The dirty little truth about those re-painted schools in Iraq: the teachers got fired.

Darlin’, didn’t you tell me you fixed those schools? George?

Laura Bush upbraided Norah O’Donnell for ignoring the good news in Iraq, but just about the only good thing that the first lady could come up with was “schools being built.” “Refurbishing” would be a better name….mostly painting… the GAO found only a little over 800 (not to mention the fact that the US was responsible for blowing up many of them).

But the real dirty little secret here is not the exaggerations; but the fact that the genius deBaathification program fired most of the teachers in some areas.

After a few months, the CPA began to receive reports that 10,000 to 15,000 teachers had been fired because of the de-Baathification order. In some Sunni-dominated areas, entire schools were left with just one or two teachers.

Further, the program is not gonna be easily reversed:

Bremer eventually concluded that the policy had been applied “unevenly and unjustly.” But instead of rescinding his edict, he announced that appeals would be handled by a de-Baathification commission headed by Ahmed Chalabi, a controversial former exile whose informants had helped the Bush administration make the case for war. Chalabi, a Shiite, saw little need to accommodate former Baathists, most of whom are Sunnis.

I guess President Bush was kinda pullin our leg when he said

As part of our coalition’s efforts to build a stable and secure Iraq, we are working to rebuild Iraq’s schools, to get the teachers back to work and to make sure Iraqi children have the supplies they need.

Six months ago, nearly all of Iraq’s schools were closed, and many primary schools lacked electrical wiring and plumbing and windows. Today, all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as are nearly all primary and secondary schools in the country. Earlier this year we said we would rehabilitate 1,000 schools by the time school started. This month, just days before the first day of class, our coalition and our Iraqi partners had refurbished over 1,500 schools.

Oh, yes, the universities….they aren’t doin so well either.

Iraq’s universities have been a target for insurgents and militias alike almost since the war began in 2003. Professors tell of armed gangs taking over buildings and classrooms and even issuing threats about grades. Thousands of students have requested transfers to campuses where their sects – Sunni Muslim or Shiite Muslim – are in the majority. Thousands of professors and students, seeking to avoid violence and threats, have fled the nation to pursue their studies in neighboring countries.

Around Baghdad, many campuses are desolate. Many families refuse to let their children, particularly women, finish their education for fear of what will happen either en route to class or once they get there.

Don’t tell Dick Cheney. He thinks things are going great.

Woman drinks self to death trying to win radio contest

link
This is way over the line. You can’t do this to people. A pathetic contest based on humiliation, posing a real health risk.

too much water

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) — A woman who competed in a radio station’s contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom died of water intoxication, the coroner’s office said Saturday.

Jennifer Strange, 28, was found dead Friday in her suburban Rancho Cordova home hours after taking part in the “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest in which KDND 107.9 promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner.
…
A preliminary investigation found evidence “consistent with a water intoxication death,” said assistant Coroner Ed Smith.

John Geary, vice president and marketing manager for Entercom Sacramento,…
“We are awaiting information that will help explain how this tragic event occurred,” he said.
Initially, contestants were handed 8-ounce bottles of water to drink every 15 minutes. … the remaining contestants, including Strange, were given even bigger bottles to drink.

We don’t know if this woman might have had some kidney or other condition that predisposed her to water intoxication. The ilicit drug ecstasy can contribute. The initial “dose” was only a liter an hour, which is not much at all. If she ended up drinking 6 or 8 liters in a couple of hours, that might do it, especially if she was a small person or had a medical problem (not necessarily one that she was aware of).

“I was talking to her and she was a nice lady,” Ybarra said. “She was telling me about her family and her three kids and how she was doing it for her kids.”

Dick Cheney thinks we have made enormous progress in Iraq. Is he nuts?

click to enlarge

by Mike Lukovich

Vice President of the United States Richard Cheney, on Fox News today:

“If you look at what’s transpired in Iraq, Chris, we’ve made enormous progress.”

Let’s look, Mr. Cheney:
600,000 Iraqis are dead.
3,000 American soldiers are dead
thousands more soldiers are permanently disabled
a million Iraqis are displaced or refugees
the central government seems virtually powerless other than its support from the US and from armed sectarian militias
power, water, sewage, and oil production are all unsatisfactory
the Iraqi economy is in tatters, 40% jobless
the US has lost all credibility in the region
our military is on the ragged edge
Iraq is in a civil war.

And that is just some of it….

It really isn’t possible for a rational person to suggest that we’ve made great progress in Iraq. It really isn’t.

And this person, Mr. Cheney, seems to still be calling the shots. According to the NY Times, the initial plan was for a smaller increase:

According to a senior administration official, Vice President Dick Cheney was among those who wanted a bigger force.

This man has too much power to be denying the reality of Iraq.

Fred Kagan and Jack Keane: Bush’s escalation “likely to fail.”

Fred Kagan
The guy who came up with the escalation plan last summer. Not Keane. Not Maliki. This guy. I will leave you to judge whether he looks like is a guy who believes in sacrifice. But that’s not the point. The point is that he and Jack Keane wrote that Bush’s version of escalation is a loser.

We need to cut through the confusion. Bringing security to Baghdad — the essential precondition for political compromise, national reconciliation and economic development — is possible only with a surge of at least 30,000 combat troops lasting 18 months or so. Any other option is likely to fail.

And, of course, al-Maliki starts right off on the wrong foot with this:

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has filled the top military job in Baghdad with a virtually unknown officer chosen over the objections of U.S. and Iraqi military commanders, officials from both governments said.

Iraqi political figures said Friday that Maliki also had failed to consult the leaders of other political factions before announcing the appointment of Lt. Gen. Abud Qanbar.

I’m not too hopeful.

Birkie watch:

For details on the plans go to:http://www.birkie.com/
good luck you cheeseheads.

The weather in Cable is kind of shockingly warm,

UPDATE: Birkie Shortened to Highway OO

HAYWARD, Wis., Feb. 21, 2007 – American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation officials today determined that the American Birkebeiner 51 kilometer cross country ski race will be shortened to a 23 kilometer race with a finish at Highway OO in Seeley.

“52-degree temps and sunshine today damaged the existing base and opened fields beyond repair,” said Bill Pierce, President of the ABSF Board of Directors. “We determined it would be a better quality race to finish at OO.”

Ned Zuelsdorff, Executive Director of the ABSF, said there is a strong possibility that, if conditions do not change, there will be no classic tracks. He said other events will go on as scheduled.

Snow is being dumped onto Main Street for tomorrow’s Sons of Norway/Swiss Miss Barnebirkie, which starts on Lake Hayward and finishes on Main Street and Second. The Salomon Elite Sprints and Sunflour Citizen Sprints will also be held on Main Street on Thursday and Friday, respectively. The Prince Haakon 12K will take place at Telemark at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Worldloppet Passports will be satisfied with the 23 kilometer Birkie.

The American Birkebeiner cross country ski race is a huge event in Cable WI every year in February, this year it’s on the 24th. The weather is looking pretty putrid, with a warming trend the week before the race. Obviously, there has to be snow on the ground. In recent years, the “coverage” has become marginal at times. The 2000 race was cancelled for lack of snow. Last year’s Canadian Birkebeiner was also wiped out.

Also in jeopardy: the Silver Mine Invitation ski jumping event in Eau Claire.

“Once we make all the snow, we’re good to go,” Mattoon said. “Of course, if it rains or gets into the 50s, then we’re going to be in trouble.”

But even if they get snow on the jump, the brown around us may affect people’s mindset.

“I think that’s hurt our attendance the last couple years just because we haven’t had a lot of snow, and this year especially, everybody’s probably going to think we’re not going to have a tournament,” Mattoon said. “But if it stands now, we’re going to be just fine.”

Here is a ski area condition prediction site. It sounds better than the weather forecasts. Good luck, you cheeseheads.

By the way, it seems that many European ski resorts are doomed.

…within 20 years ski resorts below 1,050 metres – such as Schladming and Kitzbuhel in Austria and Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany – will no longer be viable. In 100 years’ time he expects only the highest resorts, such as Val Thorens (2,300m) or Tignes (2,100m), to be able to offer reasonable guarantees of snow.

While some may not mourn the closing of a few ski areas, the real message is that the glaciers are melting away, and the ecosystem and species diversity are being threatened. Speaking of big words and complex scientific concepts, I see that President Bush may be changing his “mind” on global warming. I am grateful for anything, but, like his change of “mind” on Iraq, I’m afraid the horse is out of the barn. Hard to put these eggs back together again, Mr. President.

Dobson on McCain: “I pray we don’t get stuck with him.”

What a massive waste of McCain’s buttkissing, flipflopping and pandering.

Dr. James Dobson, nobody’s fool

“Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances,” said James Dobson, founder of the Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family as well as the Focus Action cultural action organization set up specifically to provide a platform for informing and rallying constituents.

Interestingly, McCain’s stance on campaign reform seems as objectionable to Dobson as does his stance on gay marriage:

He noted that legislation he’d just been discussing on the program, regarding an attempt by Democrat leaders in Congress to create obstacles for ministries such as Focus to reach constituents with action messages about pending legislation, is being supported by McCain, too.

“That came from McCain, and the McCain Feingold Bill kept us from telling the truth right before elections … and there are a lot of other things. He’s not in favor of traditional marriage, and I pray that we won’t get stuck with him,” Dobson said.

Okay, John, the guy is talkin to God about you.

Let’s re-calculate here; you don’t have a shot without the fundos. I’m thinkin you ought to go for that job at Del Boca Vista, Phase II.

Bush to agree to global warming remedies !!?? my smelling salts, Maude….

The Guardian UK is reporting:

George Bush is preparing to make a historic shift in his position on global warming when he makes his State of the Union speech later this month, say senior Downing Street officials…
Bush and Blair held private talks on climate change before Christmas, and there is a feeling that the US President will now agree a cap on emissions in the US, meaning that, for the first time, American industry and consumers would be expected to start conserving energy and curbing pollution.

‘We could now be seeing the beginning of a consensus on a post-Kyoto framework,’ said a source close to the prime minister. ‘President Bush is beginning to talk about more radical measures.’

Incredible.

I think perhaps the fundos may have had a hand in this, as they have been making a lot of noise on the subject of stewardship of the planet.

“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”
Psalms 24:1

Bush may have a convenient figleaf in the form of new information to be presented next month

Dr. Gordon McBean, chair of policy in the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction at Western Ontario University, predicted a highlyanticipated report to be released next month in Paris would highlight how human activity is heating up the planet much faster than experts had previously expected.
….
The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will be its fourth assessment of the latest peer-reviewed scientific literature since the 1990s. The panel is basing the report on the findings of 2,500 experts from 130 countries, looking at new methods of measuring the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and temperature, as well as the accelerated effects of climate change when permafrost starts to melt in northern regions, explained McBean.
While he admitted he wasn’t immediately convinced by the evidence available 10 years ago, McBean said the latest findings have virtually eliminated doubt about what is happening to the climate because of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, which are released from the burning of fossil fuels.

Is this to be the first right thing Bush has done? Gawd, he must be desperate…..

Just please, George, do yourself a favor and don’t be representing yourself as the environmental president or the wise science guy. But I’ll be grateful for anything meaningful.

And aboutMichael Crichton…be sure and mention in your speech about how helpful he’s been. And restore the EPA libraries.

In an interesting and probably not coincidental step, McCain, Lieberman and Obama introduced a bill yesterday which would introduce carbon dioxide caps:

Proposed federal legislation introduced Friday that would dramatically slash greenhouse-gas emissions over the next four decades could complicate TXU Corp.’s plans to build 11 coal-fired power plants in North and Central Texas.

The bipartisan Senate bill, co-sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Barack Obama, D-Ill.; and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., would establish for the first time a cap on emissions of carbon dioxide — the top man-made contributor to global warming. TXU’s plants would add millions of tons of carbon dioxide to the air a year, and they have been sharply criticized for not better controlling carbon emissions.

The details of the bill don’t sound real aggressive, but, hey, let’s roll:

The Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007 is not aimed at the power industry alone. It would also cap greenhouse-gas emissions at 2004 levels from other industrial, transportation and commercial sectors by 2012, and calls for a one-third reduction by 2050.

“This should be a shot across the bow for TXU,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of the Texas chapter of Public Citizen, an Austin advocacy group that opposes the plants. “What’s most stunning is that the emissions of global-warming gases from all 19 of these coal plants would be as much as all the cars and trucks sold in the United States annually produce.

The times, they are a-changin…

Meth Coffee? or Tea-coffee?

yerba mate leaves

A mysterious news release :

A San Francisco company is brewing up something new, rich arabica coffee beans combined with tea-like yerba mate. Yerba mate comes from South America, where it’s brewed for beverages. Advocates say it gives an energy boost without the jitters of caffeine.

The brains behind Meth Coffee won’t reveal their secret recipe, created by a mysterious figure they call “The Roaster.” But the company stresses there’s no methamphetamine or anything else illegal in Meth Coffee

Yerba mate’ is a holly type plant, grown mostly in Argentina, which yields several different stimulant alkaloids including caffeine. It is usually marketed as a tea. Cruz de Malta is one popular brand. The effects of mate’ are similar to caffeine, though some suggest that it produces less jitteriness. “Results may vary.” Sounds like the total dose of caffeine in this Meth Coffee might be pretty high.

I think we can safely assume it doesn’t contain anything illegal.