In C. M. Kornbluth's 1951 sci fi short, The Marching Morons, a modern day huckster takes a one way trip to the future and discovers that progress didn't quite go as expected.  The breeding rate of smart, educated people versus that of the not-so-bright underclass has left the world with an average IQ less than the temperature of Milwaukee in January, and only said conman can save the few smarties left from moronic domination.  The story is racist, classist, elitist, terribly dated, and really quite funny.

But of course, Kornbluth got everything wrong -- well, everything but the results   Because if some researchers are right, America is facing a huge shortage of a resource that can't be fixed no matter how many national parks we're willing to drill, or how many old growth trees we chop down.  We're running out of smart people.

The Senate's loss is UNC's gain.

Just a notice here to those who recall Election 2004. Though Bowles lost his bid for the Senate (and we got stuck with Burr), Clinton's former Chief of Staff is on the UNC-Greensboro campus today meeting with faculty and students.

Voted in unanomously by the Board of Directors on October 6, he will assume duties as Chancellor of the UNC system on January 1, 2006. As a native of Greensboro, he will be installed here on the UNC-Greensboro campus.

An early indication of his priorities is his intention to donate one-third of his salary to student financial aid.