The Times goes live....

Looks like the times isn't just a newspaper company anymore. They are  vlogging, blogging, podcasting, and now doing live video like a traditional cable news company. I like the possibilities of this, does anyone else see this as the method via which news media will survive. 

You can't just be a newspaper company or radio company anymore. If you want to survive in the digital age you have to do everything, and you have to do it all well. The same thing is happening over at Huffington post, except its following the ala carte model. Instead of watching an entire news cast people are watching individuals stories.

 I imagine the next BIG thing in news delivery is going to be social/tailored news casts where you might have a thirty minute news cast with like 10 stories all of which had been tailored to your viewing preferences . Imagine a world where not only did everyone have their own unique front page, but they also had their own unique news casts. 

Why I won't be voting for Obama or Romney

 Domestic Social policies are important, there is no way to argue any other way, BUT, voting for a candidate solely based on those policies is dangerous in the extreme. Part of the problem our nation faces today is our consistent failure to educate ourselves and our propensity towards voting for for the perceived lesser of two evils(evils who are generally only different on social policies). 

Social wedge issues aside, there are a variety of reasons why I won't be voting for Obama. The Patriot act has still not been revoked or revised, nor has the White House made it a priority. While the president could not on his own remove this law, it is absolutely something he could have used his bully pulpit to limit. 

 Targeted killing and kill lists are considered legitimate tools for use in the Global War On Terror, and can include Americans living abroad.

 Extraordinary rendition is still being practiced and Guantanamo is still open. The Drug war is still in full swing, which would be acceptable if the president had actually appointed someone who didn't feel like it was their job to continue wasting money on the drug war. 

Lets not forget the crony capitalism of Solyndra and GE. The bailouts 2.0 to the same people who caused the crisis in the first place. 

We are still antagonizing for an attack on Iran, and we admitted to creating the Stuxnet virus and launching an attack on a legally acting sovereign ala Russia and Estonia. While some liberals might feel that more drone strikes and computer worms are preferable to ground troops I beg to differ. 

Part of the problem with war today is that our population doesn't feel any of the consequences of it. War needs to be hell, when its not we wage it carelessly and for trivial reasons. It was wrong when GWB told fifth ave America to go shopping as he shipped out mainstreet to fight in the sands of the Middle East and it is wrong for Obama to use cyber war and institutional inertia to continue those campaigns. Not to mention the incredible risk that he has put citizens in openly admitting that the United States bilaterally, with Israel, and without UN approval, launched an offensive attack on another Sovereign nation. 

 While the CIA and NSA may think themselves top dogs, the real talent, as always, is in the for profit private black market and this kind of behavior is going to have long term repercussions ala 9/11. Imagine waking up to a digital attack of mass proportions and having to explain to the population that there is little that can be done because we did it first. 

Most importantly the President has the power to indefinitely detain anyone, anywhere, for any reason, without Du process. This isn't hyperbole, I don't watch Fox or Alex Jones, if we the people don't start actually engaging with our political apparatus on foreign policy and economic policy we will lose our Republic. Its these kinds of big picture policies that make it impossible for me to vote for Obama. People need to stop voting with their hearts and start voting with their minds.

Take none of this as an endorsement for Romney who I see as a naked politician who will do/say whatever he has to get elected. I don't think he would be "bad for America' but I don't think he would be particularly good either. At present I am leaning towards Gary Johnson or "none of the above". 

What happened to Mike?

Everyone knew something was up Thursday, May 22, when Mike Savin failed to show up for class a second time in the same week. Having never missed a class the previous trimester, even when visibly ill, it was disconcerting to students. 


The fill in professors, Brigid Bacus and Marci Bailey, assured students that it would be okay and that Mike was just sick.

Students in Chemistry 222 found out May 29, a full week later and past the deadline to drop with a “W," that Savin had resigned. The exact why of his resignation was never articulated. Rumors abound as to why a well liked and respected instructor would simply leave three weeks before the end of the term. 


Had students been told the day Savin resigned, that he had resigned, it would have been possible for any in the class to drop with a W if they so chose. However, since Backus and Bailey did not inform the students of Savin's resignation until after the deadline to drop, such an option was precluded.

Bailey claimed that she could make no comment on the situation and Backus claimed to know nothing other than that she was filling in for Savin for the rest of the term. 

Numerous students were unwilling to make any comments on the record for fear of reprisals from the chemistry department. Students expressed everything from fear of being personally targeted for merely speaking positively about Savin, to fear of the evening class as a whole being targeted to prove that Savin was not fulfilling his contractual obligations. 

One student who had no fear of speaking up was Gil South . Gil felt that Savin was an excellent instructor and that the chemistry department at LBCC would suffer from the loss. He reached out to Savin to let him know that he appreciated his service and time and that he were sorry that Savin would no longer be teaching at LBCC. He emphatically felt like blame for his departure should be placed on the department and not on Savin.

Instructor Savin also made no comment. Savin has taught high school chemistry, college chemistry, is currently an assistant at the Oregon State University chemistry department and tutors in the Mole Hole.






At a Glance


Professor leaves suddenly right before finals and no one is talking, not even the students.


 Mike Savins Linkedin profile

Mole Hole Schedule 

Linn Benton Chemistry Department

Field Trip

Spent class at the Democrat Herald in Albany today. Pictures and video are up on Google plus https://plus.google.com/u/0/109398421611492546729/posts/MtfMgJEr8Vo

Profile of an Occupier

http://www.interzoneorganic.com/

We have all seen them on the nightly news, on youtube, twitter, and of course facebook. The amorphous but vocal Occupy movement that started back in 2011 in Zuccotti Park. The movement is still active globally, and Occupiers of all colors and nationalities can be found everywhere from Spain to right here in Corvallis. But who exactly are these occupiers, what do they want, and why are they here?

I sat down with one such occupier, Eric Coker, at the local Interzone campus coffee shop to see exactly what it was that motivated him to join the Occupation over other social justice movements or political movements. He arrived on time and dressed like a normal adult college students in cargo shorts and a t-shirt.

An educated and articulate man Eric isn’t the picture of the Occupation most of us are use to seeing on our screens. Absent are the Guy Fawkes masks, dreadlocks,protest language, and gauged earrings while the passion for social justice, social equality, and pragmatism remains.

When asked about almost any social or economic issue Eric had a ready and articulate answer. When asked about how some have pointed out that many of the occupiers are from a privileged class and that protesting economic inequality from one’s IPAD was inherently hypocritical, Eric strongly disagreed. "We are all part of the privileged class and being a part of the privleged class does not prevent one from commenting on social inequalities", he said.

He felt that the Occupy movement recognized the privilege of race, gender, and economic status by virtue of birth, and that other groups by not recognizing these things could never solve the problems that are besetting our nation.

He also stressed that being part of the privileged class does not preclude one from pointing out the inherent social injustice of the society in which one lives. If anything he felt that it was the civic responsibility of the privileged classes to come to the aid of those who were either less fortunate by virtue of their birth or by virtue of the baked in inequality of our current consumption based economic system.

Unlike what has been primarily distributed over the web Eric was quick to emphasize the need for cooperation and bridge building between faith groups, political groups, and social justice groups versus the need for more protesting. "While it might get me in trouble i do recognize that there is certain amount of overlap between the Tea party and Occupy." Eric pointed out however that the Occupy chapter in Salem had tried to have a group meeting with the Tea Party but that it had broken down because of the wide differences of opinion on basic terms and on social wedge issues.

Wedge issues and social rights issues were the primary reason that Eric became involved with the Occupy movement. While both of the movements are populist in rhetoric, they differ very widely on the social issues from women's rights and homosexuality, to the death penalty and other social rights issues. The one thing Eric was vehement about was that Occupy and he were not bound to any one party or ideology, "I support whatever works, it is not about ideology it is about practicality" he said.  

While he and the greater Occupy movement do see political protest as a viable means of civic engagement, it clearly isn’t the only methodology they are following.





At the recent city council meeting where they gave a presentation on why the city of corvallis should be moving their money. Instead of playing the Code Pink obstruction game of distraction and disturbance the occupiers, almost ironically, waited their turn, gave articulate speeches when called upon, and only during a natural lull in the meeting did they quickly chant, “Move Our Money” and link arms with “duct tape” chains.

Aside from actions against the banking industry Occupy and occupiers like Eric are interested in social justice and social equality. 


One of the main drivers of Eric and Occupy is a passion for social justice, and this is something that is not just rhetorical. Occupy Corvallis is actively working to try and improve the living conditions of the homeless by helping to bridge communication gaps between City hall and main street and by networking with existing social justice groups. One such action is going to be a meeting with the chief of police and the mayor where suggestions will be made to try and discourage police from abusing and profiling the homeless while also offering solutions to help in transferring homeless individuals back into productive society..



At a glance

Eric Coker contact info  escoker@gmail.com
Occupy Covallis http://www.facebook.com/owscorvallis
http://business.time.com/2012/05/18/was-nick-hanauers-ted-talk-on-income-inequality-too-rich-for-rich-people/

City Council meeting 4/7/2012

This week’s council meeting was particularly exciting for two reasons, the Corvallis chapter of Occupy Wall Street was there to encourage the city of Corvallis to move their money out of Wells Fargo and the council approved the Open Spaces Amendment in regards to the Seavey Meadows easement.

The Occupiers central message was that the City of Corvallis current deposits city revenue at Wells Fargo, a multinational corporation with the highest share of housing mortgages in the United States and at the heart of the current economic crisis.


A media organizer for Corvallis Occupy, Eric Coker, told the counselors that Corvallis needs to move our money to smaller and more local and ethical financial institutions is a means to stimulate and strengthen local economic ties within the community, and that will ultimately improve the local economy and foster community cohesion. 


While the Mayor and councilors were cordial to the Occupiers, ultimately the realities of modern economics and regulations prevent cities like Corvallis from moving their money because of existing federal and state regulations. At the end of the public comment, a "mic check" was called for, the Occupiers loudly chanted, with their hands "linked" together by duct-tape, about how we are enslaved to corporations and wall street.


The truly exciting event however was Patricia Muir's final victory, after 20 years, in getting the open space amendment passed for the seavey meadows. This amendment will save thirty acres of wetlands and will ensure that it remains open for public use. 


Given that the city of corvallis is short of open land, per its state goals, this amendment benefits not just the local ecology but will also ensure that Corvallis maintains compliance with its stated development goals. The land in question is owned by the city of corvallis, and has been since the property developer went bankrupt and ceded the property back to the city. Mrs. Muir, and her daughters, have been fighting to keep this land public, open, and to curtail urban sprawl for the last twenty years.
 
Laura King was also there and testified about how her and her daughters had been enjoying the open space and beautiful wetlands for the last fifteen years. She mentioned how much she enjoyed hearing the frogs and crickets in the evening. Mrs. King is no flower child, she is a hydrological engineer and understand the need for wetlands better than most, especially in regards to waste water management. 


No counselors spoke in opposition to the amendment and it passed unanimously. Sometimes the road is long but the goal is worthy.


At a glance
http://bpp.oregonstate.edu/muir - Patricia Muir’s official Oregon state page
http://archive.ci.corvallis.or.us/docview.aspx?id=330811 - Notice for Seavey Meadows Open space amendment
http://www.owscorvallis.com/mainstreet/ - Corvallis Occupy official page

Contact for persons interested in being active with the local Occupy movement:

Eric Coker (Organizer & Media), Occupy Corvallis, escoker@gmail.com, (206)-235-2859

Stephanie Hampton (Media), Occupy Corvallis occupystephanie@yahoo.com

Can you see me now?

You can’t measure what you can’t see best sums up the government's view on community college graduation rates and is at the core of the report and action plan released two weeks ago.

According to the report, about 37 percent of full-time, first-time students receive a degree or certificate within four years of beginning their studies. “Not all students take a linear path in their pursuit of higher education,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan. “Many students work full-time and are balancing family obligations while also attending school. These new outcome measures will accurately demonstrate how postsecondary schools are preparing students for success in different ways.”

These changes to reporting may increase the bureaucratic requirements of institutions like Linn Benton Community College, but they may also open up additional avenues for funding and will give accrediting and ratings agencies a better idea of how well a given institution is performing.


LBCC is already collecting some of this information for in house policy analysis, the Department of Institutional Research has information on gainful employment, follow ups with recent graduates, and studies on debt to employment ratios, up to this point the Department of Education(DOE) only required information on first time, full time students. 


According to Bruce Clemetsen, the Vice President of Student services here at LBCC, roughly 50% of the students at LBCC are full time, but many of those students are here because of the relationship with OSU and are not counted for Linn Benton’s official graduation statistics.

Under the old rules almost half of LBCC students were not counted, regardless of whether or not they graduated. In fact students who start at Linn Benton community college but then transfered to a 4 year institution or another community college were not counted in the statistics for LBCC. All of this leads to a very fragmented and incomplete picture being sent back to the DOE. 
These changes in rerpoting will enable LBCC and other community colleges to show off their community programs, that are invaluable to locals, but have up to this point not counted in the official statistics.

One such program here at LBCC is the Waste Water treatment program, after speaking with industry LBCC learned, according to Bruce Clemetsen, that water treatment plants tend to be public utilities and that industry needed more workers who have education in not just water treatment, but also public works. 
As a consequence, next year the Waste Water treatment program will be rolled into an entry level Public Works degree with Waste Water treatment as a certification within the overall degree plan. This adds flexibility to the degree program while meeting an industry and community need.  

Through LBCC connections with local industry, this program has morphed into a much more successful and adaptive degree. This program, and others like it, represent the kinds of innovations that community colleges can bring to the educational market place. By listening to not just the students, but to industry, colleges can provide a better service for students and also for the larger community. But if the DOE isn’t looking, it won’t know it, which is what makes these rules changes so important. By looking at non-traditional students, non-full time students, and students who didn’t start at the “beginning of the year”, the DOE, will be able to see the value that community colleges are bringing not just to their communities, but to the nation as a whole by providing the skills and training necessary to fulfill the demands of an ever changing marketplace.

These changes to rules may also have the unintended beneficial consequence of facilitating additional relationships like the one that LBCC has with Chemeketa community college and will help to prevent overlap and redundancy in the educational market. Due to budget cuts certain programs have had to either be curtailed or cut back, in order to ensure that the community’s needs were met. LBCC reached out to Chemeketa community college and convinced them to offer EMT training in this area, in return LBCC sold them their existing equipment and made the arrangements to have Chemeketa teach the programs here as well. This way resources are freed up for LBCC to teach other valuable programs while also ensuring that the communities need were still met. 

Like with all things there is a tension between spending money on committees and research groups to parse the schools data and the need to spend that money on actual education. 

Hopefully, these changes in reporting will strike a balance that benefits all parties involved while fostering an environment that will facilitate the education of tomorrow's leaders and community organizers.

At a Glance

Department of Education Final Report on changes to guidlines and reporting - http://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/cmss-committee-report-final.pdf

Department of education Press release on the Action plan -

http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/education-department-releases-action-plan-improve-measures-postsecondary-success

The Action plan - http://www.ed.gov/edblogs/ous/files/2012/03/Action-Plan-for-Improving-Measures-of-Postsecondary-Student-Success-FINAL2.pdf

LBCC Department of Institutional Research - http://www.linnbenton.edu/go/ir