Before you partake in the mandatory revelry that is sure to ensue this Friday when the Democratic and Republican candidates take the stage for round one of the Presidential Debates, take a minute to reflect on how un-Democratic the spectacle has become.

The debates are governed by a so-called "Commission on Presidential Debates." Their website says that they're "non-partisan", though it is ridiculously obvious that it is a privately run "bi-partisan" corporation.

It is co-chaired by Frank Fahrenkopf and Paul G. Kirk. Fahrenkopf was the chairman of the Republican Party during the Reagan years, and is now president and CEO of the American Gaming Association. Paul Kirk, on the other hand, was chairman of the Democratic National Committee at roughly the same time that Fahrenkopf was chairman of the GOP. Mr. Kirk is a lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical industry.

Corporate sponsors of the debates have included Phillip Morris, Ford Motor Co., Yahoo Inc., and Anheuser-Busch, all of whom have given a great deal of soft money to the two parties.

These pockets are deep, and the stakes are high: retaining the two-party bi-hegemony is very important to the powers that be. This is why they repeatedly deny access to the podium and TV screen to suitable third-party candidates like Ralph Nader, Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan.

In 2005 the requirements for a candidate to debate were defined as having at least 15% support, a number that has to be verified by five private polling companies, all of whom are owned by major newspaper and television conglomerates. Conglomerates who, in case you've missed it, have almost succeeded in completely ignoring Mr. Nader in the 2008 election year, despite his presence on the ballot in 45 states plus the District of Columbia - more than he had during his impressive run in 2000.

If we're serious about democracy then we have to at least admit this: until our process becomes more representative - that is, not bought and sold by corporations whose only goal is profit - we're taking part in a quasi-democracy at best.

For some great info, check out another, more honorable, bi-partisan group, Open Debates, a group comprised of Democrats and Republicans dedicated to debate reform. They have fliers and brochures. Print some out. Give them to your friends. Or your enemies.

And when it comes time to vote, don't forget: Vote for Nader!

If you had been on campus, or visited the Post Office downtown this past July you probably would have met one of the number of petitioners who braved the heat and ridicule in a bid to get enough signatures to put Mr. Nader on the ballot in Kansas.

The Kansas law requires the signatures of at least 5,000 registered voters to place a candidate on the ballot. According to VoteNader.Org, Nader's campaign submitted 10,062.

Mr. Nader is reportedly on the ballot in 45 states plus the District of Columbia, placing him ahead of his best showing in 2004, ...

A couple of weeks ago I took a walk with my three-year-old daughter over campus. Before too long we happened upon a large group of men playing football in their new practice facility.

“What are they doing?” asked my daughter.

“That’s called football.” I said. “Want to watch?”

She did. I took her out of her stroller and put her on my shoulders, so she could get a better view.

Soon, we were approached by a man wearing too many articles of clothing with little Jayhawks on them. He informed us that this was a “closed” practice, and that ...

photo: McNair Scholars in Caguas, Puerto Rico

Thursday, July 17th

5:55 a.m.

I wake up, like a rock might wake up: having attained consciousness, yet lacking the necessary appendages to transverse the terrain or manipulate its surroundings -- That is: I can’t move. My eyes rolls back and forth within their sockets, I can feel them pivoting with relative ease, though the muscles in charge of this movement throb with pain. My mind begins formulating a plan, and I quickly discover that this too causes a particular throbbing.

6:15 a.m.

I sit, cross-legged, on the beach, ...

photo: Scholars @ the Arecibo Coast, Puerto Rico

I'm not sure at what point it was that I realized I was coming down with something awful (probably the night before I left, when my children began exhibiting symptoms), but I remember desperately hoping that the early signs of sickness weren't real: by day three I knew that they were.

Wednesday, July 16th

6:00 a.m.

Salsa music. Loud. In my ear. Where am I? Why can't I breath?

It all comes to me: music = alarm clock, location = Puerto Rico, lack of oxygen = ...

6:00 a.m.

I wake up - "Oh yeah! I'm in Puerto Rico!" The alarm next to my bed is blaring Salsa music. Instantly I am out of my bed and at the window, and the and the answer to the question of whether or not I will be able to get up early is answered. I throw on my jogging shoes and shorts and head downstairs.

6:15

Within minutes I'm a block away from the hotel -- as far as I'd gotten the night before on my walk -- looking at the ocean another half a block away that the night ...

photo: The Yokahu Tower in El Yunque National Rain Forest, a remnant of old colonialism

Apparently, a vast majority of mainland living Americans have no idea that Puerto Rico is not, in fact, a whole other country (is that Texas?), but a commonwealth of the United States of America - a part of our winner's package following the Spanish - American War. In fact, 110 years ago last Friday (the day of our McNair Research Symposium) the United States actually invaded Puerto Rico at Guanica.

In the 21st century - that is, ...

photo: McNair Scholars from the University of Kansas and Inter San German at El Yunque National Rainforest, July 2008.

I know I said I'd live blog from Puerto Rico. Apparently I lied. It was wishful thinking: something I fall victim to often. So instead of a "live blog," I'm providing my rabid readers with a "recap," which is good because now I can more eloquently exaggerate on the nature of my adventures, and no one will ever know the difference.

Monday, July 14th, 2008

9:45 a.m.

We're pulling out of the drive in the first ...

Towards the end of last semester I applied for the McNair Scholarship Program. As it was the first scholarship I had applied for upon returning the the hallowed halls of academia, I was duly nervous, scrambling about to get all the requisites in order.

Upon applying to return to school almost a year before that-during the appeals process that followed-I realized while I begged that my success in the world of higher education would hinge on my ability to seek out and utilize programs like McNair that exists to help me do just that, that is, succeed. ...

Yesterday I received an email from a friend in Topeka who has a meteorologist friend who informed her (and encouraged her to do so to others) that there was some bad weather coming today.

Earlier my wife had mentioned something about all the weather factors being just about identical to some "perfect storm" scenario that occurred in the late 70's. Something about a bunch of tornadoes in Eastern Kansas (that's us) in one day.

This morning the front page of weather.com provided a third source for the rumors when it told me that a "Major Severe Weather Outbreak" ...