There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

Ron Hammond, Phd, professor at Utah Valley State College, has quit using

“I think it’s immoral because of the cost of it,” Hammond told the Central Utah Daily Herald.

Instead of textbooks, Hammond has been assigning journal articles and other reading materials that his students can check out from the library or download from the internet, a practice which, if every one of their professors did it, would save students (on average) $900 a year.

It took Hammond a year to rewrite his own curriculum, after throwing out all his old textbooks. “It was worth it in the long run,” Hammond said.

We always appreciated professors who did this when we were in college. At least at our college, providing xeroxed readings from various sources via downloadable PDFs instead of multiple textbooks was common. Often we could get away with sharing the textbook with a friend or using the copy on reserve at the library.

Hooray for professors who understand that college is expensive!

Getting ready to pay for books myself, this is a good trend to see.

Source: The Consumerist

In video, booing is at 1:52 remaining in the video

Andrew Card, President George W. Bush’s former Chief of Staff, was showered with a chorus of boos and catcalls from students and faculty of the University of Massachusetts while receiving an honorary degree Friday. Protesters, who caught the embarrassing scene on video, attached anti-Card signs to their robes and drowned out Provost Charlena Seymour’s remarks about Card’s “public service.” Even faculty sitting on stage joined in on the action, screaming their disapproval while holding signs that read “Card: No Honor, No Degree.”

Card, obviously shaken by the commotion, managed a slight grin while Seymour spoke. He later raised his hand in recognition but sat down without speaking at any length.

After the ceremony, he refused to acknowledge the protests, only saying, “It was a great honor and a privilege to be here.”

The university community was upset with the school’s decision to award Card an honorary degree, given his involvement in spinning intelligence in the lead up to the war in Iraq. Even before the ceremony began, 100 faculty members and students sang anti-war songs, handed out leaflets and waved signs outside the arena where commencement was held.

A graduate of the University of South Carolina, Card was a supporter of UMass in his days as a Massachusetts lawmaker. He served as Bush’s chief of staff from the president’s first inauguration through 2006.

The video below was created by the protesters.

It’s a relief when we see that students and faculty are able to stand up to a decision at a major University and not suffer any punishment. However, the fact that Andrew Card was still given the degree is a bit sick.

Is there any way that he could walk away feeling good about that honorary degree? I would have refused it! The students and faculty made it clear that they did not want him to have that degree, and they are the meat of any University not the administration who make these boneheaded decisions.

One more semi-victory for the good guys.

Source: Raw Story 

I’m not sure what to think about this, I’ll just leave it up to you to decide.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Why did terrorists attack the U.S. on 9/11?

According to Texas Congressman Ron Paul, “They attack us because we’ve been over there. We’ve been bombing Iraq for 10 years. We’ve been in the Middle East.”

Restrained, but clearly angry, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani jumped in, calling Paul’s statement “extraordinary.”

“As someone who lived through the attack of September 11 — that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq — I don’t think I’ve ever heard that before, and I’ve heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11th,” he said.

Giuliani’s fiery response prompted applause and the following demand from the former mayor: “I would ask the congressman to withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn’t really mean that.”

In response, Paul stood by his comments and said that “if we think that we can do what we want around the world and not incite hatred, then we have a problem … They come and they attack us because we’re over there.”

Giuliani isn’t grounded in reality.

Source: CNN 

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who barely registers in public opinion polls of the Republican presidential field, won last Thursday night’s debate.

That was the unmistakable conclusion of the online poll posted by debate sponsor MSNBC, which registered Paul with higher positive ratings and lower negative numbers than any of the other nine candidates on the stage.

ABC’s post-debate Internet survey showed an even clearer victory for Paul, with the congressman taking more than 9,400 of 11,000 votes as of 12:30 p.m. Monday. (Rudy Giuliani is the next ranked candidate, with barely 150 votes.)

So are the polls missing a Paul boomlet? Is the famously contrarian ob-gyn — a libertarian nicknamed “Dr. No” because of his propensity to vote against anything he believes contradicts the Constitution’s original intent — poised to surge into contention in the GOP field?

Not likely. What’s more likely, based on Web traffic over the past week, is that Paul supporters have mastered the art of “viral marketing,” using Internet savvy and blog postings to create at least the perception of momentum for his long-shot presidential bid.

The Ron Paul Effect

Since online polls aren’t scientific — people choose to take them, and many people vote multiple times — doing well in them doesn’t necessarily mean a campaign is on the move.

But Internet buzz can have a carry-over effect, said Peter Greenberger, an online strategist at New Media Strategies and a former Democratic political operative.

“It’s evidence of something — either passionate supporters, active supporters, or just one very savvy supporter who’s able to vote several thousand times,” Greenberger said. “If it leads to one or two stories in the mainstream media, that could lead to a bounce online, and could lead to some fundraising successes.”

With strong support among libertarians who are unhappy with the top-tier Republican contenders, Paul has a robust online presence.

His MySpace profile boasts nearly 12,000 “friends.” Today, his name ranks in the Top 10 among blog search terms at Technorati.com, behind Paris Hilton but ahead of Mario Lopez.

After Thursday night’s debate, the comment sections of several major news organizations — including ABC’s — were inundated with pro-Paul messages.

Viewers raved about Paul’s commitment to abolishing the IRS, his steadfast opposition to a national ID card, and a forthright tone that bloggers said set him apart from the other candidates onstage.

The Paul campaign did not immediately respond to a phone call and e-mail message seeking comment.

ABC and other major news sources are downplaying the effect that congressmen Ron Paul’s victory might have. They constantly say “He can’t win”, and that the polls are a fluke.

Is the news media that far into  someones pocket that they need to toss in their opinions on politics in order to prevent Ron Paul from even having a chance? This is a sick and disgusting practice that needs to be turned around because it crushes the spirit of democracy.

I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next few weeks, but something is going to have the change in the way the news media presents these candidates…. declaring “HE CAN’T WIN” this early because he hasn’t been in the national spot light yet isn’t conjecture…. it’s  just ignorance.

Source: ABCNews 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the highest-ranking black woman in government history, said the racist, sexist comments that got radio shock jock Don Imus fired were “disgusting.”In her first public remarks on the controversy, Rice said Friday that Imus had insulted not only female athletes but all young black women by referring to the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy headed hos.”

“They’re 18- and 19-year-old women,” she said. “And what were they doing except showing that they’re really fine athletes, playing under extraordinary pressure in which for them was a dream season.

“And it gets ruined by this disgusting — and I’ll use the word ‘disgusting’ — comment which doesn’t belong in any polite company and certainly doesn’t belong on any radio station that I would listen to,” Rice told talk show host Michael Medved.

“I just thought that it was an attack on women’s sports, first of all, and secondly an attack on very accomplished young black women in a way that was really offensive,” she said, according to a transcript of the interview released by the State Department.

Rice declined to offer an opinion on Imus’s firing but said she was “very glad that there was, in fact, a consequence” for the remarks.

Imus was fired by CBS radio on Thursday as the controversy over his remarks last week grew and advertisers began to pull support for his show, “Imus in the Morning,” which regularly featured Washington insiders.

Rice, according to her spokesman Sean McCormack, never appeared on the program.

So the stuck up, conservative governors believe that Imus losing his job was a good thing…. of course Imus rarely mentioned George Bush’s name without adding “War Criminal” to it. Is Rice an objective observer?

Well as a Black, female, conservative who wouldn’t listen to a radio station if they used the word “Hoe”… you decide.

Source: CNN 

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stem cells will be at the top of the agenda for the U.S. Senate when it returns on Tuesday with supporters of the research hoping they can change the president’s mind on the issue and opponents hoping to have a say about their stand.

The Senate will consider two bills, one virtually identical to a bill vetoed by President George W. Bush last year that would have expanded and encouraged federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research.

The other is a compromise measure worked out by Republicans Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia and Norm Coleman of Minnesota. It would encourage stem cell research on embryos that have naturally lost the ability to develop into fetuses, such as those that have died “naturally” during fertility treatments.

The compromise bill also would support the creation of a bank of stem cells taken from amniotic fluid and placentas — two recently discovered potential sources.

This bill replaces last year’s alternative sponsored by Kansas Republican Sam Brownback, which would ban human embryonic stem cell research and encourage research using other types of stem cells.

The House of Representatives passed a bill in January that would expand federal funding of stem cell research, which is now restricted by Bush to batches available as of August 2001. But the bill does not have enough supporters to override a second presidential veto.

Even when the Democrates are in power and some of this stuff has a chance to pass we still are doomed to fail thanks to Bush having the power to veto congress. I never liked that factor of our government, why one man should have the power to overrule the decision of a hundred.

But with every step we get closer, and maybe someday soon we will be able to  research and get the full benefit from the use of Stem Cells. Until then… we just have to hope that the next president will have a basic understanding of science that doesn’t come from the bible.

Source: Reuters

Bill Maher thinks he is a Libertarian… HA

Ron Paul deals with some good issues, he allows Maher to play with him by answering the question about the Civil War; which he did very well; and made great points on how the VA heath care system and all government run heath care doesn’t work. Talking about health care from the point of view of a doctor and not a politician he is able to actually make a case… unlike other members of congress who enjoy screaming about the heath care system.

He is also correct about the CIA, why do we need to have an intelligence agency working independently  “for the good of the nation”? It seems crazy to me.

A New York gallery has angered a US Catholic group with its decision to exhibit a milk chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ. The six-foot (1.8m) sculpture, entitled “My Sweet Lord”, depicts Jesus Christ naked on the cross.

Catholic League head Bill Donohue called it “one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever”.

The sculpture, by artist Cosimo Cavallaro, will be displayed from Monday at Manhattan’s Lab Gallery.

I think the best part is the people who are causing an uproar about this probably bashed the Muslim  community for getting in an uproar about the Mohammad cartoons.

I f someone can explain the next point to me, I’d be very glad:

The Catholic League, which describes itself as the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organisation, also criticised the timing of the exhibition.

“The fact that they chose Holy Week shows this is calculated, and the timing is deliberate,” Mr Donohue said.

He called for a boycott of the gallery and the hotel which houses it.

Why does there need to be a Catholic civil rights organization? More importantly why does there need to be more than one! I have a feeling they focus less on “Catholic civil rights” and more on preventing the religion from looking bad or from people “offending” it in anyway. The day a group with those goals can be called a civil rights organization is the day logic dies.

‘Overwhelming response’

The gallery’s creative director, Matt Semler, said the gallery was considering its options in the wake of angry e-mails and telephone calls.

“We’re obviously surprised by the overwhelming response and offence people have taken,” he said. “We are certainly in the process of trying to figure out what we’re going to do next.”

Mr Semler said the timing of the exhibition was coincidental.

Mr Cavallaro, the Canadian-born artist, is known for using food ingredients in his art, on one occasion painting a hotel room in mozzarella cheese.

He used 200 pounds (90 kg) of chocolate to make the sculpture which, unusually, depicts Jesus without a loincloth.

It sounds like an impressive piece of art, and something that would be breathtaking to see. Molding something that large out of chocolate is an awesome feat.

That is, unless you are catholic… then your civil rights have been violated.

Source: BBC News

Peace is just days away!