Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein reflect only the views of the author and do not represent the opinions of the College Democrats at the University of Michigan (UMCD), the Michigan Federation of College Democrats (MFCD), the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP), or the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

+ Provost Teresa Sullivan and Basketball Coach John Beilein will both serve on an advisory panel to help choose the University’s next Athletic Director. My advice: pick someone who’s not charged with assault this time.

+ Four senators debated Healthcare Reform on Fox News Sunday. Senators Stabenow and Specter pointed to an OMB report that projected that the cost savings in the Senate bill would save 3.5 million jobs and a CBO report that projected deficit reductions of $800 billion over 20 years. Lacking any sort of facts from any remotely non-partisan organization of any kind, Senators Lamar Alexander and Kit Bond (can a southern man have a serious name?) committed the rhetorical equivalent of throwing feces at the wall, calling the bill a “scam”. I wonder who Chris Wallace agreed with? Oh, that’s right, he has a “news” show.

+ Governor Granholm visited Eastern Michigan University yesterday on a statewide tour of college campuses to push for the reinstatement of the Michigan Promise. The State Senate is unable to take up the issue currently because they are on a two-week recess for “deer hunting season”. However, unless shooting cute animals puts Mike Bishop in a really good mood, I don’t think it will make any difference.

+ Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is in negotiations to release upwards of 1,000 palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostage Sgt. Gilad Schalit. Among those to be release is Marwan Barghouti, a leader in the moderate Fatah party and a main rival of President Abbas. A revelation that will fundamentally alter your definition of ‘moderate’: Barghouti is currently serving five consecutive life sentences for the murder of five people.

+ A federal first-time home buyer tax credit and a federal program to reduce mortgage rates gave sales of existing homes their largest surge in a decade. Sales are so good that they are only 16% short of their all-time high in 2005. A government program to get people into homes they couldn’t quite afford? Where have I heard that idea before?

+ HHS found that 41 Universities were found to have research-corrupting instances of bias in their medical research. It was discovered that 90% of Universities have minimal protocols and regulations regarding research ethics. A large number of researchers held stock in or consulted for companies that were effected by their research. The clear implication is that they would benefit from a certain outcome in their research. Summing up the situation with the wit of a 7th grader, the Daily wrote: “that’s not okay”. The ‘omg’ must have been edited out.

+ Adam Gaglio, President of Michigan Students of Objectivism (translation: a pretentious wealthy kid who likes pot and Ayn Rand), wrote a viewpoint in today’s Daily. He begins by claiming that while conservatives “may slow the arrival of socialized medicine”, they “will not stop it”. It’s at this point that I’d like to point out that this man has no rational conception of the Senate, US Politics, or reality. He writes that this is the result of Conservatism accepting altruism as an ethical good. Rather, he argues, we should employ “the morality of rational self-interest” because “forcing someone to act ‘morally’ is…inherently contradictory and evil”. Needless to say, he has health insurance.

+ Ben Caleca uses the editorial page to defend Darwin and Evolution against crazy side-walk preachers and Kirk Cameron.

+ Twilight was bad and John Mayer is monotonous. Good job entertainment page! I don’t think anyone would have had to watch the movie or listen to the CD to come to those conclusions.

+ In basketball, Senior DeShawn Sims made is 500th career rebound Friday night! Go Blue!