No, that's the headline from the Bizarro Universe. In reality, they're watching tv and studying nothing at all.

One recent day at the Brooklyn Free School, the "schedule'' included the following: filming horror movies, chess, debate and making caves for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Not that the students had to go to any of these sessions. At this school, students don't get grades, don't have homework, don't take tests, and don't even have to go to class -- unless they want to.

"You can do basically anything at any time, and it's just a lot more fun because sometimes when you need a break at regular schools you can't get it,'' said Sophia Bennett Holmes, 12, an aspiring singer-actress-fashion designer....

She was at the time being raped by her classmate, Jacob Louis Andelman, an aspiring cowboy-astronaut-firefighter-dinosaur.

"Free schools,'' which had their heyday decades ago, operate on the belief that children are naturally curious and learn best when they want to, not when forced to. Today, the approach is getting another look from some parents and students tired of standardized testing, excessive homework, and overly rigid curriculums.

"Every kid here is definitely motivated to learn something, there's no doubt in my mind,'' said Alan Berger, a former public school assistant principal who founded the Brooklyn school in 2004. "Our belief is that if we let them pursue their passions and desires, they'll be able to get into it deeper. They'll be able to learn more how to learn.''=

...

At the Brooklyn Free School, much of that decision-making occurs in a mandatory (yes, as in required) weekly gathering called the Democratic Meeting. Here, students air grievances, pose challenges, propose rules and set policy. Even the youngest kids have a vote equal to staffers. One agreed-upon rule? No sword-fighting allowed inside.

...

Students are required to show up for at least 51/2 hours a day, partly so that the school can meet legal definitions, but what they do with their time is up to them. The student population -- 42 students, ages 5 to 17 -- is diverse racially, economically and in terms of ability, and the students are not separated by age.

On any given day, a student might be playing chess, reading a book, practicing yoga or helping mummify a chicken.

In related news, Dutch potheads are to roll a one pound plus, one-meter long joint.

Thanks to Blacksheep for the tip.

Posted by: Ace at 04:06 PM | Comments (70)
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Really? She had no other news she could have read for two minutes? There was no back-up script at all?

This isn't side-splitting hilarious, nor is it the worst mistake ever made, but it is sort of amusing to see what happens to a media bubble-head when her Talking Words Box stops telling her what to say.

This would be a perfect place to link the classic "Wake Up and Smile" video from SNL. But it is not to be found on the tubes.

Posted by: Ace at 02:18 PM | Comments (71)
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The site Drudge links is a overwhelmed, but Dan Riehl has the story from a different link.

Posted by: Ace at 01:49 PM | Comments (25)
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Also a must-read at Hot Air is this: Ahmadinejad's mentor, considered an extremist even in Iran, may replace the "moderate" chief mullah of Iran.

n a move that would push Iran even further into the diplomatic wilderness, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, 71, who publicly backs the use of suicide bombers against Israel, is campaigning to succeed Grand Ayatollah Ali Khameini, 67, as the head of the Islamic state.

Considered an extremist even by fellow mullahs, he was a fringe figure in IranÂ’s theocracy until last yearÂ’s election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a fellow fundamentalist who views him as his ideological mentorÂ…

Appointing Mr Mesbah-Yazdi as supreme leader would be a massive blow to Western efforts to get Iran to cease its nuclear programme and backing of militants in Lebanon, Iraq and among the Palestinians. Although he has never spoken publicly on the issue, Mr Mesbah-Yazdi is thought to support the idea of an Iranian nuclear bomb.

This is extraodinarily important, because it has been claimed by some -- like Christopher Hitchens -- that Ahmadinejad wasn't the scary figure we imagined, because the mullahs had only allowed him to win his office to placate the young, thuggish male crazies of Iran, among whom he was popular. The claim goes that it's the clerical revolutionary council that holds the real power, and Ahmadinejad may bluster a lot, but the mullahs would restrain him.

Well -- if the top theofascist is now to be the guy who gives Ahmadinejad all his crazy ideas, that changes the equation, doesn't it?

Remember: Ahmadinejad belongs to a cult that even the Ayatollah Kholmeinhi considered extremist and insane.

And now his cult-leader may seize the top position in Iran.

Posted by: Ace at 01:47 PM | Comments (16)
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At HotAir, a UCLA student explains the policy.

Also, it seems, Iran is very interested in pursuing some kind of action in the case. (Apparently the whining bitch in question is of Iranian descent.)

Their likely response?

Building a nuclear bomb and destroying Tel Aviv.

But that's their response to everything, isn't it?

Posted by: Ace at 01:41 PM | Comments (17)
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Not really a shocker, but the race has pretty much begun.

Eager to position himself as the most conservative GOP presidential hopeful, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney accused Sen. John McCain Monday of being “disingenuous” on gay marriage.

In an interview with The Examiner, Romney described himself as more conservative than Republican rivals McCain, R-Ariz., and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on a variety of issues. “We’re in a different place on immigration; we’re in a different place on campaign reform; we’re in a different place on same–sex marriage; we’re in a different place on the president’s policy on interrogation of detainees,” Romney said.

“I’m a conservative Republican, there’s no question about that,” he said. “I’m at a different place than the other two.”

...

Romney [criticized] McCain, who on Sunday told ABC News: “I believe that the issue of gay marriage should be decided by the states.” McCain also said, “I believe that gay marriage should not be legal.”

Romney seized on the remarks.

“That’s his position, and in my opinion, it’s disingenuous,” he said. “Look, if somebody says they’re in favor of gay marriage, I respect that view. If someone says — like I do — that I oppose same–sex marriage, I respect that view. But those who try and pretend to have it both ways, I find it to be disingenuous.”

I still hold out hope for Rudy, but I think right here's your front-runner.

Unless there's some huge scandal in his past that hasn't been uncovered throughout his career, I don't see any reason why he wouldn't win the nomination, fairly easily.

It still really turns on how deftly and fully Rudy can reverse his well-known liberal stances on gun and social issues.

Posted by: Ace at 01:37 PM | Comments (47)
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I'm not sure if this is verified. The article cites a website naming him as the eighteenth amateur to achieve nuclear fusion -- but, you know, websites aren't really the Gold Standard of verification.

Still, that number -- "the eigtheenth amateur" -- maybe indicates that doing this on a small scale isn't as impossible as I imagined.

Anyway, he is, at the very least, a driven and precocious tinkerer:

On the surface, Thiago Olson is like any typical teenager.

He's on the cross country and track teams at Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills. He's a good-looking, clean-cut 17-year-old with a 3.75 grade point average, and he has his eyes fixed on the next big step: college.

But to his friends, Thiago is known as "the mad scientist."

In the basement of his parents' Oakland Township home, tucked away in an area most aren't privy to see, Thiago is exhausting his love of physics on a project that has taken him more than two years and 1,000 hours to research and build -- a large, intricate machine that , on a small scale, creates nuclear fusion.

Nuclear fusion -- when atoms are combined to create energy -- is "kind of like the holy grail of physics," he said.

In fact, on www.fusor.net, the Stoney Creek senior is ranked as the 18th amateur in the world to create nuclear fusion. So, how does he do it?

Pointing to the steel chamber where all the magic happens, Thiago said on Friday that this piece of the puzzle serves as a vacuum. The air is sucked out and into a filter.

Then, deuterium gas -- a form of hydrogen -- is injected into the vacuum. About 40,000 volts of electricity are charged into the chamber from a piece of equipment taken from an old mammogram machine. As the machine runs, the atoms in the chamber are attracted to the center and soon -- ta da -- nuclear fusion.

Thiago said when that happens, a small intense ball of energy forms.

He first achieved fusion in September and has been perfecting the machine he built in his parents' garage ever since.

Cute, but couldn't he be using his scientific know-how to do something important?

Like build a flyin' car?

Thanks to RobG.

Posted by: Ace at 01:31 PM | Comments (29)
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But the project is going forward. The studio balked at his plans to make the movie thirteen hours long, and to portray Bilbo Baggins as a seventy-foot tall rhinocerous.

In a letter posted on Theonering.com., Jackson and partner Fran Walsh said an executive from New Line Cinema had called to tell them the studio was moving ahead with "The Hobbit" without him.

"Last week, Mark Ordesky called Ken (Kamins, Jackson's manager) and told him that New Line would no longer be requiring our services on `The Hobbit' and the LOTR `prequel,'" the 45-year-old New Zealand director wrote.

"This was a courtesy call to let us know that the studio was now actively looking to hire another filmmaker for both projects," he said.

Christopher Nolan is rumored to be the studio's first-choice to direct The Hobbit film, tenatively named Baggins Begins.

Posted by: Ace at 12:13 PM | Comments (79)
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Kind of childishly provacative, but it's pretty funny:

Looking to draw attention to what they call the "worst form of bigotry confronting America today," Boston University's College Republicans are circulating an application for a "Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship" that requires applicants be at least 25 percent Caucasian.

"Did we do this to give a scholarship to white kids? Of course not," the scholarship reads. "Did we do it to trigger a discussion on what we believe to be the morally wrong practice of basing decisions in our schools and our jobs on racial preferences rather than merit? Absolutely."

The scholarship, which is privately funded by the BUCR without the support of the university, is meant to raise awareness, group members say. BUCR member argue that racial preferences are a form of "bigotry." The group has a similar view on affirmative action.

The application for the $250 scholarship, due Nov. 30, requires applicants be full-time BU undergraduate students and one-fourth Caucasian and maintain at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA. Applicants must submit two essays, one describing the applicant's ancestry and one describing "what it means to you to be a Caucasian-American today."

Posted by: Ace at 12:02 PM | Comments (45)
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Dan Riehl:

I've heard the [court filings] suggest a more humane alternative - that terrorists be incarcerated in old Texas farm houses until they can be surrounded by the FBI with the terrorists being burned alive on national television.

Damn, I think I can support the Reno Doctrine.

Related: State department lefty who called the US "arrogant" and "stupid" on Al Jazeera -- and claimed the US was trying to bring "hell" to the Muslim world -- finally has action taken against him.

That action?

An award for "integrity" signed by Condoleeza Rice and a check for $10,000.

Posted by: Ace at 11:51 AM | Comments (32)
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