Complete Access to edweek.org

Dear Educator:

Our doors are wide open – come on in for FREE!

Until April 15, you can access all that edweek.org has to offer – all FREE!  Your access is totally UNLIMITED, so you can enjoy everything that premium subscribers see every day.

While you’re visiting edweek.org, you shouldn’t miss:

• The transcript of last week’s very popular chat on reaching gifted children with guests Karen Isaacson and Tamara Fisher, the co-authors of Intelligent Life in the Classroom—Smart Kids & Their Teachers.
• Is the No Child Left Behind Act working?
• Was it free speech or was it promoting illegal drug use? Supreme Court Weighs ‘Bong Hits’ Speech Case.
• Last year’s Technology Counts is still online, as are many other useful archives.  Read about how states and districts are beginning to build digital data systems that can drive decisions in the classroom and the boardroom.

If you like what you see on edweek.org, get even more out of this open house by adding a 4-week subscription to Education Week in print.  This trial offer of 4 weeks of online and print access is only available for a limited time at http://www.edweek.org/go/4weektrial.

Remember, our 10^th edition of Technology Counts is almost here! Be sure to check back this Thursday, March 29, to see how far educational technology has come in the past decade and explore where experts see it going in the future.  In the meantime, check out some of our past reports and our most recent edition of Quality Counts.

Join us at our open house today, www.edweek.org, and be sure to pass along this open house invitation to a colleague.

Best regards,

Virginia B. Edwards
Editor and Publisher

How the press keeps missing the facts about working mothers

COMMENTARY | March 19, 2007

E.J. Graff of Brandeis University's Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism says recurring media reports citing a trend among educated women to drop their careers rather than try to get to the top are inaccurate and the result of lazy reporting... more

How a superpower can end up losing to the little guys

COMMENTARY | March 23, 2007

A Harvard scholar explores the implications of his recent research on asymmetric conflicts, which shows that strong actors are losing to the weak more and more often over time, and gleans some important lessons about the United States and Iraq. (First of two parts.)... more

Contractors rarely face disciplinary action in Iraq

ASK THIS | March 15, 2007

Legal roadblocks and red tape have protected civilian contractors in abuse cases, even in Abu Ghraib. Administration critics say the contractors are sometimes encouraged by the military or the CIA to use harsh interrogation techniques, knowing they won’t be prosecuted... more

Not much regard for Bush in his Latin America tour

COMMENTARY | March 19, 2007

The overseas press: Latin American editorial writers didn’t much care for Bush on his tour there, and there often wasn't any love lost for Chavez, either... more

11 ways to report on Gitmo without upsetting the Pentagon

COMMENTARY | March 13, 2007

Torture expert Karen Greenberg describes how the standard media tour of Guantanamo is designed to deny the realities that are hidden just out of sight.... more

Victory Is Not an Option - washingtonpost.com

The Mission Can't Be Accomplished -- It's Time for a New Strategy

By William E. Odom
Sunday, February 11, 2007; B01

The new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq starkly delineates the gulf that separates President Bush's illusions from the realities of the war. Victory, as the president sees it, requires a stable liberal democracy in Iraq that is pro-American. The NIE describes a war that has no chance of producing that result. In this critical respect, the NIE, the consensus judgment of all the U.S. intelligence agencies, is a declaration of defeat... more

Retired General William Odom argues for immediate withdrawal

The Hugh Hewitt Show

2-15-07 at 8:16 PM

HH: Welcoming now to the Hugh Hewitt Show General William Odom. General, a real pleasure to make your acquaintance. Thanks for being on the program, thanks for your service.

WO: Thank you for the opportunity to be on your program.

HH: Now I read with great interest your piece in Sunday’s Washington Post on February 11^th, Victory Is Not An Option, and a piece very similar to it from 2005, General, and I’d like you to explain to the audience who haven’t had a chance to read it what you think America should do in Iraq right now.

WO: Well, we can’t do much of anything that’s useful for ourselves until we begin to withdraw. We are diplomatically and strategically paralyzed in Iraq. As we begin to move out, countries who are not very cooperative with us, or wish us evil, are going to be worried about the aftermath. We cannot stabilize the whole region by ourselves. We’re going to need really important allies, not just our allies that we’ve bought to come in there with us for the invasion. And we’re going to need them both on the borders of Iraq, and we’re going to need Europeans, Indians, Chinese, Japanese and others to help us. ...more

The Jerusalem Post - Report: 775,000 children live in poverty

The Statistics Are In And They Are Alarming..... more

Winged Migration

Can someone please send a copy of this to the Cheney family

Tuesday, March 20 at 8pm

Winged Migration

Jacques Perrin's Oscar-nominated documentary captures the beauty and wonder of bird migration around the world, literally offering a bird's-eye view of flight patterns through 40 countries and the seven continents.

This should be repeated on Ch 21!

Sent in by OMcIntyre

NY EVENT: "Office Tigers" outsourcing documentary

From: Thom Powers
India-based documentary comes to Stranger Than Fiction

@ IFC Center TUES, MAR 27 - 7:30 pm: OFFICE TIGERS Q&A with director Liz Mermin Order tickets The director of Beauty Academy of Kabul examines another comic situation of east meets west, this time at the high-end outsourcing firm in India. The company Office Tiger was profiled in a memorable New Yorker article and later gave Mermin full access.  Rarely do we get such a candid look inside a coporation. The American bosses bring a Dale Carnegie style management approach that plays out like a non-fiction version of "The Office." The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Mermin is currently shooting a new documentary in Bombay, going behind the scenes of a Bollywood film. She's taking a break from her schedule to make this New York appearance. WHERE: IFC CENTER 323 Sixth Ave @ 3rd St Subways: Take A, B, C, D, E, F or V to W. 4th St./Washington Square or the 1 to Christopher St./Sheridan Square. WHAT IS STRANGER THAN FICTION?: Thom Powers hosts this series of exclusive screenings for documentary film lovers. Each week, he presents a sneak preview, lost gem or special event, including discussions with filmmakers and special guests. Afterwards,the conversation continues in the IFC bar.

SAJA-NY: author William Dalrymple at Asia Society - Monday, March 26th

Terrific event, folks. When Dalrymple spoke on his last book tour, many of you attended his wonderful NYC talk at the Metropolitan Museum of Art... You will learn a lot from him (bio below) From: Aseem Chhabra Asia Society, South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) New York Chapter and the Indo American Arts Council (IAAC) present Meet the Author - William Dalrymple "The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty Delhi, 1857" Monday, March 26 at 6:30 pm Reception and Book signing follows. Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue at 70th St New York City $7 Student w/ID, Seniors; $10 Members (including SAJA members); $15 Nonmembers To register ONLINE CLICK HERE To register by PHONE call (M-F 10am to 5pm): 212-517-ASIA To register by FAX (credit card orders only please): 212-517-8315 About the book: From the author of The City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi and The White Mughals comes the compelling story, drawn from a treasure trove of Indian historical documents, of Bahadur Shah II the last Mughal emperor and the final days of his capital Delhi before its ignominious destruction by the British in 1857. Dalrymple will be interviewed by historian and author Maya Jasanoff (Edge of Empire: Lives, Culture, and Conquest in the East, 1750-1850). About the author William Dalrymple was born in Scotland and brought up on the shores of the Firth of Forth. He wrote the highly acclaimed bestseller In Xanadu when he was twenty-two. The book won the 1990 Yorkshire Post Best First Work Award and a Scottish Arts Council Spring Book Award; it was also shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize. In 1989 Dalrymple moved to Delhi where he lived for six years researching his second book, City of Djinns, which won the 1994 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award and the Sunday Times Young British Writer of the Year Award. From the Holy Mountain, his acclaimed study of the demise of Christianity in its Middle Eastern homeland, was awarded the Scottish Arts Council Autumn Book Award for 1997; it was also shortlisted for the 1998 Thomas Cook Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize. A collection of his writings about India, The Age of Kali, won the French Prix D'Astrolabe in 2005. White Mughals was published in 2003, the book won the Wolfson Prize for History 2003, the Scottish Book of the Year Prize, and was shortlisted for the PEN History Award, the Kiryama Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. William Dalrymple is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Royal Asiatic Society. In 2002 he was awarded the Mungo Park Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for his ‘outstanding contribution to travel literature’. He wrote and presented the television series Stones of the Raj and Indian Journeys, which won the Grierson Award for Best Documentary Series at BAFTA in 2002. His Radio 4 series on the history of British spirituality and mysticism, The Long Search, won the 2002 Sandford St Martin Prize for Religious Broadcasting and was described by the judges as 'thrilling in its brilliance... near perfect radio. In December 2005 his article on the madrasas of Pakistan was awarded the prize for Best Print Article of the Year at the 2005 FPA Media Awards. June 2006 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters honoris causa from the University of St Andrews “for his services to literature and international relations, to broadcasting and understanding”. In 2007, The Last Moghal won the prestigous Duff Cooper Prize for History and Biography. William is married to the artist Olivia Fraser, and they have three children. They now divide their time between London and Delhi.
Reviews from abroad:
[Dalrymple] builds an urban narrative [of Delhi] as evocative as Richard Cobb's depiction of Revolutionary Paris . . .
There is so much to admire in this book - the depth of historical research, the finely evocative writing, the extraordinary rapport with the cultural world of late Mughal India. It is also in many ways a remarkably humane and egalitarian history. . .
This is a splendid work of empathetic scholarship. As the 150th anniversary of the uprising dawns there will be many attempts to revisit these bloody, chaotic, cataclysmic events; but few reinterpretations of 1857 will be as bold, as insightful, or as challenging as this.- David Arnold, Times Literary Supplement
Brilliantly nuanced . . . Dalrymple has here written an account of the Indian mutiny such as we have never had before, of the events leading up to it and of its aftermath, seen through the prism of the last emperor's life. He has vividly described the street life of the Mughal capital in the days before the catastrophe happened, he has put his finger deftly on every crucial point in the story, which earlier historians have sometimes missed, and he has supplied some of the most informative footnotes I have ever read. On top of that, he has splendidly conveyed the sheer joy of researching a piece of history, something every true historian knows . . . I had thought that Dalrymple would never surpass his performance in writing From the Holy Mountain, but The Last Mughal has caused me to think again. - Geoffrey Moorhouse, The Guardian.
A riveting account . . . It is neither wholly a biography of Zafar, nor solely the story of the siege and capture of Delhi. Instead Mr. Dalrymple charts the course of the uprising and the siege, weaving into his story the unfolding tragedy of Zafar's last months. The animating spirit of the book is Delhi itself . . .
It is here that the originality of [Dalrymple's] new book lies. - The Economist

[The Last Mughal] shows the way history should be written: not as a catalogue of dry-as-dust kings, battles and treaties but to bring the past to the present, put life back in characters long dead and gone and make the reader feel he is living among them, sharing their joys, sorrows and apprehensions . . .
Dalrymple's book rouses deep emotions. It will bring tears to the eyes of every Dilliwala, among whom I count myself. - Khushwant Singh, Outlook India

You Can Stop "Normal" Aging | PARADE Magazine

New research reveals surprising facts about our changing bodies.

You Can Stop ‘‘Normal’’ Aging
By Dr. Henry S. Lodge

Published: March 18, 2007

From your body’s point of view, “normal” aging isn’t normal at all. It’s a choice you make by the way you live your life. The other choice is to tell your cells to grow—to build a strong, vibrant body and mind.... more

CRICKET: Police say Pak coach was murdered

From SAJA E-mail Lists Amazing story: Jamaican police now say Bob Woolmer, the Pakistani coach, was murdered by strangulation. Keep track of the story here The World Cup will continue, depsite the death of Woolmer, who is a British citizen (and was born in India). Here is his official site, with tributes and more

For the Christian Right, Gay-Hating Is Just the Start

G and I listened and talked with Chris Hedges, the award winning journalist and religious/political  comentator as he talked about the rising danger of the Religious Right to our country...as presented in his new book, American Fascists, The Christian Right and the War on America.The following article deals with issues which he discussed..with great passion

He focused on the Rights efforts to dehumanize groups as evil deviants who could be used as scapegoats. The first have been gays, lesbians, Muslims and Secular Humanists...the same kind of beginning as in previous Fascist countries...These are serious threats....

For the Christian Right, Gay-Hating Is Just the Start

By Chris Hedges, Truthdig
Posted on March 19, 2007, Printed on March 22, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/49160/

On the morning of March 8 in Sioux Center, Iowa, a bus parked outside a hotel was found covered with anti-gay slurs, along with a hate-filled message on a piece of cardboard reading: "God does not love feary fags."

The bus was one of two that were transporting some 50 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, along with supporters, on the start of a two-month trip to 32 Christian colleges with policies that discriminate against those who are not heterosexuals. The Equality Ride, as it is known, organized by Soulforce, had first traveled to Sioux Center to visit Dordt College, a school that counts "sexual activity with someone of the same gender" as possible grounds for "an employee's discharge or a student's dismissal." .... more

Chris Hedges is the former Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times and the author of "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America" and "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning."

© 2007 Independent

Higher-Ed Superpower

By David Ignatius
Friday, March 9, 2007; A21

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- When people think about American power in the world, they usually list the country's forbidding arsenal of bombers, aircraft carriers and troops. Yet America's greatest strategic asset these days might not be its guns but its universities.

Higher education is arguably the last area in which the United States dominates the world. We're discovering the limits of military power in Iraq, the pressures of economic competition from China and India, the vulnerability of our financial markets to sudden changes abroad. But in this globalized world, American universities remain the gold standard. And thanks to aggressive university presidents, they are widening their lead................ more

ReligionLink - Islam: a guide to U.S. experts and organizations

AUG. 7, 2006

ISLAM
Islam: a guide to U.S. experts and organizations

Islam was put under a microscope by the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Before that, although there were more than 1,200 mosques and more than 1 million Muslims regularly worshipping in the United States, Islam seemed a distant, foreign faith to many Americans.

Since then, the demand for accurate, nuanced and balanced information about Islam and Muslim people has grown, as has the number of scholars in the field. There is no official count, but scholars say demand and opportunity for academics who study Islam has risen significantly since 2001. Some say that jobs now outnumber qualified applicants, but note that a whole new generation of scholars is in graduate school. Job postings for scholars of Islam in American colleges and universities numbered 50 in 2002, 50 in 2003, 71 in 2004 and 67 in 2005, according to the American Academy of Religion, which runs an online employment service.

Classes – particularly those on politics, gender and contemporary Islam – are full, giving more students at more universities background in Islam. Knowledge matters, whether these students move on to careers in business, medicine, education or other fields. According to a 2005 Pew Research Survey, people who are most knowledgeable about Islam express more favorable opinions of Muslim-Americans and Islam than people who are less familiar with it........ More

# Indian online community: Sulekha.com

Welcome to Sulekha.com, the biggest and most popular member-generated community and social/professional networking hub integrating social media and local commerce services. Millions of Indians express, interact and transact through Sulekha’s portfolio of highly popular, complementary services in 25 cities in India and worldwide...... ...... ....More

Feeling tired? 6 tips for more energy

By Joy Bauer

TODAY nutritionist

Updated: 10:35 a.m. CT March 14, 2007

If you can’t get out of bed in the am, fall asleep at your desk in the afternoon, have trouble keeping up with your kids or find yourself dragging through the day, the following SIX strategies can help increase your energy level! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17598214/

SAJA/AAJA NEWSMAKER EVENT + MOVIE SCREENING

Journalists interested in Taiwan and/or international affairs are invited to a special reception hosted by Ambassador Andrew Hsia, Director-General of The  Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in New York (bio below)

Tuesday, March 20, 2007
6:30-8:30 pm; followed by a movie screening of "Splendid Float" (2004 Golden Horse Award winner for the Best Taiwanese Film and opening film at 2005 Asian American Film Festival (details below).

Location: Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, 1 East 42nd St., between Fifth and Madison Aves.

This is a unique opportunity to meet a leading international diplomat and ask questions about recent developments in Taiwan and the region. Drinks and Chinese food will be served. In addition, there will be an optional screening of the award-winning Taiwanese movie, "Splendid Float" (details below). When you RSVP, please indicate whether you will be staying for the movie, too.

RSVP REQUIRED: Please fill in the one-minute form

Journalists and journalism students are welcome to bring one guest each.

Last year, SAJA & AAJA hosted a similar event with the Sri Lankan ambassador
and plan to work on other countries as well. Suggestions and contacts for
others welcome - please write to saja@columbia.edu

ABOUT AMBASSADOR HSIA
Ambassador Andrew Li-Yan Hsia
Director-General
Taipei Economic And Cultural Office in New York

Place of Birth: Taipei, Taiwan
Family: Married to Lisa Cheng with two children

Education:
1985-1988 Research Studies, Queen Mary College, London England
1981 LL.M., University College, London, England
1980 M. Litt., International Law, New College, Oxford, England
1976 MA, Graduate School of Diplomacy, National Cheng Chi
University, Taipei
1972 LL.B., Fu-Jen Catholic University, Taipei

Career:
2001- Director General, Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in New York

1998-2001 Director-General; Department of International Organizations, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs
APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Senior Official

1996-1998 Deputy Representative, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office,
Canada (Ottawa)

1994-1996 Director of Secretariat, Taipei Economic and Cultural
Representative Office, U.S.A.(Washington, D. C.)

1989-1994 English Interpreter to the Prime Ministers, Taipei, Taiwan

1992-1994 Deputy Director, Dept. of Information and Cultural Affairs, Ministry
of foreign Affairs (MOFA), Taipei, Taiwan

1990-1992 Special Assistant to the Political Vice Minister, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MOFA), Taipei, Taiwan

1989-1990 Chief, Administrative Section, Coordination Council for North
American Affairs, MOFA, Taipei, Taiwan

1982-1985 Specialist, Dept. of North American Affairs, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MOFA), Taipei, Taiwan

Honors:
1976 Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Scholarship
1985 Recipient of the Social Science Scholarship
1999 Recipient of Sun Yun-Suan Fellowship

o o o o o o

ABOUT THE MOVIE:
Splendid Float 2004 Fiction color 74min
Roy (James Chen) leads a double life. By day, he's a
Taoist priest in Taipei, mostly busy performing
funerary rites. By night he's Rose, one of four drag
queens who tour the towns and villages of northern
Taiwan, putting on lip-synch shows on the back of
their gaudily lit truck. After a show in Keelung, Rose
meets the macho young fisherman Sunny; they make love
and start thinking about finding a way to live
together. But then Roy is called to summon Sunny's
soul home from the sea; his lover has drowned in an
accident ... It's both sad and funny, weighty and
frivolous, absurd and romantic.

About the Director
Zero CHOU, born in Keelung, Taiwan in 1969. Creatively
and productively as she is, her works are both poetic
and philosophically provocative that .amazingly make
the content and the form an excellent combination..
She has been valued .the most talented documentary
director in the recent years of Taiwan., who has
often won the prizes in various film festivals.