Professor J's Place

"The Democrats underestimate Palin at great risk." --Michele Norris (NPR) We need to focus here, folks! The stupid commentators (are you listening Bill Maher?) who joke about Palin's inability to lead because of her gender are working against us. Focus on the record. --Palin is against abortion even in the case of rape, incest, or the health of the mother. (Though perhaps it is acceptable to save the life of the mother.) --Palin is for drilling for oil in delicate ecosystems. --Palin said we "should not be afraid" of going to war with Russia over Georgia. --Palin does not believe in evolution. --Palin believes in "abstinence only" sex education. --Palin says we should not ban assault rifles. Is that not enough? We can also look at the serious allegations that face Palin about abuse of power, nepotism, and book banning. And we can look at the truth (or lack there of) in some of her claims. The fact that she took the money for the "bridge to nowhere...

Tropic Thunder opened in theaters today. It is a satire of adventure/war movies and self important actors starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. What's not to like? Plenty. This morning, when I was watching Good Morning America and drinking my coffee, Ben Stiller assured me that the frequent repetition of words like "retarded" and "retard" are meant to make fun of actors , not intellectually challenged people. I suppose I'm just too tight assed to "get it," Ben. When you use the word retarded to make fun of people, you are not making fun of actors. Retarded means "slow development." It is comparable to nigger, kike, or faggot when used as an insult. It's not funny. This is very much like the discussion we all had when Don Imus opened his big mouth one too many times. There are many people who are arguing that "political correctness" has robbed us of our sense of humor and made us a nation of uptight maiden ...

Excerpt from student paper today: Being politically correct is a way that we speak here in America so that we don’t offend any whining babies. Only pathetically weak people that don’t have the balls to say what they feel and mean are politically correct [idiots]. Society and the media have made it to where people are now afraid to say what they actually mean. Comedians are now the only people who actually speak the truth about society. Except now even Saturday Night Live wont put anything that is not politically correct for fear that some left wing idiot will throw a fit a make NBC apologize. At this point in her reading of this cogent argument, my boss said, "does he realize you will be reading this paper?" Oh yes. And it gets better! Today’s society has become way to obsessed with how things need to be right and to make people feel better. The correct term these days for garbage man is a sanitation engineer. No, a garbage man is no kind of engineer he has no college degree...

I just looked at the news to see this announcement on the BBC website. The title of the article: Edwards to Quit White House Race. Okay. I recently talked to a young (27 or so) friend of mine who said that he really got interested in the last two elections, and four years ago he had his heart broken, so he just didn't think he would care about politics quite as much anymore. I told him that my first presidential election was Jimmy Carter losing to Ronald Reagan. I told him that I had become accustomed to getting my heart broken on a regular basis. I told him that a true democrat was something like an Aggie: faithful in the midst of crushing and regular defeat. But the truth is, I still don't get it. John Edwards is handsome, intelligent, concerned about human beings, and he has a kick-ass wife. His ideas are progressive, and he (as is said about Sen. Obama) appeals to the better angels of our being. I know that sometimes he got a little heated, and I wasn't always nu...

Well, the first days of school have passed fairly well, with one notable exception: Developmental Writing. Our class was at 8:00 on Monday. When I walked in the room, there were seven of the fifteen enrolled students there. Not an auspicious start. A girl came in about fifteen minutes into the class; she was a fine addition. She sat and stared off toward the side of the classroom and occasionally made remarks to the person sitting next to her (followed by snickers--and not the delicious chocolate kind). The other kids were more polite, but it took dynamite to make them respond to anything. Of course, non of them had their books or paper to write upon. I did find that most of the students in the class had failed dev. writing last semester. With attitudes like that? I am shocked. Anyway, we need to get a handle on this--AND FAST. Ideas? Suggestions? I meet with them tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!

The United States is the highest producer of greenhouse gasses. Guess which state tops the list of offenders within the United States. . . That's right! Texas ! We aim to be the biggest and the baddest, and in this case we succeed. Heck, we have double the emissions of the two states below us combined . Why? Well in part, it could be that our biggest supply of energy comes from coal. It could also stem from our lack of good public transportation and our love of big cars . But for the most part, I think we simply DON'T believe that our emissions have anything to do with global warming. Last semester two of my ADULT students wrote essays about global warming. Both of them took the position that we cannot prove that the rising emissions of greenhouse gasses have anything to do with global climate change. O.K. if you are stupid skeptical, then what about the other dangers of air polution? What about the rising rates of lung disease like asthma and COPD? What about the r...

GOP women are hotter than Dems? Seriously now, that's the best you can come up with? Interesting that I don't see a picture of Condi Rice--she's a cutie. I got this pic from feministing . It's worth a look (although I am an old school feminist, and I find their logo lacks some decorum).

What is it about shopping for clothes? I now feel poor, shabby, and overweight. Okay, I am overweight, but come on! Tomorrow Susan and I are going to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas gala. They commissioned her to do a painting of the Alamo this year, so she needs to be at the gala signing posters and such. (Hence the shopping). The gala should be fun. I rather like being the artist's roadie.

I have been furiously grading papers lately. Unfortunately, that adjective is stunningly appropriate these days. I caught another plagiarist yesterday or the day before. Hint to cheaters: freshmen writers rarely say things like "Prospero is an enigmatic protagonist" unless they are English majors. Of course, if it were only that sentence, I might not have caught it, but cheaters aren't the smartest people. Another thing that gets me is the refusal to follow directions when writing a paper. I can't tell you how many papers I have read that are on a subject that does not come close to the assigned topic. I recently gave one student a 50 for putting words on a paper; but the fact that she did not write about the topic I assigned, did not use any kind of formatting (up to and including no name on the paper), and did not have a bibliography acted against her. Honestly--it's a little insulting. Perhaps it's time for another walk in the woods. Was I a more ...