Free Republic

In a new study, bound to stir controversy, researchers have found that people with low IQ tend to have socially conservative ideals and prejudiced attitudes toward others, including people of different races and homosexuals. The new study published earlier this month in the journal Psychological Science found that British children with lower general intelligence factor (similar to IQ) are more likely to be racially prejudiced as adults. "We found that lower general intelligence in childhood predicts greater racism in adulthood, and this effect was largely mediated via conservative ideology," lead researchers Gordon Hodson and Michael A. Busseri of Brock University,...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - All week long, the chatter about Virginia being on the rise left out an important fact in the mind of Virginia Tech's players: They were still the best in the commonwealth until proven otherwise. The No. 6 Hokies showed they were tops Saturday night, blanking the No. 24 Cavaliers 38-0, their first shutout loss at home in 172 games - since a 55-0 defeat to Clemson on Sept. 8, 1984.

The Board of Visitors approved a regulation Friday banning firearms on Grounds, at the University Medical Center and at the College at Wise. The regulation is consistent with an already existing University policy prohibiting weapons, fireworks and explosives on University property. The decision comes after Virginia Attorney General and University alumnus Ken Cuccinelli opined in July that the University’s “policy” banning weapons could not apply to those with concealed weapons permits. In the opinion, Cuccinelli acknowledged that a similar regulation at George Mason University carries the force of law with regard to concealed weapons. “Regulations” undergo a more formal process...

I shared an apartment last year with an Enviro Science undergrad, and I was friendly with an ES grad student also. One night down in a corner bar, she introduced me to 7 of her her ES grad school colleagues, telling them I was a “skeptic,” and saying “get him.” They were a friendly bunch at first, so I was up for a little beer swilling debate. I began by asking them why we had a global warming the first half of the 19th. Century, and to answer me without pulling out their iPhones. (ever wonder why people who think...

On the heels of his recent opinion holding that "self-defense" is "good and sufficient reason" to carry a gun to church, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli now says that state colleges like the University of Virginia cannot ban the carriage of concealed handguns by proper license holders. The opinion was written in response to a question by Senator Emmett Hanger (R-Mount Solon). . . . According to OpenCarry.org's campus carry map, most states are just like Virginia and do not generally prohibit by law gun carry on college campuses by visitors or students. . . .

Fri-Sat-Sun (best of 3) Mississippi State at Florida 12pm (Game 1 & Game 2) Stanford at UNC 3pm (Game 1 & Game 2) Texas at Arizona State 7pm (Game 1 & Game 2) Oregon St at Vanderbelt 8pm ( 9pm Game 2) Game 3 , if Necessary, TBD Sat-Sun-Mon (best of 3) UC Irvin at UVA 1pm ( Game 1 & Game 2) Texas AM at FSU 430pm (1pm Game 2) UConn at South Carolina 6pm (7pm Game 2) Dallas Baptist at Cal 8pm (10pm Game 2) Game 3 , if Necessary, TBD

Yes, the Washington Post has actually taken the stand that the Freedom of Information Act is "misused" by folks like me trying to get to the bottom of Climategate. The Washington Post has printed an editorial sniveling about a court order, prompted by a lawsuit, laying out how the University of Virginia must release certain records. These records relate to a former faculty member and pertain to the Climategate and “hockey stick graph” scandals.The editorial expresses umbrage with my seeking out the records on behalf of the America Tradition Institute, which I suppose is more palatable for the WaPo to...

In late April, Johnathan Perkins, a third-year law student at UVA, wrote a letter to the editor that was published in Virginia Law Weekly, the law school’s student newspaper. In his letter, Perkins claimed that he was harassed by UVA university police while walking home from a party, purportedly on account of his race (he’s African-American). Perkins said he was moved to share the story “because it is important for my classmates to hear a real-life anecdote illustrating the myth of equal protection under the law.” The trouble is, it was anything but a “real-life anecdote,” as Perkins himself recently...

In April, a University of Virgina third-year law student, Jonathan Perkins, wrote a letter to the editor of the Virgina Law Weekly where he described how he was harassed by university police while walking home one night, due to being African American. The account is long and richly detailed, complete with dialogue between him and the officers and descriptions of his thought process during the events. He concludes this account with the statement that: I am writing this column because it is important for my classmates to hear a real-life anecdote illustrating the myth of equal protection under the law....

I think it was Thomas Jefferson who first said ‘Laws are great, in theory, but…’ As his other project, the University of Virginia, gets further backed into a corner on the ‘Hockey Stick’ records it is spending upwards of a half a million dollars to keep from the public (even though the public paid for and has every right to them), we now see what Charlottesville radio host Joe Thomas of WCHV likes to note in this context as “UVA getting its Nixon on”. This time with a little help from its friends outraged that laws would be applied to...

RICHMOND – Delegate Bob Marshall needs to severely revamp two bills he’s introduced in reaction to the University of Virginia withholding controversial climate change research, members of a House subcommittee told him Thursday. The Manassas Republican wants public employees to be fired if they willfully withhold documents that are subject to disclosure via the Freedom of Information Act. His target: UVA employees who withheld climate change documents from him last year. But the bill Marshall offered before the FOIA/procurement subcommittee of the House general laws committee contains language he didn’t intend. It allows a judge to terminate the employment of...

<p>RICHMOND, Va. - A power struggle is unfolding in Virginia over climate change research. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has been taking the University of Virginia to court to get information on a climate change researcher who once worked at the school.</p>

Tom Perriello is a first term Democrat representing the 5th district of Virginia, in the central to central-western portion of Virginia. He is an Obama supporting liberal Democrat..... The YouTube footage shows Americans For Prosperity backers trying to hand out "Socialism Isn't Cool" bumper stickers to Perriello supporters waiting in line at a Perriello rally in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia..... Of note here in the YouTube video are the remarks made by the middle class, educated, politically astute and fashionably left wing rally-goers in central Virginia. (The University of Virginia is located in Charlottesville. The outdoor downtown mall area where this...

Link only, per FR posting rules

A judge on Monday thwarted Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's bid to investigate whether a former University of Virginia professor fraudulently obtained public research money by cooking up climate change data. Cuccinelli, a global warming cynic, sought documents relating to the research of climate scientist Michael Mann, who was behind the so-called "hockey stick" graph in last year's "Climategate scandal." But Albemarle County Circuit Court Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. said Cuccinelli provided no "objective basis" that Mann defrauded taxpayers. "It is not clear what [Mann] did that was misleading, false or fraudulent in obtaining funds from the commonwealth of...

According to the University of Virginia's Information Technology and Communication (ITC), which services the IT needs for most of the campus, 43 percent of first-year students at its residence halls during 2009 were using a Mac.The figure represents a continuation of a five-year trend that's seeing increased Mac penetration on the campus amongst first year students. Prior to 2004, Mac usage amongst freshmen hovered between three and four percent (with the exception of 1997). 2004, however, served as a watershed year: share increased by four percentage points. A host of theories can help explain this jump. I'd probably point to...

Where is the Virginia AG investigation of Mann's activities at University of Virginia?

The University of Virginia filed a court challenge today seeking to block Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's investigation of climate scientist Michael Mann. The university filed a petition in Albemarle County Circuit Court as the first step in a legal process to set aside Cuccinelli's civil subpoena seeking documents relating to global-warming research by Mann, who left U.Va. in 2005 and now works at Pennsylvania State University. President John T. Casteen III said the university intends to protect academic freedom. The issuance of Civil Investigative Demands, or CIDs, "has sent a chill through the commonwealth's colleges and universities -- a...

Yeardley Love was upon the best time of her life. The woman from Cockeysville, Md., who said she always dreamed of playing lacrosse at Virginia, was only weeks from earning a degree, and she and her teammates were anticipating a chance to punctuate their season by winning a national championship.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - A University of Virginia men's lacrosse player was charged Monday with first-degree murder in the death of a women's lacrosse player. George Huguely, 22, of Chevy Chase, Md., was charged in the death of Yeardley Love, 22, of Cockeysville, Md., Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said. Both were seniors. Longo said Love's roommate called police around 2:15 a.m. concerned that Love may have had an alcohol overdose, but police found her dead with obvious physical injuries to her body. "It was quickly apparent to them that this young lady was the victim of something far worse,"...

This blog’s hero of the week is Ken Cuccinelli. He’s the new Attorney General of Virginia and he’s about to launch quite possibly the most delicious and worthwhile law suit in the entire history of litigation: one that could result in Michael Mann – arch-climate-fear-promoter, comedy You Tube Star, creator of the infamous, twice-discredited Hockey Stick – being fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for alleged misuse of state grant funding. (Hat tip: Watts Up With That) Though Mann now works at Penn State University – an institution which appears to share UEA’s principled belief that the best response to...

Cites nearly half a million dollars in state grant-funded climate research conducted while [Dr. Michael ] Mann— now director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State— was at UVA between 1999 and 2005. Now, it appears, he may be preparing a legal assault on an embattled proponent of global warming theory who used to teach at the University of Virginia, Michael Mann. In papers sent to UVA April 23, Cuccinelli’s office commands the university to produce a sweeping swath of documents relating to Mann’s receipt of nearly half a million dollars in state grant-funded climate research conducted while...

HARRISONBURG, VA. -- The bottle caps, broken glass and empty plastic cups littering a neighborhood near James Madison University's campus suggested that the events of Saturday afternoon were nothing more than a kegger gone bad. But those who witnessed the party-turned-riot recalled chaos so out of character for this Shenandoah Valley town that by Monday afternoon, it still had the power to amaze. "When you are setting off tear gas and people still aren't leaving, you know it's bad," recalled Lt. Kurt Boshart of the Harrisonburg Police Department. "It was really bad." Each semester, James Madison students organize a huge...

The parents of Morgan D. Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student missing since October, have been called to a farm off U.S. 29 south of Charlottesville, where police are investigating the discovery of skeletal remains.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- More than 200 years after they were written, about 5,000 previously unpublished documents of the founders of the United States -- including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison -- are now available to the public at no cost. The Documents Compass group of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities at the University of Virginia has spent much of the past year proofreading and transcribing thousands of pages of letters and other papers. The documents are available online for free at the University of Virginia Press' digital imprint called Rotunda. "It's an exciting project," said Penelope Kaiserlian, director...

Morgan Harrington was seen hitchhiking for a ride on the Copeley Road Bridge on the night of her disappearance, according to a police brief released Nov. 13. “After the 9:30 (p.m.) timeframe, we can’t seem to establish any other sightings of her,” said Corinne Geller, spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police. It was also released in the brief that she was wearing a Swarovski Crystal necklace on that night. Harrington might have received a ride or approached someone to borrow a cell phone, Geller said. “She was wearing it that night,” Geller said. “She dropped her purse and her cell...

Former President George W. Bush selects Miller Center’s Presidential Oral History Program to record presidency Scholars at the Miller Center of Public Affairs’ Presidential Oral History Program will soon begin to conduct audio interviews with members of former President George W. Bush’s administration, as well as foreign public officials. The 43rd president selected the Miller Center to document the official oral history of his two terms. As part of the project, University faculty and staff will conduct interviews with members of the former White House Cabinet, representatives of Congress, independent political advisers and foreign leaders — particularly those affected by...

American heavy metal band Metallica has stumped up 50,000 dollars in reward money for a fan who disappeared at one of their concerts, a campaign website said Monday. Police have been searching for blond-haired, blue-eyed Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, 20, since she went missing from a Metallica concert in Charlottesville, Virginia on the evening of Saturday, October 17.... "The Band Metallica is also adding an additional 50,000 dollars to the reward bringing it to 150,000 dollars for Morgan's safe return or information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Morgan's disappearance," it said....

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Police searched Tuesday for a Virginia Tech student who hasn't been seen since she was separated from her friends at a Metallica concert Saturday. Morgan Dana Harrington, 20, was last seen near the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. Her parents said they talk to her every day and her disappearance is very out of character.

Gubernatorial candidates Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell have toured, tailgated and twittered to win an elusive, college-age voting bloc. Efforts from the campaigns, both Democrat and Republican, to improve student voter turn-out, however, may only go so far at the University, where apathy, registration confusion and pre-voting numbers seem to foreshadow a potentially low turnout. Charlottesville General Registrar Sheri Iachetta said gubernatorial races historically bring in fewer voters than presidential elections, and that this year, absentee turnout might fall to 40 percent, lower than what it has usually been in previous years.

If you are straight, white, and male, please stand up. Congratulations, you are more privileged than you probably ever realized. Because of your blessed birth, you are responsible for the victimization of thousands of your underprivileged peers. You may not be aware, but implicitly you hate, resent, and distrust everyone who does not look like you. How does this make you feel? No, do not answer. Instead, allow us to tell you how you should be feeling. You should be feeling extremely guilty and ashamed, and in order to move past your racist tendencies and make amends for being born...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — B.W. Webb had three interceptions and William & Mary shut down Virginia's new spread offense in a 26-14 win on Saturday.

Texas is beating TCU 5-0 so it looks like, but not over yet, Texas will advance to Omaha. Here are the brakets Semi-final Group ‘A’ Double Elimination Arizona St (5) v North Carolina (4) Southern Miss v Texas (1)/TCU winner Semi-final Group ‘B’ Double Elimination UVA v LSU (3) Arkansas v Cal St Fullerton (2) Champion ship (Best of 3) Group ‘A’ Double Elimination winner v Group ‘B’ Double Elimination winner Seeded teams eliminated UC Irvin (6) Oklahoma (7) Florida (8) Brief exclamation on how the semifinals work. In the four team groups, the winner of game 1 plays the...

The University of Virgina collects and compiles information about students' computer use. The information has been collected over the past decade by student employees of ITC, known as Student Consultants (SCs) and formerly, Computing Advisors (CAs), a group of first-year students hired to advise and assist their peers with computing. The data is based on SC and CA surveys of first-year residence halls each fall.

Gillette Stadium - at Foxborough, Ma Semifinal #1 Saturday May 23rd, 2009 - 12pm EDT ESPN 2 (3) Duke at (2) Syracuse Semifinal #2 Saturday May 23rd, 2009 - 2:30 pm EDT ESPN 2 (5) Cornell at (1) Virginia Championship, Monday May 25th, 2009 - Noon EDT ESPN Semifinal Winner #1 v Semifinal Winner #2

Equality Virginia is deeply shocked and saddened by the hate-motivated attack on a UVa student and his friend that occurred this past weekend on the Charlottesville campus. Allen W. Groves, Associate Vice President and Dean of Students, issued the following statement: “Early Saturday morning, April 4, at approximately 3 a.m. in the Stadium Road area, a U.Va. student and his guest were violently assaulted, without warning, by five males described by the victim as Caucasians between the ages of 16 and 20. The attackers uttered several homophobic slurs immediately prior to and during the attack. The attackers smashed the victim's...

One of the most obvious areas of interest within the statistics were the numbers that dealt specifically with reporting. According to the statistics, a total of 64 cases were brought before the past Committee. Of these cases, 27 reports were brought against white students, 21 against black students, 11 against Asian and/or Asian-American students, four against Latinos and four against students of unknown race. “When I saw [the statistics], I was a little bit surprised at the disproportionate number of minority students reported compared to [white] students,” said Vice Chair for Investigations Mary Siegel, a third-year College student. “Looking at...

Republicans appear to have another repeat candidate in 2010, as former Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.) has filed to reclaim the seat he lost in November. Goode filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) — a move that allows him to raise money for the race — but he told The Hill that he hasn't made a final decision about running again in 2010. He said he filed because he received several “unsolicited” campaign contributions. Once a candidate receives $5,000, he or she must file a statement of candidacy with the FEC. “I’m filing that because a few people have...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's pick for the No. 2 post at the Environmental Protection Agency is removing himself from consideration. Jon Cannon, a professor of environmental law at the University of Virginia, says he is withdrawing as the nominee for deputy EPA administrator because of scrutiny surrounding the America's Clean Water Foundation.

Multiple Law students have filed reports against University Law Prof. Doug Leslie, accusing him of making offensive comments, using harsh language and giving preferential treatment to particular students. An investigation about the concerns is now underway, Law School Dean Paul Mahoney said. . . . “I am alleged to discriminate against African Americans by not allowing them to talk in class or by failing to accord them respect when they do,” Leslie stated in the e-mail. “I am alleged to be anti-Jewish. I am alleged to use sexually-charged, inappropriate hypotheticals in class. Finally, I am rude.” . . .

Ahemd Bedier who last year had "stepped down" as the Executive Director of the Tampa Bay office of The Council on American Islamic Relations, has now started up a new Islamic front group called The United Voices of America to help advance his Islamic agenda.

On Feb. 14 2009, I was charged with two crimes, § 18.2-308.1:2 and § 18.2-308.2:2. The misdemeanor first: § 18.2-308.1:2. Purchase, possession or transportation of firearm by persons adjudicated legally incompetent or mentally incapacitated; penalty. It shall be unlawful for any person who has been adjudicated (i) legally incompetent pursuant to former § 37.1-128.02 or former § 37.1-134, (ii) mentally incapacitated pursuant to former § 37.1-128.1 or former § 37.1-132 I wasn't adjudicated any of that stuff in italics because the statutes that this law is pursuant to expired in 2005. or (iii) incapacitated pursuant to Chapter 10 (§ 37.2-1000...

Higher education can be a financial disaster. Especially with the return on degrees down and student loan sharks on the prowl. BY KATHY KRISTOF As steadily as ivy creeps up the walls of its well-groomed campuses, the education industrial complex has cultivated the image of college as a sure-fire path to a life of social and economic privilege. Joel Kellum says he's living proof that the claim is a lie. A 40-year-old Los Angeles resident, Kellum did everything he was supposed to do to get ahead in life. He worked hard as a high schooler, got into the University of...

To members of the University community, The coming together of a nation at the same time every four years for presidential inaugurations -- as dictated by the Constitution for noon on Jan. 20 -- is an educational moment that binds us as a nation and a people. Next week we will have the opportunity to witness the Inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th president of the United States. In order to allow our students, as well as other members of our community, to participate in this exercise in democracy, the University will suspend classes between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m....

- - He will be congressman by a margin of 727 votes Congressman-elect Tom Perriello promised to continue his “double shift” working for the 5th District’s needs in Washington after being certified the winner of the congressional race Wednesday by a court in Albemarle County. A three-judge panel certified the final margin of victory at 727 votes, with 158,810 for Perriello and 158,083 for Republican incumbent Virgil Goode Jr. The recount found 250 vote changes, with Goode having a net gain of 18 votes. The recount began Tuesday with local election officials rechecking results in the district’s 22 localities. They...

Facing the loss of his seat, U.S. Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. said Thursday that all late-arriving absentee ballots cast by U.S. troops overseas should be counted as part of next week’s recount in his 5th District race. A federal judge in Richmond ruled Tuesday that Virginia’s State Board of Elections violated the law by mailing out absentee ballots to military voters too late for them to send back their ballot by Election Day. However, the judge added that the 4,750 such ballots across the state need not be counted, as they would not change the outcome of any race...

The State Board of Elections has certified challenger Tom Perriello as the winner over Republican Congressman Virgil Goode. The board today certified Perriello as the winner by 745 votes in the 5th District congressional race. Goode is entitled to a recount if he chooses.

Citing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s technological savvy and technology policies, Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt expressed his support for the Illinois senator yesterday at the Law School. Schmidt and Obama’s technology advisor Julius Genachowski made a stop in Charlottesville yesterday in an effort to garner support for the presidential candidate and his technology policies. The pair spoke on a wide variety of issues from income disparity to using the Internet as a means for civic engagement, but the primary focus was Obama’s technology policies.

Unfortunately, there has been a growing trend of bashing and vilifying Islam and Muslims recently. Regardless of whether this is done for political reasons or not, disseminating anti-Islamic movies and speaking against Islam in the media and in numerous universities around the country only results in the spread of hate and hostility toward Muslims. So when we first learned that David Horowitz was going to be speaking here at the University, we were obviously saddened by the fact that yet another speaker was going to be coming to spread his hateful message, instilling even more fear and hostility. ...

<p>NEW YORK — NBC News reporter Luke Russert said he made a "dumb" misstatement on the "Today" show Wednesday when he suggested that smart people supported Barack Obama for president.</p> <p>Almost immediately, Russert took a hazing in the Web world. Wrote Tim Graham of the conservative Media Research Center on the NewsBusters blog: "Out of the mouths of young, untrained reporters come the unspoken beliefs of the liberal media."</p>