Guzman’s alleged associates had been hit with sanctions under the drug Kingpin Act, which prohibits people in the U.S. from conducting businesses with them and freezes their U.S. assets. The two Mexican men and a Colombian allegedly aided Guzman’s trafficking operations.

[Related: Sinaloa gang ramping up meth in Guatemala]

The statement quoted Adam J. Szubin, director of the Treasury Department‘s Office of Foreign Assets Control, as saying the move “marks the fourth time in the past year that OFAC has targeted and exposed the support structures of the organization led by Chapo Guzman, the world’s most powerful drug trafficker.”

Guzman, who escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 in a laundry truck and has a $7 million bounty on his head, has long been recognized as Mexico‘s most powerful drug capo. Authorities say his Sinaloa cartel has recently been expanding abroad, building international operations in Central and South America and the Pacific.

Del Castillo, who played a female drug trafficker in the TV series “La Reina del Sur” (“Queen of the South”), offered grudging praise for Guzman in a posting Tuesday on the social media site Twextra, linked to her Twitter account.

“Today, I believe more in El Chapo Guzman than in the governments who hide truths from me,” she wrote.

The actress did not specify whether she was referring to the Mexican government, or what she meant when she accused “governments” of “hiding the cures for cancer, AIDS, etc. for their own benefit and enrichment.”

Del Castillo‘s publicist, Marianne Sauvage, confirmed in an email to The Associated Press that the actress wrote the posting, and that the account belonged to Del Castillo.

The 800-word posting ended with an impassioned plea to Guzman:

“Mr. Chapo, wouldn’t it be great if you started trafficking with positive things? With cures for diseases, with food for street children, with alcohol for old people’s homes so they spend their final days doing whatever they like, trafficking with corrupt politicians and not with women and children who wind up as slaves?”

“Go ahead, dare to, sir, you would be the hero of heroes, let’s traffick with love, you know how,” the message concluded.

Also Tuesday, Mexican authorities said they had seized 32.6 metric tons of a precursor chemical used to make methamphetamines at the Pacific coast port of Manzanillo.

[Related: Police find 29 bags of cannabis in soccer star's restaurant]

Mexico‘s navy said the chemical methylamine came in a shipment from China, but did not say whether Manzanillo was the final destination of the shipment. Mexico seized almost 675 metric tons of the chemical at sea ports in December alone, all of which was destined for Guatemala.

Experts say that when another chemical is added, methylamine can yield its weight in uncut meth.

Also Tuesday, federal police reported they had defused a car bomb left outside the state detectives’ agency offices in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of the northern border state of Tamaulipas.

After detectives reported the car smelled of gasoline, specially equipped federal officers opened the trunk and found 10 sticks of explosives, two jugs of gasoline, wires, a cellphone and what appeared to be detonating devices.

There was no immediate information on who left the car bomb.

Tamaulipas has been the scene of bloody turf battles between the Gulf and Zetas drug cartels, and the gangs have attacked police and police offices with car bombs in the past.

 

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5 Comm
17th Jan2012

African American Male Teacher Shortage & Programs Fixing The Problem

by iSpit

It’s a nationwide problem, the shortage of black male teachers. Only two-percent of the nation’s nearly five million teachers are African American.
Twenty-eight-year-old Craig King has taught third grade at Whittaker Elementary School for six years. His students say there’s never a dull moment in Mr. King’s class, also known as “The Kingdom.” For him, the decision to go into education came easy. King says, “I come from a family filled with teachers, so educating is in my blood.”
Teachers like Mr. King are rare. In South Carolina, there are more than 49-thousand teachers, more than 8-thousand of them are men, and of that number just over a thousand are black men. King calls it a national epidemic. He says some young men think about salary first when it comes to teaching, but says the rewards are priceless. Craig King says, “It’s one of the best feelings in the world to educate. The rewards are far greater than anything monetary. The rewards I get everyday looking in my student’s faces and teaching them. Teaching has gotten this stigma of not being a masculine profession. I think it’s the most masculine professions out. Because you’re serving as a father figure in many instances. You have the uncanning ability to affect so many children who don’t have a male role model at home or in their community. I look at it as a right and a must to have male teachers in education.” King says he’s concerned about the shortage of black male teachers. “It concerns me a lot. Education is the catalyst to change the world. Education is what we need, and we need more African American males.”
There are programs, like “Call Me Mister,” that are hoping to bring changes to classrooms. The program started ten years ago at Clemson University to address the shortage of black male teachers in classrooms, and is now at 14 colleges and universities throughout the state. Dr. Roy Jones is executive director of the Call Me mister Program at Clemson University. He says, “We don’t stand alone in this crisis, this challenge, there are coast to coast, states, colleges, universities, school districts faced with the same challenges. We think that by placing African American men in the classroom is extremely critical because we’re losing so many black males in the school district in school system. In fact, more than half of our children don’t make it through high school. That’s an alarming statistic.”
Call Me Mister offers 8-thousand-dollars in tuition assistance and other support services per “Mister” per year. In exchange, the student must agree to teach a year for every year they received support. Dr. Jones says, “We started out recruiting, developing, training if you will, and certifying and placing African American men into teaching positions throughout the state of South Carolina public schools. We’ve graduated more than 60 to date that are currently teaching in elementary public schools in South Carolina. We have about 150 enrolled among our partner colleges throughout the state.”
19-year-old Codarrio Butler, a freshman at South Carolina State University is one of those young men. He says, “I believe that I can be a positive mentor and positive role model.” Codarrio is in the Call Me Mister program at South Carolina State University. Codarrio says he always wanted to be a teacher, to make a difference. He says, “In middle school, I only had one male teacher, high school, one male teacher. I decided I wanted to be a male teacher. I wanted to be someone that males can look up to and they can see doing positive things.”
Craig King says, “Whenever I have a chance to talk to any African American male or male in general about coming into the fold of education, I take that and jump on it. I explain the rewards I receive daily, and when I say daily, I mean daily of inspiring the youth of tomorrow. It’s just a great feeling. I can’t see myself doing anything else, anything else at all.” Dr. Jones says, “What we’re trying to do is be that call, be that rallying call that says, we need master teachers, more than master line backers and point guards, not that we criticize that at all. We want success and excellence at every level, but until we make becoming a master teacher something that is a priority in the community and among our profession, we’re going to have a tough time attracting these young guys to go in to the profession.”
The Call Me Mister program is now licensed in six other states. There will be a state-wide Call Me Mister Summit in Charleston at the College of Charleston, April 10th at 10am. For more information on the Call Me Mister program, click here: http://www.clemson.edu/hehd/departments/education/research-service/callmemister/

     Here’s a look at the numbers of black male teachers in local school districts:
Berkeley County – 31
Charleston County – 82
Dorchester District 2 – 25
Dorchester District 4 – 13
Colleton County – 10
Georgetown County – 28
Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5- 70
Williamsburg County – 25
Local school districts say they are working to recruit diverse staff.
Charleston County School District, the second largest district in the state says they have a partnership with the College of Charleston and other collaborators to address this issue and diversify as a priority.
Category : Edu-tainment
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6 Comm
13th Jan2012

For The Record: The Costs of High School Dropouts

by iSpit
One in seven Chicagoans age 19 to 24 are dropouts and the costs to the city and state are staggering, according “High School Dropouts in Chicago and Illinois: The Growing Labor Market, Income, Civic, Social and Fiscal Costs of Dropping Out of High School,” a report Northeastern University researchers prepared for the Chicago Urban League and released today.

 

The report will be officially released at a Chicago Urban League forum, which Catalyst Chicago will be live-Tweeting.

 

The forum will feature CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard, as well as city, county and state elected officials. They will talk about program options for out-of-school youth, which have been curtailed during the recession and state budget crisis. The Alternative Schools Network, an advocacy group, sponsors forums and research to bring attention to the issue of out-of-school youth.

 

Black and Latino young men are hit especially hard. One in four young African-American men and nearly one in three Latino men are dropouts. Many of the dropouts are incarcerated, according to the report.

 

They face a grim future. Just half of high school dropouts age 18 to 64 in Chicago were employed during 2010. Of the rest, most could not find work for even a week out of the past year. Those who did work had an average income of just $13,700 (only 40 percent of what those with associate’s degrees earned.)

 

Over a lifetime, that adds up: High school dropouts will earn just $595,000, compared with $1.1 million for high school graduates and $1.5 million for people with associate’s degrees.
The disparities also take a toll on children, the report notes. In the 2009-10 fiscal year, one in three families headed by high school dropouts had to rely on food stamps.

 

 ”Children living in families headed by high school dropouts face a substantially above average probability of encountering cognitive, health, housing adequacy, and nutrition problems that will limit their future economic and educational development,” the report states. “Their chances of securing a bachelor’s degree by their mid-20s are close to zero.”

 

Compared with a high school graduate, each high school dropout costs society more than $300,000, according to the report. Compared with a 4-year college graduate, the cost is $956,000. This does not even factor in the cost of the five-times-higher incarceration rate faced by high school dropouts.

 

Researcher Andrew Sum tabulated the statewide costs of Illinois dropouts in 2005. The tab? A staggering $10 billion. The Chicago Reporter tackled the topic in its November 2006 issue, “$10 Billion Hole.”

 

Catalyst Chicago‘s 2008 story on High School Transformation at Marshall High School noted that dropouts from the school‘s Class of 2011 would cost society an estimated $124 million over their lifetime. That program was ultimately scrapped, and a tumultuous series of changes at the school ultimately resulted in a fall 2010 turnaround.
Category : Edu-tainment, News
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3 Comm
10th Jan2012

Wisconsin Police Arrest Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop

by iSpit

Here’s a tale that Dr. Seuss never wrote: the man formerly known as Jeffrey Drew Wilschke has been arrested again by Madison, Wisconsin police, who’d received phone calls from concerned residents. It seems the former Mr. Wilschke had been prowling around a local park, not far from the state capitol, when he was detained

But it wasn’t Mr. Wilschke who was taken into custody. Enter: Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop!

As the Capital Times reports, Mr. Zopittybop-Bop-Bop, who changed his legal name last October, apparently kept his old habits. He was allegedly carrying a knife, marijuana and drug paraphernalia when officers detained him last week. He’s now being held on a probation violation, linked to an arrest in 2011.

As the Times reports, Mr. Zopittybop-Bop-Bop (then known as Mr. Wilschke) was taken into custody in April for grinding marijuana in another Madison park. Police who searched his backpack discovered knives and a loaded handgun.

Although there’s no telling where Beezow Doo-Doo (formerly known as Jeffrey) came up with his new name, if he wants another one he has only to open any Seuss book to find Sally Spingel-Sungel-Sporn, Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate, a North (or South) Going Zax or maybe Ham-ikka-Schnim-ikka-Schnam-ikka-Schnopp.

But there’s only one Sam-I-Am

Category : News, World News
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1 Comm
03rd Jan2012

Collecting Rainwater Now Illegal in Many States As Big Government Claims Ownership Over Our Water

by iSpit

Many of the freedoms we enjoy here in the U.S. are quickly eroding as the nation transforms from the land of the free into the land of the enslaved, but what I’m about to share with you takes the assault on our freedoms to a whole new level. You may not be aware of this, but many Western states, including Utah, Washington and Colorado, have long outlawed individuals from collecting rainwater on their own properties because, according to officials, that rain belongs to someone else.

As bizarre as it sounds, laws restricting property owners from “diverting” water that falls on their own homes and land have been on the books for quite some time in many Western states. Only recently, as droughts and renewed interest in water conservation methods have become more common, have individuals and business owners started butting heads with law enforcement over the practice of collecting rainwater for personal use.

Check out this YouTube video of a news report out of Salt Lake City, Utah, about the issue. It’s illegal in Utah to divert rainwater without a valid water right, and Mark Miller of Mark Miller Toyota, found this out the hard way.

After constructing a large rainwater collection system at his new dealership to use for washing new cars, Miller found out that the project was actually an “unlawful diversion of rainwater.” Even though it makes logical conservation sense to collect rainwater for this type of use since rain is scarce in Utah, it’s still considered a violation of water rights which apparently belong exclusively to Utah‘s various government bodies.

“Utah‘s the second driest state in the nation. Our laws probably ought to catch up with that,” explained Miller in response to the state‘s ridiculous rainwater collection ban.

Salt Lake City officials worked out a compromise with Miller and are now permitting him to use “their” rainwater, but the fact that individuals like Miller don’t actually own the rainwater that falls on their property is a true indicator of what little freedom we actually have here in the U.S. (Access to the rainwater that falls on your own property seems to be a basic right, wouldn’t you agree?)

Outlawing rainwater collection in other states

Utah isn’t the only state with rainwater collection bans, either. Colorado and Washington also have rainwater collection restrictions that limit the free use of rainwater, but these restrictions vary among different areas of the states and legislators have passed some laws to help ease the restrictions.

In Colorado, two new laws were recently passed that exempt certain small-scale rainwater collection systems, like the kind people might install on their homes, from collection restrictions.

Prior to the passage of these laws, Douglas County, Colorado, conducted a study on how rainwater collection affects aquifer and groundwater supplies. The study revealed that letting people collect rainwater on their properties actually reduces demand from water facilities and improves conservation.

Personally, I don’t think a study was even necessary to come to this obvious conclusion. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that using rainwater instead of tap water is a smart and useful way to conserve this valuable resource, especially in areas like the West where drought is a major concern.

Additionally, the study revealed that only about three percent of Douglas County‘s precipitation ended up in the streams and rivers that are supposedly being robbed from by rainwater collectors. The other 97 percent either evaporated or seeped into the ground to be used by plants.

This hints at why bureaucrats can’t really use the argument that collecting rainwater prevents that water from getting to where it was intended to go. So little of it actually makes it to the final destination that virtually every household could collect many rain barrels worth of rainwater and it would have practically no effect on the amount that ends up in streams and rivers.

It’s all about control, really

As long as people remain unaware and uninformed about important issues, the government will continue to chip away at the freedoms we enjoy. The only reason these water restrictions are finally starting to change for the better is because people started to notice and they worked to do something to reverse the law.

Even though these laws restricting water collection have been on the books for more than 100 years in some cases, they’re slowly being reversed thanks to efforts by citizens who have decided that enough is enough.

Because if we can’t even freely collect the rain that falls all around us, then what, exactly, can we freely do? The rainwater issue highlights a serious overall problem in America today: diminishing freedom and increased government control.

Today, we’ve basically been reprogrammed to think that we need permission from the government to exercise our inalienable rights, when in fact the government is supposed to derive its power from us. The American Republic was designed so that government would serve the People to protect and uphold freedom and liberty. But increasingly, our own government is restricting people from their rights to engage in commonsense, fundamental actions such as collecting rainwater or buying raw milk from the farmer next door.

Today, we are living under a government that has slowly siphoned off our freedoms, only to occasionally grant us back a few limited ones under the pretense that they’re doing us a benevolent favor.

Fight back against enslavement

As long as people believe their rights stem from the government (and not the other way around), they will always be enslaved. And whatever rights and freedoms we think we still have will be quickly eroded by a system of bureaucratic power that seeks only to expand its control.

Because the same argument that’s now being used to restrict rainwater collection could, of course, be used to declare that you have no right to the air you breathe, either. After all, governments could declare that air to be somebody else’s air, and then they could charge you an “air tax” or an “air royalty” and demand you pay money for every breath that keeps you alive.

Think it couldn’t happen? Just give it time. The government already claims it owns your land and house, effectively. If you really think you own your home, just stop paying property taxes and see how long you still “own” it. Your county or city will seize it and then sell it to pay off your “tax debt.” That proves who really owns it in the first place… and it’s not you!

How about the question of who owns your body? According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark office, U.S. corporations and universities already own 20% of your genetic code. Your own body, they claim, is partially the property of someone else.

So if they own your land, your water and your body, how long before they claim to own your air, your mind and even your soul?

Unless we stand up against this tyranny, it will creep upon us, day after day, until we find ourselves totally enslaved by a world of corporate-government collusion where everything of value is owned by powerful corporations — all enforced at gunpoint by local law enforcement.

Category : Health, iphone, Politics As Usual, program, Video
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5 Comm
20th Dec2011

Second Neti-Pot Death From Amoeba Prompts Tap-Water Warning

by iSpit

Washing noses with neti pots or squeeze bottles has become increasingly popular as a home remedy for colds, allergies and sinus trouble. But it’s not such a great remedy if it kills you.

Now that two people have died from infection with brain-eating amoebas after using neti pots, doctors are warning: do not put tap water up your nose.

“Drinking water is good to drink, very safe to drink, but not to push up your nose,” says Raoult Ratard, state epidemiologist for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. Two residents of his state have died after using neti pots this year, the first known deaths associated with neti pots. “The first one could have been a fluke,” Ratard told Shots. But now that we have a second one, the only explanation is the use of the neti pot.”

The first death came in June, when a 20-year-old man died of encephalitis caused by infection with Naegleria fowleri. That amoeba is common in rivers and lakes, but only very rarely causes brain infections. Back in August, we reported on several deaths in children who had been jumping or diving in fresh water. But since adults are less likely to be doing cannonballs, they’re also less likely to be infected.

Then in October, a 51-year-old Louisiana woman died of encephalitis. The doctor thought to ask if she used a neti pot. Both her brain tissue and her home‘s tap water tested positive for the microbe. Ratard says: “They found the amoeba, the lady was using a neti pot, and had no contact whatsoever with surface water.”

Thus the new warning from Louisiana: If using a neti pot or other nasal irrigation device, use distilled or filtered water. Keeping the device clean is crucial, too, Ratard says. A neti pot, which looks like a small genie lamp, can be safely washed in a dishwasher, but squeeze bottles and other devices need to be scrubbed. All need to dry between uses. “If you let them dry completely, the amoebas are not going to survive long,” Ratard says.

A quick survey of neti pots and squeeze bottles finds that the instructions recommend using boiled, distilled or filtered water. But like so many simple hygiene instructions, it’s one that’s easy to let slide. The prospect of death by brain-eating amoeba, rare though it is, should provide enough motivation to follow the rules.

Category : Health, News, World News
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0 Comm
14th Dec2011

New Wikileaks Files Expose Widespread Mobile Phone, Email Hacking Capability

by iSpit

Wikileaks has released dozens of new documents highlighting the state of the once covert, but now lucrative private sector global surveillance industry.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange unveiled today the latest batch of released files from the whistleblowing organisation.

Speaking to a number of students and members of the press, bright and optimistic as ever, said: ”Who here has an iPhone? Who here has a BlackBerry? Who here uses Gmail? Well, you’re all screwed.”

According to Assange, over 150 private sector organisations in 25 countries have the ability to not only track mobile devices, but also intercept messages and listen to calls also.

The technologies developed by this industry can be used to access Internet browsing histories and email accounts, through computing tapping or accessing mobile phones remotely. This information is then sold as wholesale information to governments or other private industry partners.

Speaking at City University in London, he said that the publication of the ‘Spy Files’ is intended to be a “mass attack on the mass surveillance industry”. He described the interception of this data as “lawful”, it will lead society to a “totalitarian surveillance state”.

Along with representatives from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and Privacy International, documents were shown to suggest that software could not only read emails and text messages on mobile phones, but invasively alter them and send out fake messages to others.

The UK, one of the most surveilled countries in the world, with more CCTV cameras per person than any other major city, is one of the most prevalent in Internet monitoring, phone and text messaging analysis, GPS tracking and speech analysis technologies.

In the past ten years, he highlighted, the private industry had grown from a covert, behind-the-scenes industry, that primarily sold the U.S. National Security Agency, and GCHQ, the UK’s third intelligence service.

Wikileaks released today 287 documents, documenting “the reality of the international mass surveillance industry”, highlighting how “dictators and democracies alike” can procure this “spying system” technology developed by U.S., the UK, Australia and Canada.

Last month, it was found that Leeds-based company Datong plc. sold phone tracking and remote-disability technology to Scotland Yard, home of London’s Metropolitan Police, which could then be used to track protestors or disable remotely shut-off mobile phones en masse.

ZDNet uncovered evidence to support that this technology could have been sold to oppressive regimes in the Middle East and North Africa.

In one case, a subsidiary of Nokia Siemens Networks, Trovicor supplied the government of Bahrain technology that enabled the tracking of human rights activists, the Wikileaks website said.

U.S.-based company SS8, along with Hacking Team in Italy and Vupen in France, are all said to manufacture Trojan malware that can hijack computers and phones — including BlackBerrys, iPhones and Android devices — and “record its every use, movement, and even the sights and sounds of the room it is in”.

Wikileaks said that other companies like Czech Republic-based Phoenexia collaborate with military units to create speech analysis tools, allowing the government to acquire intelligence based on identified gender, age and even their vocal stress levels.

In one document dating back to 2006, it shows how the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sold technology to the oppressive Libyan regime to “intercept data” and acquire the “localisation of GSM”, the ability to locate where mobile phones are located geographically.

Another leaked document from 2011 shows how one UK firm is “depended upon” by the government, including “law enforcement agencies, intelligence and military agencies [and] special forces”. Such technologies can be “integrated into bespoke solutions for static, tracking and mobile overt and covert surveillance”.

Category : iphone, mobile, News, World News
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0 Comm
08th Dec2011

NJ Zoning Boards Reject Medical Marijuana Vendors

by iSpit

It took years for advocates of medical marijuana to sell New Jersey lawmakers on the idea of allowing certain patients to legally use pot.

Some advocates are now finding that an even bigger task may be persuading towns to approve places for them to do business.

Eight months after being selected by the state, only two of six groups approved to grow and sell marijuana to qualifying patients have firm sites. Others have run into stiff local opposition.

Ken Wolski, executive director of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana of New Jersey, watched residents of Upper Freehold rally against a proposed legal pot farm in their town at a meeting Tuesday.

“It struck me as townsfolk with torches and pitchforks chasing them out of town,” Wolski said.

The two groups that have announced zoning approvals are several months from opening to patients because they still need final permits from the state‘s Department of Health and Senior Services before they can plant their first crops, which would take about four months to grow.

And two that have had public hearings on their plans have met stiff objections from people who said the facility would hurt property values in the area, send a message to young people that illegal drugs are acceptable and could pose a security risk.

The Upper Freehold committee meeting provided a forum to discuss the issue, but there was no vote on the Breakwater Alternative Treatment Center’s plan to put greenhouses on a farm in the central New Jersey town. The drug would be sold to customers elsewhere; the group has not disclosed the dispensary location.

A lawyer for Breakwater said the group would move ahead with its zoning board application, though township committee members said they would try to pass an ordinance that would bar the town from allowing anything contrary to federal law.

Therein lies one of the main difficulties with medical marijuana. Though 16 states and the District of Columbia have laws allowing it, pot remains illegal in the eyes of the federal government.

New Jersey‘s law, adopted in January 2010, is considered to be the nation‘s most stringent, limiting the drug to patients with certain conditions, including multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and terminal cancer — and only letting them have recommendations to use it from doctors they have been seeing for at least a year. Advocates say the drug can help ease conditions such as nausea and pain.

The state government is still working on its regulations for the upstart industry. There have not been any legal marijuana sales in the state yet. The regulations are scheduled to be finalized Dec. 19.

Last month, the zoning board in Maple Shade Township — one of southern New Jersey‘s Philadelphia suburbs — ruled that a combination growing facility and dispensary was not an appropriate use for a vacant building that once housed a furniture store.

Andrei Bogolubov, a spokesman for the group that was denied, Compassionate Sciences Alternative Treatment Center, said the group would prefer to find a site in a community where zoning officials can rule that their facility is an allowed use — and sidestep a zoning board. But he also said the group has seen from the angry residents that it faced that not everyone is informed about medical marijuana.

The group launched a new website this week with information about how medical marijuana is used and how doctors and patients can begin enrolling in the program.

Bogolubov also said the group would be better prepared if it has another public hearing. It would try to line up patients to talk about how they might benefit from the drug in an attempt to counter opponents.

An entrepreneur in Camden who has not been approved to grow and sell pot wants to help out a group that has. Ilan Zaken wants to lease two building he owns in Camden to an approved marijuana licensee.

Zaken, who owns the clothing retailer Dr. Denim and the hip-hop shirt company Miskeen Originals, is trying to get city approval so a licensee could use the space, said Frank Fulbrook, a Camden community activist who is a consultant on the project.

Fulbrook said the enterprise, if approved, could bring dozens of jobs to one of the nation‘s most impoverished cities.

Fulbrook said the buildings Zaken is targeting are a few blocks from the Campbell Soup Co.’s headquarters. But neither is the former Sears store that Zaken owns and says he wants to preserve over the objections of Campbell officials, who want it razed.

“If we get the zoning approval, we would have exactly what the tenants need but don’t have,” Fulbrook said. “That would put us in a strong bargaining position.”

The matter is expected to be before Camden’s zoning board on Dec. 5.

Category : News, program
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0 Comm
04th Dec2011

Gang Wars: Iran Military Shoots Down U.S. Drone

by iSpit

… “It’s On”

Iran‘s military has shot down a U.S. reconnaissance drone aircraft in eastern Iran and has threatened to respond to the violation of Iranian airspace, a military source told state television Sunday.

“Iran‘s military has downed an intruding RQ-170 American drone in eastern Iran,” Iran‘s Arabic-language Al Alam state television network quoted the unnamed source as saying.

“The spy drone, which has been downed with little damage, was seized by the Iranian armed forces.”

Iran shot down the drone at a time when it is trying to contain foreign reaction to the storming of the British embassy in Tehran Tuesday, shortly after London announced that it would impose sanctions on Iran‘s central bank in connection with Iran‘s controversial nuclear enrichment program.

Britain evacuated its diplomatic staff from Iran and expelled Iranian diplomats in London in retaliation, and several other EU members recalled their ambassadors from Tehran.

The attack dragged Iran‘s relations with Europe to a long-time low.

“The Iranian military’s response to the American spy drone’s violation of our airspace will not be limited to Iran‘s borders,” the military source said, without elaborating.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action against Iran‘s nuclear facilities if diplomacy fails to resolve the nuclear dispute.

Iran has dismissed reports of possible U.S. or Israeli plans to strike Iran, warning that it would respond to any such assault by attacking U.S. interests in the Gulf and Israel.

Analysts say Tehran could retaliate by launching hit-and-run strikes in the Gulf and by closing the Strait of Hormuz. About 40 percent of all traded oil leaves the Gulf region through the strategic waterway.

Iran said in July it had shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane over the holy city of Qom, near its Fordu nuclear site.

Category : mac, News, program, War, World News
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2 Comm
03rd Dec2011

Finally: Herman Cain Drops Out Of Presidential Race (Video)

by iSpit

Plagued by allegations of sexual harassment and marriage infidelity, businessman Herman Cain announced Saturday that he is officially suspending his campaign for president of the United States.

“As of today, with a lot of prayer and soul searching, I am suspending my presidential campaign,” Cain said at what was supposed to be new campaign headquarters in his hometown of Atlanta. “I am disappointed that it came to this point that we had to make this decision.”

But he added, “Before you get discouraged, today I want to describe Plan B. . . . I am not going away. I will continue to be a voice for the people.” With that, he unveiled the headquarters of his new website, TheCainSolutions.com.

Standing with his wife Gloria by his side, Cain vowed that he would make an endorsement before the primaries were over and said that he “will not be silenced.”

Cain, one of the first Republican candidates to launch his campaign for the White House last spring, spent most of his run as an obscure, low-polling candidate that was a hit at tea party rallies. But as the Republican field took shape, and it became clear that high-profile party hopefuls like Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would not enter the race, Republicans seemed willing to give any of the candidates a fair shake.

Cain’s big break came in Florida in September during a presidential debate that preceded a major straw poll of party insiders in the state. Texas Gov. Rick Perry was the front runner at that time, but after he flubbed the debate and told a crowd of Republicans that they didn’t “have a heart” if they disagreed with him on immigration policy, Cain’s clearly-articulated conservative message earned him a fresh look and victory at the straw poll.

Over the next few weeks, Cain would rise to the top of national and state public opinion polls. He published a book, This is Herman Cain! My Road to the White House, was placed center-stage at the upcoming debates and his economic policy proposal, the very marketable “999 Plan,” became the focus of national discussion.

Of course, with national prominence came heightened scrutiny from his opponents and the media and, for a while, Cain coasted through without most of the new attacks sticking to him. That is, until Politico published a report alleging that several anonymous women had accused him of sexual harassment while he was president of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.

For the most part, Republicans came to his defense. Cain’s campaign raised millions of dollars sent to him from supporters who felt he was the victim of unfair and unsubstantiated attacks.

But over the next several weeks, the number of allegations increased. Women began to come forward publicly, with details of the accusations. Slowly, Cain’s base of support began to fade, as conservatives still not content with supporting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney looked for a new candidate to back.

The final death warrant for Cain’s hopes for a campaign that stretched into 2012 came when Ginger White, a longtime friend of Cain’s, came forward to say that she had sustained a sexual relationship with Cain for several years. She provided cell phone records to prove that they had, in fact, known each other over the years.

Unlike the prior allegations, the response from Cain’s lawyer did not issue a denial, but rather a defense that said that the media should not inquire about his “private sexual life.”

Cain responded, saying that he was reassessing his campaign.

On Saturday, Cain concluded his announcement that his run was over by reciting a poem:

“Life can be a challenge, life can seem impossible, but it’s never easy when there’s so much on the line.”

Category : #FunniestThingYou'reGonnaSeeAllDay, Comedy, News, Press Release, Video, World News
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2 Comm
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