Belated Weekend Open Thread

Have at it. Possible subjects for discussion:

- When will Alberto Gonzales resign?
- What will the Federal Trade Commission say in its report on video violence?
- Are the cops spying on you? Go and check.

Comments

[Josh]

How about an apology to McCain for his front-running bracket? Maybe the man just knows his basketball!

[Brian Sorgatz]

On my blog, I've had something to say about the Bush administration overall.

[Timon19]

How 'bout them Buckeyes!

[Paul]

So, it's lawful for a police department to exit its jurisdiction and perform surveillance on individuals who MIGHT cause disruption, ie terror?

Jesus Christ, what country is this?

[timothywest]

It's the United Soviet States of America.

[P Brooks]

Interesting revelation in the news the past couple of days, that Gates wanted to shut down Gitmo as one of his first priorities as Sec'y of Defense; Gonzales and Bush shut him down, instead.

One wonders how the British view our little Cuban enclave now, with combatants of their own currently in the custody of the Iranians. Are the Iranians hard at work building super-sized dog kennels?

[Thomas Paine\'s Goiter]

"Activists are showing a well-organized network made up of anti-Bush sentiment; the mixing of music and political rhetoric indicates sophisticated organizing skills with a specific agenda," said the report, dated Oct. 9, 2003. "Police departments in above listed areas have been contacted regarding this event."

Where have you gone J. Edgar Hooover?
A nation turns it's lonely eyes to you
woooo woooo wooo

[P Brooks]

"The limits in New York are known as the Handschu guidelines, after the lead plaintiff, Barbara Handschu."

We've got to take die Handshus off to fight the boogeyman- er, terrrist [sic] threat!

[Jim Murphy]

Is it just my personal distaste for the man, or is anyone else disgusted by John Edwards' reaction to his wife's recent cancer diagnosis? IMO, a real man would put his family before his career and political ambitions. The fact that he's going to keep campaigning--apparently dragging her along between chemo sessions--sickens me. Actually, it seems as if he's changed the theme of his campaign over the past few days from "I'm a sleazy trial lawyer...er..populist" to "My wife has cancer, vote for me". Beneath contempt, IMO...

[Syd]

Not disgusted by it. They know a lot more about the decision than you do and I'm sure they talked it over before he decided to go on.

[shecky]

Jim Murphy:

What do you expect from a faggot?

[Jim Murphy]

I'm sure the conversation went something like this:

John: I don't care if you're dying of cancer, Ima gonna be President! Think of the trial lawyers!

Mrs. Edwards: Yes, dear...

[Jim Murphy]

Jim Murphy:

What do you expect from a faggot?

Most of the gays I know would have put their "significant other" before their own ego and political ambitions...but calling Edwards that is an insult to gays. He's more of a douchebag anyway...

[black_box]

Edwards is grasping at straws. His campaign is going no where. I can't wait to see Obama rough him up at a debate.

[Dave B.]

I'm sure John Edwards' wife would just love to be the reason that his dreams of becoming president were crushed. There's nothing cancer patients love more than becoming a burden on the family. Maybe a real man wouldn't want to make his wife feel like she's ruined his life.

[Jonathan Hohensee]

This thread is making a real dark turn.

[James Kabala]

My first instinct was that Edwards should have left the campaign, but if he were an ordinary guy, no one would say he was obliged to quit his job because his wife had cancer. So I think the decision can be justified.
McCain's front-running bracket, while not entirely correct, has indeed been largely vindicated.

[Mad Max]

- When will Alberto Gonzales resign? In a couple months.

- What will the Federal Trade Commission say in its report on video violence? "It's bad."

- Are the cops spying on you? Yes.

[Taktix]

Series finale of Rome tonight 🙁

I hope HBO will see the value of its alliance with the BBC and produce more of such shows. If they do make more historically-based dramas, what would you all like to see next?

Tokugawa Japan? The Vikings? The U.S. Civil War?

[Jim Murphy]

I'm sure John Edwards' wife would just love to be the reason that his dreams of becoming president were crushed. There's nothing cancer patients love more than becoming a burden on the family. Maybe a real man wouldn't want to make his wife feel like she's ruined his life.

Welcome to Hit & Run, Mr. Edwards...you can just use your real name here...

"Ruining his life" might be appropriate in a case of a self absorbed worm like Edwards, but for anyone with their priorities straight doing what is best for his family wouldn't "ruin his life". Delaying your (ultimately futile) Presidential aspirations for 4 years does not "ruin your life" unless you're a real sick puppy...

And the "regular guy not being asked to quit his job" is apples and oranges. A "regular guy" doesn't drag his sick wife to "work" with him between chemo sessions, much less use her as a transparent prop to get ahead in his chosen profession.

If politics is so central to your being that you put it ahead of doing the right thing for your wife and family you need some serious therapy....

[JimmyDaGeek]

''We have to have an attorney general who is candid and truthful. And if we find out he's not been candid and truthful, that's a very compelling reason for him not to stay on,'

Substitute the word "President" for "attorney general" and it's much more fitting. As I've opined before, if the man at the top is not held accountable, why should anyone else??

[Thomas Paine\'s Goiter]

It's interesting to me that certain people are more concerned with candidate's wife's health over local police leaving jurisdiction to spy on lawful people planning lawful things and creating multi-jurisdictional files on said people.

You fuckers would have been more concerned with Ben Franklin having a mistress than the governance of the monarchy.

[John in Nashville]

Should President Ford have resigned because of his wife's breast cancer?

[LarryA]

If they do make more historically-based dramas, what would you all like to see next?

History of the First Amendment, covering the Alien & Sedition Acts, etc, up through McCain-Feingold?

John Edwards' wife

Her name's Elizabeth. They've been married 30 years, which in Congress rates miracle status. And if he wins she gets First Lady medical benefits.

OTOH, maybe he's been watching The American President.

It's interesting to me that certain people are more concerned with candidate's wife's health over local police leaving jurisdiction to spy on lawful people planning lawful things and creating multi-jurisdictional files on said people.

Maybe because 2004's old news. Last year NYC's Mayor Bloomberg sent his investigators to conduct sting operations on gun stores in other states, and is now suing said stores and forcing them to work under the control of an anti-gun monitor and video surveillance. The action impeded BATFE investigations, Bloomberg refused to turn over his records to the Feds, and several dealers are countersuing NYC.

Now that's overreaching your jurisdiction. (http://www.nysun.com/article/38864)

[Goldwater Conservative]

IMO, a real man would put his family before his career and political ambitions

We don't know how they came to the decision. One of the worst things to do is sit around and ponder the situation. Many people survive such events by staying busy. And since he is a faggot, he probably cares about faggy things like taking America down a non-heterosexual road (liberal statism) whereas we are currently on a straight path (fascism)

[Karen]

On the Elizabeth Edwards thing, I know a few cancer patients and all of them agree with the decision to stay in the campaign. All of them agree that it's better for her to have something to think about besides being sick. The more activities the disease deprives you of, the closer you are to dying. I've known more than one person who forced themselves to live until their child's wedding or graduation, until they finished a house renovation, or even something as trivial as completing a knitted afghan. My own grandmother had a severe stroke three weeks before my older son was born, but she stayed conscious until my father got home and told her Andy and I were both fine. She died the next day.

I really don't want to be maudlin, and certainly not everyone responds to illness the same way, but I strongly believe that Ms. Edwards is doing the right thing. I mean, Tony Snow announced he had a recurrance of colon cancer and I don't hear calls for his resignation.

[Goldwater Conservative]

Tony Snow announced he had a recurrance of colon cancer and I don't hear calls for his resignation.

That is a little different though. That is a somewhat regular job, at least in the sense of the hours he keeps and such. And Snow is the sick one not his wife or his child etc. I agree with Edwards decision but it is far different that Snow

[kevrob]

All libertarian hopes should be with the Georgetown Hoyas, or the NCAA Tourney will be closed out by the Omnipotent State!

Kevin

[D.A. Ridgely]

In the old days, when Dean Smith was coaching the Tar Heels and John Thompson Jr. was coaching the Hoyas, I'd have rooted for both teams to lose. Now? [shrug] I'll root half-heartedly for UNC just as an old ACC fan and that's about it.

[kevrob]

I just can't grok rooting for a state school.

Kevin

[Anita Dickens-Hyde]

How long will it take for Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter to start ridiculing Elizabeth Edwards?

[D.A. Ridgely]

I just can't grok rooting for a state school.

[shrug] If you count federal money, they're all state schools.

[Anita Dickens-Hyde]

Well, it appears I am behind the curve:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_032307/content/01125117.guest.html

[dhex, masochistic liberal]

man, hatefulness is a hard sell, but a successful one at that.

[kevrob]

[shrug] If you count federal money, they're all state schools. - D.A. Ridgely

If that were true, then Georgetown couldn't be a religious school. You make a good point, if what you mean is that federal research grants come with so many strings that even private schools can't be run according to their own principles, but I don't consider aid to the student to be properly a subsidy of the school.

Private schools still have some vestigial ability to operate differently than those of Leviathan, even if the administrators and faculty can be just as big a bunch of pinkos as at any State U. I actually studied economics in a class taught by a department chairman with an Austrian outlook, political polling and public opinion from a conservative, and a course in modern ethical problems from a philosophy prof who was very much a right-winger. There were also student life rules that would never have flown on a state campus. rge difference between the two types of schools is not just of degree.

At bottom, I think it is important not to give up on the idea of private education. Athletic success by the likes of G'Town helps keep that type of school in the public mind. I think that the many private schools that have, over the last half century, given up on football made a marketing mistake. The short-term benefit of cutting losses made sense, but the long-term effects on the popularity if private education may have been negative.

At least it's going to be close.

Kevin

[Tim]

For the sake of Elizabeth Edwards' health, Billy Packer should retire from announcing college basketball games permanently.

[Guy Montag]

Most of the gays I know would have put their "significant other" before their own ego and political ambitions...but calling Edwards that is an insult to gays. He's more of a douchebag anyway...

Since when have you homosexuals/sympathizers hijacked the term for an effeminate male to be exclusively homosexual?

Let's see, gay is no longer ever happy, it is only homosexual. Queer is no longer strange or odd, it is only homosexual. Fag is no longer a stick or an effeminate male, it is exclusively homosexual.

Sissy is not wimpish, it is only homosexual.

Wimp is no longer a chicken, it is only homosexual.

Rainbow is no longer the diffused colors of light, it is homosexual.

Give it a break.

[Jim Murphy]

Nice OT, Tar Heels....bwahahahaha!!!

[kcjerith]

My poor Jay Hawks! The campus will be like a morgue tomorrow 🙁 At least everyone is coming back next year.

[rdkraus]

How bout dem RUTGERS women?

Annuder #1 eats our dust.

[highnumber]

Have you been working in the back yard today?
Trimming back the rose bushes?
Are you wondering if you have lots of tiny cuts on your hand now?
Here's a little tip from your uncle highnumber:
Try mixing together some lemon juice and salt (a little garlic powder and olive oil won't hurt) and toss some asparagus in it. You'll find every spot where those rose thorns pricked you.

[matt]

[shrug] If you count federal money, they're all state schools.
==========================================
All except this one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grove_City_College

[But you cute]

diffused: displaying homoerotic tendencies

in case you hadn't heard

ya breeder

[andy]

This is relevant to nothing anyone has said, but Guitar Hero II for PS2 has stolen my life, although I'm not sure I want it back. One piece of advice: before anyone purchases this game, be sure you have adequate support systems for when you lose your job, alienate your family and friends and atrophy into a blob of static flab from sitting on your couch for 20 hours a day.

That is all.

[matt]

Andy,
Play standing up and imagine that you're onstage. Throw in some flips and poses.

How do I even know this?

[D.A. Ridgely]

Kevin:

I understand the distinctions, but even so the line is not so bright or well defined. You want to find Austrian economists at an American university? Check out state supported George Mason. For that matter, the College of William & Mary and University of Virginia, both state supported schools, have a great deal of autonomy compared to most public universities. Private schools like Stanford, Johns Hopkins, MIT, etc. receive so much federal money they are private only in the same sense, say, General Dynamics is private.

As for Georgetown, I think it all depends on which "public mind" you have in mind. More power to them, by the way, for their victory over UNC; but I still smile when I think of a couple of soldiers I met in Germany years ago who were under the impression Georgetown was a predominantly black school. Yeah, right. [shrug] Also, as a Roman Catholic friend of mine likes to point out, Georgetown isn't a religious school, it's a Jesuit school.

[P Brooks]

" US troops 'would have fought Iranian captors'"
By Terri Judd in Bahrain
Published: 26 March 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/
article2393337.ece

"A senior American commander in the Gulf has said his men would have fired on the Iranian Republican Guard rather than let themselves be taken hostage.

"In a dramatic illustration of the different postures adopted by British and US forces working together in Iraq, Lt-Cdr Erik Horner - who has been working alongside the task force to which the 15 captured Britons belonged - said he was "surprised" the British marines and sailors had not been more aggressive."

This sounds to me like wishful thinking.

[gobruins]

"I just can't grok rooting for a state school.

Kevin"

You would if you went to one.

UC-LA UC-LA!

[mediageek (forgot the cover sh]

Did I miss a memo or something?

What's with all the 3rd grade level accusations of John Edwards' sexual orientation?

I mean, the man's a statist asshole, no doubt, but since when does statist asshole = likes the cock?

[kevrob]

gobruins:

Well, yeah, but in my family we worked hard to avoid that awful fate. I didn't go to Georgetown, but to another Jesuit school, Marquette. I didn't choose my school based on athletics, though I must admit that MU's basketball prowess in the 60s & 70s did raise their profile. I almost went to GU, but the financial aid/scholarship package wasn't big enough. In the alternate universe where I managed to swing it, I graduated as a Hoya in `78, was an asshole College Republican, and wound up with a low-level job in the Reagan Administration. Here's hoping alt-kevrob didn't wind up indicted over Iran/Contra. 🙂

D.A. makes some good points about good programs at government schools, but I'm getting sick of "libertarian" faculty who take a paycheck from the state. I know that teaching at the college level is a competitive business, and restricting one's job search to private schools may be horribly limiting, but there are plenty of civil service jobs I might have been qualified for that I never tried to get. I may make less money that way, but at least I don't rob people for a living. Then there are the "heroes of free enterprise" like T.Boone Pickens who bestow multimillions on government schools that already suck millions from taxpayers. At some point we have got to separate education from the state, and sentimental attachments to one's alma mater ought not to blind one to the coercive nature of the state educational establishment. I'm confident that the day will come when bureaucratic forces will overwhelm the free market redoubt that has been built up at George Mason, and it will be reabsorbed into the regnant consensus of the New Class. If it were a private school, it would probably hold out longer. UCLA's econ dept was once called the University of Chicago at Los Angeles. Is that still the case?

I'm in no position to donate much to my schools. My high school was closed they year I graduated. The nuns having failed to plan for the retirement needs of the older members of their order, they had to sell assets, and the school was one of them. Should I ever make the Big Money, I'd have second thoughts about donating to my Jesuit alma mater. Since I ditched Catholicism, as my ideal is now private, secular education. Perhaps I'd fund some National Merit Scholarships for those choosing any private school.

In any case, I'm glad at least one school in the Final Four is private, and that it happens to be from the Big East is just gravy. If that one school had turned out to be USC, BYU or Duke, I'd be just about as happy.

Oh, m'geek: the Breck Girl is getting the gay-bashing treatment because of that Coulter flap at CPAC a week or two ago. I don't care for it when folks equate being a handsome fellow with being sexually inverted. Though the closest I come to being a matinee idol is the translation of my name from the Irish, I've a couple of buddies that the girls thought were pretty cute who were absolute hounds. Guys who used he's too good-looking to be straight were either jealous or had some other issues. It is true that a man doesn't have to be "pretty" to be attractive, and ruggedness that even borders on the ugly can attract women. The only way I find a guy who looks like Edwards offputting is if it is apparent that he preens and overgrooms. (See: the Great Metrosexual Scare of the Early Oughties.)

Kevin

[yaj]

"what would you all like to see next?

Tokugawa Japan? The Vikings? The U.S. Civil War?"

How about a drama based on Erik Larsen's tale of the Chicago World's Fair?

Maybe the story of the Irish and Chinese building the railroads.

Other possible interests: the story of the fight to end the slave trade - especially with it being made clear that slavery is not some European creation; the only unique thing about European slavery was how it ended.

The story behind the events that led to the great depression - especially within the Fed.

A story about Saturnalia.

A story about Pythagoras and the cult he led.

Socrates or Plato or the lives of other early Greek philosophers and the contexts of their times.

[hooie]

Anyone see the beat down of Virginia Postrell over at Lew Rockwell? Someone said, "dynamist = statist." I wonder where the substance is in the style of arguments like this.

[gobruins]

kevrob:

I was a Poli Sci major so I don't know much about the econ department at UCLA but my guess is that it's about as socialist as my department was these days. James Q. Wilson is still a Professor Emeritus. And there's Eugene Volokh at the Law School. That's about it for notable non-leftists in general I think.

I was an asshole college republican at UCLA in real life. And I recall being at regional functions with some of the bigger assholes from USC who lambasted me and my fellow bruins for going to a state school. I really just went there because it was the best school I got into and the fact that it was a lot cheaper than many a less prestigious private school seemed good to. I also found it funny that the USC kids had so much personal pride in having parents with enough money to send them to a private school as though that fact reflected on their own character. And of course many of them were getting federal financial aid and loans to help pay for that hefty tuition.

The issue for my family was the same as for many middle class people. The government taxes you to pay for public schools thus making it impossible to afford to a private one. Or at least impossible without taking out massive student loans. I'm paying for the public school anyway I might as well go there, especially if it's a highly respected one. No one ever gave me flack for going to public secondary school for similar reasons.

I agree a move towards privatization, however. But even in that world, I think my beloved UCLA would still exist, it would just be subsidized by individual student financial aid and government research money instead of actually being directly run by the state. Which is pretty much already the case for private schools. You could just take it one step further and have state vouchers for college students and let the former state schools sink or swim on their own.

[kevrob]

Maybe I am too damned old, but in my day you took pride in getting accepted at a tough school, and if you got a scholarship based on merit you took more. Bragging on Daddy's money was asshole behavior, though there wasn't any need to be ashamed of it, either. The economy sucked so bad in the 70s that plenty of the middle class kids who went to my private high school sweated getting admitted at SUNY-Stony Brook, not because they couldn't get in at more conventionally prestigious schools, but because they were caught in that nasty trap: families not rich enough to pay the full boat at a private school, yet too well-off to get need-based aid. New York did give the Regents Scholarships based on a state-wide test which had to be used at any in-state school, and those helped good students of all income levels. I've got a horde of siblings, several of whom were in college at the same time, so I always made out on both criteria (merit and need.)

I think you've got it right as to how we should transition out of state education. Make the schools independent, and convert their annual subsidies to aid to the student. Some of that should be on merit, and some on need. Ideally, we could morph the tax-funded scholarship fund into a private one, but I've no objection to intermediary steps.

Kevin

[hooie]

A screamin' screed from Lew Rockwell:

How to Survive in the Beltway, Part I....or....Postrellian "Libertarianism," Part II
Posted by Karen DeCoster at March 25, 2007 01:32 PM

Charles B. is one of the most insightful people I know when it comes to libertarians and libertarianism. He is a been there-done that kind of intellectual. Concerning the Postrel bit that I mentioned the other day, he sent me a priceless email response. This man is so incredibly learned, I suggest you read it:

Loved your recent posting at your blog and at LewRockwell.com on Virginia Postrel. Gad but don't these Reason/Cato "cultural libertarian" bozos ever give up? All this stuff was endlessly addressed decades ago by Rothbard and Hamowy (among others) in their dissection of Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty or Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom. And by the way, which "Hayek" is she referring to when she criticizes libertarians such as Rothbard and Rand as "utopian?" I think it must be actress Salma Hayek. It was surely not the F. A. Hayek of the August 1948 Mont Pelerin Society Circular, "The Intellectuals and Socialism," later published in the Spring 1949 edition of The University of Chicago Law Review (attached). This is the seminal speech where this "Hayek" person berates his Mont Pelerin Society audience on "What we lack is a liberal utopia. . ." and praises Socialists for their "courage to be utopian," etc. It was this "Hayek" person's most famous article, one which allegedly influenced generations of libertarians, but not according to the Dynamist Dynamo. But Postrel has always had it all wrong on so many things. For example, there was never any "dynamist-stasist" dichotomy. Dynamist = Statist! I've seen nothing over the years to alter this evaluation or my assessment of her sorry editorship of Reason (which continued the rapid descent of that once noble publication which began with Edith Efron's inane attack on Rothbard in 1978).

Karen, did you ever see the old '70's Saturday morning kids show, Electra Woman and DynaGirl? I'm almost sure that Ms. Postrel did. Judging by her effulent bio on her dynamist.com site, Virginia believes she has finally moved up from being "DynaGirl" to "Electra Woman," complete with the blonde dye-job. Life imitating art, the substance of style.

Then he adds:

As I pointed out in previous emails to you, I have known Dr. Palmer since he was a kid working with me on the 1976 MacBride LP Presidential Campaign in Michigan and Kansas. He was then someone who excitedly told you about having read Atlas Shrugged non-stop over a weekend in high school or how his treasured personal copy of Rothbard's For A New Liberty was inscribed with a dedication from Murray including him in "the cadre."

Great stuff. Then Charles points out Rothbard's brilliant article "The Case for Radical Idealism," where "he essentially answers Postrel's rant point by point, citing that key "utopian" passage from Hayek's "The Intellectuals and Socialism" and, more importantly, how the term "utopian" is a misnomer used by statist sell-outs to discredit those who have radical or consistant libertarian ideas."

As a bonus, here's an older snippet of Virginia "the libertarian" Postrel praising George Bush. Here is further evidence of Postrel's support for Bush and his War on Terror. This, folks, is how you "make it" in the Beltway without making enemies out of the Dear Leaders.

[Pro Libertate]

yaj,

Saturnalia, indeed. It has been proposed in this venue that we celebrate it each year, with commenters running the show, and writers exiled to this forum.

Io, Saturnalia!

[yaj]

I'd also love to see a series about the fight for/against the Constitution.

[thoreau]

Regarding higher education and federal funds:

DAR makes a good point. Even the private for-profit schools, which derive their budgets entirely from tuition rather than federal research grants, still get federal funds via student aid. Now, you could say that this money comes via the students rather than directly to the school, so it's really a subsidy to the students, but:

1) I suspect that if federal aid were cut tuition would also be cut as well. It wouldn't be an exact dollar-for-dollar correspondence, but there would be a clear relationship. That's one way of saying that federal aid is artificially boosting per-student revenue and is hence a subsidy to the school.

2) A lot of times that money is sent to the school rather than the student, and there is an office to process it and help students apply. The school is therefore in some sense "part of the system."

3) Even if you want to view the school as competing for students rather than federal funds, in order for students to use their funds at those schools the schools must meet federal requirements. This turns out to be rather tricky for schools that want to offer courses on non-traditional schedules or offer a career-oriented curriculum rather than being more like the typical 4 year college. There are hoops that are jumped through, loopholes that are founded, rules that are complied with, etc. In other words, the feds have some say in how the school is run.

The bottom line is that almost higher education in America is under the sway of the feds. The only exceptions might be a few conservative religious schools that reject federal financial aid (and even there, I wonder if private accreditation agencies insist that they meet certain Dept. of Education standards). I'm not here to condone or defend the federal role in higher education, I'm just here to agree with DAR that there is no such thing as a truly private college (except perhaps a few conservative religious schools).

For those of us who have a strong passion for teaching and research at the university level, we have a choice: Either teach at Bob Jones University, or try to at least find a private university that's slightly less dependent, try to include some private research funds in the portfolio, and otherwise focus on doing a good job for our students and colleagues. It is the way it is, and I'm not about to abandon this noble mission of teaching and scholarship because almost all of the schools in this country (and other countries) are at least somewhat public. I would rather do my part to nudge academia in a better direction than abandon academia.

[hooie]

T, I agree with you - better to work with what we've got to steer it in a positive direction than throw up our hands and work only as clerks at 7-11s (that leaves the university totally in the hands of the statists) though the good folks at Lew Rockwell would put you through a beat down for any sort of sniffing around the pork bones of public funding.

[Denny Crane]

Denny Crane

[Pro Libertate]

I was federally funded, once. When I worked at Ohio State, my position was mostly funded by an NSF grant. Of course, the research foundation took 40% right off the top, the bastards. All the more reason for me to support the further humiliations of their athletic program 🙂

I'd like to see a comparison of the various funding mechanisms between and among major state universities and major private institutions. I wonder how much they differ?

[Timon19]

PL,

The rematch is one step away, now. Should be an interesting week.

[Pro Libertate]

Timon19,

Well, neither UCLA nor Georgetown look to be pushovers. I sure would like for UF to make it, though I lack the desire for a rematch that UCLA and OSU fans have. OSU is a good team and might make it, but I think they're going to have trouble with the Hoyas. On the other side of the tournament, UCLA is looking for blood, and UF is not dominating teams like it did last year. We'll see!

In any event, UF will be losing most of the team after this season, so it'll be a little while before we make it this far again, probably. Danged NBA ("Not Basketball Anymore").

[thoreau]

PL-

My anecdotal observation is that they don't differ all that much. Although it's worth noting that the University of California has been pretty good at bringing in industrial funds lately. The state has been making certain funds contingent on receiving industrial matching funds. You could look at it as a subsidy to industry (it probably is), but you could also look at it as California enticing it's faculty to diversify their portfolios.

As a UC alum, I was the beneficiary of these efforts to bring in industrial funds. A very interesting chapter of my thesis was written on an industry-funded project, and it exposed me to a different style of doing physics, a different way of finding interesting and important problems. I think my education was enhanced by my advisor's decision to seek a more balanced portfolio of funds.

[Pro Libertate]

thoreau,

Walking down Anecdotal Lane with you, it's been my observation that public universities in larger cities (i.e., not mere college towns) get substantially more funding from the private sector, in various forms (often in so-called public-private partnerships). Down here, I get the impression that South Florida gets a considerable amount of money that way, even though Florida is usually the big money school in the state (as the "flagship university"). I noted the same phenomenon at OSU--plenty of private dollars flow in there from various Columbus-based (and other) businesses.

[joe]

Alberto Gonzales will resign when a delegation of Congressional Republicans tells the White House that the bill to impeach the Attorney General has majority support in the House.

June, maybe July.

[Pro Libertate]

joe,

I disagree. Usually--though not always, I'll grant--the branches wimp out on these kinds of Constitutional conflicts with some sort of compromise. As a libertarian, I think they should tear each other to pieces, naturally, and avoid such undue and undeserved deference 🙂

Incidentally, while I'm not sure the firings are that big of a deal in and of themselves, as usual, the lies after the fact are what may get someone into hot water. The AG should resign, since he's been caught lying. Certainamente, Der Censor would remove his dishonest ass promptly and forthwith.

[joe]

Pro Lib,

When did we lower the bar so far that only criminal behavior counts as a "big deal?"

The White House carried out a purge of United States Attorneys based on how cooperative they were in using their law enforcement powers to advance the electoral chances of Republicans. That's a big deal.

[Pro Libertate]

joe,

Yes, assuming that that is actually the full story (and it may be, though I think the bit about not investigating voter fraud in some cases is more of a warm gun than a smoking one. . .but stay tuned, right?), I agree. But the reality is that this is politics as usual in the Beltway. Allowing appointees to serve at the President's pleasure nets you this sort of behavior. I suggest that Congress not give away its Constitutional powers in the future.

[NoStar]

Post 69! Everybody smoke a cigarette and then take a drink.

[Bradchase]

Denny Crane. "Boston Legal" is a good mirror for the way cosmopolitan liberals view anyone who doesn't share their politics. If you don't leap onto the tribal bandwagon of all their assumptions you're at best adorably suffering from dementia, or retarded, the example case being Captain Kirk, a.k.a, Denny Crane. Or you're a one-dimensional can-do g.i.joe Ken Doll.

The show would be better if it actually presented Republicans or conservatives as actually believable and fully developed characters, like Alan Shore, the liberal hero.

[Guy Montag]

Just heard that the pro-illegal alien rally turnouts were low on Sunday.

Anybody actually go to them for a first hand report (also known here as personal anecdote)?

[R C Dean]

When did we lower the bar so far that only criminal behavior counts as a "big deal?"

Oh, the bar is lower than that joe.

We're to the point now where a lot of criminal behavior by Our Masters in DC isn't a big deal. That doped up Kennedy scion who walked from the drunk driving crash? Cynthia McKinney assaulting a guard? Sandy Berger stealing and destroying classified documents?

[joe]

"That doped up Kennedy scion who walked from the drunk driving crash?" National news, rehab.

"Cynthia McKinney assaulting a guard?" Lost her next election.

"Sandy Berger stealing and destroying classified documents?" Plead guilty, sentenced to a fine and loss of his security clearance.

Was there a point somewhere?

[joe]

BTW, "copying," rather than "stealing and destroying."

Every original was returned.

[kevrob]

Berger's security clearance was only temporarily suspended. He could have it back in time to serve in a Democratic administration starting in `09.

Instapundit put me onto this Washington Post article. Some think Berger may have been able to get at more than the 5 documents that were the subject of his guilty plea. Those who plea out often only admit to some of their crimes, as the prosecution doesn't need all the possible counts to get the sentencing result that it wants. In this, Berger is no different than any other crook.

As for everyone wjo replied to my posts with the comment that private schools might as well be state schools, for all the direct and indirect tax aid they get, I say Resist! Resist! Resist! If one takes a blase attitude to the Federal encroachment on independent education, of course it will be endemic. I have no love for the idiotic racial policies of Bob Jones U, but the idea that tax aid to students must require religious institutions that admit recipients to change policies based on their First Amendment-protected beliefs is back-door tyranny. I didn't like the outcome of Grove City v. Bell, but I even question the constitutionality of Federal education aid not tied to an enumerated power, such as Defense spending. Are non-profit educational institutions, especially ones connected to churches, a proper target for the commerce Clause? I say "No."

As for public/private partnerships, the local universities in my town constantly bitch that local businesses partner up with the flagship state school at the state capitol, and don't do enough with area universities. The local University of State at City has a bad case of Prestige Envy, and while my private alma mater has a well-regarded engineering school, it doesn't have the range of doctoral programs that University of State does. We were also forced by the financial facts of life to hive off our med school back in the late `50s. Our school, the Med School, a local engineering college, US@C and several smaller institutioms have banded together to form a consortium to attract tech-oriented money, but there's a way to go to compete with Big State U. None of the local schools play DI football, frex.

Kevin

[R C Dean]

Was there a point somewhere?

Yeah, my point was none of them have done any time.

Assaulting an officer? No prob, Ms. McKinney, no indictment for you, if you don't mind.

Wrecking your car at the Capitol? No prob, Mr. Kennedy, perhaps a short stay in rehab won't be too objectionable?

Stealing and destroying classified documents? Sorry to have to do this, Mr. Berger, but here's a slap on the wrist. Hope to see you back in a top-level security clearance in a few years!

That's how seriously we take their crimes.

[R C Dean]

Every original was returned.

Actually, no. There is every reason to believe that he took, and destroyed originals for which there is no copy. Check the House report on this.

[joe]

Why would I believe a report about the misdeeds of a Democrat issued by the Tom Delay-era House, over that of the investigators and prosecutors who handled the case?

[rob]

"Why would I believe a report about the misdeeds of a Democrat issued by the Tom Delay-era House, over that of the investigators and prosecutors who handled the case?" - joe

There's a simple Occam's Razor test, here, joe. When examining a politico of any stripe, you're can be over 90% sure that whatever they actually hung him up for, he's guilty of far, FAR worse.

Unless of course, he's one of your boys from Team Blue, right? In which case, he's surely being framed... or something.