, a near-future novel of the type Tom Clancy writes, about how the red state and blue state political divisions could possibly lead to a second American civil war.Should outsiders try to influence the hiring or tenuring of university faculty?
I beg to differ. Educational institutions may appoint whomever they wish, but they cannot expect immunity from public criticism. Precisely because academe offers unique job security, public evaluation of untenured academics has a potentially vital role. The more pre-tenure scrutiny, the better. Organizations like Campus Watch focus precisely on those areas that tenure committees typically miss.
As for tenured faculty, robust public criticism can keep them in line by embarrassing them and hurting their credibility. Juan Cole characterizes senior professors as "sort of like baseball players" whom other teams look at "from time to time, as recruitment prospects." In response, Martin Kramer of the Shalem Center notes that "We don't put baseball players on pedestals, and a whole section of the newspaper relentlessly criticizes their performance. Academics want to have it both ways: lifetime job security, sports-like celebrity, lots of vacation time, and no accountability."
Not only do you do a wonderful job representing the people of Illinois, in just a few short years you have proven yourself to be an incredibly inspirational national leader. From your memorable and unifying speech at the Democratic National Convention to your new book The Audacity of Hope, you have shown you have the best interests of all Americans at heart.
That is why I want to see you run for President in 2008. I believe that you are the right man to lead our country at a time of such turmoil around the globe, bringing Americans together at a time in our nation's history when we need unity more than ever.
As your memorable speech at the 2004 convention proved, you understand that our country isn't as simply divided between red and blue as political commentators seem to believe. There isn't a monolithic "red state voter" who is different in every way from her blue state counterpart, but rather there are Americans in every corner of our country who have their own hopes, dreams, and communities -- and many more of these overlap than conflict.
With a unifying leader like you in the White House, I know that we can overcome the deep divisions that cause such unnecessary friction to arise between red and blue, both in Washington and in our nation as a whole. That is why I hope you will run for President in 2008.
On Saturday the Sun-Times ran a small item about a man who had set himself on fire during rush hour Friday morning near the Ohio Street exit on the Kennedy. His identity has still not been officially determined, but members of the local jazz and improvised music community say they are certain it was Malachi Ritscher, a longtime supporter of the scene. Bruno Johnson, who owns the free-jazz label Okka Disk, received a package yesterday from Ritscher that included a will, keys to his home, and instructions about what should be done with his belongings. Johnson, a former Chicagoan who now lives in Milwaukee, began making calls. Police are still awaiting the results of dental tests, but Johnson says an officer told one of Ritscher's sisters that all evidence pointed to the body being his; his car was found nearby and he hadn't shown up for work since Thursday.
Buried on Ritscher's web site Chicago Rash Audio Potential, a compendium of invaluable show postings, artwork, and photography, are a suicide note and an obituary. Both indicate that he was deeply troubled by the war in Iraq and pinpoint it as a motive for suicide (no method is specified), though there are indications that he may have had other issues as well. "He had a son, from whom he was estranged (at the son's request), and two grandchildren," reads the obit. "He had many acquaintances, but few friends; and wrote his own obituary, because no one else really knew him." Ritscher was a familiar face at antiwar protests, and he was arrested more than once for his involvement, including this time this past May. A note found at the scene of the immolation reportedly read "Thou Shalt Not Kill."
Although Ritscher, who was in his early 50s, had played music off and on over the years, he was best known for his devotion to documenting other people's shows. Several nights a week for at least the last decade he could be found at places like the Empty Bottle, the Velvet Lounge, and the Hungry Brain; by his own count he recorded more than 2,000 concerts. Over the years he invested more money in equipment and as his skills improved, many of his recordings went to be used on commercial releases--by Paul Rutherford, Gold Sparkle Band, Isotope 217, Irene Schweizer, and Ken Vandermark among others. Ritscher was fiercely modest about these pursuits--I once tried to do a piece on him for the Reader but he declined, saying he didn't want publicity.
Former Sen. John Edwards is to spend an hour at the Manchester Barnes & Noble tonight promoting his new book. We find his choice of venue very interesting.
In Manchester, the local Wal-Mart store sits right behind the Barnes & Noble. It has more floor space, a parking lot several times the size of Barnes & Noble's, and is easier to access by car or public transportation.
But Edwards would not be caught dead inside a Wal-Mart. Saying that the company pays its employees too little, Edwards has embarked on an anti-Wal-Mart crusade. He instructs his staff members and all Americans not to shop at Wal-Mart.
"Wal-Mart makes plenty of money. They need to pay their people well," Edwards said at a Pittsburgh anti-Wal-Mart rally in August.
Democrat Barack Obama has sought the advice of top campaign workers in Iowa and has established a seedling support network in this state as he prepares to decide whether to seek the 2008 presidential nomination.
The first-term Illinois senator has surrounded himself with advisers rich in experience in Iowa, the leadoff caucus state.
Obama has vaulted to the top tier among prospective candidates for the Democratic Party's nomination, even as the new star in the party says he has not made up his mind about running.
The Iowa connections of Obama's campaign advisers and the senator's behind-the-scenes inquiry into the Iowa caucuses are hardly an announcement that he is running for president. But they show he is visualizing the presidential campaign process, in the event he decides to run.
He has been a successful venture capitalist and management consultant, and he saved the tainted 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics from scandal. But it is his single term as Massachusetts governor that is Mitt Romney's chief credential in his bid for the Republican nomination for president.
He began his term four years ago on a high note, rescuing the state from an inherited budget deficit. But now, as he prepares to leave office and focus full time on his White House aspirations, his tenure is being viewed in a more mixed fashion.
While he can point to a major policy success in health care, his relationship with the Democratic-controlled legislature that made it possible is in tatters. His efforts to challenge the Democrats and promote Republican candidates for the legislature failed. His partner in the statehouse, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, lost a bid to succeed him. And Romney is leaving office with the state GOP weaker than when he arrived.
The result has been a series of fights that have left the state politically polarized, and that reality has shaped -- and limited -- Romney's actions in the past two years. Where the Democrats have been motivated to act, he has had notable successes. His plan for health care treats it much like car insurance, requiring people to buy it or face a fine. It was tweaked and substantially expanded by the legislature, and in the final analysis, the negotiations that led to success were managed more by the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate than by the governor.
It is the question the entire nation wanted to ask and on Sunday morning the Jackson got to ask it. "Do you consider yourself a racist?"
"No," Richards replied.
The comedian appeared on Jackson's Sunday morning show, airing on WVON radio, and he again apologized for his racist meltdown.
"I can say now to them that I'm very, very sorry and hope to meet with them and get started with a bit of healing," Richards said.
The United Kingdom should be broken up and Scotland and England set free as independent nations, according to a huge number of voters on both sides of the border.
A clear majority of people in both England and Scotland are in favor of full independence for Scotland, an ICM opinion poll for The Sunday Telegraph has found. Independence is backed by 52 per cent of Scots while an astonishing 59 per cent of English voters want Scotland to go it alone.
There is also further evidence of rising English nationalism with support for the establishment of an English parliament hitting an historic high of 68 per cent amongst English voters. Almost half – 48 per cent – also want complete independence for England, divorcing itself from Wales and Northern Ireland as well. Scottish voters also back an English breakaway with 58 per cent supporting an English parliament with similar powers to the Scottish one.
The poll comes only months before the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union between England and Scotland and will worry all three main political parties. None of them favors Scottish independence, but all have begun internal debates on the future of the constitution.
A marine from suburban Chicago who's stationed in Okinawa, Japan got a surprise Thanksgiving treat today -- a call from the president.
White House officials say Corporal Steve Lanham Junior, who goes by the name Mike, received a call from President Bush around 7:00am.
The Marine was one of ten members of the military to receive today's Thanksgiving calls.
The president thanked Lanham for his service. He also told the marine from Arlington Heights to say hello to his mom and dad.
Emanuel is the political operative being credited these days with the Democratic takeover of Congress. He's ruthless and hardworking and, in victory, deserving of post-election applause.
But if City Hall had not sent Don Tomczak, the corrupt city water department boss, to Emanuel's congressional campaign in 2002--and Tomczak's political army of hundreds of city workers who stumped the precincts with the promise of overtime--then Emanuel wouldn't have narrowly defeated a local grass-roots Democrat.
And Emanuel wouldn't have been in a position to bask in all the national media love.
For the second time in 97 days, Sen. Barack Obama -- who is mulling a 2008 presidential run and giving a big speech on Iraq today -- will take another public HIV/AIDS test.
Given his marriage to his wife, Michelle, and the certainty he is not shooting up anything, Obama's test results will again be negative.
They compared the runners’ skin cancer risks with those of 210 men and women matched for age and gender who were not long-distance runners. All participants underwent a skin cancer exam and answered questions about personal and family skin cancer history, as well as changes in skin lesions, sunburn history, sun sensitivity, and physical characteristics such as skin and eye color.
Even though more of the nonrunners had higher sun sensitivity, reflected by their light eyes and sensitive skin types, the runners had more atypical moles and more lesions called solar lentigines -- often called "liver spots" -- which are associated with a higher risk of malignant melanoma.
Not surprisingly, the more intense the training regimen, the more likely a marathon runner was to have the lesions and moles, Ambros-Rudolph found. While some runners logged about 25 miles a week, others put in more than 44 miles a week.
Kiss my ass!
It is just just astonishing...it is astonishing that the moral eunuchs of the Left have found a home in the Democratic Party. Because you have to be completely emasculated...you have to be completely morally and ethically emasculated to reject any and all attempts to bring freedom and democracy to people that are under the boot of tyranny. I mean these are the same people who--no doubts--in six months time, 'Well you know Hitler wasn't so bad and maybe we shouldn't have bombed Germany the way we did.'
Gov. Mike Huckabee, considering a presidential bid in 2008, said Thursday he is putting himself in position to take the plunge into the race and other Republicans' plans won't affect his timetable.
While U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona already kicked off a campaign with the creation of an exploratory committee, Huckabee told reporters he won't announce any plans until he leaves the Governor's Mansion on Jan. 9.
"What I'm doing now is taking steps that get me into the position to make the plunge," Huckabee said. "There's no real advantages to me to declare a candidacy this early. There are a lot of disadvantages," including fundraising restrictions.
Gov. Blagojevich's wife got nearly $50,000 from a real estate deal in late 2002 involving Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a developer and former top Blagojevich political fund-raiser now under federal indictment.
In the following two months, the governor began giving friends of Rezko seats on influential state boards and began hiring former Rezko employees to upper-level state jobs.
The chain of events in December 2002 and January 2003 is detailed in records obtained by the Sun-Times. It's the first record of Patti Blagojevich making money off a Rezko deal around the time Rezko began seeking favors from the governor.
The governor's office vehemently denied that the first lady's business dealings with Rezko had anything to do with his influence in her husband's administration.
The band wishes to say, "We are crushed to learn of the death of Bo Schembechler, OSU's most valiant foe."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Thursday that a staff member for former Sen. John Edwards -- a vocal critic of the retailer -- asked his local Wal-Mart store for help in getting the potential 2008 presidential candidate a Sony PlayStation3. Edwards said a volunteer did so by mistake.
Edwards told The Associated Press that the volunteer "feels terrible" about seeking the game unit at Wal-Mart a day after his boss criticized the company, saying it doesn't treat its employees fairly.
"My wife, Elizabeth, wanted to get a Playstation3 for my young children. She mentioned it in front of one of my staff people," Edwards said. "That staff person mentioned it in front of a volunteer who said he would make an effort to get one. He was making an effort to go get one for himself.
"Elizabeth and I knew nothing about this. He feels terrible about this. He made a mistake, and he knows he should not have used my name," Edwards said.
Governor Mitt Romney, who continues to sign up big-name political consultants for a probable presidential run, has hired bare-knuckles GOP ad man Alex Castellanos, a veteran of presidential campaigns known for his tough ads against Democratic candidates.
Widely considered one of the country's more influential Republican image-makers, Castellanos has produced television spots for President Bush, presidential candidate Bob Dole, and former senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina. Romney's move to recruit him sends a strong signal that the governor plans to mount a serious national campaign for 2008, political observers say.
"Alex is one of two or three people in the country who you don't run a presidential campaign without," said Dan Schnur, who was communication director for Senator John McCain of Arizona during McCain's run for president in 2000. Schnur added, "You don't hire Alex Castellanos unless you're committed to this."
Murtha, a former Marine who generally has supported U.S. military efforts, has gained considerable attention this year for his criticism of the administration's Iraq war policies. He steered Pelosi's winning campaign in 2001 against Hoyer for the No. 2 Democratic leadership post, and his supporters say Pelosi deserves a more loyal wingman.
But Murtha is also a controversial figure. He was investigated in 1980 as part of the Abscam bribery sting, but was the only lawmaker involved who wasn't charged criminally.
FBI agents pretending to represent an Arab sheik wanting to reside in the United States and seeking investment opportunities approached Murtha and several other lawmakers with offers of bribes.
When offered $50,000, Murtha is recorded as saying, "I'm not interested ... at this point." A grand jury declined to prosecute Murtha, and the House ethics committee issued no findings against him. On MSNBC Wednesday, Murtha said, "I told them I wanted investment in my district. They put $50,000 on the table and I said, 'I'm not interested.'"
Huckabee has tangled with the ethics panel previously over gifts. The commission has five times found that he violated state ethics guidelines.
Huckabee was issued letters of warning and reprimand and drew a pair of $500 fines after the commission found that he failed to report a $43,150 payment he received from his 1994 lieutenant governor's campaign for the use of his personal airplane, and for failing to report that he was paid about $14,000 from his 1992 U.S. Senate campaign.
Huckabee was issued a letter of caution by the panel in 1997 for failing to report that he received $23,500 from Action America, a tax-exempt organization he incorporated with three associates in 1994 to coordinate parts of his private-sector speaking schedule while he was lieutenant governor.
And in January 2003, the commission ruled that Huckabee violated two state ethics laws on accepting and reporting gifts in 2001. The commission fined the governor $250 and issued him a letter of warning for accepting a $500 canoe from Coca-Cola in 2001.
Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday angrily defended a gift registry that was set up to help furnish his new home, and said the registry was put together by his wife's friends for a housewarming party.
"My wife has friends; she has lifelong friends. They wanted to do something for her," the Arkansas Republican told reporters after speaking at an event in downtown Little Rock. "It has nothing to do with who she is, other than she's their friend."
Huckabee has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination and has made trips to several important primary states.
He said he did not know the friends who set up the gift registry, nor did he know the names of the friends who hosted a housewarming party for which the registry was intended.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel has long been a favorite among national political pundits, but the Nebraska Republican might need to polish his image back home if he hopes to run for president in 2008.
In an Associated Press exit poll conducted on Election Day, nearly half of Nebraska voters surveyed indicated they did not think Hagel would make a good president.
Only 37 percent indicated they believed Hagel would make a good president, according to the poll of 1,014 Nebraska voters conducted for AP and television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points, higher for subgroups.
That comes as a surprise to some who watch politics in the solidly red state of Nebraska, where only about a third of voters are registered Democrats.
"I would have thought it would have been more positive than negative," said Loree Bykerk, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. "But there are some rock--ribbed Republicans that are really offended at his critique of the president."
By a 44-37 percent margin, Tennesseans said "no" to a Frist presidency. The remaining 19 percent did not answer.
By comparison, possible contenders Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., both received majority "yes" votes from their home states Tuesday. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson received pluralities.
Among those who didn't were Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.; Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; New York Gov. George Pataki; former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez got a deal on a riverfront town house built by Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a developer and prominent political fund-raiser now under indictment for an alleged kickback scheme involving state pension funds.
Gutierrez paid $434,900 three years ago for the town house along the Chicago River just north of Diversey. That's far less than his neighbors paid for any of the other riverfront town houses in the development, records show.
Gutierrez no longer lives there. In March, he sold the town house for $610,000 -- a 40 percent profit.
Only two other original owners have sold their riverfront town houses -- one paid $535,000 and sold it for $650,000, a 21 percent profit; the other paid $622,000 and sold it for $662,000, a 6 percent profit.
Mrs. Huckabee's friends created the registries at Dillard's and Target stores to help ease the transition to private life for the couple, (Huckabee spokeswoman Alice) Stewart said.
She declined to say if the governor was sure that accepting gifts would be legal or whether he planned to report any valuable gifts they receive, the Arkansas News Bureau of Stephens Media Group reported on its Web site.
Arkansas law prohibits public servants from accepting any gift worth more than $100, unless the gift is conferred "on account of a bona fide personal, professional or business relationship" independent of the recipient's official status.
"Items costing more than $100 which are given to public servants to show appreciation for their efforts (i.e., to reward them for doing their job) or to reward them for past or future action are prohibited under this rule," the law states.
With the Democratic victory in the midterm elections, one big winner was the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). The American Islamic pressure group now has a chance to advance its agenda in numerous ways, with energetic water-carrying by, among others, the Speaker of the House, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and the first Muslim member of Congress.
Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, who is likely to be the next House Speaker, has announced her intention to "correct the Patriot Act" and wants to criminalize scrutiny of Muslims at airports and elsewhere: "Since September 11, many Muslim Americans have been subjected to searches at airports and other locations based upon their religion and national origin. We must make it illegal." Since religion is the one factor that the jihadists themselves invariably point to as the motivation for their violent actions, Pelosi is calling upon investigators to ignore the single most important key to understanding jihadist strategy and goals. If she gets her way, any Muslim who is searched at an airport at any time will be able to claim that he is being illegally profiled; a law criminalizing searches of Muslims at airports would have a chilling effect upon any effort to investigate jihad terror activity in the Muslim community.
writes about the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth in 2009. A commission to commemorate the milestone was appointed about a decade ago, and Miller is not impressed with what the group has accomplished."We're still in the early stages," admits Harold Holzer, a co-chairman of the commission along with Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Ray LaHood, both of Illinois. "We may be a bit behind schedule." Time is running out. The commission expects the Lincoln festivities to begin in February 2008--a little more than a year from now.
The panel's fundamental problem is its composition, its 15 commissioners are appointed by the president or Congress. A few of the lend the body some gravitas. Holzer is an impresario among Lincoln enthusiasts, Gabor Boritt is a prominent scholar, and Frank J. Williams is chief justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island and the author of well-regarded books on Lincoln. The rest are a mishmash of politicians, academics, and patronage appointees. Jean T. D. Bandler is a social worker whose claim to fame is that she is the daughter of Paul Douglas, who was a senator from Illinois in the 1950s and 1960s. Sen. Jim Bunning, the Kentucky Republican, holds a seat on the commission, but rarely attends its meetings.
The money isn't exactly rolling in. The commission refuses to say publicly how much cash it has raised, but as of several months ago, it had not even reached six-figure territory, let alone millions or tens of millions of dollars. "If you have an imagination deficit, a financial deficit will follow," says a source familiar with the commission's workings.
As it is, we're in a very dark place right now. It has been a long time since America unambiguously won a war, and to choose to lose Iraq would be an act of such parochial self-indulgence that the American moment would not endure, and would not deserve to. Europe is becoming semi-Muslim, Third World basket-case states are going nuclear, and, for all that 40 percent of planetary military spending, America can't muster the will to take on pipsqueak enemies. We think we can just call off the game early, and go back home and watch TV.
It doesn't work like that. Whatever it started out as, Iraq is a test of American seriousness. And, if the Great Satan can't win in Vietnam or Iraq, where can it win? That's how China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Venezuela and a whole lot of others look at it. "These Colors Don't Run" is a fine T-shirt slogan, but in reality these colors have spent 40 years running from the jungles of Southeast Asia, the helicopters in the Persian desert, the streets of Mogadishu. ... To add the sands of Mesopotamia to the list will be an act of weakness from which America will never recover.
On Sunday, November 12th in Racine, I will hold my 1000th Listening Session with the people of Wisconsin. Before reaching that milestone, I want you to know that I've decided to continue my role as Wisconsin's junior senator in the U.S. Senate and not to seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2008.
Like many Americans, I am excited by the results of the November 7th election. My fourteen years in the Senate have been the greatest privilege of my life and I am extremely pleased with what we have accomplished. During so much of that time, however, we Democrats have not only been in the minority but have often been so deeply mired there that my role has often been to block bad ideas or to simply dissent. That is a very important role but I relish the thought that in this new Congress we can start, not only to undo much of the damage that one-party rule has done to America, we can actually advance progressive solutions to such major issues as guaranteed healthcare, dependence on oil, and our unbalanced trade policies. The Senate of the 110th Congress could also well be a place of greater bi-partisan opportunities for change; something I am very proud to have been effective at in both Republican and Democratic Senates.
"On our way to the United States, we had a stopover in Amsterdam and at the airport my wife took off her Hijab and started to shout and curse me and my country. I tried to calm her down. I sneaked into the office of the Saudi Arabian Airlines to cancel my trip to the US because I knew that deep inside she wanted to desert me and take my children away from me," said the Saudi father.
However, when he went to see his wife and children he was stopped by his father-in-law. The man had acquired a restraining order from the US authorities banning his son-in-law from coming to the house.
The Saudi tried to meet his family, and finally unable to do so returned to the Kingdom.
When he was ten, Obama returned to Hawaii, where he lived with his grandparents. He went to Occidental College, and then to Harvard Law School. He ended up in Chicago, working in community activism and teaching at the University of Chicago. In 1996, he won election to the Illinois state senate; in 2004, he won his current seat.
A success story, certainly, But compelling? Perhaps exotic, as Obama himself sometimes called it, but not the stuff of John McCain. In presidential race, Obama will have to rely on more than his biography.
There's been a sight the last two days outside the former Big Lots store on Appleton's east side that a lot of people didn't believe could exist in our area: Long lines of hundreds of needy people.
The Salvation Army says its registrations for help are 20 percent ahead of last year. Tamayo said, "We're starting to see families coming. Not just individuals but families with children coming."
They say most of that increase is from factory closings in the Fox Valley in the last year.
The Salvation Army says many more families are right on the cusp of needing help. "We find out that we're really all just a paycheck away from being there ourselves," said Tamayo.
who has the entertaining voice and spirit of a radio talk show host. comes this enlightening conversation:(Frist asks Evins) "Excuse me, sir, if someone my age wanted to serve in the U.S. Congress, what advice would you give them."
"Bill," Congress Evins responded in a fatherly tone, "Washington is full of career politicians. If you really want to serve your country well, go do something else--and it doesn't matter exactly what you do--but do it outside of Washington and do it successfully. After that twenty years of something else, come back to Washington, and use what you've learned to dedicate a part of your life to the greatest of all careers, public service."
• A TV ad trumpeting Christmas will air for the first time next week. Wal-Mart also will air TV ads along with the Salvation Army mentioning Christmas.
• The name of the department with Christmas decorating needs will change from The Holiday Shop, which it was for the past several years, to The Christmas Shop.
• Store signs will count down the days until Christmas, and Christmas carols will be piped throughout the season.
• About 60% more merchandise will be labeled "Christmas" rather than "holiday" this year over last.
Gov. Tom Vilsack, a potential vice presidential candidate, signed a measure two years ago declaring English the state’s official language. That could hurt his chances of joining the Democratic ticket.
Iowa’s English-only measure and dozens like it nationwide draw virtually unanimous and vehement opposition from Hispanics, an important Democratic constituency, who view them as thinly veiled racism. Hispanics, the nation’s largest and fastest-growing minority group, are being eagerly courted by Democrat John Kerry and President Bush.
On the day before she was slated to give a prime-time address at the Democratic National Convention here, Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack came under fire Monday for comments she penned in columns for an Iowa newspaper.
The columns included a 1994 piece in which she said she was "fascinated at the way some African-Americans speak to each other in an English I struggle to understand, then switch to standard English when the situation requires."
The comments were disclosed Monday in the Boston Herald under a large headline reading, "Say What?" In the columns, written for the Mount Pleasant News, Vilsack also wrote that Southerners, while polite, have "slurred speech," according to the article, which characterized her comments as derisive toward blacks and people who live in the South and East.
Republicans immediately pounced on the remarks. "This kind of intolerance is not acceptable in our country and it's shameful this kind of language is being supported by John Kerry and the rest of the Democrats on a national stage," said Leon Mosley, an African-American who is the cochairman of the Republican Party of Iowa.
Newly released evidence has revealed that the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) worked privately to pressure DePaul University to fire adjunct professor Thomas Klocek for telling Muslim activist students that their views on Middle-East issues were wrong. According to a letter to DePaul's President from CAIR's executive director M. Yaser Tabbara, "In light of grave implications of Mr. Klocek's biased remarks, we are requesting that the University:
At a student fair on September 15, 2004, during the same month that DePaul launched its Islamic World Studies Program, Professor Klocek engaged several Muslim students in a heated discussion about the Arab-Israeli conflict. He strongly disputed their assertions that Israeli treatment of Palestinians was equivalent to the Nazi treatment of the Jews. He also cited a Chicago Sun-Times columnist who was quoting an Aljazeera (Note: reader pointed out it was al-Arabiya) writer to the effect that although not all Muslims are terrorists, today most terrorists are Muslim. Later, in another connection between DePaul and the Muslim community, a DePaul Trustee, Michael Murad, wrote to DePaul's president asking, "What steps have been taken to ensure that DePaul programs in the Middle East are not undermined by this incident?" (Emphasis mine.) (#DPU 003174)
According to documents furnished by DePaul in response to document discovery in the lawsuit between Klocek and DePaul, less than a month after the student fair incident, on October 12, 2004, CAIR's Tabbara sent an email to those who opposed Klocek, stating, "...we [CAIR] will be ready to file a formal complaint with the Illinois State Board of Higher Education… This will also be accompanied by a press release, a press conference or both." (DPU 003493)
Tabbara's email also referred to a letter sent to DePaul's president the next day in which Tabbara made the following demands of DePaul, "In light of the grave implications of Mr. Klocek's biased remarks, we are requesting that the University take appropriate and immediate responsive action...including:
1. Provide a formal written apology to the students who experienced the incident firsthand.
2. Reprimand Mr. Klocek for his conduct by permanently dismissing him from any teaching post at DePaul University. (Emphasis mine.)
CAIR continued its campaign against Klocek when, according to another just released document (DPU 000763), on December 16, 2004 CAIR wrote Prof. Klocek's Dean, Suzanne Dumbleton, and said, "The gravity of Mr. Klocek's actions towards the students should result in his permanent dismissal as a matter of policy. Any alternative action will set a dangerous precedent..."
John W. Mauck, attorney for Thomas Klocek, said, "These documents confirm our suspicions. Rather than protect academic freedom or even treat Thomas Klocek, a professor with a 14 year spotless track record at DePaul, the university surrendered to behind-the-scenes Muslim activist pressure. At DePaul academic freedom has been subjugated to Sharia." (Emphasis mine.)
To see copies of these and other documents, please visit http://freedepaul.blogspot.com or contact TC Public Relations at 312-422-1333.
as among those "deserving" toxic professors. The Professor Bassiouni referred to in that same e-mail is a DePaul law professor, whom I blogged about here: More hot air from DePaul, this time from M. Cherif Bassiouni. Shall we ascribe a new surname to our soaring political rock star due to innocence and naivete?
For the moment, let us call him U.S. Sen. Barack Obambi -- a name harkening back to the story of the innocent but naive little fawn trapped in a cruel world after his mother was stalked and killed by hunters.
• • To wit: Obamarama is pleading innocent-but-naive to the 2005 land purchase from political fund-raiser Tony Rezko, who was recently indicted by the feds on corruption charges.
• • Translation: "I consider this a mistake on my part, and I regret it," stated Obama, who then apologized for misgauging "the appearance presented by my purchase of the additional land from Mr. Rezko."
(The Obama and Sen Dick Durbin endorsement of Stroger) has been one of the sadder sagas in Chicago political history. And Obama, America's audacious knight in shining armor, deprives us of the very hope he likes to talk about in his speeches and his books.
I don't mean to let Durbin off the hook but, frankly, I expected him to endorse the "regular" in this race. But Obama has allowed us to believe that he is different somehow. A new voice, a new frontier.
Instead, he's traveled down the same dingy path that promotes the outright mediocrity and questionable competence that has given Chicago politics the reputation it richly deserves.
Obama can call young Todd "a good progressive Democrat" if he wants. But any conviction that Stroger will "lead" us somewhere worth going is quite a stretch, and Obama knows it.
I will govern as a reformer.
"I know that all of you are going to work the next couple of days to make sure it happens, because I'm feeling lonely in Washington," Obama said at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church. "I need my dear friend to join me."
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama said Sunday he will give a presidential campaign "serious consideration" after midterm elections are over.
For now, the Democrat said he is focused on helping his party's candidates get elected Tuesday.
"Keep in mind that we're two days out from an incredibly important election," Obama told The Associated Press while traveling to a rally here for Iowa gubernatorial candidate Chet Culver.
"I think the message is that this country is in a mood for a new direction," he said. "I think that's why some of the typical attacks aren't working."
Socialism is the collective ownership by all the people of the factories, mills, mines, railroads, land and all other instruments of production.
There are two types of lies: lies of commission and lies of omission. Green Party gubernatorial candidate Richard Whitney told little green lies of both types when Terry Martin of the Illinois Channel asked him two direct questions during a recently televised interview: "What is your history? What party have you identified with over your adult life?"
To these questions Whitney replied: "I’ve always been independent-minded. I’ve never been a member of the Democratic or Republican parties. . . . I actually have been a Green for over 10 years now, because I helped found . . . our local in 1996 . . . . I’ve been always very much involved in third-party kind of politics in trying to get us out of this stranglehold of the two party system.” (Watch the video at http://www.whitneyforgov.org)
Fact is that the 51-year-old candidate and 10-year veteran of the Green Party belonged to the Socialist Labor Party for 18 years, from 1975 until 1993. There’s nothing wrong with being a Socialist, at least I don’t think so. There’s nothing wrong with changing your mind about being a Socialist. However, there is something wrong about a candidate asking for your trust while concealing the truth when asked: "What is your history? What party have you identified with over your adult life?"
Green and yellow really do go together.
Robert Bills
National secretary
Socialist Labor Party of America
Capitalism has not triumphed over socialism, nor has it proved to be a superior system. Its real battle with socialism has yet to be fought. And capitalism’s own disintegration is increasingly demonstrating that it must give way to a higher, superior form of social organization—socialism—if the human race is to survive and flourish.
Fraternally submitted,
[signed] RICHARD WHITNEY
Delegate
Almost 70 years ago, Europe found itself at war with one of the most sinister figures in modern history: Adolf Hitler. When the last bullet of World War II was fired, over 50 million people were dead, and countless countries were both physically and economically devastated. Hitler's bloody struggle sought to forge the world anew, in the crucible of Nazi values. How could such a disaster occur? How could the West have overlooked the evil staring it in the face, for so long, before standing forcefully against it?
Today, we find ourselves confronted by a new enemy, also engaged in a violent struggle to transform our world. As we sleep in the comfort of our homes, a new evil rises against us. A new menace is threatening, with all the means at its disposal, to bow Western Civilization under the yoke of its values. That enemy is Radical Islam.
Using images from Arab TV, rarely seen in the West, Obsession reveals an insider's view' of the hatred the Radicals are teaching, their incitement of global jihad, and their goal of world domination. With the help of experts, including first-hand accounts from a former PLO terrorist, a Nazi youth commander, and the daughter of a martyred guerilla leader, the film shows, clearly, that the threat is real. A peaceful religion is being hijacked by a dangerous foe, who seeks to destroy the shared values we stand for. The world should be very concerned.
Mary Sotos is glad she doesn't have an answering machine.
Not that she's anti-social or a Luddite; the Greenwich senior said she wouldn't have any room for messages because of a barrage of automated political phone calls this fall.
"Oh, they're awful," said Sotos, a Republican in her 80s who lives at Putnam Hill. "I don't even pay attention. I got two just before lunchtime. I got one Sunday night."
"Robo calls," as they are commonly known, are seen as an increasingly cheap and time-saving alternative to direct mail or television advertisements by many candidates and political parties.
Sen. Barack Obama has expressed remorse for financial arrangements he made with an indicted political fundraiser to improve their adjoining South Side properties.
Obama has described his dealings with Antoin "Tony" Rezko as ethical and proper, but on Saturday he acknowledged the arrangement raised the possible appearance of impropriety.
"It was a mistake to have been engaged with him at all in this or any other personal business dealing that would allow him, or anyone else, to believe that he had done me a favor," Obama said in a written statement Saturday. "For that reason, I consider this a mistake on my part and I regret it."
Obama's remarks came in response to Wednesday's Tribune article detailing how he and Rezko's wife bought adjoining properties last year, then worked together to build a wrought-iron fence and make other improvements.
Singapore police uncovered an illegal gambling den in the consulate of the West African state of Senegal with stakes reaching S$1 million ($640,200) every night, a local newspaper reported on Saturday. The daily Straits Times said that while the consulate had been open during the day to issue visas and deal with official business, some 100 gamblers visited the office at night, crowding around three tables to play baccarat, a card game.
It said the man behind the establishment, a Singaporean in his 50s, had set a minimum bet per game of S$100 with the maximum at S$30,000. He had also offered clients loans of up to S$50,000.
A separate room catered to high-rollers with stakes of S$100,000, it said.
Running an illegal casino is punishable with a maximum fine of S$50,000 and up to three years in jail under Singapore law.
The Howard Government is looking to scrap the word "multiculturalism" as part of a major revamp of ethnic policy.
In a move seen as a shift in emphasis away from fostering diversity and towards increasing integration and responsibility among migrants, the government is canvassing alternative words to describe how ethnic communities harmoniously integrate into Australian society.
The de facto minister for multiculturalism, parliamentary secretary Andrew Robb, yesterday confirmed to The Weekend Australian that he had told a meeting of the government-appointed Council of Multicultural Australia that he wanted to scrap the word from a redrafted multiculturalism policy.
The new approach comes less than 12 months before the next election and follows the Cronulla riots and the comments of Australian mufti Taj Din al-Hilali that women who did not wear veils provoked men to rape them.
Obama would be wise to explain, fully and quickly, the prelude to a real estate deal and subsequent transactions related to his acquisition of a $1.65 million home on Chicago's South Side. If Obama doesn't shine his own spotlight on his real estate relationship with indicted political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko, he'll be fielding questions about Rezko in two years and in 20.
First among those questions with staying power: Why would Obama allow himself any connection to Rezko? The developer notoriously attaches himself to political figures, often parlaying friendships into business dealings that have attracted official suspicions for several years.
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs unequivocally denies that the Rezkos subsidized Obama's purchase. He portrays the real estate dealings as ordinary and entirely aboveboard. As the Tribune article noted, there's nothing illegal or untoward about an aggressive developer buying hot property next door to a rising political star. But these are not normal times for Rezko or Obama, longtime friends whose fortunes have taken sharp turns in opposite directions.
Smoke was rising from Tony Rezko long before his wife bought a lot next to Obama's. Federal prosecutors accuse him of scheming to extort money from companies seeking business with state government. Rezko pleads innocence.
Prosecutors asked Rezko to provide more information about possible international assets and whether there were any properties belonging to Rezko's wife and children that should be disclosed.
"We just registered concerns," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher S. Niewoehner. The international assets include a contract Rezko is negotiating involving a power plant in Iraq, he said.
Also among the "concerns" is a vacant lot next to the home of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama owned by Rezko's wife.
Niewoehner said a newspaper article about the lot brought the issue to their attention.
This weekend, join host E.D. Hill as Fox News examines, "Obsession: The Threat of Radical Islam."
They are the most vital questions of our time: How deadly is the Islamic terror threat to the world and especially to the United States? Do terrorists really want to destroy our economy, our civilization, our way of life or is this just an exaggeration?
A frightening new documentary by filmmaker Wayne Kopping seeks to answer those questions. Kopping examined reels of Islamic news footage, interviewed former terrorists and obtained undercover footage from the lairs of the terrorists and jihadists.
What he found, is something Fox News believes every American should know.
If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside ... and the cats come to eat it ... whose fault is it?
The uncovered meat is the problem. If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred.
The statement linked the seven (three are US citizens) to a Vietnamese-born resident of the United States, Nguyen Huu Chanh, who was suspected of plotting to bomb Vietnam embassies in recent years.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said in a separate statement that Foshee, 58, was held "for allegedly being involved in terrorist activities, but has not been brought to trial."
Chanh, the accused ringleader, was detained in South Korea in the past year following a request by Vietnam to arrest and extradite him. Chanh is a member of a U.S.-based group called "Government of Free Vietnam" but he has not yet been extradited.
The government statement said that "in order to carry out the plot, Nguyen Huu Chanh and his accomplices stopped at nothing, including terrorist bombing and using radio broadcasts to call for an uprising and then to stir unrest and upset the lives of cadres, public employees and ordinary people."
All I know is what Obama told the Tribune. He didn't have time to come to the phone for me.
"I don't recall exactly what our conversations were or where I first learned, and I am not clear what the circumstances were where he made a decision that he (Rezko) was interested in the property," Obama reportedly said.
"I may have mentioned to him the name of [a developer and] he may at that point have contacted that person. I'm not clear about that," he said.
You'd get the impression that the normally glib Obama was dissembling.
Only in the surreal realm of Illinois politics could red and blue combine to produce green.
Statement of Senator John Kerry
As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop.
I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended.
It is clear the Republican Party would rather talk about anything but their failed security policy. I don’t want my verbal slip to be a diversion from the real issues. I will continue to fight for a change of course to provide real security for our country, and a winning strategy for our troops.
Mayor Richard Daley, whose son is a soldier, said today that Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) should say he is sorry for telling students that they will "get stuck in Iraq" if they don't make the most of their educational opportunities.
The remark was "uncalled for," Daley asserted. "I think he should apologize." Kerry suggested that "they are dumb and they are stupid and that is why they went into the military, and they are over in Iraq," the mayor said. "He owes them an apology (and) all their families."
If the comment was meant as a joke, it was "a sad joke," he said.
"This is all about politics," Daley asserted. "Why don't they just leave the men and women serving in the armed forces out of their politics? They can discuss the war, fine. But leave those men and women serving…out of it."
"Calling the president stupid puts him in the category of Hugo Chavez," Romney said. "That's not a good idea, either, so I'm not sure quite what he meant to do. But what I do know is that what he said was offensive. It was offensive to the men and women who are fighting in Iraq. I have been there. I have seen our National Guardsmen. They are bright, capable people. They are professionals, not just professional military people. They work here in our state in various professions and any hint that these people are in any way less than the rest of our population is an outrage."
When Sen. Barack Obama decided to buy a stately $1.65 million home last year on Chicago's South Side, Antoin "Tony" Rezko and his wife wasted no time. The same day the Obamas closed on the house, the Rezkos closed on the purchase of the adjoining vacant lot, which once was the estate's lush side yard.
(Says Obama about the deal) "My working assumption was that as long as I operated in an open, up-front fashion, and all the T's were crossed and I's were dotted, that it wouldn't be an issue," Obama said. "If it was a neighbor I didn't know at all, would I have behaved any differently? I felt like the answer was no."
Obama added: "Tony has been a supporter of mine since my first race for state Senate."
And he said: "I haven't been involved with him in any legislative work whatsoever or any government activities of any sort."
You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't you get stuck in Iraq.
