Check out this WSJ article on the work of Kaushik Basu, former Chair of the Economics Department and now top advisor in the Indian finance ministry. Basu recently released an economic survey that predicted Indian growth returning to 9% by the end of this year. In addition to focusing on cutting the federal deficit and controlling inflation, he is also working on cutting corruption in the distribution of subsidized foods:
“You can give the target population double the benefits by spending half the money—and once you save that money, you can direct it to improving human capital, infrastructure and deficit control,” said Mr. Basu, who became top adviser in the ministry of finance in December, taking a leave from Cornell University, where he teaches economics.
Famous Cornell alum Bill Nye the Science guy made an appearance on The O’Reilly Factor recently (in case you missed it, the video is linked below). For both global warming skeptics and supporters, this is a fantastic 7-minute interview. Contrary to popular belief, O’Reilly once again exhibits his ability to retain a neutral stance as the interviewer and lets his guests go to town. Nye, a staunch supporter of the global warming theory, is met with a rather surprising volley of graphs, data, and raw knowledge from Joe Bastardi, AccuWeather meteorologist and climate change skeptic. Seemingly out of his character, Nye appears to be very defensive and has an air of arrogance about him in the video. Although this surprises me a bit after meeting him in person, perhaps it shouldn’t. Nye adheres to a tactic that often surfaces when warming theory advocates get backed into a corner: they quickly resolve to accusing the other person of willful ignorance, calculated deviance, and political motivation. Another good sign that a GW activist is in a jam is when they backtrack to ‘evidence’ from the past two decades.
As Bob Barr writes on his blog, the Obama administration is interested in tracking your cell phone records: “In arguments earlier this month before a federal appeals court in Philadelphia, lawyers for President Barack Obama made the case that the government should be able to easily track the location of cell phone users without first securing a warrant. In making this argument, the Obama Administration mimics the position taken by its predecessor.”
Wait, that can’t be right. The same administration that has been conducting a CIA witch hunt and doing all it can to disgrace Bush administration officials guilty of illegal wiretaps and information gathering techniques is now pushing to track the location of your cell phone? And where is the liberal uproar? It’s hard to argue that George Bush looking up your library records is more of an infringement on personal rights than the Obama administration having full access to your cell phone records.
Here’s an interesting excerpt from an article reviewing the new Heath brothers book Switch:
The book opens with a story from the Food & Brand Lab at Cornell University. Researchers set up at a movie theater and gave movie goers a free soft drink and bucket of popcorn—in exchange for them answering some questions about the concession stand at the end of the movie. Some of the moviegoers got a medium-size bucket of popcorn, and others got a huge tub. But here’s the kicker—both groups were given five-day-old popcorn that was so stale it squeaked. The questions at the concession stand were just a ruse—food researchers were studying how portion size influences eating.
And does it ever. People given the big tub ate 53% more of the practically inedible stuff than people given the medium bucket.
I’m pretty sure they could have carried out the same experiment at Okenshields using the regular food and different sized plates.
- Nothing too new here, but check out IvyGate’s post on Skorton.
From Cornell Chronicle Online.
- I might do a separate post on this, but for now check our InsideHigherEd’s article on the Credit CARD Act of 2009. Most of the new provisions go into effect today.
A group of Cornell Republicans returned from CPAC late last night. While we did not stay until the bitter end to catch keynote speaker Glenn Beck, we were still treated by the likes of Ann Coulter, Newt Gingrich, many other lesser knowns who were still enlightening none the less. Best was the wide variety of conservatism. There was not simply Reag-a-mania unbridled individualistic conservatism available for consumption–Burkeanism, Hamiltonianism, and of course neo-conservative were all on display from the many speakers. While some of the attendees were a bit hypocritical when accusing Obama supporters of being zombies (many of them applauded mindlessly when a speaker quoted Ronald Reagan), it was still nice to be able to speak one’s mind on the issues and not have to worry about a tenured professor eating you.
In fact, academic freedom was a key topic this year, which was quite appropriate considering that over half the attendees were university students. The best idea to solve the imbalance at universities likely was the creation of an organization that would cultivate conservative professors. It was stated that the best way to solve the problem was to simply get more conservative professors hired, instead of whining and complaining–quite the idea.
In more incidental news, Ron Paul won the straw poll. This was more the result of his supporters voting for him no matter what and others voting for the slew of other mainline conservative participants. The reason this should not be taken as an endorsement for Paul by the conservative wing of the GOP is because when it was announced that Paul won, over half the crowd booed! But perhaps this should be taken with a grain of salt, as this was the same crowd that seemed to think Don Devine had referred to Ronald Reagan as a weak president in his speech (Devine said that Reagan was tough but smart on foreign policy, all while implicitly referring to the foreign policy of President Bush, which he explained to be tough but hard-headed).
Either way, this year’s CPAC certainly had a greater spirit of optimism than last year, when Rush Limbaugh had to lift everyone’s spirits with an historic speech after the pounding the Repubs took in 2008.This year, Glenn Beck did not have to try and fire up an entire convention (speech is on Google). He simply did what he had to not screw up what was a momentum continuing conference.
As a first time CPAC attendee, I was happy I went and would recommend going to at least once in your time as a college student.
The first issue of the new semester is out, and it’s a good one! As the student assembly does everything they can to encroach upon your liberties as a student, we at the Review examine why Resolution 44 should and will be turned down by President Skorton. Download the PDF by clicking below!
Also in this issue:
Guest article by a student of the fine arts discussing the recent budget cuts to the fine arts department.
Africana Studies hosts a panel discussing the disaster in Haiti – we’ve got the scoop.
Test your Cornell alumni knowledge: take a quiz and see how many Cornell grads you’ve heard of!
Pelosi is coming to Cornell: an article on how to cope with her presence, and an article on how she was chosen.
S.A. president Rammy Salem ‘10 today broke a 7-7 tie to pass Resolution 44, the so-called “non-discrimination clause.” According to cosponsor Andrew Brokman ‘11, the bill would allow the Student Activities Office to revoke recognition of any student organization deemed “discriminatory” against certain “protected classes.”It is not clear who would make this distinction. Voting against the resolution included V.P. Chris Basil ‘10, who offered a spirited defense of his nay vote.
actual or perceived age, ancestry or ethnicity, color, creed, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, height, immigration or citizenship status, marital status, national origin, race, religion, religious practice, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, veteran status or weight
One year into the $787 billion spending spree that is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we still have high unemployment, low investor confidence, and a ballooning federal deficit which threatens future economic growth. But despite all this, we should be happy that Obama’s stimulus has been funding work at our alma mater:
Examples of the highlighted research include a study of the relationship between depression and heart disease at Emory University; obesity research at Cornell University that tests a variety of strategies for encouraging better nutrition and eating habits…
The problem with the report cited in the article is that it tries to defend the stimulus by providing examples of the beneficial research that has been conducted with stimulus funds. This shouldn’t come as a big surprise to anyone. If you throw billions of dollars of grant money to top universities, is there any doubt that they might crank out some good research? The point of the stimulus was to use government expenditure to jump start the American economy after the 2008 financial crisis, not to fund solar power and obesity research.
Maybe the Cornell researchers concluded that eating less results in less obesity? Who knows.
We regretfully report that there appears to have been a suicide off Thurston bridge this morning. Ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks blocked off the street earlier today while a police rescue was lowered into the gorge near the Baker Lab side.
[1:16 PM] Emergency crews have left the bridge at this point. A body has been confirmed, as police rescue teams were seen being lowered into the gorge to retrieve a subject.
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