The Awakening of Another Day Over Franconia Notch
Comparisons of Summer vs. Winter Mornings
Different lighting can sometimes change how far these Kinsman Range mountains look from our living room.
The closest mountain (Cannon) is about 10 miles away but it is not as high as its neighbor Mount Lafayette.

Poems About Mountains --- http://www.poetseers.org/poem_of_the_day_archive/poems_about_mountains

Why is it among the most,
glacial mountain peaks
I find
the greatest warmth?

(One answer of course is the fact that I'm not up there.)

Ski Champion Bode Miller's Foundation bought his family's Turtle Ridge Organic Farm down the road ---
http://www.naturalfamilynews.com/index.php/20051220skiing-champs-foundation-buys-organic-farm/
Also see ttps://www.turtleridgefoundation.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Calendar.showRegistrationForm&eventId=1&nodeID=1
Bode Miller and his family established the Turtle Ridge Foundation as a way to help people in need and give back to the community. Through a variety of corporate sponsors, private donors and charity events the Millers have been able to fund and/or support the Boys & Girls Club of America, Adaptive Ski Programs (organizations that provide skis and equipment to kids & adults with disabilities), Inner City Youth Sports programs, Cancer Treatment Centers, provide ski racing scholarships to deserving children, and have dispensed thousands of dollars worth of warm jackets to kids in need. TRF also supports organic farming, sustainable living, and organizations that protect nature’s precious resources --- http://www.looktothestars.org/news/877-bode-millers-lucky-turtle-necklace
Also see --- http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/1363-bode-miller

You can read more about our local hero Bode Miller at http://www.trinity.edu/%7Erjensen/tidbits/2008/tidbits080331.htm

Last Lecturer Randy Pausch died last week, You can read a bit about him and find links to his book and videos at
http://www.trinity.edu/%7Erjensen/tidbits/2008/tidbits080415.htm

The picture below shows Erika, Dick Wolff,, MD (also Colonel, Ret.), and Dick's wife Sybil when Dick and Sybil visited us from San Antonio

Notice below that I'm standing on the step whereas the very tall Dick Wolff is on the ground.

Frontline: Return of the Taliban (video) --- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/taliban/

The poem below was forwarded by Dick Wolff (who was head of the U.S. Air Force Medical Command in Iran many years ago)

This is a poem being sent from a Marine to his Dad. It makes you truly thankful for not only the Marines, but ALL of our troops.

THE MARINE

We all came together,
Both young and old
To fight for our freedom,
To stand and be bold.

In the midst of all evil,
We stand our ground,
And we protect our country
From all terror around.

Peace and not war,
Is what some people say.
But I'll give my life,
So you can live the American way.

I give you the right
To talk of your peace.
To stand in your groups,
and protest in our streets.

But still I fight on,
I don't bitch, I don't whine.
I'm just one of the people
Who is doing your time.

I'm harder than nails,
Stronger than any machine.
I'm the immortal soldier,
I'm a U.S. MARINE!

So stand in my shoes,
And leave from your home.
Fight for the people who hate you,
With the protests they've shown.
Fight for the stranger,
Fight for the young.
So they all may have,
The greatest freedom you've won

Fight for the sick,
Fight for the poor
Fight for the cripple,
Who lives next door.

But when your time comes,
Do what I've done.
For if you stand up for freedom,
You'll stand when the fight's done

Tribute to the Flag (Elvis) --- http://home.comcast.net/~nw-fla/tribute_flag_B_thompson.htm

However the November 2008 Presidential Election turns out, our armed forces will have a new Commander and Chief --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commander_and_chief
It's almost impossible to predict top leadership of the military before Presidents actually sit in the Oval Office and command the most mighty military force on earth.
It's infinitely harder when our cowardly enemies fight behind innocent civilians used as shields and use terror tactics targeting innocent victims.
But we can never win with our fighting forces unless we wage war and diplomacy with higher moral standards than our cowardly enemies.
Without higher moral standards and powerful deterrents, like our Marines, our freedom and prosperity are both doomed.

Hizbullah fires Rockets from an apartment building while its Commander and Chief cowers in the Iranian Embassy in Lebanon (video) ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMIi7L1fbUU

It was sad that Hizbullah tortured and killed its kidnapped victims and then traded their caskets for live and healthy terrorist prisoners. The world was watching, and this is why terrorists can never win. If terrorists win they will soon lose, because their terrorist tactics will be used on them when they stand up to collect their prizes. Terrorism is a losing strategy in the long run.

It's better for our enemies to let our own media defeat our Marines.

Why we lost the battle in Viet Nam but won the war:

When President Ford was Commander and Chief
On August 3, 1995, The Wall Street Journal published an Interview with Bui Tin, a former Colonel who served on the general staff of of the North Vietnamese Army, that included the following exchange --- http://www.snopes.com/quotes/giap.asp
Also see http://www.viet-myths.net/BuiTin.htm

Question: How did Hanoi intend to defeat the Americans?

Answer: By fighting a long war which would break their will to help South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh said,
"We don't need to win military victories, we only need to hit them until they give up and get out."

Q: Was the American antiwar movement important to Hanoi's victory?
A: It was essential to our strategy. Support of the war from our rear was completely secure while the American rear was vulnerable. Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9 a.m. to follow the growth of the American antiwar movement. Visits to Hanoi by people like Jane Fonda, and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses. We were elated when Jane Fonda, wearing a red Vietnamese dress, said at a press conference that she was ashamed of American actions in the war and that she would struggle along with us.

Q: Did the Politburo pay attention to these visits?
A: Keenly.

Q: Why?
A: Those people represented the conscience of America. The conscience of America was part of its war-making capability, and we were turning that power in our favor. America lost because of its democracy; through dissent and protest it lost the ability to mobilize a will to win.

Q: How could the Americans have won the war?
A: Cut the Ho Chi Minh trail inside Laos. If Johnson had granted [Gen. William] Westmoreland's requests to enter Laos and block the Ho Chi Minh trail, Hanoi could not have won the war.

Q: Anything else?
A: Train South Vietnam's generals. The junior South Vietnamese officers were good, competent and courageous, but the commanding general officers were inept.

Q: Did Hanoi expect that the National Liberation Front would win power in South Vietnam?
A: No. Gen. [Vo Nguyen] Giap [commander of the North Vietnamese army] believed that guerrilla warfare was important but not sufficient for victory. Regular military divisions with artillery and armor would be needed. The Chinese believed in fighting only with guerrillas, but we had a different approach. The Chinese were reluctant to help us. Soviet aid made the war possible. Le Duan [secretary general of the Vietnamese Communist Party] once told Mao Tse-tung that if you help us, we are sure to win; if you don't, we will still win, but we will have to sacrifice one or two million more soldiers to do so.

Q: Was the National Liberation Front an independent political movement of South Vietnamese?
A: No. It was set up by our Communist Party to implement a decision of the Third Party Congress of September 1960. We always said there was only one party, only one army in the war to liberate the South and unify the nation. At all times there was only one party commissar in command of the South.

Q: Why was the Ho Chi Minh trail so important?
A: It was the only way to bring sufficient military power to bear on the fighting in the South. Building and maintaining the trail was a huge effort, involving tens of thousands of soldiers, drivers, repair teams, medical stations, communication units.

Q: What of American bombing of the Ho Chi Minh trail?
A: Not very effective. Our operations were never compromised by attacks on the trail. At times, accurate B-52 strikes would cause real damage, but we put so much in at the top of the trail that enough men and weapons to prolong the war always came out the bottom. Bombing by smaller planes rarely hit significant targets.

Q: What of American bombing of North Vietnam?
A: If all the bombing had been concentrated at one time, it would have hurt our efforts. But the bombing was expanded in slow stages under Johnson and it didn't worry us. We had plenty of times to prepare alternative routes and facilities. We always had stockpiles of rice ready to feed the people for months if a harvest were damaged. The Soviets bought rice from Thailand for us.

Q: What was the purpose of the 1968 Tet Offensive?
A: To relieve the pressure Gen. Westmoreland was putting on us in late 1966 and 1967 and to weaken American resolve during a presidential election year.

Q: What about Gen. Westmoreland's strategy and tactics caused you concern?
A: Our senior commander in the South, Gen. Nguyen Chi Thanh, knew that we were losing base areas, control of the rural population and that his main forces were being pushed out to the borders of South Vietnam. He also worried that Westmoreland might receive permission to enter Laos and cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
In January 1967, after discussions with Le Duan, Thanh proposed the Tet Offensive. Thanh was the senior member of the Politburo in South Vietnam. He supervised the entire war effort. Thanh's struggle philosophy was that "America is wealthy but not resolute," and "squeeze tight to the American chest and attack." He was invited up to Hanoi for further discussions. He went on commercial flights with a false passport from Cambodia to Hong Kong and then to Hanoi. Only in July was his plan adopted by the leadership. Then Johnson had rejected Westmoreland's request for 200,000 more troops. We realized that America had made its maximum military commitment to the war. Vietnam was not sufficiently important for the United States to call up its reserves. We had stretched American power to a breaking point. When more frustration set in, all the Americans could do would be to withdraw; they had no more troops to send over.
Tet was designed to influence American public opinion. We would attack poorly defended parts of South Vietnam cities during a holiday and a truce when few South Vietnamese troops would be on duty. Before the main attack, we would entice American units to advance close to the borders, away from the cities. By attacking all South Vietnam's major cities, we would spread out our forces and neutralize the impact of American firepower. Attacking on a broad front, we would lose some battles but win others. We used local forces nearby each target to frustrate discovery of our plans. Small teams, like the one which attacked the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, would be sufficient. It was a guerrilla strategy of hit-and-run raids. [lloks like a re-writing of history with the benefit of hindsight]

Q: What about the results?
A: Our losses were staggering and a complete surprise;. Giap later told me that Tet had been a military defeat, though we had gained the planned political advantages when Johnson agreed to negotiate and did not run for re-election. The second and third waves in May and September were, in retrospect, mistakes. Our forces in the South were nearly wiped out by all the fighting in 1968. It took us until 1971 to re-establish our presence, but we had to use North Vietnamese troops as local guerrillas. If the American forces had not begun to withdraw under Nixon in 1969, they could have punished us severely. We suffered badly in 1969 and 1970 as it was.

Q: What of Nixon?
A: Well, when Nixon stepped down because of Watergate we knew we would win. Pham Van Dong [prime minister of North Vietnam] said of Gerald Ford, the new president, "he's the weakest president in U.S. history; the people didn't elect him; even if you gave him candy, he doesn't dare to intervene in Vietnam again." We tested Ford's resolve by attacking Phuoc Long in January 1975. When Ford kept American B-52's in their hangers, our leadership decided on a big offensive against South Vietnam.

Jensen Comment
By the time the U.S. pulled out of Viet Nam all was not lost, because the intensity of the fight beforehand destroyed the Chinese and Russian plans to spread communism with war. The implosion of the communist economies, of course, also contributed greatly to our winning of the Cold War. That may backfire on us these days with our own economy sitting on more debt that we can possibly handle while our spendthrift Congress is poised to plunge us over the brink.
Vietnam: The Necessary War: A Reinterpretation of America's Most Disastrous Military Conflict. by Michael Lind, 1999 ---
http://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-Necessary-Reinterpretation-Americas-Disastrous/dp/0684870274

In a very opinionated and sharply reasoned attempt to debunk three decades of conventional wisdom about Vietnam, Lind (The Next American Nation), the Washington, D.C., editor of Harper's, attacks both the right-wing contention that the U.S. could have won the war if only the politicians hadn't interfered with the military and the leftist orthodoxy that maintains the U.S. should never have become involved in the first place. Lind treats Vietnam as simply another battle in the Cold War, no different in principle from Korea or Afghanistan or any other Cold War confrontation. As such, it was both necessary and proper to intervene in Vietnam; a failure to do so, he asserts, would have permitted the Soviet Union and China to tighten their grip on the Third World. But once the U.S. committed itself, Lind argues, presidents Johnson and Nixon were obliged to fight a limited war in order to avoid the very real possibility of China entering the fray (just as it had done in Korea). If anything, Lind says, "the Vietnam War was not limited enough." Johnson allowed the U.S. military commanders to wage an expensive war of attrition that killed too many U.S. soldiers too fast and eroded public support for both the conflict in Vietnam and for the Cold War in general. The principal culprits in Lind's analysis are Johnson, General Westmoreland and other U.S. military commanders for their misguided tactics; Nixon, for his quixotic attempt to salvage "peace with honor," during which an additional 24,000 soldiers died needlessly; and the antiwar left, which swallowed much of Ho Chi Minh's propaganda. Lind's arguments, if not always persuasive, are always provocative. His book, with its intelligent analysis of U.S. intervention in Kosovo and other current foreign policy quandaries, is likely to shift the debate on Vietnam and to color future debates about U.S. military intervention abroad.

So what will happen in Iraq as soon as our troops are pulled out due primarily to our media's destruction of our will to win in Iraq?
I'm a lowly retired accounting professor, but even to me it seems obvious the a significant number of U.S. combat troops should remain in Iraq. The U.N. troops in Lebanon are a bad joke. Iraq's politically-biased Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his Shia successors will run a facade democracy almost identical to the sham democracy in Lebanon while the Shia flex their missiles and point chemically-laced rockets toward Israel.

Allawi, a former Baathist and an Iraqi nationalist, heads the Iraqi National List party in Iraq, and he served as the first prime minister of a sovereign Iraq until elections gave power to the Shiite religious parties. Allawi is a Shiite, but a secular one, who appeals to both Sunnis and Shiites. After quitting the Baath party, Allawi lived in exile and he was supported by MI-6 and the CIA, and he returned to Iraq in 2003. He makes no secret of wanting to replace Maliki, who is a confirmed sectarian with close links to Iran.
"The Dreyfus Report: Iraq Set to Explode," The Nation, July 27, 2008 --- http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss

Hizbullah is bolstering its presence in south Lebanon villages with non-Shi'ite majorities by buying land and using it to build military positions and store missiles and launchers, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The decision to build infrastructure in non-Shi'ite villages - where Hizbullah has less support - is part of the group's post-war strategy under which it has mostly abandoned the "nature reserves," forested areas in southern Lebanon where it kept most of its Katyusha rocket launchers before the Second Lebanon War. Behind the change is the mandate given to UNIFIL by the United Nations after the war in 2006....
Uaakov Katz, "Hizbullah moves into 'every town, The Jerusalem Post, July 17, 2008 ---
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215331011969&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

Arab reports indicate that Hizbullah is preparing to arm its rockets with chemical warheads and to build extensive fortifications. Defense Minister Ehud Barak blames the Syrians, while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asks the United Nations to do something. "[UN Security Council] Resolution 1701 is being violated. Hizbullah continues to get stronger with the ongoing and intimate The company told Arab media that it had been shipping Hizbullah orders southwards towards Israel's border. assistance of the Syrians," according to Defense Minister Barak. Speaking at a meeting of the Labor party's Knesset representatives on Monday, Barak said, "The delicate balance that exists on the northern border should not be violated on the two-year anniversary of the Second Lebanon War. We should make an explicit statement: Resolution 1701 did not work, it is not working, and all indications are that it will not work in the future."
Nissan Ratzlav-Katz and Pinchas Sanderson, "Hizbullah Gears Up For War, Olmert Asks for UN Help," Israel National News, July 14, 2008 --- http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/126842

A think tank is today publishing allegations that a prominent, controversial book released by the University of Pennsylvania Press about terror networks has two key passages that are plagiarized. While saying that the allegations are overblown, the press director said via e-mail that future editions would have attribution for the passages. The allegations come from Public Eye, a publication of Political Research Associates, a progressive think tank. Chip Berlet, a senior analyst for the group, makes the allegations as part of a broader critique of a much discussed book called Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century. Marc Sageman, the author and a counter-terrorism consultant, argues in the book that too much of a focus on al Qaeda misses the reality that terrorism has become decentralized, with various groups being inspired more than directly led by those who plotted the mass killings of 9/11. The book has received extensive press coverage and has been seen by many as significant.
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, July 28, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/07/28/leaderless
Jensen Comment
The plagiarism is minor and is far less important than the Leaderless Jihad book itself. From a WMD danger standpoint, biological WMDs are clearly the most dangerous WMDs in the hands of decentralized terror cells. Setting off a thermonuclear explosion is terribly complicated. But dumping bacteria and viruses into water and food supplies can be done by ignorant extremists who either steal the agents or are supplied by nefarious nations with biological weapons labs. I've felt for sometime that keeping Bin Laden is charge of so many terrorist cells has helped prevent or at least delay many huge terrorist acts since 9/11. My worry is that we may kill or capture Bin Laden or that he may just die of natural causes. I think his vision of conquest is less global than the leaders in many of his terror cells. Perhaps he has greater fear of a wounded eagle.

Our next U.S. Commander and Chief may have to deal with enemies who have weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Some analysts do not think these will be nukes. It's too complicated to go nuclear even if you have nukes. No, the WMD weapon of choice among terrorists is most likely biological --- http://www.metimes.com/Security/2008/07/07/analysis_will_terrorists_go_nuclear/4e8a/

That's all the more reason to spend gazillions of dollars on a new national health plan. Save the few that are left even if they don't have insurance coverage.

Tidbits on August 1, 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/ )

Global Incident Map --- http://www.globalincidentmap.com/home.php

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

U.S. Social Security Retirement Benefit Calculators --- http://www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator/
After 2017 what we would really like is a choice between our full social security benefits or 18 Euros each month --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Entitlements.htm

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

Many useful accounting sites (scroll down) --- http://www.iasplus.com/links/links.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

Font Conference (thanks Bob Blystone) --- http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766

A Virtual Tour of the Cheapside (Chronicle of Higher Education video) --- http://chronicle.com/media/flash/v54/i47/cheapside/
Click on the tiny Play Button.

Momma "cat" has floppy ears and other mothers (CBS) --- http://videomail.shaw.ca/view/10625928096-1214064286-46116/0

Financial Executives International (FEI) free television --- http://www.financialexecutives.org/eweb/startpage.aspx?site=_fei

Popping Corn With Cell Phones --- Click Here
Oops it's all faked --- http://www.snopes.com/science/cookegg.asp
Back to the microwave!

Jon Stewart makes fun of the Obama lapel pins (jointly showing U.S. and Israeli flag) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2CmAzwryYk
But he will most likely wear the Palestinian and Hizbullah flags jointly on his forthcoming visit with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank --- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/us/politics/15campaign.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin
Then he will switch back on his return home. It always pays to carry the flags of many nations in your airline luggage.

Viddler --- http://www.viddler.com/
(see the tidbits below for comparisons of Viddler with YouTube)
YouTube --- http://www.youtube.com/

Bob Jensen's video helpers --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm#Video

Bob Jensen's guide to free video lectures --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

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/
TED Video Example
Mathemajician Arthur Benjamin --- http://static.videoegg.com/ted/flash/fullscreen.html?v=/ted/movies/ARTHURBENJAMIN-2005&cid=/ted/movies

Viddler versus YouTube
YouTube --- http://www.youtube.com/
Viddler --- http://www.viddler.com

File size is limited on Viddler to 500 Mb in contrast to YouTube’s one Gb limit (usually uploaded in mpg compression) which gives about 10 minutes of viewing at 640 x 480 resolution on YouTube. This compression and resolution degrades quality somewhat, but you do get up to ten minute clips.

In contrast the video tutorials I viewed on Viddler are one-minute clips, which is hardly enough to get into a subject. For producers sending uncompressed files to Viddler is painfully, I mean really painfully slow, compared to the uploading speeds of compressed video. My experience is that compression can reduce file sizes by over 90% without too much degradation in quality.

Viddler clips can be higher quality, but the viewing time that I’ve observed is so short that I can’t imagine using Viddler for serious tutorials or courses since it would take ten modules to equal one of YouTube’s modules.

UC Berkeley now has nearly 200 courses on YouTube. Can you imagine viewing these courses one-minute-at-a-time. Viddler is great for some short home movie clips but it is not really competition for YouTube in the academic market. With visions of advertising revenue, Viddler hopes to compete with YouTube. But it will never do so until it increases module capacity to at least one Gb of compressed video.

You can view YouTube videos in full screen mode using one button on the bottom left. Viddler videos can also be viewed in full screen by first clicking on the menu button on the bottom left and then choosing the full screen option

I doubt that Viddler will ever have the historical collection of video clips that we already find on YouTube --- http://www.viddler.com
Viddler is more of a home movie site without the history archives of famous stars and current events and academic history.
For example, search YouTube for "Glen Beck" or "Keith Olbermann" or "Loretta Lynn" and then try Vidler.
Then try "accounting" on Viddler versus YouTube
I did find some homemade math tutorials on Viddler. For example, see http://www.youtube.com/t/yt_handbook_produce#
But those one-minute clips are soooooo small.

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

While working on the computer, Bob Jensen often listens to (free and without commercials) --- http://www.slacker.com/
Even better for this old guy from the jukebox era (just let it play through) --- http://www.tropicalglen.com/
But I listen most to Soldiers Radio Live --- http://www.army.mil/fieldband/pages/listening/bandstand.html

Stravinsky Gets His 'Rite: Remixed' --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92751852
This is outstanding!

Conan O'Brien - ''Pilobolus'' --- http://youtube.com/watch?v=3n8gxEwLx0w

The Ballad of Shoeless Joe --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0eO1Vn-hLk

The Bobs: Irreverent A Cappella --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92788641

How did Iran fake its missile picture --- http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/07/john-stewart-vs.html
Jon Stewart breaths a sigh of relief.

Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures (Video) --- http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/index.html

The Sweet Adelines are once again on the Trinity University campus this summer --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Adelines_International

Some Other Barbershop Quartets

The Stone Faces on Mount Rushmore (is Washington a little flat?) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb6fq48GMZ4
Perry Como and the Buffalo Bills --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPijsL9xFAI
Mr. Sandman in Disneyland --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQl0fcFP0cA
Crackerjack Junction --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN62wqBdbxA
The Mellowmen --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIz47C31t3A
Yesterday --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66KeDLL5mhM

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

Photographs and Art

Bejing Olympic Gardens --- Click Here

Idaho Landscapes & Gardens --- http://www.extension.uidaho.edu/idahogardens/

America's Favorite Architecture --- http://www.favoritearchitecture.org/

Great Historic Photographs --- http://tsutpen.blogspot.com/

Wonderful World --- Click Here

Great Pacific Garbage Patch --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures (Video) --- http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/index.html

John H. W. Stuckenberg Map Collection --- http://www.gettysburg.edu/library/gettdigital/maps/stuckenberg_maps.htm

Max Ernst: Illustrated Books --- http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2008/ernst/index.shtm

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

Kay Ryan, a prize-winning poet who teaches remedial English at the College of Marin, will today be named poet laureate of the United States, The New York Times reported. The article includes links to some of her writing.
Inside Higher Ed, July 17, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/07/17/qt

The Poet's View --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFCP5dCfynI
Casa Romantica --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czWFAOMNLH0

The Digital South Asia Library --- http://dsal.uchicago.edu/

Internet Library of Early Journals --- http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ilej/

All Free Magazines (links to free magazines) --- http://www.all-freemagazines.com/mag.html These are classified by subject matter. Many are offer free trial subscriptions for one year.

WindowsMedia.com http://www.windowsmedia.com/ A search engine for online audio and video.

FindArticles.com - search through an archive of articles from over 300 magazines and journals -- http://www.findarticles.com/

The Atlantic Online --- http://www.theatlantic.com/books/books.htm

The Library of Economics and Liberty --- http://www.econlib.org/index.html

Donating Used Textbooks --- http://www.nationalserviceresources.org/node/17645
Swap Books Online
USA Today, February 14, 2006 --- http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-02-14-book-sharing_x.htm
BookMooch --- http://www.bookmooch.com/
Also see the message blog at http://1389moblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/bookmooch-social-network-for-people-who.html
Paperback Swap --- http://www.paperbackswap.com/press_media/press_media_detail.php?id=30
Campus Book Swap --- http://www.campusbookswap.org/index.asp
Bookins Book Exchaznge --- http://www.airnyc.org/info/Bookins-Book-Exchange-61303.html
There are many, many other "Book Swap" alternatives on a Google search

March 27, 2007 message from Tina Bungert [tina.bungert@hitflip.de]

. . . I would like to introduce you to our service and web site Hitflip that might be an interesting addition to your links for books and education. Hitflip is a community to swap used books and other original media. It is therefore an easy and cheap alternative to the existing online book stores. You can find hitflip at http://www.hitflip.de .
The just recently launched English version can be found at http://www.hitflip.co.uk

Other alternatives for trading and donating books --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm#BookTrading

You can also sell used books and other products on Amazon.com ---
http://www.amazon.com/gp/seller-account/mm-summary-page.html?ie=UTF8&topic=200257910

And there's eBay --- http://hub.ebay.com/buy

And there's CraigsList --- http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites.html

All over the world, nuclear power is making a comeback. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has just commissioned eight new reactors, and says there's "no upper limit" to the number Britain will build in the future. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has challenged her country's program to phase out 17 nuclear reactors by 2020, saying it will be impossible to deal with climate change without them. China and India are building nuclear power plants; France and Russia, both of whom have embraced the technology, are fiercely competing to sell them the hardware. And just last month John McCain called for the construction of 45 new reactors by 2030. Barack Obama is less enthusiastic about nuclear energy, but he seems to be moving toward tacit approval . . . We have a nuclear waste problem in this country because we gave up reprocessing in the 1970s. The fear was that terrorists or foreign nationals would steal plutonium from American reactors to build bombs. This is a bit like worrying that terrorists will steal all the gold from Fort Knox. Other countries have built bombs in the intervening years. They didn't need American plutonium to do it. Meanwhile, France has proved that reprocessing works. With a fully developed nuclear cycle, the French now store all the waste from 30 years of producing 75% of its electricity beneath the floor of one room at La Hague in Normandy.
William Tucker, "Let's Have Some Love for Nuclear Power," The Wall Street Journal, July 21, 2008; Page A13 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121659839296769061.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has had a change of view when it comes to power nuclear power, that is. “The technology has changed, and I bring a more open mind to that subject now,” she said at a House Science and Technology Committee hearing. Legislation to mitigate global warming is a priority for the California Democrat, and nuclear power - touted as an emissions-free way to generate electricity — is gaining traction as a way to improve the environment while meeting the nation’s growing demands for power.
"Pelosi Reconsiders Nuclear Power," The Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2007 ---
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/02/08/pelosi-reconsiders-nuclear-power/

The package already on offer is rich. The Bush administration has promised to support Iranian construction of a light-water reactor and provide it with nuclear fuel. In addition, the U.S. will help overhaul of Iran's energy infrastructure and cooperate in high-technology industries. At any point, Tehran can simply walk away, keeping its rewards. European diplomats welcome the U.S. reversal. "The presence of an American is good news," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said. "France has always said that not only sanctions need to be imposed, dialogue is necessary." Iran is less kind. "America has no choice but to leave the Middle East beaten and humiliated," says Mohammad Jafar Assadi, chief of the IRGC ground forces.
Michael Rubin, "Now Bush Is Appeasing Iran," The Wall Street Journal, July 21, 2008; Page A11 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121659929379969123.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

The New York Times' refusal to publish John McCain's rebuttal to Barack Obama's Iraq Op-Ed may be the most glaring example of liberal media bias this journalist has ever seen, but true proof of widespread media bias requires one to follow an old journalism maxim: Follow the money . . . 235 journalists donated to Democrats, just 20 gave to Republicans -- a margin greater than 10:1. An even greater disparity, 20:1, exists between the number of journalists who donated to Barack Obama and John McCain.
"Big Media Puts Its Money Where Its Mouth Is," American Thinker, July 22, 2008 --- http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/07/big_media_puts_its_money_where.html

Two undergraduates on Pennsylvania State University's main campus have filed four complaints against instructors under new procedures designed to help students who believe that their professors have presented biased lessons in the classroom. Two more complaints have been filed at Temple University. Penn State and Temple put their student-complaint procedures in place in 2006, after Pennsylvania's legislature held much-publicized hearings to investigate allegations that professors had indoctrinated students in left-wing ideology and discriminated against conservatives . . . Penn State administrators investigated the four complaints. In two cases, the officials acknowledged that the instructors either may have acted inappropriately or could have done a better job of ensuring that a variety of views were presented. Officials dismissed the two other complaints, saying they found no problem with the instructors' teaching methods . . . Temple would not release the complaints to The Chronicle, although a spokesman said the grievances "were resolved to the satisfaction of the students."
Robin Wilson, Chronicle of Higher Education, July 23, 2008 --- Click Here

What precisely did Iran do to deserve the warm shoulder? Now as ever, Tehran underwrites and arms terrorist proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Gaza, and calls for Israel's destruction. Earlier this month, it tested long-range missiles capable of reaching southern Europe. As for getting that bomb, Iran has made steady progress this decade, enriching uranium in increasingly sophisticated centrifuges in violation of three U.N. Security Council resolutions. . . . But diplomacy also means getting something for giving something. That's not how it has worked here. Mr. Bush has conceded Iran's supposed "right" to build nuclear reactors, despite the fact that Tehran forfeited that right when the U.N. found it to be in material breach of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Mr. Bush has also offered to negotiate directly with Tehran on the sole condition -- the only "precondition," as Barack Obama refers to it -- that Iran stop enriching uranium. Yet Iran continues to enrich.
"Iran Has Earned Nothing," The Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2008; Page A18 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121668179050671841.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Then Simmons analyzes disciplines, and finds sharp differences — largely consistent with previous studies about disciplines and political leanings. Humanities and social science fields tend to have higher politically correct rankings, while professional and science disciplines do not. The table that follows is in order of political correctness. Psychology is the only field where a majority of professors are politically correct. Four fields — finance, management information, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering — had no one who was politically correct.
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, July 25, 2008 --- http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/07/25/pc
The Harvard study itself is reported at http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/%7Engross/lounsbery_9-25.pdf

The liberal blogosphere was aflame today with new accusations that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) is trying to win the 2008 presidential election.
Hendrik Hertzberg, "Flip-Flop Flap," The New Yorker, July 21, 2008 --- http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/07/21/080721taco_talk_hertzberg
Also see http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/07/07/080707on_audio_campaign
Also see "Anger on left: Obama shifts to the center," Mercury News, July 20, 2008 --- http://origin.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_9939610?nclick_check=1

To borrow a popular phrase of the season, ending one war Iraq to start two more in Afghanistan and Pakistan seems to be a dumb idea.
Tom Hayden, "Obama, Iraq and Afghanistan," The Nation, July 15, 2008 --- http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080721/hayden3
Jensen Comment
I agree but for different reasons and an alternate proposal on how to spend a trillion dollars without writing a blank check.
Leftists (they prefer to be called "progressives") like Tom Hayden offer no serious alternative to Pakistan and Afghanistan other than blank-check spending trillions dollars (read that more U.S. national debt) to ease poverty in those nations. And if we do so, there's no assurance that religious fanatics will not get control of Pakistan's WMD arsenal in an effort convert the world to their own religious extremism. A wealthy extremist is even more dangerous than an impoverished extremist. If we're going to spend trillions to save the world from nuclear winter perhaps it would be better to buy the WMDs from their present frightened owners and prevent the arsenal itself from falling into the hands of fanatics who become great WMD martyrs in the afterlife if they destroy Israel and obliterate the U.S. (read that Babylon). Buying and destroying Pakistan's WMD's may be far cheaper at this point in time than escalating a never-ending shooting war over the spoils of the poppy harvests. President Obama hopes to negotiate eliminations of WMDs of the world. But if we can't even find Bin Laden, what assurance have we that Iran or Israel or Chavez another devious power might not hide a few until Obama thinks he's bought up and destroyed them all? --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl32Y7wDVDs

Frontline: Return of the Taliban (video) --- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/taliban/

The Taliban Wants Pakistan's WMDs Now
Taliban Prepares Hit List of Top Pakistan Leaders --- Click Here
Also see http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2051261/posts

Question
What is the WMD of terrorist choice?
Jensen Comment
It's probably not nuclear because it's too complicated to go nuclear even if you have nukes. No the WMD weapon of choice is most likely biological --- http://www.metimes.com/Security/2008/07/07/analysis_will_terrorists_go_nuclear/4e8a/
Biological weapons are easier to hide among hundreds of small terrorist cells.

Newly-installed Lebanese President Michel Suleiman on Sunday threatened to militarily conquer the Israeli-controlled Shebaa Farms region of the Golan Heights if Israel did not agree to surrender the territory. Suleiman was speaking to reporters at a Mediterranean summit in Paris just hours after Israeli officials confirmed that the Lebanese army had paved a road to and set up a military base just a few hundred yards from the Shebaa Farms. A long-time ally of Hizballah, Suleiman was head of the Lebanese army until his ascendancy to the presidency earlier this summer as part of concessions that Hizballah extracted from the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. Hizballah used Israel's continued control of the Shebaa Farms region to justify its 2006 cross-border assault that sparked the Second Lebanon War.
"Lebanon makes belligerent moves toward Israel," Israel Today, June 13, 2008 --- http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=16597

As you know Obama visited troops this weekend in Kuwait, and Afghanistan. Prior to this weekend I, along with a few friends had been sending information to a few soldiers on an email list referencing Obama and his anti-military entourage and exhorting them not to be “deceived” by his “jive”. From what I’m getting back they were not in the least. From Camp Eggers I’m told that the mess hall photo op was hugely staged, and if you look at the video you can see it was sparsely attended. The soldier at the end of the video was “selected” and not random. “Dude showed up in a suit”, one email reads describing clothes Obama wore. Generally visits - as with McCain are in some type of Kaki or other uniform. Obama and all his entourage looked like they were going to a dinner party, or perhaps just trying to project that “authority” thing he’s always talking about. In any case the response is generally negative, although troops will generally show some type of appreciation I can tell that they can sense that Obama’s only doing this for his own ends, not for their benefit. Soldiers know when they are being part of photo op ed. Not that we mind it, but it depends on who it is. I can remember former president Jimmy Carter coming to visit us at Fort Stewart Georgia back around 1979, the reception was icy to say the least. We had absolutely no respect for the man - none at all. Obama’s getting the same reviews. That’s what talking about defeat for the last two years will do for you. He’s not fooling anyone, especially where the rubber meets the road.
"Obama Road Show not selling to the Troops," Macsmind, July 20, 2008 --- http://www.macsmind.com/wordpress/2008/07/20/obamas-not-selling-to-the-troops/

According to a recent article in The New York Times, the political makeup of academe may be changing. In 2005 more than 54 percent of full-time faculty members in the United States were older than 50, compared with just 22.5 percent in 1969. Patricia Cohen, a reporter for the Times, couples that with another intriguing fact: Recent studies suggest that younger faculty members tend to hold more moderate political views than their liberal elder colleagues. So will the impending retirement of aging baby boomers bring about less-left-leaning campuses?
Evan R. Goldstein, Chronicle of Higher Education's The Chronicle Review, July 25, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i46/46b00401.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Why the GOP is failing on the Main Street of America and in Academia
Sarah Steelman, the state treasurer, is running in an Aug. 5 primary for the Missouri governorship
And, oh, the howls of misery. Ms. Steelman's Republican colleagues were livid with her attempt to strip them of comfy pensions, annoyed with her "sunshine law" requiring them to be more open in their dealings, furious at her attacks on their ethanol boondoggles, appalled that she criticized GOP state Speaker Rod Jetton for moonlighting as a paid political consultant. The final straw was her temerity to make her primary race about her opponent's Washington earmarking record.
"GOP Reformers Face a Tough Fight," The Wall Street Journal, July 18, 2008; Page A11 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121633819842163855.html

In the middle of praising Jesse Jackson, Dan Rather referred to Barack Obama as "Osama bin Laden
D.S. Hube, Newsbusters, July 18, 2008 --- http://newsbusters.org/blogs/d-s-hube/2008/07/18/dan-rather-refers-obama-osama-bin-laden-will-media-notice
Watch the video of what appears to be an honest mistake.

A soldier from 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team was awarded a Silver Star Medal in a ceremony here July 12. Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, Combined Joint Task Force 101 commander, presented Army Capt. William G. Cromie with the decoration and praised him for his valor. Cromie’s platoon was called out to perform route clearance on a portion of the Korengal Road on Nov. 16, 2007, after receiving a tip that an improvised explosive device may have been placed there. Two of Cromie’s soldiers managed to maneuver into a better position that allowed them to cover the platoon, but they were soon pinned down and running dangerously low on ammunition. Grabbing more ammunition, Cromie took off through the small-arms crossfire to resupply his two soldiers. The platoon called for close-air support and mounted a counterattack that pushed the militants back to a fortified compound. The platoon then cleared the compound and killed the militants.
Armed Forces Press Service --- http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50490

But then we'd never have today's precious opportunity to solve the Fannie and Freddie problem once and for all. As this column noted five years ago, Yale's Jonathan Koppell aptly concluded a study with the observation that while in theory Freddie and Fannie aren't beyond political control, in practice they are. When all else fails, they threaten havoc in the home-financing market if anyone challenges their privileges. Now, for once, it may be possible to move against them. We'd be fools not to do it. With Fannie and Freddie on the ropes politically, let's put them on a path to privatization and liquidation. Treasury's Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Bernanke are still talking as if restoring the status quo is desirable, with tweaks. But putting the Fed in the job of helping to regulate them, one of Treasury's ideas, would just be to put monetary policy at the service of propping up yet more financial services companies. This is not a policy for financial stability—but for finally prostituting the dollar to the massive liabilities of the federal government.
Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., "Finish the Companies Off," The Wall Street Journal, July 16, 2008 12:25 a.m.; Page A15 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121617444333956835.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

“Now the Fed wants to be the systemic risk regulator. But the Fed is the systemic risk. Giving the Fed more power is like giving the neighborhood kid who broke your window playing baseball in the street a bigger bat and thinking that will fix the problem. I am not going to go along with that and will use all my powers as a Senator to stop any new powers going to the Fed. “Instead, we should give them less to do so they can do it right, either by taking away their monetary policy responsibility or by requiring them to focus only on inflation…
The Wall Street Journal quoting Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, July 15, 2008 --- http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/07/15/bunning-the-fed-gses-and-socialism/

House Speaker Pelosi is hinting at reinstating the Fairness Doctrine, and many of her liberal colleagues in Congress are doing the same in both chambers. Alleging the press isnt balanced, they say government should be making sure all viewpoints meaning the lefts are fairly represented. I agree the press isn't balanced, but Mrs. Pelosi has it backward; liberalism dominates the press, including the three major networks and most major newspapers. Though originally the Fairness Doctrine did not require opposing time be equal, it came to be the standard . . . The doctrines reinstatement would kill conservative talk radio. Radio stations that carry Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck would have to create liberal shows of equal length. And when those shows fail to make money and the stations take a loss, their only option in cancelling those shows would be to cancel the conservative shows as well.
Ken Blackwell, "The Gathering Threat to Freedom," Townhall.com, July 17, 2008 --- http://www.townhall.com/columnists/KenBlackwell/2008/07/17/the_gathering_threat_to_freedom
Jensen Comment
But will this also kill NBC and CBS and even, horrors, NPR?

Ketchup versus Beer
CNN this week took a look at Cindy McCain's wealth this week, reporting that she "is not only a wife to Senator John McCain, she is also his meal ticket. Her reported 2006 income of more than $6 million exceeded her husband's earnings 16 times over. That money pays for a wealthy lifestyle of high end condos, an Arizona ranch, flying in a corporate jet, and more." The story quoted a writer from the Politico saying that her beer distributorship funded his first congressional campaign and has subsidized his presidential campaign.
Jake Tapper, ABC News, July 18, 2008 --- http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/dnc-sees-cindy.html
Jensen Comment
When the Democratic National Committee needs to be reminded that John Kerry was married to a woman (named Heinz) that could buy Cindy McCain ten times over and have enough left to buy Pennsylvania. How come the DNC didn't object to Kerry's wife funding his campaigns?

PBS Nova (November 18, 2008) will theorize that much of the Old Testament is fiction
The program challenges long-held beliefs. Abraham, Sarah and their offspring probably didn't exist, says Carol Meyers, a religion professor at Duke University. "These stories are unlikely to represent real historical events, but rather there's some kernel of ancient experience in there which has survived and which helps give identity to the people at the time the Bible finally took shape centuries and centuries later," Meyers says. There's no archaeological evidence of the Exodus, either, she says, but "it doesn't mean that there's no kernel of truth to it." Nova series producer Paula Apsell says she found it "extremely shocking" to learn that monotheism was a process that took hundreds of years. "I was always brought up to believe that the minute Abraham and the patriarchs came on the scene, the Israelites accepted one God and there was just always one God and that was it," Apsell says. "I think people are going to really be stunned by that." Another shocker: The program contradicts the biblical view that the Israelites came from somewhere else into the land of Canaan. "The film shows that they were Canaanites," Apsell says.
Hal Boedeker, "Holy Moses! PBS documentary suggests Exodus not real," by Hal Boedeker, Orlando Sentinel, July 21, 2008 ---
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/orl-exodus2108jul21,0,7755323.story
Jensen Comment
It will be interesting to see what pressures are brought to bear on PBS to either change the content of this Nova show or drop it all together. . I wonder if Nova would’ve had the courage to also claim that much of the Qur’an is fiction? That would be so dangerous Nova would not dare!

San Francisco Officially Denounces the Catholic Church, and the Bible is Accused as a Hate Speech Book
Catholics and the U.S. Military are Unwelcome in San Francisco (JROTC Banned)
A San Francisco city and county board resolution that officially labeled the Catholic church's moral teachings on homosexuality as "insulting to all San Franciscans," "hateful," "defamatory," "insensitive" and "ignorant" will be challenged tomorrow in court for violating the Constitution's prohibition of government hostility toward religion. Resolution 168-08, passed unanimously by the City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors two years ago, also accused the Vatican of being a "foreign country" meddling with and attempting to "negatively influence (San Francisco's) existing and established customs." . . . A San Francisco city and county board resolution that officially labeled the Catholic church's moral teachings on homosexuality as "insulting to all San Franciscans," "hateful," "defamatory," "insensitive" and "ignorant" will be challenged tomorrow in court for violating the Constitution's prohibition of government hostility toward religion. Resolution 168-08, passed unanimously by the City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors two years ago, also accused the Vatican of being a "foreign country" meddling with and attempting to "negatively influence (San Francisco's) existing and established customs." Currently, as WND has reported, Colorado and Michigan are tackling the question of whether the Bible itself can be vilified as "hate speech" for it's condemnation of homosexuality, and Canada has developed human rights commissions, which have decided people cannot express opposition to homosexuality without fear of government reprisal.

Canada deported on Tuesday the first of some 200 Americans who deserted the U.S. military and sought refugee status to protest against the Iraq War. Robin Long, 25, was removed a day after a Federal Court judge in Vancouver rejected his claim that he would suffer irreparable harm if returned to the United States. He fled across the border in 2005 as his army tank unit was preparing to deploy to Iraq. The Canada Border Services Agency confirmed Long's removal, but declined to give other details, citing privacy laws.
Alan Dawd, Reuters, July 15, 2008 --- http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N15312247.htm

Put the Blame on Mame Nancy: If the Shoe Fits Wear It (even Bush is polling better than Pelosi)
That poll showed that its approval rating had reached an anemic 14 percent, while more than 70 percent of those polled said they disapproved of the job Congress is doing. The House speaker said she doesn't consider those numbers a negative referendum on the Democrats in charge, saying she thinks they stem largely from Congress' failure to end (surrender?) the war in Iraq.
CNN, July 18, 2008 --- http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/17/pelosi.interview/index.html
Jensen Comment
Why can't we harness all the hot wind in Washington DC? Could the low ratings possible be due to the fact that the public is tired of fraudulent earmarked legislation?

Maybe not. While some kind of crackdown on the U.S. oil futures market is inevitable after so much political agitation, Congress has begun to believe its own demagoguery. The Senate may vote on a bill this week that will drive commodities trading overseas and decrease oversight and market transparency. Call it a Sarbanes-Oxley for energy. Because commodity futures trading is a complex financial instrument, "speculation" makes an expedient scapegoat for edgy lawmakers and even aggrieved industries -- such as the airlines. But it performs a vital price-discovery function. Major energy producers and consumers, such as refiners, buy and sell these contracts to lock in oil at a future price, as a shock absorber against volatility. Essentially, they're bets that reveal market expectations about the supply and demand of oil, as well as the rate of inflation. Even the title of the Senate's bill -- the "Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act" -- is idiotic. True, the volume of trading has increased by about sixfold since 2000, but it can't be "excessive." The inviolable law of futures markets is that someone has to take the other side of any option. That is, the value of contracts agreed to by sellers anticipating that prices will fall must equal the value of contracts agreed to by buyers anticipating prices will rise. The overall size of the market is irrelevant.
"An Energy Sarbox," The Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2008; Page A18 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121668166926071811.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

A total of 24 states allow voters to change laws on their own (laws) by collecting signatures and putting initiatives on the ballot. It's healthy that the entrenched political class should face some real legislative competition from initiative-toting citizens. Unfortunately, some special interests have declared war on the initiative process, using tactics ranging from restrictive laws to outright thuggery. The initiative is a reform born out of the Progressive Era, when there was general agreement that powerful interests had too much influence over legislators. It was adopted by most states in the Midwest and West, including Ohio and California. It was largely rejected by Eastern states, which were dominated by political machines, and in the South, where Jim Crow legislators feared giving more power to ordinary people.
John Fund, "The Far Left's War on Direct Democracy," The Wall Street Journal, July 26, 2008; Page A9 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121702588516086143.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

The Mouse That Roared
Hundreds of super-rich American tax cheats have, in effect, turned themselves in to the IRS after a bank computer technician in the tiny European country of Liechtenstein came forward with the names of US citizens who had set up secret accounts there, according to Washington lawyers investigating the scheme. The bank clerk, Heinrich Kieber, has been branded a thief by the government of Liechtenstein for violating the country's bank secrecy laws.
Brian Ross and Rhoda Schwartz, "Day of Reckoning? Super Rich Tax Cheats Outed by Bank Clerk," ABC News, July 15, 2008 ---
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5378080

"Obama Web site removes 'surge' from Iraq problem," MIT's Technology Review, July 15, 2008 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Wire/21091/?nlid=1211

Barack Obama's aides have removed criticism of President Bush's increase of troops to Iraq from the campaign Web site, part of an effort to update the Democrat's written war plan to reflect changing conditions.

Debate over the impact of President Bush's troop "surge" has been at the center of exchanges this week between Obama and Republican presidential rival John McCain. Obama opposed the war and the surge from the start, while McCain supported both the invasion and the troop increase.

A year and a half after Bush announced he was sending reinforcements to Iraq, it is widely credited with reducing violence there. With most Americans ready to end the war, McCain is using the surge debate to argue he has better judgment and the troops should stay to win the fight. Obama argues the troop increase has not achieved its other goal of fostering a political reconciliation among Iraqi factions.

After Bush delivered a nationally televised address on Jan. 10, 2007, announcing his plan, Obama argued it could make the situation worse by taking pressure off Iraqis to find a political solution to the fighting.

"I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there," the Illinois senator said that night, a month before announcing his presidential bid. "In fact, I think it will do the reverse."

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
The liberals want U.S. military and U.S. contractors (read that U.S. unconditional surrender) out of all the Middle East --- http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080804/editors
They don't mention whether the U.S. should draw a line around Israel or sacrifice it to Iran's chemically-armed Hizbullah forces.
Hizbullah's winning strategy in Lebanon will work for Iran in Iraq after the U.S. pulls out. On this there is no doubt!
The winning strategy is to have a puppet democracy propped up over missals aimed at Israel!
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid flatly states that we lost the Iraq war long ago --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYZEGot-xU4
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann stands by his version of the real truth --- General Petreaus and President Bush are liars about everything

Keth Olbermann is one of the the last remaining hold outs ("he badly wants the surge to fail")---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGmLasxsYqk&feature=related

General Petreaus is really General Betray Us? (NBC's Keith Olbermann calls our top general in Iraq an outright liar) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr2RQxGpets

If the surge eventually works, give zero credit to Bush and Petreaus ---
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2007/08/surge_spin.html

A totally incompetent Condoleza Rice is untrustworthy (NBC's Keith Olbermann calls our Secretary of State an outright liar) ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_itpUZEifs

Barack Obama admitted tonight that he would rather see failure in Iraq than concede that he was wrong about the surge.
John McCain, July 21 --- http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/blogs/fortyfourthestate/

Obama thought would have been better to negotiate (read that surrender) Iraq to Iran early on than to have the surge delay the process.
Obama Says He Would Still Oppose Iraq Surge Strategy if He Had it to Do Over Again - Video 7/22/08 ---
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049332/posts
Watch Obama's Video --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpNRIpR4uw4
Jensen Comment
Obama's probably correct about the surge since Iran is going to get Iraq behind the scenes (just like Iran's puppet Hizbullah controls Lebanon behind a facade of democracy) when the U.S. military pulls out in 2010. The 2007 surge delayed Iran's plans. But Obama's pull out fits into Iran's strategy to both get Iraq's oil and to point more rockets toward Israel from Iraq as well as Lebanon. No wonder Syria has grown nervous and is now seeking a buy out from the West before Hizbullah takes power in Syria as well. Persia is on a roll, and the Arabs must be getting very nervous that America will abandon them as well as Israel.

On net, members of Congress seem to be the only beneficiaries of the stimulus. They got to posture and pose, and send out to voters untold millions of press releases and mailings extolling themselves and the stimulus checks. None mentioned the government's low interest rates which touched off the housing bubble that's led to the economic turndown, or the inflation that's undermined the very expensive remedy that hasn't worked as planned. But that didn't stop Ms. Pelosi from proposing another $50 billion "stimulus" package on Thursday.
Ernest S. Christian and Gary A. Robbins, "Stupidity and the State," The Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2008; Page A7 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121642192042866621.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

The Global Poverty Act (S.2433) is expected to come up for a vote in the US Senate any time before the November presidential elections, according to conservatives who fear it is a giant step towards handing over US sovereignty to the United Nations and foreign governments. This is the newest liberal-inspired plan to allow a United Nations style tax on American citizens, according to officials at the American Conservative Union. ACU officials say that this "sickening bill could potentially force the United States to spend as much as $845,000,000,000.00 on welfare to third-world countries." The American people will be watching and will not tolerate massive United Nations-style giveaways that are passed in the dark of night -- or in broad daylight for that matter. (Obama's) 2433 is a stealth bill and a dagger aimed at the heart of America's sovereignty.
Jim Couri, "OBAMA'S UNITED NATIONS SANCTIONED GLOBAL TAX PLAN," NWV News, April 1, 2008 ---
http://www.newswithviews.com/NWV-News/news40.htm
Jensen Comment
This bill gets even worse. It's an annual entitlement to help fight poverty around the world. This money will not go to directly to those who need it, but rather to the UN for distribution. It's a big plum and cherry ripe for fraud just like the U.N.'s disastrous Oil for Food fiasco that diverted the funds to Saddam.
Just Pull the Trigger--Aiming Is Overrated
Chicago Sun-Times, July 26
Just Give the Farm to the U.N., Aiming at the Poor is Overrated
Why More Entitlements Will Destroy the U.S. Economy --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Entitlements.htm

Europe Has an Economics Lesson for Obama
But the Europe Mr. Obama will visit is quite different from the one Americans often hear about. Over the last decade, much of Europe has very quietly embraced market-based reforms that either draw inspiration from American successes or -- on issues like retirement security -- are even more market-oriented than many U.S. Republicans support. What's more, these changes have been adopted and implemented by parties left and right. This Europe is a shining example of exactly the sort of postpartisan government action that the Obama campaign says it is about. The cutting of corporate income- tax rates is an excellent example of European market-friendly bipartisanship. Germany's right-left coalition of Christian and Social Democrats implemented a large rate cut earlier this year, reducing the top marginal corporate rate to about 30% from 39%. Spain's Socialist and Britain's Labor governments have followed suit, reducing their countries' top corporate rates. These traditionally left-of-center parties understand that in a globalized economy, wealth and investment are mobile, flowing to those countries that provide hospitable investment climates. As part of a European Union where center-right governments in Greece, Denmark, Ireland and Eastern Europe have dramatically reduced corporate tax rates, they understand that they cannot help workers if they drive away the capital that employs and pays them.
Henry Olsen, The Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2008 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121642093483266551.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Mixing tax hikes and trade protectionism could send the economy into a tailspin
History teaches us that high taxes and protectionism are not conducive to a thriving economy,
the extreme case being the higher taxes and tariffs that deepened the Great Depression.
Despite the rhetoric, that's not just on "rich" individuals. It's also on a lot of small businesses and two-earner middle-aged middle-class couples in their peak earnings years in high cost-of-living areas. (Obama's large increase in energy taxes, not documented here, would disproportionately harm low-income Americans. And, while he says he will not raise taxes on the middle class, he'll need many more tax hikes to pay for his big increase in spending.) . . . Now trade. In the primaries, Sen. Obama was famously protectionist, claiming he would rip up and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta). Since its passage (for which former President Bill Clinton ran a brave anchor leg, given opposition to trade liberalization in his party), Nafta has risen to almost mythological proportions as a metaphor for the alleged harm done by trade, globalization and the pace of technological change. Yet since Nafta was passed (relative to the comparable period before passage), U.S. manufacturing output grew more rapidly and reached an all-time high last year; the average unemployment rate declined as employment grew 24%; real hourly compensation in the business sector grew twice as fast as before; agricultural exports destined for Canada and Mexico have grown substantially and trade among the three nations has tripled; Mexican wages have risen each year since the peso crisis of 1994; and the two binational Nafta environmental institutions have provided nearly $1 billion for 135 environmental infrastructure projects along the U.S.-Mexico border. History teaches us that high taxes and protectionism are not conducive to a thriving economy, the extreme case being the higher taxes and tariffs that deepened the Great Depression. While such a policy mix would be a real change, as philosophers remind us, change is not always progress.
Michael J. Boskin (Stanford University Economics Professor)," Obamanomics Is a Recipe for Recession," The Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2008 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121728762442091427.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Bob Jensen's threads on entitlements are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Entitlements.htm

Amazing New Facts About the Internet

I watched the history of computing in the 1990s on the History Channel on July 21, 2008 --- http://www.history.com/

Some facts mentioned concerning today in 2008 amazed me. I did not dig out independent verification of these facts.

The amount of information on Internet servers now doubles every 12 hours.
Jensen Comment
For example we might soon have more barrels of information about oil on the Internet than barrels of oil underground. With stored information doubling every 12 hours this makes Google's ranking of "hits" in information searches all-powerful in guiding us to what we learn. I sure hope Google lives up to it's motto: "Do no evil!" But even if it does no evil intentionally, any ranking of gazillions of documents provides different learning than other rankings of the same gazillions of documents. And the rankings of documents on a topic in English are bound to vary from rankings of documents on the same topics in Chinese, Japanese, German, Russian, French, etc.
There are over one billion users of the Internet worldwide. Although 70% of the people in the United States now use the Internet, the U.S. usage only ranks third among nations of the world at the present time.
Google will not disclose the number of Internet servers currently in use for Google searches, but techies estimate that it's moving close to 500,000 high capacity servers. I don't know if this includes the amazing YouTube servers owned by Google, but I doubt it. I can't imagine the number of servers needed to serve up over a billion videos on YouTube. It takes about one gigabyte of storage just to store ten minutes of video compressed into a mpg format. The storage needed to serve up over a billion YouTube videos boggles my mind --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm
Japanese robotic toys became popular in the 1990s and often sold between $35 and $100 per toy. What amazed me is that they sold over 80 million of just one type of robot about the size of a teddy bear and just as fluffy. This particular toy had a built in dictionary of over 100 English words and gave the impression that it was learning English over time as a child spoke to the robotic toy. Our National Intelligence Agency, however, was so stupid that taking this toy into their DC building was banned for employees because the NIA thought the toy robot might overhear secrets. I suppose one could be customized to record conversations, so maybe the NIA was not so stupid, although as of late the Agency has not demonstrated that in knows enough to worry about.

Bob Jensen's threads on how to find Internet statistics are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob4.htm
(Just scroll down a short bit)

We hear a lot about carbon footprints polluting the earth. We also have Internet servers polluting the earth.
Egads! I'm a big time polluter at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/

"China says its population of Internet users rises to world No. 1 at 253 million," MIT's Technology Review, July 25, 2008 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Wire/21132/?nlid=1233&a=f

China's booming Internet population has surpassed the United States to become the world's biggest, with 253 million people online despite government controls on Web use, according to government data reported Friday.

The latest figure on Web use at the end of June is a 56 percent increase from a year ago, the China Internet Network Information Center said. It said the share of the Chinese public using the Internet is still just 19.1 percent, leaving more room for rapid growth.

The United States had an estimated 223.1 million Internet users in June, according to Nielsen Online, a research firm. The Pew Internet and American Life Project puts U.S. online penetration at 71 percent.

"This is the first time the number has drastically surpassed the United States, becoming the world's No. 1," a CNNIC statement said.

The communist government encourages Internet use for business and education but tries to block access to Web sites deemed pornographic or subversive. Web surfers have been jailed for posting or e-mailing material that criticizes communist rule or is deemed a violation of vague national security laws.

Beijing blocks access to Web sites run by dissidents, human rights groups and some foreign news media. Web surfers were blocked from seeing Google Inc.'s YouTube and other foreign sites with video footage of anti-government protests in Tibet in March.

That same month, the government said it would shut down 25 Chinese video sites and punish 32 others for violating new rules against carrying content that is deemed pornographic, violent or a threat to national security.

In financial terms, China's market lags those of the United States, South Korea and other economies. But online commerce, video sharing and other businesses are growing rapidly and have raised millions of dollars from investors.

The commercial boom has produced success stories such as games site Tencent.com and search engine Baidu.com, which are competing with foreign rivals for local market share. Baidu said Thursday its profits in the latest quarter soared 87 percent over the year-earlier period to 265 million yuan ($38.6 million).

Total revenues for China's Internet companies soared to 40.5 billion yuan ($5.9 billion) in 2007, up 48.6 percent from the previous year, the research firm Analysys International reported this week. It said revenues should keep growing at an annual rate of at least 30 percent in coming years, reaching 137.5 billion yuan by 2010.

By contrast, U.S. online advertising revenues alone in 2007 were $21.2 billion (145.2 billion yuan), according to a report by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

The research firm BDA China Ltd. says China's online population should keep growing by 18 percent annually, reaching 490 million by 2012 -- a number larger than the entire U.S. population.

Internet companies are looking forward to a new growth spurt once Chinese mobile phone carriers roll out third-generation, or 3G, technology that can support Web-surfing and other services. No date has been announced, but with more than 500 million mobile accounts, China has a vast pool of potential wireless Internet users.

China's Internet boom has gotten a boost from a sharp slowdown in demand for fixed-line phones as more customers opt for mobile service. Fixed-line carriers have responded by expanding into broadband Internet, Web-based cable television and other services. The CNNIC report Friday said that as a result, 214 million Chinese now have high-speed access.

Free Feature Length Documentary Films --- http://www.snagfilms.com/

SB121625545312460425.html

Thousands of feature-length documentary films are produced every year, but almost nobody gets a chance to see them. A few dozen are shown to small audiences at major film festivals, and a handful make it into theaters. For every blockbuster like "An Inconvenient Truth," there are hundreds of documentaries that never find an audience.

Starting Thursday, however, there will be a new online service that aims to change all that. The service, called SnagFilms, allows anyone with a blog, a Web site, or even a page on a social-networking site, to open a virtual movie theater and show these documentaries, free. The virtual theater is a small widget that contains the film, and that can be embedded easily and quickly in a wide variety of popular social-networking services and blog platforms. No technical knowledge is needed.

Once a site or page owner "snags" a film in this way, visitors to the site can view it in a larger window that pops out from the widget. This window plays the film, displays some ads and provides links to charities or organizations related to the topic of the movie. The films can even be played in full-screen mode. Many also include links for buying a DVD of the film. All that's missing is the popcorn.

These aren't homemade, three-minute YouTube clips. Nearly all are feature-length, professionally produced documentaries, from both small independent filmmakers and well-known sources such as PBS and National Geographic.

The owner of the site or blog gets no direct revenue from posting the films. He or she is, in effect, donating space to support the film or the cause it highlights, a decision SnagFilms calls "filmanthropy." But the filmmaker and SnagFilms do make money -- splitting advertising revenue equally. And the charity or organization can make money, too, if viewers opt to donate. The filmmaker also can make money from DVD sales, paying SnagFilms an 8.5% commission.

I have been testing a prerelease version of the SnagFilms service and have posted SnagFilms widgets with no problems to Facebook, MySpace, iGoogle, Netvibes, Blogger, Windows Live Spaces and Vox. Many more Web sites can house these widgets, including the vast number of blogs built on the popular WordPress and TypePad platforms.

Here's how it works. You just go to the SnagFilms Web site at snagfilms.com, select one or more of the 250 or so films available at launch and click the snag button. A menu pops up that lists numerous popular networking services and platforms. Clicking one will automatically post the SnagFilms widget of your choice on your page or site at one of these services. You can also simply view the films at the SnagFilms site.

Each widget includes an "info" button that takes you to a page on the SnagFilms site giving the details and background on the film. You can also leave comments here, rate the film, order the DVD and see recommendations for related films.

The system is viral, so you don't have to start at the SnagFilms site. A Web surfer who sees a SnagFilms movie anywhere on the Web can spread it around just by clicking the snag button on every widget. The snag button allows the viewer to either host the film or to email a link to the film that will bring friends to the SnagFilms site to view or snag it.

SnagFilms is the brainchild of Ted Leonsis, a former top executive at America Online, who in recent years has become a documentary-film producer. He became frustrated with the distribution bottleneck for such films and arranged to take over AOL's documentary site, TrueStories, and turn it into SnagFilms. He also is chairman of the board of a company, Clearspring, which created the film widgets.

At launch, the SnagFilms catalog includes well-known documentaries like "Super Size Me," but also lesser-known films on a wide variety of topics, including college football, AIDS in Africa, politics, profiles of average people and tales of the New York Fire Department. One of my favorites was "Paper Clips," the story of how a school in Tennessee learned about the Holocaust.

Filmmakers can submit movies to the site by sending an email to: submissions@snagfilms.com. SnagFilms says it doesn't censor or edit the films, but won't accept pornography or films deemed to encourage hate. It does have a selection process, so not all films submitted will make it onto the site. The company hopes to add more films soon.

I had only two gripes about SnagFilms. First, the films should be able to play inside the widget itself, with an option inside to play at larger sizes. Having to open a separate browser window is a pain. The company says it's working on this.

Second, the initial catalog is light on documentaries from a conservative or probusiness perspective. But the company says it is "actively seeking to offer differing viewpoints" and will soon add "a number of films that are quite conservative in philosophy."

SnagFilms is a great idea for getting documentary films in front of more people. It's another example of how the Web is changing media distribution for the better.

Questions
What's the main reason colleges have such a difficult time recruiting black males?
Are McCain and Obama close or miles apart on proposed solutions to this problem?

A new analysis shows just how poorly many states are doing at graduating black males from high school. The Schott Foundation for Public Education last week released an “education inequity index,” comparing black male and white male graduation rates for high school — and the figures may be chilling for colleges hoping to boost black male enrollments. Nationally only 47 percent of black male students are graduating from high school with their cohorts, and in 10 states, the gap in black male and white male graduation rates is at least 30 points, led by Wisconsin, where the black male rate is 36 percent and the white male rate is 87 percent. Michigan, Illinois and Nebraska also have gaps of more than 40 percentage points. The states with the narrowest gaps (or none) tend to be states where there are relatively few black students, Vermont and Maine for example.
Inside Higher Ed, July 28, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/07/28/qt
Jensen Comment
I don't think race per se the major factor driving dropout rates. This outcomes are confounded by poverty and street crime environments. States with relatively high black graduation rates like Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, West Virginia, and Kentucky do not have the huge urban centers where larger concentrations of inner-city black students who, due to poverty, live in crime/drug infested neighborhoods that increase temptations for blac