(05-05-2016 01:00 AM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(05-03-2016 09:33 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  I guess Rice won't get the Cruz Presidential Library until 2028 at the earliest now? The track/soccer stadium is safe for now.

I really wish we had the George H. W. Bush Library. President Bush was a class act, and the complement to the Baker Institute would be pretty cool. I don't know if was quite ours for the taking, but we certainly had a chance. Given our smaller campus, it would have been different from what was eventually built in College Station -- it might have looked more like the LBJ Library in Austin. But it would have been in Houston, which is where Bush's library belongs, and it would have attached Rice's name to a high-profile institution, which is pretty rare.

Instead, Rice has:
- No presidential library, unlike UT, A&M, SMU, Harvard, Stanford, Michigan...
- No government laboratory, unlike Cal, Caltech, Stanford, Chicago, Iowa State, Stony Brook, Tennessee...
- No private contract laboratory, unlike UT, MIT...
- No astronomical observatory, unlike Caltech, UT...
Even the BRC (which remains largely empty) doesn't carry the Rice name; in fact, the word "Rice" was added to the facade only as an afterthought -- and almost invisibly.

But we have a leadership institute!

I guess Trump is trying to mend fences with Hispanics:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/stat...7418247168

"I love Hispanics!" LOL

This guy figured out that he's eat the taco bowl on top of a picture of his ex-wife Marla Maples in a bikini.

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/...9667044352

(05-05-2016 04:25 PM)JustAnotherAustinOwl Wrote:  I guess Trump is trying to mend fences with Hispanics:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/stat...7418247168

"I love Hispanics!" LOL

This guy figured out that he's eat the taco bowl on top of a picture of his ex-wife Marla Maples in a bikini.

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/...9667044352

Yeah, I've noticed that the "I love _____" usually follows the insult closely. Of course, it is not limited to Trump. I hear Hillary loves coal miners now.

Even in this craziest of election years it looks like we *still* won't get a contested convention. Though who knows, with Ryan refusing to endorse Trump, as have the last two Republican presidents. Crazy situation.

Still not clear to me what Bernie's end game is. I think he'll support Clinton in the end, but not sure about all of his supporters.

(03-24-2016 03:19 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(03-13-2016 04:45 PM)JustAnotherAustinOwl Wrote:  Donald Trump: "All I know is what's on the internet."

Reminds me of a Rice alum several years ago who landed a pretty important job in the Hillary Clinton State Dept., and then said with some pride in an interview: "All I know about foreign policy is what I've read in the New York Times and the New Republic."

At least the Internet offers a range of perspectives :)

Apparently the tendency to hire unprepared Rice alums to important foreign policy positions runs all the way to the Obama White House, judging from this recent puff piece in the New York Times:

The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama's Foreign-Policy Guru [sic]

The article also has a couple of interesting juxtapositions. For example:
(a)

Quote:Rhodes strategized and ran the successful [sic] Iran-deal messaging campaign, helped negotiate the opening of American relations with Cuba after a hiatus of more than 50 years and has been a co-writer of all of Obama’s major foreign-policy speeches.

(b)

Quote: "Every day he does 12 jobs, and he does them better [sic] than the other people who have those jobs," Terry Szuplat, the longest-tenured member of the National Security Council speechwriting corps, told me.

Obviously, it's hard to reconcile those two statements -- unless the Szuplat quote was meant to be a wholesale indictment of everyone else in the Obama foreign policy circle.

And:
(a)

Quote: His lack of conventional real-world experience of the kind that normally precedes responsibility for the fate of nations — like military or diplomatic service, or even a master’s degree in international relations, rather than creative writing — is still startling.

(b)

Quote: He is, according to the consensus of the two dozen current and former White House insiders I talked to, the single most influential voice shaping American foreign policy aside from Potus himself.

Perhaps the best we can say about that combination of facts is that it is ... informative.

The article also uses some words in interesting ways. In addition to the odd interpretations of "successful" and "better" noted above, the headline makes creative use of the term "guru" -- ordinarily understood to be a sage or master of some particular knowledge, but apparently in this case meaning something closer to "alter ego" or perhaps "idolator".

"New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will serve as the chairman of Donald Trump's transition team should he win the presidency, the presumptive Republican nominee's campaign announced Monday."

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/tr...ion-222962

(05-06-2016 11:11 AM)georgewebb Wrote:  Apparently the tendency to hire unprepared Rice alums to important foreign policy positions runs all the way to the Obama White House, judging from this recent puff piece in the New York Times:

The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama's Foreign-Policy Guru [sic]

The article also has a couple of interesting juxtapositions. For example:
(a)

Quote:Rhodes strategized and ran the successful [sic] Iran-deal messaging campaign, helped negotiate the opening of American relations with Cuba after a hiatus of more than 50 years and has been a co-writer of all of Obama’s major foreign-policy speeches.

(b)

Quote: "Every day he does 12 jobs, and he does them better [sic] than the other people who have those jobs," Terry Szuplat, the longest-tenured member of the National Security Council speechwriting corps, told me.

Obviously, it's hard to reconcile those two statements -- unless the Szuplat quote was meant to be a wholesale indictment of everyone else in the Obama foreign policy circle.

And:
(a)

Quote: His lack of conventional real-world experience of the kind that normally precedes responsibility for the fate of nations — like military or diplomatic service, or even a master’s degree in international relations, rather than creative writing — is still startling.

(b)

Quote: He is, according to the consensus of the two dozen current and former White House insiders I talked to, the single most influential voice shaping American foreign policy aside from Potus himself.

Perhaps the best we can say about that combination of facts is that it is ... informative.

The article also uses some words in interesting ways. In addition to the odd interpretations of "successful" and "better" noted above, the headline makes creative use of the term "guru" -- ordinarily understood to be a sage or master of some particular knowledge, but apparently in this case meaning something closer to "alter ego" or perhaps "idolator".

This is an unfortunate continuation of a trend I've noticed among Rice alumni in government. Recently, they've been embarrassments. If you were to ask the average American what he or she knows about former Houston mayor Annise Parker, for example, that person would probably note that she was the lady that tried to censor pastors' Sunday sermons. For Josh Earnest, it would be that guy that stands up at White House press conferences and avoids giving honest answers to questions (although it's really not his fault since he's doing his master's bidding). These are probably the two most well-known, although you could have a dishonorable mention for George Greanias, the former city councilman and controller, who is perhaps best-known for having been caught with pornography on his office computer while the head of METRO (then again, he used to be a RA at Motel Wiess...).

There aren't too many Rice alumni in politics that are well-known, and the Rhodes case only continues to sully Rice's reputation in that regard. I know that there are some other Owls in positions of responsibility, like George P. Bush and Pete Olson, but you never hear anything about them. It seems like the last well-known Rice alumnus in politics that people actually thought well of was William P. Hobby....

Is there anybody left with any sense?

(05-10-2016 12:50 AM)Jonathan Sadow Wrote:  This is an unfortunate continuation of a trend I've noticed among Rice alumni in government. Recently, they've been embarrassments.

No Alberto Gonzalez? Or Jim Bridenstine?

(05-10-2016 07:59 AM)JOwl Wrote:  

(05-10-2016 12:50 AM)Jonathan Sadow Wrote:  This is an unfortunate continuation of a trend I've noticed among Rice alumni in government. Recently, they've been embarrassments.

No Alberto Gonzalez? Or Jim Bridenstine?

Ed Emmett is another Rice alum doing well in politics, albeit very locally.

And I don't think Parker has as much of a black eye as suggested. She did just finish up a stint at the Kennedy School and will be returning to Rice as a lecturer. So while the average American may know her for a rather sensationalized piece of current events (and I doubt they even remember that), the average American also doesn't know who the mayor of any town but their own is (if they even know that).

You may, of course, be sure that someone whose policies you oppose is foolish and wrong. But that alone doesn't make them an embarrassment to your alma mater. There are plenty of reasonable people who don't think the Iran deal and the opening of relations with Cuba are catastrophes, or who are at least willing to consider the possibility that they aren't catastrophes.

I live in Texas and, honestly, I'm not familiar with (or have forgotten) the "censoring pastors" story. I think the average American, if they've heard of Parker, will know only that she's gay. The nation at large has no concern for Houston's culture wars.

And a White House press secretary who avoids giving honest answers? I'm shocked - shocked!

I very strongly oppose actions Alberto Gonzales and Sharon Keller have taken, but I don't consider those stains on my diploma.

The WH press sec has to sometimes defend the indefensible and explain the unexplainable.

Tough job. But he took it voluntarily, I presume.

(05-13-2016 05:35 PM)S.A. Owl Wrote:  There are plenty of reasonable people who don't think the Iran deal and the opening of relations with Cuba are catastrophes, or who are at least willing to consider the possibility that they aren't catastrophes.

On the other hand, I'm not sure there is any credible observer who considers them crowning successes, as the author of the Rhodes puff piece seems to think.

(05-13-2016 05:35 PM)S.A. Owl Wrote:  And a White House press secretary who avoids giving honest answers? I'm shocked - shocked!

Spin certainly goes with the job. Nevertheless, even by the standards of White House press secretaries, Earnest has a reputation of being exceptionally untrustworthy, and of rather enjoying being so.

Likewise, as foreign policy advisors go, Rhodes's combination of influence and unpreparedness is extraordinary.

When there are so few Rice alums in high-level politics, it is fair to be disappointed that these are two of the best known.

The good news is Trump will save the American taxpayers money by being his own press secretary.

(05-14-2016 07:03 AM)JustAnotherAustinOwl Wrote:  The good news is Trump will save the American taxpayers money by being his own press secretary.

Actually, not a bad idea to have every President do his own spinning, defending the indefensible and explaining the unexplainable.

I rate this idea four hot fudge sundaes.

(05-13-2016 08:30 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(05-13-2016 05:35 PM)S.A. Owl Wrote:  There are plenty of reasonable people who don't think the Iran deal and the opening of relations with Cuba are catastrophes, or who are at least willing to consider the possibility that they aren't catastrophes.

On the other hand, I'm not sure there is any credible observer who considers them crowning successes, as the author of the Rhodes puff piece seems to think.

(05-13-2016 05:35 PM)S.A. Owl Wrote:  And a White House press secretary who avoids giving honest answers? I'm shocked - shocked!

Spin certainly goes with the job. Nevertheless, even by the standards of White House press secretaries, Earnest has a reputation of being exceptionally untrustworthy, and of rather enjoying being so.

Likewise, as foreign policy advisors go, Rhodes's combination of influence and unpreparedness is extraordinary.

When there are so few Rice alums in high-level politics, it is fair to be disappointed that these are two of the best known.

Author of the Rhodes article responds - interesting read

(05-14-2016 05:01 PM)ausowl Wrote:  Author of the Rhodes article responds - interesting read

Interesting indeed. The blogosphere has rather exploded about this particular article -- I certainly wouldn't have expected all that.

Well, Trump has brought back the "Hillary killed Vince Foster" conspiracy theories. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that this election will leave something to be desired in terms of high minded policy discussion.

Also looks like the Libertarian ticket might be Johnson-Weld. That's as qualified a third party ticket as we've had in a long time.

Paul Ryan: Trump's comments on the federal judge "indefensible" and "the textbook definition of a racist comment". Also, he still supports and plans to vote for him.

Can he keep up this act for five months?

Another brutal ad which basically just uses Trumps own words against him:

http://time.com/4359132/donald-trump-hil...er-pac-ad/

(06-07-2016 02:56 PM)JustAnotherAustinOwl Wrote:  Paul Ryan: Trump's comments on the federal judge "indefensible" and "the textbook definition of a racist comment". Also, he still supports and plans to vote for him.

Can he keep up this act for five months?

Another brutal ad which basically just uses Trumps own words against him:

http://time.com/4359132/donald-trump-hil...er-pac-ad/

Just watched the ad there, and it's impressive to say the least. When you're talking about someone being fit to serve in the highest office in the country, that video is a prime example of someone who isn't fit.

What's scary though, is that I have a feeling that a significant amount of people will see that ad and they will only increase their support for Trump.