An ACORN Falls from the Tree
A congressional outrage.
By Ken BlackwellAs negotiations over Congress’s emergency rescue bill continued over the weekend, repeated rumors leaked out that the Democrats were trying to funnel money to a hyper-partisan organization involved in criminal voter fraud. I’m speaking of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — known by its acronym, ACORN. Although ACORN was cut from the final legislation, it’s important to understand this organization and its long history with, of all people, Barack Obama. And it’s important to see how partisan this emergency legislation has become.As the weekend progressed, reports were constantly emerging of the sticking points preventing a final agreement. One of these reputed points of contention was whether 20 percent of the profit proceedings for asset sales in the future would go to what is called the Housing Trust Fund, subsidizing certain groups for ostensibly nonpartisan activity. One of these groups that this trust supports is ACORN.
ACORN has often been in the news since 2004. Officially, they work to register voters and support housing. In reality, everyone in public life knows that they are hardcore supporters for the Democratic Party, and employ bare-knuckle tactics. Their organization is plagued by repeated investigations of voter fraud and other crimes.
In Ohio, where as secretary of state I oversaw elections for eight years, ACORN has been busy. One ACORN man in Reynoldsburg was indicted on two felony counts of voter fraud, and another was indicted in Columbus. Other such problems surfaced in Cuyahoga County, where criminal investigations are ongoing.
It’s not just Ohio. ACORN personnel are facing criminal charges in over a dozen states. In Washington State, for example, seven ACORN leaders had felony charges filed against them for voter fraud.
And there’s an unexpected twist. One of the organizations accused of pushing banks into making many of the unwise loans at the heart of the current crisis is … ACORN. Now that’s ironic. An organization that possibly contributed to our current financial profits is now being considered to make money off of it. And by “money,” I’m referring to your tax money.
Twice already this year Congress has funneled money to ACORN. Some report that February’s economic stimulus included funds for ACORN, as did the bill to help people struggling with mortgages passed this April.
What deserves closer scrutiny is Barack Obama’s history with ACORN. Obama cites Saul Alinsky, a self-acknowledged radical who advocated extreme acts to achieve social goals, as one of his inspirations. ACORN follows the Saul Alinsky model. After Obama graduated from Harvard, he went to work for ACORN in Chicago. Mr. Obama then became a trainer for ACORN, teaching others how to employ ACORN tactics in voter registration drives.
This ACORN involvement coincides with the increasing partisanship of this situation.
Congressional Democrats, and specifically Mr. Obama, are now saying that the problem underlying all this is “deregulation,” pushed by the Republicans. There are two fundamental flaws with this allegation.
First, this is not deregulation. This is not the private sector. Fannie and Freddie are government creations, that pay their executives millions of dollars but are shielded with your tax money from suffering the downside risk of the market. Engage in racetrack-style financing, they must be strictly controlled. Deregulation is about keeping government from hobbling the private sector and hamstringing its ingenuity and productivity. Deregulation does not apply.
Second, Republicans have tried to rein in Fannie and Freddie. Republican attempts to reform them in 1999 failed. In 2003, when Alan Greenspan testified about how Fannie and Freddie’s loose practices could endanger our financial system, it was Democrat Barney Frank who said these institutions were fundamentally sound, and should be more aggressive in getting loans to low-income people. In 2005, a Republican reform passed the Senate Banking Committee on a party-line vote, only to be blocked by Democrats from passing the full Senate. And in 2006 when John McCain spoke on the Senate floor of the need to reform Fannie and Freddie immediately, Democrats (including Barack Obama) would not respond.
You can also see where Fannie and Freddie look for protection by where they direct their money. Public records show that the top two recipients of Fannie/Freddie campaign contributions are Sens. Chris Dodd and Barack Obama, taking $165,000 and $126,000, respectively. Dodd, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, and Mr. Obama, who says he’s going to remedy the whole situation.
It suddenly seems so clear why Democrats want ACORN to get some of the taxpayers’ money. I have unapologetically criticized Republicans, some by name, for out-of-control spending, lack of accountability, and other inexcusable actions that have tarnished the GOP and disserved the nation. And there are other issues that are either both parties’ fault, or no one’s fault.
But here, the Democrats are squarely to blame. They have resisted all attempts at reforming Fannie and Freddie, and pushed those organizations to become ever more reckless in their policies. This made the investments on Wall Street carrying those tainted mortgages go from bad to worse, and now we’re in a crisis and on the verge of a meltdown.
This is inexcusable. And if independent voters figure this out, their outrage over this situation will suddenly be directed against the party that pushed these disastrous policies. So Democrats want ACORN to get as much funding as possible, because they might need some new votes in their column on Election Day.
Voter fraud is in one sense the worst crime against democracy. The sole means of democratically choosing leaders is through voting. Every voter gets an equal vote. Every citizen who is a law-abiding adult has an equal voice in who will govern us. Our vote is sacred. Those engaging in voter fraud are in one sense no different than who intimidated voters at the polls in years past. Voter fraud may not be attended by the suffering that accompanied the beatings and water hoses of those days, but the assault on democracy is no less real.
ACORN is a discredited organization, and far too many of its leaders and workers have been prosecuted for felonies against democracy. The idea that a single dime of taxpayer money would ever go to such a group is an outrage.
And Mr. Obama needs to explain his involvement with them.
— Ken Blackwell, a former Ohio secretary of state, is a senior fellow at the American Civil Rights Union. He has also served as an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Monday, September 29, 2008
More on ACORN
Important enough to reprint in its entirety, from nationalreviewonline.com:
Two things
First and foremost, my friend A has just found out that her job is gone after Friday. She works for a major American automaker, and they are in trouble. A is one of the reasons I will never ever buy a non-American automobile. We have lost too much of our manufacturing capability to Japan and China. I don't want us to lose this too.
Please remember A in your prayers, that she will find a new, better, and more stable job quickly. In HomeCity, that's a tall order but God can provide.
Second, I watched this yesterday. I don't begrudge any American their Constitutional right to express their opinions. I am sure the same thing happens to the opposition (I would hope not; I would hope we are better than that, but I also know human nature). But that one question at the end, after seeing the ferocity of the reactions, struck me. Indeed, how far is it from the open hand to the middle finger?
However, if you look back over history, politics has been contentious from the start. This polarization is nothing new. I think it feels worse because we've removed a lot of safeguards from society. We've become more rude, more coarse, more confrontational in everyday small things.
Please remember A in your prayers, that she will find a new, better, and more stable job quickly. In HomeCity, that's a tall order but God can provide.
Second, I watched this yesterday. I don't begrudge any American their Constitutional right to express their opinions. I am sure the same thing happens to the opposition (I would hope not; I would hope we are better than that, but I also know human nature). But that one question at the end, after seeing the ferocity of the reactions, struck me. Indeed, how far is it from the open hand to the middle finger?
However, if you look back over history, politics has been contentious from the start. This polarization is nothing new. I think it feels worse because we've removed a lot of safeguards from society. We've become more rude, more coarse, more confrontational in everyday small things.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
I have survived Week Four
Missives from the provost and dean are coming nearly every day. All of them involve tenure. It's getting very annoying.
The rumors that were flying last week are partly true and partly not. No, we don't have to submit reviews from publications. Yes, we have to have someone external to the Uni review our tenure packets. The last e-mail from the provost laid out a long list of requirements for the tenure review, from examining syllabi and graded exams to ranking outlets for publications. We are assured that ranking isn't going to take place yet, but already the provost tried to make a blanket statement that conference papers won't count. Deans from fields where the conferences are more selective than journals protested, and the provost backed off.
More worrisome is the new dean's failure to fight for people currently up for tenure who don't fit the new paradigm of Ph.D. holder with a research background. So, this new policy, which we were told wouldn't apply to anyone past the mid-tenure review, is indeed applying to those who went up this year. It's nuts. Those past mid-tenure who don't have the required publication numbers have to scramble in the next three years to get papers out. With the long publication cycle of paper journals, these people don't have time to go the traditional route. They are being advised to submit to online journals, who have a shorter review time. BUT--online journals are not highly regarded, and too many online journal papers will get a negative review from an external person. It's a vicious circle.
Another annoyance is tuition exchange. I'm in my fourth year at this school. At five years, my daughter would get free tuition (currently, she gets 75% free). She is heading to college full time next year, and I won't be at the five year mark yet. If she goes to a school in our tuition exchange program, we will have to pay the full weight for her first year. Argh.
I've checked my TIAA-CREF account to see if the banking situation has impacted my tiny retirement fund any. I saw some loss in the stocks section but gains in other areas. I've got an aggressive plan, because I have to make up for 13 years of stay-at-home-mom pay, so I was worried that I'd go backwards with my fund. Right now I have enough in there to last, oh, one year. Then it's eating cat food, lol, because my Social Security fund is just as tiny as my TIAA-CREF amount.
Oh well. I can't think about all that stuff now. I have two or three sets of homework assignments to grade, and three midterms to write. I've got a paper I want to get out by the end of October. My condo bedroom is messy and I need to organize it better. Youngest Daughter needs new jeans and is contemplating making them herself, which means I get to make them because she doesn't know how to sew yet. So it's time to stop worrying and get to work.
The rumors that were flying last week are partly true and partly not. No, we don't have to submit reviews from publications. Yes, we have to have someone external to the Uni review our tenure packets. The last e-mail from the provost laid out a long list of requirements for the tenure review, from examining syllabi and graded exams to ranking outlets for publications. We are assured that ranking isn't going to take place yet, but already the provost tried to make a blanket statement that conference papers won't count. Deans from fields where the conferences are more selective than journals protested, and the provost backed off.
More worrisome is the new dean's failure to fight for people currently up for tenure who don't fit the new paradigm of Ph.D. holder with a research background. So, this new policy, which we were told wouldn't apply to anyone past the mid-tenure review, is indeed applying to those who went up this year. It's nuts. Those past mid-tenure who don't have the required publication numbers have to scramble in the next three years to get papers out. With the long publication cycle of paper journals, these people don't have time to go the traditional route. They are being advised to submit to online journals, who have a shorter review time. BUT--online journals are not highly regarded, and too many online journal papers will get a negative review from an external person. It's a vicious circle.
Another annoyance is tuition exchange. I'm in my fourth year at this school. At five years, my daughter would get free tuition (currently, she gets 75% free). She is heading to college full time next year, and I won't be at the five year mark yet. If she goes to a school in our tuition exchange program, we will have to pay the full weight for her first year. Argh.
I've checked my TIAA-CREF account to see if the banking situation has impacted my tiny retirement fund any. I saw some loss in the stocks section but gains in other areas. I've got an aggressive plan, because I have to make up for 13 years of stay-at-home-mom pay, so I was worried that I'd go backwards with my fund. Right now I have enough in there to last, oh, one year. Then it's eating cat food, lol, because my Social Security fund is just as tiny as my TIAA-CREF amount.
Oh well. I can't think about all that stuff now. I have two or three sets of homework assignments to grade, and three midterms to write. I've got a paper I want to get out by the end of October. My condo bedroom is messy and I need to organize it better. Youngest Daughter needs new jeans and is contemplating making them herself, which means I get to make them because she doesn't know how to sew yet. So it's time to stop worrying and get to work.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Comfort food and football; random stuff
Still sick. Still sneezing loud enough to scare the cats, still runny-nosed, and now coughing. Fun, wow.
So, I made myself some Cream of Wheat with toast and sat down to watch my Team. Ahhhh. At this point, we are behind 3-0 but the game is young.
Yesterday's game didn't turn out so well, Alma Mater U's poor football team got creamed. They hung in there for quite a while, though, before the opposing team just steamrolled them.
I made African sweet potato stew in my slow cooker yesterday and it was very very yummy. Today I started a batch of chili so Youngest Daughter has a choice of food for dinners and I have something hot to take for lunch/dinner at work. I've got a nice pot roast I'll pop in the oven after the football game and that will be yet another choice for us this week.
When I went to stir the chili, I noticed a funny kind of plastic-cooking smell (amazing I could smell at all, let alone pick out that scent from the general chili-aroma). I think the countertop is cooking. I put a tempered-glass cutting board under the slow cooker and now I don't notice the smell. Yikes! Yesterday I had that slow cooker on high for four hours, right in that exact spot. I guess I'd better keep it off the counter from now on.
Sadness, I am almost out of Russian Caravan tea, my mainstay for when I have a cold. Time to order some more. I think I have enough for one more pot.
So, I made myself some Cream of Wheat with toast and sat down to watch my Team. Ahhhh. At this point, we are behind 3-0 but the game is young.
Yesterday's game didn't turn out so well, Alma Mater U's poor football team got creamed. They hung in there for quite a while, though, before the opposing team just steamrolled them.
I made African sweet potato stew in my slow cooker yesterday and it was very very yummy. Today I started a batch of chili so Youngest Daughter has a choice of food for dinners and I have something hot to take for lunch/dinner at work. I've got a nice pot roast I'll pop in the oven after the football game and that will be yet another choice for us this week.
When I went to stir the chili, I noticed a funny kind of plastic-cooking smell (amazing I could smell at all, let alone pick out that scent from the general chili-aroma). I think the countertop is cooking. I put a tempered-glass cutting board under the slow cooker and now I don't notice the smell. Yikes! Yesterday I had that slow cooker on high for four hours, right in that exact spot. I guess I'd better keep it off the counter from now on.
Sadness, I am almost out of Russian Caravan tea, my mainstay for when I have a cold. Time to order some more. I think I have enough for one more pot.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
I hate being sick
Stupid runny nose. Stupid sneezing. Stupid swollen glands. And, I have no chicken soup and I am out of Puffs Plus.
Anyway.
Alma Mater U's football team, which went Division 1 a few years ago, has had an exciting season so far. Last week's game was a nail-biter with a fabulous ending (for us, not for the opposing team). I am looking forward to listening to them play this afternoon (no TV coverage, too bad).
I've decided I have to take at least one day off every week from academic stuff or I will just be completely unable to come up with viable research ideas. My brain needs a rest! So, I've taken up an old hobby and am working on a number of special presents. They are not going to be finished quickly, as I haven't got tons of time to work on them, but I'm enjoying myself immensely. So, while I'm listening to AMU's game on the Internet, I can work on Best Friend's present.
The big news is really big, size-wise. Spouse bought me a 46" high-def LCD television for the condo, replacing my little 13" Sharp. It comes Thursday. Dad is going to condo-sit until it gets here, as I have two back-to-back MS defenses to attend. Football and hockey are going to be FANTASTIC on that thing. Wow. Can't wait!
Anyway.
Alma Mater U's football team, which went Division 1 a few years ago, has had an exciting season so far. Last week's game was a nail-biter with a fabulous ending (for us, not for the opposing team). I am looking forward to listening to them play this afternoon (no TV coverage, too bad).
I've decided I have to take at least one day off every week from academic stuff or I will just be completely unable to come up with viable research ideas. My brain needs a rest! So, I've taken up an old hobby and am working on a number of special presents. They are not going to be finished quickly, as I haven't got tons of time to work on them, but I'm enjoying myself immensely. So, while I'm listening to AMU's game on the Internet, I can work on Best Friend's present.
The big news is really big, size-wise. Spouse bought me a 46" high-def LCD television for the condo, replacing my little 13" Sharp. It comes Thursday. Dad is going to condo-sit until it gets here, as I have two back-to-back MS defenses to attend. Football and hockey are going to be FANTASTIC on that thing. Wow. Can't wait!
Friday, September 19, 2008
I have survived Week Three
Sorta kinda.
I have a scratchy, sore throat and my nose is all stuffed up and I just want to nap. I managed to get through classes this week but I am bailing on today's committee meeting because I just feel crappy.
Of course, I still have to get some blood work done, pick up Youngest Daughter from work, drop her off at school, pick her up from school, drop her off at piano, and pick her up from piano. Maybe, somewhere in there, get her to the DMV to take her learner's permit exam and the Board of Elections to register her to vote (GO SARAH).
Sigh. Maybe tomorrow afternoon I can vegetate.
Two of my MS students defended successfully yesterday. Both were given job offers by Lehman Bros. but are now having to re-open their job search. I feel badly for them and I hope they find something else soon.
I am hearing more rumblings from faculty on the scholarship issue. I think it's going to be a tough year for many people who are now scrambling to find something to do for research. The dean wants an increase in undergrad research, which is going to be difficult to comply with--at least in my department, where we have no dedicated majors. The only undergrads I teach are sophomore level and the classes don't lend themselves to research at all. It's going to be very very interesting.
I have a scratchy, sore throat and my nose is all stuffed up and I just want to nap. I managed to get through classes this week but I am bailing on today's committee meeting because I just feel crappy.
Of course, I still have to get some blood work done, pick up Youngest Daughter from work, drop her off at school, pick her up from school, drop her off at piano, and pick her up from piano. Maybe, somewhere in there, get her to the DMV to take her learner's permit exam and the Board of Elections to register her to vote (GO SARAH).
Sigh. Maybe tomorrow afternoon I can vegetate.
Two of my MS students defended successfully yesterday. Both were given job offers by Lehman Bros. but are now having to re-open their job search. I feel badly for them and I hope they find something else soon.
I am hearing more rumblings from faculty on the scholarship issue. I think it's going to be a tough year for many people who are now scrambling to find something to do for research. The dean wants an increase in undergrad research, which is going to be difficult to comply with--at least in my department, where we have no dedicated majors. The only undergrads I teach are sophomore level and the classes don't lend themselves to research at all. It's going to be very very interesting.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
I work at a nutsy place
There are a lot of things about my uni that are--well, odd. I come from state schools, and this is a private university so I would expect some things to be done differently. I don't know that I can explain it adequately, but it's just strange practices that seem more suited to a company than a university.
Take parking. At Alma Mater U, we have visitor lots, student lots, and faculty lots. Students register their cars and get a hang tag for no extra fee. They can park in any student lot on campus, and in any faculty or visitor lot after 3 p.m. Faculty buy a parking pass (hang tag) for a minimal amount of money, and are allowed to park at any lot on campus. At PrivateUni, students and faculty can park in any general parking area (portions of each lot) without having to buy a hang tag. Anyone, faculty or student, can pay about $150 a year for a pass to park in reserved spots in ONE particular lot. So, since my office building is at one end of the campus, and I teach in a building at the other end of the campus, I have to choose between walking the length of the campus at the beginning of the day, walking the length of the campus at the end of the day, or walking half the length of the campus any time I have to go to or from my truck. It's not that I'm opposed to walking, that's good for me. But I'm opposed to anything that makes it harder or more inconvenient to do my job--which often requires me to leave campus during the day for meetings and things, or to teach in the evening in a building far from my office.
But wait! We not only have a hang tag, we also have a garish orange window sticker that we have to put on our left rear window. We have to replace the thing every year when we re-register the vehicle and buy the optional reserved pass. So last night, after a 14 hour day, I walked to my truck after 8 p.m. to find a parking ticket under my windshield wiper (you knew this rant had to be motivated by something like that). My offense? Not having the updated ugly orange sticker defacing my truck. Now, mind you, I was parked in a reserved section with a valid hang tag, which means I had to register the truck before I could buy the hang tag. Registering automatically generates the orange sticker. So I had the orange sticker, I'd just forgotten to scrape the old one off and put the new one on. But the truck was obviously a registered vehicle.
Argh. Now I have to go fix that before I get another parking ticket. What a pain. Anyway, it's typical of some of the practices at PrivateUni, and they are just weird.
Take parking. At Alma Mater U, we have visitor lots, student lots, and faculty lots. Students register their cars and get a hang tag for no extra fee. They can park in any student lot on campus, and in any faculty or visitor lot after 3 p.m. Faculty buy a parking pass (hang tag) for a minimal amount of money, and are allowed to park at any lot on campus. At PrivateUni, students and faculty can park in any general parking area (portions of each lot) without having to buy a hang tag. Anyone, faculty or student, can pay about $150 a year for a pass to park in reserved spots in ONE particular lot. So, since my office building is at one end of the campus, and I teach in a building at the other end of the campus, I have to choose between walking the length of the campus at the beginning of the day, walking the length of the campus at the end of the day, or walking half the length of the campus any time I have to go to or from my truck. It's not that I'm opposed to walking, that's good for me. But I'm opposed to anything that makes it harder or more inconvenient to do my job--which often requires me to leave campus during the day for meetings and things, or to teach in the evening in a building far from my office.
But wait! We not only have a hang tag, we also have a garish orange window sticker that we have to put on our left rear window. We have to replace the thing every year when we re-register the vehicle and buy the optional reserved pass. So last night, after a 14 hour day, I walked to my truck after 8 p.m. to find a parking ticket under my windshield wiper (you knew this rant had to be motivated by something like that). My offense? Not having the updated ugly orange sticker defacing my truck. Now, mind you, I was parked in a reserved section with a valid hang tag, which means I had to register the truck before I could buy the hang tag. Registering automatically generates the orange sticker. So I had the orange sticker, I'd just forgotten to scrape the old one off and put the new one on. But the truck was obviously a registered vehicle.
Argh. Now I have to go fix that before I get another parking ticket. What a pain. Anyway, it's typical of some of the practices at PrivateUni, and they are just weird.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Week Three
Okay, I survived Week Two. Found out that I'm not teaching two courses I'd planned on, one in winter and one in spring, but that's okay. It means I won't have an evening class next quarter and that's GREAT news because I hate evening classes.
We had a day-long faculty retreat last week to discuss the new dean's initiatives. We were the first department he'd talked to, and I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at the other department meetings. It seems we are morphing into a research-intensive institution overnight and that will cause no end of problems for the many professors without PhDs. 'Twill be an interesting year, that is for sure.
On the home front, Kitty Mama and Kitty Son went to the vet Saturday for their checkups. Both are fine, but Kitty Mama needs her teeth cleaned. Son weighs 12.5 lbs, one pound more than his mom, and only slightly more than last year. They both got shots and Kitty Mama's claws were trimmed. I had found what I thought was a mutant claw but apparently it was a keratin deposit and it wasn't there anymore.
Kitty Son had some blood drawn, and he had a little red bandage tied around his leg at the site, which he worried and gnawed at until he pulled the gauze out and we had to remove the bandage. He was not a happy kitty until he realized we'd bought donuts. Kitty Son LOVES donuts, and we hardly ever get them so he was aggressively begging for pieces. Well, he got some from me, and some from Spouse, and some from me....and he ended up with diarrhea. No more donuts for Kitty Son!
We had a day-long faculty retreat last week to discuss the new dean's initiatives. We were the first department he'd talked to, and I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at the other department meetings. It seems we are morphing into a research-intensive institution overnight and that will cause no end of problems for the many professors without PhDs. 'Twill be an interesting year, that is for sure.
On the home front, Kitty Mama and Kitty Son went to the vet Saturday for their checkups. Both are fine, but Kitty Mama needs her teeth cleaned. Son weighs 12.5 lbs, one pound more than his mom, and only slightly more than last year. They both got shots and Kitty Mama's claws were trimmed. I had found what I thought was a mutant claw but apparently it was a keratin deposit and it wasn't there anymore.
Kitty Son had some blood drawn, and he had a little red bandage tied around his leg at the site, which he worried and gnawed at until he pulled the gauze out and we had to remove the bandage. He was not a happy kitty until he realized we'd bought donuts. Kitty Son LOVES donuts, and we hardly ever get them so he was aggressively begging for pieces. Well, he got some from me, and some from Spouse, and some from me....and he ended up with diarrhea. No more donuts for Kitty Son!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Friday, September 05, 2008
The first snowflake of the year!
The first homework assignment for one of my grad classes is due next Wednesday. I announced the assignment in Wednesday night's class, and explained what I wanted them to do. They have to find three data mining research articles where the authors used real (not simulated) data.
Just now I got an e-mail from one of the students asking "How can I fined [sic] journal articles about data mining efforts or is there a web page?"
Aw. This poor graduate student has obviously never had the chance to visit a library. Why, I've got a tear in my eye. Or is that a snowflake?
Just now I got an e-mail from one of the students asking "How can I fined [sic] journal articles about data mining efforts or is there a web page?"
Aw. This poor graduate student has obviously never had the chance to visit a library. Why, I've got a tear in my eye. Or is that a snowflake?
Thursday, September 04, 2008
ALMOST done with Week One
One more day of teaching, a meeting tomorrow, and then Week One is in the can. It's been a long week. I have two professors sitting in my M-W class, and that makes me a tad nervous but there's nothing I can do about it. It's also good practice, because this is my mid-tenure year and I will have someone from my college's tenure review committee watching me at some point anyway. Ack.
I'm trying to get something together for an NSF grant application that is due October 1st. So far we have the ghost of an idea. I know I can write a grant app in an afternoon; it's getting a good idea that is the hard part. Lots of deadlines this month, so I need to get cracking early every day to get some quality work done.
No snowflake stuff yet, although I did get an e-mail last week from one of last spring's cheaters. He wanted a appointment. I said he was welcome to come to office hours, UNLESS he wanted to ask for a regrade. That, I told him, is not open for discussion. I've not heard from him since. This one's excuse for cheating was that he was getting married and he was too excited with the wedding preparations to notice what he was doing. That's certainly an unusual excuse.
Youngest Daughter is taking a couple courses at the local community college, and she had an interesting first day. One professor is a raving lunatic liberal who actually told the kids if they were white they needed to "get over themselves" and that they were all racist. He got up on the desk and jumped up and down multiple times, ranting about how *everyone* was oppressed and had no possibilities because of the evil white Christian male. Since he is a white male himself (although, I'm guessing, not a Christian one), I wonder why he doesn't give up his tenured position to some poor oppressed female or minority, and go live in a van down by the river.
The second class wasn't much better, with one particularly clueless and strident student making over-the-top comparisons of the lives of homosexuals in this country to the Holocaust. Okay, you look at photos of hundreds of dead Jews shoved into a mass grave, so starved and grotesque in death that they don't even look like they were human, and you compare the lives of Americans to that? What, we don't allow homosexuals to work or own property, strip them naked, throw them in concentration camps, kill them by gas and gun and starvation, incinerate their bodies, and have a national policy aimed at eradicating them from the face of the earth? That comparison isn't just a tad overblown?
So where was the professor in this? Doing nothing. Certainly not asking critical questions about the claims some students were making ("This sort of thing is happening right here in America!" Where would that be, exactly? Done by whom to whom?). I guess one's opinions and beliefs get challenged only if they *aren't* left-wing and/or off-the-wall radical. Such as, oh, say--conservative, or Christian, or observant Jew.
And yet I read all the time in Inside Higher Ed and the Chronicle of Higher Education that this kind of stuff just does not happen in academia, that conservatives' complaints about what goes on in the classroom are groundless, or at least stuff like this is very rare. Sorry, my experience, my spouse's experience, my children's experience, and that of my conservative Christian friends belies that claim. YD's account of her classes yesterday are just the latest pieces of corroborating evidence.
Poor YD. She has to put up with these idiots three days a week for the next 14 weeks, in an election year (by the way, GO SARAH!). I know what that feels like. Been there, had to do that. You can bet I will encourage her to write about the evil white male's abusive ranting on his evaluation, at the very least.
I'm trying to get something together for an NSF grant application that is due October 1st. So far we have the ghost of an idea. I know I can write a grant app in an afternoon; it's getting a good idea that is the hard part. Lots of deadlines this month, so I need to get cracking early every day to get some quality work done.
No snowflake stuff yet, although I did get an e-mail last week from one of last spring's cheaters. He wanted a appointment. I said he was welcome to come to office hours, UNLESS he wanted to ask for a regrade. That, I told him, is not open for discussion. I've not heard from him since. This one's excuse for cheating was that he was getting married and he was too excited with the wedding preparations to notice what he was doing. That's certainly an unusual excuse.
Youngest Daughter is taking a couple courses at the local community college, and she had an interesting first day. One professor is a raving lunatic liberal who actually told the kids if they were white they needed to "get over themselves" and that they were all racist. He got up on the desk and jumped up and down multiple times, ranting about how *everyone* was oppressed and had no possibilities because of the evil white Christian male. Since he is a white male himself (although, I'm guessing, not a Christian one), I wonder why he doesn't give up his tenured position to some poor oppressed female or minority, and go live in a van down by the river.
The second class wasn't much better, with one particularly clueless and strident student making over-the-top comparisons of the lives of homosexuals in this country to the Holocaust. Okay, you look at photos of hundreds of dead Jews shoved into a mass grave, so starved and grotesque in death that they don't even look like they were human, and you compare the lives of Americans to that? What, we don't allow homosexuals to work or own property, strip them naked, throw them in concentration camps, kill them by gas and gun and starvation, incinerate their bodies, and have a national policy aimed at eradicating them from the face of the earth? That comparison isn't just a tad overblown?
So where was the professor in this? Doing nothing. Certainly not asking critical questions about the claims some students were making ("This sort of thing is happening right here in America!" Where would that be, exactly? Done by whom to whom?). I guess one's opinions and beliefs get challenged only if they *aren't* left-wing and/or off-the-wall radical. Such as, oh, say--conservative, or Christian, or observant Jew.
And yet I read all the time in Inside Higher Ed and the Chronicle of Higher Education that this kind of stuff just does not happen in academia, that conservatives' complaints about what goes on in the classroom are groundless, or at least stuff like this is very rare. Sorry, my experience, my spouse's experience, my children's experience, and that of my conservative Christian friends belies that claim. YD's account of her classes yesterday are just the latest pieces of corroborating evidence.
Poor YD. She has to put up with these idiots three days a week for the next 14 weeks, in an election year (by the way, GO SARAH!). I know what that feels like. Been there, had to do that. You can bet I will encourage her to write about the evil white male's abusive ranting on his evaluation, at the very least.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Back to school we go
Today classes start, sigh. I uploaded the online class lecture last night, and tonight is the first 6 p.m. class of the quarter. Am I ready? Professionally, yes. Emotionally, no way! There was a lot of stuff I wanted to accomplish this summer that didn't get done. Once the school year starts, it's tough to get time for things like writing papers, reading research-related books and articles, even going to the dentist and gyno and vet and all that stuff. Today we charge into a very hectic and packed schedule for the next ten weeks. Maybe I should start taking multivitamins...
Saturday was a very pleasant day--I went to a farmer's market (well, it's kind of a cross between flea market, craft show, and grocery store) about an hour away with Mom and my sister B. We had a great time looking at all the stuff and eating Auntie Anne's pretzels, falafel, hummus wraps, peach pie, peach sundae, and sample tastes of everything from cashew caramel popcorn to pickled garlic. The produce was fantastic and HUGE. I got some absolutely scrumptious super sharp white cheddar cheese, oh yum.
I got home around 5 p.m. and Youngest Daughter, who had to work and couldn't go with us, and who had been home for about five hours by that time, greeted me when I walked in the door with "I'm hungry, Mother." I swear, this kid has developed a hollow leg.
Sunday was church and lunch with the parental units and Miss L, my great-niece, who looked sharp in her black riding jacket. Then home to get the lecture finished up and ready for this morning. Nothing exciting, just a quiet and peaceful weekend before the storm.
So here we go. I have two syllabi to write today, and have to get to the office this afternoon to print copies for class. I can spend today at home but tomorrow it's back to the office and business as usual. Let's see how long before I have my first snowflake story. Anyone want to make a prediction?
Saturday was a very pleasant day--I went to a farmer's market (well, it's kind of a cross between flea market, craft show, and grocery store) about an hour away with Mom and my sister B. We had a great time looking at all the stuff and eating Auntie Anne's pretzels, falafel, hummus wraps, peach pie, peach sundae, and sample tastes of everything from cashew caramel popcorn to pickled garlic. The produce was fantastic and HUGE. I got some absolutely scrumptious super sharp white cheddar cheese, oh yum.
I got home around 5 p.m. and Youngest Daughter, who had to work and couldn't go with us, and who had been home for about five hours by that time, greeted me when I walked in the door with "I'm hungry, Mother." I swear, this kid has developed a hollow leg.
Sunday was church and lunch with the parental units and Miss L, my great-niece, who looked sharp in her black riding jacket. Then home to get the lecture finished up and ready for this morning. Nothing exciting, just a quiet and peaceful weekend before the storm.
So here we go. I have two syllabi to write today, and have to get to the office this afternoon to print copies for class. I can spend today at home but tomorrow it's back to the office and business as usual. Let's see how long before I have my first snowflake story. Anyone want to make a prediction?
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