The R-r-r-r-rest of the Story (Red Emma)

WHILE DIPPING MY MADELEINE into a mug of linden flower tea on Sunday morning, I read Gregory Rodriguez’s op-ed, A letter-perfect political story in the OC, in the LA Times. Mr. Rodriguez works with the New America Foundation, a “non-partisan think tank” (read: a startlingly benign think tank) supported by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur, god bless ‘em. 

     They are dead, but their work lives on and, no, they don’t actually drive tanks. They give away those “genius” awards. Interestingly, right-wing AM radio cornball Paul “The Rest of the Story” Harvey was once on their board of directors, when he was not shilling for True Value Hardware. Hey, John and Cate and Paul, how ‘bout some support for Dissent? Hello, America! Page two! 

     Anyway, over at NAF, they embrace words like “compromise,” “reform,” and “non-partisan” toward describing their work, and offer programs that show “that Democrats and Republicans can bridge their differences to improve the system,” a clause which begs for so much more assholery than even Red Emma can summon just now. Good grief. Page three! 

     Need more? The big, new thinkers at NAF are all about “Relying on a venture capital approach,” where “the Foundation invests in outstanding individuals and policy solutions that transcend the conventional political spectrum.” I love transcendence. So does Rodriquez, who transcends the obvious. He begins his thought-piece with the telling and perhaps honest confession that he doesn’t know.

“I don’t know what was more disturbing, the lame attempt to suppress immigrant voter turnout in California's 47th Congressional District or the breathless reporting and hyper-indignation that followed it.”

Okay, so here comes another critique of the political status quo and the media, its co-conspirator. “Disturbing” News Flash for some perhaps, but readers of Dissent and of the Situationists, Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, Frank Zappa, George Lakoff, the good people at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, and your aunt Suzy’s blog will understand the symbiotic relationship between corporate media and mainstream political parties and the “social construction of reality,” right? Transcendence, indeed. It seems Gregory Rodriguez had read, watched, and listened to all the absurd theater from the GOP and Dems alike, including displays of who could be more outraged and shocked and distance themselves from Tan Nguyen, concluding that the Donald Segretti-esque dirty trick wasn’t nearly as relevant as was the media opera which followed, where “plenty of politicos on both sides of the aisle got to prove their benevolence, the media got to show off their high-minded indignation, and nothing, absolutely nothing, was done to alter the political status quo. A perfect story.”

 

     A little too perfect methinked to meself. So Red Emma dipped his cookie in the tea and, instead of resting any longer on his couch, leapt up and emailed Rodriguez, who clearly needs to leap up off of his, asking him to please reconsider. 

     The trick was relevant, it turns out. Where there was smoke, there was Fuentes. That was Sunday. It’s been two days, and G.R., who must occasionally get email, hasn’t responded to my careful, polite observation that he perhaps missed The Point, which I share with you, below. 

     Stand by for…news! 

     Mr. Rodriguez:

I offer two objections to your LA Times analysis today. 

First: indeed, the story, as you frame it, might be a “perfect” example of the media and pundit Spectacle variety, where analysts (as yourself) talk about the shallowness of commercial media and lousy politics, apparently toward reminding everybody of how lost we are. But the part you missed, the real story, is potentially interesting, engaging and difficult. Instead of offering the same tired fatalism, why not do some investigative reporting? Nguyen will be forgotten, but should not be, and you could fix that. 

Doing a little bit of investigation here would deliver to you a story which activists, not journalists, know about and have done their best to document. When we try to get local media to do the work they should be doing, we get the “editor won’t let me” refrain. 

Here’s the story, Mr. R. Check out Dissent the Blog, maintained by faculty and staff of our local South Orange County Community College District (Al Tello’s wife?). Briefly, the woman who was Nguyen’s Campaign Manager, Emilee Tello, is married to the president of one the district’s college foundations, Al Tello (Irvine Valley College Foundation). That person was hired by Thomas Fuentes, former GOP county leader and current SOCCCD member, who took $15,000 as Nguyen’s consultant, which means basically a shakedown so that this “loser” and “rakish” candidate could run against Sanchez. 

Whoever wins, Fuentes gets his piece of the action. This is the same Thomas Fuentes who famously hired poll “guards” to intimidate Latinos. He voted to cancel a study abroad program to Spain after the Spanish government left Iraq. And so on. He represents what they call the Old Guard Republicans here in “conservative” Orange County. 

So, no, the story does not exactly fit the needs of all parties (sic) involved. Only the easy version. 

Second: Yes, Nguyen did not have a chance against Sanchez. But do you imagine that the goofy letters don’t reverberate, and play a larger role, doing their intimidating best vis-a-vis other races, notably the State Senate race between Supervisor Lou Correa and Assemblyperson Lynn Daucher? No possible “ethnic disenfranchisement” outside one small district? C’mon. 

“Nothing, absolutely nothing was done to alter the political status quo” because of the desire of so many journalists to collaborate with the corporate media and mainstream politicos to accept the easy story. You are right. Now please consider following up on this story yourself. 

Yes, “Journalists…determine whether to cover it and from what angle.” How ‘bout it? Give us an angle that challenges the too-easy “letter-perfect” version. 

Thanks. —RE

Andrew Tonkovich

Raghu caught in flagrante delicto

JUST GOT BACK from the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the South Orange County Community College District, and I'm slaphappy!

I'll provide a full report later tomorrow. (I've got that teaching gig that keeps me busy.) For now, I'll just mention the highlights.

Trustee Don "Bull" Wagner was in rare form, peeviosity-wise. He smacked Saddleback College Dean Kevin O'Connor around for a while. Then he dropped him, but he came back later and smacked him around some more. Then he grabbed Vice Chancellor Bob King by his hair and slapped him silly. (The audience cheered that one.) Finally, the brute practically grabbed Chancellor Mathur by his left Goo, suggesting, at one point, that the poor fellow had offered a "stupid" argument!

"With all due respect, that's STUPID!" said Don.

I'm not making this up! (OK, there wasn't any actual slappage.)

Even the delightfully Transylvanian Vice Chancellor Andreea Serban got roughed up a bit, and she hadn't even done anything!

And I'm not even mentioning what Don did to the PE guy! And to Trustee Nancy Padberg!


BUT THAT WASN'T EVEN THE BEST PART! The best part was Raghu P. Mathur's attempt to sneak through that stinky Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) that he asked for a few months ago but didn't get, owing to some then-fresh atrocity.

You see, back on the 19th, during the big DOCKET meeting--that's the meeting where shared governance groups get to learn what will be placed on the next board meeting agenda--there was no mention of a COLA for the Gooster. It wasn't there at all! But, somehow, between the 19th and the 30th, the wily fellow snuck that item into a section of the agenda concerning academic employees.

Plus, on this abracadabra item, he used his full name (Raghubansh), something sufficiently exotic as to fail to suggest to readers that it had any connection whatsoever to the Raghu P. Mathur whom we all know and love!

Now THAT'S a nice detail. He's the Napoleon of Slime! (When Nancy P tagged Raghu and Co. on this "unfamiliar name" gambit, Williams and Fuentes virtually called her a racist for "making fun" of Raghu's "Indian" name! Ridiculous! said our Nancy. Maybe you don't like us foreigners! said Tom Sluggo, who sported a delightful pink "stand by our Tan" button on his lapel.)

Well, anyway, luckily, some trustees (Padberg, Milchiker) seemed to be clued in, and so the whole greasy hairball unravelled. (N.B.: at IVC, mixing metaphors is a competitive sport.) Within minutes, the board was like a barrel full of nasty little monkeys and weasels, squealin' and scratchin' and hissin'--and wigglin' that barrel all over the room, causing regular people to scatter like roaches.

Like I said, I'll eventually write up a full report tomorrow. Now, like everybody else who attended that meeting, I've got to get a beer or something.

(Boys, for a good time, go to Stand By Our Tan. Rebel Girl sent me the address, and I'm so grateful!)

(Also: Irvine sucks scum, and hopes you don't notice)

Unsafe conditions?

AS YOU KNOW, much of Irvine Valley College looks, well, seedy.

And morale among IVC Facilities & Maintenance workers--or at least among custodians--is in the toilet.

IVC's Director of Facilities & Maintenance, Wayne Ward, is smack dab in the middle of a leadership crisis, for many of his employees object mightily to his management style and conduct, accusing him of unprofessionalism, incompetence, retaliation, and more.

Recently, the CSEA (the classified workers' union) sent a letter to Human Resources, warning that an official grievance may soon be filed against Director Ward on behalf of one worker. As we explained over the weekend, Wayne has decided to switch the worker from the day shift to the swing shift, while switching a current swing shifter to the day. He has made this decision despite knowing the extreme hardship that this change would entail for the worker.


Evidently, such actions need to be justified in terms of how they benefit the college/students, but workers tell us that they know of no such justification for this particular action. Further, the worker has received no indication from Wayne that there is any problem with his work or his conduct.

What gives? About six weeks ago, the worker whose shift is being changed participated in filing an Unusual Occurence Report against Wayne (they assert that Wayne behaved unprofessionally, unjustly accusing them of misconduct and threatening them with firing, etc.).

It is hard to see how Wayne's action in this case could be viewed as anything but retaliation.

(Last summer, a worker requested some days off to get married. The day after Wayne signed the papers allowing the absence, and about a week before the wedding, Wayne informed the worker that he would have to work on that day, his wedding day.

(That time, a union lawyer had to enter the fray.)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Since F&M workers contacted us, they've told numerous disturbing stories about Wayne. We've emphasized to them the importance of being factual and of not exaggerating. But they insist that they are not exaggerating, that their stories are entirely factual.

Some of their anecdotes concern safety. Workers have repeatedly told us that Wayne is more concerned about "how he looks" than about the safety of his employees.

Here are two safety stories.

Custodians sometimes use large, heavy, and unwieldy floor cleaning machines, commonly called "buffers," although they are also used for stripping. Weighing about ninety pounds--it takes two people to lift them--they are often operated using a tricky side-to-side motion. That isn't easy. And it's dangerous.

1. Evidently, at one point, one of the workers (who no longer works for the district) arrived to work "very stoned." Nevertheless (say F&M employees with whom we have spoken), Wayne allowed this plainly "stoned" worker to operate one of the hard-to-handle buffers.

He could have been badly hurt, they insist.


2. On another occasion, Wayne instructed workers to use a particular buffer whose motor housing had clearly broken loose, exposing electrical wiring inside. (Evidently, the floor was wet for this job.)

The workers refused to use the buffer, noting the hazard. The unit was supposedly repaired--with duct tape! (See photo.) But the tape did not hold. Again, the workers refused to use the unit. It has now been relegated to the sidelines, labelled as dangerous by employees. (See photo.)

All of us have heard disturbing stories about Director Ward. And now official complaints are surfacing. But many of us here at Irvine Valley College fear that no real effort to look into the complaints will be made. "President Roquemore," some say, "has decided that he likes Wayne. And so Wayne is protected."

After all, they add, other incompetent managers and administrators have been allowed to keep their jobs. Glenn doesn't seem to respond to complaints.

Is that how things are?

Sand in mis zapatos

You say emigrado, I say immigrante,
You say tomahto, I say tomate.
Tomahto, tomate,
Emigrado, immigrante,
Let's call the whole thing off!

WELL, FOLKS, the IVC Spanish department has weighed in on the Tan Nguyen letter—at least a sampling of them has. Rebel Girl did her best to lure her colleagues into her office and then thrust copies of the letter at them. She must report that the letter's prose style isn't impressive in Spanish either.

The verdict? While the writer (aka Sergio Ramirez) may indeed be a native speaker of Spanish, he has issues with his written expression. Also, the writer is most likely a Mexican-American, that is, an American of Mexican descent as opposed to, say, an immigrante or emigrado, or a Cubano or Salvadoreno or una Peruvian—perhaps someone who grew up in the Central Valley in a Spanish-speaking home, someone who became conversant in spoken Spanish but not in written Spanish. Still, the espanol comes in handy when visiting the tourist resorts Mexico has to offer and when presented with an opportunity to translate a letter spiced with racismo.

This view was determined, I think, primarily by word choice—the term emigrado—and a verb form to which the scholars also objected: registrado, I believe.

What does it all mean?

Beats me. I look forward to the day when we know who crafted this thing, though, and we can see how accurate the estimations of my fine colleagues are.

Meanwhile, Rebel Girl herself remains astonished by the vision at the heart of the story Tan Nguyen keeps telling: how, after the hysteria broke out about the letter, he retreated to the shores of the Pacific where, he claimed, he met many Latinos. He approached them and asked them the meaning of emigrado. These Latinos with sand in their zapatos all told him the same thing: an emigrado is a green card holder and thus, in Nguyen's loca cabeza, they exonerated him and his campaign.

I can't help but picture the scene: Huntington, maybe Corona del Mar. Latino families out for the day with Igloo coolers and folding chairs. It's what we call Indian summer here in So Cal. You can still don shorts and tanks tops and not catch a chill. The kids let the waves chase them. Seagulls squawk. Bags of Doritos flutter in the breeze. Los Tigres del Norte play on the boom box. A slight man dressed in a white button down shirt and dress pants stumbles toward las familias. He clutches a crumpled letter, looks harried.

Can you help me, he asks. Can you tell me what emigrado means? Please? Please?

My family would have run away, but in Nguyen's dream, these people stay, welcoming him and giving him a lesson in Spanish 1. Maybe they even offer him a Coca-Cola. The cold silver and red can feels good in his hot hands. Its promise is sweet.

Pobrecito, they think. Poor man, brought low by the liberal media, misunderstood by his own, sold out by a bad translator. They know how it feels.

Isn't America great?

Where one man can create his own reality!



Check out:

Sanchez finds self on terror-watch list

Read down to the part about FRIEND OF FUENTES Chriss Street, OC's Treasurer. Sheesh, does Fuentes have any friends or associates who aren't CORRUPT?

Gallaudet ousts incoming President

Looks like the students got their way--thanks, in part, to the power of the blog.

For one night, good teachers are fabulous

SADDLEBACK'S NORM WESTON IS A FINALIST


OK, so last night I attended the "2007 OC Teachers of the Year" event, held at the swankular Grand Ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel in beautiful downtown Anahelium. At least, that's what I remember doing. I remember large chandeliers high above me. Raghu shook my hand. Mickey danced. Minnie flirted. Was it a dream?

No. There were rich people who showed up to witness their own beneficence. They seemed sincere. But wasn't it 2006, not 2007? It's all so unreal!

I seem to recall talking with an attractive woman. She handed me her card. "OK," I said.


The Masters of Ceremony were real professionals: actor William Allen Young (evidently, he's been on CIS: Miasma and Nip/Tuck) and Maria Hall-Brown (Gawd, she's on the Real Orange!). They stunned me with their ability to savor the sagacity of cliches for three solid hours! "How true!" they'd sigh, heads shaking.

Believe in yourself! Dream big! Play your guitar! Question! Wonder! Dance!

I remember a busty blond who evidently teaches little kids about something. I forget what. The attractive woman to my left said something snide. I smiled. "I'm kinda deaf," I said. "Blah blah blah," she answered. We laughed.

"More champagne?" More laughter.

Saddleback College's Norm Weston was a finalist. They showed a little movie about him. He's casual, yet strict. He knows his stuff. Prez M made an appearance. He looks much better in person, I thought.


The real Rich patted my shoulder. What does that mean? Am I marked for death?

I saw friends from the past: Cely Mora, Kathie Hodge, Wilford Brimley. I was transported to another time--to Villa Park High School, 1972, looking up at the stage, watching "Up With People," wondering how it was possible to be so young and yet so Osmond.

I recall speaking with one of the Heinz 57 honorees, our former Logic instructor, who recently snagged a full-time job up the road. "So, does your dept. chair get any reassigned time?" I asked.

YES OF COURSE. ARE YOU KIDDING?

And Mickey. And Minnie. Dancing! With Peter Morrison! (That could only be a dream. I am certain of it.)

"You'll see," said Gwen. "You'll watch the show and tears will form. It's moving!"

I waited for tears, but all I got was kicks under the table. "Be good!", they said.

And I was. In fact, I am always good.

But, in all sincerity, I'm glad that, in this county, owing to a rich couple, good teachers are celebrated and given an opportunity to experience fabulous cash prizes and 15 seconds of fame.

And to dance with flirtatious Minnie and spout cliches to the rhythm of rubber chickens, fake Jazz, and hurried ersatz fabulousness.

But, really, it was fun. And I mean that.



WHAT'S "UP WITH PEOPLE"? (YOU ASK)

The 60s produced the "counterculture." That in turn produced various reactions, e.g., Up with people

"The happiest most hard-hitting way of saying what America's all about that I have ever seen or heard."

--Walt Disney, on the cover of "Up With People" (the album; 1966)

Up! Up! with people!
You meet 'em wherever you go!
Up! Up! with people!
They're the best kind of folks we know.
If more people were for people,
All people ev'rywhere,
There'd be a lot less people to worry about,
And a lot more people who care!

--Everything UP WITH PEOPLE

Custodians vs. Wayne Ward: union warning

DISSENT the BLOG has been forwarded an email, sent on Tuesday by Mary W (she’s the Chief Job Steward of the CSEA local) to district Human Resources officials (namely, Teddi Lorch and Bob King), that threatens a “hostile work environment/retaliation complaint” against IVC Director of Facilities & Maintenance Wayne Ward.

Recently, at the request of several IVC Facilities and Maintenance workers, Dissent reported on Ward’s alleged unprofessional conduct.

In the letter, Mary writes:

I would like to alert you to the fact that CSEA is on the verge of filing a hostile work environment/retaliation complaint against Wayne Ward for his treatment of the custodians at Irvine Valley College. Board Policy 4000.5 prohibits retaliation:

The District seeks to foster an environment in which all employees and students feel free to report incidents of harassment without fear of retaliation or reprisal. Therefore, the District also strictly prohibits retaliation against any individual for filing a complaint of harassment or for participating in a harassment investigation. Such conduct is illegal and constitutes a violation of this policy….

…Of particular concern are some of the actions taken against custodian Ruben Morales. Morales transferred to IVC from Saddleback because it is closer to his Long Beach home. He was a graveyard shift custodian at Saddleback, and laterally transferred to a graveyard shift at Irvine Valley. In the past year, Ward has changed Morales’ schedule no less than five times. Several of these changes were verbally given, but Morales was not aware that he should require confirmation in writing, or that he had the option of refusing unless provided with 20 days notice in writing. Most recently, Morales was today given 20 days notice that he will be transferred to swing shift from days, and that another custodian will be transferred from days to swing shift. Supposedly, this was done to increase the efficiency of the work unit, but since neither custodian has any reason to believe their work is unsatisfactory, it is hard to see how this is of enough benefit to the College to warrant the disruption to the employees’ lives. In fact, Wayne Ward is aware that Morales works a second job that is necessary to support his family, and that this change to a swing shift, which he has never before been required to work, will disrupt his ability to continue in this employment and cause undue hardship for his family.

The most recent actions seem to be in response to the Unusual Occurrence Report that the custodians filed after being accused of planting a condom in another M&O employees locker, and have escalated since this event has become a frequent topic in Dissent [the Blog]. Most recently, Dissent … observed Morales being forced to spend several hours on his hands and knees scraping chewed gum off the concrete in the main traveled areas at IVC during the hours that classes were in session. [Dissent]…asked Morales several questions which he answered politely and respectfully. [Dissent]…chose to write up the humiliation of this employee, bringing even more retribution down on his head.

CSEA cannot allow these actions to continue. We would like to work cooperatively with the District to resolve problems of this nature. Please investigate this situation as soon as possible and advise us as to what action will be taken with regard to the 20-day notice to Mr. Morales. Also, please know that if retaliatory action of this nature continues, whether against Mr. Morales, another custodian, or the unit as a whole, we will have no option but to file a formal hostile work environment complaint and the appropriate grievance for violation of these Board Policies.

Mary [W]
Chief Job Steward
CSEA Chapter 586

DtB is relieved to find that CSEA is taking action in this case. We hope that the matter will soon be resolved.

SOME POINTS OF CLARIFICATION: the conversation between a Dissent writer—me—and Mr. Morales involved only one question, asked as I was headed to class: “Hi. What are you doing?”—or something to that effect. Morales—he was not on his hands and knees at the time; he was working a scraping knife that was attached to a handle—gave a brief answer, which I did not understand. I smiled and then continued to my classroom. That Mr. Morales’ gum-scraping activity was particularly disagreeable was suggested to me later by workers. The activity struck me as perhaps disagreeable, but not humiliating.

Dissent’s coverage of the custodians’ trials and tribulations re Ward was prompted by a group of workers’ contacting Reb and me. Dissent did not contact the workers. Before any blog posting about this matter, Reb and I repeatedly explained to workers that Dissent coverage of their situation would likely yield retaliation.

The workers seemed to understand this. The (four or five) workers who visited us explained that they had already contacted the Lariat, hoping that it would report their situation. They expressed disappointment and surprise that the student paper evidently opted not to do so, despite their urging.

Reb and I urged the workers to demand assistance from their union. Perhaps owing to low expectations regarding union assistance, the workers seemed determined to bring their situation to light.

Finally, after running the initial blog past the workers’ apparent spokesman, and making all requested corrections and changes, we posted the blog and commenced Dissent’s coverage of the situation.

I have been told that some workers have contacted local news media and that a reporter is working on a story. —CW

He's Tom's kind of guy

In the latest OC Weekly, Mike Lawson (Xenophobic from the start) describes a phone conversation he had with congressional candidate—and Fuentes protégé—Tan Nguyen:

[Tan] Nguyen is a stubborn guy, and I guess I’m not much better because our phone call went nowhere. It was impossible to convince him that I wasn’t responsible for vandalizing his signs. In the middle of our conversation, Nguyen even dropped a threat worthy of a John Grisham novel.

“I have a lot of passionate people supporting me,” he said. “I would hate to see anyone get hurt.”

Most politicians have handlers, but I had to wonder who—if anyone—was consulting this guy. It turns out that Nguyen had hired Tom Fuentes to do the job. You might remember Fuentes as the chairman of the Orange County Republican Party back in 1988 when the OC GOP stationed uniformed guards at polling places in heavily Latino districts in an attempt to intimidate voters.

Just as we were about to conclude our conversation, Nguyen asked, “So we’re clear? You’re going to stop vandalizing my signs?”

“Mr. Nguyen,” I said, “I’ve never touched one of your signs.”

Sources tell me that Trustee Fuentes was responsible for Al Tello’s appointment as Director of the Irvine Valley College Foundation.

Al’s wife, Emilee (or some other local GOP worker bee named "Emilee Tello"), was Nguyen’s treasurer. According to FEC records, she resigned from his campaign four days ago.

As near as I can tell, Tello was the most senior staffer on the Tan Man's campaign, aside from “senior advisor” Fuentes.

Recently, Fuentes has distanced himself from the Nguyen campaign, implying that his contact with Nguyen ceased after the primary. He has expressed "sadness" and "disappointment" (Disappointing) over the revelation that Nguyen used the intimidating mailer.

Dissentular squawkage

Recent comments of interest...

JUST DO THE MATH

Given the assumptions that each vampire would attack one human per month and that the first vampire struck in 1600, vampires would have exterminated the human race by 1602, [Professor of Physics Costas] Efthimiou calculated.

…[Efthimiou] said his work has provoked angry messages from people, including some with “.edu” in their e-mail addresses, who cling to their conceptions that vampires exist….

One person, Efthimiou said, criticized his failure to account for Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s role in keeping the vampire population in check.

—It’s Halloween Weekend on Campus


JESUS DON'T CUT GRASS

"Too many people are waiting for Jesus to come along and cut your grass. And Jesus isn't going to come along and cut your grass."

—More straight talk from [Bill] Cosby


OO, I FEEL A CALL

[T]here is not a chance that the reported low sperm counts among heavy cell phone users, reported at the ASRMC in New Orleans on Sunday, had anything to do with cell phone radiation. The wavelength is far too long…It's too small to affect sperm, even if you put the phone in your underpants.

Ashok Agarwal of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, studied 364 men at a fertility clinic in Mumbai, India. The real question is what they talk about for four hours a day.

—What’s New? – 10/27


RUSH, YOU’RE KILLING US

Last week the list of ills attributable to obesity grew: fat people cause global warming.

This latest contribution to the obesity debate comes in an article by Sheldon H. Jacobson of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and his doctoral student, Laura McLay. Their paper...calculates how much extra gasoline is used to transport Americans now that they have grown fatter. The answer, they said, is a billion gallons a year.

—Blame Cookie Monsters

Al Tello's wife?

As you know, the director of the Irvine Valley College Foundation is Al Tello, a nice guy, despite being very connected to Trustee Tom Fuentes and his local GOP cronies. (See Tello.)

Al’s wife’s name is Emilee, and she can usually be found working for GOP candidates.

It turns out that one “Emilee Tello” is the, or at least a, worker who resigned on the 24th from Tan Nguyen’s Congressional campaign--seemingly in connection with the now-infamous mailer. (Nguyen)

That's what I learned in this morning’s OC Register, in an article concerning the recent raid of the home of a Nguyen friend (Nguyen probe expands to LAPD officer):

...Nguyen's campaign treasurer, Emillee Tello, submitted documents to the Federal Election Commission advising them of her resignation from the campaign, effective Oct. 24.

Tello could not be reached for comment.

Tan Nguyen remained steadfast in an interview with the Register that "no crime has been committed."

Although he denies having directed the flier, he has admitted that volunteers with his campaign were responsible for sending it.

He blamed the confusion on several translation errors.

I happen to know that Trustee Tom knows Emilee Tello.

You'll recall that Trustee Tom served as a (the) "senior advisor" to Nguyen's campaign, at least during the primary. Nguyen paid him $15,000.

And, of course, back 1988, Fuentes was involved in a notorious effort to intimidate Latino voters by placing guards at polling places.

To read Trustee Tom's hearty endorsement of Tan Nguyen's candidacy, go to Tom's endorsement. (It's a small pdf file.)

Cal Nelson: IVC interim VPI

THE WORD is that Cal Nelson will be appointed Irvine Valley College's interim Vice President of Instruction. I could have gotten that wrong. Maybe it was Cal Worthington. Or Cal Thomas. It was some kind of "Cal," though. I'm pretty sure.

His appointment will be announced at Monday night's Board meeting.

I've been told that Nelson, whose background is in Mathematics, worked at Saddleback College--both as an instructor and as an administrator--for more than thirty years. He retired in the Spring of 2004.

So far, everyone is telling me that he's a good guy. He's very sensible, and he knows how to work with people.

See Calvin Nelson

Meanwhile, Keanu Reeves has been spotted at the Advanced Technology and Education Park again.

How to replace a landmark

Until recently, Irvine Valley College had one iconic structure: its A-quad Clock Tower.

Naturally, owing to a failure to maintain the edifice, it became necessary (we're told) to tear it down.

It has been replaced. Behold the new Light Fixture:


The transition has been seemless. Already, one hears people say:

• "Meet me at the Light Fixture!"
• "Don't have a watch? Just monitor the shadow made by the Light Fixture!"
• "Let's do the photo shoot in front of our lovely Light Fixture!"
• "Glenn Roquemore's legacy? Why, that would be that stupid Light Fixture."

"Which one?"

"It doesn't matter. They're all exactly the same. We've got, like, a hundred of 'em."

"Oh."



REMINDER: BOARD MEETING ON MONDAY!

SUPPORT THE CUSTODIANS.
WRITE AN EMAIL.
MAKE A COMMENT.
SEE IF YOU CAN FIND THE PRESIDENT AND THEN TALK TO HIM.

THIS WEEK'S IVC QUIZ:

In what year was our last all-college meeting?

Chunk's own question:

Does anyone at Saddleback College read this blog? Hello? Got any news? Send it our way!

The power of the BLOG

Have you been following the big Gallaudet University brouhaha? (See Searching for answers.)

GU is an internationally recognized liberal arts school for the deaf. Recently, the university’s trustees indicated that they were about to appoint Jane K. Fernandes to GU’s presidency.

But many of Gallaudet’s students reject Fernandes. In a very big way. They’ve protested. At one point, over 130 protestors were arrested. Classes could not be held.

For some, the problem with Fernandes concerns deaf “identity politics.” Fernandes, who is deaf, learned sign language only late in life. To some at GU, she’s not “one of us.”

But other protesters insist that the problem is simply Fernandes’ lack of leadership skill. You know, she’s none too charismatic and such.


Jeez, these Gallaudet people have high standards. In the SOCCCD, we’re thankful when the Chancellor goes through a whole week without being a conniving rat bastard.

But at Gallaudet, they’re all pissed off because Fernandes doesn’t smile when she meets people and she doesn’t look ‘em in the eye.

IVC’s Glenn Roquemore doesn’t have the smile problem. He’s got a frozen smile. In fact, most of us wish he’d just break out and sneer once in a while.

With Fernandes, there are other concerns. Apparently, some people think that she isn’t into “shared governance.” That is a problem. We sympathize.

TODAY, a friend called to say that, just that moment, NPR was doing a story on Gallaudet. Out here in the Canyon, we don’t get NPR, so I went online instead. Sure enough, today’s “All Things Considered” had a story entitled Blogs capture, amplify Gallaudet protest.

In the story, reporter Robert Shapiro explains that Gallaudet officials expected the protests to die down, but, instead, they’ve only grown.


One reason: THE BLOGGER. That’s what they call a guy named Ricky Taylor. Says Shapiro,

…Taylor has become pretty famous among deaf people. They know him as Ridor. The blogger. Who boasts on his popular Web site—RidorLive.com—that he is "arguably the most controversial Deaf blogger in America."

… Taylor's blog is certainly lively. ... It's opinionated. And it's full of attitude. Just like the protests….

…Protesters demanding the resignation of the new president at Gallaudet get much of their information from Taylor and dozens of other deaf bloggers. Deaf people rely heavily on e-mail and the Web…

When the protests started, Taylor was a cheerleader and often an agitator. Now, when Gallaudet staff want to leak some piece of information critical of the school's administration, it's likely to end up on RidorLive.

…Those blogs—including one that carried a kind of play-by-play of the arrests—were read by deaf people around the world…People like John Egbert, from Minnesota. He read RidorLive…, then got on a plane and came to Washington to support the protests….

… Egbert joined students, faculty and alumni who rallied over the weekend—a couple thousand of them at this university of only 1,700 students.

That’s cool. Way cool.


UPDATE: in this morning’s Washington Post: Gallaudet Protesters' Camp Demolished, Injuring Some

PICS:
1. Kleenex dispenser, IVC's Wellness Center
2. Comet the cat
3. I take a snap as I drive toward Cook's Corner, yesterday morning
4. A recent shot of the eastern sky

Going focal on local yokel

"This may be Southern California, but it's not the Deep South."

--Patrick Kelly, a Teamsters spokesman.

☆ The OC SUPEs (Stupes?) weigh in on the Tan Man Scan(dal): OC board won't correct letter

☆ In yesterday's Sacramento Bee: Peeling back OC's odd politics. Dan Walters puts the Tan Man scandal into the larger context of local GOP knuckleheadery.

"...[L]ocal police officers blew up a student locker on the California community college’s Pleasant Hill campus...."

☆ From the "We think WE'VE got it bad!" file: Bomb threat closes a campus

☆ From the "Thank God we ain't in Texas" file: Art Teacher and District Reach Settlement. Teacher loses job after tykes catch glimpse of "nude statue" on a field trip. Too bad Howard wasn't there. He would have sued the statue too.

☆ IVC President fired for "failure to lead". OK, I made that one up. But I walk around campus, and, Glenn, you should hear what people say. Sheesh. Get a clue.

☆ South County board jailed for "persistent and defiant assholery". I can dream, can't I?

Board president Tom Fuentes?

Well, we're rapidly approaching the BOARD's December organizational meeting, when the trustees elect their officers.

Who will be elected board president? That's an important question. The president is powerful, in part owing to his influence on the agenda.

If memory serves, each board member--except Bill Jay and Tom Fuentes--has served as president. I have no idea if either man is interested in the job.

But if Fuentes wants it, it is difficult to see how he could fail to get it. He has more seniority than Jay, and it is doubtful that even relatively enlightened trustees would maneuver to block his ascension.

A Fuentes board presidency could be a big problem. Fuentes, you'll recall, is the fellow who once asserted, on TV, that faculty have a 36-hour work week and that, on average, they make $100K per year. (TV interview.) Clearly, he views the CTA (of which our own Faculty Association is a chapter) as the Great Satan of California politics and of everything that is right and good. (See Fuentes World.)

Plus he's flat evil. He's the kind of guy who'll give you the stink eye--or, worse, the stink smile. He'll have one of his pals take and monitor one of your classes. He'll leave burning sacks of sh*t on your doorstep and place guards on all your polls.

He'll even call you a "whore." (See Kill it & grill it.)

Plus he's got lots of connections with Howard Ahmanson and the folks who seek to give us "intelligent design" in the classroom and worse--Christian Reconstruction. ("My goal is the total integration of biblical law into our lives," said Howie. See Ahmanson.)

And remember how and why he targeted the "study abroad" program in Santander, Spain! (Some suspected that that was payback for CH's public criticisms of the F-man.)

So hang on to your hats. If Tom wants it, he's got it.

A disappointing revelation

1. FIFTEEN GRAND. On today's Total Buzz, Martin Wisckol (of the OC Register) explains that, when, recently, he went through Tan Nguyen's campaign accounting, up popped the name (Trustee) "Tom Fuentes."

Jeez, Martin. That's old news. Get a clue. (Tom Fuentes, campaign advisor)

According to these records, says Wisckol, Fuentes received $15,000 from Nguyen's campaign from December to May. Writes Wisckol,

I talked to Fuentes about it last week and he said he did consulting work on the campaign for the primary and ... the two parties went their separate ways afterward. "Nothing unfriendly about" the parting, he said. "I have not spoken with Tan in months, so I'm not sure what direction the campaign has taken."

Tom reportedly added:

"As for the letter itself, it is a sad and disappointing revelation."

I wonder how disappointed Tom would have been had it been revealed that the Tan Man hired guards to stand outside polling places?


2. MORE RETALIATION? Today, Facilities and Maintenance workers told me that they feel that Director (of F&M), Wayne Ward, continues to retaliate against custodians who, one month ago, filed an Incident Report re Wayne’s conduct. (See "It's a condom".)

The workers tell me that, this morning, Wayne met with custodians, informing them that he is “here to stay” and that he has no intention of altering his behavior or practices.

Also, they report, Wayne announced that there would be work schedule changes.

After the meeting, the worker who, last week, found himself pulled from his usual task in order to scrape gum off the sidewalk, was informed by Wayne that he would now be switched from the day shift to the swing shift. Simultaneously, a swing shift worker would be switched to day shift.

Apparently, this change will entail a serious hardship for the worker, who has a second job, one he has held for seven years, which conflicts with the swing shift. The worker explained that his family depends on that second income.

Reportedly, Wayne was unmoved. According to my sources, Wayne then told the worker that he (the worker) was too easily influenced by his day coworkers and, that, as a result, his attitude has suffered.

Again, according to my sources, this worker has never been told that there is a problem with his attitude. Further, he is known to be a hard worker who is friendly and courteous to all. He has received appreciative emails from school deans regarding his hard work.

One custodian told me that, in his judgment, the schedule change is clearly an act of retaliation.

He added: “Wayne is trying to keep those who stand and speak up out of the day shift.”


3. BABRAHAM LINCOLN. From Wayne's World:

GARTH: What are you thinking about?

WAYNE: Cassandra. She's a fox. In France, she would be called La Renarde, and she would be hunted, with only her cunning to protect her.

GARTH: She's a babe.

WAYNE: She's a robo-babe! In Latin, she would be called Babia Majora.

GARTH: If she were a president, she'd be Babraham Lincoln.

Lost in Tanslation

Rebel Girl Grades Tan Nguyen's Letter

"Es verdad. Washington bullets again."

—The Clash, "Sandinista!"

Rebel Girl has been following the brouhaha over candidate Tan Nguyen's letter to prospective voters. Let's be more specific: his intimidating and fraudulent letter to 14,000 prospective voters with Spanish surnames. Let's be specific, and accurate, too: brouhaha without much ha-ha, and shock —shock! —to discover that gambling (voter fraud) is going on in Casablanca County.

Rebel Girl feels left out. Though she boasts a terrific Spanish surname, one of the most popular and easy to pronounce, she herself did not receive one of the letters because she dwells outside the 47th Congressional District. Most of her political mail celebrates the governor posing with charismatic (hot, hot, hot!) Latino leaders and declaring his devotion to education. Yeah, right.

No, like many of you, she had to track the epistle/evidence down on the internet. Then, pocha as she is, she had to find an English translation. Sigh. Life is rough for a second generation Mexican-American. And they say we don't assimilate. Sheesh.

Mild-mannered professor of English that she is, Rebel Girl has spent the weekend pondering the text.

Granted, there was much to ponder beginning with, what was Tan Nguyen thinking? And what did Rebel Girl's favorite college trustee and Nguyen's advisor, Tom "My family swam over from Spain— I'm no Mexican" Fuentes know and when did he know it?

But really, she looked at it with the eyes of a person who has graded college student writing for the last 15 years. And what did she see?

Rebel Girl reviewed her grading standards. She considered in terms of what we like to call the rubric. The letter was a C, at best, C minus maybe. A C grade meant satisfactory, sometime marginally so. It showed an understanding of the basic ideas and information involved in the assignment but it may also have had some factual, interpretive or conceptual errors. Clearly the writer's intent was clear, even though his execution was ineffective. In a C-level paper, the writer's argument is sometimes only partially developed, with little analysis, with limited use of textual evidence. With its five scant paragraphs, the Nguyen letter was certainly that. The arrangement of a C-level paper may not appear entirely natural or smooth, with some awkward transitions, a few weakly unified or undeveloped paragraphs. This was most definitely true of Nguyen's work, especially the last two paragraphs. While there was an attempt to create a sense of transition between the paragraphs, the grand leaps each one made, coupled with a complete lack of sources to verify their outstanding (sic) claims, made this work marginal at best. In fact, the more Rebel Girl thought about it, and got herself worked up, the more she thought this work was not at college level after all, not a marginally passing paper. And that even without considering the occasional wordy sentences structure and awkward word choices she felt the need to wince.

So, finally, it failed.

Okay, granted, the letter was a translation. For all she knew it might, in the original Spanish have been a work comparable to Carlos Fuentes' The Death of Artemio Cruz or perhaps something by Borges: you know, prismatic and labyrinthine, what those folks call magical realism. Okay, so perhaps it was unfair to grade the translation. She planned to offer the Spanish department faculty time to weigh in on this project.

Then, today, late news, from the You Can't Make This Up Department, which is down the hall from the Spanish department. At his press conference, Tan Nguyen blamed the "hysteria" over the letter on, yes (Si), wait, here it comes…a bad translation! In the original English draft of the letter, he said, the word "immigrant" (translated to emigrado or immigrante—the jury is still out) wasn't used—instead the phrase "just a resident with a green card" was. So, it was the translator's fault—not his. And no, he wouldn't be dropping out of the race. Why should he?

Why indeed? (Any teacher can tell you—K-12, college or university, that is one lame excuse.)

But, let's do a closer read, shall we?

Mr. Tan neglected the more problematic part of the letter, which threatened the recipients with this Borgesian fabrication:

At the same time, you are advised that the government of the United States is installing a new computer system to verify the names of all new registered voters that vote in the October and November elections. Anti-immigration organizations can ask for information from this new computer system.

And what about that "October" election reference? Is that just sloppiness or what? Tee hee. How much did he pay his ghostwriter? His translator?

There were two more items, though a person could go on and on. Reb won't. For instance, that bevy of anti-immigrant group names that decorates the margins and letterhead. Hmmm.

Here's the crema on the flan. The letter is signed: Sincerely, Sergio Ramirez.

Rebel Girl was certain that she was one of the few Orange Countians who recognized this hearty effort at evoking an Everyhombre, using a nom de plume for a helpful if stern Mexican quasi-official, a name with authority and lots of hot vowels.

It was kind of shocking. Could it be, she wondered, THE Sergio Ramirez, a stalwart Sandinista revolutionary in Nicaragua back in the day, Vice President of the little country that roared at the US and then was undermined by the Reagan-Bush-Elliot Abrams even as the CIA mined its harbors? And wasn't my, our, Sergio Ramirez himself, ironically, a writer, in fact a novelist of some renown? Could this Ramirez have undergone the same kind of transformation as, say, Christopher Hitchens, turned from socialist land reform and education and national self-defense advocate (No pasaran!) into a nutty right-wing national chauvinist, all the while living here in Garden Grove or Santa Ana or Newport Beach and doing the cha-cha-cha with La Nutjob Suprema Senora Barbara Coe?

She knew the revolution had fallen on hard times but figured that Sergio, like his compadre Daniel Ortega, was busy retooling his image to fight another day. La lucha continua and all that.

So what could have brought Sergio Ramirez, the former vice president of revolutionary Nicaragua to the heart of OC?

Imagination is a lovely way to travel. And, of course, only the imagination of Tan Nguyen and his campaign advisors could have flown the former Second in Command of the revolutionary people's state to John Wayne Airport. Imagine how that brainstorming session might have gone:

All right guys, we need a Latino name. One that rings a bell, but not too many bells.

Jennifer Lopez? Nah. Eddie Olmos? No. Ricky Ricardo? Dead. Tomas Fuentes? Nope. Too fucking obvious.

A hand waves in the back of the room. I know, I know. How about Sergio Ramirez, the former Vice President of Nicaragua? That'll show those commies.

But my very favorite part of this letter is the closing paragraph, which reads so well, so true, so fine, now that the truth is out. Take another look and see for yourself:

Do not listen to any politician that tells you the opposite. They are only looking out for their own interests. They only want to win elections without any regard to what happens to you.

That's right. You tell 'em Tan.

Sergio Ramirez' Website