From Barack Obama, Two Dangerous Words (Article)

From Barack Obama, Two Dangerous Words
By Ruth MarcusWednesday, July 11, 2007; A15
PHILADELPHIA -- Barack Obama has the teachers cheering. The National Education Association is meeting here, and Obama-- like the Democratic candidates who have spoken before him -- is telling the crowd everything it wants to hear.
He's "committed to fixing and improving our public schools instead of abandoning them and passing out vouchers." Washington "left common sense behind when they passed No Child Left Behind." Teacher pay must be raised "across the board."
But then Obama tiptoes into the minefield of merit pay for teachers, so delicately that he does not actually utter the words "merit pay" until the question and answer session.
"If you excel at helping your students achieve success, your success will be valued and rewarded as well," he says -- but he hastens to add that this must be done "with teachers, not imposed on them, and not based on some arbitrary test score."
This is whispering truth to power. But for the teachers, Obama's words are fingernails on a chalkboard. They fall silent, except for scattered boos, as he mentions a modest new program in Minnesota.
"If you look between the lines on the answer, it wouldn't be the answer we were looking for," says Rhonda Wesolowski, president of New Hampshire's NEA affiliate. "He's going to have to come a long way off of that position with us," says California Teachers Association Vice President Dean Vogel.
And those were the polite ones, who were otherwise impressed with Obama. "I can't imagine if he were informed he would come before 10,000 people and say what he said," says New Jersey Education Association President Joyce Powell.
But Obama, of course, knew exactly what he was doing, which is why he was so muted. Last year, in "The Audacity of Hope," Obama endorsed higher pay for teachers, with "just one catch" -- they "need to become more accountable for their performance -- and school districts need to have greater ability to get rid of ineffective teachers." Today, the talk is all pay, little catch, though the Obama campaign promises more details later.
Or compare and contrast Obama in October 2005 and Obama now on No Child Left Behind.
"It may not be popular to say in Democratic circles, but there were good elements to this bill -- its emphasis on the achievement gap, raising standards and accountability," Obama said then. "Yes, it's a moral outrage that this administration hasn't come through with the funding. . . . But to wage war against the entire law for that reason is not an education policy, and Democrats need to realize that."
Obama today acknowledges that "high standards and accountability, in the abstract, are right," then launches into the standard attack he once decried.
"Don't tell us that the only way to teach a child is to spend too much of the year preparing him to fill in a few bubbles on a standardized test," he says. But, for all the flaws of No Child Left Behind, that bubble-filling has highlighted the achievement gap between rich and poor schools, and between black and white students, and put pressure on systems to address it.
You might expect more from a candidate who sneers at "slogans without substance," as he told the delegates, and presents himself as being above tired ideological divides. Still, Obama may be what passes for brave among a fainthearted bunch. Of all the Democratic candidates who came here to pay homage to the NEA -- the sole Republican was former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee-- Obama was the only one to deviate significantly from the union line.
Not Hillary Clinton, who tangled with the Arkansas teachers union when she oversaw education reforms that included mandatory testing for new teachers.
Not John Edwards, who bemoans the "two public school systems in America -- one for the wealthy, one for everybody else," but isn't willing to acknowledge how No Child could help bridge that gap.
Not Chris Dodd, who issued a press release zinging merit pay.
There are plenty of good ideas for a Democratic candidate who doesn't mind incurring the NEA's wrath.
The Democratic-oriented Hamilton Project has proposed assessing teachers after their first two years in the classroom and weeding out those at the bottom.
Strong American Schools, a nonpartisan group that has launched a $60 million effort to bring education issues to the forefront in the 2008 campaign, is pushing more rigorous education standards, more time in school for students and higher pay for better-performing teachers.
The Education Trust and the Aspen Institute have thoughtful proposals to improve No Child Left Behind, not gut it.
But so far, anyway, the Democrats who would be president are happy to propose more spending on education but are reluctant to impose any demands in return -- in other words, they are happy to sound like the same old Democratic Party, permissive and beholden.
Yes, teachers are an important Democratic constituency, but aren't parents Democratic voters, too -- parents who might welcome a message about accountability and expectations? If, that is, one of the candidates were willing to deliver it.
Subscribe to the podcast of this column athttp://www.washingtonpost.com/podcast. The writer's e-mail address ismarcusr@washpost.com.

7-7-07

Whatis the big deal. its just another day, next year it will be 8-8-08 . but for me im exicted that today b/c eva longoria and Tony parker got hitched today. that is about the only thing that makes the hype worth it. she is so beautiful. I want to have a great realtionship like thiers, they don't allow the media to effect their realtionship and this makes for a grerat reationship. Though the popparazi, swarmed their wedding she was reportedly calm. I am very happy that she was happy. every girl that gets married should be happy and feel like a princess.

Trial starts for ex-deputy who shot Iraq vet ( Response)

So this is another story that has caught my eye. this caught my eye for two main reasons, the first being that this was a soldier from Iraq and that the cop was black. Not to sound stereotypically or racist but the first thing that came to mind was bro. was going to jail. I'm black to but come on a solider that has fought in the war. i thought that that was going to be all that the jury and that the cop was dead. and you know that if he went to jail he was going into a place where he was gonna be harassed by the inmates. but as usual the media proves me wrong this story in my opinion got so much attention that it caused the jury to think past the video that was presented to them. they looked at the actual facts that this soldier was not following the commands given to him by the officer, that even before the video was taped that there was a car chase and the soldier was not listening to any of the directions given to him by the officer which resulted in his death. I can see that the family is grieving yet, really if you can not trust the police to protect you regardless of what you do how much you get paid then really is America safe. i think not. as a solider you should if another human should know that if given a directive to stop doing what ever your doing it then HELLO STOP. the fact that he was reaching into his pocket for what the officer thought to be a gun. If we train officers to go on instant and if they feel their life or the life's of others is in danger they are trained to act. When they act if it ends in death then let it be, if the officer feels threatened. when the person is told several times to stop and they don't the officer has the right to do what he / she learned. then when will we be safe, who can the people depend on to keep them safe.

until the next time remember
Im not Bossy Im just Opinionated

Trial starts for former deputy who shot Iraq vet (Article)

Trial starts for ex-deputy who shot Iraq vet
Man captured on video wounding airman after California car chase
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:47 p.m. CT May 29, 2007
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SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - A former sheriff's deputy who shot and wounded an Iraq war veteran after a high-speed chase initially said he thought the man was trying to attack him, then later changed his story, a prosecutor said in opening arguments Tuesday.
Deputy District Attorney Lewis Cope said Ivory Webb, a deputy at the time, told Chino police that Senior Airman Elio Carrion "'started to come at me.'"
Later, Webb told authorities he believed Carrion was reaching for a gun in his jacket pocket. Carrion was unarmed.
"It will be up to you to decide whether Mr. Webb should have shot him," Cope told jurors. "He was not under threat, he knew he was not under threat, and he shouldn't have fired."
Cope played an amateur video filmed by a bystander that captured Webb shooting Carrion three times on Jan. 29, 2006.
Webb, 46, has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of attempted voluntary manslaughter and assault with a firearm.
‘He felt this was it’Defense attorney Michael Schwartz urged jurors not to judge his client after seeing the video just once. He showed them freeze frames from the video and said Webb had tried to avoid a confrontation.
Schwartz said that the street was dark and that Carrion repeatedly ignored Webb's orders. Just before the shooting, Carrion's hand moved toward his jacket, making Webb believe he was going for a weapon.
"He felt this was it. He wasn't going to make it home tonight, and he had less than two or three seconds to make a decision, by himself," Schwartz said.
On the grainy, 40-second video clip, Carrion can be heard swearing at Webb before the deputy tells him, "Get up! Get up!" Webb then shoots Carrion in the chest, left leg and left shoulder as Carrion appeared to be trying to obey the order.
The video was aired repeatedly on national TV. Carrion was hospitalized for several days.
Cope told jurors that after he was shot, the wounded airman can be heard on the video saying to Webb, "'We didn't mean you no harm!'"
Webb responded, "'I'm not (expletive) playing,'" and told Carrion several times to shut up in a profanity-laced tirade, Cope said.
The driver of the car, Luis Escobedo, complained to Webb that Carrion had been following orders, Cope said.
Webb told him to shut up or he could get shot, too, according to the prosecutor.
Car chaseThe situation came about when Carrion and Escobedo decided to take a joyride in a friend's Corvette. Escobedo had a suspended license, Cope said.
A deputy on patrol clocked the Corvette at 100 mph and pursued it, but Escobedo didn't stop. The deputy lost sight of the Corvette, and Webb picked up the pursuit. Escobedo eventually crashed in a Chino neighborhood, where the shooting occurred.
Schwartz said Carrion's blood-alcohol level was later found to be twice the legal limit.
Cope said Webb did not follow protocols when he pulled over the vehicle. Webb approached the car with his gun drawn and flashlight in his hand and began cursing loudly at the airman and his driver, he said.
The prosecutor used a red plastic gun and a large flashlight to demonstrate to the jurors the way Webb approached Carrion, who was on the ground next to the passenger door of the car.
Carrion, now 23, testified at a preliminary hearing that he had been drinking at a barbecue to celebrate his recent return from Iraq.
Schwartz has suggested that Webb might actually have shouted, "Don't get up!"
Frame-by-frame viewing of the tapeDuring a preliminary hearing, Schwartz played an FBI-enhanced copy of the videotape frame by frame to show Carrion's hand going toward his jacket, a movement that is almost imperceptible when the footage is seen at real speed.
Prosecutors have declined to comment on details of the case. However, when the charges were announced last year, San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos said Webb believed he was "doing what he needed to do. In our legal analysis, that was unreasonable."
Carrion is working desk duty at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La., still has problems walking long distances, and can't run or fire a weapon, his attorney said. Carrion also has filed a civil claim against San Bernardino County.
The case was delayed one week because Schwartz's wife went into labor on the morning of the scheduled opening statements.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Value of Communication

Tues. July 3rd, 2007

In my eighteen years of life communicaton has not always been my fortae. I can communicate some what effectively however, my thoughts often times don't match up with what I want to say. Many times I'm quick to speak without thinking of the consquences. This over the years has gotten better however, it still does need improvement. The person I communicate the most with is my dad. (Eric) I love my dad not only because he is my dad but, because he is very intellegent and helps me deal with every day issues that may seem small to him but in the world of christina are life or death. Our relationship has not always been this way, the summer of 2002 is when the communication opened up to new heights. My dad that summer broke his ankle and had to be waited on. Now, my dad is very independent and hates to be served, so he was less than happy with his situation. That summer I spent most of my time getting to know the dad that i had never known before. he shared things with me that opened up the lines of communication that had been cut short. By the end of the summer, i had the realtionship with my dad that i had always dreamed of. Now that i have this desired realtionship i can call my dad with the tiniest of things that bother me. Though many times , i call on situations i could possible handle on my own i still like to hear what dad has to say. he gives me tools that teach me to look at both sides before making any type of desionions. So if i get on my soap box, its just me finding my way. As far as communication with my mom and others its a work in progress. and it could take a long while
Until the next time remeber im not bossy im just opinionated