Month: September 2013

Expand UHS admissions criteria and add a new campus

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by David Safier

Sarah Garrecht Gassen got it right in her Sunday column saying TUSD should expand the criteria for admitting students to University High. The deseg plan mandates that UHS have an ethnic makeup closer to the district's, and that's only going to happen if the criteria for admission are expanded beyond a student's GPA and entrance exam score. After all, colleges look at essays and recommendations along with GPA and SAT scores. Why not UHS? When you broaden the enrollment base of a school, you enrich the campus by giving all the students a broader social experience, and you enrich the community by increasing the diversity of its best educated students.

The district should also look seriously at creating a second UHS campus. Its current campus, which it shares with Rincon High, is bursting at the seams. Along with TUSD students, the school attracts students from neighboring districts. This year's freshman class has about 175 out-of-district students, including some from top academic districts like Vail and Foothills. That's very healthy for TUSD, but district students have to come first, especially those who need to be included because of the deseg ruling.

Instead of seeing potential overcrowding as a problem, TUSD should consider this a golden opportunity to expand the UHS franchise. The district has lots of empty school buildings, and I've been told some high schools have enough space to create another UHS/Rincon-like situation. Either way, the space for a new campus already exists, so the cost of creating a new campus would be reasonable. And if creating a new campus means attracting more out-of-district students along with keeping in-district students who would otherwise flee to charters or neighboring districts, the construction and remodeling costs would pay for themselves.

Note to the right-wing propaganda noise machine: Putin is not that into you

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Steve Benen today adds his take to the points I made in posts over the weekend about unfolding events in Syria, and the massive messaging problem the right-wing propaganda noise machine of the conservative media entertainment complex is having. The right struggles to hide its disappointment with diplomatic progress:

WinningA couple of years ago, after the United States and its allies used
military force to help remove the Gadhafi's government from Libya, Sens.
John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) issued one of my
favorite Republican press releases ever. The two senators, who had
eagerly spent months touting U.S. military action in Libya, issued a joint statement commending the "British, French, and other allies, as well as our Arab partners, especially Qatar and the UAE."

McCain
and Graham eventually said Americans can be "proud of the role our
country" played, but they nevertheless condemned the Obama
administration's "failure" to act in Libya the way the GOP senators
preferred.

It was striking at the time for its bitterness — the
United States had achieved its strategic goals, but instead of
celebrating or applauding Obama's success, Republicans pouted and
whined.

It's funny how history sometimes repeats itself. Over the
course of six days, the Obama administration pushed Syria into the
chemical weapons convention, helped create a diplomatic framework that
will hopefully rid Syria of its stockpiles, successfully pushed Russia
into a commitment to help disarm its own ally, quickly won support from
the United Nations and our allies, and did all of this without firing a
shot.

Will U.S-Russia bilateral cooperation lead to talks with Iran?

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A couple of under-the-radar reports that will get more media attention in the coming days. Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, has been signaling his openness to direct talks with the U.S. since his election. US, EU See New Hope for Iran Nuclear Talks – ABC News. Bloomberg reports, Rouhani Says Iran Plans to Restart Nuclear Talks in NY:

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani said his government plans to restart nuclear talks with world powers in New York, where he will attend the United Nations General Assembly this month.

The “serious talks” should help lead to a “win-win” final outcome in the dispute over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program, Rouhani said in an interview on Iranian state-run television [last week]. The negotiations will involve the International Atomic Energy Agency and the so-called P5+1 group, made up of the five permanent UN Security Council members in addition to Germany, he said.

“The nuclear issue will be resolved soon if the other side
is serious,” he said. “The final result should be a win-win.
We are ready for it.”

National Voter Registration Day – September 24

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Will the GOP try to suppress this too? National Voter Registration Day 2013:

LogoIn 2008, 6 million Americans didn't vote because they missed a
registration deadline or didn't know how to register. In 2013, we want
to make sure no one is left out.

On September 24, 2013, volunteers, celebrities, and organizations
from all over the country will "hit the streets" for National Voter
Registration Day. This single day of coordinated field, technology and
media efforts will create pervasive awareness of voter registration
opportunities–allowing us to reach tens of thousands of voters or more
who we could not reach otherwise.

What It Means

• Volunteers at transportation hubs, retail stores, sporting, and concerts.

• Technology to help eligible voters find registration drives nearby.

• A network of grassroots, local organizations engaged in their own communities.

• Tens of thousands of voters registering to vote online and offline in a single day.

A couple of “What is the Star thinking?” notes

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by David Safier

A little venting about a few items in the Sunday Star, in print and online.

First, the big news of the day is that the U.S. and Russia have reached a deal to rid Syria of its chemical weapons. It's still a work in progress and no one knows how all this will work out, but it's big news, no? So the Star decides to put a decent, factual story about the deal from the Washington Post on page 5: "Deal reached to seize Syria's chemical arms." What the Star put on the front page is an AP analysis which readers see before they come to the story: "Chemical-arms deal puts Russia back at Mideast table." Before readers know the details in the page 5 story, they learn on the front page that Obama has given away the political farm to Putin. The deal, according to the analysis, means Obama gets some cover for the "White House waffling" on the airstrikes while it "restore[s] Moscow to its place as a pivotal Mideast player."

Man, the U.S. lost big on this by deciding not to bomb Syria — a move that wouldn't get rid of Syria's chemical weapons — and working together with Russia to try and destroy Syria's chemical arsenal. At least that's the AP take on the story — a take the Star thinks is more important than the facts of the story itself.

About that AP analysis: Like lots of what comes out of the AP, it has a strong anti-Obama slant. It backs up its assertions by quoting two experts. One is Jonathan Adelman, professor at the University of Denver Korbel School of International Studies. You can also find him listed as part of the speakers bureau for the Jewish National Fund. Nothing wrong with that, of course, except that it means Adelman views the Mideast through the lens of what's best for Israel, not through a more objective, global perspective. The other expert is R. Nicholas Burns, professor of international relations at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Not mentioned is that Burns was appointed by George W. Bush to serve as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs under Condoleezza Rice. So we have an ardent supporter of Israel and someone from the previous Republican administration to serve as the only experts in the article on the Mideast and the U.S./Russia balance of power. Not exactly a balance of "expert opinions."

Second is the Star's choices on coverage of Obamacare.