I am looking to edit the Wikipedia Article on Gollin and need to have some well sourced facts, particularly regarding the infamous Liberian Lawsuit and some other things.

Can anyone here help?

Northcentral University is among those listed by the Dept of Ed as failing their financial responsibility test. The scale is minus 1.0 to 3.0, with 1.5 needed to pass. NCU's most recent (2009-2010) reported score was 0.2 (that's not a typo, that's two-tenths!) A score below 1.0 requires posting a letter of credit.

Quote:October 12, 2011
Degree-Granting Institutions With Low Financial-Responsibility Scores in 2009-10

All private colleges that award federal student aid must participate in the Department of Education's financial-responsibility test, which is based on information from their audited financial statements. The department develops a composite score on a scale of 3.0 to minus-1.0, based on financial ratios that measure factors such as net worth, operating losses, and the relationship of assets to liabilities. Institutions with scores of 1.5 to 3 pass.

In addition to being subject to extra monitoring, those with scores below 1.0 are required to post a letter of credit with the department equal to 10 percent of the federal student aid that goes to their students annually.

The figures shown are for the 180 institutions that received a score below 1.5, as well as the scores that they received in past years, when available. The figures below are for institutional fiscal years ending between July 1 and June 30, and institutions without a score provided for the selected time periods are indicated as "n/a."
. . .
Northcentral University Prescott Valley Ariz. Private for-profit 0.2
. . .

Traditionally they call it "featherbedding," where the union goons force employers to hire more people than they need, often limiting production to justify overtime or creating busy work to expand hours.

Union goon college profs are employing that same time honored scam to suppress innovation and protect their overpaid and underworked status.

Quote:The Lecturers' Filibuster
October 11, 2011

The specter and promise of online education is perhaps nowhere more deeply felt than in California, where campus administrators and instructors are faced with a bloodletting. University of California officials have suggested that the system will have to innovate out of the current financial crisis by expanding online programs. (State house analysts agree.) Instructors, meanwhile, are terrified that this is code for cutting their pay, or increasing their workloads, or outsourcing their jobs to interlopers, or replacing them with online teaching software.

The system’s corps of lecturers feels this threat sharply. “We believe that if courses are moved online, they will most likely be the classes currently taught by lecturers,” reads a brief declaration against online education on the website of UC-AFT, the University of California chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, “and so we will use our collective bargaining power to make sure that this move to distance education is done in a fair and just way for our members.”

Now the California lecturers, who make up nearly half of the system’s undergraduate teaching teachers, believe they have used that bargaining power to score a rare coup. The University of California last week tentatively agreed to a deal with UC-AFT that included a new provision barring the system and its campuses from creating online courses or programs that would result in “a change to a term or condition of employment” of any lecturer without first dealing with the union.

Bob Samuels, the president of the union, says this effectively gives the union veto power over any online initiative that might endangers the jobs or work lives of its members. “We feel that we could stop almost any online program through this contract,” Samuels told Inside Higher Ed.

And stop it they would. Regardless of any data administrators trot out to argue that students learn just as well online as they do in the classroom, the union would do whatever it could to block the university from moving courses online if it decides the move would make life worse for lecturers, says Samuels. Because some of the important social benefits of classroom education are hard to quantify, Samuels says he distrusts those who argue for the equivalency of online learning based on "the evidence." "I don’t think you’re going to find any conclusive analysis or study of that," he says. "I think it’s [always] going to be a judgment call."

The union president says he thinks the university, which would be bound by the deal for the next three years, did not grasp the implications of the online provision.

“We feel we got something that the university didn’t really understand,” he says.

But the university says it grasps the implications of the pact quite well — and that Samuels and his cohort are the ones who seem to misunderstand it.

“They do not have the power to block the university from implementing new online programs,” says Dianne Klein, a spokeswoman for the Office of the President.

“The most the [union’s] bargaining unit could do,” Klein says, “is provide written notice saying, ‘We don’t like this.’ ” The university would then have to sit down with the union to try to resolve the issue no later than January, 2013. “But the union would not have the power to say, ‘We’re shutting down the online program,’ ” she says. Instead, the two sides would go through the same process of mediation, fact-finding, and, if necessary, a university mandate and potentially a union strike. As far as the university is concerned, there is nothing new in the agreement other than a reiteration of existing terms in the context of online education.

Klein did acknowledge that the new provision puts the university in a “holding pattern” with regard to its ability to experiment with online programs that might affect lecturers. “We couldn’t say, ‘Oh, we’ve got a computer that can do your work — we’re getting rid of you,’ ” she says.

This scenario has already taken place elsewhere in the state. At California State University at Bakersfield, administrators laid off four math instructors in 2009, shifting the emphasis in two developmental math courses to mandatory lab time devoted an automated e-tutoring program. Pass rates in the two courses fell dramatically at first, but then recovered the following year after the courses were redesigned to include more supervision. The four instructors were not rehired.

Disruptive software is not the only threat that online education might pose to the lecturers. They also do not want to be asked to teach unmanageably large classes online, Samuels says. There is also the fear that large state universities might expand their online programs by partnering with outside providers, who would hire their own instructors. California is one of several states entertaining the possibility of incorporating Western Governors University, an online nonprofit institution based in Utah, into its online expansion strategy. And one of the major themes at last week’s Future of State Universities conference, in Texas, was the idea that public universities need to move toward more cost-effective, online delivery models. The sponsor of the conference was Academic Partnerships, a for-profit firm that specializes in helping universities do exactly that. (Top officials at the AFT's national headquarters declined to comment.)

It is not yet clear how these broader trends, and the California system’s current (limited) online pilot program, stand to affect the pay, employment, or working conditions of lecturers who teach undergraduate courses. Klein, the university spokeswoman, emphasizes that the university's online push, despite its high-level support, is still in its infancy. " 'New' does not begin to describe it," she says, noting that only one of the pilot program's 30 test courses is being taught by a lecturer. But Samuels says he and his colleagues are not taking any chances. “It’s up to us to stop any program we think is going to be counterproductive,” he says.

This is an Americo-centric poll but anyone can answer.

Who will get your vote?

Choices can be either in the primary or general elections?

Also, which presidential candidate will most likely support Academic freedom in the United States?

Brother Lowe cakes on a little vanity parchment. Where that dissertation be at? Let's see him fix this!


Bishop State Community College President James Lowe Jr. has doctorate from unaccredited San Francisco Technical University

Quote:President, No. 2 official, at Bishop State have doctorates from unaccredited schools
Published: Sunday, October 09, 2011, 5:58 AM
Updated: Sunday, October 09, 2011, 10:56 AM

By Brendan Kirby, Press-Register

Throughout his career with Alabama’s two-year college system, James Lowe has been a fix-it man, sent to turn around troubled institutions, including Bishop State in Mobile.

Lowe, who became Bishop State president in 2008, is now dealing with questions about his own academic credentials. His résumé lists a doctorate from San Francisco Technical University, a non-accredited school with a website that no longer is active.

Bishop’s dean of instructional services, Latitia McCane — who served on the Project Phoenix Team charged with preserving the school’s accreditation — also has been a focus of questions because of her doctorate from Lacrosse University.

Neither San Francisco Tech nor Lacrosse — both online schools — have ever had a seal of approval from the U.S. Department of Education.

“We just don’t see where either San Francisco Technical University or Lacrosse University have been or are accredited by a recognized accrediting agency,” said Tim Willard, a spokesman for the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

Lacrosse awarded degrees based on “life experience,” according to a 2004 Government Accountability Office report.

Lowe and McCane both said in interviews that they completed rigorous programs to earn their doctorates.

The degrees of Lowe and McCane have drawn complaints from at least one parent, and led to an inquiry by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Last month, SACS issued a letter clearing Lowe and McCane of any violations that could threaten Bishop State’s accreditation.

The parent, Angela Goudreault of Grand Bay, continues to express concerns about Lowe’s qualifications and what she described as an inadequate response from the state two-year college system.

“He just doesn’t have the proper credentials to be called ‘doctor,’” said Goudreault, whose high-school-aged son earns college credits through a Bishop State program. “How many people have these credentials hanging on the wall who we expect to be properly credentialed?”

MBA for a dog

Vicky Phillips, who runs a website called GetEducated.com, which tracks so-called “diploma mills,” said that hundreds of fly-by-night operations advertise as institutions of higher learning but sell degrees of all kinds while requiring little or no academic work.

Many, Phillips said, award advanced degrees based on “life experience,” provided the student’s check clears.

“They change names frequently, which is a common tactic,” she said. “They’re very popular in the U.S. They’re very lucrative. ... The Internet has made it so much easier.”

Phillips said that advanced degrees often land people promotions or pay raises in their fields, and she added that most employers do not check educational degrees.

She said she enrolled her dog in a master’s of business administration program, at an online school called Roshville University, for $499. “And it took 14 days for him to get a degree,” she said.

Phillips’ website contains alerts identifying San Francisco Technical and Lacrosse as possible diploma mills.

Ironically, it was an effort to shut down diploma mills in Alabama that led to the adoption of a state policy in March 2008 that prohibits two-year system employees from using honorific titles or touting degrees from schools like the ones from which Lowe and McCane attained their doctorates.

The state Board of Education now restricts use of such degrees only to institutions that have been given a seal of approval by one of the nation’s six regional accrediting agencies recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Freida Hill, the chancellor of the Department of Postsecondary Education, wrote in a letter to SACS that Lowe and McCane were “grandfathered” in because they attained their degrees prior to March 27, 2008.

“The policy’s guidelines address, in detail, the prospective nature of the application of this policy, thereby rendering it inapplicable to Dr. Lowe prior to the policy’s effective date,” she wrote in a letter last month.

Also, Lynne Thrower, interim vice chancellor of legal and human resources for the two-year system, noted that the president position at Bishop State did not require a doctorate.

“You can take that off the table, and he (Lowe) could meet the minimum requirements,” she said.

Bradley Byrne, the former chancellor of the system who tapped Lowe to lead Bishop State, said doctoral degrees may give applicants an edge in some instances, but would have made no difference in this case.

He said that Lowe would not have been able to hold the job if a degree required for the position had come from an unaccredited institution.

“If it was his terminal degree, I guarantee you, we would have taken action,” he said.

Byrne said that the new policy set a consistent standard for the use of academic titles. He said, for instance, that some people in the system wanted to call him “Dr. Byrne” because he had a law degree — a juris doctorate.

“We tried to get some uniformity in the system about who could be called doctor and who couldn’t,” he said.

Lowe’s degree vs. performance

Lowe, a Phenix City native, worked for the state Department of Education for more than 21 years, and eight years in the two-year college system. Administrators named him interim president of Northwest-Shoals Community College in Muscle Shoals in 2003, and interim dean of instruction at Phenix City’s Chattahoochee Valley Community College in 2004.

In 2007, when he was vice chancellor of the system, he got perhaps his most challenging assignment: restoring Bishop State at a time when it was stricken by financial aid scandals.

As interim president, he shouldered the task of saving the school when the U.S. Department of Education restricted the flow of federal aid. He was named president on a permanent basis in May 2008.

Lowe holds a 2003 doctorate in education administration from San Francisco Technical. The institution, which appears to be out of business, was never accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, according to an association representative.

Lowe, who uses the title “doctor,” said he enrolled in the online university because his job would have made it impossible to travel to a university to attend classes. He said he performed six quarters of coursework and completed a book-length dissertation on administrative supervision of higher education and community colleges.

“I was looking for what I thought was a good program,” he said. “It appeared I could get through it pretty smoothly.”

Lowe said he did not have to appear before a panel to defend the dissertation as doctoral candidates often do. Since he has moved several times, he said, he does not recall where he put his copy of the dissertation.

Lowe said he paid $7,000 to $8,000 in program costs.

Such an amount would be unusually low for a reputable university and should serve as a red flag, according to Gregory Scholtz, the associate secretary of the Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance at the American Association of University Professors.

Scholtz said that advanced degrees from reputable universities can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

“If I had known it was so easy to get a doctorate, I wouldn’t have gone to the University of Chicago,” he said.

Scholtz said he found it surprising that a state college system would allow a president to claim a degree from an unaccredited school. He wondered how the system would view a rank-and-file instructor listing a similar qualification.

He said that accreditation helps ensure that a school enjoys academic integrity.

“The real question is the quality of the instruction,” Scholtz said. “Usually, some baseline for quality is whether an institution has been accredited.”

Lowe said he is proud of his record at Bishop State, noting that the college had solved its accreditation issues under his watch.

“When I first came here, there were all kinds of turbulence. ... Changing the culture was very difficult,” he said.

Lowe also pointed to enrollment, which has increased from 2,812 in fall 2007 to 3,952 today.

“I’m not a person who’s caught up in the titles,” he said. “My career speaks for itself.”

Byrne also praised Lowe’s performance.

“Jim Lowe has just done such a superlative job bringing that institution back from almost death,” Byrne said.

Lacrosse: Home was a strip mall

McCane came to Bishop State from Jefferson Davis Community College in Brewton, where she served as associate dean of instruction.

At Bishop State, the 1986 Citronelle High School graduate is the college’s second in command and earns $105,702 a year, according to spokesman Herb Jordan. That amount includes a $2,000 bonus for having an “earned doctorate degree,” Jordan said.

McCane attained the doctorate by going through the online program at Lacrosse University from 2001 to 2003. When she started, the school was based in Louisiana, but that state’s Board of Regents refused to renew the institution’s license.

Lacrosse then set up shop in Mississippi.

McCane said she did all of her work online and did not visit the campus.

In Mississippi, Lacrosse was operating in a strip mall in Bay St. Louis. It had no classrooms, labs or other facilities, according to an account in the Biloxi Sun-Herald.

In January 2004, according to the newspaper, Lacrosse’s website cautioned students to determine whether their degree program would meet admissions requirements of other schools, should they seek to enroll: “The university makes no representations, promises or guarantees of acceptability of transfer credit to any other public or private educational institution.”

McCane said she does not recall how much the program cost because it was nearly a decade ago. According to a 2004 story in The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, the school’s website advertised tuition rates of $1,950 for a bachelor’s degree and $2,000 to $3,800 for various postgraduate degrees.

A 2004 GAO report stated that Lacrosse awarded academic credits based on life experience and required no classroom instruction. The school quoted a flat fee for a degree to an undercover investigator posing as a prospective student, according to the report.

Lacrosse shut down after the 2006-07 school year, following a review by the Mississippi Commission on College Accreditation.

The commission, according to its executive director, Menia Dykes, moved to force Lacrosse to gain accreditation with the state.

“They were advised of what the standards or requirements were, and I can’t speak for them, but they did not apply,” she said.

Dykes said that the commission never got into the details of the school’s offerings.

McCane said it would have taken four years to complete the doctoral degree under normal circumstances. She said she was able to finish in two years because Lacrosse accepted credits for post-graduate work she did at the University of Alabama.

“I did not know they had fallen on hard times since all this surfaced,” McCane said.

McCane said Lacrosse required legitimate work. She showed a reporter a copy of the degree requirements, which included 45 hours of online coursework beyond a master’s dissertation. She also showed a reporter a 158-page, hardbound book that she authored: “Past, Present and Future Trends in Alabama’s Two-Year College System as it Related to Education and Administration.”

McCane said she continues to use that work in her current job.

“They were very specific about the dissertation,” she said. “It took me over a year to do that. It’s excellent work, if I do say so. It’s the blueprint for how I do my job.”

McCane said that while Lacrosse did not have accreditation from a regional body, it did have national accreditation from the World Association of Universities and Colleges.

Willard, of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation, said that the World Association is not among the 80 accrediting bodies that appear on lists approved by the council or the Department of Education.

“I can speak fairly comfortably that it has never been a recognized accrediting organization,” he said.




Faulkner State counselor also has Ph.D. from unaccredited school

Bishop State Community College President James Lowe and his second in command, Latitia McCane, are not the only local community college officials who have doctorates from unaccredited universities.

Vanessa Murphy, a counselor at Faulkner State Community College in Bay Minette, lists a doctorate from Lacrosse University. That is the same online institution from which McCane got her doctorate in 2003.

Murphy rejected any suggestion that she got her degree from a “diploma mill” that sells academic credentials for little or no work.

“Mine is legitimate,” she said in a recent interview.

Murphy said she began working on her doctorate in 2001-02, finishing in the 2005-06 term. She said she completed 40 to 50 hours of coursework online and wrote a dissertation focusing on trends involving nontraditional students.

Lacrosse University never has been accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. It shut down following the 2006-07 academic year after Mississippi authorities insisted that it apply for state accreditation.

Murphy acknowledged that proper accreditation is important in academia, a fact she stresses to students at Faulkner State. “I’m a counselor. I try to make sure they attend accredited institutions,” she said.

Quote:Friday, June 3, 2011
More Information!!

Please review:

*Colleges within the Alabama Community College System (ACCS) employ individuals, including upper-level administrators, who hold bogus degrees from well-known diploma mills such as Lacrosse University. Others hold a honorary degree;

*College catalogs or other publications include references to these bogus and honorary degrees;

*It is a violation of Alabama State Board of Education (ASBE) policy 221.01 for any community college to publish reference to an academic degree with any person other than an earned degree granted by a duly accredited institution or an honorary degree clearly designated as such by immediate juxtaposition of the word “Honorary.”

*These violations of policy 221.01 continue despite reports to the Chancellor, Vice President of the ASBE, Vice Chancellor of Legal and Human resources, Director of Internal Audit, and Audit Committee Members of the ACCS.

* Colleges within the ACCS may be in violation of SACS Standard 1.1, Integrity

Alabama politics may be keeping this information from the public. Newsworthy matters of significant public interest such as these deserve media attention to hopefully trigger corrective actions. Again, you are encouraged to investigate and report these matters as you see fit. Thank you for your attention.

REFERENCES

Bishop State Community College Catalog -
http://bishop.edu/PDFs/catalogs/BSCC_GC_web.pdf
-- see p. 274 for reference to Lacrosse University
-- see p. 273 for reference to LL.D., (usually an honorary degree). Selma University is accredited by an agency recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, but it appears that Selma University offers no bona fide doctoral-level degree.
--see p. 273 for reference to Ph.D. Christian Bible College (not found when searched on CHEA's site)
-- see p. 272 for reference to Ph.D. San Francisco University (not found when searched on CHEA's site). Also shows as San Francisco Technical University (not found when searched on CHEA's site) at http://www.bishop.edu/profile_president.html)

Faulkner State Community College Catalog -
http://www.faulkner.cc.al.us/admissions/catalog0910
-- see p. 269 for reference to Ph. D. Lacrosse University
-- see p. 262 for reference to LL.D. (usually an honorary degree) Livingston University (now the University of West Alabama). The University of West Alabama (UWA) is accredited by an agency recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, but it appears that the LL.D. may be an honorary degree.

Trenholm State Technical College Catalog -
http://www.trenholmtech.cc.al.us/fileadm...sonnel.pdf
-- see p. 282 for reference to Bethany Theology Seminary (not found when searched on CHEA's site). However, there is a Bethany Theological Seminary that is duly accredited. Therefore, this may be a simple misprint or it may be an institution of questionable distinction.
-- see p. 287 for reference to Ph.D. Columbia Pacific University (CPU; not found when searched on CHEA's site). For additional information on CPU see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Pa...University . It may be that CPU was never accredited by an agency recognized by CHEA or the US Department of Education or both.
-- see p. 290 for reference to Doctor of Divinity, Theology, Pentecostal Bible College (not found when searched on CHEA's site).
. . .
Posted by ACOPE at 12:24 PM

Quote:Diploma Mill Presidents
Posted by Glen S. McGhee , Dir., at Florida Higher Education
Accountability Project on October 10, 2011 at 8:15am EDT

The presence of diploma mill presidents in Alabama can mean many things, but in this case it points to the irrelevance of SACS accreditation as a standard of educational quality.

If search committees don't know the difference by now, if boards of trustees are that ignorant, who can blame them for hiring employees with diploma mill degrees? Maybe this explains the growing indifference to accreditation in Florida, from faculty hiring to the repeal of the accreditation requirement for public CC's.

This is what I found today at degreediscussionboard.com:

Quote:Goliath's height

Postby John Bear on Sun Jul 12, 2009 1:52 am
I was able to find this authentic photograph, which proves that either Goliath was 16.475 feet tall or David was 27 inches tall.

Image

John Bear, M.J., Ph.D.
Licensed minister of the American Fellowship Church

John Bear
Senior Member

Posts: 2314
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 5:12 am
Location: California

Quote:Will Obama Destroy Franciscan University of Steubenville?
Ken Blackwell

Daniel Webster was the most famous lawyer of his day. In 1819, the “Godlike Daniel” stood before the U.S. Supreme Court and argued passionately for the right of Dartmouth College to govern itself, and not to be brought under the rule of the New Hampshire legislature. Webster appealed to the Constitution, arguing that New Hampshire’s actions would violate that provision that forbade states to “impair the obligations of contract." But the emotional power of his argument caught the attention of Chief Justice John Marshall, Justice Joseph Story, and in truth, captured the hearts of the country.

Richard N. Current gives us a gripping description of Daniel Webster’s defense of Dartmouth College in a 1963 American Heritage article.

“Sir, you may destroy this little institution. It is weak. It is in your hands! I know it is one of the lesser lights in the literary horizon of the country. You may put it out. But if you do so, you must carry through your work. You must extinguish, one after another, all those great lights of science which, for more than a century, have thrown their radiance over our land. It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college, and yet, there are those who love it. …”

The Dartmouth College case became one of the pillars of American jurisprudence. And Webster’s powerful appeal propelled him to a brilliant career in the U.S. Senate.

The Supreme Court that year ruled in favor of Dartmouth College. It recognized not only the supremacy of the Constitution, but it showed that it valued the signal role played by colleges and universities in American life.

The Obama administration is showing it values that role not at all. It is attempting to crush The Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. Mr. Obama’s HHS Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, is trying to force Steubenville to dispense abortion-producing drugs and pay for sterilizations. This is a Roman Catholic institution. Such things are strictly proscribed by the Catholic faith.

Sec. Sebelius may be aware that Catholic institutions are required by faith and fidelity to their mission to uphold these principles. It is an indispensable part of their mission and their reason for being. To force a Catholic institution to violate the consciences of its faculty, students and alumni in this fashion is like forcing a Yeshiva to serve pork to Orthodox Jewish students.

This attempt to crush The Franciscan University of Steubenville is, tragically, not an isolated example. From the first days of the Obama administration, there has been a kulturkampf (culture clash) against Catholic institutions not seen since the days of the Iron Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck. It was Bismarck who attempted to put all churches and universities in Prussia under his hobnailed boot.

Writer Charlotte Allen wrote of the “Persecution of Belmont Abbey” by the Obama administration in 2009. There, too, liberal zealots were demanding that the Catholic school, founded in 1876, provide contraception, abortifacients, and sterilizations or face federal sanctions. This, according to the institution’s president, could lead to closing down the historic little college.

Chai Feldblum is a tenured professor at Georgetown University Law School. This is the oldest Catholic university in the country. Ironically, Feldblum, is also a homosexual legal activist. She was Barack Obama’s choice for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She told a panel at Family Research Council that if it came to a clash between what she calls gay rights and religious liberty, religious liberty must give way. In other words: “Be Amish, or be quiet.”

We have already seen this as the most anti-Israel administration in U.S. history. Never before has an American president and secretary of state stooped to counting Jews in Jerusalem.

The Obama administration is also the most anti-Catholic administration in American history. Never before have tens of millions of Catholic Americans been forced to subsidize the killing of unborn children with their taxes—as they are under ObamaCare. But now they are also forcing Catholic institutions to take part in the destruction of innocent human lives and the maiming of others by paying for abortifacients and sterilizations. As Americans, we must defend our religious liberties--while we still have them. Steubenville is a little college, but there are those who love it!

A quote from Johann who when asked whether he wore boxers or briefs replied "Depends."

Quote:DLT guys slept through American History!

New postby johann on Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:50 pm
Dr. Gollin,

No matter what scrabbling and squeaking occurs in the DLT squirrel cage, I don't care -- even if I were to hear the occasional new squeak that sounded like "Johann."

One thing did catch my eye, long ago, George - they were comparing you to Abraham Lincoln. It started with something like "Abe Lincoln - born in Illinois; George Gollin - works in Illinois."

Don't they know Abraham Lincoln was NOT born in Illinois? He was born in Kentucky and later raised in Indiana. He moved to Illinois - still with his family - when he was 21. How come it takes a non-American, like me, to correct them? Obviously, they slept through history like the rest of their classes.

Johann

Model airplane bomber Rezwan Ferdaus holds a degree in physics from regionally accredited Northeastern University. No word yet on what third world crap hole this anchor baby's parents crawled out of.

Good thing he was just planning to blow up the Capitol and Pentagon. If he had an unaccredited degree he would be in some real trouble.

Quote:Massachusetts man arrested in terror plot

Updated: Friday, 30 Sep 2011, 8:56 AM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 28 Sep 2011, 8:11 PM EDT

(FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - We're learning more about 26-year-old Rezwan Ferdaus, the Ashland man accused of conspiring to blow up the US Capitol and Pentagon.

•Rezwan Ferdaus was a 2008 graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, where he earned a degree in physics.

•He graduated from Ashland High School in 2003.

•Ferdaus used the alias "Dave Winfield" and "Jon Ramos"

•At the time of his arrest he was living with his parents at 22 Coburn Drive in Ashland.

•Voting records show his mother, Maria Ferdaus, works as a health coordinator. His father is an engineer.

•Despite living in the neighborhood for 14 years, none of their neighbors seemed to know much about them.

•According to a source, Ferdaus was a star soccer player in Ashland. He also ran track and graduated at the top of his high school class, receiving a scholarship to go to Northeastern.

•According to an article in the Milford Daily News , Ferdaus and two other seniors at Ashland High School poured concrete in front of 10 of the school’s doors as part of a “prank” in 2003. They were also accused of burning an American flag and vandalizing the school’s tennis court net.

•He is charged with a plot to damage or destroy the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol as well as attempting to provide support and resources to foreign terrorist organization al Qaeda

•He was arrested by undercover agents posing as terrorists. He thought he was going to receive 25 pounds of C-4 explosives. 3 hand grenades. 6 fully automatic AK-47 rifles. Instead, he was busted.

•He wanted to have remote control drone airplanes, packed them with explosives, crash them into the targets. The planes are about 5 feet long with a 4 foot wingspan.

•He traveled to DC in May and chose sites where he would launch these drone planes filled with explosives.

•Ferdaus has been planning to attack DC for 2 years. He wanted to killed [sic] woman [sic] and children and as many Americans as possible.

•Ferdaus was also the drummer for the band Goospimp Orchestra.