There aren’t very many constants at a college newspaper. But at The Ithacan, the weekly paper at my alma mater Ithaca College, there are two: a consistent streak of winning national awards and a dedicated adviser committed to excellence.

At last week’s Society of Professional Journalism conference, The Ithacan collected yet another award, this time as the No. 2 non-daily college newspaper in America. SPJ’s Mark of Excellent award is one of the most prestigious in college journalism. The paper was given top honors after my stint as editor-in-chief in 1999-2000, which I consider one of the proudest accomplishments of my college days.

The paper’s website is in the running for an Online Pacemaker for 2008 by the Associated Collegiate Press. The award is regarded as “the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism.” It will be announced at the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention next month.

As a former editor-in-chief, I know how much hard work students put into producing the paper every week. As exhausting as it was, however, I still look back with fond memories on my days in Park Hall. That joy was made possible by my adviser, Michael Serino, who has guided the paper to new heights year after year. These latest honors are a reflection of his important role as a teacher, adviser and advocate.

• Planting the Rightroots - Reihan Salam, The Atlantic
  In a much-ridiculed speech at the 1996 Republican National Convention, Newt Gingrich hailed beach volleyball as the embodiment of all that makes America great. “A mere 40 years ago, beach volleyball was just beginning,” Gingrich told the puzzled crowd. “No bureaucrat would have invented it, and that’s what freedom is all about.”
  (tags: politics technology)

• Palin Pick Excites Online Conservatives - Matt Lewis, Townhall
  The historic selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate is igniting grassroots support. According to McCain political director Mike DuHaime, interest in volunteering for the McCain campaign more than quadrupled the weekend after Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was announced as John McCain’s running mate. What is more, within hours of Palin’s selection, the McCain campaign raked in more than $7 million.
  (tags: sarah_palin mccain 2008)
• A Tale of Two Bridges - Deroy Murdock, National Review Online
  The far-away, now-abandoned Bridge to Nowhere lately has taken center stage in the race for the White House. For an unbuilt span that never actually connected two cold spots, it certainly is generating plenty of heat.
  (tags: obama sarah_palin bridge_to_nowhere earmarks pork 2008)
• Yes, Palin Did Stop That Bridge - Sen. Jim DeMint, Wall Street Journal
  In politics, words are cheap. What really counts are actions. Democrats and Republicans have talked about fiscal responsibility for years. In reality, both parties have a shameful record of wasting hundreds of billions of tax dollars on pork-barrel projects.
  (tags: sarah_palin jim_demint earmarks pork 2008 obama alaska)

Today the Washington Post reports on the deep admiration women have toward Sarah Palin and her potential impact on the 2008 election:

If it is a small but energized group of Republican women, it could have only marginal impact; if it is more, it could tip the balance of the campaign. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Palin has also mobilized liberal women.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden are apparently trying to help. Obama’s remark yesterday about “lipstick on a pig” was an outrageous insult.

But it gets worse. Obama later said Palin is an “interesting story,” suggesting that her accomplishments as governor of Alaska are trivial. He continued:

Look, she’s new, she hasn’t been on the scene, she’s got five kids. And my hat goes off to anybody whose looking after five. I’ve got two and they tire Michelle and me out.

Biden isn’t much better. Earlier this week, he insinuated that Palin, mother of a baby with Down syndrome, wasn’t truly committed to special needs children:

I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy … and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect. … Well, guess what, folks? If you care about it, why don’t you support stem cell research?

Keep it up, boys, you’re bound to blow this thing.

• Palin put Alaskans ahead of Big Oil, greens - Washington Times
  Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, now thrust into the heart of America's energy debate, has managed as Alaska governor to confound major oil companies and frustrate environmentalists with pro-drilling policies that put the interests of the state and its 670,000 citizens ahead of either powerful special interest.
  (tags: sarah_palin veep mccain energy oil alaska)
• Ms. Palin's Pipeline - Washington Post
  People are still buzzing about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's acceptance speech. But while her style has been minutely analyzed, very little commentary has focused on one of the few substantive claims she made about her brief tenure as governor of Alaska.
  (tags: sarah_palin veep alaska)
• What Did Obama Do As A Community Organizer? - National Review Online
  Barack Obama often cites his time as a community organizer here in Chicago as one of the experiences that qualify him to hold the nation’s highest office. “I can bring this country together,” he said in a debate last February. “I have a track record, starting from the days I moved to Chicago as a community organizer.”
  (tags: obama 2008)
• Latin America Wants Free Trade - Wall Street Journal
  Of the two U.S. presidential candidates, one promises to expand international trading opportunities for American producers and consumers. The other pledges to raise the barriers that Americans already face in global commerce.
  (tags: trade mccain 2008)
• Palin fuses politics and motherhood in new way - International Herald Tribune
  Sarah Palin's baby shower included a surprise guest: her own baby. He had arrived in the world a month early, so on a sunny May day, Palin, the governor of Alaska, rocked her newborn as her closest friends, sisters, even her obstetrician presented her with a potluck meal, presents and blue-and-white cake.
  (tags: sarah_palin veep mccain 2008)

The bear and bird have escaped the zoo, originally uploaded by Rob Bluey.

After 25 days on the House floor protesting the Democrats’ refusal to act on the high cost of energy, Republicans staged a welcome-back rally this afternoon. They were joined by a polar bear and white pelican. The liberals who donned the costumes belong in a zoo. No normal human would be crazy enough to dress that way on a 90-degree day in Washington. More pictures on Flickr.

• Media wars: Hard on Palin, soft on Obama - Washington Times
  So what happened to jolt the media from its Obama-PR snooze? The answer is Mrs. Palin, rising like Venus on a King Crab Shell, her shiny political luster suddenly casting shadows over the Election Day apotheosis of media deity Mr. Obama.
  (tags: sarah_palin veep mccain obama 2008)
• Media loves to hate Sarah Palin - Boston Herald
  The Beautiful People just won’t let up on Sarah Palin. Why do the pampered poodles of the elite media loathe Sarah so much? Let’s go down the list.
  (tags: sarah_palin veep mccain 2008)
• Sarah Barracuda: Palin should strike fear in the hearts of Democrats - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
  You arrogant ass. You’ve killed us!” So said the executive officer of a Soviet submarine to his captain in Tom Clancy’s novel “Red October” after the captain had recklessly fired a torpedo that homed in on his own sub.
  (tags: sarah_palin veep mccain 2008)

David Wright and Ryan Zimmerman, originally uploaded by Rob Bluey.

The past month has not been kind to me in fantasy baseball. After trading for Carlos Lee and Carlos Quentin this summer, both were lost to season-ending injuries. I was coping with Lee’s injury just fine, but Quentin’s came during the first round of playoffs. Meanwhile, Brandon Webb completely collapsed, singlehandedly costing me a win this week against my Dad that officially ended my season.

These developments are partly why I’ve decided to take a new approach to fantasy sports.

This year I played in four baseball leagues, including my first season in a Heritage Foundation league. The others included an old Utica, N.Y., league that dates to the time I was a kid (before these games were played on a computer), a league run by a journalism professor at Ithaca College, and my own, which I’ve operated since 2003.

I started my league and joined the others primarily to keep in touch with friends. Over the years some have dropped out and new people joined. I always managed to perform fairly well — until this year. For the first time, I began to lose interest, and as a result, began to lose matchups.

So I’ve decided it’s time to scale back my fantasy life. I quit three of the four baseball leagues. I’ll do the same in football next year, dropping out of one of the two leagues. That’ll leave me with just one in baseball and one in football — and hopefully help my winning percentage in the process.

Thinking back six years ago, when I put so much strategy into fantasy sports, it’s hard to imagine saying goodbye. But it also demonstrates how times change and life takes on new priorities.

As my former journalism professor, Mead Loop, said in an e-mail last week:

When I started the baseball and football leagues, my mission was — besides winning — to keep in touch with friends and colleagues. Mission accomplished, and I know we’ll keep in touch.

Well said. My friendships will last a lifetime, even if the fantasy leagues don’t.

Robert Novak, originally uploaded by poppyott.

Robert Novak wrote a moving column in today’s Washington Post about his battle with a brain tumor. Having lost many family members to cancer myself, I can only imagine what trying times these are for Novak and his family. I was glad to read that Novak is drawing support from some unlikely sources, most notably Vicki Kennedy, whose husband Teddy is also undergoing treatment for a brain tumor as well.

Scanning the comments on the Washington Post, it’s disappointing to see so many offensive attacking against Novak. A typical comment: “Die quickly..and die painfully.” Another remarked, “waiting with shovel in hand.” As much as you might disagree with his politics or his reporting, this type of immaturity is disheartening.

Novak, however, says it’s not just limited to anonymous commenters and bloggers. In the Creators Syndicate version of the column, he reports this broadside leveled by Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame:

We have long argued that responsible adults should take Novak’s typewriter away. The time has arrived for them to also take away the keys to his Corvette.

Of course, you won’t read that quote in the Washington Post. The newspaper was forced to trim Novak’s column to fit on its op-ed page, and conveniently nixed this mean-spirited attack in the process. I blogged about it tonight on NewsBusters with a side-by-side comparison of the original and Post version.

• McCain Doesnt Really Hate Economists, Does He? - Freakonomics
  Political rhetoric tends to be overwhelmingly simple while economic analysis is often needlessly complex. This is not news. But it does make for a big disconnect between what politicians say and what they hope to do.
  (tags: policy economics mccain reagan 2008)
• New York Mills names elementary school principal - Observer-Dispatch
  A Utica City School District administrator has been named principal at New York Mills Elementary School. The New York Mills Board of Education Tuesday appointed René Wilson, currently an assistant elementary principal in the Utica City School District, as principal. She is expected to begin in the new position in early October.
  (tags: new_york_mills)
• Who Wants a Cold War? - Kim Holmes, Fox News
  Some foreign policy experts warn that an overly strong American response to Russia’s invasion of Georgia will “isolate” Russia. That would be a bad thing, they say, because we need Russia’s help to deal with Iran and solve other pressing world problems.
  (tags: cold_war russia foreign_policy)