{"article":{"id":129116,"heading":"SMC Braces for Gov\u2019s Visit: Preparing for 3,000 to 5,000 Protestors","author":"Ann Williams and Gene Williams","created":"2005-06-15 03:35:47","modified":"2013-11-11 00:34:00","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 07:34:00","article":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><br>  <br> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.surfsantamonica.com\/ssm_site\/the_lookout\/news\/News-2005\/June-2005\/06_14_05_College_Braces_for_Goves_Visit.htm\">http:\/\/www.surfsantamonica.com\/ssm_site\/the_lookout\/news\/News-2005\/June-2005\/06_14_05_College_Braces_for_Goves_Visit.htm<\/a> <br><br> Santa Monica Lookout <br><br> College Braces for Gov&rsquo;s Visit <br><br> By Ann Williams and Gene Williams <br><br> June 14 -- No one knows exactly what will happen when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger comes to Santa Monica College Tuesday except that, like the man himself, it will be big. <br><br> The visit by the larger-than-life governor -- who will give this year&rsquo;s commencement speech -- has pumped up the college&rsquo;s traditionally low-key graduation ceremony into Brobdingnanian proportions which, like Swift&rsquo;s giants, threaten to cast a shadow over the graduates&rsquo; big day. <br><br> As the college gears up for the crowds, preparations for the commencement are &ldquo;much, much more extensive&rdquo; than they have ever been, said college spokesman Bruce Smith. <br><br> This is the first time the college has ever needed to issue tickets to the ceremony, Smith said. They printed 5,000 and have had to cut back on the number they can give to each graduate from 15 to six. They expected to run out by Monday. <br><br> In addition, the college expects to issue more than 100 press passes to reporters and camera crews from across the nation. <br><br> The governor&rsquo;s visit is &ldquo;incredibly prestigious,&rdquo; said Associated Students President and graduate Jeronimo Saldana, who will share the stage with Schwarzenegger. <br><br> &ldquo;Governors usually don&rsquo;t pay much attention to community colleges,&rdquo; Saldana said. &ldquo;Regardless of what&rsquo;s going on politically, the fact that he&rsquo;s coming to speak acknowledges the importance of community colleges.&rdquo; <br><br> But Schwarzenegger -- who attended SMC in the early &lsquo;70s -- will be bringing as much political baggage as prestige when he comes home to his alma mater and marches with the students in the graduation procession. <br><br> This has many students and faculty worrying that the controversial governor and his many opponents could turn the commencement into a political free-for-all. <br><br> &ldquo;This day is possibly the best day in a person&rsquo;s life,&rdquo; said Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein, president-elect of the Academic Senate, who worries that a political speech by Schwarzenegger could diminish the occasion. <br><br> &ldquo;Our faculty is absolutely committed to hearing all voices,&rdquo; said Jesswein. However, he stressed that the governor&rsquo;s visit shouldn&rsquo;t be &ldquo;misconstrued&rdquo; as a faculty endorsement of his policies. <br><br> For over a month, there has been mounting opposition to Schwarzenegger among students and faculty, some of whom urged the college to &ldquo;disinvite&rdquo; him. <br><br> In May, the Academic Senate passed a resolution critical of his policies which they say shortchange students and teachers and attack the tenure process, although the resolution stopped short of asking the college to cancel the governor&rsquo;s visit. <br><br> The governor says his policies are necessary to restore the State&rsquo;s fiscal health. <br><br> While families and friends of the graduates are expected fill the bleachers at Corsair Field to capacity, an equal number of protestors could gather outside. <br><br> Opposition has extended beyond the campus to include local residents, political activists and regional labor leaders who vow to show up en masse. <br><br> &ldquo;Most of these people have nothing to do with Santa Monica College,&rdquo; college spokesman Smith said, adding that campus police had met with some of the organizers. <br><br> Although estimates vary wildly, campus police told teachers and staff that they are preparing for some 3,000 to 5,000 protestors, according to a faculty member who attended the briefing. <br><br> At least two coalitions of protesters will be gathering Tuesday. <br><br> A group led by the unions will meet at St. Anne&rsquo;s Catholic Church and march to the college parking lot at 19th Street and Pico Boulevard, where they will hold a rally. Protesting faculty will meet them on their way to the athletic field in a show of solidarity. <br><br> The student led A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition will assemble near the college entrance at 17th Street and Pico Boulevard, though police will likely move them a block west to keep access to the college clear. A counter-demonstration is planned by campus Republicans. <br><br> Handling the crowd will require the combined efforts of campus and City police, Smith said. The City police will handle crowd control outside the campus, while campus police will take care of security on the inside. They will work together to handle the rally at the campus parking lot. <br><br> The protests are expected to extend along Pico Boulevard, down 16th Street and possibly around the corner up Pearl Street, drawing a semicircle around the college, SMC officials said. <br><br> Statewide, Schwarzenegger has been picketed repeatedly by teachers, firefighters and other public employees since he unveiled his proposed budget earlier this year. <br><br> Another log was added to the fire Monday, when the governor called a special election that will put a series of initiatives before the voters in November, including the &ldquo;Live Within Our Means Act&rdquo; to cap spending which his opponents say will undermine Proposition 98, the funding guarantee for California&rsquo;s schools. <br><br> &ldquo;Because Arnold has lashed out at a whole array of working people in this state, he has created probably the broadest coalition this state has ever seen to oppose his policies,&rdquo; said former Santa Monica mayor Paul Rosenstein, an AFL-CIO national field representative who will be a key player in the protests. <br><br> &ldquo;This rally Tuesday will be a reflection of that,&rdquo; Rosenstein said. <br><br> Student President Saldana said he understands why some people are against the governor, but &ldquo;if they&rsquo;re going to come and protest, they should celebrate the students at the same time. <br><br> &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re going to chant, &lsquo;Hey ho, you have to go,&rsquo; the next chant should be &lsquo;Hey, congratulations.&rsquo;&rdquo; <br>  <br> ###\n<\/body><\/html>\n","contact":"","link":"\r\nhttp:\/\/www.surfsantamonica.com","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Although estimates vary wildly, campus police told teachers and staff that they are preparing for some 3,000 to 5,000 protestors, according to a faculty member who attended the briefing.\r\n","numcomment":6,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2005\/06\/129116.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":129161,"heading":"Pensions","article":"An interesting little factoid that I'd slept on is that he's legislated a change in public employee pensions, changing them from &quot;defined benefits&quot; to &quot;defined contributions.&quot;  The current pensions work like Social Security, and give you benefits even if you live a long time, and cover you if you're low income.  The new style of pension is like a 401K, or an IRA, and pay you what you pay in.  When the cash runs out, you're SOL.  This obviously works great for the upper management, and even some middle managers, but the people who do the typing will get F*XKED.\r\n\r\nPresently, these pensions perform well above the market.  Under the new system, probably, some would underperform, and others would outperform.\r\n\r\nThis changes the pensionholders from stakeholders in a system that protects retirement, into consumers in a market of competing, higher-risk investments.","author":"johnk","parent_id":129116,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-06-15 16:40:20","modified":"2005-06-15 16:40:20","fileurl":""},{"id":129171,"heading":"stay home and keep quiet","article":"If you stayed home, his visit would be a paragraph in tomorrow's paper. But you wanted a confrontation....and I hope you get it. Enjoy the full body cavity search. ","author":"Steve","parent_id":129116,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-06-15 17:57:30","modified":"2005-06-15 17:57:30","fileurl":""},{"id":129194,"heading":"Johnk","article":">>>The new style of pension is like a 401K, or an IRA, and pay you what you pay in. When the cash runs out, you're SOL. \r\n\r\nThat's called 'responsible government' JohnK.\r\n\r\nRepeat after me: There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, There is no free lunch, etc. etc.","author":"Impartial Observer","parent_id":129116,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-06-15 20:47:38","modified":"2005-06-15 20:47:38","fileurl":""},{"id":129203,"heading":"this is really johnk","article":"No, it's called &quot;privatization.&quot;\r\n\r\nThe pension was designed to work like Social Security, but privately managed.  The result was better performance than social security, so people in the pension could benefit from that.\r\n\r\nNow it's being taken apart.\r\n\r\nBasically, he's dismantling a part of the government that is successful, for ideological purposes, and maybe as a favor to some political donors.\r\n\r\nIt's very irresponsible.","author":"imc poster","parent_id":129116,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-06-15 23:04:14","modified":"2005-06-15 23:04:14","fileurl":""},{"id":129316,"heading":"Putting Teachers on Skid Row","article":"<p>The current defined benefit system for teachers <i>replaces<\/i> Social Security . . . teachers pay into it <i>instead<\/i> of paying into Social Security . . . unless they held jobs outside of the state education system, they get <i>no<\/i> Social Security benefits when they retire.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>So to turn this into a 401(k) program that pays only until the investors' money runs out leaves our oldest living teachers with nothing.  Not even Social Security.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>&quot;Impartial&quot; Observer calls that responsible government. I guess he thinks we'll all live on our husband's Social Security when our 401(k) runs out.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Jeesh--don't get me started.<\/p>","author":"Your favorite teacher","parent_id":129116,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-06-16 22:01:24","modified":"2005-06-16 22:01:24","fileurl":""},{"id":129478,"heading":"Help America Always Remember","article":"A Frightening Analysis\r\n\r\nWe all know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Last week there was an immigration-overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of American's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor named Victor Hansen Davis talked about his latest book, &quot;Mexifornia,&quot; explaining how immigration \u2014 both legal and illegal \u2014 was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.\r\n\r\nMoments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, &quot;If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'&quot;\r\n\r\n&quot;Here is how they do it,&quot; Lamm said: First to destroy America, &quot;Turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country. History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar Seymour Lipset put it this way: 'The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy. Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans.&quot;\r\n\r\nLamm went on: Second, to destroy America, &quot;Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.\r\n\r\nThird, &quot;We could make the United States a 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: 'The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved! Not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentrically and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.'&quot;\r\n\r\nLamm said, &quot;I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America reinforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities.&quot;\r\n\r\n&quot;Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high school.&quot;\r\n\r\n&quot;My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population.&quot;\r\n\r\n&quot;My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity! Unity is what it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshiped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic Games.\r\n\r\nA common enemy Persia threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to over come two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell.\r\n\r\n&quot;E. Pluribus Unum&quot; \u2014 From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus' instead of the 'Unum,' we can balkanize America as surely as Kosovo.&quot;\r\n\r\n&quot;Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits ~ make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'x! xenophobes' halt discussion and debate.&quot;\r\n\r\n&quot;Having made America a bilingual\/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them.&quot;\r\n\r\nIn the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said, &quot;Lastly, I would censor Victor Hanson Davis's book Mexifornia. His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book.&quot;\r\n\r\nThere was no applause.\r\n\r\nA chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Every discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.' American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America \u2014 take note of California and other states \u2014 to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book &quot;1984.&quot; In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: &quot;War is peace,&quot; &quot;Freedom is slavery,&quot; and &quot;Ignorance is strength.&quot;\r\n\r\nGovernor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that our nation and the future of this great democracy are deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped within three years, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream.","author":"Stop the insanity","parent_id":129116,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2005-06-18 04:22:27","modified":"2013-11-11 00:34:03","fileurl":""}]}