Little monsters

WHY ARE THEY ALWAYS RIGHT-WINGERS?

.....A couple of days ago, the LA Times’ James Rainey discussed the coarseness of discussion on the internet (Website comment boards bring out the inner vulgarian). Rainey starts with the Washington Post’s recent debunking of John McCain’s charge that his Democratic opponent blew off his visit with injured troops because he couldn’t bring the press along. Turns out to be utterly false, as the WP explained.
.....In response, the WP got thousands of comments on the internet, most of them anonymous. Some were civil. Many weren’t:

[One reader] complained about "the 'whitey' rants of Michelle Shaniqua Obama. Doesn't she realize that it was whitey's affirmative action policies that got her where she is today?"
…
[Another reader] scored a high imbecile quotient with just 42 words that painted McCain as a "songbird" and traitor because of the limited statements he made to his captors during 5 1/2 years of brutal wartime imprisonment in North Vietnam.

.....Rainey observes that “the Internet all too often discourages, or coarsens, a healthy civic discussion.” He quotes author Andrew Keen: "The people who post on these sites have become accustomed to behaving like beasts because they can, because no one is really monitoring them.”
.....Unlike some blogs and websites, Dissent the Blog does not filter comments. Anyone can comment and say anything. After the fact, we have occasionally deleted comments, but only in particularly egregious cases. We don’t mind people disagreeing with us (or with others). We do mind when someone calls somebody a “pig-f*cker.”
.....I dunno. That’s just too ugly to leave up there.
.....Racist stuff has been deleted, but not because it is racist. A big problem with some posts is that the writer takes a controversial position on some issue but does not bother really to give reasons for it. As near as I can tell, such writers aren’t aware that reasons would be a plus. They just attack, scream, assault.
.....Remember that little monster that popped out of John Hurt’s chest in Alien? They’re kinda like that little guy. No arguments, just horror.
.....As far as I’m concerned, you get to be a racist (or a contemner of gays or, for that matter, a lover of pigs), as long as you provide a decent argument. But none of those people ever seems to have one. They usually don’t even have an indecent one.
.....But failing to give reasons isn’t enough to get booted either. You get to be a dope, I say. But I often encounter the lovely combo of a racist (or hater of liberals, or basher of gays) who offers no reasons or arguments AND who seems to have written merely to insult or upset their perceived opponents.
.....I usually delete those.
.....Invariably, these little monsters are right-wingers. Why is that? You never hear a liberal or leftist or progressive calling somebody a pig-f*cker. Maybe they don’t have any imagination. Dunno.
.....One more thing. I take back my comparison of these internet vulgarians with that little monster in John Hurt’s chest. And Keen is wrong to call these little right-wingers “beasts,” for beasts are animals, and animals never insult. They might eat you because they’re hungry, or chew through your chest because they’re stuck there, but they do not insult or offend.
.....You gotta respect that.

OUR SPECIAL WHISTLE-BLOWER LAW.

.....Yesterday, The San Francisco Chronicle reported on a dismal ruling last week by the state Supreme Court. (Whistle-blowers lose case against UC.)
.....According to the Chronicle, “University of California employees who claim they were fired for reporting wrongdoing or unsafe conditions can't sue for damages if the university rejects their claims….”
.....As it turns out, our whistle-blower law, “which allows employees of state agencies to seek damages for alleged retaliation by supervisors,” nevertheless prevents plaintiffs from going after UC if it has investigated the alleged retaliation and cleared itself.
.....Huh?
.....The ruling concerned a lawsuit by two former computer scientists at UC's Lawrence Livermore Lab, Leo Miklosy and Luciana Messina, who, in 2003, were working on determining the safety of the country’s nuclear weapons. According to the suit, they complained to supervisors about equipment and personnel problems. Soon, Miklosy was let go and Messina quit after (allegedly) hearing that she would soon be fired.
.....Miklosy and Messina complained. The UC lab investigated their cases and judged (within a required period) that neither employee had been retaliated against. Then came the suit, but the Supremes now say these two have no right to sue.
.....One of the justices, despite agreeing with the decision, urged the Legislature to change the 1993 law that makes UC special.
.....Boy, that’s some law, that whistle-blower law.
.....“It’s the best there is,” Doc Daneeka agreed.

Technical problems

.....Two Dissent readers have contacted me because they can't open the blog with Internet Explorer. No doubt this is a widespread problem among IE users. [UPDATE, 8/2: one IE reader says he can now open DtB. How about others?]

.....Reminder: I have started a new blog: Contra PalaVerities. You will not be surprised to learn that it is the finest blog of its kind in the entire universe. Or not. The url is

contrapalaverities.blogspot.com

.....So far, CP behaves as though it were nearly invisible. I think I'm having technical problems there, too. Plus, these new glasses are shit. Boy am I feeling old.

"Pay attention to what tastes good," and other advice from the Academy

• OTHERS' "LAST LECTURES."

Especially since Randy Pausch’s death, there’s been lots of buzzage about “last lectures.” The Reg’s Science Dude (Dying scientist’s “Last Lecture” inspires O.C.) explains that “Pausch [was] a terminally ill Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist who gave a deeply inspirational ‘last lecture’ that was videotaped and placed on the Internet, where it became wildly popular.”

To see the video, click here.

The Reg asked OC scientists what they’d say in a “last lecture.”

I’ve gotta say, last lectures, at least the ones this crew would offer, aren’t what they used to be—er, they won’t be (in future) what they used to be (relative to now). Whatever.

UCI astrophysicist Greg Benford would offer this: “A simple rule, whether in the ‘Province of Professors’ or the broad plain of Real Life: Pay attention not to what’s thought to be in good taste, but to what tastes good, to you.”

I dunno. In the wrong hands, this could lead to chocoholism and worse. Plus what’s with that last comma?

Retired UCI criminologist Gil Geis would “admonish the listeners to stop pretending to the extent possible that they are going to live forever.” Sounds good. But then Geis veers off in Benford’s disastrous direction: “I’d also tell them that in the end nobody really cares what you do or don’t do, and that your obligation is to — after measuring the pros and cons — do with your limited time those things that most please you.”

I know guys who would attach themselves permanently to an orgasmatron. Plus I don’t think we oughta be telling kids that it doesn’t matter what they do and so they should just wander off into a corner and please themselves. C’mon.

Chapman’s James Doti offers a cliché: “…find your passion and then convert it into a career.”

Well, at least he didn’t say “seize the day,” like that awful Robin freakin’ Williams. (Even carpe diem sounds like bullshit after you hear it 100,000 times—or just once if it’s comin’ out of the insufferable Mr. Patch Adams.)

CSU Fullerton’s P. Cuajungco, a mathematician, already tells his students to be courteous, to view things from others’ perspective, to empathize, and to be honest. OK.

UCI neurobiologist James McGaugh quotes Alan Alda, who urges us to find out what our values are and then to live by them so we can have a sense of purpose. Not bad, I guess.

Not sure why, but I hate that TV show MASH. Wait, I know: MASH, produced mostly by people who never experienced war, “taught” us about the evils of war and the experience of war every goddam week for, like, ten years, even though the war only lasted three.

I’m as anti-war as anybody, but that crew was shameless.

Not that that takes away from Alda’s Existential bromide about finding purpose. (Apparently, Mr. Alda teaches philosophy, too. Boob.)

UCI’s R. Duncan Luce, another mathematician, would explain about the “interplay of forces” that he encountered early in his career: personal luck, perceptive mentors, passion, and elation. Sounds like apples and oranges to me. Plus he spells “quanderies” incorrectly (that could have been the Reg). And what kind of advice is it to say “lotsa luck”?

Famed UCI psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, the memory expert, recalls her regret at not having been kinder to her dying mother. That one was pretty good. Hope I don’t forget it.

UCI chemist Greg Weiss explains how he altered the course of a student’s life—helping her succeed in her Chem class—just by sitting down with her and helping her out.

Yeah, but how does he know she won’t use her power for evil rather than good? —Just kidding. Weiss seems like a good egg.

• ANIMAL RIGHTS EXTREMISTS HIRE KARL ROVE.

Inside Higher Ed reports on animal rights extremist threats:

Pamphlets found in a coffee shop in Santa Cruz make threats against researchers at the University of California campus there who do research with animals, The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported. The material, which included researchers’ home addresses, said: “Animal abusers everywhere beware; we know where you live; we know where you work; we will never back down until you end your abuse.”

—OK, I’m an animal rights guy, but once you start acting like a Republican running for President, you’ve pretty much lost the war.

• BIG, BAD BILL.

IHR also reports on the Huge, Exacting Accountability Bill just passed by Congress:

If a bill’s impact or importance were measured by its length or the amount of time Congress spent working on it, the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 … would be one for the ages. At more than 1,150 pages, the bill is about 20 times longer than the Higher Education Act of 1965 that it modifies, creating 64 new programs and touching on issues as diverse as the availability of Pell Grants and illegal downloading of digital music and video. And the legislation, which finally passed both the House and the Senate by overwhelmingly margins on Thursday, has been in discussion on Capitol Hill, in one form or another, for most of this decade. It is five years overdue….

Hi, Ladies!

My oh my. Just spotted this in the OC Reg: Capistrano trustees found looking through superintendent's desk:

Two Capistrano Unified trustees, including the school board president, were found in the superintendent's office looking through papers on a day when all district offices were closed, a district official confirmed Thursday.

The Reg has the juicy details. The trustees in question are “Board President Ellen Addonizio and trustee Sue Palazzo.” They were “found” last Friday (the 25th), in Superintendent A. Woodrow Carter's office.

According to the Reg,

Addonizio and Palazzo are part of the five-trustee bloc on the Capistrano Unified school board whose campaigns were endorsed by – and largely funded by – the CUSD Recall Committee parents group. Addonizio was elected in 2006; Palazzo was elected in June's recall election that ousted longtime trustees Sheila Benecke and Marlene Draper. ¶ The five so-called "reform" trustees on the seven-member school board have been outspoken critics of the district's administration, calling for increased scrutiny over district affairs and aggressive investigations to get to the bottom of a number of controversies that have dogged the district in recent years.

Now, who do you suppose got these people elected?

Well, that would be Education Alliance, on whose board SOCCCD board president Don Wagner sits.

Naturally, this incident has not gone down well:

“I’ve been in this business for over 50 years, and I’ve never, ever in my entire career seen this behavior by a trustee,” said trustee Duane Stiff, who found out about the incident Monday. “It’s horribly unprofessional. They knew he was out of town and the building was closed. If they needed to talk to the superintendent, they have his cell number.”

Stiff needs to get out more. Some of our trustees in the SOCCCD are at least as unprofessional as these two women. Remember Dot Fortune glowering and fuming at the state investigator through a window? Remember the board's "persistent and defiant" misconduct re secrecy? Remember the time Frogue mooned Milchiker?

OK, I made that last one up. I think.

More about Education Alliance: here.

Check out Education Alliance's blog. Search for the name Addonizio (Control + F).

Perks for jerks

PERKS FOR JERKS.
At Monday’s meeting of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees, Trustee Nancy Padberg requested a report on trustee travel expenses (2007-08). For years now, she has been trying to cast a spotlight on some questionable expenses, such as trustees—and the Chancellor—attending conferences in Orlando when the same enlightenment is dispensed at conferences nearby.

Republican John Williams seems to be her chief target. As I recall, at one point, Williams defended these junkets by appealing to the trustee code of ethics, according to which trustees ought to attend conferences—you know, to keep informed about "student learning objectives" and new and improved "hypervacuous educationist palaverities." [OK. I'm officially claiming "palaverities."]

His reasoning seemed to be thus:

1. Trustees have a duty to attend conferences.
2. By junketing to Orlando, John attends a conference.
3. Thus, by junketing to Orlando, John (merely) does his duty as a trustee.

This reasoning is valid only if the first premise means or implies something like: "trustees have a duty to attend conferences irrespective of considerations of waste or usefulness." Naturally, if that is what premise 1 is saying, then premise 1 is false and his reasoning is unsound. (Arguably, Williams was arguing for a stronger point: that he would be failing in his duty (aka doing wrong) by not sunning his ass in Orlando. The reasoning to that conclusion, of course, would be more fallacious still.)

John, who is also the County of Orange Public Administrator/Guardian, is not the brightest bulb on the tree. ("Stop living in an Ivory Castle!" he once roared.) It's a good thing his county job only concerns corpses, cuz he can't do much harm to them, I suppose.

In today’s “OC Watchdog” (Jet Set Club: Your Congressmembers hit the road), we learn that our local Congresspeople, too, can be big travel spenders. In their case, however, the dubious travel is often international.

The writer consulted a “nifty function” on the Center for Responsive Politics website and determined that Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and his staff “have racked up more than $33,684 in trips since 2005.” They’ve been to “Albania, Bangkok, China…my favorite is watching a satellite launch in Miami.”

Florida again. Cheesy politicians seem drawn to Florida. I don't get it.

Next comes Republican Ed Royce, who represents Fullerton: $18,501. He likes it down in Cuba, South Africa, and Holland.

POSH POL GABFEST.
As you know, John McCain and Barack Obama will appear at the Saddleback mega-church on Saturday, August 16 (part of its “Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion”). The event will be televised live.

According to the Reg (McCain, Obama event ticket info available Aug. 1), tickets will be available on the 1st of August. Check it out. And check out the digs. I always tell students, "The really big money is in religion."

Maybe the all-time best movie scene about career advice:



REMEDIATION DOESN’T WORK?
A new and seemingly-impressive study on the efficacy of remedial education (e.g., in Math, Reading) has cast assumptions of efficacy into doubt. According to Inside Higher Ed (Questioning the Value of Remedial Education), a pair of scholars—Juan Carlos Calcagno of the Community College Research Center, at Teachers College of Columbia University, and Bridget Long of the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University—have analyzed 100,000 community college students in Florida and they’ve found only “some positive impact.”

In looking at the impact of remedial education, the study found that — among those on the edge of needing remediation — being assigned to remedial math and reading courses has the effect on average of increasing the number of credits completed and the odds that students will return for a second year. But while those are important factors, the report finds no evidence that remedial education increases the completion of college-level credits or of degree completion.

In light of the cost of remediation, the authors think we should reconsider it.

THE MEREST OF RUMORS.
I hear that Raghu Mathur is doing everything in his power to be invited onto "Dancing with the Stars." Just a rumor. Reminds me of another illiterate hoofer wannabe:



See also Crop circles puzzle folks in Fosston

Naked person rocked at IVC

SPIES AMONG US?
According to this morning’s Inside Higher Ed (Big Argus Is Watching You), “The National Association of Scholars announced on Tuesday the launch of the Argus Project…to recruit volunteers to monitor college campuses nationwide. The volunteers, a mix of faculty members and private citizens, ‘have begun to look into whether that college conducts politicized teaching, requires ideological adherence, or sustains slights to conservative students,’ said the association’s announcement.”

Actually, I've been spied upon already. A certain well-known operative of the local "Republican Mafia" (The Schroeder-Fuentes crew) took my summer philosophy course a couple of summers ago just so he could see my indoctrination methods in the flesh. Unfortunately for him, I do not indoctrinate, I teach, and so he disappeared after a few weeks.

NAKED PERSON ROCKED AT IVC.
Meanwhile, over at our pal Marla Jo Fisher’s “College Life” blog, we read about how things went in a live drawing class at Irvine Valley College during yesterday's earthquake: You don’t want to be doing this during an earthquake. Evidently, the model will be getting a seatbelt soon.

POOR, POOR, PITIFUL GOO.
Marla has also posted a “list of 2007 ‘senior management’ group salaries” at UC Irvine. (See What did top bosses earn at University of California last year?)

For instance, Chancellor Michael Drake makes $387,091, and he gets to live in his house for free too.

I bet Raghu’s pissed. He only makes $300K (plus a free Mercedes to drive), poor fellow.

Barack Obama, law professor; Wiley Drake, idiot

• Check out the terrific article in the New York Times about Barack Obama's years as a law professor: Teaching Law, Testing Ideas, Obama Stood Apart

• Meanwhile, over at the OC Reg, R. Scott Moxley informs us that, a little more than an hour after this morning’s earthquake, Buena Park’s “Reverend Wiley Drake named the seismic event, ‘the California Queer Quake,’ and announced via email to his nationwide followers that ‘another queer quake [is] trying to get California's attention.’”

“We had better listen,” he added. (See ”California’s Queer Quake”.)