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| Condoleezza Rice at Boston College? I quit |
| 2006-05-15 |
| Moonbat pornographer loses it. An open letter to William P. Leahy, SJ, president of Boston College. DEAR Father Leahy, I am writing to resign my post as an adjunct professor of English at Boston College. I am doing so -- after five years at BC, and with tremendous regret -- as a direct result of your decision to invite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to be the commencement speaker at this year's graduation. Many members of the faculty and student body already have voiced their objection to the invitation, arguing that Rice's actions as secretary of state are inconsistent with the broader humanistic values of the university and the Catholic and Jesuit traditions from which those values derive. But I am not writing this letter simply because of an objection to the war against Iraq. My concern is more fundamental. Simply put, Rice is a liar. She has lied to the American people knowingly, repeatedly, often extravagantly over the past five years, in an effort to justify a pathologically misguided foreign policy. The public record of her deceits is extensive. During the ramp-up to the Iraq war, she made 29 false or misleading public statements concerning Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and links to Al Qaeda, according to a congressional investigation by the House Committee on Government Reform. To cite one example: In an effort to build the case for war, then-National Security Adviser Rice repeatedly asserted that Iraq was pursuing a nuclear weapon, and specifically seeking uranium in Africa. In July of 2003, after these claims were disproved, Rice said: ''Now if there were doubts about the underlying intelligence . . . those doubts were not communicated to the president, the vice president, or to me." Rice's own deputy, Stephen Hadley, later admitted that the CIA had sent her a memo eight months earlier warning against the use of this claim. In the three years since the war began, Rice has continued to misrepresent or simply ignore the truth about our deadly adventure in Iraq. Like the president whom she serves so faithfully, she refuses to recognize her errors or the tragic consequences of those errors to the young soldiers and civilians dying in Iraq. She is a diplomat whose central allegiance is not to the democratic cause of this nation, but absolute power. This is the woman to whom you will be bestowing an honorary degree, along with the privilege of addressing the graduating class of 2006. It is this last notion I find most reprehensible: that Boston College would entrust to Rice the role of moral exemplar. To be clear: I am not questioning her intellectual gifts or academic accomplishments. Nor her potentially inspiring role as a powerful woman of color. But these are not the factors by which a commencement speaker should be judged. It is the content of one's character that matters here -- the reverence for truth and knowledge that Boston College purports to champion. Rice does not personify these values; she repudiates them. Whatever inspiring rhetoric she might present to the graduating class, her actions as a citizen and politician tell a different story. Honestly, Father Leahy, what lessons do you expect her to impart to impressionable seniors? That hard work in the corporate sector might gain them a spot on the board of Chevron? That they, too, might someday have an oil tanker named after them? That it is acceptable to lie to the American people for political gain? Given the widespread objection to inviting Rice, I would like to think you will rescind the offer. But that is clearly not going to happen. Like the administration in Washington, you appear too proud to admit to your mistake. Instead, you will mouth a bunch of platitudes, all of which boil down to: You don't want to lose face. In this sense, you leave me no choice. I cannot, in good conscience, exhort my students to pursue truth and knowledge, then collect a paycheck from an institution that displays such flagrant disregard for both. I would like to apologize to my students and prospective students. I would also urge them to investigate the words and actions of Rice, and to exercise their own First Amendment rights at her speech. Steve Almond is the author of the story collections ''The Evil B. B. Chow" and ''My Life in Heavy Metal." |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #21 How many other colleges can we book Condi at? Great way to clean out the cesspools that pass themselves off as educational. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-05-15 23:22 |
| #20 I took a look at his website, 2b. The former adjunct professor may have been a newspaper reporter in the past, but now he earns his bread and butter as, according to his answers to one of the letters, "merely a sex columnist who smokes a pipe in the nude," telling people why they oughtn't tell brother about the sex dream, or the bar mitzvah tutor about thoughts of man/pre-pubescent girl love affairs. What I saw didn't merit a red pencil, and he is probably well-suited to teach an introductory class in creative writing. What his website, his chosen subject matter (erotica or porn, I suppose), and his letter to the College president reveal is a certain unsuitability for thinking on weightier topics. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-05-15 22:25 |
| #19 not that I'm up to the task - but I'd like to see someone take a red pen to his writing. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-05-15 21:38 |
| #18 Please step in front of a truck when you quit. Thnaks. |
| Posted by: SPoD 2006-05-15 19:52 |
| #17 For those unfamiliar with Palo Alto, CA. It is a cesspool of liberal fuzzy thinking. Great shops and restaurants though. -M |
| Posted by: Manolo 2006-05-15 18:30 |
| #16 I'll bet you a doughnut he's not even a good p0rn writer. { ;^) |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2006-05-15 18:24 |
| #15 “Many members of the faculty and student body already have voiced their objection to the invitation.” Translation: We have been whining why haven’t you heard us? Good example to the students that will soon be competing in the job market. Anyone want to hire anyone from Boston College that objected to Condi? |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-05-15 18:24 |
| #14 As an adjunct professor, he doesn't even get to step onto the tenure track. Not a mover'n'shaker, this one. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-05-15 14:50 |
| #13 This asshat was on John Depetro's morning show on Friday, calling for (among other things) the immediate redistribution of all wealth in the US... His first. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-05-15 13:49 |
| #12 Found out will not get tenure, eah? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-05-15 13:47 |
| #11 bigjim-ky, the 'professor' actually said something very close to that, now that I think about it a bit more (the standard 'that was just about sex' line). |
| Posted by: Raj 2006-05-15 12:44 |
| #10 Bill Clinton is a convicted liar, but I bet this asswad wouldn't quit if he were the speaker. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-05-15 11:48 |
| #9 This asshat was on John Depetro's morning show on Friday, calling for (among other things) the immediate redistribution of all wealth in the US (which has nothing to do w/ Dr. Rice, I know, but...). He came off as incredibly arrogant and impervious to every single argument presented to him, even calling Depetro a 'Bush lackey' (yes, KCNA apparently outsources their speechwriting). |
| Posted by: Raj 2006-05-15 09:56 |
| #8 Well, he's a self important boob, but ya gotta give the guy credit. At least he put his money where his mouth is. Now let's see how many tenured faculty making six figure salaries who are so pissed off about Rice being there follow his lead? My guess? The big doughnut... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-05-15 09:27 |
| #7 In this sense, you leave me no choice. When Leahy gets to this line, he's going to bust a gut laughing. "No! Not that! Anything but that! Hee hee. Better send someone down to the corner where the migrant workers hang out, and have them pick up another adjunct." |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2006-05-15 09:15 |
| #6 Whoaa...If this guy hangs it up where will BC ever find another liberal adjunct professor of English to replace him? |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2006-05-15 09:06 |
| #5 If God wants to live in Palo Alto, he'd better get a law degree. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-05-15 08:40 |
| #4 From his website: Steve Almond was raised in Palo Alto, California, aka The Town Where God Will Retire. He spent seven years as a newspaper reporter, mostly in El Paso and Miami. He has been writing fiction for the last eight years. His work can be found in a whole bunch of literary magazines, along with the occasional porn outlet. He lives in Somerville, MA, and teaches creative writing at Boston College. Note: Dr. Rice has a PhD. Steve here doesn't have any educational accomplishments (at least on his resume) outside of a bunch of fictional writings. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-05-15 08:33 |
| #3 Don't let the door hit you on the butt. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-05-15 08:28 |
| #2 "I cannot, in good conscience, exhort my students to pursue truth and knowledge..." Personally, I'd rather not have people like you exhorting America's youth about anything; in fact, I'd be perfectly happy to see your kind evicted from our universities at gunpoint. Bye bye, Parasite. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out-- and good luck with that new job flipping burgers! |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2006-05-15 08:28 |
| #1 Cool. Now BC can shift your slot to a useful major. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-05-15 08:14 |