So friends have been emailing me left and right the below video; many of y’all probably have seen it posted to Twitter and Facebook. In the spirit of “David After Dentist“, this young lady shows us why dentists are the best drug dealers and why one should always sign a non-disclosure agreement with your dentist before donning that bozo-gas-mask.

There are two wonderful & amusing points to this video:

1. Maybe our dear inebriated entertainment spends too many hours playing Robot Unicorn Attack? Maybe she was reminiscing on the old “Dragon Tales” series or “The Last Unicorn” from her childhood?
2. I’m definitely going to lean towards the latter for #1 due to her epic, childhood throwback to Carman’s Christian music attempt to being hip-hop relevant. What some may mistake to be the apotheosizing of Jay-Z is actually an excerpt from a world-famous…I mean protestant famous…I mean pew-jumpin’ pentecostal famous music video of the early 90s: “Who’s in the House? JC!” – that’s right, Jesus Christ, the “Superstar” himself, is here to party down. Oh how I remember jamming out to this one each Sunday growing up. My only suggestion: though the shorts are a nice touch, Carman is definitely lacking some retro parachute pants.

Enjoy…

Yesterday, I blogged about my Facebook incident that FIRE has brought attention to. Today, the Chronicle of Higher Education published a piece on the subject as well.

For FIRE’s overview of the case and opinion click here.

I talked to the Chronicle reporter briefly as she was making her inquiries. She asked me if I was concerned this story would hurt future job prospects. Honestly, I hadn’t really thought of this as I believed (and still do) that the transcript, picture of the status updates, and the ludicrous nature of some of the UCPD’s inquiries justified me wanting clarification of the investigation’s extent.

I very much understand the importance of campus police in protecting university students, faculty, and staff. So, putting aside whether the UCPD actively monitors student online content, I respect the UCPD wanting to talk to me about my status update. That said, I became perplexed at what occurred when I was being investigated; specifically, the personal questions that came from the officer and the willingness to call the entire investigation off as long as I removed the comment. If anything, this seems like a dereliction of duty by the UCPD if my comment was deemed a legitimate threat.  That the UCPD would threaten me academically if I did not remove the comment also seemed out-of-line.

On the Chronicle page, someone commented that I’m “seeking protection as free speech”. I’m not seeking protection at all. The case was effectively dropped (seemingly) because of it being fanciful and invalid. Again, I would never have even contacted FIRE if the UCPD had been lucid on what its practices are. I’m seeking answers. I’m not in trouble.

When the Chronicle reporter asked me if I planned any legal action against the university, I immediately gave an adamant “no” (for the record, FIRE never pursues litigation). I love my university; there are amazing, passionate students and faculty here. I only want what’s best for my university. In this case, I feel that it would be to my and fellow student’s benefit if the university would clarify the following:

1. Does the UCPD or has the UCPD at any point monitored or even perused student comments on social networking websites like Twitter or Facebook?
2. To what extent does the UCPD investigate flagged comments and what is the proper conduct of the UCPD in questioning the student who made such comment? E.g. threatening the student academically?

On a personal level, I want an explanation for the inconsistencies and some of the inquiries made by the UCPD in my case. Pertaining to the general body, I desire elucidation of university practices and conduct in respect of student privacy and individual rights.

I never thought and still do not think this incident being publicly espoused will haunt me. I honestly hope that by clarifying its policies the university will have an improved campus environment. Correspondingly, I do not seek to simply chastise the university publicly and go on cry “injustice” regarding freedom of speech so I’d get some two seconds of fame (or a day of Twitter retweets). No. This was never about that. If anything, this is only the beginning of positive steps towards reform at the university. I had heard complaints in the past from fellow students about the university’s conduct toward online content; yet, I didn’t ever give the situation a second of my time. I regret not doing so beforehand. It took a situation like this to wake me up.

Thus, I plan at the beginning of this next quarter to meet with administrators to discuss my personal case. Moreover, and more importantly, many friends who have various interests and definitely different politics would like us to meet with administrators to discuss the prospects of a student bill of rights. By the administration working with concerned students, clarifying its policies, and enacting proper reform, such could only be for the benefit of the university and serve as a testament to its commitment to open discourse and academic freedom.

State Senator James Meeks

Richard Lorenc, America’s Future Foundation Chicago Rep, sent out an email yesterday evening about the promising SB2494 legislation that would create a voucher system empowering parents and students with the ability to enroll in schools relevant for their needs regardless of socio-economic status.

Sponsored by the passionate State Senator James Meeks (D-15th District), this bill has passed committee and is up for a vote today I believe. So please call your IL state senator and strongly encourage him or her to support this exigent legislation that would be a step in the right direction in light of the continual failures of IL educational policy.

TEXT FROM EMAIL BELOW:

Dear Friends,

Moments ago, a bill that would create a pilot school voucher program for students in struggling Chicago public schools passed out of committee in the Illinois Senate. Sponsored by the Rev. Sen. James Meeks, SB 2494 empowers parents and students to enroll in schools that are better able to meet their needs. It also promises that surrounding public schools will improve, and it promises that everyone in Illinois, as taxpayers, will benefit.

This is landmark school choice policy in the making.

News from Springfield is that this legislation could get a full floor consideration within 24 hours. You can let your state senator know what you think about this critical issue.

Our friends at the Illinois Policy Institute have been active in this issue for some time and recently issued reports on the research supporting charter schools, the positive fiscal impacts of school choice legislation, and the constitutionality of voucher programs.

Watch out for an announcement of AFF’s next roundtable event coming soon!

In Liberty,

Richard Lorenc

America’s Future Foundation, Chicago

richard@americasfuture.org

The wonderful and passionate student advocacy non-profit, FIRE, has picked up an incident that happened to me at the end of last quarter.

University of Chicago: Censorship of Student’s Online Speech by University Police

CHICAGO, March 24, 2010—For the second time in two years, the University of Chicago has censored a student’s post on a private Facebook page. Undergraduate Joseph “Tex” Dozier posted a joke that he had had a dream about assassinating University of Chicago professor John Mearsheimer “for a secret Israeli organization.” Mearsheimer is co-author of the controversial book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. This post prompted an investigator from the university’s police department to question Dozier about his political views, suggest that he would investigate Dozier’s comments on his university radio show, and demand that Dozier remove the post or else have the post reported to Mearsheimer, one of his professors. Dozier came to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help…

As you peruse the press release and letter from FIRE regarding my joke status update, you’ll quickly realize the ludicrous nature of this investigation and the inappropriate inquiries into my personal beliefs and actions. I was so busy with finals and already discouraged by the interruption from the UCPD that I didn’t follow-up about this until the next quarter. When I personally asked President Zimmer and VP Kim Goff Crews about the incident, they were caught off guard citing that UCPD would not take such aggressive action on its own and that the UCPD would never monitor social media websites. Still, to this day though, the UCPD won’t comment on the incident, won’t provide any insight on what its practices are, and won’t apologize for their treatment of me right during the middle of finals.

For me, after hearing similar stories from frat friends and others of incidents with the UCPD (e.g. parties posted to Facebook), I really just wanted clarification. So I sent a typed transcript of the exchange to the UCPD requesting that they respond. As I never received any acknowledgement or feedback, I then appealed the situation to FIRE. As I was also taking a course with Professor Mearsheimer (a professor I greatly admire; also encourage everyone to read Great Power Politics and The Israel Lobby), I wanted to respectfully wait to release this until after the winter quarter ended.

Regardless, hopefully by bringing this situation to light, the university that I love dearly will provide some answers, will make the proper clarifications, and correct any solecisms of policy. Student privacy and individual rights unjustly and ironically come under greater attack each day by the very institutions of higher learning that proclaim they respect open discourse and speech. Finally, I promise to never again embarrassingly misspell “paraphenalia”.

I am available for media contact; if interested, I encourage you to notify me through the contact link on my website. I will do my best to promptly respond.

• Best Picture: Hurt Locker
• Director: Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
• Actor: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
• Actress: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
• Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
• Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique (Precious)
• Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)

Saw this email I thought I’d share from the Scott Brown campaign:

Smart strategy to get as many funds as he can while the momentum is behind him. That said, based on the adverse sentiment coming from so many of his Tea Party and independent supporters after his vote last week, he may be needing to take advantage of that jobs bill after 2012. Still, smart strategy – don’t think that one vote is going to haunt him.

Those social security checks can go a long way…

Here are four quick tips to keep in mind as you’re working away on taxes:

1. Most people get audited because their deductions exceed the average of those in the same income and zip code bracket. So, if you’re making like $40,000 a year and give $8,000 in charitable giving, you definitely want to attach that substantiation.
2. First-time home-buyers are entitled to a tax credit of 10% up to $8,000 on the cost of a new house. And guess what…? You can still claim this credit if you’ve owned a house for investment purposes or vacation ecstasies.
3. As long as you’re earning money, YOU can claim the working-pay credit that comes to $400 ($800 on a joint return). Simply file schedule M to do so. Congress ordered the IRS to reduce the withholding tables in the expectation that many people will be claiming this credit. So claim it!
4. You are able to add the standard deduction of sales tax on purchasing a new car to that of any real estate tax you paid as well – up to $500 ($1000 on a joint return).

Good luck y’all! Remember, the taxman never stops!

So much hot air has been released into our fragile atmosphere over the effects of the stimulus (what has been “invested”), which as much as I may question multiplier claims, has been pretty decently watched over for allocations minus a glitch or two.

All said, today Vulcan Materials (VMC) will report quarterly earnings (10 am CST conference call to be exact). In my opinion, it is a company like Vulcan that the Obama administration needs to look at in guaging effects of the stimulus. Vulcan is a construction aggregate company that provides crushed stone, sand, and gravel for construction efforts, etc. So, when thinking about infrastructure investments vis-a-vis the stimulus, VMC would be a must to supply the resources for such. That said, expected earnings aren’t that impressive.

This is a big, national company that provides for big, national projects – a real company that provides real jobs. Now let’s see what’s in store for it and what it can say about certain stimulus investments…