I have a day job. So every word of this is my opinion, not that of my employer. This offer IS void in Wisconsin. Except, of course, that some material in this column comes from incoming e-mail; such material is usually reproduced in the Sans Serif type font to distinguish it from the (somewhat) original material.

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Tales of Teaching 2004
Tales of Teaching 2005

June 23, 2003 Vol. 5, No.26

General News

• The Girls To Europe
• Get Outta Town
• High Crimes... I Was Right!
• Mary Elizabeth Gilmore

Computer Industry News

• Craig Reynolds' Technobriefs

Web Site of the Week

• None

Humor

• The Top 15 Other Grave Mistakes Martha Stewart Has Made

Movies

• Spellbound

Letters

• Grobstein's Picks, Dern Checks In, Dalton on Government Malfeasance, Another Urban Legend

General News

High Crimes... I Was Right!

The petards are being hoisted in Washington even as we speak, and it couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of people: the House Republicans. Just as I predicted in 1998--when you lower the bar and cheapen the process of impeachment, you run the risk of virtually every president facing an impeachment threat. Bush, the man elected president on a 5-4 vote, now faces just such a threat over his lies about intelligence to goad us into war.

I don't know about you, but I think lying about weapons of mass destruction, and telling a lie that results in the death of American troops, is way more significant than lying about sex with an intern. And if every Republican member of the house weren't a hypocrite of the first water, they'd have to concede that point.

Of course, the House GOP members are also rabid political partisans, and we all know Clinton's impeachment had nothing to do with his actions and everything to do with his being a Democrat. The contortions they will go through in the next six months will render each and every one of them worthy of lifetime employment in the circus.

Only if the American people demand it will impeachment take place. And the American people cannot be trusted to consistently demand anything from their politicians but lower taxes, more services and pious hypocrisy.

Nevertheless, I, for one, plan to be vastly entertained and amused by the three-ring circus that is shaping up in our nation's capital. At least, I hope, it will be as distracting for the GOP as it was for the Democrats, so that it will prevent them from moving forward on their un-American, un-patriotic, unfair political agenda. The Constitution may be saved!

And I still contend that the GOP decision to politicize the impeachment process, to make every political dispute into a legal dispute, will come back to bite them and every American president from now on. Nice work Newt! Your legacy is safe. I am disgusted, the American political system lies in ruins, but Newt got what he wanted: Clinton in the dock. Hope it was worth it, Newt! Meanwhile, hoist those petards high, and let's begin anew the debate over high crimes and misdemeanors.

The Girls To Europe

Rae left for New York on Tuesday, where she joined Marlow for a bittersweet celebration of Marlow's last-ever night as a resident of Manhattan. Then the two of them climbed onto a plane for London's Heathrow. A week in London, then a week bicycling on a guided tour through Ireland, then back home for an unstructured summer. The only activity I know for sure they will indulge in while in London is to view a matinee of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged. I know this because I bought the tickets for them. Rae's interest stems from having directed a performance of the play at Miramonte. Marlow's stems from watching several of her friends perform the work four years earlier. They're both excited.

If they allow me, I'll print excerpts from their trip e-mails. If not, I'll summarize, as if they were private letters J.D. Salinger prohibited me from quoting directly. (obscure literary reference)

Get Outta Town

Well, imagine my surprise when Vicki suggested I take a couple of days at the coast this weekend. She'll take her time off later in the summer. As a result of blowing this popcorn stand on Friday morning, I escaped too soon for Craig Reynolds to submit Technobriefs, and I may well miss other, unexpected submissions. Sorry about that folks, but my batteries could use a good, stiff recharge.

Mary Elizabeth Gilmore

It's a long story. My old high school radio station, KBPS, has fallen on hard times as the Portland Public Schools fall apart (you've seen it all in Doonesbury). I am ashamed of the people of my natal state, but then Oregonians have always been a parsimonious lot. They'll cut off their nose to spite their face. Example: no sales tax. Which means all those hordes of Californians (whom Oregonians hate) sail through each summer without contributing so much as a dime to the state's coffers. Pfeh. The only sure things are death and the certain conviction of the average American that they are overtaxed.

Well, KBPS was the most important institution in my youth. I served as Chief of Staff in the 1969-70 school year (ably assisted by Hal Hill, and succeeded by radio giant Bruce Murdock) under long-time station supervisor Dr. Patricia L. Swenson, to whom I owe my entire professional career and whose grace I can only hope to emulate, but never fully repay. In any case, the second most important institution in my life was Benson Polytechnic School, which has operated KBPS since 1923. While I had many excellent teachers there (Carlton Bryson and Harold Arendt spring immediately to mind), I have to say that Mary Elizabeth Gilmore, my junior social studies teacher, was the best by a micro-thin margin. She was a fantastic teacher; I learned so much from her. She taught the subject, but like all good teachers, she also taught by example. She was calm, rational, and never played favorites. Also, I'll never forget that she taught a nine-week labor history unit that ended the day the state AFL-CIO held its annual scholarship competition (multiple choice and essay, as I recall). Now that's good timing, and not an accident; she did the same thing every year.

The connection? In 1947, exactly 20 years before I became her student, Mrs. Gilmore ended her six-year career as manager of KBPS, to be succeeded by Dr. Swenson. There was bad blood there--Mrs. Gilmore says she never set foot in the station again. Regardless, there was that distant connection between my best teacher and the institution that shaped my life.

I don't know if Mrs. Gilmore is still alive; I can find neither an obit nor any mention of her anywhere on the Internet. She could be as young as 83. If anyone finds this and knows how to find her, I'd like to say thanks directly. If not, I've launched her name into cyberspace with my endorsement. [ed. note: on July 23, 2004 I was informed she was born in 1908 and died in 1991. RIP, Mrs. Gilmore; you were one of the greats.]

Computer Industry News

Craig Reynolds' Technobriefs

Craig Reynolds surfs the net for you. My snap out of town trip shortened this week's contribution.

Web Site of the Week

None

Humor

The Top 15 Other Grave Mistakes Martha Stewart Has Made

I believe this is the first time I've been No. 5.

Movies

Spellbound

You want the facts? Go to the Internet Movie Database

I'll be brief. Funny, clever, well-edited, and it has you on the edge of your seat. The story of a half-dozen contestants in the National Spelling Bee. How they prepare. How they feel about it. Climaxing, of course, with the spelling bee itself.

Once again, a filmmaker has discovered one of those alternate universes that exist alongside ours, that you've (probably) never seen, or barely knew existed, and made it come alive. I don't know about you, but I sat there, trying to outspell the contestants. I couldn't spell distractible either, by the way (and I notice my spellchecker caught it). You'd think spellcheckers would have killed off spelling bees. Oh no! Don't miss the appearance by the winner of the first been, in 1925. His clips are great!

By the way, if any of you have spelling bee experiences to share, be my guest.

Five stars. As good as Bowling for Columbine, but without the agenda. You'll laugh. You'll cry. Really. Rated G. Worth a special trip. Rae loved it.

Letters

Grobstein's Picks, Dern Checks In, Dalton on Government Malfeasance, Another Urban Legend

The Dan Grobstein File:

* Remember that ambassador who resigned and blasted Bush foreign policy? Now a National Security Council aide has resigned and joined the Kerry campaign: Former Aide Takes Aim at War on Terror (Washington Post)

* As the legal counsel to Texas Governor George W. Bush, Alberto R. Gonzales-now the White House counsel, and widely regarded as a likely future Supreme Court nominee-prepared fifty-seven confidential death-penalty memoranda for Bush's review. Never before discussed publicly, the memoranda suggest that Gonzales repeatedly failed to apprise Bush of some of the most salient issues in the cases at hand. The Texas Clemency Memos (The Atlantic Monthly).

* The biggest technical transition in motion picture history: digital projection (New York Times).

Daniel Dern noticed my quotation, "Well, as Henry Ford II used to say, never complain, never explain." His comment:

Our government, yours and mine, the one we pay for with out taxes, is destroying the lives of innocent people in its ill-considered, hasty war that doesn't quite fight terrorism. That's the only possible conclusion you can reach after reading this New York Times story posted at Yahoo News and forwarded by Richard Dalton.

If you get "How To Survive A Heart Attack Alone," don't you believe it. It's an urban legend.

Dave Methvin's PC Pitstop