A 'whole' new admissions process

Whole-language instruction.

Holistic medicine.

University of Washington admissions.

According to The Seattle Times, the University of Washington is switching its admissions criteria to consider the whole student.

Grades only part of picture for new UW admissions plan

By Nick Perry, Seattle Times staff reporter

Beginning this year, the University of Washington will no longer automatically admit top students based on their high-school grades and test scores.

The university is ditching a statewide student-ranking system called the Admissions Index, which it relied on to admit about half its students. The university is also getting rid of an internal system called the "grid," which ranked remaining students on a combination of academic and personal factors.

Instead, university staffers plan to read and review every one of the 16,000 annual freshmen applications to come up with a "holistic" assessment of each candidate. Besides academic performance, they will consider factors such as whether a student has overcome personal or social adversity, their leadership skills and their extracurricular interests.

This is a monumental shift in the admissions process in our state. No longer will a student with a great report card but no activites to speak of be an automatic admission to The U. Essentially, this is a thumb in the eye at the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, the state's standardized assessment that is a graduation requirement for the Class of 2008. No more checked boxes and percentage ranges. Now, prospective students will be judged as real people.

Probably, this will worry many of the people who shell out money for SAT prep courses and who take a dozen AP courses hoping to have a transcript that reads like a nice pedigree. Now they have to have passions and interests and hobbies and personalities? Good.

The Times' Nicole Brodeur used her Sunday space to support the changes. It's a nice read, too, and I'm posting it all here to avoid The Times' Web site, which is free anyway.

Nicole Brodeur
"Whole" students get chance

My mother was an English teacher who worked long hours and didn't get paid enough.

One of the perks of the job, though, was the live theater performed daily, right in front of her desk. Students would beg like the orphans in "Oliver Twist," stir up stories like the witches of "Macbeth," and threaten "Romeo and Juliet"-style peril, all for a better grade.

Their college admission, their parents' love, their very lives depended on my mother, her grade book, and one fateful flick of her Flair pen.

She rarely budged from the grade she had already given — and she paid for it with parental blowback, tears and threats.

So it was for my ever-patient mother, and those kids, that I celebrated the University of Washington's decision to take a "holistic" approach to its admissions process.

Instead of betting the house on grades and SAT scores — in keeping with a statewide student-ranking system called the Admissions Index — the school will instead pore over the whole student.

It will review academic performance, but also whether the applicant has overcome adversity, shown leadership and has extracurricular interests.

Now the kids who work after school, who tend to a younger sibling or an aging grandparent, who shut down when tests start up, or who just don't fit the pass-in-your-papers mold, have a better chance at a Husky education.

And the Oscar-worthy kids like my mother's students? They may learn to look up from their books and get a life instead of just a grade.

Adjusting the focus on grades is a welcome trend that we're seeing all over.

Starting in 2007, Roosevelt High School will name just one valedictorian.

The school had 24 in 2002; last year, about half that many.

But the school wants to restore meaning to the honor, according to a recent Seattle Times story. Roosevelt students still have to get straight A's but also must serve the community. The goal is to end the pressure and gamesmanship that make it a competition.

With the new UW admissions policy, "Maybe some of the dropouts will go back and get their GED" if they know there's a chance for a higher education, said Marsha Richards of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a conservative public-policy think tank in Olympia.

And while it may address the whole person to ease academic standards, the UW still should screen students "to be sure they are able to succeed," Richards said.

The new process won't come cheap. The UW estimates it will cost $200,000 to hire people to read through all those applications, and it plans to make the money back by raising the application fee from $38 to about $50.

But what will the students get in return? The ability to walk across a campus they have only driven past. To be a part of something they had maybe given up on, for reasons not entirely their own.

"History is full of examples of people who have overcome odds," Richards said, "and gone on to change the world."

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com. State college. Majored in The Dead.

So buck up, all of you without a 4.0 GPA or a 1500 SAT (2200 new score). You still have a chance at the University of Washington. Just show how you are a real person, have done some interesting things in your life so far and maybe you'll get a spot at our state's finest research institution. Isn't that the role of the university?

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

I go out walking

Except for a few months in 1996 and a few more in 1997, I have always live in a small town, close to work, close to my needs. I grew up in Ellensburg, Wash., a place that is exceptionally friendly to walkers and bikers alike. I walked to school starting in second grade -- we lived just about six blocks from my first elementary school. In third grade, I changed schools, but I continued to walk the 13 blocks to school despite several frightening dogs and some very cold mornings. In fourth grade I began to ride my bike to school, something about which I was very excited, and a habit I continued through high school. Well, except for my half of my sophomore year, but that is complicated.

Even into college, I rode my bike, and I walked all around campus. I never owned a motor vehicle until I was 20, and my first used car at 21. Yes, I am a walker, and I like it.

Yet when I moved to Wenatchee, I found myself driving everywhere. I had grown accustomed to it because of a short residence in western Washington, and now I had my first professional job and a new car. I liked driving. I missed walking, but I lived too far from school for a walk to be convenient with all I had to carry and with my late hours. That is until I bought my current house, which is just four blocks from school. I've lived here three years and have never walked a full week to school. Until now.

I walked to school every day for two weeks, and I felt good for doing it. Well, one day I drove because I had an appointment right after school, but I rode my bike back to school for an activity later.) There is something nice about a morning walk -- a chance to prepare for the day, a chance to greet the sun and to breathe in the crisp, musky scent if autumn as I walk briskly along with my day's work and lunch slung across my back.

And, it turns out that last week was also National Walk to School Week. Heck, I am glad when I can walk more than I drive, and I even was part of a national awareness campaign last week.

I drove to Seattle this weekend, and I drained my gas tank to fumes on the return trip. I filled it up this morning at the gas station nearby. It cost $41. For unleaded regular. I guess I have done mostly topping off during the last month or so. When I first got the car in 1997, I recall paying just $16 to fill up. Just a few months before that, gas was 92 cents a gallon, and I recall balking on my cross-country journey home to Washington when I would see gas at $1.13 per gallon.

Gas is almost $3 per gallon. I have commented often to friends and coworkers that anything under $3 is not outrageous, especially when we pay $1.25 for a pint of bottled water or $2.75 for a fancy coffee (let alone $3.50 for a child-size pop at the cinema). Still, $41 has a bit of a sting. It's enough to convince a guy to walk to work.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Oliver North is coming to Wenatchee

Oliver North is coming to town, giving a speech as part of a fund-raiser for St. Paul's Lutheran Church.

Little information is available about the event other than what appears on a Mission Street billboard, but he will be here Nov. 19. North is also conducting a book tour, and he will probably try to seel a few of his books here.

North's online biography from his speaker's bureau makes plenty of mention of his assistance in rescues and planning attacks on foreign lands. It does not mention his role in the scandal that almost sunk two presidential administrations. But we all know who Oliver North is, and what he did.

Here's a refresher from Wikipedia:

North became famous due to his participation in the Iran-Contra Affair, in which he was the chief coordinator of the illegal sale of weapons via intermediaries to Iran, with the profits being channeled to the Contra rebel group in Nicaragua. He was responsible for the establishment of a covert network used for the purposes of aiding the Contras.

In November 1986, North was fired by President Reagan, and in July 1987 he was summoned to testify before televised hearings of a joint Congressional committee formed to investigate Iran-Contra. During the hearings, he admitted that he had lied to Congress, for which he was later charged. He defended his actions by stating that he believed in the goal of aiding the Contras, whom he saw as "freedom fighters," and said that he viewed the illegal Iran-Contra scheme as a "neat idea."

North was tried in 1988 in relation to his activities while at the National Security Council. He was indicted on sixteen felony counts and on May 4, 1989, he was convicted of three: accepting an illegal gratuity, aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry, and destruction of documents (by his secretary, Fawn Hall, on his instructions). He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell on July 5, 1989, to a three-year suspended prison term, two years probation, $150,000 in fines, and 1,200 hours community service.

However, on July 20, 1990, a three-judge appeals panel overturned North's conviction in advance of further proceedings on the grounds that his public testimony may have prejudiced his right to a fair trial. [1] The Supreme Court declined to review the case, and Judge Gesell dismissed the charges on September 16, 1991, after hearings on the immunity issue, on the motion of the independent counsel.

Essentially, North's convictions were overturned because he had been granted limited immunity for his Congressional testimony, and this testimony was deemed to have influenced witnesses at his trial.

A summary: A local church has a billboard displayed where the church announces it is sponsoring a speech by a man widely known as a convicted felon, a man whose felonies were overturned because Congress had granted limited immunity. He's a man who has since built a career as a political talking head, a hero of the Right, a losing U.S. Senate candidate in Virginia and author. But he calls himself a patriot. Critics argue no one man is above the law no matter how righteous he may be.

He is not the kind of person who should be on a billboard, and I am surprised that St. Paul's would want to be associated with such a character. It does little to help the church. Sadly, the event will probably sell well in Wenatchee, where North should prove popular. Maybe people will just want to see this lying fraud in person.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Failed candidate becomes author

The failed Republican candidate for governor will publish a book next month. Dino Rossi, the former state senator who lost the election to Gov. Christine Gregoire by 133 votes and a long court battle, has written a book with tips about leadership, business, politics and life. But I doubt it will offer much new in the way of inspiration.

From the Associated Press:

In between campaigns, Rossi turns writer

By DAVID AMMONS
AP POLITICAL WRITER

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- Dino Rossi, taking a sabbatical from politics but still treated as Republicans' once and future candidate for governor, is turning to the printed word to keep his name fresh in people's minds.

He's written a book about his rags-to-riches life, the Election from Hell and his thoughts and aphorisms on government, business, politics and living a good life. The hardback edition, published by his own new publishing house, with a first printing that could hit 25,000 copies, will be pre-sold on the Internet.

First copies will roll off the press next month, one year after Rossi won the governor's mansion by 261 votes and a recount by 41 votes. The office slipped out of his grasp, though, on the third count and Democrat Christine Gregoire was declared governor. Rossi lost a court challenge in June and now says, "I've moved on. I moved on a long time ago."

Part of Rossi's new post-campaign life was writing "Dino Rossi: Lessons in Leadership, Business, Politics and Life."

He has blurbs from Rudy Guiliani and John McCain, both presumptive presidential candidates who have written books, and from Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.

Don't expect sex, sensationalism or delicious payback attacks of an Olympia tell-all, though. The book combines autobiography and business tips with political and campaign narrative - all told with his sunny, make-lemonade-when-life-gives-you-lemons approach.

Although he defends his conservatism, including his opposition to abortion, in what he describes as a Democratic-leaning "blue state," he portrays himself as a different kind of conservative, mindful of the needy and willing to cross the aisle to find allies. He says he grew in a "Scoop Jackson Democrat" family and refuses to call Democrats the enemy or even the opposition.

The book will be Rossi's main public voice for a time. He has eschewed the role of governor-in-exile and rarely does political analysis. He isn't taking sides on this year's ballot initiatives, and has largely unplugged from politics for now.

Click the link for background, for what Rossi has been up to since being declared a loser again, and for a sample of some of his musings. Undoubtedly the book will make the Republican Gift List -- a courtesy gift to thank donors or to inspire the Coulter clones. I don't think Rossi has much to teach about leadership or business or politics or life with the exception that he did exit the political stage mostly gracefully. I look foreward to seeing this in the bargain bin.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

A walk down a 'country' lane

Saturday night.

Flipping channels on the TV.

I stop on Channel 20 -- PAX, the wholesome American values channel.

What grabbed my attention was a lengthy advertisement for a series of country music videos. But this was not any set of country music videos. No, this was a set of country classics. This did not contain any Dixie Chicks, no Faith Hill and certainly no Toby Keith. Instead, there was Johnny Cash, Conway Twitty and the Oak Ridge Boys. This was indeed a selection of classics.

I thought I would just listen to the clip of Cash singing the "Folsom Prison Blues," but I was drawn into the twangy lyrics, the banjo-plucking and slow crooning that I grew up with as Country and Western music on the AM dial as a kid in Ellensburg.

Today I am not a fan of country music, and there is a lot of today's country music that I find deplorable (Toby Keith especially -- someone shoud put a boot in his mouth). But the 1970s and 1980s were decades when Country and Western music thrived, a time when being wholesome meant something, and the values behind the music were real, not just a ploy to divide Red State America from the Left Coast.

There is something intoxicating about the deep bass vocals in Johnny Cash's songs, something amazing to watch Mickey Gilley's hands fly over the piano keys, something delightful to listen to Loretta Lynn's heartfelt experiences.

Ah, yes -- the AM radio (KXLE 1240) provided me with a solid foundation in the Nashville tradition. As tonight's commercial played clip after clip, I recognized them all -- Buck Owens, the Judds, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Randy Travis, Reba McEntire, George Jones, George Strait, Tammy Wynette and Merle Haggard.

Much of my country upbringing came from my family's Saturday night TV lineup, which for years included "Hee Haw" and the variety show with Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell sisters (Louise and Irlene).

So it's Saturday night again, and I can't find anything as good as "Hee Haw" on TV. I think TV would be well served to bring back a show like "Hee Haw," with its corny skits and cheesy jokes -- Pickin' and Grinnin' was always my favorite.

Yeah, I admit I have a country upbringing. There are worse skeletons to have in one's closet. I was country when country wasn't cool.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Cool Blog Alert: News Gems

From the Web site of the Society of Professional Journalists:

Jon Marshall, a freelancer and instructor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, has launched a blog highlighting the best in U.S. journalism. Called "News Gems," the blog features examples of stories with thorough, enterprising reporting and great writing from newspapers, television, radio, magazines and Web sites. While journalists receive a barrage of criticism, News Gems aims to be a daily Pulitzer that acknowledges great work.

Check it out at newsgems.blogspot.com.

E-mail Jon with suggested stories at newsgems@sbcglobal.net.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Hastings says ethics panel won't investigate DeLay

Hastings says ethics panel won't investigate DeLay

The Seattle Times | Complete article
WASHINGTON — Rep. Doc Hastings, the Washington state Republican who chairs the House ethics committee, touched off a political controversy this week with statements supporting embattled Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

Hastings told the Yakima Herald-Republic that his committee would not investigate a 15-month-old complaint about DeLay's role in alleged illegal campaign contributions in Texas.

Such an investigation would duplicate the work of the Texas district attorney who obtained indictments against DeLay over the fund-raising issue, Hastings said. "We don't have the resources," he added.

A Hastings spokeswoman later said the congressman wasn't ruling out an investigation after the criminal case.

In the Yakima interview, Hastings also suggested that the case brought by Travis County prosecutor Ronnie Earle in Austin, Texas, is a Democratic partisan move.

So, while DeLay is on trial in Texas, the House Ethics Committee, which has dragged its feet for months on this and other investigations, again postpones its own investigation of the wrongdoing of the former majority leader.

Hastings will be interviewed Oct. 11 by my student journalists, and I imagine they'll have a few questions for the Ethics Committee Chair, also their Congressman. We'll see.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Crazy stuff in the news

Animal rights group angry over goldfish swallowed at school assembly

FEDERAL WAY (AP) — Two high school boys got a stern talking to after swallowing goldfish at a school assembly. Animal rights activists think they deserved harsher punishment.

After learning about the stunt late last month, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals urged Federal Way Public Schools to adopt a district-wide policy prohibiting the use of animals in school functions.

“We feel certain you’ll agree that killing fish in the name of school spirit is unacceptable,” wrote Jennifer O’Connor, an official with the Norfolk, Va.-based group.

“If the reports we received are accurate, this cruel spectacle has no place in Federal Way public schools. Given the proliferation of violence in the schools, it is imperative that we teach compassion for all living beings rather than publicly encouraging cruelty to animals,” O’Connor added.

Federal Way Schools Superintendent Tom Murphy replied that he asked one of his deputies to “reiterate to all our principals that this type of activity is never appropriate and should never occur in our schools.”

The district has instituted a policy requiring school principals to review student presentations to be made during school assemblies, a duty that was previously handled by a teacher or adviser.

My comments: Dude, kids should not be swallowing fish at a school assembly. Yeah, it's cruel, but it is also gross. But come on, should a principal have to review every presentation scheduled for an assembly? What a waste of time. Some kids at Todd Beamer High School do something stupid and everyone in the district has to pay. Lame.

Schools ban some dances as being too explicit:
Spokane-area parents and school officials freak over teens’ ‘freaking’ dance style

SPOKANE (AP) — Central Valley High School has become the latest Spokane-area school to ban informal dances, known as mixers, because of sexually explicit dancing called “freaking.”

The style involves grinding and gyrating against a dance partner or several people at once in what one school administrator said looks like having sex with clothes on.

“I think part of the issue is that the students don’t know how to dance to the type of music that is being played now,” Central Valley Principal Mike Hittle said. “It’s what they see on MTV, and in the clubs, and it’s gotten to the point where it is just inappropriate.”

Prior to a Sadie Hawkins dance scheduled for Oct. 29, teachers will offer dance classes to students who want to learn another way to dance.

Proms and other formal date dances are still allowed at Greater Spokane League schools, but informal mixers are banned at most.

After staff turned on the lights because some students were dancing inappropriately at a recent dance, Mount Spokane High School student leaders voted to do away with mixers.

“Our student leadership looked at it and just said that’s not what we’re about,” Vice Principal Jim Preston said.

“We will still try to create opportunities for students to come together and celebrate, but we just want it to be in an appropriate or positive manner.”

My comments: Too much freakin' in Spocompton! The school folks say, "We're not gonna take it anymore!" So now, kids in Spokane will have to freak on their own time, which they were probably doing anyway. And the nice kids are left out in the cold.

Washington woman booted off flight over T-shirt with Bush, Cheney and Rice

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Woodland, Wash., woman was booted off a Southwest Airlines flight for wearing a T-shirt that bore an expletive and images of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Lorrie Heasley said she plans to press a civil-rights complaint against the airline over Tuesday's action at Reno-Tahoe International Airport, halfway through Heasley's scheduled trip from Los Angeles to Portland.

"I have cousins in Iraq and other relatives going to war," Heasley told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "Here we are trying to free another country and I have to get off an airplane ... over a T-shirt. That's not freedom." Complete story.

My comments: This passenger is right -- it is not freedom for her to have to get off a flight because of a T-shirt, especially one she wore for a portion of the flight. In the words of Vice President Cheney, Southwest can go f*** itself.

Crazy stuff in the news, for sure.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

The Religious Left

I recently stumbled upon the Weblog of a friend of mine, a fellow Wenatchee-area teacher. The site has been dormant for a month or so -- that start of school can really knock the wind out of you -- but the Sept. 5 post is interesting, especially juxtaposed next to my "Sky Diving for Jesus" post, which raise da few hackles among the local Evangelical Christians who also read my Weblog.

So check it out and see whatcha think. And post a comment -- we need more updates from that perspective, and fast.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Friends in high places

Today's appointment from the Oval Office showed Americans again that the best way to get a high government appointment in the George W. Bush Administration is to be a buddy of W. himself. It's been well-known for a while that W. fancies himself a good judge of character and values loyalty highly.

Several current cabinet mambers -- and the vice president, I might add -- started as Bush advisers and ended with a large office and a personal staff themselves. Dick Cheney was contacted in 2000 to be the "old guard" consigliere to assist with vetting potential running mates for Bush, then the governor of Texas. Then, suddenly, Cheney walked out, clasped hands with W. and he was in.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales goes way back to Texas with W, serving as his Texas general counsel, appointed to the Texas Supreme Court and then as White House Counsel during the first term. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, also a Bush Texan, was domestic policy adviser to Bush during his first term. Former Commerce Secretary Don Evans ran the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign. The list goes on.

And now, Bush has nominated his current White House Counsel, Harriet Miers, to the United States Supreme Court. She had previously served as deputy chief of staff and head of the Texas lottery commission and the Texas bar. She had also been entrusted with guiding the search for a replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor, after O'Connor announced her retirement in July, and later for William Rehnquist, who died in September.

It's evident Bush values personal loyalty above qualifications. Before I bash the heck out of Meirs' qualifications for the court, let me first acknowledge a few things. First, Miers has a deep experience as a practicing attorney, which is valuable. Second, the court benefits from having justices from a range of backgrounds -- not just sitting judges or law professors; in fact, justices with background in private practice or in public service often have been among the best justices. Third, we need diversity on the high court, which means having women and people of color.

But Harriet Miers falls just a bit short of the kind of person we expect on the Supreme Court. We should aspire to have justices who know the law but also know its limitations, who understand the role of the court in our Constitution, and whose experience gives them a perspective to interpret the highest law of the land. Miers has served a year as White House Counsel -- she has been the chief lawyer for the Executive Branch of our government, and now she will be expected to have partial oversight of that branch. She has been the president's attorney, and she will be expected to now judge cases in which his administration is a party, indeed in which he personally may be a party. She has a thin record -- a short "paper trail" when it comes to writings and legal opinions.

The conservatives are feeling a bit ripped off today, having received a campaign promise of an appointment who would be in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. The far right folks were a bit disappointed in John Roberts, realizing he might not be their standard bearer. And now, they worry that Miers might turn out to be like another appointee who had a short paper trail, David Souter, the appointee of Republican President George H.W. Bush with a thin paper trail who turned out to be one of the court's most reliably liberal members.

So the Democrats have been able to stay mostly quiet on the appointment today, all the while watching the conservatives tear her up and criticize her lack of solid background. But Democratic leader Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada practically drooled all over her because she is a trial lawyer, and so is he.

Meanwhile, Slate has some extensive coverage, including an explanation of how she is no John Roberts and is also no Sandra Day O'Connor. Another essay said her mediocrity would get her confirmed. It says, "The caricature of Miers that is emerging is so pathetic, her inadequacies so exaggerated, her inarticulateness so certain, that by the time she speaks in the committee room, she's almost certain to seem appealing."

I think we could have done better.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Score one for unions in Washington

From The Seattle Times Oct. 2:

School-union leaders approve alliance
The board of the Public School Employees union voted yesterday to affiliate with the Services Employees International Union, forming the largest union in Washington.

If, as expected, delegates at a PSE convention in December approve the deal, the new union will include about 86,000 members.

PSE represents bus drivers, cafeteria workers, secretaries and other nonteachers at public schools in Washington. SEIU already represents about 4,000 classified school employees, as well as home health-care workers and custodians, and it is now working to organize day-care workers.

"I think our members will be big winners in this," said PSE President George Dockins.

The vote yesterday was 15-0.

PSE has lost about 1,100 members over the past year, the bulk of those being recruited away by the Teamsters.

PSE communications director Rick Chisa said PSE will become a local union of SEIU "while preserving our current structure and governance."

I was a four-year member of the Public School Employees of Washington, when I was a printer's assistant at the school district print shop in Ellensburg. It is the second banana of education unions in the state, far behind the Washington Education Association in influence, prominence and membership. One of its problems is the varied interests of its members -- grouped together because of their non-teaching roles. However, the bus drivers sometimes have conflicting interests with the secretaries or paraeducators or custodians. At least they have more in common with fellow classified employees in their own union. The WEA also represents some classified employees -- "education support personnel" in union parlance.

Now, the PSE folks will be part of the larger SEIU, itself working to make an identity since breaking away from the AFL-CIO. I wish the classified employees well in their new alliance. We're all stronger with healthy unions, and the SEIU is a longtime friend to education and to the WEA. I hope that relationship blossoms even more.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

The Roberts Court

Tomorrow is the first Monday in October. By Constitutional decree, it is the opening of the term of the United States Supreme Court. Since 1986, the court had opened its new term under the guidance of Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Since 1994, the Court opened with the same nine justices.

But this year, it is different. Oct. 3, 2005, marks the beginning of the Roberts Court as John G. Roberts Jr. begins his term as chief justice. Sandra Day O'Connor, who had previously announced her retirement from the court but agreed to stay until a replacement is confirmed by the Senate, will also be on the bench. Roberts was initially been named her replacement.

A handful of cases before the Court this term will show how Chief Justice Roberts will lead the Court. The Associated Press lists several key cases so far:

Abortion: A review of a parental-notification law from New Hampshire that gives justices a chance to make it harder to bring legal challenges against abortion restrictions.

Abortion protests: An appeal involving a claim that an anti-abortion group's protests violated federal racketeering and extortion laws.

Assisted suicide: A test of a unique state law allowing doctors to help terminally ill patients die more quickly. (This case from Oregon is first up -- on Tuesday.)

Campaign finance: Reviews of federal and state limits on campaign spending.

Colleges-military: A case that asks whether the government can withhold federal funds from colleges that bar military recruiters in protest of the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays.

Death penalty: The most significant of five death-penalty cases asks when people should get an additional chance to prove their innocence based on new evidence such as DNA.

Disabled inmates: A federal-powers case that will decide whether states and counties can be sued for not accommodating disabled prisoners.

Religious tea: A case that asks whether federal drug laws trump church members' constitutional rights to use hallucinogenic tea in services.

Student loans: An appeal that will decide whether the federal government can seize a person's Social Security payments to pay off student-loan debts.

With these cases, John Roberts and eight other justices will have a chance to change the face of American law. The X-factor remains the unknown apointee to replace O'Connor and when President Bush will name that replacement as well as when he or she is confirmed. O'connor's vote only counts in cases she votes on and are completed before she leaves service. Since she is often a fifth swing vote, that could mean a 4-4 vote in a cse, which would be returned to the lower court, whose ruling would stand.

Stephen Breyer, currently the junior justice, gave an exclusive -- and exceptionally rare -- interview to George Stephanopolis of ABC-TV's "This Week" where Bryer talked about the Court and how the public should be involved with it. He laid out his views in a forthcoming book called "Active Liberty."

This is the most exciting year in the Supreme Court in at least a decade both because of the justices and because of the cases before the court. It is the first Monday in October, and this year, people are noticing.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Why not a marriage?

In Connecticut, Oct. 1 marked the first day that the state offered legal civil unions for same-sex couples. The Associated Press reports:

"Connecticut became the first state to legalize civil unions without being forced by the courts after lawmakers passed a law endorsing the unions in April. Massachusetts allows gay marriages and Vermont recognizes civil unions because of lawsuits. ... The law affords all the legal rights of marriage -- such as spousal health-care benefits -- to same-sex couples, but defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Heterosexual couples cannot get civil unions. The license application is identical to one for marriage, except 'bride' and 'groom' are replaced with 'party 1' and 'party 2.' "

So, it has all the legal rights of a marriage granted to every other couple through a civil ceremony. It looks like a marriage. It sounds like a marriage. Why, then is it not called a marriage?

Religious institutions, of course, offer marriages within their churches, synagogues, temples and mosques. That is a religious ceremony and is not legally binding. It is government that grants marriage rights. So why should governments be forced to change their nomenclature for the civil ceremony called a marriage? Why can't religions change their ceremonies. No church is forced to bless or otherwise acknowledge any marriage that might have been granted by the state. Nothing would change by calling these "civil unions" what they really are: marriages.

Meanwhile, one state away, in Massachusetts, the state assembly did not vote successfully to place an constitutional amendment on the ballot that would ban same-sex marriages, already legal under a court order.

Now, in our own Washington state, we await a ruling from a state court that would declare same-sex unions legal here, too. Same logic. Same rights.

The earth has not stopped spinning. The sun has continued to rise. Even when giving state recognition to couples of the same gender -- couples who already had been living in monogamous, committed relationships. Imagine that.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

This is a new kind of "West Wing"

I've now watched two episodes of this season of "The West Wing," and I have to say this is a different kind of storytelling for this show. The glossy shots and inspirational pageantry of Aaron Sorkin's creation is gone, replaced by a quick-cut, high-contrast story, with fast dialog and even faster camera shots. It all combines to create a frenzy, which accents the campiagn underway in the show's plot.

I loved the Sorkin version, of course, and it was along the same lines as "The American President," a Sorkin-written movie directed by Rob Reiner in classic Reiner fashion -- inspirational shots and sweeping panoramas. But this new flavor for "The West Wing" is also tremendously appealing. I miss the distinctive dialog that Sorkin also used in "Sports Night," but I think I can get over it.

Meanwhile, the campaign is heating up, and I honestly haven't a clue whether the show will see Democrat Jimmy Smits or Republican Alan Alda elected in a few weeks. Since the show's timeline is still spinning along around Labor Day, I imagine we will see the "election night" somewhere in Nivember sweeps week. Inauguration should come around the February sweeps. Perfect.

Interestingly, too, the show is mirroring a real-life political scandal. On the show, the leak of information about a secret space shuttle has resulted in the reporter heading to prison for contempt of court for refusing to testify to a grand jury. Sounds just like the reporters who went or almost went this summer in our real world.

It's shaping up to be a fine seventh season for "The West Wing," and I couldn't be happier.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Judith Miller is all about Judith Miller

Judith Miller, the New York Times reporter who went spent 12 weeks in a federal prison because she refused to testify to a grand jury prosecuting the leak of the name of a covert CIA agent, has been released. She agreed to a deal late last week where she would testify to the grand jury about her source now that she had received a waiver of confidentiality from her source.

It turns out her source was, in fact, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney. He is the source I fingered in a post here July 19. Apparently, Libby had agreed to a waiver for Miller a year ago, but she wanted a specific and personal phone call. Apparently that happened recently, and Miller agreed to testify to the grand jury what she knows.

That, or Miller just got tired of being in the pokey.

I have a mountain of respect for someone who sticks to her principles as Miller had done. She defended her First Amendment rights to free press and free speech, stiff-arming the special prosecutor and holding sacred a bond of her word for confidentiality. But I wonder, with 12 weeks of her sentence served, and the grand jury term set to expire in just a few more weeks, why Miller suddenly changed her tune.

Howard Kurtz, a media critic for The Washington Post and the host of CNN's "Reliable Sources," said this morning on his Sunday CNN show that he expected to get up this morning and read a 5,000-word story from Miller in today's Sunday Times, a story that would explain everything Miller knew about the CIA agent's name leak.

Alas, none was there.

Increasingly, I believe Judith Miller is more interested in being a martyr, a person who seeks to be close to power. She does not operate ina traditional position of power -- such as being an elected official -- so she uses her position at The Times to manipulate people in power, essentially being more powerful than they are. Meanwhile, everyone knows her name, and she'll get a heck of a book deal when all the dust settles. Her flag-waving and First Amendment stunts are wearing thin. Sadly, she duped her editors and Floyd Abrahams, her distinguished attorney, one of the foremost First Amendment legal minds of our generation.

So I will ignore Judith Miller, and I will resist any desire to acknowledge her sacrifice. She's become just as much of a sellout as the broadcast anchors. Perhaps The Times, which recently announced a substantial reduction in newsroom staff, might show her the door, too. It would be better off.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Sky Diving for Jesus

For months, bright chartreuse signs have heralded the coming of a big party at a local park. Bumper stickers slapped on cars around town, magnetic signs and, more recently, ads in the local newspaper have all announced the Central Washington Festival Oct. 1 and 2 at Walla Walla Point Park in Wenatchee.

The name and signs suggest nothing more than fun in the park. Come for some food and family entertainment, they say. Come watch exhibitions of BMX bikes and soccer. Come listen to some well-known bands perform and see Stephen Baldwin, the actor. It all seems plain enough, until you realize that the festival is sponsored by about 120 churches, and that it is just as much a revival as a festival.

This weekend, the faithful have converged in Wenatchee.

Featuring a slew of Christian musical acts, the festival is quite an attraction. Organizers announced they expected 10,000 to 15,000 people each day, and made arrangements for remote parking and buses to shuttle festival-goers to the venue. There is a food court and even the VeggieTale cartoon characters all appearing live at the grassy park on the shores of the Columbia. And, in a spectacular attraction, the Force Ministries Sky Diving Team will also drop down from the heavens, bright blue parachutes showing starkly against this weekend's cloudy backdrop, an American flag attached patriotically to the foot of the glider.

This weekend, the faithful have converged in Wenatchee, and they are trying to take over.

At the high school football game Friday night, the game ball was delivered by the holy sky divers. Through a sprinkle of rain, the parachuter descended to the field, again with the United States flag attached to leg. The flag is not a symbol of Christianity, and the Christians do not own it. And, honestly, they should stop wrapping themselves in it -- literally and figuratively.

So let the faithful converge in Wenatchee. They have as much right to rent buses and a park and open their concert up to the public audiences, even in the rain. As I compose this, it is a driving rain, too, the kind we don't see here often.

But don't wave a flag and advertise a festival as something other than it is not. It's a revival, a chance to spread the gospel, a congregation of people of faith around a message of faith. Mention the prayer tents adjacent to the food court, and that spectators are likely to be asked about their faith or to accept a savior at this festival. Call it what it is, and be honest with the public. It's sky diving for Jesus.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

What Would Jesus Charge?

From The Washington Post:

FEMA Plans to Reimburse Faith Groups for Aid

As Civil Libertarians Object, Religious Organizations Weigh Whether to Apply

By Alan Cooperman and Elizabeth Williamson

Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 27, 2005; Page A01

After weeks of prodding by Republican lawmakers and the American Red Cross, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said yesterday that it will use taxpayer money to reimburse churches and other religious organizations that have opened their doors to provide shelter, food and supplies to survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Ummmm... yeah. The federal government should not be reimbursing charities for doing the charitable work that charities do when people need it. Charity means the food, shelter, assistance and so on is given without the expectation of compensation. The Salvation Army announced that it would not immediately accept the reimbursements from the government, but a spokesperson said on "NewsNight" tonight that it would be open to working as a subcontractor.

My main concern is that the payments represent a violation of the separation of church and state. The government should not be subsidizing churches. Their job is to be available to assist in the community during times of need, not to get a government contract. Especially when one considers the size and look of some of today's "mega-churches" that seem quite a bit removed from the concept of charity.

Maybe it's time for some churches to get down in the gutters and work with the poor. Would Jesus have sought a government kickback? I doubt it. Churches should be helping, just as many other secular organizations should also be partners in the relief efforts. But they should not expect to get paid by the government to do so.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Indictments aplenty

Today marks the return to a tradition that paused in the mid-1990s, and that is indicting members of Congress. But after a long absence, people who might have been wondering if being in Congress meant a free ride to do anything get some satisfaction. Today Tom DeLay, the leader of the majority Republicans in the House, was indicted for criminal conspiracy. He could face up to two years in prison.

This means, of course, that DeLay will have to temporarily step aside as the Majority Leader, one of the House rules that was almost changed a few months ago but then allowed to stand because the Republicans looked like hypocrites. The Republicans, the Congressional "management" since the election of 1994, now know how it feels -- remember the House banking scandal? Remember the House post office scandal? Remember all those Democrats in the majority who were targeted by bomb-throwing conservatives? Now, Republicans show they can't handle the power, either. This is the latest in a string of examples of how Republicans sustain a culture of corruption, shown well in the investigation of Sen. Bill Frist over the sale of hospital company stock allegedly with insider information.

Reportedly, the duties of majority leader will be assumed, at least temporarily, by Rep. David Drier of California, himself a former candidate for leader and speaker. Other duties will be assumed by the majority whip, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri.

In the meantime, it's an opening for Democrats -- a chance to show that Democrats have learned from the mistakes of past leaders from the days the Dems ruled the halls of Congress. It's an opening to draw a distinction -- a chance to say we know how to run a country and it is better than these guys, a chance to show Democrats will represent all Americans, not just the ones who write big checks for campaigns. It's a chance to put this country back on the right track again.

And they have just 15 months until the 2006 election.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

It's no 'West Wing'

Tonight I watched the premiere of "Commander in Chief," the ABC television show about Geena davis becoming the first female president. Her character, Mackenzie Allen, ascends to the presidency upon the death of the president from a brain aneurism and stroke. The plot is complicated by the fact that Allen is an independent picked to balance the ticket of a power-hungry conservative Republican. The president, on his death bed, asks Allen to resign so that the super-conservative Speaker of the House, played convincingly by Donald Sutherland, can continue the agenda of the late president. But Sutherland's Speaker says the wrong things to the acting president, and she refuses to resign.

That's the basic plot of the pilot episode. Of course there were a few side issues, too, but the purpose was basically introducing characters and establishing the long-term conflicts.

It's a solid enough idea, and Davis and Sutherland are sure quality actors. My problem is with the details. My main gripe is that if the show does not work hard on details, the show is not believeable. If the details are unbelievable, how is the viewer supposed to accept the premise of something that has never happened before, namely that a woman became president.

I hate to compare this show to "The West Wing," but such a comparison is inevitable. "The West Wing" is head and shoulders above "Commander in Chief," though.

Here are some of the details I found annoying:

• President Allen addresses a joint session of Congress. The room appears mainly white. The chamber of the House of Representatives, where this speech would take place, is not white. It's red and blue and wooden. She also makes her way down the center aisle (at least the sergeant-at-arms announced her "Mr. Speaker..."), but almost no one gathered in the chamber reached over to shake her hand as always happens when the president comes. I imagine that the first female president would be absolutely mobbed by Congressional hangers-on who want a glimpse on TV shaking hands with the president. Also, in this Congressional speech, the Speaker sits behind and to the left of the president. The Senate president (in this case, the President Pro Tempore since there was no vice president in office) sits behind and to the right of the president. Sutherland was here; he's the Speaker.
• In earlier scenes, Davis is shown arriving at the White House and coming out of her limousine in open air. I imagine that simply would not happen, especially with heightened security. The president would exit the limo under the portico of the White House. And still, the press would hardly be watching quietly from behind a rope line; they'd be shouting questions like crazy.
• She is also shown without much of a security detail during the episode.
• One of the most unbelievable instances came at the beginning of the show, when the hospitalized president's chief of staff and the U.S. Attorney General travel to France to meet then-Vice President Allen and inform her about the president's aneurism and stroke. I would hope that in a time when the 25th Amendment to the Constitution should clearly dictate that the president is incapacitated and the vice president should assume the role of acting president, that two government officials would not make a long plane trip before telling the vice president about it!

These are a few of the details that jumped out at me. I have come to rely on "The West Wing" as a fictional account of insider Washington; I know it's fake. But it is successful and compelling because the story and characters are fictional in a mostly plausible world where actual incidents and traditions and protocols are respected. In one of the worst ironies, the new "FLOTUS" -- President Allen'd husband -- meets with the First Lady's staff member who runs the protocol office! The three separate slams on Hillary Clinton are also unnecessary. Sure Hillary Clinton ruffled a few feathers, and perhaps one joke about her office in the White House's West Wing would have been tolerable. But the show also displays a huge portrait of Nancy Reagan -- yet there's no mention of her wacky astrology and penchant for fancy clothes, let alone her nasty temper.

All in all, I think I'll come back next Tuesday for another episode of "Commander in Chief." After all, no presidential administration should be judged by its first 100 days, and no show about the presidency should be judged just on its pilot.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Kickball: The Apple Leaf 6, Wa Wa 3

The second-annual Student Publications Kickball Game ended with The Apple Leaf successfully defending its title. The newspaper staff defeated the Wa Wa yearbook staff 6-3 in roughly 75 minutes of play.

The newspaper students went to an early lead, scoring in the second inning and again an inning later. The Wa Wa staff tied it up soon after, and each team scored an additional point a few minutes later. The score remained tied 3-3 for several rapid innings. The Apple Leaf kids sparked a late rally to win it all at the end. Wa Wa, up last, could not come back to make up the defecit.

Several staff members complained throughout the game about the officiating -- by this writer. After the game, though, several yearbook staff members admitted that the bad calls were applied equally.

Highlights:
Perma-pitchers Jeff (AL) and Eli (WW) each had their highlight moments. Eli pitched two innings where he retired all kickers in rapid succession, including one where he caught two line drives in a row. Jeff snagged one of his own, despite a knee injury that did not allow him to run at all. He said he just trotted, inviting me to see him run Friday night at the football game.

At one change of innings, Jeff -- who is well over 6 feet and on the plus side of 200 pounds -- engaged Eli in a wrestling match. Eli is about 5'2" and weighs less than a buck. His tight grip shook Jeff, but the big guy pulled a throw that flung Eli to the ground flailing. I might add that Jeff is also the defending district champ at the shot put.

The umpire (that's me) even caught a foul ball, just for fun, which bounced off of open palms, hit the top of his head and then bounced back into his hands. It was later replicated by laughing students. It was indeed counted as an out. Sorry.

Most of the players had great kicks or catches, and some even tried to pull out their baseball knowledge and strategy. It did not work, as the game is all about having fun and being funny. I laughed hard at the slips on the moist grass and the cannon arms that resulted in a stinging blow to the rump from the blue playground ball.

Phil (AL) kept running to the base even after his kick had been caught because he just wanted to slide. That proved handy for Adam (AL) as he made a sweet play at first. Micah (WW) developed a nice set-catch method for his work in left field, ending the hopes of many a long kicker.

For some, though, the game was about bragging rights. The Apple Leaf staff was cheered on by its non-pllaying staff members, who had prepared signs, including "You'll need a PACEMAKER after we get through with you!" in reference to the newspaper staff's national award, called a Pacemaker. taunts and mild threats had permeated the newsroom for days.

The newspaper has ruled the field for two years, but the results may be different after the winter social game. It's a no-holds-barred game of Dodgeball. Look out, newspaper kids, because the yearbook staff has you in its sights.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Satire and making fun of Geraldo

My friend Superfrankenstein and his pal, Hart Seely, have collaborated on a new satire, which appears at the National Lampoon Web site. This time, the dynamic duo have set the crosshairs on a perennial target: Geraldo Rivera.

The best part is that they lampoon Mr. Rivera without directly attacking him. He just looks dumb. Seriously, this stuff is funny. Check it out.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Support a free press NOW

For over 30 years, there has been one resource available free to scholastic and collegiate journalists as they sought advice and advocacy for their free press rights. The Student Press Law Center has faced a huge increase in calls and hits to its Web site in recent years, and it has seen operating costs grow as well. Now, there is a chance to raise funds for a permanent endowment, funds to be particlly matched by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in support of the SPLC's mission in a campaign called Tomorrow's Voices.

The foundation has made a huge commitment in the last five years to shore up the infrastructure of scholastic journalism, including millions dedicated to teacher training and a Web site for students, counselors and teachers as well as newspaper editors. Now, the Knight Foundation has turned to the SPLC as a crucial component of a successful student media program.

A letter from the SPLC executive director, Mark Goodman, makes the case:

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has pledged a $1.25 million endowment gift to the SPLC if we can raise $2.5 million on our own. That fund will exist solely to generate resources to help the SPLC continue to provide free legal assistance to high school and college journalists and the advisers who work with them. We have a Sept. 30 deadline for reaching the $1.5 million mark. Remarkably, we're only about $50,000 away from that goal. If we receive your gift or pledge before Sept. 30, we can submit it for matching funds from the Knight Foundation this year. Contributions of any size will make a difference to the success of our campaign and to the student journalists who we serve. For details about how to give (you can make a secure online donation or send us a check or pledge form), go to the Web site.

My good friend Bob Greenman of Brooklyn, N.Y., implored our colleagues to send a donation:

The SPLC is the only organization devoted to protecting the First Amendment rights of students, advisers and student publications. It is virtually a hallowed institution in this world of scholastic journalism, and almost every publications staff at one time or another will seek its advice and support, by email, phone or in person. Its publications benefit all of us.

Now, I urge everyone who values a free scholastic press to make a donation. Even a few dollars would help. Remember that every two dollars means another dollar from the Knight Foundation. At our summer journalism workshops, the 280 advisers and students raised over $800 for the SPLC, much of which will be matched by the Knight Foundation.

Go online and make a donation today. Or, send a check to the SPLC. Or, if you see me at school, give your donation to me, and I will send the funds along to the SPLC. In addition to my own annual contribution, I plan a special donation for the Tomorrow's Voices campaign.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

'Would you believe...'

Don Adams, the actor who played Agent 86 on TV's "Get Smart," has died at age 82.

I recall many afternoons spent watching various reruns, including "Get Smart," where I would later often mimic the characters or create new situations to play act. And what kid of a certain time period didn't hold his shoe up to his ear -- just as Maxwell Smart did with his shoe phone -- and say in a nasally voice, "Would you believe...?"

Thank goodness for his companion, the lovely Agent 99, who would bail him out and save the day.

There's a bit of Maxwell Smart in all of us -- an Everyman who was far more approachable than the dream of James Bond. A bit of that is absent from today's television with its emphasis on forensics investigations shows and so-called reality shows.

So we mourn the loss of Maxwell Smart, and the person who breathed life into that character, Don Adams. We didn't realize what we had. Sorry about that, Chief.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

SCOTUS Watch '05: Junior edition

Just in time to pick a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra day O'Connor (a second time), Slate has a list of possible choices for the President. He threaded the needle deftly this time out, but he likely won't have two grand slams in a row.

The conservatives think John Roberts turned out to be less than truly perfect; the Democrats think he was not moderate enough. Nonetheless, he'll be confirmed next week. The senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont announced he will vote to confirm Roberts as chief justice, while Sens. Harry Reid, the minority leader; John Kerry and Edward Kennedy all have said they will not vote for Roberts.

So how does Bush succeed again? Some possible choices:
Pick a woman. Even Laura Bush thinks that a woman should be replaced with a woman. She probably just thinks that Ruth Bader Ginsburg should not be the lone female voice on the court. Looks good for Edith Clement or Edith Jones. Bad idea if Bush picks Priscilla Owen or Janice Rogers Brown.

Pick a Hispanic. Benefits: Bush gets to have a "first" for history's sake and he gets some points with a constituency of increasing influence. Drawbacks: The people on that short list all raise an eyebrow with either the extreme right (Alberto Gonzales) or extreme left (Emilio Garza).

Pick a politician, preferably a Bushie. Look at the Justice Department (Larry Thompson) or at state attorneys general or even private attorneys.

I imagine we'll have a nominee next week, so O'Connor won't have to stick around for more than a month or so. But Bush's successful nominee will stick around for a couple decades.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Another Open House

Tonight was Open House. I love meeting parents and talking about the classes, so Open House is actually an activity I enjoy. This year we moved from seven-minute class sessions to 10-minute sessions, and I noticed the change because my usual speech lasted just seven minutes.

Before the Open House began, the four of us who teach the sections of Freshman Honors English held a meeting for parents in that class. The purpose was to inform parents of the sequence of classes in honors, the curriculum we teach and how to help their children to have balance and manage time. I spoke about the literature we teach and the amount of reading we have. During the part about the writing we do, one parent spoke up and questioned why we prohibit the use of the verb “to be.” My colleague explained very well, but this parent would not let the issue go. I thought she was inappropriate to do so in the large group. Her husband brought the issue up again during my class session because their son is in my class. I explained that it was just one activity we use to force students to write in different ways, such as using third person or present tense. I found out later that the mom had brought the issue up before with my colleague, so it’s been a back-and-forth discussion for a while.

Overall, my classes went well, and I had a pretty good turnout — parents of honors students and parents of journalism students — usually show up. I believe that Open House should be something we discuss as a staff because perhaps we can find a way to spend our time that is better for parents and students and staff. For example, we could add more time to our conference schedule. That might lead to some increase in learning and achievement.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Shame on the University of Califormia

California is a place where civil liberties have generally been strongly supported. In particular, Califonia students have long enjoyed freedoms greater than those in many other states. Students control their scholastic publications and broadcasts. Perhaps just one indicator of the success of journalism in California is today's announcement by the National Scholastic Press Association of finalists for its prestigious Pacemaker Award. Of the 51 finalists, 11 are from California; one of those is a middle school.

So, it is especially troubling to hear of a slow effort to pinch off the lively and robust -- and successful -- journalism programs in the Golden State. And, it has little to do with school financing, Gov. Schwarzenegger's plan for teacher tenure revisions or the so-called No Child Left Behind Act. It has everything to do with a pompous and self-righteous university system being unwilling to recognize that learning comes in varied forms -- sometimes even without books.

A colleague in journalism education -- a fellow adviser -- has resorted to sounding an alarm and taking his dissatisfaction public through the Shame on UC Weblog. The writer posts:

We’re not content to watch as our shrinking population of journalism classes shrinks even further. To stand by as the number of working advisers shrinks, too, until there’s no one left to fight for what many of us believe is the best thing going in many schools.

And so we lie. We submit course descriptions that play up the presence of literature and essays in our curricula and downplay the reality, which is that the all-consuming, richly rewarding task of producing a student news publication leaves little time for anything else. (Follow the logic here to its conclusion: Take away the publication and add literature and essays and what do you get? An English class, not an elective, and certainly not a free and functioning student press.)

A solution must be found. Everyone knows the UC system is the tail that wags the dog of eduction in this nation. Witness the revised SAT if you doubt UC's influence. Therefore, what is good for California is good for us all. Read the blog. Post a suggestion. Fight the good fight.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Could William Shatner be any more campy?

As I type this, William Shatner has just finished reprising his speech at the beginning of the "Star Trek" theme song. At the Emmy Awards, CBS apparently showcased four theme songs of classic shows. Each theme had celebrity singers and a Web site tie-in for voting.The audience guffawed throughout Shatner's utterance of the famous words -- "Space, the final frontier..." -- knowing full well that Shatner now is a parody of himself. He simply cannot be taken seriously. The horrible pun-filled intro did not help.

I missed the early performance of the "Green Acres" theme by Donald Trump and Megan Mullaly. That would have been a treat. Also performed was "Fame" and "The Jeffersons."

William Shatner = campy. Sadly, no mention of James Doohan, who died just a few months ago.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Two weeks of small pleasures

The first two weeks of this school year have been especially full with activities and tasks. I recall a few years ago coming home during these two weeks and sitting around, enjoying the final days of the Indian Summer without much to do yet for school. But this year has been different because I have been occupied with the production of the Panther Sports souvenir program and with my online classes for my master's degree. Those activities have sucked up nearly all my so-called free time these past two weeks, and it has been difficult to find time -- much less energy -- to do anything else.

Nonetheless, I have had a couple gem moments in the past couple weeks:
Friday night I went to Yakima for a football game, and I had a chance to make two stops that were wonderful experiences. First, I my driving companion, DrPezz, agreed to allow me to stop in Ellensburg on the way so that I could get a haircut at my favorite barber, The Clipper. It's the best cut around, and he always vacuums the loose clipped hair off the top of my head at the end of the cut. Even today, the clipper cut is just $10, and appointments are required.

One treat of going to Yakima for a sports contest as part of the "staff" (DrPezz takes stats, and I helped tabulate) is the chance to eat at the one and only Miner's Drive-In. The drive-in offers space in the kitchen to coaches and bus drivers and, thankfully, to other "staff" who want to gorge on as much food as can be stuffed in one's mouth. Everything is free, of course, but even better is the service that is unparallelled in the restaurant industry. A worker is assigned to each table in the busy kitchen. As the other employees scurry around to prepare the varied menu items, they demonstrate efficiency and courtesy. "Please" and "Thank you" are as common as shout-outs for french fries, milk shakes and Big Miner burgers. It's the Nordstrom of burger joints. On most occasions, the owner stops by to greet the customers and make everyone feel welcome. She always dresses to the nines, all polished up for her Friday night guests. She's a piece of work. She delighted the Wenatchee coaches with her signature phrase: "If you leave here hungry, it's your own damn fault!"

I've been having a great time in my classes so far this year. I think that I say that every year around this time, before their lustre has worn off, before the truly hard part of the semester has hit both me and them, before I have to be a hard-nosed and finger-wagging disciplinarian and before they start asking if I can provide any extra credit. But I like everyone so far. And we've had some fun -- they usually laugh at my jokes and I at their antics. I've already identified some kids with whom I can joke and who will be the targets of my practical jokes and playful banter.

We've redesigned the newspaper, and it will debut Wednesday with the first issue on Volume 89. It's amazing what a few changes in typefaces and design can do to buoy my spirits; I am so energized for this newspaper. I can hardly wait. It also helps that the content involves guns, race, air quality and a kid who survived a hurricane. Dang, it's good.

Finally, I faced my first incident with a memo from the office formatted in Comic Sans. I deleted it promptly. I knew it must not be important.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

"One nation, (redacted), indivisible..."

A federal district court judgein California has determined that it is unconstitutional for a school to require students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance as written with the words "under God." The case had been brought by the same California atheist who won a similar ruling in 2002 but whose appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, after winning in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, was thrown out because the man did not have custody of the daughter on whose behalf he brought the suit. The judge said he was bound by the Ninth Circuit decision and cited it in his ruling.

More from the Los Angeles Times

Once again the courts have found that the government cannot lead a recitation each day that contains an endorsement of a religion, which violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

What a perfect ruling for Constitution Day this week.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

A second chance for Bush

With his address to the nation tonight from New Orleans, President Bush is trying to resucitate his fading second term, even as he acknwledges how incapable he has become.

Slate has excellent analysis about his speech and that Bush used it as a Second Second Inaugral.

Second terms usually start on the steps of the Capitol. George Bush hopes that his starts in Jackson Square. Before the storm, his second four years had been defined by impotency. The war he started in Iraq became even bloodier and looked more hopeless. Cindy Sheehan appeared to be working harder than he was. Gas prices jumped and he admitted there was little he could do to help. He had to install John Bolton in the United Nations after the senators who wouldn't confirm him had gone home for the summer. His plan for revamping Social Security fell flat in the turf almost right out of the gate.

Bush proposed Gulf Opportunity Zones, and he said the federal government would pay for almost all of the rebuilding and cleanup costs for Hurricane Katrina. Of course, much of the federal money will go to corporations run by Bush crony donors, without paying prevailing wages and without bids. If Iraq is the albatross around Bush's neck, the effects of Katrina on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will be Bush's cement shoes.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

In Seattle, stripping=speech

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Court rules Seattle can't ban new strip clubs

By MIKE LEWIS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Seattle no longer can ban new strip clubs, a U.S. District Court ruled today.

The decision means an end to the city's 17-year moratorium on new strip clubs. The city won't appeal.

In anticipation of the ruling, city officials are pressing for a ban on lap dancing with the expectation that increased distance between customers and dancers makes Seattle unattractive as a location for existing and prospective strip club owners.

The lap dancing ban is expected to heard in a City Council committee meeting next week.

Seattle has five strip club licensees and four open strip clubs.

So rejoice strip fans, and civil libertarians. In Western Washington, stripping equals speech. But if the Seattle City Council has its way, the point will be moot because no one will be able to get close enough to see the stripping/speech. Despite the potential for ridicule by late-night talk show hosts and right-wing columnists and shout shows, this is a good day for the Constitution and First Amendment.

Yes, the Constitution even protects strippers. Let's celebrate that this week as we recognize Constitution Day.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Michael Brown gets put out to pasture

Michael Brown, the embattled director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has resigned. His resignation likely was asked for as the first of what will probably be several Bush Administration officials sent to the wood shed as punishment and scapegoat.

Brown's replacement, R. David Paulison, is a 30-year veteran of emergency management in Florida's Miami-Dade County area who will serve as acting director.

The disaster relief efforts in New Orleans have been coordinated for a few days by the Coast Guard's chief of staff, Vice Admiral Thad Allen, a noted leader in managing crises.

Today's moves mark the first correct steps toward getting the rebuilding underway in an efficient and practical way. If the Bushies are to look decisive, if the administration is to convince people that it can protect the homeland, then more reorganization is necessary. President Bush has visited New Orleans three times since the hurricane, and there weren't even any fundraisers or campaign rallies -- the usual reason he makes a repeat visit to a small Southern state. In his fifth year of being president, he is again acting presidential. Meanwhile, the presiden't approval ratings have dropped to an all-time low, especially among blacks. Bush must be glad he does not face re-election this year.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.

Hurricane can't stop the learning

Learning continues in colleges and schools along the Gulf Coast despite the impact of Hurricane Katrina. In fact, the stories of how the school systems are coping with the aftermath are amazing. Catholic dioceses have worked hard to regroup and to support parents of students whose schools have been destroyed or are unavailable for learning. Public schools in neighboring states, notably in Texas and Georgia but also around the nation, have welcomed students and worked to accommodate the influx of new kids in already-crowded classrooms and with skimpy budgets.

CNN reports that as many as 372,000 students have been displaced. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is the Bush Administration official charged with crafting a plan to get students in class and back to learning.

I wonder if those schools will be held accountable for state tests on students who barely arrived in their states in time to be tested. Spellings is expected to ask for authority to waive certain provisions of the so-called "No Child Left Behind" Act about student testing and teacher requirements because of the unusual and extenuating circumstances at the start of the 2005-06 school year.

But the colleges and universities, both public and private, are emerging as the heroes in this situation. Here's a transcript from the Sept. 12 edition of CNN's NewsNight with Aaron Brown:

BROWN: ... Tens of thousands of college students found their school year washed away by the floods of Katrina. They scattered around the country, in some cases transferring to schools where their classrooms aren't under water. But hundreds of students from New Orleans found open doors and a surprisingly warm welcome just a few miles up river, in Baton Rouge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They're welcoming some unfamiliar faces at Southern University in Baton Rouge. Some 750 of them so far. Thousands of students displaced from colleges in New Orleans have been fanning out across country, looking for places to spend the fall semester. And maybe longer.

MEGAN PERRY, DISPLACED STUDENT: I thought it was going to be like last time, just a quick vacation, to be quite honest.

FREED: Megan Perry was supposed to attend Dillard University this fall, but Dillard is under water.

PERRY: It's very disappointing and frustrating, because I had everything already planned. I had all my stuff. I bought all my books.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I still have water in my house.

FREED: The influx of new faces had the student government worried about how everybody would fit in. How would you characterize their mood? I mean, are they -- is there anger, is there frustration? Are they feeling lost, stumbling around?

JUSTIN MCCORKLE, STUDENT GOVERNMENT PRESIDENT: Shockingly, they're surprisingly comfortable, surprisingly comfortable. they're surprisingly comfortable. Actually, just blending in. Like if you just looked around the campus, you would never know who were the transfer students.

FREED (on camera): Have you slept much in the last two weeks?

DR. EDWARD JACKSON, SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY CHANCELLOR: I have -- it's gotten a little better as we've gone on, but it's been tough.

FREED (voice over): Southern's chancellor says one thing hurricane transfer student won't have to worry about here is tuition, at least not for now.

JACKSON: If a student has paid tuition at a university in New Orleans, they will not have to pay tuition again.

FREED: The chancellor explains the school will take students at their word if they say they've paid up at another college. And he says the schools will just have to figure it out later. Jonathan Freed, CNN, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The chancellor of Southern University demonstrates the spirit of the academy -- that learning must continue -- and the spirit of goodwill. He trusts the students who say they have paid tuition, and he welcomes them to his campus. Surely some will abuse his goodwill, but far more will benefit.

Through this tragedy, and in the two weeks since, stories of hope and goodwill and perseverance continue to emerge. It is the American spirit, alive and well.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.