US judge says University can ignore Christian course credits

I don't even know what to say.

US judge says University can ignore Christian course credits

According to the Reg:

A federal judge has told the University of California that when considering applicants, it has the constitutional right to ignore high school course work grounded in the notion that the Bible is infallible.

...

In a 20-page ruling (pdf) Judge Otero, of the Central District of California, says that UC could reject credits as long as it wasn't acting out of "animus" and it had "a rational basis" for those rejections. And he's quite sure the University met both criteria.

That's nice. He's "quite sure". How many rulings are based on this level of jurisprudence?

One high school course was rejected because its primary text, the Bob Jones University-published United States History for Christian Schools, "failed to adequately teach critical thinking and modern historical analytic methods."

That's also nice. Do they examine all classes from all high school transcripts that closely?

Also, I may have had a very mediocre history teacher in college, but High School U.S. History did not teach me anything about "critical thinking and modern historical analytic methods."

The plaintiffs have already appealed. "It appears the UC is attempting to secularize private religious schools," said their attorney, Jennifer Monk of Advocates for Faith and Freedom. ®

Let's hope they find some sanity up the court food chain. Of course, this is federal court in California. Next stop 9th Circuit Court of Appeals?

No sanity there. Just as well whistle by that stop and go to the final stop with the Supremes.

Read the entire article.

Obama World Tour T-shirts

Michelle Malkin is having a contest to design t-shirts for the Obama World Tour 2008

Several pretty good choices.
Check them all out.

Great idea for energy prices

The New Hampshire Union Leader has the best idea yet on getting a handle on energy prices.

MAYBE THE quickest way to lower oil and gas prices would be this: Immediately enroll every Democratic member of Congress in an entry-level economics class.

The lack of even a basic grasp of economic concepts has led Democrats to oppose sensible policies that would begin to lower oil and gas prices. Instead, they push hair-brained ideas that make no sense.

I'd include most of the Republican members of congress, too. But it's still the best use of our money in controlling energy prices that the government could participate in.

Read the whole thing.
Thanks to Betsy's Page for the link.

Obama: Iran Needs to Know We Mean Talk

Scrappleface strikes again.

“Iran needs to know that our words mean something,” he [Obama] said. “During the Obama administration, our words will mean that we are saying things by combining those words into sentences to express ideas about how we feel, using dramatic phrases and dynamic cadences. Iran must never question our resolve to deliver…speeches.”

While the Bush administration has tried to get allies to unite in applying pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear program, Sen. Obama said he would bring change to American foreign policy by trying to get U.S. allies to unite in applying pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear program.

“It’s a lot different than the Bush approach,” he said, “because in my strategy, there is no Bush.”

Read the whole thing.

Are the ice caps melting?

Probably.

The better question is...

"So what?"

The Register has a good article countering the scare going 'round about the North Pole melting.

Firstly, the story is neither alarming nor unique.

In the August 29, 2000 edition of the New York Times, the same NSIDC [National Snow and Ice Data Center] expert, Mark Serreze, said:

"There's nothing to be necessarily alarmed about. There's been open water at the pole before. We have no clear evidence at this point that this is related to global climate change."

During the summer of 2000 there was "a large body of ice-free water about 10 miles long and 3 miles wide near the pole". Also in 2000, Dr Claire Parkinson at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center was quoted as saying: "The fact of having no ice at the pole is not so stunning."

Secondly, the likelihood of the North Pole being ice free this summer is actually quite slim. There are only a few weeks left where the sun is high enough to melt ice at the North Pole. The sun is less than 23 degrees above the horizon, and by mid-August will be less than 15 degrees above it. Temperatures in Greenland have been cold this summer, and winds are not favorable for a repeat. Currently, there is about one million km² more ice than there was on this date last summer.

Read the whole article

French gear up for biofuels retreat

It appears that even the EU is seeing the folly of mandating burning our food for fuel. From The Register:

The French are leading a retreat from the EU’s increasingly out of whack biofuel policy yesterday....

Brussels' target was for the EU to satisfy 10 per cent of its transport fuel needs with renewables such as biofuels by 2020.
...
The policy has been blamed for deforestation and a scaling back of food production in favour of fuel crops, pushing commodity prices through the roof and contributing to shortages worldwide that are already resulting in food riots in many developing countries.

And it's not just France.

Italy has already criticized the rush to biofuels, while the UK will produce a review of the UK’s biofuels policy is due this week.

Here's the fun part of the story:

It seems the only person happy with the rush to biofuels is Prince Charles, who, it has emerged, has switched his fleet of cars over to biofuels at a cost of £5,000.

His “green” stable of top notch autos run on a variety of fuels. The Jags, Range Rovers and an Audi all run on cooking oil. His Aston Martin apparently runs on surplus “English” wine, which is likely to be the one biofuel the French and Italians will come out in support of.

An Aston Marton that runs on surplus "English" wine. Now that's a biofuel I'll bet even the French support!
Read the whole article a The Register.

More on Chuck's fleet including the Vinomobile from FoxNews.com

(Note: Still posting about cars, not politics. :) )

Transformer - First Step?

Is BMW taking the first steps towards making Trans- formers a reality?

According to Fox News:

Instead of a metal or plastic body, BMW's latest concept, the GINA Light Visionary Model, drapes a flexible fabric material over a moveable wire mesh frame, creating a nearly seamless surface that can alter its form at the whim of the driver.

If you're feeling frisky, you can raise the tail like an angry dog, bulge the fenders as if you've injected them with steroids and reshape the sides of the car to transform it from a sleek roadster into an intimidating racer.

Full story.
Video of GINA in action.

(See, I told you I was tired of politics.)