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.

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[Timeout]

No need for embarassment. Hey, LODWICK, get over here and tell speedy we're harmless!

Just don't make us mad. :)

[mountaineer]

Au contraire! Gentlemen are always welcome here. Please stop by whenever you can.

[speedy]

Being prettier and funnier and smarter comes with the territory for women on the right. There are no Janet Reno or Donna Shalala equivalents on this side of the fence, as far as I can tell.

[speedy]

No women are harmless. Well, maybe Betty Crocker. But no one else.

[speedy]

Thank you. I promise not to report on anything I see here.

[Iowa Granny]

Well, we certainly didn't intent to scare you away.

Hope you'll join in the fun. And it's alright to disagree here, but we do it with respect for one another.

[Iowa Granny]

From Drudge:
Hillary Clinton Says She Regrets Joking That Gandhi Used to Run a Gas Station in St. Louis

The Associated Press



ST. LOUIS Jan. 6 — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton apologized for joking that Mahatma Gandhi used to run a gas station in St. Louis, saying it was "a lame attempt at humor."
The New York Democrat made the remark at a fund-raiser Saturday. During an event here for Senate candidate Nancy Farmer, Clinton introduced a quote from Gandhi by saying, "He ran a gas station down in St. Louis."
* * *

I'll bet ole' Trent Lott is wondering what the repercussions will be on this.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040106_1188.html

[Timeout]

Repercussions?

Let's see.

You mean like when Teddy Kennedy called Republican African-American female judicial nominees "Neanderthals"?

Or maybe when Cruz Bustamonte used the "n-word" at an African-American gathering? Or Sen. Byrd using that same slur...TWICE..in a TV interview?

[Timeout]

Are you watching Hardball?

John Kerry's the guest. Sheesh! Could he be more boring?! And his eyes always look like he's about to drop off for a nap.

[BigWaveBetty]

I have it on but I wasn't paying attention. Every time Kerry talks all I hear is blah, blah, blah. ;-)

How'd you like that little smile he mustered up for us? He must of been practicing for a week.

[Timeout]

Didn't see the smile....but Ed Gillespie's on now. In my humble opinion, he's the best GOP chairman we've had in my lifetime. Dubya sure knows how to pick 'em.

[BigWaveBetty]

Ed Gillespie is the man! The first time I saw him in action was on Hardball and he cleaned Matthews clock.

I just finished reading Best of the Web and it finally dawned on me why I like it so much... it's kinda like The Guild. Does Taranto get paid for doing that?! :-)

[BigWaveBetty]

Remember Bridezilla? One round in the slammer wasn't enough!

Yale University police arrested Adrienne T. Samen of North Haven on Sunday on charges of breach of peace and interfering with a police officer, Yale spokeswoman Gila Reinstein said.

Reinstein said she did not have details of the incident. The New Haven Register reported Tuesday that Samen, 19, bared her buttocks to Yale police. [Simply charming.]

At her wedding in South Windsor, Samen became enraged after restaurant workers closed the bar. She threw things, including wedding cake and gifts, police said. While being taken into custody, police said she kicked the door and window of the police cruiser and tried to bite an officer. The story made national headlines.

Samen pleaded guilty later in August to a reduced charge of creating a public disturbance and was fined $90.

In December, Hamden police said they arrested Samen and her sister after they got into a fistfight, charging Samen with first-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree assault and disorderly conduct. The status of that case was not immediately available.

Samen is due in New Haven Superior Court on Jan. 21. Her telephone number is not listed.

[Timeout]

...it's kinda like The Guild.

What would you say if I told you I've been listed in their credits 3 times recently for contributing items to him? Of course, it's what he does with them after he gets them that makes it so funny!

[Iowa Granny]

Samen is due in New Haven Superior Court on Jan. 21. Her telephone number is not listed.

It doesn't matter about the unlisted number. I can't imagine much of anyone wanting to call her, anyway.

[BigWaveBetty]

I'd say I'm not surprized. And that is so very cool!

I looked around the page and didn't see an addy to send idea to. Can anyone contribute or does one have to be incredibly smart like you?

[Timeout]

At the very bottom of the page there's an email link. If I see some obscure, but interesting item, I forward it on to them with my name and address. When they use it, they list my name in the "list of contributors" at the end of each day's BoTW. Kinda kewl!

[BigWaveBetty]

. I can't imagine much of anyone wanting to call her, anyway.

My thoughts exactly. But hey, you never know, maybe they like 'em feisty in New Haven.

On hillary and her racist views... SO what else is new? Of course no one will say boo about it because, she didn't mean it, she's an unselfish, compassionate, bighearted sweetheart of a woman who wouldn't hurt a person of color, she'd rather slit her wrists... oh wait, that was Micheal Jackson with children. Never mind.

[BigWaveBetty]

OH! There it is! I was looking at the very bottom of the page.

Voila - - opinionjournal@wsj.com

That is way kewl, please send me the next one you're in.

[BigWaveBetty]

Heh heh heh!