“HUNG JURY” for Saddleback student, anti-Minuteman protester

As you know, Saddleback College student Kurt Isobe has been on trial here in Orange County. During an anti-Minuteman protest a year ago, he allegedly threw objects at police.

Local activist Duane J. Roberts has sat through the entire trial.

Here’s Duane’s report from today:

“HUNG JURY” FOR ANTI-MINUTEMAN PROTESTER

An Orange County jury deadlocks on three charges; issues “not guilty” verdict for two others.

By DUANE J. ROBERTS

SANTA ANA, CA—A mixed race, predominantly female jury deadlocked 10-2 and 9-3 in favor of an anti-Minuteman protester who was violently arrested by Garden Grove police on the night of Wednesday, May 25, 2005.

Kurt Isobe, 19, of Laguna Niguel, was one of three hundred people who attended a protest against Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist, who was speaking at a meeting of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform in Garden Grove.

During three days of testimony, two police officers accused Isobe of throwing two objects at police during the demonstration. They claimed they saw him throw a “golf ball sized” object and a “red soda can” toward a police skirmish line.

But a crime lab technician testified that no fingerprints could be found on any cans. And numerous witnesses, including some who accompanied Isobe to the demonstration, stated that they didn’t witness him throw any objects at the police.

The jury "hung" on three charges of felony assault against a police officer and obstructing an officer in the performance of his duties. They found him “not guilty” of lesser charges of assaulting a horse and wearing a mask in the commission of a crime.

A hearing will be scheduled later next month to determine if the Orange County District Attorney’s Office will retry the case against Isobe. Attorney David Haas, Isobe’s counsel, was unavailable for comment at the time this report was written.

[We’d like to thank Duane for his permission in using his piece.]

Trustee SPANKY on your right to “pack a gun.” —Plus our district’s lovely “renaissance”!

People who seek political office often leave quite a paper trail.

Take Don Wagner, the perpetually peevish and prickly SOCCCD trustee. Two years ago, he ran for a seat in the State Assembly, 70th District. (See map.) Wagner poured forth an impressive amount of verbiage during that campaign. (He lost, receiving 15% of the vote among several candidates.) It is archived by “Smart Voter” --Wagner for Assembly.

Much has happened in the past two years. Back in 2004, Bush and all things Bushy--you know: our Iraq adventure, sending people abroad to be tortured, assaulting civil liberties--were riding high, but now, well, not so much. Back then, the “illegal immigration” issue was on the back burner. Now, its hot, hot, hot.

It's fun to look back at what people said before things started changing.

If you go to the above site, you'll find much Wagnerian verbiage. In a lengthy essay entitled “Five Things I Will Do in Sacramento,” trustee Don displays his Libertarian tendencies, as when he argues that

The legislature must recognize that parents know best how to raise their children, and that parents care more for their kids than do bureaucrats. I will ceaselessly work to … free parents to educate, discipline, and instill values in, California's children. I will not support any piece of legislation that undermines parental authority and control over their children.

Unsurprisingly, Don embraces “local control”:

As a local government official, I know that local governments are closer to the people they serve, know better the problems of their local jurisdictions, and can best respond flexibly and appropriately to solve those problems. They should be empowered by Sacramento, not stripped of power, money, and authority….

Don rails against “Phony ‘Civil Rights’ Laws” that protect “cross-dressers” and laws that “harass the Boy Scouts.”

“I will not sit quietly,” he says. “I will oppose further enactment of the liberal agenda….”

Wagner’s answers to a campaign questionnaire are sometimes interesting. “What,” he is asked, will he “do to stop illegal immigration and its economic effects in California”?

“We should deport illegal aliens when and where found,” says Don. As you know, President Bush offers a very different answer.

Don’s a great believer in guns. In fact, in Don World, the good guys oughta have more of ‘em: "I would try to greatly expand the right of law abiding citizens to carry weapons.”

Greatly expand? I do believe Don wants us to wear holsters, boots, and Stetsons!

Like many conservatives, Wagner is especially concerned about the specter of homosexuality. He is definitely against sex education and the promotion of the “pro-homosexual agenda” in public schools.

At one point, Wagner is asked, Do you support same sex marriage? He offers a snappy answer, sure to annoy:

"Then it isn't ‘marriage,’ now is it?"

I like Don, but he just doesn't get how annoyed at his audience--and thus annoying--he often seems.

In the questionnaire, Don again emphasizes the value of local control. And so he supports the “right of communities to require curricula with greater studies of”—are you ready?—here goes:

The U.S. Constitution, the role of religion in American life, traditional values, honest U.S. history, the founding fathers in greater dimension tha[n] mere "slave owners," appreciation for the cultural and political traditions of our country, patriotism, gun safety[.] [He says “yes” to the preceding.]

Don’s a great one for discipline. "Corporal punishment in the lower grades works,” he asserts.

Ouch!

Spanky--er, Don--sees himself as a Warrior. Is there a culture war in the U.S. today? “Yes,” says Corporal (and corporeal!) Don. If so, then “What side are you on?”

His answer is a tour de force:

"I am on the side that thinks ‘under God’ belongs in the pledge of allegiance and that it's all right to wish people ‘Merry Christmas,’ but that free speech does not include burning the flag or dancing in the nude.

"I am on the side that did not scoff when Ronald Reagan spoke of a ‘shining city on a hill’….

"On my side of the culture war, mom and dad and kids…are esteemed such that public policy is made first and foremost to protect them.

…"I believe public schools should be permitted to give out aspirin, but not condoms, and that bananas belong in the cafeteria, not in ‘health class.’

…”I am on the side of the culture war that believes Teddy Kennedy should do time for Chappaquidick and that Bill Clinton should do time for Juanita Broderick, perjury, illegal campaign fund raising from China...

"My side of the culture war thought that the first term of the Clinton Administration was … a disaster. There was nothing to like about his positions on gays in the military, nationalization of the health care industry, opposition to welfare reform that took a Republican Congress to finally achieve, …the incineration of children in Waco, …stonewalling on Vince Foster, missing Rose Law Firm billing records, … sale of the Lincoln Bedroom, ad nauseam.

…"Those on my side of the culture war believe that with rights come responsibilities, and that you have a right to build on your own property even if a snail darter or some such endangered vermin happens to live on it, a right to pack a gun, and the right to live free of an oppressive nanny state. You also have a responsibility to care for yourself and your family, and to exhaust every effort to do so before asking the government for a handout. Personal responsibility and self reliance [sic] are more highly regarded on my side of the culture war than are feelings and groupthink.

"My side of the culture war laughs at the hypocracy [sic!] of the left when it says we care about children only until they are born, when in fact it is our side that also opposes euthanasia, the left's creeping culture of death, the killing of Terry Schiavo….”

Don’s not finished! In a “separate statement,” he explains that

…I have volunteered for the GOP for years, ...served on a legal committee to stop liberal election day shenanigans…I was also the founder of the Orange County Chapter of the Federalist Society, a nationwide organization of lawyers, law professors, and judges. The Federalist Society has now replaced the leftist American Bar Association as chief outside advisor to the Bush Administration in its nomination of federal judges.

Near the end of this statement, Wagner touches on his role as Savior of our district. Ready?

When I was elected to guide a troubled college district, its finances were under State scrutiny, enrollment was flat, accreditation was in jeopardy, and campus dissension was widespread. Today, all that is past. The district's finances are robust. We are building new facilities without tax increases or incurring bond debt. Accreditation has been reaffirmed. Enrollment is up. Hard work, a commitment to educational excellence, and fiscally conservative leadership have led to a district renaissance.

—A renaissance? A freakin' renaissance!! I DON'T THINK SO, DON.

(All emphases added.)

College bound--without a High School diploma

There's an interesting article in today's New York Times concerning the growing phenomenon of students going to college without High School diplomas: Going right to college

Some excerpts:

...[M]any colleges — public and private, two-year and four-year — will accept students who have not graduated from high school or earned equivalency degrees.

...This year [in California], 47,000 high school seniors, about 10 percent of the class, have not passed the exit examinations required to graduate from high school. They can still enroll in many colleges, although they are no longer eligible for state tuition grants.

State Senator Deborah Ortiz, Democrat of Sacramento, has proposed legislation to change that.

"As long as the opportunity to go to college exists for students without a diploma," Ms. Ortiz said, "qualifying students from poor or low-income families should remain entitled to college financial aid."

Many community colleges and two-year commercial colleges take these students, as do some less selective four-year colleges. At Interboro Institute, a large commercial college in Manhattan, 94 percent of the students last year did not have a high school diploma. Yet most received federal and state financial aid, up to $9,000 a student for the neediest....

Padberg update

In case you missed it, on Friday, the OC Register ran an update on fundraising and spending of candidates in next week’s OC elections.

As you know, our own Nancy Padberg, an attorney, is running for Superior Court Judge (Office no. 4). She’s running against Shiela Hanson, a Democrat who nevertheless is endorsed by the Republican DA, and Lyle Robertson, a Superior Court Commissioner.


As you can see (see Reg graphic), Nancy has attracted a respectable amount of money for her campaign, even compared to Hanson. (I’m assuming it is not her own money.)

I’ve been told—it sounds plausible—that, if no one receives a majority of votes during the primary, then there’ll be a runoff. In that event, if Padberg chooses to run, she cannot also run for trustee.

Me Israelite

Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir,
So that every mouth can be fed.
Poo------r
Me Israelite. Aah.

1. The great Jamaican singer Desmond Dekker has died, in England, at age 64.

His song "The Israelites" (1968) was my introduction to reggae. Yours, too, I'll bet.

I was just a kid. The song annoyed me. A few years later, I loved it. People don't change, I guess, but their ears sure do.

I recall seeing Gus Van Sant's wonderful Drugstore Cowboy (1989). At one point in the film, we hear "Israelites."

At that moment, swoonage is inevitable.

2. Enron

For a delicious recounting of Mr. Bush's relationship with Enron, go to the Center for Public Integrity website (Enron Backgrounder)

Have I mentioned that the President is a rat bastard from Hell?

3. Hastert and Fuentes

C’mon, reach over mama,
An’ hand me my travelin’ shoes
I want you folks to know right now,
I’ve got the Statesboro Blues

Yes, my mama had ‘em,
My sister had ‘em
My brother had ‘em,
My daddy died with ‘em

When I got up this morning,
The family had them weary blues…
I poked my head down in the corner, an’
Grandma had ‘em too

—from David Bromberg’s Statesboro Blues

Speaking of delicious, here's a tasty schadenfreudular factoid. As you know, Dennis Hastert appointed our man Fuentes to the EAC. That's just swell.

Recently, ABC News reported that Mr. Hastert is among those being investigated by the FBI with regard to the Abramoff corruption scandal. The Justice Dept. denies this. ABC is thusfar sticking to its guns.

In any case, here's the factoid: the day after Abramoff pleaded guilty (in January), Hastert gave to charity $60,000 in campaign contributions given to him by Abramoff's clients.

Give me back the hat I bought you, the big umbrella
Give me back the shoes, I want the dress ‘an
--Ah, if you don’t like your daddy, woman
You’ve got no right to stand and squall

Gimme back the wig I bought you
Now that your goddam head go'd bald

Hey, I did more for you woman, away last winter
I suffered through the summer, an’ I scuffled through the Fall
--I done more for you woman than
The good Lord ever done

Hell, I put hair upon your head, an’
You know, he never give you none

4. Flake bombs

In today's edition of What's New, Bob Park reports:

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), one of the countless independent, nonprofit, public policy research institutes in Washington, reported last week that the Pentagon will spend $30 billion on classified programs in FY 2007.

Why? In a new book, Imaginary Weapon: A Journey Through the Pentagon's Scientific Underworld, Sharon Weinberger peeks behind the curtain at hafnium bombs, "remote viewing," telepathy and all the rest and concludes secrecy is mostly to avoid rational oversight.

D'oh! I'd rather pay for John Williams' Orlando junkets than for this nonsense!

For a rational discussion of "remote viewing," go to Remote viewing

Explaining Babs Beno?

Back on the 9th, the Berkeley Daily Planet published an article, "Accrediting commissions provokes critics", that might help explain “Babs” Beno’s curious behavior last month.

Babs, of course, is the president of the Accrediting agency, ACCJC, a division of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

Last month? Well, despite several public displays of trustee contempt for the ACCJC and its recommendations (No, it's macromanagement!), Babs declared that she saw "a lot of progress."

Listen:

(Babs' "progress" remark comes at the beginning.)

Progress?

Evidently, our trustees listened closely to Babs' baneful babblery. They're feelin' mighty relieved about now. Those of you who attended Monday’s board meeting probably noticed the absence of any mention of the ACCJC's recommendations, which have occupied this body for months. It’s like the whole accreditation worry has magically disappeared! Poof!


What gives? Well, Babs and her close ACCJC associate Debora Blue are in retreat. Turns out they're in dutch with some districts, in part because the ACCJC’s harsh actions against those districts looks like payback. Here are some excerpts of the Daily Planet article:

A statewide education revolt is growing against the agency that accredits California community colleges in part because of recent actions the agency has taken against the Peralta and the Compton Community College Districts.

Linda Handy, the president of the Peralta Board of Trustees, said that ACCJC operates “without a lot of oversight,” and said that the accrediting organization backed off of its warning to pull the Peralta colleges’ accreditation only under the threat of a discrimination lawsuit by Peralta.

And Michael Mills, the president of the Peralta Federation of Teachers union, says that the leading administrators of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) have a vendetta against the Peralta college district, and that the ACCJC is “operating like a star chamber” with a “process that is out of control.”

The top two staff members of the ACCJC are former Peralta staff members who reportedly left under less than amicable circumstances. ACCJC President Dr. Barbara Beno is a former president of Vista College in Berkeley (now Berkeley City College). The ACCJC Vice President, Dr. Deborah G. Blue, is a former president of Laney College in Oakland.


…[T]he ACCJC commission is largely a self-appointed body, with the commission chair holding the power to appoint three of the seven-member body that selects commission members.

Last March, that led the California Federation of Teachers [the teachers union that competes with CTA] to pass a resolution at its annual convention calling the ACCJC “a private organization that is accountable to no one it serves” and charging that the organization “often causes colleges to implement changes that reflect the current biases of the accreditation team.” The CFT resolution called on the California Community College System Office and “other appropriate bodies” to “investigate the operations of AACJC-WASC and consider possible alternatives for evaluating and accrediting the state’s community colleges.”

A spokesperson for the CFT said by telephone that the “other appropriate bodies” was meant to refer to the state legislature.

Late last month, the California Community College Academic Senate passed a resolution “in support of the [CFT] and other . . . bodies who have expressed their unhappiness with the ACCJC,” and joined the call for an investigation into alternatives to the organization.

Representatives of the ACCJC could not be reached in connection with this article.

The lengthy article goes on to explain that ACCJC’s troubles began with its harsh action against Compton Community College in August of 05. Initially, in view of the very real problems at Compton (concerning trustees and top administration--fraud and corruption), State Chancellor Mark Drummond stepped in, replacing Compton’s trustees with a single state trustee.

Oddly, that was not enough for the ACCJC, which pulled Compton’s ticket anyway.

That led to the AFT and State Senate resolutions.


As near as I can tell--based on conversations I've had over the last year--the problem here isn't simply that ACCJC does not respond reasonably to meaningful efforts to fix what is broken. The problem is also that ACCJC takes harsh action against colleges that are working at the level of instruction--and that's what they're there for--but not at the level of administration or trusteeship. You know, the "Raghu" and the "Terrible Tom & Dandy Don" levels.

Why, some ask, are faculty and students made to pay the price for the failures of others—i.e., trustees, presidents, and chancellors? Why should a college that essentially works be shut down owing to the abject pinheadery of overseers? Surely, there is a better way to handle these situations!

You'll recall that the ACCJC had nothing but good things to say about instruction at Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges. As far as teaching goes, our colleges are tops!

The Chancellor and trustees were another matter entirely. They suck, or so said ACCJC. Untl last month.

Evidently, a year before the Compton ticket-pulling, the ACCJC issued warnings against the four Peralta colleges. According to a Peralta official, the colleges were placed on warning status “because of unfunded medical liabilities by the district, for ‘micromanaging’ by the district board, and for not having a strategic plan.”

Micromanagement. Inadequate planning. Those are issues for us, too.

“None of these were accreditation standards,” said the official (according to the article).

Further, many community college districts are burdened by unfunded liabilities, but only Peralta was dinged by ACCJC on that score.

Even after a majority of Peralta trustees were replaced in elections, the “micromanagement” warning stood.

What's a college to do?

According to at least one Peralta official, the reason for all this is that Beno and Blue, who come from the Peralta district, have axes to grind.

You’ll recall that, during the time that our own SOCCCD board battled with ACCJC/WASC, a similar conflict of interest objection was raised re the involvement, in the accreditation process, of a former president of Saddleback College, Constance Caroll.

No doubt, our trustees are crowing about this Accredular brouhaha. ACCJC is retreating because it's been bad. Nya nya nya nya nya!

But let's not lose sight of the real issues in our benighted district. Sure, at the instructional level, our colleges work. Just like always. But micromanagement, inadequate planning, and a "plague of despair" are genuine problems, whether or not they are listed among the ACCJC/WASC's standards.

And whether or not the people who run ACCJC are real a**holes.


P.S.:

I went to lunch with my best friend today. I told him about the above. I said, "So the watchdog shot himsef in the foot. --No, that ain't right. What's the right metaphor?"

After about three seconds, my friend said: "The watchdog has chewed off his balls."

I rejected that one. "I can't write that," I said.

But now I'm thinkin' that, really, it's spot on.

I can't help it if these people do something to themselves as awful as that!

More on Fuentes' appointment

I learned a bit more about Mr. Fuentes’ appointment to the Elections Assistance Commission (EAC).

I am bothering with all this detail because, as we've pointed out on this blog more than once, there's good reason to be very concerned about election fraud. (See the Conyers Report. For a brief discussion of its conclusions: Conyers Report.) The EAC has an important role in the larger "watchdog" mechanism of federal elections.

And now our man Fuentes is part of EAC.

The recently-sent “board highlights," referring to Dave Lang's remarks, inform us that

Trustee Thomas A. Fuentes...was on his way to Washington, D.C. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert appointed Trustee Fuentes to the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission Board of Advisors, succeeding U.S. Congressman J.C. Watts.

Remember: Fuentes has been appointed specifically to the EAC’s Board of Advisors. That's the smaller of EAC's two boards.

On the EAC website (EAC), one learns that

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 provides for the establishment of two boards to advise the EAC: the EAC Standards Board and the EAC Board of Advisors.

The Standards Board (acting through its Executive Board) and the Board of Advisors review proposed voluntary voting system guidelines and EAC technical guidance. They play a role in recommending candidates for the EAC Executive Director. They also may hold hearings and take testimony related to carrying out the provisions of the Help America Vote Act [HAVA].

The EAC Standards Board is composed of 110 members drawn from State and local election officials…The EAC Standards Board is required to select nine of its members to serve as the Executive Board of the Standards Board….

The EAC BOARD OF ADVISORS [Fuentes' group] comprises 37 members drawn from various national associations and government agencies who play a role in the implementation of the Help America Vote Act and from science and technology-related professionals appointed by Congressional members. Members of the Board of Advisors serve two-year terms and may be reappointed.

The Help America Vote Act requires that these boards have partisan and geographic balance. Members of the boards are not compensated for their services, but their travel costs are paid in accordance with federal law.

Watts, former Congressman from Oklahoma, whom Fuentes is replacing, is a conservative Republican.

It appears, then, that Fuentes has been appointed to the smaller of two EAC boards. On the other hand, he's not among the EAC's four Commissioners. (One resigned recently.)

On the EAC website, I learned that the Commission and its boards are meeting this very week. the Advisory Board met yesterday and will finish today. Their meeting is open to the public.

We're told the purpose of the meeting:

The U.S. EAC Board of Advisors, as required by HAVA, will meet and receive updates on EAC research projects and activities and discuss other relevant matters pertaining to the administration of federal elections. The Board will receive an update regarding recent work conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on the voluntary voting system guidelines. The Board will elect officers and consider the appointment of a proxy committee and the appointment of a resolutions committee. The Board will receive reports of committees and discuss other administrative matters.

If you’re a complete loon, you’ll want to read the Board of Advisors’ agenda, too:

Agenda (This is a pdf file.)

Last night's board meeting (+AUDIO)

At last night’s meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees, the board was up to its old tricks. Despite the process whereby the decision to cut tennis teams at IVC having been carefully explained to them--a process involving several parties, including PE faculty—the board seemed inclined to substitute that process and its result with their whims, or whatever they were, to the contrary.

No decision has yet been made, but expect one next month.


The new student trustee was sworn in. Her father was there to videotape the whole meeting!

Several persons were honored, including the exiting student trustee, classified employees of the year, and faculty of the year. (Perhaps I've left someone out.) No doubt all of them were deserving of recognition.


During public comments, Saddleback College’s Academic Senate President, Bob C, noted that there are two persons notably absent from the list of honorees, namely, former SC Academic Senate President Claire C and former Faculty Association President Lewis L.

I guess the board doesn't like 'em.

Listen to Bob's remarks:

Also during public comments, Irvine Valley College Academic Senate President Wendy G explained that, contrary to what trustees seem to be hearing (from you-know- who), faculty do not seek to control district planning. The issue is simple: Title 5 and board policy give to faculty (senates) a role as participant in the development of the process whereby district planning occurs. In fact, however, Chancellor Mathur has developed his own highly Mathurian process and has not brought faculty to the table during developement.

Hence, the district is in violation. (See earlier post: Title 5)


Wendy reminded the board that we've been down this road before--with the faculty hiring process, which, initially, was developed without faculty input, contrary to statute. Must we seek intrevention once again?

Listen to Wendy's remarks:

Karla Westphal made a plea that the trustees cease engaging in prayer during district and college events--such as the recent commencement ceremonies. (This particular night, Dave Lang led the group in a kind of poetry reading instead of a prayer.)

Listen to Karla' remarks:

The calendar issue was discussed (I left before that occurred). Evidently, the trustees exhibited no hostility to the idea of putting the two colleges on different calendars. No decision has yet been made. It is difficult to judge where this issue is going. My guess is that nothing will change and the two colleges will limp along as always.

Mr. Fuentes goes to Washington (again)

Later, I’ll post a fuller report on last night’s meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees, but I did want to report one factoid that was revealed last night that doesn’t seem to be reported anywhere else.

At the start of the meeting, by way of explaining Trustee Tom Fuentes’ absence, board president Lang informed the crowd that Fuentes had just been appointed

“to the United States Elections Assistant [sic] Commission Advisory Board. Trustee Fuentes is the designee of the Speaker of the House of Representatives on this federal panel, which meets in the nation’s capitol. As you know, Trustee Fuentes also serves as a member of the Bush Administration, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Service Corporation by appointment of the President.

All of us offer our congratulations and best wishes to our colleague on this new national assignment.”

I could find no mention of the appointment in any of the local papers. Nor could I find any mention of it in local political blogs.

Finally, I went to the website of the Clerk of the House of Representatives (May 19), which provides a summary of actions for each day.

For the Legislative Day of May 19 (Friday), the Clerk reports:

3:04 P.M. –

Election Assistance Commission Board of Advisors - Pursuant to Section 214(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15344), and the order of the House of December 18, 2005, the Speaker appointed Mr. Thomas A. Fuentes, Lake Forest, California.

This might be much ado about nothing. I’ll look into it.

It is no secret that Mr. Fuentes’ relationship with the Bush administration has been stormy. Hence the poor appointment (Legal Services Corp.) Fuentes was handed after the first Bush presidential victory in 2000.

Is this appointment any better? More later.

P.S. (9:54)

I gather--based on a point made in an old OC Reg article--that the U.S. Election Assistance Commission is the agency that "certifies" electronic-voting systems.

Uh-oh.

More later.

P.S. (10:02 a.m.)

There's an organization named the "Verified Voting Foundation." Its website (VerifiedVoting.org) reports that the vice chair of the US Election Assistance Commission (EAC) recently resigned:

This week Ray Martinez, 2006 vice chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, submitted his resignation to President Bush. In his letter he cited family considerations as his primary reason for stepping down and lauded his colleagues at the EAC and the agency's staff for their continued work on behalf of the nation.  Commissioner Martinez' resignation is effective June 30, 2006.  He was appointed to serve as one of two Democrat Commissioners mandated by the Help America Vote Act.

Verified Voting then suggests some people to fill the vacancy. Fuentes isn't mentioned.

In Wikipedia's entry concerning "electronic voting" (Electronic voting), I found this remark:

In December of 2005 the US Election Assistance Commission unanimously adopted the 2005 Voluntary Voting System Guidelines, which significantly increase security requirements for voting systems and expand access, including opportunities to vote privately and independently, for individuals with disabilities. The guidelines will take effect in December 2007 replacing the 2002 Voting System Standards (VSS) developed by the Federal Election Commission.

Evidently, EAC was created by HAVA (Help America Vote Act). HAVA exists to replace paper voting with electronic voting (among other goals). Yikes!

Here's a link to a recent angry letter to the EAC from various organizations: letter

P.S.:
Matt Coker has picked up our little story. See Tom Fuentes taking 2000 Florida vote nationwide?

Mathur runs for ACCCA chief

1. MATHUR RUNS FOR ACCCA CEO. Check out the website of the Association of California Community College Administrators (ACCCA): Annual Election of the Board.

There, ACCCA members are informed:

Following are the brief biographical summaries and campaign statements of your peers who have chosen to run for the open positions on the ACCCA Board of Directors. If successful, these individuals will represent you on the ACCCA Board for a term of three years.

One then finds summaries and campaign statements for four candidates for CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER,” including—you guessed it!—Raghu P. Mathur:

Dr. Raghu Mathur, Chancellor
South Orange County CCD

Candidate’s Statement

"I am interested in serving on the ACCCA Board in order to better serve all students through empowerment and collective wisdom and contributions of administrators and managers. I would like us to continue to effectively address challenging issues such as adequate funding for credit and non credit courses/programs, including equalization; construction and renovation of much needed facilities; enhanced learning opportunities for students through distance education; state-of-the-art technology; instructional equipment; enhanced student services through categorical programs; professional development; increased opportunities for students to either secure employment or transfer to 4-year college/university after community college education; promotion of greater partnerships with businesses; and increased focus on student success in a diverse environment."

Does anyone know if this is a full-time gig?

2. ANOTHER FUENTES CRONY IN ETHICS TROUBLE. In this morning’s LA Times (Controversy Colors Race for Treasurer), Jean O. Pasco and David Reyes report on the candidacy of Fuentes crony Chriss Street for County Treasurer:

What otherwise promised to be a low-key race for Orange County treasurer/tax collector has been anything but, with one candidate stung by allegations that he mismanaged the assets of a bankrupt trailer company, resulting in a district attorney's investigation.

At a time when first-time candidate Chriss W. Street should have been introducing himself to voters and building support, he has lost three key endorsements — including one from Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas — amid the controversy.

He has also found himself deflecting charges that his friend and political mentor, Treasurer/Tax Collector John M.W. Moorlach, bent county hiring rules in January to bring Street on as his assistant, giving him a leg up on the job.

...The allegations about Street's business dealings have dominated the campaign.

They involve a dizzying burst of claims over the fate of Fruehauf Trailer Corp., which filed for bankruptcy in 1996. None of the claims have been ruled on by a judge.

After bankruptcy was granted in 1998, Street took over a successor company formed to liquidate Fruehauf's remaining assets as well as its pension plan. He resigned in August 2005, replaced by a new trustee, Daniel Harrow.

On March 15, five days after Street filed his candidacy papers to run for Moorlach's seat, Harrow filed a 63-page statement with the Bankruptcy Court in Delaware accusing Street of "mismanagement, conflicts of interest and greed" while in charge of the trust.

Naturally, Street blames all this hubbub on “the unions.” But it’s Street who is under investigation by the DA:

Supervisors Bill Campbell and Chris Norby endorsed Street, but withdrew support once the district attorney investigation began.

But the endorsements remain listed in Street's candidate statement and on some campaign literature.

Check out Street’s website. Tom Fuentes is still listed among Street’s chief supporters.

Rackauckas, Carona, Street—that Tom sure knows how to pick ‘em!

3. HEADS UP on tonight’s board meeting. On the agenda:

CLOSED SESSION:

…..
2. Property – Use of Portion of …(ATEP) Property …Agency Designated Representatives – Dr. Raghu Mathur, ATEP; Negotiating Parties for 1) United Veteran Organization of Orange County (UVO) and American Museum of Military History (AMMH); 2) GEAR MONKEY;...

Gear Monkey?

Conference with Legal Counsel …:
1. Existing Litigation … - a. Mora v. Mathur b. Gensler v. SOCCCD

The “Mora” suit concerns an allegation of discrimination. As IVC President, Mathur opted to hire the manifestly incompetent and unstable Rodney Poindexter for a dean post—over the amply qualified and respected Cely Mora, a woman.

CONSENT CALENDAR:

2. SADDLEBACK COLLEGE: OXFORD SEMESTER ABROAD IN OXFORD, ENGLAND…Study abroad program for Spring 2007.

Don’t be surprised if Fuentes dings this program on account of the acute unAmericanness of boiling meat.

18. IRVINE VALLEY COLLEGE: AWARD OF BID FOR EXHAUST FAN RETROFIT IN B-200 BLDG.
Bid 277 to Allison Mechanical, Inc., in the amount of $39,250 and approval of construction agreement.

We at IVC hear persistent rumors that the air in B200 is dicey somehow. It glows or something. So I guess they’re puttin’ in a bag new fan. Anybody know the details?

30. TRUSTEE TRAVEL TO CONFERENCES AND/OR PERSONAL MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT
Requests to attend upcoming conferences and events and/or local mileage reimbursement.

I’ve got exactly one comment: JOHN "Orlando" WILLIAMS.

CHANCELLOR’S ITEMS:

…..
34. FALL 2006 IN-SERVICE KEYNOTE PRESENTERS
Presentations by Lucy Dunn, Dr. Warren Johnston, and Kathleen Rigo, and performance by vocalist Robbie Britt and accompanist Betty Wooldridge.

Anybody know about these people?

40. SOCCCD: REVISION TO BP 109, BOARD EDUCATION; BP 3210, INTERDISTRICT ATTENDANCE; BP 3320, TELEPHONE; AND BP 5408, CLASSROOM SUPERVISION Acceptance of board policies for review and study.

This one’s for “review and study,” but it’s important. Especially BP 109, which, as I recall, concerns faculty involvement in policy-setting.

INFORMATION ITEMS:

53. SOCCCD: 2007-08 ACADEMIC CALENDAR
Recommendations by SC and IVC.

Soon, Mathur will make a recommendation regarding whether the two colleges should have differing calendars!

57. SADDLEBACK COLLEGE: ACADEMIC STIPENDS
Summer 2006.

58. IRVINE VALLEY COLLEGE: ACADEMIC STIPENDS
Summer 2006.

Stipends are a hot-button issue.

59. IRVINE VALLEY COLLEGE: ANNUAL ACCREDITATION REPORT
For submission to ACCJC as required.

60. IRVINE VALLEY COLLEGE: DISCONTINUED MEN’S AND WOMEN’S INTERCOLLEGIATE TENNIS
Information as requested.

Those who attended the last board meeting know that this action re tennis gets lots of people excited.

And the Accred report? Could be interesting.

Apparent Lariat retraction

8:51 a.m.:

This morning, we received a letter--apparently from the Lariat editor-in-chief to IVC baseball coach Kent Madole--retracting the claim, made in the last issue of the Lariat, that coaches knew about steroid use among student athletes. In this letter, which popped up as a "comment" on our blog (see Apparent letter of retraction), that claim is described as "false." Further, the Lariat acknowledges that it was "misled" by "sources" and that it erred in not seeking the coaches' side of the story. (See DtB's original story: Premature congratulation)

If this is a genuine letter--it was sent anonymously--we at the Dissent wish to congratulate the Lariat for doing the right thing and learning from mistakes.

12:09 p.m.
P.S.:

Evidently, Matt (Coker) received the same email this morning. His response (on his blog):

How do you know the coaches were unaware? If you have players on the record saying coaches were aware, and coaches telling you that’s not true, that does not necessarily mean the players’ allegations are not true. Unless, of course, your reporters or sources have admitted to lying.

Clockwork Orange

Pompous and Circumstantial

Much could be said about yesterday’s commencement ceremony at IVC. Rebel Girl will leave most of that to her colleague Chunk, except to point out that such displays of public rhetoric as occurred yesterday are perhaps particularly painful to professors of English.

England’s famous University of “Suckit”? Apparently not famous enough!

“A special thank you to all whom [sic] made this commencement ceremony possible”? Ouch.

So please forgive Her Rebelliousness for what follows. Or at least understand where, as the young folks like to say, she is “coming from”—that familiar place of disappointment, magnified by sunstroke and dehydration.

In years past, Rebel Girl has watched, amused, as those on the dais waiting to bloviate are forced to adjust (or, as they choose, to not adjust) their speeches as the quotable quotes they themselves had chosen to inflict on their fellow “taxpayers” are instead inflicted upon the multitude by those who arrive at the podium before them. The falling of these oratorical chestnuts inspires mad scribbling in the speaker’s bullpen, and one imagines the passing around of a worn paperback copy of Bartlett’s (Too) Familiar Quotations even as the speeches proceed, Thelma and Louise-style, toward their inevitable leap into Cliché Canyon.


This year’s orations were striking for the absence of the usual marathon recitation of humanity’s most quotable quotations, however totally irrelevant to occasion, theme or audience. Instead, the ceremony seemed to have been unduly influenced by the recent pop cultural phenomenon of reality television.

Rebel Girl, who resides in a nearly off-the-grid Luddite barn in OC’s hinterlands, is not intimately familiar with this art form, but the NY Times, daily delivered by a team of oxen, keeps her reasonably informed re the latest geist of the zeit, allowing her to easily identify in Commencement at IVC the cultural trend toward narcissism (Me! Me! Me! It’s all about me!) as exemplified in these dreadful shows, as well as a requirement to improvise at the expense of say, writing out a speech or say, script (and, in the case of the industry, avoid paying union wages to those pesky writers).

The result out on the hot, humid lawn this Friday evening? Sans the nominal post-production editing that goes into shaping such entertainments as Real Housewives of OC, the Amazing Race, and Fear Factor, IVC’s 2006 Commencement was like watching the garden hose water the driveway all by itself.

We here at Dissent like the Socratic method. So, a few questions:

Does the Commencement committee ask, politely of course, any of the speakers what they are going to say?

Does the committee suggest some guidelines on how they say it?

Rebel Girl is not requesting censorship here, just a bit of management or say, awareness of production values and the importance of considering the audience. —Perhaps simply a bit of rehearsal. Or forethought. Or preparation. Or focus!

Maybe ask the speakers to read a famous commencement address.

Reb recommends Rebecca Solnit’s recent offering to the students of the Department of English at Cal Berkeley, “Welcome to the Impossible World”.


I know, I know. Apparently some in yesterday’s audience found charming the parade of bloopers and egotism that was lost on me.

Could be. Maybe. I know staff members wearing sandwich boards were hawking the official video version of the ceremony to an eager crowd. But in the parking lot, out of the trunks of their cars, business was booming for those quick-thinking entrepreneurs offering a specially priced bootleg “Commencement 2006 Outtakes: Bloopers.”

Sure, picking the wings off of a fly is fun, but for how long? Reb cannot linger long in a world where delusion and malapropism pass for charming hobbies, though that may be where she is doomed to live out her days (and, more discouragingly, in a nation whose red half similarly perceives as charming the buffoonery of the current occupant of the White House. Nook-ya-ler!).

Often, during yesterday's record-breaking six hour event, speakers told graduates “who they were.” Guess what? They were “young!” They were “old!” They were “diverse!”

How diverse were they? Well, golly, some of them, many of them, were from, yes, “other countries”! Some spoke “other languages”! Some were “women”! And a few were even “men”!

All the “major religions” were present! (Not that you could tell by the prayer that was uttered, but that’s to be expected, right? I mean, we don’t really believe all this diversity appreciation, do we? How do you spell lip service? A-m-e-n!)

August dignitaries—mostly complete strangers to the students—told graduates what they already knew about themselves, over and over again.

Class of 2006, the glass is either half empty or it is half full. Perhaps what disappointed Reb the most was what wasn’t said about the graduating class.


The real successes of the college are seldom spotlighted. Reb doesn’t claim to know them all, but—despite her complaints, she does see success—if she didn’t, she’d be somewhere else.

Hey, Commencement speakers and Trustees! Why not talk about the students who came to IVC struggling, some at risk of failure and who, in a matter of semesters, vaulted themselves into the academic big leagues? Reb herself knows students accepted at Berkeley; one is the son of a longtime IVC staff person, a single mother who struggled herself to raise her son. A former WR 201 student is going to the Sorbonne in the fall, another to the University of Denver, another to UCLA. One will enter UCI’s new and already renowned program in Literary Journalism. Two former students of Reb’s will enter UCI’s sociology program; both are recent transplants to California and one is an older, single parent. Another has been awarded generous support to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s architecture program, he a student whose immigrant parents still work in the fields. Another graduate is an Iraq War veteran who first enrolled before the war, served two tours of duty and came back to finish up.


Aren’t these stories suitable for commencement? Material the public relations office could send out to the local papers? Inspiring tales that might improve the school’s image and stop the decline in enrollment? Nah. Let’s keep it to ourselves.

And what about the award-winning IVC Wind Ensemble? “Pomp and Circumstance” doesn’t sound quite the same when played by a five person ensemble. A march like that requires a certain musical muscle toward delivering the appropriate punch. No offense meant to the musicians hired for the occasion—the Van Houten Brass Ensemble did its best under the circumstances, especially with Bach’s “Fugue in G Minor” that featured, inexplicably, the VPI standing at the podium as if some kind of de-facto conductor.

Next year: a musical tribute to the Ramones with faculty accompaniment on kazoos!

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do and no where to go-o-oh
I wanna be sedated
Just get me to the airport put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain
Oh no no no no no

IVC Commencement photos (part 2)

No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks

Well we got no class
And we got no principles
And we got no innocence
We can't even think of a word that rhymes

School's out for summer
School's out forever
School's been blown to pieces

--Alice Cooper

Dennis with James Granitto (philosophy), part-time teacher of the year.

The fish taco guy was pretty good, I guess. He didn't really wear that shirt. I'm just havin' fun with Photoshop.

The Emeritus teacher was pretty dignified and sharp. So, at this particular moment in the ceremonies, we were treated to a study in contrasts.

Peter is a man of few words and even fewer fingers.

Did I hear Dennis right? Did he say that Peter attended the University of Suckit?

The student speaker seemed nice, but I think he left his speech at Old Navy. A good-lookin' kid.

Just before the ceremonies, a team of district lawyers swept through campus.


Raghu explained that, contrary to earlier indications of geo-rotundity, the earth really is flat. He said we don't need another expert in "identifying problems." That's true. We know exactly what the problem is.

Taking a page out of the Tom Fuentes playbook, Raghu suggested that we proceed with "an ocean of love for all." Then he ate a bug.



Amidst all of the photographers with their fancy Nikons, this kid stood there with his Brownie, utterly focused on the task at hand. I bet he got the best pics!

IVC Commencement photos (part 1)

She went away for the holidays
Said she's going to LA
But she never got there
She never got there
She never got there, they say

The KKK took my baby away
They took her away, away from me
The KKK took my baby away
They took her away,
They took my baby away

--The Ramones

The weather was nice. Lots of sun, lots of fun, lots of smiles.

We pledged our allegiance to the flag. I wonder if anyone really thought about what they were doing. Allegiance--to a flag?

Which reminds me of something E.M. Forster once wrote:

"If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country."

An old professor of mine--I think he knew Plato--used to quote Forster. That was his favorite quotation.

Trustee Tom Fuentes prayed to the Lord. He thanked the fellow for "taxpayers." Really. Students laughed, then faculty guffawed.

If Forster were alive, he'd have a real problem with Mr. Fuentes with all his talk about taxpayers, "our Lord," and "our nation."

If I guy is a rat to real flesh-and-blood people, then all the abstract high-minded yammering in the world don't mean bupkis.

These people look like they could be friends or something.

Did I mention that, when Trustee Fuentes spoke, he thanked "Ladies and gentlemen" and--"boys and girls"?


The band was pretty hot. At one point, Dennis stared them down through a whole number. Dennis can be funny.

Peter was honored as full-time teacher of the year. He didn't speak really, though he did point out that he "was with the Ramones." I don't think Dennis or the trustees know about the Ramones.

Dennis seemed to be doing a comedy routine with a lady who was chosen as Emeritus "Teacher of the Year." She's 92 years old. She used to dance in the Ziegfeld Follies.

That's way cool. The Follies closed shop in the early 30s!

Wendy did a good job reading all the names. I think Lewis was supposed to do that, but he had to see a man about a horse.




Hey, it wasn't perfect, but Commencement was fun, and people had a good time. I know we all wish the graduates a great future. Hope they read Forster. "The Celestial Omnibus" is good. Check it out.