This is slightly stale news but it's always entertaining to see someone with a fake degree exposed, especially if that person is a politician. http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_sdegree20.2389424.html Here's the candidate's statement from the official ballot: www.election.co.riverside.ca.us/voterInformation/.../bt000028.pdf DR. AMY MARIE BHUTTA OCCUPATION: Educator EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATIONS: I'm a teacher who has lived and worked with the children and families of Lake Elsinore for over a decade. I'm proud to be one of the few people in the nation whose PhD has been certified and signed by former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell. One of my political inspirations is my Great Aunt Harriet Beecher Stowe Alas, the exposure had no effect and "Dr" Bhutta was elected to the Lake Elsinore City Council.
a dud... really goes to show the ethics involved and the sheer stupidity of the people who still voted her in! What kind of an example did she, and will she, set for the students of that county, and the country as whole? *shakes-head*
The only encouraging news is that cases like this, involving major abuse of the Apostille process (Colin Powell's signature, indeed) has finally gotten the attention of the people who run that process. Here's a brief quote from my forthcoming essay in the 2010 Europe World of Learning books: "In 2008, the Permanent Bureau of The Hague Conference on Private International Law, acknowledging that ‘degree mills are a problem that goes well beyond the scope of the Apostille Convention itself,’ recommended ‘the issuance of Apostille only for legitimate diplomas issued by public or similarly approved, regulated, or controlled institutions….’ It will not easy to implement this rule, but at least there is hope...." One reference: ‘The Application of the Apostille Convention to Diplomas Including Those Issued by Diploma Mills.’ Preliminary Document No. 5, The Permanent Bureau, Hague Conference on Private International Law. 2008. The Hague, The Netherlands. PDF of document at: http://www.hcch.net/upload/wop/2008pd13e.pdf.
It surely is a step in the right direction - as it's mentioned "It will not easy to implement this rule, but at least there is hope...."
Bomb goes off; no effect: correceted link Corrected link www.election.co.riverside.ca.us/voterInformation/root1104/ballots/bt000028.pdf County of Riverside Sample Ballot Nov 2008
