No Child Left Behind and the Transformation of Federal Education Policy 1965 2005 or The Al Qaeda Connection

No Child Left Behind and the Transformation of Federal Education Policy, 1965-2005

Author: Patrick J McGuinn

Education is intimately connected to many of the most important and contentious questions confronting American society, from race to jobs to taxes, and the competitive pressures of the global economy have only enhanced its significance. Elementary and secondary schooling has long been the province of state and local governments; but when George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, it signaled an unprecedented expansion of the federal role in public education.

This book provides the first balanced, in-depth analysis of how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) became law. Patrick McGuinn, a political scientist with hands-on experience in secondary education, explains how this happened despite the country's long history of decentralized school governance and the longstanding opposition of both liberals and conservatives to an active, reform-oriented federal role in schools. His book provides the essential political context for understanding NCLB, the controversies surrounding its implementation, and forthcoming debates over its reauthorization.

Using education as a case study of national policymaking, McGuinn also shows how the struggle to define the federal role in school reform took center stage in debates over the appropriate role of the government in promoting opportunity and social welfare. He places the evolution of the federal role in schools within the context of broader institutional, ideological, and political changes that have swept the nation since the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, chronicles the concerns raised by the 1983 report A Nation at Risk, and shows how education became a major campaign issue for both parties in the 1990s. McGuinn argues that the emergence of swing issues such as education can facilitate major policy change even as they influence the direction of wider political debates and partisan conflict.

McGuinn traces the Republican shift from seeking to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education to embracing federal leadership in school reform, then details the negotiations over NCLB, the forces that shaped its final provisions, and the ways in which the law constitutes a new federal education policy regime-against which states have now begun to rebel. He argues that the expanded federal role in schools is probably here to stay and that only by understanding the unique dynamics of national education politics will reformers be able to craft a more effective national role in school reform.

This book is part of the Studies in Government and Public Policy series.

Book review: Breads or Joanne Weirs More Cooking in the Wine Country

The Al Qaeda Connection: International Terrorism, Organized Crime, and the Coming Apocalpse

Author: Paul L Williams

In his acclaimed exposé, Osama's Revenge: The Next 9/11, terrorism expert Paul L. Williams revealed the likelihood of nuclear terrorism on American soil. Now in this chilling sequel Williams further explores the shocking dimensions of the international terrorist threat to Americans.

Williams reveals persuasive evidence that al Qaeda has now established connections with the Sicilian Mafia, which is helping to finance terrorism through the sale of Number Four heroin, the present drug of choice in Europe and the United States. In addition, through its ties to the Chechen Mafia, the group responsible for the heinous attack on a Russian school, al Qaeda has managed to obtain nuclear weapons from poorly secured and carelessly guarded storehouses in Russia.

Perhaps the most disturbing evidence uncovered by Williams is the relation of al Qaeda to an obscure Salvadoran street gang, which calls itself Mara Salvatrucha and has expanded exponentially. In exchange for big money, this violent group of anarchic thugs has smuggled weapons of mass destruction and sleeper agents across the Mexican border onto American soil, or what they refer to as the land of the "Great Satan."

No other book deals with the connection between international, extremist Islamic terrorism and organized crime-a connection that has made possible the establishment of a well-financed branch of al Qaeda in Latin America and the creation of terrorist cells in major metropolitan areas throughout the United States. Williams convincingly demonstrates that by means of this network Bin Laden is now in a position to execute his dream of an American Hiroshima, an apocalyptic act of mass murder within the borders of the United States. Though vigorously working to prevent such an attack, many military experts and security officials concede the probability of nuclear terrorism in America, perhaps in the immediate future.

What People Are Saying

Michael Levine
"While congress sticks its collective heads in holes and mainstream media does its usual penguin walk, the mushroom clouds of nuclear terror grow more defined on our horizon. Dr. Paul L. Williams is one of a precious few investigative journalists with the real facts and the courage to sound the alarm. . . before it is too late. This is a MUST read for every American."
—retired DEA agent, author of NY Times bestseller Deep Cover, and the host of New York City's, The Expert Witness Radio Show

Neil J. Kressel
"Nothing is more dangerous for America -- or the world -- than the alliance between international terrorism and organized crime. By calling attention to this linkage, Paul L. Williams has, once again, shown himself to be a national resource in the battle against Osama and his henchmen."
—Ph.D., author of Mass Hate: The Global Rise of Genocide and Terror

Paul R. Schiffer
"I have interviewed dozens of Defense and Terror experts on my radio broadcasts over the years. None of them comes close to the depth, insight, and frightening details of Mr. Williams in exposing the tentacles of terror gripping our planet."
—Radio talk show host, "The Schiffer Report" on Righttalk.com

James E. Beasley Jr.
"Dr. Williams' most recent work thoroughly and thoughtfully expounds on his prior work and places in context how the end of the Cold War, Wahabism, and the decision making based on political considerations rather than true needs have placed the West in a precarious position; this book, as troubling as its contents may be, is an important read which not only the public, but more importantly, our politicians should read and understand so they may act accordingly."
—M.D., Esq. whose practice involves international terrorism litigation on behalf of 9/11 victims.

Table of Contents:

	Preface : an interview with Osama bin Laden	9
	Introduction : why we fight America	15
Pt. 1	The Islamic mafia
Ch. 1	The young lion and the dream of the American Hiroshima	25
Ch. 2	The good life among the Taliban	45
Ch. 3	From Albania to the atom bomb	57
Ch. 4	The three wars	67
Pt. 2	The crown jewels
Ch. 5	The loose nukes	81
Ch. 6	The five-year intermission	97
Ch. 7	Enter Dr. Evil	105
Pt. 3	From hell to South America
Ch. 8	Welcome, Osama, to South America	119
Ch. 9	Too little, too late	139
Ch. 10	The terrorists and the gangbangers	153
Ch. 11	The sleeper cells	171
Ch. 12	Amen, America	191
	Epilogue : the doomsday clock	201
App	Al Qaeda's search for weapons of mass destruction	207