Today is Presidents Day, so it's an appropriate time to see who has a good handle on national history or government. If you think, however, the nation's college students have the most knowledge on the subjects, think again.

College freshmen earned an average grade of F, or just 53.7 percent, when asked a series of questions about U.S. presidents and key historical events from their times in office. After four years of college, their knowledge didn't improve much.

"In this election, we are focusing on the youth vote, and it's great that more kids are coming out to vote. But we worry that it's become a kind of cult of personality," says Richard Brake, director of the Lehrman American Studies Center at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Wilmington, Del., which commissioned the civic learning study, conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy.

"If these kids don't know what has happened in the past, our history, then we fear they are going to be fodder for sweeping rhetoric," said Mr. Brake, a former professor who taught American history and government for seven years.

It found that Harvard University seniors did best, with a grade of just 69.6 percent — a D-plus.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080218/NATION/812094881/-1/RSS_NATION_PO
LITICS

The French, Italians, Spanish and Germans would “vote” for Barack Obama in the US presidential elections – although the British would prefer Hillary Clinton.

An FT/Harris poll of more than 5,000 Europeans found that the two Democratic candidates were by far the most popular, with Mr Obama winning between 35 per cent of the “vote” in Spain and 45 per cent in Italy.

But in the UK Mrs Clinton edged out Mr Obama by a margin of 28 per cent to 23 per cent.

On the Republican side, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani were the two most popular candidates (Mr Giuliani, who was particularly strong in Italy, has ­subsequently pulled out of the race).

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3eeaaa8-dd86-11dc-ad7e-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

A woman who worked for the United Nations died Sunday after falling from the 19th floor of the U.N.'s Secretariat Building, authorities said.

Police and U.N. security officers at the scene, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said the woman in her 40s had jumped from a window after showing up to work early in the morning.

"A U.N. agency staff member died after falling from the 19th floor of the U.N. Secretariat Building," U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. "At this time there is no suspicion of foul play."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080217/D8USAVPO0.html

Attacks by insurgents and rival sectarian militias have fallen up to 80 percent in Baghdad and concrete blast walls that divide the capital could soon be removed, a senior Iraqi military official said on Saturday.

Lieutenant-General Abboud Qanbar said the success of a year-long clampdown named "Operation Imposing Law" had reined in the savage violence between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs dominant under Saddam Hussein.

In the six weeks to the end of 2006, an average of 43 bodies were found dumped in the city each day as fierce sectarian fighting threatened to turn into full-scale civil war.

That figure fell to four a day in 2008, in the period up to February 12, said Qanbar, who heads the Baghdad security operation.

"Various enemy activities" had fallen by between 75 and 80 percent since the security plan was implemented, he said.

To demonstrate how life had improved, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki toured parts of the city on Saturday, visiting Iraqi forces and checkpoints.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL1880448320080216?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Exxon decides to blow up refinery in Texas to jack that shit up.

Russia denounced Kosovo's independence declaration Sunday, warning that the move threatened to ignite a new conflict in the Balkans and calling on NATO and U.N. officials in the territory to nix the decision.

Russia's Foreign Ministry, lashing out within minutes of the declaration, said Russia supports Serbia's "just demands to restore the country's territorial integrity." It said nations backing Kosovo's claim were supporting separatism and would shake "the foundations of a world order that has developed over decades."

Russia claimed the declaration violates the U.N. Charter ensuring the territorial integrity of member nations and threatens "the escalation of tension and ethnic violence in the region, a new conflict in the Balkans."

Putin has built his popularity on restoring Russia's pride after a period of post-Soviet humiliation, and Moscow's firm stance on Kosovo comes amid growing Kremlin assertiveness toward the West.

Putin has held out backing for Kosovo as a glaring example of double standards and dangerous disregard for international law.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080217/ap_on_re_eu/russia_kosovo

U.S. formally recognizes nation; Britain, France, Germany say they will too

PRISTINA, Kosovo - The United States formally recognized Kosovo's independence Monday, and Europe's major powers said they would do the same, setting up a confrontation with Serbia and its key ally, Russia.

Kosovo's leaders had sent letters to 192 countries Monday seeking formal recognition of independence, and suspense gripped the capital as its citizens awaited backing from the key powers.

But the United States formally recognized Kosovo's independence in a statement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and President Bush said, “The Kosovars are now independent.”

Serbia responded by recalling its ambassador to Washington.

The foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy said those nations also would recognize Kosovo.

"A majority of (European Union) member states will recognise a democratic, multi-ethnic Kosovo founded on the rule of law," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after talks among EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23219277/

nigga stole my speech

....and the other fucktards are not amused.....

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/national/article.aspx?storyid=74251

Undignified Deaths:(3) In Ogden, Utah, in December, a 73-year-old woman was accidentally fatally run over by a motor home. It was unclear whether the first pass over her was fatal, but the driver behaved as others have: After feeling a thumping sound, he said, he stopped and backed up to see what he had hit, thus driving over the body a second time.
http://www.metropulse.com/articles/2008/18_07/weird.html
pic unrelated