Remember this thing?

Last Thursday, Army General Ray Odierno appeared on the Colbert Report to announce the end of the War in Iraq, and over the weekend, the last U.S. troops rolled across the border from Iraq to Kuwait. Most troops will be home for Christmas, but some 4,000 will remain in Kuwait as a quick reaction force. (Hulu, Mother Jones, AP)

It’s the rule of threes! On Thursday, British journalist and intellectual Christopher Hitchens passed away at the age of 62. The Nation, New Yorker, and Atlantic have put together collections of his best work and tributes. The next day, Václav Havel, President of the Czech Republic until 2003 and former Columbia artist-in-residence, passed away at the age of 75. Finally, North Korean authorities announced late last night that Kim Jong-Il had died, only 10 hours after the country agreed to suspend its nuclear weapons program. (Hulu, NYT, AP)

The West Harlem Local Development Corporation, an organization that’s supposed to distribute $76 million of Columbia’s money to the West Harlem community as consolation for the Manhattanville expansion, is in hot water after it was discovered that one of its board members tried to spend $85,000 without telling anyone. Now Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer has added his voice to the chorus calling on the group to disband. (NYPost, DNAinfo)

California public schools may be broke (and about to get more broke), but that’s not stopping UC-Berkeley from greatly expanding financial aid for middle-class families. All students whose families make between $80,000 and $140,000/year will only have to pay 15% of their income, plus an $8,000 student contribution. It’s not as generous as Columbia’s financial aid policy, but it’s unprecedented for a state school. (LAT, NYT)

This reddit-famous GS grad isn’t the only anonymous Santa’s helper this holiday season. Across the Heartland, poor families that have put Christmas purchases on layaway at Kmart (meaning they agree to pay for them in installments and get their money back if they can’t make all the payments) have discovered that generous strangers have anonymously paid off most of their balances. (Reddit, AP)

The mayor of Troy, Michigan may want to throw out her “I <3 NY” tote bag now that marriage equality is legal in New York, but for most people, the fact that Columbia alum John Spofford Morgan can finally marry his life-long love, Lou Halsey, is just another reason to love New York! According to Columbia researchers, marriage equality also makes gay men healthier. (Detroit Free-Press, NY Mag, BBC)

Speaking of Christmas romance, why not let Columbia alum Chris Beam explain why we kiss under mistletoe? (Slate)

Blues clues via Wikimedia

Love is in the air today, the first day that gay and lesbian couples can legally wed in the state of New York. In the city alone, 823 couples—including two of Mayor Bloomberg’s aides—are scheduled to be married. It’s all thanks to the Marriage Equality Act, which passed late last month. In honor of this historic victory for civil rights and love, Bwog reached out to pertinent campus groups to get their take on the passage of the Act. Also be sure to check out Cityroom’s piece on how young New Yorkers—that’s sort of us!—feel about marriage equality in New York.

Check out the statements after the jump!

Lots o’ free food coming atcha tonight. At 8pm in the Dodge Room at Earl Hall, Fatima Tsiouris (from the Mailman School of Public Health) will speak on “the burden of HIV/AIDS on women and children: transmission and treatment.” Thai food and snacks will be in abundance. Facebook event here.

From there, dash over to the CU College Democrats and the Columbia Queer Alliance co-hosted panel discussion entitled “Why Only Marriage Equality Will Do: the Fight for Same-Sex Marriage,” featuring speakers from advocacy group Marriage Equality New York. It’s at 9:00pm in 313 Fayerweather, and they promise pizza, cookies, and other snacks and desserts.

Come for the junk/Thai food, stay for the enlightened repartée!

Photo via Wikipedia

Urban canines visiting Chelsea are mistaken for cross-dressing prostitutes. (NY Mag)

Trader Joe’s not so secretly joins the influx of grocery stores on the UWS. (Westside Independent)

Obama could make Columbia Professor Michael Woodford the new Donald Kohn. (Reuters)

Reagan’s face threatens Ulysses S. Grant’s. (LA Times)

Repression can lead to all kinds of problems. (UPI)

Control your mind with music. (Medill)

Photo by The Weather Channel

Stay in your homes – the Cataclyzzard is here! (The Weather Channel)

Paterson’s bombshell story (Take 1 2 3 4). (NYT)

The fight for marriage equality steps up. (NYT)

The Battle of the Barnard Meal Plan Part V: Deployment of the Student Task Force. (Spec)

The College Dems held a contentious rally against a member of their own party on Thursday. Bwog’s Senior Love/Hate Correspondent Mahrah Taufique reports.

Despite the slush and chilly weather, the Columbia University College Democrats (CUCD), joined by State Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, rallied on the steps of Low from 9am to 3pm yesterday for the first event of their Students Advancing Marriage Equality (SAME) campaign. Their aim was to highlight the hypocrisy of State Senator Joe Addabbo, for whom they campaigned in 2008 when his platform included a pro gay-marriage emphasis, but who subsequently rejected marriage equality in December along with 7 other Democratic Senators. The senator’s decision was apparently based on the 75 phone calls he received from people against gay marriage. A massive representation of Senator Addabbo with “WTF” written in angry red letters exemplified the students’ frustration and indignation. The Dems spent the afternoon collecting signatures on paper hearts and petitions – Valentine’s Day messages which are being delivered to Sentator Addabo’s office in Queens today.

UPDATE: Dems Sam Klug and Sean Quirk found Senator Addabo’s office empty on Friday afternoon, so they posted all the valentines signed during Thursday’s event in an innovative way.

Read more…

The College Democrats are on Low Steps now for the first event of their Students Advancing Marriage Equality (SAME) campaign. Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, State Assemblyman for District 69 (aka Rosie O’Donnell’s brother), will be speaking at the event at noon!

The National Marriage Boycott, a new offshoot of CQA, just staged an ‘Anti-Wedding’ on Low Steps to protest the Defense of Marriage Act. Anti-man and anti-wife were clad in suit and gown, respectively, and both exclaimed ‘I don’t!” The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

Sean Udell, Treasurer of CQA, has just announced that there will be an afterparty on Low complete with wedding cake, apple juice, and Pellegrino.

Uh…not congratulations! Bwog’s Alternative Forms Of Marriage correspondent, Alex Boyce, sent in this picture.

The Helmsley Hotel has cancelled a banquet scheduled for next weekafter learning that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was expected to attend and speak.  Ahmadinejad, shown, growls toothily in response.  (NY Post)

The summer’s high incidence of shoplifting has inspired storeowners’ increased attention to security.  Filling your Tupperware with free salmon dip at Westside Market just got more exciting. (Spec)

Gay marriage-advocating politicians tell audience “politicians are weak.” Next week: do they really like kissing babies? (Spec)

NYC comptroller William Thompson is airing his first mayoral campaign ads today, and “he will receive a major political endorsement, from Gov. David A. Paterson, in Manhattan.” In other news, the word “major” has been redefined as “completely useless, will likely drag down the endorsed’s numbers.” (NYT)

A Connecticut school bus driver has been arrested after leaving a sleeping five-year-old alone on the floor of his bus for over an hour.  Now that’s just nasty… (1010WINS)

Photo via nytimes.com

Turns out our 7th grade alter-egos down the street at Columbia Secondary School and us Columbians have more in common than geography and raging hormones. Just as we go gaga for Michael Taussig’s fashion sense and perfectly coiffed hairdo, so our friends our middle school friends adore their own teachers.

Exhibit A: an article yesterday’s Times about the upcoming commitment ceremony of Chance Nalley, a math teacher at the School. Nalley, one of the School’s strictest teachers, came out to his students at a diversity workshop two years ago and was delighted to find that his students were insistent on being invited to the ceremony. The students’ parents have also been invited. 

The ceremony will take place on campus at St. Paul’s Chapel on April 4. Two-thirds of the School’s ninety-six 7th graders will be at the ceremony, and Nalley has hired an extra security guard…to accommodate the horde of 12-year-olds.

For the sake of your children’s legacy admissions, donate!

CC brother, can you spare a dean?

Gay folks for fighting

Gay folks for loving 

Old-time religion it’s not 

No, you’re not in prison, just a Barnard res hall 

Plus: Spec adds new stuff!