D.C. Election Glitch Blamed on Equipment
Washington Post (09/11/08) P. A1; Stewart, Nikita; Silverman, Elissa; Flaherty, Mary Pat
D.C. election officials say that a defective computer memory cartridge is responsible for what appears to be thousands of write-in votes that officials say should not exist. The malfunction generated inaccurate results in several contests, including two high-profile council races. In the Republican at-large race the glitch caused 1,560 write-in votes at 9:50 p.m. to drop to 18 by 12:16 a.m., and thousands of votes were added to individual candidates, inflating vote totals. At 9:50 p.m., 8,246 ballots were recorded cast in the at-large Republican primary, but the number of ballots cast shrank to 3,735 by 12:16 a.m. Board spokesman Dan Murphy says it was determined that a defective cartridge caused the vote totals to duplicate into multiple races on the summary report issued by the office; he says the board immediately caught and addressed the error. However, University of California, Berkeley professor Henry E. Brady questions the explanation that a defective cartridge caused errors across multiple races. He also wonders why so many write-in votes were released even as an unofficial count on election night because any experienced election official should know that write-in votes are never that frequent. "It is strange that a single cartridge would cause results to double across the District, and it also would be strange to have that show up in one race," says Election Data Services president Kimball Brace. "Why wouldn't it have duplicated other contests in that precinct or more than one race?"

Russia engages in 'gangland' diplomacy as it sends warship to the Caribbean
The flagship of Russia's Northern Fleet, nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky (Peter the Great)

(Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)

Peter the Great is armed with 20 nuclear cruise missiles and is one of the world?s most formidable warships.
Tony Halpin in Moscow

Russia flexed its muscles in America’s backyard yesterday as it sent one of its largest warships to join military exercises in the Caribbean. The nuclear-powered flagship Peter the Great set off for Venezuela with the submarine destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and two support vessels in the first Russian naval mission in Latin America since the end of the Cold War.

“The St Andrew flag, the flag of the Russian Navy, is confidently returning to the world oceans,” Igor Dygalo, a spokesman for the Russian Navy, said. He declined to comment on Russian newspaper reports that nuclear submarines were also part of the expedition.

The voyage to join the Venezuelan Navy for manoeuvres came only days after Russian strategic nuclear bombers made their first visit to the country. Hugo Chávez, the President, said then that the arrival of the strike force was a warning to the US. The vehemently antiAmerican Venezuelan leader is due to visit Dmitri Medvedev, the Russian President, in Moscow this week as part of a tour that includes visits to Cuba and China.

Peter the Great is armed with 20 nuclear cruise missiles and up to 500 surface-to-air missiles, making it one of the most formidable warships in the world. The Kremlin has courted Venezuela and Cuba as tensions with the West soared over the proposed US missile shield in Eastern Europe and the Russian invasion of Georgia last month. Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, said recently that Russia should “restore its position in Cuba” – the nation where deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles in 1962 brought Russia and the United States to the brink of nuclear war.
Related Links

    * Putin attacks British support for dissidents

    * Putin leads from front to send US message

    * Triumphant Chavez taunts US 'devil'

Igor Sechin, the Deputy Prime Minister, made clear that Russia would challenge the US for influence in Latin America after visits to Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba last week. He said: “It would be wrong to talk about one nation having exclusive rights to this zone.”

Moscow was infuriated when Washington sent US warships into the Black Sea to deliver aid to Georgia after the war. Analysts said that the Kremlin was engaging in gunboat diplomacy over the encroachment of Nato into the former Soviet satellites of Georgia and Ukraine.

Pavel Felgengauer, a leading Russian defence expert, told The Times: “It’s to show the flag and the finger to the United States. They are offering a sort of gangland deal – if you get into our territory, then we will get into yours. You leave Georgia and Ukraine to us and we won’t go into the Caribbean, OK?” He described the visit as “first and foremost a propaganda deployment”, pointing out that one of the support vessels was a tug in case either of the warships broke down.

Latin America was one of the arenas of the Cold War in which the US and the Soviet Union battled for ideological dominance. Russia has agreed to sell more than $4 billion (£2 billion) worth of armaments to Venezuela since 2005 and disclosed last week that Mr Chávez wanted new antiaircraft systems and more fighter jets.

Mr Dygalo denied any link with Georgia and said that Mr Chávez and Mr Medvedev had agreed on the exercises in July.

Sea power

— In the Battle of Tsushima in 1905 – the largest naval battle since Trafalgar – the Russian fleet sailed 18,000 miles (33,000km) to Port Arthur in the Pacific, where it was outmanoeuvred and destroyed by Japanese forces

— During the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, the Soviet Navy conducted 180 voyages on 86 ships to transfer weapons to Cuba

Homeschooling Banned in California as State Turns Parents Into Criminals for Teaching Their Own Children

David Gutierrez
Natural News
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

(NaturalNews) A California appeals court has ruled that homeschooling of children is illegal unless their parents have teaching credentials from the state.

“California is now on the path to being the only state to deny the vast majority of homeschooling parents their fundamental right to teach their own children at home,” said Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association.

The court overturned a lower court’s finding that homeschooling did not constitute a violation of child welfare laws.

(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)


“California courts have held that … parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children,” Justice H. Walter Croskey said.

The decision stunned parents of the state’s roughly 166,000 homeschooled children. While the court claimed that it was merely clarifying an existing law and not making a new one, the decision leaves the parents of homeschooled children at risk of arrest and criminal prosecution.

“At first, there was a sense of, ‘No way,’ ” homeschool parent Loren Mavromati said. “Then there was a little bit of fear. I think it has moved now into indignation.”

Parents’ reasons for homeschooling their children range from religious beliefs to dissatisfaction with the education received at public or private schools. But according to the court, all California children between the ages of 6 and 18 must attend either a full-time public or private school or be taught by a tutor credentialed for their specific grade level.

“A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation,” Croskey wrote.

California’s largest teachers union welcomed the decision as did the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles.

According to the law center’s executive director, Leslie Heimov, children should not be educated at home, because they need to be “in a place daily where they would be observed by people who had a duty to ensure their ongoing safety.”

According to the law center’s executive director, Leslie Heimov, children should not be educated at home, because they need to be “in a place daily where they would be observed by people who had a duty to ensure their ongoing safety.”

Homeschooling shouldn't be banned.  But it should be regulated a little.  We have a guy here at work that was homeschooled.  His views of the world are special at best.