Word: grades
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...same time, they were generally celebrated for their legal acuity at least as much as the nominations of any recent President. But during the President's second term, the American Bar Association has given eleven of his 28 appeals-court nominees a barely ''qualified'' rating, the lowest passing grade. ''That's like getting a D,'' says Nancy Broff, a lawyer with the liberal Alliance for / Justice. Only three of Jimmy Carter's 56 appeals-court nominees were rated that low. After watching glumly as the number of Reagan appointees climbed to a third of the 761 federal judgeships, opponents...
...citizen, the daydreams seem especially strong in Alaska. This is, after all, his own nation, yet it is stranger than Zanzibar. The pale north light itself is delusive, lingering in the weeks before and after the solstice till midnight and more. The tourist's mind accepts this fifth-grade geography stunner, but his blood and bone do not. They are roiled by restless energy, and they want to order another drink, carry it outside and watch the sun not set. (Whap! Smack! Fierce four-engine mosquitoes alter this plan instantly.) Roadlessness accounts for some of the newcomer's sense...
...Seventeen of the original 35 jihadis decided to stay. Hamdan was one of them. With only a fourth-grade education, Hamdan made himself useful as a mechanic and driver. He ultimately ended up serving bin Laden himself as a chauffeur and bodyguard, following the sheik when he relocated for security reasons to Tarnak Farms, a walled al-Qaeda compound 30 minutes outside Kandahar. According to both al-Bahri and FBI interrogator Ali Soufan, Hamdan had bin Laden's trust but was not a member of his inner circle. Both men describe Hamdan as deferential, eager to please. Their accounts differ...
...Four and a half years later, Hamdan is still on Guantánamo, but Swift's prediction has proved correct. Hamdan is certainly famous. Not only was this Yemeni man, a former driver for Osama bin Laden with a fourth-grade education, at the center of what is perhaps the Supreme Court's most important decision on presidential power ever, he is now the first defendant in America's first war-crimes trials since World War II. Hamdan, in his late 30s, stands accused of providing material support for terrorism and conspiracy. If convicted, he could face life in prison...
...Gone Wrong For all those improvements, however, it's clear why my friend Nabi is so pessimistic. The government has not established its authority or credibility. Civil servants lack the most basic education and skills. Perhaps a quarter of teachers are illiterate, and the majority are educated only one grade level above their students (if they are teaching second grade, they have a third-grade education). Many civil servants are corrupt. The police are notoriously predatory and violent. In much of the center and the north of the country, communities have benefited from small amounts of investment in development, health...