Posts Tagged ‘history’

…you come for all of us faculty at the University of Illinois:

In a proposed resolution, highly-regarded professor Elliott Kaufman suggested that the Faculty Senate ask the board to reconsider its decision, one he said was a conflict-of-interest and “inappropriately influenced by personal and political comments.”

He urged board members to “adhere to the ethical constraints that normally govern their meetings.”

“Isn’t this the new, squeaky-clean, highly-ethical board of trustees? What happened? It is worth airing the laundry here,” said Kaufman, who retired last year after serving in numerous faculty leadership positions, in an interview with the Tribune.

“The chair had a conflict of interest and he put the other trustees in an impossible position,” Kaufman said. “He drew a dotted line between the assassination of the Kennedy brothers and giving Bill Ayers emeritus status. The result is what we got and I just don’t think it was a fair way to do it.”

Jim Hoff cuts to the chase:

So, let’s see. A guy that has a history of despising the United States and committing armed insurrection against her, a guy that advocated for the violent deaths of any number of her citizens, a guy who, with his wife, actually participated in at least one bombing where a police officer was killed, a guy that has never expressed any remorse for his actions, and a guy that has never paid a price for his treasonous and murderous actions is just the sort of guy that the faculty of a prestigious university would go to the mat for? Is that what we have here?

Yep, it appears that terrorist William Ayers is just the kind of creep that university professors love.

Because nothing says “Emeritus status” more to University of Illinois professors than dedicating your book to the murderer of Robert Kennedy.

All I can think of is the Lion King: “You like him, he likes you, but he likes the Murderer of RFK…and everyone is OK with this?”

Says DaScienceGuy who as a professional scientist doesn’t scare easy.

He deserves a lot more of your attention. A few years ago he took him money out of the stock market and put it into…a small business (a laundromat to be precise) and that experience of running a small business along with his work in science makes for a really interesting fellow.

About 15 years ago when the first talk of civil unions came up when people were talking about a constitutional amendment to enshrine actual marriage explicitly in the constitution the media and the pols pooh poohed the entire idea saying that nobody is talking about Gay Marriage and the idea it was going to come up was nonsense.

People who had more sense on the state level decided not to take chances and passed constitutional amendments to their own state constitutions.

Interestingly enough we are seeing this phenom again in Oklahoma:

Oklahoma is poised to become the first state in the nation to ban state judges from relying on Islamic law known as Sharia when deciding cases.

The ban is a cornerstone of a “Save our State” amendment to the Oklahoma constitution that was recently approved by the Legislature.

The amendment — which also would forbid judges from using international laws as a basis for decisions — will now be put before Oklahoma’s voters in November. Approval is expected.

Well this is a victory for liberals surely, Sharia law being so oppressive to women and gays and restrictive on sex etc etc I’m sure that our friends on the left will be cheering the chance for the voters to reject such a set of misogynistic rules right? Apparently not:

Reps. Duncan and Moore’s “us vs. them” mentality exemplifies the mainstreaming of extreme right-wing Islamophobia. Once hawked by fringe figures, the “creeping Sharia” delusion is finding champions among staunch conservative leaders like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose crusade against all-things-Islamic culminated in his call for “a federal law that says sharia law cannot be recognized by any court in the United States” at the Value Voters Summit this month.

Ah it’s all about Islamophobia, there is actually no reason why Sharia is something to be worried about, it can’t happen here. Next thing you will be telling me is that honor killings are taking place in America or something.

Jay Nordlinger identified these people long ago:

During the Cold War, we used to speak of anti-anti-Communists. These were people (on the left) who were not exactly pro-Communist. But they so hated the anti-Communists, they were . . . well, anti-anti-Communists — the best, the fairest name for them.

Today, there are anti-anti-Islamofascists. They are not on the Islamofascist side in the War on Terror. But they hate those who are fighting, or attempting to fight, the Islamofascists more than they could ever hate the Islamofascists. They are anti-anti-Islamofascists.

The similarities between yesterday’s anti-anti-Communists and today’s anti-anti-Islamofascists would make a very good essay — perhaps by David Pryce-Jones or Norman Podhoretz. Of course, many of today’s anti-anti-Islamofascists were yesterday’s anti-anti-Communists — I mean, the same people, in the flesh.

The day these people hate actual oppressors as much as they hate their pseudo oppressors will be a marvelous day for this country, and for themselves.

For your discussion and debate #1 Some poll results are more permanent than others

Looking at current polls. Obama is shown in poll with only 40% or so believing he deserves re-election. Joe points out in perspective saying that his polls were comparable with Clinton 2004 & Reagan 1982, can’t make this the last word…

…then in the same poll Obama is shown beating Sarah Palin in a 2012 match up and the Same Joe Scarborough touts this as more proof that she can sell books but can’t be elected and Mika breathes a sigh of relief.

My take: How is one poll a snapshot of time and the other set in stone? Joe’s point about the president is right but it applies equally to Sarah Palin. How was Reagan polling in 1978 for example?

For your discussion and debate #2 Some stories are more relevant than others

Colbert took his act to SNL The comedy connection a congressional hearing on Friday and Mika’s reaction indicates she found it just as appealing and appropriate as leading the day’s news with Paris Hilton. Her comment was classic: “Who are these people who are the 21% that approve of congress?” Mark Halperin pointed out Pelosi & Hoyer disagreed on the appearance noting that this should be a bigger story….

…yet there was not a word about the other Friday Hearings on the air DOJ RACISM SCANDALS made the Washington Post front page but as of 7:08 Morning Joe hasn’t touched it. I submit that this is not coincidence. I think democrats wanted that coverage off of TV and as far as Morning Joe goes, that’s exactly what they’ve got. As John Nolte put it: Mission Accomplished.

My Take: I know they had their education day scheduled for a while but I’d like to see Mika decide for the 8 a.m. hour to lead with Christopher Coates testimony instead of Colbert a-la Paris. She has 45 minutes. Will she do it?