A Sampling Of "Transformers" Reviews

The second "Transformers" movie had a monster opening weekend, but I don't think I've ever seen a movie get such terrible reviews. It's not that every review has been negative (only 80% negative according to Rotten Tomatoes), but that the negative reviews have been so completely, overwhelmingly, and hilariously negative.

Roger Ebert's review and the review in Rolling Stone are both worth reading in their entirety. Ebert, possibly the most respected critic today, opens with this:

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments. If you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together. Then close your eyes and use your imagination.

Ebert wasn't satisfied with his own impressions, and wanted to make sure everyone else hated the movie, too:

Aware that this movie opened in England seven hours before Chicago time and the morning papers would be on the streets, after writing the above I looked up the first reviews as a reality check. I was reassured: "Like watching paint dry while getting hit over the head with a frying pan!" (Bradshaw, Guardian); "Sums up everything that is most tedious, crass and despicable about modern Hollywood!" (Tookey, Daily Mail); "A giant, lumbering idiot of a movie!" (Edwards, Daily Mirror).

Over at Rolling Stone, Peter Travers was not much kinder in his "zero stars" review:

Transformers: The Revenge of The Fallen is beyond bad, it carves out its own category of godawfulness.

Reading a few of these makes you want to read some more, so I dug around a little on Rotten Tomatoes. Here are some other review snippets:

Michael Bay, as a filmmaker, is a fucking tool. His latest and most egregious piece of cinematic sadism, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is nearly unwatchable, a 140-minute video game that will insult your intelligence, hurt your eyes, and offend your sense of decency until you worry that your skull might explode while your brain trickles right out of your ears.
-Washington City Paper

A perfectly dreadful sequel that’s the filmic equivalent of a 150-minute waterboarding session.
-Charlotte CL

They've managed to make a movie that is so incredibly bad that it manages to mark career lows for pretty much everybody involved.
-Movie City News

Bay's film sucks with a capital "S" and with the word enveloped in bold italics.
-Tri-City Herald

I have not seen the movie, but I haven't heard good things about it from anybody. Are millions of people buying tickets simply because Megan Fox is hot?

PAM Research Says Feuding Parents Should Divorce

I don't usually post news about research being performed at Cornell, but I thought this was interesting:

Although kids tend to do better when they live with both biological parents, the advantages are not shared by children in high-conflict households, writes the study's lead author, Kelly Musick, an associate professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell University.

Teenagers whose parents don't get along, yet stay together, are much more likely to binge drink than other adolescents, the study found. As well, they are more likely to smoke, use marijuana and have sex at an early age.

"Ithaca Is A Leafy And Calm City"

A memorial service for Caroline Coffey was held in Sage Chapel on Saturday. The Irish Times reports:

Coffey attained her PhD at Cornell and then taught at St Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, before returning to Cornell to take up a research position, working on stem cell research and a cure for brain cancer. She had “phenomenal energy,” and was a ringleader when it came to social events, said Dr David Russell, chair of the microbiology and immunology department at Cornell.

It seems that the murder took place exactly one month after they celebrated their marriage in Costa Rica.

Family Court Quote of the Day

I've refrained from blogging about my internship, partly because I want to wait until the end of the summer before I start reflecting on it, but also because most of the events I see every day are confidential. (From intern training: "What kind of a con was he?" "Confidential.")

On Thursday, we had a pretty amusing divorce case. After I had given the parties copies of the judge's order for an absolute divorce, the husband grabbed me on the arm and said, "don't ever get married." I thanked him for the advice, and reminded the parties that they were still legally married until the 30 day appeal window had expired.

Hearing this, he turned to his (ex-) wife, from whom he had been separated for 5 years, and asked her, "Seeing as we're still married, want to grab a soda?" She just shook her head and walked out.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't that funny, but it was a light moment in what was otherwise a pretty depressing day of divorce and custody battles.

Dan Froomkin's Last Column

I'm more of a Washington newcomer than a DC local, but I've enjoyed reading some of Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin's work over the last few years. The Post announced last week that they were letting him go, a bizarre move which angered a lot of readers. (One Wonkette reaction: "I wish I hadn't already canceled my subscription so I could cancel it again.") Froomkin was a better journalist than many of the Post's other columnists, and he's done some great reporting on the White House since taking the job in 2004.

His final column retrospective provides some good analysis of the media and the modern presidency. Please read it in its entirety -- and then compare it to some of the dreadful "goodbye" columns in the Cornell Sun this spring. But here's a sample, from when he reflects on Bush:

When I look back on the Bush years, I think of the lies. There were so many. Lies about the war and lies to cover up the lies about the war. Lies about torture and surveillance. Lies about Valerie Plame. Vice President Dick Cheney's lies, criminally prosecutable but for his chief of staff Scooter Libby's lies. I also think about the extraordinary and fundamentally cancerous expansion of executive power that led to violations of our laws and our principles.

And while this wasn't as readily apparent until President Obama took office, it's now very clear that the Bush years were all about kicking the can down the road – either ignoring problems or, even worse, creating them and not solving them. This was true of a huge range of issues including the economy, energy, health care, global warming – and of course Iraq and Afghanistan.

Olbermann Mocks Sanford

I wrote on Thursday about how I respected Sanford for coming forward so honestly about the emotional issues he was facing. While I reprinted some of the leaked emails between Sanford and his Argentinian lover, I did so to prove a point about his personal side, not to score political points.

Yet it seems others have not been so kind. Keith Olbermann (Cornell '79) and Rachel Maddow, the MSNBC hosts who have become unofficial spokesmen for liberal America, decided to exploit the emotions within Sanford's emails to further embarass him on national television. Rightfully so, KO and RM have gotten some criticism from the left for doing this. Here's a great diary from DailyKos on the issue:

I cringed last night while Keith Olbermann mocked the contents of emails sent by South Carolina Governor Sanford (R) to his lover. I couldn't understand why Keith felt so compelled to read the love letters word for word. I could not find one bit of newsworthy information in his routine. I was sickened by the glint of joy I saw in Keith's eyes as he pounded away at the contents of the love letters.

Then came Rachel Maddow, the political commentator that I trust most. And she seemed to be making fun of Sanford's emails. My heart sank. I was ashamed to be a liberal if being a liberal meant that we cheered the unnecessary fire bombing of a person's love life.

The content of these emails has absolutely nothing to do with this story and they should never have been released. The story is that the Sanford lied to his staff and left the state and country without telling anyone. His affair is part of the story only because of his political positions regarding values, etc. The contents of the emails has nothing to do with anything.

Please, Keith and Rachel, if you have any sense of decency, apologize for your mocking attitude towards this man's love letters. After all, who hasn't been in love? Who hasn't spilled their guts out to someone else? Who deserves to have those musing posted all around the world?

Let Sanford, his wife, his lover, and his kids sort out their personal issues. There's a difference between news reporting and the tabloid treatment.

Sign Of The Day

From this New York Times article about special Christian-themed football leagues for home-schooled kids in Georgia, comes a great picture:

















If they had concentrated more on #3, maybe they would have learned to spell #3 and #4 correctly.

I'll be traveling the next couple of days, but have a few things in the queue which should post automatically.

Mark Sanford

I don't really know what to make of the whole Mark Sanford disappearance/Argentina/affair/scandal. Part of me wants to laugh and say this is just another example of politicians having affairs and acting strangely. But there's something here which makes me like and respect Sanford, in a way which has nothing to do with his politics.

The State has been sitting on a few emails they obtained back in December, but were unable to verify until now. These messages seem to reveal someone who is completely in love with this Argentinian woman, and seems honest and straightforward (how's that for a politician?).

To me, and I suspect no one else on earth, there is something wonderful about listening to country music playing in the cab, air conditioner running, the hum of a huge diesel engine in the background, the tranquility that comes with being in a virtual wilderness of trees and marsh, the day breaking and vibrant pink coming alive in the morning clouds — and getting to build something with each scoop of dirt. It is admittedly weird but one of my more favorite ways of escaping the norms, constant phone calls and formalities that go with the office — and it probably fits with my weakness in doing rather than being — though you opened up a new chapter last week wherein I was happy and content just being.

I'm sure we'll see some calls for Sanford to resign, and it'll be interesting to see what happens next. Will both of them leave their spouses and start new lives together (in Argentina?). Maybe we'll see a repeat of this...

Don't Watch Sportscenter

Tonight, ESPN televised the decisive game of the College World Series, in which LSU broke open a close game to defeat Texas, 11-4. Since this was the final NCAA championship of the 2008-2009 academic year, Sportscenter has decided to put together a quick tribute to the winners of the other major championships -- football, basketball, and...LACROSSE.

Not only do they show footage of Syracuse's winning goal, but they make sure to mention how Cornell was up 9-6, etc. Even a month later, this was incredibly painful to watch. So if your heart bleeds Carnelian red, change the channel before they get to the spring championships.

Cornell Basketball To Play At MSG

This would make two major Cornell sporting events at Madison Square Garden in less than one month. From the Cornell basketball blog:

The Big Red will play in two games with St. John's hosting the event. The other tournament participants include Davidson and Hofstra. MSG Network is expected to provide television coverage. Cornell opens the event against Davidson on December 20.

Madison Square Garden was particularly interested in Cornell as a participant in the event because of the Big Red's consecutive Ivy League championships. MSG was also attracted to Cornell's tremendous alumni base in the New York Metro area which led to a MSG sell out two years ago for a Cornell-Boston University hockey game.

There aren't any hockey games that weekend.

Rap Music and Violence

An Arizona man recently stabbed his wife and two young children in the middle of the night, killing his wife and daughter. This event is incredibly shocking and saddening, but it has attracted even more attention nationally because it seems like Eminem is involved:

[Michael] Miller told detectives he was possessed and he visualized his wife, Adreana Miller, as a demon. Just before stabbing her at 4 a.m., he told police he started screaming lyrics from an Eminem song, saying, "Here comes Satan, I'm the anti-Christ, I'm going to kill you."

These lyrics are misrepresented -- the actual lyrics (from "Underground" off Em's 2009 album, Relapse) don't say anything about killing -- but it reopens the debate about whether violent rap music causes crime. In this case it doesn't seem like Eminem's lyrics were a significant cause of violence; more likely, Miller was primarily influenced by his demonic visions.

Still, it's interesting because Eminem, himself, weighed in on the subject back in 2002, in the song "Sing For The Moment" from his excellent album, The Eminem Show:

They say music can alter moods and talk to you
Well can it load a gun up for you, and cock it too?
Well if it can, then the next time you assault a dude
Just tell the judge it was my fault, and I’ll get sued.

It'll be interesting to see where this goes. Listening to music lyrics is never an appropriate defense for a crime, and it's hard to blame the artist when fans take the music a step too far.

Richard Nixon Quote of the Day

More Nixon tapes were released today. Nixon, in 1973, immediately after Roe v. Wade was decided:

"There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding: “Or a rape.”

SSNs of Cornell Students and Staff Compromised

WVBR reports:

A stolen Cornell University computer has compromised the personal information of thousands of members of the University community. The computer contained the names and social security number of current and former students as well as current and former faculty and staff members.

An e-mail obtained by WVBR said that currently, no misuse of this sensitive information has been found. Also in the message, Cornell said that they have enlisted the help of Kroll Fraud Solutions to "provide fraud counseling and credit monitoring services at the university's expense."

Update: The university sends out an email to the affected members of the Cornell community:

Last week, we learned that a Cornell-owned computer that was stolen earlier this month contained your name and Social Security Number. Please accept our most sincere apologies for this unfortunate event.

In order to inform you of this situation as quickly as possible, we are sending you this email in advance of a formal notification via U.S. mail.

The official letter will detail the services that Cornell is offering you, at our expense, in response to this incident. There will also be a toll-free number you can call for additional information and assistance.

In the meanwhile, we urge you to visit a web site we have created with frequently asked questions (an FAQ) about this situation and some steps you can take yourself:

http://faq-june2009.cuinfo.cornell.edu

I'd Always Wondered What Was Inside

Thanks to the Cornell Chronicle's blog, now we know:






Maybe the headline was written by the person who came up with this one on the Cornell homepage.

Week In Review, In Index Form

Each Friday on Time.com, Paul Slansky recaps the previous week's highlights in index form. I'd encourage you to read the whole thing for some amusement, but here are a few:

DePass, Rusty
• Facebook posting about an escaped gorilla prompts racist comment by — "I'm sure it's just one of Michelle's ancestors" — that leads to the loss of the job of and the offering of the obligatory apology by

Ensign, Sen. John
• severe setback is suffered by rumored 2012 presidential bid of after oh-so-deep regret is expressed by — and, really, how could it not have been, given the pious pronouncements of about the "sanctity" of marriage in the service of crusading against allowing gays to partake in it, and the membership of in the marital-fidelity-promoting male evangelical group the Promise Keepers, and the strident demands of for the resignations of Larry Craig and Bill Clinton in connection with their sex scandals — for a nine-month affair had by with a campaign staffer married to a friend of

Green, Mike
• racist tweet — "JUST HEARD OBAMA IS GOING TO IMPOSE A 40% TAX ON ASPIRIN BECAUSE IT'S WHITE AND IT WORKS" — is apologized for by

Madonna
• collection of Malawian children of doubles in size

Cornell Goalie Interviewed After Plane Engine Fails

Cornell goalie Ben Scrivens was a passenger on Continental's Thursday evening flight from Syracuse to Cleveland when a major mechanical problem knocked out one of the engines. He was interviewed by WSYR after the plane safely returned to Syracuse:



Via eLynah

Purple Eagles Come To Ithaca

It looks like Cornell's first regular season game this fall will be against the Niagara Purple Eagles, on Friday, October 30, at Lynah.

Cornell is 7-0-0 against Niagara since 2001, although I wouldn't consider this to be an easy game. Cornell usually plays Niagara in a mid-season series, after the Big Red have been able to work out some early-season issues and get into a groove of playing good hockey. This will be Cornell's first game, but it will be Niagara's fifth. The Purple Eagles will have already played Colgate, Clarkson, St. Lawrence, and Michigan. A good showing against Michigan will give them some confidence as they head to Ithaca. Cornell will still be experimenting with lines, and it will be the first NCAA game for our freshmen.

A game against Niagara doesn't do much for our strength of schedule, unless they end up winning the CHA tournament in March, which would make them a Team Under Consideration (TUC) for the NCAA tournament. But that's a long ways away.

Swine Flu Hits Cornell

This news is a few days old, but Cornell has seen its first confirmed cases of swine flu:

There are four confirmed H1N1 cases in Tompkins County including on the Cornell Campus. Today the Tompkins County Health Department confirmed a positive H1N1 test result involving a member of the Cornell Community who is doing well and recovering at home. H1N1 is likely the common flu virus now circulating in our community and across the country.

I'm surprised that it's taken so long for the virus to reach Ithaca, given how much members of the Cornell and Ithaca College communities travel to other places. I had a Spanish professor who had traveled to Mexico shortly before the first outbreak was reported in that country.

Regardless, it's a relief that the virus first appeared over the summer, as opposed to during the end-of-semester exam period. It's likely that by the time classes resume in August, the swine flu will be so widespread both in Ithaca and across the country that it won't be a big deal when it starts spreading between students. The initial pandemonium about the virus has since subsided into a general recognition that its symptoms aren't much worse than those of the normal, seasonal flu.

Cartoon of the Day

Why Mike Luckovich is still the best political cartoonist:

Video of the Day

The liberal blog DailyKos has some fun with the recent Fox News apocalyptic-sounding comments ("tonight is the night that journalism died") about the ABC News special from the White House.



Personally, I don't think Obama and the Democrats have much of a chance to pass significant health care legislation. A couple of years ago, I wrote a research paper about health care legislation, and I think this 1994 article by two political scientists at Colorado still has relevance:

We argue that the reason America did not pass comprehensive National Health Care reform in 1994 is the same reason that it could not pass this kind of reform in 1948, 1965, 1974 and 1978: The reason that the United States is the only country in the democratic would that does not have a comprehensive national health insurance system is that American political institutions are structurally biased against this kind of comprehensive reform.

Former Cornell Professor Gets Respect

With the Iran turmoil all over the news, the media has been looking for evidence of some sort of voter fraud or misreporting of election results -- in effect, anything that will give the U.S. and other parties a reason why we shouldn't consider Ahmadinejad the rightful victor of the elections.

Nate Silver over on 528 has an interesting analysis of the Iran vote using Benford's Law. Like he did, I'll defer to the Wikipedia explanation:

Benford's law, also called the first-digit law, states that in lists of numbers from many (but not all) real-life sources of data, the leading digit is distributed in a specific, non-uniform way. According to this law, the first digit is 1 almost one third of the time, and larger digits occur as the leading digit with lower and lower frequency, to the point where 9 as a first digit occurs less than one time in twenty.

We've used Benford's a lot in statistics problems in high school and college; it's generally a very reliable way to see if records are accurate. Silver notes that the unusually high proportion of 7's in Ahmadinejad's vote totals in individual precincts points to possible evidence of tampering with the results.

Another expert voice to emerge as part of the debate has been Walter Mebane, a professor of political science and statistics at the University of Michigan. Here's an article on the well-trafficked site Pollster.com which extensively cites Mebane's recent papers about the Iran election.

If Mebane's name sounds familiar, it's because he was a tenure-track professor in the Government department at Cornell until he left in 2007 for Michigan. Mebane, who was educated at Harvard and Yale, seems well on his way to a great career in academia. His methods for detecting voter fraud kept Cornell's name in the news (at least among politicos) during previous elections cycles. His course on election forensics is something I, as a Government major, certainly would have taken. It's just too bad his office is no longer in White Hall.

Kot Waives Extradition Hearing

Blazej Kot, the Cornell graduate student who stands accused of murdering his wife, has waived extradition proceedings and will return to New York to face charges. His lawyer had initially stated that he would fight extradition (Kot was taken to a Pennsylvania hospital after trying to kill himself), but reversed himself today.

If the case goes to trial, I wouldn't be surprised if Kot's lawyers attempted to change the location of the trial. It's tough to find people in Ithaca who are unaffiliated with Cornell, and the fact that the murder was apparently committed in the gorges adds a local, emotional element. However, assuming that Gwen Wilkinson is able to pull together enough evidence, I would expect Kot to accept a plea bargain -- particularly if the crime was committed out of strong emotion.

Edit: The Ithaca Journal has some more details about the case:

State police investigators allege that sometime on the evening of June 2, Kot killed Coffey by lacerating her throat with a sharp-edged weapon at an isolated location on the trail. At around 9:50 p.m. that evening, New York State Park Police discovered Kot in his car at Taughannock Falls State Park with what appeared to be blood on him, state police said.

Acting on a lead developed at the scene, officers went to the couple's apartment and found it on fire, state police said. Firefighters who doused the blaze determined it had been deliberately set, and Coffey's body was found the next day, they added.

More Sleazy Politics

Buried in the Times' Monday story about the zoo known as the New York State Senate:

Highlighting the surreal quality of the day, Mr. Espada was asked by a reporter during the demonstration to comment on the continuing investigation into his campaign finances.

He responded in a matter-of-fact fashion: “Which one?”

Espada was one of the two Democratic senators who defected to the Republican caucus, handing control over to the GOP. The other Senator has since switched back to the Dems, but Espada now believes he is entitled to two votes:

"I can have two votes," Espada boldly told The Post.

"We're going to maintain that, as the president pro tempore of the Senate, I am also the acting lieutenant governor, and the lieutenant governor can vote when there's a tie."

New York is giving Corrupticut a run for the regional political corruption trophy.

Except When It's About You

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) in 1998, after President Clinton admitted to having an extramarital affair:

"He has no credibility left."

There's this gem from 1999:

Christian politicians and evangelical leaders commonly follow an unspoken rule not to meet behind closed doors with women staff members or travel alone with them.

John Ensign, who is running for senate in Nevada, will not be alone in a car with a woman.

No comment.

One more:

Marriage is an extremely important institution in this country and protecting it is, in my mind, worth the extraordinary step of amending our constitution.

Yesterday:

Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada has admitted he had an extramarital affair with a member of his campaign staff.

Is Ensign still considered a rising star within the Republican party?

Orlando Magic Owner Can't Separate Politics From Basketball

I've always believed in the separation of sports and politics. I've had to -- after all, the owner of the Tigers (and Red Wings) is Mike Ilitch, a major donor to conservative politicians and causes.

Still, this column in The Nation by Dave Zirin about the owner of the Orlando Magic makes it a little easier to stomach the Lakers' victory.

Zirin writes that Magic owner Richard DeVos "operates the Magic like the sporting arm of a radical right- wing empire whose reach extends from makeup to militias."

He concludes that subsidies for the Magic's new arena are traveling pretty directly into the coffers of conservative organizations:

It's a frighteningly effective political money-laundering scheme: our tax dollars are being funneled through a stadium and into the pockets of the DeVos family, where they are then spit out into think tanks, activist organizations and political efforts that most Americans would find noxious.

I enjoyed reading Zirin's book about sports and politics a few years back. I don't think we should be picking and choosing which sports teams to cheer for based on the political leanings of their ownership, but for an NBA championship series in which I didn't particularly like either team, learning things like this can help push me in one direction.

Amazing Pictures from Tehran

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/irans_disputed_election.html

Andrew Sullivan has been on top of things today.

One Woman Team

This has to be one of the most impressive individual performances I've seen at any level.

Bonnie Richardson was the only athlete from her small high school in central Texas to qualify for the state track meet. It turns out that Richardson didn't need any teammates, since she won the state title by herself.

Richardson's title march began with field events on Friday when she won the high jump (5 feet, 5 inches), placed second in the long jump (18-7) and was third in the discus (121-0).

On Saturday, she won the 200 meters in 25.03 seconds and nearly pulled off a huge upset in the 100 before finishing second (12.19) to defending champion Kendra Coleman of Santa Anna. Richardson, a junior, earned a total of 42 team points to edge team runner-up Chilton (36).

According to Sports Illustrated, Richardson was valedictorian of her tiny class of 14 and will attend Texas A&M next year.

For Ithaca News, Read A New Zealand Paper

Perhaps the most comprehensive coverage of the Blazej Kot/Caroline Coffey possible murder/attempted suicide tragedy in Ithaca has come not from the Ithaca Journal, or the Cornell Daily Sun, but instead from the Howick and Pakuranga Times in Auckland, New Zealand.

Both Kot and Coffey had international ties. Coffey was born in Ireland but has family in Pennsylvania. Kot was raised by his parents in Auckland before heading to graduate school at Cornell, but for some reason married Coffey in Costa Rica.

The Howick and Pakuranga Times has been busy interviewing former teachers and neighbors of Kot's in Auckland (for a front page article), reprinting Ithaca Journal reports about court proceedings, and poring through the comments section on the IJ site to gauge community reactions to the tragedy.

The Times dug into Kot's life from years ago:

Macleans’ principal, Byron Bentley, remembers the former pupil who graduated in 2001.

“I do remember him, not in any great depth, but he was a bright boy, extremely intelligent, very affable and a top student,” he told the Times.

The Times has reported on Kot before, in 2005, when his invention to eliminate standby power consumption of household appliances made it to the finals of a nationwide competition. At that time, Kot was only 19 yet was less than a year away from earning a triple major in physics, mathematics, and computer science. Try doing that one at Cornell.

Kot, who was taken to a Pennsylvania hospital after leading police on a chase, is fighting his extradition to New York. His lawyer claims that Kot wasn't running away from the police and should not be considered a fugitive. I'm sure there's much more to the story than has been uncovered so far.

Rooker Gets More Press

We reported earlier about Cornell senior Eddie Rooker's campaign for Ithaca Common Council. News station WENY out of Horseheads went to interview Rooker. Here is their report:

Who Is Laura Brown?

Yesterday, Prof. Laura Brown was named the new vice provost for undergraduate education.

"Laura has a broad range of experience to offer," [Provost Kent] Fuchs said. "She's taught in the First-Year Writing Seminar Program for many years and has a commitment to teaching excellence. She also offers a long history of experience with a number of leadership positions, including participation in the Faculty Senate. She has demonstrated excellence in all of her work, and she brings a lot to the table."

A few notes about Brown...

First, when was the last time she taught a course? She does not have a page on RateMyProfessors.com, which is bizarre for a college professor. A quick skim through the English department course listings shows that she hasn't taught any courses recently. Her CV doesn't have a list of courses she's taught, which is usually something Cornell professors like to put down.

Brown is also apparently a member of the April Third Movement, which was an anti-war movement at Stanford (where she was an undergrad). From the group's website:

That demand laid the foundation for the April Third Movement (A3M), one of the highlights of the anti-war decade at Stanford.

... grew into the Stanford version of the national student strike in response to the U.S. invasion of Cambodia—a combination of daytime marches, night-time confrontations with police, teach-ins, and the early end to Spring quarter...

The Movement put an end to classified research at Stanford and forced ROTC off campus; and we believe that along with similar movements—among students, GIs, and others—it hastened an end to the war.

Brown is one of only 16 members to have an entry on the "directory" page, and hers was submitted by her husband, Cornell professor Walter Cohen (comparative literature). Cohen's entry is much more personal and detailed:

Though I am profoundly grateful for the effects those years had on me, my memories are not only not triumphalist; they are tinged with sadness, even grief. I care a lot about politics, social theory, and the like, but it is the human losses of the time--some American, but overwhelmingly Asian--that dominate my emotions.

This is interesting not because of her involvement in the movement 30 years ago, but because of the group's evidently still strong identity and pride this many years later. Hopefully the Cornell ROTC won't do some digging into her past.

Back in 2006, Brown served on the presidential search committee which brought David Skorton to campus, so she has experience working with top administrators.

As we'd expect from a Cornell professor with a named position, Brown has published six books and a number of papers.

Congratulations and best of luck to our new vice provost.

Deteriorating Roads in Michigan

When we drove out to Grand Rapids in March for the NCAA hockey regional, we immediately noticed upon entering Michigan that the roads were in strikingly terrible condition. Everywhere else -- upstate New York, Ontario -- had given us a smooth ride. In my road trips to seven other states for hockey games, the interstates were all in fairly good shape.

Interstate paving projects usually involve a combination of state and federal government funding, so road maintenance requires a contribution from the states. In Michigan's case, it was obvious that paving the roads wasn't a priority. It's not hard to understand why. The state's unemployment rate has soared to 12.7% and the auto industry is collapsing. Michigan has other problems on its hands.

I'm not saying that the state should have made paving a higher priority. However, the bumpy roads do reinforce the image of Michigan as a deteriorating state. When the state government already can't provide the kinds of services people have grown to expect, and when the state's economy continues to head down a spiral from which it will be difficult to recover, it appears that things in Michigan will continue to get worse before they get better. The roads, too, will become bumpier before they are paved.

Which brings us to today's news. Some Michigan counties have given up on paving completely:

More than 20 of the state's 83 counties have reverted deteriorating paved roads to gravel in the last few years, according to the County Road Association of Michigan. The counties are struggling with their budgets because tax revenues have declined in the lingering recession.

Driving through Michigan at 75 mph, it's tough to grasp how many people are losing their jobs or exactly what the collapse of the auto industry holds for the state. However, as you are jostled up and down from the cracks and divots in the road, the state's economic woes suddenly become more palpable.

Final Destination?

From the Times of India:

An Italian woman, who arrived late for the Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic, was not so lucky after all. She has been killed in a car accident in Austria.

Johanna Ganthaler was holidaying in Brazil with her husband and missed Air France Flight 447 after turning up late at Rio de Janeiro airport on May 31, the Times reported.

Don't Lie About Your Transcript

A Cornell alum faces up to 5 years in prison for lying about her undergraduate GPA and dental test scores in order to receive over $40,000 in scholarships and financial aid:

The New Orleans Times-Picayune said Thursday that Obialunamma Agubuzu admitted in U.S. District Court to obtaining school enrollment and financial aid by incorrectly claiming to have a high Dental Admission Test score and a 4.0 undergraduate grade point average.

Authorities said Agubuzu actually graduated from Cornell University in 2007 with a grade point average of 2.452 and had never even taken the Dental Admission Test.

She was enrolled in LSU's school of dentistry.

IFC Takes Over Ithaca Common Council

The Ithaca Common Council is composed of two representatives from each of Ithaca's five wards. The 4th ward has a heavy student population, since it consists mostly of Collegetown (see right).

The 4th ward is currently represented by Cornell alum Svante Myrick '09 -- who was elected last year -- and also by the significantly older Nancy Shuler, who is not running for re-election. Myrick has a pretty compelling personal story and has gotten a lot of publicity for his leadership success.

Running to replace Shuler is Cornell student Eddie Rooker '10, who is the current Interfraternity Council (IFC) president and an all-around good guy.

The similarities between Myrick and Rooker don't end with their alma mater. Both served on the Interfraternity Council before running for Common Council. Not only that -- they are brothers in the same fraternity.

It certainly seems like Rooker will win, and I'm confident he'll do a good job. Another example of Greek leadership positions serving as springboards to greater things.

Hard Work Paying Off

48 whole votes!








Voter Turnout:
18,044 of 144,490 active voters (12.48%)

Virginia Secretary of State

My Polling Station Is Featured on Wonkette!

This evening, I spent 4 hours standing outside a polling station in Crystal City, passing out literature for one of the candidates for lieutenant governor. (As of right now, my candidate is behind by 52 percent.)

Turnout was absolutely dismal. In four hours, I encountered no more than 50 voters. It took me 45 minutes to pass out my first piece of literature. And I was supposed to have been there for the evening "rush" hour.

The combination on severe thunderstorms and flooding in the morning, followed by more severe thunderstorms and flooding in the evening (it rained from 5-7 pm), as well as general disinterest in the election, kept people away from the polls.

Today, Wonkette actually has a picture of my exact polling location in Crystal City, combined with a description of what it was like today:

[Reader] Ben notes, “As you can see, no one wants to vote in Crystal City. These pictures were taken around noon. As a comparison, at 5:45 AM on Nov. 4, there were people lined up about 100 feet outside of that door; there are like three rooms between you and your ballot, once you get in that door. There was literally no one in there to vote, except for me, and there were 5-6 old people there to help them vote and give them stickers and stuff.”

Oh, well.

Quote of the Day

From Rick Hasen's thoughts on the Supreme Court's decisions today:

Justice Scalia's two page opinion quotes from the Babylonian Talmud: "A Talmudic maxim instructs with respect to the Scripture: 'Turn it over, and turn it over, for all is therein'." ... Justice Scalia does not mind citing foreign law, so long as it is a few thousand years old.

Nice.

Bush, Obama, and Socialism

As Republicans try to pin the "socialist" label on Obama, they seem to be confusing what steps Presidents Bush and Obama have taken to combat the recession. Instead of remembering that it was a Republican president who started funneling money into banks, they try to blame that on Obama.

Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) on Fox News yesterday:

WALLACE: Sen. Shelby, you say that the Obama administration is taking us down the road to socialism. Explain.

SHELBY: Well, obviously. So, they intervene last fall in the bank crisis. No one has ever done it on that scale before. Now the automobile crisis.

Obviously, there was no Obama administration last fall.

ThinkProgress

Ithaca Journal Publishes Coach Donahue's Mugshot

Or so it appears. Where did they find this one?

We don't even know whom to credit for the front-page picture! The caption:

DONAHUE

(Staff)

New Zealand Press Turns Attention to Ithaca

The man suspected of murdering graduate student Caroline Coffey, her fiance Blazej Kot, is originally from New Zealand. The NZ press has started picking up on the story, and gives us some more detail into Kot's background:

His lawyer Joseph Joch says it is a "puzzling case where almost nothing makes sense".

And there is disbelief at nearby Scranton High and University where the popular student graduated with honours.

"A very, very gifted scholar, a very talented researcher, a person so full of life, her friends really enjoyed being around her," Michael Sulzinski from Scranton University says.

Cornell Is Rich Again!

Thanks to the generosity of one "retired clergy" alumnus, Cornell will be able to save millions of dollars each year:

From Skorton's Q and A with alumni yesterday:

Perhaps the most unexpected "question" came from a retired clergyman from the Class of 1957. He would, he said, donate to the university his patent for a solar device that could save Cornell 25 percent annually on heating costs. "If you'd like my name, it's Lee Poole, and I promise to do this."

Hallelujah!

The Buffalo News Does Ithaca

Who knew there was such a market for intra-upstate tourism? Anyway, the News seems to have done a good job of hitting most of the highlights -- the gorges, Collegetown, Cornell, the commons.

Here's the obligatory description of the gorges:

The water that rushed over the top looked like bundles of silken silver thread spooling over and over upon itself, infusing the air with a fine mist and an echoing roar.

The authors liked Rulloff's, as well as its namesake's story:

After lunch, we drove up toward the Cornell University campus, stopping first in Collegetown at Rulloff’s. A local hangout with a large stained glass window on one end, a back bar intricately carved in thick mahogany, and window seating at the other end with a great view of College Avenue, this place charmed. Its namesake, Edward Rulloff, didn’t, though. A self-described genius, he spoke 28 languages; however, his dark side was responsible for the reported poisoning of his sister-in-law and niece, and the killings of his wife and daughter. After murdering a store clerk, he was executed in the last public hanging in New York State. His unusually large brain is on display in the Psychology Department at Cornell.

Up at Cornell, they were a little confused about the A.D. White Reading Room in Uris Library, compared to the not-so-famous White Hall, which houses the Government department.

Next, we paid a visit to a study room in White Hall that Bill had deemed “Captain Nemo’s Library” over 30 years ago. I loved the antique hardwood study tables; the metal bookshelves, lined with hundreds of volumes; the two spiral staircases that wound their way up to the second floor of stacks; the intricate wrought iron work throughout, and the overstuffed leather chairs in front of huge windows with a view of the city. There’s no doubt that at Cornell, serious learning meets serious money, all against a backdrop of age-old tradition.

And the closer:

It seems that no matter what your choice of pleasures, Ithaca is, in fact, not just “gorges,” but gorgeous!

"Aww."

Typical Jodi Rell Vetoes Death Penalty Bill

Well, we knew it was coming. Governor Rell vetoed the death penalty abolition bill recently passed by the legislature. Here's some of Rell's statement:

I believe that the current law is workable and effective, and I would propose that it not be changed.

What an absurd thing to say. I cannot possibly imagine how a death penalty law which does not actually give anyone the death penalty is either workable or effective.

I also take note of the concerns expressed by some regarding the tremendous financial cost to the state, the perception that the death penalty is inconsistently sought for certain crimes, the lengthy appellate process that is involved and the roles that race, gender, and economics play when seeking the death penalty.

So by "taking note" of all these problems, Rell is able to make them all go away?

These very questions, and more, were the basis of a death penalty study commissioned by P.A. 01-151 and analyzed in a comprehensive report submitted to the Legislature on 01.08.03. The report made significant and thoughtful recommendations that have been largely ignored by the Legislature...

Once again, as with so many other issues, Rell shirks responsibility from a serious issue and blames the state legislature for our state's problems. Leadership in action.

Amnesty International gets a couple of good lines into the Hartford Courant:

"Gov. Rell's veto of this legislation represents a missed opportunity for the state of Connecticut to extricate itself from the useless and costly boondoggle that is capital punishment. Any other policy that wasted valuable taxpayer dollars without reducing crime or making anyone safer would have been eliminated without hesitation."

A sad day for our state. It's too bad that Rell lacks the vision to see the reality of capital punishment.

Tragedy in the Cornell Community

From the Ithaca Journal:

Blazej J. Kot has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Cornell researcher Caroline M. Coffey...

An autopsy determined she bled to death due to a massive laceration to the front of her neck. Coffey and her husband, 24-year-old Blazej J. Kot, shared an apartment in the 900 block of Taughannock Boulevard, about 400 yards north from where Coffey's body was found after 8 a.m. Wednesday...

Coffey received her Ph.D. in comparative bio-medical sciences from Cornell in 2007, university officials said, and was working as a post-doctoral researcher in bio-medical engineering at the College of Veterinary Medicine. They said Kot is an information science Ph.D. candidate...

Kot led police on a brief chase on Tuesday evening and was found with a severe stab wound, for which he was brought (probably airlifted) to a hospital in Pennsylvania. He will be extradited to New York once he has recovered to face charges.

It's unclear what happened between the two of them to cause this violence, but we send our condolences to their families. Thankfully, tragedies of this magnitude tend to be few and far between within the Cornell community.

The Sun hasn't updated its story since yesterday evening.

Thanks to MetaEzra for the tip.

Cornell Alum Hammered for Labor Ignorance

MSNBC's morning show crew took some heat today from the left for its harsh treatment of labor unions. Front and center in the controversy is Cornell alum and NYT reporter Andrew Sorkin. Check out part of this post from MediaMatters:

New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin started off the nonsense about successful unionized companies, saying, "Name a successful unionized company. Think. You're gonna go to break before you come up with one."

If Andrew Ross Sorkin's name sounds familiar, that's probably because he's the reporter who started the myth about the average GM worker being paid $70 an hour. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann named him "Worst Person in the World" for that bit of blatantly false anti-union, anti-worker propaganda.

The post mentions UPS, GE, and even NBC as highly profitable companies with labor unions. GE, in fact, has 13 different unions.

Over on MetaEzra, Matthew Nagowski remarks that Sorkin could not possibly have been an ILR alum, for

had he been one, he would have known that there are scores of profitable unionized Fortune 500 companies out there.

In any case, this doesn't seem to be as bad publicity for Cornell as this one or this one, but still. A little disappointing.

The U.S. Is Turning Into a Socialist Nation!

What path to socialism?

(Andrew Sullivan)

Why We Have Translators

Right now, Drudge is linking an obscure story from last week about a bomb threat which caused the evacuation of passengers from an Air France flight preparing to depart from Buenos Aires for Paris. Clearly, he's implying that a bomb might have caused the plane to crash in the Atlantic Ocean.

In any case, what struck me more than the facts of the story was the horrible translation job:

The airport safety delayed an Air France flight this evening before departring for Paris immediately after the company received a bomb threat over the phone at the airport of Ezeiza.

The Federal Police, along the Firemen’s direction and the Airport’s Safety proceeded to inspect the plane, that arrived this morning from the French city and, after a brief stop, it was preparing to return.

The routine procedure lasted approximately one hour and a half and, as sources of the airport reported all the passengers are ok and they were not evacuated.

I took a course in Spanish to English translation this semester at Cornell, and I would have received an "F" for this kind of shoddy work. Find someone who is fluent in both languages to translate!

Thank You

Thank you to my readers for making May the most successful month by far in terms of visits. At the right is a bar graph of visits by month since I started tracking my blog stats in January.

I know there are a bunch of you who stop by every day to see if I've posted anything, some who visit occasionally, and a few who stumble across my blog from various Google searches (try "michael steele sesame street" for a common way people come in here).

So, thanks for taking the time to read about some of the few topics I know anything about (Cornell hockey, politics) and the other topics about which I sometimes pretend to know something.

As the summer continues, I'll be focusing on Washington and my experiences here, but I'll be keeping an eye on Ithaca in case there's any exciting summer news.

As always, I welcome any comments, criticism, or suggestions.

I realize I didn't write a legitimate post today, but I'd encourage you to read Michael Moore's thoughtful (and quite apolitical) column about GM's bankruptcy:

As I sit here in GM's birthplace, Flint, Michigan, I am surrounded by friends and family who are filled with anxiety about what will happen to them and to the town. Forty percent of the homes and businesses in the city have been abandoned. Imagine what it would be like if you lived in a city where almost every other house is empty. What would be your state of mind?

DC City Councilman Wants to Ban Pizza Slices

...because pizza slices attract drunk people late at night, who tend to be loud and get into fights, etc.:

A proposed crackdown on single-slice pizza sales in Adams Morgan has many patrons of the nightlife hot spot perplexed, especially considering the area's other issues, including violent crime.

But Ward 1 D.C. Councilman Jim Graham, who represents Adams Morgan, says the pizza parlors selling single slices along 18th Street, some of which are open until 4:30 a.m., are part of the problem when it comes a recent rash of street fights, stabbings, muggings and even a shootout involving two plainclothes police officers.

Or maybe not? This city is strange sometimes.

Roger Grillo Leaves Awful Legacy at Brown

Grillo steps down. Sometimes the numbers just speak for themselves:

2007-08		6	21	4
2006-07		11	15	6
2005-06		5	20	7
2004-05		16	14	3
2003-04		15	11	5
2002-03		16	14	5
2001-02		14	15	2
2000-01		4	21	4
1999-00		6	19	3
1998-99		9	16	6
1997-98		13	16	2
TOTALS		115	182	47

Learn Something New Every Day

From the geniuses at Gallup:








Via Wonkette