4,000th post after 20 miles

When I started this blog over 2 1/2 years ago, my idea was to have a lot more running posts. Well, the blog evolved away from that goal. However, late this afternoon I ran twenty miles along the North Branch Trail up to the Skokie Lagoons back to Morton Grove--and that seems to be worthy subject matter for my 4,000th post.

I'm not in very good shape, but the Chicago Marathon is next month. I'll be there.

Technorati tags: blog blogging Chicago Marathon running run

DePaul's Finkelstein accused of "threatening and discourteous behavior"

DePaul University has many stories to tell. Faculty expertise, new programs, major events and outreach initiatives all have the potential to be featured in the media. Simply put, DePaul is newsworthy.
DePaul News Bureau's "Making the Most of the Media."

Hmm...Perhaps I was too easy on Finkelstein--and I'm not a supporter of his--in my "Hogan's Heroes" post last week.

As regular visitors to this blog know, the Catholic university denied tenure to controversial Professor Norman G. Finkelstein, pictured above, in early June.

The Chicago Tribune's Ron Grossman, who is quite knowledgeable about DePaul and the Finkelstein controversy, has an article today that will awake many people from their relaxed Labor Day stupor. The Trib obtained some internal DePaul memos, and they contain bombshells.

(Free Registration is required for the Tribune article.)

Oral and physical confrontations between Finkelstein and university officials began shortly after his tenure denial, according to a memo written by university Provost Helmut Epp.

The provost's memo, dated June 26, alleges that Finkelstein "angrily confronted" other faculty and staff and engaged them with "threatening and discourteous behavior" after being denied tenure.

On three such occasions, campus security officers were called to intervene, according to the provost's memo. When a dean attempted to escape a confrontation by ducking into an elevator, Finkelstein physically tried to keep the door from closing, according to the provost's account

More...

On July 10, according to one newly obtained memo, the political science department informed the provost that Finkelstein's actions "constitute unacceptable and unprofessional behavior." It recommended that Finkelstein be granted "non-residential leave" for the 2007-08 academic year by DePaul, a Catholic university founded by the Vincentian order. Traditionally in academia, a faculty member denied tenure is owed a final year in the classroom.

Finkelstein's reply to the charges was typical, with the exception that he didn't bring in Nazi references--a common Fink tactic used by a man who can arguably be called an anti-Semitic Jew, telling Grossman, "It is rather regrettable that DePaul is carrying on the spirit of Chicago's Al Capone rather than St. Vincent de Paul."

DePaul University, as Grossman writes above, was founded by priests of the Vincentian order, named in honor of St. Vincent de Paul. As for Capone, his ties to DePaul are non-existent to my knowledge, other than the site of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre is less than a mile from DePaul's Lincoln Park campus.

Finkelstein was to teach one class for DePaul's upcoming fall quarter, but he's been removed as the course's instructor. He's now threatening to show up anyway to teach, vowing to go to jail and start a hunger strike from there if DePaul prevents him from doing so. DePaul's fall quarter begins on Wednesday.

Jail in Chicago means the notorious Cook County Jail, an unfathomably horrible place for a 53 year-old Jewish professor to be incarcerated in. It's the Rikers Island of the Midwest. My advice to Professor Finkelstein is to avoid jail at all costs.

Meanwhile, Finkelstein's home page on the DePaul web site is still up and running.

I'll be keeping a very close eye on this story. It's newsworthy.

UPDATE: Sept. 4, 8:34 AM CDT

Drunkablog has more.

In a humorous piece, a Norman Finkelstein personal ad has appeared on an Arutz Sheva blog.

Thanks for the link:

IsraPundit

Related posts:

Sept 15: Second anniversary of the beginning of the Thomas Klocek affair

Revised: Chomsky coming to Chicago for academic freedom lecture

More DePaul: Finkelstein to teach? Go to jail? Hunger strike?

Happy Birthday, Norman Finkelstein

Thanks for the links:

Solomonia
Meryl Yourish

Technorati tags: Chicago illinois college education news DePaul Norman Finkelstein jail Catholic Jewish anti-semitism

John Edwards labor endorsements on Labor Day: UPDATED

Former Senator John Edwards; courting of organized labor continues to pay off, but that shouldn't be surprising. Edwards hired, despite his questionable background on terror issues, former Detroit area Congressman David Bonior to manage his campaign.

While in Washington, Bonior was also known for his close ties to labor, which is why he got hired by the Breck Girl. To further bolster his labor credentials, in July the Edwards campaign hired two politicos who had up till then working for the United Food & Commercial Workers funded Wake Up Wal-Mart. Paul Blank took over day-to-day operations of the campaign, although Bonior kept his title, and fellow anti Wal-Mart zealot Chris Kofinis signed on as communications director.

This morning in Pittsburgh, the endorsement of the United Steelworkers and the United Mineworkers unions was announced--Edwards gets their nod.

Edwards has more union endorsements than any other Democratic candidate for president, but that might not mean a whole lot. Dick Gephardt collected union endorsements like an autumn squirrel gathers nuts in 2004 when he sought the Democratic nomination. After finishing in fourth place in the Iowa Caucuses, Gephardt dropped out of the race.

And in 2008 there will be fewer union members voting than did in 2004. As there were fewer in 2004 compared to 2000, as there were fewer four years prior...

Related posts:

Kevorkian attorney Geoffrey Fieger indicted for illegal 2004 Edwards contributions

John Edwards' odd choice to run his campaign: David Bonior

The good life of working for the UFCW

Union leaders don't share their members pain

John Edwards wakes up to Wal-Mart nightmare

Bob Dole, John Edwards, two 28,000 sq. ft. buildings

UPDATE 3:44PM CDT: Michelle Malkin touches on some of the same union issues, declining membership for one, that I discuss in my related posts tag.

Technorati tags: politics 2008 election John Edwards Two Americas unions labor Labor Day Pennsylvania

September 2, 1945: World War II ends

Third Wave Dave always manages to keep alive the memory the Second World War on his blog. Dave's latest post is dedicated to the end of the world's bloodiest conflict, and it can be found here.

The allied powers and the surrender cabinet of Japan signed the documents that officially ended the war on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Relaxing on the deck that day is Admiral "Bull" Halsey (left) and Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Sr., the grandfather of the US Senator and Republican presidential candidate. Four days after the surrender, McCain died of a heart attack as he was arriving in the United States.

The last post of my Kansas series will be about the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Museum in Abilene.

Technorati tags: World War II japan McCain history on this day 日本 USS Missouri Admiral Halsey

Seward: Kansas' first Hispanic majority county

I'm working on my final "Kansas' Beef Kingdoms" post, I should have something up the Garden City tonight or tomorrow.

The changing demographics of southwestern Kansas is of course getting noticed elsewhere in the state, including Brent Wistrom of the Wichita Eagle, who writes today about Sedgwick County and its largest city, the "Beef Kingdom" of Liberal.

Perhaps a third to half of the independent business storefronts advertise in Spanish. Most others note that they habla español.

This snapshot reflects what's happening in Liberal -- the heart of the first county in Kansas to officially become more than 50 percent Hispanic.

But Liberal's story is about more than percentages -- and nearly everyone believes the town is 60 or 70 percent Hispanic anyway.

Liberal's recent history is about changing cultures. Police officers calling translators at crime scenes. Old white men sipping coffee and explaining how bad things have gotten. A middle-aged father here illegally, living scared with his child's future on the line. Money being earned and sent out of the country. Families dividing and reuniting. Students and teachers struggling and improving.

The Eagle reports that Seward County's Hispanic population jumped from 42 percent of the population in 2000 to over 51 percent now. Two-thirds of the students in Liberal's schools are Hispanic.

Some old-timers in Liberal are resentful of the demographic change, and are assuming that some of the Hispanic newcomers are not in the country legally.

This is a societal trend to keep an eye on.

Thanks for the link:

Americas Top Mall

Related posts:

My Kansas Kronikles: Liberal: Kansas' second Beef Kingdom

Marathon Pundit has gone liberal

Thanks for the link:

Freedom Folks

Technorati tags: Kansas Great Plains beef business hispanic liberal immigration illegal immigration society

Duncan Hunter wins Townhall.com Texas straw poll

Straw polls are about as scientific as some of Al Gore's climate observations, but on the other hand, they can't be ignored completely.

That being said, a Republican straw poll, sponsored by Townhall.com, was held in Fort Worth, Texas. These are the results:

41.1% Duncan Hunter (534 votes)
20.5% Fred Thompson (266 votes)
16.17% Ron Paul (217 votes)
6.4% Mike Huckabee (83 votes)
6% Rudy Giuliani (78 votes)
4.7% Mitt Romney (61 votes)
2.2% Ray McKinney (28 votes)
.77% John Cox (10 votes)
.62% John McCain (8 votes)
.46% Sam Brownback (6 votes)
.46% Tom Tancredo (6 votes)
.23% Hugh Cort (3 votes)

Hugh Cort? Who Cort? Ray McKinney?

Of the major candidates, only Hunter, a San Diego Congressman, and Ron Paul, who represents Galveston on the other end of Texas, showed up to mingle among the straw poll participants.

What does this mean? Not much, but the Paul people have to be disappointed by finishing behind no-show and still-announced candidate Fred Thomposon.

Related post:

Glenn & Helen Show podcast: Rep. Duncan Hunter, presidential candidate

Technorati tags: politics Ron Paul Duncan Hunter Republican Fred Thompson Hugh Cort Ray McKinney Texas