Israeli lawmakers to investigate Australian spy mystery

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli lawmakers announced plans on Sunday to investigate the 2010 jailhouse death of a reported Australian immigrant recruit to the Mossad spy agency.

The statement by Parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee followed calls by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a cabinet meeting to dim a growing media spotlight on the affair he saw as at risk of jeopardizing national security.

The case kept under wraps for two years then publicized by Australian television last Tuesday involves a 34-year-old immigrant, Ben Zygier, said to be a Mossad operative held on suspicion of security offences, who died of what has been labeled an apparent suicide behind bars.

In a terse communique, the legislative panel's subcommittee on intelligence said it has "decided to conduct an intensive examination of all aspects of the incident involving the prisoner found dead in his (prison) cell in December 2010."

While unlikely to have any immediate political consequences the investigation may lead to a wider inquiry with potentially broader repercussions.

Netanyahu's government has restricted reporting in Israel on the case, now overshadowing his victory in a national election held last month, using court gag orders, military censorship and direct requests to news editors.

Such steps have done little to douse demands for the authorities to come clean about the circumstances of Zygier's imprisonment and how he was able to kill himself in a highly-supervised isolation cell.

Without citing the case specifically, Netanyahu said on Sunday he "absolutely trusts" Israel's security services and what he described as the independent legal monitoring system under which they operated.

"We are an exemplary democracy," Netanyahu said in remarks aired by Israeli broadcasters.

"But we are also more threatened, more challenged, and therefore we have to ensure the proper operation of our security branches," Netanyahu also said.

"Therefore I ask over everyone: Let the security services continue working quietly so that we can continue to live in safety and tranquility in the State of Israel."

The few Israeli officials who have spoken of Zygier's case have not denied that he was linked to Mossad, which in early 2010 was accused by Dubai of using Australian passport-holders to assassinate a Palestinian arms procurer in the Gulf emirate.

BETRAYED MOSSAD MISSIONS?

Media reports have speculated that Israel suspected the Melbourne-born Jew of betraying or threatening to divulge Mossad missions, perhaps to Australia's security services, as they probed passport fraud.

Civil liberties groups and some Israeli lawmakers have demanded to know whether Zygier's rights were violated by his months of incarceration under alias.

In an apparent reversal from previous statements, Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr said on Thursday his ministry had known about Zygier's jailing as early as February 2010. On Wednesday he said Australian diplomats in Israel only found out about the detention after his death in custody later that year.

Avigdor Feldman, an Israeli lawyer with whom Zygier consulted in Ayalon prison, said last week that that meeting was arranged by a "Mossad liaison" and that his client had denied "grave charges" for which he awaited trial.

Feldman also said that Zygier's family, which has declined all comment on the affair, knew about his detention. The incarceration was approved by several Israeli courts.

Two senior cabinet members, Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon, told Israeli media on Saturday the case was rare but lawful.

"There are extreme situations...to do with our security and even the need to preserve human life, when we need to take an extreme step such as this," Yaalon told Channel Two television.

Meridor said that publishing the prisoner's identity would have risked "serious harm to security." He did not elaborate.

Tzachi Hanegbi, a lawmaker from Netanyahu's conservative Likud party said he had never been informed of Zygier's arrest as chairman of the parliamentary defence panel at the time.

"This requires explanation," Hanegbi said. "Usually, every significant subject, whether it is impressive achievements or embarrassing failures, is laid out before the subcommittee."

Former Mossad director Danny Yatom told Reuters the agency was under no legal obligation to brief oversight lawmakers in such circumstances.

(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Dan Williams; Editing by Jason Webb)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/netanyahu-backs-israels-spies-australian-mystery-simmers-140612110.html

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Australia and Canada front up with information linking suspects to Hezbollah

South Korea News.Net Sunday 17th February, 2013

The attack killed a Bulgarian bus driver and five Israeli tourists. A large number of people were also injured in the attack which investigators said was carried out by a suicide bomber who was also killed in the attack.

European police however say the bombing was more likely triggered by remote-control.

Bulgarian government officials announced earlier this month that Hezbollah was believed to be behind the attack. Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, said at the time links with Lebanon had been uncovered.

Later however he said the two suspects under investigation were a Canadian and an Australia who had lived in Lebanon for a period prior to entering Bulgaria.

At the time of his announcement of Hezbollah's involvement, the Bulgarian interior minister said Bulgarian investigators had been assisted by Israeli and U.S. security services, and that crucial evidence had been provided by Israel. On Friday Tsvetanov issued a statement saying Canada and Australia also offered information indicating that Hezbollah funded the Burgas attack.

"What remains is to identify with Europol the transit of funds and bank transactions," he said.

Tsvetanov said the two accused have relatives in both Australia and Canada.

"They studied engineering in Lebanon and are 26 and 33 years old and have dual nationalities," he said.

While in Bulgaria the men were using the aliases of Ralph Rico and Brian Jensson.

News of Australia's involvement in the Burgas attack investigation coincides with news this week of another Australian, Ben Zygier, who allegedly hanged himself in a suicide-proof prison near Tel Aviv in 2010.

Like the suspected Australian in the Bulgarian attack, Zygier also operated with a number of aliases using false passports. He however is alleged to have been working for Israel's Mossad, not Hezbollah.

Source: http://www.southkoreanews.net/index.php/sid/212630757/scat/b8de8e630faf3631

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G20 defuses talk of "currency war", no accord on debt

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Group of 20 nations declared on Saturday there would be no 'currency war' and deferred plans to set new debt-cutting targets in an indication of concern about the fragile state of the world economy.

Japan's expansive policies, which have driven down the yen, escaped criticism in a statement agreed in Moscow by financial policymakers from the G20, which groups developed and emerging markets and accounts for 90 percent of the world economy.

After late-night talks, finance ministers and central bankers agreed on wording closer than expected to a joint statement issued last Tuesday by the Group of Seven rich nations backing market-determined exchange rates.

A draft communique seen by delegates on Friday had steered clear of the G7's call for fiscal and monetary policy not to be targeted at exchange rates but the final version included a G20 commitment to refrain from competitive devaluations and stated monetary policy would be directed at price stability and growth.

"The language has been strengthened since our discussions last night," Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters. "It's stronger than it was, but it was quite clear last night that everyone around the table wants to avoid any sort of currency disputes."

The communique, seen by Reuters ahead of publication, did not single out Japan for aggressive monetary and fiscal policies that have seen the yen drop 20 percent.

The statement reflected a substantial, but not complete, endorsement of Tuesday's statement by the G7 nations - the United States, Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy.

"We all agreed on the fact that we refuse to enter any currency war," French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici told reporters.

NO FISCAL TARGETS

The text also contained a commitment to credible medium-term fiscal strategy, but stopped short of setting specific goals.

A debt-cutting pact struck in Toronto in 2010 will expire this year if leaders fail to agree to extend it at a G20 summit of leaders in St Petersburg in September.

"Advanced economies will develop credible medium-term fiscal strategies ... by the St. Petersburg summit," the communique said.

The United States, which has resorted to massive monetary stimulus and higher government borrowing to drive growth and cut jobless queues, blocked a push from Europe to commit to reducing budget deficits.

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the G20 had failed to reach agreement on medium-term budget deficit levels.

"We expect by April countries will have made progress on reaching a balanced approach to establishing new budget indicators on both, deficit and the level of government debt," Siluanov said.

Russia, this year's chair of the G20, also expressed concern about ultra-loose policies that it and other big emerging economies say could store up trouble for later.

Siluanov said a rebalancing of global growth required more than an adjustment of exchange rates.

"Structural reforms in all countries, either with a positive or negative balance of payments, should play a bigger role," he said, adding that spillover effects of unconventional monetary policy, conducted by central banks in some countries, should be closely monitored.

The G20 put together a huge financial backstop to halt a market meltdown in 2009 but has failed to reach those heights since. At successive meetings, Germany has pressed the United States and others to do more to tackle their debts. Washington in turn has urged Berlin to do more to increase demand.

On currencies, the G20 text reiterated its commitment last November, to move towards "exchange rate flexibility to reflect underlying fundamentals and avoid persistent exchange rate misalignments".

"The G7 made a very clear statement this week. I think you'll see the G20 echo what was said, and say that currencies should not be used as a tool of competitive devaluation," Britain's finance minister, George Osborne, said in Moscow.

"Countries shouldn't make the mistake of the past of using currencies as a tool of economic warfare."

(Additional reporting by Randall Palmer, Lesley Wroughton, Tetsushi Kajimoto, Jan Strupczewski, Lidia Kelly and Jason Bush. Writing by Douglas Busvine. Editing by Timothy Heritage/Mike Peacock)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/g20-defuses-talk-currency-war-no-accord-debt-075651623--finance.html

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NBA Trade Rumors: Dwight Howard for Rajon Rondo? Celtics, Lakers Reportedly Discuss Trade as NBA All-Star Weekend Draws Closer

By Jean-Paul Salamanca | First Posted: Feb 16, 2013 07:42 AM EST

(Photo : Reuters) According to the latest reports, L.A. Lakers All-Star center Dwight Howard, far left, could be heading to Boston for point guard Rajon Rondo in a trade.

In the latest NBA trade rumors bombshell, two of the league's historic rivals, the Boston Celtics and the L.A. Lakers, are reportedly talking about a potential swap involving NBA All-Stars Dwight Howard and Rajon Rondo.

On the cusp of NBA All-Star Weekend, CBS reported Friday?that the Lakers have engaged in preliminary trade talks involving a possible deal that would send Howard out east to the Celtics in exchange for Rondo and possibly other players involved.

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Ironically enough, the news breaks on the same day as Howard informed the press that Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak told Howard that the Lakers would not be trading him?despite rumors running rampant to the contrary.

"[The Lakers] told me they weren't going to trade me," Howard said. "That's what [General Manager]Mitch [Kupchak] said."

Indeed, Kupchak has been public about his desire not to trade Howard. However, with the Lakers having struggled this season, and Howard and fellow West All-Star Kobe Bryant trading punches in the headlines as of late, the Lakers face the reality that they may not be able to resign Howard, whose contract expires at the end of this year.

However, if the rumors turn out to be accurate, the potential impact on both teams and in both conferences would be seismic.

The Lakers already have a point guard, future Hall of Famer Steve Nash, who they paid a handsome three-year, $27 million deal to acquire the services of over the summer. Rondo, who tore his ACL last month and just had surgery on it this week, would be of no use to the Lakers this season, but next season, when the 26-year-old four-time All-Star would expected heal, pairing him alongside Bryant would provide the Lakers with arguably the best backcourt in the NBA, as well as making them younger and giving the aging team a new star to rebuild around.

And Nash? Unless the 38-year-old all-time NBA assists leader would be open to a backup role--and that seems unlikely--he would make attractive trade bait for the Lakers to acquire new pieces, possibly younger ones.

Meanwhile, Howard's presence in Boston would give the Celtics a young, new star in his prime to rebuild their graying team around as they look to the post-Big Three era. Howard would provide, for this season, and possibly next, depending on whether Kevin Garnett?decides to stay another year or retire, a star-studded and impressive frontline in Howard, Garnett and Paul Pierce.

Garnett, who also plays center, has a no-trade clause in his contract and he has said this month that he wants to retire as a Celtic. That would leave Celtics coach Doc Rivers with a tough, yet wonderful problem of figuring out how to balance these stars in a frontcourt the level of which has not been seen wearing Celtic green since the days of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish and the championship Celtics teams of the 1980s. And it would certainly give Boston a huge lift in their push for the Atlantic Division crown and the NBA playoffs.

And, in case it gets that far, Dwight Howard has always been a problem that the Miami Heat have had trouble solving.

However, Howard has been remaining noncommittal about what the future holds for him, be it trade rumors or the offseason.

"I've got to do what makes me happy. That's it," Howard told the L.A. Times regarding his future plans. "Having fun on the court -- that makes me happy."

? 2012 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Source: http://www.latinospost.com/articles/12307/20130216/nba-trade-rumors-dwight-howard-rajon-rondo.htm

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Vatican's new bank chief has military ship links

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing after an audience with the Roman clergy in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Thursday Feb. 14, 2013. Benedict XVI is continuing his farewell tour with an off-the-cuff meeting with Roman priests, an annual encounter that has taken on poignant new meaning with his impending resignation.The Vatican has said Benedict would reflect Thursday on his personal experiences as a young theological expert attending the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meetings that brought the Catholic Church into the modern world. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing after an audience with the Roman clergy in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Thursday Feb. 14, 2013. Benedict XVI is continuing his farewell tour with an off-the-cuff meeting with Roman priests, an annual encounter that has taken on poignant new meaning with his impending resignation.The Vatican has said Benedict would reflect Thursday on his personal experiences as a young theological expert attending the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meetings that brought the Catholic Church into the modern world. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

This undated photo provided by DC Advisory on Friday, Feb 15, 2013 shows the company's former CEO, Ernst von Freyberg. Pope Benedict XVI signed off on one of the last major appointments of his papacy Friday, approving the German lawyer and financier to head the Vatican?s embattled bank. Von Freyberg has solid financial and Catholic credentials as a former investment banker and member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an ancient chivalrous order drawn from European nobility. (AP Photo/DC Advisory)

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi arrives to meet the media during a press conference, at the Vatican, Friday Feb. 15, 2013. Pope Benedict XVI has signed off on one of the last major appointments of his papacy, approving a German lawyer to head the Vatican's embattled bank. Ernst Von Freyberg has solid financial and Catholic credentials as a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an ancient chivalrous order drawn from European nobility. The Vatican said Von Freyberg had been appointed by the bank's commission of cardinals and that the pope had "expressed his full consent." (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi meets the media during a press conference, at the Vatican, Friday Feb. 15, 2013. Pope Benedict XVI has signed off on one of the last major appointments of his papacy, approving a German lawyer to head the Vatican's embattled bank. Ernst Von Freyberg has solid financial and Catholic credentials as a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an ancient chivalrous order drawn from European nobility. The Vatican said Von Freyberg had been appointed by the bank's commission of cardinals and that the pope had "expressed his full consent." (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Photo released by DC Advisory on Friday, Feb 15, 2013 shows the company's former CEO Ernst von Freyberg. Pope Benedict XVI signed off on one of the last major appointments of his papacy Friday, approving the German lawyer and financier to head the Vatican?s embattled bank. Von Freyberg has solid financial and Catholic credentials as a former investment banker and member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an ancient chivalrous order drawn from European nobility. (AP Photo/DC Advisory, HO)

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? The Vatican was drawn into a new controversy Friday after acknowledging that its bank's new president is also chairman of a shipbuilder making warships ? a significant conflict for an institution that has long shunned ties to military manufacturing.

The Vatican announced to great fanfare that Pope Benedict XVI had signed off on one of the last major appointments of his papacy, approving Ernst von Freyberg as president of the Vatican's bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works.

The Vatican spokesman was caught off-guard, though, when a journalist noted that the German shipbuilder von Freyberg chairs, Blohm + Voss, is known for its military ship construction.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi demurred and defended the selection. He later issued a statement saying von Freyberg chairs a civilian branch of Blohm + Voss, which repairs and transforms cruise ships and builds yachts ? but that the company is currently part of a consortium that is building four frigates for the German navy.

The Vatican and its bank have deep-rooted traditions of steering clear of investments in companies that manufacture weapons or contraceptives, in line with Catholic Church teaching.

Michael Brasse, spokesman for Blohm + Voss in Hamburg, said that von Freyberg is chairman of the executive board of Blohm + Voss Shipyards, a unit that concentrates on building civilian ships.

But before Blohm + Voss Shipyards and other non-military units of Blohm + Voss were sold in 2011 to Star Capital Partners, its military shipbuilding unit, Blohm + Voss Naval, had contracted with the German Defense Ministry for four new frigates. Blohm + Voss Naval subcontracted the actual construction of those vessels to Blohm + Voss Shipyards.

Though Blohm + Voss Naval is now known as ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems GmbH, and is entirely separate from the other Blohm + Voss units, the Shipyards unit is still constructing the frigates under the legacy contract.

After they are built, however, the company plans to concentrate entirely on non-military ships. Von Freyberg will remain its chairman while working for the Vatican.

"The focus of the business is for yachts, and on the repair side for cruise ships or the offshore oil and gas industry," Brasse said.

Lombardi pointed out that Blohm + Voss is not engineering or designing military equipment, just involved in steel welding and docking. Germany's navy has contributed frigates and other ships to the EU's anti-piracy patrols off the Horn of Africa.

The revelation dominated what was supposed to have been the Vatican's triumphant appointment of a new president for the bank after its last president, Italian banker Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was fired nine months ago for incompetence.

Gotti Tedeschi's stunning ouster came just as the Vatican was submitting its finances to a review by the Council of Europe's Moneyval committee in a bid to join the list of financially transparent countries.

The Vatican last summer passed the test of the Moneyval committee, which seeks to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. But the IOR and the Vatican's financial watchdog agency received failing grades.

The new president will be tasked with bringing the IOR into compliance by Moneyval's next review.

The Vatican stressed von Freyberg's Catholic credentials, noting that he was a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an ancient chivalrous military order drawn from European nobility. He himself is a member of one of Germany's aristocratic families.

The Vatican said he had been appointed by the bank's commission of cardinals and that the pope had "expressed his full consent."

The appointment may well be one of the last major decisions of Benedict's papacy given his planned retirement Feb. 28. On Friday, he held one of his last audiences, meeting with Romania's president.

While the appointment was seemingly curiously timed, Lombardi went to great lengths to stress that the selection process took its own path and was to some degree irrelevant to the change in governance of the church.

Lombardi said von Freyberg was selected after a "meticulous and articulate" seven-month search process from an initial list of about 40 candidates put forward by an international executive head-hunting firm. He had the full support of the bank's lay board, the five members of its cardinal's commission, and finally the pope, Lombardi said.

But he was completely thrown by the suggestion that the bank's new president may have links to Germany's military.

"I would say that if he is a competent person who works in the field of ship-building, this is not a reason not to take him," Lombardi said. "As we know, he also organizes pilgrimages to Lourdes, he is a member of the Order of Malta, he takes care of the sick, so certainly he is a person with a notable human and Christian sensibility."

It appeared that the IOR's board simply didn't know about the old frigate contract and that von Fryberg didn't think to mention it, given that the company's primary work is in civilian shipbuilding.

The Vatican bank's finances have long been shrouded in secrecy and scandal. Most famously, the bank was implicated in a scandal over the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano in the 1980s in one of Italy's largest fraud cases. Roberto Calvi, the head of Banco Ambrosiano, was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982 in circumstances that remain mysterious.

Banco Ambrosiano collapsed following the disappearance of $1.3 billion in loans the bank had made to several dummy companies in Latin America. The Vatican had provided letters of credit for the loans.

While denying any wrongdoing, the Vatican bank agreed to pay $250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors.

___

David Rising and Juergen Baetz contributed from Berlin.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-15-Vatican-Pope/id-93997aad10144134b2640534caed69a4

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IIPA Wants Canada And Spain On The 'Naughty' Special 301 List Even Though They Brought In Tough New Copyright Laws

from the base-ingratitude dept

Here on Techdirt, one of the things we look forward to each year is the comedy production known as the 301 Report, where the US makes the world line up in a row, and then names and shames all the naughty countries whose intellectual monopoly laws aren't outrageous enough. In advance of the official naughty list, there are helpful suggestions from the fans of monopoly maximalism, including the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), which has just released its 2013 demands. Mostly it's the usual suspects -- China, India, Russia etc. But there's an interesting change from the previous year's list: Canada has moved from the really naughty "Priority Watch List" to the only slightly naughty "Watch List".

As Michael Geist points out, far from being good news, that's outrageous:

Those that thought passing Bill C-11 -- the Canadian copyright reform bill that contained some of the most restrictive digital lock rules in the world -- would satisfy U.S. groups will be disappointed. The IIPA wants Canada back on the piracy watch list, one notch below the Special Watch List (where the US placed Canada last year).

Despite the praise for Bill C-11 last year, the groups are right back in criticism mode and demanding reforms. The IIPA is now unsure if the enabler provision will help stop sites that facilitate infringement (despite the fact that its members have yet to use the provision) and concerned with the prospect of new exceptions to the digital lock rules. In fact, its criticisms of the rules for Internet providers (it wants a notice-and-takedown system, tougher rules on search engines that link to infringing content, and new rules to target repeat infringers) are so strong that the organization implausibly claims possible non-compliance with the WIPO Internet treaties. Nor is Canada the only country that might be surprised to find itself on the naughty step again. As Mike explained last year, Spain was removed from the official Special 301 list for being an obedient little vassal state and bringing in the punitive Ley Sinde, as instructed, despite huge public and business opposition. And now, guess what? The IIPA already wants Spain back on the list for not doing enough in this area (pdf):

Contrary to the expectations surrounding the implementation of ley Sinde that led to Spain's removal from the Special 301 Watch List last year, Spain saw no positive developments in 2012.

Let's hope Canada and Spain -- and everyone else -- draw the obvious conclusion from the IIPA's latest calls: that no matter what countries do, no matter what legislation they bring in, and no matter what disproportionately harsh punishments they inflict on their own people, it will never, ever be enough, and there will always be further demands, and further threats to put them back on the naughty lists. The only solution is to stand up to this blackmail once and for all, and to treat the Special 301 list with the contempt it deserves.

Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and on Google+

Source: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130215/03560721994/iipa-wants-canada-spain-naughty-special-301-list-even-though-they-brought-tough-new-copyright-laws.shtml

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Fox News: Obama Proposed 'Free' Preschool To Toddlers So They ...

Quote:

Wait, I made a mistake, I got preschool confused with kindergarten, so yeah not sure about whether it's free around here or not. However mandatory, no I disagree and actually I did not go to kindergarten because I didn't have to but the reason was more where I lived at the time. The primary school was really, really bad, the area itself was and still appears to be so sometimes there are reasons to want to avoid having your child being left with other kids at say 4 if those kids might be likely to already be kinda screwed up, I mean a certain amount. However preschool is different, I agree but it's still what I feel is a personal choice and I really disagree not going will stunt the emotional development of a child.

Oh, no, my son's emotional development was fine. It was his skills which were behind the kids who HAD gone to preschool. Here in the States, Kindergarten (which is around 6 years old...or, in PA, they have to be 5 before September 1 of the school year to attend), is much more academic than when I went to Kindergarten back in...many years ago, we'll say. I actually started Kindergarten when I was 4, but had to be tested and at a certain level to do that. Back then it was ABC's, playtime, quiet-time and snack. Pretty much, that was it. Now, they are learning to read in Kindergarten, so the fact that my son could say his ABC's, but not necessarily write his name legibly or identify most letters by sight had him alreay behind the kids who had attended preschool. It's not that I didn't try and work with him on those things, but working fulltime, etc, there wasn't a lot of time to sit down with him and practice his letters, especially as he had no patience with doing that with me.

My mom was more of a "fun" babysitter than a "teaching" one. My daughter, on the other hand, having attended preschool could already identify letters, numbers, etc before starting Kindergarten. Plus, she was used to class "structure" and "etiquette" from her preschool experience. My son wasn't...so that was an adjustment for him, too. He caught up quickly, because his Kindergarten teacher was great. He didn't even realize he was being taught in the approach that they used, but like I said, he was at the point in January where they wanted him to be by the following June. Actually, the majority of the extended-day Kindergarten class was, also. Unfortunately, the school district here has done away with the extended-day program based on budget constraints and because, according to the school board, almost half of those families moved out of the area before 3rd grade. Not sure why that matters...maybe for school tax purposes. I feel that was a huge mistake on their part, and wrote a letter to that effect, but it's still gone.

So, maybe it shouldn't be mandatory, and that's not being proposed. But the way it stands right now, preschool is an expense, since they are privately run for the most part, which low-income families can't afford. If there is no such thing in all schools as a longer day of Kindergarten to get those kids caught up (and there's not, currently), it's a burden to the teacher and can even hold back other students, as the teacher has to concentrate his/her time getting those kids up to speed, rather than being able to teach the curriculum which the state requires. The kids who already have certain skills are also being re-taught rather than learning anything new. Making preschool free and available to any family who wants to utilize it would benefit ALL students and the teachers, in general.

ETA: Pre-school here would apply to approximately ages 3-4, I believe.

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Last edited by Shiloh Lyric; Today at 01:54 AM. Reason: TYPOS!! GRRRRRR

Source: http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/politics-religion-society/80955-fox-news-obama-proposed-free.html

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