Prep School For Dropouts

The U.S. Army, eager to fill its ranks amid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, doesn’t see them as dropouts. They are recruits who only need a GED before they’re ready to begin basic training.

And so, the Army formally opens its first prep school Wednesday.

That includes turning six World War II-era buildings at the base into a mini-campus of spartan classrooms and barracks. Under the yearlong pilot project, classes of about 60 soldiers will enter the monthlong program every week.

Their day begins in uniform at 5 a.m. with physical training. Then they attend about eight hours of academic review classes, followed by homework each evening. An hour of marching drills and military discipline is thrown in for good measure.

The soldiers work in small classrooms outfitted with simple desks, chairs, and dry-erase boards. In-desk computers are used for test-taking. Grouped three to four to a class, the students hunch over special GED preparation books, working on basic math, social studies and reading selections.

Recruits must score in the top half of the Army’s aptitude test to qualify for the prep school and get two tries at a General Educational Development certificate. If they still can’t pass, the Army will release them from their contract, Sanderson said

A study issued by the National Priorities Project released in January found that while the Army has a goal that 90 percent of recruits be high school graduates, it hadn’t met that percentage since 2004. In the 2007 budget year, the Project found that only 71 percent of soldiers entering the service had graduated.

Today In Labor History

28 August

The march for jobs and freedom—the Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have A Dream” speech march—is held in Washington, D.C. with 250,000 participating - 1963

2008 Anal-Ocity

The hits just keep coming.  It is just amazing what people will say and say with conviction.  This anal-ocity comes from ex-presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Former governor Mitt Romney, perhaps continuing his audition to be John McCain’s running mate, attacked Barack Obama today for making an issue out of McCain’s many homes.Speaking to reporters at a lunch sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, Romney said that while McCain deserved his houses because of the “hard work” of himself and his family,

As for Romney’s assertion that McCain “deserved his houses because of the ‘hard work’ of himself and his family,” he does know that McCain’s second wife is an heiress to a lucrative beer distributorship, right?

The G.O.P. Is Just Plain Scary!

Senator Ted Stevens’s easy victory in Alaska’s Republican primary on Tuesday sets him up for two more fights this fall that are likely to be much tougher: one in the general election and the other in the courtroom.

The senator received 63 percent of the primary vote against six challengers, even as he faces a trial in September on charges that he concealed $250,000 in home renovations and gifts provided by an oil services company, VECO.

Why would the people want a crook to represent them?  It is just scary how the voter is duped time and time again.

Dems In Denver–Day 3

First, Obama wins the nomination in a roll call, where Clinton’s name was placed into the process also.  All that is left now is his acceptance speech.

The night was full of speeches by first Bill Clinton and then Joe Biden.

Mr. Clinton proceeded to do precisely what Mr. Obama’s campaign was looking for him to do: attest to Mr. Obama’s readiness to be president, after a campaign largely based on Mrs. Clinton’s contention that he was not.

“I say to you: Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world,” Mr. Clinton said. “Barack Obama is ready to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.”

Next was Biden.

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, Mr. Obama’s choice for vice president, accepted the nomination with a speech in which he spoke frequently, and earnestly, of his blue-collar background, in effect offering himself as a validator for Mr. Obama among some voters who have been reluctant to embrace the Democratic presidential nominee.

He then turned to Senator John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, signaling how he would go after him in the campaign ahead. He referred to Mr. McCain as a friend — “I know you hear that phrase a lot in politics; I mean it,” he said — and then proceeded to offer a long and systematic case about why Mr. McCain should not be president.

All in all good speeches and I believe that the Dems have finally set their tone for the upcoming election.  But my problem is that the media has been creating drama where there is no drama and have yet to mention the issues and the platform of the Democratic Party.

Employment-At-Will vs Right-To-Work

The phrases “employment-at-will” and “right to work” are often heard in conversations regarding employment and/or dismissal. But what do these phrases mean? These two phrases are sometimes mistaken as having the same or similar meanings, but they are entirely different.

Employment-at-will means that an employer or an employee can end the working relationship at any time for basically any reason. If you quit, or are fired, no notice or reason is required. Most states are employment-at-will states, and there are a few exceptions to employment-at-will law.

For example, employers are forbidden from firing anyone for any reason protected by federal legislation: age, sex, religion, etc. If a company’s employee manual states that certain procedures be followed before firing an employee, and those procedures aren’t followed, that can be an exception to the employment-at-will laws. Additionally, an agreement with a union or intentional infliction of emotional distress may prove to be exceptions.

Right to work laws do not cover quitting or being dismissed from a job. Roughly half of the states in the United States are right to work states, meaning that job seekers have the right to work for a company without being required to join and/or financially support a labor union. In these states, it may still be required that a union represents an employee in grievances and negotiations. Railway or airline employees are sometimes not protected by right to work laws, even if they reside in a right to work state. Federal enclaves may also be exempt.

Conversely, those who do not live in a right to work state could be required to join or financially support a union as part of employment. “Unionized” jobs in these states often include railway or airline employees, for example.

In a nutshell, employment-at-will laws refer to whether reason or notice must be given if an employee is fired or quits. Right to work laws make residents of certain states exempt from being required to join a union in order to work.

A New Woman’s Movement?

The Boston Globe is reporting there is the beginnings of a new movement.

Clinton’s presidential bid galvanized women as no other campaign in recent history has. While many younger women supported Barack Obama, among Clinton’s most passionate supporters were older women who saw the former first lady as their best chance of having a woman in the White House in their lifetimes - and who saw the demise of her campaign as evidence of lingering sexism in America. In Denver this week, many of these women have been talking about the emergence of a new movement that would unite women across the generational divide to combat discrimination, unequal pay, and other concerns.

Several dozen of Clinton’s strongest female supporters met three weeks ago in New York to organize The New Agenda, a nonpartisan group focused on women’s issues and electing women candidates. Amy Siskind, a major Democratic donor and activist from New York who helped start it, said in a phone interview yesterday that she has received e-mails and calls of support from around the country.

But it is not at all clear a new movement would benefit the organizations that have long been at the forefront, such as EMILY’s List and NARAL. Now, they are calling for unity, saying that some of the most important women’s issues, especially abortion rights, are at stake in November and that Clinton supporters have a duty to stand up for them.Many Clinton loyalists, though, are angry with the leaders of the party and women’s groups, saying they did too little to confront rampant sexism and allowed an unfair primary process. They are divided over whether to support Obama or Republican John McCain - a troubling turn for the Democratic Party and for the feminist establishment, whose credibility depends on keeping Clinton supporters in the fold.

Today In Labor History

27 August

President Truman orders the U.S. Army to seize all the nation’s railroads to prevent a general strike.  The railroads were not returned to their owners until two years later - 1950

Media Circus Called A Convention

The more than 4,000 Democratic delegates—covered by an army of some 15,000 members of the press—are convening in what amounts to a political bubble surrounded by security measures consistent with those of a police state. The convention itself, not to mention the lavish parties being thrown for the delegates—many of them elected officials—is being paid for largely by major corporations looking to buy political influence.

The media has focused the bulk of its attention on the convention’s first day on speculating as to whether lingering “bitterness” on the part of Obama’s principal rival for the nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton, and her supporters will detract from the unity message that is meant to predominate. Most of this coverage is cast entirely in terms of personal frictions and identity politics, without a hint of any substantive political issues involved.

This is in keeping with the general tenor of the convention itself, which is packaged as a $60 million, four-day infomercial, with no question of a debate over policy breaking out on the floor of Denver’s Pepsi Center, where the delegates are assembled. The media, with very few exceptions, functions as an uncritical conduit for this process, accepting its narrow parameters as given.

US Condemns Russia Over Georgia

Western leaders have condemned strongly Russia’s decision to recognise the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

US President George Bush warned his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, that his “irresponsible decision” was exacerbating tensions in the region.

President Bush said Russia should “reconsider this irresponsible decision” and “live up to its international commitments”.

“This decision is inconsistent with numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions that Russia has voted for in the past, and is also inconsistent with the French-brokered six-point ceasefire agreement which President Medvedev signed,” he said in a statement.

“Russia’s action only exacerbates tensions and complicates diplomatic negotiations,” he added.

But wait!

When the West recognized Kosovo’s independence half a year ago, Russia’s leaders warned the move would open ‘Pandora’s Box’ in the Caucasus.

The threat that Kosovo could stand as a secessionist precedent in the Caucasus had formed the Kremlin’s most vivid protest to the province’s break from its ally Serbia.

But while Moscow is still confronted by the problems that the Kosovo precedent raises, paradoxically, the comparison has now been turned into a justification of South Ossetia and Abkhazia’s right to self-determination.

Western leaders have labelled Russia’s move to recognize Georgia’s regions as hypocrisy, while Russian leaders hit back with the accusation that a double standard has been applied in the case of Kosovo.

I do not understand how one can condemn another for doing the same thing as the original one.  Kinda like condemning another country for an invasion after you had just invaded another country.