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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (232001)	12/19/2007 4:12:11 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793782

This story popped up again. This time in DC. General accused of overreach on killings By Sara A. Carter December 19, 2007 After months of congressional pressure, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General has opened an investigation of an Army general who tried to bring murder charges against U.S. troops. The investigation, requested by Rep. Walter B. Jones, North Carolina Republican, will probe whether Lt. Gen. Francis H. Kearney III overstepped his bounds and/or compromised legal proceedings in two Afghanistan incidents, one involving Marines and the other involving two Special Forces soldiers. The general's orders, to redeploy a Marine unit and probe the soldiers, were first reported in The Washington Times in October. "I am troubled by the premeditated-murder charges levied against Master Sergeant Troy Anderson and Captain Dave Staffel" of Special Forces, said Mr. Jones, in an October letter to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. "Based on his own statements, Lieutenant General Frank Kearney directed that charges be brought against these two American heroes despite the fact that the two soldiers were exonerated by the Army's Criminal Investigation Command." Mr. Jones was notified this month that the IG Office had opened an investigation and was reviewing documents and conducting interviews. The IG "has been provided with a copy of Representative Jones' letter to the secretary of defense regarding Lieutenant General Kearney and is looking into the matter," said Gary Comerford, spokesman for the office. "Since this matter is under review, it would be inappropriate to make any further statements." The three-star general angered many Army Special Forces and Marine Special Operations Command members when he tried twice to bring legal actions against U.S. forces. In June, Gen. Kearney directed that charges of premeditated murder be brought against Sgt. Anderson and Capt. Staffel, even though the two Special Forces soldiers had been exonerated in the shooting death of an Afghan man, whom military authorities determined was a legitimate target. MORE: washingtontimes.com

To: LindyBill who wrote (232001)	12/19/2007 4:20:35 AM
From: unclewest	Respond to of 793782

A Jewish Christmas story... The teacher was very curious about how each of her students' celebrated Christmas Eve 'Tell me Patrick, what do you do on Christmas Eve?' she asked. Patrick addressed the class. 'Well Miss, me and my twelve brothers and sisters go to midnight Mass and we sing hymns, then we come home very late and we put mince pies by the back door and hang up our stockings. Then all excited we go to bed and wait for Santa to come with all our toys.' 'Very nice Patrick, now Jimmy Brown, what do you do?' 'Well Miss, me and my sister go to Church with Mom and Dad and we sing carols and we get home ever so late. We put cookies and milk by the chimney and we hang up our stockings. We hardly sleep waiting for Santa Claus to bring our presents.' Remembering there was a Jewish boy in the class and not wanting to leave him out of the discussion, she asked, 'Now Jimmy Cohen, what do you do on Christmas Eve?' 'Well Miss, it's the same old thing every year. Dad comes home from the office. We all pile into the Rolls and drive to his toy factory. When we get inside we look at all the empty shelves and sing 'What a friend we have in Jesus' Then we go to the Bahamas.'

To: LindyBill who wrote (232001)	12/19/2007 7:36:09 PM
From: Joe Btfsplk	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793782

Academic Slums In the early 70's Marva Collins made one helluva splash. She quit a tenured job with the Chicago school district and opened private educational stores in the Chicago ghetto. Her results were spectacular. Jaime Escalante was incredibly successful teaching higher math in the LA barrios. He was ran out of Dodge. The incentives in union run schools work against emulation and further development of proven practices. Instead, there is an increasing trend toward credentialism. And those credentials are developed by generations of folks who come out of teacher's colleges. Snipped from reason.com In the real world, those who provide a service can usually find a way to get it to those who want it, even if their current employer disapproves. If someone feels that he can build a better mousetrap than his employer wants to make, he can find a way to make it, market it, and perhaps put his former boss out of business. Public school teachers lack that option. There are very few ways to compete for education dollars without being part of the government school system. If that system is inflexible, sooner or later even excellent programs will run into obstacles. And there ain't nuthin' to be done about it. Most of the electorate have been indoctrinated by the wrong sort of people.