Scoop’s Views

Beloit College’s Class of 2012 Mindset List has been released. It’s a list of things that incoming freshmen – most of whom were born in 1990 – are familiar with, but things they also don’t know or comprehend. For example, Harry Potter could very well be one of their classmates, the Class of 2012 Mindset List notes.

The list was started by Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, providing insight into the life and realities — as they exist — for incoming freshmen. It provides cultural touchstones that shape the lives of the incoming students, sometimes making it easier for a professor to understand why some students don’t grasp course content. one such example, for which I must be an exception, is this year’s item #20.

Tags: American Gladiators, Balsamic vinegar, Beloit, Big Macs, Burger King, caller ID, cappucino, charter schools, Clarence Thomas, Class of 2012, Club Med, Coca-Cola, Coke, college grads, color umber, conditioner, Crayola, crayons, credit checks, diapers, eavesdropping, electronic filing, family, fashion scene, films, flat tires, french fries, gas stations, gay rabbis, George Bush, George H.W. Bush, girls, Goosebumps, GPS, Grandma, Green Bay Packers, Haagen-Dazs, Harry Potter, head scarves, Home Alone, hospice, Hubble space telescope, IBM, IBM PC, ice cream, iced tea, IRS, Jay Leno, just don't get it, karaoke, kindergarten, League of Nations, Lenin, Leningrad, living wills, Macaulay Culkin, Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Living, McDonald's, Mexican border, Mexico, Michael Millkin, Mickey, Mickey Mouse, Microsoft, Mindset List, multi-culturalism, multiculturalism, Muscovites, mustache, national anthem, NC-17, Nintendo Game Boy, off-shore drilling, off-shore oil drilling, oil drilling, Orlando, parties, PCs, Pearl Jam, Pee-Wee Herman, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Pepsi, Pepsi-Cola, personal privacy, philanthropist, philanthropy, prostate cancer, prostate cancer research, quarterbacks, quidditch, radio stations, recycled plastic bottles, research, resorts, Rock the Vote, Roseanne Barr, Royal New Zealand Navy, rum, Russia, satellite navigation systems, schools, SCotUS, Seinfeld, shampoo, soft drink refills, style, Supreme Court, tax returns, tax revenue increases, Teach for America, The Tonight Show, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, TV, typewriters, Universal Studios, vegetable oil, walkers, Walt Disney, Warsaw Pact, Wayne Newton, whatever, Windows, Windows 3.0, World Wide Wrestling, www, XXX

This past weekend, it seemed as though every news outlet in the nation was busy hammering on Philly yet again. This time it was over a recently released Census Bureau report, showing Philadelphia had the largest percentage population loss over the past seven (7) years than any other major city in the United States, including Detroit.

Looking at all major cities in the U.S., Philadelphia is estimated to have lost more residents since the last U.S. Census – from 2000 and 2007 – than any other city in the country, with the exception of New Orleans, which was devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, according to estimates recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Tags: Arizona, Baltimore, Baltimore Maryland, Boston, Boston Massachusetts, brain drain, Chicago, Chicago Illinois, desert, Detroit, economic considerations, economy, Five Largest Cities in the U.S., gasoline costs, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, job losses, mortgage lending crisis, Motor City, Motown, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Philly, population, population centers, population losses, recession, Top 10 U.S. Cities, Top 25 U.S. Cities, Top 5 U.S. Cities, U.S. Census Bureau, urban centers

Words. Nothing but words is what it comes down to from U.S. Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) who is cheering about the U.S. Senate passing an apology, tacked on to the Indian Health Bill, that was approved last week.

Mere words, nothing else, yet Brownback thinks the forked tongue the White Man, let alone politicians, are known to have, is going to help restore the relationship between the United States and Native Americans. Don’t make me laugh.

Tags: amendments, American Indians, apology, blood quantum, blood tests, broken treaties, Cherokee, Chippewa, citizenship, Congress, Cree, dishonorable dealings, healing, Indian Health bill, indian tribes, Lakota, mistreatment, Native Americans, Oneida, past failures, reconciliation, regrets, relationships, roll cards, Sen. Sam Brownback, Soiux, U.S. Congress, U.S. Senate

Well, as many people expected, the politicos running the State of New Jersey took the “forgive us” plunge by making an official proclamation to apologize for its history with slavery.

Sure, New Jersey did many stupid things in its history, including standing against the Emancipation Proclamation, as well as being the last state in the United States to abolish slavery, but this apology — for something more than 143 years old — is loonier than Looney Tunes.

Tags: 104goodbuddy, apologized, apologizes, apology, Asbury Park Press, Assembly, benefits, blacks, Civil War, community, damageddude, deeds, Devdude, discrimination, Education, Emancipation Proclamation, freedom, Garden State, History, Hitler, illegal aliens, Jews, legislation, Mexicans, money, MRDOWOP, New Jersey, peace, poor, problems, racism, rich, RustyCharlie, schools, Senate, slavery, slaves, warrior21, wealth, white, World War II, WWII

Kevin Logan wanted to go to his Gary, Indiana, high school prom last year, but when he showed up at the door in a pink dress, West Side High School officials told him to nix the dress or go home.

A British teacher, Gillian Gibbons, went to teach this year at a school in Sudan that has, for almost 100 years, been run along the lines of Christianity. Not long after the school year began, Gibbons was arrested and charged with “insulting Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.”

When Gibbons went to teach at Unity, which is but one of several British schools in the country, she taught in classrooms hidden behind tall brick walls that shut out, what one news outlet described as the dust of everyday Sudanese life. The walls serve another purpose, according to various media reports, which say it serves to transport visitors into the shady courtyard of an Oxford or a Cambridge University-type setting or that of an English private school.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour, ordered home early because of Hurricane Dean, has landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Sylvester (”Rocky Balboa”) Stallone may be in a position to help his alma mater, the high school that was ready to give him the boot back in the late 60s. That same school, in 1981, awarded him an honorary diploma during the filming of Rocky III, but the footage was never used. While at the [...]

Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration. Certain people are angry that the U.S. might protect its own borders, making it harder for some to sneak into this country and, once here, for those sneaks to stay in the U.S. indefinitely.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, 73, died around 1:40 p.m. today, from an apparent heart attack, according to CNN and the Associated Press.

When reporters showed up, the family attorney got in front of the cameras, being a ham, saying something along the line of: The family didn’t have to call the cops about the dead baby in the trunk of the car. They had no responsibility to report the baby in the trunk. They called the cops to be nice.

Tags: body in trunk, cars, dead babies in trunk, dead baby, idiots, immature, liars, murder, rich kids, spoiled brats, whiners

It seems chemical sludge really does drain all the brains. Elected slimeballs that sit in New Jersey’s statehouse, located in Trenton, are living proof of this. There are no need for control studies, just read the latest news from Trenton.

Tags: brainless, mindless, New Jersey, NJ, politicians, senseless