A visit to Berkeley

As seen by the NYT.

By JOSHUA KURLANTZICK

Published: March 30, 2008

ANYONE who thinks that Berkeley is just a hotbed of political radicalism is in for a surprise. College Avenue, the town’s main drag, is packed with more hipsters with BlackBerrys than hippies with beards. The city’s revamped shops can compete label-to-label with SoHo’s sophisticated boutiques, and its restaurants match its bigger neighbor across San Francisco Bay. But the spirit of 1969 hasn’t completely gone away. Walk down Telegraph Avenue and along one block you’ll find activists for Free Tibet, patchouli-scented advocates of homeopathic medicine, and crusty purple-haired free-love followers, still eager to convert you to their cause.

Friday, 5 p.m.
1) BOOKMARK THIS
Old and new Berkeley, activists and high-tech workers, all head to Moe’s Books (2476 Telegraph Avenue; 510-849-2087; www.moesbooks.com). Founded in 1959 and piled high with used books, Moe’s is a reminder that Amazon can’t shut down all the little folks. You can wander its upper floors for hours, flipping through out-of-print tomes on everything from 1950s African history to kabbalah manuals. The store also has frequent in-store readings; check its Web site for coming dates.

8 p.m.
2) COMFORT SOBA
Berkeley’s food scene has blossomed well beyond student hangouts. Take, for example, the local favorite O Chamé (1830 Fourth Street; 510-841-8783). Its classy Japanese fusion fare is decidedly un-college-town, but the slightly beaten-up tables and unpretentious crowd make you feel like you’re eating in someone’s home. And dishes like onion pancakes, soba platters and grilled eel are as satisfying as Japanese comfort food gets. Reservations suggested. Dinner for two about $70.

10 p.m.
3) CINEMA PARADISE
The Pacific Film Archive (2625 Durant Avenue; 510-642-0808; www.bampfa.berkeley.edu), at the Berkeley Art Museum, offers one of the most eclectic moviegoing experiences in the Bay Area. At the archive’s theater across the street from the museum, you might find a French New Wave festival, followed by a collection of shorts from West Africa. The archive is particularly strong on Japanese cinema — and grungy-looking grad students.

Saturday, 8 a.m.
4) INTO THE WILD
This is California, so you’ll need to get up early to have prime walking paths to yourself. Wander through the main U.C. Berkeley campus, quiet at this time, and into the lush Berkeley hills overlooking the university. You’ll pass sprawling mansions that resemble Mexican estates, families walking tiny, manicured poodles, and students running off hangovers along the steep hills. It’s easy to get lost, so bring a map; Berkeley Path Wanderers Association (www.berkeleypaths.org) offers one of the best. If you want a longer walk, try nearby Tilden Park, a 2,000-acre preserve that includes several peaks and numerous trails open for mountain biking. Or head to the University of California Botanical Garden (200 Centennial Drive; 510-643-2755; botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu), which has more than 12,000 species of plants, including some rare flora.

Noon
5) VEGGIE BOUNTY
It’s tough choosing from the many farmers’ markets in the Bay Area, but for the real deal, head to the Saturday Berkeley Farmers’ Market (Center Street at Martin Luther King Way; open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.). The Berkeley market is run by actual farmers and has a workingman’s vibe. Afterward, stop by the Berkeley Bowl Marketplace (2020 Oregon Street; 510-843-6929; www.berkeleybowl.com) for a comparison. A veritable fruit-and-vegetable heaven, the Bowl offers a staggering array of peaches, apples and rows of heirloom tomatoes — pudgy, lumpy, flavorful. Grab a roasted chicken and fresh beet salad at the deli counter, and snack on it while arguing with the various activists who congregate outside the Bowl’s doors.

3:30 p.m.
6) SNAKE PIT
Skip the Berkeley Art Museum, which has only a middling collection, and head instead to the East Bay Vivarium (1827-C Fifth Street; 510-841-1400; www.eastbayvivarium.com), perhaps the city’s strangest attraction. But don’t come with a fear of snakes: the massive gallery and store, which specializes in reptiles, amphibians and arachnids, is like a living nightmare. Strolling through the Vivarium, you’ll pass gargantuan boas and more scorpion species than you’d ever imagined.

5 p.m.
7) ROCK OUT
The best views on campus aren’t from the 10-story Evans Hall, but from Indian Rock Park. Wedged in a residential neighborhood along the city’s northeast, the park has large rock outcroppings that offer 360-degree views across Berkeley and Oakland, and over the Bay into San Francisco. For more spectacular sunset views, bring some rope and carabiners: the main outcropping, Indian Rock, is a practice site for rock climbers.

8 p.m.
8) GLOBAL STEW
International Boulevard in Oakland, 15 minutes south of Berkeley, certainly lives up to its name. In just a few blocks, you’ll pass Salvadoran wedding shops, taco trucks that could have driven from Mexico City, and vendors selling fresh pineapple covered in salt. There’s no end to the Mexican restaurants, but El Huarache Azteca (3842 International Boulevard; 510-533-2395) ranks among the most authentic. Specialties include moles, marinated cactus, tortas and even huitlacoche, a kind of mushroom that grows on ears of corn. A feast for two will come to less than $35.

11 p.m.
9) PUNK’D
Blakes on Telegraph (2367 Telegraph Avenue; (510) 848-0886; www.blakesontelegraph.com) was founded in 1940, when Berkeley was still known for jazz, not acid rock. The venerable nightclub is still kicking. And the live music performances are as eclectic as ever, with genres as diverse as punk and ska, to the jazz that got it all started. But first, make sure it’s not sorority or fraternity night, unless your idea of fun is watching college kids pound shots and scream at the top of their lungs.

Sunday 9 a.m.
10) BOOKISH BARISTAS
Like many college towns, Berkeley consumes caffeine and alcohol with equal gusto, so rest assured, Cole Coffee (6255 College Avenue in Oakland; 510-985-1958; www.colecoffee.com) takes its java very seriously. Besides having one of the largest coffee selections in the Bay Area — you can order up to 25 different types — its baristas talk about the latest Italian roast or African blend as if it were a Sonoma red. A warning: their attitude sometimes crosses the line from knowledgeable to know-it-all.

11 a.m.
11) FOURTH AND LONG

Fourth Street is not far from Telegraph, but it’s miles away in style. This trendy shopping district has become a chic, open-air mall with funky home décor, local art and designer fashions. Visit the Stained Glass Garden (1800 Fourth Street; 510-841-2200; www.stainedglassgarden.com) for elegantly curved glassware, funky dangly jewelry that resembles Calder mobiles, and kaleidoscope-like lampshades, with many products made by local artisans. After blowing too much money, reward yourself again with a double scoop of chocolate ice cream at nearby Sketch (1809A Fourth Street; 510-665-5650; www.sketchicecream.com) — ranked by many local foodies as the best dessert shop in the Bay Area.

THE BASICS
The closest airport to Berkeley is Oakland, about 16 miles away. JetBlue flies nonstop from Kennedy Airport to Oakland, with fares starting at about $359 for travel in April, according to a recent online search. More flights are available to San Francisco International Airport, roughly 25 miles away. Public transportation in the Berkeley area is limited, so rent a car.
The Claremont Resort and Spa (41 Tunnel Road; 510-843-3000; www.claremontresort.com) is by far the fanciest hotel in the area. Built in 1915 in the manner of an English estate, the hotel has a full-service spa, a lap pool and 279 rooms starting at $189.
For a historical alternative, stay at the Berkeley City Club (2315 Durant Avnue, 510-848-7800; www.berkeleycityclub.com), a social club built in 1927 and designed by Julia Morgan, the same architect who built the Hearst Castle. Rooms start at $125.
Cheaper rates can be found at the Rose Garden Inn (2740 Telegraph Avenue; 510-549-2145; www.rosegardeninn.com), housed in five buildings and decorated with every tchotchke imaginable. Rooms start at $129.
For coming campus activities to see (like concerts and speakers) or events to avoid (like parents’ weekend), visit U.C. Berkeley’s online calendar at www.berkeley.edu. For other activities, check The Daily Californian (www.dailycal.org), the university student paper, or The East Bay Express (www.eastbayexpress.com), a free weekly.

The NYT oversimplification of the Macedonian issue

Today's editorial of the NYT (below) is indicative of the oversimplification by the US of international affairs, even by progressive forces.

Editorial

The Republic Formerly Known As ...

Published: March 30, 2008

One thing about the Balkans, they have the most esoteric crises. NATO is holding its summit meeting next week, and wants to bring in three Balkan states — Albania, Croatia and Macedonia. But Greece, a NATO member since 1952, is threatening to veto Macedonia’s membership over its name.

The name “Macedonia,” is shared by the former Yugoslav republic and northern Greece. Viewed from outside, this seems hardly serious. But in the crowded Balkans, such spats invariably draw on centuries of carefully nurtured slights and myths — in this dispute, both sides have claimed Alexander the Great, the greatest of history’s Macedonians, dead for 2,331 years — and can quickly flare into conflicts.

From the moment Macedonia declared independence in 1991, the Greeks vehemently objected to the new state’s use of a name and symbols they regard as theirs. As a result, the United Nations provisionally designated the country as “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” or Fyrom. Athens has since normalized relations and many countries, including the United States, have abandoned the clumsy Fyrom in favor of Republic of Macedonia, which is what Macedonia calls itself.

A mediator for the United Nations, Matthew Nimitz, has proposed a bunch of what strike us as totally acceptable compromises, most recently Republic of Macedonia (Skopje). In any case, that’s not the point. NATO membership is supposed to encourage and cement democratic standards in these new European states. The alliance will have to keep working — vigilantly — with the new members to ensure that that happens. But it is too important a project for Greece to block because of a dispute over a name.

Tiny Macedonia poses no threat whatsoever to Greece under any name; on the contrary, its economy is highly dependent on substantial Greek investments. Bringing it into the NATO fold is good for Europe, good for the Balkans, good for Macedonia and good for Greece. The name is something Athens and Skopje can work out on the side.

France's housing problem

It took six months for Liberation journalist Ondine Millot to get to the truth about the most sordid side of France's housing crisis.
Look through some property websites and you can see the advertisements: the phrase you are looking for is contre services - when a room in an apartment is offered, sometimes "free", in exchange for services.
Sometimes the service is perfectly innocent - cleaning the apartment or washing clothes, to defray some of the high cost of renting property.
But sometimes it is not: instead the requests are sexual, demeaning, bordering on the perverse. "Sex twice a month," is one blunt demand. Another asks for someone "open in spirit and elsewhere". "Flat in exchange for libertine services," goes another. (more...)

Drugs in Drinking Water

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.
The concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose.
In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas — from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky. Water providers rarely disclose results of pharmaceutical screenings, unless pressed, the AP found. For example, the head of a group representing major California suppliers said the public "doesn't know how to interpret the information" and might be unduly alarmed.

How do the drugs get into the water?
People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue. And while researchers do not yet understand the exact risks from decades of persistent exposure to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals, recent studies — which have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public — have found alarming effects on human cells and wildlife.

Members of the AP National Investigative Team reviewed hundreds of scientific reports, analyzed federal drinking water databases, visited environmental study sites and treatment plants and interviewed more than 230 officials, academics and scientists. They also surveyed the nation's 50 largest cities and a dozen other major water providers, as well as smaller community water providers in all 50 states. Here are some of the key test results obtained by the AP:
-Officials in Philadelphia said testing there discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water, including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems. Sixty-three pharmaceuticals or byproducts were found in the city's watersheds.
-Anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications were detected in a portion of the treated drinking water for 18.5 million people in Southern California.
-Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey analyzed a Passaic Valley Water Commission drinking water treatment plant, which serves 850,000 people in Northern New Jersey, and found a metabolized angina medicine and the mood-stabilizing carbamazepine in drinking water. -A sex hormone was detected in San Francisco's drinking water.
-The drinking water for Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas tested positive for six pharmaceuticals.
-Three medications, including an antibiotic, were found in drinking water supplied to Tucson, Ariz.

The situation is undoubtedly worse than suggested by the positive test results in the major population centers documented by the AP. The federal government doesn't require any testing and hasn't set safety limits for drugs in water. Of the 62 major water providers contacted, the drinking water for only 28 was tested. Among the 34 that haven't: Houston, Chicago, Miami, Baltimore, Phoenix, Boston and New York City's Department of Environmental Protection, which delivers water to 9 million people.
Some providers screen only for one or two pharmaceuticals, leaving open the possibility that others are present. The AP's investigation also indicates that watersheds, the natural sources of most of the nation's water supply, also are contaminated. Tests were conducted in the watersheds of 35 of the 62 major providers surveyed by the AP, and pharmaceuticals were detected in 28. Yet officials in six of those 28 metropolitan areas said they did not go on to test their drinking water — Fairfax, Va.; Montgomery County in Maryland; Omaha, Neb.; Oklahoma City; Santa Clara, Calif., and New York City.
The New York state health department and the USGS tested the source of the city's water, upstate. They found trace concentrations of heart medicine, infection fighters, estrogen, anti-convulsants, a mood stabilizer and a tranquilizer. City water officials declined repeated requests for an interview. In a statement, they insisted that "New York City's drinking water continues to meet all federal and state regulations regarding drinking water quality in the watershed and the distribution system" — regulations that do not address trace pharmaceuticals.
In several cases, officials at municipal or regional water providers told the AP that pharmaceuticals had not been detected, but the AP obtained the results of tests conducted by independent researchers that showed otherwise. For example, water department officials in New Orleans said their water had not been tested for pharmaceuticals, but a Tulane University researcher and his students have published a study that found the pain reliever naproxen, the sex hormone estrone and the anti-cholesterol drug byproduct clofibric acid in treated drinking water. Of the 28 major metropolitan areas where tests were performed on drinking water supplies, only Albuquerque; Austin, Texas; and Virginia Beach, Va.; said tests were negative. The drinking water in Dallas has been tested, but officials are awaiting results. Arlington, Texas, acknowledged that traces of a pharmaceutical were detected in its drinking water but cited post-9/11 security concerns in refusing to identify the drug.
The AP also contacted 52 small water providers — one in each state, and two each in Missouri and Texas — that serve communities with populations around 25,000. All but one said their drinking water had not been screened for pharmaceuticals; officials in Emporia, Kan., refused to answer AP's questions, also citing post-9/11 issues. Rural consumers who draw water from their own wells aren't in the clear either, experts say.
The Stroud Water Research Center, in Avondale, Pa., has measured water samples from New York City's upstate watershed for caffeine, a common contaminant that scientists often look for as a possible signal for the presence of other pharmaceuticals. Though more caffeine was detected at suburban sites, researcher Anthony Aufdenkampe was struck by the relatively high levels even in less populated areas. He suspects it escapes from failed septic tanks, maybe with other drugs. "Septic systems are essentially small treatment plants that are essentially unmanaged and therefore tend to fail," Aufdenkampe said. Even users of bottled water and home filtration systems don't necessarily avoid exposure. Bottlers, some of which simply repackage tap water, do not typically treat or test for pharmaceuticals, according to the industry's main trade group. The same goes for the makers of home filtration systems. Contamination is not confined to the United States. More than 100 different pharmaceuticals have been detected in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and streams throughout the world. Studies have detected pharmaceuticals in waters throughout Asia, Australia, Canada and Europe — even in Swiss lakes and the North Sea. For example, in Canada, a study of 20 Ontario drinking water treatment plants by a national research institute found nine different drugs in water samples. Japanese health officials in December called for human health impact studies after detecting prescription drugs in drinking water at seven different sites.
In the United States, the problem isn't confined to surface waters. Pharmaceuticals also permeate aquifers deep underground, source of 40 percent of the nation's water supply. Federal scientists who drew water in 24 states from aquifers near contaminant sources such as landfills and animal feed lots found minuscule levels of hormones, antibiotics and other drugs. Perhaps it's because Americans have been taking drugs — and flushing them unmetabolized or unused — in growing amounts. Over the past five years, the number of U.S. prescriptions rose 12 percent to a record 3.7 billion, while nonprescription drug purchases held steady around 3.3 billion, according to IMS Health and The Nielsen Co.
"People think that if they take a medication, their body absorbs it and it disappears, but of course that's not the case," said EPA scientist Christian Daughton, one of the first to draw attention to the issue of pharmaceuticals in water in the United States. Some drugs, including widely used cholesterol fighters, tranquilizers and anti-epileptic medications, resist modern drinking water and wastewater treatment processes. Plus, the EPA says there are no sewage treatment systems specifically engineered to remove pharmaceuticals.
One technology, reverse osmosis, removes virtually all pharmaceutical contaminants but is very expensive for large-scale use and leaves several gallons of polluted water for every one that is made drinkable.
Another issue: There's evidence that adding chlorine, a common process in conventional drinking water treatment plants, makes some pharmaceuticals more toxic.
Human waste isn't the only source of contamination. Cattle, for example, are given ear implants that provide a slow release of trenbolone, an anabolic steroid used by some bodybuilders, which causes cattle to bulk up. But not all the trenbolone circulating in a steer is metabolized. A German study showed 10 percent of the steroid passed right through the animals. Water sampled downstream of a Nebraska feedlot had steroid levels four times as high as the water taken upstream. Male fathead minnows living in that downstream area had low testosterone levels and small heads.
Other veterinary drugs also play a role. Pets are now treated for arthritis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, allergies, dementia, and even obesity — sometimes with the same drugs as humans. The inflation-adjusted value of veterinary drugs rose by 8 percent, to $5.2 billion, over the past five years, according to an analysis of data from the Animal Health Institute. Ask the pharmaceutical industry whether the contamination of water supplies is a problem, and officials will tell you no. "Based on what we now know, I would say we find there's little or no risk from pharmaceuticals in the environment to human health," said microbiologist Thomas White, a consultant for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. But at a conference last summer, Mary Buzby — director of environmental technology for drug maker Merck & Co. Inc. — said: "There's no doubt about it, pharmaceuticals are being detected in the environment and there is genuine concern that these compounds, in the small concentrations that they're at, could be causing impacts to human health or to aquatic organisms."
Recent laboratory research has found that small amounts of medication have affected human embryonic kidney cells, human blood cells and human breast cancer cells. The cancer cells proliferated too quickly; the kidney cells grew too slowly; and the blood cells showed biological activity associated with inflammation. Also, pharmaceuticals in waterways are damaging wildlife across the nation and around the globe, research shows. Notably, male fish are being feminized, creating egg yolk proteins, a process usually restricted to females.
Pharmaceuticals also are affecting sentinel species at the foundation of the pyramid of life — such as earth worms in the wild and zooplankton in the laboratory, studies show.
Some scientists stress that the research is extremely limited, and there are too many unknowns. They say, though, that the documented health problems in wildlife are disconcerting. "It brings a question to people's minds that if the fish were affected ... might there be a potential problem for humans?" EPA research biologist Vickie Wilson told the AP. "It could be that the fish are just exquisitely sensitive because of their physiology or something. We haven't gotten far enough along."
With limited research funds, said Shane Snyder, research and development project manager at the Southern Nevada Water Authority, a greater emphasis should be put on studying the effects of drugs in water. "I think it's a shame that so much money is going into monitoring to figure out if these things are out there, and so little is being spent on human health," said Snyder. "They need to just accept that these things are everywhere — every chemical and pharmaceutical could be there. It's time for the EPA to step up to the plate and make a statement about the need to study effects, both human and environmental."
To the degree that the EPA is focused on the issue, it appears to be looking at detection. Grumbles acknowledged that just late last year the agency developed three new methods to "detect and quantify pharmaceuticals" in wastewater. "We realize that we have a limited amount of data on the concentrations," he said. "We're going to be able to learn a lot more."
While Grumbles said the EPA had analyzed 287 pharmaceuticals for possible inclusion on a draft list of candidates for regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act, he said only one, nitroglycerin, was on the list. Nitroglycerin can be used as a drug for heart problems, but the key reason it's being considered is its widespread use in making explosives. So much is unknown. Many independent scientists are skeptical that trace concentrations will ultimately prove to be harmful to humans. Confidence about human safety is based largely on studies that poison lab animals with much higher amounts. There's growing concern in the scientific community, meanwhile, that certain drugs — or combinations of drugs — may harm humans over decades because water, unlike most specific foods, is consumed in sizable amounts every day. Our bodies may shrug off a relatively big one-time dose, yet suffer from a smaller amount delivered continuously over a half century, perhaps subtly stirring allergies or nerve damage. Pregnant women, the elderly and the very ill might be more sensitive. Many concerns about chronic low-level exposure focus on certain drug classes: chemotherapy that can act as a powerful poison; hormones that can hamper reproduction or development; medicines for depression and epilepsy that can damage the brain or change behavior; antibiotics that can allow human germs to mutate into more dangerous forms; pain relievers and blood-pressure diuretics.
For several decades, federal environmental officials and nonprofit watchdog environmental groups have focused on regulated contaminants — pesticides, lead, PCBs — which are present in higher concentrations and clearly pose a health risk. However, some experts say medications may pose a unique danger because, unlike most pollutants, they were crafted to act on the human body. "These are chemicals that are designed to have very specific effects at very low concentrations. That's what pharmaceuticals do. So when they get out to the environment, it should not be a shock to people that they have effects," says zoologist John Sumpter at Brunel University in London, who has studied trace hormones, heart medicine and other drugs. And while drugs are tested to be safe for humans, the timeframe is usually over a matter of months, not a lifetime. Pharmaceuticals also can produce side effects and interact with other drugs at normal medical doses. That's why — aside from therapeutic doses of fluoride injected into potable water supplies — pharmaceuticals are prescribed to people who need them, not delivered to everyone in their drinking water.
"We know we are being exposed to other people's drugs through our drinking water, and that can't be good," says Dr. David Carpenter, who directs the Institute for Health and the Environment of the State University of New York at Albany.

(the full story)

Vatican Lists New Sinful Behavior

I didn't know that sins can be "updated":

A Vatican official has listed drugs, pollution, genetic manipulation and social and economic injustices as new areas of sinful behavior.
Sins increasingly manifest themselves as behavior that damages society as a whole, Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti said in an interview published Sunday by the Vatican's daily newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. (more...)

Game over for Musharraf?

The PPP and PML-N political parties, which won the highest and second highest number of seats respectively in February's elections, have signed an agreement to form the next national government.
The deal comes after weeks of protracted negotiations between the two sides over the last few weeks. It includes an agreement to restore to office the judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf when he imposed emergency rule in November 2007.
This could be the end of another dictator. (more...)

Homeschoolers' setback in California

(from the SFC).
A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homes schooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution.
"At first, there was a sense of, 'No way,' " said homeschool parent Loren Mavromati, a resident of Redondo Beach (Los Angeles County) who is active with a homeschool association. "Then there was a little bit of fear. I think it has moved now into indignation."
The ruling arose from a child welfare dispute between the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and Philip and Mary Long of Lynwood, who have been homeschooling their eight children. Mary Long is their teacher, but holds no teaching credential.
The parents said they also enrolled their children in Sunland Christian School, a private religious academy in Sylmar (Los Angeles County), which considers the Long children part of its independent study program and visits the home about four times a year.
The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home.
Some homeschoolers are affiliated with private or charter schools, like the Longs, but others fly under the radar completely. Many homeschooling families avoid truancy laws by registering with the state as a private school and then enroll only their own children.
Yet the appeals court said state law has been clear since at least 1953, when another appellate court rejected a challenge by homeschooling parents to California's compulsory education statutes. Those statutes require children ages 6 to 18 to attend a full-time day school, either public or private, or to be instructed by a tutor who holds a state credential for the child's grade level.
"California courts have held that ... parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children," Justice H. Walter Croskey said in the 3-0 ruling issued on Feb. 28. "Parents have a legal duty to see to their children's schooling under the provisions of these laws."
Parents can be criminally prosecuted for failing to comply, Croskey said.
"A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare," the judge wrote, quoting from a 1961 case on a similar issue.
The decision could also affect other kinds of homeschooled children, including those enrolled in independent study or distance learning through public charter schools - a setup similar to the one the Longs have, Dacus said.
The ruling was applauded by a director for the state's largest teachers union. "We're happy," said Lloyd Porter, who is on the California Teachers Association board of directors. "We always think students should be taught by credentialed teachers, no matter what the setting."
Parents say they choose homeschooling for a variety of reasons, from religious beliefs to disillusionment with the local public schools.
Michael Smith, president of the Home School Legal Defense Association, said the ruling would effectively ban homeschooling in 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," he said in a statement.
But Leslie Heimov, executive director of the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles, which represented the Longs' two children in the case, said the ruling did not change the law.
"They just affirmed that the current California law, which has been unchanged since the last time it was ruled on in the 1950s, is that children have to be educated in a public school, an accredited private school, or with an accredited tutor," she said. "If they want to send them to a private Christian school, they can, but they have to actually go to the school and be taught by teachers."
Heimov said her organization's chief concern was not the quality of the children's education, but their "being in a place daily where they would be observed by people who had a duty to ensure their ongoing safety."
The ruling: To view the ruling by the Second District Court of Appeal, go to links.sfgate.com/ZCQR.

California State Supreme Court to rule on same-sex marriage

The California Supreme Court will hold a hearing on Tuesday on the constitutionality of the state law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.
It shapes up as the most momentous case the court has heard in decades - comparable to the 1981 ruling that guaranteed Medi-Cal abortions for poor women, the 1972 ruling that briefly overturned the state's death penalty law, and the 1948 decision, that struck down California's ban on interracial marriage.

Supporters of same-sex marriage invoke the state's commitment to equality regardless of gender or sexual orientation, the needs of the children of gay and lesbian couples, the persistence of societal discrimination, and legal rights such as freedom of expression, association and privacy.
In defense of its law, the state cites a cultural tradition far older than statehood, the will of the people as expressed in a 2000 initiative, the steps California has already taken toward equal rights for gays and lesbians, and the power of lawmakers and voters to determine state policy.
Beyond those arguments, groups opposing same-sex marriage want the court to justify the state law on moral or scientific grounds, as an affirmation that limiting matrimony to a man and a woman is best for children and society.
The hearing can be watched here.

A ruling is due within 90 days. (more...)

The 30 fastest-growing occupations

The Boston Globe publishes today the list of the 30 fastest-growing occupations in the year 2016.

1. Network systems and data communications analyst
Projected increase in 2016: 53.4 percent
Number employed in 2006: 262,000
Median pay in 2006: $67,460

2. Personal and home care aides
Projected increase in 2016: 50.6 percent
Number employed in 2006: 767,000
Median pay in 2006: $18,180

3. Home health aides
Projected increase in 2016: 48.7 percent
Number employed in 2006: 787,000
Median pay in 2006: $20,100

(more...)

Game over for Netscape?

A web browser that gave many people their first experience of the web is set to disappear. Netscape Navigator, now owned by AOL, will no longer be supported after 1 March 2008, the company has said. (more...)

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Putin's Russia

Some revealing figures.

Vermont primary: The latest polls

(March 4. 15 delegates)

Rasmussen (02/24 - 02/24) Obama 57% , Clinton 33%
Research 2000 (02/19 - 02/21) Obama 53% , Clinton 39%

Other related links:
Pennsylvania primary
Ohio primary
Wisconsin primary
Hawaii democratic caucus
Obama Vs Clinton
Delegates and popular vote (so far)
Game over for Hillary?
Checking the voting machines
Obama vs McCain
How California deligates are selected
The "eyes" of the future President in the US
The three H of John Edwards
Ralph Nader running again?
McCain on Israel

The risks for Obama

The NYT today published an article on a subject many people are thinking but don't want to admit.
The end of the article shows why Obama is the clear favorite to win.

Here in Dallas, those memories were raised in conversation after conversation with several of the 17,000 people who came to see Mr. Obama at a rally last week.
“Right around the corner is the John Kennedy Memorial; everyone all around me was talking about it,” said Imogene Covin, a Democratic activist from Dallas. “In the back of my mind, it’s a possibility that something might happen because he’s something to gawk at right now. But you know why I think he will be safe? He has a broad range of people behind him.”
That afternoon, Mr. Obama’s motorcade passed Dealey Plaza and the Texas Book Depository building, where the fatal shot was fired at President Kennedy in 1963. Several campaign aides looked out their windows, silently absorbing the scene.
Not so for Mr. Obama, who later said he had not realized he was passing the site. And no one in his car pointed it out.
“I’ve got to admit, that’s not what I was thinking about,” he said. “I was thinking about how I was starting to get a head cold and needed to make sure that I cleared up my nose before I got to the arena.”

Pennsylvania Primary: the latest polls

Update: April 22,08
InsiderAdvantage (04/21- 04/21) Obama 42% , Clinton 49%
Rasmussen (04/20- 04/20) Obama 44% , Clinton 49%
Zogby (04/20- 04/21) Obama 41% , Clinton 51%
Suffolk (04/19- 04/20) Obama 42% , Clinton 52%
PPP (D) (04/19 - 04/20) Obama 49% , Clinton 46%
Strategic Vision (R) (04/18- 04/20) Obama 41% , Clinton 48%
SurveyUSA (04/18 - 04/20) Obama 44% , Clinton 50%
Quinnipiac (04/18- 04/20) Obama 44% , Clinton 51%

Update: April 18,08
Rasmussen (04/17- 04/17) Obama 44% , Clinton 47%
Zogby (04/16- 04/17) Obama 43% , Clinton 47%
PPP (D) (04/14 - 04/15) Obama 40% , Clinton 54%
LA Times/Bloomberg (04/10 - 04/14) Obama 41% , Clinton 46%
SurveyUSA (04/12 - 04/14) Obama 45% , Clinton 42%
Franklin & Marshall (04/08 - 04/13) Obama 42% , Clinton 49%
Quinnipiac (04/09- 04/13) Obama 44% , Clinton 50%



Update: March29,08
Rasmussen (03/24 - 03/24) Obama 39% , Clinton 49%
PPP (D) (03/15 - 03/16) Obama 30% , Clinton 56%
Franklin & Marshall (03/11 - 03/16) Obama 35% , Clinton 51%
Quinnipiac (03/10- 03/16) Obama 41% , Clinton 53%

Update: March13,08
Rasmussen (03/12 - 03/12) Obama 38% , Clinton 51%
SurveyUSA (03/08 - 03/10) Obama 36% , Clinton 55%
Susquehanna (03/05 - 03/10) Obama 31% , Clinton 45%
Strategic Vision (R) (03/07 - 03/09) Obama 38% , Clinton 56%

Update: Feb28,08
Rasmussen (02/26 - 02/26) Obama 42% , Clinton 46%
Quinnipiac (02/21 - 02/25) Obama 43% , Clinton 49%

Franklin & Marshall (02/13 - 02/18) Obama 32% , Clinton 44%
Morning Call (02/09 - 02/17) Obama 31% , Clinton 45%
Quinnipiac (02/06 - 02/12) Obama 36% , Clinton 52%

Other related links:
Pennsylvania primary
Rhode Island primary
Texas primary
Ohio primary
Wisconsin primary
Hawaii democratic caucus
Obama Vs Clinton
Delegates and popular vote (so far)
Game over for Hillary?
Checking the voting machines
Obama vs McCain
How California deligates are selected
The "eyes" of the future President in the US
The three H of John Edwards
Ralph Nader running again?
McCain on Israel

Rhode Island Primary: the latest polls

Update March 4rh:
Rasmussen (02/23 - 02/23) Obama 38% , Clinton 53%
Brown University (02/27 - 03/02) Obama 37% , Clinton 42%

Update March 3rd:
Fleming (02/24 - 02/27) Obama 40% , Clinton 49%
Rasmussen (02/09 - 02/10) Obama 38% , Clinton 53%
Brown University (02/09 - 02/10) Obama 28% , Clinton 36%

Other related links:
Pennsylvania primary
Ohio primary
Wisconsin primary
Hawaii democratic caucus
Obama Vs Clinton
Delegates and popular vote (so far)
Game over for Hillary?
Checking the voting machines
Obama vs McCain
How California deligates are selected
The "eyes" of the future President in the US
The three H of John Edwards
Ralph Nader running again?
McCain on Israel

Nader is running (again)

Ralph Nader said Sunday he will run for president as a third-party candidate, criticizing the top White House contenders as too close to big business and pledging to repeat a bid that will "shift the power from the few to the many." (more...)
Update (25, Feb): Obama criticized Nader earlier this weekend. "My sense is that Mr. Nader is somebody who, if you don't listen and adopt all of his policies, thinks you're not substantive," he told reporters when asked about Nader's possible candidacy. "He seems to have a pretty high opinion of his own work." Obama said Nader "is a singular figure in American politics and has done as much as just about anyone for consumers.""I don't mean to diminish that," he said. "There's a sense now that if someone's not hewing to the Ralph Nader agenda, he says they're lacking in some way."
Responding to those remarks, Nader called Obama "a person of substance" and "the first liberal evangelist in a long time" who "has run a good tactical campaign." But he accused Obama of censoring "his better instincts" on divisive issues.

Karl Rove on Obama

It looks as though Karl Rove has decided to achieve the unthikable. To advise both McCain and Clinton as to how defeat Obama! Any doubts as to who is winning?
Even worse, is the argument itself. It is really disappointing for those who had a respect for his political skills. He puts forward very weak arguments without cohesion. It is a desperate attempt to discredit Obama in every aspect and in every possible way. Accusations for plagiarism, leftism, lobbying, partisanship etc. If this is the best that Rove can do, then there's not much anyone can do to stop Obama!!!

Stanford drops tuition for some students

For a different view coming from Berkeley see here

In a radical change to its financial aid program, Stanford University will announce today that it will no longer charge tuition to students whose families earn less than $100,000 a year.
In addition, the university will waive room and board fees for students whose families earn less than $60,000 a year.
University President John Hennessy will make the announcement today on campus, university Provost John Etchemendy confirmed late Tuesday.
The university is making the change in the wake of published reports last month that its endowment had grown almost 22 percent last year, to $17.1 billion. That sum had begun to attract attention from lawmakers who want wealthy institutions to do more to reduce tuition costs.
Financial aid also will increase to families that make more than $100,000 a year.
"Thanks to our increasingly generous financial aid program ... attending Stanford will cost less than most private and many public universities," Etchemendy said. "They're supposed to offer public benefit in return for the privilege of tax exemption," said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. "If endowments increase by double digits from one year to the next, it raises the idea that maybe these schools aren't using enough of their endowments to help students afford college."Stanford's endowment is the third largest of any university in the country, behind only Harvard and Yale. In the past 10 years, tuition alone at Stanford increased from $21,300 to $34,800 - roughly $7,200 more than if it had held to the rate of inflation during the decade.
The university said 3 out of 4 students currently get some financial aid. The new program is expected to reduce the average bill paid by a student's family by 16 percent. (more...)

The Hawaii democratic primary: It has never happened before

This is a good explanation as to why Barack is winning!

Just as Democratic Party caucus votes were scheduled to be cast around 7 p.m. last night, volunteers at Manoa Elementary School's cafeteria ran out of ballots and no more blue Democratic Party registration cards were to be found at Koko Head Elementary School. At Kawananakoa Middle School in Nu'uanu, overwhelmed volunteers opened the auditorium to handle the overflow crowd of at least 2,500 people. Voters at Kailua District Park used up all of the ballots around 7:30 p.m., and volunteers substituted them with pieces of yellow notebook paper. Those scenes were repeated across the Islands, where many caucus sites were overwhelmed by a turnout that few in the Democratic Party foresaw. "The decisionmakers were not prepared for the overwhelming response to this election," said Sharon Yarbrough, an Obama supporter who voted at Kawananakoa. There were long lines and confusion as many participants had to follow a three-step process: Verify that they were registered to vote, fill out blue cards to register for the Democratic Party and then sign in for the caucus. On Maui, caucus organizers at Baldwin High School also ran out of forms by 6:15 p.m., while more than 300 voters from Wailuku and Kahului were still waiting in line and dozens more filed in behind them. Caucus officials began signing people up on plain pieces of paper to accommodate the crowd, which one official described as "phenomenal." About 20 minutes after the caucus started at Manoa Elementary, it became clear there weren't going to be enough ballots for the more than 3,200 who had come out to pick a Democratic presidential nominee. People stood in a line that wrapped around the outdoor blacktop and playground area. Volunteers ran off to photocopy more ballots, which then had to be cut up. Soon after that, volunteers realized they were running out of Democratic Party sign-up forms. Next to go were the precinct sign-in forms, but that didn't matter much because by 7:30 p.m., U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie told voters not to worry about finding their precinct captains, who were lost among a crowd in the packed cafeteria. "Forget about the precinct. Just get a ballot and vote," he said. Kawananakoa Middle ran out of ballots and party registration forms briefly, but the school's principal made about 1,000 more copies of each in her office. "This is twice as bad as we thought it was going to be," said Patrick Stanley, Kawananakoa site coordinator. After the voting had ended, Stanley said the night was a learning experience. "It looked like total chaos," he said, adding the party would have to look at the voting to determine whether things could be made more streamlined, and added that in future caucuses a cut-off date to join the Democratic Party and register to vote might be more prudent.

VOLUNTEERS IMPROVISE
To try to make the process more efficient last night, volunteers went up and down the line at Kawananakoa to see whether people were registered to vote and had joined the party. Many filled in the forms as they waited. Armen Martirosian, 29, filled out his form in line and waited for instructions on what to do next. This was his first caucus. "It never mattered before," he said, with a laugh. Many people trying to vote at the school were turned away because of a lack of parking. The parking lot was full by 6:30 p.m., and some people parked illegally outside the school. Police responded and issued more than 22 parking tickets to people who had parked illegally on Funchal Street or on the sidewalk, according to one of three officers issuing tickets. Dozens of people — many of them first-time caucusgoers — were frustrated with the lines, wait and confusion. At one point, when the cafeteria was brimming with people, a man stood on a table and shouted, "Vote! Vote! Vote" — urging organizers to start the voting. "It was a zoo," said longtime caucusgoer Mike Salling. "The Democratic Party has never experienced anything like this before. They were totally unprepared." Susan Baker, 44, was like many who came yesterday — unsure of how the caucus worked and unclear about what she needed to participate. She said she was hoping someone would come by her part of the line — all the way at the back — to tell her what she needed. "I'm not very sure how this works," she said. Others wandered around the cafeteria, looking for help. Volunteers joined party organizers in helping to direct people. Kat Lin Hurtubise, of the Obama campaign, was trying to direct people to their correct lines to sign up. "It's overwhelming," she said. But, she said, the turnout was also heartening. "It's awesome," she said. Three districts were assigned to Kawananakoa, making it difficult to ensure people were at the right site and voting in the right area of the cafeteria or auditorium.

WELCOME SIGHT
Still, party officials said they were grateful to see so many people come out to vote. Brickwood Galuteria, former head of the Hawai'i Democratic Party who is now running for state office, was in line at the school and said the turnout was overwhelming. "I'm just elated," he said. Ian Colte, district chair for the caucus site at Mililani Waena Elementary School, said the caucus process wasn't designed to handle last night's turnout and that it illustrated the need to switch to a state-run primary. The school was overwhelmed with about 1,300 people, and ran out of ballots and party registration forms as hundreds of people stood in line. Organizers resorted to improvising with scraps of paper for ballots before volunteers made runs to the store to pick up reams of white paper and index cards and made copies of registration forms. "Some people walked away, some people voted but were really angry about how long it took," said Colte. "I think it's good for the vast majority of people that came out, but there are going to be some who might have been turned off." At Kapolei Middle School, where 640 voters crammed into the cafeteria, volunteers also ran out of ballots and blue Democratic Party registration cards and hastily made extras. Carolyn Golojuch, Kapolei Middle School's site coordinator, got on a public address system and encouraged voters to only cast one of the improvised ballots. "Remember, Democrats are honest," she said. "They don't vote more than once." Roger Steffani, of Kapolei, did not expect the scene he encountered at Kapolei Middle School. "I have no idea what to expect but I think it's pretty simple," Steffani said. "We're just going to vote." Rino Cadiz, of Makakilo, added, "Well, it's not planned out, I guess." Before the voting, some also raised concerns about the number of polling sites. Lori Allen, of Kaka'ako, said she was disappointed when she learned that her polling site was Jefferson Elementary School in Waikiki. She was unable to vote because she couldn't get transportation to the school, she said. "I wonder how many more are out there like myself?" she asked. "I'm very disappointed."

Other related links:
Texas primary: The latest polls
Ohio primary
Wisconsin primary
Hawaii democratic caucus
Obama Vs Clinton
Delegates and popular vote (so far)
Game over for Hillary?
Checking the voting machines
Obama vs McCain
How California deligates are selected
The "eyes" of the future President in the US
The three H of John Edwards
Ralph Nader running again?
McCain on Israel

The results of 2008 national elections in Pakistan

PPP (Bhutto's party) : 87

PML-N (Nawaz Sharif): 66

PML-Q: (pro-Musharraf) 38

MQM (Sindh-based): 19

ANP (Secular Pashtuns): 10

Others: 38

Source: Geo TV

According to the BBC, if PPP and PML-N form a coalition with a two-thirds majority in parliament they could impeach Mr Musharraf.

Doron Almog and the 2005 Heathrow incident

An Israeli general wanted for alleged war crimes escaped arrest in the UK because British police feared an armed confrontation at Heathrow airport. Documents seen by BBC News reveal that Major General Doron Almog was flown back to Israel after officers refused to board his plane in September 2005. He stayed on board for two hours after a tip-off that he was facing detention. Police were concerned about a potential clash with air marshals or possible armed personal security on the plane. Maj Gen Almog had flown to the UK for social and charitable visits to Jewish communities in Solihull, in the West Midlands, and Manchester. Lawyers acting for Palestinian campaigners lobbied the Metropolitan Police to act amid allegations that he had ordered the destruction of more than 50 homes in the Gaza Strip in 2002. Campaigners say the homes were destroyed in retaliation for a Palestinian attack that killed four Israeli soldiers. The Met initially refused to get involved, citing massive pressures on counter-terrorism teams in the wake of the London bombings. But the legal representatives successfully applied to a judge for an arrest warrant for a private prosecution. Decisions log prepared for the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which has investigated the incident, shows officers decided to detain the general at Heathrow's immigration control. They then planned to take him to a police station to consider executing the warrant. However, news of the warrant leaked to the Israeli Embassy. Officials tipped off the general and he and his wife refused to leave the El Al flight for the two hours it sat at the London airport's terminal. The documents now show Det Supt John MacBrayne, who was responsible for the operation, could not get confirmation that his team had the right to board the plane. El Al, Israel's national airline, had refused permission. Det Supt MacBrayne is a leading counter-terrorism officer who most recently flew to Pakistan to investigate the killing of Benazir Bhutto. Destroyed: Palestinians accused Maj Gen Almog of an attack on homes In his log, he wrote: "Another consideration [was] that El Al flights carried armed air marshals, which raised issues around public safety. "There was also no intelligence as to whether Mr Almog would have been travelling with personal security as befitted his status, armed or otherwise." The officer concluded there were real risks to the police and public and also had concerns about the "international impact of a potentially armed police operation at an airport". When Maj Gen Almog arrived back in Israel, the planned arrest caused a minor diplomatic storm, with Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom describing the incident as an "outrage". In turn, the then UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw apologised to his counterpart for any embarrassment caused. Hickman and Rose, lawyers for the Palestinians, demanded an inquiry. A spokesman for the Independent Police Complaints Commission said its review had not identified the source who leaked details of the planned arrest. It also concluded police had not broken rules by failing to board the aircraft to execute the warrant.

Fidel Castro retires

According to the BBC, Fidel Castro has announced he will not return to the presidency, in a letter published by official Communist Party paper, Granma.
"I neither will aspire to, nor will I accept, the position of president of the council of state and commander in chief," he wrote in the letter. Fidel, handed over power temporarily to his brother, Raul, in July 2006 when he underwent intestinal surgery. The 81-year-old has ruled Cuba since leading a communist revolution in 1959.

Fidel Castro had become America's enemy number one. The CIA tried to assassinate him - more than 600 times, according to one Cuban minister. Getting him to smoke a cigar packed with explosives was one idea. Other anti-Castro plots were even more bizarre, including one to make his beard fall out and ridicule him.
Cuba under his rule has made impressive domestic strides. Good medical care is freely available for all, there is 98% literacy, and Cuba's infant mortality rates compare favourably with Western nations. (more...)

Texas Primary (March 4): the latest polls

Update (March 5rd):
Reuters/CSpan/Zogby (03/01-03/03). Obama 44%, Clinton 47%
WFAA/Belo Tracking(02/29-03/02). Obama 45%, Clinton 46%
M-D/Star-Telegram(02/27-02/29). Obama 46%, Clinton 45%
SurveyUSA (03/01-03/02). Obama 49%, Clinton 48%
InsiderAdvantage (03/02-03/02). Obama 44%, Clinton 49%
Rasmussen (03/02-03/02). Obama 48%, Clinton 47%

Update (March 3rd):
Reuters/CSpan/Zogby (02/28-03/01). Obama 47%, Clinton 43%
WFAA/Belo Tracking(02/28-03/01). Obama 46%, Clinton 46%
M-D/Star-Telegram(02/27-02/29). Obama 46%, Clinton 45%
FOX News (02/28-03/01).(02/26-02/28). Obama 48%, Clinton 45%
InsiderAdvantage (02/27-02/27). Obama 47%, Clinton 43%
Rasmussen (02/27-02/27). Obama 48%, Clinton 44%

Update (Feb. 26):
InsiderAdvantage (02/25-02/25). Obama 47%, Clinton 46%
SurveyUSA (02/23-02/25). Obama 49%, Clinton 45%
Rasmussen (02/24-02/24). Obama 45%, Clinton 46%
CNN (02/22-02/24). Obama 50%, Clinton 46%

Update (Feb. 23):
Rasmussen (02/20-02/20). Obama 44%, Clinton 47%
ABC/Wash Post(02/16-02/20). Obama 47%, Clinton 48%
One should observe that difference in Rasmussen's numbers in less than a week! Is this an indication of the final winner?

Update (Feb. 19):
SurveyUSA (02/16-02/18). Obama 45%, Clinton 50%
CNN (02/15-02/17). Obama 48%, Clinton 50%
Obviously, Obama is closing the gap fast!

Rasmussen (02/14-02/14). Obama 38%, Clinton 54%
InsiderAdvantage (02/14-02/14). Obama 41%, Clinton 48%
TCUL/Hamilton (02/11-02/13). Obama 41%, Clinton 49%
Delegates: 228

Other related links:
Pennsylvania primary
Rhode Island primary
Ohio primary
Wisconsin primary
Hawaii democratic caucus
Obama Vs Clinton
Delegates and popular vote (so far)
Game over for Hillary?
Checking the voting machines
Obama vs McCain
How California deligates are selected
The "eyes" of the future President in the US
The three H of John Edwards
Ralph Nader running again?
McCain on Israel

Clinton's strategy in Texas

Hillary Clinton, signaling the start of an aggressive drive in states she must win on March 4, has summoned the formidable political "closer" who led her 9-point Super Tuesday victory in California to run her Texas effort, sources said Thursday.
Averell "Ace" Smith, the son of former San Francisco District Attorney Arlo Smith, is on the ground for Clinton as her Texas state campaign manager, sources confirmed.Smith has shown an uncanny knack for identifying key demographic groups and delivering voters in his races in the nation's most populous state.
"Baseball teams have the ace pitcher that they call their 'stopper,' " said California Democratic political consultant Dan Newman regarding the Smith move. "Ace is Hillary's stopper.
"They need someone to sort through a complicated process and be targeted, and surgical, and get people out to vote - exactly as he did here," Newman said.The bespectacled Smith is considered a take-no-prisoners political operative whose dogged studies into opponents' backgrounds earned him the reputation as one of the nation's most feared opposition researchers."I've seen him walk into a room and the opposition candidate will literally start mumbling," former Democratic strategist Clint Reilly once said of him. "They're just terrified with his presence." Known as the "Doctor Death" of political opposition research, he has led winning campaigns in recent years for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Attorney General Jerry Brown.
But as the architect behind some high-profile races in the nation's most populous state, Smith has also proven adept at demographic and get-out-the-vote strategy. He was behind Clinton's Feb. 5 win in California, where polls had suggested that Obama was closing the gap.
Critical in that win, insiders said, was Smith's plan to mount an unprecedented effort tracking - and diligently calling - vote-by-mail voters in all 58 counties of California from the very first day of early voting on Jan. 7 to the day of the primary.
Smith installed campaign managers in every county, who studiously tabulated the names of voters who had cast their ballots by mail - and then undertook the time-consuming effort of calling virtually all of the unreturned ballot-holders before the Super Tuesday primary.
From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the night of the election, the campaign made more than an estimated 1 million calls - many of them on the cell phones of campaign volunteers - to California voters to make sure they went to the polls for Clinton.
Texas has an odd hybrid system that combines traditional voting and caucuses. And unlike California, there's no widespread vote-by-mail voting. In addition, voters don't register for a political party and can cast ballots in either the Democratic or Republican primary.
Texas voting is unusual in another way: Polls are open for early voting from Feb. 19 until three days before the election. That's followed by the traditional March 4 election day voting, followed by statewide caucuses after the polls close at 7 p.m. According to election rules, voters are not allowed to participate in the caucuses unless they've gone to the polls.Because Texas has not effectively been in play in a presidential primary since 1988, all this represents uncharted territory, said one Clinton supporter. (more...)

Democratic Primaries 2008: Delegates and Popular vote

Students killing at the NIU Campus in DeKalb

A gunman has opened fire on students at a university near Chicago in the United States, killing five people before turning the gun on himself. Four of the dead were female and two, including the gunman, were male. The shooting took place at Northern Illinois University, in De Kalb, 65 miles (100km) west of Chicago. Students ran for cover as a white male armed with two handguns and a shotgun opened fire during a science lecture. Another 16 people were injured in the attack. Police said there was no apparent motive.The victims, four women and a man, were killed in a "brief, rapid-fire assault", university president John Peters said.
The university confirmed that the gunman was a former graduate student in sociology, but was not currently enrolled. Earlier reports said 17 victims had been transported to Kishwaukee Community Hospital.
Police say there is no apparent motive for the attack
The shooting comes 10 months after 32 students and staff were shot by a student at Virginia Tech University in one of the worst shootings ever at a US school. It is also the fourth shooting at a US education establishment within a week.
Last Friday, a woman shot dead two fellow students before killing herself at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge. In Memphis, Tennessee, a 17-year-old is accused of shooting and critically wounding a student on Monday, and a 15-year-old was shot at a junior high school in California on Tuesday. (more...)

Ohio Primary: the latest polls

Update March 4rd:
Reuters/CSpan/Zogby (03/01 - 03/03) Obama 44% , Clinton 44%
SurveyUSA (03/01 - 03/02) Obama 44% , Clinton 54%
Rasmussen (03/02 - 03/02) Obama 44% , Clinton 50%
Ohio Poll/Univ of Cin. (02/28 - 03/02) Obama 42% , Clinton 51%
Quinnipiac(02/27 - 03/02) Obama 45% , Clinton 49%

Update March 3rd:
Suffolk (03/01 - 03/02) Obama 40% , Clinton 52%
Reuters/CSpan/Zogby (02/29 - 03/02) Obama 47% , Clinton 45%
M-D/Plain Dealer (02/28 - 02/28) Obama 43% , Clinton 47%
Rasmussen (02/27 - 02/29) Obama 45% , Clinton 47%
FOX News(02/26 - 02/28) Obama 38% , Clinton 46%

Update Feb. 26:
Rasmussen (02/25 - 02/25) Obama 43% , Clinton 48%
The Ohio Poll (02/21 - 02/24) Obama 39% , Clinton 47%
Quinnipiac (02/18 - 02/23) Obama 40% , Clinton 51%

Update Feb. 21:
Rasmussen (02/21 - 02/21) Obama 40% , Clinton 48%
ABC/Wash Post (02/16 - 02/20) Obama 43% , Clinton 50%
In Rasmussen's poll, within a week, Clinton's lead has fallen from 14 points to 8 points.

SurveyUSA (02/17 - 02/18) Obama 43% , Clinton 52%
Rasmussen (02/13 - 02/13) Obama 37% , Clinton 51%
Quinnipiac (02/06 - 02/12) Obama 34% , Clinton 55%
SurveyUSA (02/10 - 02/11) Obama 39% , Clinton 56%

Other related links:
Pennsylvania primary
Rhode Island primary
Texas Primary
Wisconsin primary
Hawaii democratic caucus
Obama Vs Clinton
Delegates and popular vote (so far)
Game over for Hillary?
Checking the voting machines
Obama vs McCain
How California deligates are selected
The "eyes" of the future President in the US
The three H of John Edwards
Ralph Nader running again?
McCain on Israel