The most important travel site. EVER.

Ladies and gentlemen and students of all ages. In honor of final exams and Commencement next week, we present for your research pleasure Pint Price, which bills itself as the “only price comparison website worth drinking to as well as the only travel and short-break holiday guide you really need.”

The site compares the price of a pint beer in 186 countries.  Some examples: A price of a pint of beer with our friend and colleague Patrick Malcolmson in Fredericton will cost you $5.00 U.S., while that same pint will cost you only $2.13 U.S. in Chengdu, $3.98 U.S. in Moscow, $1.53 U.S. in Cancun, $1.82 U.S. in Mumbai, but a whopping $10.00 U.S. in Riyadh (hmmm… we wonder why?).

In our scholarly opinion, the beer price index is as important an economic indicator as The Economist’s Big Mac Index…

White House Internship information for the Fall of 2008

The application deadline for the Fall 2008 White House Internship is June 3rd.  They are looking for a well-qualified, diverse group of applicants. Before you get to thinking that they’ll never choose someone from Houston’s cute little ‘ol boutique Catholic university — Think again, damn it!

John Joerns, 2007 UST PoliSci grad and White House Intern

Applications should be submitted to intern_application@whitehouse.gov on or before June 3, 2008 for the Fall 2008 Internship.

The Next Right

A rather diverse group of Republican and right roots folks have formed a new blog and activist platform called The Next Right.  They hope (as do we!) that it will foster creativity and develop a strategy for what comes next for the GOP and conservatives online — particularly since the GOP and the right lag behind the Democrats and the left in virtually every online category.

The encouraging thing about this blog/activist platform is that it’s not designed to be a “Daily Kos” of the right.  Rather, it will be about building critical mass around the idea that “regular people acting together online can change the direction of the party.”

Sounds good to us.  Perhaps we should call it a MyDD for tech saavy Republicans? 

The Clinton campaign channels Baghdad Bob…

The Clinton campaign’s new media relations guy…

This is an excerpt of an e-mail from one of our former students, a rather vociferous Clinton supporter.  Try to ignore the text-message quality of the e-mail:

Team Hillary-

Hillary will be the nominee. Why? The math. She is poised for big wins ahead in WV,KY,PR and maybe MT,OR. Hillary likely will take the  popular vote. The delegate count will narrow esp if/when Fla and Mi are seated. Oh and that silly 2025 number msm and Dean keep throwing at us that the candidates must meet to win-its wrong. See the DNC stripped Fla and Mi so they arent reflected in the number.The real number the one Kerry and Gore had to meet is 2209. 2209 is what Obama or Hillary must meet. The DNC, to me, tossed Fla and Mi to lower the del. count needed for Obama. May 31st is when the DNC Rules Cmte meets to try and settle Fla and Mi. Hillary will push hard to seat those 2 states. If sucessful, on top of her other primary victories she should be the candidate with the MOST TOTAL PRIMARY VOTES. And gives her a great selling point to the country.

Time to turn off the tv and get to work. Hillary will win. We must be as tough and resolute as her to do it!

Well… isn’t that special?

Nota Bene: Today’s Reading Assignments…

• Not Quite Yet — Jay Cost, Real Clear Politics Horse Race Blog
• Hug the Children Not the trees. — Arthur C. Brooks, Weekly Standard
• Romney Says Olympic Sponsors Are Concerned about Their Brand Images — Jayshree Bajoria, Council on Foreign Relations
• Obama’s train has left the station. Get that lady off the tracks — Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal
• Primary Math After Indiana and North Carolina — Carl Bialik’s The Numbers Guy Blog, Wall Street Journal
• Unwritten rules of covering college sports hurt readers — Editorial, The Daily Texan
• Code Pink Protesters Try Witchcraft at Anti-Marine Rallies — Jana Winter, Fox News
• A move toward religion — Pete Vere, Washington Times
• Gunmen Kill Chief of Mexico’s Police — James McKinley, New York Times
• Op-Ed: Hillary Clinton’s Metamorphosis –Susan Faludi, New York Times
• Cindy McCain–Playing Nice — Susan Estrich, Rasmussen Reports
• The Uneven Playing Field — Michael Sokolove, New York Times Magazine
• Hit by Fire, a Texas University Looks to Rebuild — Staci Semrad, New York Times
• Will Obama Squander the Dems’ Lead? — Paul Krugman, New York Times
• House GOP Shifts Into Panic Mode — Reid Wilson, RealClearPolitics
• The Forgotten Philosopher — Alan Wolfe, Chronicle of Higher Education
• First lady hangs on to mansion —   Mary Vallis, National Post

FBI says the military had bogus computer gear

From today’s New York Times:

Counterfeit products are a routine threat for the electronics industry. However, the more sinister specter of an electronic Trojan horse, lurking in the circuitry of a computer or a network router and allowing attackers clandestine access or control, was raised again recently by the F.B.I. and the Pentagon.

The new law enforcement and national security concerns were prompted by Operation Cisco Raider, which has led to 15 criminal cases involving counterfeit products bought in part by military agencies, military contractors and electric power companies in the United States. Over the two-year operation, 36 search warrants have been executed, resulting in the discovery of 3,500 counterfeit Cisco network components with an estimated retail value of more than $3.5 million, the F.B.I. said in a statement.

The F.B.I. is still not certain whether the ring’s actions were for profit or part of a state-sponsored intelligence effort. The potential threat, according to the F.B.I. agents who gave a briefing at the Office of Management and Budget on Jan. 11, includes the remote jamming of supposedly secure computer networks and gaining access to supposedly highly secure systems. Contents of the briefing were contained in a PowerPoint presentation leaked to a Web site, Above Top Secret.

A Cisco spokesman said that the company had investigated the counterfeit gear seized by law enforcement agencies and had not found any secret back door.

Two things that are really dangerous - Chinese hackers are making counterfeit routers, and this web site was able to find a TOP SECRET FBI Powerpoint using a Google search…

Florence Shapiro eyeing Hutchison’s seat?

From Dallasblog.com — via Texas Weekly:

State Sen. Florence Shapiro is preparing to set up an exploratory committee to run for U.S. Senate in anticipation of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s resignation or retirement, the Austin-based Texas Weekly newsletter says.  Hutchison, a Republican, is widely expected to return to Texas to run for governor in the 2010 election.  If she does, there could be any number of candidates chomping at the bit to seek her seat. Shapiro would love to get the jump on the field, and setting up an exploratory committee would allow her to begin raising money.

Others who likely would be interested are Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and former Secretary of State Roger Williams.  Shapiro, also a Republican,  is a former mayor of Plano who has served in the State Senate since 1993.  Her signature issue is public education and she serves as chairman of the the Senate Education Committee in Austin. Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Perry has tried to dissuade Hutchison’s gubernatorial run by saying he intends to run again.  Hutchison’s name also is being mentioned as potential chancellor of the UT System to succeed Mark Yudof, who has been named head of the University of California System.

The Dallas Morning News has more here.