Bwog headed to Roone Cinema this evening ready for our daily dose of lively intellectual discourse, today's source being the first of three debates between the College Democrats and Republicans on issues pertinent to the upcoming election. We settled into our cushy seat surrounded by a vast sea of argyle sweaters and watched the games begin.

Tonight's debate, hosted by the CPU, focused on foreign policy and energy solutions. Each side was told to stick to their respective party platforms, even if their personal views differed. The Dems kicked off the night, using their precious 120 allotted seconds to discuss the various failings they found with the Bush Administration, calling the War in Iraq "stupid" and explaining the economic policies of the Administration as forming a collective "wrecking ball to the economy."

The Three Trillion Dollor War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict is Nobel Prize-winning, globally-thinking Columbia prof Joseph Stiglitz's new book. The book posits that Bush's cost estimates for the war in Iraq were incorrect—the administration cited a $200 billion figure—and that the Iraq conflict will cost almost double that of WWI, putting the figure at just about three trillion dollars. Ergo, attention-grabbing book title.

But the thing is, taxes (particularly for the rich) haven't really risen—in fact, they've been lowered in some cases. And Stiglitz argues that deficit spending makes not raising taxes possible. In fact, he'll be testifying in front of the Senate on Thursday saying so.

So... Columbia in the news. And by "the news", of course, we mean probably MSNBC.

- JNW

Columbia events, in the national spotlight. Kind of. The New York Times ran an article about President Bush, who in a conference yesterday about race relations denounced incidents involving nooses and said: "The noose is not a symbol of prairie justice, but of gross injustice. Displaying one is not a harmless prank."

The Times mentioned incidents in Jena, La. and our fair Alma Mater as inspiring President Bush to discuss racially-charged incidents and issues of injustice during a Black History Month press conference that is normally used to focus on contributions of black members of society.

Columbia: partially kind of—but not really—changing the way things are done around the White House.

- JNW

The State of the Union airs tonight at 9 PM. For the interested yet TV-less, it'll be broadcast live on C-SPAN.

In addition, one tipster alumnus sent Bwog a link that might make watching a bit livelier.

Cheers!

Spec's reporting that freshmen will have the option to retake the lit hum exam or to receive a grade based on the rest of their work this semester. Apparently, it was all the professor's fault... So the choice is obvious for most.

But what about all those C students who have already jet off for the Caribbean?

Full text of the email after the jump. (Don't worry, the article is still on the Spec site.) You'll notice they said they released it "to the press"- check the New York Post, Daily News, AND New York Sun tomorrow for doubtlessly enlightening information, some of which was gathered through Facebooking freshmen.

In case you hadn't heard, PrezBush made a surprise visit to a charter school in Harlem today, and Bwog biked up to 144th and Adam Clayton to see what kind of welcome residents and activists had in store for him. Despite the massive security, which included snipers on every building, streets completely blocked off within a three-block radius, cadres of NYPD on every corner, dozens of motorcycles, secret service hiding in dump trucks, and metal fences lining every street, a sizable number of dissidents managed to show up and locals congregated to express their opinions and see why their neighborhood was shut down for the day.

The most striking part about the event was the effectiveness of the metal fences, copious police presence, and constantly changing rules for where one could walk. Any chance of picketing for more than a couple of minutes was precluded by the sheer overwhelming power of the NYPD and their vehicles. Nevertheless, residents shouted "GO HOME! WE DON'T WANT YOU HERE!" to Bush's motorcade, while a band of about 30 picketers, largely Columbia students, led chants of "Bush out of Harlem, US out of Iraq!" and other anti-war slogans, as they were followed by a few dozen police on the sidewalk and a rolling van of at least eleven officers. Said one Columbia protester, "This is a traveling 'free speech zone,'" mocking the fact that they couldn't remain stationary. Others were more confrontational, yelling at the NYPD, "These are our rights being violated!" The NYPD circled the group but they stayed silent.

In this week's issue of New York Magazine, Provost and American History professor Alan Brinkley follows in the steps of department collegue Eric Foner by slamming President Bush. Brinkley's commentary is a part of the issue's "psychopolitical survey" in which "a team of historians, Oval Office veterans, and psychotherapists tries to figure out whether Bush is depressed or delusional—and what combination of poor parenting and personality disorders brought things to this point."

To digress, in the same issue the magazine also offers a brief review of restaurants within three blocks' range of Amsterdam and 113th. Whether or not the enticing dining descriptions are accurate is your call.

1) If you've been ignoring your inbox lately, you probably haven't heard that Columbia will be graced with the presence of the MIT linguistics expert, sometimes-anarchist, and general wise old man, Noam Chomsky. First, Chomsky will speak about Renaissance man Harold Pinter (weird, no?) for five dollars at Miller Theatre. But if you'd rather hear him talk about the topic that made him famous, he'll be at the Italian House on the night of February 5th. Get tickets for the Miller event here.

2) The website of New York Magazine recently launched an interactive version of its approval matrix online. Now web-crawlers can vote on what's high-brow, low-brow, despicable and brilliant, rather than being indoctrinated by the editors of the magazine. Example: Marcel's performance in last night's Top Chef = low-brow + despicable.

3) El Presidente Bush. In an interview with USA Today's David Jackson, 43 responds to Columbia historian Eric Foner's accusation that he's the worst President ever. When he is asked to share the lessons he learned from LBJ's war in Vietnam, Bush replies: "Win."

- JDC