I do believe that Bill Felkner is the biggest whiner in Rhode Island. While the Chariho Times is convinced he is trying to become the emperor of Chariho, I disagree. I think he is just trying to force school vouchers through the system or disband Chariho. I’m not sure which. And he probably just wants school vouchers because he has his kids in private school (or wants them there) and can’t see why the district won’t cover his costs. His motives are entirely selfish. He’s just trying to save himself some cash at the expense of the rest of us, he’s a good little capitalist.
But that does not make him a whiner. He is a whiner because he is suing RIC because they told him “no” and just like a 5-year-old, he’s crying over it. Here is the story: Felkner went to RIC to get a masters degree in social work. In order to get the degree, he needed to do an internship in social work and then write a paper. But Felkner thinks he is clever and instead of getting his hands dirty and working in Providence with the poor and disenfranchised, he decided to go do an internship working with Carcieri on welfare. The faculty even let him do it, but he still had to do some actual social work. Obviously, working for Carcieri is also getting dirty, but the filth is of a different and more insidious quality. So he ignored his professors, did what he wanted to do and when he submitted his paper, he was denied the degree because he never did any social work. He was given an old-fashioned smackdown for being a wiseass punk and now he is suing that his professors are liberals. The liberal thing is a red herring to get the conservative nut-jobs on his side and pay for the lawsuit. It has nothing to do with the fact that he’s not smart enough to follow the rules the rest of us follow.
This is what I got from college: The professors are hired as the experts. We may not like them and we may not agree with what they say. But our job as students is to at least pacify them. If they teach us better by being jerks, then we have learned something more than they expected. But the rules go like this: They tell us what to do, we do it. Its just like being in the real world: Boss tells us what to do, we do it. We all live by these rules. And if we don’t, there are consequences. But not Bill “the cat food salesman” Felkner. He makes his own rules and if you don’t like it, he’ll sue you. And this is because he is really just a big whiner. I thought Cordone was an embarrassment. Now I wish we had him back, Felkner is way worse than Cordone. At least Cordone took the punches without whining that no one would let him have his way.
I predict that he will lose his lawsuit against RIC. It is a foolish waste of time and makes a fool out of everyone it touches, himself included. Once again, it is no surprise his is “self-employed”. I have a feeling he’s probably rubbed every boss he ever had the wrong way.
The article is here (Projo article) and the follow quote sums it all up:
RIC argues that Felkner equates his right to free speech with “a claim to be able to create his own curriculum, something which is not constitutionally guaranteed.”
Which means that in Felkner’s world, he’s right, you’re wrong and he’s going to make you pay for disagreeing with him. On second thought, maybe he does want to be the emperor of Chariho. it’s kind of ironic that when the School Board makes up it’s own rules to boot him out, it is not OK. When he makes up his own rules to get a degree, it is OK. Perhaps hypocrisy is another trait would could add to his resume of talents?
PS: This is also funny:
In spring 2005, Felkner posted a transcript of a conversation he had recorded between himself and Prof. Roberta Pearlmutter — without her knowledge.
Wait, isn’t that illegal wiretapping? Maybe someone should call the Hopkinton PD and check it out!?! I’d say Prof. Pealmutter has a rock solid case against The Great Whiner. He even admitted doing it.
