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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Box-By-The-Riviera™ who wrote (333223)	4/2/2007 3:07:59 PM
From: Broken_Clock	Respond to of 436258

Mormons grow balls. ================== BYU Campus Protests Dick Cheney Speech Apr 2 02:49 PM US/Eastern By DEBBIE HUMMEL Associated Press Writer PROVO, Utah (AP) - Some students and faculty on one of the nation's most conservative campuses want Brigham Young University to withdraw an invitation for Vice President Dick Cheney to speak at commencement later this month. Critics at the school question whether Cheney sets a good example for graduates, citing his promotion of faulty intelligence before the Iraq war and his role in the CIA leak scandal. The private university, which is owned by the Mormon church, has "a heavy emphasis on personal honesty and integrity in all we do," said Warner Woodworth, a professor at BYU's business school. "Cheney just doesn't measure up," he said. Woodworth is helping organize an online petition asking that the school rescind its invitation to the vice president. In its first week, the petition collected more than 2,300 signatures, mostly from people describing themselves as students, alumni or members of the church. The display of dissent is rare for a university that has been voted the nation's most "stone-cold sober" school nine years in a row in the annual Princeton Review of party schools. Students at BYU adhere to a strict honor code that forbids everything from drinking coffee to wearing shorts or short skirts. The school's 30,000 students seldom even stray from campus sidewalks, leaving its lawns pristine. "Cougars don't cut corners," is how one saying describes students, most of whom belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But student Diane Bailey, who is leading a protest Wednesday against Cheney's visit, said students are not "robotic conservatives." Bailey and others are upset by Cheney's role in promoting faulty intelligence that led the U.S. into the Iraq war. They also cite his proximity to the CIA leak scandal in which his chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. Cheney's BYU speech is the first of two commencement addresses he is scheduled to give this spring. The other will be May 26 at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Both are institutions where Cheney could have expected to receive a warm reception, Woodworth said. Utah has consistently supported the administration, delivering President Bush his largest margin of victory in any state in 2000 and In Utah County, home to BYU, about 85 percent of voters chose the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2004. Richard Davis, a political-science professor and adviser for the college Democrats, said the uproar over Cheney's visit is evidence of a rift within the school and church that belies the faith's larger claim of being politically neutral. "He should be invited to come. He should speak. But let's not send the signal that we're abandoning our political neutrality," Davis said. "There is no political gospel in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints." The church has a policy of political neutrality and issues an annual statement declaring that both major political parties include ideals that Mormons could embrace. "It's one thing to invite some milquetoast Republican. But Dick Cheney?" Davis said. The protest reflects lack of support for Cheney, as well as "the larger issue of diversity and more liberal people within the BYU community and within the LDS church." Historically dissent has not been well received at the school. Last year, a BYU professor wrote a newspaper opinion piece opposing the church's call for a constitutional ban on gay marriage. In response, the school announced it would not renew Jeffrey Nielsen's contract. Cheney's office said his commencement speech would not have a political theme. The school approved a permit for the college Democrats' Wednesday protest and is working on finding a protest site for the day of Cheney's speech. "We recognize that members of our campus community are entitled to their opinions," said university spokeswoman Carri Jenkins. "Political neutrality does not mean there cannot be any political discussion." Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

To: Box-By-The-Riviera™ who wrote (333223)	4/2/2007 6:12:34 PM
From: Broken_Clock	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

The surge isn't surging. Gee, imagine that.... ========= Truck bomb kills 12, U.S. rushes troops to Iraq Mon Apr 2, 2007 5:54pm ET137 Related News U.S. sends troops back to Iraq to maintain "surge" Snipers back at Baghdad market after McCain visit Iraq's Sunni Arabs vow to step up Qaeda battle FACTBOX: Military and civilian deaths in Iraq FACTBOX: Security developments in Iraq, April 2 British soldier killed on patrol in Basra Top Iraqi Shi'ite cleric rejects Baathist law By Mustafa Mohammed KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed 12 people and wounded around 150 in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Monday in the latest attack by insurgents using explosives-laden trucks. Insurgents have hit a string of northern towns in the past 10 days in bombings that have killed hundreds of people. Many of the victims of Monday's attack were women and children at a nearby school, police said. The U.S. military, thinly stretched by the war and facing proposed funding cuts by the Democratic-controlled Congress, said on Monday that thousands of troops would have to return to Iraq sooner than their promised year at home to maintain President George W. Bush's new Baghdad security plan. Officials, who blame the recent attacks on Sunni Islamist militants from al Qaeda, say insurgents have shifted the focus of attacks to outside Baghdad due to the nearly seven-week-old crackdown in the capital. In other violence, the bodies of 19 men from a Shi'ite village kidnapped by gunmen at a fake checkpoint north of Baghdad were found on Monday, police said. All had been shot in the head in one of the biggest kidnappings in months. The joint offensive by U.S. and Iraqi forces is seen as a final attempt to halt Iraq's plunge into sectarian civil war. Continued... © Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.