Stay in School, Work Hard, Ask Questions

President Obama's speech to kids today was held in a Virginia public school and the message was clear. Work Hard; Set Goals; Ask Questions and Stay in School:

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Who Pooped?

Brought to you by the Minnesota Zoo, a new exhibit examining animals' poop is rolled out with an entertaining website: www.WHOPOOPED.org.

The summer educational exhibit runs through September 7, 2008. Visit the website for a "teaser" quiz.

Harvard to Endow Chair in LGBT Studies

From the New York Times:

Harvard University will endow a visiting professorship in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies, a position that, it believes, will be the first endowed, named chair in the subject at an American college.

The visiting professorship was made possible by a gift of $1.5 million from the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus, which will formally announce it at a dinner on Thursday, after Harvard’s commencement exercises. With the gift, Harvard said it would regularly invite “eminent scholars studying issues related to sexuality or sexual minorities” to teach on campus for one semester, according to a draft of a university press release.

The chair is being named for F.O. Matthiessen , a Harvard scholar and literary critic who “stands out as an unusual example of a gay man who lived his sexuality as an ‘open secret’ in the mid-twentieth century,” according to the release.

— Full Story

From Bill Maher's "New Rules"

Now that Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy have done what George Bush and Henry Paulson couldn't, maybe it's time conservatives accepted that there's more to Europe than just castles and accordion music. Sarah Palin recently explained proudly that she wasn't one of those kids who graduates college and their parents get them a passport and a backpack and say, "Go off and travel the world." Oh, God, no, that's the kind of thing that could open up your mind.

No, Sarah stayed right here in America and learned about foreign cultures the proper way: by standing on the shore with a pair of binoculars.

You know, the specter of becoming a little more European doesn't frighten me so much because, in the recent crisis, it was the wiser, less swaggering leaders of Europe who came through with a financial plan that might actually work; the plan that George Bush is now doing; the plan he didn't want to do because, a) if it did work, it might threaten his perfect record of monstrous, retarded disasters - that make Armageddon look like a flesh wound - and, b) it was socialism, which he equates with poor black folks getting cheese for free.

But, maybe things have gotten so bad here, the public is finally receptive to the notion that we could learn something from other nations. Europe's currency happens to be kicking our currency's ass. And they cover everyone with health care at far less cost, and beat us in life expectancies. We're 38th in the world in that category, behind Colombia, Morocco and Costa Rica. "USA! USA! USA!"

Europeans are leading the "green" revolution, and their infrastructure is gleaming and efficient, with thousands of miles of high-speed rail track. We have the trolley at the mall that takes you from Pottery Barn to the Gap.

— 10/17/08 New Rules

You Tube and Black Monday

I haven't heard anyone call it "Black Monday" ... YET, however, I checked my stock portfolio and see sound investments slowly sinking, but nothing has gone down the drain. Texas is still looking for FEMA who keeps saying that it is only a couple of hours away and news this morning of school systems paying parents to come to the school to talk about their children's education while paying the students to do well on their tests have me VERY concerned. All this and more bombarding the air waves creates a very sad day here in the Good old U S of A.

So, I'm taking a YouTube break while all this bad news sinks in and letting you in on the ride.

Next of this rollercoaster ride: One of my favorite segments of that political comedy show on HBO, Real Time with Bill Maher. The New Rules segment at the end of every show not only makes me laugh, but makes me think. This YouTube video is no exception. It may be from last season, but it still rings true today, so I'm putting it here.

So, until later today, or more than likely early tomorrow, when I post again ... remember to just keep smiling; people will wonder what you are up to.

New Rules: THE MOVIE Part I

The Issues

Let's get down to the brass tacks of this 2008 Presidential Election.

The following videos explore Obama's views of the main issues that are (and should be) the driving force of our President selection and our future:

Economy


Education


Environment


Foreign Policy


Immigration


Healthcare

Obama on Education

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