We have a new minister, Ned Wilson, coming all the way from Grand Junction to serve our tiny Sugar Hill Community Church. He and his wife haul their 10 children around in a bus identical to a Greyhound Bus except that it is fitted with four bunk beds, a queen bed and a kitchen. He made his fortune designing, building, and selling golf courses in the western part of the U.S. The family does musicals like the Von Trapp family. Now we will have the Sound of Music in these mountains.

 The Wilson's bought a former B&B called the Foxglove next to the church. It has eight bedrooms and 8.5 bathrooms. It will not be a B&B since they need the entire place just for their family.

Erika will have her 11^th spine surgery at the New England Baptist Hospital in Boston on September 29. Dr. Parizan thinks that a spinal chord blockage is causing much of her leg pain. Her leg pain keeps getting worse and worse. I don’t think I will have to live quite as long in the Brookline Holiday Inn as I did when she had her last two surgeries. I stayed in the hotel for two months that time --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Erika2007.htm
This Holiday Inn is a 600-room hotel within walking distance of the  Harvard Medical School and maybe ten other nearby hospitals. The traffic is awful, but there is a hotel van that takes me to and from Erika's hospital.

 I will be suspending further editions of New Bookmarks and Tidbits until I return to these hills. There's a chance I can squeak out one more edition of Tidbits on September 25. And the September 30 edition of New Bookmarks is already longer than anybody will want to read.

Tidbits on September 16, 2008
Bob Jensen

For earlier editions of Tidbits go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
For earlier editions of New Bookmarks go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm 

Click here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter --- Search Site.
For example if you want to know what Jensen documents have the term "Enron" enter the phrase Jensen AND Enron. Another search engine that covers Trinity and other universities is at http://www.searchedu.com/.

Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/

CPA Examination --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpa_examination

Despite these noteworthy linguistic strides, the Academy presents Orwell 2008 to a college counselor who advises his clients to deliberately make mistakes on their applications so they "don’t sound like robots." After all, "if you fall into the trap of trying to do everything perfectly," without "typos" and other "creative errors," there's just "no spark left."
Fifteenth Annual Emperor's Awards, Guest commentary by Poor Elijah (Peter Berger), The Irascible Professor, August 19, 2008 --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-08-19-08.htm
Jensen Comment
The same can be said for blogs and newsletters.

On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

Chronicle of Higher Education's 2008-2009 Almanac --- http://chronicle.com/free/almanac/2008/?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm
Bob Jensen's threads on economic and social statistics --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#EconStatistics

Online Video, Slide Shows, and Audio
In the past I've provided links to various types of music and video available free on the Web. 
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm

Time for Campaignin'  (cute) --- http://www.peteyandpetunia.com/VoteHere/VoteHere.htm

Saturday Night Live Spoof of Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ral-zByaSU4
Also see --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=Jukzu_dMuPk
Read about it at --- http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10464760?source=most_viewed

Saturday Night Live Spoof of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=kBxnThAJknY

George W. Bush Impersonation  --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=pDE9U0j_gns

Atta texana: An Underground View of an Ant Colony (video) --- http://www-viz.tamu.edu/faculty/lurleen/main/attatunnel/

Institute for Public Policy Research: Podcasts [iTunes] http://www.ippr.org/podcasts/

Metropolitan Police Service: Crime Mapping --- http://maps.met.police.uk/ 

Benin-Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria (video) --- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/exhibitions/benin/index

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

Cellist Haimovitz: Classic Bach, Classic Rock --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93587797

U. of Texas Web Site Offers Marching-Band Basics (series of videos) --- http://www.music.utexas.edu/LonghornBand/Auditions/BandClinic.aspx
The next time the collegiate half time entertainment begins, you might appreciate the effort that goes into bringing you this entertainment.

Some Marching Bands

• America the Beautiful (Notre Dame Band) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_D-uMX11JE 

• Texas Marching Band Entrance --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=a3lFFmRVOec
  Also see http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=tgoI2beuq24

• Texas Marching Band at the Rose Parade --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=IYl5_9xfpPw

• Texas A&M bands are a big, big deal --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=50Rc62JLJm0
  Also see http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=HvdRXy_Hv20

• Queen City High School --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hi6OPtiYgw

• Texas State Marching Band Performance --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z4WW32-Kf8

• Texas Southern --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=tsvVsHS8uvk

• Rutgers --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=-LoQTdEah7A

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

Photographs and Art

Online Books, Poems, References, and Other Literature
In the past I've provided links to various types electronic literature available free on the Web. 
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

This course examines the role of the engineer as patent expert and as technical witness in court and patent interference and related proceedings. It discusses the rights and obligations of engineers in connection with educational institutions, government, and large and small businesses. It compares various manners of transplanting inventions into business operations, including development of New England and other U.S. electronics and biotechnology industries and their different types of institutions. The course also considers American systems of incentive to creativity apart from the patent laws in the atomic energy and space fields.
MIT OpenCourseWare: Development of Inventions and Creative Ideas ---
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Electrical-Engineering-and-Computer-Science/6-931Spring-2008/CourseHome/index.htm 

From MIT
Searchable Lecture Browser --- http://web.sls.csail.mit.edu/lectures/

Profiles in Science: The Alan Gregg Papers --- http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/FS/

Profiles in Science: The Paul Berg Papers --- http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/CD/

From the Scout Report on September 14, 2008

The Bibliothecary: Ed & Edgar --- http://bibliothecary.squarespace.com/ed-and-edgar/ 

The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore --- http://www.eapoe.org/ 

Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site --- http://www.nps.gov/edal/ 

Edgar Allan Poe --- http://etext.virginia.edu/poe/poebiog.html 

Scholar, Athlete, and Artist: Edgar Allan Poe at University of Virginia --- http://www.literarytraveler.com/literary_articles/edgar_allan_poe_author.aspx

In an effort to return Edgar Allan Poe to the City of Brotherly Love, scholar and pundit issues a challenge Baltimore Has Poe: Philadelphia Wants Him [Free registration may be required] --- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/us/06poe.html?em

Banned Books --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_books
ACLU Texas Project (comprehensive list of banned books starting with Tom Sawyer)--- http://www.aclutx.org/projects/bannedbooks.php
Also see the ACLU list of 50 Banned Books --- http://www.aclu.org/freedomwire/books/booklist.htm
Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Banned

Index on Censorship --- http://www.indexoncensorship.org/ 

Free Online Textbooks, Videos, and Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Free Tutorials in Various Disciplines --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials
Edutainment and Learning Games --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment
Open Sharing Courses --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand.
Putt's Law as quoted by Mark Shapiro at http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-09-09-08.htm

Physicists may one day have found the answers to all physical questions, but not all questions are physical questions.
Gilbert Ryle --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Ryle

Biden quoted as saying that Israel will have to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden was quoted Monday as telling senior Israeli officials behind closed doors that the Jewish state will have to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran. In the unsourced report, Army Radio also quoted Biden as saying that he opposed "opening a additional military and diplomatic front."
Haaretz News Service, September 1, 2008 --- http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1017129.html
Jensen Comment
The political divide between Israel and American Jews voting for this aspect of "Democratic Party Change" seems to grow wider with each election. Meanwhile Israel is praying that Bush and Cheney take out Iran's nuclear weapons program before leaving office ---
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1220186494776&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The problem for Bush and Cheney is that doing so most assuredly will ruin all hope for the McCain/Palin ticket. Israel is losing the military and diplomatic wars.

…it is a right for the most righteous to be considered as the best humans….[S]ome powers…think of nothing but destroying the traditions and customs of different nations in the world in order to keep them under their illegal sway…The…story of Palestinians has been going on for the last 60 years. The usurper Zionist regime has continued to exist through murder…[B]y the grace of God Almighty…the nuclear issue is closed…[T]he Non-Aligned Movement’s struggle against…racism, Zionism…has to be praised and lauded.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (President of Iran) as quoted by Anne Bayefsky, "Lethal Politics: Antisemitism as Human Rights," July 6, 2008 --- http://www.antidef.org.au/secure/downloadfile.asp?fileid=1010330
To hear the 2008 Oration, please click here.
Jensen Comment
Seems like we heard something about best humans (read that "superior race") intentions to destroy Zionism in the not-so-distant past
Mein Kamph  by Adolph Hitler --- http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/
Hitler - Mein Kampf (full documentary) Part 1 --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=sw837zt81nw
Hitler - Mein Kampf (full documentary) Part 2 --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=njGrci0meW8
Hitler - Mein Kampf (full documentary) Part 3 --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=i-pg7p0bxQo
Hitler - Mein Kampf (full documentary) Part 4 --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=POSBWP4Y6Sg
It was most fortunate in the 1940s that allied forces did not have to reconcile themselves to a nuclear "superior race." The Nazi regime, however, did come close, but allied efforts (such as destroying Norsk Hydro Nazi heavy water plant) did block Hitler's dream. Nothing will block Ahmadinejad's dream.
In the 21st Century we will in the future have to reconcile ourselves to nuclear "best humans."

That's Bull! Iran is No Threat in Reality (Obama) --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=SB_DFfIolOE
Obama's Military --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=mZVqGuwRqnw

Human rights are the most powerful ideological currency of our time. Unless the free people of this earth take back the nomenclature, the institutions and the implementation tools of human rights, I fear we will witness the destruction of Israel, if not by lethal force, then by lethal politics.
Anne Bayefsky, "Lethal Politics: Antisemitism as Human Rights," July 6, 2008 ---
www.antidef.org.au/www/309/1001127/displayarticle/1001840.html 
Also ast http://www.antidef.org.au/secure/downloadfile.asp?fileid=1010330
To hear the 2008 Oration, please click here.

The war in Lebanon may have ended two years ago, but that hasn't stopped the UN from exploiting the conflict to besmirch Israel. In a move that harks back to the bad old days of UN hypocrisy and double standards vis- à-vis the Jewish state, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is reportedly set to demand that Israel reimburse Lebanon and Syria for damage caused during the war against Hizbullah. Yes, you read that correctly. The UN wants Israel to pay for having the gall to defend itself. According to the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, Ban has prepared a report that he will present to the upcoming General Assembly in New York. Based on calculations made by the World Bank, he will insist that Israel cough up approximately $1 billion in "compensation" for material and environmental harm to Lebanese society and infrastructure.
Michael Freund, "Payback Time at the U.N.," Jerusalem Post, September 10, 2008 --- Click Here
Jensen Comment
I suspect Israel should also repay Iran for the rockets needed to destroy Jewish homes, businesses, and children. It's only fair in the eyes of the Islam-biased U.N.

Israel does not lack for worries. There is an Iranian bomb handing over our heads. A corrupt and nonfunctioning government ready to turn over vital strategic and historic areas in exchange for nothing, laying the heart of the country bare to deadly missile attacks. And homicidal maniacs aplenty heading Hamas and Hizbollah and the PLO.
Naomi Ragan, September 14, 2008 Newsletter --- naomiragen@mail-list.com

The waters in the Caribbean and around Latin America for a long time have provided a path for illicit drugs to flow into the United States, but the U.S. Navy has increased its patrols in the region now looking for something else – Hezbollah terrorists, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. The Navy, in trolling for mini-submarines sometimes used to transport drugs, has discovered that some of them apparently are being operated by Hezbollah. The mini-subs are small semi-submersibles, made of fiberglass and capable of carrying up to four people plus a payload.
Joseph Farah, "Now terror subs prowl Caribbean Navy fears Hezbollah bringing drugs, weapons to United States," WorldNetDaily, September 4, 2008 --- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=74344
Jensen Comment
Obama and Biden will have to negotiate harder with Iran once those Hezbollah mini-subs are smuggling nuclear payloads. The billions in extortion that we’re paying North Korea will be peanuts in comparison to what it costs to fend off Iranian nuclear extortion

That's Bull! Iran is No Threat in Reality (Obama) --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=SB_DFfIolOE
Obama's Military --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=mZVqGuwRqnw

Britain's MI6 intelligence service has issued a global-wide priority warning to all security services that Islamic terrorists now are closer to obtaining material to create a "dirty bomb" to launch against Western targets, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. Osama bin Laden long has made this a priority and reinforced it with regular messages from his mountain redoubt in the northwest province of Pakistan. He repeatedly has said every "true Muslim must make it his duty to assist in all ways possible to find the next powerful weapon to destroy our enemies."
Exceroted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, "Al-Qaida hikes 'dirty bomb' efforts," WorldNetDaily, September 11, 2008 --- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=74928 

AUSTRALIA has been singled out as a target for "forest jihad" by a group of Islamic extremists urging Muslims to deliberately light bushfires as a weapon of terror. US intelligence channels earlier this year identified a website calling on Muslims in Australia, the US, Europe and Russia to "start forest fires", claiming "scholars have justified chopping down and burning the infidels' forests when they do the same to our lands".
Josh Gordon, "Islam group urges forest fire jihad," The Age, September 11, 2008 ---
http://www.theage.com.au/national/islam-group-urges-forest-fire-jihad-20080906-4b53.html?page=-1

Election Year Fakery

Obama's 50 Lies --- http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/50lies.asp
Also see http://www.slate.com/id/2199923/?from=rss
Hugh Downs --- http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/hughdowns.asp
Also see http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/distribute.asp

Some Faked Palin Quotations --- http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/newsquotes.asp
Also see http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/newsquotes.asp
Book Banning --- http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/hughdowns.asp
Sex Photos --- http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/palin.asp
Smear Fest --- http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/11/beck.palin/index.html

McCain admits being a war criminal --- http://www.snopes.com/politics/mccain/warcriminal.asp

The editor of The Atlantic Monthly said Monday he is sending a letter of apology to John McCain after a woman the magazine hired to photograph the Republican presidential nominee posted manipulated pictures from the photo shoot on her Web site. Photographer Jill Greenberg, who is vehemently anti-Republican and expressed glee that the photos would stir up conservative ire, took pictures of McCain for the cover of The Atlantic’s October issue. During the shoot, she took several other backlit pictures, which she then doctored and posted to her site. In one photo, she added blood oozing from McCain’s shark-toothed mouth and labeled it with the caption “I am a bloodthirsty warmongerer.” In another, a caption over McCain’s head says, “I will have my girl kill Roe v. Wade,” an obvious reference to his running mate Sarah Palin’s anti-abortion positions.
"Atlantic Monthly Editor to Offer Apology to McCain for Photog’s Doctored Pics," Fox News, September 15, 2008 --- http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/15/atlantic-monthly-editor-to-offer-apology-to-mccain-for-photogs-doctored-pics/

 

Divided They Stand

With the U.S. presidential elections just two months away, many Arabs and Muslims are increasingly worried that a victory for another conservative Republican administration will exacerbate the tensions and turbulence that have followed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Sana Abdalla, "McCain-Palin Ticket Chills Arabs, Muslims," Middle East Times, September 5, 20085 --- http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/09/05/mccain-palin_ticket_chills_arabs_muslims/8625/

 

Sarah Palin: A Worthless Bag of Hair
Pravda, September 14, 2008 --- http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/14-09-2008/106355-sarahworthless-0
Palin's support of more domestic oil drilling and less dependency on Russia for oil had nothing to do with this insult. The Russians are weary of watching her fix her hair every day. And the Russians fear that Sarah Palin can actually see all the bad things going on in Russia from her house. Seriously though, Russia is strongly supporting the Obama-Biden ticket and hoping that Democrats will cripple the U.S. economy with more entitlements and zero drilling for new oil fields. Anything that takes weapons development away from the U.S. military is cause for celebration in Russia --- http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=mZVqGuwRqnw

"Feminist Army Aims Its Canons at Palin" by Johah Goldberg --- Click Here
Women Against Palin --- http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com
Here’s another (a bit more Jewish) Palin hating blog --- http://www.yourish.com/2008/08/30/5286
Los Angeles Times Piece on Hating Palin ---
http://www.arguewitheveryone.com/elections/27054-most-democratic-women-will-not-cast-vote-palin.html

Palin is Out of Step With Jewish Public Opinion --- http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1016506.html
Also see http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1220444321718&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Jewish Voters Wary of Palin --- http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/9701

Barbara Streisand wants to rid the planet of all conservatives --- http://www.barbrastreisand.com/index.php?page=statements&n_id=854

 

Some Jews Do Not Like Either Choice --- http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3590992,00.html

Jews and Feminists are for Palin --- http://jewishvoiceandopinion.com/a/JVO200809c.html

"Feminists for Palin" --- http://whatsuddenly.blogspot.com/2008/09/feminists-vote-for-palin.html
Also see the San Francisco Chronicle piece --- http://whatsuddenly.blogspot.com/2008/09/feminists-vote-for-palin.html
Tammy Bruce is the author of "The New American Revolution" (HarperCollins, 2005)

GOP Jews (there aren't many of those) Defend Palin --- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/gop-jews-defend-palin-she_n_123340.html
Also see http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/09/sarah_palin_and_israel.html

Gov. Palin has established a great relationship with the Jewish community over the years and has attended several of our Jewish cultural gala events. Gov. Palin also had plans to visit Israel with members of the Jewish community, however, for technical reason, the visit has not occurred yet.
Chabad Rabbi Of Alaska Praises Sarah Palin

Jensen Conclusion: 
There are now about as few Muslim voters in the U.S. as there are Jewish voters (less than 3%). Muslim voters could make more of a difference in the swing state of Michigan, but it is doubtful that McCain and Palin will draw any support from the Muslim voters.

Jewish voters are more divided on McCain and Palin than are black and Muslim voters. However, Jewish voters are so concentrated in pro-Obama states, their votes one way or another probably will not turn the tide. Money does matter, however, and consistent with election history in the U.S. the Jewish money is funding mostly Democratic candidates --- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article4053816.ece
There's a long history of this going back to long before Israel became a state ---- a time when there were insulting prejudices against Jews in the U.S. There were times in our history when Jews were banned from country clubs, posh hotels, some private schools, and restaurants. They share a history of bigotry against minorities that hopefully is now behind us.

 

Even my media hero Charles Gibson twisted words and quotations when interviewing Sarah Palin
From James Taranto in "Best of the Web," The Wall Street Journal, September 12, 2008

The first cut of Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin reveals someone embarrassingly unprepared. His name is Charlie Gibson. Here's the transcript:

Gibson: You said recently, in your old church, "Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God." Are we fighting a holy war?

Palin: You know, I don't know if that was my exact quote.

Gibson: Exact words.

Palin: But the reference there is a repeat of Abraham Lincoln's words when he said--first, he suggested never presume to know what God's will is, and I would never presume to know God's will or to speak God's words.

But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that's a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God's side.

Palin was right, as we noted Tuesday. Although she had spoken the words Gibson attributed to her, his rendition of the quote was a dowdification. He took the words out of context to make a prayer that "the task is from God" appear to be an assertion that it is.

This misleading quotation might have been an error rather than a deliberate deception, and it did not originate with Gibson. Our Tuesday item noted that CNN had misrepresented Palin's words on Monday, and on Sept. 4 "AllahPundit" pointed to an Associated Press dispatch from the previous day that might have been the origin of the falsehood.

But Lou Dobbs' (CNN "Tonight") criticism of Olbermann was just one element of the "liberal media" he criticized at the summit. Overall, Dobbs expressed his displeasure with the media's treatment of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin since Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, Ariz., selected her as his running mate. "One of the issues in all of this is the role of the national media," Dobbs said. "I was kidding with you a bit about having my national media card lifted. I make no pretense that I'm an independent populist - which has already upset both the left and the right every time I say that. But the truth is, we have a national media that is liberal in tone, liberal in its bias and that is dominant in the stories that we choose to report and the way in which we report them." Dobbs said the media's treatment of the Alaskan governor was a case study of the liberal bias of the media.
Jeff Poor, "Dobbs: Olbermann 'Hanging by a Highly Medicated String'," Newsbusters, September 12, 2008 ---
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2008/09/12/dobbs-olbermann-hanging-highly-medicated-thread

The New York Times got it wrong. And Charlie Gibson got it wrong. There is no single meaning of the Bush doctrine. In fact, there have been four distinct meanings, each one succeeding another over the eight years of this administration -- and the one Charlie Gibson cited is not the one in common usage today. It is utterly different. He asked Palin, "Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?" She responded, quite sensibly to a question that is ambiguous, "In what respect, Charlie?"
Charles Krauthammer, "Charlie Gibson's Gaffe," The Washington Post, September 13, 2008; Page A17 ---
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091202457.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

I know something about the subject because, as the Wikipedia entry on the Bush doctrine notes, I was the first to use the term. In the cover essay of the June 4, 2001, issue of the Weekly Standard entitled, "The Bush Doctrine: ABM, Kyoto, and the New American Unilateralism," I suggested that the Bush administration policies of unilaterally withdrawing from the ABM treaty and rejecting the Kyoto protocol, together with others, amounted to a radical change in foreign policy that should be called the Bush doctrine.
http://righttruth.typepad.com/right_truth/2008/09/there-is-no-single-meaning-of-the-bush-doctrine.html

The Los Angeles Times was among the news outlets crying foul after ABC's interview yesterday with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, her first since Sen. John McCain named her his running mate. The Times took Charlie Gibson to task for distorting statements Palin made about the Iraq war at her former Assemblies of God church in Wasilla, Alaska.
"L.A. Times rebukes ABC for distorting Palin remarks," WorldNetDaily, September 12, 2008 ---
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=75091

The Times took Charlie Gibson to task for distorting statements Palin made about the Iraq war at her former Assemblies of God church in Wasilla, Alaska

"For Barack Obama, Bill Clinton says he'll do 'whatever I'm asked'," Los Angeles Times (video), September 12, 2008 --- http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-clinton12-2008sep12,0,6280126.story
Jensen Comment
For openers, how about asking her out on a date.

"McCain launches pro-stem cells ad," by Jeffrey Young, The Hill, September 12, 2008 ---
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/mccain-launches-pro-stem-cells-ad-2008-09-12.html
Jensen Comment
There may be a catch, however, since McCain has never yet supported embryonic stem cell research.

Broken Promises and Pork Binges
The Democratic majority came to power in January promising to do a better job on earmarks. They appeared to preserve our reforms and even take them a bit further. I commended Democrats publicly for this action. Unfortunately, the leadership reversed course. Desperate to advance their agenda, they began trading earmarks for votes, dangling taxpayer-funded goodies in front of wavering members to win their support for leadership priorities.
John Boehner, "Pork Barrel Stonewall," The Wall Street Journal, September 27, 2007 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119085546436140827.html

There is nothing more dangerous to entrenched Washington power than a populist conservative who looks unlikely to buy into Washington's creature comforts. Take a close look at Governor Palin's record on ethics and energy in Alaska, and it becomes clear what this Beltway outburst is actually about. The irony is that while Senator Obama is running on change, his acceptance speech made explicit that he's promising only more power and money for Washington. Sarah Palin's history of taking on the career politicians of a corrupt Alaskan GOP machine -- her own party -- shows that she's the more authentic change agent.
"The Beltway Boys," The Wall Street Journal, September 3, 2008; Page A22 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122039719000892745.html?mod=djemEditorialPage
Jensen Comment
The fear of Palin is bipartisan on the Beltway.

In just three years our opponent (Obama) has requested nearly 1 billion dollars in earmarks. That is about a million dollars for every working day,” Palin said. “So we reformed the bases of earmarks in our state and I’m ready to help President John McCain end these corrupt practices once and for all.
Sarah Palin, Fox, September 8, 2001 --- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2077652/posts

Pontius Palin:  Defeating Obama is Like Crucifying Christ
Sen. Barack Obama was likened to Jesus Christ on the floor of the U.S. House today, while Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was compared to the Roman governor responsible for ordering Jesus' crucifixion. Both comparisons came from Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., a supporter of Obama for president. "If you want change, you want the Democratic Party," Cohen said during his one-minute speech. "Barack Obama was a community organizer like Jesus, who our minister prayed about. Pontius Pilate was a governor."
Joe Kovacs, "Congressman likens Palin to Christ's crucifier," WorldNetDaily, September 10, 2008 ---
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=74896
But unlike in zero A.D. when the Jews sided with Pontius Pilate, the powerful Jewish lobby opposes Pontius Palin in 2008.

Obama's seldom discussed years at Columbia and Harvard (in context) --- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=74877

Have you seen the polls? He should be talking more about the economy! Why isn’t Obama's campaign working harder?
If the Obama brain trust seems relatively serene compared with its seething base, it’s because they live in the Electoral College world, where the presidential race only takes place in a third of the country. They don’t care about national polls — a concept as quaint as measuring one’s wealth by caribou pelts. They worry about the undecided vote in Minnesota and Ohio and run their TV ads (about the economy) in places like Colorado and Michigan and Florida. If you live in California or New York or Texas, you don’t really have much of a feel for their level of effort because as far as they’re concerned, you’ve already voted.
Gail Collins, "Misery Loves Democrats," The New York Times, September 10, 2008 ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/opinion/11collins.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Twenty-five years ago, when the school where I worked installed its first computers, I bravely (before the publication of DOS for Dummies) learned how to "C colon backslash" on a screen without windows. Over time, I learned how to build websites, set up spreadsheets, compose professional documents, and competently add things to motherboards. With each new electronic accessory, I gained a new set of skills. I have never had problem with cell phones, DVD players, coffeepots, all-in-one remote controls, electric pencil sharpeners, teller machines, faxes, printers, scanners, air purifiers, or other electronic devices with which I interact daily until recently . . . Now, I am scared. My husband, who usually compares me to my mother, despite my best efforts at concealing all hints of wrinkles, didn't make fun of me when I told him how I "broke" the cable. He was also exceedingly kind when I told him I was unable to open the bucket of chlorine tabs because I couldn't figure out exactly how to use the screwdriver and hammer to remove the tamper-proof plastic tab. But then again, he also depends on me to defrag his hard drive, turn his cell phone to vibrate at the movies, and program the clock on the coffee maker.
Felice Prager, "My Ever Steepening Learning Curve," The Irascible Professor, September 9, 2008 --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-09-09-08.htm

My students discuss cell phones with me more than most professors, though, because I do not own one, nor do I plan on buying one. Ever. According to what poll one looks at, somewhere between 82 and 85 percent of Americans own cell phones, so I realize that the hyper-connected professors will see me as the professor I knew in graduate school in the 1990s who refused to use a computer, insisting that a typewriter would work just fine, and the students’ image of my life is even more extreme.
Kevin Brown, "It’s Not Programmed Into Our Cells," Inside Higher Ed, September 9, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/09/09/brown

The University of Idaho has ordered that a uniform design change used in the football team’s season opener be undone. The Vandals’ uniforms featured their logos on their derrières, and many fans didn’t appreciate the location, The Idaho Statesman reported. Rob Spear, the athletic director, said, “I was disappointed with the look and the appearance. We didn’t realize how noticeable it would be until it was on our players.” While no causal relationship was established, the first game (and now only game) with the controversial design was not a success. Idaho lost to the University of Arizona, 70-0.
Inside Higher Ed, September 8, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/09/08/qt
Jensen Comment
Must've been a gas looking at the logos up close. Of all places, Idaho should know that the potato goes in front.

Say What?
Editorial in the ... no ... can't be ... well maybe ... yes ... YES! ... The New York Times, September 8, 2008 ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/opinion/09tue1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

The Bailout’s Big Lessons

As an act of crisis management, the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage-finance giants, was a reasonable and reassuring move. It ensures the flow of mortgage credit and is likely to reduce mortgage rates, which are important steps toward the eventual recovery of the ailing United States housing market.

And it does so while putting taxpayers first for future dividends or money that may be earned when the firms are reprivatized, holding out hope that the bailout costs may someday be recouped. Beyond the immediate crisis, however, the takeover raises disturbing issues that may get lost in the tumult of the moment.

¶ The need for an explicit bailout underlines the economic vulnerabilities of the United States. In July, Congress gave Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson unlimited authority to pay the debts of Fannie and Freddie and to shore up their capital, if need be. Yet investors the world over continued to doubt the companies’ viability, shunning their securities or demanding unusually high interest rates on loans. In effect, investors deemed the government’s commitment to Fannie and Freddie as either insufficient or not credible — an extraordinary vote of no confidence that, in the end, led to the bailout.

¶ There is no single reason for the lack of confidence. But investors have good cause to be concerned about the deep indebtedness of the United States, about the nation’s apparent political unwillingness to restore its fiscal health and about the ability of the government to responsibly make good on its commitments. A pledge of the full faith and credit of the United States still means something. That’s why the markets responded favorably to the takeover. But investors’ refusal to accept a promise to act is another sign of the need to reverse the fiscal mismanagement of the Bush years.

¶ The United States must acknowledge that its deep indebtedness is especially dangerous in times of economic crisis. The level and stability of American interest rates and of the dollar are now dependent on the willingness of foreign central banks and other overseas investors to continue lending to the United States. The bailout became inevitable when central banks in Asia and Russia began to curtail their purchases of the companies’ debt, pushing up mortgage rates and deepening the economic downturn.

¶ The bailout is new evidence of the need for better regulation of the American financial system. As the housing bubble inflated, the Bush administration often claimed that America’s unfettered markets were the envy of the world. But, in fact, they have sowed mistrust.

¶ The cost of the bailout needs to be carefully monitored. Fannie and Freddie own or back nearly $800 billion of generally junky mortgages, and some of those will inevitably go bad. So it is reasonable to assume that the cost could easily near $100 billion. There may be ways to make back some of that money later, but for a long time, the bailout will divert resources from other needs.

Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have both voiced support for the bailout, which shows good judgment. But what the next president will need to worry about, and both candidates need to talk about, is the depth of the country’s economic problems. It will take discipline and sacrifice to address them.

Jensen Comment
The national debt is the reason for a weakening dollar, higher oil prices, inflation, and our diminishing stature in the world. George Bush was a spendthrift who plunged us deeper into debt by failing to veto spending bills of a run-away Congress. Barack Obama's unfundable populist programs will only bury us deeper in debt. John McCain is probably maverick enough to veto some spending cuts. Our real economic hope may lie in the ultimate veto pen of . . . gasp . . . Sarah Palin.

The New York Times had an earlier editorial that also makes economic sense:

Longer term, the challenge is perhaps even more daunting. Saving more is ultimately the only way to dig out of the budget hole that the nation is in. That will be painful, because higher government savings, done properly, means higher taxes and restrained spending. Candidates for president do not like to be pessimistic, or even candid, really, about the economy. But a leader who wants to steer the nation through tough times should not spend the campaign telling Americans they can have it all.
"There He Goes Again," The New York Times, July 12, 2008 ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/opinion/12sat1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Jensen Comment
But true to form, the NYT only criticizes John McCain's balanced budget goals in this context. No mention is made of the NYT's favorite candidate who certainly, albeit truthfully, is not promising anything within light years of a balanced budget. The question is which candidate, if elected, will heavily veto the outrageous spending bills that most certainly emerge from Congress over the next four or eight years. Sadly, George Bush, unlike Reagan, rarely inked a spending veto in his eight years. This country does not know what a life-threatening debt crisis is and will have a rude awakening after November when the U.S. dollar skids to all time lows never imagined. The real problem is that Congress is leaning to more of entitlement time bombs.

We Can't Tax Our Way Out of the Entitlement Crisis," by R. Glenn Hubbard, The Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2008; Page A13 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121927694295558513.html 

We can also secure a firm financial footing for Social Security (and Medicare) without choking off economic growth or curtailing our flexibility to pursue other spending priorities. Three actions are essential: (1) reduce entitlement spending growth through some form of means testing; (2) eliminate all nonessential spending in the rest of the budget; and (3) adopt policies that promote economic growth. This 180-degree difference from Mr. Obama's fiscal plan forms the basis of Sen. McCain's priorities for spending, taxes and health care.

The problem with Mr. Obama's fiscal plans is not that that they lack vision. On the contrary, the vision is plain enough: a larger welfare state paid for by higher taxes. The problem is not even that they imply change. The problem is that his plans are statist.

While the candidate is sending a fiscal "Ich bin ein Berliner" message to Americans, European critics of his call for greater spending on defense are the canary in the coal mine for what lies ahead with his vision for the United States.

Professor R. Glenn Hubbard is Dean of the College of Business at Columbia University and a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisors.

Bob Jensen's threads on the "Entitlement Crisis" are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/entitlements.htm

So I vote for an old age pension for John McCain and gallons of ink for Sarah Palin’s veto pen ink well. I'm pro choice, pro abortion, and all for embryonic stem cell research. But unbalanced budgets and entitlement spending on credit endangers the entire existence of the United States of America.

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

Anyone who thinks the path to "fiscal discipline" is through higher taxes ought to look at the current budget spectacles in New York and California. The two liberal states have among the highest tax burdens in the country, yet both now find themselves with huge budget deficits and are debating still higher taxes to close the gap . . . The "progressives" who dominate politics in these states target the rich on grounds that they have the ability to pay. They also have the ability to leave. From 1997-2006, New York State lost 409,000 people (not counting foreign immigrants). For every two people who move into the state, three flee . . . Except that sunny California is experiencing a similar exodus. Over the past decade 1.32 million more native-born Americans left the Golden State than moved in -- despite beaches, mountains and 70-degree weather. Mostly the people who have fled are the successful, the talented and the rich . . . If taxes don't matter, then maybe someone can explain the divergent economic paths of California and New York and America's two other most populous states, Florida and Texas. The latter two states have no personal income tax. Personal income has been growing about 50% faster in Florida and Texas than in California and New York. (See chart.) This year Texas became the No. 1 state for Fortune 500 corporate headquarters. About a dozen of those 58 corporations once called New York or California home, and taxes are one reason they departed.
"How Not to Balance a Budget September 13, 2008; Page A12," The Wall Street Journal, September 13, 2008, Page A12 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122126219384430423.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Banned Books --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_books
ACLU Texas Project (comprehensive list of banned books starting with Tom Sawyer)--- http://www.aclutx.org/projects/bannedbooks.php
Also see the ACLU list of 50 Banned Books --- http://www.aclu.org/freedomwire/books/booklist.htm
Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Banned

Index on Censorship --- http://www.indexoncensorship.org/ 

Think the history your kids are being taught in school is fair and balanced? Think again says Larry Schweikart, University of Dayton professor and author of "48 Liberal Lies About American History (That You Probably Learned In School)." Here are four examples from Schweikart's "worst offenders . . .
"Liberal Bias in U.S. History Textbooks," Fox News, September 11, 2008 --- http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,421084,00.html
Jensen Comment
When a book is banned, it’s the loss of a book. In some ways, what’s worse is to force textbook authors into politically correct straight jackets and make them distort history and control how everything is phrased. This becomes censorship of every book a student ever sees. It's a sorry state of affairs when the censorship comes from the extreme left or the extreme, often religious, right. Our students become not only bored, they remain ignorant. We become more like Hamas and Nazi Germany in an exercise of thought control.

A history textbook laden with errors was selected by a politically correctness censoring board that among other things did not object to the "fact" that the U.S. ended the Korean War by dropping an atomic bomb. . It was, however, in conformance with Jeremiah Wright’s “God damn America” rants.
"Dumbing Down, Political Correctness Distort U.S. History Critics Say," The Washington Times, April 5, 2004 --- http://www.waldengrove.org/wgarticles.html

Social studies textbooks used in elementary and secondary schools are mostly a disgrace that, in the name of political correctness and multiculturalism, fail to give students an honest account of American history, say academic historians and education advocates.

"Secondary and college students, and indeed most of the rest of us, have only a feeble grasp of politics and a vague awareness of history, especially the political history of the United States and the world," says Paul Gagnon, emeritus professor of history at the University of Massachusetts.

Most textbooks, produced by a handful of giant commercial publishers, are exposing generations of children to cultural and history amnesia that threatens the very basis of American free institutions and liberties, warn leading historians who are calling for better defined, more rigorous state teaching standards.

Just 11 percent of eighth graders show proficient knowledge of U.S. history on standardized tests—down from 17 percent in 2001, Mr. Gagnon noted in a recent study for the American Federation of Teachers.

"Less than half knew the Supreme Court could decide a law's constitutionality," he said in the Albert Shanker Institute study titled "Educating Democracy: State Standards to Ensure a Civic Core." "Only a third knew what the Progressive Era was and most were not sure whom we fought in World War II."

Publishers acknowledge having buckled since the early 1980s to so-called multicultural "bias guidelines" demanded by interest groups and elected state boards of education that require censorship of textbook content to accommodate feminist, homosexual and racial demands.

The California State Board of Education was the first to adopt such guidelines in 1982, according to New York University education research professor Diane Ravitch in her latest book, "The Language Police." The California guidelines instruct textbook publishers and teachers: "Do not cast adverse reflection on any gender, race, ethnicity, religion or cultural group." The board had informal "social content standards" going back to the 1970s.

Publishers followed with their own editorial anti bias guidelines, which banned words, phrases, images, and depictions of people deemed unacceptable — such as "man," "mankind," "manpower," "men " said to be sexist. Also banned are ' able bodied," "aged," "babe "'backward," "chick," "fairy,' "geezer:' "idiot" "imbecile ' "Redskin,' "sissy,' "suffragette" and "waitress."

A handful of commercial publishers produce most elementary and secondary school textbooks used in the United States, which cost the nation's taxpayers about $250 million per subject.

They are Glencoe, a subsidiary of McGraw Holt, Rinehart & Winston, owned by Harcourt, Inc., U.S. division of the Dutch publishing conglomerate Reed Elsevier Group; McDougal Littell, owned by Houghton Mifflin, and Prentice Hall, a subsidiary of British owned Pearson Education Inc., which also owns Scott Foresman, Addison Wesley, Silver Burdett, Ginn, and other school textbook imprints.

All companies have developed their own internal checklists that dictate writing, graphics, photos and other textbook content.

A team of 16 academic reviewers in Texas, the second largest state market for textbooks behind California, last year found 533 factual and interpretive errors in 28 social studies texts submitted for adoption by the state board of education.

The books were for sixth grade world culture, seventh grade Texas state history, eighth grade and high school American history, U.S. government and economics, and high school world history. "For 351 of the 533 errors identified, publishers agreed to either revise statements to correct factual inaccuracies or to add clarifying statements to rectify ambiguity," said Chris Patterson, research director for the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin, which commissioned the review.

For 35 percent of noted errors, “publishers denied that the information was incorrect and stated that the reviewers misunderstood the textbook," Mrs. Patterson said. "However, in these cases, publishers did not modify the text to ensure students would not fall victim to the same misunderstanding suffered by scholars and teachers who reviewed the texts."

She said many textbook errors cited by the foundation involved "clear bias"—opinions presented as fact, content "not sufficiently objective" or distortion through lack of substantive facts.

Sixth grade texts on world cultures were strongly criticized by reviewer Robert Gorman, teaching professor of humanities and political science at Southwest Texas State University at San Marcos.

He said McDougal Littell's "World Cultures and Geography" was marred by "weak treatment of American history," while "World Explorer: People, Places and Culture" by Prentice Hall "handled American history better but dropped the ball on the European history." Harcourt's "Harcourt Horizons" and Holt's "Holt People, Places and Change: An Introduction to World Studies" "largely bungle the history throughout, not only by giving it minimal attention, but also compounding neglect with many errors of fact and interpretation,” Mr. Gorman said.

"Almost all of the books have deficient treatments of religion in general or of particular religious traditions, with the Christian tradition being almost uniformly the least well developed in all of the books.

"There is in all the texts a general tendency to see religion as just one trait among many cultural traits, rather than as a primary foundation of culture," Mr. Gorman said. "In my own study of history and in my own personal experience, I have encountered many who are willing to give up their lives to keep or defend their religious faith, but rarely anyone who is willing to die for the right to eat pizza or dance the rumba."

Stephen D. Driesler, executive director of the Association of American Publishers' school division, told The Washington Times that textbook publishers "find themselves damned if they do or damned if they don't follow the guidelines set forth" by state and local school boards and national organizations insisting on censorship of particular terminology or ideas in school materials.

“California is our largest state, and as such, it is also the single largest purchaser of textbooks. The economic reality for an educational publisher is, if they want to sell textbooks in California, they have to follow these guidelines," he said.

Mrs. Ravitch, author of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute's recent "Consumer's Guide to High School History Textbooks," blames statewide textbook adoption laws for committee written books that students find boring and barely tolerable. "There's an incredible sameness about them. They're following the same script," she told reporters in a briefing on the study of a dozen American and world history texts issued Feh. 26.

In a 1,000 page textbook weighing almost eight pounds, "There's so much included," Mrs. Ravitch said. "They're incoherent because of the pressure to include everything. They're colorful but they have irrelevant graphics."

At a time when the Harry Potter series grabbed children's imagination and loyalty because the books "are exciting and well written, resonate with suspense, mystery, intrigue and showdowns between the forces of good and evil," school history textbooks had "achieved the heights of banality," thanks to political correctness, she wrote in an essay last fall for the Hoover Digest.

"They aim not to engage students' imagination, but to bolster their self esteem. Harry Potter has triumphed because his author understands the power of story. If the story is good enough, children will take a flashlight to bed so they can keep reading after the lights are out. Unlike textbook publishers, who must screen everything before they print to avoid giving offense."

Historian David McCullough who won two Pulitzer Prizes for his biographies of Presidents John Adams and Harry Thuman, also calls school history and social studies textbooks "deadly dull."

"It is as if they were designed to kill anyone's interest in history," he said in an interview. "A child made to read these books would ask, 'What did I do wrong today that I am being so punished?' "

Further evidence of "something that's eating away at the national memory" Mr. McCullough says, is a survey last year of seniors at 50 top colleges and universities by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. "It's astonishing. More than half didn’t know George Washington was the commanding general of the Continental Army during the American Revolution who accepted Brig. Gen. Charles Cornwallis' s render at Yorktown.

"Thirty six percent thought it was Ulysses S. Grant," commander of the Union Army during the Civil War. "Six percent said it was Douglas MacArthur, U.S. commander during the Korean War.

"Thirty two percent said Washington. It was a multiple choice question. They were winging it. "If you don't know what Yorktown was all about, and that Washington was the commander, you don't know a lot about Americ history that you ought to know," McCullough said.

Wilfred M. McClay, humanities professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said that when graduates of Harvard and other great universities "are not learning the basics of American history, it is safe to assume that almost no one is, and that there will be almost no one to pass such knowledge on to the next generation.

"Historical memory is as much a necessity to the preservation of liberty and American security as our own armed forces," he said.

Mrs. Ravitch said states should get rid of statewide textbook adoption laws and let teachers have freedom to select their own history books and original source material to teach history.

"This power is too easily compromised by pressure groups and by bureaucratic demands," she concluded in the Fordham study. "The states should set their academic standards, align their tests to these standards, and leave teachers free to select the books, anthologies, histories, biographies, software and other materials that will help students meet the standards."

Mel Gabler of Longview, Texas, a textbook reviewer for 40 years, said he "absolutely disagrees completely" that local textbook selection is better than statewide selection because publishers, teachers unions and other organized interests would block out parental interests.

"They'll offer the best of two that create less controversy at the state level," said Mr. Gabler, who with wife, Norma, founded Education Research Analysts in 1961 to revise textbooks from a Christian conservative perspective.

"Publishers are advantaged by local adoption because they have more personnel" to overwhelm possible criticism. At the state level where organized parents and pro-family groups marshaled objections against textbook content, ''that’s kicked out many a book," Mr. Gabler said. Better yet, Mr. McCullough said, teachers should abandon textbooks altogether and use other books and resources instead to teach history and geography.

Textbooks written to be "poitcally correct" do not tell the truth about struggle and conflict throughout the ages in order to avoid offending minorities, ethnic groups, woman and otlier advocates, he said.

"History is a story, cause and effect. And if you're going to teach just segments of history, women issues, these youngsters have almost no sense of cause and effect,” he said.

Mr. McCullough said, "I would away with the textbooks. Get rid of the state commissions that write the textbooks” because they fail to instill in students a sense of gratitude for the country's leaders over the centuries and what the American people endured and accomplished in order to pass on a legacy of freedom and prosperity.

"I think that to be ignorant or indifferent to history isn't just to be uneducated or stupid. It's to be rude, ungrateful. And ingratitude is an ugly failing in human beings."

In the post-September 11 world, the most important task of elementary and secondary social studies teachers is to make sure that students know and appreciate the foundations of individual liberty and national security in a free society, said Gloria Sesso, a K-12 social studies administrator in New York's Patchogue-Medford school district, and John Pyne, social studies supervisor in New Jersey's West Milford school district.

"It is vital that today's students are in touch with and able to affirm the values that define us as a nation—the values that the September 11 terrorists and their controllers scorned and attacked and the values from which tyrants shield their people," the educators write in a Fordham Foundation report.

In this context, many educators and school administrators are coming to believe that huge survey textbooks that cover centuries of history and world culture may be outmoded and too expensive in an era of state learning standards designed to increase student academic achievement and knowledge.

With a plethora of books, films, original and supplementary materials available from libraries and on the Internet, textbooks now often are used as a supplement with other materials, said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools in Washington.

"It's almost like drinking from a fire hydrant," Mr. Casserly said of the wealth of materials available to teachers and students in addition to social studies textbooks. "The challenge is getting schools aware of all of the resources, and making sure that all resources link together in a coherent way."

E.D. Hirsch Jr., English professor emeritus at the University of Virginia and author of the widely acclaimed "Core Knowledge Series” said in the study that students must be taught "moral progress in history" and firmly understand that "America's religiously motivated enemies do not accept a founding premise of the First Amendment —that every culture or religion is deserving of respect."

Mr. Hirsch said: "Our very tolerant way of regarding other people's traditions and beliefs contrasts sharply with the intolerant way our adversaries view American traditions and beliefs. This contrast can create a problem for us and our children if our traditions of tolerance are allowed to lapse into facile relativism, under the bland illusion that everybody now operates under the benign post-Jefferson notion of tolerance, which is our inheritance from the European Enlightenment.

"It's therefore important to teach our children the big, crucial restriction that the Enlightenment and our founders placed on the idea of religious and cultural toleration. Every culture or religion, they said, deserves to be left in peace and freedom so long as it leaves every other culture or religion in peace and freedom."

In one century we went from teaching Latin and Greek in high school to offering remedial English in college.
Joseph Sobran as quoted by Mark Shapiro at http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-11-27-07.htm

Most Students in Remedial Classes in College Had Solid Grades in High School
Nearly four out of five students who undergo remediation in college graduated from high school with grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher, according to a report issued today by Strong American Schools, a group that advocates making public-school education more rigorous.
Peter Schmidt, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 15, 2008 ---
http://chronicle.com/news/article/5145/most-students-in-remedial-classes-in-college-had-solid-grades-in-high-school-survey-finds

Are we really tough on them after they get to college?
The investigation revealed that 91 percent of Harvard's students graduated cum laude.
 Thomas Bartlett and Paula Wasley, "Just Say 'A': Grade Inflation Undergoes Reality Check:  The notion of a decline in standards draws crusaders and skeptics," Chronicle of Higher Education, September 5, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i02/02a00104.htm?utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en
Bob Jensen's threads on grade inflation are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#GradeInflation

This is a comment from Kevin Bacon on September 7, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/views/blogs/university_diaries/palin_fire

Education

I may get banned for this, but I have to say, what hubris!

When you’ve been, at some point in your life, seriously inside higher ed (to coin a phrase), you’re forever unsettled by the possibility you’ve glimpsed of existence pitched very high, dedicated daily to as much lucidity about the world within and without as humanly possible.

Why is it, then, that about the only place where the Marxist philosophy still thrives is academia? Lucidity about the world within and without? Sorry, no.

Let’s look at the first myth from the WaPo piece:

(B)y every measure social scientists have devised, voters are spectacularly uninformed. They don’t follow politics, and they don’t know how their government works. According to an August 2006 Zogby poll, only two in five Americans know that we have three branches of government and can name them. A 2006 National Geographic poll showed that six in ten young people (aged 18 to 24) could not find Iraq on the map. The political scientists Michael Delli Carpini and Scott Keeter, surveying a wide variety of polls measuring knowledge of history, report that fewer than half of all Americans know who Karl Marx was or which war the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought in. Worse, they found that just 49 percent of Americans know that the only country ever to use a nuclear weapon in a war is their own.

What does that say to you? Americans are ignorant, no? But why?

Because the present population is the product of the last 100 years of the American education system — a system designed by people supposedly “serously inside higher ed” and run by people taught by them. And the result? At the turn of the 20th Century our high schools taught Greek and philosophy. At the turn of the 21st Century our Universities teach remedial English and mathematics.

The failure isn’t the American people who haven’t learned, it’s the products of higher education who have systematically failed to teach them.

The question I have is “WHY?”. As someone whose opinion I respect once wrote, “it is difficult to conclude that incompetence is the reason why our public schools have deteriorated. There comes a point where you have to suspect sabotage, or a conspiracy.”

Someone else I read put it very well:

One of the problems is with our elites. We are wrong to think that the difficulty lies in the uneducated and unsophisticated masses—as if inadequate education, in and of itself, is the problem. As a matter of fact, no one is more prone to illusions than the intellectual. It has been said that philosophy is simply personal error on a grandiose scale. Complicating matters is the fact that intellectuals are hardly immune to a deep emotional investment in their ideas, no less than the religious individual. The word “belief” is etymologically linked to the word “beloved,” and it is easy to see how certain ideas, no matter how dysfunctional—for example, some of the undeniably appealing ideas underpinning contemporary liberalism—are beloved by those who believe them. Thus, many liberal ideas are believed not because they are true, but because they are beautiful. Then, the intellectual simply marshals their intelligence in service of legitimizing the beliefs that they already hold. It has long been understood by psychoanalysts that for most people, reason is the slave of the passions.

Thus far too many in academia are not “dedicated daily to as much lucidity about the world within and without as humanly possible,” they are dedicated daily to defending their beloved ideas — regardless of their lucidity (or lack thereof.) The education system of our nation illustrates this quite lucidly.

"Federal Panel Seeks Cause of Minority Students' Poor Science Performance," by Peter Schmidt, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 15, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/daily/2008/09/4594n.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which previously had called for research on whether affirmative-action preferences set minority law students up for failure, turned its attention on Friday to the question of whether disproportionate numbers of minority students leave science, technology, mathematics, and engineering because they are admitted to colleges where they cannot keep up.

Most of the experts who testified before the commission subscribed to the "mismatch" theory, which holds that minority students are harmed by being placed in academic settings that are too rigorous for them, and stand a better chance of staying on track academically if they enroll in less-demanding institutions where they will not be in over their heads.

Believers in the mismatch theory so dominated Friday's briefing that Michael J. Yaki, one of two Democrats on the eight-member commission, argued that the expert list lacked balance. "There are many people who are not part of this panel who would not agree that mismatch does occur," Mr. Yaki said.

"Ultimately," he said, "what we are talking about here is the potentiality of human beings." How well people will end up doing in a given field cannot be accurately measured just by the grades and test scores on their college applications, he argued.

Support for 'Mismatch' Theory

One of those who testified, Thomas E. Fortmann, a volunteer high-school math teacher and former technology-company executive who sits on the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, argued that "affirmative action comes into play pretty late in the game and it doesn't address the underlying mathematical deficiencies" of many minority students. Because mathematics is very much a "cumulative" field in which students need to learn one subject, such as algebra, before they can master another, such as calculus, he said, "it seems self-evident" that minority students admitted to colleges through affirmative action will have trouble succeeding in the absence of vigorous, sustained efforts to bring them up to speed with their classmates.

The panel also heard from Rogers Elliott, an emeritus professor of psychological and brain sciences at Dartmouth College. He is a co-author of a 1996 report on a study concluding that affirmative-action preferences cause highly selective institutions to admit many black students who will end up dropping out of science programs. Since that study's publication 12 years ago in Research in Higher Education, "the gaps that are illustrated in this data have not gotten any better and in fact are getting a little worse," he told the commission.

Richard H. Sander, a law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, presented an analysis of data recently obtained from the University of California system showing how students from different racial and ethnic groups fared before that state voted in 1996 to bar public colleges from using affirmative-action preferences. He said his data showed that academic mismatch accounted for 25 to 30 percent of the gap between racial and ethnic groups in the attainment of degrees in the sciences, and that most of the rest of the gap was attributable to a basic lack of academic preparation on the part of many black and Hispanic students, no matter where they enroll. He said he had found no evidence suggesting that such students are less interested in science or are being held back by racism.

Mr. Sander tempered his remarks, however, by saying mismatch seemed to be a problem mainly for students admitted through substantial affirmative-action preferences and did not seem to stand in the way of those for whom the bar had been lowered only slightly.

Echoing an assertion that Mr. Sander has made based on his previous research on law schools, Mr. Elliott said many black and Hispanic students would have a better chance of graduating in science- and math-related fields if they enrolled in less demanding institutions that were a better fit for them. But, he said, such a downward "cascading" of minority students would have the drawback of leaving some at less wealthy institutions, where they would not have access to as much financial aid and academic support.

Effect of Early Inequality

Much of Friday's briefing was spent discussing inequities in elementary and secondary education that cause disproportionate numbers of black and Hispanic students to graduate from high schools inadequately prepared for rigorous college work in math.

Mr. Fortmann placed much of the blame for such gaps on the lack of mathematical knowledge among many elementary and middle-school teachers. "Until we solve that, improvements and innovations at the high-school and college levels really can't have much effect," he said.

Continued in article

Are we really tough on them after they get to college?
The investigation revealed that 91 percent of Harvard's students graduated cum laude.
 Thomas Bartlett and Paula Wasley, "Just Say 'A': Grade Inflation Undergoes Reality Check:  The notion of a decline in standards draws crusaders and skeptics," Chronicle of Higher Education, September 5, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i02/02a00104.htm?utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en
Bob Jensen's threads on grade inflation are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#GradeInflation

Accounting firms once again dominate BusinessWeek’s third annual ranking of the “Best Places to Launch a Career”: Ernst & Young jumps two spots to No. 1, followed by Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers. KPMG, moved up six spots to No. 5.

"The Best Places to Launch a Career," Business Week, September 4, 2008 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_37/b4099036445894.htm?chan=magazine+channel_special+report

BusinessWeek’s 50 Best Places to Launch a Career

2008 Rank	2007 Rank	Company	Industry
1	3	Ernst & Young	Accounting
2	1	Deloitte	Accounting
3	2	PricewaterhouseCoopers	Accounting
4	13	Goldman Sachs	Investing Banking
5	11	KPMG	Accounting
6	45	Marriott International	Hospitality
7	5	Google	Internet
8	9	Lockheed Martin	Manufacturing
9	4	IBM	Technology
10	17	J.P. Morgan	Investment Banking
11	10	Teach for America	Nonprofit/Government
12	19	U.S. State Dept.	Nonprofit/Government
13	6	Microsoft	Technology
14	--	Target	Retailing
15	15	Abbott Labs	Pharmaceuticals
16	--	NASA	Nonprofit/Government
17	--	Boston Consulting	Consulting
18	12	General Electric	Manufacturing
19	--	Anheuser-Busch	Consumer Goods
20	90	Norfolk Southern	Transportation
21	16	Merrill Lynch	Investment Banking
22	38	Verizon Communications	Telecommunications
23	27	Northrop Grumman	Manufacturing
24	20	General Mills	Consumer Goods
25	14	Boeing	Manufacturing
26	26	Enterprise Rent-a-Car	Transportation
27	7	Walt Disney	Media/Entertainment
28	47	New York Life	Insurance
29	31	Lehman Brothers	Investment Banking
30	28	Raytheon	Manufacturing
31	77	Cisco Systems	Technology
32	43	Philip Morris USA	Consumer Goods
33	--	Amazon.com	Internet
34	84	Northwestern Mutual	Insurance
35	65	Deutsche Bank	Investment Banking
36	40	Intel	Technology
37	50	CIA	Nonprofit/Government
38	59	AT&T	Telecommunications
39	68	Union Pacific	Transportation
40	--	Siemens	Technology
41	51	Liberty Mutual	Insurance
42	51	Wachovia	Financial Services
43	37	Travelers	Insurance
44	--	Citigroup	Financial Services
45	62	Nestlé USA	Consumer Goods
46	--	Whirlpool	Consumer Goods
47	8	Accenture	Consulting
48	56	Aetna	Insurance
49	89	Kraft Foods	Consumer Goods
50	95	MetLife	Insurance

 

Bob Jensen's threads on careers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#careers

"MBA Moms Most Likely to Opt Out: A new study finds MBA moms more likely than doctors or lawyers to stay home full-time," by Alison Damast, Business Week, August 25, 2008 --- http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/aug2008/bs20080821_739321.htm 

Shortly after graduating from Harvard University in 1988, Lydia Icke dived into a high-powered career as an investment banker at Citibank (C). An ambitious undergraduate, she snapped up one of the hardest jobs she could find, she said.

"And I was right, it was the hardest job I could find," said Icke, who later went on to Harvard Business School to get her MBA. "I worked all night and on the weekends and had all the tombstones [ads that appear in financial publications following a deal] to prove it."

Twenty years and four kids later, Icke is far removed from the pressure and deadline-driven world that she thrived on in back in her early 20s and 30s. A stay-at-home mom in Weston, Mass., her life now revolves around her four children, who range in age from six to 12. She has been home with her children for nearly a decade and doesn't regret the decision, she said. "I was having a really macho career, I was in the right place and now, I sort of feel like I have other fish to fry," she said.

Not an Unusual Story Icke's career trajectory is typical of many of her fellow female undergraduates at Harvard who subsequently got their MBAs, according to a new study from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. A surprising number of these women have dropped out of the labor force to become stay-at-home mothers, according to Berkeley professors Catherine Wolfram and Jane Leber Herr. Their study, titled "Opt-Out Patterns Across Careers: Labor Force Participation Rates Among Educated Mothers," followed the career paths of nearly 1,000 women who graduated from Harvard between 1988 and 1991, using a rich set of biographical data culled from 10th and 15th anniversary reunion surveys.

By the time they are 15 years out of college, 28% of the Harvard women who went on to get their MBAs were stay-at-home moms, compared to only 6% of women who got medical degrees, the authors found. The study also looked at the career paths of Harvard women who became lawyers and found 21% chose to stay home with their children. Some of the women in the study managed to to strike a balance between family life and work. For example, the highest percentage of women in the study to work part-time were doctors, while women in business, especially those in finance and banking, were the least likely to have done so, the study showed.

The study highlights the challenges women with MBAs face as they try to balance family life and fast-paced careers in the business world. Female enrollment at 25 of the top U.S. full-time MBA programs hovers around 31%, according to a 2007 study by the Forte Foundation, a consortium of schools working to increase the number of women pursuing MBAs.

Long Hours and Mandatory Face Time

Keeping women with MBAs in the work force remains yet another pressing problem, complicated by the fact that many women graduate from business school right around the time they want to start a family. This becomes an even trickier proposition for women MBAs who work in fields like banking and consulting, which require long hours and mandatory face time, said Elissa Sangster, executive director of the Forte Foundation.

"There are plenty of women out there who have made it work, but they all have their own individual stories, whether it's a nanny, a stay-at-home dad, or working it out with an individual manager who happens to have gone through the same thing," Sangster said. "It's all very one-off. The infrastructure is not there in the business world, and that's what has yet to rise up in these industries."

Continued in article

The UC Berkeley study is reported at http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/rankings/full_time_mba_profiles/haas.html

Women With MBAs --- http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/may2007/bs20070510_162993.htm

Jensen Comment

Unlike MBA graduation statistics, over half the graduates in accountancy are women. This might complicate a similar drop out study for younger women accountants on the job.

I don't know that a similar drop out study has been done with respect to female accountants versus male accountants. I would expect total drop out (not necessarily turnover) is a bit less of a problem with accounting mothers and fathers who want to be at home more for their children. The reason today is that many accounting jobs in recent years can be heavily performed at home online with the terrific accounting software and changing accounting employment opportunities available. CPA firms have especially designed creative alternatives for working mothers. Turnover is somewhat high with auditors after about five years on the job, but this turnover is historic for men and women. It was, and still is, very common for auditors to leave public accounting (where hours are often long and travel can be tiresome). Many experienced accountants opt out for 40-hour weekly jobs in the corporate and government arena. Often young auditors accept offers from their former auditing and tax clients.

Most students who enter accounting doctoral programs do so after 1-5 years on the job, but the numbers here are so small that these probably would not impact on any survey of working accountants --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms

Updates:  Deloitte's Initiative for advancement and retention of female professionals
From Smart Stops on the Web, Journal of Accountancy, July 2008

HER SIDE OF THE STORY http://tinyurl.com/5dmwu2 Deloitte’s Women’s Initiative (WIN) Blog, part of the firm’s program for advancement and retention for female employees, is an “ongoing community conversation about life, work, and everything in between.” Recent posts are listed down the right side of the home page, and cover topics such as work/life balance, the generation gap, mentors, office politics and life lessons. An active group of readers—who include both men and women—give feedback, commiserate or just share their related experiences in the comments below each blurb. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed to keep up with the latest posts.

Women Partners in the Big 4 Accounting Firms
For the tenth consecutive year, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP tops the Big Four accounting firms in percentage of women partners, principals and directors, according to Public Accounting Report's 2006 Survey of Women in Public Accounting. The survey revealed that Deloitte's percentage of women partners, principals and directors is currently 19.3 percent, surpassing that of KPMG (16.8 percent), Pricewaterhouse Coopers (15.8 percent) and Ernst & Young (13.5 percent). Deloitte has held this lead every year since the inception of the survey in 1997, according to Jonathan Hamilton, editor, Public Accounting Report.
SmartPros, December 26, 2006 --- http://accounting.smartpros.com/x55948.xml

Women now make up more than 60 percent of all accountants and auditors in the United States, according to the Clarion-Ledger. That is an estimated 843,000 women in the accounting and auditing work force.
AccountingWeb, "Number of Female Accountants Increasing," June 2, 2006 ---
http://www.accountingweb.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=102218

Jensen Comment
Nearly 20 years ago, Deloitte embarked on a "Women's Initiative" to help female employees break the glass ceiling --- http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/section_node/0,1042,sid=2261,00.htm

September 6, 2008 reply from AECM@LISTSERV.LOYOLA.EDU

What I find most interesting about this study, it the low rate of women holding medical degrees who have dropped out, relative to the rate of MBAs and lawyers? I wonder why that it? I took off time after becoming a mom, worked part time, and earned my MBA. I then returned to work when my youngest, twins were three. However I went into academia rather than back to the Business world one of the reasons being greater flexibility. I still had to hire help to look after the chidren but was always able to be there with them because of an academic schedule.

Amy Haas, CPA Professor
Dept of Business
Kingsborough Community College
Brooklyn, NY

September 6, 2008 reply from Bob Jensen

Hi Ami,

I think the “problem” with women physicians is a bit different. They don’t exactly drop out, but studies show there is a problem with the relative amount they work per week.

“Are There Too Many Women Doctors? As an MD shortage looms, female physicians and their flexible hours are taking some of the blame” Business Week, April 17, 2008 --- http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_17/b4081104183847.htm?link_position=link10 

Having said this I might note that I might note that our primary physician is a woman who works night and day. I worry about her a lot. She’s one of these truly dedicated professionals who sacrifices virtually everything (no marriage, no children) to serving our mountain community and small hospital. What on earth would we do without her?

However, the "problem" may be that we expect too much from physicians 24/7! Perhaps this is one of the reasons physicians have the highest rate of drug abuse among the major professions. They’re the ones who are supposed to know best about the dangers of narcotics and other abusive drugs.

Everybody thinks physicians in the U.S. earn too much money. But in many instances they are over their heads in debt from medical school and ex-spouses.

Bob Jensen

September 6, 2008 reply from Patricia Doherty [pdoherty@BU.EDU]

" ... there is a problem with the relative amount they work per week ..."

I don't see it as a "problem." There is a demand for primary care physicians. We need all we can get, as many hours as they'll give. The "problem" as you note and I expand on, may be two: 1. We expect 24/7 access. Just where is that "right" written down? Is that the 11th commandment - "If thou art a physician, thou shalt not eat, sleep, or care for thy family?" Come on, usually there is an emergency call person, or they send you to the ER if it is a REAL emergency. If you are sniffling, take two aspirin and call during regular hours. 2. Too many newly minted MD's are now "specialists" instead of PCP's. That's because of (1) the bigger bucks, and (2) the hassles a PCP in private practice faces with managed care. The system, once again. Watch Michael Moore's "Sicko" and see that it doesn't have to be that way.

Oh, dear, I think I'm ranting again. I really wanted to go to medical school when I was entering college, but my father (who knew everything) said it was too expensive.

September 6, 2008 reply from Barbara W. Scofield, University of Dallas [scofield@GSM.UDALLAS.EDU]

I had a nine month old child when I started an accounting doctoral program and she was in pre-K when I was a new assistant professor (ABD for one semester). I joined a faculty with two tenured women accounting professors both of whom were older than I was and had children YOUNGER than mine. I wonder how common it is for women faculty to postpone their families until they have the greater flexibility in their careers after tenure?

Barbara W. Scofield
University of Dallas
scofield@gsm.udallas.edu

September 7, 2008 reply from Bob Jensen

Hi Barbara,

It's ironic that the closest thing the academy has to a national labor union is the AAUP when it's the AAUP seven year up-or-out rule that creates enormous pressures on women and men to delay having children before tenure is attained. And if tenure is denied somewhere in that seven year period at one university, more years may be added on before attaining tenure at another university. It is not difficult to find women who, because of tenure rules for themselves or their husbands, waited until late in there fertility lives to have their first child.

There have been initiatives in virtually all colleges and universities to extend the tenure clock for pregnant assistant professors. Then the counter arguments begin. Why shouldn't the expectant father also have the tenure clock extended? Because expectant parents can still do research and writing at home, why should they receive tenure clock extensions not made available to others, including assistant professors who have older children still living at home? This is probably the main argument for not extending the tenure clock for expectant new parents. If you extend the tenure clock for some and not others questions of fairness are difficult to ignore since research, writing, and publication acceptance takes a lot of time and sweat.

The seven year rule of the AAUP was imposed purportedly because some colleges took advantage of assistant professors by delaying and delaying and delaying a tenure decision for upwards or ten to twenty years. It was cheaper not to have to provide promotion pay. And it was less risky since it's virtually impossible to fire a tenured professor on grounds other than moral turpitude. In those early days of severe abuse, there were fewer women professors to worry about. The academy was almost a men's club back then.

The AAUP in recent years has not ignored the problem of pregnancy and tenure. Well over a hundred AAUP policy documents on this issue are available at the AAUP Website --- http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/policydocs/
A sampling is shown below:

Publications & Research 18 pages

AAUP: New AAUP Guidebooks Available
AAUP at Work: New AAUP Guidebooks Available
AAUP: Hidden Disability and an Academic Career Hidden Disability
AAUP Statement of Principles on Family Responsibilities and Academic Work 

Newsroom 63 pages

AAUP: Pregnancy in the Academy: Questions and Answers Pregnancy in the Academy: Questions and Answers
AAUP: 2006 AAUP Web Highlights Looking for a past
AAUP Web highlight and don't see it here? Try looking in our press releases.
AAUP: 2006 AAUP Web Highlights Looking for a past

Many colleges have extended tenure clocks for pregnancy without being censured by the AAUP. The hurdles mainly come from within a college, especially from assistant professors who have older children and are sometimes not given the same tenure clock extensions as parents of a newborn. And assistant professors without children are not exactly pleased that some colleagues can do research and writing at home on an extended tenure clock.

Equally controversial are leaves without pay granted to assistant professors. A typical situation arises where a man or woman assistant professor has a newborn and has a spouse who makes enough income to support the family. If that parent of the newborn gets a leave without pay, that parent conceivably gets a tenure clock advantage over other assistant professors. In theory the assistant professor on leave could wait until a strong resume of publications is accumulated before coming back to work. The poor schluck who only had seven years was denied tenure because of a deficient publication record.

In game theory, one can envision a "rent-a-baby" strategy entering into the picture. The baby might also be accompanied by a rented "significant other."

Bob Jensen

Bob Jensen's threads on careers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm

"Ten reasons why Google is still number one," by David A. Vise, MIT's Technology Review, September 12, 2008 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/guest/22128/?nlid=1334

Google History and Features --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google

Bob Jensen's search helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm

Jensen Opinion
Accounting educators should closely watch the changes taking place in both the Ed.D. and Ph.D. programs in colleges of education

All is Not Well in Programs for Doctoral Students in Departments/Colleges of Education
The education doctorate, attempting to serve dual purposes—to prepare researchers and to prepare practitioners—is not serving either purpose well. To address what they have termed this "crippling" problem, Carnegie and the Council of Academic Deans in Research Education Institutions (CADREI) have launched the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED), a three-year effort to reclaim the education doctorate and to transform it into the degree of choice for the next generation of school and college leaders. The project is coordinated by David Imig, professor of practice at the University of Maryland. "Today, the Ed.D. is perceived as 'Ph.D.-lite,'" said Carnegie President Lee S. Shulman. "More important than the public relations problem, however, is the real risk that schools of education are becoming impotent in carrying out their primary missions to prepare leading practitioners as well as leading scholars."
"Institutions Enlisted to Reclaim Education Doctorate," The Carnegie Foundation for Advancement in Teaching --- http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/news/sub.asp?key=51&subkey=2266

USC Enters the Picture
Not too long ago, officials at the University of Southern California’s education school approached Katzman about endowing a chair in educational entrepreneurship. Katzman laughed out loud, he admits, about the idea of a chair in “entrepreneurship” housed at an education school, given the reputation of teacher training academies as innovation backwaters. But Gallagher, who has sought to remake the Rossier school since becoming dean at USC in 2000, ultimately sold Katzman on her vision of an innovative education school, noting among other things that she had eliminated both its Ph.D. and Ed.D. programs, refashioned the Ed.D. and re-established a tiny Ph.D. program, and wiped out the college’s undergraduate teacher education program in favor of its master’s program. “We’re not afraid as a faculty to make decisions that are innovative, that we think can solve specific problems, even if no one else is doing them,” Gallagher says. One of those “problems,” she notes, is the “sense of urgency about coming up with innovative solutions to the shortage of teachers in high-need schools.”
Doug Lederman, "Online Learning, Upscale (and Scaled Up)," Inside Higher Ed, September 12, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/09/12/2tor
Jensen Comment
This article also deals with the controversy of for-profit higher education.

Corporations and Universities Sign Partnership Pacts --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OnlineDegreePrograms

Bob Jensen's threads on the current turmoil in various doctoral program areas (e.g., education, accounting, business, and nursing) are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms

For Me the IFRS Transition Just Does Not Pass the Smell Test
Saga of the Replacement of a Strong Set of FASB Accounting Standards With a Weaker Set IFRS International Standards in the United States

• By the 1990s, auditing services of CPA firms were becoming less and less profitable and professional. Auditing was viewed by clients as a necessary evil for which they were willing to accept the lowest bidder irrespective of audit quality. In fact for many companies like Enron, bad or "cooperative" auditing firms were sought after as preferred auditors. In order to cut costs of service, CPA firms either dropped auditing services or they replaced more and more substantive testing with inferior analytical reviews in auditing --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud001.htm#Professionalism
   
• Auditing firms were increasingly being sued for poor quality audit services --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud001.htm
  This made auditing services even more risky and less profitable.
   
• The auditing firms created expanding consulting services that bolstered profitability far more than auditing services. The AICPA promoted newer types of  assurance services such as WebTrust, SysTrust, Elder Care, etc. --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assurance_services
  
  The AICPA promotions of assurance services peaked out when strong advocate Bob Elliott was President and Vice Chair of the AICPA. Bob even appeared in a special edition of the PBS television program Nightly Business Report on May 31, 1999 just before Enron and Worldcom commenced to melt down --- http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/cpaltr/jacpa.htm
  He always stressed how auditing was becoming less and less profitable and that expanded consulting/assurance services were essential for the survival of CPA firms.
   
• Bob Elliott's best analogy in the 1990s was his comparison of the auditing industry with the railroad industry. He stress how the railroads failed to adapt to newer forms of technology and transportation services (e.g., the likes of mergers with airlines, FedEx, UPS, etc.). His message was that, to avoid being like a failed railroad industry, auditing firms had to change with technology and exploit the auditing firms' major asset --- a reputation for integrity.
   
• Sadly, the reputation for integrity of auditing firms took a huge hit at the dawn of the 21st Century. It was revealed how the auditing firm of Andersen was earning as much from consulting in Enron as it was from auditing. Andersen was in fact auditing systems that it helped install, including Enron's felonious SPEs. You can view one of the thousands of these fraudulent SPEs at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen//theory/00overview/speOverview.htm
  You can read about the Enron and Worldcom scandals at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudEnron.htm
   
• The entire can of worms in auditing services became more and more public in courts across the United States --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud001.htm
   
• The poor services of auditing firms became a focal point in the U.S. Congress when equity markets appeared of the verge of collapse due to fear and distrust of the financial reporting of corporations dependent upon equity markets for capital. The Roaring 1990s burned and crashed. In a desperation move Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarbanes-Oxley_Act
   
• SOX was a shot in the arm for the auditing industry. SOX forced the auditing industry to upgrade services with SOX legal backing that doubled or even tripled or quadrupled fees for such services. Clients continue to grumble about the soaring costs of audits, but in my opinion SOX was a small price to pay for saving our equity capital markets.
   
• In 2007 and 2008, the international auditing firms commenced to lobby intensively for worldwide adoption of the "IFRS" international accounting standards of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) --- http://www.iasb.org/Home.htm
  There are many reasons that sound great on paper --- http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/ifrsroadmap/ifrsround121707-transcript.pdf
   
• Unlike many other nations that either did not have national accounting standards or had weak and incomplete sets of standards, the FASB over the years produced the best set of accounting standards in the world (although there is no such thing a perfect set since companies are always writing contracts to circumvent most any standard). The FASB standards were heavily rule-based due to the continual battles fought by the FASB in the trenches of U.S. firms seeking to manage earnings and keep debt of the balance sheet with ever-increasing contract complexities such as interest rate swaps invented in the 1980s, SPE ploys, securitization "sales," synthetic leasing, etc.
                       

  • The experiences of those frazzled executives in charge of reducing risks in the credit derivatives market are starting to resemble Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. Alice shrank after drinking a potion, but was then too small to reach the key to open the door. The cake she ate did make her grow, but far too much. It was not until she found a mushroom that allowed her to both grow and shrink that she was able to adjust to the right size, and enter the beautiful garden. It took an awfully long time, with quite a number of unpleasant experiences, to get there.
    Aline van Duyn, "The adventure never ends in the derivatives Wonderland," Financial Times, September 11, 2008 --- Click Here
    
     
  • While Lehman Brothers was fighting for its life in the markets today, it was also battling in a Senate panel's hearing on whether the company and others created a set of financial products whose primary purpose is to dodge taxes owned on U.S. stock dividends. The "most compelling" reason for entering into dividend-related stock swaps are the tax savings, Highbridge Capital Management Treasury and Finance Director Richard Potapchuk told the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEH - news - people ), Morgan Stanley (nyse: MS - news - people ) and Deutsche Bank (nyse: DB - news - people ) are among the companies behind the products.
    Anitia Raghaven, The Tax Dodge Derivative, Forbes, September 11, 2008 --- Click Here
     

     

  • What's Right and What's Wrong With (SPEs), SPVs, and VIEs ---
                          http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen//theory/00overview/speOverview.htm

   

• Meanwhile the IASB at the dawn of the 21st Century began to add meat to its milk toast "politically correct" starter-set of international standards. In many instances it copied FASB standards but left out many of the bright line rules. Hence it generated a reputation for principles-based standards instead of rules-based standards --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#Principles-Based
   
• Many of the nations, especially in Europe, that adopted IFRS do not have strong equity capital markets given their historic traditions of raising corporate capital via banks instead of individual investors buying and selling shares of common stock. Protection of investors has not had the same priorities for these nations as it has in the U.S. where faith in equity capital market integrity is vital to our market-based capitalism --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm
   
• The IASB has a much smaller budget and research staff than the FASB. The IASB relies on part-time board members and spends a huge amount on airline and hotel bills for board members and staff of the IASB. Is it really prepared to take on the creative accounting crooks of the world?
   
• The bottom line is that IFRS is a weaker set of equity capital market accounting standards than the present FASB standards in the United States. And yet the large international auditing firms are pressuring the SEC and especially Chairman Cox to force an IFRS replacement of FASB standards. Chairman Cox is fervently trying to set the commitment for IFRS in stone before President Bush leaves office --- perhaps in fear that a stronger Democratic Party Executive Branch and Legislative Branch may not be so inclined to drop the strong FASB standards.
   
• This begs the question of why the large auditing firms are lobbying so hard for IFRS standards to replace FASB standards? There are legitimate reasons given the complexity of auditing international firms having operations subject to varying domestic and international accounting standards. And there may be less litigation risk when bright line rules are replaced by principles-based standards that give auditors and clients much more flexibility in accounting for transactions.
   
• But for me there are also smell test concerns here. Auditing firms love the soaring revenues from SOX, but they will love even more the soaring revenues from clients having to transition from FASB standards to IFRS international standards. Firstly, auditing firm clients will not understand IFRS such that auditing firms will make fortunes educating and training each of their clients about IFRS. Secondly, accounting systems, including enormous databases and software systems, will have to be overhauled. For example, all the firms in the U.S. who use LIFO inventory valuation will have to be changed to something else since IFRS does not allow LIFO. Walla --- the consulting service revenue surge becomes remindful of the Roaring 1990s.
   
• The added auditing firm revenue from the IFRS transition may be as much or more than the added revenue from SOX. Since there will be greatly increased needs for accounting graduates and accounting professors, I suppose I should be overjoyed by the transition of standard setting from the FASB to the IASB. But to me this whole IFRS transition in the U.S. and the race to lock it in place just does not pass the smell test.
   
• And lastly there is great concern in my mind that the IASB will in the future be slower than the FASB in reacting to financial reporting issues caused by uniquely creative accounting fraudsters in the United States. The SEC held a gun to the IASB by saying that the SEC would never recognize international standards until they developed a standard on accounting for derivatives and hedging activities. Until then the IASB really dragged its feet on this issue and waited until 2000 to issue a standard after FAS 119 and 133 pioneered the effort. The SEC also held a gun to the FASB’s head on derivatives accounting, and the FASB issued FAS 119 in 1994 six years before the IASB got its act together.
   
• Would you like the United Nations to rewrite the U.S. Uniform Commercial Code?

Read more about this at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#MethodsForSetting

"Taking liberties (and tax dollars)," by Prem Sekka, The Guardian, September 15, 2008 --- http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/15/creditcrunch.taxandspending

Financial institutions are teetering and are relying on the taxpayer to bail them out. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have effectively been nationalised at a possible cost of $200bn (£111.3bn) or more. A soft loan of $29bn persuaded JP Morgan to buy Bear Stearns. Lehman Brothers has filed for bankruptcy. Merrill Lynch has been swallowed by Bank of America. Commercial banks are borrowing around $19bn a day from the US Treasury's emergency lending programme to keep them afloat and new rescue funding is being created. Northern Rock has been bailed out by the UK taxpayer. The Bank of England has provided around £200bn of emergency funding to support financial institutions. The European Central Bank has lent banks some €467bn (£378bn) as it tries to deal with chaos manufactured in corporate boardrooms.

Banks are expecting taxpayers to save them from the consequences of poor financial decisions. Yet at the same time, behind a veil of secrecy, they have been eroding tax revenues by designing and marketing tax-avoidance schemes.

A recent investigation by the US Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations found that major financial institutions have "devised complex financial structures to enable their offshore clients to dodge US dividend taxes". The offshore dodges are estimated to cost the US Treasury around $100bn a year in lost tax revenues. The Senate subcommittee highlighted the use of stock swaps and stock lending transactions to avoid taxes on dividends paid by US companies. Its report focuses on transactions devised and carried out by Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup.

The data available to the subcommittee – page 8 of the report (pdf) – showed that from 2000-2007, Morgan Stanley's dividend transactions:

... enabled clients to escape payment of US dividend taxes totalling more than $300m. An internal Lehman Brothers presentation estimates that, in 2004 alone, its transactions enabled clients to dodge payment of dividend taxes of as much as $115m. UBS data on its stock loan transactions over a four-year period, from 2004 to 2007, indicate that its clients escaped payment of US dividend taxes totalling about $62m ... Maverick Capital Management, calculated that over an eight-year period, from 2000 to 2007, it had entered into 'US Dividend Enhancements' with a variety of firms that enabled it to escape paying US dividend taxes totalling nearly $95m ... Citigroup told the IRS that it had failed to withhold dividend taxes on a limited set of transactions from 2003 to 2005, and voluntarily paid those taxes which totalled $24m.

Needless to say, the financial institutions made significant profits from the above transactions. The subcommittee report (page 7) notes:

Morgan Stanley estimated that its 2004 revenues from its dividend-related transactions totalled $25m. Lehman calculated that its Cayman stock-lending operations produced a 2003 profit of $12m, and projected doubling those profits the next year to $25m. UBS estimated its 2005 profits at $5m and predicted double that amount in 2006. Deutsche Bank stated that, in 2007, its stock loans alone had produced profits of $4m.

In an earlier inquiry (pdf) into tax avoidance, the Senate subcommittee found (page 9) that banks played a key role in the schemes marketed by KPMG. It stated that "Major banks, such as Deutsche Bank, HVB, UBS, and NatWest, provided purported loans for tens of millions of dollars essential to the orchestrated transactions".

The above practices may well be replicated around the globe, facilitating enormous leakage of tax revenues. Banks routinely make claims about ethical behaviour and social responsibility. Yet their statements are not matched by their practices. In pursuit of private profits they facilitate tax avoidance and erode tax revenues. Ironically, these are the very revenues that, as we have seen, can be used to save them.

Chief executives of banks have collected fat-cat salaries, but none have offered any apology or explanation for their predatory practices, or shed light on their offshore dealings. Whatever the outcome of the current financial crisis, tougher regulation is needed to curb the tax-avoidance industry. The deposit-taking licence of banks peddling tax-avoidance schemes should be withdrawn. Their executives should be made personally liable for the losses inflicted on the taxpayers.

While Lehman Brothers was fighting for its life in the markets today, it was also battling in a Senate panel's hearing on whether the company and others created a set of financial products whose primary purpose is to dodge taxes owned on U.S. stock dividends. The "most compelling" reason for entering into dividend-related stock swaps are the tax savings, Highbridge Capital Management Treasury and Finance Director Richard Potapchuk told the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEH - news - people ), Morgan Stanley (nyse: MS - news - people ) and Deutsche Bank (nyse: DB - news - people ) are among the companies behind the products.
Anitia Raghaven, The Tax Dodge Derivative, Forbes, September 11, 2008 --- Click Here

This makes me wonder what would happen to tax revenues if principles replaced rules? Rules don’t prevent all tax cheating, but they sometimes help in convicting the guilty parties --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#Principles-Based

Bob Jensen's Rotten to the Core threads are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm

In accounting we talk a lot about "backflush accounting" in which we look backwards up the design and production line to determine what drives cost. Below is an example of "forward flush" accounting in which we should look forward to determine what future costs are the result of stupid past decisions.

An Absurd Lesson in Cost Accounting (wait for the lawsuits)
San Antonio College is one of the largest colleges in the U.S. --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Antonio_College

"New Form of Adjunct Abuse," by Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, September 11, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/09/11/adjunct

For many adjuncts, an extra course assignment can make all the difference in the world. More money, of course, but also the chance to do more teaching at a single institution. And for some, that extra course may result in a total teaching load that moves them up a pay scale or entitles them to health insurance or other benefits.

At San Antonio College, some of those extra courses are coming with an unusual stipulation. Adjuncts are being encouraged to take on extra courses, as the institution can’t afford to hire as many full timers as it would like. But San Antonio also has rules — providing benefits and higher base pay — to those who teach 12 credits or more. What to do? The college is asking some part timers to take on the extra courses that bring their total to 12 or beyond, but then to agree in writing to pretend that they aren’t teaching 12 credits.

Concerned faculty members provided Inside Higher Ed with copies of signed waivers and memos that are used in such situations. A department chair writes a dean a memo saying that a given adjunct will be teaching just over 12 credits this fall, but then adds that the adjunct is willing to sign a form so that he doesn’t get the benefits to which he would otherwise be entitled. Then the corresponding waiver, which is notarized, has the same adjunct certify that he is waiving 1 semester credit of pay, so that he will be paid for less than 12 credits, even though he has committed to teaching just over 12 credits. The faculty members who provided the documentation did so on the condition that the adjuncts who agreed to these terms not be identified.

Gwendolyn Bradley, who works on adjunct issues for the American Association of University Professors, said that the practice “seems to mark a new low in the exploitation of adjunct faculty.” She said that the AAUP was requesting copies of the relevant documents to see if it could help those involved. The ability of a college to get adjuncts to sign these waivers speaks to the part timers’ need for more courses and income under questionable circumstances, Bradley said, and to the adjuncts’ “lack of any job security.”

Deborah Martin, a spokeswoman for the college, confirmed that some adjuncts are given waivers to sign as a condition of receiving certain course loads — and that those waivers involve the adjuncts accepting pay for fewer credits than they are actually teaching. She said that this isn’t the first semester that this has taken place, and that it’s done “to prevent a class cancellation” when an adjunct qualified to teach a course already is teaching 9 credits and an additional 3 credits would put the adjunct at 12.

She said that this isn’t unfair to adjuncts because it only happens after a dean has “explained the situation.” (Apparently the dean never explained the situation to the Alamo Community College District, of which the college is a part. Officials there didn’t respond Wednesday to questions, but a district lawyer told The San Antonio Express-News that it didn’t know about the policy and would try to stop it and compensate those denied pay in this way.)

Asked if this policy represented an attempt to deny benefits to adjuncts who should be receiving them, she said that wasn’t the case. She said that to be eligible for benefits, an adjunct would have to work 90 days at 12 credits and that the full semester is only around 85 days. Asked if some adjuncts might be teaching consecutive semesters and so lose benefits under this scenario, she said “we’re not trying to keep them from getting benefits.”

Why would the college ask adjuncts to accept payment for a smaller credit load than they are teaching, and to certify this in a notarized form, if this has nothing to do with denying adjuncts compensation they may have earned? Martin said “that’s a good question.” She then said that Ruben Flores, a college dean who handles adjunct matters (and to whom the waiver forms authorizing pay for fewer credits than adjuncts are working are addressed), would explain the rationale for the system. Flores did not respond to messages.

Martin repeatedly said of the system being used: “It’s either that or cancel the class.”

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
There's a heap of moral hazard here. If taxpayers of San Antonio draw a line funding for SAC, one strategy might be to concoct a scheme like this to offer more courses than the budget will allow and knowing full well that the college will eventually end up in court. Then taxpayers will have cough up the money for court awards.  Some adjuncts may even sue for tenure. The big loser will be the taxpayers who will pay in the end. There's an outside chance that students will also lose if court awards have to be carved out of future budgets, thereby reducing the number of courses available in future years due to more money going to the lawyers who collect on the lawsuits. To me this sounds like either ignorant management or dumb-like-a-fox management. I think there are some foxes in the hen house.

Professors Who Teach for "Free"
September 11, 2008 reply from Glen Gray [glen.gray@CSUN.EDU]

What about working for "free"? In 1991, we had a deep recession in California, so the state offered a golden handshake that was just too good to say no to if you were near retirement (I think it was 5 years of additional service credit). The problem was too many faculty took the offer and department chairs suddenly had classes without faculty. Several faculty who retired, who didn't know what they were now going to do with their free time, offered to teach for free--since they were being paid by the state retirement system. Chairs started accepting those offers. The unions went nuts and quickly put a stop to those agreements.

I heard there was an interesting hole in this issue, namely, you could teach in the "other" system. In California we have 2 state college systems: CSU and UC. A retired UC professor did teach for free in the CSU system. All he asked for was free computer access and for the university to pay for his parking.

Glen L. Gray, PhD, CPA
Dept. of Accounting & Information Systems
College of Business & Economics
California State University, Northridge 18111 Nordhoff ST Northridge, CA 91330-8372
818.677.3948
http://www.csun.edu/~vcact00f 

Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm

"Professor Uses Web 'Widgets' to Share Course Content," by Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 11, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3307/professor-uses-web-widgets-to-share-course-content?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Mark C. Marino, a lecturer in the writing program at the University of Southern California, has turned his Web page for a writing course he’s teaching into a series of modular “widgets” that others can easily drop into their own Web pages.

Mr. Marino says that using Web widgets for online course materials furthers the goals of open courseware, efforts by professors and colleges to give away their lecture notes and other teaching materials online.

His course teaches a Classical Greek method of constructing or testing an argument known as literary topoi. So one of the widgets, shown below, gives definitions of the five types of topoi and links to videos on how to apply them.

For many of the widgets, Mr. Marino used a Web service called Pageflakes, and to use some of the pieces on your own Web page, you need to sign up for the free service. For professors who want to make their own widgets, that and other free services are available, including Netvibes and Clearspring.

The main benefit of widgets over traditional Web pages is “portability,” Mr. Marino said in an interview. “We’re kind of saying ‘steal my content — take any piece of this class easily and put it where you want it.’” Mr. Marino talks more about his experiment on the Writer Response Theory blog.

 

Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries

"Opening Search to Semantic Upstarts: Yahoo's new open-search platform is giving semantic search a helping hand," by Kate Greene, MIT's Technology Review, September 8, 2008 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/21342/?nlid=1322&a=f 

Even if you have a great idea for a new search engine, it's far from easy to get it off the ground. For one thing, the best engineering talent resides at big-name companies. Even more significantly, according to some estimates, it costs hundreds of millions of dollars to buy and maintain the servers needed to index the Web in its entirety.

However, Yahoo recently released a resource that may offer hope to search innovators and entrepreneurs. Called Build Your Own Search Service (BOSS), it allows programmers to make use of Yahoo's index of the Web--billions of pages that are continually updated--thereby removing perhaps the biggest barrier to search innovation. By opening its index to thousands of independent programmers and entrepreneurs, Yahoo hopes that BOSS will kick-start projects that it lacks the time, money, and resources to invent itself. Prabhakar Raghavan, head of Yahoo Research and a consulting professor at Stanford University, says this might include better ways of searching videos or images, tools that use social networks to rank search results, or a semantic search engine that tries to understand the contents of Web pages, rather than just a collection of keywords and links.

"We're trying to break down the barriers to innovation," says Raghavan, although he admits that BOSS is far from an altruistic venture. If a new search-engine tool built using Yahoo's index becomes popular and potentially profitable, Yahoo reserves the right to place ads next to its results.

So far, no BOSS-powered site has become that successful. But a number of startups are beginning to build their services on top of BOSS, and Semantic Web companies, in particular, are benefiting from the platform. These companies are developing software to process concepts and meanings in order to better organize information on the Web.

For instance, Hakia, a company based in New York, began building a semantic search engine in 2004. Its algorithms use a database of concepts--people, places, objects, and more--to "understand" concepts in documents. Hakia also creates maps linking together different documents, such as Web pages, based on these concepts in order to understand their relevance to one another. Riza Berkan, CEO of the company, says that focusing on the meaning of pages, instead of simply on the links between them, could serve up more relevant search results and help people find content that they didn't even know they were looking for.

Continued in article

September 8, 2008 reply from McCarthy, William [mccarthy@BUS.MSU.EDU]

Maybe if the semantic search market keeps advancing and expanding, people in accounting research will finally begin to realize that the SMAP (semantic modeling of accounting phenomena) community has actually been on to something interesting for these many years.

On the other hand, I realize that this will not happen. People in the mainstream accounting research community are too busy talking to (only) themselves to allow for meaningful technological trends to affect their research outlook.

Bill McCarthy
Michigan State

Bob Jensen's sadly neglected threads on the semantic Web are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/XBRLandOLAP.htm

Bob Jensen's search helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm

"Game Theory Versus Practice:  More companies are using game theory to aid decision-making. How well does it work in the real world?" by Alan Rappeport, CFO Magazine, July 15, 2008 --- http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/11700044?f=search

When Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Yahoo last February, the software giant knew the struggling search firm would not come easily into the fold. But Microsoft had anticipated the eventual minuet of offer and counteroffer five months before its announcement, thanks to the powers of game theory.

A mathematical method of analyzing game-playing strategies, game theory is catching on with corporate planners, enabling them to test their moves against the possible responses of their competitors. Its origins trace as far back as The Art of War, the unlikely management best-seller penned 2,500 years ago by the Chinese general Sun Tzu. Mathematicians John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern adapted the method for economics in the 1940s, and game theory entered the academic mainstream in the 1970s, when economists like Thomas Schelling and Robert Aumann used it to study adverse selection and problems of asymmetric information. (Schelling and Aumann won Nobel prizes in 2005 for their work.)

Game theory can take many forms, but most companies use a simplified version that focuses executives on the mind-set of the competition. "The formal stuff quickly becomes very technical and less useful," says Louis Thomas, a professor at the Wharton School of Business who teaches game theory. "It's a matter of peeling it back to its bare essentials." One popular way to teach the theory hinges on a situation called the "prisoner's dilemma," where the fate of two detainees depends on whether each snitches or stays silent about an alleged crime (see "To Squeal or Not to Squeal?" at the end of this article).

Many companies are reluctant to talk about the specifics of how they use game theory, or even to admit whether they use it at all. But oil giant Chevron makes no bones about it. "Game theory is our secret strategic weapon," says Frank Koch, a Chevron decision analyst. Koch has publicly discussed Chevron's use of game theory to predict how foreign governments and competitors will react when the company embarks on international projects. "It reveals the win-win and gives you the ability to more easily play out where things might lead," he says.

Enter the Matrix Microsoft's interest in game theory was piqued by the disclosure that IBM was using the method to better understand the motivations of its competitors — including Microsoft — when Linux, the open-source computer operating system, began to catch on. (Consultants note that companies often bone up on game theory when they find out that competitors are already using it.)

For its Yahoo bid, Microsoft hired Open Options, a consultancy, to model the merger and plot a possible course for the transaction. Yahoo's trepidation became clear from the outset. "We knew that they would not be particularly interested in the acquisition," says Ken Headrick, product and marketing director of Microsoft's Canadian online division, MSN. And, indeed, they weren't; the bid ultimately failed and a subsequent partial acquisition offer was abandoned in June.

Open Options wouldn't disclose specifics of its work for Microsoft, but in client workshops it asks attendees to answer detailed questions about their goals for a project — for example, "Should we enter this market?" "Will we need to eat costs to establish market share?" "Will a price war ensue?" Then, assumptions about the motives of other players, such as competitors and government regulators, are ranked and different scenarios developed. The goals of all players are given numerical values and charted on a matrix. The exercise is intended to show that there are more outcomes to a situation than most minds can comprehend, and to get managers thinking about competition and customers differently.

"If you have four or five players, with four actions each might or might not take, that could lead to a million outcomes," comments Tom Mitchell, CEO of Open Options. "And that's a simple situation." To simplify complex playing fields, Open Options uses algorithms to model what action a company should take — considering the likely actions of others — to attain its goals. The result replicates the so-called Nash equilibrium, first proposed by John Forbes Nash, the Nobel prize–winning mathematician portrayed in the movie A Beautiful Mind. In this optimal state, the theory goes, a player no longer has an incentive to change his position.

As a tool, game theory can be useful in many areas of finance, particularly when decisions require both economic and strategic considerations. "CFOs welcome this because it takes into account financial inputs and blends them with nonfinancial inputs," says Mitchell.

Rational to a Fault? Some experts, however, question game theory's usefulness in the real world. They say the theory is at odds with human nature, because it assumes that all participants in a game will behave rationally. But as research in behavioral finance and economics has shown, common psychological biases can easily produce irrational decisions.

Similarly, John Horn, a consultant at McKinsey, argues that game theory gives people too much credit. "Game theory assumes rationally maximizing competitors, who understand everything that you're doing and what they can do," says Horn. "That's not how people actually behave." (Activist investor Carl Icahn said Yahoo's board "acted irrationally" in rejecting Microsoft's bid.) McKinsey's latest survey on competitive behavior found that companies tend to neglect upcoming moves by competitors, relying passively on sources such as the news and annual reports. And when they learn of new threats, they tend to react in the most obvious way, focusing on near-term metrics such as earnings and market share.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on accounting theory are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm
In particular threads on economic theory of accounting are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#EconomicTheory

Special Admission Students in Varsity Athletics
Many universities fill the spots on their football squads through the use of “special admits,” a phrase that means that these students didn’t meet regular admissions requirements, according to an article and survey in The Indianapolis Star. While most colleges have provisions for special admits, which in theory are for truly special applicants, very few non-athletes benefit. For example, the Star noted that 76 percent of the freshman football class at Indiana University at Bloomington is made up of special admits. Among all freshmen last year, only 2 percent are special admits. Some universities rely even more on special admits for football, the survey found: the University of California at Berkeley (95 percent of freshmen football players, compared to 2 percent for the student body), Texas A&M University (94 percent vs. 8 percent), the University of Oklahoma (81 percent vs. 2 percent). While some universities didn’t report any special admits, the Star article quoted athletics officials who are dubious of these claims. Myles Brand, president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, told the newspaper he was surprised by the extent of special admits, but said the issue was whether universities provide appropriate help for these students to succeed academically.
Inside Higher Ed, September 8, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/09/08/qt

Bob Jensen's threads on athletics controversies in higher education --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#Athletics

eBook Publishing Platform
ebrary --- http://www.ebrary.com/corp/

ebrary® is a leading e-content services and technology provider that has been serving the library, publishing, and corporate markets since 1999.

More than 1,400 customers around the world serving more than 12.5 million end-users use the ebrary platform to acquire e-content from leading publishers as well as distribute their own PDF content online.

"Duke U. Press Rolls Out Online Access to Its Books," by Jennifer Howard, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 10, 2008 --- Click Here

Libraries can now sign up to buy access to all of Duke University Press’s latest offerings in electronic form through the just-launched e-Duke Books Scholarly Program. The program operates via ebrary, a widely used online content provider.

Duke publishes about 115 books a year in the social sciences and humanities, according to Michael McCullough, the press’s sales manager. Subscribers to e-Duke Books will have online access to all those and to all backlist titles available in electronic format — 900 and counting. Although many university presses have partnerships with ebrary, Mr. McCullough said he believed that Duke’s program is unique because it offers access to the press’s full list, not just to individual titles.

Scholarly presses, including Duke’s, have watched hardcover library sales slide. The e-Duke program is “a sort of long-range response to the decline in sales of cloth monographs,” Mr. McCullough told the Chronicle.

“We know that, increasingly, library resources are moving toward electronic products rather than print books, and we want to make sure that we’re participating in that in a way that’s as beneficial to libraries and us as possible,” he said.

Bob Jensen's threads on ebooks are a http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ebooks.htm

Bob Jensen's history of book authoring, course authoring, and course management technology --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm

Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries

The Copyright Clearance Center, which helps colleges buy rights to reprint journal articles, book chapters, and other material in course packs and for other uses, now offers its blanket-pricing option to large institutions that were previously ineligible. And it has signed up one of the country's largest universities, the University of Texas at Austin. The nonprofit group began offering the blanket-pricing option last year at the request of college officials who complained they were spending too much time and money clearing rights each time an article or book chapter was used on campus. At first the group offered the "annual copyright license," as it is known, only to colleges with 5,000 students or fewer. In March the group began extending the offer to all institutions. Thirty-three have signed up so far. Tim Bowen, product manager for academic licensing for the group, said that the cost of the annual license varies based on the size and type of college. The price ranges from about $7 per student to about $10 per student, he said. "A community college is not going to pay $7 a head because it's much lower for them," he added, noting that such pricing is typical for other types of content as well. "A medical school is going to pay more." Not everything is covered under the blanket plan. Using texts for promotional use or for interlibrary loans requires clearance on a case-by-case basis, for instance.

Bob Jensen's threads on the DMCA are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm#Copyright

From the Scout Report on September 14, 2008

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0.169 --- http://www.grisoft.com/ww.download 

Those who wish for an antivirus program that is both versatile and reliable should definitely consider this latest iteration of the AVG Anti-Virus program. With this program, visitors can be assured that AVG will look for new virus definitions on a daily basis and that it will also create an effective rescue disk in case a dire situation emerges. This trial version is compatible with computers running Windows 2000, XP, and Vista.

---

Lockdown 1.0.6 --- http://www.foozoodesign.com/lockdown.html 

Putting one's computer on lockdown isn't a bad idea, and this handy little application can help users do just that. Essentially, the application sets off an alarm if someone attempts to use your Mac, and prevents the system from being muted or put to sleep. Users can also customize its detection feature by activating the computer's motion or keyboard sensors. This version is compatible with computers running Mac OS X 10.5.

 

Free online textbooks, cases, and tutorials in accounting, finance, economics, and statistics --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks

Education Tutorials

The American Scholar (from Phi Beta Kappa) --- http://www.theamericanscholar.org/

Bob Jensen's threads on general education tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#EducationResearch

Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials

This course examines the role of the engineer as patent expert and as technical witness in court and patent interference and related proceedings. It discusses the rights and obligations of engineers in connection with educational institutions, government, and large and small businesses. It compares various manners of transplanting inventions into business operations, including development of New England and other U.S. electronics and biotechnology industries and their different types of institutions. The course also considers American systems of incentive to creativity apart from the patent laws in the atomic energy and space fields.
MIT OpenCourseWare: Development of Inventions and Creative Ideas ---
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Electrical-Engineering-and-Computer-Science/6-931Spring-2008/CourseHome/index.htm 

From MIT
Searchable Lecture Browser --- http://web.sls.csail.mit.edu/lectures/

U.S. Department of Energy: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy --- http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/ 

The Biology Project: The Chemistry of Amino Acids --- http://www.biology.arizona.edu/biochemistry/problem_sets/aa/aa.html

How did life evolve on earth?
From the National Academy of Sciences
Science, Evolution, and Creationism ---  http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11876 

Atta texana: An Underground View of an Ant Colony (video) --- http://www-viz.tamu.edu/faculty/lurleen/main/attatunnel/

Darwin's original theory of evolution goes online --- http://www.darwin-online.org.uk/
Some 20,000 items contained in around 90,000 images were published on the Internet, according to a spokesman for Cambridge University, the scholar's old academic home.

Profiles in Science: The Alan Gregg Papers --- http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/FS/

Profiles in Science: The Paul Berg Papers --- http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/CD/

Bob Jensen's threads on free online science, engineering, and medicine tutorials are at --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Science

Social Science and Economics Tutorials

The Cities Alliance [World Bank] --- http://www.citiesalliance.org/

The Harvard Project on the Soviet Social System Online --- http://hcl.harvard.edu/collections/hpsss/index.html

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies --- http://www.jointcenter.org/

Metropolitan Police Service: Crime Mapping --- http://maps.met.police.uk/ 

Bob Jensen's threads on Economics, Anthropology, Social Sciences, and Philosophy tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Social

Law and Legal Studies

Bob Jensen's threads on law and legal studies are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Law

Math Tutorials

Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics

History Tutorials

National Geographic Magazine --- http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/photosynth/synth

Aluka (art history in Africa) --- http://www.aluka.org/

Benin-Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria (video) --- http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/exhibitions/benin/index

From the University of Washington
Fashion Plate Collection (women's fashions in history) --- http://content.lib.washington.edu/costumehistweb/index.html

The Harvard Project on the Soviet Social System Online --- http://hcl.harvard.edu/collections/hpsss/index.html

The American Scholar (from Phi Beta Kappa) --- http://www.theamericanscholar.org/

Institute for Public Policy Research: Podcasts [iTunes] http://www.ippr.org/podcasts/

Introduction to Modern and Contemporary Art --- http://www.tate.org.uk/ita/

Tate Modern: Mark Rothko --- http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/markrothko/default.shtm

Profiles in Science: The Alan Gregg Papers --- http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/FS/

Profiles in Science: The Paul Berg Papers --- http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/CD/

This course examines the role of the engineer as patent expert and as technical witness in court and patent interference and related proceedings. It discusses the rights and obligations of engineers in connection with educational institutions, government, and large and small businesses. It compares various manners of transplanting inventions into business operations, including development of New England and other U.S. electronics and biotechnology industries and their different types of institutions. The course also considers American systems of incentive to creativity apart from the patent laws in the atomic energy and space fields.
MIT OpenCourseWare: Development of Inventions and Creative Ideas ---
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Electrical-Engineering-and-Computer-Science/6-931Spring-2008/CourseHome/index.htm 

Bob Jensen's threads on history tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#History
Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm  

Language Tutorials

Bob Jensen's links to language tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Languages

Writing Tutorials

The American Scholar (from Phi Beta Kappa) --- http://www.theamericanscholar.org/

"Professor Uses Web 'Widgets' to Share Course Content," by Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 11, 2008 --- http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3307/professor-uses-web-widgets-to-share-course-content?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Mark C. Marino, a lecturer in the writing program at the University of Southern California, has turned his Web page for a writing course he’s teaching into a series of modular “widgets” that others can easily drop into their own Web pages.

Mr. Marino says that using Web widgets for online course materials furthers the goals of open courseware, efforts by professors and colleges to give away their lecture notes and other teaching materials online.

His course teaches a Classical Greek method of constructing or testing an argument known as literary topoi. So one of the widgets, shown below, gives definitions of the five types of topoi and links to videos on how to apply them.

For many of the widgets, Mr. Marino used a Web service called Pageflakes, and to use some of the pieces on your own Web page, you need to sign up for the free service. For professors who want to make their own widgets, that and other free services are available, including Netvibes and Clearspring.

The main benefit of widgets over traditional Web pages is “portability,” Mr. Marino said in an interview. “We’re kind of saying ‘steal my content — take any piece of this class easily and put it where you want it.’” Mr. Marino talks more about his experiment on the Writer Response Theory blog.

Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries

Updates from WebMD --- http://www.webmd.com/

September 8, 2008

• NSAIDs Reduce PSA Levels
• Omega-3s: Mixed Findings
• How Many Get Knee Arthritis?
• No Singulair, Suicide Link
• 20 Drugs the FDA Is Watching

September 11, 2008

• Bottled Water Debate Splashes On
• Knee Surgery May Not Stop Aches
• Retail Clinics Catch On in U.S.
• Torn Meniscus, No Pain?
• Snurf Pills: Teen Abuse Growing

September 12, 2008

• FDA: Avoid Chinese Baby Formula
• Choosing Healthy vs. Junk Snacks
• New Surgery Removes Back Fat
• Pistachios May Lower Cholesterol
• New HIV Rates Called "Alarming"

September 15, 2008

• Gardasil to Target More Cancers
• Flaxseed vs. Fish Oil Pills
• FDA: Avoid Chinese Baby Formula
• Accolades for Mediterranean Diet
• Choosing Healthy vs. Junk Snacks

 

"The Claim: Aloe Vera Gel Can Heal Burns," by Anahad O'Connor, The New York Times, September 9, 2008 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/health/09real.html?_r=1&ref=health&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

THE FACTS

Aloe vera has been a common skin-care remedy since the Greek physician Dioscorides advocated using it for burns in the first century A.D.

But only in recent years have scientists conducted research to determine whether it lives up to its reputation. Some have found that aloe contains certain anti-inflammatory compounds and may act as an antibacterial agent. But studies on its effects on minor and moderate burns have been mixed.

In 2007, for example, a study in the journal Burns analyzed data from four controlled clinical trials involving a total of 371 patients, some were treated with topical aloe vera and others with placebo. Patients in the aloe vera group appeared to have slightly shorter healing times, but the evidence was not convincing, and the authors recommended further research.

In another study, scientists applied aloe vera to second-degree burns and compared it with other treatments. They found that it “hindered the healing process” when compared with a common antibacterial cream. Then in 2008, still another study looked at aloe vera applied to burns for six weeks and found that it decreased “subdermal temperature within the skin,” but did not reduce bacterial counts or speed the regeneration of skin.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Inconclusive. Studies of aloe vera’s effect on burns have produced conflicting findings.

 

Forwarded by Gene and Joan

GOTTA LOVE LITTLE BOYS
Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of tampons and proceeded to the checkout counter. The man at the counter asked the older boy, 'Son, how old are you?' Eight,' the boy replied. The man continued, 'Do you know what these are used for?' The boy replied, 'Not exactly, but they aren't for me. They're for him. He's my brother. He's four. We saw on TV that if you use these you would be able to swim and ride a bike. Right now, he can't do either one.'

Tidbits Archives --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm

Click here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter --- Search Site.
For example if you want to know what Jensen documents have the term "Enron" enter the phrase Jensen AND Enron. Another search engine that covers Trinity and other universities is at http://www.searchedu.com/

World Clock --- http://www.peterussell.com/Odds/WorldClock.php
Facts about the earth in real time --- http://www.worldometers.info/
Interesting Online Clock and Calendar --- http://home.tiscali.nl/annejan/swf/timeline.swf
Time by Time Zones --- http://timeticker.com/
Projected Population Growth (it's out of control) --- http://geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/worldpopulation.htm
         Also see http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/Populations.html
         Facts about population growth (video) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U
Projected U.S. Population Growth --- http://www.carryingcapacity.org/projections75.html
Real time meter of the U.S. cost of the war in Iraq --- http://www.costofwar.com/ 
Enter you zip code to get Census Bureau comparisons --- http://zipskinny.com/
Sure wish there'd be a little good news today.

Three Finance Blogs

Jim Mahar's FinanceProfessor Blog --- http://financeprofessorblog.blogspot.com/
FinancialRounds Blog --- http://financialrounds.blogspot.com/
Karen Alpert's FinancialMusings (Australia) --- http://financemusings.blogspot.com/

Some Accounting Blogs

Paul Pacter's IAS Plus (International Accounting) --- http://www.iasplus.com/index.htm
International Association of Accountants News --- http://www.aia.org.uk/
AccountingEducation.com and Double Entries --- http://www.accountingeducation.com/
Gerald Trite's eBusiness and XBRL Blogs --- http://www.zorba.ca/
AccountingWeb --- http://www.accountingweb.com/   
SmartPros --- http://www.smartpros.com/

Bob Jensen's Sort-of Blogs --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

Online Books, Poems, References, and Other Literature
In the past I've provided links to various types electronic literature available free on the Web. 
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

Shared Open Courseware (OCW) from Around the World: OKI, MIT, Rice, Berkeley, Yale, and Other Sharing Universities --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

Free Textbooks and Cases --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks

Free Mathematics and Statistics Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics

Free Science and Medicine Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Science

Free Social Science and Philosophy Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Social

Free Education Discipline Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm

Teaching Materials (especially video) from PBS

Teacher Source:  Arts and Literature --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/arts_lit.htm

Teacher Source:  Health & Fitness --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/health.htm

Teacher Source: Math --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/math.htm

Teacher Source:  Science --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/sci_tech.htm

Teacher Source:  PreK2 --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/prek2.htm

Teacher Source:  Library Media ---  http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/library.htm

Free Education and Research Videos from Harvard University --- http://athome.harvard.edu/archive/archive.asp

VYOM eBooks Directory --- http://www.vyomebooks.com/

From Princeton Online
The Incredible Art Department --- http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/

Online Mathematics Textbooks --- http://www.math.gatech.edu/~cain/textbooks/onlinebooks.html 

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives --- http://enlvm.usu.edu/ma/nav/doc/intro.jsp

Accountancy Discussion ListServs:

For an elaboration on the reasons you should join a ListServ (usually for free) go to   http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm

AECM (Educators)  http://pacioli.loyola.edu/aecm/  AECM is an email Listserv list which provides a forum for discussions of all hardware and software which can be useful in any way for accounting education at the college/university level. Hardware includes all platforms and peripherals. Software includes spreadsheets, practice sets, multimedia authoring and presentation packages, data base programs, tax packages, World Wide Web applications, etc Roles of a ListServ --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm

CPAS-L (Practitioners) http://pacioli.loyola.edu/cpas-l/  CPAS-L provides a forum for discussions of all aspects of the practice of accounting. It provides an unmoderated environment where issues, questions, comments, ideas, etc. related to accounting can be freely discussed. Members are welcome to take an active role by posting to CPAS-L or an inactive role by just monitoring the list. You qualify for a free subscription if you are either a CPA or a professional accountant in public accounting, private industry, government or education. Others will be denied access.

Yahoo (Practitioners)  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xyztalk This forum is for CPAs to discuss the activities of the AICPA. This can be anything  from the CPA2BIZ portal to the XYZ initiative or anything else that relates to the AICPA.

AccountantsWorld  http://accountantsworld.com/forums/default.asp?scope=1  This site hosts various discussion groups on such topics as accounting software, consulting, financial planning, fixed assets, payroll, human resources, profit on the Internet, and taxation.

Business Valuation Group BusValGroup-subscribe@topica.com  This discussion group is headed by Randy Schostag [RSchostag@BUSVALGROUP.COM]

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

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
190 Sunset Hill Road
Sugar Hill, NH 03586
Phone:  603-823-8482 
Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu