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The Indiana daylight savings time post is here.

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President to throw out first ball at Reds-Cubs game

The major league baseball season began last night with the defending World Series champion Chicago White Sox defeating the Cleveland Indians in a game that suffered a three hour rain delay.

There are more games today. In Cincinnati, the birthplace of professional baseball, President Bush will throw out the ceromonial first pitch for the game between the hometown Reds and the Chicago Cubs.

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Yale, DePaul win "Polly Awards" for squashing free speech

Marathon Pundit has obtained this press release from the Collegiate Network.

The Collegiate Network Announces Its 9th Annual Campus Outrage Awards

Yale Enrolls Former Taliban Official. DePaul, Stanford, & Holy Cross Squash Free Speech. The Univ. of California System Discriminates. 9/11 Forgotten by the Univ. of Iowa & Canisius College. Outrageous…or Just Another Day on Campus?

Wilmington, DE—April 3, 2006—Outrageous politicization and double standards continue to abound in higher education, and the Collegiate Network (CN) has once again chronicled the worst of those abuses in its 9th Annual Campus Outrage Awards. These awards highlight the worst excesses of "politically correct" students, faculty, and administrators in higher education. Popularly known as the "Pollys," these awards for the worst campus outrages are given each year to universities to remind the public that political correctness, curricular decay, and violations of academic freedom and free speech remain an unfortunate reality throughout much of higher education. The 2006 "Polly" winners are:

1st Yale University enrolls a former Taliban official with a 4th grade education into a non-degree program. "I'm the luckiest person in the world," gushed Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, the former Deputy Foreign Secretary of the Taliban. Yale pursued Hashemi’s admission in the name of that sacred cow, diversity, which now appears to extend not only to people of various sexes, creeds, races, ethnicities, sexual preferences and practices, but also to enemy combatants who make war upon the United States. (This from the same university that bars ROTC from its main campus.) Yale’s drive for ever-increasing diversity has clearly hit a new low.

2nd DePaul University has essentially declared war on free speech on campus. First, the university suspended—without a hearing—a veteran adjunct professor for daring to debate students handing out pro-Palestinian literature on campus. Next, the administration branded as "propaganda" a College Republican protest of a Ward Churchill speech on campus. Finally, college officials shut down an affirmative action bake-sale sponsored by the campus conservative club and charged the club member who organized the event with harassment. Apparently, free speech is allowed at DePaul only as long as it accords with the political views of the university administration.

3rd (TIE) Administrators at both Stanford University and at the College of the Holy Cross try to silence the independent voices of their conservative alternative newspapers. Both The Stanford Review and Holy Cross’ The Fenwick Review felt pressure from leftist administrators after criticizing politically-correct campus groups. The Stanford Review ran an investigative article revealing the racist character of a campus Latino group, which led to the group’s being de-funded by the student government. The Fenwick Review’s unpardonable sin was its satire of the campus homosexual group’s "Gay? Fine by me" campaign. Officials at both schools have resurrected long-dormant rules about distributing materials on campus in an effort to suppress the dissemination of the papers.

4th Officials of the University of California System, representing 10 campuses with 200,000 students in the state, oppose diversity—at least, of the intellectual variety. The Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS Committee) of the UC Faculty Senate is refusing to award credit to high school students in Christian schools who take courses using textbooks published by A Beka Book and other conservative Christian presses. The California State University system, which is twice as large as UC, also follows UC admission guidelines. In effect, this small group of elites seeks to discriminate in the admissions process of nearly all California schools, proscribing a certain type of education it deems dangerous to the state.

5th (TIE) Some college administrators wish we jingoistic Americans would simply let bygones be bygones and would stop talking about the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The University of Iowa chose not to honor appropriately the 3,000 Americans killed that tragic day and instead held a "Peacefest" on September 11, 2005. This celebration was sponsored by several radical groups, including the International Socialist Organization, War Resisters League of Iowa City, University of Iowa Antiwar Committee, the University of Iowa College Greens, and the Women for Peace Iowa. Meanwhile, Canisius College deems nothing more dangerous to campus safety than the creation of a simple memorial commemorating Americans killed on 9/11. Annually, on the anniversary of the attacks, Young America's Foundation’s students commemorate the victims by participating in the Foundation’s "9/11: Never Forget Project." When the College Republicans of Canisius College asked the college administration whether the group could place 3,000 small American flags on the quad as part of this effort, a college official nixed the idea, claiming that it would damage the college’s expensive sprinkler system—apparently these pointy-headed educationists never heard of the benefits of aerating soil.

For more information visit www.collegiatenetwork.org.

I'm not sure if there is plaque or trophy to pick up, but if there is, I'm willing to travel to Delaware to pick up DePaul's award.

I've got a whole bunch of DePaul posts (but nothing yet on Yale) on Marathon Pundit. There's one just below this post. Here are a few more:

DePaul prof skewers his president for smearing campus conservative group

One year anniversary of the Thomas Klocek press conference at DePaul

Jay Ambrose on DePaul, campus McCarthyism

Marathon Pundit internet exclusive! DePaul refuses to run FrontPage Magazine's DTN ad in its school paper

Technorati tags: DePaul Academic freedom free speech Polly Awards Thomas Klocek University of Iowa Holy Cross UC Yale Stanford Canisius Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi political correctness christianity Ward Churchill

DePaul University preaches diversity--except for conservative opinion

Well, Fr. Dennis Holtschneider, DePaul University's president, is making snide comments about conservatives again.

Last month some creep used a permanent marker to write racist graffiti inside a DePaul dorm on the school's Lincoln Park campus.

Although the DePaul public relations department denies it, in the far-left group-think at DePaul, the vile incident seems inexorably tied to the mock affirmative action bake sale held by the DePaul Conservative Alliance in January.

From UPI on March 9:

DePaul University spokesperson Denise Mattson told WBBM Radio the incident was an assault on the university's values.

Mattson said the campus has been politically charged since late January when a new campus organization, the DePaul Conservative Alliance, conducted an "affirmative action bake sale" at which blacks were charged less than whites.

"That certainly created some dialogue about affirmative action policies and practices about minorities on campus," Mattson said.

A university spokesman said the alliance was not suspected in the graffiti incident.

From the latest edition of the DePaulia, the school newspaper of the university:

"First of all, let me say I am proud to be your President," said Holtschneider, at the information session held after the prayer vigil the day after the crime. "I sent out one e-mail, and we filled the lower SAC (my note: the Student Activities Center) [with] hundreds of people. It looked like DePaul." Holtschneider opened the floor up to students' questions and concerns, some relating to the affirmative action bake sale that had occurred several weeks before the graffiti incident.

"At this point, the two events are not related, but both events harmed us as a community," said Holtschneider. (Emphasis mine)

Father Holtschneider: Affirmative action, which came into play after the 1964 Civil Rights Bill became law, was never meant to be permanent. So there is nothing wrong in questioning a policy that many Americans--perhaps most--feel deserves at least a second look.

Oh, the article goes on and on about diversity. But I guess conservatives don't figure into the DePaul diversity stew.

Dr. Steven Plaut, our man in the Holy Land, found this DePaulia op-ed from student Ali Abbas about Catholic DePaul recently adding a queer studies minor. Ali seems okay with the minor. But I want to highlight this passage from his op-ed:

The Chicago Tribune claims that Reverend James Halstead of DePaul’s religious studies department expressed that he had no academic qualms with the program but was concerned with "how it would affect DePaul’s image."

What's left of DePaul's reputation is in tatters.

Technorati tags: DePaul Academic freedom free speech affirmative action Chicago Catholic Catholic universities Lincoln Park

Bus co. offering non-stop Chicago-Detroit bus tickets for $1

Well, from my end, it means having a desire to go to Detroit. Well, baseball season has started, and Megabus gives me the opportunity to travel there to catch a Chicago White Sox-Detroit Tigers game at Comerica Park for almost nothing.

From AP:

Starting later this month, a bus company plans to offer a cheap way to get between Detroit and Chicago.

Travelers who purchase far enough in advance can get tickets for as little as one dollar each way.

The company -- Stagecoach Group -- will offer a limited number of tickets per trip at its Web site at megabus-dot-com. Every bus will have three or four one-dollar one-way seats available.

Riders have to buy tickets online and can't pay on the bus. As those sell out, higher priced tickets will be available.

Technorati tags: Detroit Chicago Illinois Michigan Travel

Baseball starts today, White Sox set to defend title

Opening night is here for the 2006 major league baseball season. And the world champion Chicago White Sox host the Cleveland Indians tonight.

Last year the White Sox won their opener which of course put them in first place, a position they held all last year.

Technorati tags: White Sox Baseball Cleveland Indians Chicago White Sox

Jamaican snapshots: The Pork Pit

There's a popular book that's often referenced in the Marathon Pundit household, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.

The usual "must see" places are in it: The Louvre, Luxor, the Taj Mahal are all in the book, as well as a few lesser-known nooks, such as the Superdawg hot dog restaurant on Chicago's Northwest Side--located just five miles from my home.

The Pork Pit on Gloucester Street, pictured above, is another oddity in the "1,000 Places" book.

It's a very casual place. You buy your meals at the front counter, and carry them on a tray to your table. Pretty good food, but I'm not sure it ranks up there, as far as places to see before you die, with Yellowstone National Park.

The Pork Pit serves "jerk" food. What is that?

From Frommer's.com:

Wherever you go in Jamaica, you'll see ramshackle stands selling jerk pork. There is no more authentic local experience than to stop at one of these stands and order a lunch of jerk pork, preferably washed down with a Red Stripe beer. Jerk is a way of barbecuing spicy meats on slats of pimento wood, over a wood fire set in the ground. You can never be quite sure what goes into the seasoning, but the taste is definitely of peppers, pimento (allspice), and ginger. You can also order jerk chicken, sausage, fish, and even lobster. The cook will haul out a machete and chop the meat into bite-size pieces for you, then throw them into a paper bag.

Jerk sauce can be found in some major metropolitan area supermarkets. It's quite good.

Previous Jamaican posts:

Jamaica, yo problem, part one: The island by foot

Jamaica, yo problem, part two: The island by car

Jamaica, yo problem, part three: The island by car, cont'd

Technorati tags: Jamaica Travel Food and Drink Chicago Caribbean

Report: Nicole Kidman likely to get annulment of Cruise wedding, marry in church

I usually don't do celebrity stuff, unless it has some political overtones. But I'm making an exception. Considering the world's most famous Scientologist, Tom Cruise, is involved, I have to post on it.

Disclosure notice: I'm not a Scientologist.

Nicole Kidman has been dating country music singer Keith Urban for a while, and there are rumors that the two are engaged, as News.com.au reports.

It is believed Kidman has been told it was likely she would be granted an annulment of her marriage to Cruise, a Scientologist, because it did not conform to the requirements of the church.

Kidman's family in Australia is pushing hard for a church wedding.

Catholics who divorce are not allowed to remarry. An annulment, as Senator John Kerry knows, renders a former marriage into something that never happened at all.

I'm not sure Scientologists can divorce, but there are differences between Scientology and Catholicism.

Author Dan Flynn came across a pamphlet about Xenu, a Scientology figure from 75 million years ago. As it reads:

Who is Xenu?

I'm going to tell you a story. Are you sitting comfortably? Right, then I'll begin.

Once upon a time (75 million years ago to be more precise) there was an alien galactic ruler named Xenu. Xenu was in charge of all the planets in this part of the galaxy including our own planet Earth, except in those days it was called Teegeeack.

Now Xenu had a problem. All of the 76 planets he controlled were overpopulated. Each planet had on average 178 billion people. He wanted to get rid of all the overpopulation so he had a plan.

Xenu took over complete control with the help of renegades to defeat the good people and the Loyal Officers. Then with the help of psychiatrists he called in billions of people for income tax inspections where they were instead given injections of alcohol and glycol mixed to paralyse them. Then they were put into space planes that looked exactly like DC8s (except they had rocket motors instead of propellers).

These DC8 space planes then flew to planet Earth where the paralysed people were stacked around the bases of volcanoes in their hundreds of billions. When they had finished stacking them around then H-bombs were lowered into the volcanoes. Xenu then detonated all the H-bombs at the same time and everyone was killed.

So when Tom Cruise jumps all over Oprah's couch, in relation to this stuff, he's not really acting that strange.

Nicole traded up from Cruise, that's for sure.

Technorati tags: Tom Cruise Scientology Nicole Kidman Keith Urban Australia Xenu

New photo caption contest from Mr. Right

The weekly photo caption contest is up at The Right Place. Mr. Right, a fellow Chicago area resident and White Sox fan, has the junior senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, as part of this week's tourney.

Back to Barack: Brainster, who does a great job mining nuggets from Lefty blogs, put together a string of toxic Leftist blogger posts relating to Obama's recent pro-Joe Lieberman statements.

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Daylight savings time coming to Indiana

I'm not making this up. One of the big political issues in Indiana the last few years was the dispute over whether the Hoosier State should follow daylight savings time.

Most of the state hasn't, except for the Indiana counties in the Central time zone. The Eastern Time Zone covers most of Indiana, including its largest city and state capital, Indianapolis.

So starting tomorrow, the Indiana counties that are in the Eastern time zone will finally observe daylight savings time. Simple? Sort of. Also tomorrow, eight of the 92 counties in the Indiana Eastern zone are switching to Central time. But two of those counties, Martin and Pulaski, are already having second thoughts, and may ask to revert to the Eastern zone.

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