Posted on 06/28/2008 7:01:21 AM PDT by SE Mom
The Washington Post has published an unintentionally amusing article this morning about one Danielle Allen, a "razor-sharp, 36-year-old political theorist" at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies. Allen, with doctorates from Cambridge and Harvard, won a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation genius grant a few years ago and now conducts studies at the Institute, where, according to the Post, "she works alongside groundbreaking physicists, mathematicians and social scientists. They don't have to teach, and they face no quotas on what they publish. Their only mandate is to work in the tradition of Einstein, wrestling with the most vexing problems in the universe."
And one of the most vexing problems in the universe, which Allen has decided to pursue in the tradition of Einstein, is the origin of a number of e-mails claiming that Barack Obama is a Muslim. Using the advanced research tools at her disposal, the razor-sharp Allen found…a couple of posters on the Free Republic website, plus a former political rival of Obama's who sends out zillions of e-mails to reporters every day.
The former political rival appears to have been completely open about the stuff he sent out, some of which was based on arguments similar to an op-ed that appeared in the pages of the New York Times. As for Free Republic, according to the Post, Allen "counted 23 freepers among those engaging in regular discussions about Obama's religion, and isolated a handful whom she began to suspect as having a role in the e-mail. Sifting through hundreds of postings, she began to piece together their identities."
Allen gave her information to the Post reporter, who used it to track down two allegedly offending freepers, one a 69-year-old retired grandfather in the suburbs of Boston and the other a 60-year-old schoolteacher in rural Washington state. Both said they had nothing to do with the emails. And that's about it.
But the article has a pretty clear subtext, and it is that the exchange of such information on the Internet should be controlled. "I started thinking, 'How does one stop it?'" Allen told the Post. "Citizens and political scientists must face the fact that the Internet has enabled a new form of political organization that is just as influential on local and national elections as unions and political action committees…This kind of misinformation campaign short-circuits judgment. It also aggressively disregards the fundamental principle of free societies that one be able to debate one's accusers."
Of course, we have laws that regulate the political activities of unions and political action committees. Is it going too far to guess that the scholar from the Institute for Advanced Studies might be searching for some way to do the same for Free Republic?
06/28 08:45 AM
I think that comment was bogus. She doesn’t have interning or the NR listed on her bio, but she did intern for NPR..
LOL! I saw that and promptly e-mailed Byron York (since Ramesh doesn’t provide his email) with links to Danielle’s political contributions to Obama and the link to her being under investigation for possibly working for Obama behind the scenes..
2.8 Use of Institute Resources
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Occasionally it is necessary for Institute personnel to monitor or gain access to some of these resources, as in cases of employee absence, emergency, equipment maintenance or upgrade, or because of security concerns. Institute community members are encouraged not to use Institute equipment to store or send sensitive personal information.
In general, members of the Institute may not use Institute resources to carry out private business or activities for their personal financial benefit. On occasion, incidental personal use of equipment may be permitted on a limited basis provided such use does not impact negatively the work of the office or the department. (For more detailed information on the use of Institute technology, see the Computer Use Guidelines in the Employee Handbook and the Computer Use Guidelines on the Institute web page.)
The Institute's logo, seal, name or endorsement may be used only with the prior consent of the Associate Director or Director. The Institute considers all non-public information as proprietary and as such, expects it to remain confidential.
Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that Institute community members understand and adhere to this policy.
That’s a shock.. how can or do they technically do that?
freepmail!
A mole in the ranks!! Say it ain't so!
Your making an assumption. She may have been culturally unable to do well on an IQ test. (The opinions of those who attempt to discredit IQ tests based on some theory of cultural discrimination are not my own, Danielle.)
You can get his e-mail through his archived articles, but it goes through NR, not Outlook (or whatever you use).
Affirmative action was involved.
She actually does sound like a pretty smart lady. - link.
IMHO it's totally appropriate to be be doing such partisan work at the IAS but it's a private organization, so unless she is forced out by other professors there, nothing much will be done about it.
HF
I figure all us regulars have a CIA file a mile long. No telling how our identities get leaked. Best protection on the planet if you are not a anarchist if ask me.
See 138, the IAS would disagree.
Coffee please and stat!
I’m pretty sure Danielle would do better on an IQ test than me. She looks pretty sharp. She’s lacking in other areas like common sense. You don’t elect flaming liberals to be President. Especially when they will have a Democrat Congress to lock in and make law their harebrained schemes
She will find that patriots are not held back. She will increase the speculation of Obama, his religion, his true motives, his ties one hundred fold.
Why would he care that people knew he had muslim leanings - all liberals do. They are always on the side of terrorists, even to the point of bringing them to the U.S. so that their message will be blasted on the air for a year during their trials.
They are too dumb to see that a country unprotected (especially one of the richest in the world) will not long survive. And if a population is so ignorant as to deny threats and believe propaganda, they will be led by a dictator.
Freedom is not guaranteed. It has been fought for and millions have died for it. Be careful how you handle the gift of freedom you were handed at birth Ms. D. Allen.
Funny - blacks fall all over themselves jumping on the bandwagon of a black candidate for President ignoring what the man stands for, what he will do to their hard won rights of freedom and equality. All on the “carrot” thrown out -”Change”.
They never give a thought to the fact that all those gains could be lost in a 4-year period by believing that someone mentioning “change” will give them the “change” they want. They just assume he means he will give them their heart’s desire and that he is one of them.
Not true - all indications are that he is selling them a bill of goods and all efforts will lower their standard of living, will put all power in his hands and be a major step toward a dictatorship for them. All their goals down the drain because they want to believe “change” means what they think “change” will mean.
Please see link in post # 134 for more about Danielle...
It’s not affirmative action. She is an outright triple quota...woman, black and lesbian.
My source is an email sent by some guy/girl named BeckEva.
NEWSFLASH for Miss Allen!
That diploma the wizard gave to the scarecrow was just a piece of paper!
Genius is as genius does. You do stupid well. Genius... not so much.
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BARACK AWAY FROM OBAMA... MCCAIN IS BETTER!
Hmmmm
Begins to look like the formation of a Mark I Mod 0 Charlie Foxtrot.
Wonder who’s going to take the hit when WaPo has to confess to fabricating another story out of thin air and moonbeams.
LOL
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