'No Entiendo' (College axes Study in Spain program over troop pullout)

As the chair of Orange County’s Republican Party from 1984 until last year, Tom Fuentes distinguished himself by waging vindicative, sometimes bizarre campaigns against enemies real and perceived. As a trustee for the South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD), Fuentes continues his GOP battle plan by launching a campaign against . . . Spain?!

Sí: España.

Fuentes unveiled his new crusade at the Feb. 28 SOCCCD Board of Trustees meeting, when he requested a discussion on Item 10 from the night’s consent calendar. The item would have allowed Saddleback College students to study abroad in Santander, Spain, during the summer. It wasn’t expected to generate much controversy; the SOCCCD board has allowed Saddleback students to learn Spanish in the Iberian country for the past 15 years.

But Fuentes shocked everyone in the audience when he began to assail his ancestral home. "One hundred ninety-five years ago, in 1810, my family arrived on this continent from Spain, so I have an affection for that land," Fuentes said. But he quickly dropped the amicable pretense, simultaneously attacking Saddleback College’s study abroad program as catering to "an elite" and as a death wish given the March 11, 2004, Madrid train bombings that left 193 dead.

Terror wasn’t what disturbed Fuentes the most, though. "Now: something more," he intoned sternly. "Many of our students in this college, and of its sister college Saddleback and Irvine, past and future today, fight on the battlefield of Iraq under the flag that is behind us. Spain has abandoned our fighting men and women, withdrawing their support. I see no reason to send the students of our colleges to Spain at this moment in history."

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http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/05/26/news-arellano2.php

These people have no understanding of cultural study abroad. THey have no respect for anyone that doesn't have the American flag flying over their heads.

It really is so very sad.

But what can we expect from people that truly believe in Bush's Holy Crusades?

Every day..and now often several times a day, u read something like this...and it is so obsurd...so redicules...so blatantly insane..that it cannot be true..it cannot be something that "we" do in america..but there it is again and again...until everything that happens is so unbelievable that it becomes normal to have it go on this way..this has become the normal...it is the twilight zone...but it has become normal.

It is as if we are in Alice in Wonderland where we are looking through the looking glass. The "mainstream" has become so bizarre. And I sit in stunned silence wondering what we can do as America tumbles around me--taken over by those "John Birch" types who used to hide under rocks and were considered wacko for their extreme/asinine views.

The Birchers at least got Iraq right, and many civil liberties issues as well. Hard to believe we've got people to the right of the Birchers running the country, but we do.

Man, this guy is so fucking stupid/mean-spirited it's unbelievable. How do those asses get to positions of power??

have all kinds of lost screws ..they are on a mission and they will say and do anything to rationalize killing Democracy!

Fuck 'em..they are hurting America!

What an idiot.

It used to vote 70-75% Republican. Today that number is more like 60% or less in some cases. Barbara Boxer polled 44% there last year, and Kerry took 39%. The combined Gore/Nader vote in the O.C. in 2000 was 43%. I see Orange County turning blue in either 2008 or 2012. In California I think Kern County is far worse than Orange County.

they are not cut from the same cloth as other republicans, with the exception of the cyrstal cathedral set, they are mostly Nixonites and are fairly harmless reasonable people.

I don't think it would take much, Bush is doing a pretty good job alienating fiscal conservatives all on his own.

It was GREAT. This guy is an asshole...hate to say it but his attitude is SO O/C. Lotsa baaaad RWer types down there and the worst are the college assbites. Sure won't find any of them in Iraq but they're ALL into it. Ugh.

this only hurts our students and our nation

More personal contact with foreign countries would be better for everyone.

Wow, he must have a very narrow mind for pushing his political agenda over students' will...

Sorry, but I think Spain is a good country for foreign students.

For instance, I live on a very progressive region in which the sole pro-war party (José María Aznar's Partido Popular) got a laughable 15% of the votes on 2004 elections. Nonetheless, our universities are still plenty of American students enjoying their stay here.

I agree. Spain is a great place to study. That is why this story just makes me angry. He's depriving his students of a wonderful opportunity because of his political views...