News Cut: February 21, 2008 Archive

Leave me alone

Posted at 4:40 AM on February 21, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

A transplanted Minnesotan, craving privacy, builds a backyard retreat, while keeping the reason for it a secret from his wife.

Hmmmm. I wonder what other retreats Minnesotans create for themselves (besides ice houses). Sounds like an opportunity to submit your pictures. Use this form.

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Why?

Posted at 8:49 AM on February 21, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Rev. Paul Hadusek asks the unanswerable question in the aftermath of Tuesday's school bus crash that left four kids dead:

"Why, Lord? Why this?" Hadusek asked. "I don't know if anyone of us, me included, would accept any answer from the Lord as a right answer. I don't know."

It's a question that's asked all the time, of course. But never answered, as in the shooting rampage last week in Illinois. Even on the basic facts that might lead to understanding in that case, the trail has gone cold.

Update 11:27 a.m. - Colleague Kristin Gay refers us to an episode of WHYY's Fresh Air from earlier this week. with the author of the book, "God's Problem."

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Weber says he isn't source of New York Times' McCain piece

Posted at 12:37 PM on February 21, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

This posting updated at 1:51 p.m.

By now, most people have heard that the New York Times ran a story this morning, purporting to look at ethical lapses of Sen. John McCain, but effectively revealing the assertion -- without proof -- that the presidential candidate may have had an affair with lobbyist Vicki Iseman.

Says the Times:

In interviews, the two former associates said they joined in a series of confrontations with Mr. McCain, warning him that he was risking his campaign and career. Both said Mr. McCain acknowledged behaving inappropriately and pledged to keep his distance from Ms. Iseman. The two associates, who said they had become disillusioned with the senator, spoke independently of each other and provided details that were corroborated by others.

Then came the claim that one of the anonymous sources for the story is former Minnesota congressman Vin Weber, who was the policy chairman in the campaign of former McCain rival Mitt Romney.

Says The Radar, a Web site devoted to politics, showbiz, and scandal:

Sources told Radar that one of these associates was John Vincent (Vin) Weber, a former Republican congressman from Minnesota who was an advisor to McCain's presidential campaign in 2000. In 2007, Weber became Policy Chairman for the Romney for President Exploratory Committee.

"I know absolutely nothing about this whole story involving Senator McCain. I read it in the New York Times this morning when I got up, which is absolutely the first time I've heard of the name of this female lobbyist, first I've ever heard of this story," Weber told me this afternoon. "And then all of a sudden around 11 o'clock this morning I heard that some trashy blogger said that I was the source of it, which is just completely not true. I don't know anything about this. It's absolutely, positively not true in any way. I don't have anything to do with this story and even though I've been involved in public life for a long time, I learn something new every day. How in the world I could get attached to this story, I don't have any idea." (Listen)

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The professor track

Posted at 4:12 PM on February 21, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

Are we led into our professions by our politics? Or by economics?

A few years ago, Alan Kors at Penn lamented the state of the academic world, specifically the rarity of the conservative professor. ''One is desperate to see people of independent mind willing to enter the academic world. On the other hand, it is simply the case they will be entering hostile and discriminatory territory,'' he told the New York Times, when asked about his reaction when a conservative student reveals his intention to become a professor.

The Times suggested the reason for the imbalance of conservative vs. liberal professors is that hiring committees, made up of mostly liberals, aren't excited about that which the conservative is likely to research and pursue. And thus, the campus is skewed.

Now there's a new theory. Conservative students are less likely to pursue a PhD. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, Matthew Woessner, a conservative Penn State assistant professor of public policy, has finished a study ("Left Pipeline: Why Conservatives Don't Get Doctorates") showing conservative students "put more value on achievement and orderliness, and on practical professions, like accounting and computer science, that could earn them lots of money."

How big of an issue is this? "I don't sense that for many faculty who consider themselves conservative it's a major problem," says Dr. King Banaian, the chair of the Economics Department at St. Cloud State University. "I've been treated well. And, in fact, treated well by people who know my political views and want to engage in a discussion about them."

Banaian says most faculty don't want to engage in political discussions. "They want to come in, do their research, teach their students... and then go home at the end of the day," he said.

So what's the problem? "Sometimes you have people all of one viewpoint discussing a problem that's happening on campus -- issues regarding the proper curriculum, behaviors in the dormitories, or off campus, where I do think faculty that come from different viewpoints can provide a different perspective on what kinds of things students should be learning. What should be the mission of the university? And those are the places that because you are going to have this imbalance that we find, you're also going to find those discussions are dominated by left-of-center faculty, and those are the discussions I'm more concerned about."

Banaian, who also writes the blog SCSU Scholars, and also hosts a weekend radio show aimed at conservatives, contends the imbalance of philosophy shows up in the curriculum, by "marginalizing the Western Canon."

Banaian says at least to some extent, there is a political distinction between the students he sees and the career track they follow. But he also thinks the track a student chooses is based on economic realities. "I would say we probably have a higher proportion of students in the business and economics fields than we would have, say, if you look at an English department or a sociology program. I think more to the point, is that there seems to be a strong socioeconomic reason why students pick certain professions over others. There are some professions they know where you can get a return on your investment, you can get a paycheck faster, and for those students who come from lower-middle-class backgrounds, that can be quite attractive. It turns out your students who come from higher-income backgrounds typically will choose professions where a PhD is needed to do what it is you're trained to do."

(Listen to the interview with Dr. King Banaian)

And you? Consider your career track. Did political philosophy, economic reality, or something else guide your decision?

(Photo: University of Minnesota)

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A new Microsoft?

Posted at 9:21 PM on February 21, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

There was a blockbuster story today and it doesn't involve affairs with lobbyists. You can follow that story in a million places. Microsoft, the company that practically invented the industrial bunker mentality, announced it was opening up some of its programs to encourage developers to build add-ons.

Call it Microsoft 2008.

According to Reuter's

Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, who called the financial impact from Thursday's shift "relatively minimal," acknowledged that Microsoft may lose some market share as a result of these policies, but said what is good for customers will ultimately be good for the company.

Who are you and what have you done with Microsoft?

Forrester Research analyst John Rymer, quoted on CNet said...

"When you rip this all apart, what we're seeing is Microsoft responding to market demand, to be more open and play better with others."

I'll be seeking out Jon Gordon first thing in the morning.

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