The Guild 1-6-2004 Carol Collins, sex discrimination victim (not!)

News8Austin ^

[BigWaveBetty]

Jury selection is underway in an age and sex discrimination lawsuit against Williamson County Attorney, Gene Taylor. A former employee of his, attorney Carol Collins is suing Taylor for compensation.

Collins said she's convinced she was fired from her job as assistant county attorney in December 2000 because of her sex, age, and retaliation over an incident involving a newspaper clipping.

She said that's when Taylor became hostile and abusive toward her at one point even yelled at her. Taylor said he had the article removed and had the staff member who put it there apologize to Collins.

In court documents, Taylor said he didn't reappoint Collins because she had poor job performance. For example, in a letter from child protective services, a program director wrote there were numerous incidents where Collins presented a case to a judge and gave inaccurate information about what happened with the parent or child.

A county attorney is accusing another county of attorney of age and sex discrimination.

Collins said she consistently met or exceeded required expectations in performance reviews from 1993 to 2000.

Collins was 54 at the time she was terminated. She said the 10 other assistant county attorney's were in their mid-30s or younger.

Jury selection will resume Tuesday morning. Opening statements are expected to start later that afternoon. The trial is expected to last nearly two weeks.

The clipping was on an office bulletin board and had a headline reading "Blame it on a woman -- or two women." Collins found the article offensive and complained to Taylor.

	The article in question

		The following column is what offended Carol Collins. Blame it on a woman – or two women James Lileks – columnist Stop the presses: Bill Clinton’s mom used to argue with his grandmother, and that’s why he’s powerless around purty wimmen. Hillary Clinton, in an interview published this week in Talk magazine, claims Bill was “scarred by abuse” as a child – specifically, the fiery disputations ‘twixt his mom and grandmother twisted his emotional roots. This news, when reported on the radio Sunday, was so preposterous that is appears to have made Monica Lewinsky drive off the road. What did the women argue about? We may never know – although if asked, Bill Clinton could probably give a detailed transcript or their fights, as well as his role in stopping the battle, bringing them to the bargaining table and dictating the terms of the peace accord, “Until then, no 4-year-old had ever stopped a domestic fight in Arkansas,“ he’d say. Then he’d blame Grandma’s death on the GOP. But the fights no doubt had a lasting effect. Why, during the Nixon years, Pat told a reporter that little Richard had seen his mother remove a dolly from the sofa, revealing a rip: he was traumatized, and became fixated on covering things up. . . . Woodrow Wilson’s wife said her husband, as a tot of 2 years, had gotten stuck on a spiked fence with many points. Fourteen, in fact . . . . George Washington, according to Martha, was a young impressionable spermatozoa when someone shouted “Down with the King!” and this no doubt shaped his revolutionary character. It was later discovered that the shout was directed at the Washingtons’ dog, King, who was taking indecent liberties with a neighbor’s leg. Mrs. Clinton confided that an “expert” said Bill’s hellzapoppin double-dame childhood could lead a man to hapless promiscuity. Ah! An expert! You can imagine some bald man a white coat, fingers steepled against his Van Dyke beard, peering through a pince nez as he pronounces his expert judgment: “Ve haff discovered, through ze tools of zzzychoanalyziz, zat ze male who hass been raised by two vimmen vill often drop his tarrowsahs vhenever ze opportunity presents itself.” Perhaps. But this is also true of men who have been raised by a man and a woman. Or by wolves. Or by lesbians, single parents, cloth dummies or a television set. Many men have jack-in-the-box libidos; the mere presence of a woman turns the handle and starts the song. This is a land besotted with the comforting excuses of the therapist class. Apologists for bad behavior specialize in absolving the patient and blaming the dead. You’d think someone with Mrs. Clinton’s steely smarts would roll her eyes at such Oprah-speak. But no: The interview is full of vaporous navel-gazing sonorities lifted straight from a Lifetime channel movie. “I thought he had conquered it,” she said. “I thought deep enough or work hard enough.” (Cough.) This is drivel. It suggests there’s a magic amount of Deep Work, achieved by frowning and crying, that makes a man shape up. Let’s just put it in Yoda terms: “There is no work! Schwing or schwing not. Learn this you must.” She isn’t letting him off the hook – he was responsible, sure, in a sad, addicted, not-really-responsible sort of way. But let’s keep it all in perspective ”There are sins of weakness,” she said, “and sins of malice, and this was a sin of weakness.” Agreed. But lying to the country, making aides squander their good name by asking them to repeat the lie, smearing the names of women who were party to the president’s “weakness” or an unwilling victim of it – these are sins of malice. They are born not of weakness but indifference to other. Does this disqualify a man from holding office? No. Could it be true? Perhaps. Are we approaching the point where it will be a blessing if we never hear another syllable about these people’s seamy dramas? I’d say yes. But of course, I’m not an expert. Lileks is a Washington, D.C.-based columnist for Newhouse News Service. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.

	Printer Friendly Version
	Search HEADLINES

[mountaineer]

Memo to Howard Dean, John f'in Kerry, et al.: Read it and weep

The constitutional loya jirga that concluded in Kabul Sunday was a milestone on the Afghan people's path to democracy. Afghans have seized the opportunity provided by the United States and its international partners to lay the foundation for democratic institutions and provide a framework for national elections in 2004.

The Afghan people manifested this remarkable commitment to democracy in two ways. They defied the enemies of Afghanistan's progress -- remnants of the extremist Taliban and al Qaeda forces -- by participating in elections for the delegates to the constitutional loya jirga. The extremists sought to intimidate candidates and voters. They failed.

Women especially were not intimidated. There was a powerful reversal of symbolism when the Kabul soccer stadium -- used less than three years ago by the Taliban to execute women accused of adultery -- was used by thousands of women to choose their representatives to the constitutional loya jirga. Of the voting delegates, 102 were women -- more than 20 percent of the total delegates. ...

Afghanistan's Milestone, WashPost commentary by Zalmay Khalilzad.

[Iowa Granny]

(He IS a man baby!).

Well,,, in THAT case, I'm certainly willing to make an exception.

BWB, are you telling me that speedy is a Hottie? Wow!!

[Timeout]

I just caught a barf-inducing interview by Katie Couric with "imminent historian" Douglas Brinkley. He has a new book called "Tour of Duty---John F. Kerry and Vietnam"....notably coming out now, 2 weeks before the first Dim caucus. Asked if he's working for Kerry, he slid past it and praised how much Kerry's like John McCain...never answered the question.

But the gag-me part was this: "I didn't know whether to call it Tour of Duty. Because, unlike other vets, Kerry's tour never ended. First he fought valiantly in the war, then he came home and distinguished himself poiting out the follies of that war...THEN he continued the fight by joining up with John McCain in the search for POW/MIA's. So much has been said of 'the greatest generation'. I wanted Americans to know that Kerry has carried on that fine tradition."

In discussing Kerry's anti-war activities, Brinkley went into detail about a Nixon "smear" campaign aimed at Kerry...because Nixon feared him, of course. The smear? Nixon's campaign actually hired an imminent author (name??) who went around offering reporters opinions the opposite of what Kerry was saying...oh, the horror!

He pointedly told Katie that Kerry's vote for the Iraq war was "because he listened to people in the Bush administration and was led to believe Saddam had WMD".

I'm embarassed to say I've always liked Brinkley despite occasional glimpses into his liberal leanings. I even came very close to buying one of his audio books for a Christmas gift. But he's now totally out of the closet as just another liberal hack. [Is he David Brinkley's son?]

[BigWaveBetty]

When I heard the news about the new Afghan constitution it made me think, why aren't we hearing about how horribly it's going in Afghanistan (aside from not finding OBL)? It's still dangerous there, but I guess not enough deaths of soldiers to make it pay politically for the dems.

[BigWaveBetty]

Kerry's tour never ended.

The only reason Kerry signed up for Vietnam was to have an in for his political aims, imo.

I don't know if he's son of David but I'm thinking no. One of David Brinkley's off-springs couldn't be that liberal, I hope.

Whew, I'm right. Just checked and there's no relation between the two Brinkleys'.

[BigWaveBetty]

Of course speedy's a hottie! And he works out. :-)

[BigWaveBetty]

Everyone we have another new member of The Guild but she's kind of shy and says she doesn't post much but would like to become more active in posting and sharing information.

She wrote to me just before Christmas and asked to be added to our ping list. So please give SaucyCranberry a big hello too!

SC, jump on in, we're very easy to get along with and we're only snippy to ugly democrats that bash our president. If you're having trouble with posting something, just ask, someone will help.

WELCOME!

[SaucyCranberry]

You're too sweet, Betty. Thank you. And Hello to everyone else. It's very nice to be among friends. :)

[BigWaveBetty]

Jimah Carter's back with observations on Lord of the Rings. Don't worry, hilarity will ensue.

OSLO, Norway (Prager News Service, Jan. 5, 2004) -- In a just-published interview with the Norwegian Society for Universal Neutrality (NSUN), former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said that the blockbuster trilogy "Lord of the Rings" is sending dangerous messages to the world's young people.

"For three hours in this latest installment of 'Lord of the Rings,' young people the world over watch my work in the United States and your work here in Europe -- to get nations to disarm, not to make moral judgments about any nation other than America or Israel -- undone.

"We who love peace," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate continued, "have to initiate a campaign to jolt people back to our view of the world. Let's be clear about the dangers. What if young people start identifying George W. Bush with Aragorn or Gandalf, and Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden with Saruman? Even worse, impressionable moviegoers might identify the American war against Iraq and so-called 'Islamic terror' with the war against the Orcs and Mordor.Continued

Back later, time to run errands then take the kid to the dentist. He gets his two front teeth crowned today (horrible swimming pool mishap ten years ago).

[BigWaveBetty]

Hey, there you are! Glad you stopped by before I took off.

You must have two things to be a member of The Guild, a deviled egg dish and at least one string of pearls. As I told speedy, if you need any one of those things we're glad to help out.

You are among friends and though I'm biased, the ladies and gentlemen here are the nicest on FR.

Gotta run, be back asap.

[Iowa Granny]

Welcome. I think you'll like it here. Jump right in and join the fun.

[mountaineer]

Remember when Jimmeh claimed to be an evangelical Christian? You know, one of those nutty folks who accept that there are absolutes, that some things are just plain right or wrong, that ethics aren't situational and morals relativistic? Sheesh.

[mountaineer]

Yes, welcome! We have a lot of fun here at the Guild and are glad you have joined us.

[Timeout]

In fairness, the author pointed out that Jimah Carter interview is fiction. It really had me going for a while...because it's so believable!

[daisyscarlett]

Good morning...Welcome to the Guild...

[Timeout]

Welcome, Saucy! Come on in...we don't bite! (Well, not often...)

Hey! Just announced on CNN that JOE Wilson...you know, the guy so upset at the his wife's name appearing in the paper...THAT Joe Wilson is going to be publicly campaigning with Kerry for the next two days. [a sign of how desperate Kerry is]. Oh, Ole Kennedy's gonna be there too. This could get good.

[Iowa Granny]

Joe Wilson? Do you mean THE Joe Wilson? The Joe Wilson who told Vanity Fair about his love tyrsts with the steamy blonde who later became his wife? The Joe Wilson who's blonde bombshell girlfriend told him of her undercover work long before it was appropriate?

Gotta get that Vanity Fair and read this steamy stuff. I will keep the nytro closeby. Stuff of that type really gets my heart to pounding. NOT.

[Endeavor]

Welcome! Just jump right in.

[speedy]

Well, I just had a chance to stick my head in here from work and didn't realize I was causing such a problem!! I confess to being a man and to working out, but I didn't mean to disrupt The Guild. Afraid I left my pearls at home (hah) and I hope you will accept my lowly frittata as my egg dish. Just carry on, ladies, I promise to be discreet. Betty told me it was okay to be here, but now I feel like I walked into the Ladies Room. The face is turning red.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

You haven't walked into a Ladie's Room. We have plenty of men here, men need to laugh as much as women, we just happen to be funnier and smarter and prettier.