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The long, fascinating spectacle of the presidential primaries has all but obscured their potential impact on American politics: Campaign 2008 may break Washington's gridlock by reviving the long-dormant political center. The public's hunger for a change in Washington's ways has formed the backdrop of this year's presidential race from its outset. When the Wall Street Journal and NBC News surveyed voters in December, as the campaign began, almost half agreed that America needed "major reforms and a brand new and different approach" to handling problems. In the wake of Tuesday's primary elections in North Carolina and Indiana, it appears more...

Having regained some force in Pennsylvania, the tornado of insult and innuendo that is the Democratic Party’s nomination fight will now touch down in four more states. But while Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama regroup this week, John McCain is off doing something that, while lacking the same kind of drama, has a significance of its own. Mr. McCain and his advisers decided this week to embark on a tour of some of the places that symbolize the fragility of America’s promise, even if they aren’t the kind of places that Republicans often go: Selma, Ala.; Youngstown, Ohio; New...

Pressure is mounting on central banks in the Gulf to fight surging inflation when they meet on Wednesday by severing the link between their currencies and the tumbling US dollar. Officials in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have denied rumours of an imminent decoupling, but investors are betting on reform and are rushing to buy local currencies as investment banks issue fresh calls for revaluation. Analysts said that, despite the momentum, the Gulf states were unlikely to decouple suddenly from the dollar. They predicted more measured moves towards links to a basket of currencies. “The feeling is [that] unilateral...

Blair accused of 'stabbing Hillary Clinton in the back' after supporting RepublicansLast updated at 00:56am on 20th January 2008  Former allies: Bill Clinton and Tony Blair   Tony Blair was accused of betrayal last night as he waded into the American Presidential campaign to support George Bush's Republican world view. As the former PM recommended Mr Bush's policies to 400 millionaire bankers in Las Vegas, former ally Bill Clinton was campaigning in Nevada for his wife Hillary, who hopes to be the Democratic candidate for the White House and is an arch Bush critic. In a move liable to...

SIERRA VISTA — Ron and Joanne Wagner were guests of honor during a special celebration at Sierra Vista Middle School on Monday. The Wagners, who had purchased a Christmas tree that had been donated to the Festival of Trees by the middle school, gave the tree back to the school for students and staff to enjoy. This marked the fourth year the Wagners purchased a tree at the Festival and returned it to the school that donated it. All the ornaments on the tree were hand made by special education students. Now on display in the school library, the tree...

Nearly half of African Americans born to middle-income parents in the late 1960s plunged into poverty or near-poverty as adults, according to a new study -- a perplexing finding that analysts say highlights the fragile nature of middle-class life for many African Americans. Overall, family incomes have risen for both blacks and whites over the past three decades. But in a society where the privileges of class and income most often perpetuate themselves from generation to generation, black Americans have had more difficulty than whites in transmitting those benefits to their children. Forty-five percent of black children whose parents were...

Middle classes abandon state schools By Graeme Paton and Toby Helm Last Updated: 2:27am GMT 10/11/2007 A growing proportion of middle-class parents are giving up on state education after 10 years of Labour rule by paying to educate their children in the independent sector, official figures have disclosed. Many families outside the traditional fee-paying heartland of the South East are shunning comprehensives The scale of the exodus is shown for the first time in statistics indicating that many families outside the traditional fee-paying heartland of the South East are shunning comprehensives in favour of private schools. In almost a third...

I seek the advice of FReepers on home-schooling an academically gifted 8 year-old. We've had it up to 'here' with Creekland Middle School in Gwinnett County. (Georgia) How to get started? Best Curricula? Best web sites? Ideas? Challenges? Risks?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is warning the state's Republican party to move toward the political center or risk losing voter support. Schwarzenegger is speaking Friday night at a state party convention in Indian Wells near Palm Springs. According to excerpts released in advance of his speech, Schwarzenegger says the party has lost the political middle and "will not regain true political power in California" until the GOP gets it back. He argues the party must tackle issues with broad public appeal, like climate change and building highways, railroads and tunnels.

The name might be more wishful thinking than practical politics, but a group of Republican business leaders calling themselves the New Majority are hoping to reshape the GOP to give it a stronger role in state and local politics. Launched in Orange County seven years ago, the group raised more than $8 million - more than any other contributor - for the effort to recall Gov. Gray Davis and replace him with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also is a New Majority member. Since then, the group has expanded to Los Angeles County and now has about 90 members in the area....

Western analysts are forever bleating about the strategic importance of the middle east. But despite its oil, this backward region is less relevant than ever, and it would be better for everyone if the rest of the world learned to ignore it Why are middle east experts so unfailingly wrong? The lesson of history is that men never learn from history, but middle east experts, like the rest of us, should at least learn from their past mistakes. Instead, they just keep repeating them.

Sunday, February 18, 2007 The 2006 estimate of Iraq's population was 26,783,383 people. This is a number we read, yet it's impossible for us to translate this number into manageable terms. It's beyond our ability to imagine the personal connection to this many people. Engrossed in our own lives and concerns, it is hard to understand or realize that we, as a single person, can make a difference. Yet, we can. We've all held a newborn baby and felt that incredibly tender feeling of awe, of wonder, where our hearts were overwhelmed with the beauty of life. Holding that vulnerable,...

One of the students mentioned to her friend that there were bunches of Middle-Eastern guys buying phones in the Radio Shack at Metrocenter, Jackson, MS. About 13 men or so bought the tracphones and her clerk friend also said that many of them came in buying phones in the afternoon as well. I contacted the FBI in Jackson already.

...The schools share the premise that the way to reverse years of abysmal middle school performance is to get rid of middle schools entirely. But they represent opposite poles in the sharp debate over whether 11- through 13-year-olds are better off pushed toward adulthood or coddled a little longer. Should the nurturing cocoon of elementary school be extended for another three years, shielding 11-year-olds from the abrupt transition to a new school, with new students and teachers, at one of the most volatile times in their lives? Paul Vallas, chief executive of the Philadelphia school system, thinks so, and he...

‘Mysteries of the Middle Ages’ By THOMAS CAHILL Published: December 24, 2006The Cult of the Virgin and Its Consequences In the first decade of the twelfth century, a little girl from the Rhineland town of Bermersheim, near Mainz, was offered by her parents as a sacrifice to God. Her name was Hildegard; her parents were Hildebert and Mechthild, a pious knight and his pious, well-born wife. Hildegard was eight years old when she was left for life with an anchorite named Jutta von Sponheim, who lived alone in a cell attached to the abbey church of Saint Disibod. (Disibod was...

As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reelection campaign was beginning to take shape last year, prototypes of the governor's reelection posters were ordered. One poster used the colors red and black, and simply had one word: "Arnold." When the posters were presented to the governor and his wife, Maria Shriver, Shriver bristled. She wanted something unconventional, something that highlighted the fact that, despite his loss weeks earlier in the special election, Schwarzenegger was not an ordinary political candidate. Shriver, in a dramatic portent of things to come during the campaign, got exactly what she wanted: New posters came back, with colors chosen...

Hope for a Middle East peace breakthrough faded on Friday when the militant group Hamas contradicted President Mahmoud Abbas's declaration that a new Palestinian unity government would recognize Israel. Speaking at the United Nations on Thursday, Abbas said a coalition being negotiated between his Fatah party and Hamas, the militant group that heads the Palestinian government, would recognize the Jewish state. Such a move would be a huge reversal for Hamas, which is formally dedicated to the destruction of Israel. On Friday, Hamas political advisor Ahmed Yousef told the Associated Press that "there won't be a national unity government if...

WASHINGTON - The CIA believed it was operating lawfully in detaining and interrogating 96 suspected terrorists at locations from Thailand to Europe, until the Supreme Court this summer demolished that legal foundation. The CIA is now squarely in the middle of election-year politics as Congress tries to write new definitions that could reshape the intelligence agency's program. "At the end of the day, the director — any director — of the CIA must be confident that what he has asked an agency officer to do under this program is lawful," CIA Director Michael Hayden wrote employees on Thursday. President Bush...

For more than a decade, the Democratic Party -- the self-proclaimed party of the middle class -- has consistently lost the middle class at election time. In 2004, voters with family incomes between $30,000 and $75,000 went for Bush by 6 percentage points, while Congressional Democrats lost this group by 4 points. Among white middle-class voters (one-third of the electorate), Bush won by 22 points and Congressional Republicans by 19 points. What's the matter with the middle class? Democrats like to pin their defeats on national security and culture issues alone, but the progressive economic message is also to blame....

Next time you stop at the pump and pay through-the-stratosphere prices to fill your car's tank, just ponder this: We are not — repeat, we are not running out of oil. There is no good reason you should be paying through the nose. There are only bad reasons for it. If you are also angry about illegal aliens pouring over the border, you should know that illegal immigration is the price we are paying to keep to keep gas prices from going even higher, maybe two or three times higher.

HOLIDAY, Fla.(Army News Service, Aug. 29, 2006) – What began last year as a suggestion by retired Maj. Gen. Fred Raymond came full circle last Friday during a dedication ceremony of the new Paul R. Smith Middle School in Holiday, Fla. More than 500 family, friends, Soldiers, veterans, legislators, county officials and students were present. Raymond recommended to the Pasco County School Board in September 2005 that the new school be named after Medal of Honor recipient Sergeant 1st Class Paul R. Smith. Smith’s parents, widow and two children live in Holiday, and his 12-year old son David is now...

Arizona's Counter-Terrorism Information Center has advised Arizona's law enforcement officials that there is a possible increase in suspicious purchases of prepaid cell phones. Tucson Police have been searching for two men, of Middle Eastern descent for allegedly trying to buy around 50 disposable cell phones at a local Sam's Club. Those men are wanted for questioning, but not criminal charges. The Counter-Terrorism center is also monitoring the case. Tuesday, two new claims. An inside source says at a Tucson Family Dollar store, two men have also been trying to buy cell phones from that chain. And there's news from Huachuca...

Law enforcement sources confirm to News 4 that Tucson Police have issued an "attempt to locate" on two Middle Eastern men in their 20's who purchased nearly 50 phones from Sam's Club and Wal-Mart in Tucson. Sources say the men made the purchases on Saturday and Sunday. There's been a number of arrests nationwide with very similar circumstances. News 4 is not linking this case with the national cases, but we do want to point out how similar they are. Arrests have been made in Michigan and Ohio and there are reports of large numbers of cell phones being sold...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2006 – The activities in the Hezbollah-Hamas battlespace are being manipulated by Iran, directed by Syria and executed by Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon, a senior U.S. military official, speaking on background, said today. The official also spoke about conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said three major movements are coursing through the Middle East. The first is Iran’s posturing for leadership in the region. Iran’s prominence in the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, the official said, points to the problem a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the region and world. Iran’s sponsorship of Hezbollah and its moves...

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2006 – The current Middle East crisis between Israel and Hezbollah is part of a larger struggle between the forces of freedom and terror, President Bush said today in Miami.   “For decades, the status quo in the Middle East permitted tyranny and terror to thrive,� Bush said during a speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Integrated Support Command. “And as we saw on September the 11th, the status quo in the Middle East led to death and destruction in the United States, and it had to change.�   Bush said America must continue to oppose...

U.S. Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment take a break in Ramadi General Hospital during a patrol outside Combat Operation Post Hawk's perimeter near Ramadi, Iraq, July 14. Department of Defense photo by Cpl. Trenton E. Harris. BAGHDAD -- During a radio address to the nation Saturday, President George W. Bush discussed U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Although a majority of the radio address was focused on confronting the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, the president said as the international community works to resolve that crisis, we must recognize that Lebanon is only the latest flashpoint in a broader struggle...

No end to fighting as Rice tours Middle East By Patrick Bishop and George Jones, Political Editor (Filed: 25/07/2006) Condoleezza Rice arrived in Israel last night with no sign that America's belated diplomatic intervention would bring an early end to the violence in Lebanon. The US secretary of state had earlier visited Beirut where she said she was "deeply concerned" by the plight of the Lebanese people who have been suffering the consequences of two weeks of Israeli attacks. Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora greets Condoleezza RiceThe White House announced that it was sending helicopters and ships to provide humanitarian...

Missile defence unready for Middle East crisis 12:23 19 July 2006 NewScientist.com news service Paul Marks As rockets and artillery shells continue to devastate Israeli and Lebanese towns, aerospace companies are developing antimissile shields that could one day defend against such attacks. Hezbollah has used Katyusha rockets to hit targets inside Israel, including the coastal town and naval port of Haifa, killing at least 25. Meanwhile, Israeli artillery bombardments and bombs have hit targets inside Lebanon, destroying infrastructure and leaving more than 270 dead. Prototype missile defence systems offer the promise of intercepting incoming rockets and artillery shells in flight....

The media refer to a plan in which Israel is recognized and violence eschewed. But does the plan really say that? Much of the Western media has been referring to a document signed by Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails as a breakthrough in the peace process. A New York Times headline "Palestinian Leader Plans a Vote on Accepting Israel" refers to Palestinian President Abbas' initiative to hold a referendum on the so-called "prisoners' plan" characterizing it as a "coexistence plan." The Times states: The proposal calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel, based on the borders that existed before the...

TAMPA, Fla., May 1, 2006 – Civilian leaders returned here yesterday from a whirlwind trip through Southwest Asia with a fresh new perspective about U.S. military operations under way and the caliber of the men and women serving the country in uniform. The 47 business, academic, civic and organizational leaders, all participants in the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference, agreed that it's one thing to draw conclusions based on what they read in newspapers and see on TV, but quite another to draw their own firsthand conclusions. The group members visited Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar to observe ongoing operations. They met...

SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 30, 2006 – It's critical that the American people muster up the will to see the conflict here through to victory, the commander of U.S. Central Command told civilian business, civic and academic leaders visiting here yesterday. Army Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, tells participants in the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference it's critical that the United States complete its mission in Southwest Asia. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Larry Chambers, USGC  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Military officials asked that the visit's exact location not be released. Army Gen. John Abizaid...

MANAMA, Bahrain, April 27, 2006 – Maritime operations in the Middle East are all about anti-terrorism activities, the deputy commander of coalition forces serving with Naval Forces Central Command said here. British Royal Navy Commodore Simon T. Williams said maritime operations have an active and passive deterrence role in what Americans call the Central Command area of operations. "The main effect is trying to change the risk calculus for terrorists," he said in an interview. The command, which has ships from 17 different nations, has task forces covering the seas from the southern border of Kenya to the Pakistan-India border....

LONDON, April 23 (IranMania) - According to IRNA, Secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani in Manama on Sunday held talks with Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa on the latest developments in the region, situation in Iraq and Iran's nuclear program. The Bahraini king said that Bahrain supports Iranian program to produce nuclear energy, adding that all states are seeking to diversify their energy resources. He said other states in the region should also take steps towards using nuclear energy. Al-Khalifa said that there is no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the Middle East except in...

WASHINGTON, April 19, 2006 – Four state governors just returned from Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait shared glowing reports today about the operations they observed there, but reserved their highest praise for the men and women in uniform they met, including National Guard troops from their states. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack shares a meal with Iowa Army National Guard soldiers deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom during Vilsack's visit to Kuwait. Photo by Spc. Debralee P. Crankshaw, USA   The four governors -- Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and West Virginia Gov. Joe...

The BBC re-published an online article today that they first published 11 years ago. Note the following paragraph: The State Department would not discuss the possibility of this being a terrorist attack but the FBI and Oklahoma police put out an alert for three men believed to be of Middle Eastern origin driving a brown Chevrolet pick-up truck. Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and ten of his supporters are currently on trial for the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993. We all know today that the government dropped its search for any connection to Middle East terrorists, despite strong evidence...

Collins: Why control of Iraq’s oil mattersCommentary by U.S. Rep. Mac CollinsRecently, I had dinner with Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, and one of the other guests asked the Prince an interesting question. The guest was a prominent Georgia Democrat and he wondered aloud “why the Republicans didn’t just admit that the war in Iraq was all about oil?” I sat back, so as not to interrupt the gentleman, and then asked the Prince a question of my own: “Keeping in mind the strength of al Qaeda in Iraq today, and their relationship with Syria...

The Palestinian Authority’s new foreign minister, Mahmoud Al-Zahar of the Hamas told Xinhua, China’s official news agency, that he envisions a map of the Middle East that does not have Israel on it. Al-Zahar, who took office last week with the swearing in of the PA’s new Hamas government, said, "I dream of hanging a huge map of the world on the wall at my Gaza home which does not show Israel on it." Al-Zahar’s statement echoes that of Iranian Prime Minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in which he vowed “to wipe Israel off the map.” "I hope…to have our independent state...

WASHINGTON, March 26, 2006 – The Iraqis are going through a historic process to form a government of national unity, and success in that country will provide a basis for a more stable Middle East, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday morning talk shows today. "We faced the outcome of an ideology of hatred throughout the Middle East that had to be dealt with," Rice said on NBC's "Meet the Press" today. "Saddam Hussein was part of the old Middle East. The new Iraq will be part of a new Middle East, and we will all be safer."...

Venezuelan middle class flees Chávez rule of hate By Sophie Arie in Caracas (Filed: 05/03/2006) Venezuela's once-thriving middle class is packing its bags and fleeing the country, afraid for the future as the socialist president, Hugo Chávez, calls on the slum-dwelling masses to rise up and seize wealth from those better off than themselves. Growing numbers of professionals, business owners and shopkeepers are fed up with the climate of hostility that the Left-wing president has encouraged in his effort to boost his populist credentials. President Hugo Chávez María Carolina García was blowing up helium balloons in her party-decorations shop in...

Christians living in Jesus' birthplace are bracing themselves as the militant Islamic group Hamas prepares to take power as the Palestinian Authority government after winning legislative elections in January. "There are many Christians who are afraid," said Shatha, a student at the Roman Catholic Bethlehem University. "Since Hamas is new to the government, I doubt they will be able to implement Islamic law," she said the day before Hamas was to take over the Palestinian authority on Feb. 17. "But it's possible they might in the future." Bethlehem's Christian community was already concerned after a member of the city council...

Jimmy Carter is off this week to save Cuba. With Carter on the loose, the American public needs to watch out. It seems that almost wherever he goes and whatever positions he pushes, Jimmy Carter leaves a wake of devastation and disaster. Carter, we should note, has been cozying up to North Korea for years. He helped the U.S. and the communist country come to agreement during the Clinton years to defuse a tense situation over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

OPINION When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Democrat Susan Kennedy as his new chief of staff last week, it was a shrewd tactical move. State Republicans groused that Schwarzenegger's hiring of the former aide to Gray Davis and former executive director of the California Democratic Party is a betrayal of his constituency. Really? Isn't the constituency of the governor all the residents of California, rather than just the members of one political party? We think so, and so, evidently, does the governor. This is a welcome attempt to reach out to all voters. It affords the Democratic leadership the chance to...

TURIN, Italy - No, athletes at the Winter Games are not being rewarded with gold doughnuts — it just looks that way. The new medal design for the Olympics in Turin, unveiled Wednesday, features a hole in the center of the metal disc. While it may appear as though biathletes have been using them for target practice, the medals are actually meant to represent the open space of an Italian piazza, or city square. The medals have the Turin logo on one side and images from various sports and disciplines on the other. The red silk ribbon that goes around...

AL ASAD, Iraq (Oct. 24, 2005) -- The current operational tempo of the Global War on Terrorism means many Marines are deploying to combat zones on a yearly basis. Back-to-back combat tours can cause headaches for Marines and heartaches for their families, but for Sgt. C. Alexander Wolf, it’s just another day at the office. Wolf, the signals intelligence chief for 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), is on his fourth deployment to the Middle East, dating back to 2003. The Kokomo, Ind., native, works for the Wing’s intelligence division, whose duties range from intercepting and analyzing electronic communications signals to...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2005 – Terrorists are testing American will and resolve in Iraq, and failing that test would mean dire consequences for the safety and security of America, President Bush said here today. Delivering remarks at the Pentagon, Bush said that the battle lines are drawn in Iraq, and there is no middle ground. "Either we defeat the terrorists and help the Iraqis build a working democracy, or the terrorists will impose their dark ideology on the Iraqi people and make that country a source of terror and instability to come for decades," he said. Iraqi security forces are...

There has been much discussion among the American People of why our military and State Department personnel are deployed in Iraq. While some offer cynical views, mostly for partisan reasons, others are closer to the mark and deserve consideration. There are four main reasons that we are here:

The oil war is openly declared now and the world shall stand to witness it. In what seems to be the clash of China and the United States over Unocal is already having its impact felt all over the world. United States is a nation driven by the politics of oil and influence. The mammoth growth of China is a reality and for the first time China is directly contesting America’s sphere of influence all over the world. With oil prices touching record high of 60 dollars per barrel the war is likely to intensify if anything else. But one...

Unveiling Iraq's teenage prostitutes Fleeing their war-torn homes, Iraqi girls are selling their bodies in Syria to support their families. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Joshua E. S. Phillips printe-mail June 24, 2005 | DAMASCUS, Syria -- You might not even notice the Manara nightclub if it weren't for the gradual flow of cars leading right to it. Just behind the Mosque of President Hafez Assad, the club's parking lot is crammed with cars, many bearing plates from neighboring gulf states. Inside, disco lights pierce the smoky air. Patrons pack the seats...

The Iraq War is replacing the attacks of September 11, 2001, as fodder for conspiracy theories emanating from the Middle East - in particular, questions surrounding Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi. Does he exist? Where is he hiding? Is he actually an American or Jordanian agent? Is he dead? Print and television reports in the Arab and Iranian press regularly question Mr. al-Zarqawi's existence. A member of the former Iraqi Governing Council, Fadhl al-Rube'i, was interviewed on the Lebanese channel New TV, on May 16, 2004. He called Mr. al-Zarqawi mythical and a creation of the Pentagon's "disinformation" center. The spokesman for...

The Gang of 14, Blogged Down In the Middle By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, May 29, 2005 It was the perfect storm for the blogosphere, an issue on which both right-wingers and left-wingers could rise up in rare unison and smite the craven offenders. Both sides hated, castigated and otherwise took a dim view of the last-minute deal this week that averted a nuclear showdown over Senate filibusters. Let the mainstream media praise as bipartisan statesmen the mushy moderates who cobbled together the compromise. Many bloggers were infuriated, castigating the so-called Gang of 14 (and especially John...