El Dia de los Muertos

Scenes from downtown Santa Ana: dancers and ofrendas.












Later, at home, we light our own candles.

Las ganas

“…If … it should … achieve nothing, and there should remain only the Good Will…, then, like a jewel, it would still shine by its own light as a thing which has its whole value in itself.”

..........—Kant

Even in our grim new world of collapsing economies, path-breaking right-wing demagoguery, and portentous other-shoe droppage, Good Things (GTs) can be found.

I expect that one really good thing will coalesce on Tuesday night. The Reign of the Stupid People will come to an end, at least for a time. Yes!

Another good thing—a really, really good thing—is the imminent going-into-effectitude of the new G.I. Bill of Rights—you know, the new law, ardently opposed by Senator “Maverick” McCain, that will provide returning post-9-11 veterans real assistance in getting a college education.

Yes, yes, yes!!

I do hope you got a chance to read the recent New York Times piece about the new world of opportunities and difficulties created by this happy legislation.

Community colleges, too, will be affected. Some excerpts:

Combat to College:

…When the bill goes into effect, in August 2009, a boom in post-9/11 veterans is expected at colleges and universities across the nation. And unlike the aftermath of the Vietnam War, when few colleges and universities welcomed military veterans, a growing number are taking steps to ease the difficult transition.

Still in its early stages at many institutions, the effort is led in large part by a generation of student veterans who came to view their own struggles to adapt to academic life as dispiriting and unnecessary.

“Some people are talking about it like it’s a movement,” says Derek Blumke, a University of Michigan senior and cofounder and president of Student Veterans of America, an advocacy group formed earlier this year. “A lot of people are returning now and realizing they want to go to college. They are coming back, getting together and wanting to make this happen. People are mobilizing.”

The legislation fueling the movement pays homage to the original G.I. Bill of Rights, which is considered one of the most successful and transformative government programs in history. It ultimately sent 2.2 million veterans to college after World War II and helped five million others acquire trade skills. Rather than come home to sell apples, as many neglected veterans did after World War I, these veterans helped broaden the middle class and democratize universities, which were primarily bastions of the wealthy and well connected.

Few would argue that the impact of the new G.I. Bill, formally the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, will rival that of its prototype, mostly because there are far fewer eligible veterans and the new law is less generous. The original bill paid for public, private and vocational education. This one covers public education for most veterans who served after 9/11 and eases the burden of private tuition. The law also extends many benefits to members of the National Guard and the Reserve, and offers stipends for housing and textbooks. But it does not pay for non-degree vocational training.

Still, the law is viewed both by veterans and colleges as an opportunity to do right by today’s combat-tested troops and mend a relationship that has badly frayed since the antiwar movement of the 1960s. The hope is that new veterans, buffeted by war and a troubled economy, can seize on college as a roadmap to a productive life beyond the military.

“This is the biggest step toward turning the page on what we did after Vietnam,” says Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “We saw the G.I. Bill as a way of attempting to deal with veterans’ reacclimation issues in a more comprehensive way. They are in a safe place there in school, moving forward with their life.”

Mr. Rieckhoff’s group spearheaded efforts to pass the bill, written by Senator Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat and Marine Corps veteran. The bill met strong resistance from John McCain, the senator from Arizona who is now the Republican candidate for president, and from President Bush, who argued that it would prompt service members to choose college over re-enlistment after just three years. But ultimately, it passed handily and was signed into law on June 30….
…
“Some [returning veterans] need more help than others because their academic beginnings were not as strong,” [Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Dr. Eugenio] Barrios says of veterans. “They bring a certain level of maturity and a certain appreciation of our system. Their desire is there. There is a word in Spanish for that: las ganas. They have that very strong will to want to succeed.”….

OTHER ARTICLES OF INTEREST:

Harsh attacks characterize the Prop. 8 debate. In today’s San Francisco Chronicle.

"Extremists." "Indoctrination." "Liars." "Destroy America." "Blackmail." Fiery words and harsh attacks are punctuating the campaigns surrounding Proposition 8, which would ban same-sex marriage in California….

If Prop. 8 passes, what about those who wed? In today’s San Francisco Chronicle.

When Californians vote on Proposition 8, they'll decide whether same-sex partners' right to marry will still exist as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. What's less clear is the impact on as many as 16,000 gay and lesbian couples who have wed since June….

Billionaires put their agendas to a vote. In today’s LA Times.

California's ballot is often crowded with measures known as citizen initiatives. But many of the citizens whose causes will come before voters Tuesday are not everyday Californians. ¶ International financier George Soros wants to change drug laws. Computer technology titan Henry T. Nicholas III—who has been indicted on federal fraud and drug charges—is pushing two measures seeking tougher penalties for criminals and expanded rights for victims. ¶ Oilman turned alternative-fuels investor T. Boone Pickens is pushing subsidies for cars that run on substances other than oil. And Peter Sperling, one of the founders of the highly profitable Phoenix University system, is the financial force behind another green- energy pursuit. ¶ Never before has such a large assortment of the extremely wealthy placed their pet projects on the statewide ballot….

Stanford and other California universities brace for budget cuts. In Today’s Mercury News.

Amid a deepening financial crisis, Stanford University has announced plans to cut expenses by slowing some construction projects, controlling salaries and perhaps eliminating some jobs….

Four Days: "it is the duty of every citizen to think"

In October of 1860, the editor of the Atlantic, James Russell Lowell endorsed Abraham Lincoln for president. The Atlantic has taken this opportunity to reprint his endorsement.

Rebel Girl has pulled out some interesting passages below, but you can click "The Election in November" to read the rest—a facinating window in the the country we were then and the one we are now.

"...The true danger to popular forms of government begins when public opinion ceases because the people are incompetent or unwilling to think. In a democracy it is the duty of every citizen to think; but unless the thinking result in a definite opinion, and the opinion lead to considerate action, they are nothing.

...We are persuaded that the election of Mr. Lincoln will do more than anything else to appease the excitement of the country. He has proved both his ability and his integrity; he has had experience enough in public affairs to make him a statesman, and not enough to make him a politician. That he has not had more will be no objection to him in the eyes of those who have seen the administration of the experienced public functionary whose term of office is just drawing to a close. He represents a party who know that true policy is gradual in its advances, that it is conditional and not absolute, that it must deal with fact and not with sentiments, but who know also that it is wiser to stamp out evil in the spark than to wait till there is no help but in fighting fire with fire. They are the only conservative party, because they are the only one based on an enduring principle, the only one that is not willing to pawn tomorrow for the means to gamble with today. They have no hostility to the South, but a determined one to doctrines of whose ruinous tendency every day more and more convinces them.

The encroachments of Slavery upon our national policy have been like those of a glacier in a Swiss valley. Inch by inch, the huge dragon with his glittering scales and crests of ice coils itself onward, an anachronism of summer, the relic of a bygone world where such monsters swarmed. But it has its limit, the kindlier forces of Nature work against it, and the silent arrows of the sun are still, as of old, fatal to the frosty Python. Geology tells us that such enormous devastators once covered the face of the earth, but the benignant sunlight of heaven touched them, and they faded silently, leaving no trace but here and there the scratches of their talons, and the gnawed boulders scattered where they made their lair. We have entire faith in the benignant influence of Truth, the sunlight of the moral world, and believe that slavery, like other worn-out systems, will melt gradually before it. 'All the earth cries out upon Truth, and the heaven blesseth it; ill works shake and tremble at it, and with it is no unrighteous thing.'"

McCain & Palin's "assault on intellectual life"

From this morning’s Inside Higher Ed:

Will Khalidi Displace Ayers as McCain’s Favorite Prof?:

For a while, it seemed as if no professor could get more attention from the McCain campaign than William Ayers, the Weather Underground leader who became an education scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago and whose brief associations with Sen. Barack Obama have been repeatedly discussed by Republicans this fall. But with the campaign winding down, it may be that Ayers has been replaced by Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies and director of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University.

Prior to joining Columbia’s faculty, Khalidi taught at the University of Chicago — at the same time Obama taught there. Their children attended the same school. Khalidi helped raise some funds for Obama’s early campaigns. The two faculty colleagues and their wives apparently dined out together, and Obama spoke at a farewell party for Khalidi.

While Khalidi has no role at all in the Obama campaign, he was the focus of attention Tuesday and Wednesday from both Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin. McCain demanded that the Los Angeles Times release a video it obtained of Khalidi’s farewell party at the University of Chicago. McCain accused the Los Angeles paper of “intentionally suppressing” the videotape, even though it was a Times article that revealed its existence. (The newspaper said it obtained the tape on the condition that it not be released, and the newspaper is honoring its agreement.)

Then Wednesday, Palin focused on Khalidi in a speech in Ohio. “It seems that there is yet another radical professor from the neighborhood who spent a lot of time with Barack Obama going back several years,” Palin said. “This is important because his associate, Rashid Khalidi ... in addition to being a political ally of Barack Obama, he’s a former spokesperson for the Palestinian Liberation Organization.” A CNN “Fact Check” on the Palin speech declared it “misleading,” noting that Khalidi has had minimal contact with Obama for years, that the two men disagree strongly on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that Khalidi plans absolutely no role in the campaign, and there is considerable dispute over whether Khalidi ever worked for the PLO. (It is not disputed that Khalidi is a strong advocate for the Palestinian cause and a harsh critic of Israel.)
…
Some experts on academic freedom have been viewing the increasing use of professors by the GOP campaign with alarm. While anti-intellectualism is no stranger to American campaigns, the specific and repeated targeting of professors in such a prominent way is worrisome to them, and fallout is already taking place….
…
One irony of the attack on Khalidi is that McCain himself has ties to him. As The Huffington Post noted, McCain led a Republican institute that in the 1990s sent several grants to a Palestinian research center founded by Khalidi. “Of course, there’s seemingly nothing objectionable with McCain’s organization helping a Palestinian group conduct research in the West Bank or Gaza. But it does suggest that McCain could have some of his own explaining to do as he tries to make hay out of Khalidi’s ties to Obama,” the blog said.

Zachary Lockman, a professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at New York University and a member of the Academic Freedom Committee of the Middle East Studies Association, also said he was troubled by the attacks. Khalidi is “a very distinguished scholar” who is both “passionate for the Palestinian cause” and “a moderate who talks to a wide range of people.” To imply that he is a terrorist, Lockman said, attacks and distorts his ideas.

“This reflects a certain kind of anti-intellectualism; rather than engaging with people and having a serious discussion, people are caricatured and reduced to labels and accused of being anti-American,” he said. “It’s dangerous. It’s an assault on scholarly life and intellectual life and rational discussion.”….

A Little Night Music

Hat tip to Crooks and Liars and Blonde Sense.

A little about Monday's board meeting: Mathur as village idiot

JUST A QUICK NOTE about my absence and about Monday's board meeting. I seem to have come down with food poisoning, or so the doctor thinks. It started late Monday, when I tried to do the ol' treadmill, but, after 15 minutes, it was no use. I thought about going to the board meeting, but there was no way.

Last night, I finally started improving, but I haven't even read my emails until just now, so I'm way out of the loop.

Friends have given me reports of Monday's meeting, however. One friend wrote that, oddly, the Faculty Hiring Priority List for both colleges had been pulled from the agenda, and no explanation had been given.

This meant that the matter could not even be discussed by the board.

But senate presidents can ask questions, can't they? At the part of the meeting (at the end) when the various governance groups give reports, IVC Senate President Wendy G asked why the priority lists had been pulled. Despite the late hour, Wendy's question sparked a great amount of debate and discussion.

Evidently, the unilateral pulling of the Faculty Hiring Priority Lists from the BOT agenda violates board policy 4011.1, which states that the Faculty Hiring Lists are to be submitted to the Board in October. (See board policies. And see excerpt below.)

According to my source, in the course of the discussion, it was revealed that Mathur had unilaterally pulled the item. Why? Because there were some "questions" from "some trustees." That's so typical. Mathur and his trustee partners—Fuentes, et al.—run the show by themselves and they freeze out the likes of Padberg. They're corrupt bastards, they are.

Padberg wanted specifics: who raised questions?

Controversy continued as different reports were given by the different groups. But faculty remained united. Mathur looked like the "village idiot," I'm told.

Naturally, this Mathur-caused delay will make it difficult getting things together by the time of the January job announcements.

Gotta go.

For October BOT meeting highlights, go to Board Meeting Highlights.

The relevant part of BP 4011.1 is section 11:

...By October of each academic year, following approval by the Chancellor, each College President will submit to the Board of Trustees a ranked list of recommended full-time faculty positions for the subsequent year, classified according to Item 2 above, and compiled by an internal process developed by the Academic Senate and the President, and approved by the President....

Video for the Oct. 27 meeting will eventually become available on the district website.

Six Days

In the new issue of The New York Review of Books, the editors gathered together the usual suspects to sound off about the imminent election.

Joan Didion is at her best. Here's the conclusion:

"We could argue over whether "intelligent design" should be taught in our schools as an alternative to evolution, and overlook the fact that the rankings of American schools have already dropped to twenty-first in the world in the teaching of science and twenty-fifth in the world in the teaching of math. We could argue over whether or not the McCain campaign had sufficiently vetted its candidate for vice-president, but take at face value the campaign's description of that vetting as "an exhaustive process" including a "seventy-question survey." Most people in those countries where they still teach math and science would not consider seventy questions a particularly taxing assignment, but we could forget this. Amnesia was our preferred state. In what had become our national coma we could forget about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch and AIG and Washington Mutual and the 81,000 jobs a month and the fact that the national debt had been approaching $10.6 trillion even before Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke mentioned the imperative need to spend, which is to say to borrow, $700 billion for securities backed by bad mortgages, a maneuver likely to raise the debt another trillion dollars. ("We need this to be clean and quick," Paulson told ABC.)

We could forget the 70 percent of American eighth graders who do not now and never will read at eighth-grade levels, meaning they will never qualify to hold one of those jobs we no longer have. We could forget that we ourselves induced the coma, by indulging the government in its fantasy of absolute power, wielded absolutely. So general is this fantasy by now that we approach this election with no clear idea where bottom is: what damage has been done, what alliances have been formed and broken, what concealed reefs lie ahead. Whoever we elect president is about to find some of that out."

To read the rest (you really should), click here.