[Vision2020] Tinpot* *(tin´pot) n .The condition of being Denney

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the Boise Weekly with thanks and appreciation to a loyal Viz subscriber and friend for bringing this article to my attention . . .

http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/tinpot/Content?oid=2606013&mode=print
 
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Tinpot* 
*(tin´pot) n .The condition of being Denney
by Bill Cope
I address myself this day to Don Burnett, dean of the University of Idaho Law School. Gather with me, my perspicacious readers, as we offer our deepest apologies to Dean Burnett for the behavior of one of our most pissiferous* public officials. I speak of House Speaker Lawerence Denney, a man of such hamfisted and course nature that somebody should have been apologizing for him throughout his entire tenure as House speaker.

As much or more than any other individual in Idaho politics, Denney demonstrates exactly what we get when we allow a man of puny intelligence and meager morality to rise to a muscular position. We've become all too aware over recent years that for ideological bedfellows of the speaker, there is hardly an outrage they can commit that will not bring a swift and resolute "You're excused" from their leader. Is there any quantity of lumber Rep. Phil Hart might have poached from the state, or any level of taxation he could evade, that would get the speaker to issue a meaningful reprimand? Is there no limit to the self-serving legislative manipulations of Rep. Tom Loertscher to which Denney wouldn't turn a blind eye?

It seems not. In fact, dissenting Repubs can find themselves cast out from the trough if they attempt to resist the reins of Denney's control. Eric Anderson, the Priest Lake rep who dared suggest that Hart isn't fit to be a lawmaker, was tossed from his position as a committee chairman. Leon Smith of Twin Falls has decided to leave the Legislature after being stripped of his chairmanship in retaliation for not kneeling at Denney's throne last year. And of course, fresh in our memory is Denney's attempt to invalidate the accomplishments of the redistricting commission by firing the two Republicans who worked effectively with the Democrat members, and his subsequent refusal to accept Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden's verdict that he had no authority to dismiss those people.

Even without any further examples of Denney's ... uh ... leadership, it would be clear he has a grossly bloated estimate of himself, and equally evident that his mental grasp falls far short of his official reach. After being scolded by the likes of ex-Gov. Phil Batt for his redistricting tantrum, one would think he'd try to behave himself for the remainder of the legislative session.

But, alas, no. It evidently isn't in Denney's character to stop throwing his weight around.

Which returns us to Dean Burnett and the U of I Law School. Late in January, Denney and 20 other legislators--including Majority Leader and Denney nitpicking partner Mike Moyle--sent a letter to Burnett, chastising him for making it mandatory that law students attend an extracurricular training session on practicing law in a diverse environment. Burnett's reasoning is that, as society becomes more culturally and ethnically heterogeneous, any decent law school has a responsibility to educate its students on the subtleties of being part of the legal profession in regard to that diversity.

Denney doesn't think so. He put his name to the letter, which declared it "simply unacceptable" that a public-funded institution would attach a note to a student's record, indicating that student hadn't bothered to show up for the training.

You heard right. The penalty the school imposed for not attending the 75-minute program was a note on students' records, pointing out that they weren't there. Ouch! But still, it seems a punishment too drastic for Denney, Moyle and 19 of their sycophantic lickspittles.

Now, anyone who has ever attended any institution of higher education that amounted to more than a cash-and-carry degree mill would know that colleges and departments expect, more often than not, some degree of extracurricular participation from their students. Convocations, seminars, showing up for guest speakers, playing in pep bands, volunteer duties, etc.--none of these are on the curriculum and all of them entail some level of obligatory participation. So what is it about expecting our future lawyers and judges, prosecutors and attorneys general to attend this program on diversity that has Denney and his one-note choir so upset? Let me think, why would a presentation on diversity be so offensive to these Republican poobahs? How could a lecture on diversity ... hmmm ...

Oh! Of course! I see it now. Out of all the higher-ed crises troubling this state, why would the speaker of our House of Representatives and his puckering entourage pick this one matter to complain about? It's the diversity thing, get it?

Frankly, I doubt Dean Burnett is greatly surprised by this hicky whining, coming as it is from the party that is increasingly defining itself, both in attitude and action, as the exclusive province of one race and one religion. They would resent any sensitivity, legal or otherwise, to diversity, seeing as how they refuse to accept that any reality from outside their own stunted experience is worthy of attention, let alone respect. The bitchy letter to the law school, the yearly snubbing of civil protections for gays, the hysterical hatred of our president ... it's all of the same impulse, really. It may look like different varieties of ignorant shit, but it all flows from the same sewer.

*(pis.i´.fur.us) adj. 1) denoting a pissy personality; 2) to liken an individual to a piss ant.

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Seeya later, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Post Falls, Idaho

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown


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