I actually support this, because the reasoning of the schools that deny students access to on-campus ROTC Detachments seems to be pretty faulty to me.

The House moved Tuesday to deny defense-related funding to universities that don’t provide ROTC programs and military recruiters equal access to their campuses. Opponents said the bill was an assault on university policies banning gay discrimination.

Under the legislation, passed 343-81, universities would have to give military recruiters access to campus and to students that is equal in quality and scope as that provided to other employers.

It also requires that colleges with ROTC programs submit an annual report to the Secretary of Defense confirming they will continue to support those programs.

I don’t see this as a way to discriminate against gays and lesbians, but as a way to give increased opportunities to college kids who want to attend a good school but can’t afford it, or want to join the military once they graduate and use their skills in that way. Just having an organization on campus like ROTC doesn’t mean that cadets are going to rampage about in uniform and string gays up in trees. Not having an organization does mean that people would not be able to take advantage of the benefits, and possibly not attend that school.

The article says that critics of the law state it singles out Harvard, and that if kids really want to be in ROTC, they can join the program at nearby MIT. But other schools aren’t as lucky to have a program so close by. That can make the difference between someone going to the school they want, or not because they simply can’t afford to otherwise.

Furthermore, billions of dollars go to universities each year to conduct basic research to be applied to military problems and topics. That money would seem to support the same inbalance as ROTC, since it directly benefits the military. Many graduate students work directly for these programs. Why is that any different?

As far as I could tell, there were no issues between the ROTC program at my college and the Gay and Lesbian alliance. In fact, I actually had a friend try and attend the gay/lesbian club meeting one night since the poster said it was open to all, and that she just wanted to get a better feel for what they went through. When they found out she wasn’t gay, they coldly asked her why she was there, and said that maybe it was better if she didn’t attend anymore. It sounds like there are deeper issues to deal with than whatever superficial reasons the colleges are giving for not allowing defense programs onto their campuses.

And it seems like based on the vote, the House agrees with that.

And the twisted mess gets more twisty.

Gasoline prices have quickly become a hot issue on the campaign trail, with Sen. John Kerry blaming the White House and its close relationship to oil companies for contributing to the high cost at the pump. (Full story)

The Bush campaign released a television ad Tuesday hitting Sen. Kerry for having supported a 50-cents gas tax hike.

So on one hand, Bush has made the gas prices go up because he’s in bed with Texas oil. But Kerry supported slapping a 50 cent gas tax hike on what we buy? Who knows what is even going on anymore. It’s like watching a Rocky movie, where both fighters just beat each other senseless without bothering to even block the punches. Everyone ends up bloody but riled up!

They drive Porsche’s. At least one of them used to.

America Online on Tuesday unveiled a sweepstakes to tout its success in fighting spam: the Dulles, Va.-based Internet provider will give away a Porsche seized from a spammer.

The two-door 2002 Porsche Boxster S Cabriolet was confiscated from a spammer as a result of one of the five lawsuits filed by America Online (AOL) in April 2003 against spammers identified by its subscribers using the service’s “Report Spam” feature, the company said.

Virginia’s anti-spam statute, which went into effect on July 1, 2003, gives the state’s law enforcement agencies the right to seize spammers’ assets, even if the spammer resides outside Virginia. The new national CAN-SPAM Act, which came into play January 1, 2004, also lets the federal government grab spammers’ assets in criminal prosecutions.

Just like I supported the DNC registry, I support stopping spam. When the spammers start paying for my DSL, they can start spamming me again.

Why should Rice testify publicly? To prove them all wrong.

President Bush is within his legal rights in preventing national security adviser Condoleezza Rice from testifying publicly before the Sept. 11 commission. Precedent is on his side. And we see no reason to credit Democratic insinuations that Ms. Rice has something to hide, given that she spent four hours answering the commission’s questions in closed session and has offered to answer more. Yet Mr. Bush is making a mistake when he blocks her public testimony. The Sept. 11 attacks were unprecedented, and it is reasonable to override some of the normal ways of doing business as the nation seeks to understand why they took place and how future attacks can be prevented. The members of the bipartisan commission have unanimously requested that Ms. Rice testify publicly.

There may be precedent for not testifying, but the WaPo is right. She should testify. I have liked Rice for some time so I would like her to do the right thing and testify publicly, but more importantly, I think she should because I don’t think she has anything to hide.

Could 9/11 have been prevented? Maybe. But it would have happened on some other day then. I don’t blame Clinton or Bush for the tragedy that struck us that day; I blame the terrorists. I think that is something that has been forgotten lately. In our zeal to find someone to blame we have forgotten that it was 19 evil men who committed the acts that we will remember forever. If they had been stopped at the airport there would have been more coming later.

Unfortunately, not testifying publicly just makes Rice and Bush look worse. I think most people will understand that Bush had no chance of doing in 8 months what Clinton couldn’t do in 8 years. I don’t believe that anyone could have done anything more to prevent 9/11. It was a different world back then. But we need to concentrate on what we’re going to do now and in the future. Examine the mistakes we made and learn from them. That’s what these hearing should be about.

This is cool.

The reward is high, but so is the risk as some of the 27 teams pursuing a $10 million prize for the first privately funded manned spaceflight near a goal that once seemed outlandish.

Organizers of the X Prize believe that teams could attempt the space trip as early as this summer.

Many of the teams vying for the X Prize already have conducted test launches. One U.S. team propelled a spacecraft to 68,000 feet, or about 13 miles. While a couple of U.S. teams are among the top contenders, crews from six other nations also are in pursuit of the prize.

If private companies could start to make feasible, safe ways to get people and equipment into space, the possibilities would be endless. First, it would open up an entirely new means of travel and “vacationing”, though only really, really rich people would be able to take advantage of it at first. Secondly, it would cause a huge jump in the commercial sector on space related technologies - something that was only possible in the past when the government decided it wanted something developed. If a profit is conceivable - why not develop things for space?

It would also benefit President Bush’s plans to explore the moon and, eventually, Mars. The more effort that the private sector puts into space travel on its own volition, the more drastically the cost of getting there drops for the taxpayers. And that’s good for everyone.

Clothing manufacturers and material science will get new plastics, alloys and fabrics. Astronomers could get more support and possibly extraterrestrial telescopes. The list goes on and on.

Sure, safety is an issue, but as one of the competitors in the competition says in regards to an accident, or even death:
“It’s a possibility. It’s a cost that exploration has to pay. Otherwise, you stay home and watch TV and eat French fries,” said Pablo de Leon, the 39-year-old team leader of an Argentinean group that is building a vertical rocket named Gauchito, or The Little Cowboy.”

I’ll be interested in seeing where this goes over the next year or so.

OK - so I got a big stack of comics last week. But here are my favorites:

Ultimate Spiderman #54-55 Sam Raimi is directing a Spider Man movie in the Ultimate universe, without Spidey’s permission! It’s a neat idea to integrate the real world, with real actors into the comic, and I like what Bendis is doing. Also, Doc Oc hears the news about the movie (since he’s in it too, thanks to his ex-wife selling the story) and escapes from prison to wreak havok!

Y- The Last Man #20 This is a continuously good comic and the current issue wraps up a freaky S&M interlude story. For those of you not familiar with the plot, all the men on earth have died from a strange plague except for one guy and his pet (male) monkey. Israeli commandos, secret societies, and roving bands of women with one breast called Amazons all make appearances. He is journeying across the US to try and get to a lab that may produce cloning technology allowing the male species to repopulate themselves. I guess that would make dating easier if everyone looked like you, right?

Fantastic 4 #511- This issue is the last in an arc where the Fantastic Four travel to heaven to see if they can bring Ben Grimm back to life. Features a nice little chat with God (that only a comic geek can love!) and some interesting other plot twists.

So run over to your nearest store and check them out! And don’t forget that Hellboy comes out on Friday!

I went to the comic store last week and picked up the first two issues of the movie adaptation for the upcoming Punisher movie. Being a fan of the revamped series that had Garth Ennis and sometimes Steve Dillon working on it (of Preacher fame), I wanted to see how a “Punisher-lite” story would read. Also, Marvel had just moved the Punisher over to its MAX line where he can rip out entrails, use the f-bomb, etc.

Surprisingly, the story was pretty good. They’ve changed a few things here and there, but Frank Castle still watches his family get murdered in front of his eyes - in this case it’s his extended family, not just his wife and kids. But as issue 2 ended, he was vowing revenge on the crime family that started the trouble in the first place as revenge for Castle being part of an FBI sting operation that left the mob boss’s son dead.

If you don’t care that you are reading the plot to a movie that isn’t out yet, and you like the Punisher, I can recommend these for a lighter read. You won’t get any detailed plots, but I can’t actually remember the last time the Punisher had a detailed plot, so it’s not that far off course. You just don’t get Garth Ennis’ perverse sense of humor in these.

Bush proves once again what kind of conservative he is.

Reaching back to revive an idea promoted by the man he beat for the White House, President Bush urged Friday that affordable high-speed Internet access be available to all Americans by 2007, saying it was essential to the nation’s economic growth.

Bush traveled to the Southwest largely to promote home ownership but spoke briefly about Internet access in remarks reminiscent of 2000 Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore’s call for an “information superhighway” available to all Americans.

The president did not say how high-speed access could be extended to all the nation’s homes and businesses, but in an address to Hispanic lawmakers in New Mexico, a state he lost to Gore by just 366 votes four years ago, Bush said a key would be to “make sure that as soon as possible thereafter [that] consumers have plenty of choices.”

There is already a fund that subsidizes telephone service in rural areas and for those who cannot afford it. Policymakers have debated whether the Universal Service Fund should also subsidize Internet access to U.S. homes.

It’s campaign season, so both candidates are making grand promises they cannot possibly keep, but Bush shouldn’t be the one making promises about how much more money he is going to spend. Bush should be the one talking about how he’s going to reign in federal spending. I think if some liberals took a closer look at Bush’s spending policies, they’d be pretty happy. And that’s not a good thing for those of us who are more fiscally conservative.

I’ll be away for the week, but never fear–Pauly will be around to pick up some slack. Also, Court Schuett from the excellent blog Miniluv will be blogging as well. Enjoy!

“Politics are about power; we cannot evade that truth or its consequences. We dream of a better world but it is in Utopia- that is, nowhere.”
– Denis William Brogan