We're having a January thaw even up here in the mountains. It's warmer and lasting longer than most such thaws in January. With the price of heating oil and propane these days I don't hear many complaints about our unexpected balmy weather. It's a good thing too because my new snow blower is kaput. The drive wheels won't engage, and the auger won't disengage. But the worst problem is that the cables that turn the snow chute freeze up whenever the temperature falls below freezing. With tongue in cheek, the Sears repairman tells me that Craftsman engineers designed this $1,400 snow thrower for summertime use only.

I'm now thinking of ways to turn my new snow thrower into a mailbox holder down at the road. My cousin Don Jenson near Armstrong, Iowa has a rusty old plow holding up his mailbox. I'm going to one up him by having a shiny red Craftsman snow thrower holding up my mailbox since it was never designed to throw snow in the winter season. You can see even more clever mailbox holders at http://www.wallstreetfighter.com/2008/01/worlds-most-redneck-mailboxes.html
There are also some in the Redneck Photo Collection --- http://www.weeville.com/redneck_collection.htm

On January 5 a close friend from our church, Bob Every, asked if I would like to ride with him for lunch and to visit a train caboose that his son is having fitted with living quarters in Lancaster, New Hampshire (his son David travels around the world an engineer for the Merchant Marines and only returns home for infrequent visits). Bob Every and his wife Pat own quite a few rental properties in New England, including a nearby barn. The barn is somewhat unique because it has  "five-holer" outhouse attached to the barn. There are two holes for adults and three holes for children.

I concluded that a family that goes together probably stays together through thick and thin. It's got to be nicer in some ways when the kids grow up and leave the nest. Think of all the extra space freed up in the bathroom.

I can recall the "two-holer" on our Seneca family farm near Fenton, Iowa. I remember how cold it could get in this unheated "necessary." What I recall even more is that there was no toilet paper. Instead we used pages torn from Sears and Roebuck catalogs. I mean I'm serious about this. As a kid I secretly tore out the women's underwear pages and hid them in the hay loft of the barn. Those pages were too precious to become toilet paper. I'm serious about this as well.

My dad's uncle, Martin (Cornelius Martin (CM) Thompson (1866-1938)), had a big and beautiful two story house on the Evergreen Farm about a mile from our farm. What was unique is that in the early 1900s this house was ordered via a catalog and shipped by rail from Sears and Roebuck. It was one of the early versions of a prefabricated house. What amazed me is the size of the house shipped in pieces by train and then hauled out to the farm by horses and wagons. Uncle Martin's assembled house was much larger and nicer than most any prefabricated home you can buy today. It was even nicer than the smaller model shown at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears_Catalog_Home
Like so many Iowa farm houses in this era of giant machinery and larger farms, Uncle Martin's house and buildings have all disappeared from the land.

Although later versions of these Sears and Roebuck houses had indoor plumbing, I don't recall indoor plumbing in Uncle Martin's fine house. Incidentally, his wife had an unusual name of Olava. Their farm had a wonderful orchard that included walnut trees. My dad always said Uncle Martin worked Aunt Olava to death. In those days, farm women really did have it rough, especially if they had to work in the fields and milk cows as well as cook three meals a day for the entire family on an iron cookstove that burned corn cobs. The women did all the washing, ironing, gardening, cleaning, canning, mending, and child rearing without plumbing, refrigerators, washing machines, or furnaces. They bore their children at home in bed. They killed and cleaned chickens almost daily even though their children generally picked the eggs. They made their own dresses out of colorful feed sacks, spun wool, and knitted warm mittens for their children and grandchildren. How were there enough hours in the day for their seemingly endless chores?

One day my Uncle Martin hitched up a team of horses to a buckboard and set out for an old cemetery in Swea Township. He up and decided to dig is father's bones out of the ground. At the gravesite he shoveled down until he found those bones inside rotted canvas. One-by-one he tossed each bone into the buckboard and hauled what was left of Grandpa Knute back to his Fenton farm as if to show Knute the wonderful new farmhouse. I think Knute was then buried in the orchard, but I'm not entirely sure about that family rumor. Knute may have eventually been reburied once again in the cemetery on the corner of our home farm. My dad's father (Julius Jensen) and his wife (Regina) gave a corner of their land to construct the Blakjar Norwegian Church and Cemetery. This Christmas I sent some money to the family to help restore some of the Jensen/Jenson graves.

The Blakjar Church, after sitting vacant for several decades on our farm, was moved in 2002 to a town park in nearby Lone Rock, Iowa. The Blakjar Cemetery still remains next to the corn fields on our former family farm. I think the two-holer is long gone as well as the church and most of the farm buildings.

 

My story about growing up in northern Iowa --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/max01.htm

My father's recollections about taking his mother Regina (Jennie or Ginny), Aunt Olava, and their cousin Anna Wilberg up to Viking, Alberta in a Model T can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/vernon.htm

Serious Thoughts of the Week
When the kids are home from school, like on a snow day, a lot of concern goes into "how to entertain the kids." If and when our many chores were completed when I was a kid, I don't think parents gave much thought to "how to entertain the kids." We were expected to entertain ourselves. I think this is an important part of making kids more creative and independent. This is why I've never been a fan of Little League organized events, television for kids, and frequent movies for kids. For us movies were an infrequent treat. Mostly we thought up things to do in playtime just like retired folks do in later life. That's the best way! And computer networking is not necessarily helping in modern times.

The World Wide Web is becoming one vast, programmable machine . . .  Most people are already there. Young people in particular spend way more time using so-called cloud apps — MySpace, Flickr, Gmail — than running old-fashioned programs on their hard drives. What's amazing is that this shift from private to public software has happened without us even noticing it . . . Computers are technologies of liberation, but they're also technologies of control. It's great that everyone is empowered to write blogs, upload videos to YouTube, and promote themselves on Facebook. But as systems become more centralized — as personal data becomes more exposed and data-mining software grows in sophistication — the interests of control will gain the upper hand. If you're looking to monitor and manipulate people, you couldn't design a better machine.
Nicholas Carr in an interview with Spencer Reiss, "The Terrifying Future of Computing," Wired Magazine, December 20, 2007 ---
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-01/st_qa

Facebook has 58 million active users (including non-collegiate members) worldwide --- unbelievable!

Growing Up Online: Young People and Digital Technologies, by Sandra Weber and Shanly Dixon (Palgrave Macmillan; 2007, 272 pages,
ISBN-13: 9781403978141, 2007)
Writings that focus on the use of computer games, the Internet, and other digital technologies by girls and young women. How times have changed since when people had to help with the endless chores of farm life years ago.

What is happening to the quality of our students?

A meta-analysis of multiple studies which revealed that schoolchildren in the 1980s (i.e. our recent and current students) reported more anxiety than child psychiatric patients did in the 1950s. Thus, our students may find life to be far more anxiety-provoking/stressful than we did as undergraduates.

Adding to this finding is the one described below that indicates stress impairs the ability to remember and learn. Taken together, these studies suggest that significantly higher levels of anxiety/stress among the current generation of college students may help to account for the “decline” in the quality of academic performance that we lament. Perhaps most of our students are doing the best they can given their life experience just as we did the best we could given our life experience.

Richard Reams, Ph.D. 
Staff Psychologist Counseling & Career Services 
Trinity University, One Trinity Place, San Antonio, TX 78212

Bob Jensen's threads on the dark side of technology are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm

 

Tidbits on January 10, 2008
Bob Jensen

For earlier editions of Tidbits go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
For earlier editions of New Bookmarks go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm 

Click here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter --- Search Site.
For example if you want to know what Jensen documents have the term "Enron" enter the phrase Jensen AND Enron. Another search engine that covers Trinity and other universities is at http://www.searchedu.com/.


Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/

CPA Examination --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpa_examination

On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

Bob Jensen's blogs and various threads on many topics --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm
       (Also scroll down to the table at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ )

Set up free conference calls at http://www.freeconference.com/
Also see http://www.yackpack.com/uc/   

Free Online Tutorials in Multiple Disciplines --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials

Google Maps Street View --- http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/

World Clock --- http://www.peterussell.com/Odds/WorldClock.php

Tips on computer and networking security --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce/000start.htm

If you want to help our badly injured troops, please check out
Valour-IT: Voice-Activated Laptops for Our Injured Troops  --- http://www.valour-it.blogspot.com/

Online Video, Slide Shows, and Audio
In the past I've provided links to various types of music and video available free on the Web. 
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm

We Are Trinity University (football's play of the year) --- http://www.trinity.edu/departments/public_relations/development_email/miracle/miracle.html
Also see http://www.trinitymiracle.com/

BigThink:  YouTube for Scholars (where intellectuals may post their lectures on societal issues) --- http://www.bigthink.com/

TED:  Technology, Entertainment, and Design Lectures --- http://www.ted.com/

Link Forwarded by Linda Ruchala
Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen --- http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/92

2007 Year in Review (Comedy Video) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztj2qfui114

From MIT
Searchable Lecture Browser --- --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI 

What's New in the Stanford Graduate School of Business (Video) --- http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/av/update_commmeeting.html

The Mom Song sung to the William Tell Overture (forwarded by John Donahue) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

Free music downloads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm

Tchaikovsky's 'The Queen of Spades' From the Vienna State Opera (Act 1) --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17818105

Love Under Siege: Rossini's 'Maometto Secondo' at the Concertgebouw (Act 1) --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17175701

The Count Basie Orchestra with Ledisi in Concert --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17794048

Super Harmonica Playing --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfLhnkme2mE

Christian Scott: A New Jazz 'Anthem' --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17173217

Best Hip-Hop of 2007 (not my pleasure) --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17519166

Sony BMG to start selling music downloads without copy protection --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Wire/20018/?nlid=794

The Older the Violin, the Sweeter the Music --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin
Fiddle (including fiddling styles) --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddle
Violin vs. the Fiddle --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddle#Violin_vs._fiddle
Turkic and Mongolian horsemen from Inner Asia were probably the world’s earliest fiddlers.

Videos of Famous Violinists --- http://vegyeskar.hu/violin.hegedu.video/

Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier
The Henry Reed Collection in the Library of Congress --- http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/reed/

Bob Jensen listens to music free online (and no commercials) --- http://www.slacker.com/ 

Photographs and Art

Old Gas Stations (when prices were less than a dollar a gallon) --- http://www.ohiobarns.com/othersites/gas/gas.html

Old Barns --- http://www.angelfire.com/id/photogreats/barnphotographstest.html
Also see http://blog.gino-caron.com/index.php?showimage=365&lang=en

Link Forwarded by Auntie Bev
Rattle Snakes in a Pipe --- http://community-2.webtv.net/karenlprince/AMUSTSEE/index.html

Beautiful Photographs from Around the World (hit the spacebar) --- Click Here

Action Photographs --- http://greatblogabout.com/?p=1265

Mark Story's The Face of Age --- http://www.markstoryphotography.com/

Lorie Earley Gallery --- http://www.loriearley.com/

Amazing Sand Castles --- http://www.funnies.com/sandcastles.htm

Redneck Photo Collection --- http://www.weeville.com/redneck_collection.htm

 

Online Books, Poems, References, and Other Literature
In the past I've provided links to various types electronic literature available free on the Web. 
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

A Different Christmas Poem --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2008/tidbits080114.htm#DifferentChristmasPoem

From The Economist Magazine
Style Guide --- http://www.economist.com/research/StyleGuide/

From Atlantic Magazine
Books & Critics --- http://www.theatlantic.com/index/books

From the University of Toronto
Representative Poetry Online --- http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/872.html

Project Gutenberg Update --- http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/

The Page (Poetry, Essays, Ideas) --- http://thepage.name/

Poetry Portal --- http://www.poetry-portal.com/

From the University of Western Michigan
A Small Anthology of Poems --- http://unix.cc.wmich.edu/~cooneys/poems/

Poems by Komitas --- http://www.komitas.am/eng/poetry.htm

The Euphemism Generator (hit the reload button for boring fun)  --- http://walkingdead.net/perl/euphemism

Gullible Information --- http://www.gullible.info/

Open Letters --- http://www.openletters.net/

Pi (in mathematics) --- http://www.vvc.edu/ph/TonerS/mathpi.html

The Simpsons Quotes --- http://www.thesimpsonsquotes.com/

Educators can and should play a significant role in defining how college quality and affordability should be measured. But that will happen only if they recognize a growing shift away from the deference traditionally accorded to higher education. The most important lesson for the future is that higher education still has time to shape its own destiny with regard to public trust and accountability. But that will require that its leaders genuinely involve themselves in emerging public concerns.
Patrick Callan and John Immerwahr, "What Colleges Must Do to Keep the Public's Good Will," Chronicle of Higher Education, January 11, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i18/18a05601.htm?utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en

The extent to which bogus colleges are being used to help illegal immigrants enter Britain was exposed on Tuesday. Almost half of private colleges visited by inspectors have been struck off an official list of approved providers. Some were removed for "technical" reasons, but many others are understood to be fronts for student visa scams. Out of 256 colleges checked since the register was set up three years ago, 124 were removed. But with as many as 1,750 private colleges still to be inspected, more could yet be exposed. Immigrants pay hundreds or even thousands of pounds to the fake college, where no classes ever take place, to become "students" and qualify for temporary visas. It is cheaper and safer route into Britain than paying to be smuggled in by organised gangs.
Laura Clark, London Daily Mail, January 8, 2008 --- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=506884&in_page_id=1770

There will be a serious, critical look at the final pre-election polls in the Democratic presidential primary in New Hampshire; that is essential. It is simply unprecedented for so many polls to have been so wrong. We need to know why. But we need to know it through careful, empirically based analysis. There will be a lot of claims about what happened - about respondents who reputedly lied, about alleged difficulties polling in biracial contests. That may be so. It also may be a smokescreen - a convenient foil for pollsters who'd rather fault their respondents than own up to other possibilities - such as their own failings in sampling and likely voter modeling.
Gary Langer, "New Hampshire's Polling Fiasco," ABC News, January 9, 2008 --- http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/2008/01/new-hampshires.html 
Jensen Comment
I think the answer is simple. Most "polls" are neither scientific nor unbiased. In fairness, however, even unbiased pollsters are trying to take a snapshot of a moving target. In New Hampshire the target moved pretty fast before the end of the 2008 primary election.

Hurricane Katrina's victims have put a price tag on their suffering and it is staggering — including one plaintiff seeking the unlikely sum of $3 quadrillion. The total number — $3,014,170,389,176,410 — is the dollar figure so far sought from some 489,000 claims filed against the federal government over damage from the failure of levees and flood walls following the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane. Of the total number of claims, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it has received 247 for at least $1 billion apiece, including the one for $3 quadrillion.
MSNBC, January 9, 2008 --- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22571349/?GT1=10755
Jensen Comment
Win or lose, an awful lot of Louisiana lawyers will live in the lap of luxury.

This is not a victory lap that President Bush is embarking upon this week, a journey set to take him to Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian territories, the Saudi Kingdom, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Mr. Bush by now knows the heartbreak and guile of that region. After seven years and two big wars in that "Greater Middle East," after a campaign against the terror and the malignancies of the Arab world, there will be no American swagger or stridency. But Mr. Bush is traveling into the landscape and setting of his own legacy. He is arguably the most consequential leader in the long history of America's encounter with those lands. . . . Suffice it for them that George W. Bush was at the helm of the dominant imperial power when the world of Islam and of the Arabs was in the wind, played upon by ruinous temptations, and when the regimes in the saddle were ducking for cover, and the broad middle classes in the Arab world were in the grip of historical denial of what their radical children had wrought. His was the gift of moral and political clarity. In America and elsewhere, those given reprieve by that clarity, and single-mindedness, have been taking this protection while complaining all the same of his zeal and solitude. In his stoic acceptance of the burdens after 9/11, we were offered a reminder of how nations shelter behind leaders willing to take on great challenges. We scoffed, in polite, jaded company when George W. Bush spoke of the "axis of evil" several years back. The people he now journeys amidst didn't: It is precisely through those categories of good and evil that they describe their world, and their condition. Mr. Bush could not redeem the modern culture of the Arabs, and of Islam, but he held the line when it truly mattered. He gave them a chance to reclaim their world from zealots and enemies of order who would have otherwise run away with it.
Fouad Ajami (Johns Hopkins University), "Bush of Arabia:  This U.S. president is the most consequential the Middle East has ever seen," The Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2008 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110011098

It is often said that the Bush administration's effort to bring democracy to the Middle East wasn't so much a case of American idealism as it was of hubris. That may yet prove true. But is it any less hubristic to think the enterprise was ever going to be brought off without blundering time and again? It's a thought that ought to weigh especially heavily on Mr. Obama, dream candidate of America's great expectations.
Bret Stephens, "Great (American) Expectations," The Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2008; Page A20 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119975811297173767.html

Half a cheer for Mrs. Clinton for sparing a thought for "the Iraqis who sided with us." To our mind, this makes her preferable to front-runner Barack Obama, who has said http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110010382  that genocide of Iraqis would be better than a continued U.S. presence . . . In other words, Mrs. Clinton is halfway to acknowledging that her proposed retreat would likely leave Iraq as either an anti-American state or a haven for anti-American terrorists. It's hard to see how either outcome would leave America better off than it is today.
Opinion Journal, January 7, 2008

Don't look for fair and balanced election coverage in 2008 from NBC
Quoting another network reporter, NBC's Brian Williams said today it's difficult to cover the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama objectively.
"NBC admits bias toward Obama," WorldNetDaily, January 8, 2008 --- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59593

Elections May Make Candidates Ideologically Rigid Politicians want to assure the electorate that they share the political leanings of voters. This attention to the electoral process, says GSB Professor Kenneth Shotts, means that politicians are more rigid and less likely to change their positions based on new information, particularly when voters may not share that insight.
Research News, Stanford University, November 2007 --- http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/shotts_elections.html

I'm afraid too many Democrats put both ideology and partisan interests ahead of the national interest.
Senator Joe Lieberman to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, The Wall Street Journal, January 3, 2008 ---
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/8_0004.html?bcpid=86195573&bclid=212338097&bctid=1364230113

My sense is that Mr. Huckabee's good supporters deserve a better leader. His next problem may be not so much New Hampshire as Ed Rollins, the Reagan White House political aide who came in a week ago to manage his campaign. Mr. Rollins began his tenure announcing to respectful young reporters that he--"the grizzled veteran," the "old battler"--would like to sink to his knees and "shoot Romney in the groin" and "punch his teeth out." Such class is of course always welcome on the trail, but one senses the verbal ante will constantly be upped, and I'm not sure that will work well for Mr. Huckabee. Self inflated dirigibles, especially unmoored ones, can cast shadows on parades.
Peggy Noonan, "Out With the Old, In With the New:  Obama and Huckabee rise; Mrs. Clinton falls," The Wall Street Journal, January 4, 2008 ---
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110011083

US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists
A day after ordained Baptist minister Mike Huckabee finished first in the opening round to choose a Republican candidate for the White House, scientists warned Americans against electing a leader who doubts evolution. "The logic that convinces us that evolution is a fact is the same logic we use to say smoking is hazardous to your health or we have serious energy policy issues because of global warming," University of Michigan professor Gilbert Omenn told reporters at the launch of a book on evolution by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). "I would worry that a president who didn't believe in the evolution arguments wouldn't believe in those other arguments either. This is a way of leading our country to ruin," added Omenn, who was part of a panel of experts at the launch of "Science, Evolution and Creationism." Former Arkansas governor Huckabee said in a debate in May that he did not believe in evolution.
"US 'doomed' if creationist president elected: scientists," PhysOrg, January 5, 2008 --- http://physorg.com/news118756781.html
Jensen Comment
A creationist might win the GOP nomination, but it would be awfully hard to get top scientists to work with an Administration that denies evolution. It will also be very difficult to win the general election with objections to abortion and stem cell research. I suspect that a vote for such an extremist in the primary is a vote for a loser in the general election. But then does the GOP have any candidates with a chance in November 2008? The November 2008 presidential race is shaping up as a divisive race for the bottom.

The December "surprise" resulting from the publication of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate disrupted fifteen years of Israeli policy based on working with the international coalition to pressure Iran to drop its nuclear weapons program through sanctions and the threat of military action, and has reminded Israelis of the limits of American security guarantees and strategic cooperation. * Within two weeks following publication of the NIE report, China signed a major contract on energy development and supply with Iran, and Russia quickly dispatched two shipments of nuclear fuel for the Bushehr nuclear reactor. Egypt moved to improve relations with Iran, and Saudi Arabia welcomed Iranian President Ahmadinejad to Mecca for the Haj . . . In addition, the overall decline of U.S. influence, as reflected in Iraq, the return of Russia as a world power, the chaos in Pakistan, and other developments, has highlighted the limits of Israeli reliance on American assistance, and the need for Israel to maintain an independent capability to act when necessary.
Gerald M. Steinberg (Institute for Contemporary Affairs/Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) as quoted on January 7, 2008 in an email from Naomi Ragen [nragen@netvision.net.il] 

Presidential candidate Barack Obama's maiden speech to the pro-Israel lobby last week saw a man described by early supporters as an ardent dove on Israel take flight as a bird of considerably more hawkish mien. Obama, Illinois' Democratic junior senator, told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) last Friday that he was committed, above all else, to "peace through security" for the Jewish state. It was a phrase that appeared with variations repeatedly throughout the 30-minute speech, delivered according to many in attendance in a stilted monotone curiously devoid of passion. The more venerable formulation "land for peace" was nowhere to be found. Absent, too, were any references to "settlements," "occupation" or "territorial compromise" in a talk before a hometown Chicago audience of some 800 sponsored by the pro-Israel lobby's Midwest region. While not surprising for a talk before the pro-Israel lobby -- where such terms are usually few and far between -- some found it surprising for a candidate known not too long ago to some as an unabashed dove. "He was on the line of Peace Now," said Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, of KAM Isaiah Israel, who lives across the street from Obama in the University of Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park, one of the country's most liberal electoral districts. "He was a moderate peacenik." Rabbi Wolf, himself a longtime dove, said that today Obama is "very, very cautious -- with AIPAC, excessively cautious."
Larry Cohler-Esses, The Jewish Week, March 8, 2007 --- http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6640.shtml

Recently we were chatting with a left-leaning friend, who dismissed Obama's chances on the ground that America will not elect a black president. We don't believe it. If Obama's race is not a liability in Iowa and New Hampshire, neither of which has a large black population, there is no reason to think it would be a liability nationwide.
Opinion Journal, January 4, 2008
See http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110005191
Jensen Comment
If Obama loses the general election in November 2008 it may well be that the silent majority thinks it's just too scary picturing "a moderate peacenik" wearing the cap of the Commander and Chief of the U.S. Military in a dire crisis. Hillary may be correct about her dovish opponents in this race for the Democratic nomination. Obama is changing his dovish rhetoric when addressing the Jewish lobbies and pledges his full support of Israel. But since Dennis Kucinich dropped out of the race, I don't think there is a presidential candidate left in the race that has not pledged support for Israel.  In spite of his pro-Israel pledges, I doubt that Obama can muster wide support of the "silent majority" in favor of a strong U.S. military presence in the world. The sad part is that, if Obama does lose his election bid, many in the world will blame it on racism. In truth he's garnering some votes because America is trying to desperately prove it's not racist. The underlying major reason for defeat may instead be Obama's dovish past. But then again America in history has repeatedly elected presidents who hated war but fiercely and unexpectedly rose to the occasion in times of crises. For example, JFK did not back down in Cuba or Viet Nam (with doubts). We even survived Jimmy Carter for four years, although Carter's bid for a second term was cut short in large measure because he was unable to intimidate Iran when it held 52 U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days. Iran released all 52 U.S. hostages the minute a more hawkish Ronald Reagan took the oath of office. If Obama becomes Commander and Chief we may one day discover that he really isn't at all like the pacifist Dennis Kucinich. The big question at this juncture in time is whether the silent majority is willing to bet on this unknown part of a very young and untested Senator Obama.

This is unfortunate. Saddam Hussein was one of the worst and most dangerous dictators of the late 20th century. The basic proposition of unseating him was hardly an unconscionable idea, even if President Bush's approach to doing so was unilateralist, arrogant and careless. With our last image of Saddam a resigned figure heading for the gallows, it is easy to forget who this monster was. He had used chemical weapons against his own defenseless people, as well as the armies of Iran; he violated 17 U.N. Security Council resolutions that demanded his verifiable disarmament; he had the blood of perhaps one million people on his hands; he transformed his country into what Iraqi dissident Kanan Makiya famously called the "republic of fear." (Saddam's behavior didn't improve when we tried the kind of high-level diplomacy Mr. Obama favors by sending envoys like Donald Rumsfeld and April Glaspie.) Saddam's worst may have been behind him by 2003 -- but he was grooming his sadistic sons Uday and Qusay as successors with unknowable consequences. His WMD programs were in limbo, we now know. But before the war even German intelligence thought him only half a dozen years from a nuclear weapon. Sanctions limited his funds for military programs, but the sanctions were eroding fast in the years before the invasion. Saddam's links to al Qaeda were overdramatized, but Saddam's own record of atrocities against his own people, Iranians and Kuwaitis, as well as his support for anti-Israeli terrorists, were heinous enough. Yet Mr. Obama consistently accuses those who supported the war of political motivations -- and unsavory ones at that. On Dec. 27, for example, Mr. Obama said in Des Moines, Iowa, "You can't fall in line behind the conventional thinking on issues as profound as war and then offer yourself as the leader who is best prepared to chart a new and better course for America."
Machael O'Hanlon, "Obama and Iraq," The Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2008; Page A13 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119966495923671075.html

John Edwards says that if elected president he would withdraw the American troops who are training the Iraqi army and police as part of a broader plan to remove virtually all American forces within 10 months. Mr. Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina who is waging a populist campaign for the Democratic nomination, said that extending the American training effort in Iraq into the next presidency would require the deployment of tens of thousands of troops to provide logistical support and protect the advisers. "To me, that is a continuation of the occupation of Iraq," he said in a 40-minute interview on Sunday aboard his campaign bus as it rumbled through western Iowa. In one of his most detailed discussions to date about how he would handle Iraq as president, Mr. Edwards staked out a position that would lead to a more rapid and complete troop withdrawal than his principal rivals, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, who have indicated they are open to keeping American trainers and counterterrorism units in Iraq.
James Taranto, "The World's Smallest Violin," January 2, 2008 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110009470
Jensen Comment
When in the Senate, John Edwards was originally a strong supporter of Iraq's liberation. Now in his bid to become President he's willing pull all our troops out of Iraq even if it entails returning Iraq to an explosive civil war or surrendering to al-Qaeda. Is this what we really want after all this sacrifice? Should he really be our Commander and Chief?

Perhaps the biggest factor contributing to rising oil prices has been largely overlooked: the decline in the value of the dollar.
"Oil and the Dollar," The Wall Street Journal, January 4, 2008; Page A10 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119941453085566759.html
Jensen Comment
Ironically, those that blame the Bush Administration for high oil prices may be right for the wrong reasons. For nearly seven years, President Bush was a spendthrift who never once vetoed lavish spending bills forwarded by Congress. Nor did he crack down on billions upon billions lost to frauds. His reckless fiscal policies contributed greatly to the plunging value of U.S. currency and the soaring of oil prices for U.S. consumers. At this juncture Bush is probably more to blame than China's increasing demand for oil. Another factor of course has been the failure of his administration and the major oil companies to build badly needed new refineries in the face of exploding demand for oil. Old oil refineries are strained beyond capacity in the U.S.

I also want to address the issue of protecting telecom companies from lawsuits. It's critical that Congress provide retroactive liability protection for telecommunications companies, as a bipartisan bill from the Senate Intelligence Committee does. Let me explain why this is important. Over 40 lawsuits have been filed against telecommunication companies simply because these companies are believed to have assisted our intelligence agencies after the attacks of September 11th. The amounts of these claims -- which run into the hundreds of billions of dollars; that's billions with a B -- are enough to send any company into bankruptcy. These companies face lawsuits, they face bankruptcy, they face loss of reputation, they face millions of dollars in legal fees, all because they are alleged to have helped the government in obtaining intelligence information after 9/11. Even if you believe the lawsuits will ultimately be dismissed, as we do, the prospect of having to defend against these massive claims is an enormous burden for the companies to bear. Not only is the litigation itself costly, but the companies also may suffer significant business and reputational harm as the result of the allegations against them -- allegations which may or may not be true, but to which they cannot publicly respond, because they're not allowed to confirm or deny whether, and to what extent, they provide classified assistance to the Government. . . .
Attorney General Michael Mukasey, The Wall Street Journal, January 4, 2008 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119941527244966957.html
Jensen Comment
It's almost cynical how Congress made it somewhat easier to monitor international telephone calls of terror cells but refuses to pass key legislation to make it possible. Retroactive liability protection will only be provided over the dead bodies of Senator Patrick Leahy, Presidential Candidate John Edwards (a trial lawyer loyal to his profession), Keith Olbermann, and the ACLU. In the meantime, the U.S. public has grown apathetic about terrorism since Al Qaeda had no successful attacks on U.S. soil since over 3,000 people were killed on 9/11. Public support liability protection will, however, become overwhelming when the next big terror attack hits the U.S. The sad part is that the next big terror attack might be prevented if legislation enabled telecommunications companies to cooperate with the intelligence agencies.

A new booklet from the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine offers an overview of research on evolution and creationism, finding that the former is sound science and the latter is anything but. “Science, Evolution and Creationism” won’t surprise many scientists, but its intended audience is the public, where debates continue to flare. The booklet argues that religious faith and belief in evolution are not mutually exclusive. But teaching creationist beliefs in the classroom is a problem, the booklet says. “Teaching creationist ideas in science class confuses students about what constitutes science and what does not,” the booklet says.
Inside Higher Ed, January 4, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/01/04/qt 

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that a woman who promised a sperm donor he would not have to pay child support cannot renege on the deal. The 3-2 decision overturns lower court rulings under which Joel L. McKiernan had been paying up to $1,500 a month to support twin boys born in August 1994 to Ivonne V. Ferguson, his former girlfriend and co-worker . . . "It sounds like the Pennsylvania court is trying to push a little harder into the brave new world of sperm, egg and embryo donation as it's evolving," Caplan said. McKiernan's lawyer, John W. Purcell Jr., said Wednesday an adverse decision against his client would have jeopardized the entire system of sperm donation.
Mark Scalforo, "Sperm Donor Wins Case Over Child Support," WTOPnews, January 3, 2008 --- http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=104&sid=1319922

Mr. McCain's views on immigration and perhaps a number of other issues may never win the approval of some of his strongest supporters. But to those who have watched him these many years, that can't in the end matter. They know who he is. Those differences likely won't matter in New Hampshire, either, which he won the last time round. To hear him respond to questions, as he did recently in a visit to The Wall Street Journal's offices, is to grasp his command of events and policies, of security issues, of foreign relations. It is to grasp, also, how nearly heartless seeming are any comparisons between his authority on the issues, and those of his Republican competitors. (That's not counting Democrat Barack Obama, whose stance against terrorism, should he become president, will apparently consist largely of antipoverty programs, reassuring the world of our peaceful intentions, and attending Islamic Conferences.)
Dorothy Rabinowitz, "McCain's Promise It is cruel to compare the senator to most of his Republican competitors," The Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2008 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/medialog/?id=110011093

"Universal" health care is of course a major Democratic issue, and Mr. Obama laid out a proposal in May, Mrs. Clinton in September. Both plans create a public insurance option managed by the government. Both plans impose more stringent regulations on insurance companies, and both institute new taxes on business. The main substantive difference is that Mrs. Clinton's plan would dictate that everyone have health insurance, while Mr. Obama's would only require the coverage of children. This so-called "individual mandate" has become the preferred liberal health policy tool after Mitt Romney introduced it in Massachusetts. In theory, such a law would force everyone to sign up for health insurance--either through their employers, a private plan or a government option--or otherwise pay penalties.
"HillaryCare v. Obama The left's health-care spat," The Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2008 ---
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110011092

We should be wary of proposals that if adopted would not reduce (and might increase) aggregate costs, but instead would shift the costs to another class of payees, such as taxpayers (the Edwards plan contemplates additional federal subsidies for health care, which are paid for out of taxes) or future consumers of drugs.
Richard Posner (a famous lawyer/economist), "The Reform of Health Care," The Becker-Posner Blog, April 15, 2007 ---
Click Here for a great summary of the issues followed by many informed commentaries

Sicko Deatho in Europe
We live in an age of unprecedented medical innovation. Unfortunately, most of today's cutting-edge research is conducted outside Europe, which was once a pioneer in this field. About 78% of global biotechnology research funds are spent in the U.S., compared to just 16% in Europe. Americans therefore have better access to modern drugs. One result is that in the U.S., the annual death rate from cancer is 196 per 100,000 people, compared to 235 in Britain, 244 in France, 270 in Italy and 273 in Germany.
Daniele Capezzone, "Sicko Europe, The Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2007; Page A9 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118610945461187080.html?mod=opinion&ojcontent=otep

The most frightening thing about universal health care is increased opportunity for massive, I mean really massive, fraud
Link forwarded by Rose
"Blatant Medicare fraud costs taxpayers billions Officials say outrageous fraud schemes are 'off the charts'," by Mark Potter, MSNBC, December 11, 2007 --- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22184921/from/ET/

The answers were astounding. Congressman Dennis Kucinich thinks that the top 1% of income earners earns about 60% of all income, and he thinks that they pay about 15% of all income taxes. The fact is that the top 1% of all income earners pull in about 18% of all income and pay 38.8% of all income taxes. This is an astounding level of ignorance on such an important statistic. You can excuse a mother of three loading up on Happy Meals for her porky little kids at a McDonalds for not knowing this .. .but a member of the Congress? Remember .. the Clinton tax increase passed the House of Representatives by only one vote ... and Kucinich was there ... there without a clue ... there voting for a tax increase on people he thought earned 60% of all the income but were only paying 15% of all income taxes. Inexcusable.
Neal Boortz, "THE AMAZING DENNIS KUCINICH (Neal Boortz interviews Dennis Kucinich)," Nuze, January 9, 2008 --- http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html

Supporters and critics of Indiana's law requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls square off in oral arguments before the Supreme Court today. The heated rhetoric surrounding the case lays bare the ideological conflict of visions raging over efforts to improve election integrity. Supporters say photo ID laws simply extend rules that require everyone to show such ID to travel, enter federal office buildings or pick up a government check. An honor system for voting, in their view, invites potential fraud. That's because many voting rolls are stuffed with the names of dead people and duplicate registrations--as recent scandals in Washington state and Missouri involving the activist group ACORN attest.
"Voter-Fraud Showdown:  How can anyone object to asking for ID?" The Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2008 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110011102 

Rush Limbaugh’s detractors never learn. They’ve tried everything to come between Rush and his more than 20 million listeners, intending to destroy his appeal and impact. But it’s a hopeless, almost laughable endeavor. They led boycotts against his advertisers -- yet his show continues to generate more revenue than any other on radio. They pressured his affiliates to drop his program, but he’s still heard on more than 600 stations -- more than any other talk host. They tried to keep him off Armed Forces Radio, of course, but he has the most popular program on the military’s radio network. Try as they might, the Rush-haters cannot silence him, or persuade his massive audience to tune him out. After two decades as the top talk host in the nation, his ratings are stronger than ever. He is more popular and influential than ever. And yet, the Rush-haters persist. Their favorite tactic is to twist Rush’s on-air remarks to make them fit their stereotypes and to advance their political objectives.
Mark R. Levin, "Man of the Year," Human Events, January 7, 2008 --- http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=24305
Jensen Comment
I'm not a big Rush Limbaugh fan. But in America he should be allowed to say his piece for the hard right just as we allow Keith Oberman (MSNBC), Michael Moore, Nancy Pelosi, Jon Stewart, and most Hollywood stars to say their pieces for the hard left. At least Rush is not trying to squelch the hard left. In fact he thrives on it. It seems unfair to use tactics to silence him entirely.

These Negroes, they're getting pretty uppity these days and that's a problem for us since they've got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we've got to do something about this, we've got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference. For if we don't move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there'll be no way of stopping them, we'll lose the filibuster and there'll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It'll be Reconstruction all over again.
Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President of the United States, As quoted by Bruce Bartlett, "Whitewash:  The racist history the Democratic Party wants you to forget," The Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2008 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110011033

Having the means and the will to spread monolithic thought that shapes and molds the beliefs of the masses is a power long sought throughout history. The only way it could get better is if left-leaning newspapers and networks got together to then "poll" the American people on the one-sided news they offered them with regard to the war and the Bush administration. Well, things are much better. In a medium that basically polices itself, offering slanted news and then "polling" such myopic information is the norm for many. While a majority of journalists may still consider such conduct unprofessional, dangerous and diametrically opposed to the best interests of readers and viewers, none can deny that it is not a part of their industry. As an example, any independent study of the media during the past few years will show an almost obsessive need to promote exclusively negative stories about Iraq. We have been told of the "horrible misconduct" of our soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison, the possible "atrocities" committed by our troops at Haditha, that al-Qaida was overrunning the country, that this was the "deadliest day," "deadliest week," "deadliest month" and "deadliest year" of the war, that the war was "lost," and finally, that the "surge" (meaning our troops) — would fail. Iraq, and a strong dislike of this president by many journalists, seem to have caused some to compromise their profession and their principles. Lest we forget, Abu Ghraib, which some former Pentagon colleagues told me was nothing more than a reprehensible "fraternity prank," — was on our front pages and on our networks for weeks or months. By comparison, how much coverage did the capture, torture, physical mutilation and execution of some of our troops at the hands of the insurgents get? How many U.S. troops were killed by al-Qaida and other terrorists whipped into a frenzy by the nonstop showing of the Abu Ghraib photos and videos?
Douglas MacKinnon, "U.S. Military Defeats Fourth Estate," Town Hall, January 7, 2008 --- http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DouglasMacKinnon/2008/01/07/us_military_defeats_fourth_estate

The anguished relationship between the military and the news media appears to be on the mend as battlefield successes from the troop increase in Iraq are reflected in more upbeat news coverage. Efforts from the new Pentagon leadership, as well as by top commanders at the headquarters in Baghdad, have also eased tensions between reporters and those in uniform. Positive or negative, the troops’ view of the news media is set as much by the tone of commanders as by the tenor of individual news clips.
Thom Shanker, The New York Times, January 7, 2008 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/washington/07military.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

After her death, Ms Bhutto has emerged as an icon of secularism and modernity in the Islamic world, a courageous political leader and a champion democrat, a champion of women’s rights, and a fighter against the Jihadists. Her death has been compared to Gandhi’s and her political struggle to Aung San Suu Kyi’s. She was going to replace the rogue dictatorship of President Musharraf to institute democracy and secularism in Pakistan. In a thoughtful analysis, however, it turns out that the majority of these epithets bestowed on her career and legacy are not accurate. Her most devastating action, not only for Pakistan but also for the whole world, was her patronization of the Taliban militia in Afghanistan and fueling of separatist Jihad in Kashmir. It is not right to put all the blame on her for the support that the Taliban and Kashmiri militants received during her tenure as Prime Minister (PM), because Pakistan intelligence services (ISI) and the military are too powerful for the PM to call the shot alone. Yet, she must accept her share of eager complicity.
Alamgir Hussain, "Benazir Bhutto: In Life and Death, a Blessing to the Jihadists," Islam Watch, January 7, 2008 --- Click Here

Baitullah Mehsud is being blamed for most of the suicide bombings in Pakistan, including Benazir Bhutto's assassination. The rise of a militant leader. How do you track down a foe without a face? That is the challenge posed by Baitullah Mehsud, the man who could well be the newest Enemy No. 1 in the War on Terror. Since he first emerged as a young jihadist leader three years ago, the black-bearded and slow-talking tribal leader has transformed his Mehsud clan's mountainous badlands in the northwest corner of Pakistan into a safe haven for Al Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban and outlawed Pakistani jihadists. Though uneducated, and only in his mid-30s, Baitullah snookered Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf into a fake peace deal two years ago—and even got him to hand over a few hundred thousand dollars. Just as important, Baitullah has learned the hard lessons of previous jihadists who grew too enamored of the spotlight for their own good. According to Afghan Taliban who know him, he travels in a convoy of pickups protected by two dozen heavily armed guards, he rarely sleeps in the same bed twice in a row, and his face has never been photographed. They say his role model is Mullah Mohammed Omar, the equally mysterious Taliban leader who disappeared from view in 2001.
Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau, "Al Qaeda’s Newest Triggerman," Newsweek, January 14, 2008 --- http://www.newsweek.com/id/84535

Does Iran really want to provoke a war with the U.S. in this election year? Watch the video ---
http://www.breitbart.tv/html/26424.html

 

Good News for Accounting Graduates: Hiring Outlook Remains Strong in 2008 ---
http://accounting.smartpros.com/x60255.xml

College Business Students Cite Career Opportunities, Not Money, as Top Criteria for Choosing Employer ---
http://accounting.smartpros.com/x59967.xml

Bob Jensen's threads on accountancy careers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#careers

Question
Should you share your knowledge on YouTube?

"Thanks to YouTube, Professors Are Finding New Audiences," Jeffrey R. Young, Inside Higher Ed, January 9, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/free/2008/01/1159n.htm

One Web site that opened this week, Big Think,  hopes to be "a YouTube for ideas." The site offers interviews with academics, authors, politicians, and other thinkers. Most of the subjects are filmed in front of a plain white background, and the interviews are chopped into bite-sized pieces of just a few minutes each. The short clips could have been served up as text quotes, but Victoria R. M. Brown, co-founder of Big Think, says video is more engaging. "People like to learn and be informed of things by looking and watching and learning," she says.

YouTube itself wants to be a venue for academe. In the past few months, several colleges have signed agreements with the site to set up official "channels." The University of California at Berkeley was the first, and the University of Southern California, the University of New South Wales, in Australia, and Vanderbilt University soon followed.

It remains an open question just how large the audience for talking eggheads is, though. After all, in the early days of television, many academics hoped to use the medium to beam courses to living rooms, with series like CBS's Sunrise Semester. which began in 1957. Those efforts are now a distant memory.

Things may be different now, though, since the Internet offers a chance to connect people with the professors and topics that most interest them.

Even YouTube was surprised by how popular the colleges' content has been, according to Adam Hochman, a product manager at Berkeley's Learning Systems Group. Lectures are long, after all, while most popular YouTube videos run just a few minutes. (Lonelygirl, the diary of a teenage girl, had episodes that finished in well under a minute. Many other popular shorts involve cute animals or juvenile stunts). Yet some lectures on Berkeley's channel scored 100,000 viewers each, and people were sitting through the whole talks. "Professors in a sense are rock stars," Mr. Hochman concludes. "We're getting as many hits as you would find with some of the big media players."

YouTube officials insist that they weren't surprised by the buzz, and they say that more colleges are coming forward. "We expect that education will be a vibrant category on YouTube," said Obadiah Greenberg, strategic partner manager at YouTube, in an e-mail interview. "Everybody loves to learn."

To set up an official channel on YouTube, colleges must sign an agreement with the company, though no money changes hands. That allows the colleges to brand their section of the site, by including a logo or school colors, and to upload longer videos than typical users are allowed.

The company hasn't exactly made it easy to find the academic offerings, though. Clicking on the education category shows a mix of videos, including ones with babes posing in lingerie and others on the lectures of Socrates. But that could change if the company begins to sign up more colleges and pay more attention to whether videos are appearing in the correct subject areas, says Dan Colman, director and associate dean of Stanford University's continuing-studies program, who runs a blog tracking podcasts and videos made by colleges and professors.

In many cases, the colleges were already offering the videos they are putting on YouTube on their own Web sites, or on Apple's iTunes U, an educational section of the iTunes Store. But college officials say that teaming up with YouTube is greatly expanding their audiences because so many people are poking around the service already.

Continued in article

BigThink:  YouTube for Scholars (where intellectuals may post their lectures on societal issues) --- http://www.bigthink.com/

TED:  Technology, Entertainment, and Design Lectures --- http://www.ted.com/

UC Berkeley and other major universities now offer hundreds of courses on YouTube --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

January 9, 2008 reply from David Fordham, James Madison University [fordhadr@JMU.EDU]

Here's another question: I notice that education academics are poo-poo'ing the "lecture" delivery methodology (in favor of "active learning", "participatory education", "learner physical engagement", etc.), but education *practitioners* are exponentially snowballing the production of "sit down and watch me"-type of passive "entertainment" delivery mechanisms....

Could it be that accounting is not the only domain with a disconnect between academics and practitioners?

Just a thought. ;-)

Having suffered through raising a terribly attention-deficit child (and we know with certainty the early-childhood cause of this particular case), I can't help but marvel at how the short video clips (sound bites?) are catering to the learning styles of the present hyperactive generation of learners. --- This begs another question: Since much of human progress has resulted from in-depth understanding which requires longer-term periods of study and contemplation for full comprehension and synthesis, what long-term impact will the present ubiquity of these "attention-deficit-reinforcing" delivery mechanisms have on the development of intellect in the upcoming generation?

Will there be an evolutionary morphosis in the process of human thought, some kind of change we haven't thought about or foreseen, where human intellect might no longer require lengthy periods of "gearing up mentally" in order to understand and comprehend and analyze and synthesize complex ideas and thoughts?

Just a few musings by an old grey-haired has-been who still enjoys sitting down in an easy chair and spending an hour or two at a time with a printed book, and who just yesterday got really irritated (privately) with a grad student who complained bitterly about the length of a 17-page paper whose reading is required for next-week's class.

David Fordham
PBGH Faculty Fellow
James Madison University School of Accounting

January 9, 2008 reply from Stacy A. Kostenbauer [kostenbas@STUDENTS.SOU.EDU]

As I read through the various emails regarding YouTube and Professors sharing their knowledge on YouTube, from a student perspective and my own learning style, I really like the lecture standpoint with the printed material because that is my style of learning. I wanted to respond to you because I wanted to let you know I still have to 'gear up mentally' for absolutely everything in regards to my studies and lectures and print material help me with that.

I attended my first accounting class on Monday and the Professor did a wonderful job with visual graphic organizers, the lecture, the power point, he included students in the discussion and I learned so much in a short amount of time, that for me, I question I could learn that from a 'clip.' Maybe my own human intellect could evolve and I could adapt to a new learning style? It has yet to be seen, because even taking classes online for me is so futuristic!

I appreciated your comments, thanks very much,

sk

January 9, 2008 reply from Richard J. Campbell [campbell@VIRTUALPUBLISHING.NET]

Bob: If you do a search on www.youtube.com  for "campbell79" you will see an accounting video I put up a year ago on the basic accounting equation - it has over 9,000 hits. When I have time, google has an adsense program in which I can monetize that content by inserting ads.

Do a search for "susancrosson". She has a number of videos.

Richard

January 9, 2008 reply from Steven Hornik [shornik@BUS.UCF.EDU]

David,

With respect to your inquiry about short video clips and the potential consequences.  I have found that when I moved my lectures online, I deliberately made them short, to cover just one or two main concepts.  So that a lecture that covers financial accounting transactions that might have taken 1.5 hours or so in a traditional setting, can now be broken down into 4-5 shorter lectures.

In my experience students have a hard time concentrating for 1.5 hours on accounting topics - I'm not the best lecturer, but the material isn't all that stimulating at times either.  So I tell my students when you can find 20 minutes of uninterrupted time, watch one of the lectures - give it your undivided attention.  Do this once a day if you have to and then by the end of the week they will have listened/watched the entire lecture.

I'm not sure if this is reinforcing short attention spans or not, but I think it provides students a much better way to concentrate on the material.  Then after watching a short video, they can spend quality time thinking about the lecture, doing problems, etc.  It's this time, the working with the concepts, that to me seems the most important.

Just my 2 cents,

_____________________________
Dr. Steven Hornik
University of Central Florida
Dixon School of Accounting
407-823-5739
Second Life: Robins Hermano
http://mydebitcredit.com
 yahoo ID: shornik
 

January 9, 2008 reply from Bob Jensen

Hi Steve,

You’ve just hit on the main comparative advantage of asynchronous/hypermedia learning (in which video can play a major part). Learners may focus on material when they are prepared to concentrate and replay material over and over that they did not master in previous attempts.

Camtasia has made the video more interesting by making lectures much more than video of talking heads.

It really helps to have variable speed video to increase the efficiency of the asynchronous learning process. Probably the greatest experiment of this for all time can be found in the year-long basic accounting courses at Brigham Young University (BYU) where virtually all technical matters in basic accounting are learned asynchronously on video with the possible (but not required) supplemental help from a textbook.

Much of the absolutely tremendous experimental work on asynchronous learning (including BYU links on variable speed video) can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm 

Bob Jensen

 

Question
If you want to go on YouTube, how should you make your videos?

Jensen Answer
I recommend featuring computer screens that you narrate using Camtasia --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm

However, you can also get a digital video camera. I suggest that professors consult their media departments on campus.

Question
What is the new YouTube for Intellectuals?

"'YouTube for Intellectuals' Goes Live," by Andrea L. Foster, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 8, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2646/youtube-for-intellectuals-goes-live?at

'YouTube for Intellectuals' Goes Live Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, talks about the importance of racial, socioeconomic, and religious diversity at colleges in a video on bigthink, a new Web site that is meant to be a YouTube for intellectuals. In addition to featuring academics, the site includes one- to two-minute videos from politicians, artists, and business people.

According to an article in Monday’s New York Times, the site was started by Peter Hopkins, a 2004 graduate of Harvard University. He said he hopes bigthink becomes popular among college students. David Frankel, a venture capitalist, put up most of the money for the enterprise. Lawrence H. Summers, a former president of Harvard, has invested tens of thousands of dollars as well.

Bob Jensen's video search helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm#Video

January 9, 2008 reply from Joseph Brady [bradyj@lerner.udel.edu]

Judging from my quick scan this morning, this site is not very much like YouTube, but the topics do look interesting.

Joe

 

"The Internet Refrigerator:  Back from the Dead? Whirlpool unveils fridge with attachable modules for a laptop and other electronic devices," PC World via The Washington Post, January 7, 2008 --- Click Here

Jensen Comment
The world of ubiquitous computing is the wave of the future in technology. My threads on ubiquitous computing are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ubiquit.htm

From Stanford University
How to shop for the cell phone that's right for you --- http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/narayanan_telecom.html

New Office for Macs Speeds Up Programs, Integrates Formats
Despite the fierce rivalry between Microsoft and Apple, there is one product on which the two companies work closely together: the Macintosh version of Microsoft Office. Microsoft makes a nice chunk of change from this software suite, which includes Mac versions of the famous Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs. Apple needs the Microsoft office suite so its Macintosh computers can live in harmony with the dominant Windows world. On Jan. 15, Microsoft will be releasing its first new version of Office for the Mac in nearly four years. It is called Office 2008, and it has two big changes from the current version, Office 2004.
Walter S. Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal, January 3, 2008 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119932334970563823.html

Multinational Corporation Social Responsibility Paradox
Multinational corporations are in a quandary: Stakeholders are imposing higher standards than ever, but businesses are confused about what their global social responsibilities actually are.
"The Responsibility Paradox," by Gerald F. Davis, Marina V.N. Whitman, and Mayer N. Zald , Stanford University, Winter 2008 --- http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_responsibility_paradox/

Also see https://alumni.gsb.stanford.edu/lifelonglearning/news/greatergood.html

"Ten Best (News) Stories of 2008," by Paul Ibrahim, North Star Writers Group, January 7, 2008 --- http://www.northstarwriters.com/pi086.htm

10. Burj Dubai becomes the world’s tallest freestanding structure:
This story presents dual reasons to cheer. First, it represents the power of free trade and the global economy in improving technology and humanity’s standard of living. Second, it demonstrates the ability of capitalism to modernize Muslim countries such as the United Arab Emirates, incorporate their economies into the global economy and eliminate the need for their poor and destitute to resort to radicalism and terror.

09. Coburn and DeMint fight big spenders:
As they did under the Republican majority, Senators Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint heroically stood up to big spenders and porkers under the Democratic majority in the Senate. They understand that the Republicans lost Congress because of their betrayal of small government principles, and along with some colleagues in the House, they have every intention of taking back the GOP for fiscal conservatives.

08. Bush stands up to the Democrats:
After years of overseeing increased spending and a widening budget deficit, President Bush finally found the fiscal conservative in him and went on a veto spree. It hasn’t accomplished as much as one would hope, but it did slow down the Democrats’ campaign to continue government enlargement. Predictably, Bush also held his ground on Iraq, which left nothing going right for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.

07. Sarkozy elected president of France: The obvious good news for Americans here is President Nicolas Sarkozy’s unabashed admiration of American principles. Perhaps the most notable of the many pro-American leaders recently elected by the world’s greatest democracies, Sarkozy represents a new era of Western cooperation in combating the threats of the 21st Century. This is not to mention his significant, however imperfect, adoption of pro-growth policies that are bound to boost France’s lagging economy.

06. Scientists find stem cell alternatives:
One study found that stem cells are in abundant supply in amniotic fluid, and another team of scientists reported that they are able to reprogram easily available human cells into ones that behave just like stem cells. These supplement previous studies showing the effectiveness of stem cells derived from umbilical cords. If these new avenues are pursued, as they should be, the embryonic stem cell debate becomes moot (barring political incentives to the contrary).

05. Comprehensive Immigration Act crashes:
Passionate phone calls and letters flooded Senate offices as Republican and Democratic senators prepared to offer illegal immigrants amnesty with President Bush’s support. In the end, common sense succeeded and the bill failed. Though immigrants have been and will continue to be vital to America’s success (I am one myself), granting amnesty to illegal immigrants will incentivize more illegal immigration, lead to national security problems and remain fundamentally unfair to those who have and are waiting in line to get into the country legally.

04. Supreme Court upholds partial-birth abortion ban:
Virtually every legitimate poll shows that most Americans are opposed to partial-birth abortion. This is no surprise. The “procedure” involves partially pulling an often viable baby out of the mother feet first, and subsequently inserting instruments that suck his/her brains out, crushing the skull. Legislation to ban partial-birth abortion was twice vetoed by Bill Clinton, and finally signed by President Bush in 2003. Further delays in the courts caused the law’s constitutionality to be upheld as late as 2007, but it is certainly better late than never.

03. Economy remains strong:
Contrary to the media’s warnings of an inevitable recession, which they have been predicting since the last recession, 2007 proved to be yet another good year for the economy. The unemployment rate remained at historically low levels as the economy added jobs for a record-breaking 52 consecutive months. Gross Domestic Product continued its strong growth – the third quarter of 2007 showed a 4.9 percent growth in GDP, which is almost like adding the entire economy of Australia to the United States. Inflation continues to be low. The fact that the economy has been able to withstand high oil prices and the bursting housing bubble shows, if anything, resilience and solidity.

02. America is not attacked by terrorists:
If the United States was attacked in 2007, who would have been blamed for it? It would take about five seconds for pundits to talk about how the administration failed to protect the country, was distracted by Iraq, blah blah blah. So why shouldn’t the administration get credit for keeping the country safe? We know for a fact that there were several terrorist plots against America that were foiled, so it wasn’t a coincidence either. Considering that the world’s major terrorists have their sights set on the United States and are actively trying to destroy it, the fact that we have not been attacked is one of the greatest stories of 2007 and the years before it.

01. Success in Iraq:
The progress seen in 2007 on the ground in Iraq is nothing short of remarkable. When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared the Iraq War “lost,” our troops responded by showing they can win despite stabs to their morale by their elected leaders. Thanks to the 21,000 surge troops, and to those already on the ground, the United States is clearly winning the foremost battle in the global war on terror. These men and women have made our year.

"Ten Worst Stories of 2007," by Paul Ibrahim, North Star Writers Group, December 31, 2007 --- http://www.northstarwriters.com/pi086.htm --- http://www.northstarwriters.com/pi085.htm

Microsoft Corp. changed course on an update to Office 2003 that blocked certain older file types from opening, after receiving a flurry of criticism from users and online publications.

"Microsoft Simplifies File Format Fix," by Jessica Mintz, PhysOrg,  January 5, 2008 --- http://physorg.com/news118756338.html

Office 2003 Service Pack 3, a free package of updates and fixes released in September, blocked users from opening files created by older versions of Word, Excel and Power Point - mostly programs launched in 1995 and earlier. The change also kept users from opening some files made in Corel Corp.'s CorelDraw.

Microsoft said opening the legacy file formats poses a security risk, and shut down easy access to the same older file types when it launched Office 2007.

For people who wanted to read the old files, the software maker built a workaround into Office 2007 that lets them open files they have stashed in a specific folder.

But the software maker devised a more complicated workaround for Office 2003 SP3 that involved modifying a user's PC's registry - a crucial directory of settings the average computer user rarely deals with.

On Slashdot, a technology news and discussion site, more than 500 people logged comments about the issue this week. Some railed against what they saw as a way for the software maker to force people to spend money on new software, while others complained that Microsoft's security explanation wasn't accurate.

Microsoft took heed, and Friday unveiled a simpler way for people to unblock the older file types.

Continued in article

File Extension Listings  --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245gloss.htm
Filename Extensions --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_extensions
Learn more about file extensions (those three letters at the end of computer file names) --- http://www.filezed.com/

http://www.dotwhat.net/

http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/fileextensionsm.asp  

http://www.file-extensions.org/

http://www.jerryjm.host.sk/ext/ 

http://www.icdatamaster.com/d.html

http://filext.com/

 

Corruption, whether in government or in private industry, serves as a serious drag on a nation's wealth and creates a less favorable climate for business, says GSB Professor Ernesto Dal Bó. For one thing, corruption swells the number of employees needed, driving up costs and sidetracking workers from jobs that could help grow an economy.
Research News, Stanford University, December 2007 --- http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/dal_bo_corruption.html

"The Government Is Wasting Your Tax Dollars! How Uncle Sam spends nearly $1 trillion of your money each year," by Ryan Grim with Joseph K. Vetter, Readers Digest, January 2008, pp. 86-99 --- http://www.rd.com/content/the-government-is-wasting-your-tax-dollars/4/

1. Taxes:
Cheating Shows. The Internal Revenue Service estimates that the annual net tax gap—the difference between what's owed and what's collected—is $290 billion, more than double the average yearly sum spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

About $59 billion of that figure results from the underreporting and underpayment of employment taxes. Our broken system of immigration is another concern, with nearly eight million undocumented workers having a less-than-stellar relationship with the IRS. Getting more of them on the books could certainly help narrow that tax gap.

Going after the deadbeats would seem like an obvious move. Unfortunately, the IRS doesn't have the resources to adequately pursue big offenders and their high-powered tax attorneys. "The IRS is outgunned," says Walker, "especially when dealing with multinational corporations with offshore headquarters."

Another group that costs taxpayers billions: hedge fund and private equity managers. Many of these moguls make vast "incomes" yet pay taxes on a portion of those earnings at the paltry 15 percent capital gains rate, instead of the higher income tax rate. By some estimates, this loophole costs taxpayers more than $2.5 billion a year.

Oil companies are getting a nice deal too. The country hands them more than $2 billion a year in tax breaks. Says Walker, "Some of the sweetheart deals that were negotiated for drilling rights on public lands don't pass the straight-face test, especially given current crude oil prices." And Big Oil isn't alone. Citizens for Tax Justice estimates that corporations reap more than $123 billion a year in special tax breaks. Cut this in half and we could save about $60 billion.

The Tab* Tax Shortfall: $290 billion (uncollected taxes) + $2.5 billion (undertaxed high rollers) + $60 billion (unwarranted tax breaks) Starting Tab: $352.5 billion

2. Healthy Fixes.
Medicare and Medicaid, which cover elderly and low-income patients respectively, eat up a growing portion of the federal budget. Investigations by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) point to as much as $60 billion a year in fraud, waste and overpayments between the two programs. And Coburn is likely underestimating the problem.

The U.S. spends more than $400 per person on health care administration costs and insurance -- six times more than other industrialized nations.

That's because a 2003 Dartmouth Medical School study found that up to 30 percent of the $2 trillion spent in this country on medical care each year—including what's spent on Medicare and Medicaid—is wasted. And with the combined tab for those programs rising to some $665 billion this year, cutting costs by a conservative 15 percent could save taxpayers about $100 billion. Yet, rather than moving to trim fat, the government continues such questionable practices as paying private insurance companies that offer Medicare Advantage plans an average of 12 percent more per patient than traditional Medicare fee-for-service. Congress is trying to close this loophole, and doing so could save $15 billion per year, on average, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Another money-wasting bright idea was to create a giant class of middlemen: Private bureaucrats who administer the Medicare drug program are monitored by federal bureaucrats—and the public pays for both. An October report by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform estimated that this setup costs the government $10 billion per year in unnecessary administrative expenses and higher drug prices.

The Tab* Wasteful Health Spending: $60 billion (fraud, waste, overpayments) + $100 billion (modest 15 percent cost reduction) + $15 billion (closing the 12 percent loophole) + $10 billion (unnecessary Medicare administrative and drug costs) Total $185 billion Running Tab: $352.5 billion +$185 billion = $537.5 billion

3. Military Mad Money.
You'd think it would be hard to simply lose massive amounts of money, but given the lack of transparency and accountability, it's no wonder that eight of the Department of Defense's functions, including weapons procurement, have been deemed high risk by the GAO. That means there's a high probability that money—"tens of billions," according to Walker—will go missing or be otherwise wasted.

The DOD routinely hands out no-bid and cost-plus contracts, under which contractors get reimbursed for their costs plus a certain percentage of the contract figure. Such deals don't help hold down spending in the annual military budget of about $500 billion. That sum is roughly equal to the combined defense spending of the rest of the world's countries. It's also comparable, adjusted for inflation, with our largest Cold War-era defense budget. Maybe that's why billions of dollars are still being spent on high-cost weapons designed to counter Cold War-era threats, even though today's enemy is armed with cell phones and IEDs. (And that $500 billion doesn't include the billions to be spent this year in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those funds demand scrutiny, too, according to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-MN, who says, "One in six federal tax dollars sent to rebuild Iraq has been wasted.")

Meanwhile, the Pentagon admits it simply can't account for more than $1 trillion. Little wonder, since the DOD hasn't been fully audited in years. Hoping to change that, Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation is pushing Congress to add audit provisions to the next defense budget.

If wasteful spending equaling 10 percent of all spending were rooted out, that would free up some $50 billion. And if Congress cut spending on unnecessary weapons and cracked down harder on fraud, we could save tens of billions more.

The Tab* Wasteful military spending: $100 billion (waste, fraud, unnecessary weapons) Running Tab: $537.5 billion + $100 billion = $637.5 billion

4. Bad Seeds.
The controversial U.S. farm subsidy program, part of which pays farmers not to grow crops, has become a giant welfare program for the rich, one that cost taxpayers nearly $20 billion last year.

Two of the best-known offenders: Kenneth Lay, the now-deceased Enron CEO, who got $23,326 for conservation land in Missouri from 1995 to 2005, and mogul Ted Turner, who got $590,823 for farms in four states during the same period. A Cato Institute study found that in 2005, two-thirds of the subsidies went to the richest 10 percent of recipients, many of whom live in New York City. Not only do these "farmers" get money straight from the government, they also often get local tax breaks, since their property is zoned as agricultural land. The subsidies raise prices for consumers, hurt third world farmers who can't compete, and are attacked in international courts as unfair trade.

The Tab* Wasteful farm subsidies: $20 billion Running Tab: $637.5 billion + $20 billion = $657.5 billion

5. Capital Waste.
While there's plenty of ongoing annual operating waste, there's also a special kind of profligacy—call it capital waste—that pops up year after year. This is shoddy spending on big-ticket items that don't pan out. While what's being bought changes from year to year, you can be sure there will always be some costly items that aren't worth what the government pays for them.

Take this recent example: Since September 11, 2001, Congress has spent more than $4 billion to upgrade the Coast Guard's fleet. Today the service has fewer ships than it did before that money was spent, what 60 Minutes called "a fiasco that has set new standards for incompetence." Then there's the Future Imagery Architecture spy satellite program. As The New York Times recently reported, the technology flopped and the program was killed—but not before costing $4 billion. Or consider the FBI's infamous Trilogy computer upgrade: Its final stage was scrapped after a $170 million investment. Or the almost $1 billion the Federal Emergency Management Agency has wasted on unusable housing. The list goes on.

The Tab* Wasteful Capital Spending: $30 billion Running Tab: $657.5 billion + $30 billion = $687.5 billion

6. Fraud and Stupidity.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wants the Social Security Administration to better monitor the veracity of people drawing disability payments from its $100 billion pot. By one estimate, roughly $1 billion is wasted each year in overpayments to people who work and earn more than the program's rules allow.

The federal Food Stamp Program gets ripped off too. Studies have shown that almost 5 percent, or more than $1 billion, of the payments made to people in the $30 billion program are in excess of what they should receive.

One person received $105,000 in excess disability payments over seven years.

There are plenty of other examples. Senator Coburn estimates that the feds own unused properties worth $18 billion and pay out billions more annually to maintain them. Guess it's simpler for bureaucrats to keep paying for the property than to go to the trouble of selling it.

The Tab* General Fraud and Stupidity: $2 billion (disability and food stamp overpayment) Running Tab: $687.5 billion + $2 billion = $689.5 billion

7. Pork Sausage.
Congress doled out $29 billion in so-called earmarks—aka funds for legislators' pet projects—in 2006, according to Citizens Against Government Waste. That's three times the amount spent in 1999. Congress loves to deride this kind of spending, but lawmakers won't hesitate to turn around and drop $500,000 on a ballpark in Billings, Montana.

The most infamous earmark is surely the "bridge to nowhere"—a span that would have connected Ketchikan, Alaska, to nearby Gravina Island—at a cost of more than $220 million. After Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Senator Coburn tried to redirect that money to repair the city's Twin Span Bridge. He failed when lawmakers on both sides of the aisle got behind the Alaska pork. (That money is now going to other projects in Alaska.) Meanwhile, this kind of spending continues at a time when our country's crumbling infrastructure—the bursting dams, exploding water pipes and collapsing bridges—could really use some investment. Cutting two-thirds of the $29 billion would be a good start.

The Tab* Pork Barrel Spending: $20 billion Running Tab: $689.5 billion + $20 billion = $709.5 billion

8. Welfare Kings.
Corporate welfare is an easy thing for politicians to bark at, but it seems it's hard to bite the hand that feeds you. How else to explain why corporate welfare is on the rise? A Cato Institute report found that in 2006, corporations received $92 billion (including some in the form of those farm subsidies) to do what they do anyway—research, market and develop products. The recipients included plenty of names from the Fortune 500, among them IBM, GE, Xerox, Dow Chemical, Ford Motor Company, DuPont and Johnson & Johnson.

The Tab* Corporate Welfare: $50 billion Running Tab: $709.5 billion + $50 billion = $759.5 billion

9. Been There,
Done That. The Rural Electrification Administration, created during the New Deal, was an example of government at its finest—stepping in to do something the private sector couldn't. Today, renamed the Rural Utilities Service, it's an example of a government that doesn't know how to end a program. "We established an entity to electrify rural America. Mission accomplished. But the entity's still there," says Walker. "We ought to celebrate success and get out of the business."

In a 2007 analysis, the Heritage Foundation found that hundreds of programs overlap to accomplish just a few goals. Ending programs that have met their goals and eliminating redundant programs could comfortably save taxpayers $30 billion a year.

The Tab* Obsolete, Redundant Programs: $30 billion Running Tab: $759.5 billion + $30 billion = $789.5 billion

10. Living on Credit.
Here's the capper: Years of wasteful spending have put us in such a deep hole, we must squander even more to pay the interest on that debt. In 2007, the federal government carried a debt of $9 trillion and blew $252 billion in interest. Yes, we understand the federal government needs to carry a small debt for the Federal Reserve Bank to operate. But "small" isn't how we would describe three times the nation's annual budget. We need to stop paying so much in interest (and we think cutting $194 billion is a good target). Instead we're digging ourselves deeper: Congress had to raise the federal debt limit last September from $8.965 trillion to almost $10 trillion or the country would have been at legal risk of default. If that's not a wake-up call to get spending under control, we don't know what is.

The Tab* Interest on National Debt: $194 billion Final Tab: $789.5 billion + $194 billion = $983.5 billion

What YOU Can Do Many believe our system is inherently broken. We think it can be fixed. As citizens and voters, we have to set a new agenda before the Presidential election. There are three things we need in order to prevent wasteful spending, according to the GAO's David Walker:

• Incentives for people to do the right thing.

• Transparency so we can tell if they've done the right thing.

• Accountability if they do the wrong thing.

Two out of three won't solve our problems.

So how do we make it happen? Demand it of our elected officials. If they fail to listen, then we turn them out of office. With its approval rating hovering around 11 percent in some polls, Congress might just start paying attention.

Start by writing to your Representatives. Talk to your family, friends and neighbors, and share this article. It's in everybody's interest.

The Most Criminal Class is Writing the Laws --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm#Lawmakers

Broken Promises and Pork Binges
The Democratic majority came to power in January promising to do a better job on earmarks. They appeared to preserve our reforms and even take them a bit further. I commended Democrats publicly for this action. Unfortunately, the leadership reversed course. Desperate to advance their agenda, they began trading earmarks for votes, dangling taxpayer-funded goodies in front of wavering members to win their support for leadership priorities.
John Boehner, "Pork Barrel Stonewall," The Wall Street Journal, September 27, 2007 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119085546436140827.html

Congressional earmarks for specific research and development projects — long criticized as pork-barrel politics and a poor way to finance science — were largely absent from 2007 appropriations bills, but are back and in a big way. An analysis from the American Association for the Advancement of Science found that Congress included $4.5 billion in earmarks in 2008 appropriations bills — much more than in previous years. Much of the increase, however, is due to new budget rules that make many earmarks more visible than they have been in the past, when they may not have been detected.
Inside Higher Ed, January 9, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/01/09/qt

"Earmarks Again Eat Into the Amount Available for Merit-Based Research, Analysis Finds," by Jeffrey Brainard, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 9, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/01/1161n.htm

After a one-year moratorium for most earmarks, Congress resumed directing noncompetitive grants for scientific research to favored constituents, including universities, this