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Showing posts from March, 2007

Columbia U. "Minuteman Attack" Thugs Get Off: Business as Usual...

The word is out: radical thugs control the Columbia University president's office today, as much as they did in the 1969 riots. The tradition continues. Pres. Lee Bollinger has played his part, disregarding a fundamental crime against speech. He is all but complicit in it, at this point. What crime? What thugs? -You may ask. Well, it all started when the Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist was invited to speak at Columbia University, by the College Republicans (those darn troublemakers!). The head of the school's "Chicano Caucus," Karina Garcia, among others, didn't want that to happen. (source) They organized a "protest" against Mr. Gilchrist, which amounted to storming on the stage as he began to speak, and attempting to unfurl a banner across the stage. When security tried to stop them, they violently resisted, along with elements from the crowd. Mr. Gilchrist was not allowed to finish his speech. This kind of behavior is intolerable, and would ne

Novak on Plame Testimony: Republicans Wimp Out!

I predicted little political fallout from Scooter Libby's conviction. Well, here it is, in the form of Valerie Plame testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. This congressional "dog-and-pony show" may not get on the radar of the average Joe or Jane, but it bolsters the "big lie" theory, and will be used against supporters of the Iraq front in the war on Islamist terrorism. I still believe it's political effect will be minimal, unless it presages a wholesale surrender by Republicans on the war. This excerpt is from the latest Evans Novak political report email: Plame Testimony: The long-awaited first public testimony by Valerie Plame Wilson demonstrated both the determination of Democrats to try to politically milk this story and the weakness of Republicans. The goal of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is to connect the "outing" of former CIA employee Plame

The NYCLU and The Politics of Personal Destruction

This just in from the NYCLU: (a real email, not a spoof) Dear Christopher Leavitt, Action Alert! Former Attorney General John Ashcroft will be speaking at Hofstra University's John Cranford Adams Playhouse on Tuesday evening, March 20, at 7:30 p.m. Hofstra students, faculty, and members of the community are assembling at 7 p.m. in front of the playhouse to protest Ashcroft's systematic attacks on our civil liberties. Through his actions as governor, senator, and then attorney general he has demonstrated his anti-choice, anti-LGBT, pro-censorship, fundamentalist, radical agenda. As a key supporter of the Patriot Act, Ashcroft has savaged our right to privacy and due process at every turn. Members of the community are encouraged to attend. Join the educational rally and wear black to raise awareness. I so LOVE being on their mailing list. Let's look at this, shall we? John Ashcroft, private citizen, will be speaking at Hofstra University (less than 10 miles from where I live)

New Blogger Problems

I'm having a little trouble with the switch to the new Blogger, so forgive me if some recent posts only have titles, linked to my Gather crossposts. I think I've got it fixed, but LEAVWORLD is the antithesis of techworld, apparently.

Iran Will End Nuclear Program If US Destroys All Copies of "300"

In a bold diplomatic strategy, the Islamic Republic of Iran has offered to end their nuclear program, if the USA destroys all copies of the new Hollywood feature, "300." The deal is contingent on destroying not only all the copies made in the USA, and western countries, but all of the bootleg copies already circulating in Iran. "We will keep our nuclear program as dormant as our sleeper cells in the USA," the Tehran government declared. "All we want is for this filth to be removed from the face of the Earth, as well as the offensive movies they produce." An inside source says that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad will drop his demands if he gets a "one-on-one" meeting with Rodrigo Santoro , the actor who plays the Persian King Xerxes. The inside info is that Ahmedinejad thinks he can fool the "world powers" if he assumes a more feminine personality, intead of his current "apocalyptic" image. Pres. Bush has resisted the

Global Warming: That Ghastly Fad

By TJ Thompson, excerpted from Gather.com. As the French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot wrote, "In pure science, fads come and go." The perceived climate change crisis is no exception. The 1970s were plagued with reports of "global cooling" and predictions of the "New Ice Age." The media ran with the story and induced theatrics on the level of a Broadway musical, and the public suspected nothing corrupt or scientifically inadequate about the claims. Rather, the masses acted quite similarly to those who now caution the public about "global warming." In spite of this episode of social deja vu, the debate over the cause and potential effects of global warming continues to drive the public and the legislature, each side claiming that empirical data supports their own theories, but the notion that human negligence has caused widespread climatic change is melodramatic and appeals centrally to human arrogance and emotion. Read the whole post here , or

Save Energy or Poison the Environment? CFL Bulbs

Sen. Dodd for President?

Al Gore's Carbon Credits