Undernews: October 2, 2012

Report: Michelle Rhee a complete flop in DC
Diane Ravitch - This is a stunning article about the teacher evaluation system that Michelle Rhee put in place in the District of Columbia. The article was written by Ben Nuckols of the Associated Press. He is not usually an education writer, but he dug deeper than many education writers. Rhee fire…

Obama pressures Europeans not to help Palestinians
Guardian, UK - The United States has warned European governments against supporting a Palestinian bid for enhanced status at the United Nations , saying such a move "would be extremely counterproductive" and threatening "significant negative consequences" for the Palestinian Authority…

Pennsylvania judge partly relents on photo ID ruling
NY Times - A Pennsylvania judge on Tuesday delayed full implementation of a highly contested state law requiring strict photographic identification to vote in next month’s election, saying that the authorities had not done enough to ensure that potential voters had access to the new documents.

Obama's data drones
Mother Jones - During the 736 days beginning May 9, 2010 , Harper Reed walked an average of 8,513 steps, reaching a high mark of 26,141 on September 13, 2010, and a low of 110 on April 21 of this year. (His excuse: broken pedometer.) On that day, Reed, age 34.33 as of this writing, sent one tweet,…

Great Barrier Reef has lost over half its coral since 1985
Independent, UK - Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half its coral cover since 1985, according to a new study. The loss has been spurred by a combination of factors including hurricanes, coral-eating starfish and coral bleaching. The sobering findings highlighted how even the world’s…

Federal judge rules 2004 GOP convention arrests illegal
NY Times - A federal judge has ruled that the New York Police Department illegally arrested large numbers of demonstrators at a protest in Lower Manhattan during the 2004 Republican National Convention. But the judge upheld aspects of how the city had handled the protesters’ arrests.

Record Arctic water warmth in Norway
Environmental News Network - Summer temperatures on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the High Arctic are now higher than during any time over the last 1,800 years, including a period of higher temperatures in the northern hemisphere known as the Medieval Warm Period, according to a new study...

A Democratic candidate who still acts like one is winning
Politico - The formula was supposed to be something like this for swing-state Democratic senators: Ditch Obama, tack to the center, fight for your political life in 2012. But Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown has tossed the conventional rulebook in the trash. He’s running as a consistent, unapologetic liberal...

Some questions to Diane Ravitch
From American Prospect: Do you think there is a crisis in American education? No. I think the crisis in American education is that there is a concerted effort to destroy it. That is a crisis--that’s a genuine crisis. Is there a crisis of academic achievement? No. First of all, the test scores are the..

Tuesday morning line

As cost of insurance rises, fewer visits to the doctor
USA Today - People made fewer visits to the doctor over the past 10 years -- a time when the cost of health insurance, deductibles and co-pays soared, according to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau . Among people between the ages of 18 to 64, the average number of visits to medical service…

Passings: Barry Commoner
Common Dreams - Barry Commoner, a pioneering environmental scientist and activist, died Sunday at age 95. Barry Commoner, a founder of modern ecology and one of its most provocative thinkers and mobilizers, died Sunday, September 30, 2012 in Manhattan. He was 95 and lived in Brooklyn Heights.

Penguins disappearing
Environmental News Network - Penguin populations are facing historic declines even as their popularity in human society rises. Overfishing is decimating some of their prey species, climate change is shifting their resources and imperiling their habitat, meanwhile pollution, such as oil spills, are...

Homeland boss afraid to use e-mail
Gizmodo - If you're super concerned about cybersecurity and keeping your information and personal rendezvous private, there are plenty of measures you can take. If you're super hardcore, you can do the same thing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano does: just don't use email...

Dust bowl keeps expanding
Think Progress - The latest weekly Drought Monitor update set another grim record. The brutal U.S. drought expanded to 65.45% of the contiguous U.S. the highest ever in the Monitor’s 12-year history. The previous record was 64.8% - set just last week...

What real protection of voting rights would look like
Bruce Dixon, Black Agenda Report - Instead of leaving it to the officials of two thousand independent counties and cities, a constitutional right to vote amendment would require the same federal standards applied across the country for how voting machines are tested, purchased and operated, and a uniform standard for how votes cast are counted.

California voters strongly support labelling GMO food
Truthout - Californians support a ballot initiative to label groceries containing genetically engineered ingredients by more than a 2-to-1 margin, according to a Los Angeles Times poll . The ballot initiative, known as Proposition 37, is supported by 61 percent of registered voters and opposed by 25 percent of voters. An additional 14 percent were undecided or refused to answer.

Alternative news update
5 Biggest Lies About America's Public Schools -- Debunked Lakeside Diner 50 People and Their 50 Ideas to Save the World in 50 Months 11 Debate Questions for Romney on Taxes MAP: Which States Hunt Wolves? Photos: Highlights From Nashville's Americana Music Fest Why This Man Won't Be the Next Nader...

How many would die in attack on Iran?
Time - While Iranians are increasingly fretful of an imminent attack, they remain broadly unaware of just how devastating the human impact could be. Even a conservative strike on a handful of Iran’s nuclear facilities, a recent report predicts, could kill or injure 5,000 to 80,000 people.... One ke..

U.S. used truth serum on Gitmo prisoners
Sidney Morning Herald, Australia - New evidence has emerged that all Guantanamo Bay detainees...were drugged involuntarily with a substance that has a long history as a truth serum. Recently declassified US documents revealing medical procedures have shown that scopolamine was administered to all…

Romney would bring waterboarding back
Common Dreams - Mitt Romney said he plans to "use enhanced interrogation techniques which go beyond those that are in the military handbook right now,” at a news conference in Charleston, S.C., in December. An article buried on the bottom of page 13 of The New York Times on Friday revealed that Romney…

Are germs good for your kids?
Wed MD - A mounting body of research suggests that exposing infants to germs may offer them greater protection from illnesses such as allergies and asthma later on in life. This line of thinking, called the "hygiene hypothesis," holds that when exposure to parasites, bacteria, and viruses is limited…

How partisan is your beer?
The National Journal analyzed Scarborough Research data, which includes 200,000 interviews with American adults, to determine the politics of beer drinkers. It has a chart to show you where your choice stands but here are some of the most partisan and least partisan beers: The most Democratic beers…

Great thoughts of Todd Akin
From Talking Points Memo AUDIENCE MEMBER: You voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Why do you think it is okay for a woman to be paid less for doing the same work as a man? TODD AKIN: Well, first of all, the premise of your question is that I'm making that particular distinction. I believe in free enterprise. I don't think the government should be telling people what you pay and what you don't pay.

How to hack a Diebold voting machine
Salon - T he Argonne team’s attack required no modification, reprogramming, or even knowledge, of the voting machine’s proprietary source code. It was carried out by inserting a piece of inexpensive “alien electronics” into the machine.

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