Quote:Go to the University of Reddit
A Reddit-style online university offers some unique courses, sans karma points.

By Trent M Kays
May 29, 2013

Online and open learning opportunities are abundant and spreading like weeds in an untreated lawn. This shouldn’t be surprising: The digital age has created more spaces for these opportunities than any other point in human history. They’re everywhere. Massive open online courses — or MOOCs — seem to be ubiquitous when discussing online learning and education. It can’t be helped. MOOCs are in vogue, and the requisite terminology creates an opening for redefining conceptions of learning and education.

Coursera, Udacity and other MOOC providers seemingly offer free, informal learning, and while this can be considered notable, it offers an unstable platform on which to gauge parity. So much of the discussion on informal learning in the digital age depends on context and definition. Often, we expect too much from a platform or a place of learning, or perhaps we assume that if something works in one context, it will work in another. This simply isn’t the case.

The current MOOC fever has given rise to other online learning spaces. Online learning is a well-worn idea; however, there are new incarnations every day. Cue the University of Reddit.

Yes, you read that correctly: the University of Reddit. While the website technically isn’t affiliated with the social news and entertainment website Reddit.com, it has adopted a similar name and platform. Except instead of up- or down-voting links and news stories, users rank potential courses. Users from Reddit populate the University of Reddit website, though being a member of the former isn’t a prerequisite for participation in the latter.

What type of classes can one expect to take at the University of Reddit? Well, there are a host of classes on the website to please most people. For example: Introduction to Filmmaking, Introduction to C++, Wet Shaving 101 and, of course, How to Make a MOOC.

However, those classes don’t even begin to examine the potential of this platform. Perhaps the most important course on the site is the most imperative to everyday college students — Introduction to Magic: The Gathering. This course introduces participants to the concepts and strategy of this popular trading card game, which are important life skills.

I’m being a bit facetious. I’m happy there are courses like these because they provide a space for informal learning on a platform that lets users decide what stays and what goes. This is most certainly a drawback of the platform, especially if an awesome course gets pushed aside for a better-named course. Though, in many ways, these are the types of courses best suited for Redditors. You wouldn’t find a course on “StarCraft II” strategy in the military science department at a typical university.

Maybe this is the future of higher education: completely participatory, user-generated and open to anyone with an Internet connection and a computer. Users learn from other users, and while the current University of Reddit idea may not be suited for formal learning, it certainly can serve as a supplement to it. Moreover, it’s not all that different from the informal learning that happens in our day-to-day lives. We learn how to do things all the time outside of a classroom. That will never change.

At the very least, perhaps the University of Reddit can teach us how to deal with the +4 Shadowmage that roams the Dean’s office.

Note the reference is to the UK recognised University of Greenwich, not notorious John Bear's unaccredited Greenwich University, which some describe as a diploma mill.

Quote:Woolwich murder: suspects went to Greenwich university and 'plotted attack in Michael Adebowale’s flat'


24 May 2013

The second suspect in the killing of drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich was today identified as a former London schoolboy who attended the same university as his accomplice.

Michael Adebowale, 22, was shot by police along with his accomplice Michael Adebolajo, 28, during the attack outside the Army barracks on Wednesday.

The pair are throught to have plotted the attack in Adebowale’s flat in Greenwich which was raided by up to 20 heavily armed police yesterday.

Neighbours said both men were regularly seen at the address where Adebowale was living with his mother Juliet.

He and Adebolajo - said to have also been a drug dealer and robber - both attended Greenwich University, though it is not known how they met.

Both the suspects, who have been arrested for murder, remain under armed guard at separate London hospitals today.

Details of their backgrounds emerged as tributes continued to flood in for the soldier who was hacked down in the street just 200 yards from Woolwich Barracks.

Drummer Lee Rigby, 25, a married father with a two-year-old son, from Manchester, was from 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, and was attached to the Regimental Recruiting Team in London.

Dramatic new footage also emerged of the moment the two men were shot by firearms officers as they arrived at the scene.

The 10 second film shows Adebolajo sprinting at officers head on with a knife as his accomplice walks forward and aims a gun at them.

Terrifingly, Adebolajo gets within two feet of the woman police constable who is driving the armed response BMW X5 before he is shot and sent sprawling to the ground.

The officers have just a split second to take the decision to open fire through windows or a half opened door of the police car.

As Adebowale aims his handgun at the officers he, too, is shot by marksmen.

A man and a woman, both 29, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder during a series of raids on six addresses in London, Essex and Lincolnshire yesterday.

It came as MI5 also faced continued questions over whether they had let the two men slip through the net.

Adebolajo was once intercepted by police as he tried to travel to Somalia to fight alongside Al-Shabaab and is also said to have served a jail sentence for violence.

Both men were said to be known to the security services but were not classified as an active threat.

One report suggested Adebolajo had complained about being harassed by officials from MI5.

Cabinet minister Eric Pickles said the police and the intelligence services would be “thoroughly investigated” for their actions.

Keith Vaz, the chairman of the powerful Home Affairs Committee, said the first priority was to investigate “how and why” the terrorists carried out the atrocity.

But he said MPs on his committee will want to examine the Woolwich case as part of their next inquiry, which will be on international terrorism.

Today neighbours at Adebowale’s fourth floor flat in Greenwich described him as “always courteous” and “a nice normal guy” who loved football and was a passionate Manchester United fan.

He is understood to have attended Kidbrooke School in Greenwich, while Adebolajo was a former pupil at Marshalls Park school in Romford.

Neighbours told how the pair would often be seen at Adebowale’s flat, where forensic teams were today carrying out a painstaking search for clues.

John Ackworth, 42, said: “Michael (Adebowale) seemed a lovely guy, I am in total shock. I used to see him in the lift and we would joke about football I support Charlton and he would make fun of me. He was a Manchester United fan.

“He was always very polite and we chatted just a few days ago. He was always wearing a blue cap and apart from that jeans and normal clothes.

“The other guy was often around here too. He was very quiet and when I said hello hardly acknowledged me. I saw him around here a lot - I wouldn’t be surprised if he was staying here.

“All us neighbours are very shocked. His mother is a lovely woman and we feel so sorry for her.”

A close family friend, who lives in the same block told the Standard: "Michael was a close friend of my daughter and a lovely boy. He loves his music and was into music production. He was studying music he told me.

"We are devastated by this it is so close to home, they are good friends. He lived with his mother and his sister moved out some time ago. The last time, I saw Michael he seemed upbeat and excited about his course. His mother is such a hard worker this is terrible."

Another resident at the block said: “I know the family. I think Michael is a student at Greenwich University. “

His mother is said to have worked as a probation officer and there were reports that Adebowale had been in “serious gangland trouble” and had to leave the area for a time.

When he returned after several months he appears to have converted to Islam and was dressed in a white robe and wearing a skull cap.

Adebolajo’s devoutly Christian family moved to Lincolnshire because they feared he might become radicalised after becoming interested in Islam aged 16.

He is understood to have started at Greenwich University in September 2003 after leaving Havering Sixth Form College.

The university refused to comment on reports.

Hundreds of floral tributes were left at the scene where Drummer Rigby was killed this morning.

The family of Drummer Rigby, who had a two-year-old son Jack, issued a statement paying tribute to him yesterday saying: “Lee was lovely. He would do anything for anybody, he always looked after his sisters and always protected them. He took a 'big brother' role with everyone.

"All he wanted to do from when he was a little boy, was be in the Army.”

Police watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said it was not pursuing any criminal or misconduct offences in relation to the officers who used their weapons.

Anjem Choudary, the former leader of banned radical group al-Muhajiroun, said Adebolajo regularly attended meetings and demonstrations held by his group and successor organisations.

Omar Bakri Mohammed, a hate preacher banned from Britain, claimed he had converted Adebolajo himself.

Quote:Woolwich attack suspects' former university played host to extremists
The Islamic Society at Greenwich University, where both the Woolwich suspects are thought to have studied, has hosted a series of radical Muslim speakers and distributed extremist literature, The Telegraph can disclose.


Michael Adebolajo protesting in 2007 outside Paddington Green Police Station Photo: NNP

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent
9:47PM BST 24 May 2013

The group’s possible role in radicalising Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, is coming under close scrutiny after it emerged that the society had promoted extremist views for years.

Efforts to put a stop to campus extremism, led by the Government and the umbrella group Universities UK, appear to have had little effect on activities at the south-east London former polytechnic.

Adebolajo is believed to have studied at Greenwich from September 2003 after completing A-levels at Havering Sixth Form College.

Adebowale is thought to have studied business and may have completed a specialist course unit in “organisational behaviour and human resources management”.

The Telegraph has learnt that a pamphlet written by a preacher who was banned from entering Britain by the Home Secretary in 2010 was distributed during a freshers’ fair at Greenwich University in 2011. Dr Zakir Naik, the author, said in the booklet: “Every Muslim should be a terrorist.”

Other figures known for their extreme views have appeared in person at the university, including Dr Khalid Fikry, who has supported convicted terrorists.


Dr Khalid Fikri gave a speech at the Old Royal Naval College at the event advertised, inset (Alamy)

Dr Fikry appeared at an event organised by Greenwich University Islamic Society in February, at the institution’s baroque King William Court, part of the Old Royal Naval College designed by Sir Christopher Wren. The event was entitled “The Eternal Tie: Marriage in Islam” and his speech posted on YouTube.

Dr Fikry’s views previously came under scrutiny when he gave a speech outside Belmarsh high security prison in south-east London last August, in which he praised Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is known as the “Blind Sheik”.

Abdel-Rahman was investigated by the FBI for his role in plotting the first World Trade Centre bombing in 1993. He has also been accused of being the leader of Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, which killed 58 foreign tourists, including six Britons, and four Egyptians in the 1997 Luxor massacre.

He was convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1996 and is serving a life sentence in Butner Federal Medical Centre, North Carolina.

In the speech at Belmarsh, Dr Fikry accused the Americans of organising a “conspiracy” against Abdel-Rahman.

He also criticised Britain’s imprisonment of the Muslim extremists Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada. “This treatment is not for human beings,” said Dr Fikry.

The Greenwich University Islamic Society distributed literature by Dr Naik at its fresher’s fair in 2011.

Dr Naik had been banned from entering Britain the previous year by Theresa May after she ruled that his presence was “not conducive to the public good”.

He had been due to give a series of lectures at arenas in Wembley and Sheffield. Mrs May said she was excluding him because his “numerous comments” were evidence of “unacceptable behaviour”.

The decision, later upheld by the High Court, was based on a sermon that the Mumbai-based preacher posted on the internet in 2006 which said: “Beware of Muslims saying Osama bin Laden is right or wrong. I reject them … we don’t know. But if you ask my view, if given the truth, if he is fighting the enemies of Islam, I am for him.”

Another speaker who was advertised as appearing at a 2011 event organised by the university’s Islamic society was Zahir Mahmoud, who has been accused of glorifying Hamas as freedom fighters.

The society has also promoted videos by another radical preacher, Abu Usamah, on its Facebook page.

Abu Usamah, a Birmingham based imam, featured on the Channel 4 Dispatches programme Undercover Mosque in which he expressed support for Osama bin Laden and said homosexuals were “perverted, filthy dogs who should be murdered”.

He has been banned from several academic institutions for his extreme views. A spokesman for Student Rights, an organisation which investigates extremism on university campuses, said: “Whilst it is still too early to link the Woolwich attackers’ radicalisation to their time spent in higher education, the University of Greenwich has seen a number of speakers over the years whose views would certainly raise concerns.

“These include those who have described Hamas as freedom fighters, defended individuals convicted of serious offences, and incited sectarian hatred.

“Allowing such speakers unchallenged platforms runs the risk of creating an environment in which these views are given religious legitimacy, and in which political extremism can thrive.

“When combined with the risk posed by online material and the rhetoric of radical ideologues, such an environment can be part of a potent combination that can lead young people towards violence.”

The spokesman added: “At least one of the two men who carried out Wednesday’s terrible crime appears to be the latest in a line of individuals who have attended British universities before carrying out violent acts, and should it prove that his time a university was pivotal to his radicalisation, it will be time for an open and frank discussion about the role that our campuses play in helping to create terrorists.”

Earlier this week Universities UK announced the launch of a website, Safer Campus Communities, which aims to help institutions tackle extremism.

A spokesman for Greenwich University declined to comment on the society’s activities, or to confirm the Woolwich suspects had been students there.

No one from the Islamic Society was available for comment.

Until 1992 Greenwich University was known as Thames Polytechnic.

Would be interesting to know what prompted Klempner to "revisit" one of his many destructive, erroneous evaluations. Trying to avoid yet another lawsuit?

Quote:Bircham International University revisited

by John Bear » Wed May 22, 2013 3:40 am

More than ten years ago, my daughter and I included a listing for Bircham International University in the thirteenth edition of our book, Bears Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning. The book, in effect, separates schools into three categories: those with recognized accreditation, those that operate legally but without recognized accreditation (or the equivalent in other countries), and those that we identify as degree mills. Bircham is included in the middle category.

The CEO of Bircham, William Martin, has asked us to revisit that listing, and we are pleased to do so.

For purposes of reference, here is the original listing:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bircham International University
Madrid, Spain
Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorates
Degrees by correspondence at all levels in business, arts, health, psychology, engineering, computers and science. Website lists “delegation” addresses in Spain, England, United States (a Mail Boxes Etc. in Miami, Florida), Bahamas, Taiwan, China, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, and New Zealand. We were told that the offices in Spain and Taiwan were the main offices, and that the offices in England and the Bahamas are strictly administrative and do not serve students, The Internet site is registered to an address in Madrid, Spain. Until 2000, the school was called Oxford International University; the name change was motivated, at least partly, by entanglements with its more venerable namesake. Will consider an “honorary doctorate” on submission of your curriculum vitae, two reference letters, and a minimum donation of $1,200 (U.S.).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The main thing we would add, if we were doing a new edition of our book (which, alas, we are not at this time), is to address the concept of non-formal learning, a concept which has become increasingly popular in most European countries in recent years. It is, in effect, a middle ground between formal education and informal everyday learning. Non-formal learning typically occurs in a formal learning environment, but often one that is not formally recognized. It can involve seminars, workshops, colloquia, distance or online courses, independent study, etc. An Internet search will find many articles on the topic. For instance, Malcolm Tight (Key Concepts in Adult Education and Training, London: Routledge) writes that non-formal education is about “acknowledging the importance of education, learning and training which takes place outside recognized educational institutions.”

Bircham International University describes itself as a practitioner of non-formal education. As such, while it operates legally under Spanish law, it is not formally recognized by the Ministry of Education of Spain (where it is located), although the Ministry has acknowledged the relevance of the concept, and, along with other countries in the European Union, is working toward establishing policies to identify, evaluate, and recognize those entities offering non-formal education. Bircham does not have (nor does it need to have) recognized accreditation.

In the matter of the use of the Oxford name, Mr. Martin writes that “In 2000 BIU bought a UK ‘shelf company’ called Oxford International College that was immediately changed to Bircham International College with the purpose of opening a branch office in the UK. We did not get the authorization to issue degrees in the UK, so neither the UK company, nor the office, was ever opened. There was never any interaction with the University of Oxford…”

For many years, we have written that in the process of choosing any school, the prospective student should determine, as best he or she can, that their credential will meet both their current and predictable future needs. Based on the testimonials offered by Bircham, it seems clear that there are many satisfied people with the [sic] their credential.

Mr. Martin has asked us to post this message on the DegreeDiscussion.com and DegreeInfo.com forums, and to send a copy to the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization, and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, which we have done. He has also asked us to respond to any responses that may be posted on this forum. But there is really little more we can say, other than that we stand by what we have written.

--John and Mariah Bear, May, 2013

Quote:
Introducing the Obama Scandal Bracket!
Jon Gabriel · May 19, 2013 at 7:05am



With so many White House scandals—and new ones popping up every day—how are average citizens supposed to keep track? Wouldn't it be nice if Obama went on ESPN and mapped them all on a bracket?

Why wait for next year's March Madness when you can start May Madness today? Introducing the Obama Scandal Bracket! Click here for a full-size version and vote for the scandal you think will bring down the president.

Fertilizer plant explosion suspect Bryce Reed claims a BSN from regionally accredited Excelsior College, but Excelsior denies it.

He also claims an MBA from regionally accredited UoPhoenix, a BA in Christian Study from the Lighthouse Institute (no idea), and a BS in Business from unaccredited Phoenix State University, which appears to be a trade school, as well as various other certs. He alleges completing three undergraduate degrees at three different colleges at the same time while starting an MBA before finishing any of the three undergraduate degrees. No official word yet on which, if any, of those are real, but you have to figure if he was lying about one he was lying about everything else.

Quote:Paramedic Denies Role in Deadly Texas Blast
By JACK HEALY
Published: May 11, 2013

WEST, Texas — A volunteer paramedic who became a public face of mourning after last month’s deadly blast at a fertilizer plant in this Central Texas town denied having any involvement in the explosion, his lawyer said on Saturday.

The medic, Bryce A. Reed, 31, was arrested on Friday on charges he possessed components of a pipe bomb. Hours later, the authorities in Texas said they were opening a criminal investigation into the explosion, which killed 14, injured 200 and ravaged dozens of buildings.

Law enforcement authorities have not identified Mr. Reed as a suspect in the blast, nor have they indicated any link between his arrest and the April 17 explosion. But on Saturday, as people here continued clearing away debris and patching their homes back together, new questions arose about the grief-stricken emergency medical technician who stepped into the media glare after the explosion.

His lawyer, Jonathan Sibley, said that Mr. Reed wanted to address any speculation.

“Mr. Reed had no involvement whatsoever in the explosion,” Mr. Sibley said in a statement. “Mr. Reed was one of the first responders and lost friends, family and neighbors in that disaster. Mr. Reed is heartbroken for the friends he lost, and remains resolute in his desire to assist in the rebuilding of his community.”

Mr. Sibley said Mr. Reed would plead not guilty to the bomb-possession charge at a court hearing on Wednesday.

Mr. Reed’s stepfather, Gary Nelson, told The Dallas Morning News there was “not a chance” Mr. Reed could be connected to the explosion, and neighbors and local officials said they hoped and prayed that was the case.

“I feel very confident that one has nothing to do with the other,” said Tommy Muska, West’s mayor.

Still, people who knew Mr. Reed said his own portrayals of himself sometimes seemed at odds with reality. At a public memorial service on April 25, he offered a eulogy for a first responder named Cyrus Reed, referring to the two men as brothers as he described their tight friendship. One online obituary even listed Bryce Reed as a survivor of Cyrus Reed.

But Cyrus Reed’s father, Mark, said that the two men were not related, and that his family had not met Bryce Reed until after the blast.

“He’s represented himself as a longtime friend and all that,” Mark Reed said in a telephone interview. “Unfortunately, that’s just not the case.”

For weeks after the explosion, Bryce Reed gave frequent interviews about how he had run toward the fireball to rescue survivors, and he spoke extensively about the grief of losing friends. He was identified as a paramedic in reports as recently as May 6, but the authorities said that Mr. Reed had in fact been “let go” from the West E.M.S. on April 19, two days after the blast.

He is still listed as an active paramedic in state databases, though state health officials say his arrest prompted them to open an investigation. Dr. George Smith, the head of West’s E.M.S. unit, declined to explain why Mr. Reed had been dismissed.

“It’s tough because most of my guys did truly great work,” Dr. Smith said. “And so did he. He’s an excellent paramedic.”

Mr. Reed’s father-in-law, Max Tooker, said that agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives came to his home on Friday to interview Mr. Reed’s wife, Brittany. Mr. Tooker said that Ms. Reed was not connected “in any way, shape or form” to her husband’s legal troubles, and that she was now staying with relatives in Waco.

“She didn’t know anything,” Mr. Tooker said. “She had no inclination, no clue that anything was coming down at all.”

Neighbors said Mr. Reed spoke of traveling through Dubai and Europe or working at the Pentagon, and once mentioned that he was a SWAT officer in Waco. On his LinkedIn résumé, he said he had received a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Excelsior College, but Mike Lesczinski, a college spokesman, said Mr. Reed had never been a student there.

His résumé also lists him as the president and chief executive of the Silentium Group and the director of operations of Bare Fruit Ministries, two organizations that appear to consist almost solely of Mr. Reed or his wife, and whose phone numbers led to Mr. Reed’s voice mail.

Crystal LeDane, who lives three homes down from Mr. Reed’s red-brick duplex, described him as a good neighbor whose stories about himself occasionally perplexed her. Now, she said, she was left with even more questions. “None of it adds up,” she said.

Quote:Education

Excelsior College
BSN, Nursing
2008 – 2010

University of Phoenix
MBA, Masters in Business Administration
2008 – 2010

The Lighthouse Institute
Bachelors of Arts, Christian Study
2008 – 2009
Pastoral Education

Phoenix State Uinversity
Bachelors of Science, Business/EP
2007 – 2009
Activities and Societies: AAEP

Childrens Medical Center Dallas
Pediatric and Neonatal Critical Care
Activities and Societies: PNCCEMCTP

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
Advanced Field Critical Care
Activities and Societies: Essentials of long and short term care associated with high-risk/long transportation of critically ill individuals.

USBCWD
NA, Response/Identification/Containment
US Biological and Chemical Weapons Depot, Ft. McClellan, Alabama.
Activities and Societies: Assess, Identify, and mitigate the harm of agents introduced.

University of Maryland Baltimore County
CCEMT-P

Fake research like the global warming fraud is embraced by libtards. Legit research earns you a smear campaign if the libtards don't like your results.

Quote:The Crucifixion of Jason Richwine
By Michelle Malkin - May 10, 2013

How low will supporters of the Gang of Eight immigration bill go to get their way? This low: They've shamelessly branded an accomplished Ivy League-trained quantitative analyst a "racist" and will stop at nothing to destroy his career as they pave their legislative path to another massive illegal alien benefits bonanza.

Jason Richwine works for the conservative Heritage Foundation. He's a Harvard University Ph.D. who co-authored a study that pegs the cost of the Ted Kennedy Memorial Open Borders Act 2.0 legislation at $6.3 trillion. Lead author Robert Rector is a senior research fellow at Heritage, a former United States Office of Personnel Management analyst and the intellectual godfather of welfare reform. He holds a master's degree in political science from Johns Hopkins University.

Both Democrats and Republicans leaped to discredit the 102-page report without bothering to read it. The Washington Post falsely claimed the study did not take into account increased revenues from amnestied illegal alien workers. It did. Haley Barbour immediately proclaimed that the Heritage assessment of government costs incurred by amnestied illegal aliens was "not serious."

They want to talk gravitas? Let's talk gravitas. Blowhard Barbour is a career politician and paid lobbyist for the government of Mexico who has carried water for open borders since the Bush years. Richwine received his doctorate in public policy in 2009 from Harvard University's prestigious Kennedy School of Government. He holds bachelor's degrees in mathematics and political science from American University. Before joining Heritage in 2010, he worked at the American Enterprise Institute on a dissertation fellowship.

Richwine's 166-page dissertation, "IQ and Immigration Policy," is now being used to smear him -- and, by extension, all of Heritage's scholarship -- as "racist." While the punditocracy and political establishment sanctimoniously call for "honest discussions" on race, they rush to crush bona fide, dispassionate academic inquiries into the controversial subjects of intelligence, racial and ethnic differences, and domestic policy.

Richwine's entire thesis is now online [below]. Part One reviews the science of IQ. Part Two delves into empirical research comparing IQs of the native-born American population with that of immigrant groups, with the Hispanic population broken out. Richwine explores the causes of an immigrant IQ deficit that appears to persist among Hispanic immigrants to the U.S. through several generations.

The thesis analyzes social policy consequences of these findings and uses a model of the labor market "to show how immigrant IQ affects the economic surplus accruing to natives and the wage impact on low-skill natives."

The smug dismissal of Richwine's credentials and scholarship is to be expected by liberal hacks and clown operatives. But a reckless and cowardly pileup of knee-jerk dilettantes on the right -- including former McCain campaign co-chair Ana Navarro and conservative Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin -- have joined the character assassins of the Soros-sphere, MSNBC and Mother Jones in deeming Richwine a "racist." The drooling attack dogs of the far-left blog Daily Kos have now launched a pressure campaign against the JFK School demanding to know "why the school awarded Richwine a Ph.D. and what they plan to do in the future to prevent it from happening again."

No researcher or academic institution is safe if this smear campaign succeeds. Richwine's dissertation committee at Harvard included George Borjas, Robert W. Scrivner Professor of Economics and Social Policy. The Cuban-born scholar received his Ph.D. in economics from Columbia. He is an award-winning labor economist, a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research and the author of countless books, including a widely used labor economics textbook now in its sixth edition.

Richard J. Zeckhauser, the Frank P. Ramsey Professor of Political Economy at JFK, also signed off on Richwine's dissertation. Zeckhauser earned a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. He belongs to the Econometric Society, the American Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine (National Academy of Sciences).

The final member of Richwine's "racist" thesis committee is Christopher Jencks, the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Social Policy at Harvard's JFK School. He is a renowned left-wing academic who has taught at Harvard, Northwestern, the University of Chicago and the University of California, Santa Barbara. He edited the liberal New Republic magazine in the 1960s and has written several scholarly books tackling poverty, economic inequality, affirmative action, welfare reform and, yes, racial differences ("The Black-White Test Score Gap").

The willingness of Republican Gang of 8'ers to allow a young conservative researcher and married father of two to be strung up by the p.c. lynch mob for the crime of unflinching social science research is chilling, sickening and suicidal.

These are serious people doing serious work. The crucifiers of Jason Richwine pretend to defend sound science. But if it is now inherently racist to study racial and ethnic differences among demographic groups, then it's time to shut down every social sciences department in the country.

They put the "mental" in "environmental."

Quote:Environmentalist Professors Engage In Book Burning
by Jennifer Kabbany - Associate Editor on May 7, 2013

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, and such is certainly the case coming out of [regionally accredited] San Jose State University, where two environmentalist professors took a match to an anti-global warming book – plus a photo of their little exercise – leaving an image that clearly illustrates the state of science-based academic freedom on college campuses nationwide.

The image appeared on the university’s official Department of Meteorology and Climate Science webpage, no less.

The academics who took flame to page are Dr. Alison Bridger, chairwoman of the university’s meteorology department, as well as Assistant Professor Craig Clements. The offending book? The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism: Mankind and Climate Change Mania.

The educators wrote in a cutline under their picture that they’re testing the flammability of the book.

After a screenshot of the image recently made it onto the popular “wattsupwiththat” global warming and climate change website under the headline “San Jose State University Meteorology decides burning books they don’t agree with is better than reading them,” the picture and post were removed from the university’s website.

Anthony Watts, who posted the image on wattsupwiththat, made sure to save screenshots, and rightly noted:

“From the Fahrenheit 451 department comes this indictment of California’s higher education’s “tolerance” for opposing views. When I first got the tip on this, I thought to myself “nobody can be this stupid to photograph themselves doing this” but, here they are, right from the San Jose State University Meteorology Department web page …”

The offending book, with a tagline “climate change is natural, cars are innocent,” was published in August and is heralded by the nonprofit Heartland Institute, which sent the professors a copy of it in April, according to the professors’ cutline under their photo.

So what got these scientists all riled up?

Information on the Heartland’s website describes why some in the academe may take offense to the book:


If you accept the dogma of Climatism, greenhouse gases from industry are causing catastrophic global warming. Melting ice caps, rising oceans, stronger hurricanes and storms, droughts and floods, species extinction, polar bear starvation, heat waves, disease, ocean acidification, and air pollution are all a result of man-made climate change, according to experts. As a result, we must curb our evil carbon-emitting ways. The proposed remedies by Climatists are many and cover all parts of our society:

… If you’re an educator, teach your students that “if you change light bulbs, you can save polar bears.” Wind and solar are good, while coal and oil are bad. Teach them that we’re running out of natural resources, overpopulating the Earth, and must change our ways if we’re to save the planet.

If you’re a college science Ph.D. candidate, better choose the road of Climatism. Acceptance of the theory of man-made global warming means research contracts, peer acceptance, tenure, wealth and fame. The alternative road of climate skepticism offers only ridicule, poverty, and failure. …

In effect, the book spells out the state of climate studies in higher education, and clearly these two [regionally accredited] San Jose State University professors don’t appreciate its message.

The real tragedy here is, instead of giving the book a well-meaning read, they dismiss it out of hand. Instead of offering students two sides of the story, they only give them one.

It’s not a stretch to assume that other academics the Heartland Institute sent the book to undertook similar measures (e.g. the trash can). You can bet it wasn’t donated to the campus library.

This should be taken seriously, folks, because students who study climate data under devout Global Warmers are ultimately the scientists who come up with data that influences the media and Congress to create onerous business regulations that ultimately hurt your pocketbook and the nation’s economy.

All these years I've been driving around with a shotgun in my pickup....if only I'd been dumb enough to tell some eavesdropping government school administrator I could have gotten a free college education?!?

Quote:Liberty Univ. Offers Scholarship to Eagle Scout Facing Gun Charges
Todd Starnes | May 02, 2013

A North Carolina Eagle Scout who was expelled and arrested for accidentally leaving a shotgun in his pickup truck in the school parking lot has been offered a scholarship to attend Liberty University.

Cole Withrow was just a few weeks from graduating with honors from Princeton High School when he was arrested on Monday and slapped with a felony weapons charge. Withrow had been skeet shooting with friends a day before and had only noticed he had left his shotgun in his truck as he reached to grab his book bag.

When he realized his mistake, he went to the front office and called his mother. An administrator overheard the conversation and called police.

Withrow’s story has generated national attention. Hundreds of people have joined a Facebook community to show their support. And many local parents are upset over what many believe is a case of a young man getting severely punished for trying to do the right thing.

“You teach your kids if you’re in trouble or if you see you’ve done something wrong, go ahead and admit it,” family friend Kimberly Boykin said. “Be a man and it’ll be fixed. In this case, that’s what he did and he’s being punished for it. That’s not the lesson we need to teach our kids.”

Jerry Falwell, Jr., the chancellor of Liberty University, had been traveling through North Carolina and saw a local television news account of Withrow’s ordeal. He also noticed that the 18-year-old was wearing a “Liberty University” t-shirt.

Falwell told Fox News that he made a few calls and discovered that Withrow’s sister is a Liberty graduate.

“I was really impressed with what a meek and humble Christian kid he is,” Falwell said. “I thought he would be a perfect fit at Liberty.”

So the chancellor made the 18-year-old an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“I told him that we would give him whatever scholarships he needed to attend Liberty University,” he said.

Falwell said the university is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure the teenager gets a college education.

“The anti-gun zealots seem to be vilifying him for making an honest mistake,” he told Fox News. “We want to reward him for trying to do the right thing.”

And that means even helping the young man finish his last few weeks of high school. Falwell said they offered to let him finish his high school work through their online academy.

Liberty University, located in Lynchburg, Va., is the world’s largest Christian university with nearly 100,000 students. The chancellor said he’s been flooded with messages of support for Withrow from the Liberty community.

“It’s something our whole university feels good about,” he said.

For now Withrow, who had a spotless record, faces a precarious future. It’s unclear at this point how the pending criminal charges will be worked out.

Falwell called the boy’s predicament “disturbing and unsettling.”

“When you see a basketball player who is glorified for announcing that he’s gay and then you see an honest young man like Cole arrested and treated like a criminal for making an honest mistake – you wonder what’s happening to our country,” he said. “The culture seems to be completely disconnected from our roots – our Christian heritage and our Constitution. I hope the American people wake up before it’s too late.”

Vote for George Gollin--because there aren't enough ass-scratching, nose-picking, armpit sniffers in Congress

Being the laughingstock of higher education is not enough for stalker George Gollin. Now the Marxist degenerate wants to be the laughingstock of Congress too.

Considering the collection of turds and reprobates who currently occupy seats there, that's a mighty ambitious goal. But can you think of a better non-job for somebody who needs 15 people to do all the work for him?

Tickets are $65. No word on whether tickets upwind from Gollin are more.

Quote:Speculation over Callis’ political aspirations begins as 2014 Congressional race nears

April 25, 2013 11:53 AM
By Bethany Krajelis

Madison County Chief Judge Ann Callis’ name has been mentioned as a potential candidate for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District.

Callis did not return messages seeking comment, but others have taken to the World Wide Web to speculate that she might throw her name in the running for the seat that Republican Rodney Davis currently holds.

The Champaign County Democrats’ website described Callis and George Gollin, a professor at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign, as “candidates mentioned for Representative in Congress (13th District)” in a post about a dinner the group is hosting on Sunday in Champaign.

“The focus of the evening will be meeting and hearing from Democrats who are considering seeking our nomination for statewide and federal offices,” the post states.

Al Klein, chairman of the Champaign County Democrats, said in an email that Gollin will speak at this weekend’s event and that Callis “will be in attendance.”

Pointing to an Illinois Judges Association document on “ethical considerations surrounding judicial political activity,” Klein said sitting judges can attend political gatherings and “engage in political activities on behalf of measures to improve the law, legal system or administrative of justice.”

His careful response is likely the result of the fact that if Callis announces herself as a candidate for Congress, she would at some point have to step down as a judge, a position she has held since 1995 and was retained to in the 2012 election.

Canon 7 of the Illinois Judicial Code of Conduct states “a judge shall resign from a judicial office upon becoming a candidate for a non-judicial office either in a primary or in a general election.”

Besides the Champaign County Democrats website, recent posts on a political blog and an area man’s Facebook page suggest Callis might run for Congress.

The political blog – PoliticsToday – earlier this month had a post about the upcoming race for the 13th District and opined that among other potential candidates, “the top recruit for the Democrats may very well be Madison County Circuit Court Chief Judge Ann Callis, who was wooed during inauguration weekend.”

Noting that “none of these candidates have announced,” the blog post lists the following as other potential candidates: David Gill, a doctor was has previously run for office; Champaign Mayor Don Gerard and Brendan McGinty, a former member of the Champaign County Board.

Also this month, Craig Walker, a Champaign County resident and vice president at IFS Securities, put this post on his Facebook page:

“Lunch with Ann Collis [sic] a potential D candidate for Congress in 2014. She is a Chief Judge, passionate about the issues, and seems to have what it takes to win. Time to gear up for 14!”

Walker’s April 17 post, which appears to have since been taken down, tagged Andy Quarnstrom, the recently elected Champaign Township Supervisor, and Patricia Avery, the executive director of the Champaign-Urbana Area Project, at Big Grove Tavern.

The upcoming race for the 13th District isn’t the first time that Callis’ name has been floated as a potential candidate for office outside the judiciary.

In 2011, there was speculation that she might run for the 12th Congressional District.

The chairman of the local Democratic Party put out a statement on Callis’ behalf back then, explaining that after receiving strong encouragement and seriously considering it, she decided not to run for Congress.

And earlier this year, a few local attorneys told The Record that Callis would be a solid candidate to fill the soon-to-be vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

Callis in January declined to comment as to whether she had any interest in applying for the federal judgeship.

Quote:Spring Dinner April 28, 2013


Join us Sunday, April 28, 2013, for our Spring Dinner at the I-Hotel Convention Center, 1900 S First St., Champaign. The social hour begins at 5 pm; dinner is at 6 pm; our program begins at 7 pm.

The focus of the evening will be meeting and hearing from Democrats who are considering seeking our nomination for statewide and federal offices. Our own State Senator Mike Frerichs is considering a campaign for State Treasurer of Illinois. Candidates Mentioned for Representative in Congress (13th District) include George Gollin from Champaign County. And everyone expects U.S. Senator Dick Durbin to be at the head of our federal ticket; Bart Ellefritz will bring a message from the Senator.

These potential candidates have been invited to appear or send a representative to our dinner. Watch this space (and join our e-list) to keep up with the latest information.

Individual Dinner tickets at the door are $65, but PAY NOW AND SAVE $5! Use the Dinner Reservation Form (pdf) to purchase tickets or contribute to our GOTV effort.

This is from the Foreign Policy magazine website so the perspective is international studies, but no doubt applicable to many other fields as well. As a wise man once said, all you need is love.

Quote:Should You Get a Ph.D.?
Only if you're crazy or crazy about your subject.
BY DANIEL DREZNER | APRIL 15, 2013

Dear potential Ph.D. students in international studies,

Congratulations on getting accepted into our prestigious/competitive/up-and-coming doctoral degree program! We hope that you will consider our program seriously, and look at the attached ample/competitive/look-we-are-at-least-paying-your-tuition funding package. Unfortunately, due to the enhanced power that accrues to recipients of Outstanding Achievement in International Studies (OAIS) Weblogging Awards, we are required under International Studies Association rules to permit the following message from some Foreign Policy blogger. Feel free to disregard the advice below, and please, please, please accept our offer of admission!

For you, the possible entrants into Ph.D. programs in international studies, it is the best of times and the worst of times. Obviously, it's the best of times because some program somewhere accepted you, and hey, that's great. It's not easy to get into a doctoral program, but if someone accepted you, and offered you money no less, well, take a moment to savor it. You're going to get paid to get a Ph.D.! You'll get to tramp around some geographical area of interest, learn a new language or master econometrics. You'll get to do this without acquiring the obscene debt loads of law, medical, or business school graduates! It can't get better than that, right?

Well, now we arrive at the worst of times. I write to you as a full professor at a great school. I have moderate teaching obligations, a healthy research account, thoughtful students, and interesting and fun projects. In theory all you need to achieve this is drive, intelligence, and that pesky Ph.D. In practice, the odds are a hell of a lot longer than that.

Here's the truth about getting a Ph.D., in the plainest possible terms:

It takes a long time, and there's a decent chance you won't even finish. The numbers aren't pretty. If you're getting a Ph.D. in the social sciences, there's only a 41 percent chance you will finish in seven years. For political science, there's only a 44 percent chance you will finish after 10 years. Ten years! The reasons for this are variegated and mildly depressing. I've been on enough Ph.D. admissions committees to know that the correlation between the quality of an application and performance in the program are not all that strong. The Ph.D. can be a soul-crushing experience, draining a person of all the passion they felt about a topic and replacing it with fury at something called "methods." If you finish, great. If you don't, well, the waters of bitterness can run very deep

The socialization pressures are immense. Why do you want to get a Ph.D.? On second thought, it doesn't really matter. By the time you are a few years into your program, you'll have forgotten why you started and instead you'll be brainwashed into the belief that the only thing to do with a Ph.D. is to become a tenure-track professor. The socialization that takes place in a Ph.D. program is both totalizing and powerful. I've known people who got great private-sector jobs out of grad school, jobs that paid four times the salary of a typical academic position, and yet feel like they've let everyone down. That's pretty f***ed up. It also leads to the next reason:

The job market is brutal. The academic job market has been abysmal for as long as I can remember, but things have only gotten worse recently. Just click here and make sure that there are no children in the room, because the numbers are so horrific they should be rated NC-17. If you're not going to a top 20 school in your field, well, those numbers are even worse.

Now, to be sure, one advantage of the international studies disciplines is that they're not the humanities. There are government, NGO, and private sector jobs available. That's the good news. The bad news is that these sectors are going to get squeezed as well. The defense sequester is going to hit both Pentagon and private contractor hiring hard. And the push for austerity will inevitably impact the civilian side of this equation as well. The Coburn amendment to the latest appropriations bill, which proposed eliminating National Science Foundation funding for political science, might well be the canary in the coal mine for all of international studies. Opponents of the amendment succeeded in watering it down before it was passed in March, but the amendment still limits federal funding to projects that "promote national security or the economic interests of the United States." Political science is likely just the harbinger of other cuts to the rest of the social sciences.

Long-term trends do not bode well for the modern university. You might think that the hiring drought in the academy is just a temporary lull. And that might be true. But go read Nathan Harden's essay on the future of the university in The American Interest. It's likely an exaggeration, but there is certainly some truth in his Schumpeterian assertion that "the Internet is a great destroyer of any traditional business that relies on the sale of information." The great hope for universities to bolster sagging graduate programs is to encourage more foreign students -- but now even the Chinese influx of cash cows full-tuition-paying students has slowed down. So academia, that bastion of stability, might suddenly find itself on shakier ground at exactly the moment you arrive on the scene.

Foreign governments might spy on you. For reals.

If you're a little distressed now, well, you should be. Does this mean you shouldn't get a Ph.D.? Well, if you really do want to get a job either teaching or practicing something to do with international affairs, then getting a Ph.D. is the absolute worst choice you can make -- until you consider the alternatives. Other professional degrees cost much more upfront and it's not like the job prospects for those degrees are any better. According to Beltway insiders, a Ph.D. gives you an advantage working for the government or for think tanks, and it's certainly true that the credential still counts for something.

There's one last criterion to determine whether you should enroll in that Ph.D. program, and it might be a little cornball, but it's nevertheless valid: love. You can grind out a professional degree -- an MA, JD, or MBA -- with discipline and intelligence. Not so with a Ph.D. There are hard-headed reasons that point toward getting a Ph.D., but they're meaningless unless you care deeply about your subject matter. Without love for your subject, you will never finish your doctorate, never tolerate the criticism you'll receive during the writing process, never tolerate the penury while your peers move on in life. If you don't love what you study, the burnout will be painful... and inevitable.

I wish you the very best of luck in making your decision about pursuing a doctorate. The process can be rewarding for the mentally tough and soul-crushing for everyone else. And to paraphrase The Princess Bride, anyone who tells you that it will get easier for Ph.D.s in the future is selling you something.