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.

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An unidentified Marine sniper, formerly stationed in Iraq, has been pulled out of the country and sent back to the United States. Why? Because he allegedly used a Quran as a target early this month during some target practice at a shooting range at the Radhwaniya police station, located on Baghdad’s western outskirts, according to reports.

Did the U.S. Marine do this? Under U.S. law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), a case must first be made, and then his innocence or guilt is determined, not hang him first and then figure out later if he actually did anything wrong. Oh, wait! Muslims are offended by this offense, so, by all means, let’s hang him now and later figure out his guilt or innocence.

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It seems some five million of our oldest, as well as disabled, citizens, have not yet signed up for their Medicare Part D drug plan. To help them, what does Congress do? Decide to not grant them an extension.

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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.

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If you pay attention to CNN, the city of Philadelphia, known as the “City of Brotherly Love,” some in the city are calling it the “City of Brotherly Hate.” The people giving it that name may be the ones who recently attended a rally at the Community College of Philadelphia, though.

One of the speakers, identified as Dorothy Speight Johnson, of Mothers in Charge, said he son was gunned down for parking in someone else’s parking spot. See, here in Philadelphia there is very little assigned parking, so this had to be a turf/gang thing. Johnson, speaking at the gathering, which was filmed by CNN, said her son had been shot seven times for that parking spot.

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