As part of a “class assignment” of course:

The New York City Department of Education, red-faced over Brooklyn sixth-graders who slammed a GI with demoralizing anti-Iraq-war letters as part of a school assignment, will send the 20-year-old private a letter of apology Tuesday.

Deputy Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina, who has a nephew serving in Iraq, plans to personally contact Pfc. Rob Jacobs and his family, said department spokeswoman Michele McManus Higgins.

“She knows how difficult it is to have a loved one in a war zone,” Higgins said.

Jacobs is stationed 10 miles from the North Korean border and who has been told he may be headed to Iraq in the near future.

The GI got the ranting missives last month from pint-sized pen pals at JHS 51 in Park Slope.

Filled with political diatribes, the letters predict GIs will die by the tens of thousands, accuse soldiers of killing Iraqi civilians and bash President Bush.

Teacher Alex Kunhardt had his students write Jacobs as part of a social-studies assignment.

He declined to comment Monday on whether he read the rants before passing them along, but said he planned to contact Jacobs soon to explain the situation.

“Declined to comment”? Well, there’s your answer, folks. Shame on you, Mr. Kunhardt.

This is disgraceful. Military families, please be aware, alert, and suspicious of any email you receive that asks for any money as it relates to Iraq:

Homeland security officials are outraged over a recent e-mail scheme targeting families of slain U.S. soldiers who were serving in Iraq, saying it’s one of the most “despicable” scams they’ve ever seen.

The scam first caught the attention of agents with the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigrations and Customs Enforcement about three weeks ago, when a handful of families told them they received e-mails asking for cash or personal information.

What really has agents steamed is that the e-mails, in an effort to give the scam some legitimacy, include a link to the ICE Web site. In one scam, the sender claims to be an ICE agent working in Iraq trying to recover money looted from the Iraqi Central Bank by Saddam Hussein’s son.

The second scam is perhaps the most disturbing because it’s hitting families who are already vulnerable and grieving because of their loss in Iraq. The e-mail says it’s from a friend of the fallen soldier who set money aside for the family. All the scammer needs is some cash or information to facilitate a bank transfer.

One telltale sign that the e-mail is part of the scam is that it claims to be from a friend of a fallen soldier or an ICE agent — homeland security officials say their agents would never ask for personal information such as a bank account or Social Security number online.

Yes, that’s not a misprint. It’s true:

Moscow is considering resuming sales of military equipment to the Palestinian Authority, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.

“There have been requests about extra sales of hardware, including armored personnel carriers, to the Palestinians,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency. “These requests are being considered. I believe this issue will be resolved.”

“The Palestinian leadership has proven its ability to keep the situation under control,” Lavrov said. “It has also proven its ability to coordinate the activities of all Palestinian organizations, including those who hold tough positions toward the Israelis.”

Uh huh.

Russia wants to help arm Iran with nukes, too.

Gee, now there’s no anti-US/Israeli agenda visible here, is there? Oh no. Not at all.

Why? Because the sentiment there is that it will lead to an arms race.

Ok.

So guess what this means now? It means Washington, DC gets to decide what to do if a missile is headed towards Canada:

Prime Minister Paul Martin said Thursday that Canada would not join the contentious U.S. missile defense program, a decision that will further strain brittle relations between the neighbors but please Canadians who fear it could lead to an international arms race.

The Bush administration has tried to make a public show of understanding that Martin heads up a minority government that could fall over such a contentious debate. But after the announcement, U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci told reporters he was perplexed over Canada’s decision, which he said effectively allows Washington to decide what to do if a missile was headed toward Canada.

“We simply cannot understand why Canada would in effect give up its sovereignty - its seat at the table - to decide what to do about a missile that might be coming towards Canada,” said the outgoing ambassador, who had vigorously urged Canada to sign on the plan.

Martin initially supported the US defense shield, though:

Martin, who leads a tenuous minority government, has said Ottawa would not support what he called the “weaponization of space.” Though he initially supported joining the program when he was a candidate for the Liberal leadership, Martin has retreated, since polls indicate that a majority of Canadians oppose it. Many believe that the umbrella, when fully implemented, could lead to an international arms race.

Unbelievable.

And Mr. Putin doesn’t seem too happy to hear it:

Putin loses his smile after lecture from Bush on democracy

President George Bush subjected Russia’s Vladimir Putin to a public lecture on the fundamentals of democracy yesterday, injecting a chill into a relationship that has - until now - been characterised by bonhomie.

Meeting in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, Mr Bush emerged from a three-hour meeting with the Russian President joking and smiling and full of warm words. But his frequent references to “Vladimir” and the “fella” were peppered with targeted criticism of the state of democracy in Russia with which the more hawkish members of his administration are said to have lost patience.

An unsmiling, visibly irritated Mr Putin squirmed as he listened to Mr Bush tell a press conference he had been told that Washington had “concerns about Russia’s commitment in fulfilling” the “universal principles” of democracy. “Democracies always reflect a country’s customs and culture, and I know that,” Mr Bush said. “Yet democracies have certain things in common; they have a rule of law, and protection of minorities, a free press, and a viable political opposition.”

Mr Putin had wanted to talk about the two countries’ joint efforts to combat terrorism but was forced instead to defend his domestic reforms and his commitment to democracy.

For a man who is seldom subjected to such face-to-face criticism and is famously cool under pressure, he looked at times as if he was about to lose his composure. “I respect some of his [Mr Bush’s ideas] a lot and take them into account. Others I won’t. [Such issues] should not be pushed to the foreground. New problems should not be created that could jeopardise our relationship. We want to develop the relationship.”

Overall, though, Putin was “satisfied” with the results of the US Summit.

In the meantime, the President causes a stir elsewhere as well.

Today’s fashion section of the Washington Post discusses Condi’s recent “Matrix-like” outfit she wore to the Wiesbaden Army Airfield on Wednesday.

It’s a good piece. I think some women in power these days think they have to hide or mute their feminity in some way so as not to look weak. Unfortunately, heavy stock is put into how women look (another story for men entirely) and I think Condi showed us well in this photo that women of power can still be sexy, tough, and feminine all at the same time and still be taken seriously.

GO CONDI!

More: Ann Althouse weighs in (via Glenn). I like it!

Argh! I just deleted over 400 spam comments that were in the moderation que. If anyone wrote a legit comment that didn’t get posted on the board, my apologies. I just went through them as fast as I could. Please post it again if so.

I was a bit under the weather and also stressing a bit at work. Let’s hope this week will be a better one! I’m still sniffling today but I feel better than I did last week.

The blogosphere gets some major props and coverage in today’s papers. Here’s a run down:

The news is broken: Journalists find scandals, image eroding credibility

Eason Jordan’s downfall at CNN ignites debate over what bloggers mean to journalism

American media vs the blogs

The blog squad can add another notch to its belt

Blog Power: Measuring the worth of something as illusive as transparency

Long live the Blogosphere Express!

Some “friend” this guy turned out to be!