Fuck this. I'm going to Hogwarts.

Whites only?

Joe Mroszczyk, president of the College Republicans at Boston University, admits he set out to stir up a hornet's nest when he came up with the idea of offering a whites-only scholarship at the school. But he got a little more buzz than he bargained for. "To tell you the truth, we didn't see this coming," Mroszczyk said. "The Drudge Report picked it up yesterday, and today I just finished a round of national interviews. It's kind of overwhelming." All the media attention is focused on a $250 Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship offered by Mroszczyk and the BU chapter of the College Republicans. Applicants must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher; they must write two essays; and, here's the kicker, they must be at least one-quarter Caucasian. The application itself offers an explanation: "We believe that racial preferences in all their forms are perhaps the worst form of bigotry confronting America today." According to Mroszczyk, his group is offering the scholarship to point out "how ridiculous it is to have any sort of racially based scholarship." At BU, for example, students who are at least one-quarter Hispanic can apply for a National Hispanic Recognition Scholarship. "There are plenty of poor, white, academically gifted students who need that money just as much," Mroszczyk said. It isn't the first time a group of students has tried this kind of stunt. Two years ago a chapter of the College Republicans at Roger Williams University also offered a $250 whites-only scholarship. That's where the BU students got the idea. "We are not doing this as some kind of white supremacy thing. I wanted to have a dialogue about racial preference," Mroszczyk said. It seems as if Mroszczyk has gotten his wish. People from across the country are now weighing in on the idea through e-mail and the radio. And closer to home, some BU students are having their say too. "It's a poor way to talk about affirmative action," said David Coreas, the 21-year-old senior who is president of the Latino fraternity Phi Iota Alpha at BU. "If they want to have a scholarship, then let them have a scholarship, but they're sirring up controversy in the wrong way." Coreas said he believes that racially based scholarships are necessary to level a very uneven academic playing field. "We have to look at the situation honestly," he said. "Caucasians tend to have a higher per capita income than Latinos and other minorities. We have to have scholarships to survive." Coreas said he would welcome an honest dialogue on campus about race and affirmative action. Mroszczyk admits even some of his good friends are shaking their heads. "They said I can't believe you're doing this," he said. But for all the talk, there are still no takers for the scholarship. The application has been available online since Nov. 7, and so far not one student has filled it out. That's money wasted, according to David Coreas. "I wish I could apply: That $250 could help me pay for my textbooks," he said. Coreas isn't eligible, though. But for BU students who have a pretty good GPA and can write a couple of essays, there's still time, as long as they're also 25 percent Caucasian. The deadline for applications is Nov. 30.

Good week

Minnesota vs. Illinois: Which market has the better sports:

Minnesota:

1. Johan Santana wins his second Cy Young Award in three years. The second youngest American League two time winner. He received 100% of the first place votes after posting the major league best in wins, strike-outs, and opponent's batting average.

2. Justin Morneau wins his first MVP award, narrowly defeating Derek Jeter.

3. Gopher men's hockey is currently ranked #1 in the AP (women are #3)

4. Gopher wrestlers are currently ranked #1 in the AP

5. Gopher football will probably be playing in the Alamo Bowl (Glen Mason's best bowl game)

6. After losing an exhibition, game the gopher men's basketball team is undefeated (until they get upset by the cyclones tonight!!)

7. Wild are tied for first place in the Northwest division.

8. No doubt about, the vikings and wild both suck.

CHICAGO:

1. Although the sox choked at the end, they will be back in force next year. In the deal of the offseason so far, the cubs signed Alfonzo Soriano to a 140 million, eight year deal. The cubs will be good next year, or at least be above 500. Also officially, the cubs now have the second highest payroll following the yankees. It's time for some results Cubbies!!

2. Bears will win the NFC and make the superbowl.

3. The Bulls are a team on the rise who will win the 2008 NBA championship.

4. Blackhawks blow.

5. Ron Zook is a recruiting mastermind and will most likely produce another top 30 recruiting class. I may be drinking some orange and blue koolaid but is it possible for the Illini to at least compete for the Big 10 in maybe 2009?

6. Illini always have a great men's basketball program.

I don't know but for the first time in a while, it is a good time to root for teams from Illinois and Minnesota sports teams.

WTF Mate!

When things get bad in the United States, it is reassuring to turn to Canada, a country with a high standard of living, a small military and a national health care plan. Canada always seemed to be, if a bit duller than America, also a bit saner.

But this is changing. The new Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, inspired by the neocons to the south, appears determined to visit the worst excesses of George Bush's presidency on his own country. He plans to pull Canada out of the Kyoto Protocol and expand military spending. He defended Israel's massive bombing of southern Lebanon, even as Israeli warplanes bombed a clearly marked U.N. observation post, killing a Canadian peacekeeper. He was the first world leader to cut off funding after Hamas took over the Palestinian Authority. The decision was made despite Hamas having taken power after winning democratic elections that not only were recognized as free and fair but fulfilled demands made by the West. Harper has extended the mission for the 2,200 Canadian soldiers fighting in Afghanistan, where 42 have died so far. He has slashed $1 billion in funding that assists the most vulnerable Canadians, including cuts in adult literacy programs, legal aid to gays and lesbians, and measures to assist unemployed youth, despite a near-record surplus of $13.2 billion for 2005-06. If the Bush Administration launches an attack on Iran, there is little doubt that Harper would line up behind Washington. When the Canadian prime minister was asked about Iran before his recent speech to the U.N. General Assembly, he called Iran "the biggest single threat the planet faces." And he sneers at Canada's long tradition of antimilitarism and generous social services, once calling Canada "a second-tier socialistic country, boasting ever more loudly about its ... social services to mask its second-rate status."

But that is not the worst of it. The prime minister, who has begun, in very un-Canadian fashion, to close his speeches with the words "God Bless Canada," is also a born-again Christian. And Harper is rapidly building an alliance with the worst elements of the U.S. Christian right.

Harper, who heads a minority government, is a member of the East Gate Alliance Church, part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, a denomination with 400,000 members that believes in the literal word of the Bible, faith-healing and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. Women cannot be ordained in his church, homosexuality is a sin and abortion is murder. Canada, however, is unused to public displays of faith, and Harper has had to tread more lightly than George Bush. But many fear the prime minister is taking a cue from the Bush Administration and slowly mobilizing Canada's 3.5 million evangelicals — along with the 44 percent of Canadians who say they have committed themselves to Christ — as a power base. Harper has spent the past three years methodically knitting a coalition of social conservatives and evangelicals that looks ominously similar to the American model.

"While the Ottawa press corps has been preoccupied with Harper's ability to keep the most blooper-prone Christians in his caucus buttoned up, he has quietly but determinedly nurtured a coalition of evangelicals, Catholics, and conservative Jews that brought him to power and that will put every effort into ensuring that he stays there," wrote Marci McDonald in the October issue of the Canadian magazine "Walrus."

Harper's Conservative government, for the first time since the January 2006 election that brought him to power, is tied in the polls with the Liberal Party, which is locked in a leadership battle that includes front-runner Michael Ignatieff, a prolific author on ethnic conflict, a former Harvard professor and a vocal supporter of the Iraq War. A poll done for the Toronto Globe and Mail and CTV News has the Conservatives and Liberals tied with 32 percent support, although no date has been set for new elections.

Harper's combination of bellicosity, slash-and-burn attitude toward Canadian social programs and religious fervor makes many Canadians nervous. Unfortunately for Canada, Harper has a lot of American help. James Dobson has set up a Canadian branch of his Focus on the Family three blocks from the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. The organization, called the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada, provides political expertise to and otherwise supports Harper's allies in the bid to turn Canada into an Americanized Christian state. Dobson, who rails against Canada's defense of gay rights and legalization of same-sex marriage, buys radio time in Canada to attack the nation's tolerance of gays and calls for legislation to roll back these measures. The proliferation of new Christian groups is dizzying, with organizations such as the National House of Prayer, the Institute for Canadian Values and the Canada Family Action Coalition, whose mission is "to see Judeo-Christian moral principles restored in Canada," publishing election guides, working with sympathetic legislators and mobilizing Canadian evangelicals in local and national campaigns. These groups turn frequently to American Christian leaders like Jerry Falwell, who came to Canada two years ago for an "Emergency Pastors Briefing" to rally 400 evangelical ministers against a bill before Parliament that included a provision making it a hate crime to denounce homosexuals. Other stalwarts, like former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed and televangelist John Hagee, have come north to spread their toxic message to the newly energized Canadian evangelical church. And in the Harper government they have found not only a willing convert but an important ally.

Harper's hold on power, like that of George Bush, is shaky. He too has no clear mandate to transform Canada, but this has not stopped his minority government from steadily undermining social programs and a once-enlightened foreign policy that liberal Americans could only envy. The tools he is using are familiar to many Americans, who stood sleepily by as Pat Robertson and other religious bigots hijacked the Republican Party and moved into the legislative and executive branches of government. As I walk the windy streets of Toronto I wonder if those who push past me will wake up and see in Harper's government our own malaise or watch passively as Canada becomes a demented reflection of George Bush's America.

"Don't shrink me Gypsy woman"

Umm... For those of you who have not seen Borat, turn off the computer and go see it immediately. It is the most innapropriate and funniest movie I have seen all year and maybe ever. I give it four stars our of four.

Put down that sandwich!!

An article from the latest Newsweek:

Walking around downtown Orlando, Fla., feels like strolling through "The Truman Show" 's fictional town of Seahaven. But spotless sidewalks, a tidy business district, lush parks and lakes belie a real city with real problems, in particular a burgeoning homeless population that local officials are struggling to control. After a law banning begging outright was struck down by the courts, the city tried regulating panhandlers by issuing them ID cards, then by confining them to three- by 15-foot "panhandling zones" painted on sidewalks. But it wasn't enough, so this summer Orlando tried a supply-side solution, cracking down on churches and activists who had been feeding large groups of homeless people in downtown parks. Now it's not just the panhandlers who risk getting arrested, it's the people trying to help them.
\Advocates say anti-feeding ordinances are the latest in a series of municipal efforts to legislate against homelessness. A report this year by the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) found double-digit increases since 2002 in laws prohibiting begging, sitting and lying in public places. A week before Orlando passed its ordinance, Las Vegas outlawed giving food to even a single indigent in any city park. The law defines an indigent as a person who appears "to be entitled to apply for or receive" government assistance. "It's revoltingly immoral. It literally enforces a class regime by defining criminal behavior based on income," says Lee Rowland, a public advocate with the ACLU of Nevada, which filed suit in August against the Vegas feeding ban. "Cities figure that if you quit feeding the homeless, they'll go away," says NCH executive director Michael Stoops. But in Orlando they've kept coming, drawn by warm weather and low-skill service- industry jobs. The homeless population, including seasonal agricultural workers, is estimated at about 7,000; the city has shelter capacity for about 2,000. Activist and church groups tried to fill the gap with food programs. The largest, run by a group called Food Not Bombs, began giving away meals once a week at Lake Eola, one of Orlando's most pristine parks. Their well-intentioned efforts led to some negative side effects for nearby residents. Police say that crime, along with reports of trespassing and lewd behavior, spiked after many of the large feedings, which often drew hundreds of homeless into some of the nicest parts of downtown. "I was having to pick up human waste from my yard and shoo people out from sleeping in my bushes," says Robert Harding, a local attorney whose office is around the corner from Lake Eola Park. While the ordinance has reduced the size and frequency of feedings, Food Not Bombs is finding ways around it by feeding from the backs of cars parked across from parks. More than once, it's thumbed its nose at the city by feeding in front of municipal buildings, even city hall, which raises the issue of whether the ban is even enforceable—just as the city prepares to defend it in court. Supported by the ACLU, Food Not Bombs sued to overturn the ban earlier this fall. Food, says the group's head Ben Markeson, "is a right, not a privilege." The city may look like a movie set, but the people lining up for sandwiches aren't actors.

Thoughts? Minneapolis "solved" the issue by putting up spikes underneath bridges to deter homeless from sleeping there.