1. CAUSE OF LOW MORALE IDENTIFIED: PRAYER. This just in. The cause of low morale in the district has been identified. It’s prayer.That’s right, ever since Trustee Tom Fuentes showed up in the SOCCCD, there’s been lots more prayer, and creepier prayer, too. And things have been goin’ downhill, man.
Well, according to a landmark study whose results were announced this week, not only does prayer not help people, it causes “performance anxiety.” As Bob Park reported yesterday:
The long-awaited study of intercessory prayer for coronary bypass patients was released yesterday...A small increase in complications, attributed to "performance anxiety," was found in a subset of patients who were told that strangers were praying for them. Otherwise, there was nothing. Scientists are relieved of course; science is tough enough without having to worry that somebody on their knees in East Cupcake, Iowa can override natural law. The study of 1800 patients took almost ten years and cost $2.4M, mostly from the Templeton Foundation. Of course, there are calls for further study. Where do we start? What are the units of prayer? Do prayers of Pat Robertson count more than those of death-row inmates? What is the optimum posture of the supplicant? Where can we learn these things? (What's New?)
OK, so the scientists said that the negative effect of prayer was “small.” But those guys haven’t heard Trustee Tom pray!
If there’s a God, He’s pissed.
2. LOCAL REPUBLICANS: FOR ONCE THE SCANDAL IS KINDA SMALL. Did you hear about the latest local Republican scandal? This time, it’s a mini-scandal, I guess, so they're movin' in the right direction. This is from this morning’s OC Register:
More than 100 Orange County residents who thought they were simply signing petitions to cure breast cancer, punish child molesters or build schools were duped into registering as Republicans, an Orange County Register investigation found.
The ruse took place over several days in December and January at shopping centers throughout Anaheim, Santa Ana, Buena Park, Westminster and Garden Grove, where paid petitioners begged, cajoled, lied and committed forgery to get so-called Republican converts. Petition circulators were paid as much as $7 for each GOP registration.
Orange County election officials have received complaints from 167 people who were flipped to the Republican Party without their permission. The Register found the problem was far wider, interviewing 112 others who were not only switched, they were tricked and deceived. Among the victims is a lifelong Democrat who was pressured to fill out forms even though she didn't have her glasses and couldn't see what she was signing.
The Register traced the bogus registrations to Christopher Scott Dinoff, who took out 13,000 blank affidavit cards from the Orange County Registrar of Voters Office, records show.
…In Orange County, local GOP Chairman Scott Baugh said he considers his party a victim in the scam.
"Not only do we get hit for the dollars we are paying vendors, but if they are reluctant Republicans, we are also wasting money on follow-up mailers and efforts to contact (them)," Baugh said.
…Many of those [victims] interviewed by the Register were college students or people with a limited command of English.
"We really don't know how the system works, and we're a little more naive than the rest of the population," said Evelyn Maldonado, 19, a Santa Ana College sophomore who was approached by a signature gatherer after class.
…Dinoff was hired by a subcontractor for Bader and Associates, the Newport Beach consultant used by the GOP to conduct the registration drive.
…Orange County Republican officials say they took immediate action when they learned of "over-aggressive" petitioners, refusing to pay for anymore registrations from Dinoff.
But Frank Barbaro, Orange County Democratic Party chairman, isn't so sure that the Republican Party is blameless. Barbaro said the GOP benefited because the boosted numbers strengthened the party's fundraising ability in the heated 34th District.
"It gives the Republicans all this energy," Barbaro said. "They take those numbers around the state and raise money, saying, 'We can win that district.'" (Click GOP Scandallet)
3. GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS FOR SHERIFF CARONA. One of Trustee Tom’s pals, OC Sheriff Mike “Rat Bastard” Carona, got some good news and some bad news this week.
The bad news? Well, on Wednesday night, the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs voted to endorse Bill Hunt, Carona’s chief challenger in the upcoming election. Ouch!
As you know, that came on the heels of a similar setback: a week earlier, the OC Republican Party’s Central Committee declined to endorse Carona for reelection.
Meanwhile, Hunt submitted a ballot statement that described Carona as a “failure” whose administration brought “scandal after scandal.”
Carona’s people cried foul and took the matter to a judge, who ruled this week that Hunt’s verbiage amounted to a “personal attack.”
Personal attack? Here are some more "personal attacks":
• Raghu Mathur’s chancellorship has been a failure.
• Raghu Mathur is a liar.
• As a faculty member, Raghu repeatedly ignored process and went directly to trustees.
These are no more “personal attacks” than is the assertion that Carona’s administration has been beset by scandal, which is demonstrably factual.
I guess that, in the judge’s view, if you say something harsh or unpleasant about someone, then that’s a “personal attack,” even if it’s true plus pertinent. By that standard, “Saddam Hussein was a dictator” is a personal attack.
If you want to hear some real personal attacks (that's when you say things about people that are harsh and false), listen to Raghu's 9-minute speech of Monday night. (See Raghu Blames Faculty)
1 comment:
The fiasco of the last board meeting sends shivers up my spine as I listened to several board membes and a chancellor confuse issues, themselves and others. Who needs a captainless ship? That we have had for years.
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