Those darn Professors!

UPDATE: (3:00 PM) So one of the Anon's comments got me thinking and I need to link to a Republican article so it is easier to do as an update rather than in comments:

Well, Anon (and I get the impression you were on the receiving end of that originalemail—so why the Hell did you not tip me?)…I’m a tad bummed that the good chaplain had a SOM (School of Management) email address—but hey, even pro business folks could use salvation.

And the good chaplain teaches about homelessness, eh? I did note another interesting article in today’s Republican (by veteran reporter Mike Plaisance) about getting out the homeless vote. And why do I get the impression that most of them would end up voting the Democratic slate?

Let em eat cake--as long as they vote Democratic

UPDATE: 3:15 PM. So my friends at the Umass Republican Club just joined the party:

From: "UMass Republican Club"
Subject: Obama forces derailed at UMass Amherst
Date: September 23, 2008 2:50:11 PM EDT

Thanks to quick maneuvering and relentless media pressure from the Massachusetts Republican Party and the UMass Amherst Republican Club, UMass Amherst has become one campus where university-sanctioned political bias will not go unanswered.

We direct your attention to the following news story and we encourage you to contact our Chancellor (chancellor@umass.edu) or University President (presidentwilson@umassp.edu) with your inquiries.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view/2008_09_23_UMass_chaplain_fails_in_effort_to_boost_Barack_Obama_s_chances/

The story has also received front-page attention from the influential Drudge Report: http://www.drudgereport.com

Thank you,

Brad DeFlumeri

Vice President, UMass Amherst Republican Club

(Original Post 10:00 PM, 9/22/08) So I guess nobody will be shocked by the revelation that an unnamed Umass History professor would reward students with two credits for hustling in New Hampshire for the new messiah, Democrat Barack Obama.

Funny, you never hear these sleazy PC missteps attributed to the Isenberg School of Management or those brainy Polymer Science and Engineering folks.

On Sunday night (so it was not on company time) a bevy of writers with Umass connections—most notably Pulitzer Prize winner Madeleine Blais now teaching in the Journalism Department; and as described in a radio commercial for a local restaurant as the “bad ass Puerto Rican poet” and current professor in the Department of English Martin Espada performed at a fancy wine-and-cheese event at the Hotel Northampton raising $26,000 for Obama.

In Monday’s Daily Hampshire Gazette Ms. Blais, who helped organize the affair, boasted:” We’re going viral," she said. "It's beginning to look like a populist uprising."

Hmmm…if that’s the case--then why are his poll numbers not moving on up?

The Boston Globe Reports (based on AP story)

Speaking of "going viral." Yikes!

An oldy but a goody

And who could forget this display?

Politically active indeed!

Let the sun shine!

So today’s Sunday Republican struck me—journalistically speaking—as a tad schizophrenic. The awesome editorial from Editor in Chief Larry McDermott championed the Open Meeting Law (bureaucratic political nitwits otherwise known as the Boston City Council wants the state legislature to exempt them from OML because they love to do their duty under cover of darkness).

Larry's editorial

Yet in the same edition we also had a story by staff writer Stephanie Barry about a “retreat” of the Springfield School Committee with new Superintendent Alan Ingram and a quorum of that committee.

According to Barry’s article: Member Michael P. Rodgers said after the retreat that the dialogue was long overdue. He also commended Ingram for uniting committee members.

"He has a calming effect," Rodgers said. "A unified School Committee will result in a unified school system."

Sounds to me like a violation of the Open Meeting Law.

Stephanie's story

Chilling effect, indeed. And I thought Amherst officials were whacked.

Down in the Valley

Final loose end

Click to read: note the RETURN ADDRESS 11:45 AM

10:00 AM
I stopped into the Town Clerk's office on the way to the Jones Library where I am at the moment keeping my darling daughters occupied, to inquire if Mr. Hubley resigned his Town Meeting seat yet (I had asked to be informed when it came in--but Public Documents Law does not allow for asking in advance for a document).

Sure enough, Mr. Hubley did indeed resign his seat as of 8/31 (no mention in his resignation letter of stalking, harassment or aliens flying black helicopters).

Going green...or brown

Thursday 10:30 AM

So….Kendrick Park is much too good for the Amherst Pelham Boy Scouts to use for selling Christmas trees—a sixty year tradition—but, the Town Manager allows a patch of weeds, errrr—I mean wheat (maybe he figured they would use it for beer and give him a glass).

Memo to Happy Heads: come harvest your wheat.

And they're off!

Click photo to read

No it doesn’t surprise me that Aaron Hayden would get out the first piece of Select Board campaign literature, arriving at my humble abode yesterday on primary election day that voters seemed not to care about in the least.

What does surprise me—but only a little—is the Registrar of Voters predicting a 90% turnout on November 4! Amherst has always turned out in droves every 4 years for the Presidential election, even though Massachusetts is never in doubt and the highest federal office in the land has no impact on the town.

But come spring, for the annual local election that has everything to do with running our $60+ million operation, we get a 15% turnout. Only in Amherst.

Mixed message

So I’ve given up being concerned that an X-President (or current one) has suddenly died when I spot Amherst College’s majestic flag on Chapel Hill at half-staff.

Last night, coming home from those pesky uptown public meetings with a full moon as a direct backdrop, a steady breeze and powerful illumination from below, Old Glory was a stirring sight indeed—especially in THAT mournful position.

Yet last week on 9/11 Amherst's most prominently placed flag was not at half-staff as ordered by the President of the United States--as opposed to President of the College. Nor was it properly displayed on Memorial Day, December 7, or Peace Officers’ Day (May 15).

I just assumed it was to mark the passing of literary genius David Foster Wallace, an Amherst College graduate and former visiting professor. But according to their Intranet Announcements:

In Memoriam: Stephen L. Clark '75
The Johnson Chapel flag has been lowered to half-staff in memory of Stephen L. Clark '75. Clark, who passed away Thursday, Sept. 11

David Foster Wallace would probably love the irony: Amherst College forgets to fly the flag at half-staff last week on 9/11 to mourn 3,000 Americans; but remembers to do it now in honor of an employee who just passed away…on 9/11.

With all the best intentions

Even in Massachusetts