Apr
18
2006

URLs du Jour

2006-04-18

  • From yesterday's "Quick Takes" at Inside Higher Ed:
    Ohio State University officials on Friday cleared Scott Savage, a librarian at the Mansfield campus, of harassment charges filed against him based on his recommendation of an anti-gay book for a freshman reading assignment. A conservative group had threatened to sue the university if the charges were not dropped. They were dropped the same day that the group went public with its complaints about the way the librarian was being treated.
    Good, although much of the damage this controversy did to Mr. Savage and OSU-Mansfield is almost certainly irreparable in the short term. Instapundit notes that the American Library Association, normally quick to defend librarians, was silent in this case, and makes the plausible speculation that professional politicization could well have something to do with it.

  • K-Lo at Phi Beta Cons has posted a statement from James Votruba, President of Northern Kentucky University, about the anti-abortion display that Professor Sally Jacobsen helped destroy.
    By leading her students in the destruction of an approved student organization display, Professor Sally Jacobsen's actions were inconsistent with Northern Kentucky University's commitment to free and open debate and the opportunity for all sides to be heard without threat of censorship or reprisal. …

    Professor Jacobsen has been removed from her remaining classes and placed on leave from the University. She will retire from the University at the end of this semester.

    Good for President Votruba.

  • I dutifully go over to The Huffington Post daily to see what's up with those glamorous mostly-lefties. Today I see (with the banner "JUST IN"):
    Cheney Receiving Katrina Tax Benefits For Non-Katrina Donations...
    with the link going to this article at TaxProf Blog. Commenters there are bouncing off the wall in rage:
    Why is this man not in jail? … How does this guy sleep at night? This administration makes me sick to my stomach. They are sooooo corrupt. … what i'd like to know is when will the US population stop accepting this criminality?
    … and more, much more, of the same. What did the VP do? Well, according to the article, (and the linked press release), he and the Mrs. legally reduced their taxes by donating $6,869,655 to charity out of their $8,819,006 Adjusted Gross Income (AGI); specifically, to the George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates, Inc. for the benefit of the Cardiothoracic Institute, the University of Wyoming for the benefit of the University of Wyoming Foundation, and Capital Partners for Education for the benefit of low-income high school students in the Washington, D.C. area.

    The gripe is that normally charitable deductions are limited to 50% of your AGI; the so-called "Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005" lifted this restriction for 2005; it's not required that the charitable donations be Katrina-related, and (indeed) none of the Cheneys' donations are.

    So the argument is, … well, I'm not sure what the argument is. Mainly, I guess, that the VP should be in jail for obeying the law. This concludes today's tour of Moonbatville.