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| Dear Senator McCain, many of us Deaf people would like to know what are you doing. We all remember too well the time you spent as a political figure head at the Gallaudet University's Board of Trustees. You obviously did not care much to learn about Deaf people and did not make effort to understand our culture. You call yourself a maverick, but others call this kind of behavior in a different name: reckless abandon.
Senator, how could you choose a running mate who is so reckless in her speeches that she shocks and hurts millions of Americans? I am not blaming her. Your own party is blaming her for being reckless, unwise and egotistic. I am asking you: how could you find her the best candidate for vice president? Do you share her feature characters of being reckless, unwise and egotistic? Are you impressed by her arrogance and apparent abuse of power?
Senator, I also ask you about those years among us: How could you choose a candidate for president of Gallaudet University for your support? How could you choose the Provost as your favorite who shocked and hurt so many at Kendall Green by her recklessness, unwiseness and egotism? Did you share her feature characters? Were you impressed by her arrogance and apparent abuse of power?
Have you heard about the abysmal government report about Gallaudet published in February 2006 that was earned by the Provost? http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/500190113/part-report-untangling-the-web-of-lies.html. Did you think it was okay? She definitely wanted to be the next president.
http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/527055996/joke-time.html. But was she prepared? Did not you know about the evil practices that were employed against Gallaudet protestors? http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/530183886/refutation-of-an-evil-strategy.html. Still you just stood by your choice of an obviously arrogant and apparently untalented administrator? Why did you so, Senator? Did you not care about the feelings of Deaf people at all?
We did not want to have colonization. http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/536147679/out-of-colonization-a-new-framework-for-the-protest.html. We did not want to have academic disaster. http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/537016589/jane-fernandes-walking-academic-disaster.html. Did you pay attention at all? Many of us trusted you as a reliable member of the United States Senate, a champion of human rights. An exemplary veteran. Why did you abandon our hopes in you, Senator?
What did you think, when the Provost came out with her futuristic utopia of "creating a new order of Deaf people"? How could you accept her blatant view of the Deaf that must be "enhanced" or manufactured by medical professionals so that it would become a "new order", a better race of people? http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/538787880/fernandes-program-futuristic-utopia.html. How could you go along with her in these kinds of barbaric ideologies? Did you agree with her? Did you support her pact with the medical-industrial lobby to allow them to experiment? Use the unsuspecting Deaf who came to Gallaudet University with trust and openness? To a place that was believed to be a safe environment for the Deaf? O my heavens! http://http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/539868823/a-demagogue-in-service-of-the-medical-industrial-lobby.html. Did you understand the implications of allowing the medical industry to crush and eliminate Deaf culture? Did not you think of betrayal and abuse? Why did not you break away from these sordid ideas? Did you find in it a profitable business opportunity for the few including yourself?
We took inspiration from American history. http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/541065373/will-ye-submit-your-necks.html. Did not you hear us? We warned about impending accrediation troubles. http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/541390392/accreditation-bomb-planted-by-fernandes-and-jordan.html, and http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/554002312/outgoing-act-gambling-with-accreditation.html. Did not you pay attention? You left us begging. But we never gave up hope. http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/542326867/a-sunday-song.html. And eventually, when we won, http://www.xanga.com/testing_the_truth/545701017/how-could-we-win.html, we had to learn that you were not on our side. You were on the opposite side all along. Why did you miss your chance so bad, Senator, why did you miss to know us better and perhaps, only perhaps, develop some human feeling towards us? Why?
Dear Senator McCain, your troubles are not coming from us. We don't play a big role in this coming election. You may be sure that if you lose, it won't be because of us. It will be because of yourself. You can only blame yourself. We just hope that when you retire very soon, you won't have any rejection in your heart towards us. Please, come back to us. Visit Gallaudet again. Come, and express your regret for your own failures as a respected Board member. You missed your chance big time with us. Please, come back and try again. Try to fix your heart. Try to apologize for not wanting to know us better. Try again to yield to your human feelings towards us. If you do, I promise, we would forgive soon, and appreciate your change of heart. We would cherish your coming back to us. One day, before you go, you may even experience love in your heart, a love you have never felt. A love towards us, a love and appreciation towards our culture. Would you do this for us, dear Senator? Would you come back to us as a changed man? We'll be looking forward to hear from you.
I send my best wishes to you and your family for your well-deserved retirement years,
testing_the_truth
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| A painfully glorious day of the protest
At the second anniversary of Black Friday, the painfully glorious turning point of the tides for the Unity for Gallaudet protest, we see much clearer. We know so much more now about he causes of the misery and suffering that was inflicted on Gallaudet in 2006 and the years before. It was not only the previous, disgraced president of the school who failed to maintain academic quality, and thus badly betrayed the community. There was another person of power involved there. This person also wanted to play presidential games, actually on a much higher level: Senator John McCain who failed against president Bush in the year 2000 election.
John McCain and his women of power
He never gave up the hope to become president of the United States though. Meantime, until the next presidential contest, he decided to come and sit on the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet University. We know there must have been serious reasons the Senator was unable to win the support of voters: and this is his personal flaws. Just look at the current presidential campaign: he surprised everybody to pick an unknown lady, Sarah Palin as vice president candidate. Has he checked her background? Her troubles? Her arrogance? I have serious doubts about it. It looks like John McCain is a fool of women of power. When he meets some of them, he looses his political instincts and abandons common sense. Now, he is stuck with a vice presidential candidate, who does not talk very smart, and looks under-prepared for the job.
Just think back to the years between 2001 and 2006, probably the darkest 5 years in Gallaudet history ever. John McCain as Board member met the provost then, another woman of power, but also of dubious intellectual abilities paired with numbing arrogance in dealing with academic and community matters. Now we know that John McCain fell for the provost, and he saw in her the future of Gallaudet University. In exchange, the provost exhibited some disastrous academic policies for the school that led Gallaudet University to the brink of losing accreditation. She also exhibited arrogance and oppression. She appointed a dean to the largest college of the University who became the epitome of violating academic freedom and overriding academic integrity of the faculty. Of course this dean was another woman, a friend of the provost, who got involved in the power games of the Senator. Their power run uninterrupted all around the campus -- up until the days of the year 2006 Unity for Gallaudet Protest.
The day of the truth
The storm that broke out against these cronies of a powerful man swept aside the provost, the dean and eventually the Senator as well. Nobody should shed any tear for them. This is a day of recollection and truth now. What made Gallaudet suffer during the years of the Board membership of Senator McCain and his cronies, is encroaching now into the presidential politics of the nation. The Senator's personal flaws show again in the bright light and attention of 300 million citizens. We must let our message be heard: based on our experience with him, this person may not be the best choice for president of the United States! Let him and his women of power leave in peace. And please, don't come back again!
As we remember tonight to the brave heroes of the protest, 133 of our finest young people, who endured arrest for the sake of victory, we have to recall that the sacrifices of many were not in vain: it is possible to live in a better world if we keep fighting for it every day. Just as in the days of 2 years ago. Peace be with our heroes. I salute to everyone of them!
testing_the_truth
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| It is getting hot in politics. It is not only about presidential race or bail-out policy, although both are very important. It is about one thing at the moment: the character of leading republican candidate John McCain. His double face and double talking is revealed now in federal politics. But we know even more than that: we remember his actions as Gallaudet University board member! He shamelessly supported the megalomania of previous president Irving Jordan who greatly increased financial flow-in to the university -- partly for his own benefit as university "CEO" -- but at the same time he undermined the academics at the school by his neglect. During his last 5-6 years of presidency many faculty members complained about a total disinterest on the president's part in academic quality and -- as a consequence -- a deep plunge in student performace. Just remember that he announced his resignation just a few weeks before the Office of Management and Budget of the White House released an dismayal evaluation of Gallaudet's academic efficiency!
It is not only Jordan's failed academic policy that was supported by John McCain. he also supported the pre-arranged succession of Jordan by provost Jane Fernandes who was solely and personally responsible for the deep dive of academics at Gallaudet. As provost for 5 years she blundered after blunder, still she received a great applause after each of her terrible and disastrous moves as top-ranking Gallaudet officer. Her arrogance and greed to grab more and more power was fully supported by John McCain. Her antics were shielded and protected by the influencial senator up until the end of the protest that eventually ousted them both!
We are the people who have the direct experience of John McCain's character. We know more about him as the general public and the average voter, because it was him who did the great damages and participated in the failed policies of a previous unfit Board of Trustees at the Gallaudet University that led to the magnificient Unity for Gallaudet Protest in 2006. As we prepare to celebrate the second anniversary of our victory, including Black Friday, the shameful arrest of our best protestors on October 13th 2006, we have refresh our minds about this knowledge of John McCain. As we gather to remember that fateful days, we have to send a strong message to the public about root causes of our protest 2 years ago. Among these causes we should also send a strong message about the character of senator McCain as we saw it with our own eyes.
testing_the_truth
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| What is the true meaning of Black Friday? Was it a defeat or was it a victory? Did it change the world of the Deaf? After 2 years, why is this day still so significant? Well, for a long time, I thought I would not write ever again. I just felt like shutting up. I struggled
with challenging moments every day. Now I feel, we should talk. We should remember. We should recall the true meaning of that day that turned the tide
for the Gally Protest. We must tell again the story of the heroes of our very unique Black Friday that unified the Deaf for a cause all across America -- and even beyond.
The true meaning of Black Friday is the great power of community. Nobody would have been able to overcome the arrogance of a shrewd administration without the support of the Deaf community. This community stood behind the protestors. This community gave strength when strength was needed. This day felt like a defeat, but it was a glorious defeat that was turned into victory by our brave heroes who stayed the course up to the final moments. Our world cannot be the same again, because we were powerless, but now we are empowered. We were deprived of ability to influence our fate and future, but now we can make our own responsible decisions. We were denied autonomy and self-rule, but now our voices are being heard and our concerns are being heeded. We did not know what justice was and had to accept injustice every day. But now we demand more justice and equal chances for all not only in education but in any profession. That is why the significance of this day and its heroes would never fade away, but stays with us as shining memories forever. This will encourage all generations that come to stand up for what they believe is good and right. Stand up and fight for it until victory comes -- through the great power of the community.
Now this day has also a meaning of
failure for a member of the political establishment. A failure of a
senator who did not care enough to know us and our struggles better. Who did not care enough to recognize how much pain and suffering he
inflicted upon the Gallaudet community, and upon the Deaf people, by
supporting an arrogant and untalented person for Gallaudet president.
In my eyes, this person, senator John McCain became disqualified at that moment from holding any high
office. When we prepare ourselves for a due and cheerful celebration of the second anniversary of this painful but glorious day Black Friday, we also need to prepare to send a message to the American public about neglect, insensitivity and disregard toward the Deaf community of a person who nevertheless would like to be elected as the next president of the United States. Would he be elected? We don't know at this moment. But we can be sure that before the people go to the urns to cast their votes, our voice, who know the senator so well, should be heard again.
testing_the_truth
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| Hi Everyone, yes I am talking about Black Friday, October 13, 2006. On this outrageous day many of us read the on-line news reports of favorite protest bloggers Elisa and MishkaZena with broken hearts. Why? Because of the the arrest of 133 brave protest warriors at the Gallaudet University! I am talking about this year, when current presidential candidate John McCain sat in the Gallaudet Board of Trustees. What did he do? When we had an insensitive and talentless university adminstration that had its only concern in preserving and extending its grip on the power. They led the academic community astray. They were so angry at the brave students who protested their dull haughtiness and arrogant mediocrity that they ordered the paddy wagon from the DC police. They humiliated and they made these many young protestors arrested. Shame on you forever, previous leaders of Gallaudet!
This moment made history for the Deaf communities around the world! We need to remember and celebrate the heroes of this day! These brave young girls and boys, university students and alumni, sacrificed their peace for a cause. They made the hearing world to hear to cry of the Deaf once again. Our cry for empowerment, self-determination and justice was heard all over the continent and beyond!
During our remembrance and celebration of the heroes of Black Friday we have to cope with a stubborn question coming up in our minds: what did the politician John McCain do during this time as he was sitting in the BOT and our students were arrested? Well, there is a reason to believe that he applauded the action of the university's leaders and he supported the arrest of out protestors! Why? Because he wholeheartedly supported that boring Gallaudet administration, he gave advices to the president and the provost how to act, and finally -- because he firmly supported the provost to become the next president of Gallaudet University! We did not know this at the time, but we know it now. He himself admitted all this when he resigned from the Board of Trustees immediately after the protest won in November 2006!
Folks, we know the history of the year 2006 Gallaudet protest. We learned that this politician, who wants to be the next president of the United States, was involved as a Board member in making the policies for Gallaudet Universtity and in supporting a failed university leadership. We know this person by his acts during the Gallaudet protest. Would you like him to be the next president of the United States?
Please, think hard for a moment before you answer this challenging question.
testing_the_truth
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