Hope is a tattered flag—Or: IVC billows with hope

by Clark Nova
January 26, 2011

¶¶ The Red, White and Blue on IVC’s A100 flagstaff is faded, tattered and worn—and has been for quite some time. It looks like sh*t.
¶¶ The U.S. flag code demands that the American flag be treated with dignity and respect—respect, one might suppose, for the founding principles (aside from white supremacy and genocide), and not just out of respect for war veterans, deserving though they may be.
¶¶ The phrase “flag code” actually refers to not one, but three, separate components of US Code: Title 4, Chapter 1, which pertains to the nature of the flag itself; Title 18, Chapter 33, Section 700 which refers to criminal penalties for flag desecration; and Title 36, Chapter 3, which describes proper patriotic customs and observances.
¶¶ The flag code pointedly states that the national banner should never be “displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.” —Such as on your front lawn for a year, or on a neglected flag pole indefinitely.

¶¶ The flag code permits display on or near the main administration building of a public institution. The IVC flag is in fact displayed each and every day—and night too—come rain, sleet, hail, high wind, fog or dew.
¶¶ Hmmm. That might explain its sorry condition.
¶¶ The flag code states that the flag should be flown “only from sunrise to sunset.” On the other hand, it also states that the flag may be displayed “twenty-four hours a day” so as “to create a patriotic effect”—if, and only if, it is “properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.”
¶¶ IVC’s flag is designed to be illuminated, but the lamp ceased functioning many months (or years?) ago. Or maybe the college is saving electricity.
¶¶ Surprisingly, the flag code states that it is permissible to leave the flag out in the rain, but it must be “an all-weather flag.” The IVC flag appears to be made of cotton, or some such similarly degradable material.

¶¶ Our sad flag doesn’t seem to be the all-weather kind.

¶¶ Recently, a flea-bitten flag, flown by a Florida real estate agent, was stolen by an outraged Army vet. Allegedly, the agent flew his flag in a ragged state because it “accurately depicted the nation's current situation.”
¶¶ Perhaps IVC’s flag is also being flown in a disreputable condition to protest conditions nationwide. (Bush Administration war crimes? Violent Tea Party rhetoric? Lax Arizona gun laws?)
¶¶ Or perhaps not. Perhaps in the scramble to construct new classrooms, fire and hire deans, redo summer schedules, and whatnot, Old Glory has taken a back seat.
¶¶ Or maybe we can’t afford a new Old Glory.
¶¶ The Flag Code states that “The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”
¶¶ Yep, burning. The ceremony is typically carried out by an Army veteran color guard, or by a local Boy Scout Troop.
¶¶ This reporter votes for Boy Scouts.

(Above: according to the flag code, the flag should never be used as apparel, bedding, or drapery. It’s easy to see why.)

Appropriate VIDEO: Just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in

Roberta Ahmanson on theocracy: "what would be so bad about it?"

theocracy ~ a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God.

     Dissent the Blog readers will be familiar with Mr. Howard Ahmanson, Jr.—a quiet but important player in Orange County politics of the right wing variety. He’s one the country’s chief funders of religious right causes. Ahmanson and his wife, Roberta, have been crucial benefactors of Tustin's Education Alliance.
     A month or so ago, Gustavo Arellano mentioned that the upcoming edition of Christianity Today would feature a piece about Roberta, a former OC Reg religion reporter and patron of the arts. Gustavo seemed to think it would be worth reading.
     Well, it’s now available, and it is indeed fascinating:

Connoisseur for Christ: Roberta Green Ahmanson, by Christine A. Scheller

     Below are some excerpts:

     …The Ahmansons' critics focus on their support for conservative causes like Proposition 8 (their donations totaled approximately $1.4 million in 2007-2008), and for conservative thinkers like the late and much reviled Christian Reconstructionist Rousas John Rushdoony. [Re Rushdoony, see here.] The secular media especially have made and repeated these criticisms over the past decade.
     For example, in a scathing 2004 Salon profile of Howard, "Avenging Angel of the Religious Right," Max Blumenthal took pains to show that the Ahmansons' ultimate goals are theocratic, a charge that has been widely disseminated. Roberta at once denies and defends the claim: "I never was, and I don't know if Howard ever was either. I'm afraid to say this, but also, what would be so bad about it?"
     Blumenthal wrote, "[Howard's] money has made possible some of the most pivotal conservative movements in America's recent history, including the 1994 gop takeover of the California Assembly, a ban on gay marriage and affirmative action in California, and the mounting nationwide campaign to prove Darwin wrong about evolution …. And besides contributing cash to George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, Ahmanson has played an important role in driving Bush's domestic agenda by financing the career of Marvin Olasky, a conservative intellectual whose ideas inspired the creation of the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives."
. . .

     …Her life's primary animating force was found in her strict Regular Baptist upbringing: her desire "to know if there was a God and if it mattered."
     She found the answer "painfully" at Calvin College, from which she graduated in 1972 before earning an M.A. in English at the University of Michigan in 1974. "When I was 21, I admitted that there was a God and that I believed Christianity was true, that it was the best description of reality. That's how I think of it, and if there were a better description of reality, I hope, with C. S. Lewis, that I would embrace it. But it keeps proving itself to fit.
. . .
     As Blumenthal noted, Howard and Roberta also have strong ties to intelligent design, which purports that life on earth is best explained by reference to a creator. "We are probably the single largest supporter of the intelligent design movement, and have been since the beginning," said Roberta. Her perspective on theistic evolution is unflinching: She rejects it because it "legitimates naturalism as the mode of understanding reality." Even so, she is not a seven-day creationist, and Fieldstead funds projects at institutions that promote evolution.
     Ahmanson is equally unflinching in her defense of Rushdoony, controversial in part for his belief that the Levitical laws should be applied in modern society [including Draconian punishments for homosexuality]. Roberta claims he wasn't "the ogre" he was made out to be and explains his theodicy as a response to his family's flight from the Armenian genocide in Turkey. "His whole life project was to try to figure out what could protect you. In the end, he came down to the only thing that is solid is God's law. Well, you say the word law in the 20th or 21st century, and people break out in a rash."….

• Living Peace Series: Richard Branson at UC Irvine 25-Jan-11 (Jason)

Don Wagner v. the Census

This is a video. Play it if you dare.
Pretty goddam slick, Don.

A rendering of the planned "HUMANITIES" Bldg., hanging in the A100 conference room. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. Somehow, the project became BSTIC, a building for a school with few students. Still, there are no plans to provide Humanities and Languages with a building, despite the school's size.

Corrupt and stupid people

Mike Carona with friend Dave "Quisling" Lang

     • Three hours ago, Matt Coker posted an update on Irvine Valley College “Hometown Hero,” Mike Carona’s, transition to prison life:

"America's Sheriff" turned himself in at the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood in Littleton, Colorado, today to start serving his 5-and-a-half-year sentence, according to Victoria Joseph, a Federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman.

     • Meanwhile, the Tea Party’s Michelle Bachmann revealed yet again that she does not know her ass from a hole in the ground. Here, we find her asserting that “The ... founders ... worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States.” Huh?



• Few Students Show Proficiency in Science, Tests Show (New York Times)

Why so many students aren't learning

Um, yeah. College is so stressful

Does College Make You Smarter? (New York Times)

     First there was the news that students in American universities study a lot less than they used to. Now we hear, in a recent book titled "Academically Adrift," that 45 percent of the nation's undergraduates learn very little in their first two years of college.
. . .
     ...Have colleges, in their efforts to keep graduation rates high and students happy, dumbed down their curriculums? If they have, who is to blame? What should parents and federal taxpayers do?

• Products of Rote Learning ~ Leon Botstein
• No Work, All Play, No Job ~ George Leef
• The Winner: A Liberal Education ~ Sean Decatur
• 'Will I Be Able to Get a Job?' ~ Gaye Tuchman
• An F for Effort ~ Philip Babcock
• The Student as Profit Center ~ Mark C. Taylor

IVC doesn't seem to like its adjunct instructors

A shrine to speech/forensics, that gaudy bauble

I don't mean to be cynical, but sometimes it seems that college presidents are like politicians: they seem attracted more to the splashy and meretricious than to the restrained and substantial. Here we see this SHRINE to speech/forensics dominating the second floor of the Business Sciences & Tech Innovation Center (BSTIC), a building for a school that has few students. (Meanwhile, Humanities & Languages, a school that does half the instruction at the college, has no building at all. But I digress.)

It overwhelms the 2nd floor of BISTIC

Listen, I like these kids who go to our college. And so I'll refrain from offering my opinion of speech and forensics—and, in particular, of one of the guiding lights of speech/forensics at IVC.

Lots of prizes, eh? Yeah. Lots of travel and photo ops? Great. Color me seriously unimpressed.

Give me a reason to say more, G.

Make my day.

Oh good. Offices for adjuncts!

Now, until very recently, adjuncts—at least those on our end of campus—had a tiny office to themselves. It was up against the absurd Gensler Memorial duplicating cubicle in A200. The large window between these rooms was always open, rendering this office space nearly useless for student conferences.

Well, what with recent remodeling in A200, that office is gone. 

Luckily, a few years ago, a new building—BSTIC—was constructed (for a school with few students), and we were told that it would include office space for adjuncts! Whoopee!

OK. So, today, the Reb and I walked over to BSTIC. We examined the building directory (see above). Sure enough! The "adjunct faculty office," it said, is room 213. That was just a few feet away. We walked to the room.

It's been taken over by the speech and debate team. Natch.

We opened the door. It's a decent sized room. Nobody was home. Actually, I've walked by this room many times, but I've never seen anyone in it.

 But what about the adjuncts? Surely they've been given some a new space! We made inquiries. Adjuncts' new space, we were told, is room 2021 of BSTIC. So we walked over there.
There was a sign on the door:

OK. Here's the adjuncts' new office space.

Students aren't allowed in it. No exceptions.

Here's a clear view of the inside of 2021. Four computers, four chairs. A duplicating machine against the wall. A table.

Later, I spoke with an administrator. I said, "if students can't come in that room, in what sense is it office space for adjuncts?" The administrator did not disagree with our concerns.

I headed home. I took this pic from my car at the opening of Lambrose Canyon Road.

It's been a beautiful day.

The most unappreciated person in the history of humankind

     [See also: THE “HOWARD HILTON” , Sunday, September 30, 2001] 

     Here at Dissent, we like to be useful and informative, and what could be more useful and informative than info about the people we work with? So I’ve decided to do the occasional “profile” of an employee of the South Orange County Community College District.
     Now, as it happens, today, I came across the college website of a certain Saddleback College Econ instructor: Howard Gensler: Gensler website.
     Why not a profile of Howard?

     YES, HOWARD. Before Howard joined the faculty at Saddleback College in 2003, he was a dean here at IVC. We’ve written before about Dean Howard and his IVC legacy (see The “Howard Hilton”). I do believe that we wrote that piece while Howard was still our dean, and so we had to be, well, careful. But I do believe we managed to convey Howard's special specialness.
     By 2001, Howard had presented IVC President Raghu Mathur and two or three trustees with a scheme, hatched by Howard and a local nonagenarian, to create an $800 million private complex, complete with a lake and a Hilton Hotel, here at IVC. For some reason, the venture was being developed (or at least discussed) in secret, but I figured the world really needed to know about it, and so I made a couple of phone calls to reporters. The reporters made inquiries, and then they wrote about Howard’s scheme. For some reason, the whole “Howard Hilton” thing then unraveled. The city was pissed. The scheme was generally regarded as ridiculous, even idiotic. In the end, trustee Wagner, among others, did some serious backpedaling.
     And Howard? Let’s just say that lawyers were involved, and then, after a time, Howard showed up on the faculty at Saddleback College. How strange!
     So, today, I came across Gensler’s website for the college. Really, it’s like a profile all by itself!
     Now, obviously, Howard has a lot to offer, and he’s pretty generous with his offerings on his website. For instance, he explains his “education philosophy”:

I … believe that we should have fun in everything we do. [In class, w]e generally play a roll game rather than just take roll. I use humor liberally. The vast majority of students enjoy my sarcasm and wit….

     I know I do!
     The site provides the syllabuses of his various courses, each of which contain the following:

COURSE CHANGES: I reserve the right to modify the course at any time, including the timing of tests, the due dates and contents of assignments, and coverage of material.

Gosh, what a whimsical fellow! No wonder students love him so!

Howard is a big Pat Benatar fan

     The site’s home page also includes a “biography”:

I earned five Bachelor’s degrees simultaneously from the UCI, in English, History, Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics, all with honors. … I gave the Honors Convocation Student Speech, which was published by the University. It was the second speech ever published by UCI. The first was Hazard Adams’ retirement speech. He was a founding faculty member and considered one of the most erudite professors ever to teach at UCI. I set the record for multiple majors at UCI. The record still stands….

—That’s one thing about Howard. He always finds ways to do very odd, seemingly pointless, things and then to find ways to make ‘em seem like impressive accomplishments! Howard and Hazard! Two erudite fellas. They're practically the same guy.
     Howard explains that his

first position was as instructor and academic administer at the Northrop University School of Law. I was soon promoted to Dean. … I was offered the position of Provost, but we were unable to agree on the scope of the position….

—This is a motif in the Life of Howard: over and over again, he’s about to achieve greatness, or at least a steady job, but no. He gets fired or something. It’s so unfair!
     For example, after his Northrop gig went south,

I soon got hired as an attorney/adviser at the national headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service…. … I was assigned the most difficult regulations project ever tackled by the IRS and completed the project in record time. The Associate Chief Counsel tried to hire me to work on a project to simplify the tax code, but he was blocked by the Commissioner of the IRS….

—Dang! Thwarted by the top tax dude! But our Howard was undaunted:

I returned to Southern California and completed a Masters and a Ph.D. in Economics at the UCI. … On graduation, I accepted a position at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as a Business Law Instructor in the Department of Accounting in the School of Business. … [My partner and I] were invited to be the official translator for China’s tax laws, but the government was unable to agree to a publication cycle as fast as we could provide and insisted on total control of official and unofficial publication….

     Dang ditto!
     Howard is obviously very proud of being the savior, taxwise, of the world’s most populous country:

…If it was published in the 1990’s and it had to do with Chinese business laws, odds are Gensler did it.
. . .
…In other words, the Chinese were able to pay their taxes thanks to Yang and Gensler’s tax translation service. [My emphasis.]
. . .
Gensler was the undisputed authority on Chinese taxes, as well as a major player in Chinese business law and accounting law.

[I] published about 50 articles and nine books…. I was the world’s foremost authority on Chinese Tax laws during the mid- and late-1990’s….”

—Ah, but is he known for such things? Apparently not!
     But there were many other accomplishments:

I returned to Southern California once again and became Dean of Humanities, Fine Arts and Library Services at Irvine Valley College. I increased the library collection and circulation statistics. I revamped the main fine arts classroom building to improve the college’s small theatre operation. I convinced the administration to move the Theatre building project up to the top building priority at the college….

     Oddly, there are many here at IVC who offer a very different assessment of Howard’s impact on the library and on the building that contains the theater. Go figure!

     HOWARD THE UNLUCKY DUCK. Have you noticed? Howard is plainly the most unappreciated person in the history of humankind. He achieves stunning things—saving China, saving UCI, saving the IRS—and, instead of being hired or promoted, he’s sent packing.
     For instance, elsewhere, referring to himself in the third person, he describes his achievements during his brief employment with the Bank of America:

…Gensler not only prevailed in keeping B of A in [the] steel [industry], but Gensler’s findings and recommendations served as the basis for the lead article of the Bank’s Annual World Economic Report, which convinced the nation’s financial system to continue to support the American steel industry.

Gensler saved American steel for five more years….

One of Howard's many publications

     American steel! Saved by Howard!
     According to Howard, his Econ dissertation was epoch-shatteringly clever. Alas, continuing a familiar pattern, none of the experts appreciated his work. Howard explains:

The nation had just spent over $600 million and well over ten years studying welfare in the Negative Income Tax Experiments…. The problem was, the experiments were temporary. Participants didn’t behave normally. They gamed the system. … Gensler used non-experimental data gathered from the Current Population Survey. Gensler’s results were of very high statistical precision and in the appropriate behavioral direction. However, the American economics establishment had just blown $600 million of the taxpayers’ money and wasn’t keen on publishing better work that had been done by a graduate student for free over one summer. Gensler ended up publishing much of his work in English academic journals.

     HOWARD "GUINNESS BOOK" GENSLER. As we’ve seen, Howard likes to focus on such unique achievements as getting the most degrees or earning those degrees faster than anyone. In the “bio” section of his site, he explains:

After Irvine, I went to UC Berkeley and completed a Juris Doctor…. It was an established 4-year joint program, but they kept telling us that no one ever actually completed it in four years. I don’t know about anybody else, but I finished in four years….

After some adventures in the working world, I decided to return to school to complete a Ph.D. in Economics. I returned to UCI. It generally took seven years to complete a Ph.D. in Economics. I finished in just over five years….

     DEFIANTLY INCORRECT. Another things about Howard: he’s no fan of “political correctness.” For instance, on the website, he explains

… [At the IRS], Gensler got a new Branch Chief (“Ann”). Ann turned out to be a man-hater, and did everything she could to make Gensler hate his job. She spent most of her time in her office with other female attorneys whining about men. Ann had made Branch Chief in just five years, which was probably a record. It was hard to see how all this sex discrimination from men that she complained about incessantly had hurt her career….

     Defiant fellow! Elsewhere, he explains that

I spent a great deal of my childhood at the beach bodysurfing and playing football. I was so dark I was the only minority at my high school….

     WATCH HOWARD MAKE FREE-THROWS, BACKWARDS. Perhaps my favorite part of Howard’s website is “Activities”:

…My favorite game is billiards. I play 8-ball. I often circulate throughout Orange County, challenging people to games at various bars....
. . .
Because I am out most nights until 2 am, I got the reputation for being a vampire. The joke stuck, and a buddy and I developed a website: Myvampire.net. It has everything you need to know about vampires.
. . .
I was at the going out of business auction at the Wax Museum in Buena Park and accidentally bought the Batman…. It sort of took over my life. Now I have Batman shirts and Batman belts and all of the Batman movies and the entire TV series on DVD. There’s even a three foot wide Batman symbol on the hood of my car….

     On the website, Howard actually provides videos of some of his activities and, um, skills:

• Howard does backward free-throws
• Howard does fancy pool shots
• Howard plays pool with himself

     I highly recommend these videos. It's like you're looking straight into Howard's soul.
     At the college, when you see Howard, tell ‘im, “Hey, vampire!”