Shocker: our professors are socialist bigots.

72% liberal, 13% conservative. This is the faculty disparity on college campuses according to a right-leaning policy group. Even granting a slight righward skew on the polling, this shocking number should shock very few people who have ever been to school of any kind, kindergarten on.

Our teachers are commies, let's face it.

The only counter that the representative for the American Association of University Professors can conjure is basically that there is no evidence that this is effecting (or affecting... please explain that one to me. I learned about Marxism, but not spelling/grammer) the policies of the institutions or the teaching content of the professors.

Apparently that person has never been to school before.

For those of us who have actually attended the grand institutions of higher learning that lead to an ironic lifetime of indentured servitutde to loaning institutions, we need no proof. Our professors OBSESS about racial and gender representation, but really couldn't be bothered about ideological representation. For those of us who have attended these institutions, whether we be liberal or conservative, we must all acknowledge that it is a rare professor who can sepparate his/her personal perspective from his/her teaching.

A grand example:

Larry Summers. The president (or whatever) of Harvard told a room full of intellectual cowards (the Harvard faculty)that there were three major hypotheses as to why women are so underrepresented in the sciences and that they should be investigated. Despite what the ignorant and frightened lemmings in the media tell you, he did NOT say that women were worse at the sciences than men (don't believe me? Good. Here is the transcript).

The leading lights of self-delusion stormed out of the room, and subsequently passed a vote of no-confidence against Mr. Summers. Mr. Summers, being a good liberal, appointed by President Clinton to be Treasury Secretary when nobody competent could be found (okay, he wasn't so bad, but competence is barely even funny), dutifully cowered in a corner and passionately re-avowed himself to dogma, and to forceful ignorance, and agreed that his desire to increase knowledge about the root causes of the under-representation was inappropriate.

Where is the outrage over the fact that over 80% of the faculties in Political Science self-identify as liberals? Will we see Jesse Jackson marching over that abomination? Will we have the EEOC investigating that one? I'm gonna go ahead and not hold my breath.

The truth of the matter is that in academia, and many areas of the media, conservative thought is considered not to be a valuable alternative point of view, but a disease, an affliction of chronic ignorance.

For those who think that's correct, Rush Limbaugh thinks your point of view is based on delusion, and an ignorance of history. Can't have one without the other.

If you say "tolerance", mean it.

France to reject their own Constitution?!?!

Two polls suggest that France may reject the E.U. Constitution that they wrote. Tragicomedy.

Written by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the Constitution promotes "ever closer union" and was designed to create a common front for the promotion of a unified European international facade for all matters from trade to defense.

Considered by many (especially the British) as too integrationist, a French okay was taken for granted if for no other reason than that the Brits were hesitant. A no from the French doesn't doom the project, as they could run another referendum down the road once the French see what they've done, but it would be incredibly embarrasing.

French Racism Rears its Frequently Seen Head

French interior minister, Dominique De Villepin, said that a No vote would result in globalisation "without any constraints," he said, and Europe would then become "the big market that the Anglo-Saxons dream about, a Europe under US influence, a Europe under Chinese influence".

Meanwhile, the two main reasons that the No campaign is doing so well is distaste for the Chirac government, and the French fear of Turkish entry into the E.U.

So, essentially, Villepin is attempting to counter French racism with French racism and Anglophobia. Fight fire with fire I suppose.

The architect of Containment dies at 101. TURMENISTAN may be next on the terrorist hit list.

George Kennan died today. Kennan was the man who created the concept and policy of containment that kept the world from WWIII and ensured a capitalist victory in the cold war. His idea was oulined in a single memo to the President in 1946 called "The Long Telegram".

Incidentally, his ideas are the driving force behind our policy on North Korea, and interestingly in Iran.

Look at this map (I command you). Looking at the toppling of Iraq in a geographic context, Iran is now surrounded by Turkey (an American ally), Afghanistan (an American ally), Iraq (well, you know...), Azerbijian and Armenia (erstwhile allies, somewhat ungoverned), and Turkmenistan.

Turkmenistan is an interesting case. Ruled by a pretty harsh but clever dictator, Saparmurat Niyazov who has renamed January after himself, and April after his mother (no, not a joke), this gas rich country could well be the focus of intense Russian-American diplomacy in the coming months.

Violence is unlikely, but with the recent revelation that nuclear capable cruise missiles were smuggled from Ukraine to Iran I think stepped up patrols of the Black Sea, along with a diplomatic push for sealing the borders between Trukmenistan and Iran are likely.

Sealing the border with Turkmenistan would provide an economic stranglehold for local trade with Iran, akin to our attempts (failed) to strangle Castro.

Considering we've already got pretty strict sanctions in place agianst Iran, the only way to hurt them more is to encourage others to restrict trade as well.

BTW, it's NOT I ran, it's Ir-on.

62% of Iraqis say their country is headed in the right direction.

You heard it here. USAToday reports that 62% of Iraqis believe Iraq is headed in the right direction. 23% say it is headed in the wrong direction.

44% of Americans believe our country is headed in the right direction. 56% of Americans say Iraq is heading in the right direction, while 57% disapprove of Bush's handling of Iraq.

No grand point here, other than my belief that the anti-Bush numbers could be an American "death and dismemberment" number, akin to the anti-occupation numbers in Iraq.

I'll be interested to see what the "was it worth it?" numbers is in ten years. That number right now is worthless IMHO. The pain of death is too near in time to objectively judge.

Gay marriage ban unconstitutional!

A California court has found the ban on gay marriage to be against the California Constitution.

It's about time.

Though this decision will be appealed, conservatives who aren't socially oppresive nut-jobs should be extatic. Those of us who believe the government ought not intrude on the personal choices of its citizens ought to be cheering.

Most are not.

The secretly recorded tapes of President Bush would indicate that he ought to be cheering as well. He is not.

This is precisely the issue that spawned this blog. If we as Republicans are against government intrusion and for the limiting of its power and its budget, we OUGHT to be cheering.

I know I am.

What the hell does this have to do with the U.S.?

Spanish Muslims issued a fatwa against bin Laden today. Good for them.

In addition, they thanked the Spanish government for not overreacting after the 3/11 attackes in Madrid, unlike the U.S. Now, what the hell does this have to do with the U.S?!?! Must EVERY press release posted by Muslim or European groups be self-congragulatory AND anti-U.S.? We had a hickup right after 9/11 that was a bit middle-easter xenophobic. Hard to blame us, but we're over it (seriously, I invite anyone to counter this point).

Do American Muslim groups take shots at Europeans? Do U.S. Federal agencies mock the EU? What the hell is wrong with everybody?

How about just going about your business and tending to your own affairs? This bizarre addiction to comparing your own actions to the evil U.S. reeks of Neitzche's (frequently and horribly misunderstood) "slave mentality" wherein the weak compare themselves to the (evil) strong in an attempt to establish themselves as the relative "good".

The Europeans are acting like teenagers who strive to establish their own independence by differentiating themselves from their parents.

Move out already!

I certainly understand the desire... I take pot-shots at the French like it were an Olympic event (hey, if the biathalon is an event, skeet-shooting the cheese-eaters should be).

The problem is that a unified Western front is so much more powerful than just the U.S. The unfortunate truth is that we may be witnessing the beginning of the end for the Atlantic Alliance. Fortunately, this is probably a temporary situation, as outlined brilliantly in Foreign Affairs. I would love comments about the Atlatic Divide... more to come on this...

Hypocrisy I

I was thinking today about the "anti-war" position as pertains to Iraq II. If a person is anti-Iraq war, can that same person fault the U.S. for doing business with an oppressive regime?

Seems hypocritical to me. Are we to ignore those countries entirely? That's what's happening in Zimbabwe right now. We're ignoring it and people are starving to death. Since Mr. Mugabe came to power, Zibabweans earnings per capita has decreased by 50%!

Ignoring a more powerful country that behaves poorly and aggressively is what non-Churchillian Eurpoe did in WWII and continues today. It's called appeasement. Hoping for the best.

The best never happens.

So, I say: choose one or the other; anti-war OR economic disengagement. The alternative is to apply for French citizenship.

Al Jazeera: NOT pro-Arab, just anti-US.

Al Jazeera is reporting 1.5 million pro-Syrian protesters in Lebanon today. The rest of the world is saying between 50,000 toseveral hundred thousand.

Interesting, especially when you consider there are only 3.7 million Lebenese total. Figure about 2.5 million adults, and Al Jazeera is claiming that 60% of the entire adult population was in the street today. A Tuesday. I know the unemployment rate is high in Lebanon, but 60%?

So the question is: why would Al Jazeera buy such an absurd claim? The Lebanese claim Arab ancestry (by and large), so it isn't yet another case of mindless belief of all Arabs, as is AJ's general M.O.

This seems to me to be the truth behind Al Jazeera's mission: whatever the U.S. is for, we are against. This is the appeal and marketing posture of AJ to the Arab world. The Arab world can always count on AJ to take the other point of view, no matter how silly that POV is.

Bush is for it so AJ is against it. They sacrifice the interest of some Arabs, so long as thier own Sunni pan-Arabist (Baathists) are shown in heroic light.

Banning the IRA

So I'm almost always against the European tendency to ban political parties it finds distasteful. I believe that banning political parties simply drives the sentiment underground where it festers.

The IRA and Sinn Fein has made me question my beliefs. They flatly robbed a bank. They offer to kill their own killers.

This, along with the fact that 70% of N. Ireland residents would vote for union with the U.K rather than Ireland makes this group essentially an organized crime sydndicate. They represent no democratic ideal, they have no guiding philosophy other than minority rule.

I would not ban them only because they make themselves publicly silly with each new scandal.

The Democrats minimum wage laws hurt the poor.

Again, the Democrats look like heros for attempting to hurt the same people they are trying to help. Again, the Republicans look like red-headed step children with a plan that would actually help...

Click for a Chicago Tribune article debunking simplistic thinking about raising the minimum wage. They make you register, but it's a great article.

The facts: poor adults are hurt by minimum wage laws. The truth: it sucks to be poor.

I would heartily agree that a way to distribute better benefits to the working poor is required, but perhaps a tax rebate for those that don't pay in the first place is a better method... Distorts the job market less.

This is the reason why I can't vote for the big D's. Symbolism over substance. Every informed individual knows that minimum wage laws hurt the poor, but in their desire to appeal to the ignorant portion of the populace (unfortunately high proportion in this instance) they go for the idiot stick and whack us yet again.