A year ago in the SOCCCD

● MY GOD! THERE MIGHT BE—CRONYISM!

On Dec. 19, 2005 (Cronyism & Mirthulence), we reported on the December meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees, in which “Trustee Tom Fuentes, former Big Cheese of the OC Republican Party, expressed a concern that the faculty hiring process up for approval that night might permit faculty ‘cronyism.’”

HA! This, of course, was a stunning instance of the pot calling the kettle black. Naturally, in DtB, we spelled that out in gory detail!

● FUENTES’ BUGABOO.

That night (Peevitude in Detail (12/17)) was also the night in which Tom Fuentes expressed his objections to the new and improved faculty hiring policy (up for approval), which had been in development for many months. In Tom’s view, the new policy gave too much power to faculty, and especially to “the union,” Fuentes’ standard bugaboo. (See also Doubting Thomas (12/13).)

According to the new (and old) policy, the union, of course, has no representatives on hiring committees. But, noted Fuentes, the Academic Senates do have representatives. And those reps are likely members of the union.

Oh. The new policy passed.

The policy change arose from an illegal action (so said the court), by Chancellor Mathur, with the Board Majority’s support, to unilaterally impose a new policy on faculty. The faculty’s victory in this case will have far-reaching ramifications in California community colleges with regard to faculty's role in college governance.

In other words, this gang of tough, leather-faced hombres managed to shoot themselves in the foot, letting varmints vamoose into the Hole-in-the-Wall with all the dang horses. Or something.

● CLASSIFIED CONTRACT.

At the same meeting, Classified leader MARY WILLIAMS addressed the board, urging its representatives to come to settlement regarding the contract. The room was pretty tense. Since that itme, of course, a settlement has been reached.


● THE YEAR OF BOB "DON'T GET CAUGHT" KING

"[G]etting caught hiring someone 'under the table' is easier than you think...."! --From the highly-principled website, Legally Nanny

At the board meeting a year ago, Fuentes announced the hire of BOB KING as Vice Chancellor of Human Resources. King is a lawyer (indeed, years ago, he was on the district's team during my 1st Amendment lawsuit), and this inspired speculation about a hidden agenda. (Gosh, maybe Mathur was just contemplating hiring a nanny? Check out Bob's Legally Nanny. You won't regret it.)

Sure enough, after a few months, Mathur attempted to redefine King's duties to broaden them and to make him essentially the house attorney, but the board didn't support that.

It was King who was left holding the bag when Mathur attempted to sneak through his COLA/raise. There may be signs that King has figured out what others have figured out about his boss. Watch Bob's facial expressions change over time.

Or not.

● BOARD LEADERSHIP ROLLOVER.

The December board meeting includes the trustees’ yearly “organizational” meeting. A year ago, trustee BILL JAY nominated the then-existing board leadership--Lang, Padberg, Fuentes--for a repeat performance, and that was approved unanimously.

That’s not what happened a year later, however. This month, Padberg was bumped in favor of Wagner.

By now, it is clear that we have a new BOARD MAJORITY, namely, Lang, Williams, Wagner, & Fuentes. Ironically (considering history), it is Nancy Padberg, among the BOARD MINORITY, who is the target of the most--and the most ugly--BM snipery.

● THE “BENEDICT ARNOLD 'THANK YOU'” PLAQUE.

On that night, Chancellor Mathur gave board president Lang a handsome plaque for recognizing his--i.e., Mathur’s--excellence: “…I would like to recognize our board president…. President Lang, … You have been consistently fair and respectful of all people, including me ... You are always willing to recognize excellence.”

Notoriously, Lang’s was the swing vote in the board action, of June ’05, to renew Mathur’s contract. For many years, Lang and Milchiker had been Mathur’s chief detractors. Lang’s surprise switcheroo is one of the great SOCCCD mysteries. Why'd he do it? Why did he take Mathur's side when all of his supporters urged him in the strongest terms not to?

As near as anyone can tell, Lang is still behind his man Mathur. The district is still in the toilet, and we can thank Dave Lang, "changer of men."


● PADBERG/WILLIAMS SHOOTOUT.

This was the night of one the noisier Nancy Padberg/John Williams shootouts. This particular gun battle concerned removal of items from the “consent calendar.” Leaving items on the consent calendar means, of course, that they are approved without discussion. That night, Padberg acted to remove a large number of items from the CC in order to raise issues about them, inspiring a revolt on the part of Williams, Wagner, and Lang, who seemed to think her issues could be dealt with informally, before the meeting, in phone conversations with the Chancellor. You know, behind closed doors. (The CC/"Padberg doesn't do her homework" stuff came up again last month. See Board report.)

Tension often erupts between Williams and Padberg, of course. By this meeting, Williams had fired Padberg at the county Public Administrator office. Why?

● CREATIONISTS LOSE, GET SPANKED.

Let's not forget that, exactly one year ago (Just what I wanted (12/23)), Creationists (anti-Evolutionists) suffered a huge legal defeat in the crucial “Dover” case, in which parents with children in the Dover Area School District (in Pennsylvania) fought inclusion of “intelligent design” in science instruction. The inclusion occurred on advice from lawyers provided by the Discovery Institute.

(Aside: the Discovery Institute has received much of its funding from OC’s Howard Ahmanson Jr., who once said his goal is "the total integration of biblical law into our lives." Ahmanson is a close friend of Tom Fuentes.)

The judge presiding over the case was Judge John E. Jones III, a conservative Republican appointed by George W. Bush. Jones concluded that it is “unconstitutional” to teach ID as an alternative to evolution in the public schools. Jones went further. He decided that the parents who brought the suit were entitled to damages!

It was a bad day for the irrationalists and a good day for truth, justice, and the American Way.

"It is ironic that these individuals, who so proudly touted their religious convictions in public would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy." --From the Jones opinion in Kitzmiller v. Dover school Board.

Young and screwed

“If [Eugene] doesn't get the operation, he's probably going to lose his joint to degenerative diseases in the next few years. We really care about him. We really want him to get better.” --JC

ON SATURDAY, I mentioned the plight of IVC semi-denizen Eugene Ipavec, who, I said, recently suffered a terrible accident, leaving him flat and broken and flat broke (Let’s come to the aid of a friend).

On Tuesday, Jorge Barrientos profiled our desolate friend for the OC Register: Irvine Valley College teachers, students help friend in need. Here are some excerpts from Jorge's article:

...Lisa Alvarez, a professor and chair of the English department at Irvine Valley, her colleagues and college friends are trying to get Eugene Ipavec, 26, on his feet after he broke a leg in a scooter accident that has left him disabled and "in a funk," with no medical insurance, no money and no will to write…Ipavec suffered a vertical fracture on his tibia after a scooter accident Dec. 7. He was taken to Tustin Hospital and Medical Center, where a splint was placed on the leg….

Ipavec came to Tustin from Slovenia when he was 12. He joined [Lisa's] creative writing workshop at Irvine Valley about four years ago where he wowed friends and teachers with his writing about his past home, politics and life as an immigrant.


…[Since then,] He has been published in the Santa Monica Review, the longest-running literary arts magazine in Southern California, and he has had opinion pieces published in the Orange County Register.

…"I haven't done much writing lately," he said. "I haven't been in the right frame of mind. This whole disaster has somewhat changed my perspective." [Note: this is an instance of absurdist understatement on E's part.]

Since the accident, [SMR editor Andrew] Tonkovich, Alvarez and friends have been transporting Ipavec to and from medical centers, searching for ways to get him medical insurance and care.

To make matters worse, Ipavec's father, Gene, 75, fell off the front porch and injured his leg and also needs medical help [both are confined to wheelchairs]. Gene is retired and gets a small government pension – not enough to pay hospital and ambulance bills. The two live alone in a mobile home in Tustin.

…Alvarez and friends have set up a bank account to collect donations for Ipavec, and his best friend, Jonathan Cohen, made a Web site and blog where people can donate and get information on Ipavec.

Eugene Ipavec Medical Fund
Orange County Teachers Federal Credit Union
P.O. Box 11547
Santa Ana, 92711-1547
Account Number: 15674902

See also:

● www.jkcohen.com/eugene --and

● www.jkcohen.com/wordpress

Yesterday, Jonathan wrote me, offering a classic Jonathanism:

Dear [Chunk]:

It’s worth noting … that Governor Schwarzenegger, after breaking his leg on a ski junket to Idaho, received surgery within three days. By comparison, Eugene will not get surgery for several months.

It’s good to be king, with the best health insurance state money can buy; it sucks to be E.

Yup.

Well, Eugene will get his surgery in "several months"--IF we collect enough dough!

And, who knows? Maybe Eugene the scribe will come through this thing, not only sans funk, but par excellence!

Dolt?

If you haven’t read Bob Woodward’s Washington Post piece on Gerald Ford, you really should check it out:

Ford Disagreed With Bush About Invading Iraq

Remember those “Whip inflation now” (WIN) buttons? The gaff concerning Soviet domination of Eastern Europe? I thought Ford was a dope.

Dope? Well, maybe not so much. Read Woodward's account of his interview with Ford in July, 2004.

Fix it, please

▲ THIS JUST IN: State's community college fees to drop $6 per unit. Starts Jan. 1. An attempt to ameliorate low enrollments. Free cash prizes would be more effective still. Perpetual boozy-sexy parties in the Quad would be good, too.

▲ Today, the Associated Press reported the perceived urgent need to overhaul California’s incorrigible public schools: Education overhaul urged. Check it out.

Obviously, the preparedness of students attending CA's community colleges is determined by the preparedness of graduates (and non-graduates!) of CA's public schools.

(Hey, if things get much worse in my IVC classes student-preparedness-wise, I'm gonna have to start teaching the ABC's!)

The article discusses the obvious: bureaucratic inefficiency, funding, and teacher quality. It notes likely proposals and suggestions.

It ends with:

Some suggestions, particularly ideas about measuring teachers' effectiveness, are likely to meet resistance from powerful interests such as the California Teachers Association…The politically powerful union has resisted previous efforts to monitor teachers….

▲ Raghu P. Mathur is still the Chancellor of the South Orange County Community College District. No relief in sight.

Preparing for the Big Wet One

A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO, DtB posted a discussion of the tsunami threat here in Orange County. (See So Cal Tsunamis?)

Ridiculous, you say?

Don’t think so. As we explained then, the tsunami threat is real, not because a devastating tsunami in our lifetime is likely (it isn’t), but because a devastating OC tsunami (at some impossible-to-predict moment) is inevitable.

We’re like Indonesians were until two years ago: unprepared, unworried, "because we're unlikely to be 'the ones.'" We're TYPICAL HUMAN KNUCKLEHEADS.

Well, in this morning’s OC Reg, the point about the nature of the threat and other points are made in Before the ocean rises. The article also announces that OC will soon be the first California county to be “TsunamiReady.”

I wouldn’t get too excited about that. It turns out that being “TsunamiReady” doesn’t mean we're ready for a big tsunami, though it’s a good start. Essentially, it means that there’s been an effort to educate the public about the danger. Plus some efforts have been made to organize emergency personnel for a response. But, when the big wet one hits, the ocean is still gonna destroy everything in its path, and that path covers coastal towns filled with cell-phone packin' knuckleheads.

The upshot: saying your county is “TsunamiReady” is like a driver saying she’s “CrashSafe” because somebody told her to wear her seatbelt and to get a AAA card.


The Register article has some good graphics. Check 'em out. Here are some excerpts:

…All Orange County beach cities are or in the next few months will be "TsunamiReady," a National Weather Service designation that recognizes communities that prepare for such events….

…"The message we put out is to be prepared, because you just never know," [Ed Clark, warning coordination meteorologist in San Diego] said. "To say we're not going to be hit is in a way asking for it."

Mark Legg, a Huntington Beach-based scientist who for decades has studied the potential for a tsunami here, said about the countywide effort, "It's about time."

"We humans think we're not vulnerable because we think technology will save us," he said. "Well, Mother Nature is very powerful."

Russ Fluter, a Newport Beach resident walking the Strand in Newport Beach on a recent day, said he wasn't concerned…“I don't think it's going to happen, personally," he said....

Since 1980, there have been tsunami warnings issued in Southern California in May 1986, October 1994 and June 2005…The 2005 warning, which happened just months after the Indonesia devastation, was a wake-up call, emergency officials said…The warning confused residents along the coast who didn't know whether to stay or go.

Glorria Morrison, emergency services coordinator in Huntington Beach, said hundreds of people called 911 to ask, "What should I do?"….


Are we at risk?

● ...Mark Legg has studied the area's risk for a tsunami since the '70s and said there is evidence large tsunamis have hit our shoreline.

● While large earthquakes offshore are rare, they have happened. There have been four offshore earthquakes stronger than magnitude 6 in the past 75 years.

● There was a well-documented case in Southern California in 1927 that generated a tsunami, raising the ocean by 6 feet. There was no major damage because much of the coast was undeveloped. That's different from a 6-foot wave that surfers here are used to--this is a sea change that "you can't outrun, you cannot swim against," he said.

● Catalina is a danger area that could be a source of a tsunami. The island is on a fault that bends left, a "pop-up" formed by many earthquakes over hundreds of thousands of years.

● Other fault lines move right, creating a hole, or "pull-apart" basins. San Diego Harbor is an example of this, as is the San Pedro Basin. These slopes offshore are steep and made of soft sediment. A large earthquake could trigger a submarine landslide, which could create a tsunami….

● Legg and his colleagues found evidence of a tsunami – shells and marine life mixed with bedrock – in Carlsbad that occurred within the last 11,000 years. The findings were 29 feet above sea level, meaning the ocean rose by at least that much.

Oh Wow: Strong earthquake shakes Taiwan. No tsunami this time.

Know any rich people?

There's a brief article about Irvine Valley College's PERFORMING ARTS CENTER in this morning’s OC Register. The Facility is now under construction and should be completed by summer. The article explains that individuals and whatnot now have an opportunity to get some or all of this thing named after 'em!

For $2 million, the new $32 million performing arts center at Irvine Valley College could be named after you.


The Irvine Valley College Foundation is selling naming rights to the building that college President Glenn Roquemore has called a "gem destined to become a cultural and architectural centerpiece" in Irvine. It is to open in July.

The center's rooms and the lobby will also be named after those who donate toward the center. The money will be used for such things as lighting instruments, several grand pianos and wireless microphones. One of the most expensive items sought is a $200,000 acoustic shell for the symphony, used to project sound toward the audience. (See: Irvine: College selling naming rights)

I haven't got much money, so I'm thinking small. Something along these lines:

The CHUNK WHEELER toilet partition

Or maybe

The DISSENT the BLOG baton & catgut string depository (i.e., closet shelf)

--Yeah, something like that.


If you really cared about this college, you'd find a rich person and get them to cough up some dough!

What about that "fish taco" guy who spoke at last year's Commencement? He seemed nice. His taco money and that "acoustic shell" are a perfect fit, I'd say.

In all sincerity, this building will be wonderful. Maybe a "gem" even.

It's gonna be BIG. It'll make Saddleback's Ronald MacDonald Theater look like a Lilliputian apiary!

The principle of “gratuitous-yet-just insultitude”

▼ Years ago, in the print version of Dissent, I called a certain administrator a “liar.”

.I was immediately accused of “name calling.”

.But wait! What if there are lots of demonstrable facts indicating that the guy is a liar—I mean, a persistent or extreme one—and I call him a “liar”? Is that name-calling?

.Sure, technically. But calling a plumber a plumber is name-calling too, in that sense. When we accuse somebody of name-calling, we mean, not just that they've applied a "name" to something, but that, in this case, they’ve done something that they should not do.

.Why shouldn’t I call this liar a “liar,” especially since I've cited the overwhelming evidence that, in fact, he lies often and boldly—and to people to whom he has an obligation to be honest?

.When reporters describe Saddam’s former situation in terms of “tyranny,” are they engaging in name-calling? If I describe O.J. Simpson as “unsavory” or George Bush as “inarticulate,” am I guilty of something?

.Imagine someone who refuses to call an apartment fire that kills a dozen children a “disaster” or a “tragedy.” Anyone who doesn’t think that that event was a tragedy—that, really, the fire is more properly described as an "event" or "occurrence"—doesn’t understand the event. Sometimes, by refusing to suggest a judgment or a moral response in our account of a person or thing or event, we distort the truth. We make it harder, not easier, for people to understand what needs to be understood.

▼ CONGRESSMAN FLIMFLAM. In this morning’s LA Times, there's more bad press for Dissent the Blog’s Congressman, Republican Gary Miller. The Times article describes Miller’s latest apparent flimflammery. Check it out. Or not.

.It bugs me no end that this guy represents me (and the Reb, and Red Emma, and even Limber Lou).

.I looked up Miller’s name in my Devil’s Thesaurus and I got: “total asshole.” I bet he gets reelected, though.

.Do you know any person—one that you are comfortable calling decent—who would examine the consistent conduct of Mr. Miller (see earlier blogs) and not agree that it is dishonest and repellent? Is there anyone who doesn’t think that people like Miller are scamming, sometimes individuals, sometimes the public?

.All right, then. FLAMFLAM. Among other things, this man engages in flimflammery most foul. Shout it out! Let there be moral clarity!

.We'll return to the word "asshole" in a second.

▼ GOVERNOR POTATO HEAD. Governor Arnold broke a leg skiing yesterday, but he didn’t even have the decency to break the damn thing here in California. He was in dang Idaho. Henceforth, I shall refer to the fellow as "Governor Potato Head."

.Now this is an instance of name-calling. Of a kind. Observe that it is made less offensive by the fact that Arnold’s head looks nothing like a spud. (I would never call a guy whose head looks like a potato a "potato head"; I might, however, call a vain scoundrel who is not very attractive "plug-ugly." There are rules!)

.Observe also that anyone who has paid attention to Mr. Schwarzennegger’s political career knows that he started it with a pledge specifically to eschew the “special interests,” and yet, from day 1, he has been up to his biceps in “special interest” money and connections. Observe, finally, that, though Arnold’s hypocrisy is manifest, journalists never call him a “hypocrite.” Occasionally, they come close. But they almost never just say what everyone (that minority who reads the paper and who attempts to retain pertinent facts) knows to be true. They seem to follow some kind of "Emperor's wardrobe" rule.

.In my view, it is in such cases as this that one may invoke the special “name-calling” exception, namely, the principle of “gratuitous-yet-just insultitude”:

When the person is indecent and decent people are not being heard, just to even things out a bit, engage in name-calling, but take care that the meaning of the “name” clearly does not apply to the person described.

.It is in this sense, then, that one may justly and happily call George W. Bush a “stupid asshole.” Nobody really thinks that he’s stupid. They think, rather, that he's surprisingly ill-informed, brutish, insensitive, and inarticulate.

.And yet, in calling the man a “stupid asshole,” we make the world a better place. We see good people smiling. We are ever-so-slightly more justified in viewing our world as just and good.