Moving on UP!

AMATEUR AMERICAN HAS MOVED!!!!

click here

Enjoy the new site!

More in TX Higher Ed,

Hold the phone. Ladies and gents .. we have a taskforce to end our tuition woes.

Perry wants his higher ed task force to get back to him with the low-down on Texas education funding before 2009. (this is a response to 100 mill coming the state's way)

University officials declined to comment on the task force, saying they did not know how the changes would affect UT students. (The Daily Texan)

Umm my thoughts exactly.... what this task force will actually be able to get changed most likely lies somewhere between sketchsville and shady USA.

PLEASE SEE PREVIOUS POSTS ON THIS ISSUE.

Baking Skills (Something non-election you know..just for fun)

Somewhere Betty Crocker hangs her head in shame...

And I quote: "Time is going by really really really slow."

Texas System Ranked 5th Wealthiest in Nation

So remember all those forums about the tuition increase....

According to the NYTimes, apparently our system is ranked 5th in the nation in endowment funding..

From the article: “Tuition has gone up, college presidents’ salaries have gone up, and endowments continue to go up and up,” said Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the [Senate Finance Committee]. “We need to start seeing tuition relief for families go up just as fast.”

The UT Sys. follows Havard, Yale, Stanford and Princeton. (The Aggies fall in 10th.)

I recall some talk about the amount of money that is released each year thanks to allotment procedures, interest rates, ... yadda, yadda, yadda.

All I know is mas dinero federale for the university = mas dinero from student pockets?

Mr. Man, help a girl understand.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Let's talk about privacy peeps.

Have you seen this stuff that Cheney wants extended ?

It's causing quite a stir in Whitehouse offices everywhere actually.

The fuss concerns the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (1978) which allows gov peeps the ability for 'the acquisition of technical intelligence, other than the spoken communications of individuals, from property or premises under the open and exclusive control of a foreign power.'

And he appears to be all-in on this little number. An amendment died on the floor Thursday that claimed the checking and balancing power of the act.

From E-Commerce Times article by Katherine Noyes:

"Fighting the war on terror is a long-term enterprise that requires long-term, institutional changes," Cheney said. "The challenge to the country has not expired over the last six months. It won't expire any time soon -- and we should not write laws that pretend otherwise."

....

"The methods Cheney lauds have actually undermined our support around the world, emboldened our enemies and given them propaganda to use against us," possibly creating more terrorists than are being stopped, Mike German, a former FBI agent who is now policy counsel for national security issues with the American Civil Liberties Union, told the E-Commerce Times.

"Turning the security apparatus against the people is a violation of our fundamental agreement with the government about the limits of its power," German added.
In addition, "our intelligence agencies don't need more power, they need better management," German asserted. "Giving them more power without better management won't serve our security interests at all."

Another issue involves texting: Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick intimate texts with one of his staff members were recently monitored. (The info was only legally watched because the city used a close network type thing for its officials)

Fellow Blogsters

Hey everyone! Check out my friend Reggie's new entertainment blog! It's part of the Texan but is written on Wordpress. Videos, shows, funny commentary.... ENJOY!

BURNT ORANGE JUICE

Starbucks Dollar Menu? Yesss. Pllleeeaaassee.

Although I have remained a faithful patron of the Starbucks chain since my days as a pre-med student (yikes), the thrill of ordering my non-fat no-whip vanilla late continues to be dampened by the bittersweet parting of a hard earned Lincoln.

However, it looks like there may be hope for my ever tumultuous relationship with caffeine glory in a cup.

Thanks to pressure from Mickey D's, Starbucks is trial testing a dollar price tag for its drip coffee.

As a college student, I know tests.

Congrats Sbucks. You pass.

The Blame Game

Remember that time when you were ten and you broke your mom's favorite something-or-another and instead of risking the severe punishment of time out you conveniently blame the sister, dog or best friend that wasn't even home at the time of the crime.

Well in the scenario of Iraq, Bush = the sister. Media = the dog, and other top White House officials are the best friends that went and done someone wrong.....

A CNN article today said that the Bush admin lied about Iraq over 900 times before the war was declared.

According to the article, here's the scene: a nasty nuclear rumor was told one of Momma's favorite oil producing countries.

The sister claims she thought it was true. (and so acted on it) She blames her friends (those back-stabbing sluts).
The friends say, "Like whatever, it was totally you and the dog totally let you do it." (That stupid dog... )

From the article:

The overview of the study also calls the media to task, saying most media outlets didn't do enough to investigate the claims.
"Some journalists -- indeed, even some entire news organizations -- have since acknowledged that their coverage during those prewar months was far too deferential and uncritical," the report reads. "These mea culpas notwithstanding, much of the wall-to-wall media coverage provided additional, 'independent' validation of the Bush administration's false statements about Iraq."

Thoughts???

Apologies

Good news... the wait is over... I will resume posting regularly!! (I know you were DYING for this day to come... so stop sending those thousands of e-mails and snail mailing me those love notes....)

Some things to look forward to: Podcasting. Thanks to the multimedia dept. at UT, you will soon be tuning into me yakking away about something interest... speaking of which .... anything you want to hear?

Beer Pong and Togas

So apparently drinking games and themed parties make crazy college kids drink more. (shocking)
That's right.... games and costumes become dangerous once little kiddies go off to school.
According to a study released by ScienceDaily,
"Most studies use survey methods that require people to recall their drinking behavior -- days, weeks or months prior -- and such recall is not always accurate," noted J.D. Clapp, director of the Center for Alcohol and Drug Studies and Services at San Diego State University and corresponding author for the study.
.... 'not accurate'... (again, shocked)
"In addition," said James A. Cranford, research assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan, "this study is unique in its focus on both individual- and environmental-level predictors of alcohol involvement. Rather than relying on students' reports of the environment, researchers actually gained access to college-student parties and made detailed observations about the characteristics of these parties."
I wonder what college kids let the researchers in? I can see it now: a 40-year old man taking down answers to questions while the subject being interviewed sings "I'm Gonna Buy You a Drank" intermittently and then passes out ...
Pretty sure any college student could tell you that drinking games make you drink more. And (thanks to my dad's old college friends) I am sure that the games have made many a memorable (or not so memorable) party for a while now.
I mean really were the tests given as the drunkards stumbled towards their DDs?