¢ Scott Bloch, the former Lawrence attorney who now serves as U.S. special counsel, is the subject of a blog on the BeyondChron site in San Francisco. Bloch was in Lawrence last week to speak with students at Kansas University and Washburn University._ It’s not surprising that the Bush administration hired a staunch conservative like Scott Bloch to serve as U.S. Special Counsel. What is surprising is that Bloch is from Lawrence, Kansas – the boldly progressive heart of an otherwise reddish state._¢ A former KU student and Washington intern writes about the Mark Foley scandal in the Denver Daily News._Come to think of it, though, it’s a blow to my self-esteem to think that I worked in DC for six months and was never once approached by an elected official. Was I not cute enough?__You’d think that someone as naÃive and vulnerable as me – straight off the bus from the University of Kansas – would have Congressmen beating down my door asking, “Do I make you a little horny?” This has become upsetting. What was so wrong with me?_¢ Deborah “Misty” Gerner, a well-known KU political scientist who died in June, is honored with a tribute in the September/October edition of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs._Deborah “Misty” Gerner was an extraordinary person who could shock you with her ability to forgive and her unbreakable willingness to give. She believed strongly in the possibility of achieving peace in the Middle East despite all obstacles and difficulties, and devoted a significant amount of her academic research to issues that helped Americans gain a better understanding of the Middle East in general, and the Israel-Palestine conflict in particular._