**** And in mid March, when Harvard president Lawrence A. Summers made a "Personal Choice" appearance — finally accepting his third formal invitation — Palmer wasn’t exactly deferential, introducing him as "influential" rather than "accomplished" (as Summers himself so duly noted) and MCing tough student questions. "This is quite unlike any other experience I’ve had since I came to the university," Summers remarked at one point.

"Noam Chomsky wrote to me afterwards that he was impressed by my independent ways in a situation where it would’ve been profitable to bow deeply," said Palmer hesitantly. "And I was reminded of an Indonesian peasant adage that anthropologists had written of: ‘When the great lord passes by, the wise peasant bows deeply and silently farts.’" The class roared with laughter and later gave him a standing ovation.

"In some ways, the course is consciously un-Harvard, even a touch anti-Harvard, " admits Palmer. " It challenges the emphasis on competition — education as a means to find one’s way to the top of our competitive society. " He adds, " I’m more interested in the larger world than in simply the Harvard community. The university will spit me out like a used piece of chewing gum sooner or later. "


**** "During his speech, Bove twice compared President George W. Bush to serial killer "Son of Sam." Throughout the speech, he also made numerous comparisons of neo-conservatism to neo-Nazis, and neo-conservatism to actual fascism. Perhaps predictably, Bove also quoted Vladmir Lenin during the question answer session, to a smiling, self-identified neo-Marxist UCSB religious studies professor in the audiance. Taxpayers, believe it or not - this is what your hard earned money is paying for!"

"students for academic freedom" vastly entertaining read: students denouncing lecturers for adding upsetting truths to syllabus, classed by type of offence. futuristic right-wing organising. learn how the slimey proto-corporate in that seminar feels when confronted with content.. how did i laugh!

>> I write the things down in my notebook that he says so that I could eventually report them to someone. "To guillotine aristocrats, now THAT'S a war." [that's what i say! wow!] (He makes many little comments about the war in Iraq, but to him a real war is to murder the rich, which is the context in which this was said). [...] Dr. Thiher makes references to capitalists who want to exploit the earth. Another time, the windows in the classroom were open and there was a helicopter going by overhead. He began to make jokes that they were going to occupy our campus (like Iraq) and made gestures having to do with guns once again. I have dates and times for all of the above, along with fellow students in my class to verify that he did infact say and do all of the above and more. Also, the material that we cover in this class has been of the anti-religious nature, and of the self-discovery era. We are now reading a novel about a homosexual man.

>> Another typical example of Dr Flacks 'teaching' methods occured on the first week of class, when he called upon students to identify who Sean Hannity was. When one student raised his hand (stating that he is a FoxNews analyst/broadcaster), Dr Flacks rendered his judgement by the tone of his voice alone. "Do you actually WATCH him?" the professor increduously asked. Courageously the student admitted to occassionally watching his show, after which the professor predictably went off on a tirade about how bigoted a person Hannity is.

>> Description of Complaint: Took issue with the truth that corporate influence in politics is a benevolent enhancement of the democratic process.

etc- enjoy!


**** In the 19th century, two immigrant preachers cobbled together a series of unrelated passages from the Bible to create what appears to be a consistent narrative: Jesus will return to Earth when certain preconditions have been met. The first of these was the establishment of a state of Israel. The next involves Israel's occupation of the rest of its "biblical lands" (most of the Middle East), and the rebuilding of the Third Temple on the site now occupied by the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques. The legions of the antichrist will then be deployed against Israel, and their war will lead to a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. The Jews will either burn or convert to Christianity, and the Messiah will return to Earth.

What makes the story so appealing to Christian fundamentalists is that before the big battle begins, all "true believers" (ie those who believe what they believe) will be lifted out of their clothes and wafted up to heaven during an event called the Rapture. Not only do the worthy get to sit at the right hand of God, but they will be able to watch, from the best seats, their political and religious opponents being devoured by boils, sores, locusts and frogs, during the seven years of Tribulation which follow.

The true believers are now seeking to bring all this about. This means staging confrontations at the old temple site (in 2000, three US Christians were deported for trying to blow up the mosques there), sponsoring Jewish settlements in the occupied territories, demanding ever more US support for Israel, and seeking to provoke a final battle with the Muslim world/Axis of Evil/United Nations/ European Union/France or whoever the legions of the antichrist turn out to be.

[...]

We can laugh at these people, but we should not dismiss them. That their beliefs are bonkers does not mean they are marginal. American pollsters believe that 15-18% of US voters belong to churches or movements which subscribe to these teachings. A survey in 1999 suggested that this figure included 33% of Republicans.