Alan K. Henderson's Weblog

The ocean current that gives western Europe its relatively balmy climate is stuttering, raising fears that it might fail entirely and plunge the continent into a mini ice age.

The dramatic finding comes from a study of ocean circulation in the North Atlantic, which found a 30% reduction in the warm currents that carry water north from the Gulf Stream.

The slow-down, which has long been predicted as a possible consequence of global warming, will give renewed urgency to intergovernmental talks in Montreal, Canada, this week on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

While all these things may be desirable, perhaps what the EdSource report tells us is that students do best when teachers teach and parents parent...

It's great when parents can supplement their children's education through their own knowledge of literature, math or history. But it's even better if they see to it that Johnny regularly attends class with his homework completed and that he will respectfully listens to the adults who are charged with providing his education. Teachers can then spend more of their time teaching, instead of riding herd.

The EAPPI is an initiative of the World Council of Churches under the Ecumenical Campaign to End the Illegal Occupation of Palestine: Support a Just Peace in the Middle East. Its mission is to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in their non-violent actions and concerted advocacy efforts to end the occupation. Participants of the programme are monitoring and reporting violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, supporting acts of non-violent resistance alongside local Christian and Muslim Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, offering protection through non-violent presence, engaging in public policy advocacy and, in general, standing in solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the [Israeli] occupation [of Gaza and the West Bank].

In addition to sponsoring attacks against Israel (often through Jordanian territory, much to King Hussein's chagrin), Syria also began shelling Israeli civilian communities in north-eastern Galilee, from positions on the Golan Heights, as part of the dispute over control of the Demilitarized Zones (DZs), small parcels of land claimed by both Israel and Syria.

In 1966, Egypt and Syria signed a military alliance, initiated for both sides if either were to go to war. According to Egyptian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Riad, Egypt had been persuaded to enter into the mutual defence pact by the Soviet Union. From the Soviet perspective the pact had two objectives: (1) to reduce the chances of a punitive attack on Syria by Israel and (2) to bring the Syrians under what they considered to be Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s moderate influence.

One of the documents, "Iraqi Efforts to Cooperate with Saudi Opposition Groups and Individuals," had been provided to the New York Times last summer. Thom Shanker, one of the Times's best reporters, wrote a story based on the document, which was an internal Iraqi Intelligence memo. The Iraqi document revealed that a Sudanese government official met with Uday Hussein and the director of the Iraqi Intelligence Service in 1994 and reported that bin Laden was willing to meet in Sudan. Bin Laden, according to the Iraqi document, was then "approached by our side" after "presidential approval" for the liaison was given. The former head of Iraqi Intelligence Directorate 4 met with bin Laden on February 19, 1995. The document further states that bin Laden "had some reservations about being labeled an Iraqi operative"--a comment that suggests the possibility had been discussed. (According to another Iraqi Intelligence document, authenticated by the DIA and first reported on 60 Minutes, the regime considered bin Laden an "Iraqi Intelligence asset" as early as 1992, though it's unclear that bin Laden shared this view.)

According to a report in the Times, bin Laden requested that Iraq's state-run television network broadcast anti-Saudi propaganda; the document indicates that the Iraqis agreed to do this. The al Qaeda leader also proposed "joint operations against foreign forces" in Saudi Arabia. There is no Iraqi response provided in the documents. When bin Laden left Sudan for Afghanistan in May 1996, the Iraqis sought "other channels through which to handle the relationship, in light of his current location." The IIS memo directs that "cooperation between the two organizations should be allowed to develop freely through discussion and agreement."

Queen Noor of Jordan embodied this hypocrisy when she stated that the Amman terrorists "made a significant tactical error here, because they have attacked innocent civilians, primarily Muslims," implying her approval had the victims been non-Muslims.

An Associated Press headline screams, "Republicans Blame Schwarzenegger." That's chutzpah for you. This is a party that can't get anyone elected to statewide office and is heading for Hawaii levels in number of Republicans in the legislature -- despite gerrymandering. The only reason Arnold called a special election is because his party is too weak to do anything in the state, and the other party wouldn't cut a deal. He had one arrow in his quiver – his undeniable charisma – and he shot it. It got him nothing but a 30-point drop in approval ratings.

Without him, the California GOP has nothing. Fortunately, the governor still wields the veto pen, which should be enough to prevent any further raid on the state treasury.

"The Kurds of Iraqi Kurdistan just want to say 'thank you for helping us win our freedom. Thank you for democracy. Thank you America."

The print and broadcast advertisements are sponsored by the Kurdistan Development Corporation, an organization created by the government of Kurdistan to encourage international investment.

The ad campaign began Monday in the United States with ads in The Wall Street Journal and on Fox News Channel. Ads begin airing Nov. 14 airing in Europe.

"We feel the mainstream media," she tells Newsmax, "is focusing on the negative stories coming out of Iraq and very rarely highlighting the good news."

"We’re not saying that the media doesn’t tell the truth. They do tell the truth. There is violence. There is an insurgency. But it’s not the whole truth, or the whole picture."

"The truth is that while there is violence," she continues, "there are big strides being taken towards democracy in Iraq, particularly in Kurdistan. There are vast sections of Iraq, and again particularly Kurdistan, where the region is safe, stable, and people are getting on with their lives, doing business, trying to build a future."

Indeed, not a single coalition soldier has died in Kurdistan since March 2003.

EIA Blog Under Scrutiny by Tribal Charter School Board. The following item appeared in the October 17 EIA Communiqué:

"Charter for Chippewas Goes Union. The Michigan Education Association has won a union representation election for the 33 teachers at the Joseph K. Lumsden Bahweting Anishnabe charter school in Sault Ste. Marie. The school is located on the reservation of the Chippewa Tribe. Bahweting is a high-achieving school, but also high-spending. With funding from state, federal and tribal sources, the school spends about $15,000 per student."

The next day, I updated the story on the EIA blog, Intercepts. And on October 20, my blog entry noted that MEA had filed an unfair labor practices complaint against school officials, because they announced they would "freeze Bureau of Indian Affairs funding that provides more than half of the school's operating budget" and Tribal Chairman Aaron Payment "threatened to let the school's charter expire at the end of the year, and then open a new, non-union charter school next year, in which the teachers would be tribal employees on loan to the school."

The October 20 item caught the eye of people involved in the story, on both sides, and for the past three weeks they have "adopted" that portion of the blog as a sort of bulletin board to argue their positions. As I write these lines, there are 233 anonymous comments on the Bahweting page.

Evidently school and tribal officials have gotten wind of the blog, and are under the mistaken impression that it was created by teachers at the Bahweting school. A well-placed source tells EIA that the board is threatening retribution against anyone "who set up the blog," to include the loss of his or her job.

These efforts would be either funny or pathetic if it weren't for the fact that there are teachers who are understandably fearful of losing what might otherwise be considered an attractive job. I encourage Bahweting's teachers to continue posting on their adopted blog. There is absolutely no way for school or tribal officials to learn your identity, should you wish to remain anonymous.