News – Lackluster Legislation

North America

A Harvard study says that Bush’s No Child Left Behind act isn’t likely to meet its goals at the rate it’s going. Racial achievement gaps aren’t closing. Likely because NCLB isn’t addressing the root causes of such gaps.

Florida gets hit by Alberto, the first offering of this hurricane season.

US officials say they’re seeing more homegrown terror cells in the US, drawing inspiration and moral support form alQueda.

There is concern in New Orleans for the dump sites of some of the trash from Katrina clean up. Dump a mess of this crap and its uncertain health content, next to a wildlife refuge, in an area that could flood nastily.. I’d be concerned as well.

Looks like Rove is in the clear. Now he can fade into the background again and puppetmaster.

Middle East

Tony Blair refuses to back Olmert’s plan partially withdraw from the West Bank and draw Israel’s borders himself. Blair errs on the side of a negotiated settlement, not unilateral action. Though, he did leave a backdoor that if the status quo lingers he might reconsider the plan.. though one wonders how long he might give before falling back on that.

More heat in Baghdad as a carbomb prompts a security sweep and security forces skirmish with insurgents. The event itself is understandable. The untenable aspect is how often it replays month after month.

Bush slips into Iraq for a personal visit. I’m sure he was out of there the moment his PR time was done. Personally, I’ll consider Iraq a success when Bush can walk down a Baghdad street outside of the green zone with only ‘normal’ security. That will be the clearest evidence of success in my opinion.

The US releases an autopsy of Zarqawi to counter accusations that US troops beat on him before he died and so forth. Largely useless since anyone who might believe something like this likely already believes that they didn’t beat on him. Me, I don’t know. I wasn’t there and I don’t expect truth from any of the parties involved.

Turkey is awash in a wave of anti-American pop culture. I suppose that shows, despite the political alliance we have with them, the people aren’t necessarily enamored with the US.

A dual missile strike kills 11 in Gaza after bystanders rush to help those hurt by the first missile. A source said the second missile came seven minutes after the first. It makes me wonder if the effect of the two was planned to be that way. I can see a second missile being upwards of a minute behind the first to hit the same target, but seven? Suspicious, I say.

Israel blames the killing of a family on a Gaza beach on a landmine planted by Hamas, rather than shelling by their military. They’re countered, however, by the analysis of a former Pentagon analyst.

Kirkuk gets hit by a series of bombs, killing nearly two dozen.

US war spending on Iraq crests $300 billion.

Asia

Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, jailed as an accessory to the Bali Bombings, walks free and is met by many a supporter.

Africa

Somali Islamist militants seize the town of Jowhar , wresting more land from the hands of rival warlords. First they push them out of Mogadishu, now this? I wonder if this bodes well or ill, when a corrupt faction is pushed out by a new, relatively unknown player.

General

Explainer looks at Muslims and suicide. He also looks into the dangers of helium balloons. Keep this in mind the next time you suck the gas from inside of a balloon.

A collaboration film between Jim Carry and Tim Burton? Sweet. Pity it got postponed. With a budget at $150 million, I can see why they’d be leery of it. Risky, but with Carry and Burton in on it, it could hit big. Both, in my opinion, are very good at what they do.

The blogs look at Rove’s exoneration, the political motives of President Bush’s surprise visit to Iraq and the possibility that Ann Coulter plagiarized part of her newest polemic.

Today’s Papers has an Op-Ed from a former Gitmo detainee who is on trial in France, the military backing away from making a secret annex to the Army Field Manual, a congressional watchdog report concluding that FEMA paid about $1 billion in sketchy Gulf Coast relief claims and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Pink car with green question marks hoisted on top of NY high school. The Riddler wanted for questioning

Frustrated, wannabe newsstand operator uses rented crane to stage his rendition of “Musical Newsstands Across Philadelphia”

30 Things you didn’t know about Chuck Norris

Cruise vacation postcard showing bikini-clad women and the slogan “seamen wanted” seems to be ruffling a few feathers for some odd reason

To receive “outstanding” rating from Air Force inspectors, do you (1) work long hours, (2) show expertise in all areas, or (3) arrange sex partners for inspectors?

Belgian couple with 14 children, all with named ending in “Y”, put ad in newspaper asking for ideas because they can’t come up with a name for their 15th

<A HREF="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/technology/story/ADF691B90C07AD3486257182000394FA?OpenDocument”>97% of IT professionals feel “traumatized” by their daily work. In other news, 97% of Police, Firefighters, Soldiers, Doctors, Nurses, Coroners, Medical Examiners, and High-School teachers feel IT professionals are whiney pansies

Following the overwhelming success of home-schooling, Christians now home-churching. “The Onion” unavailable for comment

“Dukes of Hazzard” style car chase races through neighborhood, ditches, medians, and a military runway in the path of a C-130 as it’s taking off

You can’t beat a speeding ticket by tearing down a speed limit sign and pasting it over the lower-limit sign you are accused of ignoring, particularly if prosecutors haul in facial scanning experts

FEMA auditors conclude that “$400 spent on adult erotica products” were “not necessary to satisfy legitimate disaster needs.”

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop these wicked fish. Difficulty: No guts

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop your CEO’s MySpace page

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop these Greek evzones