….. are doomed to repeat it — Even at Ivy League schools (HT LGF via Michelle Malkin):

Rafael Medoff: Columbia “Invites Hitler to Campus” –As it Did in 1933
Columbia University has invited a representative of the world’s most antisemitic regime to speak on its campus. This week’s news? Try 1933.

Seventy years before this week’s invitation to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Columbia rolled out the red carpet for a senior official of Adolf Hitler’s regime. The invitation to Iran’s leader may seem less surprising, but no less disturbing, when one recalls that in 1933, Columbia president Nicholas Murray Butler invited Nazi Germany’s ambassador to the United States, Hans Luther, to speak on campus, and also hosted a reception for him. Luther represented “the government of a friendly people,” Butler insisted. He was “entitled to be received … with the greatest courtesy and respect.” Ambassador Luther’s speech focused on what he characterized as Hitler’s peaceful intentions. Students who criticized the Luther invitation were derided as “ill-mannered children” by the director of Columbia’s Institute of Arts and Sciences.

Columbia also insisted on maintaining friendly relations with Nazi-controlled German universities. While Williams College terminated its program of student exchanges with Nazi Germany, Columbia and other universities declined to do likewise. Columbia refused to pull out even after a German official candidly asserted that his country’s students were being sent abroad to serve as “political soldiers of the Reich.”

In 1936, the Columbia administration announced it would send a delegate to Nazi Germany to take part in the 550th anniversary celebration of the University of Heidelberg. This, despite the fact that Heidelberg already had been purged of Jewish faculty members, instituted a Nazi curriculum, and hosted a burning of books by Jewish authors.

….. As Prof. Stephen Norwood of the University of Oklahoma has found in his research on the academic community’s response to Hitler in the 1930s, Columbia was not the only prominent U.S. university to behave shamefully with regard to the Nazis. Harvard hosted a visit by Hitler’s foreign press spokesman, Ernst “Putzi” Hanfstaengl. American University chancellor Joseph Gray visited and praised Nazi Germany. MIT Dean Harold Lobdell personally tore down posters for a rally against a Nazi warship docked in Boston’s harbor, and MIT participated in a 1937 celebration at the Nazi-controlled University of Goettingen. Yale, Princeton, Bryn Mawr, and others continued student exchanges with Nazi Germany into the late 1930s, and more than twenty U.S. colleges and universities took part in the 1936 Heidelberg event.

But Columbia is unique in one important respect. Its administration alone seems to have learned so little from the mistakes of the 1930s that it is prepared to welcome the leader of yet another antisemitic, terrorist regime.

UPDATE: The press hasn’t learned either.

From USA Today:

Consumers score the right to freeze credit

In a major reversal, TransUnion, one of the Big Three credit bureaus, says it will allow individuals in all 50 states to freeze their credit histories.

The service, which goes into effect Oct. 15, is a big victory for anyone who wants to be more proactive about preventing identity theft, consumer advocates say.

“Consumers deserve the right to a low-cost security freeze that makes it easy to prevent crooks from opening fraudulent accounts,” says Gail Hillebrand, senior attorney for Consumers Union.

TransUnion broke ranks with Experian and Equifax. A June story in USA TODAY described how the Big Three credit bureaus have lobbied for two years to stop strong credit-freeze laws from being adopted at the federal and state levels. The bureaus disseminate credit histories used by lenders to issue credit cards, mortgages and other loans.

A credit freeze bars the bureaus from issuing your credit history, the summary of loans and payments that forms the basis of your credit score. Because few lenders will issue credit without first seeing a credit score, putting a freeze on your information means ID thieves can’t use stolen Social Security numbers to fraudulently open new accounts.

….. TransUnion says it will provide the security freeze free to ID theft victims and charge others $10 to initiate a freeze and $10 to lift it temporarily or remove it. States with the most consumer-friendly security-freeze laws typically charge $5.

I think TransUnion should have dropped their prices to $5 or less. My personal opinion, given that the data is about the consumer and carries so much importance, is that freezes should be possibly-free or nearly-free. If there are to be fees, they should reflect the costs of providing the service, which when spread over millions of people, should be a lot less than $10 per freeze or unfreeze.

TransUnion is finally acknowledging that it can’t stop the push for freeze legislation as long as the bureaus don’t have a nationwide program of their own. I expect, and hope, that the other two bureaus will fall in line shortly.

From a business standpoint, TransUnion, because it is offering a freeze to anyone who wants it, avoids the hassle of complying with at least 30 existing state freeze laws. Some states (foolishly, in my opinion) limited freeze access to victims of ID theft. It’s still true that the bureaus have to deal with lower fees in some states.

From a political standpoint, assuming that Experian and Equifax see the writing on the wall, the bureaus will be be able to go to Washington and ask for national legislation with at least a little credibility. Uniform national legislation makes constitutional sense because of the impact of credit, credit files, and credit scores on interstate commerce. The hope is that national legislation will knock the fees down to a more reasonable level. I believe this will happen, because the bureaus will figure out that they can monetize a decent amount of the new Internet traffic that will result from freeze and un-freeze requests.

Here’s an Ohio question: Should the Strickland Administration offer to pay for or reimburse the cost of a TransUnion freeze for anyone affected by the data theft that occurred earlier this year at no charge? If not, why not? I say: “Freeze, baby, freeze.”

By the way: How many readers knew that the State announced on July 11 (currently second item at link) that “an additional 583,558 individuals will be eligible for Debix protection”? That is, their data was also on the stolen data tape, bringing the total number of those affected to well over 1 million.

It gets better: There’s a link to the governor’s related press release at that page. There is no July 11 press release at the linked page. A person at the state’s ID Theft Hotline says they’ll look for it, and get back to me when they find it.

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UPDATE, Sept. 22 — That was quick. Late yesterday, Equifax also announced that they would make credit freezes available to all. As of 1PM on Saturday, Experian had no announcement or comment.

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Previous Posts:
- June 27, 2006 — EVEN MORE Reasons to Pass Universal Credit Freeze Legislation
- June 26, 2006 — Just a Few More of the Many Reasons Congress Should Pass a Universal Credit Freeze
- August 10, 2005 — What May Be the Mother of All Data Thefts Proves Why Data Encryption and Credit Freezes are Needed, NOW
- July 19, 2005 — It’s Time for National Credit Freeze Legislation

I have to figure, after looking at the results of this Google News search on “real earnings” (in quotes), that Old Media business reporters found what came out in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Real Earnings Report too difficult to understand. The search shows that only the Providence Journal among Old Media outlets mentioned the report, which was released Wednesday.

So in the interest of education, I’ll break down the BLS report into simpler terms:

REAL EARNINGS IN AUGUST 2007

Real average weekly earnings rose by 0.5 percent from July to August after seasonal adjustment, according to preliminary data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. This increase stemmed from a 0.3 percent rise in average hourly earnings and a 0.2 percent decline in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Average weekly hours were unchanged.

Translation: The average American worker was 0.5% better off in August in real terms than he or she was in July — and didn’t have to work any longer to get there.

Data on average weekly earnings are collected from the payroll reports of private nonfarm establishments. Earnings of both full-time and part-time workers holding production or nonsupervisory jobs are included. Real average weekly earnings are calculated by adjusting earnings in current dollars for changes in the CPI-W.

Translation: Only those who politicians like to refer to as “working people” (who are members or “working families”) were included in this report. All of the gains reported went to them. “The rich,” who are supposedly running off with all the lucre and leaving everyone else the crumbs, were not included in the report.

Average weekly earnings rose by 3.9 percent, seasonally adjusted, from August 2006 to August 2007. After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings increased by 2.1 percent. Before adjustment for seasonal change and inflation, average weekly earnings were $591.26 in August 2007, compared with $570.83 a year earlier.

Translation: The average American “working person” (see above) was 2.1% better off in real terms in August 2007 than he or she was in August of 2006.

This is such good news. How could they have missed it? (/sarcasm)

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

I probably saw it first, but Boring Made Dull blogged it:

Drudge ….. (featured) a not very flattering photo of Mrs. Clinton, with the headline “Health Insurance Proof Required for Work”.

Drudge, eager to make sport of the less intelligent, links to (Joel) Klein’s piece (at one of Time Magazine’s blogs). Essentially, Klein’s argument is that because they Clintons won’t define the inevitable punitive measures, they simply don’t exist.

Ah, but they do, as BMD noted in excerpting an Associated Press interview:

She said she could envision a day when “you have to show proof to your employer that you’re insured as a part of the job interview — like when your kid goes to school and has to show proof of vaccination,” but said such details would be worked out through negotiations with Congress.

The punitive measure is that you can’t work anywhere without proof of insurance. How much more obvious does it have to be for Joel Klein?

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UPDATE: No coercion here (third Clinton response from the end) –

Hillary Clinton to Insurance Industry: My Way or Highway
“I believe in reality-based politics. And the fact is that my [health care] plan is very tough on requiring insurance companies to guarantee insurance to everyone. No exclusions for pre-existing conditions. They’re going to have to change the way they do business. And I believe that they can and they will. We’ll either work with them or we will make the case, based on all of the rest of us, that we cannot continue on the path we’re on.”

If it’s not coercion, it’s at least the politics of intimidation.

UPDATE 2: Kaus — “….. it’s clear that Hillary is thinking about requiring health insurance for work! She says it could be “part of the job interview–like when your kid goes to school and has to show proof of vaccination.” If your kid doesn’t show the proof, he can’t go to school, right? So what, exactly, is wrong with the headline? Am I missing something?” No sir.

UPDATE 3: Gregg Jackson of Pundit Review and GrassTopsUSA.com has formulated “12 Questions for Hillary and Her Fellow Democrat-Socialists who Support ‘Universal Health Care’.” She has no good answers.

The State of Michigan approaches a budget deadline with as-expected priorities:

Michigan House members began voting on another proposal to raise the state’s income tax last night, an effort to resolve a budget crisis projected for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

The proposal would raise the state’s income tax from 3.9 percent to 4.6 percent.

Other votes possibly could include extending the sales tax to some services. Some spending cuts also may be voted on.

The “spending cuts” always come last, if at all. Never forget that “spending cuts” are almost always really “reductions in planned increases from last year.”

The last thing Jennifer Granholm needs to do is chase more businesses and higher-income people out of Michigan by raising the state’s highest income-tax bracket by 18% (0.7% increase divided by 3.9%).

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Amanda Carpenter believes that a government shutdown looms.

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Return of the Conservatives (HT NixGuy) noticed that both Ohio Senators voted to allow the District of Columbia a House Seat. The bill, thankfully, failed. The bill was unconsitutional anyway, because DC is not a state, and only states can have congresscritters. These simple concepts are not understood by Sens. Voinovich and Brown.

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This is Rather Ridiculous –

After the controversy erupted, CBS appointed a commission, led by former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, to investigate. According to Rather, it was all a sham. “CBS announced that it was conducting a thorough independent investigation into the underlying story of the broadcast and its production,” the lawsuit alleges, “when in fact its intention was to conduct a biased investigation with controlled timing and predetermined conclusions in order to prevent further information concerning Bush’s Texas Air National Guard service from being uncovered.”

Art Bell in his worst moments wouldn’t give Dan’s dramatics the time of day.

Update — “Rather: Government Influencing Newsrooms“:

Dan Rather said Thursday that the undue influence of the government and large corporations over newsrooms spurred his decision to file a $70 million lawsuit against CBS and its former parent company.

Why, just the other day I was marveling at how the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, NBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Fox, and CNN are constantly parroting the Bush Administration line with rare exception, and how they’re always lavishing praise on big businesses and the noble people who run them. (/sarc)

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Transit ideas like this one sound nice, until you see the price tag. Then it’s sic transit pecunia.

Over 15 months after the initial wave of publicity, Joey Vento of Geno’s Steaks was going before the Thought Police, er, the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission. The hearing, Illegal Protest originally reported, was to be on Thursday, September 27th at 9am at the Philadelphia Free Library. But now it has been postponed. Illegal Protest thinks it’s because PHRC doesn’t think it has a case, and is dragging its feet. I hope IP is right.

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Nicholas Sarkozy is taking on the French welfare state. Update: That didn’t take long — the public-sector unions are calling for a national strike of rail and power workers.

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Mike Adams is keeping the heat on jihadist Kent State prof Julio Pino and the school’s Provost. As he should.

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Make Rooma for Ooma:

Ooma turns the traditional phone model on its ear. You shell out $399 ($599 starting in 2008) for a slick gray-and-white box that is smaller than a typical answering machine. This Ooma Hub connects to your high-speed broadband Internet service and whatever telephone handset you have lying around. From then on, all local and long-distance calls in the USA made through that phone are free. You can plug in additional handsets by buying optional $39.95 devices called Ooma Scouts. Scouts aren’t required for additional cordless handsets

This bears watching. It could be the death of the local phone company. My tear ducts are dry.

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Bill Kristol made a great point at the Weekly Standard yesterday (HT Taranto at Best of the Web) about Columbia University and its invitation to Mahmoud “Champion of the Dispossed” Ahmadinejad to speak while he is visiting the United States:

As Columbia welcomes Ahmadinejad to campus, Columbia students who want to serve their country cannot enroll in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) at Columbia. Columbia students who want to enroll in ROTC must travel to other universities to fulfill their obligations. ROTC has been banned from the Columbia campus since 1969. In 2003, a majority of polled Columbia students supported reinstating ROTC on campus. But in 2005, when the Columbia faculty senate debated the issue, President Bollinger joined the opponents in defeating the effort to invite ROTC back on campus.

Taranto’s follow-on is even better, noting that Columbia doesn’t want ROTC on campus because of the school’s “objection to the law, signed by President Clinton, that prohibits open homosexuals from serving in the military.” Meanwhile, the dictator in charge of a country that brazenly executes homosexuals is welcomed at Columbia with open arms.

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James Dobson won’t support Fred Thompson.

Mr. Dobson supported the carpetbagging, illegal-voting, Eritrea-lobbying, Amway/Quixtar-flogging, House Bank-overdrawing, still-in-office pretending, Elections Commission-reprimanded, resume-inflating (second item at link) Bob “H-S” McEwen for Congress in the Ohio’s Second District Special election in the Spring of 2005. Dobson even narrated a personal endorsement of McEwen in a radio ad. All of the items I have noted were not known at the time, but enough were that Mr. Dobson really should have known better.

Jim Dobson is by all reasonable accounts a fine man, but he has zero political instinct. Given Dobson’s recent track record, his non-endorsement is the last thing Fred Thompson needs to worry about.

Maybe someday I’ll be able to explain that “H-S” thing I just threw in.

From La Crosse, Wisconsin:

Published - Monday, September 17, 2007

Katie O’Reilly never doubted she would survive cancer as a child and realize her dream of going to college.

Three weeks ago, the 19-year-old La Crescent, Minn., woman started classes as a freshman at Viterbo University. She already has written an essay for a religion class on what she believes, and she knew exactly what she was going to write — what she has learned from cancer and about the important things in life.

“I believe in family, friends and God,” O’Reilly said. “God has given me the strength to get here.

“I never thought I would die as a child and not make it to college,” she said. “I thought I’d be fine and get through it.”

Even as a child, O’Reilly said, she found it easier to take a positive attitude each day and look on the bright side of things.

O’Reilly had stomach pains for some time when she was 9 years old during the summer before fourth grade. In early July 1998, doctors found an 8-pound tumor in her stomach and then diagnosed her with a cancer of the abdominal lining — desmoplastic small round cell cancer.

“I didn’t know how serious it was until my mother told me much later that I had a 1 in 100 chance of living,” O’Reilly said. “It was a very rare cancer back then.”

O’Reilly had three surgeries, six rounds of chemotherapy, 24 rounds of radiation and a stem cell transplant all in one year. She missed fourth grade and was tutored at home by her grandparents, Dale and Mary Wetterling, both retired La Crosse teachers.

She said her battle with cancer was jam-packed into one year so she felt she never missed her childhood. She started fifth grade on time a year later.

“I had some hard times and got very sick, but I wanted to get through this and on with my life,” she said.

She said she looks back at that time, and she is amazed by her strength. She decided to adopt the bald look because she said it didn’t matter if people stared at her. She had a wig, but never wore it.

“I remember feeling needy and vulnerable, but God was my strength as well as family and friends,” O’Reilly said.

Go here for the rest of the story.