ISI honors program in Montana

On Thursday, I drove about 6 hours from Utah, through Idaho, and finally ended up in Big Sky, Montana, where the ISI Honors Program is taking place. Week 1 is almost over. I came up in the middle of it, to give a talk to the 25 honors fellows that are here this week to "take your ISI experience back to campus." My hope is that many of them will start or become involved with ISI Groups on their campus so that their honors program experience doesn't end here, but continues to create an alternative educational experience for them and many other students on their campus.

Montana is beautiful. My first time here. Mountains, open spaces, fresh, clean air (I love the smell of the pine trees). We're elevated pretty high up here, so you can start feeling a bit dehydrated pretty quick, and one beer may even give you a buzz. We're staying at the "Big Sky Resort" which has about 5 hotels. Skiing is big here in the winter, but the hotel staff told me they are still at about 80% capacity in the summer. I probably prefer visiting in the summer actually.

Salt Lake City, Utah

I flew into Salt Lake City, Utah on Wednesday. I had a few hours to walk around the city. Very clean, very nice, but smaller than I thought. I went down to "Temple Square" where the major Mormon Temple is located. Only Mormons are allowed in. It's a very pious tradition, I guess you could say.

But, I saw some of the gardens, and a tiny bit of the welcome center museum about the Mormon Temple. I also went to the Family Research Center they have where the Mormons are still compiling records of just about everyone they can to trace back the entire human genealogy. I spent a few minutes on one of their computers to look up my mom's side of the family. I found my grandma on a 1930 census from Ohio. But then they told me I can do this all from home at www.ancestry.com. So maybe I will.

I met with Josh Daniels, a student from BYU. Josh is also the Executive Director of the College Republican Federation of Utah. He's already an ISI member and will now be a Campus Representative at BYU. He seems like a great guy (all Mormons do actually - ok the ones I know do). He's excited about getting more students in Utah involved with ISI and I'm excited to help him do it.

Bush says "S" word... and more with Blair

LittleGreenFootballs.com has the video/audio recording of President Bush speaking to Prime Minister Tony Blair at the G8 luncheon. It's a real funny video (can't believe it's real, but apparently it is), where Bush and Blair are just casually talking over lunch (Bush munching on food, it's hilarious), but it just shows how they are real people, shooting the sh-t about the Israel-Lebanon situation, Iran, Iraq, etc.

At one point Bush says to Blair, "See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over."

Damn straight, Mr. Prez.

Conservatism on Tap featured in Campus Report Online

Julia Seymour of Accuracy in Academia wrote about the first "Conservatism on Tap" event at the Brickskeller on July 12th for Campus Report Online.

Conservatism on Tap!

On Wednesday night, our recently formed ISI Young Alumni Association in DC held their first major event, "Conservatism on Tap." This will be a monthly series, supported by ISI, to bring young conservatives together in DC in a social setting. The venue for the talk was the Brickskeller, which is one of the coolest, most collegial bars in DC. The bar claims to have over 1,000 beers from around the world, "the largest selection of beers from around the world."

ISI Faculty Associate, Patrick Deneen (Professor of Government from Georgetown) was the speaker and he spoke on the topic, "Vocation and Modern Society." He talked about how finding one's life calling is more difficult in today's modern society and the talk was very deep and hit on a lot of points. But, I think one that stuck out to me was how the idea of "place" (or space) is quite different in America, especially today, as most Americans move around, travel more frequently and never do come to grips with their "restlessness."

Over 80 people showed up in a space that really fit about 60 comfortably. About 55 free drink tickets were handed out, which taught us that we'll need to start limiting the RSVPs for the next one and for future events, which is scheduled for August 8th at the Brickskeller. William Saunders of the Family Research Council will be speaking on the topic, "The Roberts Court - Lessons from the hearings, the 2006 term, and what to expect in 2007." Should be good.

Kudos to Evan Baehr, Cindy Searcy, and Brendan Steinhauser for setting this all up. They are trying to create a post-college intellectual environment for young conservatives who wind up in that most un-conservative place, the District of Columbia.

Miami Heat: 2006 NBA Champions!

The Miami Heat, down 0-2 in the NBA Finals, come back to win 4 straight games and defeat the Dallas Mavericks in Game 6 to win their first NBA title in franchise history! Shaq wins his fourth ever title, while Pat Riley wins his 5th title as a head coach and 7th overall. Dwyane Wade was honored as the MVP of the NBA Finals. Many are already touting him as "the best player in the NBA".

130 interns attend ISI lecture with George Nash at Heritage

Last night, 130 students and DC area interns attended the ISI summer lecture with historian George Nash at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. Nash spoke on the topic, "The Uneasy Future of American Conservatism." He spoke more about the history and only dived a little bit into the future. But, that was what the enlightening Q&A session was for.

The Lehrman Auditorium became a "standing room only" situtation by the time the lecture started, on a very rainy night in Washington, D.C. About 15 students gathered outside the room and watched the lecture on a closed-circuit flat screen tv in the lobby of the Heritage Foundation. After the lecture, a reception was held in the Van Endel room and students mingled with each and with ISI staff and alumni.

Evan Baehr, the founder of the ISI Young Alumni Group in DC gave the introduction for Nash and we advertised a brand new "Conservatism on Tap" venture that the ISI Young Alumni Group is spear-heading in DC. The first will be a talk at the Brickskeller in DC on July 12 and will feature Georgetown professor Patrick Deneen who will give a talk on "Vocation and Modern Society."

The University of Miami is headed to yet another College World Series. Danny Valencia rounds the bases after hitting a grand slam in the seventh inning. The 'Canes beat Ole Miss 14-9. It's on to Omaha!
 

HEAT Advances to first NBA FINALS!

The Heat is on! Miami beats Detroit by 17 points in Game 6 to win the series 4-2 and advance to their first ever NBA FINALS!  

600 attend ISI debate at Oregon State

On May 22, about 600 students, faculty, and local observers attended ISI's Cicero's Podium debate series event at Oregon State University. The debate was on the topic, "Evolution vs. Intelligent Design: Scientific Assumptions in a Free Society." Dr. Michael Ruse of Florida State University defended the theory of evolution, while Dr. Cornelius Hunter of Biola University defended the intelligent design position.

I was at the event, and after the ISI 50th anniversary gala in 2003 held at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., I think this was the second most highly attended ISI event EVER. That means it might have been the most highly attended ISI event on a college campus. IMPRESSIVE. The Socratic Club at OSU was the host group on campus, while many other ISI students "got the word out" as well and attended the debate.

I really enjoy this debate series because it is just that - a debate. Both sides are presented and the entire audience is challenged to listen to both sides of a debate and come to their own conclusions. A great Q&A typically follows, as it did at OSU.

The Daily Baromoter at OSU, which is the main daily paper, published a great article about the event on the following day, which appeared on the front page as the leading story.