CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Minority Students Left Behind

The New Haven Register reports that Connecticut is among 10 states with the worst racial disparities in high school graduation rates.

A new study found that nationally only about 68% of students entering the 9th grade graduated with a regular diploma in 12th grade. That's bad enough, but the numbers for minority students are much worse:

Data reported in 2001 showed that only 50 percent of black students; 51 percent of American Indian students; and 53 percent of Hispanic students graduated from high school across the country, while 75 percent of whites graduated.

The numbers are even worse for male minority students: 43% for black males, 47% for Native American males and 48% for Hispanic males.

In Connecticut, 82% of white students graduated from high school in 2001, compared to 61% of blacks; 50% of Hispanics, and 43% of American Indians.

The Connecticut State Department of Education doesn't seem too worried about this:

State Department of Education spokesman Tom Murphy noted that the study judged states based on the difference between minority and white graduation rates, not whether Connecticut’s minority students are dropping out more than those in other states.

"The gap is something we’ve been concerned about, but at the same time we have to also note that Connecticut’s students overall have a high graduation rate compared with the nation," he said.

The percentage of students dropping out of high school in Connecticut fell from 17.4 percent in 1995 to 10.8 percent in 2003, he said.

The Education Department should be more concerned about the students being left behind. Based upon U.S. census data from 1999, a high school drop out earns an average of $14,349 annually while a high school graduate earns $23,233. More importantly most businesses require worker with skills that require at least a high school diploma.

One of the report's findings is that segregation fuels the low graduation rate problem:

Low graduation rates show a strong relationship with indicators of school segregation and this relationship is independent of poverty. Moreover, in every state, districts with high minority concentrations had lower graduation rates than districts where whites were the majority. In Ohio, for example, the minority composition difference is pronounced even among the state’s largest districts, with a graduation rate gap of over 50 points between the majority white district of Westerville (81) and the majority minority district of Cleveland (30). This suggests that the growing segregation in public schools will likely contribute further to even lower minority graduation rates.

The report is a joint project between The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, The Urban Institute, Advocates for Children of New York and The Civil Society Institute. The report is available here in pdf format.

66% Good, 34% Evil

Is your blog good or evil?

The Gematriculator Certified California Yankee is mostly good.

So which banner should California Yankee display?

or

Thanks to NewsTrolls.com for the tip.

Kerry Wins All Three Forgotten Tuesday Contests

With 100% reporting CNN reoprts:

Utah
Kerry 55%
Edwards 30%
Kucinich 7%
Dean 4%
Uncommitted 1%

Idaho
Kerry 54%
Edwards 22%
Dean 11%
Kucinich 6%

Hawaii (99% reporting)
Kerry 46%
Kucinich 30%
Edwards 13%
Dean 9%

Kuncinich beat Edwards by 17%. A little bit of campaigning goes a long way.

Kerry Projected Winner In Idaho

With 51% of precincts reporting, CNN projects Kerry wins in Idaho:

Kerry 68%
Edwards 21%

Kerry Projected Winner In Utah

With 75% of precincts reporting, CNN projects Kerry wins in Utah:

Kerry 54%
Edwards 30%

Two Guantanamo Detainees Charged With War Crimes

Bloomberg reports that two Guantanamo detainees, suspected associates of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, have been charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes:

Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul, a Yemeni, and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, of Sudan, were charged with conspiring with bin Laden to murder, destroy property and commit terrorism, according to a statement posted today on the Defense Department's Web site.

"Al Bahlul and al Qosi are presumed innocent of any criminal charges unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt at a military commission," the Pentagon statement said.

Al Bahlul allegedly made videotapes glorifying the murder of Americans to help recruit and motivate terrorists, and also served as a bodyguard to bin Laden. Al Qosi is also alleged to be a bodyguard for bin Laden and is accused of being a "key" al- Qaeda accountant and weapons smuggler. He is alleged to be a longtime friend of bin Laden, the statement said.

The Government has declared that, because they did not comply with the rules of war as contained in the Geneva Conventions, the Guantanamo detainees are not entitled to be treated as prisoners of war. The U.S. has been criticized for holding the detainees without bringing charges.

According to the New York Times, White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, said that critics of the detentions at Guantanamo were ill-informed:

Mr. Gonzales, in a speech to a meeting of the American Bar Association, said that the critics failed to understand that the detentions should not be viewed as a civilian law-enforcement situation in which people are entitled to be charged and tried or released. Under the laws of war, he said, they can be detained "and they need not be guilty of anything."

Now that two alleged evil doers have been charged the U.S. will suffer additional criticism for continuing to detain the other 600 without charges. It's time for those critics to admit we are at war.

Venomous Kate is surprised that the death penalty will not be sought for these alleged evil doers. On NPR's All Things Considered it was reported that the death penalty is not being sought against these two detainee because: "The first few defendants would not be considered major players in part because the government wants to see how the tribunals go."

Forgotten Tuesday Preview

Tomorrow three more states, Hawaii, Idaho and Utah, will cast votes in the race for the Democratic nomination. These states seem to have been forgotten by everyone except Kucinich.

Hawaii
According to CNN, 20 delegates are up for grabs in Hawaii's Democratic caucuses.

Hawaii's Democratic caucuses are open to all registered voters who are willing to declare themselves Democrats.

Idaho
According to CNN, 18 delegates are up for grabs in Idaho's Democratic caucuses.

Utah
According to CNN, 23 delegates are up for grabs in Utah's Democratic primary.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the Utah State Democratic Party is funding the primary, which is open to all Utah residents who are U.S. citizens and who will be 18 years old by the 2004 general election. Voters must publicly declare themselves to be participating as Democrats and that they will not participate in the presidential nominating process of any other party.

The New York Times reports that Kerry is expected to win all three of these contests. The Times article tries to explain the lack of interest in Tuesday's contests:

The neglect is due in part to the number of delegates at stake: only 61 (23 in Utah, 20 in Hawaii and 18 in Idaho), which look like a speed bump on the road to Pikes Peak compared with the 1,151 at stake on Super Tuesday, one week later.

It is also due in part to the fact that none of these three is a so-called swing state, likely to become a general-election battleground. Utah and Idaho have not voted Democratic in a presidential election since Lyndon B. Johnson's victory in 1964, and Utah gave George W. Bush his largest majority in 2000. Hawaii has been just as reliably Democratic over the last three decades, with the exception of Ronald Reagan's re-election in 1984.

In addition, party leaders believe that Feb. 24 all but vanished from the campaign calendar because of a recent perception that Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts had the nomination nearly sewn up.

UN Concludes 8 Months Needed For Iraq Elections

The Voice of America reports that the United Nations concludes that it will take at least eight months, and probably longer, to organize elections in Iraq:

The report to the Security Council from Secretary General Kofi Annan suggests next December or January may be the earliest date a vote can be scheduled.

[. . .]

The report's chief author, Carina Perelli of the U.N. Electoral Assistance Division, says it will take about eight months to set up an election. But the eight-month countdown can begin only after a series of conditions have been met.

In addition to the obvious security considerations, Ms. Perelli said Iraq's political players must agree on a set of rules that will make the outcome credible.

[. . .]

Ms. Perelli said whatever mechanism is established for holding elections, it must demonstrate a complete break with Iraq's past. Otherwise, she said it would have no credibility with ordinary Iraqis.

The U.N report is available here.

Supreme Court Refuses "Secret Case"

In an astounding decision the U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to hear the "secret case."

The Supreme Court's decision means it is okay for a federal appellate court's published calendar to be obliterated to omit the names of litigants; a federal appellate court's computer records to be altered to remove from public view any information about the case; a federal appellate court to close its courtroom to the public and the press to hear arguments in a case; and for litigants to be prohibited from talking about it.

I didn't think this could happen in America.

The Associated Press via the Washington Post reports that the Supreme Court has decided not to hear the "secret case."

In the "secret case," M.K.B. v. Warden, 03-6747, the Supreme Court was asked to consider whether two federal courts acted improperly in keeping a case so secret that its mere existence was revealed only by accident.

The "secret case" concerned an Algerian who worked as a waiter in South Florida and came under FBI scrutiny because September 11 hijackers Mohamed Atta and Marwan al Shehhi dined where he worked in the weeks before the attacks.

In this unprecedented case, two federal courts sealed an entire proceeding and appeal, including every court filing and ruling, with no public order giving any reason for the secrecy and without making any distinction between information that should be public and that which might justifiably be secret.

You can read what is known about the secret case here.

The Supreme Court made no comment in deciding not to hear the "secret case." The Court's decision is available here, at page 23.

UPDATE: Thanks to Stephen Green at Vodka Pundit, Betsy Newmark at Betsy's Page, Professor Michael Froomkin at Discourse.net, Michael Van Winkle at The Chicago Report, Myria at It Can't Rain All The Time, Robert Prather at Insults Unpunished, Ed Thibodeau at Nonplussed, Darren Kaplan and Professor Tung Yin at The Yin Blog for linking to this post.

UPDATE II: I wish to humbly apologize to Professor Michael Froomkin for having misspelled his name in the previous update to this post. The misspelling has been corrected and I beg forgiveness.

Bush Campaign Asks Kerry To Elevate The Negative Tone Of His Campaign

The Associated Press reports that Marc Racicot, Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign chairman, asked Kerry "to elevate the remarkably negative tone" of his campaign and the Democratic party over the past year.

President Bush's presidential campaign also told Kerry that the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign "does not condone" any effort to impugn Kerry's patriotism but that senator's voting record on national security and defense issues is a valid target of political scrutiny:

In his reply letter Sunday, Racicot said, "Our campaign does not condone any effort to impugn your patriotism. Your letter claims that supporters of our campaign questioned your service and patriotism. In fact, that simply wasn't the case."

"Our campaign is not questioning your patriotism or military service, but your votes and statements on issues now facing our country," said Racicot, former governor of Montana. "Senator Chambliss addressed your Senate record of voting against the weapons systems that are winning the war on terror."

Kerry was upset by Senator Saxby Chambliss predicting trouble for Kerry in Georgia's primary because of a "32-year history of voting to cut defense programs and cut defense systems:"

"Saxby Chambliss, on the part of the president and his henchmen, decided today to question my commitment to the defense of our nation," Kerry said while campaigning in Georgia, one of 10 states choosing electoral delegates on March 2.

In another article, the Associated Press reports that in a letter to Bush on Saturday, Kerry wrote:

"As you well know, Vietnam was a very difficult and painful period in our nation's history, and the struggle for our veterans continues. So, it has been hard to believe that you would choose to reopen these wounds for your personal political gain."

Kerry's letter is available here.

Kerry's strange letter reveals that kerry can't take fair criticism of his senatorial record. Kerry can't take the heat even though the Democrats have mounted a slanderous and extremely negative campaign against Presiden Bush.

Three weeks ago Matthew Stinson predicted that any criticism of any Democrat for any issue related to national defense, intelligence, or homeland security will be met with the charge that Republicans are “questioning the patriotism” of said Democrat. Stinson's prediction was inferred from comments Terry McAuliffe made on This Week "asserting that criticizing John Kerry’s votes on national security is questioning his patriotism."

Kerry's letter is additional evidence that the Democrats are attempting to stiffle any meaningful debate about national security. These attempts to prevent attacks on Kerry's national security voting record brings to mind Samuel Johnson's statement:

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.