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Liberty and Power

  • Feb 5, 2004

    Come One, Come All to "The Exorcist Experience" in Iraq!

    by Liberty and Power

    I have to admit, I am a big fan of the horror-film classic, The Exorcist. And though I've been very critical of the US incursion in Iraq, even I now have a reason to celebrate the occupation.

    Capt. Nik Guran, who hails from a unit of the 101st Airborne Division stationed in Hatra, had been watching a DVD copy of the film when he suddenly realized"he was sitting at the location where director

  • Feb 5, 2004

    "Iraq was a Failure of National Leadership"

    by Liberty and Power

    Richard Cohen, who supported the war in Iraq, has a very interesting New York Daily News article worth your attention. Cohen writes:
    Now that President Bush, with all the enthusiasm of a dog going to the vet, has been yanked into naming a bipartisan commission to look into intelligence failures in Iraq, I'd like to see yet another commission established. This one would look into the real failure of inte
  • Feb 4, 2004

    MORE ON TENURE AND ADMINISTRATORS

    by Liberty and Power

    Robert's comments about the Deming case are largely on the money from my perspective. As much as that story is about an attack on one faculty member's tenure, it's far more of an administrative horror story (as I noted in the comments section of my original post). The irony, of course, is that I am an associate dean these days, so I suppose I should view these all as cautionary tales. My own guess is that, like the problem of political correctness, the problem of rogue administrato
  • Feb 4, 2004

    ANYONE HAVE A DEAL ON SHOVELS?

    by Liberty and Power

    On certain days, it's just so deep that you need a shovel, or several. Mr. Rumsfeld speaks:

    Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, and other Democrats on the committee reminded Rumsfeld that in September 2002 he said"we know" where weapons of mass destruction are stored in Iraq.

    Explaining that remark, Rumsfeld told the panel that he was referring to suspected weapons sites, but he ac

  • Feb 4, 2004

    Deadbeats

    by Liberty and Power

    If you haven't yet, you should read this piece in Reason by Matt Welch on the blind, aggressive and wont for justice tactics states employ to hunt down alleged deadbeat dads. Once you're tagged, be prepared to spend thousands of dollars to clear your name, even if you've never met the woman. And sometimes no amount of evidence -- even DNA -- can prevent you from supporting someone else's kid for the rest of your life.
  • Feb 4, 2004

    A Little Knowledge in the Hands of a Journalist

    by Liberty and Power

    If I got a quarter for every column I've read this year that shows an utter lack of appreciation for basic economics I'd retire rich. Most blindly support Bush's tax cuts (without commenting on his atrocious increases in spending and regulation) or argue that we must have more government intervention and protection of"American" jobs.

    A new low is this column by Mort Zuckerman who gets the problem wron

  • Feb 4, 2004

    Johnny, We Know Ye All Too Well

    by Liberty and Power

    As a charter member of ABB-04 (Anybody But Bush in 2004) I am naturally keeping an eye on John Kerry. Oh yes, his antiwar message is badly muddled by his vote in favor of the blank check Bush asked for. His faux naivete is pathetic. ("I was voting for a process." No, you were voting for a war.) But last night I was really disturbed when, on claiming victory in five states, he trotted out his line about"Benedict Arnold" corporations that move out of the country to reduce their taxes. This idiotic
  • Feb 4, 2004

    Good News

    by Liberty and Power

    The good news from Super Tuesday was the poor showing and subsequent dropping out of Joseph Lieberman, the most hawkish contender in the race. It is gratifying to see him do so badly in the primaries and caucuses. Staking his candidacy on Delaware, of all places, was absurd. That he placed a distant second to Kerry is delicious.
  • Feb 4, 2004

    This just in...

    by Liberty and Power

    A new study indicates that if the presidential election were held today...the turnout would be very light.
  • Feb 3, 2004

    PERHAPS THIS IS THE TENURE ISSUE?

    by Liberty and Power

    Although I generally agree with the tenor of Robert's questions about Charles' concerns over tenure (namely that it's not so"under threat"), every once in awhile something like this comes along, and I get deeply concerned. Thanks to Instapundit for the pointer.
  • Feb 3, 2004

    HAS TENURE BEEN ELIMINATED?

    by Liberty and Power

    I just wrote a long post in response to Charles Nuckolls' piece,"Bye-bye to tenure." (I've been remiss, in fact, in not acknowledging Charles' previous posts about academia, along with King Banaian's.)

    I can see that I must resist the temptation to type my thoughts into a cgi without backup, for my entire post has vanished into the ozone, and I don't have time to reconstitute it today.

    I assume, though, that Charles is not referring to legislative enactments that abolish tenure a

  • Feb 3, 2004

    ANOTHER MEDDLING FIRST LADY

    by Liberty and Power

    After eight years of Hillary's attempts to nationalize health care, I thought for once we would have a first lady who was relatively harmless and might even do some good with her power. Laura Bush gave the impression of an unpretentious person who wanted to use her position as a bully pulpit for relatively modest and realistic goals such as encouraging more children to read. Apparently, I was wrong.

    Laura Bush has used her clout to put more artists on the dole. She is credited with per

  • Feb 2, 2004

    Bye-Bye to Tenure

    by Liberty and Power

    Tenure is more than simply under threat. It has already been eliminated, in all but name, in more than thirty states. Will faculties who still have tenure wake up to their potential loss, or will they, like faculties elsewhere, remain the docile and compliant wage-laborers their"administrators" want them to be?

    Alabama, where I am, still protects tenure, but its days are surely numbered. The surrounding states all got rid of it some years ago, as administrators tried to pander to"ele

  • Feb 2, 2004

    OH BE-HAVE!

    by Liberty and Power

    Dennis Kucinich talks dirty:

    "As a bachelor, I get a chance to fantasize about my first lady... And I certainly want a dynamic, out-spoken woman who was fearless in her desire for peace in the world and for universal single-payer health care and a full employment economy. If you are out there call me."

    PoliticsNH.com has decided to serve as Kucinich's personal Match.com. Click here to check out the 80 bachelorettes waitin

  • Feb 2, 2004

    COMMUNIST PARASITES

    by Liberty and Power

    It's the day after the Super Bowl. The Pats won in a Thriller. The nation is abuzz with talk about Janet Jackson's exposed breast. (Bravo to Arthur for putting all of this in perspective!) And it's Groundhog Day, and we have 6 more weeks of winter ahead!

    It's also a day on which President Bush is apparently