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Accreditor of California Colleges Lacks Conflict-of-Interest Protections, Federal Review Says (Chronicle of Higher Education)

NOW HEAR THIS: John Williams is a double-dipping rat bastard

     Earlier today, our old friend Pen Pal wrote me. He said:

     There is a great article in yesterday's "Voice of OC" (Santa Ana Mayor Double-Dips on Health Insurance).
     It refers to the mayor of Santa Ana double dipping, getting another $17K worth of health care benefits from the OCTA.

     It appears that the VOC piece owes a great deal to Pen Pal’s comment on an Aug. 18 OC Reg piece: Pay records online: Transit chief makes $376,000. (Look for the comment by “CACITYGUY.”)

     Seems like PP oughta at least get a mention!

* * *

     Pen Pal reminds me that he has written “many blog posts about [OC Administrator/Guardian John] Williams' double dipping with the SOCCCD, getting another $14-17K in health care while getting full benefits from the County of Orange.”
     Pen Pal wants to get the word out. He hates double-dipping and he hates double-dippers.
     We’re happy to oblige.

From John Williams

Muldoon is forced to correct his candidate's statement

     As you know, Don Wagner’s tenure as SOCCCD trustee is coming to a close. His last meeting will be in November, only three months away!
     Two men have declared their candidacy for the Area 2 office: former assistant DA and bankruptcy attorney Kevin Muldoon and educator “TJ” Prendergast.
     A while back, we posted both men’s candidate’s statements. Oddly, Muldoon, who has already been endorsed by the OC GOP, described himself as a “Business Owner/Educator” in his statement.
     We get the "business owner" part. But educator? There is nothing about his various biographies that explains that assertion. In what sense is he an educator?
     Earlier today, a reliable source called me and told me the following:
     He had called Muldoon and asked him about his “educator” claim.
     “Yes, I am an educator,” said Muldoon.
     “Yeah? Who do you teach for?”
     To make a long story short, Mr. Muldoon eventually stated that he teaches for the Lord. He is, it turns out, a Sunday School teacher. That's why he gets to call himself an "educator."
     My friend then suggested to Muldoon that his claim wouldn’t pass muster with the Registrar. Muldoon assured him that he had consulted an attorney, and it would.

     Well, according to my friend, Mr. Muldoon’s competitor, Mr. Prendergast, then contacted the OC Registrar of Voters and inquired into the koshertude of Muldoon’s "educator" claim. Evidently, the Registrar judged that Mr. Muldoon’s claim is south of kosher, and so now, I’m told, his “educator” self-description is to be deleted from his candidate’s statement.
     I just checked (here). It has indeed been deleted.
     Oh my.
     I wonder if Muldoon's Sunday School lessons ever cover the topic of lying?

On "t*ts" and "teats"

     No doubt you’ve heard all about the Alan Simpson “tit” story:

Alan Simpson: Social Security Is 'A Milk Cow With 310 Million Tits' (HuffPost)

     Among others, NOW has called for Simpson to step down from that Commission. Then AARP piled on, calling his remark “offensive.”
     Now, don’t get me wrong. Ever since the Clarence Thomas hearings, I’ve considered Alan Simpson an asshole.
     But the reaction to his “milkcow” remark baffles me.
     I’m not referring to the proposition that his remark was used to convey. He’s against Social Security; I get it. So he’s a Republican. That’s objectionable, I guess, but nothing to squawk about.
     The big reaction seems more about his way of expressing the proposition—i.e., his use of the word “tits.”
     Simpson's from Wyoming and likes to express ideas in a folksy manner. I don’t especially care for folksy blather, but it isn’t intrinsically objectionable.
     So he went off the rails a little bit. Shoulda said “teats” but said “tits.”
     Teats, tits. –They’re practically the same word!
     My dictionary defines “teat” as follows:

a nipple of the mammary gland of a female mammal, from which the milk is sucked by the young.

     And “tit”:

a woman's breast or nipple (vulgar)

     But then my dictionary lists phrases with “tit” in it, including this one:

suck the hind tit  informal: receive less of something than others who are competing for it.

     OK, now correct me if I’m wrong, but the “tit” of “suck the hind tit” is in fact a teat. You don’t really have “hind tits” on a woman—not in my experience. This “hind tit” business is about cows, man. Not women.
     So sometimes “tits” means “teats."
     Thus, even though Simpson is an asshole, I’m gonna defend the guy with regard to this whole “tit” brouhaha.
     The correct response to Simpson’s remark is not: "You said 'tits'! My God!" No, it is this: “So, Al baby, what’s wrong with a cow havin’ all those tits—er, teats?”
     Nothin’.

Goofy "Kaplan" deal nixed

California Community Colleges End Controversial Deal With Kaplan U. (Chronicle of Higher Education)

     California's community-college system has canceled a controversial agreement that would have allowed students at some colleges to earn credit for discounted online courses at Kaplan University.
     The 112-campus community-college system is severely overcrowded, and officials saw the November agreement as a way to make it easier for students to get classes they need. For Kaplan, the agreement promised a boost of credibility and a ready pool of new students, who would be able to take certain online courses at a 42-percent discount.
     But at a time of intense scrutiny of for-profit colleges, the arrangement between the nation's largest public-college system and a prominent for-profit college drew complaints from faculty groups and others. Critics argued the system was endorsing Kaplan, and they said it could be difficult for students who transferred to the state's public universities to receive credit for Kaplan courses.
     The agreement was more an idea than reality: In nine months, few colleges, if any, had cleared Kaplan courses for students to take for credit under the deal. In a letter last week canceling the agreement, a community-college official said the community colleges had failed to secure agreements with California State University and the University of California to automatically accept the Kaplan courses.
. . .
     Some who had criticized the agreement cheered the decision to cancel it, saying that even at a discount, the Kaplan courses were a bad deal for students. Community-college courses in California cost $26 per credit hour, the lowest in the country, while Kaplan's discounted courses would have cost about $216 per credit hour.
     "It certainly is odd that a system that is so proud of its affordability and low fees would encourage students to pay $216 a credit," said Deborah Frankle Cochrane, program director at the Institute for College Access and Success.
     The agreement was a smart business move by Kaplan, said Scott Lay, president of the Community College League of California, a lobbying group for the community-college system. The company intended to use its discounted price for online courses as a loss leader to make students familiar with Kaplan, he said….

Special interests

Community Colleges Want Changes in Proposed 'Gainful Employment' Rule (Chronicle of Higher Education)

The American Association of Community Colleges is urging its members to weigh in on the Education Department's "gainful employment" proposal, warning that the draft rule could "negatively affect some certificate programs." In a letter sent to community-college leaders today, George R. Boggs, the association's president, acknowledged that the proposed rule—which would cut off federal aid to institutions whose students carry high debt-to-income ratios and have low loan-repayment rates—would have a "limited" impact on community colleges, but added: "Our goal in shaping these regulations is not just to ensure that community colleges remain eligible for federal aid, but also that clearing the bar will be simple and straightforward as possible." The letter suggests that colleges ask the department to clarify that the rule would not apply to one-year certificate programs that lead to associate degrees and to exempt from the rule programs in which fewer than 35 percent of students borrow federal loans, among other changes.

300 Million Downloads From iTunes U (Inside Higher Ed)

Apple released data on Tuesday demonstrating the dramatic growth of iTunes U. In three years of operations, downloads have topped 300 million. More than 800 colleges and universities have active sites, with more than 350,000 audio and video files posted.

From the archives

My little brother Ray, who died in 2001, was born in '61. Smart, funny, extremely creative. But wild.

I'll leave it at that.

These old pictures seem to present a perfect little guy, and that's what he was.

Ray was by far the best singer in the family. Kind of a crazy player, though, like me.

Loved kids. We've always suspected that a certain kid of a certain former girlfriend was his, but dunno. But he sure did love playing with that kid. Had lots of serious girlfriends, but he never seemed to drop out of their lives. When he died, lots of 'em came out of the woodwork.

Loved animals. Rescued lots of 'em. Two of 'em--Paco and Max--ended up with my folks. They became beloved family pets, along with all those cats that Ray left.

In the early 80s, he decided to become a Marine. At first, he flourished there. Spent time in the Philippines and "the Rock." Don't know where else.

I think he was always proud of his time with the Corps.

I came across these pins kept in a Manila folder.

I found poetry too.

And crazed essays.

Ray was an avid hang-glider pilot. He once flew above Mount Whitney, which is crazy, of course.
He invented an elegant device that helped fliers determine wind direction for landings, but he could never get his act together to market the idea. Plenty of interest, though.
Once, I went with him to Mt. Laguna down in San Diego County to watch 'em fly. Took this pic.

Here are some odd documents that I came across. First: my grandmother's green card, I guess.

Well, anyway, it is green. And it's a card.

Evidently, I purchased this fishing license in 1970. I would have been 15 years old.

Here's a curious shot of my mother and my grandmother sitting on the hood of my parents' Ford in Niagara Falls, Canada, 1953.

This is my dad, circa 1950.

One of my sister Annie's paintings from the 80s, I think.

That's her sense of humor all right.