Thursday 1 April 2010

Sarah Palin and California State University - The missing piece of the puzzle


Many people were confused and outraged about CSU Stanislaus inviting Sarah Palin to headline their black-tie event in June, considering the positions of their president, Dr Hamid Shirvani:

His management focus is, first and foremost, on bringing a humanistic perspective to decision-making, with a focus on ethics and transparency in institutional behavior.
Humanism is a worldview and a moral philosophy that considers humans to be of primary importance. It is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. Although the word has many senses, its current philosophical meaning comes into focus when contrasted to the supernatural or to appeals to higher authority. Since the 19th century, humanism has been associated with an anti-clericalism inherited from the 18th-century Enlightenment philosophes. The term covers organized non-theistic religions, secular humanism, and a humanistic life stance.
Dr. Shirvani is also in demand as a book reviewer in the field of architecture, and has spoken, lectured and made numerous conference presentations on higher education, art, architecture, and urban design.

wasilla 6

What would Dr Shirvani write about Sarah Palin's Wasilla? (Click on the link for more photos)

CSU Stanislaus has changed a lot in the last 50 years. So have some of the people who were very vocal regarding the Vietnam war in the 60s but have changed their views since then, such as Jon Voight.

csu stan history

These days CSU Stanislaus prefers more conservative celebrities to shine at their events:

csu stan gary sinise

Another member of the board of the CSU Stanislaus Foundation is quite interesting:

Matt Swanson is a visionary leader in agri-business, manufacturing and pet-supply retail. He serves as president of both Associated Feed & Supply, a leader in the animal feed industry, and Virtus Nutrition, a developer and marketer of value-added feed ingredients for dairy cows. He is president of Nutrias, which manufactors vitamin and mineral supplements for livestock, poultry and companion animals. He is also founder and president of Pet Extreme, Inc.

His varied interests in film and music culminated in founding The Creation Lab, Turlock’s own recording and video studio. He also serves as president of the California State University, Stanislaus Foundation Board and is a Turlock Christian Schools board member.

Sarah Palin doesn't have any known connections with dairy cows apart from Dairygate, but perhaps the clue is in the last sentence.

Mr Swanson is a member of the executive team of Harvest Crusades, started by a Greg Laurie, who sits on the board of directors of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse.

Well, it didn't take long to find that last missing piece of the puzzle...

Sarah Palin is very enthusiastic about the Samaritan Purse. She travelled with Franklin Graham to Western Alaska to dish out some cookies and Evangelical pamphlets to Alaska Natives who were going through a very serious crisis and didn't hesitate to pass her baby-prop Trig to Franklin Graham when she arrived for a visit with Franklin's father, Billy Graham, during the "bus" tour to promote Going Rogue.


Franklin Graham was the speaker at the Alaska Governor's Prayer Breakfast in 2007 and 2008. He was also influencial in Sarah Palin's choice of Commissioner of Public Safety after she fired Walt Monegan. Unfortunately, Graham's protege, Chuck Kopp, had a few demons, having been previously reprimanded for sexual harassement when he was police chief in Kenai.

I can understand Sarah Palin's and Matt Swanson's motivations, but I have difficulty in understanding Dr Shirvani's inclination to sell out his humanistic soul.

Sooner or later, most people seem prepared to sell their souls to the real devil: MONEY.

(H/T to Crystalwolf)
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