How Long Iz 24 Lolcat Hours in Hooman Tiem?

CA GOP On the Verge of Being Democrat-Lite

Can't say I'm really surprised. Once you lend legitimacy to the "It doesn't matter if he's not really conservative as long he has an 'R' after his name" attitude in elections, stuff like this goes from minor noisy rumblings that get defeated to something that is almost certain to happen. (h/t Michelle Malkin)

The California Republican Party once again faces an identity crisis heading into its annual spring convention, and this time a major donor is calling on the party to become more inclusive.

Businessman Lawrence K. Dodge delayed writing a check to help the party pay off $3 million in debt and wrote a scathing analysis of the party in a private letter, raising concerns similar to those cited by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when he said Republicans were "dying at the box office" last year.

(...)

Delegates will decide this weekend on a new platform for the state party. Moderates and conservatives have been lobbying Republicans in recent weeks to support their respective versions.

The moderate platform follows through on Schwarzenegger's call last year for a version that concentrates on fiscal responsibility and low taxes with centrist positions on social and environmental issues.

"I think people are ready for a cohesive, unifying platform, and that's what ours is," said Virginia Chang Kiraly, 44, a Menlo Park Republican who is spearheading that effort. "It's not offensive, it's not strident, it's not divisive, and I think that's why we've had such broad support."

It's a Sin for Dudes to Go #1 While Sitting!

God in the KJV Bible (the Only True Bible™ ) sez so! (h/t Dan)

LOLOBAMA

For the uninitiated, the "language" in the above picture is this.

Welcome 4 Marks/CM People!

I'm pretty sure I know how you got here. ;)

Please feel free to look around and leave a comment or two.

Columbia Prof and "Hate Crime Victim" Sanctioned

So Madonna Constantine (interesting name, eh?), a professor of psychology and education at Columbia University, has been sanctioned for plagiarism. (h/t Michelle Malkin)

[Teachers College] confirmed in a statement later Tuesday evening that after an internal investigation TC had "found numerous instances in which she [Constantine] used others’ work without attribution in papers she published in academic journals over the past five years."

That's a pretty long time to be committing academic fraud. This story should make a nice topic of conversation the next time I see my cousin and his wife, who are both at Columbia U. as a graduate fellow and faculty member.

Another, and related, topic of conversation is the curious side note mentioned in the linked to article: In October last year, Ms. Constantine, who is black, made some headlines as an apparent "victim" of a "hate crime" when a noose was found on the door to her office. Exactly who put the noose there is still unknown, but given recent events with Ms. Constantine, you gotta wonder...

Your Anti-Religionism is Showing

John Derbyshire of National Review has got this running blog post thread attacking Ben Stein for having the temerity to star in and make a documentary movie about the administrative silencing of scientists in academia who dare to challenge the doctrines of Darwinism with Intelligent Design theory. Seems 'ol Derb doesn't buy the fact that ID is not the same as Creationism. As such, ID really isn't science to Derb (does he think Darwinism is?!) thus Ben Stein is either an idiot or a disingenuous propagandist for making Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. I personally am looking forward to seeing this movie, and I thank John Derbyshire for giving me notice about it through his seeming obsessive need to be an obnoxious ass-hat toward ID advocates.

And They All Talk With Straight Faces

My old law school has produced a 10 minute promotional video that essentially consists of the dean and some current and former students giving scripted testimony about how great and wonderful Trinity Law School is. What's not said, of course, is that for the past 8 to 10 years, the bar pass rate for Trinity graduates is well below 20 percent. There are several reasons for this outside of the quality of education at Trinity, e.g., the high number of part-time students who have families and full time jobs, but the inescapable fact of the matter is that the low bar pass rate pretty much makes a Trinity law degree worthless on the open market.

Trinity also does almost nothing in the way of career development, like helping students obtain summer associate positions. The closest thing that Trinity has to a career program is a big cork bulletin board hanging in a hallway with a "Jobs" sign stuck to it. With something like 90 percent of the law instructors at Trinity being active practicing lawyers, you'd think the school could do a little bit something more.

Anyhow, although I like the fact that Trinity tries very hard to maintain an orthodox Christian environment, as perfectly illustrated by the herein referred to promotional video, it's not a law school I could really recommend to anyone who is planning on practicing law, but not as a sole practitioner. Trinity's academic creds just aren't there, and the school simply doesn't do enough in career development to compensate for it.