Free Republic

There's a Facebook group to stop the University from awarding the degree to Al Gore. Click here to join.

You can also email the University at chancellor@utk.edu.

Go Vols!

While I’m ranting on, I’ll state that the slice of America who could ask questions was thin. Must have access to a broadband-connected computer, must have a webcam, a microphone, and know how to use it all to record, edit, and post a clear understandable vid. A lot of kids and slackers do, but among “most likely to vote”, not that many. AARP members seem to be underrepresented on Youtube and Myspace for some reason.

Actually those demographics are rapidly catching up. The average age for a blogger is mid-forties. And MySpace and Facebook are quickly growing with Boomers. More than half the country has access to Broadband and roughly 40% regularly view YouTube videos.

This is a misnomer that is crippling the Republican Party. The web allows conversations and true discussions to take place. If used correctly, it's a much better form of democracy than broadcast campaigns. If you want actual numbers, visit

I was just talking about this with a friend. I'm in grad school in DC, and look at the crime rate here. Campus is pretty lax with security, and this could happen very easily.

Having graduated from a large state-school (30,000 undergrads) and now attending a small liberal arts school (about 8,000 total students), security on most college campuses is really nonexistent. It does make you wonder if concealed weapons should be allowed. DC's gun law is questionable, but even in Knoxville, guns were banned from campus, and UT is a major ag school. I think the vast majority of colleges ban weapons on school property.

Bump

Thank you for your help!

When I started grad school this fall, I was shocked to see all the freshmen girls dressed like early Madonna or the Bangles. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that teens today are too young to remember the 80s the first time.

As an older Gen Yer (1981), I have enough respect for the 80's to remember my leg warmers and butterfly bangs warmly, but to not return to them. Now, they need to do a remake of the Wuzzles.

This is a feature film based on the shorter, Brainwashing 101 version that came out two years ago. I believe that they added addtional footage and turned it into a feature. I was at the University of Tennessee when this was filmed and some of my friends are in the trailer.

My best friend from college is from Hawkins County. It's a pretty scary place.

Why is FDA regulation so bad? If you read the legislation, it will not affect the sale of tobacco, but force the industry to actually label the packages with the chemicals that are in cigarettes (such as cyanide, arsenic and my favorite-polonium 210). It also strictly regulates marketing towards children. Since 90% of smokers become addicted before the age of 18, this is a problem in our society.

Isn't is strange that the FDA regulates all other products that contains nicotine, (gum, patches, nasal spray, gel, prescription drugs for quitting), but doesn't regulate the one product that contains the greatest amount of this drug? I'm going to get flamed here, but nicotine is a highly addictive substance and should therefore be regulated by our government.

Don't give me the old, "but it's my personal right to slowly flambe my lungs." I'm sick of flipping the bill for socialized medicine paying for COPD, lung cancer, and other tobacco-related causes. Medicare recipients are 50% more likely to smoke. Why should I be forced to pay more in taxes so that they can feed their selfish addiction?

Don't even get me started on secondhand smoke...

I saw the movie this weekend and loved it. I'm hoping to see it again soon.

I will admit to being a huge Clive Owen fan and typically like dark, morose movies. However, I thought that this was an interesting take on what would happen in civilization if something as basic as procreation was taken away. I guess you could read some Bush-bashing into it, but given the nature of Hollywood today, it's going to happen.

I'd highly recommend the movie and hope that it gets several Oscar noms including best picture, director, actor and cinematography.

"Rocky Top should be No. 1 followed by "Sweet Home Alabama." Except that in Big Orange Country we have a special version of that song.

You can't have Louisiana without Cajun music! "On the Bayou," "Diggy Diggy Lo" by Doug Kershaw, and "C'est Si Triste" by Ann Savoy come to mind.

How is this different from Hitler and his belief in eugenics?

You're forgetting that both Auburn and Arkansas have to battle it out for SEC West. That is if Arkansas gets past the Vols and LSU in a few weeks. Vandy is also proving to upset the rankings this year. At this point, there are so many variables in the SEC that it's impossible to tell who will go to the SEC championship in Atlanta or even be a contender for the National Championship.

There have been several articles out lately about how the SEC is so competitive that it's destroying any chances of national championships. Just look what shape the SEC East is in right now. Everyone has at least one loss and the season is only half-way over. At least it's nice to show the rest of the country how football should be played.

DC has some odd factors. The city is extremely transient with people only living here an average of two years. Also, the majority of people are in their 20s and 30s and are very career oriented or working on graduate degrees. On average, people don't get married until early 30s.

In my experience, it's hard to date, so I'm not surprised that marriage rates so low here.

This is great news because campaigning in Alexandria is preaching to the choir. The city is 70% Democratic.

I know some hard-core Alexandria liberals who hate Webb, so they're just not voting. If you can't even pull Alexandria, you're in a bad shape.

Allen's new ads about Webb's treatment of women in the military are good. Webb looks even more like a jerk.

"A lot of younger people who are hired into journalism don't stay that long," Weaver said.

Why stay in a high-pressure field with horrible hours when you're only making on avergage $22,000 a year with a college degree? Most of the other communication fields pay significantly higher with much better work environments.

You're forgetting that people might not like the sciences. I'm competent in math, but if I had chosen to go on an engineering track just to get a high-paying job, I would have shot myself by now.

I'm going to get flamed for this, but it's a much harder world out there now than when people were starting out in the 70s and 80s. College expenses have dramatically inflated and the cost of living is comparitively much higher. The average student graduates with $20,000 in debt.

Factor in that many fields only have jobs in certain parts of the country, and you have a lot of entry level workers surviving in major cities on 25-30k a year. That's tough!

I opted to go into communications knowing that I'd never make what an engineer earns but realizing that I'd be much happier. There are relevant fields aside from the hard sciences, compters and business. In my view, it's better to be happy in my job than make lots of money. Buying a house isn't in my near future, but at the end of the day I'm happy with my life.

Twenty years ago, there were fewer college graduates out there competing for more jobs. Now, everyone has a college degree and entry level workers are competing against people with graduate experience.

Hasn't the failure of HillaryCare in Tennessee acted as an example to anyone? The state's been hemorrhaging money for the past decade or so while our education programs continue to fall farther and farther behind.

Riigght. The only advantage the Dawgs have is that the game is in Athens.

The SEC is strong this year. Sadly, the conference will be so bloody, that I doubt anyone will have a chance at a national championship. That'll probably go to some other pansy division.

Nothing beats good, old-fashioned defensive SEC football game on a Saturday evening during the fall.