Friday, April 9, 2010

California's "Day of the Rat Bastard"

UH-OH. STATE PENSIONS MASSIVELY UNDERFUNDED. You know me. I’m just useless about fiscal/financial issues. (I don’t have any significant debts, though.)

But I noticed an alarming article in this morning’s OC Reg:

State pensions massively underfunded, Stanford study concludes
The amount of money California will owe its public retirees – but won’t have – is $55.4 billion, according to official figures. ¶ Surprise. That number is a product of smoke and mirrors, according to an analysis out of Stanford University this week, and the realshortfall is nearly eight times as great – more than $425 billion….
Surely some readers know what to make of all of this, especially as it concerns denizens of the SOCCCD (we're with STRS). Right? Let us know.

Governor Reagan was on hand for the opening

of Saddleback College (above)

COMING SOON: RONALD REAGAN DAY. The always-uninspiring Chris Emami of Red County reports progress in an attempt to create a California “Ronald Reagan Day.”

Senate Passes George Runner's Ronald Reagan Day Bill
Yesterday, the State Senate unanimously passed SB 944 (Runner), which is a bill proposed by Senator George Runner to establish February 6 as Ronald Reagan Day. The bill does not create a state holiday, but rather a state day of special significance. In other words, nobody would get the day off, but schools would be encouraged — but not required — to teach students about Ronald Reagan.
Emami notes that, if approved, RR Day will “be the third day of special significance dedicated to an individual person”; plus, the state has two or three other "days":

• April 21 ~ John Muir Day.
• May 22 ~ Harvey Milk Day
• March 30 ~ Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day
• April 6 ~ California Poppy Day
• Second Wednesday in May ~ the Day of the Teacher

Wow, RR doesn't seem to fit with this group at all.

If this thing passes, Feb. 6, 2011 will be the first RR Day. I plan to teach all about 'im.

As you know, the SOCCCD is on the cutting edge, RR-celebration-wise. We already have a “Ronald Reagan” BoT meeting room with big golden letters—R O N A L D R E A G A N—and about fifty American flags.

CELEBRATING THE CAREER OF DR. MATHUR. Have you given any thought to the upcoming Balboa Bay Club celebration of Raghu P. Mathur? What do you make of it?

Here are some arguably curious aspects of this celebration/announcement:

• Despite the nature of Mathur’s career—as far as I know, it has been almost entirely at public institutions (he’s been employed by the SOCCCD since the 70s)—the public, including district employees, are not invited. It is by invitation only.
• The celebration’s venue is none other than the Balboa Bay Club, a symbol of Orange County wealth and exclusivity (and of, I guess, saunas with pious, conservative, and ambitious young men, some of whom end up serving time for pedophilia)
• As far as I know, the “invitation” was an email sent from the “Office of the Chancellor.”

Naturally, it's none of my business if a bunch of Fuentean r*t b*stards want to hang out together at the BBC to "celebrate" the career of Goo. Hey, if they want to eat sh*t together, that's OK by me too. But why send out the invite from the Chancellor's office? Why send out invitations in a manner that guarantees that everyone in the district will know that it is for the select few?: "Yeah, we'll be at the BBC, smoking expensive cigars, and YOU are not invited!"

I think you'd have to be a dolt not to see this invite as a big "FU" to denizens of the district.

At the BBC: may Raghu receive a poinsettia that is immediately snatched by some hard-working stiff who got her job, not through corruption or cronyism, but because she looked pretty damned competent compared to the competition. May he lurch forward to snatch back those posies, only to lose his balance and, with arms and legs akimbo, fall upon Tom and then tumble onto some dogsh*t. Splat.

—Well, no. Just let him go away and then stay there.

From DISSENT the BLOG

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good lord; did you photoshop that Reagan photo, BvT? That is some fantastic work there. Love the '60's era, skinny men's pants. (What year was it?)

MAH

Roy Bauer said...

Must've been 1967 or so. The original photo used to be here. No more, I guess. I just simplified it with geometric blocks of black/white/gray.

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...