Some of Us Will Be Celebratin' This Saturday

You know where to find us! Congratulations again to IVC alum Brandon and his wonderful mother Beth!

(Cal's Greek Theater turns 100 this month.)

Thank God for Don Wagner

.....One of our readers wrote us about the recent Saddleback College scholarship event, suggesting (as others have) that, at the event (we were not present), board president Don Wagner made a political speech about prayer and that some donors were offended. That he made such a speech is clear from the video. Don't know about donors' reactions.
.....But the reader also claims that, at Tuesday's board meeting, during her report, Trustee Nancy Padberg described Wagner's scholarship speech as "political" and suggested that he should apologize for it.
.....Really? No need to wonder. All we have to do is wait for the video of Tuesday's board meeting (not yet available) to be posted at the district website. Then we'll know what Nancy said.
.....But is it true, as some have suggested, that some donors were offended by Don's remarks? Think I'll go back and listen carefully to what Don actually said. (See below.)

Summer's Here and the Time is Right

In case you haven't heard, California's schools are facing a 10% budget cut which will gut an already compromised and weakened system - once the best in the country.

One mother's reaction is to organize a march on Sacramento to, to quote journalist and blogger Celeste Fremon, "protest the latest draconian round of public education budget cuts. The idea was to get a bunch of press attention and, in so doing, hopefully goad/threaten/persuade/emotionally blackmail lawmakers into budget cutting somewhere other than education."

Where to cut?

Fremon has one suggestion:"(The early release of those 22,000 low-level, short-timer prisoners—a move on which Arnold back-pedaled—might be a good place to start.)"

I'm game.

I was a student in those pre-Proposition 13 years. I remember what it was like and I know that I am here in large part due to that well-funded public education.

Some may recognize the mother behind this rally as Sandra Tsing Loh, a So Cal radio personality and writer who comes into my life via KPCC, the Pasadena NPR affiliate.

Check out their website by clicking here. See what you can do. Do it. Pass the word.

"Heck of a meeting": Soliciting info about last night's board meeting

10:39 writes:

Meanwhile, back at our ranch, you missed a heck of a meeting. Two marathon public comments sessions -- one on Don Wagner's scholarship ceremony "invocation" and one on Carmen Dominguez's mysterious reassignment away from musical theatre. And the Board Reports are also not to be missed....

.....--To see Don's "scholarship ceremony" remarks, go to invocation.
.....Last night's meeting was the first in a long time not covered by your intrepid DtB reporter. (Tracy offers highlights of the meeting here.)
.....Anybody else have information about the meeting? Let us know. And thanks, 10:39. --CW

.....To view the board meeting, go to board videos. The May 27 video is not posted yet, but it should be soon.

Our Country: A Million Little Pieces

.....Rebel Girl takes a pause in her grading marathon to draw this parallel for y'all:

.....Two new books are out and the authors are already taking their victory laps and depositing their big bucks in the bank: disgraced fraudulent memoirist James Frey has his "novel," Bright Shiny Morning" and former White House Press secretary Scott McClellan has his own book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception." You remember Scott McClellan - he was up there at the podium during the war, during Katrina, during Gitmo.

.....From the Washington Post:

.....Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a "political propaganda campaign" led by President Bush and aimed at "manipulating sources of public opinion" and "downplaying the major reason for going to war."…McClellan, who resigned in April 2006, stops short of saying Bush purposely lied about his reasons for invading Iraq, writing that he and his subordinates were not "employing out-and-out deception."
.....But in a chapter titled "Selling the War," he alleges that the administration repeatedly shaded the truth and that Bush "managed the crisis in a way that almost guaranteed that the use of force would become the only feasible option."
.....McClellan, once a staunch defender of the war, comes to a stark conclusion: "What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary."

.....Rebel Girl would like to write more about this but she has work to do.
.....So all she wants to do is point out how these two men remind her of a recent student who, when caught plagiarizing, didn't hesitate to ask if he could re-write the plagiarized paper for credit and stood there smiling at her.
.....Rebel Girl, of course, answered no.
.....It seems that few said no to these two men who profit and continue to profit from lying to the public – and in McClellen's case, lying which led to the deaths and suffering of thousands.
.....Maybe, gasp, F. Scott Fitzgerald was wrong: clearly there are second acts in American lives.
.....Look at them grin.

SEE: New York Times: White House reacts negatively

Today's adventures in and around Pacifica

Tiger Ann was her usual lovely self today. Here's TA through glass.

Here we find her in the bay window, sunning herself.

Sister Fannie collects neat old objects, like this terrific old wooden ruler that unfolds. I collect 'em too.

So, naturally, we went up the coast--to Rockaway Beach (see the pic)--to an antique shop. See my Chrysler 300?

Bought some goofy items. I'm puttin' that plastic finger up on our office door. Don't know about the rest. I like the bat lady a lot.


Drove down to San Gregorio, Neil Young's neck o' the woods. They've got a way cool General Store there.

"He tried to do his best, but he could not." (From "Tired Eyes.")

I do believe that my sis knows Peggy Young. Nice lady, apparently.

Fannie and I happened to watch The Aristocrats the other night. Bob Saget (of all people) was one of the standouts of that notorious film. Turns out that Saget often employs Fannie's Piano Player boy friend, who can often be found ticklin' the ivories at a dump down in Rockaway Beach.

It's a small world, boy.

SOCCCD board meeting tonight

.....—At the usual place (Health Sciences Building down at Saddleback College)
.....To view the agenda outline for tonight’s meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees, go to Board Agenda (outline).
.....Below, I’ve indicated possible points of interest that I found on the agenda outline:

CLOSED SESSION (5:00 p.m.)

Nothing remarkable.

OPEN SESSION (6:30 p.m.)

Discussion item:

Both colleges: Basic Skills/Student Success Initiative (reports)

On the consent calendar:

5.7 Destruction of Class 3 Disposable Records [?]

General action items:

6.1 Consolidated elections for members of governing boards—resolution [?]
6.4 ATEP concept plan and long range plan—accept for review and study
6.5 Board policy revision: …Domestic Partners