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TORONTO (Reuters) - Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy got low marks for spelling and math this week when discussing the possibility of a strike by the Canadian province's teachers. "I think strike is a bit of a five-letter word in education and that gets people nervous," Kennedy said on Wednesday, according to media reports. After it was pointed out that the word strike has six letters, Kennedy, a member of the Liberal Party, said that he meant to say something else all together. "Pardon me, I was going to say four, but it really is a tough word in education....

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - R. Craig Hogan, a former university professor who heads an online school for business writing here, received an anguished e-mail message recently from a prospective student. "i need help," said the message, which was devoid of punctuation. "i am writing a essay on writing i work for this company and my boss want me to help improve the workers writing skills can yall help me with some information thank you". Hundreds of inquiries from managers and executives seeking to improve their own or their workers' writing pop into Dr. Hogan's computer in-basket each month, he says, describing...

I have created a public register of "bump lists" here on Free Republic. I define a bump list as a name listed in the "To" field used to index articles. Free Republic Bump List Register

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- As Bush administration officials and Pentagon chiefs peddle their $87 billion supplemental bill for Iraq next year - even as President Bush's popularity on the issue wanes -- they have a new enemy in their sites. Not Saddam or Osama, but the media. As they see it, the problem in Iraq is not so much the almost daily casualties or the pace of rebuilding but the fact that the news media keeps harping on it, at the expense of reporting "good news." "I understand that breaking news is largely driven by bad news. That's a...

<p>NEW YORK &#8212; Bilingual education in the city's public schools, judged a failure by just about every study and standard, has always served as a political trap waiting for unwary politicians in this city of immigrants.</p> <p>So when as a mayoral candidate Michael R. Bloomberg declared himself an advocate of English-only education, parent groups and conservative educators held their breath.</p>

I WAS WORRIED about yesterday's Sunday News. It was St. Patrick's Day and there were quite a few references to Ireland. I was concerned that the paper might be stopped and seized at the border. That would be New Hampshire's border with the Socialist Republic of Vermont, where there still may be more cows than people, but the cows have apparently given up any hope of trying to run the place. Vermont's motor vehicle department, and at least one court, won't let a driver have the word "Irish" on her license plate. Interestingly, in Indiana, home of the Fighting...

Older men are better lovers and have fewer impotence problems than their younger counterparts, with the "male menopause" a myth pedaled by drug companies to sell their products, according to a British psychologist. Dr. Lorraine Boule, from Sheffield University in northern England, told the British Psychological Society conference that men became more skilled sexually as they get older, British newspapers reported on Saturday. "Older men sustain erections for longer, are longer coming to orgasm, and satisfy women better. Sexual activity does diminish with age, but the quality should get better," she was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. Boule's...