Author: Sahar

Track the conference on twitter –

http://summize.com/search?q=%23pdf2008

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEwUhDC84ow[/youtube]

This man should be on the Supreme Court.

For the record? Global Warming is projected to cause exactly the sort of flooding we’re seeing now in the Midwest.

The British and the Chinese understand global warming has driven their record flooding. The United States? Not so much.

Although you wouldn’t know it from most U.S. media coverage, the record “once-in-a-hundred-year flooding” the Midwest now seems to be getting every decade or so is precisely what scientists have been expecting from the warming.

A 2004 analysis [PDF] by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center found an increase during the 20th century of “precipitation, temperature, streamflow, heavy and very heavy precipitation and high streamflow in the East.” They found a 14 percent increase in “heavy rain events” of greater than 2 inches in one day, and a 20 percent increase in “very heavy rain events” — best described as deluges — greater than 4 inches in one day. These extreme downpours are precisely what is predicted by global warming scientists and models [PDF].

Hurricanes, Wildfires, Tsunamis, Floods, Tornados. We seem to have quite a lot of them recently. Since any specific freak weather pattern can’t be definitively proven to be caused by Global Warming, environmentalists hesitate to bring the subject up, but in the aggregate it’s clear that all the increase in extreme weather we’re having (especially flooding) across the world is caused by Climate Change.

I’m sick and tired of hearing right-wing idiots blather on about how colleges are too liberal, either full of Marxists eager to convert our innocent young, or professors who “despise their own country while finding excuses for repressive and dangerous regimes”.

Look, no half-way intelligent person believes these smears. Why do conservatives continue funding people like Daniel Pipes?

Pipes is a rather unpleasant man whose strategy to retain scholarly credibility must be the mustache/beard growth on his face. That’s right. My guess is that he banks on people’s thought processes going something like this: “Why does this man have such unfortunate taste in grooming? It must be because he’s so focused on intellectual things that he doesn’t have time for such trivialities. He’s spouting a load of bull, but he does have a PhD, and that impressively grotesque sense of facial style. I guess he’s too deep for me.”

Continue reading “Gaming the refs”

The distinguished senior Senator from Massachusetts, Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor today.

This is bad:

“High-grade glio-malignancies” such as Senator Kennedy has “are unfortunately the most common kind of brain tumor in this age group, and they have a poor prognosis for long-term survival,” he said.

They can also be very debilitating during treatment, Madsen said, and Kennedy’s tumor is in an area where it may well eventually affect his speech.

This makes me sad.

Robert Byrd just burst out sobbing on the senate floor and had to call for an absence of a quorum to compose himself. Now he is railing against the war.

The only member of congress with more seniority in the Senate than Sen. Kennedy is Senator Robert Byrd.

I sent my best wishes to the Senator through his official Senate Site. You might want to do the same.

We’ve just gotten a hold of the unanimous decision by the Union Judiciary to rule in the favor of Noam Shouster and Nelson Rutrick in the Brooks case. There was one concurring opinion by Justice Judah Marans.
Here’s the relevant graf –

Therefore, on all counts the members undersigned of the Union Judiciary find for the Elections Commission, and hereby lift the injunction against Noam Shouster. We request that the Secretary certify as official all results from the Second Round of the Spring 2008 Elections and that the President of the Union swear Noam Shouster in as Senator-at-Large at the next regularly convened meeting of the Senate.

Summary of the opinion follows

Continue reading “UJ rules on Brooks vs Shouster, Rutrick”

TAPPED, the award-winning blog of one of my favorite magazines, The American Prospect, just wrote about an online effort, led by Brandeis’ own Mike Kerns and Jamie Ansorge, to have a national gas/carbon tax. Here’s what they had to say:

Having college kids argue on the Internet in favor of a $1/1 gallon of gas tax is probably not the best way to convince folks that higher prices at the pump won’t unduly hurt the rural poor. But that’s what a new Facebook group is all about:

Amazingly-and counter-intuitively-a tax on gas consumption will not hurt consumers, but rather will be a definitive stroke of government policy that causes America to lead the world into the cost-efficient, environment-friendly, democratizing era of alternative energy. And amazingly still, this is, via probability, as plain as fact!

Simply enough, there will be less of a market for gas, meaning less consumption and less pollution, while there will simultaneously be a new, direct form of funding for alternative energies, which will be demanded more highly relative to gas with the price increase. And, Voila!

And with the communicative power of technology, here it is possible. If 1,000,000 people simply click “join,” we can literally change the world, and, in a deafeningly defining way.

The enthusiastic group was founded by Brandeis student Michael Kerns. He links approvingly to the idea that revenues from a gas tax should be contributed to the Social Security Trust Fund, which would then allow for cuts in payroll taxes. The problem with that, though, is that if the gas tax truly succeeded in decreasing demand for oil, eventually there’d be a shortfall on Social Security contributions.

This as been the latest episode of Brandeis kids do the darndest things.
Facebook Group here, by the way.

Whenever I order cage-free eggs at Usdan, they force me to use styrofoam trays.
Why? Because in order to make sure I pay the extra 20 cents, cafeteria workers have to write ‘cage-free’ on my food, and marker doesn’t take well on ceramic plates.

Isn’t that something? A victory for animal rights is negated by increased environmental damage. Buying local often precludes buying union-made. Buying used makes it much harder to order sweatshop-free. Even buying political television advertising feeds millions into the mega-corporations that control the airwaves.

Life doesn’t have to work this way.

Continue reading “The Campus Movement”

NOTE: We reserve the right to say thing blatantly offensive and opinionated against those who make a fool of themselves. We are the final arbiters of who is a fool. This post is in no way balanced, nor does it present an unbiased view on anything. With that said, read on!

For a briefer synopsis, read the executive summaries of the closing statements at the end.

Some quotes of the night:

8:00: Taylor Shiells, representing Andrew Brooks: “My client should have run un-opposed, but a series of events eventually caused him to lose.” You mean, the series of events called Democracy?

2:47: Brian: “Objection: why?” The best kind of objection.

5:00: Court: “Would you like to call a witness?”
Taylor (lawyer for brooks):”no!”
Brooks: “yes!”

7:23: Noam, on being sworn in to give testimony: “Finally I get sweared into something!” Oh snap.

7:28: Q: Noam, did you put up any flyers or anything supporting your campaign?
A: No, I don’t like wasting paper.
Continue reading “ze livebloggin’: Brooks v. Shuster & Rutrick”

Last week Jordan Rothman promised us a “return to controversy”. Well, he kept good on that promise:

Social justice is stupid. There, I said it, and it feels good. Surrounded by the legions of deluded Brandeisians, using this term almost as much as they speak Hebrew or complain about Sherman, I am now finally happy to write about the imbecilic nature of this concept. This ideal is talked about frequently at our university, and is even one of the four pillars of our institution. Many try (most in vain) to classify all manners of activity as promoting “social justice,” while others self-righteously point out that they are defenders of this “noble” ideal. What is actually quite comical is that none of these “guardians” are fully aware of what the term actually means. The concept is ambiguous at best, and many are content to blindly pursue the tenets of this nearly nonexistent ideal.

I am, of course, completely opposed to almost all that Jordan said in that article, and I think his concept of Social Justice as “slavery” is dangerously whack. That said, I do applaud his bold move to stand for his beliefs, because I know and he knows he’s going to take some flak for this. “I may not agree with what you have to say, but I applaud your right to say it” and all that.

I actually agree with Jordan that Social Justice is a pretty ambiguous term. Then again, so is “conservatism” or “love”. Personally, I find it enlightening that the Hebrew word for Charity, tzedakah, has the same root letters as the word for Justice, tzedek. Then again, Charity is a mistranslation:

the nature of tzedakah is very different from the idea of charity. The word “charity” suggests benevolence and generosity, a magnanimous act by the wealthy and powerful for the benefit of the poor and needy.
[snip]
In Judaism, giving to the poor is not viewed as a generous, magnanimous act; it is simply an act of justice and righteousness, the performance of a duty, giving the poor their due.

To me, Social Justice is realizing that “the system” doesn’t always treat everyone in society fairly. We as individuals and as a society have an obligation to give a hand up to those hurt by the economic structure we have set up. Social Justice is about realizing that we are all brothers and sisters, descendants of Noah.

I am my brother’s keeper. That is what Social Justice is all about.

Today is May 1, the real labor day, a.k.a. International Workers’ Day

The middle class exists due to the organized labor movement. We owe organized labor our gratitude and support. Just as unions work to better the lives of all workers, not just unionized ones, we too salute every hard-working man and woman in America and abroad.

If anyone from BLC has something to say we’re interested in your take.

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Continue reading “May Day”

If I had a million dollars, I’d buy you a house.

If we had $100,000 dollars, we could buy us:

– Brandeis 10-Member Delegation to Rwanda
– New Weight Room in Gosman Athletic Center
– One-Day Carnival
– Peace and Social Justice Week
– Radio Transmitter for WBRS
– Renovation of Chums
– Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) Free Testing for approximately 300 students
– Solar Panels for Brandeis Building

We should build Solar Panels.
The office of the Treasurer sent out the following announcement:

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please bear in mind that this is an one-time opportunity only. This type of voting will NOT occur in the future. Therefore, it is our strong recommendation that students choose a one-time investment that will be sustainable and benefit the student body and the community for years to come.

(emphasis mine)

Of these options, only Solar Panels, a Weight Room, antenna for WBRS, and renovating Chums will benefit the student body for any length of time. While ideally the school should pay for all of these, I contend that only Solar Panels and renovating Chums will benefit the broad Brandeis community. Given the choice of the two, I definitely want Solar Panels, especially since renovating Chums costs much less than 100 grand. Therefore, my original endorsement still stands: Go Go Gadget Panels!

Vote here.

On Friday, April 11, then-Student Union President Shreeya Sinha wrote a campus-wide email soliciting ideas on how to spend the approximately $100,000 it had accumulated in roll-over funds.

Well, the proposals have been submitted, and we’ll all be able to vote on how to spend the money from noon today to noon Thursday.

While I won’t know what all the submissions will be until students receive the official email at noon, I do know what three of the submissions will be:
– Build a weight room.
– Install Solar Panels on the roof a prominent building on campus.
– Fly 10 students to Rwanda.

I think each of these proposals has strengths and weaknesses, but I propose that, out of these three options that we know about, solar panels are the best option. They provide a benefit to the campus and environment in terms of less energy costs and less pollution, they are semi-permament fixtures that will serve the community in years to come, and they serve as an important signal and symbol that Brandeis is getting serious about this whole Global Warming thing.

In a few years, imagine bragging “So your campus has some tunnels? That’s nice I guess. Us? Oh, our campus isn’t that special. Unless you count the Solar-Powered-Castle! f’zyeah!”
Continue reading “Solar Panels at Brandeis?”

So some folks doing a journalism project made themselves a blog. Welcome!
It’s called “Unto Its Innermost Parts“? Scandal!

You know what they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery; looks like our influence is spreading.

Seriously though, welcome y’all. U-IP, as I call them, is the web presence of a radio show. They review notable events on campus and give a summary report, as far as I can tell. I know some of the creators – Kalynn, Pat, Claire, Kara. They’re cool people; hopefully they’ll make this a success.

One problem, though. They registered the name “innermostparts” on youtube. Not cool.

John Ashcroft gave a speech at Knox College the other day. Then came the student question and answer period. It is instructive to see how the students there dealt with him:

Chalking Stairs! This looks just like Rabb.

Clever.

As to the questions, I’ll quote a few – Continue reading “How Knox College dealt with a War Criminal”

Hey all. Innermost Parts will be on a break until school starts again (the monday after this one). Expect lighter posting, etc.

Oh, and happy Pesach / Break.

So, as you know, I was at the Ed Markey address last Sunday. Someone recently asked me what I thought of it. Here’s what I had to say:

So first of all I want to say that I respect Congressman Markey a lot. He’s great on Net Neutrality, general Telecommunications policy, and the environment. I don’t remember disagreeing with much, or any, of his speech. I applaud his realization that we can grow the economy and protect the environment at the same time. Furthermore, his characterization of India and China, and how we had to tell them to stop polluting carbon from a position of having done so already as spot on.

Ed Markey clearly gets it. That said, I did have some questions for him and some disagreements. During the question and answer period, he briefly remarked on realizing the goal of an electricity network where every can use renewable energy and sell it back to the grid. I wish he would expand on what plans are in place to make that happen.

During the question and answer period, someone else asked about Nuclear power. I think Markey had a very smart answer – it’s investment bankers, not politicians, who killed nuclear power. Then again, it would be more truthful to note we have a policy frowing on new Nuclear plants until we find a way to deal with nuclear waste (that’s better than Yucca mountain). To be clear, that’s a good thing. Nuclear power brings a lot of problems, including the fact that increasing nuclear power worldwide increases the risk for weaponized nuclear proliferation.
Continue reading “Reflections on Ed Markey”

This just in – Student Events will now return to the previous arrangement of getting its funding through the Student Union F-Board. Looks like those Student Union protests had an effect after all. I wonder what behind-the-scenes work went into this…

This is excellent news – a reminder that we have power, if we organize well and use it.

We did it!

Please welcome your newest Senators at Large – Noam Shouster and Justin Sulsky!

Also please welcome the senators for the class of 2011 -Lev Hirchscrom and Alex Melman.

We did it – an upset victory at Large and solid progressives in Senate of 2011.

(Remember, voting starts (and ends) today. Vote for Noam, Alex Melman, and Lev Hirschorn. They are all pretty awesome people.) I’ll try to keep this as the top post all day: new content below

Noam Shuster is a 22 year old Israeli woman. Why is she, then, a freshman at Brandeis University? Because she’s spent her post-high school life volunteering, doing community service, taking classes at the New York Film Academy. Oh, and what else? Touring Europe giving lectures:

The pair are in England on a lightning two-week marathon lecture tour sponsored by the British Friends of Neve Shalom in an attempt to explain to anyone who will listen how their unique and extraordinary mini-society works – and how they believe that, at a time of complete deadlock in the Middle East, the type of co-existence their village practices is the best way to ensure peace.

Neve Shalom, where they live, is situated directly between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and is inhabited by 50 families – mixed between Jewish Israeli and Muslim and Christian Israeli Arab – learning, living and coexisting together. For Noam and Ranin, aged 22 and friends since they were small children growing up in Neve Shalom, or Wahat al-Salam as it is known in Arabic, such coexistence is completely natural – and the conflict that exists in the society outside completely alien.

So Noam toured Europe lecturing the Jewish community on how she, an Israeli, could have a Christian Arab best friend, and her experiences growing up in a genuinely peaceful and mixed community. More than just talk about how great things could be, Noam has also spent great effort taking action to create positive change: Continue reading “Noam Shuster is wicked awesome”

In the end, my initial opposition to Brooks/Sulsky came down to this: It seems that they believe that their mission in the Senate is to improve the material quality of life of students, to bring lox to Einsteins, to organize Midnight Buffets, etc. I believe a Student Union senator has a much greater mission than that. A Senator must fight for Brandeis values. A Senator must fight for student safety – no arming campus police. A Senator must try to heal the very real divisions on campus. A Senator must try to hold Brandeis’ actions to its rhetoric.

Now, though, I’ve found another reason to be very critical of the two. To them, this election is about more than the issues. They take it as a personal affront, to themselves and everything they stand for, that anyone would dare run against them. What we’ve seen with this campaign is an unrelenting assault on Reason and Democracy. They have painted Noam with the colors of a serial slanderer and clothed themselves in a mantle of pure, innocent, lambskin. I’ve seen numerous reports and examples either Brooks or Sulsky complaining about being wrongfully attacked: a challenge to their incumbency makes them victims of some sort.

Justin Sulsky’s sign says it all – “because hard work should be rewarded”. Brooks/Sulsky consider this position a reward. I consider the position an opportunity. A position in the Senate is an opportunity to stand up for Brandeis values, an opportunity to shape the dialogue and heal the rifts on campus, an opportunity to pro-actively bring about big changes, like Endowment Transparency, or Gender-Neutral Housing, an opportunity to prevent another Mamoon from being disowned by Brandeis without due process or reasonable cause. A position in the Senate should not be a trophy for badgering Einsteins into carrying Lox; it should be a promise to the student body that you will advocate for their concerns, but also present them with a more perfect Union.

(update – I’m assured that, in fact, they aren’t.)

We’ve been receiving reports all night of a mass email sent by Justin Sulsky on behalf of himself and Andrew Brooks. They’ve used blind-carbon-copy, so we don’t know where they got email addresses of all these people.

Now, this is just unsourced speculation at this point, but the question must be asked: Where did they get all these email addresses? Because if they used their positions to gain access to these emails, then that’s probably illegal.

As to the content of these emails, they basically paint a picture of two Senators who rubberstamp worthy projects such as Endowment Transparency and Gender Neutral housing, while themselves taking the lead on small-bore projects like Spring Shuttles and Midnight Buffet. I agree with this characterization. Activists like our very own Alex Melman and Lev Hirschhorn (themselves both running for Student Union Senate) did all the work regarding Endowment Transparency. Activists like those in TRISK, along with Mike Kerns, brought us Gender Neutral Housing. I don’t think Sulsky and Brooks should pat themselves on the back too much for “supporting” either of those initiatives when all the work they did amounted to little more than voting the right way.

breaking news – Mamoon Darwish is back on the Brandeis campus, and he says that he’s allowed on Brandeis property . He’s in Shapiro Campus Center right now, surrounded by joyful students. Go meet him!

More on this story as it develops…

update: Mamoon says he is in some sort of disciplinary probation at the moment.

update 2: Mamoon was acquitted on all charges, on appeal. His statement: “Two months of my life gone, and I didn’t even do anything wrong.” He also is under housing probation.

I have been pondering activist coalitions at Brandeis for a while, so it’s with great anticipation that I pass on the info for this event:

Spend some time with Nobel Peace Prize nominee and leading African American, lesbian social justice activists as she is at Brandeis this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Carter will be giving a keynote speech and workshop on Wednesday from 6:30-8 in the ICC Swig Lounge on the topic of creating coalitions to achieve progressive change and developing transformative models of organizing that connect race, class, culture, gender, and sexuality identity.

Outside of the speech and workshop, she is available for coffee or food dates, group lectures, club meetings, or question and answer sessions. To schedule time while she is on campus, please contact Scott Frost (sfrost@brandeis.edu)

Where: Swig Lounge
When: 6:30-8pm

Many people have a habit of comparing any activism today to that of the Sixties, and finding our generation lacking. Yet, as Danny the Red tried to tell us, forget 1968: it was wonderful, but it’s over.Conditions are very different today, and trying to use the organizing models and tactics of the earlier age only plays into the hands of the establishment, which by now has figured out how to deal with 60’s -era protests. I believe, but cannot prove, that one reason that campus activism today is dissimilar to that of the past is due to the great fragmentation on campus. We have so many activist clubs that even dedicated members of the activist community, such as myself, can be caught unawares by stellar work done by other student organizers. Yet that’s the problem – there is no real activist community. Hopefully this talk will help us learn how to start fixing that.

That’s right. You can even schedule time with Mandy Carter(!) for your club. FMLA has already gotten into the act (7pm Thurs).

Thanks to Jessica Stearns for the tip.

Thanks to a combination of Lev, facebook, and word of mouth, we have the results:

Remaining candidates – (winners in bold)

• 2011: Alex Melman, Lev Hirschhorn, Lexi Kriss, Naomi Cohn
• 2010: Paul Balik, Rebecca Wilkoff
• 2009: Sung Lo Yoon, Eric Alterman, Dani Baronofsky.
• Judiciary: Julia Sferlazzo, Jordan Rothman, Rachel Kagan, Judah Marans, Danielle Shmuelly, Zachary Handler
• F-Board: Adonis Watkins
• Senator for Racial Minorities: Kamarin Lee

and now, the race you’ve all been waiting for….

• Senator at Large: Justin Sulsky, Andrew Brooks, and Noam Shuster.

Kaamila, I am told, didn’t make the cut by only 8 votes. Too bad.

Congrats to the winners, condolences to the losers.

A special congrats goes to Lev and Alex for making it to the next round for 2011, but also for Noam Shuster, who, though a write-in candidate, will be on the ballot of the final round of elections.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre.

There will be a candle-light vigil held at Chapel’s Field from 7-8pm.

On April 16th, 2007 Virginia Tech was the site of the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. A total of 32 people were shot and killed, in addition to the shooter who later took his own life. The events at Virginia Tech have affected universities nationwide. The tragedy is important to commemorate, as it helps us to appreciate the freedoms we, as a university community, fight to protect.

A vigil to remember the victims will be held Wednesday evening. Assuming the weather is nice, we plan to hold it outside on Chapels Field. Please bring your thoughts to share about Virginia Tech or about non-violence on university campuses.

If you plan to attend, or even if you can’t make it, please wear maroon and orange (VA Tech colors) on Wednesday in commemoration of the tragedy.

This event is organized by Kalynn Cook (and, if I understand correctly, Shanna Rifkin) and sponsored by Democracy for America. More info on the facebook page.

The VA Tech tragedy hits us all in different ways. Whenever I think of the event, I remember the long posters/papers that students at Brandeis, and other colleges (I was touring Universities at the time) signed and sent to Virgina Tech.

The Waltham-based Daily News Tribune has already written an article about the vigil –

A year ago Wednesday, Kalynn Cook’s childhood friend was killed when Seung-Hui Cho opened fire on the Virginia Tech campus.

To mark the first anniversary and to remember her friend, Erin Peterson, the Brandeis freshman from Sterling, Va., planned a candlelight vigil for tomorrow night.

“I’m from northern Virginia and I came up here for school. When it got to be April I knew that the one-year anniversary would be coming up. I looked at the Brandeis calendar of events and I noticed there wasn’t anything scheduled,” she said. “I decided to talk to some of my friends who happen to be involved in student activism. They suggested I host an event myself.”

Cook said she contacted the student organization Democracy for America, which helped organize the event.

Starting at 7 p.m. tomorrow, students will read a biography of each person killed in the massacre, hold a prayer service and conduct an open forum to discuss the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history.

The article goes on to discuss the shootings and Brandeis’ response to them. I agree with Lev, it’s too bad the Daily News Tribune avoided mentioning that the DFA-sponsored coalition Students Opposing the Decision to Arm opposed the arming of campus police.

The Globe just did a feature focusing on Sam Vaghar and Seth Werfel, specifically regarding the Millenium Campus Network.

Don’t tell Sam Vaghar that today’s generation is apathetic.

At 21, the Newton North High School graduate and senior at Brandeis University is the executive director of a growing nonprofit organization dedicated to tackling the planet’s major problems. The Millennium Campus Network, which unites organizations from a number of Greater Boston schools, is entirely run by its student members.

Vaghar and Brandeis sophomore Seth Werfel, a New York City native, founded the network last August. The group is preparing for its inaugural Millennium Campus Conference to be held next weekend at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. The event has booked several notable speakers, including former senator John Edwards; R&B artist John Legend; and Ira Magaziner, who was a senior policy adviser to President Bill Clinton.

Holy Crap that’s impressive. (h/t arcblog)

One issue I’m struggling with lately is the idea of campus and off-campus focused activism. Much of my attention is held by the events and initiatives that are focused on campus. Yet there’s a thriving ecosystem of more globally-focused groups as well. We really need to combine these two communities. Among other things, that’s what we founded Innermost Parts to be – a place for progressives of all types – from Positive Foundations, SEA, AHORA, what have you, to all have a place to talk and so forth.

Innermost Parts is maneuvering to reach that third phase in our development where we can really tackle that goal of a more connected community. If you have any suggestions, comments, or even want to be in the know/help out in this effort, contact me at

Feya Hillel an organizer of the Silent Protest, 2010 Senate Candidate (and, in the interest of disclosure, a friend of mine) sent out the following message:

Hey guys,
the 2 ppl running for senator at large this year are the same people that i talked about in the demonstration, denying my Palestinian identity!!
that’s why i decided to add Noam Shuster as write-in candidate!!!

here are the instructions:
go here
http://union.brandeis.edu/elections/SP08-2/atlarge#
scroll down and click “vote now”
pick senator at large again
check the left side of the screen and click “submit new candidate”
add Noam Shuster
you will get a msg saying this candidate is already added, confirm that and vote for her

Andrew Brooks and Justin Sulsky are two dinosaur reactionaries in the Senate. They are the embodiment of those people who “treat Student Union Senate as Mock Government Club”. They are simply self-interested roadblocks to progress. I believe that the two announced candidates – Andrew Brooks and Justin Sulsky, do not represent the values of Brandeis University, especially a commitment to Social Justice. In my mind, they are symbols of the failure of the Student Union Senate to live up to its purpose and full potential; I heartily endorse Noam Shuster as a write-in candidate for Senator at Large.

Andrew Brooks will always be remembered (by me, if no one else) as the man who stuck the metaphorical shiv into Kamarin Lee, and bizzarely called Kamarin a racist for being offended by someone else’s remarks. (update – Andrew claims The Justice misquoted him. I take him at his word)

update: Turns out Lisa Hananiya sent out that message accidentally from Feya’s account.

update x2: Innermost Parts contributor Adam wants me to share the idea of writing in Kaamila Mohamed as the second Senator at Large candidate.

update x3: Struck a few phrases that were too over-the-top, added a few new ones (in italics). I’m sure Andrew and Justin are fine people and I mean no offense to them personally, we just have differing visions as to the role, values, and intended function of the Student Union Senate.

Stop the election!

Voting begins (and ends) today in the primary round of the Spring 2008 Round 2 elections.

Yet, problems in the voting software have rendered the results of the primary suspect.

Observe:

As you can see, one should be able to vote for two candidates for Senate. The software only allows one vote. This is a serious problem. Hopefully they’ll allow a revote one the problem is fixed.

Update: They seem to have fixed the problem now. However, that doesn’t solve the problem of every voter who mistakenly only cast one vote. Since they caught it so early, I doubt that this problem tipped the election, but it’s still not an encouraging sign.

This just in: The Nepalese people overwhelmingly reject the monarchy in their latest elections by voting for … Maoists!

The Maoist government will proceed to dismantle the pillars of Nepal’s feudal structure and will take recourse to radical economic and political reforms based on distributive justice and egalitarian principles. That is bound to catch the attention of impoverished Indians in the sub-Himalayan belt sooner or later. The Indian states (provinces) bordering Nepal are notorious for their misgovernance.

More details:

The South Asian political landscape will never be the same again following the Maoist victory march in Nepal’s elections to a new 601-seat constituent Assembly last Thursday. It may take several days before the election results are fully known, but available trends indicate that the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is surging ahead. By Monday, the Maoists had secured 89 of the total declared 162 seats for which results were declared.

So the Nepalese people voted for equality, democracy, and an end to the fuedal state in the most direct way they could – voting for the Maoists. Now, before people start red-baiting, remember that the CPN(Maoist) will only be one party in a multi-party parliamentary democracy. We’re likely not going to see “Cultural Revolution” or Stalinist brutality. What Nepal probably will experience is a more socialist, economically egalitarian state.

This is a great blow for freedom and against dictatorship, at least so far. The CIA better not mess this up.

I’m sure we have some international students here at Brandeis from Nepal. What’s their take?

Continue reading “News from Nepal – Democracy on the march!”

While we’re on the topic of kudos to Jehuda, I’d like to thank the Administration for, among other things, refusing to take huge bribes to force Ayn Rand down our throats. CEO’s are trying push their free-market ideology,

Ayn Rand’s novels of headstrong entrepreneurs’ battles against convention enjoy a devoted following in business circles. While academia has failed to embrace Rand, calling her philosophy simplistic, schools have agreed to teach her works in exchange for a donation.

but

Scholars scoff at the Rand bounty, saying her ideas are too shallow to build courses around her.

“Rand could not write her way out of a paper bag,” said Harold Bloom, a professor of the humanities and English at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Bloom, 77, is the author of ``The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages’‘ (Harcourt, 1994), an examination of the most important works in Western literature. Rand isn’t on the list.

So thanks to Jehuda and everyone else for refusing to compromise Brandeis’ integrity and reputation by rejecting tainted corporate money. If only they would protect the Brandeis name/brand in other areas as well.

Happy thought: It is possible to be such a spectacular and cringe-worthy Bush-party loyalist that no one will hire you.

Quick notes from the address-

4:22 – There are lakes formingin the sheets of ice on Greenland. The melted water also flows to  the  bottom on the ice sheets, lubricatingthe ice sheets and carrying them ever so swiftly to the sea.

4:25 – Whyisthe world angryat us? “Most of the CO2 is Red White Blue”

4:26- ‘You can’t preach temperance from the bar stool.” Re- Our attitude to India and China

4:27- “The Amazon is the lungs of the plan et.”

4:30 – Touts the Energy Bill’s improvement of CAFE standards. 35 mpgs by 2020.   The same  energy bill that  gravel scorned as too weak, by the way. Markey talks about Toyota, GM,   etc  fighting it. Talks about   how youth are pushing congress and  are ‘the future”

ed – It’s good that markey acknowledges that the energy bill was weak. It’s also good that he pushes thee idea that we have to pass a cap and trade program before we have the credibility to  tell india and china what to do.

4:39 – Apparently now we are “The Green Generation”

4:40- Tells the walmart CF lightbulb story.

4:43 – Markey’s challenge – Find a product or company that wastes power (ex. cell phones can be more energy efficient, etc) and start a publicity campaign to hold these  companies accountable.

4:45- The old apollo program analogy

I’m in Rappaporte Treasure hall right now for the Ed Markey address.

President Jehuda Reinhartz  just said, “The sight of a water bottle makes my blood boil.” He just pledged to eliminate all water bottles on campus. Congrats to SEA for making this happen.

The Hill reports that congressional Republicans have conceded the FISA fight to the Democrats. Looks like the good guys won this time:

House Republicans are poised to shift their focus from national security to the economy, hoping to rally opposition to what they claim are Democratic plans to raise taxes amid the economic downturn.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is expected to announce Thursday that the House GOP floor emphasis will transition away from passing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and earmark reform to “stop the tax hike.”

House Republican leaders will make their case to pass a tax bill introduced by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.).
Republicans will use procedural floor tactics to force votes on Walberg’s bill, which would make the 2001 tax cuts permanent.
The measure has 125 co-sponsors, none of whom are Democrats.

So, the Republicans folded, and it looks like this section of the Constitution will live another day. The Fourth Amendment lives!

Or does it?

Turns out the Justice Department has been working under the rules set by a UC Berkeley professor, John Yoo, which contains this startling passage:

Our office recently concluded that the Fourth Amendment had no application to domestic military operations.

And, with us being in “the war on terror”, as far as the “Justice Department” is concerned, the constitutional need for a warrant is an example of a “pre-9/11 mindset”. After all, 9/11 CHANGED EVERYTHING. The Justice Department still cannot deny that it’s operating under these rules.

Continue reading “A blow for freedom, a blow to freedom”