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.

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.

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.

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.

Wind Power Does Have Its Downside

Bats are at risk from wind turbines, researchers have found, because the rotating blades produce a change in air pressure that can kill the mammals.

Bats use echo-location to avoid hitting the blades but cannot detect the sharp pressure changes around the turbine.

The scientists say wind farms are more of an issue for bats than for birds.

“An atmospheric pressure drop at wind turbine blades is an undetectable - and potentially unforseeable - hazard for bats, thus partially explaining the large number of bat fatalities at these specific structures,” said Erin Baerwald, who led the research team at the University of Calgary

The idea is that the pressure around a rotating turbine blade is lower than in the surrounding air. A bat flying into the low-pressure zone finds its lungs suddenly expanding, bursting capillaries in the surrounding tissue which then becomes flooded with blood.

Birds, which have more rigid and robust lungs, do not undergo the same trauma from a sudden drop in pressure.

Some research groups are investigating ways to keep bats away from wind farms, and a University of Aberdeen group recently suggested radar emissions might act as a “bat-scarer”.

Damned If They Do, Damned If They Don’t

For months I have been hearing the media hammering Obama and his wife that the American people do not know who they are and that explains why the polls are not better. They have said that he needs to identify himself to the blue collar worker. And that he, Obama, is not viewed well by these and other voters.

And that is just what Michelle Obama set about doing just that at the convention. She told the public about her life and her life with Barack; she showed that her story was a “typical” American story. That they both were brought up in modest means and worked hard and long to get where they are today.

Now the media vultures are slamming them for being too mild mannered in the speech; that McCain was not attacked and that the speech was too mild mannered. The media is saying that McCain is getting a free ride at the convention and that 25% of the time was wasted on a life story instead of hitting McCain hard and fast.

Enough! At what point does the media stop driving the conversation and direction of the convention and election? At what point does the media stop looking and creating drama and start reporting on the issues that are facing the voter?

Dems In Denver–Day 2

Hillary’s speech.

There had been much anticipation on how and what Hillary would say in your highlight speech.  As anyone who reads my stuff knows I have been a very verbal critic of Hillary and will always be a critic.  But I give props where props are due.  Hiilary came to the plate and swung for the fence.  She hit a rocket out of the park.

She talk to her people and basically worded her speech to say that if they do not vote for Obama then they will be offending her personally.  She used her usual technique of talking about the people she had met on the campaign trail and used them to press her stands on the issues.  She challenged Dems take a stand to make a strong country and to vote for all Americans.

Hillary did her part to unify the party, even if some in the MSM thinks she was too mild manner and did not attack McCain enough.  Her speech was effective and to the point.  She also made it clear that she was giving her full support to the Obama-Biden ticket and that she would work tirelessly to get them elected.

She deserves here props.