September 9, 2010 – Daily Brief

John Boston makes a few points on radical Islam, but it’s just that…RADICAL! As for his comparisons to Baptists and Mormons…Hmmm. There was the Utah War in 1857, where Mormons went against federal troops to defend their perceived right to a separate theocratic empire on U.S. soil. There was good old Jim Jones, an ordained minister, who directed almost 1000 of his followers to drink the poison Kool-Aid. Yes, he might have ended up hating Christ, but he did start out a simple minister with a simple mission that perverted itself due to his radical psychotic ideals. There was David Koresh who manufactured his own biblical prophecies to manifest his psychotic desires of sex and violence which resulted in the deaths of many of his followers. Now we have Terry Jones and his good old Q’uran burning. How about those crazy Baptists with their “God hates fags” signage? How about the Catholics who have turned a blind eye to the sexual abuse of children by which the long term effects of society and the church have been damaged for the forseeable future. Every religion has its Bozos, and every religion also has its awesome philosophies and dogma that basically helps us understand the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, and provides us with a univeral understanding of love and brotherhood. The vapid hatred and vitriol of late with regard to Islam sickens me. It is perpetrated by those whose hatred for Islam is only overshadowed by their obvious hatred for themselves. It is ugly, vicious, and will have no positive outcome in the long term. People who call themselves proud Americans pervert our rights to domestic tranquility by wrongfully pointing accusatory fingers in the direction of those who are not like them, and want to decide who is allowed to reap the benefits of the rights bestowed on us all. I’m not denying that we are in danger from religious radicalism, or trying to placate Islam as a whole without understanding the dangers of the radicals who drum up business via their own propaganda, but we’re treading scary ground with our newfound ‘Religious McCarthyism’ which certainly will do us more harm than good in the long run.

Interesting to see if the “haters” come out on the Chancellor’s salary. I wonder how much longer Van Hook with continue? Is she grooming a successor within the college? I would guess it would be the person in charge of the CC campus, Dena Maloney. I worked with her before on a local education reform initiative and she exudes that air of calmness and supreme competence that Van Hook possesses. Two examples of the Van Hook touch: The CC Campus They probably overpaid for the land (I said so at the time) and there were building problems but, by God, they had a functioning campus open 18 months later. Compare that with the Hart District goofing over a Castaic High School for TEN years. (So long that it is probably not necessary currently.) Vital Express PAC Naming Rights That was a cluster f*(K with the college failing in due diligence when the Boaz’s flaked out and blew town nearly one year after the naming. It turned out the only thing they actually paid for out of the $2 million putative gift was the Vital Express signage. When the Signal asked some maintenance functionary about why the signage remained he stated some bureaucratic nonsense about no budget money to remove them. I drove by the college and THE NEXT DAY they were GONE. (I have a mental picture of Van Hook at midnight ripping out the signs with her bare hands.)

Whether Diane deserves the raise or not isn’t really the question. When classes are being cut and other cost saving measures are taking place, is a raise for her in good contrast with the cuts everyone else is experiencing. There is no denying that DVH has done a great job with COC but most people could live very nicely on the pay she has been getting.

Diane has an ego as big as her hair…. with her cushy high paying salary she is not going anywhere…”let them eat cake” as she looks down at her peasant students strugling to get classes…”Now I wonder what other building can be named after me” she retorts.

I had the “privilege” of “attending” DVH’s 60th birthday party… which was lavishly hosted in the lobby of the University Center a couple weeks ago. (And by “attending” I mean I had to walk through it to get to my MPA class on the second floor). It seems she has quite a few of these functions taking up the space in the lobby of her self-named gem. As an undergrad, I cannot ever remember there being any sort of private function held in a public common area like the lobby of an active classroom building. They have a patio out back (a rather nice one) which would be a much more appropriate venue for this kind of thing. Instead, they’d prefer to have these schmooze-fests in the lobby, where common joe student (such as myself) is confronted by someone with a nametag asking my name for the “list.” I’ve not met her, and to be 100% honest, I’m not entirely certain of her legacy, but as a casual observer, she seems a bit self-righteous. I know she didn’t name the building after herself… but were I her, I would have declined the honor until my retirement. Then again, I have a huge issue with naming public buildings/streets/parks after sitting persons/politicians.

She happens to be the very best at what she does and is without a doubt, the most capable and successful public official this community has seen. Self-righteous? Not in the least.

And the haters are here!

I’m not a “hater” but I do question two things: 1. Should the pay for the job of running a JC with half the enrollment of CSUN and not nearly the depth of programs be comparable to the CSUN’s Chancellor? 2. At a time of budget cuts in all aspects of public education, is a salary increase for a Chancellor who is at the top of the comparable range appropriate?

Oh boy! I loved John Boston’s baked bean of a story in the WRB: “Evil spelled backwards is ‘live’”. Right on. This guy might be on to something. Come to think of it, God spelled backward is ‘dog’. This thing goes deeper than we thought. Also, what if we were just like some mote of dust in like God’s sneeze or something? Whoah, look at my hands!

I wonder how many people would complain if she wasn’t Diane Van Hook, and was Dan Van Hook.

It was rhetorical.

Tim, Tim, Tim!! You keep beating the same dead horse regarding the CC land purchase. For the millionth time, the college did not overpay for the land. The land was valued by several independent appraisers. Under state law, the college had to pay the highest appraised value. If anything, the college moving into that area increased the land values (at least until the R/E bubble burst). The only shenanigans occurred when your friend Ron Gillis leaked the appraisal values out, which caused the sellers of several of the parcels to try to get more money out of the college.

@publius I stand corrected. Of DVHs salary doesn’t come from the taxes we pay please tell us how she is paid