Saturday, March 1, 2008

God and Man at SOCCCD

1. IN GOD THEY TRUST. As you know, the SOCCCD has been and will continue to be a tiny battleground of the “culture war” between Red Meat Republicans and most everyone else. For instance, our board is fond of prayer, and, often, there is no mistaking which God is being prayed to or invoked at the start of meetings of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees.

Naturally, some object to this practice. Below, I provide a brief (1:30) example of a plea to cease the practice of prayer at district functions:


The board meetings are held, of course, at a district building on the campus of Saddleback College, and thus in the city of Mission Viejo—among the safest cities in the country, or so says the FBI. It’s also mighty conservative.

Yesterday, the OC Register reported that
Mission Viejo may become the third Orange County city to approve displaying the national motto "In God We Trust" in City Hall. 
¶ The City Council will discuss placing the motto on the walls of the council chambers at its meeting Monday. … 
¶ Councilwoman Gail Reavis placed the item for discussion on the agenda. The move comes after the Cypress City Council voted Feb. 11 to display the phrase in their council chambers. Westminster City Council passed a similar ordinance last July and began displaying the words in their council chambers in January. 
¶ Reavis said displaying the motto would be a symbol of the city's character, and that she did not expect the issue to be controversial…. 
¶ Cypress Councilman Phil Luebben, who voted against the [Cypress] ordinance, said the motto does not represent all of the city's residents…. 
¶ Jacquie Sullivan is president of In God We Trust – America, an organization that encourages cities to publicly display the phrase, which was adopted by Congress as the national motto in 1956. She said the motto is meant to include all faiths, and that it is a sign of a city's patriotism. 
¶ "This is not a religious effort, it's a patriotic effort," she said.
Perfect! South County conservatives think back to 1956 to express their patriotism—which, evidently, is the same as their theism.

(See Ceremonial deism)

2. NEW ACCREDITATION-RESPONSE PROPOSAL. As you know, our effort to deal with our dire accreditation difficulties recently yielded the proposal of a district-wide Accreditation Advisory Panel.

Things change. The latest proposal—coming from the district? From Chancellor Mathur?—is a committee per college to include various district personnel and even a trustee—as well as some faculty.

Naturally, some have expressed skepticism about the new proposal. For instance, are enough faculty on these committees?

At a recent academic senate meeting, I noted that it is one thing to endeavor to address our problems (as identified by the accrediting agency) and it is quite another to write a report on our progress in addressing our problems. I worry that this proposal obliterates that distinction and is therefore muddled.

Perhaps when we hear the details of the proposal, my concerns will be assuaged or even shown to be erroneous. Could be. Hope so. Nothing’s been decided yet.

3. SHAME? On the 26th, Sean Hill of Liberal OC weighed in on IVC’s little flag controversy:
For the last ten years a 144-flag display has hung in the atrium of the student center of the Irvine Valley College without incident. However according to an article written by Marla Jo Fisher in yesterday’s Orange County Register school officials have removed the display after threats from radical anti-communist activists in the local Vietnamese community.

The display represented the flags of the nations of the world “in a gesture designed to symbolize the diversity of the college’s student body”. It was the fact that a flag depicting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was displayed that drew the ire of the activists. The activists threatened mass protests with busloads of protestors if the flag was not removed. Fearing this, school officials caved and removed the entire display.

Leading the charge for the radical activists were Van Tran allies Westminster Councilman Andy Quach and Garden Grove Councilwoman Dina Nguyen. Quach and Nguyen essentially threatened and coerced school officials by reminding them of what happened during the 1999 protests in Little Saigon over a shop owner displaying the Vietnam flag and a photo of Ho Chi Minh. During those protests some 50,000 people showed up and at times turned violent, going as far as attacking an American veteran of the Vietnam War who spoke in favor of the shop owners right to free speech.

It is time that this thuggery and intimidation by the radicals in Little Saigon comes to an end. These folks believe in the right of free speech. Theirs. They wrap themselves in the Constitution to protect their rights, and step on it when it comes to the rights and beliefs of the people who disagree with them. They left Vietnam in search of freedom and yet they act not too much different from those in charge of the country they fled.

Shame on Irvine Valley College officials for bowing to their threats and shame on those issuing those threats. If you believe in the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression you must be willing to defend things that may be offensive to you. That is the beauty of America, or at least that used to be the beauty of America. Clearly we have allowed the threats of a radical mob to determine what can be said or expressed.

This leaves me to ask should Cuban-Americans be able to demand the removal of the Cuban flag because they don’t agree with the government there? What about Persian-Americans and the Iranian flag? Should we only allow the display of flags of countries we like? Should we ban the display of all flags except the American flag?
So what do you think?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Hill nailed it. These thugs are similar to the theocratic Christians who also want things just their way.

Anonymous said...

Yes indeed, in God we trust. And to the rest of you, love it or leave it.

Anonymous said...

Ah, yes, isn't that what the founding fathers had in mind: love it or leave it? Wasn't that in the first draft?

Anonymous said...

Yes. That along with "freedom for us, not for you."

Anonymous said...

It's all coming back to me now! God and country! that's what America is!

Anonymous said...

President Roquemore has yet to communicate with the campus community about the flag business. Un-fucking-believable.

Anonymous said...

What the Vietnamese Americans are doing is thuggish, just as Hill said. But to expect us to take them on by ourselves is unrealistic. This issue goes way beyond the college and the flags.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure the citizens of Mission Viejo wouldn't care at all if the City Council was made up of a Muslim majority who made the city motto "In Mohammed We Trust," and said that it had nothing to do with religion.

Anonymous said...

President Glenn is communicating with all of us telepathically, one by one, using the power of his big brain.

Be patient, colleagues, just wait, your turn will come. Suddenly your brain will be filled with light and you'll hear Glenn whisper his wisdom in your ear.

It happened to me just this afternoon.

It was *wonderful*

*swoon*

I understand everything now!

Anonymous said...

The flags will be back on Monday.

Glenn will never say anything ever.

Anonymous said...

William F. Buckley Jr., 11/24/25 - 2/27/08

A Liberal's Praise for William F. Buckley Jr., Newsweek, March 10, 2008 issue.

"The Nation was 90 years old when Buckley began National Review. As a young editor, he made no secret that he hoped his small magazine might be a conservative variation on The Nation. Today, with the circulations of the two magazines roughly equal, we find ourselves in a similar position—taking that principled stand athwart history, yelling "stop." In these times of unprecedented media consolidation, I believe, as Buckley did, that small magazines of ideas and opinion continue to have an outsized influence on our political discourse—nurturing not-ready-for-prime-time ideas, thrusting new issues onto the national agenda and nourishing young writers.

Buckley did all of these things, and he left us all, one suspects, in precisely the way he would have chosen: as an editor at his desk. It was an exit a liberal counterpart cannot help but admire and—let's admit it—envy."

Vanden Heuvel is editor and publisher of The Nation.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...