There had better be spin in this story

And I quote from the New York Times:

“It makes no sense to me to say that Colombia goods can come into our country duty-free, yet our goods can’t go into Colombia duty-free,” the president said.

Thought I'd start out on that, because I think it makes sense. The reason I think somethings up and were not being told the whole story is because Pelosi doesn't want the free trade agreement. Aparently some Democrats believe that: "... the trade deal would cause exports of American jobs as well as American goods".

Somethings not right here. It seems to me as if we're loosing jobs to Columbia already if it's cheaper for them to send us goods then for us to send them goods. Please correct me if I'm wrong, because if I am, I will have to go out and buy Economics for Dummies.

US Government to be responsible to itself

Yep, The Bush administration proposed a plan to buy student loans from lenders to help make sure us students are able to get more next year. The funny thing is that the US government is the guarantor on need-based subsidized Stafford Loans, which they could be buying back.

I could only imagine the back and forth going on in the Demacrat's minds.

Reported by The New York Times

Bad Water + Cow dung = Drinkable water and Energy!

I remember being told about Dean Kamen a long time ago by my dad. Let's just call it a superhero story. The man invented an insulin pump in the world of insulin shots; went on to design a portable dialysis machine - the thing that cleans your blood of the stuff that you should be peeing out. Before he made that, people with problems urinating or kidney problems would have to go to the hospital every once and a while to get hooked up to a big machine that cleans their blood. At the time he said that he wanted to invent something that was revolutionary, like penicillin. Ok, so he invented the Segway, and the iBOT (the amazing wheelchair that climbs stairs itself), but now he's done it.

He's been talking for a while about solving the water problems in the world, and here's his answer. The Slingshot is a 1 or 2 thousand dollar machine that distills (= no filter!) any water-containing liquid into drinkable water using the heat from burned cow poop. Gotta hand it to the guy. The Slingshot is even coupled with a generator that can power 70 energy efficient lightbulbs. I wonder if a refrigerator can be run on that.

I could only imagine that world-wide foundations are going to jump on this like nobody's business.

Story from Engadget.
Ok, maybe I'm the only person who would think of Dean Kamen as a superhero.

State-Langdon, CNI; Neighborhoods, CIty; Longevity, Apathy

What are we fighting for by looking to secede from CNI? To stick it to the man? Short sighted answer, maybe. I could only imagine that many people think that. The general student is mad at CNI for research about solutions to alcohol problems downtown that was more just presented to CNI by their alcohol issues committee than actually accepted by CNI. So, the press reports it, and the campus reads about it. Oops. The truth about the whole deal, however, is that students who know what's going on want to make things better. Better doesn't mean that we get the chance to stick it to the man, it just means that the State-Langdon area gets it's proper voice in the city process. The problem with this is that the general student population has this plagued image of CNI. Just read one of the campus newspapers; They report their stories well, CNI just seems to hold the anti-student position on almost every topic. Once again, don't blame it on CNI, it's just a neighborhood organization that has to go off of the input that it receives, of which almost none is from the State-Langdon area.

Here's the deal: People want to see change. Americans as a whole love to perk up to make change. Just look at the presidential race so far. Obama and Hillary have been able to get more votes separately than all of the republican candidates put together just because people love the idea of this kind of change. If students realize that we are here making this change, they'll be out in numbers. This is a campus full of aspiring young leaders just looking for their big break. However, if we don't make a big enough change, it will get lost in the general campus roar. People will loose interest, and both CNI and State-Langdon will loose this brilliant opportunity.

So, back to the problem we want resolved: State-Langdon area involvement as a neighborhood in the city process. How do we solve this problem? Lets look at possible desired results: *More student involvement in CNI, *a voice with strength to match the area we cover, not the people that speak at meeting, or *the ability to form our own voice without others censoring it. Here's a little peak at what each option could entail in my point of view:

More student involvement in CNI-
Students decide that they don't want others making decisions for them, and they get involved. Off to the CNI meetings. Wait a second, they're talking about Mansion Hill, what's that? That isn't even on the city neighborhood maps. Ok then. What else is going on? A hotel is being built around the capitol. Great, I don't see any problem. What's going on the State-Langon area? Oh, Quintin's liquor license is getting reviewed. Wait a minute, I like Quintons. Why are they trying to take away my Quintons?
You get the idea. Students are going to get apathetic. Why should I care about the area east of the Capitol if I need to spend more time studying for math 222?
Pros of this solution: CNI gathers student voices in all areas, especially State-Langdon. State-Langdon is a part of an umbrella neighborhood that can hold down the fort during the dry spells of involvement.
Cons of this solution: State-Langdon's voice is merged into the voice of a larger voting body. Students loose interest due to being thrust into issues outside of their actual neigborhood and living space.

A voice with strength to match the area we cover, not the people that speak at meeting-
One problem that plagues politics is the power of the majority. Everyone sees it. It causes almost every social justice problem. Just because you're the minority doesn't mean you're wrong. CNI is fairly autonomous as it is, which would work great with well informed involvement. Get a few people from the State-Langdon area who really know their area and the problems it has, and there can be some great achievements made. However, what happens when the only volunteers available don't have the time to know this area that well? We are talking about volunteers after all, and taking that kind of voice requires a bit more work than the average undergrad is willing to take from their schooling.
Pros: State-Langdon influence at the same level as if it was its own neighborhood org. Still under the umbrella of CNI that can carry it through dry spells.
Cons: Once again, State-Langdon residents are thrust into issues that don't pertain to them. Students don't notice the change and don't care about CNI, therefore State-Langdon looses the voices that it could have had.

State-Langdon forms its own voice-
The State-Langdon neighborhood forms itself as a separate entity, students take notice. "What's this," they say, "a neighborhood org is starting this year and looking for people interested in the city around them?" First meeting: Issues that pertain to the State-Langdon area, how the city political machine works, and how to make your voice heard. "Well heck, Now that I know why all the construction on State Street is happening, I think I know of other things that can be made better around Madison." Students in CNI realize what's been going around them without them knowing, and checks in. "Oh boy, I'm not sure that right across the street from my place is the best location for a new, upper-class hotel."
Pros: New residents of State-Landon find a voice for themselves. Separation from CNI creates interest in the city among students. Smaller size of CNI and State-Landon spurs input by people who find each org more open to individual voices. State-Landon's recruitment helps spur Student involvement in CNI through people realizing that it exists and has the power it does.
Cons: Transient nature of the population creates radical changes every year. Involvement drops significantly over the summer.

Just look at how far we can take this: A coalition of neighborhood orgs centered around campus that all students - even if they live in CNI or on the west side - can look to for issues around that place they so love to spend more than half their waking hours around. Lets make the best of our time here in college not just by making our school better through ASM, let's make our city better through our neighborhood orgs too.

America - Pretend to be Smart, Pretend to be Stupid or be Left Behind

The Daily Cardinal is the first newspaper I've read that publishes an article that has no correlation to news, and usually no correlation to reality. I stopped reading it sometime at the beginning of last semester. Just recently I've been able to stop clicking on the interesting article titles on my news feeds. The problem today is that the New York Times published an article that was so strikingly similar to one of these Page Two articles that I was able to find the one in the Daily Cardinal, published 2 months ago. To my surprise, the New York Times article was the most e-mailed article at the time.

Read through either of them and you'll find people who not only judge others by the books they read, but also by the books they say they read. Judge me, I actually read these articles. I was almost angry as both talked about appearing too dumb talking about "The Art and Zen of Motorcycle Repair," or appearing snobby talking about authors who I've never heard of. It's an exercise in dumbing down and being fake.

Enter the next New York Times Op-Ed article: ‘With a Few More Brains ...’

Politicians generally act smarter than they really are in third world countries while politicians here generally act "closer to the average American." After reading these articles, I'd like to look for friends by asking something like, "do you know what DNA is and how it affects you?" Apparently I'd sort out 2/3rds of the population. No, no, somethings wrong here. Why am I talking about ostracizing people simply because they don't know about something very well. No wonder politicians have to look dumbed down, if they don't, people won't trust them to make representative decisions.

I believe that many people don't bother to educate themselves about more complex things because they feel out of their league. Almost as if they don't believe that they could understand something. Try to tell someone you're a computer engineer and chances are they have a mental image of you with a train conductors hat sitting behind a computer. Education policies today aren't helping much either. Schools focusing on standardized tests fail to ensure ground level understanding and instead strive for basic knowledge of too many topics for the amount of time and funding given. Students come away from school feeling as if knowledge is out of their reach, when in reality they've been brought up in a rushed atmosphere that doesn't cultivate understanding.

This same atmosphere drives a strong apathy for politics and activism in general. Complaining about state and/or city politics? Unheard of! Most of my friends didn't even realize there was an election today. Back in Kenosha the Mayors stepping down and my alderman's stepping down. A few weeks after the primary my brother asked me who was replacing them. That's right, he voted but didn't know that it was just a primary. Supreme Court Justice anyone? No, the answer isn't yes. Whoever is elected will serve for a very long time, shaping our state. Veto Pen anyone? It's getting voted on this election too.