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Thousands of President Obama supporters turned out in in Madison, Wisc., for a rally following Wednesday night’s debate in Denver. The mood was somber, to say the least, as they waited to enter Bascom Mall at the University of Wisconsin Thursday afternoon. University of Wisconsin students and fellow Wisconsinites had mixed reviews on the president's performance. I talked to supporters of the president who had watched the debate, asking how they thought the president did. One after the other said they were left unimpressed and “not inspired,” seemingly depressed and lethargic in their continuing support of the president. More than...

Convicted Sterling Hall bomber Karl Armstrong was arrested last week in Chicago after state troopers found more than $800,000 cash in heat-sealed bags stashed inside of a motor home that Armstrong was driving, according to a document filed Monday in court. That arrest Thursday led to a search on Saturday by the state Division of Criminal Investigation of a town of Madison trailer home where Armstrong lives for evidence of marijuana trafficking, according to a search warrant filed in Dane County Circuit Court. Neither Wisconsin nor Illinois authorities found marijuana in Armstrong's trailer or motor home.

".....From 1977 to 1990, Lenza served time in Missouri’s State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, also called “The Walls.” He was convicted of murder in 1975 after confessing to killing his first wife and mother-in-law, putting his mother-in-law’s body in a barrel and throwing the barrel into the Mississippi River....."

In observance of Veterans Day, the University of Washington will dedicate a new memorial to eight UW alumni who have received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest honor for valor in battle.Earning a medal, of any sort, was the furthest thing from Bruce Crandall's mind on the morning of Nov. 14, 1965, as he repeatedly flew his Huey helicopter through a hail of enemy fire in Vietnam. Only this mattered: His comrades needed him. Likewise, John "Bud" Hawk wasn't looking for glory on Aug. 20, 1944, when he stayed exposed in a French orchard, taking a shot in the...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Sept. 8) — A decision by the University of Wyoming to name a new center for international students for former Vice President Dick Cheney is drawing criticism from people who say Cheney's support for the Iraq war and harsh interrogation techniques should disqualify him from the distinction. The former vice president and wife Lynne are expected to attend Thursday's dedication of the new Cheney International Center on the Laramie campus. Protesters plan to be there, too. The center is funded in part with $3.2 million the Cheneys donated to the university in several installments while he was vice...

Seattle firefighters had to take a man to Harborview Medical Center after he set himself on fire at the University of Washington campus. Witnesses told authorities that the 61-year-old man was in the middle of Red Square around 1 p.m. when he poured gasoline over himself and set himself on fire, Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Dana Vander Houwen said. The man suffered burns over most of his body, she said. His condition was unavailable.

Five Afghanistan scholars visiting the University of Washington have been reported missing. UW officials say the five scholars are in Seattle for a three-month research and training program.

Five Afghanistan scholars visiting the University of Washington to work on their master's theses were reported missing after failing to show up for a week of training sessions, university officials said today. The five were among 38 mid-career government and nonprofit officials in Seattle for a three-month research and training program. They are working toward a master's degree in public policy and administration at Kabul University. The program is in its second year through the Evans School of Public Affairs. It's also the second time Afghani scholars have gone missing. SNIP The five men, who are all 30 or younger,...

MADISON, Wis. — The slaying of a college student in a downtown neighborhood frequented by beggars has forced this liberal city to ask a difficult question: Has Madison been too nice to the homeless? A debate over the city's friendly treatment of its transient population had been under way for months, but last week's killing of University of Wisconsin student Brittany Zimmermann started something of a backlash against the homeless. Police have arrested dozens of transients on unrelated charges as part of the investigation, but none are considered suspects in the death. The city also announced plans Wednesday to confront...

When Curtis Williams took the field for the Huskies' 2000 season opener, the University of Washington's media guide described him like this: Senior, strong safety, 5-foot-10, 200 pounds. Named, in 1999, the team's best hitter. Led team in solo tackles. Went to high school in Fresno, Calif., where he was a top recruit. The seventh of eight kids. Pursuing a degree in American ethnic studies. Here's what the media guide didn't say: When Williams played against Idaho, he had a warrant out for his arrest. He'd been arrested every year he was here: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000. He was...

A controversial week of events, billed as Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, launches at the University of Washington and some 100 other colleges next week — drawing condemnations from Muslim groups here and across the country. The UW College Republicans...say the week is intended to foster awareness of the terrorist threat posed by a small number of extremists within Islam. But some local Muslims say the week fosters Islamophobia and racism and attempts to paint all Muslims as terrorists. Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, launched this year by a recent graduate of Duke University...is intended to "confront the two Big Lies of the political...

Self-serving speech I was in attendance last Saturday at the commencement activities at the University of Washington. I was both embarrassed and angered by the pontification and obvious self-importance of Rep. Dicks. Never could I have imagined a commencement speaker at a major university being booed and heckled while speaking to the graduates. Then again, I could never have imagined anyone giving such a self-serving, self-glorification speech as he did. A speaker at such an event is supposed to inspire the graduates who are now going out into the world to seek their own destiny. They did not come to...

A look back at Madison's history of protests and how activism has changed today On Oct. 18, 1967, more than 500 UW-Madison students staged a sit-in in Ingraham Hall because they were disgusted that the Dow Chemical Company—the main producer of a chemical liquid used in warfare—was recruiting on campus. The building was quiet. The noise outside was deafening. Student and future Madison Mayor Paul Soglin could not see the front door, but he heard when 25 Madison Police officers stormed the building, forcibly removing 400 people as 2,000 onlookers chanted outside. “Almost everyone had thoughts about the Vietnam War....

We frequently hear from academics, including more than a few UW political science professors, that Marxism is dead. However, the British government may be having second thoughts. In a report forecasting political trends over the next 30 years, the British Ministry of Defense predicts, “The middle classes could become a revolutionary class, taking the role envisaged for the proletariat by Marx.” The report argues that mounting personal debt and a failing retirement system may fuel disillusionment in capitalism, and “the world’s middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class...

Around 25 students protesting funding for the war in Iraq spent an uncomfortable, cold and edgy night in the office of Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., Wednesday and were forced out by Madison police early Thursday morning. Only one lingering protester who refused to leave the office was arrested, charged with disorderly conduct and delivered a $424 fine, according to Madison Police Department Public Information Officer Mike Hansen. After the organizers broke up, several Campus Antiwar Network members followed the individual where they continued to display their message. “A group of us went down to the jail just to show support...

Conservative writer Dinesh D'Souza, who has drawn outrage for his new book that blames "the cultural left" for 9/11, spent half of his talk at the University of Wisconsin Tuesday night defending the war in Iraq. Iraq has become, perhaps unwittingly, the centerpiece for the war on terror, D'Souza told a group of about 800 in the Union Theater who had come to hear the speaker as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series. Recently, while visiting a different college campus, D'Souza said he was asked if, in retrospect, invading Iraq was a mistake. In retrospect, it would have been better...

Earlier this month, the folklore department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison sponsored an event billed as "9/11: Folklore and Fact." Held in the university's social sciences building, two leaders in what is known as the "9/11 Truth"—Kevin Barrett and James Fetzer—came to discuss their notion that 9/11 resulted not from the actions of al Qaeda, but from a Bush Administration conspiracy. As Barrett has claimed on many occasions, he doesn't "believe, but knows that 9/11 was an inside job." Considering this event was sponsored and hosted by an institution that is funded by taxpayer dollars, the residents of Wisconsin have...

Wis. prof compares Bush to Hitler October 11, 2006 MILWAUKEE -- A University of Wisconsin instructor who has come under scrutiny for saying that the U.S. government orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks compares President Bush to Adolf Hitler in an essay that his students are being required to buy. The essay, ''Interpreting the Unspeakable: The Myth of 9/11,'' is part of a $20 book of essays, according to an unedited copy. The book is on the syllabus for the twice-a-week course, Islam: Religion and Culture, being taught by part-time instructor Kevin Barrett. Barrett is active in a group called Scholars...

The left is holding a conference at the UW law school, and they are bringing in Juan Barrento, the mayor of Caracas, Venezuela. They are also bringing the who's who on the left here in Madison and from Chicago, including CPUSA, WWP, and RCP members This is from the website http://www.localdemocracy.org/ ------------------------------------ This Autumn, September 28 through October 1, gather with community organizers and pro-democracy activists in beautiful Madison, Wisconsin, to share and learn from these and other important democratic successes. Network with others working on common issues. Strategize together about how to build the democracymovement in this country, from...

A new group, called "Middle East Solidarity" (AKA support the terrorists and worship Saint Pancake, Rachel Corrie), was created by the ultra left on my campus. The reason for formation of this group is that Stop the War had it's Student Org status revoked due to it's vandalism to the ROTC building (cutting the rope to the US flag) and constant harassment of recuiters at events. Also, I suspect a link to the International Solidarity movement, thus the Saint Pancake reference earlier. There is one catch however. The problem with the new group is that it is a contiuation of...