Idiot Teacher Retention Policy

Got to hand it to the Diocese of Scranton. Just when you thought that they couldn't stir up any more controversy in the wake of its massive school closings comes its policy of teacher retention. Rather than going by seniority, the Diocese is going by consecutive years of employment. So, if you're a female teacher, taught for a while (let's say 5 years), then took time off to raise a family before returning to teach for another 5 years, you would lose out to a teacher who taught for 6 consecutive years.

I don't even want to go to the discriminatory part of this policy because, after all, this is the Catholic Church -- women are not allowed to be priests, after all. What would be gender discrimination in the secular world is part of the religious ideology. What I find ironic is that in the press conference announcing the school closing, Bishop Joseph Martino lamented the fact that there were less Catholic children being born (who would be potential students for Catholic schools). Yet, when Catholic women teachers take time off to produce and care for those Catholic children, they are penalized for the time off they took to be parents.

Baffling policy.

Idiot Media Interactions

Back after a work-imposed hiatus. Plus, some days, there's just so much going on, it's hard to pick a topic.

A couple of quick observations about dealing with the media. The first has to do with Vice-President Cheney's interview with Wolf "Please Don't Bitchslap Me" Blitzer on CNN. Blitzer had the temerity to ask the VP if he wanted to respond to an attack by Focus on the Family which criticized Mary Cheney's decision to have a baby with her partner. Focus on the Family was upset with both the fact that Mary Cheney is gay, and that the child will be born out of wedlock.

Now, this is a perfectly legitimate question. Focus on the Family represents the same conservative evangelicals who claimed that they were the difference between Bush-Cheney winning and losing in 2004. In addition, the VP is part of an administration that tried (and failed) to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman (which, if passed, would have condemned any future children Mary Cheney might have to the status of illegitimacy).

Cheney, in an act of political courage, refused to comment, then blasted Blitzer for presenting a question that was out of line. Blitzer, as he does when any guest begins to scowl, cowered, and immediately moved off the topic. Still, got to give the VP props for controlling the media.

Locally, Bishop Joseph Martino could take some lessons from Vice-President Cheney. In announcing a massive Catholic School restructuring plan, including combining four high schools in Luzerne County, Bishop Martino's words and nonverbal behavior only added fuel to an emotional fire. Nonverbally, he communicated little in the way of empathy in announcing his decision to the press. In addition, he made statements such as "[I said in November] changes would be seismic and transformative. Now you see I have kept my word." The fact that the bishop kept his word about a plan that some critics would call draconian was small comfort to the students' parents.

In addition, the Bishop placed a significant amount of blame on the downturn in local Catholic school enrollments on the historical increase in "relativism" in this country, which has led to fewer Catholic marriages and fewer Cathoic children. What the Bishop failed to note is that the recent horrendous sex scandals in the Church that had gone on for over two decades shook the public trust in the Church, especially its leadership. One other thing the Bishop failed to note is that in an era when public schools have taken a dramatic image beating themselves, why the Diocese did not do a better job of promoting Catholic education as an alternative.

As a result, students are already transferring to public schools, and parents are withholding money from the Sunday collection plates. There's loud grumbling about the Diocese taking a larger percentage of church donations, as well as the Bishop's international travel. There's even a proposal to have a Catholic high school not affiliated with the Diocese.

Certainly, even a terrific public presentation by Bishop Martino would not have overcome the disappointment of the Catholic School community in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties. Unfortunately, his presentation may have made matters worse. No props for controlling the media here.

Idiocy of Politics Fogging Perception

Fascinating Gallup Poll just came out about the relationship of perceptions of news media coverage and political affiliation.

Here was the primary question on the survey:

Generally speaking, do you think the news media have been providing an accurate or inaccurate account of the situation in Iraq?


Republicans

Accurate
(25%)

Inaccurate,
make situation
appear better
(5%)

Inaccurate,
make situation
appear worse
(67%)


Democrats

Accurate
(55%)

Inaccurate,
make situation
appear better
(32%)

Inaccurate,
make situation
appear worse
(8%)


Independents

Accurate
(42%)

Inaccurate,
make situation
appear better
(25%)

Inaccurate,
make situation
appear worse
(29%)


So, basically, the findings say that Republicans think news media coverage about Iraq is inaccurate by making the situation there appear worse, while Democrats think the coverage is generally accurate, but for those who see it as inaccurate, they see the news media making the situation in Iraq appear better than it is.

As for independents, about 4 in 10 think coverage is about right, and for those who think the coverage is inaccurate, they are roughly split as to whether the media are making the situation appear better or worse than it really is.

This is a very interesting example of selective perception -- perceiving what is going on in the world based on previously held beliefs. What is scary is how far apart Republicans and Democrats are in terms their perceptions of news coverage of Iraq.

What the survey did not report was the news media consumption habits of the respondents. I wonder if the Republicans tended to watch the Fox News Channel and the Democrats CNN. Maybe this is not just selective perception, but selective exposure as well.

Idiot Coaching Hire

The University of Alabama hired Lou Saban today to be its head coach. The deal is reported to be $4 million per year over 8 years.

It's not the size of the deal that is troubling -- most of the money comes from outside the university. It's the person Bama hired. Saban has three years left on his present contract with the pro football Miami Dolphins. He's not planning to honor that commitment. In addition, he spent the last couple weeks denying that he was going to take the Alabama job. Interestingly enough, he made similar denials when he was at Toledo, Michigan State and Louisiana State before taking another job.

So, Alabama has hired someone who is neither honest nor inclined to follow through on commitments. Quite a role model, I'd say.

I hope that future high school football players being recruited by Saban keep that in mind when deciding whether to go to Alabama.

Idiot Columnist Commentary to Start the Year

Mary Katharine Ham, managing editor of Townhall.com, just posted the following article on that site entitled "Some good things about Duke Lacrosse for a change." In the article, she argues that the mainstream media have largely painted the Duke lacrosse team as elitist pigs, for whom the charges of rape last spring seemed all too plausible. Now that Durham (NC) District Attorney Mike Nifong has dropped the rape charges (though left in place the kidnapping and sexual assault charges), Ham has decided to weigh in on how the mainstream media have gotten the story wrong.

Where has Ham been? The mainstream media have been raising doubts about the case for months, including an in-depth story on "60 Minutes." In addition, about the only person who believes that the three Duke lacrosse students are guilty of rape is the rabid law professor, Wendy Murphy, of Western New England Law School, who clearly believes that trials are not necessary -- once a person is charged with a crime, they must be guilty. Of course, the fact that Murphy is about 12 standard deviations away from the mean in terms of her understanding of American jurisprudence makes her a great source for cable show pontificating.

Glad to see Ham is paying attention to the Duke case. Might have helped had she done it nine months ago.