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A true anti-idiotarian, blogging about politics, Israel, neuroscience, and anything else that crosses my mind. Blogroll 
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Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Via The Angry Clam, from the Cleveland Plain Dealer CORRECTION: Because of an editing error, this story misattributed a quote from the speaker on an audiotape purportedly of Saddam Hussein as coming from Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. It was the speaker on the tape, not Daschle, who said, "The evil ones now find themselves in crisis, and this is God's will for them." The only solution for Iraq was for "the zealous Iraqi sons, who ran its affairs and brought it out of backwardness . . . to return . . . to run its affairs anew," the speaker on the tape said, referring to the Baath leadership. END Daniel Pipes' lecture was awesome! He just set the record straight. He bashed CAIR and exposed 'em for what they were. He shot down the prepared "quotes" (taken out of context) that were fed straight from CAIR. He even shot down Gordie! Hooray! I'm definitely going to blog a lot more on this later, but I'm not feeling well right now, so I think I'm gonna go take a powernap or something So at long last the Mass Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) finally handed down its ruling on Same-Sex marriages, and said that Gay Marriage Can't Be Denied I've got a feeling all hell is going to be breaking loose over this decision. Over at the Corner things are starting to heat up Now the ball (read as: "hot potato") is back in the Mass State Legislature's court, and things will start to heat up there. This may also make the whole "Gay Marriage" issue a big one on the campaign trail for 2004...which could make things interesting, especially in light of these recent Pew poll results. More as the story develops... I've been blogging about the so called "coalition for tolerance" recently, an ad hoc coalition of groups (mostly the far left groups again) basically against Daniel Pipes. I previously mentioned that there was a speaker brought to campus last year, by the: Slifka Program in Intercommunal Coexistence (through the Brandeis' International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life), the Peace and Conflict Studies Program and Students for Peace in Israel and Palestine--and this "coalition for tolerance" was nowhere to be found. The event was titled: "TOWARDS A JUST AND VIABLE PEACE? A VIEW FROM THE GROUND" And it featured:
So what happened? So it turns out that this Halper guy has long been putting on this roadshow of lies. (That's a file from CAMERA). Here's a piece from the ZOA on this Halper figure. Some choice excerpts:
Very tolerant, no? So here's what wound up happening. A lot of members of Zahav (the major pro-Israel group on campus) showed up armed with facts to hear Mr. Halper and to challenge him on his previous statements and any anti-Israel lies he may bring up during his talk--and Halper went in to the usual anti-Israel lie fest. In response, he was hammered with tough, fact based questions (which were cited by the way) and his way of responding was yelling and calling people names, including calling a friend of mine a "bitch". Nice of him, no? And yet there was no "coalition for tolerance". Then when the Justice came to report the story, they totally spun the facts and made the pro-Israel students come off as the "evildoers". Here's the article (scroll down towards the bottom) Where were all the people protesting outside the dorms for tolerance last year? Well, tonight, as scheduled, a bunch of "tolerance" protesters marched around campus screaming really loudly (and obnoxiously) about being "tolerant"...in advance of Dr. Daniel Pipes's visit tomorrow. Besides disrupting me from the essay I was trying to crank out, they were simply annoying. I like Dahlia's report of their "march". And tomorrow the President is going to be traveling to the UK, where he'll be greeted by a slew of anti-war protesters (and the rest of the circus that they bring). Even though the war is done and over with, they still feel like they have to march around like a bunch of fools. All I've gotta say about these two marches....wankers, bloody wankers Update: More on what allegedly took place during the "march" here at Brandeis: Thanks for coming out to the rally last night. It was at times fun and at times threatening. In Massell someone decided to brandish a two-by-four, people chanted Pro-Pipes slogans and burned our fliers, however, the rest of the evening was relatively calm and pleasurable (These reports are unconfirmed though) Monday, November 17, 2003
Here's the link to the university's press-release about the passing away of a student early sunday morning. The press release also has a link to the obituary in the Boston Globe. I'm not going to say anything else in terms of rumors and details surrounding this as a sign of respect to the family and the late student. Update: From the Waltham News Tribune Monday is definitely my least favorite day of the week. After all, it's monday! In good news, my class this afternoon was cancelled, and I did really well on my exam (from last Wed) A couple of big events this monday. Ahnuld is now CA Governor. Rush Limbaugh returned to the EIB Network and made the following statement However he did say:
Well, it looks like he hasn't changed in some regards. Fortunately, my blogroll is back up (as are everyone else's) after a hacking attack. Er...I should go start my work now.... Well, I've gotta run off to Hebrew class soon... But afterwards I'll be meeting Steve, who is visiting his alma matter. And then this afternoon I'll be working on a draft of my neurogenetics paper, till my 5pm class (which I don't like), then tonight I've got to do reading and continue typing out my papers. Sigh...I so hate papers. And in other news, Rush Limbaugh returns to the airwaves today...there's a lot of speculation what that's gonna be like... The Waltham News Tribune has picked up the story of the stolen issues of the Justice. [last reported here]. And it's the Front Page Story! Here's an excerpt from the story
I don't think the University is going to waste the time and money by taking a claim to the Waltham District Court. The most they'll do is send him before the J-Board and let them figure it out. In the end it was a prank (albeit a somewhat stupid one)--even though I liked spinning out random wacky conspiracy theories at the very begining. Brescia does come across sounding somewhat stupid with his quote: "I was thinking that every copy of the paper was free, so I did not think it was theft......" I'm sure there'll be more on this story Tuesday when the Justice comes out... I just got the following email from the Club leaders list. It's an email from the "Coalition for Tolerance". [note: I've added hyperlinks to some of the cited pieces from the mainstream press--and I've got my words after this letter]
Okay, this is wrong on how many levels? First off, while the WaPo didn't like Pipes, here's an article from Frontpage Magazine and a list of individuals supporting Pipes. Here's a piece on why Muslims should support Pipes' appointment (apparently from a Muslim). Another one from a prominant muslim from the WSJ. Caroline Glick had a piece in the Jerusalem Post. Even the LA Times endorsed Pipes to the USIP As for all the quotes that are used in the above letter, those are the standard fodder. It's important to look at the quotes in context, because unlike some other pundits, Pipes doesn't rant nonsensically. Here's a closer examination of what the quotes really meant. You people should go back and do your homework on people you want to denounce as racist and intolerant. One can only hope that this headline is right:
I wish their was video of this...I'd watch it over and over Sunday, November 16, 2003
So a recap of my day today. Wake up--get myself together--eat brunch--read journal articles for a few hours--look at football scores every so often--back to reading (total of 4 hrs)--start Hebrew paper--break an hour for dinner--continue writing 3 page Hebrew paper. Finish paper--begin outlining another paper and start that paper. Did I mention that I hate papers? Update: For those who've previously read this post, the deceased (z"l) is indeed the individual I thought it was...and there's no word yet on what happened... I just got a campus wide e-mail from the university president indicating that a member of my class passed away off campus this morning. I knew this him personally, although we were just acquantances...as I played lacross with him through last fall (before he went abroad--then decided to focus on just playing rugby). He was also in USY at the same time I was, granted, he was from a different region, but he did serve on the International Executive Board and was my overseeing officer. Wow....this is really creepy.... My condolences to the family... Via Drudge I came across the following story: Brain scan identifies race bias Based on what the article says, in my mind this story smells like junk science. The paper is not yet online at the Nature Neuroscience website (where according to the articles it is supposed to be), so I have yet to read the study itself--and thus make up my mind. However, simply using fMRI (Functional MRI) to examine people's brain responses to a series of images doesn't really sound like solid science to me. Perhaps it's more of a psychology thing, but I still don't think it holds much water. My only hope is that this wasn't a federally funded experiment, as that would be a waste of good research funds. I'm frustrated with a research paper I have. Yeah, after about a week of work I've finally gotten a topic and I think I've gathered up the appropriate articles to use for my paper, but I've still gotta read 'em and then type out the paper. (That's for Neurogenetics) And that's only one paper. I have another one to do for Hebrew and then a third one to do for Cellular Neuro. Then I have to work on my graduate school personal statement. Argh! Papers suck! But Michigan sucks even more! Saturday, November 15, 2003
Ohio State just defeated Purdue 16-13 in Overtime; when the Purdue Kicker missed a Field Goal. What a way to end such a game! Oh my goodness, my heart is still racing from all the excitement in that game. It was a hard core, smashmouth football, defensive battle. It was real Big Ten game. Two of the top defenses in the nation going face to face. Special Teams were clutch in the game. On the last play of regulation Purdue blocked an OSU field goal attempt (set up by a fumble recovery)--and then the game went into OT. Someone call up ESPN Classic! This game is an instant classic! I think I need a beer or two (and I don't even drink) Next Saturday: Michigan vs. Ohio State--at the field of the infidels in Ann Arbor. MICHIGAN SUCKS! GO BUCKEYES!!! [note: This week I will blogging a lot about the OSU-Michigan game and it's history. It's always a big deal. Go State Muck Fighigan!] Friday, November 14, 2003
On the Front page of today's Globe there was the following article: Fast method to build genes found. All I have to say is wow! That's really impressive and it's going to be extremely helpful for research purposes. I'm definitely going to go read the published paper in Proceedings of the Nat'l Academy of Sciences And also in the news, via On The Third Hand is an article from the UK Sun titled "The mum made of TWO women". I heard this same story on NPR this summer while in the car with my father on the way to work (dad likes NPR). The woman is a human chimera! It's a rare occurance, but it's really neat when its discovered! Chimeric species are commonly made in some organisms (such as Drosophila Melanogaster and mice) for neurogenetic studies--but to find this naturally in humans is a big suprise! Okay, I guess I should stop being such a nerd right now. Well it looks like some student(s) at Dartmouth either have a sense of humor or were really offended by Dean's remarks about the confederate flag--as it lead 'em to make posters for a Dean speech with the flag as the background. Then during Dean's talk, a small group of students unveiled Confederate flags as he was introduced. Of course the blame was automatically put on conservative students (whom may have been involved--but it's not definite). They didn't disrupt anything either--and minorities were involved as well! (*gasp*). Dean didn't comment on the students actions when interviewed later. I also saw on Special Report with Britt Hume last night video of some student walking through the city of hanover with a mock Klan costume carrying a "Dean for America" sign. Excessive? perhaps. Creative? Yes. Remember that "Palestinian Solidarity Movement" conference, or should I say hate fest that was held at Ohio State University last weekend? Well the Cleveland Jewish News made it the cover story. There's also an article by the Cleveland Beitar director on the event; and an article on how one of the Jewish day schools chartered busses to protest the conference on Sunday. Finally, there's the blander JTA article. Here's the latest from the "coalition for tolerance"
Great signs of tolerance. They don't even cite Pipes' comments...nor did I hear any condemnation from anyone at Brandeis about Mahathir's comments. I did a quick search on that line by Pipes and it's apparently from a speech before the American Jewish Congress on 10/21/01. But it's in CAIR literature non-stop. Then there's this one:
Well, Ibn Warraq goes by a pseudonym since there are many a fatwa issued against him. Warraq has also written a series of books as well. Then there's this:
Um, again, the quote is taken out of context. Pipes was refering to an anti-Islamist....jeez... Then there's this:
Yeah, Pipes comes off rough at the edges, but he doesn't hate Islam. He hates Islamists (or Islamofacists)--and he encourages moderate muslims to take action against the radicals within their own religion. He does make conditional statements as well....as you would see if you read his work people--and not just relied on CAIR's Finally, this poem was also sent out to the tolerance list: WE ARE ACCUSED OF TERRORISM Here's one of my favorite excerpts:
Very tolerant guys.....geez..... Thursday, November 13, 2003
Sorry, it's been a very slow day for me, I've been working all day on some research papers. Thank goodness for online journals, or I would've been in the Science Library all day. But since no one really cares about that, here's the latest news surrounding Dr. Daniel Pipes' on class appearance. So at last week's Student Senate meeting according to the minutes, Pipes' upcoming appearance was brought up. Here's the discussion on the issue: [I've removed the names for reasons of privacy]
Let's just say, I report, you decide.... I've got another post in the works about the "pro-tolerance group"...and it'll be a big one (but it's under development) I've received an email from an individual indicating that the person responsible for stealing the Justice has been identified--and it was a member of the Student Senate who was responsible for it. Gin of Campus Press Notes has now also picked up the story. As a result, I'll now post the name of the guilty party, as Gin has also done so. Here is the text of an email that I was forwarded:
I'm assuming that at the very least this person will have to deal with the SDJE office, or even go to the J-Board This is definitely going to get much more interesting to say the least. Perhaps the theft of the paper was somewhat politically motivated. Could it have to do with this article about a UJ case? And as for the UJ case, if anyone is interested, here are the documents filed about it Also according to Gin, Breschia's AIM away message gave it away:
[and yes, a screenshot was taken] More as this story develops..... After reading the Justice this week, I've found (at least) quote which I think deserves the title of "idiotic quote of the week". This week's honor goes to one of my least favorite faculty members, and idiological nemisis.
For those of you not from Brandeis--here the campus media is wide open...anyone who wants to join and take part is allowed to. You simply join the Justice and/or WBRS (or any other publication) and get involved, that's all it takes. It shouldn't be a club's responsibility to bend over backwards to fit some magical "quota". Oh, and when Fellman says 'demograhpics" he doesn't imply idiological demographics. I'm probably best off labling my posts about Dr. Pipes sequentially like I did the Justice story...as there's constantly more news... So Dr. Pipes is coming to campus Tuesday, as I've mentioned before. He's being brought by the "MidEast Forum At Brandeis" (MEFAB). MEFAB forwarded an annoucement to a bunch of club leaders, and asked that if they were interested, please pass word onto their clubs. The email said that it was being sponsored by MEFAB and all... The letter was sent to the campus Republicans list, (among other lists) and as a result, the leaders of that club received a not-so-nice email calling all Republicans racists and bigots for passing on the announcement. Now this is just par for the course. They were lucky they didn't get called "facists" (I've personally had that honor--for other reasons unrelated to this). So there was a regularly scheduled Republicans meeting tonight, and the people who sent the nasty letter (and anyone else who had an opinion) were invited to come and express it. Well...um...er....none of them showed, nor did any people from the so-called "Students For Tolerance" show up either. Way to go! Gotta love that tolerance.... It's 2:30am, I'm just finishing up my work (and just folded my laundry), and I flipped on C-Span and they're still going over in the Senate. Wow! They must be serving up a lot of coffee. I wonder...can they show powerpoint displays in the Senate? That would make things much more interesting... Sorry about the light blogging this afternoon...I've been reading (way too many) science journal articles for my classes and for a research paper (whcih I don't have a topic for yet--don't ask). Here's an interesting story I saw in today's Globe: Clark backs a ban on flag burning Candidate who praises dissent also defends proposed amendment You know, that means that Clark is further to the right than Scalia (who upheld the right of one to burn the flag--as much as it disturbed him; the case was Texas v. Johnson) But John Kerry, who served in Vietnam, has the following position
So Kerry doesn't support an ammendment...hmm...that's not gonna gain him much support from the American public; but would make him more favorable to the fringe left....is this his new strategy? Back to reading papers I go Wednesday, November 12, 2003
I grew up playing with Hot Wheels and Matchbox and I absolutely loved 'em. I've still got all my old cars at home, though they live in my little brother's room. So I was quite excited to see this article: Hot Wheels Still Have Horsepower at 35 Well, this morning the Justice was out for distribution in the Shapiro Student Center...so I assume that means that the paper has been found. And I was starting to enjoy spinning out conspiracy theories...oh well... Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Well, there's more fun with the Justice now; and it's got nothing to do with race (to the best of my knowledge). The Justice wasn't on campus this evening (as it usually is)--and according to one source: " Between 3 and 4 p.m. today 4,000 copies of the justice were stolen" I don't know why anyone would steal this issue of the Justice...but I guess the fact that we have a paper heist puts us up in the rank of other schools who've had their campus papers stolen... (Either that, or Brandeis is sliding towards the direction of Berkley--and that isn't a good thing) Update: After reading (most) of the Justice online, I'm perplexed as to what would lead someone to steal the copies of this week's Justice--unless it was a really, really stupid prank But for the hell of it, I'll throw out a "Conspiracy theory"...the main story was about the school's tuition being 10th highest in America; and the Justice editorial board wrote a harsh opinion towards the administration... Perhaps that was the reason for the paper's dissapearance? The administration wasn't happy? [An aside: I do think the admin has to level with the student body about what's happening with the money]. Another thought is someone involved in this whole student gov't dispute could've stolen the paper. Granted, I don't think most of the campus really cares about it... But if you do, here's the documents surrouding the case But after all, what's the point of stealing a paper if it's online anyway? [I got the idea from Dahlia]. And I too like a paper copy (especially the police blotter!) As I noted last week Dr. Daniel Pipes is coming to speak on campus!!! I'm very excited about it (see prior post), but I knew his appearance was going to start a new controversy. I spoke too soon. When I went to class this morning in the science building, I saw that a group calling itself "Brandeis Students for Tolerance" had put up flyers with quotes from Pipes' work (taken out of context no less--as I recognized some of the quotes; they're ones CAIR likes to use). The Justice also has a story on Pipes' upcoming appearance on campus: Daniel Pipes to Appear On Camps; Groups Plan Protest. Before I go to the article, here's some more about what I've heard from friends about what's being planned. It looks like they want to act like students at Yale did when he spoke there. So like I said, they've been putting up signs around campus defaming pipes. And apparently in a few quads where signs were posted, they were removed (did they possibly place signs on windows? Because the janitors remove signs when they clean). They're complaining about that to one of the Deans. Funny....when my clubs pro-America signs were defaced and removed last year the admin didn't care. There's also talk about a moving "pro-tollerance" march to be held the night before the event (a la "Take back the Night"--which is a cause I fully support by the way). Then they're gonna write letters to the Justice, make a fact sheet about Islam, and trying to protest him as he speaks. Funny, no one ever tries to block their biased and prejudiced speakers. (and yes, I've got examples to back up my assertion). So far the groups who look like they're behind the anti-Pipes Campaign are the MSA, Students for a Just Society, Brit Tzedek v' Shalom [aka Students for Peace in Israel and Palestine] and probably some more. But the Justice also indicates that the campus chapter of the ACLU is against Pipes! Going back to the Justice article, here's what the campus ACLU had to say:
As for the quotes on the signs here's the defense of only selective quoting:
I'd suggest not including the flyers at all then. What ever happened to this university supporting integrity? I'm sure I'll be blogging more about this later, but this is another circus waiting to happen.... And I am looking forward to Pipes coming to speak. Well, the whole issue hasn't completely died down yet...but it seems to have significantly died down. There's a new issue of the Justice out today, and there's some stuff in it over the whole incidient, so here's the latest. So I'll start with the letters/"Forum" section: One student writes: Responses to Passner's racist comments often thoughtless -- but the title is a bit misleading. From a Staff member, a very thoughtful letter: Tolerance, acceptance and the search for truth From the Editorial Board, two pieces: Samantha Slater writes: Focus on the message and not the messenger and Yana Litovsky indirectly refers to the incident in a piece called Practicing To Be Important And some events have also taken place in light of what occured: There was a forum held on the "History of the N-word" which was written up here Then one of the quads "hosted a diversity forum" And that's all on this issue for now....but we've got a new controversy brewing..one over Daniel Pipes (see post above) Did you know that WD-40 is about to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary? WD-40 and Duct Tape...what else does one need for repairs? First, Krauthammer's latest column in Time Magazine [via RWN] The second is from the LA Times: Don't Quit as We Did in Vietnam Sorry about the light blogging this evening; it's been a long night for me. I've been reading an article (which I've got to write a final paper on), and have been virtually going through it with a fine tooth comb as a result (it's the only way I'll understand what the heck I'm reading). It's about the Homer protein, TRPC1 and IP3 [if that means anything to you--which it probably doesn't--so don't worry. I doesn't make much sense to me either]. I got my GRE writing (Essay) section scores in the mail today, and I did suprisingly well. To be honest, I did a hell of a lot better than I ever imagined that I would have. It gave me a small little ego trip (which was subsequently crushed by my subsequent reading). Well now off to study for an exam...sigh Monday, November 10, 2003
While I'm blogging about politics, why not continue. Kerry has sacked his campaign manager. I think that its safe to say that Kerry's campaign is right now in a bit of trouble. Clark is now getting beaten up both in the New Yorker and even Gen. (Ret) Tommy Franks doesn't like him [thanks to BlogsForBush and The Smarter Cop]. The Smarter Cop also nails Clark on job creation Okay, that's enough American politics for now No, not Rush Limbaugh (he's not supposed to be back until Nov 17 I think), no not Hannity, not Fox News, not Ashcroft or Rove. Give up? It was none other than Ralph Nader Blasts Democrats As 'Whiners' What's he blasting 'em for? Lets see...
Oh good grief! Can't this whole argument come to an end once and for all? It's done and over with! I'm sick of all this.
According to the official results Bush won and he's now the President. We know that. Regardless, it depends which media review you ask for your "recount" results. And when he mentions the "thieves" in Flordia--that's a reference to the GOP, right? [yes, I know that the Dems control Palm Beach County].
National Conference for Media Reform? Okay, what do you see as being wrong with it Nader? Was Eric Alterman also a speaker there? And another interesting part:
Ooh...this could get interesting.... Well fortunately, the whole Justice mess seems to have died down once and for all. All that's probably left of it is to see how the Justice is able to recover from the loss in staff. But that doesn't mean that all the craziness on campus ends--of course not (otherwise what would we have to entertain us?) So in the latest announcements email I saw an interesting event advertised. A "Teach-in" about the Patiriot Act. Uh..okay. So who is behind this? None other than the ACLU and the "anti-war coalition". I've got mixed feelings on the Patriot Act, but then again, I've never read it in its entirety. They're bringing in a speaker from the ACLU, so this doesn't sound like it's going to be a very balanced (let alone objective) presentation...plus since the anti-war coalition is co-sponoring it, I'm even more skeptical. [for those of you new to the blog, the anti-war coalition and I don't get along to say the least. I've gotten called nasty names by 'em, and received lots of nasty emails from them and have even been physically threatened by some of the kookier members. Just follow this link and you'll see why] Daniel Pipes is still supposed to be coming to speak, and there's a growing mob of people unhappy about it. (Then again, it's the usual suspects). Supposively even the student senate may take a stance on him coming to speak... If they do anything, I've just got to ask, why didn't anyone condemn the speaker who came last year and just criticized Israel non-stop [for demolishing the homes of terrorists]? There were crickets from most of the school if I recall correctly. I'm still looking forward to Pipes' appearance. Sunday, November 09, 2003
WASHINGTON — North Carolina Senator John Edwards says the recent Confederate flag flap ignited by presidential rival Howard Dean is "dangerous" to the Democratic Party. Edwards told NBC's "Meet the Press" that Dean's comments were not just about the South or about a divisive symbol. "I think it's even bigger than that," said Edwards. Here's the rest This story just perplexes me Illegal immigrants arrested in Wal-Mart raid file suit Can someone file a civil suit in a US court even if they're here illegally? [any law people out there?] Here's the confusing excerpts
Okay--first off, it's in dispute if Walmart knew that they were here illegally--so that's an aside. Second, do US labor laws apply only to US citizens and [legal] resident aliens (and the other legal immigrant categories). Also, is it verifyable that these allegations occured; and if so, why wern't they brought to the forefront ahead of time? I'm confused So after Dean's latest quip about the Confederate Flag and Southerners there's been a lot of talk. Granted, this wasn't the first time Dean has made such remarks, but other times he was simply ignored. I've talked about the idiocy of the comment, and also mentioned Sen. Miller's remarks on it (so I won't repeat myself). So today Clark comes out saying:
Not like that is a much better comment to be on record as having made. I don't think Southerners are stupid; and you're making a big mistake by implying that. Even TNR's Jonathan Chait, a (admitted/confessed?) Bush hater, says that he thinks the Dems are delusional (via BlogsForBush) As for the Confederate Flag, and what it means. After reading Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War, (which was Brandeis' first-year book this year), I learned that the flag is a symbol of pride in the south. It doesn't imply racism to them, it's about being a rebel and having pride in where you're from. But you don't have to take my word for it....just go see what Acidman has to say [and for the record, after my time here at school, I'm tending to think that I like Midwesterners and Southerers more than I do NYCers and New Englanders--but that's just an observation] I'm just frustrated with my school work, and wanted to rant, and this blog was a perfect oppertunity to do so. I've gotta write a final paper for my cellular neuroscience course and I have to write it about one of three pre-determined papers. All three papers are long, confusing and beyond the scope of the course. I spent this afternoon reading two of 'em and well, they both sucked (pardon my language). So I just have that general sense of frustration with schoolwork. Then for neurogenetics class, I've got to write a paper; but the problem is there isn't an assigned topic, it's just a broad range of criteria. Argh, so frustrating. And I've got to work on my grad school essays. Arrrgh! Saturday, November 08, 2003
I'm sure that there are a lot of us who aren't Economics students, and don't quite understand what all of those numbers the talking heads argue about mean. Thank goodness for bloggers who are economists and are willing to translate all the terminology into simple English--such as the people at the Econopundit They've got a post up about how the AP has apperently reported the number of new jobs to be in the 300k range (!) and in the post are all the relevant stats (translated for us non-econ people) Oh, and here's a key stat:
What was that stuff about the worst economy since Herbert Hoover? Huh Krugman? Pelosi? and the other nine candidates? Don't the following quotes seem like they should be from the nutcases at DU?
Well, for a change they aren't. They're actually from the PA's daily paper and how much money do we send to the PA? Friday, November 07, 2003
Okay, this may sound a bit nerdy, but this weekend (Sat thru Wed) is the Society For Neuroscience Annual Meeting in New Orleans. There's so many interesting lectures on the schedule and they've got a phenominal list of speakers lined up, including this years recipient of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry (who attended Brandeis)! Some of my professors (past and current) are also going to be speaking as well. It sounds like a great time...oh well, maybe in a few years I'll be able to go So Wesley Clark has announced his plans on dealing with Iraq and other Mid-East nations. First on Iraq, Clark has said:
Does Clark remember that both Germany and France are NATO members? Good luck getting them to go along. Second, most of the troops over there right now are from NATO nations (UK, US, Spain, Poland) so how would that change things? And why can't a US civilian run the reconstruction (like Paul Bremmer is right now?) WHat's the difference? Second, and now here's the biggie:
Let's see, among other things, we're enemies with Iran and we're about to slap sanctions on Syria--and we should "engage in dialogue" for what reason? Have you been sitting on your "peace mat"? One of the benefits about toppling Saddam and establishing a free and democratic Iraq was to threaten the dictatorships of Iran and Syria. Iran is a major sponsor of terrorism (especially through Hizbullah) and Syria plays home to a host of terror groups as well (Hamas, PIJ, DFLP, PFLP) and we're supposed to have 'dialogue"with them? This kind of wishy-washy attitude towards these terror states will come back to hurt Clark at the polls with pro-Israel voters--who still are abundant in the Democrat party. I was very impressed by the President's speech yesterday--it was very ambitious. He did invoke the memory of President Reagan and his statements that (Soviet) Communism had failed and freedom would eventually emerge. At the time, many wrote this idea off as being crazy, but look who was right in the end. The only caveat that the President may have with his speech is that many of the Arabs in the ME who want democracy may still feel that they don't fully have America's backing; as the President noted our country (and others) have erred: "Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East". By sitting on the sidelines for so long, many may have given up hope on the US. Is there someone older out there who can tell me if there were similar sentiments in the 1980s in Eastern Europe? Couple the mistrust some may have, with the indoctorination that many in the mid-east are exposed to, and we've got a challenge on our hands. But enough from me, Instapundit has links to a few opinions and here's what Andrew Sullivan had to say Unemployment Rate Falls; Payrolls Soar. Hooray for good economic news! This comes on the heels of Chairman Greenspan's report yesterday Isn't there a quote along the lines of "It doesn't matter which party takes credit as long as it is good news for America"? (the Democrats may want to take that quote to heart)--as all economic news we've gotten recently has been positive Anyone know Krugman's remarks on this? Thursday, November 06, 2003
Ann Coulter actually had a few good points in her latest column, that is when you go beyond her usual-the-top rhertoric. She has a few funny lines in the piece too, but you can find 'em for yourself. Basically she talks about how the Nine Democrat Presidential nominee wannabes (and Ted Kennedy) keep "demanding that Bush produce a 'plan.'" Coulter later writes:
She goes on to say (and I'm going to paraphrase her) that the President never promised that deposing Saddam Hussein was going to end all Muslim terror. "We're at war with Islamic lunatics." she notes. Coulter goes on to quote historian (and author) Stephen Ambrose who:
Gen. Eisenhower was right--things don't always take place in battle the way they're supposed to on paper. There's also that little thing called Murphy's Law...it tends to rear its ugly head in battle. That's why a good battle plan is one that can change depending on the circumstances. The current plan, while it looks like the original had a lot of flaws, but it looks like it was constructed so that it could be changed. Ann then goes onto say:
Off topic: how do they transform someone's appartment/room so rapidly on that show? Then as I leave aside Coulter's next set of jabs, she does bring up a good point:
To the Nine Candidates--where's the exit plan for Bosnia? (That question is for all nine of you) She goes on with
I think that quote is a bit excessive; but this is Coulter after all. I guess "surrender" could describe Kucinich's, Sharpton's and Mosley-Braun's platforms, but I don't know if the others have plans--and if so what they are. Finally, Coulter closes with a good quote:
Oh--and Coulter as one of her cheap-shots does remind people to have a designated driver. I caught most of the President's speech this morning...I was very impressed. I'll blog more about it later--as I've got to get back to my reading. For now here's the text of the speech Well, the Justice story is back in the news...this time in the mainstream media. First, the Jewish Telegraph Association has picked up the story and developed it into a full article Second, the Boston Globe has a wrap up story on the incident. A few thoughts on the two articles First, the JTA article has an error, it's not Justine, rahter it's Justin--he's a male. He's quoted in both articles, and JTA made an error. He's also the one who wrote the official BBSO response to the Justice "Unbreakable" and he's the person who was quoted in the Chron. of Higher Ed last year (see this post). I also disagree with his claim that "''It's a university newspaper. [The administration] should have taken some initiative and said, `We have a problem here.' " The Justice is independent (or at least it's supposed to be), and as such the administration isn't supposed to involve itself with the paper. Second, the student who was grossly misquoted (and whose request not to use his name on this blog will be honored) was also interviewed. He finally explains both where the quote came from and the context surrounding it. Ironically, it came from a humorous discussion about Dusy Baker's own prejudicial comment. I really, really, feel bad for the kid who was misquoted, and I wonder if the Justice will actually mention this part of the story. Third, the University's PR man, reiterated the claim that the administration didn't force anyone to resign. I'm not buying that very much, as this doesn't go with their former story. I'm very skeptical of the admin at this point. Fourth, from the JTA article, Dan Passner finally speaks, and again appologizes. Fifth, also from the JTA article, I don't think the administration is being entirely forthcoming when they mention that there aren't stats available on the campus' religious and racial make up. Every freshman class fills out a survey so the school can get this information, and I wonder how all those "Guide To Colleges" books is able to provide numbers (on Undergrads; I don't think there are stats on grad students]. Hmmmm.... Sixth, I'm not sure that the earlier reports of people banging on windows qualifies a protest as being peaceful as the JTA article suggests. Seventh, it bothers may that the University may seriously be considering something like:
We already take a non-western studies class as I pointed out earlier. Also, a lot of the student body is Jewish, and knows a lot about minority life/experiences (save for those kids who grew up in all Jewish communities). I still don't think such a course is necessary, nor should it be required. But if we're made to take a course on learning about other cultures, do Chem labs count when your TA barely speaks English--does that count for diversity? (just curious) [and a hat tip to Steve Silver] Update: I didn't want to make a brand new post just for one item, but I've come across another story about the whole incident. In the Waltham News Tribune, a former Justice Editor wrote a letter sharing her thoughts (scroll to "Alum embarrassed") Wednesday, November 05, 2003
I think Howard "Nikita" Dean wins an award for this extremely stupid quote
Then for his encore:
If I"m not mistaken, don't most Conservative southerners care about Guns and God? Now that the Justice incident has began to slowly dissapear...it's only fitting that we have a NEW controversy on campus! I got an email today, that announced that on November 18th, Dr. Daniel Pipes is coming to speak here at Brandeis!!! (hooray). He's coming to speak on: "Middle East Crises- A Review of the Bidding" I'm extremely excited that Dr. Pipes is coming to speak. I'm a huge, huge, huge fan of his! This will be great!!! But of course, not everyone is happy that Dr. Pipes is coming. I got the following email from one listserv (names and irrelevent portions removed):
You may have noticed that there was a link enclosed that goes to CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) website. I refuse to link to that group, for good reason, but if you want to visit the page, copy and paste the link. And then come back and read Dr. Pipes response to CAIR and Dr. Pipes' Article, bibliography, and discussion about CAIR I'd also recommend visiting LGF for more on CAIR Then I got this other email from another list
I removed the quotes just for the sake of space. This story is really going to develop.... Preface: Last year the Student Senate discovered that there was a "rollover" fund in which there was about $110,000 of unused Student Activities fees. Last year there were a call for proposals about how this money should be spent. Two proposals were ultimately put forward--one for a gameroom in the location of our old bookstore. The other option was for an indoor rock-gym to be built on two of the squash courts. So the decision was put to the student body, and the results are in. By a vote of 662 (58%)-479 (42%); we're getting a game room. Not a very high turnout...about 530 votes from a student body of approxamently 3,000 students. (Goes to show how much interest students have in student gov't). I have a feeling this project won't be done until way after I graduate this may.... The Smarter Cop blogs on some of the "highlights" of yesterday's democrat debate here in Boston There's a lot of outrage over the memo indicating that Democrats on the Senate Select Committee on Intellegence [which mind you is supposed to be bi-partisan in nature]. Here's the text of the memo. Here's what Sen. Kyl (R-AZ) had to say on it. The President signed the Partial Birth Abortion ban bill today at 1:30, and in less than an hour, an injuction was issued against it. Okay, who had "less than one hour" in the game? Whomever you are, you win! Has Dean now blown his chances in the south by his retreat on the flag remark? Michael Graham thinks so. Steve Silver has a post up, about "Kosher Scoop Jacksons". I kind of like the sound of that. Over in the UK, they too have had some political fun. Someone got voted into the House of Lords. Andrew Sullivan has coverage Sullivan also has a post up about what's being dubbed "The 9/11 generation" (why can't they just be a letter, like Gen X, Gen Y....?) And to continue from an earlier post, here's more on the Lakewood, OH story. In previous posts on this subject, and after having read some of the letters by the BBSO and ICC to the Justice and the like, I've been puzzled about the claims that there was/is a "racist atmosphere" (or something like that) on the campus, outside of Passner's comment. While looking for something totally unrelated in Lexis-Nexis, I found the following blurb about another controversy which took place on campus last year. From the Chronicle of Higher Education:
[source: Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/4/2003, Vol. 49 Issue 30, pA8] I only include this because it may help provide further understanding about what may have been background events whcih led to all the hoopla that took place on campus. So today was election day in a lot of places. In Kentucky, a Republican was elected governor for the first time in 32 years! In Philly, the incumbent mayor, Street won another term And in Mississippi--the GOP WINS! (it's breaking news now) Former GOP chairman, Haley Barbour (R), is now the Governor Elect of Mississippi. I'm sure there will be more coverage of this over at The Ole Miss Conservative Locally, Issue 1 was rejected here in Waltham (which would've cut taxes--and the city budget by ~26%) by a margin of 83.3% against to 16.7% for. McCarthy was elected mayor. Unfortunately, the Brandeis student (and local life-long Waltham resident) who was running for Councillor-at-large missed getting a seat by 64 votes. (You stupid Waltham residents! You should've all voted for him!) Here's the other Waltham results Back home (in Ohio), Gov. Taft (R)'s plan to attempt to lure high tech jobs to the state...failed. This comes on the heels of a report detailing that Ohio loses young, educated in droves (hmm....I wonder why?) Now there's big news from a suburb that neighbors mine: Cleveland Heights approves unmarried [Gay and Straight] partner recognition . Apparently Cleveland Heights is the first city to do so in the Nation. Also from Ohio comes the big issue about the goverment's use of eminent domain. Long story short, the city wants to take property to build a retail development, and there's people against it. Here's a recap of the story. In a photo finish--the measure to allow the city to purchase the land and create the retail develoipment was defeated by 39 votes! ( 7,913 - 50.12% against to 7,874 - 49.88% for). That's a big vote. Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Quick--guess what school is the 10th most expensive in the Country? Can you say Brandeis? I hope so, because according to the Chronicle of Higher Ed, Brandeis is the 10th most expensive school in the nation (even ahead of Harvard!)--and we still manage to be in debt (can the administration explain this???). Evan Lerner's column in the Justice this week talks about this topic, and for once, I actually agree with what he's written (well at least parts of it--scary thought, no?) I just wanted to write a quick appology for my light blogging today. It's been a crazy day, and I haven't been in very much, so I haven't had a chance to blog. I hope to post more this evening. As the story (finally) appears to be winding down, the debate continues to go on. The latest issue of the Justice came out today (as usual), and there were a few letters on the issue. First off, Daniel Passner wrote a public apology. One can only wonder why this wasn't in the last issue (let alone on the front page of the last issue) Second, former Sports Editor, Rob Siegel also wrote a letter to the community. However, the rest of the letters, touch on the debate about what should be done and what took place: One student writes: Administration stifling to student groups Another student calls for the whole Editoral board to resign, saying: Justice should institute a 'tabula rasa' way of thinking Echoing a similar sentiment, another student writes: More drastic actions must be taken by administration Finally, another student writes that: BBSO's response should have followed teachings of King [MLK Jr.] Steve Silver, who also has been following this story, shares his latest thoughts on the letters in the last issue and he also asks "What's next in Waltham?" Finally, the Justice Editorial board, in an editorial piece, commends Asst Dean of Student Life Alwina Bennet for "[she] shines through, even in most difficult times" Now I too would like to laud Alwina, as she's a great individual and is an essential part of the University. She's an amazing woman, and I can't even begin to provide a list of positive adjectives to describe her. After my roomate passed away my freshman year, she came to my dorm instantly to talk to me and others on my hall, and to help comfort and console us. She also helped us plan a memorial service which we held for my late roomate--and the service was both touching and meaningful. Since then, Alwina has been a friend of mine, and she's someone that I know I can talk to about anything. I know that she's someone I can turn to when I'm in a time of need, or just have something on my mind. I know that many other students feel that way, and I just wanted to take this oppertunity to agree with the Justice e-board; Alwina is a great lady and a key part of Brandeis. Three Cheers for Alwina! (Potential Drink Alert) So apparently the "Peace, Conflict and Coexistance" studies program gives out an annual award for
So guess who is one of the recipients this year...none other than Brandeis' own bunch of "leave the Taliban and Saddam Hussein alone" groupies, better known as the "Anti-war coalition". These groupies, whom are fed by professors wanting to re-live their experiences from the 1960s were against attacking Afghanistan after 9/11; and were opposed to Operation Iraqi Freedom. So let's hear it for these people, for promoting a "peace culture" It's stupid things like this that lead me to want to drink Monday, November 03, 2003
I just got an email from my Hebrew Professor letting my class know that tomorrow, Israeli author Orly Castel Bloom is speaking here at Brandeis!!! I took a modern Hebrew Literature course (HBRW 111b now known as HBRW 143b: Advanced Survey of Hebrew and Israeli Literature II) here at Brandeis my Freshman Year--and it was a great course. We focused mostly on Post Modernist liturature, by authors such as Castel-Bloom and Etgar Keret (another favorite). That's a little background info on why I'm so excited that she's coming to speak tomorrow. Over at DU they're discussing if Dean's campaign is Dead or Not (Hat tip: Eye on the Left) Speaking of Dean, Sen. Zell Miller (D-GA) blasts him for not understanding the South, saying
(Hat tip to the Smarter Cop) Oh, and the Democrat candidates are coming to Boston tomorrow for the "Rock The Vote" campaign. The economy continues to be looking up! Which means Paul Krugman is probably scraping the bottom of the barrel to criticize it. Tomorrow is also election day in a lot of places. A few states have races for governors; otherwise, it's mostly local or state office elections. Nothing too exciting (at least in my opinion) Seeming that I'm now simply rambling...I think I'm gonna go I've decided to name the author of the following letter "idiot of the day". His letter: Which 'foreign' fighters in Iraq? But fortunately, there are some Globe readers with common sense, such as the person who wrote this letter: Let the US finish the job in Iraq I saw this event advertised today, and I have to give the sponsors credit for creativity: Conceiving Kosher Jews: Rabinic Directives in Israeli Fertility Clinics Very creative... Sunday, November 02, 2003
Campus Press Notes is reporting that based ona newsroom source, that the Justice story is continuing to evolve After a few quick searches through the online archives of the Justice, I found some interesting articles/letters/columns from the past year-year and a half (that's all that's available for some reason). First, I (accidentally) came across the following column from Mr. Passner; where he criticizes a MLB umpire for an anti-semetic slur, and then continues to express how he's upset that anti-semetism seems to be tolerated in society (rather than it being treated as it should--as hate speech like racism). He makes a great point, but there's just a lot of irony. Second, there's this letter to the editor, written in response to a "Forum"/"Opinion" piece. The author of the letter complains that
Third, there's this article which ran in the Justice about "Aramark employee accused of bias at break-the-fast". I was there when this whole incident happened. Long story short, on Yom Kippur, Sherman closes early, so that after Yom Kippur services are done, they can prepare the dining hall for the massive influx of hungry Jewish kids. You've also got to sign up ahead of time for this meal. Basically, some people didn't see all the signs saying that Sherman was closing early, and came down to Sherman. I assume that the cashier was (innocently) asking if they'd signed up, because it was a pre-sign up meal. So the clerk suggested that they go over to the other dining hall (whieh was still open). However, with the hyper sensitivity we have at Brandeis, this whole issue was made into one of racism and discrimination...and became a whole mess. Sigh.... I wouldn't be suprised if this story resurfaces as an incident of past "discrimination/exclusivity" on campus. Why can't people let these little things slide, and pay more attention to important things. In Israel, the major goverment union, the histadrut is going to strike starting tomorrow, an action which would literally cripple the country. The airports and seaports will close, banks and gas too... For in-depth analysis of the problems leading to this histadrut strike, here's University of Haifa Economics Professor Stephen Plaut's in-depth coverage and explanation Domestically, we've got another feature for "unions gone wild", this time via the Angry Clam, who talks about the Detroit Teachers Union Back to our regularly scheduled programing here at JawsBlog...meaning I report whatever is on my mind, and you can decide what you want about it. So I was flipping channels late last night, and I saw something interesting. On the Arabic Channel, they were showing a feed from Saudi State TV of Ramadan services from the Qa'aba in Mecca. The prayers were ending, and then it looked like a sermon was being delivered. I only kept the channel on briefly, but I didn't understand a word of it...I can only imagine what may have been said. In terms of Journalism, today's lesson in Journalism comes from the Washington Post. Don't misrepresent the facts of a story, to give a false impression. Nor should you misquote those who you interview. Especially when you're dealing with important figures. To see what I'm talking about, see these letters to the WaPo. Now to the political arena. It looks like Dean may have made a verbal stumble when he said:
Besides the other candidates who jumped on him for this quote, Jonah Goldberg shared some interesting letters that he received. Here's the first, second and third . John Derbyshire also shares something that was edited out of his story "Nascar Nation" in the latest issue of NRODT (an aside: it's a good article--I recommend reading it), and he says:
I think that this just another one of Dean's off the cuff blurts, and it may lose him some support in the south. It's still to early to tell. Also in American politics, here's an interesting article from the Forward: 'Coleman Republicans' Wave Moderate GOP Flag. It looks like more young Jews are moving towards the GOP (maybe save for Brandeis). Moving on--on this day in 1917 the Balfour Declaration was issued And speaking of Israel and Jews, Natan Sharansky has an article in Commentary Magazine called: On Hating the Jews. I've got a lot of respect for Mr. Sharansky, and I've not yet completed reading the piece, but it looks really good. While dealing with Israel and the Mid-East...can someone please explain to me why the PA is condeming the US is offering a $5 million award for information on the Gaza bombers? Finally, the Simpsons Halloween special is on tonight! Woooohoooo! Just a few more things to share on this whole issue. Dahlia, of Sporadic Thoughts has some more thoughts on everything that's taken place. I actually wanted to use this post to talk about something else...mainly the issue of race and language. First off, if you haven't already, go read James Finch's essay "Race" Again, what was written in the Justice was inappropriate, and criticism was warranted--but I don't think to the degree which it occured (but I've said that many times before). I attended a public high school (yeah Shaker Heights HS!!! Here's more), which is approx. 48%/51% white to black (the other 1% are asians, hispanics, Indian...). I learned a lot about race and identity there, and the main lesson which I took home from my experiences, is that we're all just people--we're all the same. Granted, my school did have self-segregation (e.g. in the lunch room, socially...), and there are significantly more white students (than minorities) enrolled in AP and Honors courses (that's another issue in and of itself). However, color didn't matter to most of us--we just saw each other as fellow students. There was an article that ran in my (former) High School's newspaper, The Shakerite last spring, which I saw when I was home. The article is called: "Does derogatory ever disappear?" and is about the "n-word", and how its still used, but often as a term of endearment. I thought it was appropriate to share this article as it is very interesting. (And no, it does not in any way excuse Passner's idiotic comment in his article) You've got to read Race by James Finch (of VRWC Inc.) It's an amazing piece! Here's a teaser:
Go read it! You won't regret it! Yeah, I should get back to doing my homework, but I'm entitled to breaks every now and then, no? So one of my suitemates is currently running in the NYC Marathon and with the assistance of modern technology, we're tracking his performance (and rooting him on). It's sort of funny though, that we're also tracking Sean "P-Diddy" Combs (who is running for charity). But we're really rooting for our suitemate!!! I'll update this post later with the final results... Update: My suitemate finished in: 4:09:41 while P. Ditty finished in 3:58:22. Well...my suitemate is still better than P. Ditty! He's a good guy, and is gonna be a great doctor! (So take that P-Ditty!!!) Update 2: One of my other suitemates spoke with our resident marathon runner. It turns out he sprained his ankle towards the latter part of the race, so that's why he had such a "slow" time (He was aiming for 3:45 I think). But he also said that he did indeed run with/by P. Ditty. We wish him the best on his ankle! So the minutes of last week's 11-hour Student Senate meeting have been posted. From looking at them, it appears that the Justice's editors (especially the EIC) were getting assulted (in some cases unfairly) by the Senate. It also looks like BBSO was trying to use the Senate (at the time) as a tool to go after the Justice, and it even looks like they were considering taking it to the Union Judiciary for a case. The Justice really got the short end of the stick at that meeting, and it makes me feel for them. There's still debate taking place on email lists, but nothing too exciting (or that new) to report. Steve Silver has another post up on this topic (a very good one too!) . I just wanted to comment on his thought that:
I just wanted to confirm that there was indeed faculty (and staff) encouragement for the BBSOs actions and directions. (The same goes for the anti-war protests--there were faculty who not only participated in them, but helped plan them). And Steve is right, these people have an agenda. Finally, I just wanted to share the following letter/post which I happened to accidentally stumble across. It's from the former blog of GMU Law Professor David E. Bernstein (Brandeis '88). Professor Bernstein is the author of "You Can't Say That". He currently is a contributor to the Voloh Conspiracy/ In the letter, he writes about left-wing anti-semitism, based on an article which ran in "The Watch" (the student magazine). It's from 1987, and here's a taste of it:
Go read the rest...it's just something to think about Saturday, November 01, 2003
Just a short post, but I was going through my referral logs to see how peple got here (mainly searches about the "Justice Incident"/"Passner Insident" and I decided to look at the results of one such search. It turns out this story has begun to spread even more (than Romanesko, the Globe and Waltham News Tribune). Of the sources I found/saw, these places mentioned the story: Jewish Telegraph Association (JTA) Daily Brief The "Anarchist People of Color Website" And Bitter Bitch of the Bitch Girls blogged on the story Looks like things have spread. I'm off to a friends Birthday "gathering" (not a "party")...more later Yeah, I know, I'm a loser. I'm in on a Saturday night. Granted, it's still early in the evening (just about 8PM). I've just got a lot of busy work to do, and I've got to prepare my lecture that I'm delivering monday (it's a lecture in Hebrew) So last night I walked a little more than mile off campus (right behind Victory) to a party that was being thrown by a friend. Unfortunately, the party never really materialized, as not that many people showed up. That was dissapointing--and I felt bad for my friend and the others who were hosting it. Oh well, we had fun. No, I didn't dress up for halloween, I mean I never really celebrated it as a kid (short of going out to get free candy). I guess my Jewish day school teachers got to me. But my friends did dress up, and some had some great costumes. I'll ask 'em to email over some of their digital pix and perhaps I'll share them. Big college football day--"Seperation Saturday" is what they've dubbed it. Ohio State (go Buckeyes!) apparently barely just won against Penn State. Unfortunately, Michigan won (boo!). Oklahoma destroyed Oklahoma state...and there are two good games on now (USC-Wash State and Miami and VA Tech). I've gotten the paper copy of the Justice and read all the letters and articles. I've got thoughts on both the incident and columns in the paper (which I'll share in later postings). Not much else to talk about (right now at least). Off to start (or at least to attempt to start) some work... Friday, October 31, 2003
For anyone whose interested, the Justice has posted all the letters written in response to Passner's October 21st column on its website. The letters can be found here, and its a PDF (requires Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader) file of 3 pages worth of letters, which run the whole gamut of emotions, opinions and thoughts. (Passner is even criticized for poor analysis of the Cubs). And there were 23 letters (if anyone was guessing)... I'll blog more tomorrow... Note, I haven't seen a paper copy of the Justice today. That aside, building on my last post on this topic, I've since read the BBSO statement in its entirety, and wow...I'm both shocked and appaled. Here's what bothered me the most:
Statements like this aren't going to help at all, it's only adding fuel to the fire. This is almost like the Ford Hall incident all over again. Frankly, the administration does protect the (racial) minority community here on campus. I should know. There are special minority programs, events, oppertunities, email lists...they make an extra effort. Threatening the administration by saying that you'll "turn the university upside down" is absurd and inciteful. Messages and attitudes like this will only continue to fan the flames of the fire which has erupted on campus. It's acts like this that polarize the campus and raise tentions--which benefit no one at all. And you people should remember, you don't speak for all of us minorities on campus... In this week's edition of the Cleveland Jewish News, I came across the following two stories. GOP reaches out to Orthodox [Jews]. Not much of a suprise there, as the Orhodox have been closer to the GOP on social issues, and now with the increased support for Israel demonstrated by the GOP, they're getting more support. and even more interesting: Bush raising Jewish funds from both parties This will be interesting to watch, to say the least The long awaited issue of the Justice is now online. I have yet to see a hard copy of the paper, so I'm going to have to work with what I've seen so far. Let's start at the top of things (note: all links don't require a "login" to the paper) First, here's the Justice's coverage of the whole ordeal. It also exposes that Passner has a history of not-so good comments in his columns (which I admit, I rarely read). He gets taken to task by students and professors alike. And the Justice story on the protest that erupted [first reported here!] Second the Justice's official response: No room for bigotry in our newspaper Third, here's the BBSO's letter/statement: BBSO submits 'Unbreakable' Fourth, (now former) Editor in Chief Steven Heyman's resignation letter: 'I hope we all learned something' Fifth, Yana Litovsky's, (now former features editor) letter of resignation (and it's a sharp one): Integrity of the Justice perverted [it's a must read!] That's all that is featured in the online version...I'm curious to see what's in the dead tree (paper) version. Just from skimming the pieces, and I emphasize skimming, Litovsky is right on the mark in her piece. The Justice really got screwed over by the administration. After reading the BBSO piece, I understand their anger and frustration. Passner's article (and prior articles) contained a lot of idiocy. But I don't like how the piece is written. It sounds like more of a revolutionary statement towards the end--which is what bothers me the most--it's radicalism. These parts of the piece begin to evoke the memories of the Ford Hall Occupation, which is well known amongst Brandeis students. Furthermore, I think the following demand is absurd:
That's absurd! In our daily lives we learn and experience race relations and cultural sensitivity. We constantly have cultural events occuring on campus, and people are aware. A class like this would probably be some sort of Political corretness lecture--which is unecessary and uncalled for. We are required as part of our University Requirement to take a course designated as "Non-western studies" which I personally think is a good idea, and provides insights into another culture. More later as the story evolves... Thursday, October 30, 2003
The US Economy Grows at Fastest Pace Since 1984! 7.2% in the 3rd Quarter! Now lets see...who was in office in 1984...hmmm...could it be this man? Here's more on the economic growth. Now I'm no economist, but when I told this to my friend who'se an economics major, his response was "holy shit...you're kidding me"...so I guess this is a very good thing. I wish there was either a publication or news show that would put these economic things into simple-person terminology (so people like me can fully appreciate 'em). In other political news, the Globe decided to run a story on former Mass Gov and 1988 Dem Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, as he's apparently about to turn 70. I barely remember the man (I was in first grade when he lost to Bush Sr.--and I remember that we always laughed when we heard his name...because it was so hard to pronounce). Staying within the Globe--there'a piece of news to me. I thought that the "neo-cons" only had a foreign policy agenda; but according to this letter, they have one on education too. And in the NY Times, its a battle of the Pundits--as Maureen Down vs Thomas Friedman (Brandeis '75). VodkaPundit gives the match to Friedman in the 2nd round via KO. The AngryClam is livid over Justice O'Connor's latest remarks. Finally, Allah, of Allah's in the house has moved (must be part of the BlogSpot Jihad) I think I'm gonna head out and grab a bite to eat now... For anyone who is interested, Passner's article is again available on the Justice's website. As the Justice notes:
Here's the link to the article: Dusty Baker Exposed [login not required] Well, the story continues to grow. The Boston Globe has picked it up, and made it into a full article. On page W1 (Globe West Section--Page 1), bottom left-hand corner: Brandeis newspaper delays publication The Globe article actually brings into play Baker's controversial comments earlier in the season (which Passner never refered to); and it ran Passner's full quote. Now this article gives even more information about the struggles the Justice faces: saying that the Senior Editor (the student who just finished his term as Editor in Chief a few weeks ago), the Features Editor and an Asssociate editor all resigned. The Globe article corroborates the reports of the Campus Press Notes, who has also reported on this story, and noted that two of the papers best layout people have since resigned (an aside, finding people who want to do layout is also difficult). [his info is from an unnamed Justice newsroom source]. Shifting back to the Globe article, the University spokesman, Dennis Nealon. is quoted as saying:
Now, from what I understand/saw happening, and based on what's being reported at Campus Press Notes--the Justice decided monday night to go forward with publication. The Justice did extend the letter deadline 48-hrs from until 5PM Friday to 5PM on Sunday. This sounds like a classic glossing over by the administration--as were Nealon's statement entirely true, I doubt there would've been the large protest Monday night/tuesday AM that occured outside of the Justice's office. Second, Nealon is also reported to have said:
Now, that is true (at least in theory). As I've previously mentioned, the Justice is automatically guarenteed a certain percentage of Student activity fees so that it can be published. That way, it need not go through the "Funding/Allocations" Board (I forget what it's being called now) in order to get money. That way, it's independent of both the Student Senate and the University Administration. However, according to both Campus Press Notes and the Globe report, former Editor in Chief Steven Heyman said:
This is in addition to the comment by now former Sports Editor Rob Siegel who said:
[Note: Campus Press Notes also reports that Heyman was also called in for that same meeting and was urged to do the same]. Now, I thought that the Justice was independent of the administration? So why did the administration place so much pressure on these two editors to resign? I can understand going after the section edtior, cause it seems like he dropped the ball, but the editor-in-chief? I understand why the administrators decided to get involved (they went into CYA mode) but what about the paper's autonomy? That's what bothers me the most I think. [Note: I'm also in somewhat of a disgruntled mood with the higher-ups of the administration over an unrelated issue right now; so that may explain some of my anger] Former Arts Section Editor, Steve Silver has some comments on this over at his blog. Let me reiterate myself, yet again. What Passner wrote was unacceptable--and I'm not asking for african-americans not to be offended. Passner wrote a racist remark in a very public periodical and (I think) should've known better. I'm a minority myself (I'm a hispanic) and I'm Jewish. I've experienced anti-semitism before--and I know how nasty these things are. At the same time, I think that a lot of the Justice's staff (among others) is/are getting smeared incorrectly by the "racism brush" (as Steve termed it)--and that's not right either. Peoplle need to be careful with that. And to elaborate on something Steve wrote:
I very much agree with Steve's assertion here. I don't know anything about Marcuse, but that aside...The Brandeis left, who are very vocal and have significant faculty backing are as Steve describes them. I'm a republican (*gasp*) which makes me a target to both the students and faculty on the Left here. (I've discussed this previously in my blog--but don't need to revisit it now). If they also realized that I was also a hispanic, I'd be even more of a target! With their complaints that everything is racsit, that globalization is evil, claims of American imperialism, and the like, it isn't too suprising that they're now alleging that Passner's idiotic piece is part of a widespread conspiracy. I think that's the sick part of it--this is an isolated incident. Update: A reader has also informed me that Channel 56 (WB) here in Boston ran a segment on its newscast Wed. night about this story. [I do not know if there is an online video clip] No major "news" per say to report, but just some observations. This issue has driven a big wedge into the student body. It has apparently cost people friendships--and its caused a lot of unecessary animocity. The article itself [more specifically the quote] was inexcusible. There's no disagreement about that. The resignation of the author and the overseeing editor were also inline. However, everything that has happened since then has gone a biit overboard. This whole issue has led to friendships being ruined, unnecessary tensions between people and groups (among other things). This post from another current Brandeis student expresses the feelings of many. I personally don't know if the Editor in Chief should've been forced to step down. I don't know if its his job to read over all the articles, or if that responsibility of the copy editors and/or the section editors. If its the latter, he should've been able to retain his position. I don't think the administration should've intervened on the side of the protesters to force him to step down. That's a real shame. But that's just my opinion. Even though we knock it a lot, the Justice is for better or worse a decent school paper. To their credit, we don't have very much news here to report on at Brandeis, but for the most part they do a good job. Last fall a student tried to launch a private "rival" paper, "The Indi", which for lack of a better adjective, was a joke. It (thankfully) folded after only a few issues. It'll be interesting to see what Friday's issue [of the Justice] looks like. How many pages will this story take up? And how many letters will be sent in? Wednesday, October 29, 2003
I should start by welcoming all those people arriving here from Steve Silver's Blog and Campus Press Notes (among other locations). For anyone whose curious, I am currently a senior at Brandeis. I'm a hispanic student, and I'm Jewish too. (if that matters to anyone--and yes, there are hispanic Jews). If you'd like to see my, posts on the now infamous article and the subsequent events, please scroll down and start from "Controversy on Campus--Part I". I've gotta go get some homework done now; I've gotta an outline due tomorrow for a 50-minute Hebrew lecture I'm giving on monday. Blogging will resume later Politics can be very strange and wacky: A Democrat supporting President Bush for re-election Sharpton Accuses Dean Of Having An Anti-Black Agenda... Dean says he's a "metrosexual"... (can someone clue me in on what a Metrosexual is?). Then he said he was "a square". This all leaves me very confused... Wow! This story keeps growing and growing. Aside from the debate taking place on one email list about how big of a problem racism is, blah, blah...nothing important. So, apparently the BBSO is [finally] in the process of composing their response to the article. However, there's even more news! From Steve Silver '00, it appears that Romenesko has picked up this story [I don't know much about Romenesko--my appologies]. The story continues, as according to a new article in the Waltham News Tribune, five editors and writers have resigned from the paper's staff (I assume this includes the author, the sports editor and the editor-in-chief). The article also provides new information [which hasn't yet been heard on campus] about how the quote made it in there:
I don't know if this means that the article was submitted past-deadline? And apparently University administrators have gotten involved in this issue too. According to Campus Press Notes blog, (welcome to all visitors from there) a call to the Justice office yields a message that says "The administration won't let us print unless the editor-in-chief resigns." I think Steve is right when he says: "Proving once again that some of the most gutless, spineless, morally bankrupt people in America are senior university administrators." Speaking of administrators---would any of them care to explain why our tuition has continued to go up, despite the fact that they've drastically cut course offerings? Where's the money going??? [that's another issue though] Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Okay, just got another email, which sounds like a "recap" of a lot of things--from the perspective of the "Intercultural Center" (ICC): [names have been removed and irrelevant text has been removed]
Remember, this is from an ICC point of view--and I don't think people in the Justice feel the same way. One of the things I heard a lot today was "why the delay in the paper? Why couldn't they have come up with something by monday [since last tuesday?]"? Okay, just got another email, which sounds like a "recap" of a lot of things--from the perspective of the "Intercultural Center" (ICC): [names have been removed and irrelevant text has been removed]
Remember, this is from an ICC point of view--and I don't think people in the Justice feel the same way. One of the things I heard a lot today was "why the delay in the paper? Why couldn't they have come up with something by monday [since last tuesday?]"? So I came across this article on Fox News' website: Democrats Open Liberal Think Tank: Portrayed as vaccine to so-called plague of conservatism in U.S. Say what? I guess their hold on academia isn't working very well. This article in the Autumn 2003 issue of City Journal says that We’re Not Losing the Culture Wars Anymore
I suggest reading the rest... Okay, back to more of the regular program around these parts (no, nothing else new with the Justice story yet). Let's go back to the Democrat Nominee race... Clark, who entered the race high in the polls has seen his numbers slip big time. It's probably because he flip flops like crazy--nor does he even know what party he belongs to on any given day. With that being said, it looks like he's going after the core voting block in the democrat primaries: the activists. Today's quote: Democrat Clark blames President Bush for Sept. 11 intelligence failures Looks like he's trying to appeal to the far-left activists with this quote. He's really struggling. Even Instapundit has found that Clark has lurched towards the left Dick Morris was on Hannity and Colmes last night, and he had some really, really interesting political analysis. I don't think a transcript has been posted online yet, but I'll see what I can find. It was very thought provoking. I also caught part of the President's press conference this morning . I thought he did a rather good job handling things there. Anothe perk--Helen Thomas wasn't there. You can tell that the press isn't very fond of him, by some of the questions which they posed; but the President had very good coaching and shot those down. The only thing I was disspointed about was his kid-glove response to the Fox News reporter's question about Terrorfat. Damn. Wow, this story has gotten huge! It's in today's Boston Globe (!?!). Here's the blurb:
And (as I blog) we just got the following Email from the University President, distributing the letter on behalf of the Justice Editorial Board:
There was this misguided letter about the ME situation, with this great line:
Wrong. First off, it was a bulldozer, such as this one; not a tank. Second, Rachel Corrie was anything but a "peace activist" (as we all know)--she was from the ISM. Third, she was trying to prevent a house that had a weapons sumuggling tunnel from being destroyed. Fourth, the driver didn't see her either. Now lets see, other sillyness in the Globe. The Globe seems to also be lamenting this: Romney stand dims chances of license for undocumented And as always, for more, see SillyGlobe The number one question I've got is what are the BBSO's demands, and what exactly were the Justice's plans/promises. The facts are really missing here--and there is a lot of confusion abound. I don't think the Justice should be shut down. No, not at all. The way the Justice's funding is set up, even makes it independent of the Student Senate and the Administration (it's promised a percentage of student activites fees). Via this system, the Justice is able to say what it wants about the student senate and/or the administration--thus giving it a free voice (rather than it being another administration mouthpiece)--which is a very good thing. It is also the official campus paper, and it does have a role and purpose. Those people who want to shut it down should really take a minute and reflect on what they're trying to do here. The Justice dropped the ball in its last issue--that's an undisputible point. But that writer has resgined as has the sports editor. Was the Editor-in-Chief involved in the proof-reading process--I dunno? I'm not familiar with the inner workings of the paper, so I don't know what to say. I have heard that since this new Editor in Chief started, things have been looking up (in a good way) for the paper, and that things are working more fluidly. I'm not sure how this will affect things. I think that people are making way, way, way too big of a deal of this issue now--it's exploded. The initial outrage was understandable--but now it has gotten out of control. As for the line: They want us to be great students, to fill their quotas, and to "diversify" and to "teach" others about our cultures. Welcome to the pitfalls of affirmative action. The "diversity" and "numbers" of minority students make the cmapus look better on paper, and can also earn it accolades (and perhaps outside funding?) And for the record, Brandeis did sign the amicus brief supporting Michigan in its case. Oh, and these students should also take a moment to realize that they don't speak for all of us minorities as well. I'll blog more as things occur... [Note: very long post] Well, there's a lot more to this story....I got some emails overnight (try around 2AM)...and things keep changing. And holy shit, this has exploded First off, the Student Senate apparently passed the following resolution at its last meeting. Second, I open my email this morning (about 8AM-ish); and I've gotten a letter sent at 2:10AM, which read:
That was all the message said, and I (as well as others I assume) have no clue what's going on. For starters, it was 2AM; and I was just heading to bed before my 9AM course. I had no clue what this was all about. But this morning details started to trickle in. There was this letter sent to one list (some minor editing has been done by me--the content is the same):
I do not know how true the accusations within this letter are. I repeat, I'm honestly not sure, and I'm reserving judgement. On the Justice's side, they did extend the letter submission deadline until 5PM on Sunday (from the usual 5pm on Friday--so a statement could've been written in that time)--and I'm not sure if in this letter any facts were distorted due to strong emotions. On a seperate list, after the first email on a different list, the following reply came through, apparently from a member of student gov't [letter has been edited to remove names and simplify content].
I'll put my comments about this letter in the next post. Then a few more letters came across, first replying to the above:
I too am on only a few lists, but I've gotten a lot of letters as well. If not too many. Then came this letter:
An aside, I believe that the Editor-in-chief is very, very, new, and has only been in his position for 2-3 weeks(?) There was another letter along those lines:
I don't know if any of the abover were from members of the Justice BTW. Then of course, not everyone agreed:
And finally, here's probably the letter that echos the sentiments of many
I've added commentary above Monday, October 27, 2003
This has to be one of the most priceless blog entries ever: Fisking the Democrat Debate A sample: *DING* Ok, who had 88 words in the “How long until Kerry reminds us he’s a vet” pool? RightWingNews has some more pix from this past weekend Glenn Reynolds also has a wrap-up and insights too Some of the alums will love this one.
Oh, and if anyone is wondering the rings cost in the ~$400 range. After all I've spent here on tuition, fees, books and all, I don't think I'm ready (or willing) to simply drop another ~$400 on a ring.... Let the jokes commense... First off, let me just re-emphasize what I've said before about this story. The student who the quote was allgedly attributed to, was grossly misquoted. The quote was also apparently taken out of context. This person was also totally unaware that they were being "interviewed" and the author of the piece has indeed pointed that out. I thought that I'd previously removed this students name from any and all postings, but apparently I missed that in a prior post, and I've proceeded to fix that. My appologies for this oversight--and I feel really bad for the prediciment in which he likely found himself. Now the story continues... The article has apparently been yanked from the Justice Website. Makes sense to say the least. [via Steve Silver], it turns out that one of the local papers has picked up the story. The Waltham Daily News Tribune has written an article on it. According to the article, the line/quote in question was: "was highlighted in red by a copy editor in training but never fixed." Now, this adds more questions into the mix. Steve Silver, who is a former Justice Editor (he did the Arts section I think) has some commentary on this Also, there are rumors, that the Justice, which normally comes out on Tuesdays, may come out later this week than usual. Why? The deadline for letter submissions was extended until yesterday (so then letters need proof-read, then fixed, then put into the paper--and having done page layout, I can attest to the fact that it can be a pain). Steve's guessing the number of letters about the article will be around 25. Any other quesses? And a final point: Please do not write letters to the "Brandeis Free Press" abou this issue. The Free Press is in no way/shape/form related to the Justice, nor do we cover campus events (we cover world and national news). [I only post this since we've previously been asked] On today's Opinion Journal, former Delaware Gov. Pete Du Pont, has a piece titled: Good Buy, Columbus? Ohioans may revolt against higher taxes and spending. It brings up current Sec. of State Kenneth Blackwell's (R) plan to repeal the recent one cent sales tax increase (from 6%-7%) enacted this past year by the state legislature. It's being done by a group calling itself "Citizens For Tax Repeal" Last year, during the whole Ohio Budget discussion, there were things cut (to the lament of certain groups--like the arts), in light of the forcast defecit--and then on top of that, spending (w/ the tax increase) went up 11%!!! However, it turns out that in the end there was a $200 Million surplus! Ohio's finances are a mess. The state's school funding plan has been ruled unconsitutional by the State Supreme court 5 times I think? (I didn't follow it that closely) That's the top of the iceberg. Unfortunately, the state GOP is against him (you idiots!) as the GOP controlls both chambers of the State Assembly and the Gov. is a Republican (more like a major RINO)--probably cause they think that this makes 'em look bad. And here's the real kicker--Blackwell is a conservative African American [think Thomas, Elder, Sowell, etc.] Now at the same time, the left constantly moans about sales taxes, because they call 'em "poor peoples taxes" [because apparently only poor people buy things, and rich people don't--I don't ask]. So I'm wondering if they're supporting Sec of State Blackwell in his effor to repeal the tax. Where do I sign up? Again, I'm just gonna combine a few things into one post rather than a few seperate posts. More news about the upcoming Reagan movie is out...and it looks like CBS and the advertisers may be in for a big storm Sen John Corzine (D-NJ) is probably going to get whacked by the DNC for saying: "The tax cut has had some benefit in that, there's no question about that" Cox and Forkum have produced yet another great cartoon The Smarter Cop also has an iteresting post up And out on the left coast--my prayers for those caught in the flames of the forest fires. Also out on that coast the Angry Clam is giving an example of his version of "Social Justice" As I said before, I didn't watch the debate. Not only do I lack the attention span to watch such things, but I doubted anything important would take place. Apparently I was right, and here's Jonah Goldberg's take on the event. The other major issue the Dems are lacking on severly is that of Nat'l security. It appears that it's not of importance to them. As Tom of Hootinan reports: Democrats Don't Care About The War on Terror This same sentiment is echoed by Andrew Sullivan in a few posts on his blog (excerpted by FP Magazine) Sunday, October 26, 2003
So we start pre-enrolling for next semester tomorrow. But now, many of us are looking at the course offerings for next term (see this page if you're curious). They've slashed at least 1/4th [if not more] of the courses than they usually offer. When my friends and I were in our first year here, we were told, oh yeah, if you can't take a course early on, it'll always be offered later. That used to be true (see older offerings). But now, we've been screwed!!! It sucks! All my suitemates are also complaining about the scant offerings (amongst the six of us there's: neuroscience (me), biology, economics, psychology, music, politics and English [the last two is a double major of someone]. What does the school have to say about it? "We lack funds....we had to cut courses to save money". And yet tuition keeps going up, and the school spends money on pointless things left and right. It's beyond absurd! I mean, I can tell you some of the waste the school can easily cut to save money (or put that money back into education--which I thought was the purpose of universities). Okay, that's my rant, I've gotta write some emails now...sigh... It's what we've all been waiting for! Pictures of the absurd ANSWER, anti-American, anti-Israel, protesters! Right now, Anna of the Belligerent Bunny Blog has pictures up from yesterday in DC And from the Left-Coast, Greg Yardley of CommieWatch has posted pictures which he took at the San Francisco rally Hopefully more entertaining pictures will come out soon! Julia , of contraindications and love songs brought something to my attention (and I thank her for that) which I should've previously clarified in this post. First, I do think this Justice incident is significant--and of course needs adressed. It was from the volume and content of the emails I've been getting (from a few lists), there appear to be some on campus who are over-inflating this and it is from that which I got the "overly big deal" feeling. It is as if a group of people had an agenda and have been waiting for an incident to come up so that they could forward [their agenda]--and this incident served as the catalyst. Second, my charactarization of the author were simply the impressions I'd had of him from meeting him once. Nothing more. I just threw it out as an observation--I meant nothing other than that. Third, I think it was entirely appropriate for this individual to both resign from the Student Senate and the The Justice. No questions asked. Fourth, an unrelated clarification, regarding this post. A friend informed me that the reasoning behind the walk-out was that the forum called for by the Justice thursday night, was apparently a time when the Justice was going into CYA mode. That's why the walkout was staged; as there was the feeling that the important issues wern't going to be addressed. There'll definitely be more developments and I'll blog about them as they happen. Just a few different things I wanted to touch on, which didn't deserve posts of their own. The Browns offense played horribly today against the Patriots. The Defense did quite well, but the Offense was non-existant! What's with that!?!? I'm happy that the Yankees lost. I'm not a fan of the Marlins either, but I still like them over the Bronx Infidels. I grew up with a dislike for the Yankees--and I don't like 'em one bit. Why has ESPN been showing so much Pool and Poker recently? Aren't there any other sports it could be broadcasting? Perhaps venture over to Europe, South America or even Australia? A new club is going to the Student Union to be recognized--and this club is interesting. The club calls itself: The Inter-Greek Council (IGC) and states that its purpose is:
Unless you're a Brandeis student or alum, you're probably wondering what the big deal is. Brandeis specifically doesn't recognize fraternities or sororities, and hasn't since 1988 (as per a board of Trustees decision). To take an excerpt from "Rights and Responsibilites"
So it'll be interesting to see how the Senate deals with this hot-potato. I'm still not liking the whole time change thing very much. It's starting to play games with my brain. I'll post more later, I've got some work to do now Saturday, October 25, 2003
Well, since adding a counter to my Blog in May, I've finally reached the 5,000 hit mark! Hooray! Oh, and the Yankees just lost to the Marlins in the World Series. Yankees Suck! First off, welcome to all of you who've come from Steve Silver's blog I should note, that I'm receiving a lot of emails about this, as I'm a minority student (I'm a hispanic--and yes, I'm Jewish too) Second, in reference to an "incident" in earlier posts about the hypnotist who offended some Asian students, here's what happened Third, the Student Senate put out the following "announcement" So time for some new developments in this ever evolving story. Here's some excerpts from an email from the director of the Intercultural Center (ICC) [I say exceprts, because there is some irrelevant stuff in the letter which I omit here for obvious reasons].
That's the latest news for now. Oh, and if you want to write the Justice, the deadline is 5PM on Sunday for letters; and apparently all letters will be published. NYT Headline: Some Democratic Hopefuls Question Value of Debates Was their even a value to these circuses in the first place? No, Debate Bingo doens't count as a purpose. (but it is now available en Español) For the first time in 2 or 3 weeks, I've got a free Saturday night (no holiday)! Wooohoo! Too bad its parents weekend, so all my friends are out with their 'rents, so I'm stuck alone. Hopefully I can find something fun to do. So we're supposed to change our clocks tomorrow at 2AM. We "fall-back" an hour--which means we get an extra hour of sleep tonight. I like gaining sleep time. However, since I've already got a screwed up circadian rhythm, this time change screwes me up (even more) than usual--for a few days at least. At the same time, if you'll forgive my dorkiness for a moment or two, in my Neurogenetics course we've been studying circadian, clock and cryptocrome genes (in drosophila) so in a sense, I have a better understand of some of the underlying biology. Okay, that's been the moment of dorkiness. Ohio State won today, 35-6; and it looks like the team's offense is (finally) starting to emerge. The Buckeyes are really missing Clarrett--and it shows. But perhaps Lydell Ross will step in to fill the void (or at least somewhat). I've got the Alabama-Tenn game on now...it's 40-40 after 3OTs...wow! Look like a good one. So there was the ANSWER/UFPJ And there are new twists and turns in the Justice-racism story. I'll share these later. I've got to go help a friend fix their computer now.....I'll blog more later. Friday, October 24, 2003
Instead of a bunch of little posts about politics, I think I'll just wrap 'em all up into one post. It looks like President Bush may finally use his power of veto (it's about time!) after the Senate joined the House in voting to ease travel restrictions to Cuba. Kucinich is throwing a hissy-fit over some campaign ads that Nikita Dean is running in NH. Doesn't Kucinich realize he has a snowball's chance in hell of being elected? The Senate is apparently releasing a report criticial of the Intellegence gathered by the CIA about Iraq. Naturally, the CIA is denying the accusations. If it was the CIAs intellegence which was flawed (as opposed to the NSA, DIA and the other alphabet-soup groups), I think this time Tennet deserves to get a pink slip. Tennet has been the DCI since the Clinton administration, and simply put, the CIA hasn't been doing too good of a job with intellegence, first terrorism in the 90s, then 9/11, and now this? After reading Robert Baer's book "See No Evil" (it's a very good read too), I became somewhat skeptical about the CIA, especially the way that it has changed since the end of the Cold War. The Agency has taken a turn in the wrong direction, and needs to be put back on the right course. For another good read on this topic, there's also Mark Riebling's book "Wedge: From Pearl Harbor to 9/11--How the Secret War between the FBI and CIA Has Endangered National Security" Finally, it looks like the Medicare bill is getting stalled in conference committee. This scenario looks like it could be a win-win for the President and the GOP. From what the news is reporting, either the Conservatives are going to get the bill they want (a win for them), and in the process, the President scores a win by nailing down Medicare as a campaign issue. On the flipside, if the Dem senators, led by Sen. "Swimmer" Kennedy (D-MA) try to filibuster and all, then their objections will be spun off as obstructing such a plan, and it'll hurt them too. This story sounds promising if it fully checks out to be true: Bush Drops Opposition To Building Of Barrier Good! Let Israel finally defend herself! So this weekend is family weekend, otherwise known as "Fall Fest". Parents will be visiting (my family isn't coming), which actually means things here at school will be better than usual. The food is usually an improvement over its regular status (to impress parents). No, they didn't plant the flowers this time (for open houses they plant flowers for the weekend then remove them; and apparently reuse 'em). I guess it is ironic that all the hoopla about the quote in the Justice is going on now...especially with so many visitors coming. But I don't think it tops the food poisioning incident that sickened 400+ last year (myself included) the week before parents came. Not much else going on to talk about....it's just a cold day (again) here. Oh, it snowed yesterday too. I heard Drudge on Hannity and Colmes last night before I fell asleep, and he was mentioning about how he'd seen the CBS TV Movie on Ronaldus Magnimus. Now he's reporting about how the movie defames one of the most popular Presidents in US History CBS should re-think about airing this movie if it is indeed this bad. There will likely be a huge backlash against CBS and/or advertisers over this film....both from people on the right and left. I guess it is sort of ironic, since Reagan did make enemies while he was in Hollywood; as he fought off communism. Jonah Goldberg's latest column is French Fried: France turns into even bigger foe. I think Jonah is right on target...damn those "Cheese eating surrender monkeys"... Thursday, October 23, 2003
I first saw this story in today's Globe: Poll finds GOP continuing its gains on college campuses
Who would've ever thought something like this would occur? (here's the list of other papers running this story) So there's a lot of news out about the leaked memo by Rummy Now the last time that there was a leak, there was this whole big uproar...remember? So where's the calls for the special prosecutor on this one? This has been a random thought.... Last night, noted Iraqi dissident and Professor Keinan Makiya (IMES) came back to campus from Iraq (where he has been working on composing an Iraqi constitution) to give a talk about the future of his old country. While I really wanted to attend his talk, I unfortunately couldn't as I was swamped with work, (all the stuff I put off because of GRE studying) but there are two articles, one from the Boston Globe and one from the Waltham Daily News Tribune about his talk. Based on what he said, it doesn't look like there's very much of a "quagmire" over in Iraq--and that things are going well. From the Waltham News Tribune:Rebuilding Iraq: Brandeis scholar offers insight into his native land And from the Globe: Iraqi's optimism endures--Exiled leader urges crackdown on Ba'athists Apparently a lot of the world likes genocidal Ba'athis dictator's in power: World spurns US appeal for $30bn to rebuild Iraq But, the Iraqis won't forget who these weasels are: Iraqi official: Limited German, French help won't be forgotten... [these last two stories from Drudge] I thought we had a defecit. I thought that some of you said we couldn't pay $87 billion to support the troops and help rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan. But it looks like the House and the Senate voted to give themselves, yet another pay raise So the controversy continues. Tonight there's an open meeting with the editorial board of the Justice about the article. After giving this issue much thought, here's what I'm coming to think. The quote, which sparked the controversy, doesn't really seem to fit in the article at all. I'm very suprised that the editor(s) didn't send the article back to the writer for him to fix the quote (for its obtuseness). I'm also very suprised that the editor(s) apparently overlooked the quote and let it run in the paper. That's what suprises me the most. As I said before, I was once introduced to the author of the piece, and from the impression I got, he was a nice guy. He didn't seem to be a racist or biased against minorites. I also feel bad for the kid to whom the quote was attributed to, as he's been dragged into this as well. Do I think there's a racism problem at Brandeis? No. Sure there may be a few bad apples in the crowd, but that's how things are everywhere--there's always a bad apple (or two) in the bunch. I do think that people are (as usual) getting overly-worked up about little things. That hasn't changed. I do think that there is a lot of self-segregation by racial/ethinc/religious groups, which is self evident. But is that racism? Probably not--it's just people who've found friends who have things in common with them. And I don't think that's a phenomenon unique to Brandeis. But is there racial animocity? No, not really. The team of guys I play lacrosse with are a cross section of just about everything. We have Jews and non-Jews; whites, blacks, hispanics; NYCers, east coasters, californians, midwesterners; we've got a variety of majors...and yet we all get along and have fun together. We don't really pay attention to race or other things like that, we just play lacrosse, simply because we love the game. We don't care about anything else--and we're non judgemental. So I guess it's just safe to say I'm suprised that the line ran in the first place, and that I have a feeling an overly-big deal is going to be made over this. Last night, Brandeis Professor Keinan Makiya, a leading Iraqi dissident during Saddam's rule, spoke here at Brandeis about the current condition of his homeland and the prospects for its future. While I was regretfully unable to attend his talk, here are two accounts of what he said, and it looks like things are actually going better than we hear over in Iraq! Here's the Boston Globe's account and here's one from the Waltham News-Tribune So tomorrow (or today), October 23rd, from is the "Hour Of Presence" from 3-4 PM. What is the "Hour of Presence"? Good question...I don't quite know! Here's what the blurb says: "Take Back Your Time Day is a nationwide initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities, and our environment." It is apparently affiliate with "Take Back your Time Day" which looks like it may be a socialist type of event. Bruce Bartlett dissects this event in the following column of his I think that during this "hour of presence" I'm gonna do evil VRWC things. Wednesday, October 22, 2003
I'm suprised that the quote ran in the firstplace. It wasn't oh, tasteful or relevant to the article to say the least. Second, I didn't know that Baker actually had earned a Ph.D. anywhere let alone an ivy league school. There was one line which sort of irked me, and it was: Due to the University’s special position as a private institution, racist remarks such as this can be censored There's a fine line that should be upheld in what should and shouldn't be "censored" on campus. More often that not, at other schools, this type of rule is used to silence students who don't agree with the University's general politics. There are numerous examples of this out there--I needn't elaborate. Just look at the Afirmative Action bake sale flap. I'd agreed with Litovsky about her piece two years ago, in that I thought a lot of pointless noise was being made. It's a combination of the the PC police + hyper sensitivity and LLL on campus. I'm sick of them as usual. This seems like a people getting worked up over a small oversight...sigh... Who would've thought that a quote at the end of an article in the sports section of the Justice (of all places) would trigger a firestorm? Here's the article that started it, and here's the quote in question.
Well, thinking back, Baker did make some (potentially racist) comments of his own earlier this season. But that's not relevant here. So last night, I got an email from the Hispanic/Latino club email list, which read as follows [note: I've cut out some things that aren't relevant/important, and I've changed names]:
This was followed by a letter of appology by the author, who has since resigned from the student Senate, in which he said:
And from the student who the quote was attributed to:
But it doesn't stop there! The University President sent out an email which said the following:
I've made comments in a post above [this is getting too long for a post] Remember the supposive "Jenin Massacre" (and more) of April 2002 during Operation Defensive Shield? Well now there's a sequel! Presenting the "Gaza Massacre" that wasn't! Well, it's time for my analysis of this week's issue of the Justice. I'm not gonna touch on the contreversial article yet, but this is the other stuff. There was a bigger than usual police log. There's a story on: Aramark under fire after Sukkot food shortage [JawsBlog opinion: This isn't anything new...it's happened a lot of times...a lot of the blame lies with Aramark, though some students need to fess up too] In the Forum section, there's already a piece lamenting that Ahnold is the Gov-elect of CA Then the Justice gets slammed over its editorial on Chabad, first by a student, then by a parent [JawsBlog commentary: the parent's letter is quite funny too] There's a piece against having "under God" in the pledge And the quote of the week, (as decided by the Justice): "I left the Arab Jewish Dialogue group because it does not allow real diversity of thought; if you did not believe in the peace process you were a radical, and if you did not apologize for your side you were an outsider." Well, the GREs were quite an adventure. First I was stuck in traffic on the Mass Pike, then traffic cleared, so I had to drive along maniacs (ever seen a MA driver?) Then I got faulty directions, so I wound up in North Boston (rather than south), but I found a nice hotel employee who gave me directions to where I was going. Then I finally found the testing location, had to pay an arm-and-a-leg for parking, got in there, and then it was test time. The essays wern't too bad...the argument one was a lot of fun. It was like a fisking (but polite and scholarly). Then I took on the rest of the exam itself. Long story short, I dominated the quanitative and well, verbal is still my weakness. Wow, I've got a big story here to blog about. All over a quote in the Justice...it's even triggered an email from the school President(!) But right now, I just feel like kicking back and relaxing a bit.... Well this morning it's GRE day (groan) I'll blog about it later (and normal blogging will resume) Update: Oh, there's definitely some good stuff to blog about now...oh boy. But now is bedtime Tuesday, October 21, 2003
So the Senate by a 64-34 margin voted to ban "Partial Birth Abortions" (Roll call vote). Now my question is, I'm wondering if the lawyers are planning on racing each other to be the first ones to file a lawsuit against the law (when it is signed by the President). (Yes, I know I shamelessly stole the title from the Daily Show). So I'm flipping through the Globe today (as I do most days), and I stumbled across the pages dedicated to the Democrat nominee wanna-bes. I saw a giant picture of the "local" candidate, who was just as faux and french looking as always, John F. Kerry (who by the way served in Vietnam). Yesterday, he decided that: "[Kerry] says he would have deferred action in Iraq" And here's Kerry's latest talking points:
Being a gun owner won't score any points with the LLL, nor will being a hunter. But that's not what I wanted to focus on. Rather, it's his claim that he's a "Fiscal conservative"....I'm laughing so hard. There is a silver lining to this though, if all the Dem candidates claim to be "fiscal conservatives" it'll force Bush to once and for all, rein in (if not cut all) non-defense spending. That wouldn't be a bad thing, no? Well at least it's still morning as I start this post. I got my neurogenetics paper back and did quite well (to my suprise). No complaints here. A few interesting stories in today's news: 'Dean Divers' Search Vermont Records--probably the most action the VT archives have seen in a while. Why the hell did this good samaritan get in trouble for returning a lost ID? This PC shtick has gone too far. There are more twists and turns in that whole CIA "leak" story Paul Krugman seems to really be going off the deep end. First claiming that Donald Luskin (of NRO's Krugman Truth Squad) is a stalker. Then to top that off, Krugman's latest column is beyond assinine. The Boston Globe's front page had a picture from al-Reuters of "displaced" Arabs (term by Misha) jumping on the car that had carried terrorist murderers which was struck by the IAF. Now here's what I've always wondered. Doesn't the "PA Police" Dept know how to cordon off a crime scene? (I'm guessing no) CBS should be ashamed of itself for making up things about President Reagan. I'm not going to watch their movie. As for this guy who jumped over Niagra Falls...what was he thinking? I've got class then a meeting this afternoon, and I plan on coming back and then continuing to cram for the GREs. Arrrgh. I dunno if I've mentioned this before (if I have, forgive me for repeating myself), but I'm taking the GREs this wed! I've been studying/preping for them and all, but I'm sitll not looking forward to them. Sigh. I hate standardized tests...especially computerized ones. Argh... So there's now a talking Rummy doll and to top that, a talking Ann Coulter doll. These compliment the Baghdad Bob action figure. *Shakes head* Monday, October 20, 2003
22:02 Palestinian sources: 6 killed, including top Hamas militant Imad Akel, dozens injured in fourth IAF Gaza air strike And by a simple google search, it looks like this Akel (or Aqel) terrorist punk was a bigshot in the terrorist organization. This is a "Breaking story", so there will be more later. We'll also have to see how Emperor Misha scores this one Evan Coyne Maloney, producer of many famous videos has put out a new video of the Rutgers idiotarian hate fest. Not only is he identified as a Zionist Mossad agent, and then they demonstrate their own hypocricy. Here's the LGF Review
And here's the Hootinan review:
So what are you waiting for, go watch the film! Three cheers for Capitalism! Hip hip hooray! It's time for this weeks' Carnival of Capitalism over at Jay Solo's blog Optional: visitors can wear their Viva La Reagan Revolucion t-shirts while visiting the carnival. And simply because I'm blogging---why don't the dryers in my dorm actually (fully) dry clothes?!?!? Smoking Marijuana Damages Sperm, Coffee Helps And while I'm thinking about Coffee....I'm thinking about Caffine! As I sit here, continuing to cram for my GREs (which are Wed AM by the way), I've just found that Time Magazine's cover story is on the "New SATs". So the new SATs will apparently get rid of analogies and quanitative comparison, and will include: include Algebra II class material (yay!) and an essay (boo!). I hate standardized tests, because I make careless errors on 'em. Also, I'm much worse at verbal than math (but that's because some things in my brain are out of whack), and I've never liked writing (again, same reason). Now I'm here trying to study for the GREs, and I'm having a problem with the math. Why? I don't remember simple math. I'm used to calculus, complex equations and the like, high school math and geometry. So I've been working dilegently... And for the record, I did much better on the ACTs than the SATs; well, a lot better. Warfare at the speed of light...USA close to developing laser weapon at Lawrence Livermore Lab... Sunday, October 19, 2003
Looks like Sean Hannity and Sen. Ted "Swimmer" Kennedy (D-MA) may be getting ready to engage in a war of words! And speaking of fights, one just broke out in the Bruins-Ducks game that on TV here. Oooh, there's blood too! [the Ducks committed a penalty, then a Bruin came in and started a fight. The penalties went: [for the Bruin]: 2 min for instigating and 5 for fighting; for the Duck: 2 for boarding, 5 for fighting. As for fights, my suitemate is taking a course called: "Global Apartheid and Global Social Movements" (click for the description). He's taking it as it fufills two of his university requirements and counts for his Economics major. I don't ask. Anyway, he was talking about how he has to (among other idiotarian texts) read the Communist Manifesto. So being the patriotic, capitalisim loving individual that I am--I simply told him that if I ever saw the book anywhere in the suite, I'd have to resort to drastic measures. Heh. Yes, the holiday is over, and I'm back. I just made a "quick" trip through the blogsphere, and it looks like I missed a lot (damn!). Also, in the sad news department, it looks like Dr. Jal is retiring from his blogging at idiotarian.com I personally frequented Dr. Jal's site and found it very entertaining. It'll be a shame not having his blog around anymore...but he promises to post things on his site. As for local (school) news, there's a club looking to get chartered this week, the "The Left-Handers Association" whose purpose is to "is to promote the rights of left-handed students". Where do I sign up? I'm a lefty too! Anyone else remember the episode of the Simpsons where Flanders opens up his lefty store? And finally, something I'll blog more about later, but posters went up around campus saying: "Diversity doesn't equal anti-racism".....hmmm.....what exactly does that mean? (to be explored later) Now back to GRE |
