A Series of Tubes

So the latest writings about the tree sit we have the marriage of Science and corporate greed. A quote and image from Darwin BondGraham from his indymedia post/news piece is below:

“It’s interesting that within the City On A Hill that is UCSC, it is “Science” that has now come to occupy the tip top of the “Hill.” This is not mere coincidence or symbolism. UCSC’s administrators along with the UC Regents and powerful business interests and benefactors based out of Silicon Valley (like Jack Baskin) have sought now for several decades to recast UCSC into a major research university with hard science and engineering at its core. In doing so they have adopted the self-righteousness and mission-zeal of puritan colonists, even if their ideological drive is different. They have truly colonized UCSC and now they expand into the woods, the “natives” be damned. Profit, prestige and power rely on physical expansion and transformation into a knowledge factory.”

So the argument being made is that the regents and other people at UCSC in positions of power are on the board of directors of various corporations. They want to increase the bottom line of those corporations and themselves. They use all the tools necessary to increase their bottom line, specifically funneling money at the Universities they manage into research that can be utilized by the corporations that they preside over. Although the money to fund the research can be direct funding from corporations, the less direct path is the one being most utilized at UCSC.

This argument made has at its core a very important issue. The board of regents has 18 people appointed to 12 year terms by the governor, 1 student that is appointed by the rest of the board, and The remaining 7 Regents are ex officio members. They are the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Speaker of the Assembly, Superintendent of Public Instruction, president and vice president of the Alumni Associations of UC, and the UC president. (got my info from wikipedia) The majority of the board of regents is not directly elected by the voters. The singular student on the board isn’t even voted for by the students. This is a massive problem because those that steer the University do not represent the best interests of the body they preside over because they are not elected. Solving conflict of interest problems can be done by making the regents server shorter and elected terms. Conflicts of interest between two posts should be dealt with by resigning from a post that would influence a persons decision in the other.

The argument made by Darwin BondGraham is not pointed at the tossing of democracy to the curb when selecting regents, but rather at the University leaders’ attempts to alter the University to maximize their own bottom line. The problem is that I don’t think Darwin proved his point. Did UCSC plan on building the biomed building because the regents and other officials were influenced by their ties to corporations? Did the faculty in the sciences need more space? Did researchers at the University have a strong desire to understand the world that we live in and to share that information to the public have those desires in mind to push for more facilities? How is this not UCSC bending to the will of “big faculty”? Stating two facts, that the regents are on the board of directors of various corporations and UCSC building a biomed facility, does not constitute a proof that one caused the other. If the connection is there then the regents and others in charge must be in the pocket of “big digital and new media” and “big humanities and social sciences” since those are the two previous big buildings to be put up at UCSC. Blumenthal is so stuffed down the pocket of “big digital and new media” that he showcased the new building when presenting the LRDP to the board of regents. The other option is that those in charge of the University are terrible at implementing their own nefarious corporatization plans. The thing is that I don’t see any proof of the charges being made.

Perhaps Darwin BondGraham will post the proof I desire in my comments section.

By the way, I find the Einstein picture frign hilarious. Einstein is pictured as both predicting and opposing the Long Range Development Plan at UCSC. He truly was a visionary. I can just imagine his inner monolouge:

Hmmm I really need to prove this “science is not the only truth” thing here. What can I use to support it…I’ve got it. E=mc^2! Boy I sure nailed that one. No disputing it now. I bet they give me another nobel prize for that one.

Jess wanted me to post the most ridiculous bread making video ever. So here it is:

I wonder if the lady knows that they edited an insane bread making video in between her talking?

Little known fact about bread making: Most people think that it’s the love that you put into the cooking that makes the food taste good. It’s not. It’s the shirt ripping.

I noticed that there was a distinct lack of pirates on the front page now that my original pirate post has floated into the archives. To remedy this I will combine my love of pirates with my love of Christmas, and will throw in my card making in there for good measure.

So if I didn’t already have a brilliant Christmas card idea I would totally get these cards:

Yes that is Santa with a peg leg and an eye patch. If anyone is looking for a card to get me for Christmas…look no further.

I like science:

The person posting as Parliament of Rooks has an interesting, insightful, and passionate post about the tree sit over at the indybay website.

The poster didn’t like me saying that not protesting the 20 million dollar DANM building project was a bit hypocritical. Here is the deal. The University is expanding. Apparently if the University expands according to the LRDP, it is bad (you get tree sitters). If the Univerity expands according to no plan whatsoever… It’s ok? If I was a University official I would look at this and come to the conclusion that expansion plans should be kept secret and undisclosed or that the University should not have an expansion plan at all. Both of those options are unacceptable to me. The goal should be a more democratized system of questioning and approving the plan for the University. Greater student involvement in the direction of the University will yield a better University.

Parliament of Rooks basically said that anyone was free to start up a protest at the DANM building site, and that the tree sitters were making their stand against expansion at the biomedical sciences facility. Fair enough. So what is the plan? Stop the LRDP? That is not a plan. That is an anti-”The University” plan.

Here is my plan:

1) Expand by building more Universities at other locations. There are many places in California with cheap land that people care a lot less about. Build there. UC Merced is one example of implementing such a plan.

2) Make the process of directing the University more open and give the students more input in steering the University. I don’t mean give the students one representative. What I mean is put major plans up for a vote to all the students at the University. We have elections for student government officials, how about voting on important University issues such as the LRDP in the election. In fact, how about making the LRDP pass a simple majority of the students a prerequisite for its adoption. Better yet make more than just the LRDP come before the students. I would love for more student power in the budgeting process.

That is basically it. My vision for the University is one where the students have a hand on the wheel that guides the University. There can be other hands on that wheel as well (the supporting community, The faculty and staff, the taxpayers) but the one that I support most is the student.

Some of the tree sitters will not be on board with my plan.  It does not take a specific stand on animal research, the role of corporate money on the University, or the favoring of sciences versus arts or humanities.  The thing is that all of these questions can and should be posed to the students so that their voices can be heard in a democratic manner.  I propose fighting for a framework instead of against certain issues.  Fighting for that framework is more important than stopping the LRDP because it transcends the LRDP and empowers future generations of students.  The cause is more noble when its goal is to create instead of to destroy.

Happy thanksgiving to all of my loyal fans who have been with me these long and hard past few days. You’ve been so good through the tough times of Monday and the slightly better times of Tuesday.

So news of my website spread through the family this Thanksgiving.  I must say that there was quite a lot of interest in the Pirates and farting.  My sister pointed out that the combination puts new meaning to the phrase “Thar she blows.”

Tomorrow I plan on ice skating, a good dinner, and a general avoidance of any place where people will be shopping.

The administration at UCSC has posted a webpage about the tree sit. It is critical of the actions of the sitters, is well written, and expresses a desire for a peaceful resolution. Obviously I disagree with their statements about student involvement in the LRDP process. I hope that the students at the tree sit respond in kind with a well worded critique of the LRDP and the process of its approval. If the tree sitters play their cards right I think the legacy of the tree sit could be a more open University with regards to spending and more student input on buildings, expansion, and campus life in general.

As I’ve mentioned before the tree sit has a bit of a “us versus them” feel with some tree sitters protesting science. There was a post on indymedia that justified the expansion of the University when it was for art but not when it was for science:

” The construction (below Performing Arts, right above the Music Recital Hall) is the new building that will house the Digital Arts & New Media program.

Pretty cool stuff, and not Science, but Art!”

This got me thinking about other battles science has had such as that between intelligent design and darwin’s theory of evolution (A picture of darwin pulled from wikipedia is shown at left). I recently went and watched NOVA’s series on the dover school board trial.

There are unfortunately prices to be paid if you don’t take science seriously, just as I think people are missing out on great cultural experiences by not exposing themselves to art. The price you pay in the case of science is that you are susceptible to bogus, unproven, and potentially harmful non scientific theories. In the case of Darwinism and creationism, recently returning under the name Intelligent Design, throwing out Darwinism means that you would throw out modern genetic theory.

The discarding of science is not just the domain of the religious right. I highly doubt that the tree sitters are fundamentalist Christians. Actually before I get into this I would like to point out that I have no idea what any of the tree sitters views are regarding evolution or modern medicine.

The discarding of science on the left comes in the form of alternative medicine which is unproven, unscientific, and mostly based on theories of diseases that predate the germ theory of disease. For this post I will focus on Ayurveda because it provides a contrast that highlights my point most beautifully.

Ayurveda is an ancient Indian healing practice that uses ancient religious beliefs to prescribe various teas, oils, scents, and massages to cure you. I like my massages, teas and whatnot, but the disregard of repeatedly confirmed modern scientific medicine is what gets to me. Deepak Chopra, shown at left, is probably the most public face on Aryuveda. You can see Deepak’s lack of respect for science in his defense of Intelligent design and his use of the term “quantum healing” which has nothing to do with anything quantum at all. But what about those teas oils and scents. Do they work? Do they have any effect?

Well the placebo effect can account for any anecdotal evidence provided to support Ayurveda, which is why modern medicine requires that double blind studies be done in order to rule out any placebo effect. What does Ayurveda provide you with? The answer is a triple whammy: lead, mercury and/or arsenic.

Toys are being recalled left and right from Chinese manufacturers for having toxic levels of lead, yet Ayuredic medicines, which has been scientifically shown to contain toxic levels of lead, mercury, and/or arsenic in 20% of properly administered medications, continues to be sold. This means that you may be (20% chance per medication) at risk for dangerous levels of heavy metal toxicity from a non scientific, unregulated, and ancient medication. The thing is that the toxic levels of metals are actually part of the prescribed cure in Ayurveda so you can’t take them out:

“Heavy metals are integral to some formulations and have been used for centuries. There is no point of doing trials as they have been used safely and have mention in our ancient texts.” cited from here.

So there you have it. Failure to understand and a failure to respect science can be harmful to your health.

So the tree sitters have labeled their encampment redhill autonomous zone in some places. Now I’ll say from the beginning that I don’t know where they got the name, but I might have a theory.

Google red hill…Well the first link is to a site with Patrick Henry. In the biography session it states “Henry was initially reluctant to support independence. Once reassured on these questions, however, he participated in drafting Virginia’s resolution calling upon Congress to declare the colonies “free and independent states.” Henry also served on a large committee chosen to draft the Virginia Declaration of Rights“. Now the Virginia declaration of rights happened in June 1776. Now what happened before that time that might have changed his mind. Why common sense written by Thomas Paine was published in January and again in February of 1776 calling for Americans to rise up and fight the monarchy for independence. Patrick Henry then set himself up opposed to Madison and Jefferson. He opposed Jefferson and Madison’s separation of church and state and wanted tax money to go to established religious groups. He owned slaves unlike Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin.

Patrick Henry had a diverse set of views. He supported the bill of rights but I need to read more to see what his thoughts were on voting. Thomas Paine advocated that common people be given the vote as opposed to Adams who thought that only the rich and powerful should vote. Considering Patrick Henry’s shift to support for John Adams I have a feeling he might have had a similar position as Adams but I could be wrong.

I read Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man by Christopher Hitchens and I’m almost done with Thomas Paine and The Promise of America by Harvey J. Kaye. Next up is to read Rights of Man by Thomas Paine himself.

I’m not sure if the tree sit is named after Partick Henry’s Plantation or if it is merely a coincidence, I have a feeling it is a coincidence, but it definately gives me a chance to talk about Thomas Paine which I have been fascinated with recently.

If the tree sitters were reviving historical revolutionaries such as Patrick “give me freedom of give me death” Henry, they might make a better connection with Thomas Paine. I would so go to a rights of man potluck.

The effort to Censure Dianne Feinstein in the California Democratic Party (CDP) failed. I had hoped that it would have gotten more traction than it did. Just about every vote that I see her make I disagree with. Unfortunately she got reelected last year so I have to wait 5 more years before she is up for reelection again. Until then I’ve got her office number in my cell phone so that I can call her whenever I see or read something she does that I disapprove of. Her numbers:

Washington D.C. - (202) 224-3841

San Francisco - (415) 393-0707

I unfortunately have to call her more often than I would like.