JawsBlog

One of my friends and I are having a friendly disagreement:

She’s saying that President Bush stealthly or very secretly passed the partial birth abortion ban and that the media didn’t really spend too much time reporting on it.

I’m disagreeing with her, by saying that it wasn’t done secretly, and that the media did indeed cover it.

If you could please express what you remember in the comments section, that would be a help.

Note: one’s position on the issue of abortion is irrelevant to this debate, it’s more about reporting.

And for anyone who cares, here’ s the bill in question And the Senate passed it 64-34; the House 281-142.

No, I’m not watching the NH primary results come in or anything like that. I know Kerry won, and Dean is gonna come in second. I’ve occasionally visited Drudge to see how the race for third is coming along.

I haven’t watched any network coverage either. However, from the blogsphere, I’ve heard that Clark isn’t doing any interviews, Deaniacs thinks that their hero came in first, Joe is missing his “JoeMentum”…

Speaking of which, I don’t think it’s right for Kerry to be speaking about the “economy of privledge”…as someone noted at NRO:

Isn’t the “economy of privilege” something you get when you marry TWO (not just one) very wealthy heiresses?…He was born into it then when it started running out he married it — TWICE!”

and if I’m not mistaken, Kerry (via his wife) is the richest man in the Senate. Go figure. Politicians..can’t live with ‘em…wish we could live without ‘em.

The dump on Kerry campaign will be starting up soon enough. I’ll let the professional muckrackers do their job and I think I’ll stay far away from it. Wait, one exception, I reserve the right to lampoon Kerry for any claims that he makes about being Jewish.

Dean comes up with another foot-in-mouth quote:

The biggest loss we have suffered since George Bush has been president is our loss of community

Er, I’d beg to differ. What about 9/11?

Then there’s good old Joe…poor guy, he used to be so much more popular.
This line isn’t a good sign

“We are in a three-way split decision for third place…the people of New Hampshire put me in the ring and that is where we are going to stay.”

But at the same time, I think this line from the Corner is priceless

If only Lieberman had started having Keg O’ Joe events like a suggested, he might still be a viable candidate.

Oooh…..there’s a James Bond movie on…I’m gonna go watch that now

Another Thing: People–remember, the race isn’t over! Rush Limbaugh has a good analogy for it “we’re not even at the first turn yet“

No, unfortunately it doesn’t appear like there’s going to be a showdown between the “moderates” the the extremists. Rather it looks like it’s a race war

I’ve been suggesting for a while that Bill O’reilly take on Al Franken…especially in light of Franken’s latest tussle.

Perhaps a cage match would be in order?

(and I still think that Rich Lowry would destroy Franken in a rumble)

So I’m doing a very boring and confusing reading for my NEJS class. I put the Israeli network on the background, and there’s some “political rountable” type of show. They’re all debating and yelling (often simultaneously, like Israelis do best). It’s much more entertaining than Crossfire or Hannity and Colmes. There is a moderator on the show who throws out topics and brief questions, but the rest is what Israelis call a balagan

The little things I find entertaining

The Justice reports on the story

In a campus-wide e-mail released Monday, Assistant Dean of Student Life Rev. Nathaniel Mays condemned an act of vandalism that defaced the outside of the North Quad AB Lounge with a swastika

Measuring approximately nine inches, the symbol was reported on Nov. 13 [[ed.--do they mean Jan 13th?] by a North resident to Residence Life, who then immediately contacted Public Safety and Facilities to remove it.

Two days later the inscriptions, “Jew U” and “Kill me now,” were found written alongside each other in the snow on Chapel’s Field around 8 p.m. Currently, no one has been apprehended for the swastika or the offensive messages found in the snow.

The Jewish Chaplain has a great quote in the article:

“It doesn’t take a lot of intelligence or maturity to do either of these things because there’s lots of room for good communication to take place, and these aren’t examples of it,”

And one idea for a program about this:

One possibility includes a program that takes a “historical look at the swastika, and how it has been used to cause pain and hurt, or other symbols that could cause pain for our community,” Mays said.

Can I make a suggestion? What about having a program on the new rise of anti-semitism in the world? I think Brandeis would be a great location to have such a program, as we have professors who (I’d assume) are very, very familiar with this subject area. (We have a top notch Judaic Studies program).

These incidents appear to be more focused on anti-semitism (from what I’ve read), rather than blanket racism.

Either way, if the individual(s) behind this are caught…oh boy…I don’t think they know what they’re in for.

I am suprised though that we have not received any sort of all campus email from the University President. I’d think that it would nearly be protocol in these cases, no?

It’s Tuesday! Therefore we’ve got a new issue of the Justice!

I don’t have time to post everything right now; but I promise to do so this afternoon after my class. (I love only having 1 class on Tuesdays).

But here’s one story:

Brandeis grad student wanted for questioning by FBI

Now a few quick pointers:

1) The student in question completed her studies here and received her doctorate–therefore she’s no longer a student here.

2) This is old news! I blogged about this story when it first broke last spring (advantage Blogsphere!) [I'll find the old hyperlink later--I'm unable to find it right now].

Update: A commenter has informed me that this story was to serve as an “update” to a previous one that was run last semester. Thanks for the clarification–my mistake.

Okay–I’m back from class. Civil Liberties class was actually quite interesting today. But that’s irrelevant to this post.

Other big stories at Brandeis:

Banners stolen from Shapiro Campus Center – I’m assuming it was someone’s idea of a “funny” prank. In my opinion, it was stupid and immature. Whoever did it should just return the banner.

Secret & Scrumptious – A story about Brandeis’ own on campus bakery (which makes Kosher and non-Kosher baked goods). Apparently its very expensive, and they don’t try to cut costs at all (*cough* tuition increase? *cough*)

There’s more wireless access on campus now. That’s a good thing (although I have a desktop…)

Record high for marijuana cases–does this mean the University is actually discovering the significant number of people who use the drug on campus? I’m clean, I promise!

Okay, so I’ve been passing time recently by watching the History Channel–and there’s been lots of good stuff on!

This afternoon there were documentaries on organized crime waves–the Chinese Snakeheads, Sicilian Mafia, all sorts of good stuff. Then last night there was something on “Targeted” about the palestinian murderous bomb maker yehia ayash (a.k.a. “the engineer”)–who the Shin Bet was ultimately able to liquidate using a cell phone bomb.

There was also something on Pablo Escobar, and now there’s something on “Operation Just Cause” (Deposing Noriega–who is now sitting in a Miami prison with POW status)

I had it on in the background just now–I think the show has already jumed the shark. Miller lacked good humor and substance. Granted, his panel was interesting, Horowitz, Naomi Wolf (?), and David Frum–they didn’t let Frum talk enough and Horowitz and Wolf wound up fighting.

Unless he improves promptly, I don’t see the show taking off.

Just got the following email from the Campus Coordinator of Diversity Services
(Note: the coordinator has other titles besides that one, FYI; message has been edited for length)

To this end, I want to make you aware of the unfortunate fact that one of our residence halls in North Quad was defaced with a swastika earlier this semester. Although we do not know when the symbol first appeared on the building, or who is responsible for it being there, it has no place on our campus or in our society.

As we are well aware, in relatively recent history, the swastika has been associated with the horrific atrocities of Nazi Germany as a symbol of hate and the murder of a group of people due to their identity. Since that time, it has been adopted by additional perpetrators of inhumane acts and sentiments and used to intimidate and breed hate. In this way, the symbol concerns not only the Jewish members of our community but non- Jewish members as well.

When individuals and groups choose to disrupt constructive efforts to build a diverse and inclusive community, by sprinkling symbols and language of hate throughout a community (anonymously), it makes it
difficult to know where to focus our attention to rid our community of such behaviors. The one thing we cannot afford to do is allow these behaviors to create an irreconcilable divide within our community. We must not allow mean-spirited individuals to create distrust and feelings of apathy within our community. In the midst of feeling helpless, we must continue the task of building a campus community that welcomes all people.

Along with scheduling a major community diversity event for this semester, and planning informal opportunities for members of the Brandeis community to come together for engaged discussion on the challenges to our diversity efforts, I am working with a dedicated group of students, faculty, and
staff members who offer themselves as a resource for members of our community who wish to have conversations about diversity issues on campus, as well as to be a sounding board for potential actions that individuals/groups are considering in response to an offensive act that they have experienced at the hands of a member of our campus community.

This kind of act is really unacceptable, and the person(s) who did it, should they be caught, deserve the full penalties that can be afforded to them. There’s no question about that.

What I’m not so easy with is a “major community diversity event”. I’ve said before, that not only do I not understand what diversity means, but also the way it’s pushed (make that preached) here. Also the sounding board to “offensive acts” type thing…it sounds like more of a squashing of things. That’s what almost happened with Daniel Pipes last semester; and well, has been known to happen if you harbor an opinion that the far-leftists don’t agree with (because they’re the ones who whine).

That being said, there’s a difference between deliberate malice and a different opinion, but I fear that the line between the two has already been blured–much for the worse. Oh well…only one more semester.

Update: A commentator going as “unnamed” points out:

There was also a swastika in the snow recently.

One thing that gets me is that when the whole Justice thing happened, [Univ. President] Jehuda was the first one to send out an e-mail to the entire campus, but when a swastika is seen, Dean Mays sends out the e-mail first.

This time, the lucky winner is Hassan Ghul, captured in (drumroll please)….Iraq!

I’ll now turn it over to the President:

Just yesterday — not yesterday — just last week, we made further progress in making America more secure when a fellow named Hassan Ghul was captured in Iraq. Hassan Ghul was a — reported directly to Khalid Shaik Muhammad, who was the mastermind of the September the 11th attacks. He was a killer. He was moving money and messages around South Asia and the Middle East to other al Qaeda leaders. He was a part of this network of haters that we’re dismantling.

Our intelligence officers did a good job. He was captured in Iraq where he was helping al Qaeda to put pressure on our troops. There is one less enemy we have to worry about with the capture of Hassan Ghul. Our people are doing great work. –Source

The WaPo also says that along with Ghul, we got some other terrorists! Hoooah!

Take that bad guys! Woooohooo!

Federal Judge Dismisses Slave Reparations Case

At least this case was dismissed pre-trial, unlike another case, which a judge let go to trial. Fortunately, a jury knew better than to believe that a flight attendant’s use of the rhyme “eenie, meenie, minie, moe” was racist and caused physical and emotional distress.

The members of that jury obviously had their heads on straight. The plantiffs though, deserve a good whack with a ClueBat

Maybe it’s just me, but is anyone else sick of hearing 24/7 about tomorrow’s NH Primary? I’ve already mentioned how I’m sick of the political ads on TV (most of ‘em are rather lame anyway), but I wish that the TV and papers would just cut down on the myriad of polling data that they’re constatly throwing out.

Why can’t they just let the people of NH go to the polls and vote? As they say, it’s often unpredictable–so why bother with these constant polls?

That is my morning rant for today; now I shall go to class and…um…be…er….studious–yes, studious.

No, I have no explanation for this one, that’s why I’m sharing it:

Snopes.com confirms the authenticity of photographs circulating on the Internet that show Dick Cheney wearing an E.L.F. cap while sipping snifters of brandy with oil execs. Attorney General John Ashcroft uses the PATRIOT Act to prosecute the vice president as a domestic terrorist and “make America safe for Americans.”

But a spokesperson for ChevronTexacoMobilExxon chuckles at the accusation that the energy industry is trying to make itself look bad. “Don’t be ridiculous — that’s like saying PETA is a front for the mink fur industry.”

The assembled reporters gasp, then rush for the exits.

I don’t like mondays…no specific reason why…I simply just don’t like ‘em.
Today is also the first monday of classes this semester–and with that, our first full week of classes here.
Exciting, I know…it’s also freezing cold outdoors again (can someone please explain this whole global warming thingy to me again?)

I was out this evening…and I actually went into Boston (*gasp*). I went to meet a friend for dinner out at Ta’am China, a Kosher chinese restaurant here in Boston, which if I may say, has excellent food.

My friend and I sat there for quite some time just talking, catching up on things and the like. Overall, it was a good evening.

Tomorrow is the first monday of the semester–go figure. I only have one class and my PE, so it’ll be a “light” day for me. Well, it’s much better than having a very busy day, no?

For your entertainment (or amusement) this afternoon I’ll be reading the following works:

Bloomberg J, Jones GM, Segal B (1991) Adaptive Plasticity in the gaze stabilizing synergy of slow and saccadic eye movements. Exp. Brain Res 84:35-46

and

Benson, AJ: Chapter 16: The vestibular sensory system, in The Senses (1982)

Doesn’t get much more fun than this, no?

Update: Finished the book chapter at 17:22; did I understand all of it—uh….

Howard Dean Says Iraqis Worse Off Now

And they’re worse of since their genocidal dictator’s police state has been toppled because…? More of ‘em own cars, they have freedom of speech, they have liberties and rights…and they’re worse off? The only ones worse off are the ex-ba’athists (who btw deserve it).

Dean: I Would Have Toppled Saddam Using Different Tactics

I’m sure of that too. The sanctions were crumbling (didn’t you read Pollack’s “The Threatening Storm”?) How would you have done it? Via the UN?

Update: Clark is also drinking it: Clark: Michael Moore a ‘Man of Conscience’

And Kucinich, a long time Kool-aid drinker is at it again: Dennis Kucinich’s Magic Bus

Khatami: Disarm Middle East of nuclear weapons

Iran has no plans to manufacture nuclear weapons, its President told Newsweek, But the oil-rich Islamic state may acquire nuclear capability for peaceful use.

Saudi initiative: Arab states to absorb refugees

According to the new plan, 3 million refugees will be absorbed by Arab states that have already expressed their willingness to absorb a number of refugees equivalent to 10 percent of their total population.

Went to a local bar with some friends this evening. It was an okay time…bar was pretty close to being skeazy. Unfortnately we also got hit with a cover charge (b/c some bad cover band was playing in back). My problem is, now that all my clothes and coat smell like smoke. D’oh! I hope Febreeze works…

If anyone else has any suggestions, they’d be very appreciated! (I don’t like my clothes smelling like smoke)