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June 27, 2006
Integrity is not a conditional word.
It seems transgressions have finally caught up with Ward Churchill. A tenured professor at the University of Boulder, CO, made the news last year for calling those killed in the 9/11 attacks 'technocrats' and 'Little Eichmanns'. If you haven't read it, this is a paragraph from the essay, and a link to read it in context.
As to those in the World Trade Center . . . Well, really. Let's get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global financial empire – the "mighty engine of profit" to which the military dimension of U.S. policy has always been enslaved – and they did so both willingly and knowingly. Recourse to "ignorance" – a derivative, after all, of the word "ignore" – counts as less than an excuse among this relatively well-educated elite. To the extent that any of them were unaware of the costs and consequences to others of what they were involved in – and in many cases excelling at – it was because of their absolute refusal to see. More likely, it was because they were too busy braying, incessantly and self-importantly, into their cell phones, arranging power lunches and stock transactions, each of which translated, conveniently out of sight, mind and smelling distance, into the starved and rotting flesh of infants. If there was a better, more effective, or in fact any other way of visiting some penalty befitting their participation upon the little Eichmanns inhabiting the sterile sanctuary of the twin towers, I'd really be interested in hearing about it.source
Arrogant, visceral, repulsive ranting. All protected by free speech, of course, which University of Colorado defended. I do always enjoy it when people confuse 'free speech' with 'impunity from repercussions'.
Allegations of academic fraud were investigated by the University. The investigating committee unanimously found that Churchill had engaged in "serious research misconduct,", a pretty way of saying falsifying information, fabricating information, plagiarism and several other academic misconducts.
Yesterday, Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano released his recomendation:
After conducting the due diligence I felt was necessary, I have come to a decision regarding the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct pertaining to Professor Ward Churchill. Today, I issued to Professor Churchill a notice of intent to dismiss him from his faculty position at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
I understand he is knee deep in the appeals process, but it seems the University has gone out of its way to dot the Is and cross the Ts.
His defenders paint him as a scapegoat, unfairly targeted. When tap dancing on thin ice, a veneer of academic credibility on dubious foundation, the halogen flood light of controversy is not what you want to focus on yourself.
There is justice in these roosting chickens.
Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at 10:08 AM
June 22, 2006
Posts and news
When I began this blog (after much prodding), I honestly didn't think I'd reach ten posts before I gave up. Writing was never my forte, less so writing for public consumption. Many thanks to the Warbler for insisting that I continue. This post marks two hundred entries.
Casting an uncritical eye over the archives, I've noticed a few topic that have come back into the news in recent days, so this post shall recap current news, strange and otherwise and occasionally link back where appropriate.
The Royal Society, the United Kingdom's most prestigious scientific club, has taken a swing at creationism (previous post here, saying similar things).
The statement, which the Royal Society signed on behalf of Britain's scientists, said: "Within science courses taught in certain public systems of education, scientific evidence, data, and testable theories about the origins and evolution of life on Earth are being concealed, denied, or confused with theories not testable by science."(source)
In Japan, Dr. Kunio Kitamura, director of the Japan Family Planning Association, has uncovered the root cause of the baby shortage there: "Japanese people simply aren't having sex". Could be, could be. (source)
In interplanetary news, two new moons of Pluto have been discovered and named Nix and Hydra. In a post some time back on the potential extra planets in the solar system (and other large asteroids), I'd suggested Persephone as good name for a moon of Pluto and Nix as a name for one of the bigger lumps'o'rock out there. Moderately close. (source)
Because theres golf on: Chris Tugwell of Scotland played golf for 10 years before landing his first hole-in-one. Then his second in the same round. The odds of hitting two in one game are estimated to be around 67 million to one, about the same as Australia winning the World Cup. (source)
In criminal news, Albert Fentress, the middle school teacher who confessed to killing a teenager in 1979 is asking to be released from the high-security mental ward he's lived in for the last 4 years. Fentress killed the boy after luring him into his basement, tying him to a post, sexually abusing and mutiling him, finally shooting him twice in the head before cooking and eating parts of the body. He was found not guilty after an insanity plea. He was moved to high security in 2002 after admitting to abusing two other boys. (source)
In a more Darwinian shooting story, a 28-year-old man wanted to see whether his girlfriend's Walther .22 handgun was loaded. So he put his hand in front of the barrel and pulled the trigger. It was. (source)
Thank you for reading.
Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at 09:44 AM
June 20, 2006
A strange evening, a thousand questions.
A strange evening, a thousand questions.
Sitting at the bar, quitly sipping a second martini, enjoying the atmosphere, waiting for my wife. A woman I've been introduced to before enters with an unknown girl, I greet her. Beautiful and delicate, she sits and questions. An endless supply of questions flow from this unhappy stranger.
Do you expect anything from life? Ambitions? Do you think you deserve what you have? What would you fix of yourself? What sign are you? What are your goals?
Her boyfriend calls and the call is screened out. How did your parents treat you? Did they love you? Praise you? Admonish you? Each question tells a little more of the questioner. Abused, pushed hard as a child. Abused still, perhaps.
All men are simply after one thing. Do you beleive in anything? In god?
Avarro is not known to her. The arabic philosopher who became the stem of words such as avarice, is one I can identify with. I believe I have a soul and carry a small part of all those before me. I believe this is extinguished with my last breath. No god, no afterlife, no angelic choir, no eternal flame. A disenchanting answer, my simple faith.
All men are bad, they take advantage.
A statement, so I ask a question: Why do you allow them to be, while you entertain their lies? No answers are forthcoming.
Yes, I am happily married.
No, I did not move here on business. I put my life in a suitcase and moved around world for her. The single best decision I've made in my life.
Not all men are bastards.
Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at 06:49 PM
June 08, 2006
When I said I liked a head on my beer...
Kineo Okada (Tokyo, Japan), has applied for United States patent no. 7,037,541.
A method for producing a beverage, comprising the steps of providing an aqueous animal extract, fermenting said aqueous animal extract with lactic acid bacteria, and fermenting the product of lactic acid bacteria fermentation with yeast fermentation, to produce an alcoholic beverage.
So, liquified meat extract, meat stock and/or bone extract is fermented to produce a meat liquor.
The resulting product has a distinctive flavor, is storage stable, and is nutritious.
'Distinctive flavour' does not nescesarily mean good.
Theres a recipe at the bottom of the patent, should you be tempted by the thought of an alcoholic chicken stock.
Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at 10:12 AM
June 05, 2006
Why not celebrate 6/6/6 in Hell?
Michigan has a small town named Hell. And for tomorrow, the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year (if you ignore those four digit dates), they're throwing a party.
Nobody is more fired up than John Colone, the town's self-styled mayor and owner of a souvenir shop."I've got '666' T-shirts and mugs. I'm only ordering 666 (of the items) so once they're gone, that's it," said Colone, also known as Odum Plenty. "Everyone who comes will get a letter of authenticity saying you've celebrated June 6, 2006, in Hell."
Most of the goodies are selling for $6.66, and include ownership to one square inch of Hell.
Live entertainment and a costume contest are planned. The Gates of Hell should be installed at a children's play area in time for the festivities."They're 8 feet tall and 5 foot wide and each gate looks like flames, and when they're closed, it's a devil's head," Colone told The Detroit News for a Saturday story.
I can't think of a better place for the gates of hell than a playground, especially if the kids have been at the red cordial1.
1 While in the US, cordial is a synonym for liqueur, in the UK, NZ and Australia, a thick, sweet syrup (which may or may not contain real fruit) which is diluted with water for drinking. The red colouring has been proven to drastically increase hyperactivity in children.
Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at 10:10 AM
Reflections on awakening
For the last several months, six days of seven, at 7:30am there has been a great deal of construction noise from the building next door, an old brownstone under renovations. Whilst it is an unpleasant way to awaken as the kitten has a penchant for climbing over the alarm clock and switching it off, it does serve some purpose.
In my personal experience, I've never woken faster than this morning, when the same construction workers started screaming "Fuck, he's dead! Someone call 911!" instead.
Better mornings have been had.
Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at 09:56 AM
June 02, 2006
Greenpeace
In the twenty years since the Chernobyl tragedy, the world's worst nuclear accident, there have been nearly [FILL IN ALARMIST AND ARMAGEDDONIST FACTOID HERE]
From a Greenpeace anti-nuclear power press release.
The Greenpeace spokesman who issued the memo, Steve Smith, told the Web site that a colleague was making a joke in a draft that was then mistakenly released.
I believe the part about 'mistakenly released'. I don't believe the part about a joke. The final release version warned of meltdowns and plane crashes.
Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at 04:19 PM