I think that the word, "liberal", has been tarred and feathered by people on
the left because of the failures of the Democratic party. To begin with, it
wasn't a political word, or not only a political word. If someone said that he
had a liberal education, he meant that his education was broad and diverse,
rather than being narrowly focused. And just in terms of outlook, one might be
liberal or conservative. Being liberal meant that one was open to new things
and more flexible. Being conservative meant that one was more traditional, more
set in his ways. Back in the old days, if one was politically left of center,
he might define himself as being liberal or, he might say that he was radical.
At some point, and I'm not sure when, people on the left began substituting the
word, "progressive", for ,"liberal". I think that was when it became
unacceptable to be liberal and when Neo Liberal was added to the other
category, Neo Con. But then there's that old folk song, "Love me, I'm A
Liberal", which pokes fun at people who spout all the right ideas but live
safe, middle class lives. Whatever our pasts, Carl and I both kind of fit the
stereotype that the song mocks. We both, more or less, have the right ideas.
But right now, we're both living comfortably and safely. Of course, neither of
us feels secure. We're on the edge. But whatever Carl's protestations are about
being identified with the working class, he has a college degree, retired from
a professional position, works as a semi retired person who basically is self
employed, owns his own home, and is planning for his and Cathy's future. And
here I am, so far, still paying my expenses, as I rapidly physically and
emotionally deteriorate, hoping that I will peacefully die in my sleep soon
before my resources run out and before life becomes even more difficult. If I
pretty much agree with what Chris Hedges rights, does that mean that I'm not
that dreaded word, a liberal, but rather a radical revolutionary?
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2018 4:19 PM
To: Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx>
Cc: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: 'No Accident' Brett Kavanaugh's Female Law
Clerks 'Looked Like Models,' Yale Professor Told Students
No argument there.
Liberals and Missionaries leave a bad taste in the mouth.
"My way is the Superior/Right Way!"
It's a big part of why I dropped out of religion and am no longer a member of
any political party.
I spent far too many years trying to lead organizations in the Right Way(my
way). Those of us claiming to be leaders usually wound up fighting among
ourselves, providing little or no direction to the membership. Of course,
dropping out has not changed things. Except that I feel more at peace.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/23/18, Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl, the way you describe how these Lions relate to blind people is
exactly how liberals relate to poor people. You think it is a matter
of wanting to feel superior. I think poor people who find themselves
dealing with all the nice things that liberals do for them would
completely agree with you.
On 9/23/2018 3:19 PM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
Miriam,
Your remarks remind me of just how bad attitudes were back in the
40's and 50's. The Lion's in Everett put on a fishing derby for the
blind, each summer. Each blind person had a sighted Lion assigned to
him/her. That person led you on board, sat you down where they
wanted you to sit, baited your hook and tossed the line into the
water, handed you the pole and grabbed it away if you actually got a bite.
They brought you your lunch and took you to the Head when you had to
go. I never accepted their offer. The Rainier Lions held a Holiday
dinner for the blind. It was always halfway between Thanksgiving and
Christmas. The members would pick you up and drive you to the
church basement, seat you and cut up your food for you. I did go
once, just to see how it felt.
The Queen Anne Lions had a Lion's Roundup one night each month. This
was city-wide. They would send members to your door, put you in
their cars and take you to the large church on Queen Anne Hill. You
were served dinner and provided with entertainment. The blind man I
rented from at the time, told me I should go to these events. I
asked him why he attended, since he owned something around 40 houses
and a fuel company. He said he did it because it was free.
But the Lions did it because they believed they were doing something
nice for the poor blind people. The Casey's of the world come in a
wide variety of shapes and personalities, but I believe they are
mostly motivated by this need to feel superior.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/22/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I knew Casey and I'm sorry. I don't buy the, "good intentions", bit.
He may have fooled himself into thinking that he was doing what he
did in order to help the blind, but actually, he was fulfilling a
Napoleon complex. He was a short, stocky man, as I mentioned,
someone who was magnetic, but not especially physically attractive.
But here he was, with a lot of social power in a world of blind
folks, and he could judge them. He could tell them which one of them
was acceptable to the sighted world, and which people needed to be
hidden. And he could also use these occasions to express his
aggression. I remember another incident. He took the teenagers from
the Saturday recreation program on a boat ride on the Hudson River
Day Line each spring. It was something we all looked forward to. He
played guitar, and would sit out on the deck with all of us
surrounding him, and lead us in all sorts of songs, folk tunes, old
popular tunes. Then at our destination, we'd picnic, and the
athletic kids would play ball. One year, there was a thirteen year
old kid named John, who was totally blind and very very weird.
He was probably autistic or psychotic. He would sometimes make
strange noises and get a weird look on his face. Sometimes he said
inappropriate things. I don't remember what he did or said that day,
but whatever he did or said, it was on this big river boat in front
of all the people who were in the area where he was, at the moment.
Casey took him aside and gave him this tongue lashing about how
weird he was acting and what kind of image he was presenting to the
world of blind people. I don't know whether or not John was enough
in contact with reality to have even heard what he said, but as far
as I was concerned, it was Casey who was being inappropriate.
Maybe
Casey hated himself. I suspect he actually hated blind people. One
summer, I had a job as the dishwasher at Camp Lighthouse so I was at
camp during the pre camp training session for counselors. The
counselors were generally young sighted college students. I remember
one of Casey's warmings to them.
"Don't get too emotionally close to the campers. Don't become over
friendly and don't become physically involved. You may think that
they like you and want to be your friend but remember, the only
reason that blind people are warm and friendly toward sighted people
is that they want to use them".
That's pretty much a direct quote from the summer of 1953 or 1954.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2018 3:22 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: 'No Accident' Brett Kavanaugh's
Female Law Clerks 'Looked Like Models,' Yale Professor Told Students
Hi All,
"Casey" opens so many doors for discussion, that it's difficult to
limit my thoughts to just one or two.
"Casey" usually takes the form of a well intentioned, positive
sounding person. In my nearly 50 years of activity in the field of
work with the blind, I've met many, many "Casey's". In fact, when I
first came into contact with the National Federation of the
Blind(NFB), I bought the line, and soon became an active booster of
this belief that we blind people could look and behave just like the
"normal" sighted public. This was the Hay day of Kenneth Jernigan,
and many young men, and even a few young women adopted, "The
Jernigan Look". We believed that the NFB Way was the only Way to
achieve equality. While, on the one hand, proudly waving our extra
long white travel canes under the public's noses and showing our
Braille skills, we worked hard at looking and acting "normal".
And worst of all was the smugness of those of us who "passed
inspection".
We called those who bumbled along, "Magoo", and we mocked folks who
squinted and strained to read print, rather than demand it in
Braille. We were focused on creating a role model, an image that
would be acceptable to the sighted public. Many capable young blind
men and women were passed over because they could not fit the mold.
And today, fifty years later, the public image of a blind person is
not much improved. At one level we cried out, "We know who we are
and we'll never go back", and announced that we were, "The blind
leading the blind", even as we strained to appear "normal".
We need to understand, and even to cut a bit of slack for the
sighted Casey's. They see our behavior due to our lack of eyesight
to be the problem. While they can't fix our eyes, they believe that
they can help us to look sighted.
But this approach also affects how we, the blind see ourselves.
From among our ranks rise up bright, charismatic people like Jacobus
tenBroek and Kenneth Jernigan, who tell us that we do not need to
look like Mister Magoo.
They lead the way, creating an entire movement of the Super
Blind, the NFB ers.
Still, as we consider the impact of the Casey's, we need to remember
that while it is true that the road to Hell is paved with good
intentions, those same good intentions have built cathedrals and
begun social services.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/21/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I never told anyone on this list stories about Casey, and the story
about him is a long, complicated one. But to tell this little piece
which Carl's response brought to mind, I need to provide just a bit
of background. The Lighthouse for the Blind in Manhattan had a
large recreation program. First, I attended as a child, and then a
teenager.
Then, because of that program, I learned to play the guitar and to
love folk music. And then, as an older teenager, I worked in the
program, first as a volunteer and later, until I left for graduate
school, teaching children and adults to play the guitar and the
auto harp, running singing groups and even, if I remember
correctly, a discussion group. The director of the program was a
man whom we called Casey. He was short and stocky with a forceful,
magnetic personality.
He had a master's degree in education, I think, was married, and
had two sons. He was fully sighted. He ran the program during the
winter and Camp Lighthouse, a camp for blind young adults during the
summers.
His wife and children did not spend the summers with him at the camp.
Just so you know, for discussion at some other time, he always had
a favorite female employee each summer, and during the summer and
during the winter, he fondled and flirted with female volunteer and
paid staff. Anyway, the camp was located on Barnegat Bay in New Jersey.
Actually, the camp was located on dry land and one had to walk on a
long boardwalk that crossed a very wide swamp to get to the beach.
But there were also homes on that beach, owned by wealthy people,
and Casey had cultivated these folks and socialized with them. I'm
sure they donated money to the camp. The blind people who attended
the camp were a heterogeneous group. There were workshop workers,
graduate students, people who were self employed in various
occupations, rehab teachers, and people with multiple disabilities.
One weekend my sighted friend and I visited the camp, on the way
home from a vacation and I think I stayed on a few days extra. I
was, perhaps, 18 at the time. One evening at dinner, Casey made an
announcement to the camp.
One of his friends who owned a beach house, was hosting a party for
the campers that night. There would be live music, good food, and
alcohol. He, Casey, would choose the campers who would accompany
him to the party. Almost everyone could go. However, he wanted to
be sure that the campers whom he brought would make a good
impression on these wealthy, influential people who were hosting
the party because he was trying to improve the image of blind people among
sighted people.
Therefore, he would only choose blind people who could properly
represent the blind as a whole. Certain people would not be chosen
because they would spoil the impression that he was trying to make.
I remember how angry I became. I was angry at the message he was
giving to the people he rejected. Everyone was so excited and was
hoping that they'd be chosen. I remember walking up to him after
dinner and telling him that I would not be going to the party. I
don't remember what reason I gave and I doubt that he cared. I
spent the evening trying to socialize with the few lonely souls who
were left behind.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2018 6:15 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: 'No Accident' Brett Kavanaugh's
Female Law Clerks 'Looked Like Models,' Yale Professor Told
Students
Okay, I can understand that many bosses(male) like to surround
themselves with young, attractive women clerks. But for a female
Yale professor to coach young female students in how to dress up
their looks in order to be attractive to Judge Cavenaugh, well that
is just plain ugly.
My experience is that bosses who are focused on a staff of young
attractive women, rather than on competent women, are far more apt
to be the groping kind. In my years in management in the
Department of Services for the Blind, I employed at least five personal
secretaries.
The qualities I looked for were intelligence, concern for the needs
of the people with whom we worked, able to put people at ease,
ability to work with little supervision, self starter, and neat in
personal appearance.
In fact, I am suspect of men who hire women based on their
appearance over their ability.
When I was one of two Braille instructors in the Adult Training
Center, my counterpart was a very attractive woman who placed great
value on looks.
When new students entered the Center, she would look them over and
select those whom she felt were the better looking. She was able
to do this because she was spending her evenings...very late
evenings, with the Center supervisor. Because my counterpart was
legally blind, she was very dependent on others to describe the men
she considered dating. She did not want to be seen with a man who
did not compliment her. She put appearances way above all other
qualities. And believe it or not, she went from one bad relationship
after another.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/20/18, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
'No Accident' Brett Kavanaugh's Female Law Clerks 'Looked Like
Models,'
Yale
Professor Told Students
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Jessica Glenza, Guardian UK
20 September 18
Guardian learns Amy Chua said she would advise students on their
physical looks to help win post in Kavanaugh's chambers
Atop professor at Yale Law School who strongly endorsed supreme
court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as a "mentor to women" privately
told a group of law students last year that it was "not an
accident" that Kavanaugh's female law clerks all "looked like
models" and would provide advice to students about their physical
appearance if they wanted to work for him, the Guardian has learned.
Amy Chua, a Yale professor who wrote a bestselling book on
parenting called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, was known for
instructing female law students who were preparing for interviews
with Kavanaugh on ways they could dress to exude a "model-like"
femininity to help them win a post in Kavanaugh's chambers, according to
sources.
Kavanaugh is facing intense scrutiny in Washington following an
allegation made by Christine Blasey Ford that he forcibly held her
down and groped her while they were in high school. He has denied
the allegation. The accusation has mired Kavanaugh's confirmation
in controversy, drawing parallels to allegations of sexual
harassment against Justice Clarence Thomas by Anita Hill in the 1990s.
Yale provided Kavanaugh with many of the judge's clerks over the
years, and Chua played an outsized role in vetting the clerks who
worked for him. But the process made some students deeply
uncomfortable.
One source said that in at least one case, a law student was so
put off by Chua's advice about how she needed to look, and its
implications, that she decided not to pursue a clerkship with
Kavanaugh, a powerful member of the judiciary who had a formal
role in vetting clerks who served in the US supreme court.
In one case, Jed Rubenfeld, also an influential professor at Yale
and who is married to Chua, told a prospective clerk that
Kavanaugh liked a certain "look".
"He told me, 'You should know that Judge Kavanaugh hires women
with a certain look,'" one woman told the Guardian. "He did not
say what the look was and I did not ask."
Sources who spoke to the Guardian about their experiences with
Chua and Rubenfeld would only speak under the condition of
anonymity because they feared retribution and damage to their future
careers.
Chua advised the same student Rubenfeld spoke to that she ought to
dress in an "outgoing" way for her interview with Kavanaugh, and
that the student should send Chua pictures of herself in different
outfits before going to interview. The student did not send the photos.
There is no allegation that the female students who worked for
Kavanaugh were chosen because of their physical appearance or that
they were not qualified.
However, the remarks from Chua and Rubenfeld raise questions about
why the couple believed it was important to emphasize the students'
physical appearance when discussing jobs with Kavanaugh. The
couple were not known to do that in connection with other judges,
sources said.
"It is possible that they were making observations but not
following edicts from him," said one student who received such
instructions. "I have no reason to believe he was saying, 'Send me
the pretty ones', but rather that he was reporting back and
saying, 'I really like so and so,' and the way he described them
led them to form certain conclusions."
Kavanaugh is close to Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose retirement
from the supreme court left an opening, and Kavanaugh was one of
three judges who vetted clerks to serve in Kennedy's chambers. His
role as a so-called "feeder" judge made his clerkships among the
most coveted posts for law students across the country, but
especially at his alma mater, Yale.
According to one source, Chua invited a group of students that she
mentored to a bar last year to catch up and discuss their plans
for clerkships. The conversation turned to a high-profile #MeToo
case that was emerging in the news at the time involving a
well-known public figure.
The group began to talk about whether the federal judiciary would
ever face similar scrutiny, and, according to a source, Chua said
she did not believe it would. She told the students she had known
about allegedly abusive and harassing behavior by another judge,
Alex Kozinski, who was head of the ninth circuit and was forced to
retire from the bench last year after more than a dozen women
accused him of harassment.
The conversation then turned to Kozinski's protege and good friend
Kavanaugh, who one source said was a familiar name even though he
had not yet been nominated to the high court. Chua allegedly told
the students that it was "no accident" that Kavanaugh's female
clerks "looked like models".
Student reacted with surprise, and quickly pointed out that Chua's
own daughter was due to clerk for Kavanaugh.
A source said that Chua quickly responded, saying that her own
daughter would not put up with any inappropriate behaviour.
Chua has cancelled her classes at Yale this semester and,
according to her office, has been hospitalised and is not taking calls.
Rubenfeld sent an email to the Yale Law School community that said
his wife had been ill and in hospital and had a long period of
recuperation ahead of her.
The Guardian has learned that Rubenfeld is currently the subject
of an internal investigation at Yale. The investigation is focused
on Rubenfeld's conduct, particularly with female law students.
Students have also raised related concerns to Yale authorities
about Chua's powerful influence in the clerkships process. The
investigation was initiated before Kavanaugh was nominated by
Donald Trump to serve on the high court.
Rubenfeld said in a statement to the Guardian: "In June, Yale
University informed me that it would conduct what it terms an
'informal review' of certain allegations, but that to preserve
anonymity, I was not entitled to know any specifics. As a result,
I do not know what I am alleged to have said or done. I was
further advised that the allegations were not of the kind that
would jeopardize my position as a long-tenured member of the faculty.
"For some years, I have contended with personal attacks and false
allegations in reaction to my writing on difficult and
controversial but important topics in the law. I have reason to
suspect I am now facing more of the same. While I believe strongly
that universities must conduct appropriate reviews of any
allegations of misconduct, I am also deeply concerned about the
intensifying challenges to the most basic values of due process
and free, respectful academic expression and exchange at Yale and around
the country.
"Nevertheless, I stand ready to engage with this process in the
hope that it can be expeditiously concluded."
In a statement, Yale Law School said it could not confirm or deny
the existence of an internal investigation.
A Yale Law School official said in an emailed statement: "This is
the first we have heard claims that Professor Chua coached
students to look 'like models'. We will look into these claims
promptly, taking into account the fact that Professor Chua is
currently unreachable due to serious illness.
If
true, this advice is clearly unacceptable."
The official added: "I can assure you that we take allegations of
faculty misconduct very seriously."
Chua and her husband are towering figures at Yale and were
described by one student as being the centre of gravity at the
elite law school, connecting students to jobs and clerkships, and
rewarding loyalty.
The couple wrote a controversial book together in 2014 called The
Triple
Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of
Cultural Groups in America. It said that a mix of feeling superior
with some insecurity were two traits that led to success. It also
emphasised the need for "impulse control".
The couple have hired a well-known crisis communications expert
but he did not respond to specific questions from the Guardian
about Chua's remarks or the internal investigation.
In an emailed statement, Chua told the Guardian: "For the more
than
10 years I've known him, Judge Kavanaugh's first and only litmus
test in hiring has been excellence. He hires only the most
qualified clerks, and they have been diverse as well as
exceptionally talented and capable.
"There is good reason so many of them have gone on to supreme
court clerkships; he only hires those who are extraordinarily
qualified. As I wrote in the Wall Street Journal, he has also been
an exceptional mentor to his female clerks and a champion of their
careers. Among my proudest moments as a parent was the day I
learned our daughter would join those ranks."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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