Did you know Donald Trump was insane?

Apparently Rosie O'Donnell called Trump a "snake oil salesman" on The View. Something to do with this insipid Miss USA business about which no one with any sense gives two shits. Anyway, the bizarre results:

A glimpse into corporate email

My sister works as an administrative assistant for the legal department of a large corporation. She sent me the delightful email string below this morning. (She appears as "C.K."--I deleted or changed all names and references to the company so she wouldn't get fired.)

Poor J.C. probably still has no idea what a firestorm he sparked.

Enjoy!


________________________________

From: J.C.
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 10:33 AM
To: G.A.; T.L.
Subject: VACATION PERIOD


G and T


I will be out of the office (period of vacation), from December 26th to January 5th, 2007 (included), coming back to the office on Jan 8th.

The total amount of days to be taken as vacation are days 76.


Best regards,

J.C.
________________________________


From: T. L.
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 10:46 AM
To: K.S.
Subject: FW: VACATION PERIOD


K.


J.C. seems to have a large number (76) of vacation days accrued. Does this seem right? Do we limit roll-over of days in Venezuela?

Not a big deal, but seems like a potential problem if this is widespread in Venezuela.


T.

________________________________

From: K.S.
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 9:54 AM
To: Rob L.
Cc: Al M.; Mary B.
Subject: FW: VACATION PERIOD

Could we check this? I would prefer not to ask the HR Manager in Venezuela, as it will go back to the Managing Director that we are checking up on him. Thank you.


_______________________________

From: Rob L.
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 11:31 AM
To: Al M.
Subject: FW: VACATION PERIOD

Al -- The email below raises a number of questions about vacation requirements in Venezuela. Could you facilitate a call with our local counsel there? To get the discussion going, here are the questions I like him to consider:

* Does VZ law require employers provide paid vacation to employees? If so, how much?
* Do VZ vacation requirements vary by type/level of employee?
* Can employers put limits on the amount of unused vacation that employees can carry over from one year to the next or on the maximum amount that can be accumulated?
* What other legal requirements does VZ have with regard to vacation?

Thanks,

Rob
________________________________


De: Al M
Enviado el: miércoles, 20 de diciembre de 2006 10:16
Para: L.C.
CC: Rob L; K.S.; C.K.
Asunto: FW: VACATION PERIOD

L.C.,

We need some help understanding how Venezuelan employment law deals with vacation benefits. We want to emphasize the need to direct all communications related to this issue to me or the people copied on this email. Please do not discuss this matter with our local team in Venezuela until further notice.

Rob L. is a lawyer in [company name deleted] Employment Law group. He has summarized the key questions that we need to address with our Human Resources Department in his email below. I would like to set up a meeting with him and our Human Resources Manager, K.S., so we can discuss this issue. Please let me know who from your firm can participate on the call and I will have my administrative assistant, C.K., set up the telephone conference.


Thanks for your help with this matter.


Regards,

Al M.
Legal Counsel

_______________________________


From: L.C.
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 9:10 AM
To: Al M;
Cc: Rob L; K.S.; C.K.
Subject: RE: VACATION PERIOD

Dear Al:

We will be pleased to assist you in this matter. Our partner Juan D., a labor attorney, will be available to answer your labor-related inquiries. Please advise him directly when you schedule the conference call. We are forwarding this email to Juan to bring him up to speed with your requirements.

Regards,

L

________________________________


From: Al M
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 9:04 AM
To: 'L.C.'
Cc: Rob L; K.S.; C.K.
Subject: RE: VACATION PERIOD


L,

Thanks for the quick reply. I will have C.K. set up the meeting with Juan and our team.

Regards,
Al M
Legal Counsel

_______________________________

From: C.K.
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 9:58 AM
To: Al M
Subject: RE: VACATION PERIOD

Al,
It is totally none of my business, but in scanning the correspondence in search of the location of [deleted] (to discover their time zone), I saw J.C.'s note. If you take into consideration corporate holidays of Dec. 25, 26 and Jan. 1, the number of days of vacation that J. would be using is 7. Could his note simply be a typo?
Obviously, you do not have to respond. It was just a thought.

C.K.


______________________________

From: Al M
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 9:59 AM
To: C.K.
Subject: RE: VACATION PERIOD


Thanks for pointing this out. W. noticed the same thing. I am calling HR about this now.

God is love! Unless you're different from me, and then you're toast.

This teacher is nuts.

Don't neglect to follow the link to Lippard's post and read the blog comments there. People terrify me. They really, really do. But what truly stuns me about this whole controversy is that I would never have heard of it if I hadn't read a skeptics' newsgroup. I heard NOTHING about this from any other source--and I'm an educator. We should all be outraged by this wretched teacher, yet he won't even be fired.


Public school teacher tells class: "You belong in hell"

The following is from Paul L. LaClair, a NYC attorney who lives in Kearny, New Jersey, and is posted with his permission. David Paszkiewicz, the teacher described here engaging in incompetent teaching and dishonesty, is apparently a youth pastor at Kearny Baptist Church in addition to being a public school teacher. LaClair's son Matthew has previously garnered attention for protesting Bush administration activities by refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. He seems to be a principled and courageous young man who has caught a really bad teacher:

Kearny, New Jersey
November 10, 2006

A history teacher at the local public high school here may have bitten off more than he cares to chew this fall. Self-described conservative Baptist David Paszkiewicz used his history class to proselytize biblical fundamentalism over the course of several days at the beginning of this school year.

Among his remarks in open class were statements that a being must have created the universe, that the Christian Bible is the word of God, and that dinosaurs were aboard Noah's ark. If you do not accept Jesus, he flatly proclaimed to his class, "you belong in hell." Referring to a Muslim student who had been mentioned by name, he lamented what he saw as her inevitable fate should she not convert. In an attempt to promote biblical creationism, he also dismissed evolution and the Big Bang as non-scientific, arguing by contrast that the Bible is supported by what he calls confirmed biblical prophecies.

After taking the matter to the school administration, one of Paszkiewicz's students, junior Matthew LaClair, requested a meeting with the teacher and the school principal. LaClair, a non-Christian, was requesting an apology and correction of false and anti-scientific statements. After two weeks, a meeting took place in the principal's office, wherein Paszkiewicz denied making many of these comments, claiming that LaClair had taken his remarks out of context. Paszkiewicz specifically denied using the phrase, "you belong in hell." He also asserted that he did nothing different in this class than he has been doing in fifteen years of teaching.

At the end of the meeting, LaClair revealed that he had recorded the remarks, and presented the principal with two compact discs. The teacher then declined to comment further without his union representative. However, he fired one last shot at the student, saying, "You got the big fish ... you got the big Christian guy who is a teacher...!"

Commenting on the situation, LaClair's father, attorney Paul LaClair said, "In a few short weeks, this teacher has displayed bigotry, hypocrisy, arrogance and an appalling ignorance of science. The school's administrators seem not to appreciate the damage this man is doing to young minds. He has some real abilities as a teacher, but this conduct is the intellectual equivalent of the school cafeteria serving sawdust."

The student and his parents have requested that the teacher's anti-scientific remarks be corrected in open class, and that the school develop quality control procedures to ensure that future classes are not proselytized and misinformed. They have also referred the matter for disciplinary action. No apology has been forthcoming from the teacher or from the school. The parents state that because of the administration's inaction, they have taken the matter to the school board this week, from whom they are awaiting a response.
Some local press from this story is expected this week; the blogosphere may generate more attention.

(This came to my attention from a post on the SKEPTIC list by Paul Harrison--thanks, Paul.)

UPDATE (November 15, 2006): This story has now been reported in the Newark Star-Ledger.

UPDATE: The Jersey Journal has picked up the story and
put some of the audio online. The story is also being picked up by NYC-area radio and television--the LaClairs have been interviewed by or have scheduled interviews with WCBS radio, 1010 WINS radio, Fox 5 News, and NBC 4 News.

UPDATE (November 22, 2006): The Observer (the weekly newspaper for Kearny, NJ) has published some quotes from the recordings and a few letters to the editor.

This story also appears on Richard Dawkins's website.

I love Chitty

I know I've been MIA forever! Please enjoy the lovely Sally Ann Howes in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang while you're trying to decide whether to forgive me...

(And, yes, that is Benny Hill playing the toymaker, bless him.)