The JCCC Campus Ledger covers the continued cover-up and dishonesty by JCCC leaders Terry Calaway, Shirley Brown-VanArsdale, and Lynn Mitchelson, that began as a relatively small likely violation of the Kansas Open Meetings Act (KOMA). Here are facts made known in the Ledger that were previously unreported in a print publication:
Because of JCCC’s dishonesty and the use of taxpayer money to mislead and intimidate, Hodge called for Mitchelson and Brown-VanArsdale to resign from positions of leadership at JCCC, and for Mitchelson to resign as a representative to the Johnson County Research Triangle (JCRT).
JCCC attorney Mark Ferguson misled the public at the March meeting by stating that he performed a “complete review” of the February 19 board meeting (the meeting at which occurred a likely violation of the law). The Ledger reports that Ferguson, as part of the “complete review,” not only did not talk with Trustee Benjamin Hodge — who initially reported the open meetings problems — but did not even make Hodge aware that Ferguson was performing an investigation. Keep in mind that Ferguson does not represent Calaway, but the college — which is the board. Ferguson is Hodge’s client, and Ferguson — at the request of a politically-motivated Calaway — unprofessionally performed a misleading, incomplete, and probably pre-determined review without informing Hodge that it was taking place. Ferguson also is for the first time ever competing for his own job in a mere two months, and the attorney knows that Hodge is among the least likely to renew his contract.
In recent months, as part of JCCC’s monthly post-meeting Email summary, marketing director Julia Haas — who reports directly to President Calaway — included in the Email the endorsements of the faculty NEA (the membership of which constitutes under 5% of employees). But in last week’s Email summary after the April board meeting, Haas refused to include Hodge’s public statements regarding the dishonest and intimidating behavior of President Calaway. Haas provides her own misleading reply to The Ledger as she tries to dodge her inconsistent behavior:
“The summary does not give opinion and does not comment, it simply reports things happening,” Haas said. “If you look at the budget report, there is a lot more discussion than what is put in the summary.”
“I think that marriage should be between a man and a woman.” This answer was universally described as “controversial,” as, for example, by Yahoo News. Fox News wrote that her opposition to gay marriage “spark[ed] a furor.” A US News business (!) columnist called Prejean’s answer a “gaffe.” The Christian Science Monitor said that Miss California’s answer “spark[ed] outrage.” One could go on and on.
Many observers have speculated that Miss California’s “controversial” answer on gay marriage cost her the title. Ms. Prejean herself endorsed that theory earlier today, and added: “I stated an opinion that was true to myself and that’s all I can do.” Perez Hilton, who posed the question and was, of course, one of the judges, called her a “bitch,” for which he later apologized. That was after having voted, of course. [UPDATE: Perez has now retracted his apology, explaining that he really meant to call Miss California a c***. Perez is a typically high-class liberal. Which doesn't explain, of course, why he was chosen to judge the Miss USA contest.]
The two co-organizers of the Miss California pageant said they were “personally saddened and hurt that Miss California believes marriage rights belong only to a man and a woman.”
Nothing about this narrative could be surprising to anyone who pays attention to our news and our popular culture. Yet there is something very weird about the idea that Miss California lost the Miss USA crown because she gave such a “controversial” answer to a political question. After all, she represented the state of California in the pageant, and we know for a fact that most Californians agree with her, as evidenced by the recent Proposition 8 vote. Moreover, her position is not only the one endorsed by most Americans in opinion surveys, it is also the view taken by President Obama. So why is it more “controversial” than any other political opinion? We all know that if Miss California had answered Hilton’s question by saying that she believes in equal rights for all, and that means gay marriage, there would have been no controversy and, very likely, she would have won the title.
According to the Patriot-News, Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Pa.) “wants to be the next National Football League commissioner or commissioner of baseball” after his second term ends in 2010.
High-profile pols are often rumored to be prospective pro sports commissioner candidates - Condoleezza Rice, George W. Bush and former Maine Sen. George Mitchell are among those who have drawn mention - but Rendell would probably make an ideal commish.
Though he still has a Republican primary to get through, Christie targets Gov. Jon Corzine’s tax policy in the ad. Taxes will likely be one of the top issue in the campaign. It does not mention that Christie is a Republican, saying instead that he’ll fix New Jersey “just as he did as US Attorney, with leadership, independence, determination.”
It’s still early in the campaign, but the spot comes later than the first ad of the 2005 campaign did. Then, businessman Doug Forrester actually went on the air in November of 2004. But that year, the Republican primary was a bit more crowded and competitive.
The campaign says the ad will air in both the New York and Philadelphia markets — expensive turf, which makes any campaign in the Garden State difficult. The campaign says that with strong fundraising, it is right on track with when it planned to go on TV.
Miss California Carrie Prejean is under attack for her anti-gay marriage statement at the Miss USA pageant and she’s just found one feisty ally - her 89-year-old grandmother!
Jeanette Coppola, speaking exclusively to RadarOnline.com by telephone, came out swinging against Carrie’s critics and in a statement that shows she’s clearly not from an era of tolerance, she said:”I never knew there were so many gays out there!”
As candidate Barack Obama crisscrossed the country last year breaking campaign fundraising records, he was also taking in plenty of cash himself: almost $2.7 million, chiefly through blockbuster sales of his two books.
The $2.7 million figure comes from the tax return Obama and his wife, Michelle, signed on Sunday. The White House released the return Wednesday afternoon as millions of Americans raced to meet the April 15 income tax filing deadline. It shows the Obamas paid about $855,323 in taxes, or about 32 percent of their income.
It seems a revolutionary new technology has been developed to soak up the extra CO2 in the atmosphere. It’s called a “tree.” More study is needed, of course . . .
(CNSNews.com) - Expressing rage over the U.N. Security Council’s condemnation of its recent rocket launch, North Korea vowed Tuesday to strengthen its nuclear weapons capability and “never” return to six-party talks aimed at shutting down its nuclear programs.
Steps it had taken previously as a result of agreements reached in the talks would be reversed, with partially-dismantled nuclear facilities restored to their original state, Pyongyang’s foreign ministry said in a statement released through the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
He is Ned Holland Jr., of Overland Park. He also is senior vice president of human resources and communications for the Overland Park-based telecommunications company Embarq Corp.
Holland has cited personal and professional reasons for withdrawing from consideration for a second term.
He was an appointee of Senate President Steve Morris, a Hugoton Republican. A spokeswoman said Tuesday that Morris has no timetable for naming a successor.
Holland has served as one of nine voting members of the Health Policy Authority’s board since its creation in 2005.
Link
April 8, 2009 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — Some Chicago residents are fed up with the city’s pothole problem so they are taking matters into their own hands. Residents and members of a community group are fixing the holes themselves.
The South Austin Coalition is helping residents make rides on their pock-marked streets a little smoother by providing the material needed to fill potholes.
The chief economist for California’s finance department, Howard Roth, said the state’s unemployment rate hasn’t been this high since reaching 11.7% in January 1941. The highest level on record in California is 14.7% in October 1940, he said.
California lost 62,100 jobs in March, with Florida next at 51,900 jobs lost, Texas at 47,100 and North Carolina at 41,300, according to the federal figures.
California, the nation’s most-populous state, has been hit particularly hard by the housing-market crash. That led to major job losses in the construction and financial industries. “We did it bigger in terms of the housing bubble,” Mr. Roth said. “You pay for that by falling farther.”
As publishers of the world’s largest magazine and the preeminent online destination for individuals 50+, we understand the desire to pursue advertising revenue. Additionally, no one is immune from our current economic crisis and we can appreciate your plea for increased ad revenue. That said, we also strongly honor the integrity of our journalists and writers/editors/content developers. AARP would never allow advertisers to dictate our editorial content based on the amount of ad space purchased, and we would be hesitant to buy ads with any media that suggested it might act otherwise.
It would seem that AARP is less impressed with the netroots’ complaints than, say, Americans United for Change (although I should note that even the latter left itself some wiggle room, there), but that’s to be expected. AARP is huge.
From NBC’s Harry Enten and Jade Taenzler
In a look ahead to the 2009 and 2010 elections, Govs. Mark Sanford (R-SC) and Haley Barbour (R-MS) hammered the Obama administration for what they described as out-of-control taxing and spending.
In a conference call with reporters, both reacted to what Sanford called the “This way or no way” stimulus relief. Sanford, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, criticized the many federal mandates and called for a “military model” that “is all about giving local authority to local commanders because their eyes and ears are on the ground.”
Barbour, vice-chairman of the association added, “A lot of people who wanted a stimulus think that this is too much money.” He used the firing of General Motors President Rick Wagoner as an example of Obama going to the “extremes” on federal power.
Congress, bowing to the Teamsters Union, inserted a provision in the fiscal year 2009 omnibus spending bill to kill a test program that allowed qualified Mexican truckers to carry goods into the United States.
The Bush administration started the program to bring the United States into compliance with the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Critics, including the Editorial Board of the Express-News, warned that such a flagrant violation of the treaty’s terms would lead to retaliatory measures.
As predicted, Mexico responded by slapping tariffs of up to 45 percent on nearly 100 U.S. exports to Mexico.
Combined, those exports had a value of $2.4 billion in 2007. And Texas growers of onions, strawberries and peanuts are among those whose products are no longer competitive in Mexico due to the punitive tariffs.
Following his announcement, in an interview with THE WEEKLY STANDARD, Rep. Toomey responded to Republican concerns that he would be a weaker candidate than Sen. Specter in the general election.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind,” Toomey said, that he has a better chance of “winning the general election than Arlen Specter.” Toomey pointed out that he was elected an reelected twice in a Democratic-leaning Lehigh Valley congressional district. “I’ve proven that I can win Democratic votes in a Democratic region,” he said, noting that the “district has voted for the Democratic [presidential] nominee in the last 5 elections.” He believes he can appeal to Democrats statewide with the same message of “fiscal discipline that appealed to Democrats in Lehigh Valley.”
“I can tell you that our own internal polling shows that I have an excellent chance” of winning the general election, he said. “Once [public] groups do polls it will be clear.”
Most Americans (54%) say that if you earn $50,000 a year, you’re in the middle-income bracket. But the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 32% say you’d qualify as a lower-income household.
Just four percent (4%) say $50,000 a year qualifies as poverty level while six percent (6%) say it’s upper-income or wealthy.
Add one more government bailout to the list opposed by most Americans.
Seventy-six percent (76%) of adults say “no” to using federal funds to bail out troubled life insurance companies, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Just 12% favor the idea, and another 12% are not sure.
Investors (80%) are even more strongly opposed.
There’s little partisan disagreement on this either. Eighty-three percent (83%) of Republicans, 71% of Democrats and 77% of adults not affiliated with either party oppose a bailout for ailing life insurers.
There is a - drumroll, please - demographic element to the automobile question. Europeans often ask, “Why do Americans need those big cars?” The short answer is: Because Americans have kids and Europeans don’t. So Italians and Spaniards and Germans (and Japanese) can drive around in things the size of a Chevy Suburban’s cupholder because they’ve got nothing to put in them.
the JCCC Board of Trustees, where recently-defeated Trustee Ben Hodge has been ripped apart by his fellow board members and Steve Rose, simply for being what amounts to a whistleblower to “absolute power” tactics that often occur when a board is controlled nearly unanimously by one political party — in this case, the Johnson County Oligarchy.
What particularly disturbs me about this incident, however, is not the possible KOMA violation but the reaction of the officers of the board to it. After a long chain of attempts to silence Hodge, including the board’s attorney Mark Ferguson conducting a sham review of the incident and finding nothing there (though he didn’t bother mentioning his investigation to Hodge) they have now threatened a defamation lawsuit if he doesn’t shut. The suit itself would be specious; to support a claim of defamation, Ferguson would have to be able to prove false the charge of unethical behavior, something which seems absurd on its face, and prove that Hodge’s charges were intentionally and maliciously false. Whatever their problems with Hodge, Calaway’s and VanArsdale’s very public condemnation of his actions under a reasonable interpretation of the law in the face of their own failings leaves one wondering under what rubric they account their behavior in this matter as ethical, and this threatened lawsuit does nothing but further the point with its obvious speciousness.
