They’re obviously against it, right?\u00a0 I mean, it’s one of Academia’s cardinal sins.<\/p>\n
So they must be aghast at the prospect of a plagiarist being elected to the US Senate, right?<\/p>\n
Not so fast.\u00a0 According to Eric Fever, president of the Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers,\u00a0it’s no big deal<\/a>:<\/p>\n Husband, father, soldier, straight talking, no bullshit Democrat, Walsh is in his own words \u201cno academic.\u201d His bout with plagiarism proves that. But his bout with plagiarism has harmed no one but himself.<\/em><\/p>\n I can’t wait to see how Montana teachers react to the “it didn’t hurt anyone else” excuse when they catch someone using an obviously-plagiarized paper for their classwork.\u00a0 Based on the above, I guess they’ll give the perp a pass – as well as a passing grade.<\/p>\n And Fever is hardly alone.\u00a0 Here’s a quote from an article posted by Montana teacher Don Pogreba<\/a> on his blog Intelligent Discontent<\/em>:<\/p>\n Let\u2019s get one thing out of the way: it was plagiarism. Some, eager to defend Senator Walsh, have suggested that because he cited the material in footnotes, he wasn\u2019t plagiarizing, but that\u2019s a too-generous, and incorrect assessment\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n A person\u2019s ethics are hardly defined by one error in judgment.<\/em><\/p>\n I guess Pogreba hasn’t gotten around to reading the 9-page DAIG 2010 Report of Investigation concerning Walsh’s other little bit of “interesting” conduct while serving in the MT ARNG<\/a>. \u00a0 That report substantiates different misconduct on Walsh’s part that IMO also calls his ethics into question.<\/p>\n Or perhaps Pogreba is simply OK with politicians using public resources improperly, and using their public position for for private gain.\u00a0 As long as he agrees with their politics, of course.<\/p>\n Ya know, for some reason I keep hearing an old Randy Newman tune playing in the background when I read those articles: \u00a0 “It’s Money That Matters”<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 But then again, I tend to hear that every time a union flack opens his or her mouth these days.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"