Quote:College students defaulting at record rate
by Meghan Hoyer, USA TODAY
Updated 7h 28m ago

Student loan defaults have risen for the fifth straight year, as students from traditional non-profit universities have an increasingly difficult time paying off their college debt.

Numbers released by the Department of Education Friday show that of the 4.1 million borrowers who began making payments in late 2009 and early 2010, 9.1% defaulted within two years, up from 8.8% the year before.

"Student loan defaults still continue to plague too many borrowers," said Debbie Cochrane, research director for the Institute for College Access & Success. "The numbers are distressing, and they needn't be so high."

Experts credited the combination of skyrocketing student debt, the poor economy and a lack of borrower education for the increase. Unlike previous years, when default rates rose because borrowers at for-profit universities were having trouble paying off their loans, this year's rise was attributed to borrowers who attended more traditional non-profit public and private universities. Public school borrowers defaulted at a rate of 8.3%, up from 5.9% just four years ago.

For the first time in four years, the two-year for-profit school default rate dropped from the previous year, to 12.9% from 15%. Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Finaid.org, a financial aid website, said the drop indicated that new reforms had worked.

Politicians and finance advocates have long been critical of for-profit schools, saying they lure in unqualified students and didn't disclose enough about employment or debt rates. In the past few years, they've implemented new regulations on student recruitment and advertising, and made some changes to financial aid.

"This is a sign those rules are somewhat successful," Kantrowitz said. "All the criticism has lead to these colleges trying to clean up their house."

He added that he expects default rates have hit their peak, and expects them to drop next year based on reforms, a reduction in interest rates and an improving economy.

The two-year default figures released Friday count borrowers who began their repayment in fiscal year 2010 -- meaning they are mostly graduates of the 2009 class -- and measures the percentage who fell a year behind in their payments by September 2011. The data don't measure borrowers who default later in the life of the loan.

The Department of Education for the first time also released an official three-year default rate, which showed that given another year of payments, last year's 8.8% default rate ballooned to 13.4%. The department is in the process of changing its standard to look only at the three-year rate, which critics say gives a more accurate picture of the scope of loan defaults.

The three-year default data showed that nearly half the borrowers in default had attended for-profit colleges, despite comprising only 28% of the total borrowing pool, and 13% of enrolled college students.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who has led a series of committee investigations into for-profit education, said the 22.7% three-year default rate from for-profit colleges was "troubling."

"This default data raises serious questions about the quality and value of the education students receive from these schools," he said in a statement.

Experts said they were disappointed by the increased level of loan defaults in light of new programs aimed at curbing rates by allowing unemployed or lower-income borrowers to base repayment as a percentage of their incomes.

Tiana Beatty, 25, said she received income-based deferral on one of her loans, but two other lenders rejected her appeal. Beatty isn't counted in the default numbers this year, because she didn't graduate until 2011, but the former University of Charleston basketball player will be included in years to come, because she's already defaulted on most of the $35,000 in student loans.

Beatty has degrees in sports administration and business administration, but upon graduating from the private university was met with West Virginia's slumping economy. Despite applying for more than 100 jobs, she's only found part-time work making $8 an hour. She volunteers as an assistant high school basketball coach on the side.

"You think 'I'm going to get a job when I get out, I'm going to pay back these loans, I'm going to be set'," she said. "The next thing you know, I can't even find anyone to hire me.

"It's a lot of stress. It's scary. And all because you did the right thing -- which was to go to school and get off the street."

Defaults can ruin a borrowers' credit rating for years, lead to wage garnishment and tax return seizures, lawsuits and other problems in joining the military, getting a job or a security clearance, Kantrowitz said.

According to the Project on Student Debt, two-thirds of college seniors graduating from non-profit four-year colleges in 2010 had student loan debt, and the average owed was $25,250 -- up 5% from a year earlier. Unemployment rates among young college graduates, meanwhile, was 9.1% in 2010.

According to the Project on Student Debt, two-thirds of college seniors graduating from non-profit four-year colleges in 2010 had student loan debt, and the average owed was $25,250 -- up 5% from a year earlier. Unemployment rates among young college graduates, meanwhile, was 9.1% in 2010.

Giving new meaning to the term "ewww tube." At least they didn't try to convince anyone that it was a cure for cancer.

Next time, break out the video camera and Thomas "Chip" White can show you how to make the big bucks off other people's tailpipe tribulations.

Quote:Police: Student Suffers Alcohol Poisoning After Frat Hands Out Alcoholic Enemas
September 25, 2012

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (CBS Atlanta) – A student from the [regionally accredited] University of Tennessee was hospitalized with alcohol poisoning after he was subjected to an alcoholic enema.

According to The Tennessean, Alexander Broughton, 20, was dropped off at the university’s medical center at around 1:30 a.m. Saturday unresponsive with a blood alcohol level greater than 0.4, which is poisonous and could be deadly.

Broughton was at a party at the Phi Kappa Alpha fraternity house when several members handed out rubber tubing to give each other alcoholic enemas, the paper reports.

Knoxville police say that an alcoholic enema increases and speeds up the effect of alcohol on the body.

Police also told The Tennessean that investigators found two other fraternity members passed out when they arrived at the house.

Police aren’t sure if the incident with Broughton was a result of hazing, or if he decided to undergo the enema willingly, but they are looking into both possibilities.

The university is now debating on the future of Phi Kappa Alpha. The fraternity is suspended for 30 days, and may be permanently banned, depending on the investigation.

Broughton has since been discharged from the medical center.

Thought Police arresting an evil criminal exercising what he believed to be freedom of speech. The fool.



Why would LA County hogs be arresting (voluntarily answered questions) someone on federal thought charges? Considering the impetus came out of the White House, shouldn't Secret Service Special Agent Gollin be leading the charge. After all democracy really pisses him off.

The Gold Standard strikes again! Stop me if you've heard this: another RA prof goes postal.

Quote:Instructor at Monterey's Naval Postgraduate School arrested in ex-wife's death
Investigators search Monterey home of Lawrence Jones
By CLAUDIA MELÉNDEZ SALINAS
Posted: 09/14/2012
Updated: 09/14/2012

A distinguished [regionally accredited] Naval Postgraduate School professor and internationally recognized financial expert has been arrested in connection with the death of his ex-wife, whose body was found south of Gilroy last week.

Lawrence R. Jones, 69, the area chairman at NPS for Financial Management, was arrested late Thursday in Los Angeles after San Benito County Sheriff's investigators conducted a search of his home on Spray Avenue in Monterey.

The search followed the identification of the body of Norife Herrera Jones, 29, the professor's wife of about five years. The couple divorced recently, Monterey police Lt. Leslie Sonné said.

San Benito County Sheriff's investigators had been trying to identify the dead woman found Sept. 7 on Cannon Drive off Highway 101 south of Gilroy. Once identification was made, investigators issued orders to search Jones' home.

"Our investigation led to Monterey," Sheriff's Sgt. Tony Lamonica said. "Once we searched the scene, there was enough evidence to determine a homicide had occurred here."

An autopsy of Herrera Jones has been conducted, but investigators would not discuss its results or how they believe she died.

Jones is being held as the "primary suspect," Lamonica said. A team of investigators were en route to question him and bring him back to Monterey, Lamonica said.

Law enforcement officers have not determined if Jones was trying to flee.

The multi-agency search of the Spray Avenue home that included members of the San Benito County Sheriff's Office, the Monterey Police Department and the FBI began late Thursday. Neighbors said they saw a handful of police cars and about two dozen law enforcement officers canvass Jones' home. The FBI became involved in the case at the request of the San Benito County Sheriff's Office in its attempt to identify Herrera Jones' body.

A team of about 20 investigators returned Friday to the Spray Avenue house. Clad with white lab suits and blue gloves, they began gathering evidence in the garage of the two-story cream color home at 1 p.m. and continued into the early evening.

As investigators unloaded equipment, put on their lab suits and set up a blue tent, neighbors gathered in nearby homes, wondering what could have happened.

Larry Jones has lived on Spray Avenue since 1987, when he began teaching at NPS, according to public records. He mostly kept to himself, neighbors said, but his presence was hard to miss.

Next-door neighbor Sat Kirtan Khalsa said Jones remarried about five years ago.

The change in the professor was noticeable, Khalsa said. The previously reserved Jones began extolling the virtues of his wife, telling everyone how happy he was.

"He raved on and on about how great everything was going," she said. "He was a quiet person so it was unusual. It's about the only thing he shared with us over the years."

Jones told his neighbors he was in the import/export business. The story coincided with his frequent absences.

In reality, Jones is an internationally recognized financial management expert who worked as a visiting consultant for the Asian Development Bank, as a visiting scholar at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and the University of Siena in Italy.

His curriculum vitae on the NPS website lists his research interests in public management reform, change, budgeting; in national defense policy, and business-government relations and government regulatory policy.

NPS spokesperson Alan Richmond referred questions to the San Benito Sheriff's Office and said he would have no comments.

Retired NPS professor Jerry McCaffrey, who co-authored articles with Jones, said he knew little about his home life. McCaffrey retired to Green Bay five years ago, so he's had little news from his former colleague since then.

"Professor Jones is very distinguished at NPS," he said. "This is too bad. This saddens all of us."

Although Jones communicated little with neighbors, they were privy to some of his emotional outbursts.

One night more than a year ago, Khalsa was awakened by the sound of Jones' Lexus ramming into a truck parked on the street. The truck had been pushed into Khalsa's driveway, and the police arrived shortly afterward.

"They thought it was my truck," she said. "They took him away in handcuffs."

Records show Jones was arrested on April 11, 2011 by Monterey Police. Lt. Sonné declined to speak about Jones' encounters with her department.

The last time neighbors remember seeing Jones was Monday, when he appeared to be putting out the garbage but was going in and out of the house, seemingly confused. Neighbors didn't know he had already divorced Herrera Jones, and they had not seen her for a while.

"I'm in shock," Khalsa said. "I don't like to think of things like that, but they do happen. Two people I knew, one is dead and the other one in jail. It's awful."

Quote:



Lawrence R. Jones
Distinguished Professor, Wagner Chair
Mail Code: GB/Jn
Graduate School of Business and Public Policy
Monterey, CA 93943
Phone: 831-656-2482
Email: lrjones (at) nps.edu
Web: www.inpuma.net

EDUCATION:
PhD - Univ of California, Berkeley, 1977
Budgeting/Finance
MA - Univ of California, Berkeley, 1971
Public Policy
BA - Stanford Univ, 1967
Political Science: American Government and International Relations

NPS EXPERIENCE:
• 2007 - Present: Area Chair for Financial Management
• 1998 - Present: George F.A. Wagner Chair Professor of Public Management
• 1987 - Present: Professor

OTHER EXPERIENCE:
• 2005 - 2007: Visiting Research Consultant, Asian Development Bank, Economic Development and Regional Cooperation
• 2003: Erskine Distinguished Visiting Scholar, University of Canterbury, New Zealand (February-April)
• 2002 - Present: Visiting Professor, University of Siena, Faculty of Economics and Public Management, Siena, Italy
• 1995 - Present: Chair, International Public Management Network, IPMN.
• 1994 - Present: Visiting Professor, Institute for Public Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
• 1994 - 1995: Visiting Professor, MBA Program, University of Geneva
• 1993 - 1994: Fulbright Scholar, Simon Fraser University, Canada and University of St. Gallen (HSG), Switzerland.
• 1985 - 1987: Professor, Public Administration Division, University of New Mexico
• 1984 - Present: President, Management and Policy Associates, Inc. Monterey, CA & Portland, OR
• 1983 - 1985: Associate Professor of Public Finance Management, University of Oregon, Department of Public Policy and Management
• 1980: Visiting Lecturer, East China University, Shanghai, PRC
• 1978: Evaluation Consultant, The Ford Foundation, International Division, Asia and the Pacific
• 1979 - 1983: Assistant Professor, University of Oregon, Wallace School of Public Affairs
• 1977 - 1979: Visiting Assistant Professor of Business Policy, University of British Columbia, Policy Division
• 1975 - 1977: Budget Director, California Post-Secondary Education Commission, State of California
• 1973 - 1975: Budget and Planning Officer, University of California, Berkeley
• 1971 - 1973: Budget Officer, Department of Finance, State of California

TEACHING INTERESTS:
• Public Management Reform and Change
• Public Financial Management and Budgeting
• National Defense Policy and Management
• New Public Management, Business-Government Relations and Government Regulatory Policy

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
• Public Management Reform and Change
• Public Financial Management and Budgeting
• National Defense Policy and Management
• New Public Management, Business-Government Relations and Government Regulatory Policy

AWARDS:
• 2005 Aaron B. Wildavsky Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Field of Public Budgeting and Financial Management, from the ASPA national Association for Budgeting and Financial Management (ABFM), Washington, DC
• 2001 Naval Postgraduate School Outstanding Research Award
• 1998 Naval Postgraduate School Outstanding Research Award
• 1998 Aaron Wildavsky Book Award
• 1993-1994 - J. William Fulbright Scholar
• 1994 - American Society for Military Comptrollers Best Article Author Award for "Reinventing the Department of Defense"
• 1994 - Association for Budgeting and Financial Management Service Award for Leadership in the Field as National Chairman
• 1989 - National Conference on Teaching Public Administration, "Public Financial Management Curriculum and Course Design," Awarded Best Paper of Conference
• 1985-1987 - President's List for Outstanding Instructional Achievement, Univ of New Mexico
• 1985 - American Society for Public Administration, Oregon Chapter Commendation for Service in the Field of Public Affairs
• 1982 - Best Public Sector Conference Paper Award, Academy of Management

BOARDS/MEMBERSHIPS:
• 2000 - 2004: American Society for Public Administration, Section on International and Comparative Administration, Executive Committee (National)
• 1992 - 1994: American Society for Public Administration, National Policy Issues Committee (National)
• International Public Management Review
• International Journal of Organizational Theory
• Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management
• Armed Forces Comptroller
• International Public Management Journal

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS: (View an extended list)
• "Restructuring Public Organizations in Response to Global Economic and Financial Stress," International Public Management Review, 11/1 2010.
• "Performance Budgeting in the U. S. Federal Government: History, Status and Future Implications," Public Finance and Management, 10/3 2010.
• Arming America at War: A Model for Rapid Defense Acquisition in Time of War, (Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2010), with S. T. Blakeman, A. J. Gibbs, J. Jeyasingam.
• The Many Faces of Public Management Reform in the Asia-Pacific Region. (Oxford, UK: Emerald Press 2009.
• Jones, L. R., & McCaffery, J.L. Budgeting, Financial Management and Acquisition Reform in the U.S. Department of Defense, Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2008.

KEYWORDS/TECHNOLOGIES:
• Keywords: Public Management, Public Financial Management, Public Budgeting, National Defense Financial Management and Budgeting, DOD Realignment and Transformation, Mission Budgeting, Federal Financial Management Reform

Quote:Body found in Aromas ID'd; ex-husband of victim arrested
Posted: Friday, September 14, 2012 3:34 pm | Updated: 3:58 pm, Fri Sep 14, 2012.


Lawrence Jones..........................................Norife Jones

Authorities have arrested a man in connection with the death of the woman whose body was discovered near Aromas last week and released the identity of the victim, according to a statement from the Monterey Police Department.

Hikers found the body of 29-year-old Norife Herrera Jones, a Filipino woman from San Jose, on Sept. 7. Her death is under investigation as a homicide, and authorities in the past day arrested her ex-husband, Lawrence Jones, after locating him in Southern California.

The Monterey Police Department released a statement noting that the agency is conducting a joint investigation with the San Benito County Sheriff's Office. The local sheriff's office requested help from Monterey police after learning the victim recently lived with her ex-husband, a 69-year-old from Monterey.

After conducting a search of Lawrence Jones' home, evidence found at the scene "led to the Monterey Police Department assuming jurisdiction of the homicide investigation," according to the statement.

According to the statement, detectives worked "through the night" and located Lawrence Jones in Southern California. His transport to Monterey is pending, according to police.

The FBI is assisting with the forensic investigation, while Monterey police stressed it has been a multi-jurisdictional effort from the start also involving the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office and San Jose Police Department.

Another reason to take your classes online this semester. Bomb threats are just the latest trend. If you don't like it you must be an intolerant bigot, so get used to it. Now bow to the east and give thanks to Dear Leader.

Quote:Bomb Threats Evacuate U.S. Campuses
14 Sep 2012
By JIM VERTUNO

AUSTIN, Texas
Tens of thousands of people streamed off university campuses in Texas and North Dakota on Friday after telephoned bomb threats prompted officials to warn students and faculty to get away as quickly as possible. Both campuses eventually were deemed safe and reopened by early afternoon, as authorities worked to determine whether the threats were related.

The University of Texas received a call about 8:35 a.m. from a man claiming to be with al-Qaida who said he had placed bombs all over the 50,000-student Austin campus, according to University of Texas spokeswoman Rhonda Weldon. He claimed the bombs would go off in 90 minutes and all buildings were evacuated at 9:50 a.m. as a precaution, Weldon said.

The deadline passed without incident, and the university reopened all buildings by noon. Classes were canceled for the rest of the day, but other university activities were to resume by 5 p.m.

"We are extremely confident that the campus is safe," UT President William Powers told a news conference.

North Dakota State University President Dean Bresciani said 20,000 people also were evacuated from his school's main and downtown campuses in Fargo after the school received its threat. FBI spokesman Kyle Loven said a call that included a "threat of an explosive device" came in about 9:45 a.m., but he declined to give further details. He said the agency was trying to determine if the two campus threats were related.

NDSU buildings reopened about 1 p.m. and classes were set to resume an hour later, said Bresciani, adding that the campus had been "deemed safe."

Graduate student Lee Kiedrowski of Dickinson, N.D., said he was walking on campus just before 10 a.m. when he got a text message telling him students had been ordered to evacuate within 15 minutes.

"The panic button wasn't triggered quite immediately," said Kiedrowski, who's studying infectious disease management and biosecurity. "But there was definitely the thought that we live in a different world now, and with everything that's going on with the riots at the U.S. embassies in the Middle East, your brain just starts moving. You never really know what's going on."

In Texas, campus sirens wailed and cellphones pinged with text messages when the initial alert when out. Students described more confusion than panic as they exited the sprawling campus in what one described as an "orderly but tense" manner. Students said they were directed off campus by university staff.

"One of them said to me `get off this campus as soon as possible,'" said Elizabeth Gerberich, an 18-year-old freshman from New Jersey.

Police blocked off roads heading into campus as lines of cars sat in gridlock trying to get out.

At the football stadium, executive senior associate athletics director Ed Goble said he discussed logistics with authorities because the Longhorns needed to get ready to leave for a Saturday football game at the University of Mississippi. Shortly after 11 a.m., while the rest of campus remained almost entirely deserted, Goble said police had given players permission to go into the athletic complex to pack for the game.

With rain falling, students stood under awnings and overhangs and inundated nearby off-campus restaurants and coffee shops as they waited for updates from officials.

Abby Johnston, a production and special editions coordinator for Texas Student Media, said she received the first text message from the university less than an hour after she arrived at work and started thinking about what she would publish in the next day's paper. Then the sirens blared.

"We do the siren test once a month and so at first people thought maybe it was just a test, and then we started to tell everybody, `No actually we have to get out of here pretty immediately,'" said Johnston, 22. "There was definitely a little bit of nervous tension."

Tania Lara, a graduate student at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, said she was at work inside a central campus academic building when she got a text message to get as far away was possible.

"It was calm but nobody knew what was going on," she said, describing a crush of students heading for the exits. "No one was yelling `get out of here' or anything like that."

Also Friday, Valparaiso University in Indiana increased security and posted a warning to students on its website after a vague threat was discovered scrawled in some graffiti. The school says the threat claimed "dangerous and criminal activity" would occur Friday during the university's daily chapel break.

The FBI and local authorities searched the campus but found nothing suspicious and university spokeswoman Nicole Niemi said classes and other regular activities were continuing as planned.

Quote:Stalker George Gollin Dies In Car Crash

THIS STORY IS STILL DEVELOPING...

(Local Team News 9) Stalker George Gollin died in a single vehicle crash on Route 80 between Morristown and Roswell. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics responding to the vehicle accident and was identified by photo ID found on his body. Alcohol and drugs do not appear to have been a factor in this accident - September 11, 2012

Highway Safety Investigators have told reporters that George Gollin lost control while driving a friend's vehicle on Interstate 80 and rolled the vehicle several times killing him instantly.

The vehicle was believed to have been traveling at approximately 95 miles per hour in a 55mph zone at the time of the accident.

Witnesses have stated that George Gollin's car crossed the double lines several times prior to the accident and hit the center lane divider causing the vehicle to flip and roll.

Toxicology tests will be performed to determine whether he was driving under the influence, however initial findings indicate that drugs or alcohol did not contribute in any way to this accident as it was more likely to have been caused by road conditions.

Memorial services for George Gollin have not yet been announced. The service is expected to be a closed casket funeral due to the severe head trauma.

Additional details and information will be forthcoming as they become available.

Speaking of fakes, wouldn't this story have more credibility if they had cited a real expert and not someone who had been sued multiple times in federal court for extortion, defamation, stalking, computer hacking and civil rights violations?

Quote:$22.7 million 'diploma mill' judgment for Flint woman, other plaintiffs, only a small victory, experts say

Published: Thursday, September 06, 2012, 7:15 PM Updated: Thursday, September 06, 2012, 10:48 PM

By Jeremy Allen | jallen42@mlive.com

FLINT, MI -- The business of “life experience degrees” took a blow when Pakistani businessman Salem Kureshi and his companies Belford High School and Belford University lost a $22.7 million federal class-action lawsuit earlier this year, but experts say the judgment will have only a small effect on what is a billion-dollar, international Internet scheme.

The lawsuit, which was originally brought against www.belfordhighschool.com by Flint native Carrie McCluskey, alleged that Belford High School takes students’ money by offering them an accredited high school diploma, but that Belford High School is not accredited by legitimate accreditation agencies and that the diplomas are not valid.

“Getting a GED can really help you start your life,” McCluskey, told the Flint Journal after filing her lawsuit in November 2009. “People who want to give you fake ones are saying they don’t care where your life will go. They’re just out for your money.”

The Better Business Bureau gave Belford University an "F" grade because it has received more than 200 complaints about the online university in the past three years.

“I’ve known for a long time that Belford was completely fake,” said George Gollin, a professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an elected official on the Board of Directors for the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

“I would think that there are close to 200,000 fake degrees being sold every year, with the majority of those – at least 100,000 – coming in the U.S.”

Gollin has worked for years with retired FBI agent Allen Ezell and John Bear, an authority on distance education, as part of a watchdog group that helps bust up what he calls “diploma mills and scams by con artists.”

“I went to the Belford website originally to apply for a political science degree and I got one based on my life experiences involving watching television and reading newspapers,” Gollin said. “I wanted to see how far it would go and ultimately I got offered a doctorate in thoracic surgery at Belford University based off of my life experiences.”

Ezell, an FBI agent for 35 years, co-authored the book Degree Mills: The Billion-dollar Industry That Has Sold Over a Million Fake Diplomas and for 11 years was the head of the FBI’s DipScam task force charged with disbanding diploma mills.

On Oct. 24, 2011, after nearly two years of fighting the case, Kureshi submitted a declaration to the court, which stated in part that “The lawsuit has become cost-prohibitive to continue to defend. As a result, neither Belford nor I will continue to defend this case and, on behalf of myself and Belford, I consent to a default being entered against myself and Belford.”

Prior to Kureshi’s declaration, Marc Newman and the Miller Law Firm P.C. withdrew counsel of Kureshi, claiming that he was not being honest to them about the facts of the case, according to court documents.

On Feb. 6, 2012, Judge Mark A. Goldsmith of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered an order requiring Belford and Kureshi to pay the plaintiffs $24,902.22 by April 6, 2012. According to court records, Belford and Kureshi failed to do so, which led McCluskey and her attorneys, The Googasian Firm of Bloomfield Hills, to file an order with the courts.

“We’ve been handling the case since 2009 and after three years we’ve nearly conclusively established that Belford is basically an Internet scheme,” said Tom Howlett, one of the lead attorneys representing the 30,500 plaintiffs in the case. “They’re a fake school with fake accreditation, a fake faculty and administration.”

On June 19, 2012, the court entered an order holding Belford and Kureshi in civil contempt for failing to pay the sanctions. As part of its contempt order, the court ordered Kureshi to transfer various Belford domain names to plaintiffs by July 16, 2012, unless Belford paid the sanctions prior to that time.

The court warned: “Failure to comply with this order will subject Belford and Kureshi to further sanctions including, without limitation, issuance of an arrest warrant and additional monetary sanctions.”

The following day, Kureshi was ordered to pay $22,783,500. The ruling, which reflected the approximate price of each diploma sold ($249 each), times the 30,500 U.S. students who purchased diplomas from Belford between 2003 and the time of the lawsuit, and multiplied by three, pursuant to damages associated with Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations violations.

Kureshi filed a response contesting the amount, saying that “Belford is not a sham and that it is not liable for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, or civil RICO.” The argument didn't sway the judge, and he denied the request, granting the full judgment based on the evidence that was presented.

As a part of the contempt order, the court also ordered Kureshi and Belford High School to transfer to The Googasian Firm P.C. for the benefit of the certified class, six domain names: www.belfordhighschool.com, www.belfordhighschool.org, www.belfordhighschool.net, www.belforduniversity.org, www.belforduniversity.net, and www.belfordhighschoolscam.com, all of which were said to be associated with the “diploma mill.”

“This sort of thing happens all the time, but you don’t normally see lawsuits in this amount,” Gollin said. “I helped bring down Saint Regis University in Spokane [Washington], Belford and lots of other ones. There’s a lot of really ugly material out there, but unfortunately, I don’t think the plaintiffs are going to able to collect anything. He was lying to his lawyers, lying to the court, and I just would be curious to see if they get anything.”

Belford University’s current website claims that you can get your “desired degree that’s accredited, affordable and accepted all around the world.”

Jack Rooper, a spokesman with Belford University in Humble, Texas, declined to comment on the lawsuit. No other representative from the company was available to comment.

Howlett, representing the 30,500 plaintiffs, said that McCluskey was harassed following previous media interviews, and that she would not be available for comment. He also said that he was glad for the plaintiffs and that he was unsure of when or how money would be awarded.

“The process for collecting on the judgment and distributing the proceeds has yet to be determined,” Howlett said, “but the court will determine that process.”

Does "RA" mean Ruining America? Ridiculously Arrogant? Rooting for the African?

Quote:Campaign for Obama, get college credit
Published: 1:07 AM 08/31/2012
By Robby Soave
Reporter, The Daily Caller News Foundation

A [regionally accredited] public university in Colorado may have violated state law by offering students course credit if they volunteered with President Obama’s re-election campaign. A blog post on the [regionally accredited] Adams State University website billed the opportunity as a “12 week long organizing internship for the Obama Campaign.”

Both the blog post and the course are now gone. The course was canceled due to lack of interest, according to the [regionally accredited] university. The blog post was taken down earlier this week after a conservative student blog, Campus Reform, reported on it.

The course may have been in violation of the Colorado Fair Campaign Practices Act, which prohibits the use of public resources toward “campaigns involving the nomination, retention, or election of any person to any public office.” Oliver Darcy, the editor at Campus Reform who first reported the story, said the course struck him as a likely violation of state law.

“They are definitely using a few professors at least to help these students with the campaign process, so I don’t understand how it doesn’t use public resources for campaign purposes,” he said in an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation.

A spokesperson for the [regionally accredited] university said the blog post was mistaken about the nature of the course, and that students would have been allowed to volunteer with any campaign. [LIAR! See screen shot below.]

“This is an independent study course that would be available to any student in any campaign,” said Julie Waechter, a spokesperson for ASU, in an interview with TheDC News Foundation.

Waechter declined to give the name of the employee who authorized the course. Dodie Day, the administrator who posted the blog entry, declined to comment.

According to Waechter, the Obama administration reached out to the university about hosting such an offer.

“The Obama campaign did approach the school. Others campaigns did not,” she said, adding that the school would have considered a similar offer from the Republican campaign of Gov. Mitt Romney.

But Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars and a chronicler of political bias in academia, said universities have no business awarding class credit for political activity at all.

“The principle here is that this sort of stuff does not belong in the classroom, and that also it is not something for which students should be receiving academic credit,” said Wood in an interview with TheDC News Foundation. “The public funding that goes into a university is not there to advance political campaigns.”

Earlier this week, Wood reported on a similar instance of liberal political activity entering the classroom at [regionally accredited] Ohio State University. Professor Brian McHale wrote an e-mail to colleagues asking them to set aside class time for campaign organizers to pitch students on getting involved with the Obama campaign.

“I’ve been in touch with a couple of campus organizers for the Obama campaign, who have asked me to pass along to all of you a request for access to your classes in the next few weeks,” wrote McHale in the e-mail.

For Wood, incidents like the ones at ASU and OSU fit an extensive pattern of improper cooperation between the Obama campaign and university officials.

“It’s one of those things I add to the documentation of fairly numerous instances in which the Obama campaign has crossed the line,” he said.

Stephanie Freer, a recent graduate of Northern Arizona University and conservative activist in Colorado, was disturbed that ASU would advertise a class that promoted a liberal political agenda.

“This public school is funneling students into working for the Obama campaign,” she said in an interview with TheDC News Foundation. “It isn’t right for a public university to be promoting that type of campaign work for course credit.”

Quote:'Eastwooding' Inspires National Empty Chair Day on Monday
by Michael Patrick Leahy 2 Sep 2012, 11:08 AM PDT

In another sign that Clint Eastwood's RNC talk to an empty chair has tapped in to broadly held opinions that President Obama is not getting the job done, word spread rapidly over the weekend among conservative new media outlets that an impromptu "National Empty Chair Day" is being planned for Monday.

William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection noted the phenomenon first, and Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit quickly picked up on it. According to Jacobson:

Monday – Empty Chair Day

That’s what reader Sandy writes:

Prof – Seems that there is an effort to make Monday “empty chair day”

[Here's] an image of my front lawn, just mowed, to ensure the empty chair looks right. The sign next to the chair says:

“We own this country . . . Politicians are employees of ours . . . And when somebody does not do the job, we’ve got to let them go.” –Clint Eastwood (emphasis added)

As Professor Jacobson tells it, National Empty Chair Day is designed to be a user-driven event.

Who knew an empty chair could expose so much.

Send me your “empty chair” photos on Monday, and I’ll run them.

The Twitter hashtag is #EmptyChairDay

It now appears quite likely that the DNC will open on Monday with images of empty chairs dominating Facebook, Twitter, and the internet. Once again conservative new media outlets have framed the narrative that continues to get away from the Obama 2012 campaign team.