1832

Valuing Life

2005-12-10T22:15:00.001-06:00

Having just read Professor McAdams' post about the upcoming execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, I felt the obligation to defend what he describes as the "attachment that liberal activists and Hollywood airheads have for [Mr. Williams]."

While I found the Boston Globe article he referenced interesting, (and indeed, disturbing by the details of violence in them), I felt that it was extremely one-sided, and did not take into account the positive things that Mr. Williams has done since his incarceration in 1981. This man has been on death row for 24 years. He has been in prison longer than I have been alive. In the time that Mr. Williams has been imprisoned, he has denounced his gang ties, and has worked to end gang violence.

I am not advocating that Mr. Williams is innocent of these crimes. What I am advocating is that he should be granted clemency. This would mean that he would be spared from the death penalty, but he would remain in prison for the rest of his life.

Professor McAdams writes that "Death penalty opponents claim that executing murderers somehow sends the message that killing is alright, since the state is killing. This sort of logic says that sending an army to invade Germany in World War II sent a message that invasions are alright. Of course, it sent exactly the opposite message."

I disagree. I don't think that death penalty opponents think that by using capital punishment, we send the message that killing is ok. It is for several reasons that I will outline that I believe capital punishment is wrong. These reasons are not a complete list, but merely touch on examples that I have encountered in my research.

As a death penalty opponent I have done extensive research and talked with several attorneys who have handled cases where capital punishment was at stake. Most of these people who work to ensure the justice of this country do not believe that the death penalty significantly deters criminals from committing a crime. Jeffrey Fagan, a professor at Columbia Law School testified before the New York State assembly with very compelling evidence that capital punishment has not been proven to deter crime.

There are other options besides death; a punishment of life without parole is just as a deterrant for crime as capital punishment. Studies have repeatedly shown that a life imprisonment is also less costly than using the death penalty because of the huge costs of appeals. For these reasons, I do not believe capital punishment ought to be administered.

I also believe that employing the use of capital punishment has moral implications. Professor McAdams says that "executing murderers sends exactly the right message about the value of human life." What message is this? Yes, we should recognize that there are victims of those who are currently on death row. Yes, their lives were valuable and yes, there ought to be a punishment for the crimes against them, but aren't the lives of those on death row also valuable? Stanley Tookie Williams has worked diligently to bring peace to America's gang ridden inner cities. Yes, he allegedly killed several people, but his life still has value, even in prison. By murdering these people (yes, murder is the cause of death when someone is killed through capital punishment. it is quite ironic) we send a vengeful message about the value of human life. Can someone explain to me how we value human life by killing? Yes, I understand that by executing someone it acts as a retribution for killing someone else, but that doesn't end the pain for a family who lost a loved one. The only message sent through executions is that this nation only values certain lives--the lives of those who are victims. Everyone has done something wrong in their lives, some more than others. We mere and fallible humans cannot reasonably make the determination of whose lives are valuable and whose are not. To me, every life is sacred. Every life has value. Criminals should be in prison, but they should be allowed to live and to contribute to society, even from behind bars.

I don't disagree that there are evil people in this world and that we must have a system in place to ensure the protection of citizens, but capital punishment does little to protect people. It does not detract from crime, it is costly, and to say that executions show that we value human life is the most oxymoronic thing I have heard in a long time. We must have a system of justice where criminals are prosecuted, but to kill someone to say that killing is wrong does not value life whatsoever.

Final Petition Update

2005-12-10T16:44:00.000-06:00

The following petition was submitted to University officials and The Marquette Tribune yesterday with 297 signatures:

Freedom of expression and the exchange of ideas are essential in an academic setting and should be encouraged rather than punished. The signers of the petition demand that the student who was suspended for expressing his personal beliefs online in a form of a personal blog be fully reinstated to the University and that all disciplinary actions taken against him be overturned. Specifically, the signers of petition believe that the decision by the Marquette University Faculty/Student Conduct Board should be overturned on the following grounds:

Whereas: The Dental School Faculty/Student Conduct Board denied the student a fair hearing

Whereas: The University grossly infringed on his right to freedom of speech by using statements made to a close group of friends on his personal blog against him

Whereas: The punishment was overly excessive and can be shown to be more than arbitrary and capricious

Whereas: The decision, If upheld, would set a disastrous precedent for student free speech rights and would give the University a seemingly limitless reach into students lives.

This petition is officially sponsored and endorsed by: Marquette College Democrats, Marquette College Republicans, 1832, The Warrior Blog, Leaning Blue, Brewtown Politico, GOP3.com, Adam Chernow's Blog, The Office of Homeland Security and Eminent Domain.

Thank you to all of you that took the time to sign it.

MUSG Concedes Marquette Has Right to Censorship

2005-12-08T21:06:00.000-06:00

I don't know what I was thinking when I had hope that MUSG would actually do something positive for their fellow students on campus. This is the MUSG after all that is led by Alex Hermanny who actually "thanked the administration" for the input it took from students in the "GOLD" annoucement.

Resolution 1: "On Behalf of Student Expression", which was passed, contained the following statement:

"Whereas: It is recognized that Marquette University, in accordance with its Jesuit values and ideals and in compliance with its Policies and procedures, reserves the right to monitor and censor expression both on and off Marquette's campus"

Um hello MUSG!?!?! When did censorship become an ideal " in accordance with Jesuit values"? So thats where the Dental School got the suspension idea from--the Jesuits! (Im clearly joking, I assume this was just poor wording that none of them caught).

MUSG passed the resolution despite the fact that I stated in the public comments section, that including such a statement makes the rest of the resolution null and void, much like the War Powers Act fails to limit Presidential War Powers because the Congress conceded that the President has the right to insert troops into combat without the consent of the Congress.

During the debate, Alex Hermanny and Brock Banks stated that (from the GOP3.com live blog):

SENATOR BANKS: Talked with Dean McCarthy. Their view is that when you commit yourself to MU student, you sign onto a contract with a policy and student conduct code, and that they have the right to censor student expression whenever they want since when we're on campus we're theirs and when we're off-campus we're a representative of the University. Still, just because they can censor us doesn't mean they should. Brock points out the negative effects that can occur when the University does exercise their right. MUSG wants the University to be prudent in its decisions to curb student expression, given our goal to make the University an open forum for the free exchange of ideas.

DANIEL: Alex mentioned that he talked with Fr. Andy, and Fr. Thon [sic] said that he felt part of this issue was the higher standard of conduct expected from professional school students.

Jeez guys you talked to Dr. McCarthy the Dean of OSD, which is the Department that is the main oppessor of speech on and off campus, and Fr. Andy Thon who both agree that Marquette has an absolute right to "monitor and censor speech on and off campus". They clearly wouldn't have a vested interest in claiming such a right even if its doesn't legally exist.

Did any members of MUSG speak with a lawyer or Professor from the law school to verify this? Nope. Apparently none of the MUSG Senators even bothered to readl this Marquette Tribune staff editorial that stated:

The expelled student could argue that the university rule in question was not clear enough with regards to off-campus speech. He could also argue that Marquette received money from the government for the dental school building, and in that way is a government actor, broadening the student's right to free speech, according to Erik Ugland, a professor of media law at Marquette. Ugland said in an e-mail interview that he hoped the university would rescind its suspension.
I'm going to write a lot more later this weekend about everything that is wrong with this resolution because I have a lot of work to do tonight.

However, I will say this, unless MUSG is willing to put up a tougher fight with the Admin, I have zero faith in MUSG's pledge to pass a real "students bill of rights" next semester that actually protects students.

Last Day To Sign The Petition To Protect Free Speech!

2005-12-08T15:11:00.000-06:00

Please take the time to sign this petition if you have not done so already and forward it to all of your friends!

1832 will deliver the petition to Dental School tomorrow between 8am-9am to make sure it gets in before the appeal hearing.

Thanks to all of your efforts the petition jumped from the #2 petition to the #1 spot today on www.ipetitions.com:

1. Protect MU Students Free Speech Rights

2. Start a bar for Homophobes in Baie-Comeau!

3. Help Fix the RIT Residential Mealplans

4. Support the Yale-New Haven Cancer Center

5. Save Al-Mansuri Family and their little Canadian D

Lets mare sure it says #1!

Also if you have time please contact the following Marquette officials and let them know what you think:

Dr. Denis Lynch: Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

Contact Dr. Lynch via email at: denis.lynch@marquette.edu

Contact Dr. Lynch on the phone at: 414-288-7485

Dr. Anthony Ziebert: Chairman of Department of General Dental Sciences

Contact Dr. Ziebert via email at: anthony.ziebert@marquette.edu

Contact Dr. Ziebert on the phone at: 414-288-3704

Student Senate to Vote Today on Resolution to Protect Free Speech

2005-12-08T02:55:00.000-06:00

According to a friend of mine who is close to MUSG, the Student Life Committee has approved a resolution that condemns the Dental School's decision to suspend a student over the contents of his blog and that a "student bill of rights" is also on the table.

The Student Senate will vote on the resolution and discuss a possible "student bill of rights" tonight at 7:30pm in AMU room 227.

A "student bill of rights" or MUSG resolutions that further protect students right to free speech on and off campus is something that I have long advocated for. I just find it sad that an event such as this, is what forced to the table.

Marquette College Democrats, Marquette College Republicans, The Warrior Blog, GOP3.com, 1832 and even my old Students for Dean group have long warned that Marquette student's freedom of expression has been under attack by the administration--the time for change is now.

Petition makes it way up to #2 petition on iPetitions, TuckerMax.com reports on "Dental-gate"

2005-12-07T14:40:00.000-06:00

The petition started by 1832 to reinstate Marquette Dental Student Theodore Schrubbe and have all disciplinary action taken against him overturned has already jumped to the #2 petition of the day on www.ipetitions.com:

today's Top Petitions:

1. Save Movies at Spangenberg Theatre
2. Protect MU Students Free Speech Rights
3. Save Al-Mansuri Family and their little Canadian D
4. Oprah Winfrey for Nobel Peace Prize
5. Start a bar for Homophobes in Baie-Comeau!

However, don't take this to mean we don't need more people to sign it! Please take the time to sign the petition and forward it to anyone you know!

For those of you with more time, we also encourage you to email or call Associate Dean Denis Lnych's office at:

denis.lynch@marquette.edu

Phone: 414-288-7485

Click here to view his webpage

In related TuckerMax.com, who received a lot of notoriety for posting about his drunken escapades while at Duke Law School, has also reported on and condemned the suspension of Theodore Schrubbe.

Some People Should Not Be Parents

2005-12-06T20:26:00.000-06:00

My stomach turned when I read that Jason Strickland, a 31 year old auto mechanic, was appealing to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to keep his stepdaughter alive. Haliegh Strickland has been comatose, and on life support since September.

The man trying to keep her alive is allegedly the reason she is in the hospital barely clinging to life. Police charged Strickland with beating Haliegh. Those charges will be upgraded to murder if Haliegh is taken off of life support.

It makes me so sick. Strickland never officially adopted Haliegh, but because he lived with her for four years and took on a fatherly role, he should be viewed as her de facto parent. Thus, he believes he should have the right to decide when she is taken off of life support. What gets me is that she wouldn’t need the life support had he acted like a parent ought to act. He should have been loving, and caring, and protective of this girl that now, when his own life is at stake, views as his daughter. This is so incredibly selfish. He only wants to protect himself. I am glad that his case has little legal merit in that he never officially adopted Haliegh, and therefore will probably not win his appeal.

Petition Drive Update

2005-12-06T20:10:00.000-06:00

So far 52 people have signed our petition demanding that all of the disciplinary actions taken against Marquette Dental Student Theodore Schrubbe be overturned, but given all the traffic that is coming into 1832 right now, we really should have more. If you haven't signed the petition yet, please take the time to do so.

In addition, the petition has now been endorsed by the following groups/blogs: Marquette College Democrats, Marquette College Republicans, 1832, The Warrior Blog, Leaning Blue, Brewtown Politico, GOP3.com, Adam Chernow's Blog, The Office of Homeland Security and now Eminent Domain.

In related news, Slashdot.com has picked up the story:

whiteSanjuro writes "Reported first by the bloggers, and now the mainstream press, is a story of a student being suspended by his university for the rest of the academic year because of entries in the student's blog which the university did not view favorably. It has already had some chilling effects and looks like it will be setting a standard that students at private universities aren't guaranteed free speech online. The student (who wishes to remain anonymous) is appealing the university's decision in an effort to remain in classes and finish out the current semester, but even the terms of re-admittance (pdf) leave the blogger subject to probation, minus a scholarship, and prohibit future free blogging. Perhaps now is the time to consider joining the EFF if you attend a private university and have a blog."

In addition to our petition, please join the EFF as well.

In Defense of Offshoring

2005-12-06T17:51:00.000-06:00

The loss of American white-collar jobs to India, China and other locales through the practice of outsourcing has become one of the hot-button issues in politics today. But perhaps just as controversial, if not more so, than the application of outsourcing is offshoring, defined by reporter and author Thomas Friedman as “when a company takes one of its factories that is operating in Canton, Ohio and moves the whole factory offshore to Canton, China (where) it produces the same product in the very same way, only with cheaper labor, lower taxes, subsidized energy, and lower health care costs." Offshoring has gained a great deal of negative attention in recent media coverage, as the press laments the loss of American blue-collar positions, disappearance of tax revenue from production, and alleged human rights violations in these foreign factories. However, it appears at times as though both sides of the story of offshoring are not being told by America’s mainstream media and many politicians.

Some local representatives have been eager to act on the resentment of offshoring labor shown by their constituents. California lawmakers recently introduced a bill that would have prohibited agencies in their state from offshoring labor unless the contractor could prove that all of the work would be done inside the United States by American workers. Although the proposed regulation was eventually vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, it only seems as if protectionist sentiments in this country are becoming more and more prevalent. Infoworld reports that “bills related to offshoring or outsourcing, some of which would severely limit or outright stop those practices, were introduced this year in nearly all 50 states as well as in the U.S. Congress, and there is no indication that legislative trend will stop."

Despite the good intentions of elected officials across the country, the fact remains that companies which choose to offshore production are effectively employing the law of comparative advantage, and choosing real goals such as efficiency and price over intangible variables like their perception by potential consumers. Unfortunately for companies that do choose to outsource, this image is often altered by those that seek to keep American jobs inside our borders at any cost. Offshoring labor can actually create positions here in the United States, as shown by Murray Weidenbaum, who chronicled the results of Delta Air Lines’ experiment. He writes that “in 2003, Delta outsourced 1,000 jobs to India, but the $25 million in savings allowed the company to add 1,200 reservation and sales positions in the United States." Of course, positive stories about offshoring such as this, which saw our country gain 1,200 higher-paying positions at the expense of 1,000 blue-collar placements, are largely hidden as the “offshoring is bad” contingent of the media tends to dominate discussion.

Perhaps most of all, protectionist politicians and jingoistic journalists are guilty of claiming that in regards to offshoring, the sky is falling, when that really is not the case. After all, America still is the world’s largest manufacturer, and per Friedman, we still produce 75% of what we consume. All of our jobs are not moving across the Pacific. In fact, some high-paying jobs are moving in the opposite direction, as foreign car companies have found it advantageous to set up production facilities right here in the United States. Honda now has a plant in Ohio, Nissan currently manufactures vehicles in Mississippi, and Toyota operates production lines in California, just to name a few. In addition, technological firms across the world often move operations to the United States to take advantage of our culture of innovation and highly educated population. Offshoring does go both ways.

People need to realize this simple actuality in the new global economy – due to globalization, offshoring is here to stay, despite legislation, rallies or other movements against it. But it does not have to be a threat. The offshoring of global positions presents thousands of new opportunities just waiting to be leveraged. It frees up workers in America to manage, rather than work with their hands, and to deal with information instead of raw materials. And while it is an enormous transformation, it can inevitably work out for the best, for both employers and employees.

Counterpoint from the Comments Section

2005-12-06T17:47:00.000-06:00

Editors Note: The following was originally posted in the comments section of this post on this suspension scandal at Marquette and while we disagree with it a lot of it (but not all of it), 1832 also fully supports and believes in the freedom of expression and encourages the free exchange of ideas. Thus we have elevated these comments to "guest blog" status as it is a well written counterpoint:

I’m a Marquette grad, and I emailed Professor McAdams yesterday with a few two cent opinions on this whole mess.

I read the Marquette Tribune pretty often on line and also the new student paper, as well as Dr. McAdams blog and this one.

For whatever it’s worth, as a life long conservative on most every issue, I have a quickie take on this biz.

My sense of the atmosphere at Marquette these days is that there seems to be an acrimonious relationship between liberal and conservative factions, student and faculty alike. Whatever happened to the days when people could disagree with eachother without having to fear someone coming by their house and shooting their windows at at 3am?

First, unfortunately the Dental student’s blog is off line now, apparently, so no one can read the whole thing and draw a thoroughly reasoned conclusion.

But based on Dr. McAdam’s post yesterday, it seems the University’s decision to discipline this student rests on his use of one particular word (a bad toilet word he used in reference to a professor — whose identity obviously could be inferred by readers, though the professor is unnamed).

Second, I don’t think it’s fair to say Marquette censored anyone, unless they forced this guy to take his blog down. It seems he did it on his own after he got nailed for calling someone a bad name. The student seemd to cave in when forced with an embarrassing disciplinary mess. He seemed to reject their feeling he needed counseling, and so took the blog down as an afterthought.

It seems the posts here (on this site regarding free speech) are predicated on a juvenile at best notion of what constitutes “free speech.” Of course no one suggests shouting “Fire in a theater” should be protected. But there are many other levels and grades of things that merit argument. This is one of them.

It’s interesting that another blogger here accuses the Dean of reacting like a three year old — but what’s more childish than calling someone a bad name and then crying foul when there are consequences?

I’m not taking Marquette’s side in this. Not by a long shot. But one has to recognize the climate of our culture.

As I wrote to Dr McAdams, 16 years ago today an engineering student at the University of Montreal shot 14 female students to death in a classroom.

No one is saying this dental student is deranged, but universities, corporations, airports, malls, and so forth are all taking things that smell of potential whacked out behavior much more seriously today than they ever did before.

Maybe a hundred years from now, or more, when people stop walking through shopping malls with assualt rifles, killing their girlfriends’ parents over curfew, and going to churches and kindergartens with deer rifles, then you can safely say that people who post blogs in a moment of anger are just “blowing off steam,” as Dr McAdams says this guy is doing. But today, corporations, law enforcement, schools, etc, are paying attention to “fighting words,” which is the real name for this student’s language.

By the way, read Chaplinsky v the State of New Hampshire in this regard. It’s the Supreme Court case that helped shape legal definitions of “protected speech.”

Also, it’s possible there’s more to the dental student’s story than the blogs and media are reporting. If he put those words in his blog, it’s likely he shot his mouth off in the dental school. News travels fast. Perhaps he has a reputation.

Plato wryly points out that the purpose of punishment is pedagogical.
What’s done is done and punishment can’t change the past. However, punishment teaches perpetrators and everyone else what happens if someone transgresses a law.

Dr. McAdams may know this student personally, and can vouch for his character. I don’t know. But go talk to people in Columbine about how they feel about students who use blogs to blow off steam. Then come back and look at this case again.

This just is bad timing on the student’s part, and quite obviously the left leaning administration has seized this opportunity to make an example of him.

Moreover, the student said what he had to say, and Marquette exercised its right to decide who gets to be on campus and who doesn’t. (There’s an Italian saying: Choose your friends for their looks and you enemies for their brains. I wonder how this fits the present circumstance.)
As I said to Dr McAdams, and I don’t think he agrees with me, student criticism of a professor might go something like this:

“Is unprepared for class.”
“Returns assignments late and with few useful comments.”
“Does not hold office hours regularly and is not available.”

These are critiques.

Name calling like that is hate rhetoric. It’s not “a free discourse of ideas” to tear people down. Anyone who thinks that calling someone a “c—kmaster” is sharing an idea isn’t worth arguing with.

What would liberal and conservatives alike think of a Marquette faculty or graduate teaching assistant, who, in a blog, referred to a student as a “c–k-anything,” who everyone could identify contextually? Further, what if the professor or TA said that 20% of his students weren’t college material?

Would we all be rushing to defend their right to “free” speech?

Would every one agree such a person deserves to be on the faculty of a major university?

Ultimately, there can’t or shouldn’t be two sets of standards for people in an academic community.

Either there’s scholarly decorum or there isn’t.

It’s not like the guy worked on a loading dock and called his foreman a “c—k master.” He’s a graduate student and if he can’t sound like one then there’s something out of joint.
And you can say on the one hand that a professor is a c–kmaster, and then run and hide and expect people to cut you slack and say it’s ok, you were only “blowing off steam.”

When you call a professor a bad word like a disgruntled 4th grader on a public school playground, people have a right to react to this type of behavior (and yes, language is a type of behavior that is actionable, if you don’t believe me, then try cussing up a storm in a major corporation, on a city bus, or better yet walk up to a cop and tell him he’s a “c—k master”).
What got this young man in hot water isn’t that he was critical of Marquette, rather, what came back to bite him in the ass is that he expressed himself like someone on Jerry Springer or Maury.

He exercised his right to talk like a low life, and Marquette exercised its right to ask him if he really wants to be there.

Regardless of how “equal” we all are politically and socially, if the only way you can evaluate another person is to use toilet words, you’re not equal intellectually to anyone.

Doesn’t sound like this guy is particularly happy there. And since I am not at Marquette, I can’t guess what it’s like to be a grad student there anymore.

So what entitles him to the degree he’s working on? It certainly isn’t his detached intellect or his capacity to think abstractly or philosophically.

It wasn’t so long ago when there was a distinction between public and private discourse. Remember when Nixon had to turn over particular Oval Office recordings of his private meetings? The public was then shocked that the President of the US and his staff cussed like truck drivers and even used racial and ethnic slurs.

But in public, one was expected to express important ideas with appropriate language.
Apparently Marquette thinks so too. They have a right to apply standards of decorum as they see fit.

This guy seemed to use his blog like it was a bathroom wall to write on. The only problem is that on a blog, he invited the world in to read it.

Today, standards regarding language have lowered. We all know it. Everyone uses bad words.
But some people have a right not have to accept people who fob themselves off as intellectuals superiors when all they can do is talk like a low life.

Just listen to kids waiting for the bus at a bus stop in any city, or listen closely to people on the el or a bus.

But this Dental student isn’t a guest on Jerry Springer or a foul mouthed brat on a playground.
He’s a doctoral student at a major university who expresses himself like a disgruntled potential Unabomber.

And if anyone thinks that if this guy went to Northwestern or Yale and referred to the faculty who graciously gave him an academic scholarship as “c–k masters” that they wouldn’t “do” anything, then they need to think again.

As I said, there are still people out in the world who realize that when you’re sitting in a bar pouring out your heart to your best friend that you’re going to use words that might even make Nixon blush.

But when you post things on blogs, you’re entering the public domain where you’re implicitly inviting an analysis of your ideas.

There are people in the world who still think that there are more and less responsible ways to express what’s in your head.

For a guy who expects Marquette to give him DDS and PhD degrees, he doesn’t sound too prudent. And maybe he was having a bad day. But so were the kids at Columbine and right or wrong, the world is trying to understand who people go postal.

Again. I am not suggesting this student sounds like he would, but there are a number of people who have crossed the line from violent language to violent actions.

(Also, one can’t escape the anger seething beneath the surface of his remarks. I wonder why no one has asked if they’d want someone that angry to be working inside their mouths with sharp objects and drills?)

Maybe he can spend his suspension period watching Jerry Springer and then he’ll realize what he sounds like and that if he expects anyone to take to him seriously, he’ll stop talking like he drives a fork lift at WalMart and lives in a trailor.

Last, if he’s that unhappy at Marquette and if 20 percent of his fellow students are so beneath him, why doesn’t he have the grades and scores to go to a better school?

He’s only 22. When he gets out in the work world — be it a hospital or someother entity, the response to that type of rant will be “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”

When the student went public to his blog, he had a compulsion to be read, and Freud is up there smiling somewhere, because he obviously had a compulsion to get caught and disciplined for his potty mouth — there are no accidents.

There’s that old saying about choosing one’s battles and doing it wisely, apparently he didn’t think of the consequences.

You Can't Fight Terrorism with Terrorism

2005-12-06T13:16:00.000-06:00

In the midst of a war that has already been riddled with alleged human rights abuses, last month Vice President Cheney called upon Congress to legalize torture in the interrogation and detention of terror suspects.

In the past week Larry Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s former Chief of Staff was asked if he believed that Cheney was guilty of war crimes by advocating the use of torture. Wilkerson responded “It was certainly a domestic crime to advocate terror and I would suspect that it is--for whatever it's worth--an international crime as well.”

Wilkerson has been incredibly outspoken about the role that Cheney played in the prisoner abuse. In a separate interview he said, "There's no question in my mind where the philosophical guidance and the flexibility in order to [abuse detainees] originated -- in the vice president of the United States' office.”

We cannot advocate the use of torture while attempting to prosecute individuals like Saddam Hussein or Slobodan Milosevic for crimes against humanity. This is incredible hypocrisy. Yes, these people are our enemies, yes, some of them have carried out atrocious violence, yes, they may be difficult to interrogate, but so are our own military who they are fighting against. Using torture on detainees is no better than their torture of American soldiers. We must not stoop to their level.

Some of you may disagree with me. You may say that in times of war, we must use all means necessary to win. My response to that is simply this: if we torture detainees, we only add to the hate that they and their fellow insurgents have for us. The little we may gain through the use of torture would not justify the increase of hatred that would prevail.

Marquette Declares War On Bloggers and Free Speech on the Internet

2005-12-04T22:15:00.000-06:00

Dr. McAdams' Blog is reporting that a Marquette Dental Student has been suspended over his personal blog posts that were apparently critical of a Dental School professor, of his second-year dental school class and over a few posts that detailed a few nights of drinking. (The site has since been taken down)

So this either means my letter of dismissal either got lost in the mail or is on its way.....

According to Dr. McAdams, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Denis Lynch:

"wrote the student a letter (dated November 2, 2005) accusing him of "crude, demeaning and unprofessional remarks"” that "“violate standards of acceptable behavior as described in the Standards of Conduct, published in At Marquette (2005-2006, pages 209-211), as well as the School of Dentistry's Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. . . .

Lynch then went on and claimed that the student had violated Section IV, Subsection E of the Marquette Dental School Code. He offered the student the option of signing "“an admission of guilt" and accepting a punishment that included probation for the rest of the student'’s Marquette career, making a public apology to his dental school class, and making an appointment with the Director of the Marquette University Counseling Center "“to assess both your alcohol abuse and the underlying basis of your remarks posted on your blog site."

The entire letter from Marquette can be found here.

So beware to Marquette Students who are on facebook, post messages on message boards, have a blog or an online journal, you too could be next! So we all better go and delete our membership to facebook groups or any entries of any kind that are critical of Marquette in general and/or Marquette Professors and/or other Marquette Students. Oh and I guess this means I better remove the picture of me doing a beer bong too!

(I'm actually serious about the above items. If this decision is allowed to stand, the University's power to take action against you for anything you say online is seemingly limitless)

From now on all blog entries on 1832 will begin by proclaiming, "Thank you God,for giving me the privilege of attending a University with a student body, and a faculty and staff, that are all worthy of Sainthood...."

Our first entry will be: "Pam Peters, "Marquette's own Dorothy Day?" Which will then be followed by: "Joseph Kastner, "Most Likely Marquette Student To End Racism and Bring Peace to the Middle East?" we then reveal: "The Warrior: A Publication Written By the Divinely Inspired" but our post of the year will surely be: "Late Night Marquette: What were we thinking before?!?! LATE NIGHT RULES!"

In case you want to thank Associate Dean Denis Lynch personally, you may contact him at:
denis.lynch@marquette.edu

Phone: 414-288-7485

Click here to view his webpage

New Blog on the Block: Philosophy, Baseball and Politics

2005-12-04T19:50:00.000-06:00

Nick Zettel, a Senior at Marquette University, and the most well-read and insightful undergraduate philosopher that I have met at Marquette has started a blog that seems to cover current political events and baseball from a philosophical perspective.

He already has some great stuff on there about the Brewers, and Dr. McAdam's favorite, bias in the Academy.

I have a feeling that Nick is going to become an integral part of the intellectual side of the Marquette University blogosphere and I encourage everyone to check out what he has to say. The actual address is http://radiosilence97.blogspot.com .

I'm sure we'll add a link to our blog role soon.

(Orginally Posted by Zach Corey)

1832 refutes another false GOP3.com claim

2005-12-01T23:55:00.000-06:00

Wow today has been a busy day.... Today Mr. Suhr at GOP3.com made this false claim about the Marquette College Democrats T-Shirts:

The College Democrats at Marquette University website, www.MUDemocrats.com, recently came back online. Among its very few and pathetic features are the meeting minutes for their gatherings:

September 6: T-Shirts: T-Shirts have not yet been ordered, although 5 designs have been approved by OSD. The estimated price is $10, and a signup sheet went around for those interested. The approved designs will be at the next meeting.

September 20: T-Shirts: Noelle passed the designs around, and the slogan "Whoever heard of a nice piece of elephant?" was chosen. Those interested signed up and put their sizes on a sheet.

November 30: Website comes online. I see this, recall a GOP3.com post, and my interest is perked. I email OSD. An official from OSD informs me that the t-shirt design mentioned above was not approved by OSD.

These certainly less-than-classy sexually-suggestive non-OSD-approved CDs official t-shirts can be ordered online still.

I don't know who Mr. Suhr's unnamed source in OSD was but here is Kelly Behmer's email to Marquette College Democrats that gave them approval for them to use any of the proposed T-Shirt designs:

From: Behmer, Kelly
Sent: Tue 8/30/2005 8:05 AM
To: Gilbreath, Noelle
Subject: Re: tshirts

Noelle,
They look fine. I'd ask you to just think a bit about the elephant quote, but it would work if that is what your group decides. If I could just take a look at them first if you are including anything other than the text below. Finally, could you bring a hard copy into our office for your file and a stamp that would be helpful.

Thanks!

Kelly

Swinging Back at GOP3.com (and Connecting)

2005-12-01T20:34:00.000-06:00

Wow. It appears as though my last post on 1832 struck a bit of a nerve over at GOP3.com. I had no idea that my tongue-in-cheek exercise in procrastination would generate an entire article on their site, especially because I’d categorize my response to The Warrior as largely positive. That said…

Yes, our traffic jumps through the roof when we talk about The Warrior. “Desperate for traffic” might be a bit of an overstatement, though – we have no advertisers and no competition, at least in terms of other left-leaning blogs on campus, so thus, we have no reason for desperation. The increases in traffic are purely for excitement. No offense to those who write or enjoy pieces on state politics, but I’d much rather argue about The Warrior or other campus issues than gubernatorial primaries or Peg Lautenschlager’s driving record. Look at the comments on our respective sites – I think our readers agree.

-I never attributed Kastner’s statements to Sroka. If you click on the links in that sentence, the first is what Kastner said, and the second is Bray’s response. The “you” pronoun I used was directed at Kastner, not Sroka, and I apologize if this was unclear.

However, she did write about the “unfortunate effect of a campus culture in which…an outspoken student is considered a bigot.” Kastner’s McCarthy-ist posts calling out members of the Muslim and Arab student associations based solely on their heritage, and the outrage that followed, was the most prominent example of an outspoken student being considered a bigot this semester.

-Concerning Henak’s employment status, my information was current as of October 21st, as on that day, he wrote that he currently works as a consultant at Miller Brewing Company. Perhaps “I work as a consultant for a firm whose current client is Miller Brewing Company” would have been a bit more accurate.

I know how this works. This summer, I worked as a consultant for Wells Fargo. And although my check didn’t say Wells on it, I parked in their ramp, wore one of their ID badges, used their computers, and worked alongside their direct employees. I might go as far as to say that as a consultant, I owed my position to the continued positive performance of Wells Fargo. Odds are that Henak’s terms of employment are similar, and that he stands to gain from increased consumer interest in Miller products. Unless, of course, he’s off the account. Let us know, will you?

Lastly, I’d like to say that I didn’t mean to start some sort of war between 1832 and all entities Red on campus – the “thesis” of my post, if you will, praised The Warrior’s current issue, and most of my jabs were pretty lighthearted and good-natured. Simple misunderstandings do not equal "blatant lies". I’m not going to take this too seriously, and I suggest you do the same.

From London to The Warrior

2005-11-30T18:11:00.000-06:00

Part of the reason why things have been slower than usual around here at 1832 is because for the last week I was in London for some R&R and some sightseeing. It was my first trip to England and I was very impressed. London is amazing and I was impressed with the Tube and the extremely low level of poverty (I think I saw 3 homeless people the entire time I was there, which is remarkable for a city that size).

The highlights of the trip had to be the War Cabinet Rooms that Churchill used during WWII, which was absolutely amazing and the coach tour I took to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath.

London and the other parts of England that I saw more than lived up to my expectations and I can't wait to go back again someday! I even thought the British food was good! I had Bangers and Mash for my Thanksgiving dinner and it was excellent.

I got back into Milwaukee late last night and was greeted this morning by the newest edition of Marquette College Republican's publication called The Warrior.

The first thing that I noticed about The Warrior today is that like its one page "special issue" that went out before Thanksgiving break, their circulation seems to be way down from their first issue as I didn't see any of the Republicans passing it out during my class changes, saw very few people walking around with it, saw few people with a copy in the Library or in any of my classes, and as a result it took me awhile to find a discarded copy to pick up.

Their circulation seems to be down for a few reasons: 1) The paper has been rightfully discredited and exposed as a right-wing talking piece rather than a truly independent news source; 2) Its really cold out, which means few students are going to take the time to stop, remove their hands from their jacket pockets, and take a copy when they want to get indoors as quickly as possible; 3) The fact that its really cold out means fewer of the Republicans are willing to stand outside for a extended periods of time distributing their right-wing propaganda piece.

I must say that the second issue is very different from their first issue this semester. Surprisingly it seems that for this issue they actually reacted to a lot of the criticism of their publication and the result is an issue that I don't really have any serious objections with, at least with its reporting (the story on Katie Dorman who is suffering from lymphoma is touching and I hope she recovers) and the stories are not nearly as blatantly biased.

There is one thing that I have a serious objection and that is this Warrior staff photo that appears on page 3 of today's issue:

The Warrior is clearly either trying to make fun of the liberal-leaning organization at Marquette known as JUSTICE or it is trying to mislead people into thinking that JUSTICE supports The Warrior, which it most certainly does not (JUSTICE was one of the main organizations against the university changing the nickname back to "Warriors"). Furthermore, the link that is contained in the picture does not send you to the MU JUSTICE website, it simply redirects you to The Warrior website (Click here for the real MU JUSTICE website).

The fact that the College Republicans would actually buy a domain name of a liberal leaning student organization shows just how desperate and dirty they are willing to be to try to divert traffic to their publication's website and further proves they are more interested in provoking liberal students rather than engaging in civil debate. I wonder how they would react if I bought up MUCRS.com, marquetterepublicans.com, mustudents4life.com, mustudentsforlife.com, etc and had them redirect to 1832 or www.mudemocrats.com.

Needless to say it will be interesting to see how JUSTICE reacts to this.

President Bush's Disapproval Rating Approaching Nixon

2005-11-17T23:27:00.000-06:00

From the MYDD Blog:

Harris has some rancid new numbers for Bush: 34% approve, 65% disapprove. Although technically it is 34% positive and 65% negative, the 31-point gap equals the worst approval poll faced by any President since Nixon. Check it out:
Poll   President App    Dis     Date

Harris    Bush Jr 34     65     11/05

Gallup    Bush Sr 29     60     06/92

Gallup    Carter  28     59     06/79

Gallup    Nixon  24     66     08/74
65% negative / disapprove also ties Bush with Nixon for the third highest disapproval ever recorded by a sitting President. Only Nixon's 66 in his final approval poll, and Truman's 67 in early January of 1952, were worse.

Can you say "lame duck"? I expected President Bush's approval ratings to continue to fall after Hurricane Katrina, but I never expected it to fall this fast, this soon. I guess the public isn't falling for the GOP's pointless "campaign" style attack on Democrats or the empty remarks President Bush made when he politicized Veteran's Day.

The way things are going President Bush will own the highest disapproval rating by a sitting President before the end of the year.

In fact, I'm willing to bet on it.

RMW I'm already anxiously awaiting your wager that it won't.

GOP3's Brian Collar falls victim to Papa John's fraud despite our warning

2005-11-16T15:00:00.000-06:00

Apparently Papa John's has decided to continue with their shameful and misleading promotional campaign despite having been exposed as such by 1832 last week, as Brian Collar from GOP3.com reports:

While walking home from class today, someone handed me a flyer advertising that Papa John's was giving away free medium pizzas from 12:00pm through 6:00pm today and tomorrow. The flyer stated that details about the free pizza were available at the Wells Street location.

Intrigued and hungry, I walked to Papa John's to see how I might obtain a free pizza. As I arrived there, I saw on a table to the right a stack of sign up forms for a particular credit card company. Thus, I discovered that in order to obtain a medium pizza, one needed to sign up for a credit card.

Free pizza must be the lamest (though quite clever) attempt to induce students to sign up for a credit card. I suggest students avoid signing up for a credit card for a free pizza, even if they intend not to use it. From what I understand, signing up for credit cards and then not using them may hurt an individual's credit report.

I'm hungry for pizza now.

I'm going to give Papa John's District HQ a call later today or tomorrow and find out why they insist on continuing a promotional offer that is misleading and potentially harmful to the students that make up the bulk of their customer base.

College Football and the BCS - Take Two

2005-11-16T00:15:00.000-06:00

As another fine campaign of intercollegiate gridiron action winds down, the championship picture is beginning to come into focus. Frontrunner USC silenced any of their remaining critics by beating popular upset pick Cal 35-10 in Berkeley, Texas cemented their elite status by pummeling Kansas 66-14 (the eighth time in a row that the Longhorns have scored over 40 points), and the only other major undefeated squad, Alabama, lost a heartbreaker in overtime to the visiting Tigers from Louisiana State.

For now, it appears that critics of the BCS like yours truly have nothing to complain about. If things work out like they’re supposed to, Matt Leinart’s Trojans and Vince Young’s Longhorns will meet in the Rose Bowl, marking the first time that the two teams that everyone believes to be the two best will meet in the national title game since Ohio State defeated Miami in 2002’s Fiesta Bowl.

Of course, the key phrase above is “if things work out like they’re supposed to”. How often does that happen in sports? In 2003, “if things worked out like they were supposed to”, Oklahoma would have destroyed the upstart Kansas State team they faced in the Big XII title game, and then faced undefeated LSU in the Sugar Bowl. That isn’t exactly how events transpired. Coach Bill Snyder’s Wildcats pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the modern era of collegiate football, beating the Sooners 35-7, and throwing the BCS picture into turmoil. OU did wind up making the final, to the dismay of SC fans across the nation. The rest of the country took their side after LSU won a sloppy championship game and the Trojans efficiently beat a quality Michigan club in the Rose Bowl, resulting in a split national title.

Could a similar scenario unfold this season? Absolutely. Both USC and Texas have significant tests remaining on their schedules. Southern Cal has to face mid-major powerhouse Fresno State this weekend, although their eyes should be looking past the Bulldogs to their season finale against intra-city rival UCLA. Karl Dorrell has the twelfth-ranked Bruins ready to challenge the Trojans and reinstate drama into a contest which has been fairly one-sided in favor of SC over the past few years.

Texas also faces two complicated contests to finish out their set of games, as they’re forced to take on Texas A&M in College Station. The Aggies, at a disappointing 5-5, would like nothing more than to ruin Mack Brown’s dream season in front of their fans. In addition, A&M coach Dennis Franchione may need this victory to preserve his position. A victory over their hated in-state adversary should surely ensure him another season with his club. In addition, unlike SC, Texas must play a conference championship game. And although the Big XII is not as strong as usual this year, ask Bob Stoops and Oklahoma what happens when you overlook this key challenge.

In all likelihood, USC and Texas will breeze through their last two games, and meet in the Rose Bowl on January 4th for an epic showdown. However, if either team loses, chaos like the BCS has never before seen will almost surely ensue, thanks to the supreme quality of this year’s one-loss teams. The Nittany Lions from Penn State would be undefeated if not for a last-second loss at the hands of Michigan in Ann Arbor, as would LSU, which succumbed to a tremendous comeback by Tennessee earlier in the season. Miami has also been impressive after their season-opening loss at Florida State.

Although all of the aforementioned teams must worry about handing over a November contest to an opponent, there is one group that can’t lose, regardless of the results of 2005’s college football term – the fans. This particularly entertaining effort is above all others in recent memory, and its resolution promises to be just as exciting.

Veteran's Day Salute

2005-11-11T09:50:00.000-06:00

1832 proudly salutes and thanks all the men and women that have served in our military forces. While today is marked on the calendar as "Veteran's Day" we are proud of and we thank those who are serving or have served to protect us and our country everyday.

Papa John's: Misleading Students and Increasing Student Debt

2005-11-10T12:59:00.000-06:00

Papa John's is passing out this flyer on campus today proclaiming that students could get a free pizza if they are one of the first 200 students to come in between 12pm-5pm today or on Friday, however, the flyer is nothing more than an insulting reminder that "nothing is really free".

It turns out that this flyer is nothing more than a cheap ploy to get students to sign up for a Chase credit card, which is never stated on the flyer or by any of the people who are handing the flyers out on campus. Upon discovering this, I and all the other students in line with me, promptly left in the store in anger. However, when I walked near Papa John's again a little while later, I was surprised to find students actually lined up filing out credit card applications for a pizza that would only cost them around $10.

Unfortunately, this type of shameless tactic is not uncommon on college campuses. Aside from the nearly 10 credit card offers that I get in the mail, credit card companies during several points throughout the year, have had booths and people passing out flyers hawking all sorts of supposedly "free" items to college students in exchange for filling out a credit card application.

If a student isn't smart enough to figure out that a "free" $10 pizza isn't worth the cost that the credit card will likely bring to them, do you think these students signing up for credit cards right now at Papa John's will be able to use these cards responsibly? I don't think so either.

The fact is that very few college students actually need a credit card and the ones that do will have no problem finding a card on their own.

The recent bankruptcy bill that was signed into law over the summer has made some progress in preventing credit card companies from giving cards to anyone with a pulse, but more needs to be done, especially with regards to the targeting of college students by credit card companies.

1) The University needs to take a more prominent role and stand up for students in protecting them from the credit card companies. They should refrain from giving away students information to credit card companies (which it seems that they clearly do, because I get tons of credit card offers that ID me as a Marquette student as well as cards that are clearly partnered with the University). In addition, the University needs to take a more active role in educating students about credit cards and it should do what it can to limit access by credit card companies to our campus.

2) We need a law that bans credit card companies from giving away "free" items to anyone who applies for a card. Rewards programs that occur after one signs up for a credit card, like frequent flyer miles, are fine and should stay, but giving away "free" stuff to anyone who simply applies for a card encourages people to sign up for cards that they simply don't need and seems to be targeted toward students and the poor.

Finally, I want to remind students why credit card companies are willing to give you all of this "free" stuff. When credit card companies look at students, they don't see a person, they simply see you as $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Why? Because credit card companies only make money off people that do not pay their balances in full every month! (students are known for doing this) They are giving you free stuff to get you into more debt! The more debt, the more money they make off the high interest rates. It is that simple!

Any business on or off campus that encourages students increasing their debt doesn't deserve the business of students.

(I'll let you make fun of the grammar errors and the odd formatting of the Papa John's flyer)

Marquette Lands 2-Star PG/SG David Cubillan

2005-11-09T23:57:00.000-06:00

From "Cracked Sidewalks", a Marquette Basketball Blog:

On the first day of the national signing period, David Cubillan, a SG/PG from highly regarded St. Benedict's in Newark, NJ, committed to Marquette University. Cubillan will provide much needed support in the MU backcourt -- even with the talented freshmen this season, MU does not have another PG or combo guard on the roster. After last season's struggles, Crean vowed never to be caught without enough capable guards in the program - - and now Cubillan is part of the solution to that problem.

Cubillan was a high school teammate of current MU freshman Dwight Burke last season, and plays for coach Danny Hurley.

MU is still actively recruiting seven-foot center Chas McFarland, who will decide between BC, Marquette and Wake Forest after visiting Tobacco Road this weekend. Lazar Hayward, a fast-rising senior from Buffalo, NY via Notre Dame prep in Massachusetts verbally committed to MU earlier this year and is expected to sign his LOI this week.

From all of us at 1832, Welcome to Marquette David! (ok maybe not all of us... somebody here goes to Indiana)

Xoff Writes Pure Gold!

2005-11-09T12:13:00.000-06:00

Xoff has written a work of art on his blog that gives insight into the minds of Congressman Mark Green and Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker as they prepare to go head to head to be the Republican nominee for Governor. Below are the opening few lines from X0ff's depiction of a call between Green and Walker:

Republican governor hopefuls Scott Walker and Mark Green held their first real debate this week on taxes and spending. It was on a private phone call, but fortunately the CIA, acting under its Patriot Act authority, had tapped it and prepared a transcript, and a White House staffer was more than happy to leak it.

GREEN: Hello, Congressman Green here.

WALKER: Hi, Mark, it's Scott Walker.

GREEN: Good to hear from you, Scooter. How are things in Milwaukee?

WALKER: I've asked you before not to call me Scooter.

GREEN: Sorry, it just slipped out. Hope that doesn't happen in the campaign. What's on your mind?

WALKER: It's the budget reconciliation bill that's up in the House this week.

GREEN: Yeah, pretty cool, huh? We're trying to cut $54-billion dollars from Medicaid, food stamps, child support, student aid, and some of those other wasteful, liberal, bleeding heart programs that are nothing more than social engineering. That'll make sure we have enough money to give that $70 billion in new tax cuts to the rich.

Please read the rest on Xoff's blog.

LA TIMES: NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO

2005-11-09T11:27:00.000-06:00

Yesterday voters in California stood up and said no to the Governator's right-wing-year or reform-waste-of-time-and-money agenda by not only voting NO on all four of the propositions he brought to the ballot in this special election (Props 74,75,76,77).

Voters in California stood up and declared teachers are not the problem with our education system and instead delcared they are the solution, by voting against proposition 74, which would have increased the number of years a teacher would have to work before they can become tenured.

Voters in California stood up and declared that hard working government employees and unions are not what's wrong with government, and instead delcared politicians and failed public policy are, by voting against Proposition 75, which would have limited public employee unions ability to use union dues in political campaigns to fight for the jobs of their workers.

Voters in California stood up and declared our public schools need more funding, not less, by voting against Proposition 76 which would have capped funding for California Schools.

Voters in California also stood up and voted no on other right-wing propositions that found their way on this special election ballot and they stood up and said no big drug companies by voting no on Proposition 78 and voted no to limit a women's right to choose by voting no on Proposition 73.

(Yes I am leaving out my thoughts on Prop 77, which voters rejected, more on that later).

Governor Schwarzenegger pushed for this special election out of frustration that couldn't get these measures through the democratically elected representatives in the California legislature, implying that he knew the constituents of the state better than they. Well $50 million dollars and five months later, California voters proved the Governator to be nothing more than an arrogant fool who has approval ratings that are approaching that of recalled Governor Gray Davis.

Memo to the Governator: Please Refrain from Saying "I'll Be back" in 2006, the voters have indicated that you clearly won't.

Maybe California won't fall into the ocean after all.

I want to end with a shout out and thank you to the Secretary of State's office in California for making a java script application available to track the results from last nights election in real time, it was a great idea and I hope more states make similar applications available. It was a great relief to not have to sit here hitting "reload" every 5 min. last night.

Click here to read commentary from the Los Angeles Times

Voters to Right-wingers: Please Exit Stage Right!

2005-11-08T22:34:00.000-06:00

Democrats have pulled off victories in races where Republicans used incredibly nasty personal attacks (Kilgore attacked Kaine’s Catholic faith and Forrester went after Corzine and his family) and it appears even attempted to cheat by tampering with touch voting machines in Virginia.

What makes these victories all more exciting for Democrats is that Virginia has been a Republican strong hold for years and it voted overwhelmingly for President Bush last November, yet Tim Kaine, with the help of current Governor and potential 2008 Democratic Presidential candidate Mark Warner, were able to defeat Republican Jerry Kilgore and President Bush. This was a battle of money, organization and star power, and the Democrats won on all fronts. As much as I like Senator Evan Bayh from Indiana, Mark Warner has now proven that he has the star power win states in the south.

In New Jersey, Republicans had a real opportunity to make headway into a traditionally blue state where voters have had it with the corruption by the local Democrats, but I guess the voters in NJ, like the general population, have had it more with Republicans.

In St. Paul, MN, in race I had almost forgotten about, Democrat Chris Coleman defeated Democratic Mayor Randy Kelly over Kelly’s endorsement of President Bush last year.

The message from these elections is clear: If you are a Republican or a supporter of President Bush please exit stage right.

You know you are a sad political junkie when....

2005-11-08T18:28:00.000-06:00

You plan on staying up all night to wait for the returns from NJ, VA, OH and CA during an off-off-election year.

Well the polls have closed in NJ and VA and I fully expect both Corzine and Kaine to win and keep both of those Governships "blue". Likewise, in CA (the state that I am originally from) I expect most if not all of the Governator's ballot measures to be defeated.

Oh by the way Mom and Dad, you both better have gotten your absentee ballots in! Don't make your son lecture you about voting! And to my brother Evan at Princeton, I heard how lazy you were about registering to vote in NJ last year for the general election, so I better hear from you about how you voted this time or you will be considered persona non grata come Christmas time.

All kidding aside, if today's elections don't make today a bad day for President Bush, then the news about yet another Republican leak investigation probably did wonders to brighten his mood.

Anyway, the polls as stated before the polls have closed in NJ and VA, and 1832 will provide commentary as soon as we can (I have a meeting at 7pm CST) and we will wait for the OH and CA returns as well.

UPDATE: NBC 12 in VA has just reported that the AP has called the VA Governors Race for Democrat Tim Kaine! Way to go VA Democrats we knew you could do it!
NBC 12 has a live video stream up that you can watch here.

UPDATE #2: I just came across this story from WDBJ7 shows Republicans tried to play with voting machines again:

News 7 has received calls from several voters in at least four different precincts who say their votes for Tim Kaine were not recorded or took several attempts to go through.

They contend the electronic touch screens repeatedly indicated they were voting for Republican candidate Jerry Kilgore instead of registering their intended vote for his Democratic opponent Tim Kaine.

UPDATE #3: The AP has just called the NJ Governors race for......... JON CORZINE! Way to go NJ Democrats! So far we are 2 for 2 today!

"The Warrior" further proof MUCR's are out of the mainstream

2005-11-02T23:00:00.000-06:00

Today the Marquette College Republicans relaunched their little right-wing rant of a newspaper and gop3.com proclaimed, "We hope the left on campus has a heart attack when they see it."

AHH! Chest pains! I think I'm having a heart attack! BELCHHH! Nevermind, I guess it was just a little heartburn from my nacho cheese dip.

In all seriousness I came closer to dying from choking to death on a manny's nacho chip from laughing so hard when I saw that the whinny Republicans on campus decided to relaunch their complete failure of a publication from last year (did it even make it past one issue?). If the news that they were starting the publication wasn't cause for enough laughter, the picture of their staff has to be one of the most ridiculous promotional photos I have ever seen. I don't know who did the "warrior" facepaint, but it makes them look more like cute little mice with whiskers than "warriors". I don't even think I need to even discuss in detail how this picture illustrates perfectly why Marquette will never be "Warriors" ever again, just look at the picture:

But guess what? The laughs don't stop there! Check this very intelligent graphic by Brandon Henak, The Warrior Business Manager and blogger for GOP3.com:

Yeah that's "Freedom" on the "Y" axis and "Time" on the "X" axis.... I'm seriously thinking about sending this into Jay Leno's Headlines.

Ok... I've stopped laughing now and I could go on and on about the stupidity in the articles, but I really might die laughing if I keep reading them (so read them for youself at your own risk) and I need to get back to my point for writing this: The Warrior is only further proof that the Marquette College Republicans are out of the mainstream of Marquette.

Why? In 2000 Al Gore won Marquette's campus by 863 votes and two of the Marquette wards were Bush wins. And what happened on this day in 2004? With the help of a stronger and better organized Marquette College Democrats and a more liberal student body John Kerry won the Marquette campus by 2,361 votes and in doing so won every single Marquette ward.

Thats a swing of almost 1,500 votes

So should it surprise you that the College Republicans are trying to prevent liberal leaning students from voting through moronic "voter id" bills? Does it surprise you that they scream bloody murder that the Marquette Tribune is liberal? Does it surprise you that they whine that the administration is so liberal that they are out to get College Republicans? Given the fact that their claims of intentional oppression by the University are false (liberals have had just as much if not more trouble with OSD than MUCRs), the answer is it shouldn't.

The actions of the Marquette College Republicans in the last year are acts of desperation. They are desperate because the fact is that College Republicans is now a fringe student group at Marquette and will only become more of an group of outcasts as Marquette continues to attract a student body that is not only superior academically but more diverse racially.

Don't believe me? According to an inside source (who wishes to remain anonymous) who has connections with the various people in the Marquette administration says that a political survey of the current freshman class (which is also its most diverse and brightest class to date) show that this class identifies itself as liberal or democrat as opposed to conservative or republican (which also explains why MUCD's membership is way way up).

Another problem with the publication is they try to masquerade it around as merely an "independent-run student publication", which it clearly is not. If it was truly an independent paper set up to run stories without bias and stories that the Marquette Tribune cannot write because of its affiliation with the University I wouldn't have a real issue with it. But that's not what it sets out to do, The Warrior is clearly nothing more than a right-wing propaganda piece as almost every news article contained in it not only completely lacks objectivity but at multiple points the articles inject purely republican talking points and liberal bashing right into the article (visit www.thewarrior.org and read the articles for yourself). However, at no point in either the print or the online version of The Warrior does it state that it is a conservative paper.

Furthering this huge propaganda lie is this fun disclaimer statement found on the inside of the
publication:

Does anyone really believe that all the funding for this paper is coming from "advertisers"? The first issue had what three ads? I'm sure that doesn't cover their start up costs... In fact I am almost certain that the start up costs came from Marquette College Republicans either directly or that MUCRs made arrangements to get the funding from a number of well-funded conservative groups such as the Collegiate Network or others.

The Marquette Tribune editorial board may be liberal, but the writing in the news sections at least sets out to try to be objective. The Warrior could careless about objectivity as its sole purpose is to attempt to feed Republican talking points into the minds of students by hiding under the headings of an "independent" and/or an "alternative" newspaper. I think the Marquette student body is smart enough to figure out that this paper isn't real news and anyone with a brain won't read it, leaving only the outcasted membership of Marquette College Republicans as its readership.

So The Warrior is really nothing more than an act of desperation, as Marquette will probably never return to the conservative all white male Republican-utopia that it once was. It is a publication that furthers their collective denial that anyone at Marquette even gives a damn what they think or what they want to whine about today or tomorrow or any other point in the future.

Senate Rule 21: Harry Reid you are brilliant!

2005-11-02T00:16:00.000-06:00

The unity, the guts, and the cleverness displayed by the Democratic Party of late has been nothing short of remarkable. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's decision to close the doors of the Senate using Senate Rule 21 and force the republicans in the Senate to address the manipulation of this nation into war is the latest sign that the Democratic Party may have found its brain and its spine and actually figured out a way to connect the two.

Harry Reid's gusty actions basically say, "The American public wants answers and we are going to drag the republicans kicking and screaming into the Senate chambers and lock them in until we get them!"

A recent Milwaukee Journal Senitnel Editorial which apologized for its part in furthering the administration's "duping" puts the question best:

So there it is - with an addendum. We take responsibility for being duped on the matter of WMD - and still arguing against war - but at what point will those doing the duping be held accountable for taking us to war? Two thousand U.S. dead - and up to 30,000 Iraqi dead - and still counting.

Thanks to Senator Harry Reid that "point" may be soon.

And the right-wing nut jobs thought the "nuclear option" was the Senate rule play of the year. Well newsflash, Democrats can still filibuster Scalito and Harry Reid just forced the republicans into appointing a bipartisan committee to oversee the progress of the "Phase 2" probe.

The Bush administration is going to be facing tough questions for a long, long time.

Bush Pulls Out the Big Scare for Halloween

2005-10-31T23:07:00.000-06:00

President Bush's newest Supreme Court pick, Samuel Alito, is already garnering harsh criticism from Senate Democrats. Although there is no doubt that Alito's record as a judge certainly means he has better credentials than former nominee Harriet Miers, the nomination is terrifying for Democrats. Take the following for example:

In a 1991 case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Alito, in a dissenting opinion, wrote that women who wish to have an abortion must notify their spouse. Hypothetically speaking, what if a woman is in an abusive relationship? Should she have to inform her husband of her desire for an abortion, and therby possibly put herself at risk for further abuse?

Alito also voted against upholding The Brady Bill, which would ban fully automatic machine guns. What good are these assault weapons? America is already overrun by immense amounts of guns, must we keep the fully automatic machine guns as well?

What may be even more frightening is the fact that Alito has often been compared to conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. He has even been given the nickname "Scalito" (also see Zach Corey's post and links about this comparison).

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid released a statement this morning that suggested Alito may be "too radical for the American people." While Alito may uphold the views of a few on the far right, his job, if nominated to the Supreme Court is to uphold the Constitution, not a few moral values. I think that so many people have forgotten the true role of the court.

The court is not here to uphold the values of a few, they are in place to interpret the law. Maybe we need a nationwide lesson on the role of the government.

Bye Bye Miers

2005-10-27T12:49:00.000-05:00

President Bush withdrew the nomination of Harriet Miers today, but I think it its too early for right-wing nut jobs such as my friends over at GOP3.com to start celebrating. The Miers nomination, as stated by many, was flawed on two fronts: her lack of a true conservative paper trail and her lack of legal credentials. So to say that the "right-wing won", is giving yourself too much credit. In fact I think that President Bush's next nominee is going to be in for an even tougher battle as evidenced by the lack of trust shown by even the conservative powerlineblog:

A lot of conservative pundits are feeling triumphant today, but there are millions of rank and file Republicans who supported the Miers nomination, many of whom--including many dyed in the wool conservatives--believed, rightly or wrongly, that the criticism of Miers from the right was arrogant and elitist. Miers was a poor choice for a number of reasons, not least because her nomination needlessly divided the party.

There are lots of sighs of relief this morning, and understandably so; but they're premature, I think. Who knows who the next nominee might be? The beginning of the Miers problem was that President Bush committed to naming a woman before he had a woman lined up for the job. We know that he chose Miers only after "several" women turned him down. We don't know how many said no, or who they were; so at this point, no one knows who is left in the "woman" pool. I really hope that at this point, Bush forgets about diversity and nominates the best person for the job. But is there any reason to assume that he will do so?

The problem that the powerlineblog shows is that the right-wing will not blindly trust President Bush's word on the "conservativeness" of the next nominee--they will want answers. Thus the next nominee will probably come under fire from both Republicans and Democrats, as they will both press the nominee to answer questions that Roberts was able to avoid answering. One thing for sue is that the next confirmation hearing will likely be must see TV.

Is There an End in Sight?

2005-10-25T22:02:00.000-05:00

Today marks death number 2,000 for U.S. troops in Iraq. It is not a huge number by any standard of war, but realize that those are 2,000 men and women, all who had families. They were sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives. It is so easy to dismiss these deaths if you are not impacted by them directly, but to do so only confirms Joseph Stalin's immortal quote that "one death is a tragedy, a million are a statistic." President Bush warned today that more troops will be killed in Iraq. More families will have to deal with the fact that their loved ones may not come home.

A new poll shows that for the first time since the war began, the majority of Americans (currently around 53%) believe that bringing the troops home safely is more important than ensuring the democratization of Iraq.

After many conversations with a good friend of mine who is currently serving in Tal-Afar, Iraq, I strongly believe that pulling out of Iraq as quickly as possible is in our best interest, (and more specifically, in the troops' best interest). My friend has been exposed to horrors that can never be captured by the media; no photos, video, or words will ever be able to describe what he will constantly see in his mind. Even though I am hopeful that my friend will come back alive, I know that he will still be dead in many ways. His old self, a joyful, vibrant teenager, will have been replaced by a scared, calloused man I have never met.

While I believe that great strides are being made in Iraq, I fear that there is no time table to bring our troops home; even Condoleezza Rice, in testimony before Congress last week, could not speculate as to whether US troops would still be needed in Iraq a decade from now. Ten years more?! We can do better. There must be a definitive plan to relinquish control of the country to the Iraqi forces. Even more alarming is the speculation that our next target(s) could be Syria or Iran. We need to recover from this war before playing the big bully of the world again.

With a mounting death toll in Iraq and dwindling public support for the war, President Bush must think of a new message besides the increasingly stale "stay the course". President Bush got us into Iraq, and yet it will most likely be another president's legacy to get us out. It is a shame that the President made such immense decisions without realizing the conesequences of his actions.

I am glad Saddam is out of power, but at what cost?

Feingold and Bayh Say No to Pork

2005-10-21T00:39:00.000-05:00

Senators Russ Feingold and Evan Bayh get a lot of love here at 1832 as Zach Corey interned for Feingold's Senate re-elect in 2004, and I interned for Bayh's All America PAC in Washington, DC this past summer. Yesterday, both of these fine "middle America" Senators proved not only why they are loved but the 1832 blog staff, but why they are loved in their respective states, and also show why both will make excellent candidates for President of the United States. So what exactly did they do? As Zach Corey would say (and my Feingold 2004 t-shirt shows on the back), they both have backbone.

Yesterday these Senators from Wisconsin and Indiana stood up and joined only 13 other Senators in saying, "no to spending tax-payer money on bridges to nowhere, pet projects, and pork!"

Senators Feingold and Bayh were the only 2008 Dem potentials that voted for Republican Senator Tom Coburn's amendment that would have removed $125 million of pork out of the federal highways bill to be used to pay for the repairs need to fix the Twin Spans Bridge that crossed over Lake Pontchartrian, which had sustained heavy damage from Hurricane Katrina. Sadly, the so called "conservative" candidates for President in 2008 were almost a complete no show on this bill with Senators Frist, Hagel and Brownback all voting for pork and against the amendment (Senator McCain did not vote and Allen was the only one to vote for it).

But who can blame them? I mean they were just following the example of President Bush. I'm sure they said, "if he can give personal favors to his friends, why can't we? If he says we can pay for Katrina, the War in Iraq, and everything else under the sun without really trying to balance the budget, can't we say the same thing? If President Bush can say and do all of that, and still be labeled "fiscally conservative", we can still call ourselves that too, right?"

If that's your definition of "fiscally conservative" sure call yourselves that, just don't call yourself "fiscally responsible" that term is reserved for Democratic Senators Bayh, Feingold and Conrad (Landrieu can't be counted in this because she has an obvious interest other than fiscal responsibility), and the 11 Republican Senators that voted for this amendment.

The amendment and thus the call for fiscal responsibility failed 15-82.

(Yes I am aware of the large number of Democrats that voted against this too)

Lots of Changes Coming

2005-10-19T23:39:00.000-05:00

1832 Readers-

Over fall break 1832 will make changes to our blogspot template and add additional features. Please leave comments on this thread as to what you like, what you don't like, and what you would like to see us add.

Thanks!
The 1832 Blog Staff

Costly Mistakes

2005-10-18T21:40:00.000-05:00

I was greatly distressed when I opened the Chicago Tribune and read an article about an upcoming execution in Virigina. Death Row inmate Robin Lovett is scheduled to be executed in just over a month, despite the fact that critical DNA evidence was destroyed by a county clerk because apparently the box containing Mr. Lovett's case files, including the DNA evidence "had been taking up too much space in a courthouse storage room." Although I believe that in many matters the American justice system is one of great merit, its weaknesses are evident in dozens of capital punishment cases just like this one.

I believe that as a citizen of the United States, Robin Lovett ought to have been afforded a fair trial and appeals process, but unfortunately justice has not been served in this case. High profile attorney Kenneth Starr commented that "despite the lower court's casual assurance that here 'the system worked as it should,' constitutional errors have infected every stage of the proceedings."

This is not a small matter. This is a life. It does not matter if I believe he is guilty or not, he still deserves to have every aspect of his case scrutnized before the state kills him, but this is a right that he will not be afforded.

This is only one instance in a long list of problems that have plagued this country's capital punishment system. Incompetent legal counsel, improper jury instructions, poor evidence and many other issues are some of the main reasons I believe we ought to reexamine our policy of capital punishment. I also don't believe in state sanctioned murder (yes, murder. the cause of death listed on a executed prisoner's death certificate is murder, kind of ironic if you ask me). But apart from my own moral values and my views on the sancity of life and judgment, strong evidence shows that capital punishment is extremely costly (more so than keeping someone alive in prison for the rest of their natural life), it is sentenced to far more poor people than rich people (due to the inability of the poor to afford good legal counsel), and there is no scientific proof that capital punishment significantly deters future crime.

Please don't think that I am pro-criminal. I am not. I just believe that there are more efficient and less costly methods for handling the deviants in society than killing them.

Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, one of the justices responsible for the reinstatement of the U.S. death penalty in 1976, realized the immense ramifications of his decision and wrote in the 1994 decision of Callins v. Collins that he would "no longer tinker with the machinery of death."

How did we become a society that specializes in death?

New Category: Humor and Politics! Our first entry: Become a Republican!

2005-10-18T18:27:00.000-05:00

I don't know why we haven't done this at 1832 before, but I was sent this today and it is not only funny, but is funny because its true! Tired of losing elections my fellow democrats? Well why don't you become a republican! I did!

Become a Republican

just kidding about me actually becoming a republican, but you should click the link, its good stuff! When you are done be sure to send it to all your democrat friends and even send it to any republicans you know.... I'm sure it will get their blood boiling! (amazing how they either can't take the truth or a joke).

Reason #103912 Why I Hate Notre Dame

2005-10-18T00:10:00.000-05:00

As Sam notes in his post, I believe that the recent SC v. ND game was easily the game of the decade, and could possibly be the game of several recent decades combined (maybe if I was born earlier I would know this for sure). However, that being said, just because it was a good game doesn't mean I have to like Notre Dame.

In fact, if anything, I hate Notre Dame more now than ever, and it is not because I go to Marquette and my older brother went to SC, it is because of some of the dirty tactics that Notre Dame and its Jabba the Hut head coach used that were not nearly as innocent as trotting out in luck-of-the-irish-shamrock-green jerseys> Perhaps, most notably, would be Jabba's decision to grow the grass "Touchdown Jesus" watches over, ridiculously high in a feeble and dangerous attempt to give the Notre Dame even more of a home field advantage.

One might ask, "How would that give Notre Dame an advantage?" and"What is wrong with giving yourself a home-field advantage by doing so?"

Glad you asked.

Why do it? In theory, when a home team is faced with superior athletes who are faster than the ones you have you can "slow them down" by making changes to the playing surface, one of them being letting the grass grow longer without cutting it (another example could be watering the field excessively before a game as well), because thick, tall grass slows runners down as it creates more friction (hence why track runners run on a dirt/clay/rubber track rather than on grass at all). In addition, taller grass can make cutting and juking more difficult as it creates an uneven playing surface (more on this in a minute) that may cause difficulty in getting the footing required to make say a juke move. Also, offenses depend on timing, and if a QB and his receivers are used to routes taking X amount of time on a certain surface, a surface that sets out to slow receivers down can disrupt that timing. Lastly, longer than normal grass can have purely a mental effect on unsuspecting players, as they know or at least believe the grass could have an effect on their "normal" game, leading an athlete to over compensate.

I'm not saying that any of the above actually happened in the SC v. ND game or that SC would have killed ND if the grass was cut shorter, the above is just me stating why it is done (similar things have also been done to slow down base runners in Major League Baseball).

Next question:

Why is this bad?
1) You slow down your own, already slower, less athletic players, so that sort of negates the purpose (unless it is to throw off timing or for psychological effect). 2) Most importantly, longer grass creates an uneven playing surface because not all blades and patches of grass grow at the same rate, when you cut the grass, you cut it so that all of the blades and all of the patches are the same length. So why does this matter? Simple. Running and cutting on an uneven playing surface increases the likelihood of injury and I think it could be argued that the long grass contributed to Desmond Reed's probably season-ending injury (one of SC's kick return men) and that it could have also contributed to two injuries to Notre Dame lineman. If I'm Reed and the ND linemen I'd sue the Jesus out of Notre Dame if it can be proved that they let the grass grow out of the desire to gain an additional home-field advantage with complete disregard for player safety. Knee injuries not only can end a players season, but could also end a player's career in the NFL before it even could get started.

One question still remains.... Why do you care? USC won, ND lost, isn't that good enough for you?

Yes I am happy SC won and ND lost, and I'll admit ND is a much better team than I thought and SC was lucky to come out of South Bend with a win, but here at 1832, we believe in the truth, and yesterday during a Notre Dame press conference, Jabba the Hut was asked about the grass and he asserted that the grass was the same length for the SC game as it was for the MSU game a few weeks ago (note in order to view the press conference footage you need a premium rivals pass, which I cant give out, I will post a link to a free transcript when/if it is made available). Oh really Jabba?

These pictures seem to tell a different story:

The first photo is taken from the SC v. ND game and notice how the Notre Dame player's right foot is barely visible, now look at grass length in the second picture from the MSU v. ND game, the grass in the first picture is clearly longer.

Notice to Jabba: You had 45,000 fans at a pep rally the night before with Joe Montana and "Rudy", you had a sold out stadium, you had two weeks to prepare for this game, and you even brought out the luck-of-the-irish-shamrock-green jerseys. I think you had all the home-field advantages you could want or ask for.

Growing grass to this length was pointless, stupid, and potentially dangerous, which causes me not to respect Notre Dame or Jabba the Hut.

Oh and Notre Dame fans, don't even bother commenting on the spot of the fumble, the timeout outs that SC called when they had none, or Bush's push into Leinart, I can rebut all of them and the regardless of any of them, I'm pretty sure the game would have ended in the same result with a SC victory and a ND lose.

Update: Below are links to photo galleries of the MSU v. ND game and SC v. ND game... in all the pictures the grass appears to be much longer (and certainly more uneven) in the SC v. ND photos. I have also posted links to some newspaper accounts that agree with my story.

MSU v. ND photo gallery
SC v. ND photo gallery

CNNSI.com
Star-Telegram in Texas (they have no reason to side with SC, Texas wanted SC to lose this game, as evidence by a state by state Sportsnation poll that was on ESPN before the game)
Daily Breeze in LA

(there are at least a dozen more, if you want to read them do a google news search for "grass and ND" and "grass and SC or trojans" and sort by date.

Genocide Again

2005-10-15T16:44:00.000-05:00

The level of unawareness and apathy towards the atrocities that are occuring throughout the world are mind boggling to me. So many of my fellow students, professors, and neighbors are simply unaware that hundreds of thousands of people are being systematically murdered. Shedding light on the situation in Darfur, Sudan is one of my main objectives at the moment. I truly believe that if more people know and understand the situation, there may be a greater chance to stop the violence. The following is a brief outline of the history of the conflict, as well as an explanation of why nothing is being done to stop the killings.

Defining Genocide in Darfur

Shortly after the Rwandan genocide ended in 1994 the international community, riddled with guilt for not interceding to stop the slaughter of over a million Tutsis, pledged to let genocide happen “never again.” Unfortunately, the world seems to have forgotten this pledge. Genocide is happening again, not too far from Rwanda in the Darfur region of Sudan. The killings and displacement of thousands of people within Darfur is clearly genocide as outlined in the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: deliberate and systematic attacks by the Arab Sudanese government, and militias under orders from the government are purposefully and maliciously bringing death and devastation to millions of non-Arab Africans in the Darfur region. Despite the evidence of massive atrocities occurring in Sudan, the world has sat idly by and done little to bring an end to the killings, rapes, and displacement of over a million people that is taking place in Darfur.

Most of Darfur’s six million people are Muslims, but in recent years, subdivisions between native Africans and outside Arabs within the region have caused tensions to rise. The native Africans are often called zurga or “blacks.”[i] Despite these labels, the physical differences between the non-Arab “blacks” and the Arabs are very difficult to distinguish.[ii] The political climate of Sudan also led to the current genocide because the predominantly Arab government in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, often overlooked the zurga for political positions, giving the jobs to Arabs within Darfur instead.

The tensions were further fueled by the two groups’ competition for fertile land. The Arabs in Darfur tend to be nomadic, herding camels and cattle. The indigenous Africans, on the other hand, are typically farmers. Feuds between the two rival groups escalated as droughts caused the desert to encroach on the rich land. The Sudanese government in Khartoum did little to stop the feuds. Instead of intervening to mediate an agreement between the nomadic Arabs and the Africans leaders in Khartoum generally ignored the Darfur conflicts,[iii] thus causing further animosity between the Arabs and the Africans.

Frustrated by political and economic discrimination, two African rebel groups, the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), carried out attacks against the predominantly Arab government on the morning of April 25, 2003. They targeted a small military base at an airport controlled by the Sudanese government. The result was the destruction of the military installation and airplanes, and the death of over 100 Sudanese soldiers.[iv]

Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir called for the elimination of the rebellion.[v] In order to have a superior military power over the rebels, President al-Bashir released Arab criminals from prison in exchange for their work in a government sponsored militia—the Janjaweed.[vi] Janjaweed is an Arabic term that roughly translated, means “evil horsemen.” Instead of targeting only the members of the rebel groups SLA and JEM, the black African civilians from tribes closely associated with the rebels were also targeted.[vii] Some members of the Sudanese government deny a connection to the Janjaweed militias, but evidence shows that the militias receive supplies and weapons through the government.

The government in Khatorum, in combination with the Janjaweed militias, plan and execute deliberate and violent attacks against non-Arab Darfurians throughout the region. According to then Secretary of State Colin Powell, evidence shows a “consistent and widespread pattern of atrocities…committed by Janjaweed and government forces against non-Arab villagers.”[viii] The Sudanese government uses aerial bombardments of tribal villages followed by ground attacks carried out by militias to eradicate the non-Arab Darfurians. The aerial assaults are carried out with Antonov aircraft, which have limited technologies. Often the bombs are dropped on villages haphazardly, without specific targets. After the aerial bombardment, the Janjaweed militias often ride into villages on horses and camels to take advantage of the chaotic aftermath. Killing, raping, and looting by the Janjaweed is prevalent after an aerial bombardment.

One reporter flying over Darfur noted that village after village seemed to be destroyed, bombed and burned by the government planes. These scars on the face of the arid terrain testify to the destruction of Darfur and its citizens. Although dozens of villages have been obliterated in the region, other villages seem to remain unscathed. Villages with predominantly Arab populations have remained untouched, and life has a semblance of normalcy in these pockets of Darfur.[ix]

Women are also specifically targeted by the Janjaweed. Evidence of rapes throughout Darfur permeates reports released by several international agencies. Amnesty International estimates that thousands of women and girls have been raped by Janjaweed militia since the conflict began two years ago. Some reports suggest that girls as young as six or eight years old are being exploited by the Janjaweed for sexual purposes. Many women and children have been abducted and forced to work in sexual slavery.[x]

The violence in Darfur cannot be captured in words, photographs, or films. The victims of the brutality will never have the words to help the world understand and know what they experienced. Images of family members killed at the hands of the Janjaweed or villages and homes destroyed by bombs will forever be ingrained in their minds.

Although the United States has termed the atrocities of Darfur “genocide,” other countries and international agencies such as the UN have been slow to follow suit. Countries on the United Nations’ Security Council have used the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to determine whether or not the violence in Darfur constitutes the label “genocide.” Although genocide is defined by the convention, there are no definitive interpretations of each article of the convention. The lack of a single standard and the diverse membership of the Security Council make the labeling of the Darfur violence “genocide” an arduous process.

Article Two of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as an act (or acts) “committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”[xi]. The UN Security Council, the body which determines if genocide is occurring or not, does not agree on the issue of whether or not the killings in Darfur are aimed at destroying the entirety or most of the population of non-Arabs.[xii] Some members of the Security Council believe that the level of violence and the numbers of people killed do not constitute genocide because it is not a large enough portion of the population as a whole.

Although “killing members of the group” is the first component of genocide listed in Article II, the act of genocide is not limited to murder. Genocide can also mean inflicting “serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.”[xiii] The rape of thousands of women and girls by the Janjaweed militia are also a component of genocide because of the severe physical and emotional trauma of the sexual violence. Many women have been disowned by their families because of rape and hundreds of women have been impregnated by Janjaweed militia.

Another component of genocide is “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”[xiv] Many of the victims in Darfur are killed not only by the violent tactics of the Sudanese government and Janjaweed militia, but also by the conditions of life that the conflict has brought about. Thousands die from starvation, thirst, and exposure after they are forced to flee their burning villages and the Janjaweed. Animals have been killed and crops destroyed by the Janjaweed. The Janjaweed have also poisoned the water supply by dumping bodies into wells. Refugees fleeing from Darfur into neighboring Chad are forced to cross the desert that lies between the two countries. Thousands of displaced refugees have died trying to escape from their homeland due to the harsh conditions of the desert.

Although an official death toll for the Darfur conflict does not exist, estimates vary from anywhere between 70,000 and 400,000 people killed and over 1.2 million displaced.[xv] The discrepancies are due in large part to the fact that the Sudanese government has allowed few humanitarian agencies to enter Darfur in order to assess the situation and to estimate the numbers of people killed or displaced.

Based on the fact that one group, non-Arab, “black” Africans,” are being killed or displaced by the Arab government, it is probable that these crimes can be deemed “genocide.” The systematic attacks planned by the Sudanese government and carried out by Arab Janjaweed militias are intended to annihilate an entire people. These attacks will succeed unless the international community can understand that these crimes are genocide and ought to be stopped.

The UN Convention on Genocide has proven that the atrocity and horrible crime of genocide is not easily defined. The lack of a single standard and interpretation of the convention has led to many nations arguing about the numbers of people killed and the intent of the government, rather than actually pursuing an end to the violence. Some members of the UN Security Council, the body responsible for determining if genocide is occurring in Darfur, believe that the total number of people killed does not constitute genocide. This begs the question: how many people must die in order for genocide to be declared?

Darfur has been called today’s “worst humanitarian crisis”[xvi] but little is being done to bring peace and justice to the thousands of victims. The world cannot keep quiet any longer, we must act to save thousands who have little hope left. Thousands are dying while the UN argues over a term as arbitrary as genocide. What is more important: agreeing on a definition or saving a life?

[i] Power, Samantha. Dying in Darfur. The New Yorker, Aug. 30, 2004. Vol. 80 Issue 24 p.56-73, 18p.

[ii] Nordlinger, Jay. About Sudan, The National Review, May 23, 2005. Vol. 57 Issue 9 p.39-42, 4p.

[iii] Power, Samantha. Dying in Darfur. The New Yorker, Aug. 30, 2004. Vol. 80 Issue 24 p.56-73, 18p.

[iv] Power, Samantha. Dying in Darfur. The New Yorker, Aug. 30, 2004. Vol. 80 Issue 24 p.56-73, 18p.

[v] Thomas, Gwynn. Darfur: Not Yet a Genocide? Socialist Standard, Journal of the Socialist Party Sept. 2004.

[vi] Fleeing the Horsemen who Kill for Khartoum. The Economist May 2004, Vol. 371 Issue 8375, p21-23, 3p.

[vii] Straus, Scott. Darfur and the Genocide Debate Foreign Affairs Jan/Feb. 2005 Vol. 34, Issue 1 p 123 133, 12 p.

[viii] Powell, Colin. The Crisis in Darfur Testimony Before Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sept. 9, 2004.

[ix] Power, Samantha. Dying in Darfur. The New Yorker, Aug. 30, 2004. Vol. 80 Issue 24 p.56-73, 18p.

[x] Amnesty International Report on Sudan. July 19, 200 http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR540762004?open&of=ENG-SDN

[xi] Gellately, Robert & Kiernan, Ben. The Specter of Genocide Cambridge University Press 2003.

[xii] UN Chronicle Sept/Nov. 2004. Vol. 41 Issue 3 p70-71

[xiii] Gellately, Robert & Kiernan, Ben. The Specter of Genocide Cambridge University Press 2003.

[xiv] Gellately, Robert & Kiernan, Ben. The Specter of Genocide Cambridge University Press 2003.

[xv] Darfur’s Real Death Toll, The Washington Post. April 24, 2005, p.B06.

[xvi] Amnesty International Report on Sudan. July 19, 2004. http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAFR540762004?open&of=ENG-SDN

Dr. McAdams, am I selecting congenial polls now? Three Polls Show Bush Approval Below 40%

2005-10-12T23:15:00.000-05:00

About a month ago Dr. McAdams of the Warrior Blog tossed out my entry regarding the significance of Bush's approval rating because he believed the AP/Isos poll, which had President Bush's approval rating at 39%, because it was an outlier.

It is true that the AP/Isos poll at that time was the only poll that was showing President Bush's approval rating below 40%, but rather than disregard it, I believed that the AP/Isos poll was more of an indicator of things to come for the President and for the Republican Party.

At the end of my entry I stated that "President Bush has a very tough road ahead" and as it turns out that road has gotten considerably tougher: Tom Delay has been indicted, the right-wing of the party is in fuming over the Miers nomination, Bill Frist has come under investigation, and the CIA-leak probe is widening its scope.

These events are clearly reflected in the poll numbers released in the last few days:

10/12/05: NBC-WSJ Poll:

Approve: 39% Disapprove: 48%
Right Track: 28%
Prefer Republican Controlled Congress: 39%
Prefer Democratic Controlled Congress: 48%

According to the MSNBC article the "nine-point difference is the largest margin between the parties in the 11 years the NBC/Journal poll has been tracking this question."

AP/ISOS 10/7

Approve: 39% Disapprove: 58%
Right Track: 28%

CBS News Poll

Approve: 37% Disapprove: 58%
Right Track: 26%
Favorable View Toward Democrats: 43% Favorable View Toward Republicans: 37% (In Congress)

Rasmussen:

Approve: 43% (21% Strongly Approve) disprove: 55% (40% Strongly Disapprove)

While the Rasmussen poll still has Bush above 40% it clearly shows that the tide has turned against Bush when you look at the "strongly approve" and "strongly disapprove".

As I said last time, the road is only going to get tougher for President Bush and the Republican Party as the problems with Delay and Frist are not likely to go away anytime soon and I highly doubt that Miers confirmation hearings will do much to bring the religious right back into the fold. Furthermore, as winter approaches Americans are going to begin to get a sense of how much their heating bills are going to rise, which like the price of gasoline will add more fuel to the fire.

University Should Follow Policy and Make The Annex Smoke-Free

2005-10-07T17:29:00.000-05:00

Recently varies viewpoints in the Marquette Tribune have focused attention on whether or not Milwaukee Bars should be made smoke free (see "Chit Chat" and "There are enough bars for everyone"), however, these viewpoints fail to mention the University's own smoking policy and its apparent self-inflicted violation of it with regards to the Marquette-owned Annex on 16th and Wells. It is my belief that a University-owned sports bar that allows smoking not only violates its own stated policies on smoking, but allowing smoking also violates the core Jesuit ideal of cura personalis or "care for the whole person".

The University policy on smoking is pretty clear and is covered by the Office of Residence Life (in the student handbook) and on the facility services website. According to Residence Life, smoking is not permitted in the Residence Halls nor is it permitted within 25 feet of the doors of any residence hall. Additionally, facility services states the following in with regards to policy number "UPP 5-02":

What is the policy:

Smoking is prohibited in all areas of all university
buildings. In addition, smoking is prohibited within 20 feet of all building
entrances. The Office of Student Affairs will publicize specific rules for
smoking in residence halls consistent with this policy and the Wisconsin Clean
Air Act.

It is my contention that The Annex is a university building as it is essentially an additional cafeteria with TVs and a bowling ally in it. This is clearly evidenced by the fact that students have the option, of using their standard meal plan to eat at The Annex during "Eagle Option" hours. If the University does not allow smoking within the cafeteria in the AMU or in any of the dorm cafeterias, it must also prohibit smoking in The Annex since it is also designated as a similar facility. In addition, student organizations, according to university policy, in order to reserve space at The Annex for official events, must first apply and then get approval through the Office of Student Development. Lastly, the University uses The Annex for a number of official school events, including watch parties for Marquette Athletics, a number of MUSG activities, Parents Weekend, and Little Sibs Weekend. The Annex is without a doubt a university-owned and controlled building that students and the public have access to.

Regardless of this policy, the University is violating its own Jesuit principle of cura personalis, commonly known as "care for the whole person". The University cannot seriously argue that allowing students to be inundated by second-hand smoke is "care for the whole person". Rather, the University should take the lead on providing students with a smoke-free environment to enjoy food, sports, and perhaps a few drinks with friends.

The Annex is currently an underused resource by Marquette students, perhaps making it smoke-free will give it a niche among students that will make it not only thrive, but eventually lead to "smoke-free"nights or self-imposed smoking bans by the other campus-area bars and restaurants as they see that being "smoke-free" is not only good for students but good business as well.

A Divisive New Medical Issue

2005-10-05T18:31:00.000-05:00

http://makeashorterlink.com/?E2FD33DEB

According to the story, innovative vaccines that could potentially protect against herpes and another prominent, cancer-causing sexually transmitted disease are causing a great deal of controversy – because to be effective, both would have to be administered to children around the age of twelve, in order to prevent future infection.

Merck’s new vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV) could possibly be submitted to the FDA for review by the end of the year, while Glaxo’s new shot aimed at preventing genital herpes is in the final stages of production. Both of these are predicted to be most effective when given to pre-adolescents.

In the article, it is noted that the conservative Family Research Council issued a statement it was opposed to the shots because they believed that teenagers would see the inoculations as “a license to engage in premarital sex”.

Additionally, Scott Phelps, the executive director of the Abstinence and Marriage Education Partnership, recently wrote that “sexually transmitted diseases in the United States will not be contained by injecting vaccines into pre-adolescents in anticipation of promiscuous behavior.”

Organizations like the Family Research Council and the Abstinence and Marriage Education Partnership are both guilty of being incredibly naïve. Conservative coalitions like these seem to live in fairy-tale worlds where dating only occurs after marriage and everyone is pure and chaste. Unfortunately for them, that isn’t how it is. And we need to take every opportunity to prevent the spread of venereal disease.

Here’s a memo for the Family Research Council – American teenagers don’t need a “license to engage in premarital sex”, because they are by nature rebellious and are going to do it anyways. While some research may show that abstinence education is moderately effective, given human nature, it would be inherently impossible for everyone to practice abstinence until marriage. And denying millions of U.S. citizens the protection from disease just because you want to protect children from a reality that they will eventually have to face is nearly criminal. Hopefully, the FDA isn’t persuaded by such groups and approves and distributes both drugs. Our future may actually depend on it.

The Roberts Court Debate

2005-09-29T19:46:00.000-05:00

This really wasnt a debate about Roberts.... it was more of a debate about varies theories of Consitutitional law. All in all the debate was very entertaining and both Professors clearly knew their stuff, however, I have to tip my hat in favor of Professor Moss in terms of a "winner" but I'll concede that he won only by a small margin... McAdams's arguments were extremely well reasoned as well.

Below are some highlights:

Do we really want a principled conservative jurisprudence?—McAdams (rhetorical question)

McAdams makes a sports analogy and asserts that the “red team” submits referees that play fair and play by the rules and that the “blue team” submits referees that constantly cheat. Therefore, what I want is good old-fashioned conservative judicial activism so that the “red team” can win.--McAdams

“I disagree with McAdam’s assertion that the Democratic Party has and is always winning. I believe that the Democratic Party is currently weaker than the Whigs before the Civil War” --Moss

“McAdams would have you believe that Democrats are the only ones that want to achieve results that they were unable to achieve in the democratic process. This completely untrue, Republicans and conservatives are currently trying to achieve results that they have been unable to achieve through the Democratic process, they are trying to turn back civil rights legislation, gun [control] and environmental laws.”--Moss

“Activism” is only what you say about the other side when you don’t like what the other side is doing. -Moss

If you are an orginalist how do you defend Brown v. Board of Education?--Moss

Brown v. Board of Education is an example of failed judicial activism that engaged in a failed social experiment.—McAdams

Correction from the comments:

I never said Brown v. Board of Education was a failed social experiment. I said that busing for purposes of racial balance, which activist judges did in the late 60s and 70s, was such a failed experiment.

I made it clear that Brown was not about racial balance, but rather said that race can't be used as a basis for school assignment.

People who laud the court for promoting racial justice have to take into account the failed social experiment (busing) that judicial activism also produced.

Thank you to Dr. McAdams for pointing that out. One problem with trying to "live blog" a debate such as this one is it can be hard to keep up at times and you miss some of the details.

Since you are a defender of judicial activism how can you be opposed to conservative judicial activism?--McAdams

I think thatthere are some parts of the constitution that should be read and interpreted narrowly and some that should be read and interpreted more broadly. --Moss

The conservative position is that clauses such as the equal protection clause should be read narrowly and democrats and liberals believe that the equal protection clause should be read broadly.—Moss

You say you don’t believe in judicial activism, but you clearly advocate for a living constitution? If the constitution is a living constitution what is your objection to taking away some rights, such as the rights of terrorist suspects to fight the needs of the current tim?" ---McAdams.

The living constitution idea doesn’t say that you erase or erode rights in the constitution, but the Court must look at the facts and circumstances of the case before it and apply the constitution to those facts and circumstances, which may be different from facts and circumstances that may have come in a previous case.---Moss

McAdams asserts that 14^th Amendment applies only to race. Clearly, that is not the view of the conservative court which applied the 14^th Amendment to incorrectly decide Gore v. Bush in saying that the 14^th Amendment applied to a republican candidate being discriminated against by having ballots counted in a certain manner.---Moss

Is a Senator violating is oath by voting against any nominee because they are unsure of or do not like the direction by which the nominee may take the court?--Moderator

The job of the Senate is to give advice and consent it is not just to examine the nominee’s record to see if they have committed sexual harassment, insider trading, or some other major legal or moral transgression. If that were the case we would not need a confirmation process. It is the job of the Senate to give advice and consent on the direction of the court.—Moss

1832 to "Live Blog" McAdams v. Moss Debate on the Roberts Court at 12pm tomorrow

2005-09-28T21:21:00.000-05:00

1832 will "Live Blog" the Marquette Law School debate on the Roberts Court between Professor John McAdams and Professor Scott Moss starting at 12pm (internet connections permitting) tomorrow.

1832 encourages readers to submit questions for the Professors by posting them in the comments section of this entry. 1832 will try to answer and/or ask as many of the questions as we can.

UPDATE:
I just came back from the debate, unfortunately the wireless internet connection in the Law School would not let me on the internet, so the live blog was a bust. I will post commentary from the debate later tonight.

Final Update on Brent Bray's post.

2005-09-28T14:26:00.000-05:00

Blogspot only emails me a copy of a post's orginal title (which also serves as the post's URL) since the title of the post changed several times yesterday, I had to guess at which title most of you had linked to.

Since I was doing this very late at night, after I had been studying for the LSAT for about 5 hours, I forgot to put "Marquette" before "College Republicans" thus causing yet another URL change.

To fix this I have posted a duplicate post, in addition to the one that was posted last night, so if you have not made the change on your site, your links should still work and if you already noticed this change and reflected it in your links, your links as well should still work.

Lastly, it is important to note that the content of guest blog entries are not always endorsed by 1832. As stated in the purpose of this blog, we "will offer guest blogger invites to Republicans and Independents as warranted to further intellectual development and discourse".

Proof we can still come together for a good cause.

2005-09-28T03:46:00.000-05:00

IN THE BLUE v. RED KICKBALL CLASSIC.
To Benefit Gulf State Hurricane Victims

When: Sat. Oct 1st 1pm-3pm
Where: Schroeder Field

COST: $5 to play (all proceeds go to Catholic Charities for Hurricane Relief)

Investing in Our (Off) Campus

2005-09-21T19:18:00.000-05:00

If you’ve attended Marquette University for the past four years like I have, the positive changes in the appearance of our campus cannot have possibly flown under your radar. The administration of this university and the city of Milwaukee have undertaken several projects, including the construction of Raynor Library, the revamping of Wisconsin Avenue, and other beautification projects that have succeeded in actually making our urban oasis feel like a college campus.

Unfortunately, the repairs and changes have only been made to areas south of Wells Street. And while the off-campus housing north of Wells Street is, after all, off campus, the apathy and disregard shown towards this area by university administration and student government is rather disappointing, given the fact that hundreds of upperclassmen call this neighborhood home.

The Norris Park “project” is one example of this neglect. Remember last year, when several candidates for MUSG Senate seats and various members of the organization announced plans to work with the city to overhaul this space (located in the square block between Kilbourn, State, 18th, and 19th)? Has progress been made? Not that I’ve heard of. Sure, MUSG can blow thousands of dollars on plasma screens for the AMU, pretty new archways, and concerts by B-level music acts (http://www.gop3.com/?p=429), but when it comes to an enhancement that would improve the lives of the student residents of this area while at the same time deterring crime, the issue is summarily dropped. Great.

Additionally, has anyone ever wondered why the university has allowed a 24 hour homeless shelter to continue operations less than a block away from a dorm, and literally yards from off-campus student housing? Funny thing is that I’m doing service learning at Repairers of the Breach on 13th and Vliet, and they said they couldn’t get zoning permission for overnight housing, yet a shelter exactly like that operates just a few feet from our campus. Anyway, my proposal – dip into the endowment, purchase the shelter, raze it, and construct a new dormitory.

The housing crunch is on at Marquette, despite what the administration wants you to believe. Graduate students are being evicted from the Abbotsford to make way for overflowing freshmen and sophomores, and if enrollment continues to increase, there’s no doubt in my mind that O’Donnell’s basement and McCormick’s lounges will be turned back into temporary lodging for the classes of 2010 or 2011. So why wouldn’t the school take this opportunity to remove an eyesore from campus and alleviate their accommodation issues for at least the next decade? The ball’s in their court now.

LSAT CLAIMS LIFE OF ANOTHER 1832 BLOGGER

2005-09-21T02:01:00.000-05:00

In May we lost our very own Zach Corey to the LSAT for what was to be at least a one month sabbatical, and now the LSAT has consumed my life as well. As I prepare for the Oct 1st. LSAT, I leave this space to Zach, Becca, Weaves, Nick, and Kate and I am sure that they will all do a fine job.

Zach Corey will be temporarily given full administrator powers until my return. I'm sure everyone will fear his wrath as much as they did mine.

On Oct 2nd (If I am alive after drinking myself stupid after taking the LSAT on Oct 1st) 1832 will begin to undertake construction of its new blog and future home, www.CampusTavern.com, which will launch in mid to late October.

Until then... wish me luck and feel free to bring coffee and food to the silent study rooms on the second floor of Raynor near the bridge.... a hungry and sleep deprived future blood sucking lawyer will thank you kindly and promise not to sue your ass later on in life.

Biblical food for thought

2005-09-19T23:39:00.000-05:00

I have always said that I will not sink to the level of using the Bible for political gain. This is for two main reasons; one, I don’t think either political party has the Bible completely on their side and two, as a well-minded Liberal I do not like to push my religious ideals on others too much. That said, I cannot help but wonder how the current administration can defend it’s many policies against the very Bible that it likes so much to call upon.

The particular passage that I have in mind which makes me stop and think is Deuteronomy 30:15.
“See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.”

I wonder if God meant “good” things such as caring for the poor and afflicted, caring for the sick and elderly, caring for children and single mothers. I also wonder if maybe, just maybe, some of the evils He was referring to were things such as greed, war, poverty and military power…

Maybe He even meant going as far as taking the $6,000,000,000 we spend every month on the war in Iraq and using it instead to provide health care to every single child in the United States for an entire year.

Now I would never presume to speak for God (even Liberals fear His wrath!), but I think the picture I’m painting is fairly clear. As a nation so based on “moral values” I think it would be wise to hold our leaders accountable to higher standards than we currently do.

Notice On Comments

2005-09-14T12:11:00.000-05:00

1832 is a place for a civil discussion of politics and as such, name calling, profanity, threats of violence towards anyone, whether they are bloggers or other commentators, will not be tolerated. Violators will have their comments deleted immediately and repeat offenders will be banned from commenting on this blog.

1832 currently allows for anonymous comments to be posted on this blog so that readers are not required to sign up for a blogger account. However, if abuse of our "liberal" commenting policy continues, we will be forced to change our policy to one that is much more restrictive.

When commenting on our blog please remember that we have a diverse readership that includes the various university communities, people from all over Wisconsin and the rest of the United States, and our own families and friends, some of which are very young in age.

This does not mean that you cannot express your disagreement with or even your general dislike of a blogger or commenter on 1832, you simply have to keep it from going over the top.

One of the main purposes of this blog is to create a conversation between people of differing viewpoints and backgrounds, it remains 1832's sincere hope and desire that we can have that conversation in as close to a civil manner as possible.

Thank you-
The 1832 Blog Staff

Read This Newsweek Article

2005-09-13T00:27:00.000-05:00

This weeks Newsweek has an amazingly well written article that peers into what was going on behind the scenes during Hurricane Katrina and why it spelled a relief nightmare. Below are some highlights:

Why having a President who doesn't read the newspaper and who is only surrounded by "yes" men is a problem:

The reality, say several aides who did not wish to be quoted because it might displease the president, did not really sink in until Thursday night. Some White House staffers were watching the evening news and thought the president needed to see the horrific reports coming out of New Orleans. Counselor Bartlett made up a DVD of the newscasts so Bush could see them in their entirety as he flew down to the Gulf Coast the next morning on Air Force One.
How this could be—how the president of the United States could have even less "situational awareness," as they say in the military, than the average American about the worst natural disaster in a century—is one of the more perplexing and troubling chapters in a story that, despite moments of heroism and acts of great generosity, ranks as a national disgrace.

President George W. Bush has always trusted his gut. He prides himself in ignoring the distracting chatter, the caterwauling of the media elites, the Washington political buzz machine. He has boasted that he doesn't read the papers. His doggedness is often admirable. It is easy for presidents to overreact to the noise around them.

But it is not clear what President Bush does read or watch, aside from the occasional biography and an hour or two of ESPN here and there. Bush can be petulant about dissent; he equates disagreement with disloyalty. After five years in office, he is surrounded largely by people who agree with him. Bush can ask tough questions, but it's mostly a one-way street. Most presidents keep a devil's advocate around. Lyndon Johnson had George Ball on Vietnam; President Ronald Reagan and Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, grudgingly listened to the arguments of Budget Director Richard Darman, who told them what they didn't wish to hear: that they would have to raise taxes. When Hurricane Katrina struck, it appears there was no one to tell President Bush the plain truth: that the state and local governments had been overwhelmed, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was not up to the job and that the military, the only institution with the resources to cope, couldn't act without a declaration from the president overriding all other authority.

Why President Bush said "Brownie you are doing a heck of a job" and an inside look at the heated exchanges between local officials and the federal government:

Bad news rarely flows up in bureaucracies. For most of those first few days, Bush was hearing what a good job the Feds were doing. Bush likes "metrics," numbers to measure performance, so the bureaucrats gave him reassuring statistics. At a press availability on Wednesday, Bush duly rattled them off: there were 400 trucks transporting 5.4 million meals and 13.4 million liters of water along with 3.4 million pounds of ice. Yet it was obvious to anyone watching TV that New Orleans had turned into a Third World hellhole.
The denial and the frustration finally collided aboard Air Force One on Friday. As the president's plane sat on the tarmac at New Orleans airport, a confrontation occurred that was described by one participant as "as blunt as you can get without the Secret Service getting involved." Governor Blanco was there, along with various congressmen and senators and Mayor Nagin (who took advantage of the opportunity to take a shower aboard the plane). One by one, the lawmakers listed their grievances as Bush listened. Rep. Bobby Jindal, whose district encompasses New Orleans, told of a sheriff who had called FEMA for assistance. According to Jindal, the sheriff was told to e-mail his request, "and the guy was sitting in a district underwater and with no electricity," Jindal said, incredulously. "How does that make any sense?" Jindal later told NEWSWEEK that "almost everybody" around the conference table had a similar story about how the federal response "just wasn't working." With each tale, "the president just shook his head, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing," says Jindal, a conservative Republican and Bush appointee who lost a close race to Blanco. Repeatedly, the president turned to his aides and said, "Fix it."

According to Sen. David Vitter, a Republican ally of Bush's, the meeting came to a head when Mayor Nagin blew up during a fraught discussion of "who's in charge?" Nagin slammed his hand down on the table and told Bush, "We just need to cut through this and do what it takes to have a more-controlled command structure. If that means federalizing it, let's do it."

I highly encourage you to read the rest at www.newsweek.com or pick up a copy at the store.

New York Times Op-Ed Declares Voter ID Law a "Poll Tax"

2005-09-12T20:42:00.000-05:00

Today the New York Times' Op-Ed board declared Georgia's new Voter ID law that goes into effect this month a "Poll Tax" and a "national disgrace". Here is what the New York Times had to say about the Georgia law:

In 1966, the Supreme Court held that the poll tax was unconstitutional. Nearly 40 years later, Georgia is still charging people to vote, this time with a new voter ID law that requires many people without driver's licenses - a group that is disproportionately poor, black and elderly - to pay $20 or more for a state ID card. Georgia went ahead with this even though there is not a single place in the entire city of Atlanta where the cards are sold. The law is a national disgrace.

Until recently, Georgia, like most states, accepted many forms of identification at the polls. But starting this month, it is accepting only government-issued photo ID's. People with driver's licenses are fine. But many people without them have to buy a state ID card to vote, at a cost of $20 for a five-year card or $35 for 10 years. The cards are sold in 58 locations, in a state with 159 counties. It is outrageous that Atlanta does not have a single location. (The state says it plans to open one soon.) But the burden is also great on people in rural parts of the state.

The Republicans who pushed the law through, and Gov. Sonny Perdue, also a Republican, who signed it, say that it is intended to prevent fraud. But it seems clear that it is about keeping certain people away from the polls, for political advantage. The vast majority of fraud complaints in Georgia, according to its secretary of state, Cathy Cox, involve absentee ballots, which are unaffected by the new law. Ms. Cox says she is unaware of a single documented case in recent years of fraud through impersonation of a voter at the polls.

Citizens who swear they are indigent are exempt from the fee. But since the law does not define who is indigent, many people may be reluctant to swear and risk a criminal penalty. More important, the 24th Amendment, which outlawed poll taxes in federal elections, and the Supreme Court's decision striking down state poll taxes applied to all Americans, not just to the indigent. A Georgian who votes only in presidential elections, and buys a five-year card to do so, would be paying $10 per election. That is no doubt more than many people on fixed incomes, who struggle to get by but are not legally indigent, are willing to pay to vote.

Yes there is a difference between the Georgia law and the bill that has been repeatedly proposed by Republicans here in Wisconsin, but the question really is, "Does Wisconsin really want to even risk being mentioned in the same sentence as Georgia?"

I don't think so either.

In Remembrance

2005-09-11T23:46:00.000-05:00

I remember the events of September 11th, 2001 like they happened yesterday. We had just taken our first exam of the year in AP Statistics when I heard the news. At the time, I was pleased with my performance on the test and looking forward to the rest of this clear, warm, late summer day. As some friends and I were walking out of the classroom, an acquaintance of ours came up and asked if we heard about the plane crash. The mutual friend, Nick Klein, quickly had my attention.

As an aviation buff, I immediately wanted to learn more. As a human being, I began to worry about the safety of my aunt, who works for the US House of Representatives. And as an American, I went through seemingly every possible negative emotion within the next hour. Anger at not knowing exactly what was occurring. Disgust when I realized that it probably wasn’t a coincidence that there were multiple plane crashes along the Eastern seaboard. Sadness after realizing that thousands of lives had just been obliterated. And perhaps most overwhelmingly, confusion – it didn’t take long to understand that this was an event that would alter the course of the life of everyone in the United States, which is certainly a confusing thought. After coming home from school, my sister drove this point home when she said, “Wow, this will be in textbooks. People are going to study this. And we’re living it.” For real. I remember spending the next few days with confusion and shock, like they were shadows that led and followed me everywhere.

Perhaps my most vivid memory is sitting on the couch with my family, waiting for the events to unfold. One of my defense mechanisms for coping with tragedy is to escape, but if you wanted to watch television, departure surely wasn’t an option. The Food Network went off the air immediately afterwards, deciding to post a message of grief and solidarity over regular cooking tips. Jeopardy was preempted in favor of round-the-clock news coverage from our local NBC affiliate. Even MTV eschewed videos and typical fare like “Dismissed”, instead broadcasting CBS’ live feed from Ground Zero.

While we were letting CNN feed us the newest developments, I got a call from an old friend. He told me that his soccer practice was canceled like all other after school activities that week, and asked if I wanted to meet up at our neighborhood park, which I did. I met him and eight other friends at Pioneer Park that day, and we had a great 5-on-5 football competition, especially given the day’s events. We used to play all the time in junior high, but since then, we had all found jobs, extracurricular activities, girlfriends, or other things to occupy our time. This was the first match of the year, and also the last, and also a metaphor for what was occurring to our country, and especially our generation.

After September 11th, we haven’t had time to play around. We’ve been forced to take things seriously, evaluate threats, and abandon our carefree lifestyles. Some of us have been forced to go to war. Basically, it forced our generation to grow up. Fast. So as the four year anniversary arrives, we mourn the loss of not only our citizens and our monuments, but also our trust, our freedom, and our youth.

In Remembrance

2005-09-11T18:57:00.000-05:00

It has been months since I posted here at 1832 and yet today was a day I could not let pass without taking note of how I feel to be an American.

I will never forget the morning our principal came over the P.A. system to make an announcement. Everyone went silent because the only time she ever came on was to announce a death. We had no idea just how different this "death" was.

9/11/01 not only brought the deaths of thousands of Americans, but death to an era of unrivaled power and domestic security. From that day on we, as a nation (whether divided during elections or united after natural horrors) have never been the same. That day, and the uneasy days which followed, taught me more about what it means to be an American than all of my 18 previous years had.

I learned that you can bend the American soul, but you can not break it. I learned that you can kill an American citizen, but not our national unity. I learned that we are not as loved in this world as we may like to think, yet we do not back down from foreign responsibilities. I learned that compassion for your neighbor is not dead within the wealthiest nation in the world, as some like to say. I learned that for all of the complaints I have with this nation, I would never want to call anywhere else "home."

With the sorrows of Katrina still fresh in our minds, I pray that we can all take a moment to remember our fallen heroes from 4 years ago. May they rest in peace and may their memory guide us and our leaders to do what is best for our nation in the years to come.

In Remembrance

2005-09-11T00:58:00.000-05:00

1832 will not post any political blog entries today. Instead we will only post entries that are in remembrance of 9/11/01. Readers are encouraged to post their own personal entries in the comments section of this or any 9/11 entry (we may publish some comments to the front of the blog).

9/11/01—Has it really only been four years?

I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I was a senior in High School at Rolling Hills Prep and it was senior picture day. I remember I got up in early in the morning like I normally did…and I immediately turned on the TV in my room to the morning news only to see the city that I was born in, under attack.

I started yelling and running up and down the stairs telling my family to turn on the TV. I remember hearing my mom turning on her TV and saying, “Oh my god!” and then she ran to the phone to call my dad and my brother who had already left and were headed into downtown Los Angeles (my brother would find his school closed and my dad would be turned away from his office building in downtown).

I don’t know why I did what I did next, but for some reason I went back to my room and called my High School friend Erin Patrick. I can still hear her voice and the words she spoke to me that morning. She was in a panic becuase her dad was in the military and was being called in to the Los Angeles Air Force Base, but we stayed on the line trying to calm each other down until we both witnessed, together, the unthinkable happen before our very eyes—we watched the second plane strike the World Trade Center. We both screamed. Then there was silence and then we cried. We ended our phone call in tears, we were afraid, we were in disbelief, we were angry, and we were at a loss of words as to what to say to one another.

Later that morning I went to school and we took our senior pictures for a yearbook to be given out at our graduation later that year, yet I remember I could not stop myself from thinking how unsure the future now was. To make matters worse the School Headmaster had instructed all of the teachers not to allow the students to watch TV news reports of what was going on, fearing that it the news would cause the middle school students to panic. Most of the HS teachers ignored the Headmaster’s order, but many of the students at Rolling Hills Prep decided to leave their classrooms and instead listen to the radios in their cars in the parking lot.

I remember sitting in the parking lot with Crystal Hale and deciding to leave and drive to the nearest Red Cross Center to stand in line to donate blood. When we got there the line was so long it went outside the building, wrapped around outside and into the parking lot. In the moments of despair that followed the attacks, giving blood to save lives seemed to give many, including Crystal and myself—hope.

I will never forget that day. I will never forget the sad faces of seniors who somehow managed to pull off a smile for the quick flash of a camera. The memories of that day are more vivid than any photograph a mere camera could possibly capture. I can still hear the sounds of that day. I can still hear Erin Patrick's scream. I don't just remember what I felt, I still feel what I felt and when I think of the tears that I shed on that day... I shed the same tears. This is what makes 9/11 impossible to forget: you cannot forget what you still see, hear, and feel.

9/11/01-We will never forget.

1832 Adds Carroll College Student to Blog Staff

2005-09-10T14:55:00.000-05:00

1832 is pleased to announce that Nick Halsted, a sophomore political science major at Carroll College will be joining our blog staff in the next few days. Nick currently serves on the College Democrats of Wisconsin State Board as the Membership Director and was deeply involved with the Kerry/Coordinated Campaign's student vote efforts at Carroll College last fall.

Welcome to 1832 Nick! We look forward to your first post!

President Bush's Approval Rating Falls Below 40%

2005-09-09T23:14:00.000-05:00

According to an AP/Ipsos poll released today, the President's approval rating has fallen below 40% to 39% with a whopping 59% of Americans saying they disapprove of how Bush is handling his job:

Overall, do you approve, disapprove or have mixed feelings about the way George W. Bush is handling his job as President?
Strongly Approve 20 (23) Somewhat Approve 11 (10) Lean Toward Approval 8 (9) Lean Toward Disapproval 14 (13) Somewhat Disapprove 5 (5) Strongly Disapprove 40 (38)
Total
Approve 39 (42) Disapprove 59 (55)

Notice the huge and growing gap between those who strongly approve (20%) and those who strongly disapprove (40%).

The AP/Ipsos poll has a lot of information in it and I strongly recommend that readers download the pdf and look at all the questions asked. Here are some other questions and poll results that I found interesting:

Handling the situation in Iraq:

Strongly Approve 22 (22) Somewhat Approve 8 (8) Lean Toward Approval 7 (8) Lean Toward Disapproval 8 (10) Somewhat Disapprove 8 (8) Strongly Disapprove 46 (41)
Total
Approve 37 (38) Disapprove 62 (59)

Amazing, over 60% of Americans now disapprove of how President Bush is handling the situation in Iraq.

On Hurricane Katrina:

69% Agree with the statement that the federal government should have been better prepared to cope with the effects of a disaster of the magnitude caused by Hurricane Katrina

vs. only

30% Agree with the statement that the federal government was as prepared as it could have been to cope with a disaster of the magnitude casused by Hurricane Katrina.

This is the problem that President Bush and Republicans are going to have a tough time overcoming: In the post 9/11 world the American public expects the federal government to to be prepared for large-scale disasters regardless of their cause. It is impossible to claim that the federal government was prepared for this.

Furthermore, it is clear that even a large percentage of those who approve of how Bush has handled the post-disaster relief efforts and his overall response, even they agree that the federal government should have been prepared to deal with a situation such as this and it was not.

President Bush has a very tough road ahead.

1832 to add UW-Milwaukee Student to Blog Staff

2005-09-09T21:43:00.000-05:00

1832 is proud to announce that Kathleen Moen, a longtime DPW activist who is currently the Women's Issues Director for College Democrats of Wisconsin will be joining our blog staff this weekend. Ms. Moen, who is a Senior at UWM, has previously given her services to the Kerry/Coordinated Campaign, NARAL-Wisconsin, Doyle for Governor, Kathleen Falk for Governor, and many other Democratic leaning organizations.

Welcome Kate! We look forward to your first of many entries on 1832.

Sorting Out Republican Spin on Katrina

2005-09-08T12:22:00.000-05:00

In order to sort out all of the Republican spin I have compiled a number of entries from around the country into one massive entry, so beware this post is very long:

Larry Johnson of TPMcafe.com issued this post yesterday that attacks the Republican spin that is trying to shift the blame from the Bush Administration to that of state and local officials in Louisiana, some of which are flat out lies. Here are some highlights:

The Bush White House is furiously spinning to lay the blame on the Governor and Mayor of Louisiana. My position is that I think both the Governor and the Mayor can be faulted on a variety of fronts. I do not absolve them of their responsibility to properly and fully implement their own emergency response plans. However, the Governor followed the appropriate protocol and, in accordance with the National Response Plan (NRP), asked the President in accordance with the Stafford Act, to declare a State of Emergency.

TIMELINE

Sep 07, 2005 -- 02:18:12 PM EST

Friday, 26 August 2005, Governor of Louisiana declares state of emergency
Saturday morning, 27 August 2005, Governor of Louisiana asks President Bush to declare a state of emergency and requests Federal Assistance "to save lives and property". Note, the letter was published on 27 August 2005 on Lexis Nexis but was dated 28 August 2005. Bush received the letter on Saturday and responded on the same day by declaring a State of Emergency. Note, per the NRP, William Lokey was designated as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in Louisiana.
Sunday, 28 August 2005, Mayor of New Orleans orders Mandatory Evacuation.
(Note: In Governor Blanco's request on the 27th, there is a specific request for help with evacuation and a specific request for help to "save lives and protect property". )
Monday, 29 August 2005, FEMA Director Brown requests DHS Secretary Chertoff's help in getting 1000 DHS employees ready to deploy to the disaster within 48 hours.
Under the National Response Plane (see p. 93, Figure 11), once the President declares a State of Emergency the Department of Homeland Security is supposed to implement the Plan. Initially, DHS is supposed to deploy an Emergency Response Team to the State to provide expertise in assessing needs and determining appropriate courses of action. Moreover, on p. 52 of the NRP the President may act proactively under the Stafford Act.
Folks, these are not OPINIONS, these are cold, objective facts. However, MSNBC and other members of the Main Stream Media are confused about what is a fact and what is opinion.

Now contrast that with this nice visual timeline of the Bush administration's actions leading up to, during, and after the storm hit from Basetree.com:

UWisc/CIMSS	Gathering Storm	AP Photo/The White House Eric Draper/File
Hurricane Katrina hit Florida late Thursday, August 25 and then moved into the Gulf of Mexico, gaining power and momentum. Meteorologists predicted Katrina would hit Louisiana and Mississippi early Monday -- most likely as a Category 4 hurricane. Gulf Coast officials asked residents to evacuate their homes. At 5 PM on Saturday, August 27, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced a voluntary (later, mandatory) evacuation of the city. Greyhound, Amtrak and airlines halted service late Saturday night. President Bush was vacationing at his Crawford, Texas ranch, perhaps clearing brush as seen in the above August 9 photo. Here is a visual timeline of what happened next:

Photo by Ted Jackson	August 28	AP Photo/Susan Walsh
AP Photo/Dave Martin	August 29	White House photo by Paul Morse
AP Photo/Dave Martin		Photo by Thomas R. Cordova
AP Photo/David J. Phillip	August 30	AP Photo/ABC News Martha Raddatz
AP Photo/San Antonio Express-News Jerry Lara	August 31	Broadway.com / Bruce Glikas Condoleezza Rice vacations in New York City. (Dick Cheney, on vacation the entire time, is nowhere to be seen.)
AP Photo/Eric Gay		AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Times-Picayune / Brett Duke	September 1	AP Photo/ABC News
AP Photo/Eric Gay		AP Photo/Susan Walsh
CNN	September 2	CSPAN (Isn't that helicopter needed somewhere?)
AFP/POOL/David J. Phillip		Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
AP Photo/Phil Coale	September 3	NY Times / Dennis Brack

Democrats, liberals, and a majority of the country do not seriously blame President Bush for Katrina (we all acknowledge that many people and organizations are to blame for not properly funding, protecting, and preparing New Orleans for such a disaster). What people are upset over and blame the President for, is HIS RESPONSE to the disaster as evidenced by this poll from CBS:

President George W. Bush finds disapproval on his handling of the matter, too -- and the public now shows diminished confidence in his abilities to handle a crisis or provide leadership, as well as in the government's ability to protect the country. RATING THE RESPONSE
President George W. Bush's overall response to Katrina meets with disapproval today - a dramatic change from the public's reaction just after the storm hit on August 29th. Last week, in the two days immediately after Katrina made landfall, a majority of Americans said they approved of Bush's response, although more than a third were not sure. Now, only 38% approve. A majority disapproves.

BUSH'S HANDLING OF RESPONSE TO KATRINA

Now

Approve Disapprove Don't Know
38% 58% 4%

8/30-31

Approve Disapprove Don't Know
54% 12% 34%
This poll was conducted among a nationwide random sample of 725 adults, interviewed by telephone September 6-7, 2005. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus four percentage points.

The "Governator" getting "TERMinated"

2005-09-07T12:25:00.000-05:00

While I do not always like to admit it (the California recall election was/is one of the best examples of the the occasional collective stupidity that consumes California) I am originally from the Los Angeles area of the the 5th largest economy in the world. However, California seems to be recovering from the above mentioned lapse into collective stupidity as evidenced by Los Angeles recently electing democrat Antonio Villaraigosa (who I consider to be the West Coast's Barack Obama) as Mayor and as evidenced by these newly released poll numbers on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger:

Both Potential Democratic candidates Phil Angelides and Steve Westly hold small leads over Schwarzenegger despite the fact that their name ID is no where near the astronomical level of the Governator:

43   Angelides

40   Schwarzenegger



42   Westly

39   Schwarzenegger

Even more impressive are the downright awful re-elect numbers for the Actor turned Governor:

Re-elect Schwarzenegger?

  Inclined    Not Inclined

All   36        56



Dem   13        82

Ind   27        61

Rep   70        21



Male   40        52

Female   31        60



White   44        48

Latino   14        82

Other   25        63



Lib   12        83

Mod   29        62

Con   63        28

If the "Governator" looks like he is going to be "TERMinated" then chances are many other republicans are going to be "TERMinated" as well.

NOLA.com Staff Editorial Asks Bush the Right Questions

2005-09-06T23:57:00.000-05:00

The Times-Picayune, the main newspaper in New Orleans, released a staff editorial yesterday that hits hard at the questions that the Bush administration must answer in explaining the federal government's lack of a proper rapid response plan to the disaster:

Dear Mr. President:

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right."

Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.

Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.

How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.

We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.

It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.

In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."

Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You’re doing a heck of a job."

That’s unbelievable.

There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud. [1832 will join the Times-Picayune's applause when/if this happens]

Summer in Review (and Politics too)

2005-08-29T16:52:00.000-05:00

It’s good to be back on campus and writing for 1832 after a long, yet amazing, summer spent in central Florida, Las Vegas, Chicago, Milwaukee’s beautiful Corner Bar, the Metrodome watching the Twins desperately attempt to catch the White Sox, and (mostly) a cubicle at Wells Fargo in Minneapolis.

As you might be able to tell, I spent a great deal of time traveling this summer, including a weekend trip to Florida’s coast in early July. Before returning my rental car to Orlando’s sprawling airport, I took the last exit off of the turnpike and desperately attempted to find a gas station, in hopes of avoiding the $4.99 per gallon refill fee that the company crazy enough to rent me a silver Focus promised to impose. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a Chevron, which I gladly decided to patronize. Maybe it should have seemed weird that their prices weren’t posted alongside the road, but I was late for my flight and had other things on my mind. So imagine my surprise when I walked up to the pump and noticed that the going rate was $2.85 per gallon, a full $0.50 more than gas everywhere else in Florida at the time. I chalked this up to the fact that tourists would rather pay this than the exorbitant refueling fees, swallowed my pride, and paid around $24 to top off my average Detroit machinery with eight regular gallons, relieved that I would never have to pay that much for gas again.

Well, I spoke too soon, and found myself paying exactly that much just last week, at my neighborhood gas station in a Twin Cities suburb. I mentioned this to my ardently Republican grandmother, who said “That’s outrageous! Something has to be done about this, now” in her annoyed Tex-Italian accent, which sounds something like a cross between the voices of Renee Zellweger and Tony Montana. Anyway, when she said that, I cracked a bit of a smile, and asked her a simple question – “What did you expect?”

The current administration is ridiculously friendly with America’s large oil companies, providing them with two direct sources of higher income. On one hand, they champion causes like the war in Iraq that create serious demand (therefore raising prices) for gasoline and other petroleum-based products supplied by these corporations. At the same time, they offer gigantic subsidies and grants to the same organizations. One of the most recent examples of this is the $1.5 billion in potential money provided to oil and gas businesses that engage in (perhaps intentionally) loosely-worded “innovative exploration and production techniques”.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?C51F512BB

Of course, in typical short-sighted fashion, Bush’s administration has neglected the largely negative effects of these actions to industries that are benefited by the availability of cheap oil. The biggest example is America’s automobile sector. The three largest conglomerates have all resorted to “employee pricing deals” this summer in an effort to stimulate demand for their largely fuel-inefficient flock of vehicles. And this probably deserves (and probably will get) an entire topic in the future, but the US airline industry is a complete wreck as a result of the constantly increasing prices of gasoline. Looks like we got what a tiny majority of us asked for after all.

Murphy's is named Playboy's College Bar of the Month

2005-08-29T12:25:00.000-05:00

I'm sure this made Father Wild's Day:

Hoops and beer have been two of the biggest pastimes for Marquette University students since legendary basketball coach Al McGuire first patrolled the sidelines in the '70s. Both passions come together at Murphy's Irish Pub, conveniently located just one block from Marquette's urban campus in Milwaukee and a little less than two miles from the Miller brewery.

The Scene: Murphy's unspectacular but spacious interior can accommodate plenty of thirsty students who go there to catch a game on one of the five televisions, play pool on the red velvet tables, down a few pitchers or do all three. "It's a friendly bar with a nice atmosphere," says Nick, a senior accounting major.

Above the long bar hang roughly 200 numbered mugs which students can lease for $15 a semester, making them members of the Mug Club. With $10 bottomless mug nights on Tuesdays, membership has its advantages. "It's good to have a bar with your own mug in it," explains Griff, a senior finance major. "Mine is number three."

Girls at the Bar: "The girls in here put the 'sin' in Wisconsin," says Adam, a recent education graduate. The talent level at Murphy's is impressive, and most Marquette girls can drink any West Coast Barbie doll under the table. "You see some pretty faces," says Joe, a senior business administration major. "Most college students would be happy here."

Click Here to Read the Rest of the Stroy from Playboy.com

1832's Summer in Review: Part II

2005-08-29T00:00:00.000-05:00

The “Gang of 14” and the famed “Nuclear-Option”

Thank God for Republican Senators McCain, Graham, Warner, Snowe, Collins, DeWine, Chafee, and Democrat Senators Lieberman, Byrd, Nelson, Landrieu, Inouye, Pryor, and Salazar for negotiating a successful compromise to avoid the deployment of the so-called “nuclear option” to put an end to filibustering judicial nominees in the Senate, which proved once again that the most boring debate topic ever is infact debating Roberts Rules of Order.

The London Terrorist Attacks

Images of 9/11 came right back to my mind when this happened. 1832’s thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims of these horrible terrorist acts. America stands with Great Britain.

President Bush nominates Roberts to replace O’Conner

I have to hand it to President Bush and/or Karl Rove for this sly move. Blocking Roberts is going to be next to impossible and NARAL with their dirty, fictitious attack ad on Roberts probably killed any credibility any future attacks on Roberts will have. As dumb as Bush and Rove and Co. have been on a variety of other issues this summer, this was a move where the Republicans have clearly outplayed the Democrats.

We care more about missing children that go missing in other countries than the thousands that go missing in our own.

I feel for missing teenager Natalee Holloway’s family and friends and I hope that she is found, however, I don't understand why this story has gotten soo much media attention. According to the FBI about 2,100 children are reported missing a day to law enforcement IN THIS COUNTRY. Certainly not all of these cases that are reported to police turn out to as serious as Natalee Holloway’s case, but why aren’t we hearing about them all summer long?

I hate Tom Cruise.

He stole my future wife. Katie Holmes, when you come to your senses go with your dad on a Marquette Alumni event and give me a call.

Cindy Sheenan proves just how shallow the right-wing is.

The woman lost her son, who served our country, and the right, including GOP3.com, launches a dirty personal attack on her just because she doesn’t share their viewpoint on the war in Iraq. I can’t think of anything more disgusting.

Part III later this week.

1832's Summer in Review: Part I

2005-08-26T20:48:00.000-05:00

Welcome back to 1832! Just because 1832 took a break over the summer to travel, drink, party, and enjoy the summer sun, doesn’t mean that the Summer of 2005 wasn’t a summer worth commenting on. Here is Part I of 1832’s thoughts on some of the major news events of the summer (in no particular order):

Mark Felt is Deep Throat
Darn and all this time I believed that the blonde girl from Dawson’s Creek was Deep Throat. One question though: How can Pat Buchanan and the right wing seriously refer to Mark Felt, who leaked information regarding the CRIMINAL activities of the Nixon White House, but continues to defend and come up with excuses for Vice President Dick Cheney’s leaking the name of a CIA operative?

The Republican version of “crying wolf” is to cry, “VOTER FRAUD!”
I’m thinking about starting a pool on when Brain Collar of GOP3.com writes another blog entry about how he witnessed, first hand, massive voter fraud in Milwaukee during the 2004 election, despite the fact that the U.S. Attorney’s office investigation into the GOP claims, has concluded that no such cases occurred and were in fact “clerical errors”.

The NCAA is dumber than the Marquette Board of Trustees.
Just when you thought the Marquette “GOLD” was the dumbest thing you ever heard of, the NCAA decides to enter the nickname stupidity contest with its own asinine decision (which actually isn’t that surprising…. I don’t think the NCAA can go more than a month without doing something stupid).

Never, ever, tell a girl she is fat. Not even when being fat might KILL HER.
When a doctor can’t even say it you know the women in this country have completely lost it. On that note, here is a bit of advice to the freshman girls of Cobeen: BEWARE THE ICE CREAM BAR.

The National League West Stinks
They all really really suck. I’d place a million dollar bet that the St. Louis Cardinals could beat an NL West All-Star Team. Heck the best two baseball teams in the Western part of the United States are the Little League World Series teams from Hawaii and California

Pat Robertson has a different bible than the rest of us.
Really what is the difference between him and some Islamic fundamentalist calling for a Jihad on the United States?

When Republicans get angry, they show it by walking off and turning off microphones.
Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner gave Daily Show host John Stewart material for a month, only to be topped by Robert Novak’s outburst on CNN.

President Bush and I have something in common: We love Vacations.
I think he likes them more though. I find it amazing that he has already taken more vacation time than any other two-term President in history.

Be on the lookout for Part II later this weekend.

1832 to return this Friday

2005-08-25T00:05:00.000-05:00

1832 will return this Friday as bloggers return to campus.

Live WebCast and Live Blog from the State Convention

2005-06-10T09:23:00.000-05:00

Senator Evan Bayh's All America PAC is doing a Live Blog from the DPW State Convention starting at 630pm (CST) tonight and will be broadcasting a live webcast of Senator Bayh's speech at 845pm (CST). Visit the All America PAC website for more information at www.allamericapac.com

Really Funny Article On Our Nickname Mess

2005-06-06T10:22:00.000-05:00

JSOnline

Politics not so usual in Marquette voting:

While the nation slept fitfully last night, preliminary balloting ended in the crucial nickname race at Marquette University, with exit polls indicating a late shift to the incumbent.

Network analysts agreed that the Golden Eagles owed a strong closing surge to comments made over the weekend by popular elder statesman Hank Raymonds, who declined to endorse a candidate but introduced a pivotal issue that cut across party lines. Said Raymonds, "Eagles got wings."

This came as a surprise to thousands of undecided voters who generally favor aviation and overwhelmingly support blue skies. Golden Eagles opponents wondered aloud whether Raymonds' comments were influenced by soft money, a charge he labeled hilarious.

Strategists in other camps sought to control the damage done from this late declaration by floating their own slogans, but veteran political observers believe the timing was devastating. They said that "Wolves Have Paws" would not resonate nearly as strongly with voters in either the Blue or the Gold States, and they questioned whether "Saints Do, Too" was technically accurate.

Turnout was relatively light in voting that ended at midnight to determine the final two candidates to become the official nickname of Marquette athletic teams as hundreds of ballots were voided. Numerous alumni sought to use the same phony photo IDs at the polls that they produced at area bars when they were undergraduates, and they were foiled once again by bouncers hired as temporary poll workers.

Reports of political dirty tricks surfaced on Sunday after the tires were slashed on six blue vans designated to transport students from late night sessions at the library to their computers in time to make the voting deadline. Campus security was investigating.

Results of the balloting will be announced on Tuesday, a.k.a. "Super Tuesday." Golden Eagles was widely considered to be the early favorite because it was the only candidate with a built-in constituency of students who had identified with it over the past 11 years. During the course of the campaign, vocal opponents went so far as to suggest the election was a sham designed to return the incumbent to power.

The Jesuit Fathers have responded to those allegations by holding their heads in both hands, rocking back and forth and chanting "Dear God, when will this be over?"

Four candidates have been virtually eliminated from contention on the basis of being simply ridiculous. Included are Voyagers , Spirit, Golden Avalanche and, of course, Blue and Gold, which one pundit pointed out was twice as outrageous as simply Gold.

"What are these people thinking?" he asked rhetorically.

Write-in candidates were allowed with two exceptions: Warriors because they were judged offensive and Jumping Jesuits because they were deemed impossible. No formal ruling has been made on Runnin' Reverends or Crashin' Catholics, but insiders believe ballots containing either would be quietly destroyed.

Saints was strongly favored by Christian conservatives throughout the course of the campaign, but they might have strayed too far from the mainstream by demanding to change the fight song along with the nickname. Although no one has ever totally understood what "Ring Out Ahoya" means, "When the Saints Go Marching In" would require countless hours of rehearsal from the pep band.

Golden Knights was considered a dark horse, particularly by chess enthusiasts, but veterans groups have raised doubts about some of their service records. And Explorers lost ground when gas prices skyrocketed.

It's generally believed that the Golden Eagles momentum can be stopped only if all of the other candidates' supporters unite behind the remaining challenger.

Taking the political high road, a good guess would be Hilltoppers.

Really Funny Article Our Nickname Mess

2005-06-06T10:14:00.000-05:00

From JSOnline:

Politics not so usual in Marquette voting

While the nation slept fitfully last night, preliminary balloting ended in the crucial nickname race at Marquette University, with exit polls indicating a late shift to the incumbent.

The Jesuit Fathers have responded to those allegations by holding their heads in both hands, rocking back and forth and chanting "Dear God, when will this be over?"

"What are these people thinking?" he asked rhetorically.

It's generally believed that the Golden Eagles momentum can be stopped only if all of the other candidates' supporters unite behind the remaining challenger.

Taking the political high road, a good guess would be Hilltoppers.

Megachurches, Evangelism, and Political Implications

2005-05-18T20:02:00.000-05:00

The cover story of the May 23rd, 2005 of Business Week profiles a highly traditional organization that has adopted new marketing tactics, corporate hiring practices, and franchising, and most importantly for 1832, a strong right-wing political philosophy, all in an effort to attract new devotees. This would be perfectly normal if the organization wasn’t the evangelical American church. As is, the proliferation of such congregations poses a serious threat to traditional worship based on the Lord’s principles, and the already blurred line of separation between church and state in this country.

Business Week’s article focuses on the “megachurches” that have sprung up in many locations across the country, and the pastors behind them, some of which have adopted the “prosperity gospel” endorsing the pursuit of profit and other material things. An egregious example is Atlanta church leader Creflo Dollar, who pulls up to the pulpit in one of his two Rolls-Royces and preaches by plane from his own Gulfstream III.

Not as offensive, but still questionable, are the strategies used by other megachurch leaders. For example, Willow Creek Church in South Barrington, Illinois eschewed stained glass, Bibles, crosses, and other religious symbols in their new worship center because “(m)arket research suggested that such traditional symbols would scare away non-church goers”. The expose goes on to describe the average Willow Creek sermon as a“self-help program with a positive message intended to make people feel good about themselves”. Whatever happened to feeling good about yourself at church because you knew you were saved?

Perhaps I’m a bit cynical, but it sounds to me like these new churches employ newly minted MBAs and rely on “guerilla marketing” because their true quest is for cash, not the personal salvation of their members. Maybe a better term for “megachurch” would be “un-church”, given the fact that the average sanctuary and facility tends to resemble a theater or an arena rather than a house of worship. In fact, Houston-based huckster Joel Osteen is spending upwards of $90 million to turn that city’s Compaq Center, former home to the NBA’s Rockets, into a 16,000 seat uber-sanctuary.

“Me and mine” attended a Christmas Eve service at a megachurch in Eden Prairie, Minnesota last year at the urging of a family friend, and found an environment lacking inspiration. Sure, we settled in for the service in stadium seating, and there were projection screens with words to the rather modern hymns and images of the guest pastor preaching (the former leader resigned after having an affair with a member, and you can’t make this stuff up), but it just didn’t feel right. Maybe it was the walk to our car (a Six Flags-esque tram would have been more appropriate) or the impersonality of the place (devoid of decoration, and almost impossible to run into a familiar face when 5,000 other congregants roam the halls), but I didn’t see the appeal.

Perhaps just as disturbing as the erosion of traditional worship in favor of “Disney environments”, “marketing whizzes”, and profit is the political indoctrination occurring inside the walls of these bland, large facilities, especially since the Senate is inching closer and closer to a 60-vote Republican majority, which would prevent Democratic filibusters on any issue.

Particularly troubling are some of the new measures that the B-Week article mentions that evangelicals would like enacted into law, measures that would be possible with a 60-person Republican majority. While such traditional wishes like expanded school prayer and a ban on partial-birth abortions are to be expected, the story notes that evangelicals desire new laws that “permit more federal funding for faith-based programs” as well as “laws allowing churches to endorse political candidates”. If these new measures don’t blur the line between church and state, I don’t know what would.

Certainly the highly-publicized ultimatum recently issued by a North Carolina pastor for his parishioners to either vote for Bush or leave the sanctuary crosses that line. Hopefully for the sake of our Constitution, politics and places of worship can remain separated, even if it becomes difficult to tell what these new “places of worship” actually are.

New Poll Shows 62% of WI happy with Gov. Doyle...spin that GOP3.com

2005-05-11T18:30:00.000-05:00

As Reported by wisinfo.com

Most voters support Doyle
New poll finds 62% satisfied with governor
The Associated Press

MADISON — A majority of Wisconsin residents approve of the job Gov. Jim Doyle is doing, a new poll indicates.The poll, sponsored by Wisconsin Public Radio and conducted by St. Norbert College Survey Center, found 62 percent of respondents either very satisfied with Doyle’s performance or somewhat satisfied.Thirty-four percent said they were somewhat dissatisfied or very dissatisfied, while the rest were not sure, according to the poll, released today.

The poll surveyed 400 randomly selected residents by telephone between April 25 and May 4. The margin of error was listed as plus or minus five percentage points.In spring of 2003, 68 percent of respondents approved of the job Doyle was doing, while 65 percent approved in fall of 2003.Wendy Scattergood, assistant professor of political science who oversaw the poll, cautioned those numbers were all within the poll’s margin of error, meaning it does not necessarily reflect dropping support for the governor.

Doyle is up for re-election next year. U.S. Rep. Mark Green of Green Bay and Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker have entered the race for the Republican nomination to oppose Doyle.

Doyle spokeswoman Melanie Fonder said the numbers show Wisconsin residents support the budget the governor proposed earlier this year to deal with the state’s $1.6 billion deficit. In his plan, the governor proposed closing the shortfall through a series of spending cuts, accounting moves and borrowing.

He also proposed pumping an additional $800 million into public schools to ease their reliance on property taxes.

Green spokesman Mark Graul countered the poll numbers show the more people get to know Doyle, the less they like about him. He also said it was remarkable that after 12 years as attorney general and more than two years as governor, only 10 percent of respondents said they were very satisfied with the job Doyle is doing.

“If I was an incumbent going into re-election, I’d be very nervous about that,” Graul said.

The same poll found 51 percent of respondents approved of the job President Bush was doing, with 49 percent disapproving. That’s up slightly from 45 percent approval in spring 2004. Bush narrowly lost Wisconsin to John Kerry in November by just more than 11,000 votes.

Also, 54 percent of respondents said the country was headed in the wrong direction, and 42 percent said they expect to be better off financially next year than they are now.

VICTORY FOR MARQUETTE STUDENTS AND ALUMNI!

2005-05-11T13:27:00.000-05:00

Second Marquette University News Briefs for May 11, 2005

Marquette Trustees announce new nickname selection process, reaffirm position not to reinstate Warriors nickname

Marquette’s Board of Trustees today unanimously reaffirmed its position not to reinstate the Warriors nickname and announced that it would establish a process for stakeholders to select the new Marquette athletics nickname. The Trustees made the decision after reviewing feedback received in the past week from students, alumni and fans expressing surprise and frustration that their voices were not adequately heard in the decision to change from Golden Eagles to Marquette Gold.

“We have spent the past week listening. We heard you,” said John Bergstrom, chairman of the Board of Trustees. “The decision to change the nickname to Marquette Gold generated a response that we did not expect from Marquette stakeholders. We regret that we disappointed them and we want to respond to those concerns. We’ve established a new process today so that your voices can be heard. It’s transparent, it’s inclusive and it’s easy.”

The Board unanimously reaffirmed its position not to reinstate the Warriors nickname. As stewards of the university’s mission, the Trustees believe Marquette must adhere to the highest possible standards of its Catholic, Jesuit mission, which include recognizing and appreciating the dignity of every member of our human family.

“While I recognize that some people are disappointed that we are not reinstating the Warriors nickname, we cannot teach one principle about respect for human dignity in our classrooms and then fail to act by that same principle when making decisions,” President Robert Wild, S.J., said. “The Warriors nickname will always be part of our proud athletics tradition, and we will honor that tradition. But we live in a different era than when the Warriors nickname was selected in 1954. The perspective of time has shown us that our actions, intended or not, can offend others. We must not knowingly act in a way that others will believe, based on their experience, to be an attack on their dignity as fellow human beings.”

The Board of Trustees announced a new process by which a new athletics nickname will be chosen and also announced the formation of the Marquette Nickname Advisory Committee made up of representative students, alumni, faculty and staff. The process will include:

1. Within the next two weeks, a list of as many as 10 names will be presented to the Marquette community. All the names presented will be selected from the hundreds of names suggested by the Marquette community during either the 1994 or 2004 nickname processes. While the final list has not been decided, the list will certainly include some of the obvious names given Marquette’s athletics history, including Blue and Gold, Golden Avalanche, Hilltoppers and Golden Eagles.

There will also be a write-in option, presented with the parameters that votes for Warriors will not be counted, and that all write-in’s must be consistent with both our Jesuit, Catholic mission and the Board resolution on Native American imagery.

2. All members of the Marquette community, including students, alumni, faculty and staff, will be asked to choose two nicknames from the list, or can offer a write-in option.

3. The two options receiving the most support from the first vote will be presented to the Marquette community for a second vote. The nickname with the most support in the second vote will then be presented to the president to be announced as Marquette’s new athletics nickname going into the Big East Conference.

Both votes will be binding, and will be conducted on the Web with provisions made for those who do not have Internet access. Members of the Marquette community will be notified via mail and e-mail in the coming weeks about steps for participating in the voting process. More information about the voting process will also be available at http://marquette.edu/nickname.

The Marquette Nickname Advisory Committee will oversee the voting process and will advise the university in the development of the look of the new nickname, following its selection after the second vote.

Marquette has preliminarily planned that the timing for the nickname process will be as follows:

Week of May 23: List of nickname options will be presented to the Marquette community for the first vote. The Marquette community (students, alumni, faculty and staff) will choose two names from the list, or offer a write-in.

Mid-June: Second vote will be conducted with the top-two vote getters.

By July 1: The winning nickname will be announced.

Following the choice of a new nickname, Marquette will further engage the Marquette community, through focus groups and other forums, in the design of a visual identity for the new nickname, with a new logo to be chosen by the start of the school year. Students will be asked to give input on design and name the mascot (the costumed character appearing at games) in the fall.

The Board agreed that any nickname selected must be consistent with the university’s mission and adhere to the resolution passed last September banning use of any Native American imagery or references in Marquette’s athletics nickname, logo or mascot. In addition, the new nickname must be selected by Marquette’s official entry into the Big East Conference on July 1. The Golden Eagles will remain Marquette’s athletics nickname until July 1.

Father Wild concluded, “We must remember that Marquette University is first and foremost an academic institution. We have great momentum resulting from the accomplishments of our students, faculty and alumni over the past several years. Just last week, we received the largest single donation in university history with a gift of $28 million that will transform our College of Communication. For the third consecutive year, we celebrate the fact that students are applying to Marquette in record numbers. Marquette has risen in national academic rankings. The campus has undergone a physical transformation, and Marquette has enjoyed the most successful fund-raising period in its history, raising more than $300 million during the current comprehensive campaign. These are the true measures of a great university.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
News Briefs is published each Monday and as news warrants by the Office of Public Affairs for Marquette students, faculty and staff.

Comments? Questions? Is there news you would like to share? E-mail mu.e-news@marquette.edu, call 8-7491, fax 8-5936 or send your note in campus mail to News Briefs, Office of Public Affairs, Holthusen, 419.

This is a huge Victory for the Students and Alumni of Marquette to have their voices heard.

Marquette Board of Trustees Meeting TODAY to Discuss Nickname

2005-05-11T01:21:00.000-05:00

Marquette University sent out this email today regarding:

Marquette University News Briefs for May 11, 2005

Board of Trustees to review, discuss athletics nickname feedbackThe Board
of Trustees will meet today to review and discuss the feedback it has received
from students, alumni, faculty and other members of the university community
following the decision to adopt a new athletics nickname a week ago.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
News Briefs is published each Monday and as news warrants by the Office of
Public Affairs for Marquette students, faculty and staff.Comments? Questions?
Is there news you would like to share? E-mail mu.e-news@marquette.edu, call 8-1988, fax 8-5936 or send your note in campus mail to Holthusen, 419F.Go to http://checkmarq.mu.edu for the latest Marquette news and useful information for students, faculty and staff.

In addition there is another NO TO GOLD rally at 4:30pm Between the AMU and McCormick today. I personally have no idea who is organizing this protest, but in light of the Board meeting 1832 would like to encourage all Marquette students who can take a break from finals to attend.

NO 2 GOLD PROTEST TODAY! 12PM AT "GOLD'S GYM" (Al McGuire Center)

2005-05-06T09:33:00.000-05:00

Make Your Voice Heard!!! Come to NO 2 GOLD Rally in front of the Al Maguire Center Todayt at 12 PM. We need to show Marquette that the students who make up this University are outraged by the nickname being imposed on us by Marquette University.

Plus the University’s athletic department is throwing an end of the year event (with free food Pizza Shuttle lunch) at this time as well so administrators and players will be there to hear our voice.

Diener and Wade Against "GOLD"

2005-05-05T15:42:00.000-05:00

Last night Travis Diener stopped by our protest, took the bullhorn and said, "NO GOLD! NO GOLD!"

Now this from D. Wade:

UPDATE: BELOW IS A MORE ACCURATE TRANSCRIPT THAN THE ONE POSTED EARLIER

ESPN News just had an interview with Wade, who apparently had not heard of the change:

ESPN: Your alma mater, Marquette, they've changed their nickname to the Gold. What do you think of that?

Wade: To that what?

ESPN: To the Gold. The Marquette Gold. That's what they're going with now.

Wade: [Pause. Furrows his brow.] Oh I gotta call. I gotta call in on that one. I don't know how that sounds.

ESPN: We're breaking some news here?

Wade: I heard they was trying to change it back to Warriors.

ESPN: No I guess they're going with Gold. I'm surprised they didn't call you to check if it was okay with you.

Wade: [Squints. Incredulous.] The Gold? [Beat.] No I'm gonna make a phone call to to Marquette after we get off this. [Laughs] I don't know about that one.

ESPN: So that might change.

Wade: The Gold? The Marquette Gold?

ESPN: All right Dwyane, so far so good, and I know your word carries a lot of weight at Marquette as well as Miami, so congratulations. Enjoy the rest of the playoffs.

Wade: Thank you I will. [Looks off camera and says to someone] The Gold?

CALL NOW AND CALL OFTEN

2005-05-05T15:28:00.000-05:00

Marquette Students and Alumni, make these phone numbers ring off the hook and make Father Wild's life hell! Let your voice be heard!

Firstly: Robert.Wild@marquette.edu

Bill Cords: Bill.Cords@marquette.edu

Blue & Gold Fund: Zachary.Goines@marquette.edu

A specific website has been set up for comments on the GOLD: Here

There is an IPetition at Ipetitions.com

The board of trustees can be viewed on : This page
Phone numbers:

Office of the President:
414-288-7223 --- 414-288-7714 --- 414-288-7752 --- 414-288-3654

University Advancement:
414-288-7165 --- 414-288-7945 --- 414-288-3596

Blue and Gold Fund:
414-288-3988

NO 2 GOLD PROTEST, 12 PM FRIDAY, AT THE AL

2005-05-04T19:22:00.000-05:00

Pro-Eagle and Pro-Warrior factions are holding a rally on Friday at 12pm infront of the Al McGuire building on 12th and Wisconsin.

JOIN US IN TELLING THE UNIVERSITY THAT THE MARQUETTE STUDENTS SAY NO TO GOLD.

In addition, the University is already providing us with free food (Pizza Shuttle).

MARQUETTE GOLD? BEYOND STUPID

2005-05-04T18:27:00.000-05:00

The Marquette Board of Trustees has announced that we are changing our name from the Marquette Golden Eagles to the Marquette GOLD.

Personally I could have cared less about whether we stayed the Golden Eagles or changed back to the Warriors. I had only hoped that Marquette would end the debate with their decision today. This decision does neither. It only invited more controversy on the matter and alienates another group of students and alumni from the University.

Marquette has succeeded in giving me no reason to ever give money to this institution. This decision tells the country that Marquette is home to the most idiotic administration ever assembled at a major university.

In retrospect I wish I had transferred to UW-Madison after the Kerry Campaign ended. Now the only purpose of going to this Catholic University is to have group prayers, praying that the piece of toilet paper with the Marquette logo on it that I receive when I graduate is worth enough to get me into a good law school.

USC, UW-Madison, UPENN, Columbia, Minnesota, Georgetown, and Boston College law schools, hear this: IF YOU ACCEPT ME I WILL ONLY DONATE LARGE SUMS OF MONEY TO MY LAW SCHOOL, you need not worry about competition.

UPDATE:
GOP3.com has started a petition to have the Marquette students decide a new mascot. 1832 fully endorses this petition:

Sign the Petition Here

Why the proposed ban on gay marriages scares me- and I’m not gay

2005-04-27T18:00:00.000-05:00

A state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions has been approved by both chambers of the Wisconsin Legislature. The final step is that the legislation must clear both houses again in 2005 before going to voters in a statewide referendum. The referendum would put the issue of gay marriage into the hands of Wisconsinites who, I feel, need to know the affects the ban would have on people (heterosexuals included) before they could vote.

This act would establish that marriage is between one man and one woman and would do away with domestic partnerships rights. This is frightening because as a result of the new constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in some states, such as Ohio, domestic violence laws no longer protect unmarried straight people. There is also language in Kentucky that actually says, "A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized." In other words, if you are not a straight married couple you don’t matter and the government has no obligation to protect your rights. Additionally, common law marriages (such as the one my own mother and step-father had before he died) would not be recognized and no voice would be given to a partner who was left behind after a tragedy.

So I, an unmarried straight female, can be beaten up by an overly aggressive boyfriend and I am not legally protected from him because Conservatives have an issue with what grown people do in the privacy of their bedroom. Thanks a lot guys- knew you wouldn’t let us women down again.

I believe that marriage, in the strictly legal sense, has zilch to do with religion. I am a devote Christian but I am also an American and to me the idea of imposing a highly religious ideal on a secular nation is not only wrong but dangerous.

If Wisconsin citizens should be called on to vote on a ban on gay marriages it will not be a referendum on defending marriage and family values. It will be an attempt to, not only, impose religious morals on others but to marginalize an already vulnerable minority group through a poorly drafted (and somewhat mean-spirited) state constitutional amendment which will have immeasurable and unintended consequences on people of all sexual orientations.

I digress, on women of all sexual orientations.

FELLOW DEMOCRATS: TELL DEAN TO BE "DIGNIFIED"

2005-04-22T17:45:00.000-05:00

According to the Star Tribune, Howard Dean was in Minnesota recently for a benefit for the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. Dean apparently made a speech that he delivered without notes (a trademark of his Presidential campaign by the way) and did a question and answer session.

What is newsworthy is that during his speech Dean drew howls of laughter from the crowd by mimicking a "drug-snorting Rush Limbaugh". Normally I do not have a problem with prominent Democrats making fun of Republicans as long as it is factual and done in relatively good taste. Dean's remarks and gestures regarding Rush Limbaugh, however, were neither.

As Dr. Dean should know, one does not "snort" pain-killers and if he has read the news at all he would know that Limbaugh was not found guilty of doing cocaine. In addition, as much as I dislike the man, I would think that members of the ACLU would agree that his addiction should be a private matter.

Our DNC Chairman responded to questions about his speech by saying:

"I'm not very dignified, he said."But I'm not running for president anymore."

You know what Dean? I worked for your disaster of a campaign and YOU LOST BECAUSE YOU WERE NOT DIGNIFIED. You had a great record and you had a great plan for this country, but you flushed it all down the toilet because you could not keep your mouth shut. When you decided to run for DNC Chairman, I had hoped that you had reflected on your campaign and your demeanor and had actually learned something about yourself. It seems that you have not.

I hope Dean realizes that while he may not be running for President, that he is the leader of the Democratic party and that requires that he act and speak in a dignified manner.

What I find even more absurd is that Dean, after making these comments, went on to state:

"That Democrats have to learn to speak from the heart and with respect to Americans who have found more comfort in Republican appeals to their fears about their jobs, health care, schools and national security."

Mr. Chairman, How is attacking a political opponent by making false accusations about alleged drug use, talking from the heart? How is that speaking with respect?

I think it would be prudent for the Chairman of the Democratic Party to follow his own advice.

UPDATE:
Many people have commented on how it is possible to "snort" painkillers and other drugs. This is something I do not doubt, I have personally witnessed some of my HS friends snorting ritalin. However, I was more or less referring to Rush Limbaugh's drug use, and it is my understanding that he did not abuse Oxy by snorting it, however, I could be wrong. In addition, reports from the event indicate that Howard Dean was alleging cocaine use in his joke which is factually incorrect.

CREAN REPLACES MASON QUICKLY

2005-04-21T11:23:00.000-05:00

The Milwaukee Journal is reporting that Tom Crean has received a verbal commitment from Dwight Burke, a 6-foot-8 power forward from St. Benedict Prep in Newark, N.J.. Burke originally signed with East Carolina but was given a release when coach Bill Herrison was fired.

1832 welcomes Dwight Burke to the Marquette family and hope that he will have a successful career at Marquette as we move to the Big East.

FIRST BAD NEWS OF THE "WILD RIDE" : MASON TO TRANSFER

2005-04-19T16:44:00.000-05:00

as reported by the Milwaukee Journal

MU guard Mason plans to transfer
By TODD ROSIAKtrosiak@journalsentinel.com
Posted: April 19, 2005
Dameon Mason, the third-leading scorer for the Marquette men's basketball team last season, told the Journal Sentinel this afternoon that he will transfer to another school at the end of the semester. Coach Tom Crean also confirmed Mason's decision.

Mason, a 6-foot-5, 190-pound sophomore guard from Kansas City, averaged 11.9 points per game and was second in rebounding at 5.6 per game. He was one of five Marquette players to play in all 31 games, starting 28 and averaging 30.4 minutes.

The Golden Eagles' most explosive athlete, Mason was named to Conference USA's all-freshman team in 2003-'04 and got off to a solid start this season but fell into a funk at mid-season after playing out of position at times when injuries decimated the team's backcourt.

Mason was benched for three games down the stretch but regained his starting spot for the team's final five games, after senior Travis Diener suffered a season-ending hand injury in practice. He never was able to find a cure for the turnover bug, however, and wound up leading the team with 89 - an average of 2.9 per game and 31 more than Diener's total as the Golden Eagles' point guard.

Mason declined to discuss where he might wind up, saying he'd do so only after the transfer process had been finalized.

BREAKING NEWS! MARQUETTE LANDS JAMIL LOTT

2005-04-18T23:22:00.000-05:00

Scout.com is reporting that Tom Crean received a verbal today from Jamil Lott, a 6-7 PF from North Dakota St. CS.

Lott apparently chose Marquette over Arizona, UGA and others.

Varies recruiting services have him listed as a two to three star PF and many compare him to a Marcus Jackson type with better offensive skills.

1832 welcomes Jamil Lott to the Marquette Family and will report more details as they come available.

UPDATE FROM MY MEETING WITH OSD

2005-04-17T00:32:00.000-05:00

On Friday I met with Dr. McCarthy of OSD regarding 1832's petition to have Pam Peters fired and our overall desire to force drastic changes upon the Office of Student Development in its relations with student organizations.

In order for the conversation to proceed in a productive manner, I had to agree to keep some of the details of our meeting private. After having the meeting, I left feeling that some of the conversation was productive and other parts were not all that productive. However, I can tell you this: the Office of Student Development does realize that their policies and procedures were not prepared for a student body that has become this politically active and they will be making some changes to them for the next academic year.

One of my proposals was to merge segments of the Student Handbook, the Student Organization Handbook, and the MUSG constitution into one document, or a "Students Bill of Rights", to remove confusion and contradiction between them and to possibly add additional rights that are not currently contained in any of them. This idea was received fairly well by the Office of Student Development and it is something that I will personally look into. In the next week or so I will merge these documents together to form one uniform document and then I will ask for suggestions from readers of 1832 and GOP3.com with regards to additional rights that could be added to it.

Lastly, it became pretty clear from my conversation that Pam Peters will most likely not be fired as a result of our current petition effort. However, the petition will remain online until the end of the semester as stated in the petition form.

From my comments I think that it is clear that we must continue to keep pressure on the Office of Student Development to make the positive changes that are needed in order to better the students and student organizations of Marquette. It is my hope that Marquette College Democrats and Marquette College Republicans (and other organizations) will continue to work together on this issue and I am very grateful for the support that College Republicans has given thus far.

THE "WILD RIDE" STARTS WITH GOOD NEWS

2005-04-13T23:17:00.000-05:00

as reported by the Milwaukee Journal:

MU recruit changes plans
Mortensen will join team next season
By TODD ROSIAKtrosiak@journalsentinel
Posted: April 13, 2005

Matt Mortensen, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound forward from Provo, Utah, has decided to join the Marquette Golden Eagles this coming season rather than in 2007, as had been expected when he committed last fall.

The change stems from Mortensen's decision not to go on a Mormon mission, which would have seen him arrive at MU as a 21-year-old freshman. Instead, he'll join incoming recruits Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews as the Golden Eagles gear up for their inaugural season in the Big East.

"I just had a change of heart, I guess," Mortensen said on Wednesday. "As you grow up, you make decisions for yourself and I just think it's the right decision for me to go to college now instead of on a mission. Coach Crean has a scholarship for me, so it worked out pretty well."
Mortensen, who was named first team Class 4A all-state as a senior this past season at Timpview High School, projects as a small forward at MU as coach Tom Crean begins a shift toward the three-guard lineup he eventually hopes to employ in the Big East. Mortensen played small forward at Timpview as well.

"I think I'm fairly versatile," Mortensen said. "I'll come in and work as hard as I can and see what happens. I haven't been guaranteed anything. If I play, great. If not, it's probably my fault for not working hard enough."

Having originally caught Crean's eye with his ability to shoot the basketball, Mortensen is also considered to be a solid athlete who can run the floor and finish at the rim with dunks, qualities the Golden Eagles have been lacking in the last few seasons.

MU has one more scholarship to use and is looking for both size and athleticism. Chicago Crane's Tyrone Kent remains a possibility as does Philadelphia Lutheran Academy's Maurice Thomas, who had committed to UNLV last week only to have coach Lon Kruger withdraw the scholarship offer on Tuesday.

Making official visits to MU this weekend will be Dwight Burke, a 6-8, 240-pounder from St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, N.J., and Jamil Lott, a 6-7, 220-pounder from North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, N.D. Burke had committed to East Carolina but was released after coach Bill Herrion was fired and is being pursued by fellow Big East members Pittsburgh, Rutgers and St. John's as well as Miami (Fla.).

Lott is a native of St. Paul, Minn., and played on the same AAU team as MU's Dan Fitzgerald, who redshirted this season after transferring from Tulane. Lott already had visited George Mason, is also considering Georgia and USC and has reportedly piqued the interest of Arizona.
As for James, McNeal and Matthews, all three earned first-team all-state honors from the Associated Press and other various media organizations, with Matthews of Madison Memorial earning Wisconsin's Mr. Basketball award from the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association and the Journal Sentinel.

The 5-10 James averaged 31.1 points per game for Richmond High School, leading the state of Indiana in scoring and finishing as the runner-up in Mr. Basketball balloting. He also averaged 7.1 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 3.9 steals per game and is expected to assume the starting point-guard spot at MU as a freshman.

The 6-3 McNeal averaged 20 points, 9.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 4.0 steals for Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills, Ill., and was named a third team All-American by Parade Magazine.

REPUBLICANS AND 2 DEMS VOTE AGAINST STUDENTS

2005-04-13T21:03:00.000-05:00

The State Senate voted today and passed AB-63 or the Voter ID bill, Gov. Doyle wil veto this bill. While I am upset that all the Republicans State Senators voted for this bill, that is too be expected of them. I am far more upset and shocked that Senators Jeffery Plale and Tim Carpenter of Milwaukee would vote for this bill given the make up of their districts.

Democratic State Senators Jeffrey Plale and Tim Carpenter voted against the rights of minorities, the elderly, and students today by voting for AB-63 today with the republicans. What disgusts me even more about this, is that both Democrats voted against the rights of their constituents. Jeffery Plale’s district includes the UW-Milwaukee’s campus, which for the first time ever in this last election, voted in large numbers. Tim Carpenter’s district includes the South Side of Milwaukee, which contains a lot of Hispanics and Elderly; these are the groups that are going to be disenfranchised by this requirement. Democrats and constituents of these two State Senators need to flood their respective offices tomorrow and let them know that we did not elect them to take out voting rights away:

Call Senator Jeffrey Plale:
Madison:Tel: 608-266-7505
Fax: 608-266-7483

Milwaukee:
Tel: 414-764-5292

Email: sen.plale@legis.state.wi.us

Call Senator Tim Carpenter:
Madison
Tel: 608-266-8535 or 800-249-3543
Fax: 608-282-3543

Milwaukee:
Tel: 414-383-9161

Email: sen.carpenter@legis.state.wi.us

A complete breakdown of the vote can be found here

And the full text of the bill can be found here
h

Blogspot.com Error

2005-04-13T11:49:00.000-05:00

Blogspot.com recently had an error with the template that I use, which forced me to rebuild the site. This has caused a few of the links on the sidebar to disappear and may have resulted in a few changes to some posts.

As soon as I am done with class today, I will reconfigure the site and restore it to the appearence it had before the error occurred, which takes a little bit of time.

Marquette to make "big annoucement" regarding the Basketball Team

2005-04-12T20:28:00.000-05:00

Rumors are currently flying all over the internet that Marquette will be making
a "big announcement" and that Marquette fans are going to be in for a "wild ride" over the next few weeks. The majority of these rumors are coming from the message boards on marquette.rivals.com and marquette.scout.com .

Normally I would not comment on such rumors, but these rumors are coming from "respected posters" on both boards who have been proven correct in the past. Anyway, check out what people are saying, if half of it is true, we are indeed in for a wild ride over the next few weeks.

UPDATE: Links have been fixed so you do not need to log in to view the message boards.

New Petition

2005-04-11T22:26:00.000-05:00

It has been brought to my attention that many people have not signed 1832s petition to have Pamela Peters fired on petitiononline.com because it displays your name and is viewable by anyone. Apparently many people are worried that OSD or Pam may find out who you are and make life unpleasant for you and your organization while we collect signatures. To resolve this problem, I have created a new petition on ipetitions.com that hides your information until it is submitted to the university.

You can sign the new petition here: http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/firepp/
All links on this webpage to a Fire Pam Peters petition will be changed to this new address.

My apologies to those who have signed the old petition, hopefully you understand that all I am trying to do is gain as many signatures as possible by removing any barriers that are stopping people from signing the petition. It is my hope that you will sign the new petition as well.

In addition, for anyone else out there looking to do a petition, I highly recommend www.ipetitions.com, it is free and it gives you a lot more control over your petition with a lot of cool features (and it looks better too).

UPDATE
The New Petition only requires NAME, EMAIL, AND YOUR CLASSIFICATION
YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO FILL OUT THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Are you a member of a student organization?
What student organization(s) are you a member of?
Are you a leader of a student organization? If so what position?

However, I would encourage you to fill out these questions if they apply to you. Our petition will be given more weight if we have more members of student organizations and leaders of student organizations on it to show to the Office of Student Development.

2005-04-07T14:32:00.000-05:00

Picture of me with Dean during his campaign

REAL DEMOCRATS SUPPORT THE MILITARY ON CAMPUS

2005-04-07T11:41:00.000-05:00

This article was brought to my attention by a poster who goes by the name of Final Four or Bust on Marquette.rivals.com. The full text of this article can be found online by the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Below is a brief excerpt from the article:

Students protesting military recruiters disrupt UCSC job fair
By JONDI GUMZSentinel staff writer

SANTA CRUZ — UC Santa Cruz junior Jonathan Perez dressed in a suit
and tie Tuesday, hoping to impress company recruiters at the campus job fair.

But more than 200 student anti-war protesters got there first,
storming the Stevenson Event Center, shouting and banging on windows and demanding that military recruiters in the corner of the room leave.

The noisy sit-in ended after an hour of chaos and tension when
military representatives vacated their posts. Student protesters hugged each other happily after administrators allowed them to hand out information on alternatives to military careers and agreed to a meeting to discuss future job fairs.

Barbara Bedford, director of UCSC’s Career Center, said UCSC
complies with a 1995 federal law called the Solomon amendment, which denies federal funding to universities that bar military recruiters from
campus.

One of the protest leaders contended UCSC should follow the lead of
Harvard Law School, which banned military recruiters after a federal appeals court in Philadelphia invalidated the law. The U.S. Justice Department has announced plans to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.UCSC administrators stepped up security at the job fair, hoping to avert a confrontation. Students had to present identification at the door and reporters asking to enter were screened.
That didn’t stop the student protesters. About 75 of them pushed their way in, carrying signs and a banner that said "Military Off Our Campus." They chanted, "Racist, Sexist, Anti-gay. Hey, recruiters, go
away."

In keeping with the theme of 1832, I am blogging on this topic to criticize the actions of the “liberal” protestors and to make it clear that this is not a view that is held or should be held by all democrats. For those of you who do not know, I was a cadet in Marquette’s Air Force ROTC, and only left because I could not work on Kerry’s campaign while being in ROTC.

The real issue in this article is the 1995 Federal Solomon Law, which requires schools that receive federal funding to allow military recruiters and ROTC on campuses (Currently many Ivy League schools are challenging this law). Real Democrats should be in full support of this law, not because they should agree with military service, but because it promotes an expanded “exchange of ideas” on campus. A school that lacks a military presence on campus is lacking an important part of the debate, just as a school would be lacking an important component of the discussion if they did not allow non-violence groups and/or the teachings of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. on campus.

The Government has a vested interest to recruit the brightest of individuals to serve in our military, therefore, the Solomon law makes sense. Ivy League schools are particularly shameful in their actions: after 9/11 there was large student movement to have ROTC reestablished, which was met with large protests from faculty and other students. All these Ivy League schools have done is further the image of the Ivy League being “liberal havens”. If these schools contain our best and our brightest leaders of tomorrow, why not give them a chance to be the best and brightest MILITARY LEADERS of tomorrow?

Lastly to the subject of the actions of the protectors: The protestors had no right to disrupt the Career Fair and to force their way past security. This was not a traditional “sit in” as a traditional sit in would have allowed the Career Fair to continue, while also showing the view of the protestors. In addition, the protestors could have protested outside the event, but should have allowed students to speak with the recruiters.

In short I think this quote from UCSC student Chris Swanson sums up my viewpoint nicely:

"If they want free speech, they should let people speak to the recruiters," he said.

Correction and Change to previous post

2005-04-05T22:47:00.000-05:00

After talking with several people, I decided to remove Jon Dooley from the entry titled "Fire Pam Peters and Jon Dooley of OSD" due to the fact that I do not mention him as doing anything wrong. Likewise, he has also been removed from the petition.

While I do not mention him doing anything in particular, I still believe that he should be held accountable as he does have a supervisory role over Pam Peters and is thus also to blame for a lot of what is wrong with OSD.

When I first posted that entry, I did not think that it would circulate that quickly and be linked to that soon and was more or less looking for advice as to how my blog looked and the content of my first post from a few individuals.

This is my first day as a blogger and I am still learning how to work this site what exactly it means to be a "blogger". I will do my best to ensure that this doesn't happen again. In retrospect I should have deleted the entire entry, and posted this correction in its place and then followed it up with a new entry that only named Pam Peters. Either way, I will not edit the substance of any future posts.

I apologize for any inconvience that this has caused.