More Get Your War On!

See here for the comic strip.

[I Can't Title Posts] Forest for the Trees, or Something

After noting the myriad of problems he faced at the DMV, DH letter-writter William C. Hogg says this:

I have absolutely no problem with Spanish people here in Albany. Most of them are very nice and courteous and have beautiful families. But while at DMV, I observed many Spanish people go to the counter, present some kind of ID, then take a small test and have their picture taken. They were then provided with a driver’s license, which would be mailed to them. The exact way we used to get ours. What?

OK governor, senators and representatives, what are you trying to prove? How about the citizens?

Right. Because clearly no Spanish people could be citizens of the US. And clearly anyone who's not Black or Asian must be Spanish - not Mexican, Ecuadoran, Panamanian, or any one of many, many other identities. Nope. All Spanish, all foreigners.

This is a great example of unintentional racism. I don't think Mr. Hogg had malicious intent, but the assumptions he put in writing erase whole groups of people from existence and make unfounded assumptions about others. Not cool.... not to mention that he's making an assumption that his experience is representative of white people and the experiences he observed were similarly representative of whole groups.

What the.....?!

Hering:

The news that Iraq has been able to amass a $79 billion budget surplus from oil revenues says a couple of things.

The first is that the war has been won...

What fucking planet is that man on?

... more calmly: There is no necessary connection between Iraq squirreling away money and "the war" being over. Certainly Hering doesn't make one.

Evanite, the Greenway, and an Editorial all walk into a bar....

A GT editorial:

The deal offers a potentially huge payoff for Corvallis and its residents: The 32- foot-wide, quarter-mile-long strip of land on the Willamette River would allow the city to fill in a missing link in its riverfront trail system. The result would be an uninterrupted 3.5-mile path for pedestrians and cyclists from the north end of downtown to Willamette Landing.

In return, Evanite wants the city’s help in getting out from an extra layer of oversight of development requests on part of its 35-acre site on Crystal Lake Drive.

This has been the basis of the deal since the beginning. I am very much in favor of an unbroken trail from Willamette Landing to Michael's Landing.... but I'm skeptical of Evanite.

Specifically, I want to know exactly what regulations Evanite wants out of - is it really just building near the river? Or is there an environmental component? Is there a chance that the land near the river owned by Evanite contains some nasty pollutants that Evanite doesn't want to deal with? And why does the GT label it "extra"? Is there any basis for that, or is that word in there to give people the impression the regulations are, for some reason, unnecessary?

I can't say I've read every GT story on this issue, but I suspect I've seen most of them, and I can't remember ever hearing about possible environmental impact or about the regulations in any detail.

This editorial, of course, is no different. Given that we're in Corvallis, it would seem like a no-brainer to at least mention the potential environmental impacts, especially if any of the regulations in question deal with them. But no... and here is where I find myself agreeing just the tiniest bit with the incensed commenters: The GT does tend to show a rather strong pro-development/pro-business bias, often in its editorial slant.

But I can't just blame the GT for that and walk away. I'd bet money that the parent corporation, Lee Enterprises, actually has policy directives surrounding editorial stances. It's not unheard of, and Lee has a reputation as a very pro-business company.

I happen to think that the existence of such policies undermines the credibility of journalism, but what do I know? The GT tells me this is a good idea, conveniently omitting even the possibility of downsides, so I guess I should just be happy that I get a trail, right?

[/rant]

Apple Sued

Oops:

David Walsh, a former Network Engineer that worked at Apple from 1995 to 2007, is suing the company for violating California labor laws.

Filed in the United States District Court, Southern District of California, the complaint focuses on the fact that employees were required to work more than 40 hours a week or eight hours in a workday. Walsh’s suit says that Apple then denies the employees proper compensation for that work.

Walsh claims that Apple has created several job levels so they can make them exempt from receiving overtime wages. One example given is the use of “Senior” before the title “Network Engineer,” even though all Network Engineers perform the same duties.

The on-call requirements for Network Engineers were also an issue for Walsh. His on-call duties lasted for seven days, every six weeks — during this time he was on stand-by every night without additional compensation.

The lawsuit is seeking class action status, which would allow any employee during the class period to join the lawsuit.

I find this entirely believable. Unsurprising, even.

[Insert Title Here]

From a comment:

I was curious that during the discussion on the failing reading and writing AYP scores, no one asked, how specifically the district plans to fix the issues.

Good question. The charitable answer is that there is a plan, and that the board already knows what that plan is, and so felt no particular urge to ask again simply for the benefit of the public.

However, I don't think "charitable" and "probable" are particularly close on this one. It does suggest something about the board that they didn't ask, doesn't it?

Awesome Quote of the Day

No link, but check this out:

"...but we have to quit expecting that if we elect D's, we'll get a fucking pony."

Far, far too many people believe in the Democrats-and-ponies theory at this point. Why they keep believing cycle after cycle is beyond me (though I would venture that 20/28 years of Republican Presidents has something to do with it).



h/t wobs.

Of Hypotheticals and Listening Skills

Part of a hypothetical conversation that might have happened this morning:

Person X: So tell me about the meeting yesterday. What's the situation with Issue A?

Dennis: This is the structure of their existing plan... if we successfully pass this proposal, we can choose how to implement, either matching the existing plan or creating a whole new plan. Here are some reasons to do either, plus some likely consequences for different options.

Person X: So our proposed plan is analogous to their plan?

Dennis: No, we have the freedom to do it however we want. We never actually proposed a concrete plan, just that we get the resources to meet this existing need.

Person X: So our plan, which is analogous to their plan, is to [describes their plan].

Dennis: Actually, we don't have to stick to that, we can do any way we want. [Briefly repeats a few possibilities.]

[Conversation shifts to rehashing other parts of the meeting, the same thing happens.]

Later, in presenting this to other people:

Person X: Our plan, which is analogous to the existing plan, would....

Dennis: [Develops an ulcer on the spot.]

DH: Jackson Resigns

From Jennifer Moody, the greased lightning of the education beat:

LEBANON - Jay Jackson has resigned his position as director of operations for People Involved in Education, the organization that runs Sand Ridge Charter School.

...

In an interview following his statement, Jackson said he does not anticipate having any role in PIE from now on. Doug Miner was elected president of the PIE board at the organization's June meeting, and Business Director Mary Northern will be the main point of public contact, he said.

Here is the million-dollar question, at least for me: Who is going to be serving the role of administrator at Sand Ridge? That is, who is going to be supervising teachers and doing all the other things someone in an administrator role does? If it's Mary Northern, then she needs to register with PIE if she hasn't already.

It would be interesting to see the DH or LE follow up on this question. It's entirely possible that Sand Ridge already has a properly registered or licensed administrator lined up for next year, or that Northern will simply register without a fuss; I just don't know. But if past history is any guide....

The Submarines' "You, Me & the Bourgeoisie"

Found in one of Atrios' late night threads, I am fascinated by the lyrics.