The anti-science nation

Anti-scientism: both
conservative and liberal

• Mark Lynas: truth, treachery and GM food (The Guardian UK, Mar 9 13)
     Mark Lynas spent years destroying genetically modified crops in the name of the environment. Now he's told the world – and his fellow activists – that he was wrong. So why did he change his mind? And does he have any friends left? (here)

• Sunday Dialogue: Science and Politics Is anti-science sentiment threatening public health policy? (New York Times, Mar 9 13)

• THE SEED WARS (The New Yorker, Nov 2 12) - Listen to reason!

• SEE ALSO Even their confusion is confused (OC Blue Philosopher, Aug 1 09)
Excerpt:

     ...Take farming. Liberals can generally be counted on to embrace “organic farming” and to reject “genetic modification” of foods (GM).
     First, just what is liberal about these stances? Do pesticides prevent free expression? Are science and technology the enemies of equality?

Listening to the science? Nope

     Now, in fact (see below), the organic farming philosophy is shot through with myth and fallacy; logically speaking, embrace of this philosophy is similar to the embrace of, say, alternative medicines or conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of JFK. File under “people thinking poorly.”
     GM foods? Again, the rejection of this technology depends largely on myth and fallacy. In fact, given the likely (and unfortunate and probably avoidable) facts of world population, a rejection of GM would be catastrophic....

Hail

This morning in the canyons: crack of thunder then hail, serious hail.

Judge: Chriss Street must pay $7 million judgment (OC Reg)

Greer

Excerpt:

     U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson rejected the first appeal, which argued that Neiter wrongly applied the law, in May 2011. Street filed a second appeal in November 2011, arguing that he had been hobbled at trial by incompetent counsel, Newport Beach attorney Phillip Greer.
     Greer is a politically prominent attorney. At the time of the Street trial he also represented four of the five Orange County supervisors.

     Long-time SOCCCD observers will remember that, during the Fuentes years, Street dropped by board meetings now and again to give us the low down on County tax revenue. These visits were entirely unnecessary, of course. But they served Tom's purposes and bolstered Street's career.
     Tom was also a political guru of some kind to Don Wagner, John Williams, Dave Lang, and Raghu Mathur, among other familiar names. Owing, no doubt, to Fuentes' demands, the district paid Phil Greer $25K to help Raghu negotiate a lucrative exit from the district. Greer also represented John Williams during his last, ignominious days at the County.
     That Tom sure had an eye for rat bastards.

A College Degree Sorts Job Applicants, but Employers Wish It Meant More (Chronicle of Higher Education)

Excerpt:

Sine Nomine Associates, Mr. Boyes's firm, works with high-tech companies like Cisco and IBM. However, it's fundamental abilities that he says recent graduates lack, like how to analyze large amounts of data or construct a cogent argument. "It's not a matter of technical skill," he says, "but of knowing how to think."

Why are we inviting the enemy to set up tables on our campus?

     Today, I briefly visited the IVC website, the opening page of which sports a section called “IVC Happenings”:

     Note the fourth item: “DeVry University table visit.” I’m not sure, but I think this refers to DeVry’s manning recruitment tables on campus (Wednesday from 8:00 a.m. to noon, and then from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., in the SSC Quad).

     DeVry is a “for-profit” college with a history of deceptive practices. As a for-profit, it is among the institutions that have received scrutiny, and severe criticism, from the feds in recent years. It awards shitty degrees, puts vulnerable students into deep debt, and bilks the taxpayer.
     (Those who need to get up to speed on the for-profits issue, and the history of DeVry in particular, might want to click on the links below.)
     So, I ask: why is our college inviting the enemy onto campus to set up its recruitment tables?
     WTF?!

• Senate Report Paints a Damning Portrait of For-Profit Higher Education (Chronicle of Higher Education)
• Cracking down on for-profit colleges (The Week): Schools like DeVry and Kaplan are booming, but critics say they are putting students into debt, not jobs
• For-profit education: 2010 Pell Grant fraud controversy (Wikipedia)
• DeVry University Hit With Lawsuit Alleging Officials Would 'Bribe' Students, Violate Federal Regulations (HuffPost)

The Glib Sociopath

Like making sausages

You don't wanna know

     RECOMMENDATION TO NONREELECT? Last Monday night, at about 7:55, there were a few tense moments, for me at least, after board Clerk Marcia Milchiker read out the board’s closed session actions at the start of the open session. Something about the way the announcement—about the board’s decision regarding the tenure of IVC instructors Grimm and Boettger—was worded really threw me. I couldn't tell what she said, and that almost never happens.
     So I ran back to the lobby area behind the Ronald Reagan Meeting Room, where (IVC Ac. Senate Prez and union grievance officer) Kathy Schmeidler, Amy Grimm, Susan Boettger, and two or three others huddled. Kathy seemed to be explaining her understanding of the announcement, which produced yelps of glee. I interrupted, asking her what exactly she thought the announcement was.
     Thumbs up.
     Still uncertain, I walked over to Bob C, Saddleback’s Ac. Senate President, who was standing in the doorway only ten feet away, and I asked him what he had heard.
     The same.
     Whew!
     Just now, I listened to the streaming video of the February meeting, and I determined what Milchiker actually read out:

     “On a six to one vote, with trustee Jay casting the negative vote, the board voted to affirm the district’s recommendation to nonreelect two faculty members at Saddleback College and to reject the recommendation to nonreelect two faculty members at Irvine Valley College.”

     Is it just me, or do others find this “nonreelect” language odd?
     Well, none of that matters now.

Sausages can be fun

     ROCKY SAUSAGES. Today, I spoke with an old friend who is a member of that new college “work group” that’s supposed to figure out where IVC can lower costs and increase revenue. (I’ve already forgotten the name of the dang thing.) I’ve heard several less-than-rosy reports about the group’s progress from another member, who seemed to say that getting information from administration regarding where all the money goes hasn’t been easy. Sometimes, they don't seem to know, he said.
     So, today, I asked my friend what she thought. Is it that Rocky & His Friends don’t keep track of where all the money is spent, is that it?
     “Well, that’s being charitable,” she said.
     That sounded too nefarious, I guess. So she then softened the point a bit, explaining that budget people often screw around with amounts and figures, making things look tidy, keeping something squirrelled away for a rainy day, that sort of thing.
     Otto von Bismark once said that laws are like sausages, that it's better not to see them being made. (Just imagine what gets scraped up off the floor!)
     It's getting clearer and clearer that the point seems to apply to Roquemore and Co’s handling of money, too.