The DDN Op/Ed Critic

Happy Trails

2007-04-12T21:17:00.000-04:00

(This post is FINALLY getting completed today,22 April--nearly three weeks from the initial incident!)

Manhattan's most famous cowboy (sorry, Jon Voight)...
heading for a golden sunset--or perhaps satellite???

In my new blogging 'mode', I'm only speaking out on items that I need to vent about. So it's only appropriate that I feel compelled to blog about this latest media 'tempest'.

I would like to make a personal confession up front. Although I follow what some folks would call a liberal or progressive ideological philosophy, I am (or after tonight, was) a fan of the 'Imus in the Morning' show. I started to watch it during a military assignment in Maryland back in the late 1990s. After working nearly 18 months in a shiftworking operation that required CNN to be playing on the television 24/7 (that is, except during the baseball playoffs and on Monday nights in the fall), I transferred to a days-only organization and the Imus simulcast would be on screen (right behind my cubicle) for the first few hours of my day. While I would roll my eyes on some of the poor choices of humor or entertainment (I'm not that big of a country music fan), I was intrigued by the guests who would call in or visit Imus in person to discuss the events of the day. When we moved to Ohio, the new unit did not have TVs so I had to get my fix before leaving for work (usually pedaling a stationary bike over in the base's Dodge gym). I went 'cold turkey' during my 33-month assignment to Japan and resumed my viewing once I returned in 2004 and that continued up through yesterday on MSNBC (and today via the internet on WFAN's streaming audio service).

Such a declaration will probably raise a few eyebrows with some of my online acquaintances but my consumption of his programming was of a personal nature and was not transferred or acted out in my personal or professional life. Even though I'm a mid 40-something year old guy with a graduate degree and a 24-year military career behind me, I still have a desire for what some folks might call 'sophomoric' humor. As I was growing up, I was 'raised' by television and experienced the offerings of 'Laugh-In', 'Benny Hill', the OLD 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons (the ones that weren't censored for racial stereotypes) and 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' during my formative years. Although I don't watch much television these days, most of what I do view involves some element of irreverence, snark, or jejuneness ("Countdown with Keith Olbermann", "The Daily Show", "The Tonight Show", all of the Fox Sunday night animation shows, Cartoon Network's "Robot Chicken"). My theory for this immature 'fetish' centers on my lifelong preponderance for seriousness and my attempts at being the 'stern' parent to two teenagers (I'm a Gemini so that 'alter ego' thing attributed to those of us born under that zodiacal sign might also be true).

For whatever the reason, I would endure Don Imus' and Bernard McGuirk's lame skits and crude comments (about nearly everybody and everything) in order to get the opportunity to hear Frank Rich, Bob Schieffer or many of his other intriguing guests during the interview segments. I personally thought most of it was neutral (with some glints of humor) but there were elements that would even make a 'Peter Griffin' fan cringe. The 'Cardinal Egan' parody brought back memories of my Catholic upbringing but McGuirk's 'over-the-top' rendition transcended the experience to quickly ensuring the volume on the TV was turned down low enough to make sure that the kids (or the wife) wouldn't hear his foul rantings. The inclusion of the 'Ray Nagin' character after Hurricane Katrina was topical in the immediate aftermath of the storm but quickly wore out its welcome as the months went by. Stand-up comedian Rob Bartlett's repertoire of celebrities began to gravitate around a few ('Bill Clinton', 'Omar Minaya', and 'Alberto Gonzales') that were frequently performed in very poor taste. The constant verbal pummeling of the show's most recent sports announcer (Chris Carlin) on his physique and masculinity (he did not demand that his newlywed wife take his last name) often went beyond the bounds of good taste.

I had a 'ring side' seat to that infamous moment last Wednesday morning and, considering the tone of the show Imus has, I really didn't give it a second thought (perhaps since I was only awake for 5-10 minutes and staring down at a bowl of cold cereal when I heard it). The next time I became aware of this controversy was in news coverage that started up on Friday evening on MSNBC and at some of my more frequented internet locations. I watched the Monday edition of the show to see how Don was going to handle the controversy and he gave a 15-minute on-air explanation of his version of the incident and how, over the weekend, he had sought out the counsel of several members of the African-American community and requested a personal meeting with the Rutgers women's basketball team to express his sincere regrets. Everything hit the fan later that day when both CBS and NBC announced that Imus would be suspended for two weeks (beginning on 16 April to allow his 2-day radiothon to be aired on the 12th and 13th). The Rutgers team held a news conference on Tuesday afternoon and provided Americans their first view of the 'target' of Imus', McGuirk's, and Sid Rosenberg's racist and sexist words. Late Wednesday afternoon, due to increased public and internal pressure, the television simulcast of the show was permanently terminated. I 'tuned in' to the WFAN streaming audio broadcast this morning to hear what the host's comments were on that quick decision (due to the late notice and the logistics of the already scheduled telethon, the program still emanated from MSNBC's studios in Secaucas, NJ). Knowing that it might be his last broadcast, Imus did let out some venom but concentrated primarily on the radiothon (raising nearly $1 million in 5 hours). The CBS cancellation came late this afternoon, effectively canceling the career of one of the industry's first 'shock jocks'.

I am torn on how to respond to all of this. On the one hand, the comments made were not directed at public figures or celebrities who expect such scrutiny but with regard to a team of 17- to 20-year old women who just experienced the agony of losing the NCAA women's basketball championship game not less than 7 hours prior. Using such language (I will not post it here) to describe innocent, hard-working, intelligent, athletic women was reprehensible. However, the Imus show is an entertainment program conducted in the format of former terrestrial broadcasters Howard Stern or Opie & Anthony (both shows moved to satellite to escape existing FCC restrictions on content and language). Both CBS and NBC knew this kind of thing might happen and kept extending their sponsorship of him and his 'product'.

While Imus was fired for using racist and sexist words, a full-blown entertainment industry has blossomed around those same types of socially unacceptable paradigms in the guise of hip-hop/rap music and the stand-up routines of Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle (a fellow Greene County resident), and Paul Mooney (who, in the wake of the Michael Richard's meltdown, has sworn off using the 'N' word). When I was a young child, I can still remember my grandmother (a woman of Polish-Ukrainian descent) playing 'Eeny Meeny Miny Moe' with me--with the then-acceptable racial term coming from her lips. In my teens, I listening (covertly) to Richard Pryor and his racial epithet-laden and profanity-laced routines and used to laugh until it hurt; however, in the past 30 years or so, a lot has changed in terms of how Americans (publicly) related to their fellow citizens and such language is, IMHO, no longer necessary for ANY community to continue to use. It was probably my military career and the prolonged exposure to individuals who were 'different' than me that has helped me to be the type of person I am today.

Maybe this development and firing is for the better. While a small 'fish' among the other hate-speech media personalities (radio, television, books, newspapers, internet), Imus might be the catalyst for fishing those bigger 'prizes' out there in the public 'pond' that continually ignore social decorum and foster divisiveness between their listeners/readers and their fellow citizens as well as fear. Perhaps his days aren't over just yet. Satellite radio, as a subscriber-based enterprise, escapes the restrictions that its terrestrial outlets are bound by and there could be a Sirius or XM microphone with his name on it. Nevertheless, Don Imus has had a long career and should be able to live out his remaining years with relative comfort and purpose (his cattle ranch for children suffering from cancer and blood disorders is a truly worthwhile endeavor). I doubt that Rush or Neal or Ann could 'fade away' to such a philanthropic 'second' career...nor would they ever even THINK about such 'humane' things.

A VERY Busy Week

2007-03-17T20:45:00.000-04:00

Again, I fell off of the blogging 'wagon' and let a good amount of time go by before I decide to post anything worthwhile. But THIS week, I had a good reason...

Opening tip-off of the NCAA 'play-in' game...
the winners can proudly say 'We're #64!'

It started off with some personal issues (a claustrophobia-inducing medical test and a polygraph exam) on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. After work on that second evening, my friend (and co-worker) hosted me and another mutual friend for a 'boys night out' at the NCAA Opening Round game at the University of Dayton Arena. Back in 2001, the tradition of matching the 64th and 65th teams in a pitched head-to-head battle was established to see who would be go on to be one of the #16 seeds that usually get 'slaughtered' by the region's top ranked squads. This year, the Purple Eagles of Niagara University and the Rattlers from Florida A&M were those teams. Both qualified for the 'big dance' by winning their respective conference championships (the Metro Atlantic and Mid-Eastern) and each won 20 games this season so it appeared--on paper--that this would be a very evenly matched game. While it was close for a good part of the contest, Niagara eventually pulled away and earned a 77-69 victory (the big difference being FAMU was stone cold from the free-throw line). Here is a link that provides some additional insight into this game and the traditions that has been building up here in Dayton for this annual event over the past seven years.

Dayton's peace rally...a respectable gathering--
considering OSU vs Xavier was on TV

And today was a 'first' in my life--I attended a peace rally! Sponsored by the September 11 Coalition, this gathering attracted nearly 100 people to the US federal courthouse in downtown Dayton on a sunny--but cold--Saturday afternoon. Several speakers, to include Iraq and Vietnam-era veterans, addressed the crowd on this local commemoration of the 4th anniversary of the 2003 pre-emptive invasion of Iraq by the current administration (and the DC march was to recognize the 40th anniversary of the first mass march on the Pentagon during the Vietnam War). Several demonstrations were planned throughout the country this weekend and one counter-demonstration was expected at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC due to an unfounded fear of peace activists vandalizing that monument. By all news accounts, no major incidents occurred at that or any other location. You can find all of my photos at this link.

All in all, it was a rather remarkable six days...but if I'm going to be taken seriously as a blogger, I've got to stop falling off of the 'wagon'...

A Pleasant Surprise (For Greene County)

2007-03-04T15:10:00.000-05:00

Terry McAuliffe in Greene County...
who'd have thunk it???

For some strange reason, we decided to eat out last Thursday (choosing to brave the miserable weather and have Mongolian BBQ over at BD's at the Greene). When we finished and started strolling near Books & Co., I noticed the neon 'event' light was lit so we decided to take a peek inside. It turns out that Terry McAuliffe (Hillary Clinton's campaign manager) was there as a guest speaker and was just finishing up his after-talk signing of his latest book. Needless to say, I schlepped up the stairs, picked one up, and got in line (the Mrs. and our two kids made it up there shortly afterward). There were a few folks ahead of us so we waited our turn. He seemed to be very positive about this event here in a 'red' county. He looked very 'clean' and was extremely articulate!!!

During our turn, my wife mentioned that we used to live in Maryland (during my 'No Such Agency' days) and he struck up a conversation that led to the WH's warrantless wiretapping program. He started in with the 72-hour timeframe the AG has to seek a warrant, and I had to correct him by stating that during wartime the period is extended to 15 calendar days. While he was already flabbergasted that the Justice Department couldn't function in that shorter period, he was almost giddy with the FISA 'nugget' I provided him. Perhaps Mrs. Clinton will have that item tucked into one of her point papers or stump speeches in the near future.

Unfortunately, I didn't provide my name so I will not be expecting any kudos (or Cabinet appointments)...so my dream of being CIA director won't be coming true anytime soon!!!

Langley's just a 'pipe dream'...
no new business cards needed...

Now, because of an unscheduled dinner trip, our family has a nice keepsake of our accidental brush with a national-level Democrat who ventured into our neck of the woods. Let's hope this is a good omen for 2008.

The Pressure Has Been Building

2007-02-24T22:31:00.000-05:00

Venting can be therapeutic...

Happy New Year! OK, OK...it's nearly EIGHT weeks after the fact but, as some folks say, better late than never!

As you can see by the choice of graphic above, my 'magma' levels have been elevating lately and, if I didn't restart this blog, I might actually blow my top. What could have me feeling this way? Let me count the reasons:

- The 'surge': In spite of overwhelming popular opinion supporting troop withdrawal and a well-received bipartisan report prepared by a hand-picked group of elder statesmen urging alternate solutions, the president has decided to 'double down' our national bet by opting to ignore the will of the people and sending even MORE troops into Iraq. By all unofficial accounts, this action effectively pushes off the earliest possible date for a policy revisit to the middle of the 2008 presidential contest--further muddying the waters for any contenders for the job. As this rate, Bush's war will probably outlast his presidency.

"Just keep thinking Crawford and brush-clearing...
2009 can't come soon enough"

- The 'stall': Although no longer in power, the GOP minority has effectively stymied any Democratic-led initiatives for debating the Iraq war in the US Senate. Although they complained about opposition intransigence and 'up or down' votes in the last Congress, they have quickly adopted the obstructionist banner and intend to use it as long as possible to keep that first anti-war 'domino' from falling.

The GOP Senate leadership...
"stalling's just another word for everything left to lose..."

- The 'smears': Since the beginning of the year, there have been three major smear campaigns launched by conservative operatives. The first one concerned the reports of Democratic senator (and presidential candidate) Barack Obama attending a madrassa when a young boy in Indonesia (and it was compounded by false implications that Hillary Clinton was to blame for this 'leak'). The second one was generated when the sergeant-at-arms of the US House of Representatives inquired into arranging military transportation for newly elevated Speaker Nancy Pelosi to travel back and forth to her home district (the same 'perk' her predecessor received in the wake of 9/11). The latest one concerns Fox News' Brit Hume speculating that Representative Jack Murtha was suffering from senility. While I will admit that all's fair in love and politics, the frequency and vehemence of these attacks are unnerving.

'If you can't say something nice about someone, just make sh*t up!"

- The 'season': While the early part of this winter season (and the late fall) were unexpectedly mild, winter came in with a vengeance in the latter part of January and socked us with a few good storms. For a couple weeks earlier this month, the kids were either having two-hour delays or complete school closures due to the weather (extremely cold morning temperatures, snowstorms, thick freezing fog from melting snow). While I believe that global warming is real and what we're seeing is attributable to climate instability, those facts haven't made the weather any more palatable!

"Alright, alright...it's winter already...now make it stop!"

I'm still up in the air on how I want to continue this blog (stay with op/ed pieces, do a 'shotgun' version of current events, one topic per entry) but I just needed to get these things off of my chest...for the sake of my blood pressure!

Hello 2007!

2006-12-31T21:23:00.000-05:00

Today is the LAST day of 2006...a year that started with much promise and seems to have lived up to it.

Over the past twelve months, we've seen changes on the national and state stage in political and social circles. Democrats will comprise the majorities of the US Senate and House of Representatives--something that hasn't been seen since 1994. A Democratic governor will sit in the Ohio statehouse for the first time since 1990. And, since December 7th, non-smokers are now able to visit public places in Ohio without the possibility of enduring other peoples' second-hand smoke for the first time since--well, since the founding of the state in 1803!

What can we expect in the new year? A realization by the White House that Iraq is an unwinnable situation and the development of plans to withdraw from that civil war-torn nation? Democrat-led investigations into the war and other Bush administration 'shenanigans' that previously escaped Congressional oversight measures that lead directly to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? A plethora of 2008 presidential candidates throwing their hats into the ring and visiting this electoral vote-rich state like flies hovering over road kill? I'm anticipating these and a whole lot more.

I believe my 'hiatus' is nearly over and I anticipate posting here on at least a weekly basis--more often if issues or events dictate. I've started another blog for my relatives and friends (not open to the public) to keep them up-to-date on what is going on with our family here in Fairborn. This blog (my first one) is an anonymous alter ego and, as Seinfeld's George Costanza will advocate, I will do my best to prevent these two distinct 'worlds from colliding'.

"If Family Blogger me walks through this door, he will kill Political Blogger me! A blogger divided against himself cannot stand!"

In a couple of hours, I will sit in front of the television with my wife and kids and enjoy a glass of wine at the stroke of midnight. As I anticipated our annual reflection upon what has transpired in the past 12 months and the promises of the coming dozen, I'd like to wish you all a happy and healthy new year!

RIP, Progressive Talk 1360

2006-12-09T16:44:00.000-05:00

Rest in peace...you were probably doomed from the start!

I have interrupted my hiatus due to the news I received yesterday morning. Unbeknownst to me, Friday was WSAI’s last day for carrying Air America Radio and other syndicated progressive talk programming. According to press accounts, the station’s parent company, Clear Channel Communications (CCC), decided that liberal commentary just doesn’t sell in the greater Cincinnati/tri-state (Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana) area and they pulled the plug on such programming as midnight last night.

If I had been more ‘media savvy’, I would’ve seen the handwriting on the wall when Clear Channel announced back in November that it was merging with a private equity group and selling off nearly 400 of its radio stations. Actually, the first indicator would’ve been the swapping of Air America programming from 50,000 watt WCKY (1530AM) to its final (and now former) destination (WSAI’s weaker 5,000 transmitter) back in July of this year (here's my blog entry which covered that event).

As I sit back and reflect on this sad news, I really can’t blame Clear Channel for this particular action. Due to AAR’s early programming success at one of CCC’s outlets in Portland, Oregon (KPOJ), they decided to take a risk and subsequently provided the struggling network with radio outlets in markets they thought impossible to enter (which included the three Ohio stations in Akron/Canton, Columbus and Cincinnati). Air America’s affiliate total swelled to over 80 stations at its apex because of these assets; however, most were low-powered outlets that sometimes didn’t even reach the intended metropolitan markets they thought they could target (Philadelphia and Atlanta were good examples). Ratings over time at many of them (including Cincinnati) dwindled to near 1.0 shares (and some fell below that). Since Clear Channel and other affiliates are in the money-making business (and with the November merger news), now seems to be a good a time as any to declared this nearly 2-year experiment a failure and dump the stations or switch to more commercially viable programming.

When I read what WSAI’s new format would be and looked at their daily lineup, I was shocked. In a market with FIVE other conservative-leaning talk stations, ‘1360thesource.com’ will be featuring right-leaning shows by Clark Howard, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Neil Boortz, Dr. Joy Brown, Joey Reynolds, and the Wall Street Journal report. The Boortz program grabbed my attention because it will be a rebroadcast of his 9-12AM show--originally aired by a rival talk station--at the later 7-10PM timeframe. The station will also rerun the 4-7PM Clark Howard show the following mornings from 7-10AM. Even the local media is scratching its collective head on this decision to broadcast conservative-centric 'self-help' and 'rerun' programming that is already well-covered with similar offerings in this middle-sized market (#28 in the country--estimated 1.7 million listeners aged 12+).

Why did this progressive talk effort fail? Although Ohio is slowly turning 'bluer', it is doing so by crawling from the northern and eastern parts (Cleveland/Akron/Canton/Youngstown areas) towards the south and west--and the greater Cincinnati area. This can be seen in the voting patterns from the last two federal general elections (the yellow arrow in the graphic below points to the Fairborn area). Although adjacent to two Democratic 'pockets' (Dayton and Springfield), my county (aptly with the colorful name of Greene) still trended 'red' this past November and overwhelmingly elected/re-elected Republicans to US and state legislature seats (Mike DeWine garnered nearly 60 percent of the votes for US Senate). With these kinds of communities sitting within the radio 'footprints' of both WCKY and WSAI, it was rather obvious that Clear Channel would have a tough product to sell.

A nice transformation in two years...but not fast enough in MY area

Facing this absence of progressive talk from my local radio choices, I still have other resources available to me. I can still listen to AAR at work or home via their streaming audio service or from streams of their affiliates--as long as that network remains on the air. I can (and probably will) purchase an XM satellite radio so I will be able to listen in during my commute time or when I'm away from a computer (with their exclusive contract with Major League Baseball, I won't feel too put out financially for going XM if AAR goes away). Earlier today, I found an online petition to save progressive talk radio in Cincinnati but it was canceled once the CCC announcement was made (I signed it anyway just to lend support and make myself heard).

Life will go on--with or (unfortunately) without a local affiliate (several other US markets are also going through similar Clear Channel withdrawals). Listening in over the past 23 months was an educational experience in terms of getting 'pointers' of what were the important issues affecting me personally and our country in general. The tone of the programming was generally optimistic, sometimes humorous, occasionally vitriolic yet always aggressive. The lineup of Maron, Springer, Franken, Shultz, Rhodes and Maddow kept me company throughout my workday and during my commutes to or from the office. While most of these 'soldiers' continue to wage war on the national radio scene, the battle for southwest Ohio has now been lost. I and many former listeners simply want to thank you for the 'good fight' you helped us wage over the last two years by leveling the talk radio playing field and providing an alternative to the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Reillys, Boortzs and other bloviators that dominate the talk radio market. While you are now gone, you will never be forgotten!

On Hiatus

2006-11-25T11:59:00.000-05:00

To ANYONE who actually reads my entries and might be anticipating more 'regular' updates or postings, I will be disappointing you now with my announcement that I am taking a hiatus from blogging for a while. Is it because there isn't anything to comment on? No, in fact, there are things happening that are registering on my consciousness but since the mid-term elections, NOTHING HAS REALLY BEEN BOTHERING ME!!! Some in the blogosphere are referring to this phenomenon as 'DemoGlad'...and I've got it BAD!!!

Click on the graphic above to see if you are ALSO afflicted...

I had several topics I was going to discuss (an analytical overview of the mid-term results, my thoughts on Veterans' Day) and was trying to complete them but this euphoric feeling is not allowing me to do so (I did post my tribute to Ed Bradley). I recently threw out (actually recycled) a whole bunch of newspapers I was going to review from my October business/personal trip to provide readers some outside perspective on the local paper here in Dayton. I also recycled copies of the DDN I was keeping as 'samples' over the past 4-5 months (one week's worth per month) to review and try to demonstrate in an objective way that their op/ed pages are more bipartisan than some of its conservative readers believe. I was going to coin a new award--The Libra--to symbolically 'present' to the paper when they met that challenge. But that's not going to happen now--it's just not that significant a task.

The 'Libra' Award...
never presented but no longer necessary

I still feel the need to 'discuss' more contentious issues with others and routinely utilize the DDN's 'Speak Up!' venue for that reason--probably more than I should. But the matter of blogging--the methodical documenting of my particular takes on issues--just doesn't seem that important now. I will keep this site intact and periodically look it over to see if I can (or need to) get the 'juices' flowing again. Right now, I have other things on my plate that need my more immediate attention right now...like life!

RIP, Ed Bradley

2006-11-09T22:01:00.000-05:00

Ed Bradley
1941-2006

I was shocked to hear earlier this afternoon about the untimely passing of CBS News' and '60 Minutes' reporter Ed Bradley. A Philadelphia native, Bradley died of pneumonia as a indirect result of leukemia (he was diagnosed two years ago but was currently in remission). He is survived by his wife Phyllis and leaves a gaping hole in the fabric of that Sunday night news-magazine staple.

Although I've fallen away from this show over the past several years (its time slot conflicts with the end of football games when CBS wasn't broadcasting them, Fox animated shows and other weekend-ending things happening at the 7PM hour), I used to like the way our Armed Forces affiliate used to show it in Japan. Because of the 13-hour time difference between our local standard time and Eastern Standard Time (14 with daylight savings), '60 Minutes' aired on Mondays at 8AM (9AM in the DST months) on the network's news channel. Since most of the base's working folks were away from home during that time, the local affiliate reran it at 7PM that evening so it never experienced any sports 'delays' (like US West Coast viewers). If that seems strange, remind me to tell you about watching 'Monday Night Football' on Tuesdays some time.

Back to Ed...although he wasn't one of the original hosts (Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner kicked things off back in September 1968), he joined the ensemble for its 14th season and stuck around for 25 renewals until this most recent one. He reported on a wide variety of stories but cut his journalistic 'teeth' during the Vietnam War (he was wounded during a mortar attack in the conduct of his duties). He served as CBS News' White House correspondent during the early years of the Carter administration and gravitated towards television news documentaries prior to joining the '60 Minutes' team in 1981.

Ed's death will most likely be another blow to hardcore viewership numbers for this investigative reporting icon. The recent departures of both Mike Wallace and 'relative' newcomer Dan Rather (mostly confined to 'moonlighting' segments on the canceled '60 Minutes II' spin-off) removes almost all of the personnel (Morley Safer the sole exception) from the show's 'glory days' period when they were a 'must-see' item--enjoyed a 5-year streak as television's highest rated program. The network has brought in some 'new' blood over the years (Steve Croft, Bob Simon, Leslie Stahl, Scott Pelley) and, in just the past two years, added chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan, the new 'CBS Evening News' anchor Katie Couric, and CNN's Anderson Cooper for periodic contributions. Andy Rooney, who started out in 1978 and will turn 87 this coming January, rounds out their team.

A 2003 photo of the '60 Minutes' cast

In this day and age of 24/7 news coverage on television and the internet, the uniqueness of this pioneering program has been diluted among the multitude of other 'knock-offs'. Programs such as '20/20' and 'Dateline NBC' tend to focus more on the sensational or reality-based subjects which garner a larger share of the higher-prized demographics (18-54 year olds). The average age of '60 Minutes' viewers is outside that range and that can be readily seen by the types of advertising seen during their broadcasts (spots for prescription medications and 'E.D.' products abound--no iPods or 'Hummers' to be seen). After nearly 40 years on the air, the show is still going strong (currently #16 in total households for primetime series in the most recent Nielsen ratings for the 2006-2007 season), no doubt fueled by the exploits of the current administration and Congress.

The eventual departure of Safer will remove all vestiges from the program's more formative years and put me smack dab into their target audience. Maybe then I will be able to discipline myself to either be watching or recording for a later viewing--that is if I'm still awake!

Election Eve

2006-11-06T21:46:00.001-05:00

Hard to believe that it's only been two years...click on the image above to take a nostalgic look at what we were facing back in 2004--the 'good old days' (pre-Katrina, pre-Foleygate, pre-warrantless wiretaps)!

I'm not in the habit of predicting things but I see the Democrats picking up 20+ seats in the House and attaining a 50-50 split in the Senate. Those gains would eliminate the constraints that the GOP have placed on their rivals in terms of investigating the actions of this administration in those chambers since Bush took office nearly six years ago. Let us hope, for our democracy's sake, that everything goes relatively smooth tomorrow...

If my House prediction comes true, a conservative friend of mine will be treating me for dinner at the restaurant of my choice...hmmm...he IS a member of the Dayton Racquet Club!

Sunday 'Shotgun' Blast

2006-11-05T23:06:00.000-05:00

"I'm Dick Cheney and I approve this torture...I mean BLOGGING method!"

It’s been a few days since I’ve posted anything to my blog (I’ve ‘relapsed’ back to ‘Speak Up!’ after a 2-week absence and have been discussing a variety of issues in that forum). I don’t want to have this initiative stall again, so I want to try something different. Instead of taking just ONE issue and giving my opinion about it, I’m going to try the method that some of the more popular blogs (Booman Tribune, Eschaton, etc.) use—the ‘shotgun’ approach. This is where you bring up a lot of topics and give them a few lines (or just hyperlink to other sites) before moving on to the next one. I’ll take a shot at this so if anyone actually reads this blog, please feel free to comment…

- I promised my wife that I’d mention the DDN’s habit of putting a fold-out on the front page of their Sunday comics. Instead of just opening and closing it for that short period of reading ‘Blondie’, ‘Closer to Home’, ‘Zits’, ‘The Family Circus’ and ‘FoxTrot’, she has to audibly express her displeasure (a weekly occurrence) and physically tear this tab off from the main part of that page. I noticed that today’s edition did not have a flap…could they have read her mind?

- A story in the Friday edition of the DDN mentioned that a union representing 120 reporters, copy editors and photographers urged the paper to begin negotiations on a contract to replace a 20-year-old pact the union says is outdated. After I saw that piece, I was going through the weekend entertainment section and noticed that they gave the new Helen Mirren movie 'The Queen' a rating of 'X+'...I didn't think it would be THAT graphic. I believe it was supposed to be a 'C+' (the 'X' and 'C' keys are adjacent on our 'QWERTY' keyboards). If I were the DDN, I would suggest that these journalism professionals review the simple process of editing their copy before sending it to print.

The DDN gave this movie an 'X+'...
this erroneous review just might improve local ticket sales!

- The DDN also mentioned a story about the latest 'fantasy' game to pique the interest of political junkies--Fantasy Congress! The Chicago Tribune's October 26th story describes how instead of athletes, each player gets to choose from the 535 legislators on Capitol Hill to form their own 'dream teams'. Points are awarded based upon their real legislative accomplishments. The game is schedule to go live after the Tuesday elections.

- I did notice in the Sunday DDN (and on other occasions over the past several months) where advertisements are 'popping' up in some mighty peculiar places on their pages. Back in the days before 'cold type' printing plate preparation, the pagesetters had to fit advertisements into square or rectangular spaces to fit on the page and keep them in line with the publication's columnar scheme. In today's publishing arsenal, ads can be placed ANYWHERE inside the boundaries of the entire page. For example, a Kroger spot was placed as a large diamond centered in the middle of the page. Around it, four news/feature stories were inserted to take up the remaining white space. As a 'traditionalist', I find this practice somewhat distracting but my opinions don't pay the bills. If the advertisers want it, the paper will give it to them.

- In a recent editorial by Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, I saw that he used the most peculiar phrase (highlighted below):

According to the pollsters, pundits and pols -- Democratic and nervous Republican -- a great anti-Republican wave is a-coming. Well, let's assume major Democratic gains: 20 to 25 House seats and four to six Senate seats. The House goes Democratic for the first time in 12 years. The Senate probably stays Republican, but by such an excruciatingly small margin that there is no governing majority.

In many of my on-line duels with the 'red' tribe members on the DDN's 'Speak Up!' forum, they always alude to the fact that when the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 was passed in the US Senate in October of that year, that body was controlled by the Democrats (Senator Jim Jeffords/R-VT opted for 'independent' status in May 2001 which turned a 50-50 split of that body into a 50-49-1 on paper advantage for the Dems). In my frequent rebuttals on this issue, I would try to explain that since Dems normally can't even agree on the most basic of things, (like what to have for lunch), this 'majority' status is pretty much in name only. Since my GOP colleagues believe ALL political parties must behave just like theirs (think lockstep), this is a very foreign concept for many of them to grasp. Now that I have the words of an avowed RW conservative on record, maybe they'll stop their fringe complaints and focus on the issues...yeah, right!

Finally, something meaningful from 'Sir Charles'...

- Speaking of 'war games', a read an online article about a 1999 Pentagon war scenario with the primary subject being the overthrow of Iraq. While details can be found at the National Security Archive website, the posting's bottom line was that even with 400,000 troops, removing Saddam Hussein would still put that country in the same condition it is in today. These findings make it seem that even if former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki had his way, it might not have made a difference...but just tell that to the families of the troops who have lost their lives when Rumsfeld only deployed one-third the total of that scenio's recommended total.

I had more on my list of things to 'spray' (Joe Paterno's unfortunate injuries, traffic at the Nutter Center, Air America 'blackout' memo) but I don't want to delay this any longer than I have. Fire in the hole!

Smashing Pumpkins

2006-10-31T20:46:00.000-05:00

It was an uneventful Halloween out here in our part of Fairborn this year. Since the kids are both well into their teens, the days of dressing them up and escorting them around the neighborhood for their one night of 'confectionery extortion' are long gone (although they are now polishing off the bowl of visitor 'leftovers' in the living room as I type). I put up our Democrat yard signs last night so I was curious if they would reduce the amount of visitors to the house compared to years when we remained 'neutral' or if the 'trick-or-treaters' would risk knocking on the door of a scary 'librul' house...boo! Apparently, by the small amount of candy left at 8PM, they weren't the deterrent I thought they might be.

For some reason, this is the first year that I noticed that most Ohioans refer to this annual rite of passage as 'Beggar's Night'. When I was growing up in Pennsylvania, there was no other name used except Halloween. This alternate moniker seems to be a Midwestern thing (when I 'googled' the term, most of the hits were related to events in Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa) and I'm guessing it was given to reduce the connection to the un-Christian aspects of the evening (costumes, characters). Some hits I got referred to October 30th--the night before 'All Hallows Eve'--as being 'Beggar's Night'. The only thing I remember hearing about in conjunction with Halloween was the anarchist phenomenon of 'Devil's Night'. Every year, our local TV stations would feature news stories about wide-scale arson and other public acts of property damage in and around the Detroit, Michigan area. Thankfully, that activity has subsided over the last decade or so but for a time it was something you could set your calendar by.

Speaking of periodic rituals (every even year), our current election cycle is coming to its highly anticipated conclusion next Tuesday. While some of our more notable races (US Senate, state governor) seem to be leaning to the Dems in Ohio (both Brown and Strickland have double-digit leads in the latest polls), there are still competitive races for other statewide and national offices. The tide has turned so much to the Democrats' advantage this year that the president--with a sub-40 percent approval rating--has been forced to campaign in only the most 'blood red' states and districts in order to salvage some measure of accomplishment for the GOP.

I mentioned in a previous post that I just missed of these campaign stops up in Scranton, Pennsylvania for Rep. Don Sherwood, PA-10. Down by nearly 10 points with just under three weeks to go, the president decided to pop up there on Air Force One to hopefully give his campaign a much needed boost. Unfortunately for Sherwood, he is still nine points down in the latest figures. As the sitting representative of perhaps the most conservative district in that state--he garnered 93 percent of the vote against his Constitution Party's opponent in 2004, you would think he'd be a shoe-in for reelection. However, this is the same Don Sherwood that settled a $5.5 million lawsuit out of court with his mistress for his alleged assault at his Washington, DC apartment. In fact, in one of his television spots, the only thing that Sherwood could 'gloat' about to his constituents was that no evidence of assault was ever proven in that case (he does forget to mention that he 'purchased' that evidence). After the rally, Bush joined Sherwood and his wife for some ice cream at a local store. I wonder if he recognized any of the new minimum wage employees his 'robust' economy provided jobs for over the last 4 to 5 years working on the other side of the counter...

The president campaigning with the Sherwood family in northeast Pennsylvania...with a six-figure income, you think he would've
at least sprung for some sprinkles...

In the 140+ hours left before the polls open next Tuesday morning, we can expect to see the unexpected, the bizarre and, in something that happened yesterday in Los Angeles, make- believe. Senator John Kerry-MA (D), during a campaign appearance for California gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides, tried to use humor and poke some fun at his 2004 presidential rival. He warmed up by saying that Bush, a Texas resident, now lives in 'a state of denial'. Hearing a few laughs from the crowd, he decided to continue on this tact by saying the following:

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

At that point, he continued on through his remarks and turned over the podium to Mr. Angelides to continue the event. It wasn't until this morning's White House press briefing that the fecal matter hit the oscillating air-movement appliance. I won't get into all of the details but Kerry was accused by Tony Snow and other prominent Republicans of belittling our troops. The normal 'wing nut' hangouts (NRO's 'The Corner' and AM talk radio) were rabid in their universal condemnation of his implication that only 'dummies' were fighting in Iraq.

All of this 'righteous' indignation turns out to be false alarm because those previously stated words were misinterpreted by the GOP. He was referring to the president when he brought up the sup-par academic achievement and the resulting 'quagmire' his forces are currently embroiled in inside Iraq. You would think that Kerry's explanation would clear things up...but not in THIS reality! Bush, Snow and a whole slew of others readily sensed a 'red herring' to introduce into the final week of the campaign and they hit it hard and heavy throughout this news cycle. Kerry, apparently the recipient of a backbone transplant since his 2004 'swiftboating', released a scathing response to this smear job; however, this 'genie' was already out of its bottle and, unfortunately, only the passage of time will quell this issue.

"Let's see...if we give Karl this here pumpkin,
he'll make a real scary 'Dem'-o-lantern' out of it...heh heh heh"

I will admit that the first time I heard them, they were out of context (I didn't hear any of his attempts at Bush humor prior to them). Pat Buchannan of MSNBC said the same thing on this evening's 'Scarborough Country' program and we both see it how Kerry meant it to play out. Earlier in the day, with just those words, I was able to produce a logical explanation in some interoffice emails with some RW friends of mine based on my familiarity with the senator. I said I believed that Kerry may still be locked in a 'Vietnam' paradigm, telling the audience of college students that if you did not do well in school you'd lose your draft deferment and be eligible to be conscripted into the military if a draft is reinstituted due to more foreign policy debacles by the current administration. After excising that 30+ year-old 'lens', I was also able to see that he might have been telling folks that in our current economic situation and if college didn't pan out, the military may be the best option to get ahead. What other employer offers entry-level folks a guaranteed paycheck for 4-6 years at a stretch, free housing and extremely low-cost medical care, generous educational benefits and 30 days of annual vacation to start? I was enticed to join the military by these 'carrots' back in the high unemployment, high inflation times of the late 1970s and early 1980s living in the soon-to-be 'Rust Belt'.

What effect will this have on the Dem's chances next week? Every one of their Congressional candidates will have to take at least one question about it sometime in the next day or two and be asked to disavow him and/or his remarks. With the hours rapidly dwindling, that kabuki dance with the media will eat up time that could be better used to further their offensive on the Iraq war, homeland security and Washington corruption--Tim Russert's 'perfect storm' scenario that has played out in the aftermath of the Foley page scandal. This is the GOP's tried and true modus operandi of repeatedly beating up on familiar 'demons'...Bill Clinton, almost six years removed from the Oval Office, still makes the hairs on the back of Republican necks stand on end. The GOP is desperate (never having, in recent memory, faced such a bleak election outcome) and this incident might not be the last one to surface before the 7th...what other 'pumpkins' are they willing to carve up and smash between now and then?

Political Reality Creeping into the Funny Pages

2006-10-30T20:45:00.000-05:00

It is a rare event (outside of 'Doonesbury' or 'B.C.' that come at you from different parts of the spectrum) to have the world of the DDN's Sunday comics intruded upon by the political events of the day. So it was surprising to see TWO strips in yesterday's paper dedicate some or all of their allocated space to intersperse things of that nature with the upcoming 'celebration' of Halloween (I'm expecting more next Sunday due to the elections being only two days after that).

The first one was 'Hi and Lois' (courtesy of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer):

'Hi and Lois'...another lame attempt at well-worn political humor

In this offering, we see the eternally bickering Flagston twins (Dot and Ditto) trying to decide what to go 'trick or treating' as this year. Everything that Dot wants to dress up like is matched or trumped by her brother Ditto's counter choice. In the next-to-last (or set-up) panel, Lois tries to put an end to this sibling skirmish by saying that they have to pick get-ups that are the polar opposite of what the other one chooses. As they enter the living room in the final frame, Dot is seen sporting a headband and a vest, with one hand in a 'peace sign' and the other holding flowers. Ditto, standing next to her, is decked out in a black business suit and tie with a briefcase in his right hand. They then both announce their choices to the parents: Dot saying 'I'm a Democrat' with Ditto adding 'and I'm a Republican'. A subtle clue to their 'creative' decision is seen in the faces of Hi (startled from reading his newspaper, staring with his mouth agape sitting in his easy chair) while Lois stands behind him with a smile and arms folded across her chest--Mom is very proud of her little 'flower power' girl (Lois was 'liberated' herself by the strip's creator in the 1980s to reflect the growing number of women in the workforce during that time).

Although it might be good for a small groan, this comparison has already been worn out in television, the movies as well as in other comics since the advent of the 'hippie' movement in the 1960s. 'Hi and Lois' originated during the bucolic 1950s but needs to rely on well-worn stereotypes (the fat, lazy neighbor being nagged by his long-suffering skinny wife--sounds like a lot of sitcoms I watched over the years, the messy teenager's room--although having two of my own brings that one into the realm of fact, the overbearing boss, etc.) to amuse today's dwindling readership. I don't know about you but I haven't seen 'flower children' in quite awhile--and Yellow Springs is just a few miles down the road from our house!

The second strip with a political theme was 'FoxTrot' (courtesy of GoComics):

'FoxTrot'...an excellent overview of a modern day 'horror' story...

Sunday's edition of this strip has Jason (the family's über geek) showing off his Halloween costume--a touch-screen electronic voting machine--to his older brother Peter. In the following two build-up panels, Jason explains to his snacking sibling the 'horror' aspect of this device (imparting very accurate data readily available online about the machine's susceptibility to tampering and its widespread use throughout the country). In the second-to-last scene, the younger boy concludes his 3-1/2 panel monologue by asking the older one if there could think of anything scarier than that device. Finally given the chance to speak, Peter replies that most people don't care about such things. As he walks away in the final frame, analyzing that solicited response, Jason rubs his chin and seems to confirm his older brother's unintentional wisdom.

Of all of the offerings on today's comic pages, Bill Amend's strip was probably the most appropriate candidate to translate this dire warning to a tech-savvy readership. Since the machine already exists, 'Dilbert' and his system development accomplices would have already done their work--and hopefully, for the pointy haired boss' next performance review, on schedule and under budget. The daily editions of 'Non Sequitur' (politics) or the 'The Fifth Wave' (technology) are single panels so cramming that much background information into a confined space would be relatively impossible. 'Beetle Bailey', like the previously mentioned Hi and Lois, is so anchored in the past (Specialist Chip Gizmo the only exception) that I'm guessing that they still use paper ballots and a cardboard box with a slot in the top. Do you suppose that Mort Walker has the same mental picture of the Internet like his octogenarian contemporary Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska--a 'series of tubes' that get filled when you put your message into one?

There have been several surveys released recently that indicate that younger people are looking to 'unconventional' places for their 'hard' news--Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show' is one such source. If the current political discourse in our country continues and more and more of this nation's youth flee the traditional nightly news format or newspapers in favor of on-demand downloads of Jon Stewart or online views at GoComics.com, strips like 'FoxTrot' could start to play a greater role in informing the public of what it really needs to know--bridging the divide between entertainment and information. Maybe it's time that more comics reflect real life instead of the escapist 'vanilla' world of the printed page...

Is Air America THAT Much of a Threat?

2006-10-28T17:31:00.000-04:00

It's now been two weeks since Air America Radio declared that they were filing for Chapter 11 protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York but so far the world hasn't come to an end (for liberal/progressives) and AAR is still on the air (to the dismay of most of the right-wing punditry). On the evening of the announcement, I was out at our local Meijer's and decided to purchase a copy of Air America: The Playbook: What a Bunch of Left Wing Media Types have to Teach you about a World Gone Right to commemorate the event (appropriately made on October 13th--a Friday). I waded through it when I got home and was delighted to see that it wasn't just the contributions of Al Franken or the more well-known personalities (Randi Rhodes, Sam Seder). Although Al did write the foreword, almost all of the current and some former contributors/hosts were able to provide their unique perspective on this on-going fight for the minds of the American listening public.

As I've written before (here and here) and as Franken details in the book's introduction, AAR started its existence under a dark cloud of financial difficulties and it was only sheer determination that had them endure that constant strain for almost 2-1/2 years. Now that the filing has finally happened (many detractors predicted this event since the network first went on the air on 31 March 2004), the pressure of operating under such constraints can be temporarily lifted and allow the 'green eye shade' folks an opportunity to right their 'left listing' ship.

Many of AAR's foes point to this issue as an indicator of the idea of liberal talk radio being a commercial failure. However, it can be seen in a different light when compared to what Fox News went through during their start-up. In The Playbook, Franken makes the following statement:

'Capital is important when starting up a major media network. Take, for example, the Fox News Channel...just to get on the air, Rupert Murdoch had to pay cable carriers $11 per viewer. In other words, $5.50 per eyeball--roughly. That cost approximately $187 million. Add to that the $130 million operating deficit in the first two years, and you're looking at more than a $300 million loss.'

Such dollar figures dwarf the $16 million deficit that AAR has declared in its recent bankruptcy filing. For additional context, the Washington Times, that city's 'second paper' and a conservative alternative to mainstream news nationally, received an estimated $1.7 billion in subsidies from its owner (Sun Myung Moon and his Unification Church) during that publication's first twenty years of existence (1982-2002)--an average $85 million annual 'bailout'.

Rupert Murdoch & the Rev. Sun Myung Moon...
deep pockets that the right wing 'picked' to fund their media pulpits...

OK, enough about the legal proceedings...let's look at what all this ballyhoo is all about...

In my most recent post, I provided a graphic representation of AAR's presence during my trip through Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Since the network only lists stations in a text-based format, I took the liberty of preparing a map of their national coverage:

Upon examination, it is obvious that AAR has NOT adopted Howard Dean's '50 state' strategy. While no progressive listener is ever truly barred from 'tuning in' (if they choose to stream the audio over the Internet or subscribe to XM satellite radio), it appears that 15 states do not have a station within their borders. Signal propagation from some of the stronger transmitters do provide coverage for those 'forsaken' jurisdictions. For example, I was able to hear (weakly) WWRL's 25,000 watt signal out of New York City in eastern Pennsylvania so I would assume that most of northern and central New Jersey--lacking an affiliate of their own--would be able to tune to 1600AM on their car or home radios. The 'dots' on my graphic only represent an estimated coverage area (most of AAR affiliates are on stations broadcasting at 5,000 watts effective radiated power or less). Weather, time of day, solar activity and terrain are several factors that can affect the signal strength and quality on a day-to-day (and sometimes hour-to-hour) basis.

Several locations correspond to major media markets (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles) but one outlet truly surprised me. According to a wikipedia.org's listing of affiliates, one of KYTI-FM's ('the Coyote') high definition, or HD, channels carries AAR programming to the listeners of the greater Sheridan, Wyoming area. Unlike some smaller stations located in 'red' states that carry this progressive programming to a college crowd (Chapel Hill, NC and Columbia, SC for their respective state's university campuses, Spokane, WA for Gonzaga University--close to the Idaho 'hinterlands'), I could not immediately find ANY overt reason why that community (the town only has one junior college and its claim to fame has been its selection as the #1 Western town in the nation--not a very liberal haven) would broadcast AAR, let alone be the only one in the US to offer it via HD radio. However, when I looked at the broadcasting coverage map for their transmitter, I noticed that it extends over the Wyoming border into southern Montana. With the influx of business and entertainment moguls into that part of the country since the 1970s and the use of a new technology that is somewhat pricy to the standard radio listener, I'm guessing this programming will be heard only by those 'Hollywood' expatriates or rich vacationers from the East and 'Left' coasts. If Dick Cheney ever heard about the 'treason' that was going on back in his 'home' state, I'm sure he'd roll over in his grave...oh wait, he's not dead...he just resembles it...

AAR's 'Wild Wild West' outpost...
I wonder if Wyoming's 'favorite son' is aware of this???

If you look again at the national map, you will see that there isn't a whole lot of 'blue' out there. If I were to take the time to plot out all of the stations that carry, say, Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, that graphic would be bleeding bright red. Since their take-over of AM talk radio in the late 1980s and early 1990s (fueled primarily by Reagan's veto of placing the FCC's existing 'Fairness Doctrine' equal time policy into law), conservatives have had a stranglehold over this medium to the near exclusion of any liberals or progressives in the national arena (still had pockets in traditionally Democratic strongholds--New York, San Francisco--and current personalities Randi Rhodes and Ed Shultz honed their craft during this period).

With such overpowering assets (hundreds of stations and millions of listeners), I scratch my head and wonder what conservatives can possibly be afraid of. Some say that AM talk radio is simply a 'guy thing', a place where 'boys will be boys'. A rough and tumble environment that liberals supposedly detest (unlike FM, where NPR holds sway over the nation's ear). Others say that liberal talk radio is not 'entertaining' enough to capture and hold a steady audience. Still more think that the format is exclusively for them to wage combat against the alleged liberal media and its bias when presenting news and current events through the other traditional mediums (television, newspapers). Since their conquest of the AM dial, conservatives have made strides in cable news (although recently slumping, the Fox News Channel is the highest rated on television today due to the mass congregation of GOP viewers to that sole 'citadel' defending against the influences of the 'mainstream media') as well as on the 'internets' (a plethora of news sites and blogs dedicated to pounding out the right wing drumbeat on a 24/7 basis to a ever-growing constituency).

Conservative America's multimedia 'drummers'...

So what does all of this mean for AAR? Since they went in 'for a pound' and decided to create a full-fledged network back in 2004, they now have one of two choices. They can either secure additional funding (pledges like PBS does, premium services for web-specific items, etc.) to properly establish a true national network to carry their programming (the advent of HD radio could provide them an avenue into EVERY market) or they must cut back and limit themselves to producing programming to be marketed to one of the various national syndicators (currently in an arrangement with 24 Clear Channel Communications stations).

What if AAR can't make it back? There is a possibility but hopefully a very miniscule one. However, if the network did fold, I don't think that liberals and progressives will do their best 'lemming' impressions and head off the nearest cliff. What Air America has done during its short existence is provide its listenership with the tools to go out and fight for the hearts and minds of independent-minded Americans. Time and time again, they have exposed the 'man behind the curtain' on important issues over the past 2-1/2 years (Iraq, Katrina, signing statements, current GOP scandals, etc.) and, in conjunction with other media outlets who have recently 'rediscovered' their spines, have led a full-flanked attack on individuals and a party that have hijacked our country's reputation and resources in the pursuit of an agenda favoring themselves.

I might be dating myself here, but the song for my graduating high school class was 'Freebird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd. In the lyrics, the question is asked: if I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me? In Air America's case, if the worst does happen, I can happily answer 'yes'...

Radio Excursion through 'Red' America

2006-10-26T21:18:00.000-04:00

Between October 17th and October 23rd, I had the unfortunate experience of spending at least almost an entire day--nearly 24 hours-- behind the wheel of a rental car. These road-bound periods were normally during daylight (late morning through the early evening) hours. Since the car only had terrestrial radio (no XM or Sirius satellite receiver) and a CD player, my entertainment options were somewhat limited. For this trip, I purposely bought a portable DVD player that has a DC adapter for plugging into an automobile power port. My plan was to listen to the lectures from a set of educational discs I recently purchased entitled 'The American Mind' during the long stretches between Ohio and Baltimore and from Wilkes-Barre back to Fairborn. Those were to take approximately 18 hours to play through the 36 lessons--almost matching the anticipated drive times exactly. In my driveway, I set up the player in the passenger seat, put the DVD into the device, and pushed the 'play' button. Unfortunately, it took less than five minutes to me to realize that my careful calculations failed to consider one crucial element--road noise! Even at the player's maximum volume level, there was no way I would be able to make out what the professor was saying. Sadly, I reached over, pushed the 'off' button, and resigned myself to relying on the AM & FM offerings along the way to keep my company on the drive.

Zones of 'blue' relief in an otherwise sea of 'red'

The graphic above shows what I had to 'endure' during my trip (traveled on I-70/I-76 straight through to Baltimore, took I-95 to I-83 to I-78 and then I-476 to Wilkes-Barre, drove back to Dayton via I-81 to I-80 to I-76 to I-71 back to I-70). The 'blue' areas represent coverage zones for AM radio stations that broadcast Air America Radio programming. I included the 'purple' zone around Pittsburgh because I 'found' Thom Hartman's show (syndicated via AAR as an alternative programming choice to Al Franken) playing on WPTT (1360AM) when I was driving through on on the afternoon of the 17th (station features talk hosts from all parts of the political spectrum). Except for those occasions when I was lucky enough to be within in proximity to those labeled transmitters, I was at the mercy of programming one might call 'non-progressive' for the majority of my drive time. I shaded the map a reddish hue for a reason...

One let-down I had during one of my 'blue' spells was my first (and hopefully last) exposure to Stephanie Miller. During my outbound drive through the Columbus area, I rolled up on WTPG (1230AM) and expected to hear either Sam Seder or Jerry Springer--AAR's two program offerings during the 9AM-12 noon timeframe. I was somewhat intrigued when I heard a woman taking phone calls and expressing a progressive bent in her opinions. However, this initial interest was quickly dampened when she started a raucous studio discussion with two male co-hosts and took a call from someone who recorded themself producing flatulence-imitating music during their freeway commute. Based out of Los Angeles--3 hours behind listeners in the Eastern time zone, she gives her listeners a 'morning show' routine in the same vein as Bob & Tom or Howard Stern (before he went to Sirius). During the almost 90-minute stretch before the station began to fade, I must've counted at least four plugs for her current or upcoming appearances on cable television (once you look at her photo, you can immediately see why she is invited). Maybe it's just me but perhaps radio is NOT her preferred medium.

Stephanie Miller...a disappointing show...
and a poor choice of wardrobe

Before anyone can call me a sexist pig (as if anyone actually reads my blog), I do admire other female progressive/liberal hosts but I base my loyalty on the content of their words and not just on their outward appearance. Randi Rhodes, a self-made radio personality, puts in the time and researches her subjects (a self-professed 'C-SPAN junkie', she assigns her audience 'homework' to let them judge for themselves the information she discusses on her shows). Katherine Lanpher, Al Franken's former co-host, had a long career in journalism and a short stint on Minnesota Public Radio prior to joining the AAR team in March 2004. Rachel Maddow, originally teamed with rapper Chuck D. and comedy writer Lizz Winnstead for Air America's 'Unfiltered' morning show from March 2004 to March 2005, is probably my favorite radio host. After 'Morning Sedition' (the show that replaced 'Unfiltered') was cancelled at the end of last year, she was given the hosting duties in January 2006 for a 7-9AM show that made my commutes more bearable. She now is on in the evenings (6-8PM) but also is a regular commentator on cable news. Being a Rhodes Scholar allows Dr. Maddow to readily impart credibility and gravitas into her somewhat manic on-air persona. The local AAR affiliate (WSAI-1360AM) doesn't carry the new program but I do stream her broadcast every now and then. In all the time I've listened to these three women, I can't remember ever hearing a fart joke...

Speaking of foul-smelling and forcefully expelled gas, my map above indicates the inordinate amount of time I was vulnerable to the overwhelming presence of conservative AM talk radio programming--honchoed by the king of all right-wing bloviators, 'El Rushbo' himself. On the two days I had the longest drives (17 and 23 October--both weekdays), I was unfortunate enough to be outside of the designated 'relief' areas during most of the 12 noon-3PM timeframe. On his show on the 17th, I was 'fortunate' enough to hear his interview (more like a scripted 'love-in') with the vice president. Until I found that Pittsburgh station, I must've scanned through nearly a dozen stations on the AM band that was simultaneously airing his program in the eastern West Virginia and southwest/central Pennsylvania region. Most of those same stations immediately followed with Sean Hannity's show; however, a few reverted to their regular programming (one was for a big-band 'oldies' station--a telling indicator of Mr. Limbaugh's target demographic). I was also listening on the 23rd when he made his now infamous comments about Michael J. Fox's political ads supporting Senate candidates that favor embryonic stem cell research. If someone was driving by me at that very moment, they would've seen me screaming at the dashboard in response to Rush's tactless and erroneous claims about Fox's condition and motives. Luckily, I was rapidly approaching northeastern Ohio so I was able to tune to Akron's 'Radio Free Ohio' offerings on WARF before I blew a gasket...or worse!

From a January 1995 copy of Time Magazine...
just look how accurate their prediction really was!

I will admit that I do listen to Limbaugh from time to time--mostly for the entertainment value. Last year, I was in Arizona on a business trip and was driving with a co-worker between Sierra Vista and Tucson. With limited scenery (and even more limited radio programming), we decided to put on his show for something to listen to. At first, he played a musical number (supposedly Hillary Clinton singing 'Try to Remember') which I thought was rather amusing; however, that jovial mood was cut off by comments he made about a reported poll tax initiative in Georgia (legislation stated that citizens are to show a photo ID card--that they must purchase themselves--in order to vote). He was also in 'defense mode' for comments he made about Katrina victims earlier in the month (just like he is now with Fox). As soon as he would say something, I immediately shot back (to those within earshot) with proof that his words were untrue. As for my traveling companion--a somewhat 'red' person, that turned out to be a rather long drive that day.

Sometimes, I wasn't given a choice. When I lived overseas, the local AFN affiliate--the only audible station in the vicinity of my house--carried the first hour of his program from 5-6AM. Since I woke up at 5:45, it made for a quick wake-up routine...getting my hand to the 'off' button of my clock radio before I could start to listen to his screed du jour. When he checked into rehab in October 2003, I sent him an email stating that, on a human level, I cared about him and wished him well during his recovery. I was hoping that the experience would temper his outlook on life--apparently, he never read my words. A third divorce, getting fired from his ESPN gig for borderline racist comments, being addicted to prescription pain medication and enduring on-going health problems would weigh down the strongest of men--even someone with an ego the size of Limbaugh's. His most recent 'transgressions' (the Viagra issue and now the Fox comments) portray a person willing to risk everything to either prove his twisted points or to keep himself in the public spotlight.

One pleasant surprise came at the end of my journey. Due to the placement of the three AAR affiliates in Ohio, I enjoyed almost seamless coverage (some fading near Mansfield) during my drive from the northeast to the southwest along I-71. I rarely use that route but progressives who frequently drive between Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati can travel along that major artery serene in the knowledge that they no longer have to expose themselves to the 'dark side' of the radio dial if they fail to adequately plan for their highway entertainment needs...like someone I know...

Straying from the Course

2006-10-25T22:46:00.000-04:00

Dang! Another long break in my 'blogorhythm' has occurred...although not as bad as my previous 5-week absence, this one had a couple of mitigating factors behind it. As I mentioned in my previous post, I started to frequent the DDN's 'Speak Up!' message boards just a little too much. Many nights (and some days, too) would be spent checking up on posting activity--some might call it 'lurking'--to either my original posts or my replies to other topics. I just had to be able to respond rapidly to someone who would either condemn or congratulate me for my expression of personal opinion in that forum. My world began to revolve around the 30 or so frequent posters and the dynamics between our two online 'tribes'.

The only thing that was able to break me of this habit was a combined business/personal trip back east (Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania). Since my transportation would be on the company's 'dime', I decided to rent a car and drive the 8-9 hours each way. The drive was rather scenic (eastern Ohio and almost all of Pennsylvania were ablaze in autumn's fiery hues), despite the rain (and one patch of thick fog right around the Maryland border) that lasted almost the entire drive to the Baltimore area. I stayed in Maryland the first night and in northern Virginia for the second and was treated to political theater the likes I haven't seen before...except maybe in Ohio this year. Maryland and Virginia both have hotly contested US Senate races and Maryland's GOP governor is seeking re-election (with a blind woman as his running mate). The regional television stations must've been taking both DNC and RNC checks and heading straight to the bank. I didn't get a respite from politics in Pennsylvania, either (Senate and gubernatorial elections plus two contentious US House races featuring ethically challenged Republican representatives Curt Weldon and Don Sherwood). I just missed President Bush's 'fly-by' campaign stop for Sherwood in the Scranton suburbs but the papers had a field day with the photos and accompanying articles.

I was further kept from my 'cybersquatting' by a long-overdue visit to see my siblings and other relatives back in the Wilkes-Barre area. It was over two years ago that I brought the kids with me to see their aunts and uncles and nephews. I packed a lot of activity into those 80+ hours back home. The ride back (almost 500 miles straight through) was exhausting and I had to return to the office the following day. Only now am I able to put my thoughts to the keyboard on these and other events from the past 3 weeks.

In the following days, I will comment on some of the things I experienced on that trip (to include the excruciatingly limited options of terrestrial radio on long car journeys--especially through eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania) as well as a review of newspapers I picked up along both directions of my drive. This blog was started as a outlet to respond to our local paper here in the Dayton area so I thought it might be appropriate to see just how the DDN stacks up against other comparable dailies around the region. Hopefully this short respite will re-energize my blogging efforts (again) and allow me to provide my unique perspective on the issues of the day. Make sure to check back in a few days...

"Speak Up!" Is Addictive

2006-10-01T21:39:00.000-04:00

Another Sunday night is here and it's usually the time when I sit back to ponder what I accomplished over the past two days. If I subtract the hours I was asleep, I probably had approximately 30-32 hours available for me to use.

Let's see...we went out for Chinese on Friday night. I did my usual weekly 'chore' (grocery shopping) and found time to read newspapers both Saturday and Sunday morning. I took our son to buy a 'school photo-worthy' shirt for his class pictures and took him to some other places during a quick errand run. I continued dubbing our home movies over to DVD--a tedious process. I bought a copy of Frank Rich's new book "The Greatest Story Ever Sold" and read the first chapter last night. I've been watching football both yesterday and today--well, it was playing in the background (like it is now). However, the activity that occupied most of my waking moments was participating on the DDN's online forum, aptly titled "Speak Up!".

I first visited this site earlier in the year when I signed up for a user account for accessing the paper's online services. Previous to this, I've never been that involved with any online message boards and conserved my words for emails and IMs. I started off as a 'lurker'--someone who simply went through the listed subjects of discussion to read the exchanges between the more extroverted users. As a political 'wonk', I gravitated towards titles reflecting that particular type of activity might be present. As I started my reading, I noticed that there appeared to be two distinct online 'tribes'--corresponding to the major competing political ideologies of the day. Needless to say, I began to empathize more with the 'blue' group and was able to identify the 'red' members very readily. I can't remember what my first posting was about but I did receive a 'high five' from one of my future compatriots for my support on that issue. That kind act reinforced my desire to join in on this 24/7 discussion on a more regular basis.

And how true that has been! As I'm writing this, I'm checking the boards every few minutes to see the latest responses and check if anyone is taking me to task personally. I've taken up a 'vigilant' posture--if someone posts something that doesn't jibe with my understanding of our current version of reality, I take it upon myself to address the poster's issue and either correct them or refute their assertions. There are a few from the 'red' tribe that add items just to stir up a response from us (I won't mention their online 'handles' but if you look through the exchanges, they'd be recognized rather easily) and some of us 'blues' have started to do the same thing. Some exchanges get rather heated and people do step right up to the line drawn by the site concerning appropriate behaviors. I have to take mandated breaks from "Speak Up!" when I'm at work (my employer would not like me spending my entire day in contentious online debates) so I cannot keep up with other users who are retired or have more amenable working environments than I currently have. As with other 'manias', this one shall pass...

I wasn't selected as the winner in last week's "Open Mike" contest so my identity still remains cloaked in mystery. My submission had the person saying "he was what he was"--a take-off of one of his more famous catch phrases. The winner mentioned spinach and the deceased's long-suffering girlfriend. I got a headstart on this week's entry (pictured below) on Friday evening--as of this posting, I've submitted 16 different entries. I now have to wait until Tuesday to see if I've again earned the board's favor.

Right now, I'm not looking so good for winning my third straight fantasy football game. Two players that I was undecided about had very good games today; unfortunately, I benched them right before the 1:05 kickoffs in favor of more dependable guys who didn't perform as expected. As of 4:00 left in the 3rd quarter of the Bears-Seahawks game, I'm down by 26 points (my opponent and I each have one player involved in this game and we have others that don't play until tomorrow evening). Granted, one of my Monday night participants is Donovan McNabb--the highest rated player in our league--but he'd have to have an extraordinary evening (300+ yards, 4-5 passing/running TDs) just for me to get close. My opponent has one of McNabb's favorite targets (WR Donte Stallworth) as a starter so Donovan's success will probably involve him. I believe that the Warbirds winning streak is history...ah, but it's only a game!

Busy Work Week

2006-09-28T21:56:00.000-04:00

I've been away from my computer for the last 3-4 nights because of work-related activities (resurrected my dormant 'PowerPoint Ranger' skills). Our company just finished its turn in hosting rotating contract-required meetings and my team was one person short--that 'absentee' was the boss! The rest of us pitched in to shoulder the additional responsibilities so I had to create and present two briefings as well as facilitate an information systems security working group that I was assigned to just over a month ago! Today was the final day so I was able to come home early, take a well-deserved power nap, and catch up with the blog and the current scuttlebutt on the DDN message boards.

Speaking of blogging, I remember seeing a thread on that subject (borrowing Star Trek: The Next Generation's Borg) in the 'Brewster Rockit' comic strip about a month or so ago...here are the pertinent panels:

My family is still lukewarm to my 'assimilation'. One night, I mentioned (in jest) that I was going to quit my job and blog full-time. After I laid out a 'financial plan' (said that I could earn a lot of money--hundreds of dollars a month!!--by having ads on my site), my wife asked if my life insurance was currently paid up. After I answered affirmatively, she then told our kids (in jest) that 'plan B' will go into effect shortly...we both had a good laugh!

I did have one pleasant surprise on Wednesday. I logged into the 'Open Mike' page on the DDN website and found out that the selection board picked one of my submissions for its five finalists on last Saturday's 'Popeye' panel. When I logged in this evening, the contest had already ended so I couldn't screen-capture the other choices to post on this blog. I've got my fingers crossed but I also have some concerns. I entered my submissions using my 'nom de plume' and if I win, my identity will be revealed. While I would relish such a public recognition of my wit, I would lose my 'cyber' anonymity...Saturday morning will be very interesting.

I Finally Remembered

2006-09-25T22:28:00.000-04:00

After two weeks of futility (and public acknowledgement of my inability to add a simple recurring suspense to Microsoft Outlook), I finally remembered to enter the DDN's "Open Mike" contest. Below is the panel for this week:

I felt this cartoon was a 'target rich environment' in the amount of obvious and underlying items that the contestants could infer from within its boundaries. Popeye is (was?) an American icon and his strips are widely known both here and abroad. Stories surrounding his favorite organic 'pick-me-up' have been in the news forefront over the past week or so—some documenting loss of life. Lingering political issues, although a little more difficult, could be shoehorned into the setting or the pictured scenario.

Over the weekend, I was able to come up with NINE different submissions covering all of the above. I will wait until they announce the five weekly finalists before I share them online; however, if one (or more) of those is (are) chosen by the paper as a finalist, I will stick with that one (them) as my #1 choice (top choices)—but I won’t identify it until after they announce the weekly winner.

Speaking of winning, my Fairborn Warbirds continued their unbeaten streak in our office’s fantasy football league over the weekend. It was a lot closer (a 14-point victory) than the previous 50-point blowout because my main running back (LaDainian Tomlinson of the San Diego Chargers) had a ‘bye’ week and had to sit out. If I didn’t mess up my starting line-up in the first week, I’d have the only undefeated or untied team in the league. The only sports ‘downer’ was the OSU victory over my Nittany Lions…

Why the Urgency?

2006-09-20T20:57:00.000-04:00

This past Friday, President Bush held a televised press conference in the White House Rose Garden. Many news outlets critiqued his performance (his tone, gestures, selected phrases) in order to read into why he seemed so angry and somewhat petulant in his conduct with the press corps. I've excerpted a few passages from the transcript to analyze (you can watch the whole thing at this link):

There are two vital pieces of legislation in Congress now that I think are necessary to help us win the war on terror. We will work with members of both parties to get legislation that works out of the Congress. The first bill will allow us to use military commissions to try suspected terrorists for war crimes. We need the legislation because the Supreme Court recently ruled that military commissions must be explicitly authorized by Congress. So we're working with Congress. The Supreme Court said, you must work with Congress; we are working with Congress to get a good piece of legislation out.

The bill I have proposed will ensure that suspected terrorists will receive full and fair trials, without revealing to them our nation's sensitive intelligence secrets. As soon as Congress acts on this bill, the man our intelligence agencies believe helped orchestrate the 9/11 attacks can face justice.

The bill would also provide clear rules for our personnel involved in detaining and questioning captured terrorists. The information that the Central Intelligence Agency has obtained by questioning men like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has provided valuable information and has helped disrupt terrorist plots, including strikes within the United States.

For example, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed described the design of planned attacks of buildings inside the U.S. and how operatives were directed to carry them out. That is valuable information for those of us who have the responsibility to protect the American people. He told us the operatives had been instructed to ensure that the explosives went off at a high -- a point that was high enough to prevent people trapped above from escaping.

He gave us information that helped uncover al Qaeda cells' efforts to obtain biological weapons.

We've also learned information from the CIA program that has helped stop other plots, including attacks on the U.S. Marine base in East Africa, or American consulate in Pakistan, or Britain's Heathrow Airport. This program has been one of the most vital tools in our efforts to protect this country. It's been invaluable to our country, and it's invaluable to our allies.

Were it not for this program, our intelligence community believes that al Qaeda and its allies would have succeeded in launching another attack against the American homeland. Making us -- giving us information about terrorist plans we couldn't get anywhere else, this program has saved innocent lives. In other words, it's vital. That's why I asked Congress to pass legislation so that our professionals can go forward, doing the duty we expect them to do. Unfortunately, the recent Supreme Court decision put the future of this program in question. That's another reason I went to Congress. We need this legislation to save it.

I am asking Congress to pass a clear law with clear guidelines based on the Detainee Treatment Act that was strongly supported by Senator John McCain. There is a debate about the specific provisions in my bill, and we'll work with Congress to continue to try to find common ground. I have one test for this legislation, I'm going to answer one question as this legislation proceeds, and it's this: The intelligence community must be able to tell me that the bill Congress sends to my desk will allow this vital program to continue. That's what I'm going to ask.

The second bill before Congress would modernize our electronic surveillance laws and provide additional authority for the terrorist surveillance program. I authorized the National Security Agency to operate this vital program in response to the 9/11 attacks. It allows us to quickly monitor terrorist communications between someone overseas and someone in the United States, and it's helped detect and prevent attacks on our country.

The principle behind this program is clear: when an al Qaeda operative is calling into the United States or out of the country, we need to know who they're calling, why they're calling, and what they're planning. Both these bills are essential to winning the war on terror. We will work with Congress to get good bills out. We have a duty, we have a duty to work together to give our folks on the front line the tools necessary to protect America. Time is running out. Congress is set to adjourn in just a few weeks. Congress needs to act wisely and promptly so I can sign good legislation.

- Press conference; Washington, DC; September 15, 2006

This is something different for this president (a newfound spirit of cooperation and conciliation has replaced the previous swagger) and his administration. The last few lines above, I feel, are the key to why these 'unorthodox' attributes are surfacing. Although a woman in a persistent vegetative state is not involved in this particular instance, there is an obvious sense of urgency in the president's voice and words.

He seems very concerned about two pieces of legislation currently in front of Congress (he refers to one of them as the 'Detainee Treatment Act' and the other is considered to be modifications to his existing 'Terrorist Surveillance Program'--a.k.a. the 'Warrantless Eavesdropping Program' by those outside of the administration). Below are some long-standing issues that these initiatives will touch upon (I've highlighted the administration's actions/responses to them):

Warrantless wiretapping:

The authorization I gave the National Security Agency after September the 11th helped address that problem in a way that is fully consistent with my constitutional responsibilities and authorities. The activities I have authorized make it more likely that killers like these 9/11 hijackers will be identified and located in time. And the activities conducted under this authorization have helped detect and prevent possible terrorist attacks in the United States and abroad.

- Weekly radio address; Washington, DC; December 17, 2005

Today there are new claims about other ways we are tracking down al Qaeda to prevent attacks on America. I want to make some important points about what the government is doing and what the government is not doing.

First, our international activities strictly target al Qaeda and their known affiliates. Al Qaeda is our enemy, and we want to know their plans. Second, the government does not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval. Third, the intelligence activities I authorized are lawful and have been briefed to appropriate members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat. Fourth, the privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities.

- Presidential remarks; Washington, DC; May 11, 2006

I'm here to do a job that needs to be done for the President of the United States. And I'm perfectly willing to go out and speak out on those issues such as the NSA terrorist surveillance program because I believe very deeply in what we're doing. It's the right thing to do, and, frankly, I don't spend a lot of time worrying about the polls.

- Face the Nation; Washington, DC; March 19, 2006

Torture:

2. Pursuant to my authority as commander in chief and chief executive of the United States, and relying on the opinion of the Department of Justice dated January 22, 2002, and on the legal opinion rendered by the attorney general in his letter of February 1, 2002, I hereby determine as follows:

a. I accept the legal conclusion of the Department of Justice and determine that none of the provisions of Geneva apply to our conflict with al-Qaida in Afghanistan or elsewhere throughout the world because, among other reasons, al-Qaida is not a High Contracting Party to Geneva.

b. I accept the legal conclusion of the attorney general and the Department of Justice that I have the authority under the Constitution to suspend Geneva as between the United States and Afghanistan, but I decline to exercise that authority at this time. Accordingly, I determine that the provisions of Geneva will apply to our present conflict with the Taliban. I reserve the right to exercise the authority in this or future conflicts.

c. I also accept the legal conclusion of the Department of Justice and determine that common Article 3 of Geneva does not apply to either al-Qaida or Taliban detainees, because, among other reasons, the relevant conflicts are international in scope and common Article 3 applies only to "armed conflict not of an international character."

d. Based on the facts supplied by the Department of Defense and the recommendation of the Department of Justice, I determine that the Taliban detainees are unlawful combatants and, therefore, do not qualify as prisoners of war under Article 4 of Geneva. I note that, because Geneva does not apply to our conflict with al-Qaida, al-Qaida detainees also do not qualify as prisoners of war.

- Excerpt from presidential order given on Feb. 7, 2002, outlining treatment of al-Qaida and Taliban detainees

In early October, 2002, Joint Task Force 170, the SouthCom entity charged with prisoner interrogation at Guantanamo Bay forwarded a Request for Approval of Counter Resistance Strategies of 11 October, 02. That, in turn, was forwarded to the Joint Chiefs of Staff by Commander SouthCom on 25 October, 02.

The Request noted that "current" interrogation guidelines "limit the ability of interrogators to counter advanced resistance." It proposed three categories of interrogation techniques.

- Category I included an initial comfortable environment but if the detainee was determined by the interrogator to be uncooperative, could include 1) yelling (but not loudly enough to cause physical pain), and 2) techniques of deception including multiple interrogators and misidentification of the interrogator as a citizen of a foreign country "with a reputation for harsh treatment of detainees."

- Category II, which required the permission of the General in Charge of the Interrogation Section, included "...the use of stress positions (like standing), for a maximum of four hours," the use of falsified documents or reports, solitary confinement for up to thirty days, interrogation in other than the standard interrogation booth, sensory deprivation, hooding with unrestricted breathing, "removal of all comfort items (including religious items)," feeding cold Army rations, removal of clothing, "forced grooming (shaving of facial hair etc.)," and "use of detainees individual phobias (such as fear of dogs) to induce stress."

- Category III techniques include the use of "scenarios designed to convince the detainee that death or severely painful consequences are imminent for him and/or his family," "exposure to cold weather or water (with appropriate medical monitoring)," "use of a wet towel and dripping water to induce the misperception of suffocation," and use of "mild, non injurious physical contact such as grabbing, poking in the chest with the finger and light pushing."

- Counter-resistance techniques suggested by JTF 170; October 11, 2002

On 2 December, 2002, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, approved Category I and II techniques and the fourth technique in Category III ("mild, non-injurious physical contact"). The use of death threats to family, exposure to cold weather and water, and simulated drowning was not approved although DOD General counsel advised they "may be legally available." A number of those techniques were apparently used. On 15 January, 2003, Secretary Rumsfeld rescinded his approval of Category II and one Category III techniques pending a study by DOD General Counsel. He noted that "Should you determine that particular techniques in either of these categories are warranted in an individual case, you should forward that request to me." Approval of Category I techniques apparently remained in effect.

We conclude that for an act to constitute torture as defined in Section 2340, it must inflict pain that is difficult to endure. Physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death. For purely mental pain or suffering to amount to torture under Section 2340, it must result in significant psychological harm of significant duration, e.g., lasting for months or even years. We conclude that the mental harm also must result from one of the predicate acts listed in the statute, namely: threats of imminent death; threats of infliction of the kind of pain that would amount ot physical torture; infliction of such physical pain as a means of psychological torture; use of drugs or other procedures designed to deeply disrupt the senses, or fundamentally alter an individual’s personality; or threatening to do any of these things to a third party. The legislative history simply reveals that Congress intended for the statute’s definition to track the Convention’s definition of torture and the reservations, understandings, and declarations that the United States submitted with its ratification. We conclude that the statute, taken as a whole, makes plain that it prohibits only extreme acts.

- Excerpt from memorandum from Office of the Assistant Attorney General for Alberto R. Gonzales, Counsel to the President; Re: Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340-2340A

ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero released the memo Dec. 20 in New York. That document, a May 22, 2004 FBI internal e-mail, suggests that Bush issued a secret Executive Order authorizing the use of extreme coercive measures in interrogation, including sleep deprivation, stress positions, attack dogs, and use of hoods to intimidate prisoners. The Geneva Convention Against Torture bans all of these practices.

- Army email referencing a secret executive order authorizing the use of torture in Iraq

I can say that we, in fact, are consistent with the commitments of the United States that we don't engage in torture. And we don't.

I can guarantee you that we do do as a government, as an administration, is to support and uphold the Constitution of United States, that we do, in fact, take extraordinary steps to make certain we maintain our constitutional obligations and responsibilities, which includes both defending the country as well as defending individual liberties and protecting the rights of all Americans.

- Nightline; Al-Asad, Iraq; December 18, 2005

I want to be absolutely clear with our people, and the world: The United States does not torture. It's against our laws, and it's against our values. I have not authorized it -- and I will not authorize it.

- Press event; Washington, DC; September 6, 2006

Secret prisons:

In addition to the terrorists held at Guantanamo, a small number of suspected terrorist leaders and operatives captured during the war have been held and questioned outside the United States, in a separate program operated by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Many specifics of this program, including where these detainees have been held and the details of their confinement, cannot be divulged.

Information from the terrorists in this program has helped us to identify individuals that al Qaeda deemed suitable for Western operations, many of whom we had never heard about before.

This program has also played a critical role in helping us understand the enemy we face in this war.

The CIA program has detained only a limited number of terrorists at any given time -- and once we've determined that the terrorists held by the CIA have little or no additional intelligence value, many of them have been returned to their home countries for prosecution or detention by their governments.

- Press event; Washington, DC; September 6, 2006

So why is there a rush to get these proposed pieces of legislation through Congress? Could it be that he knows that Congress will change hands in the new year and someone (actually a lot of people pictured above and behind the scenes) will be caught with their hand in the legal ‘cookie jar’??? Johnathan Turley, George Washington University professor and Consitutional scholar, brought up this subject later that same night on MSNBC's 'Countdown' program (click on graphic below to watch the video segment):

"You know, the thing that is ticking here, in terms of a clock, is the fact that these 14 guys that were recently transferred just arrived not that long ago in Gitmo in Cuba. They are going to be, or have been, interviewed by the Red Cross. Most people believe that waterboarding, they where (ph) you are held underwater until you think that you‘re going to drown. That is undeniably torture under the international standard.

If that occurs in the coming days, the United States, and specifically the president, will be accused of committing a very serious violation of international law. Torture is one of the top three or four things that the international law is designed to prevent.

And so the reason there‘s this move to try to get legislation as fast as possible is because I think the administration senses that there‘s a lot of trouble coming down this mountain."

- Countdown; Washington, DC; September 15, 2006

It now appears quite possible that the administration that could not be defeated via the ballot box could well be removed (or seriously damaged) at the hands of their own hubris. These are the same people who believed the ends justified the means in any situation, no matter how incongruent their methods were to existing statues, accepted protocols or traditions, or even Constitutional law. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

Soon to be mass-issued throughout the Bush Administration

To request such legislation (Turley insinuated that they might provide retroactive protection for the president's already committed 'transgressions') at this late hour of the Congressional session demonstrates their desperation to avoid any accountability for their actions over the past five years. Immigration reform, border security, the Iraq war--all will be pushed aside to save the president's backside. At least they won't be debating about Terri Schiavo again...

Forgot (Again)...

2006-09-19T22:14:00.000-04:00

We had an open house at my son's school tonight so I don't have anything significant to post...wait, here's something:

Another week and another missed deadline for my submission for 'Open Mike' honors. I think I need to set the Tuesday noon suspense in my Outlook calendar. Here's my best entry:

And here's the DDN's top five reader-submitted choices:

Although all of the chosen finalists allude to the president's current 'brouhahas' (gas prices, torture, losing his political allies, bumbling job performance, lame duck status), none of these is really jumping out at me. I'll just have to wait until Saturday to see what my fellow readers think.

P.S. I'm 1-0-1 (one wins, no losses, one tie) in my fantasy football league. I had a big win this past weekend (50 point margin of victory) and if I didn't change a starter in the first week of the season AFTER he played in a game (rookie mistake and website 'issues' caused me to forfeit points and drop into a tie), I would be undefeated! Go Warbirds!

Weekend Update

2006-09-16T20:23:00.000-04:00

With apologies to Dan Akroyd and Jane Curtain...

It's been a few days since I've posted so I wanted to follow-up on a couple of things before I go on to new material...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In my 'Open Mike' post, I provided my (tardy) submission along with the five finalists for this week's contest. Today, the DDN revealed that one of my two 'finalists' was picked as the winner (the caption read 'the democrats finally found someone that represents their message'). When I reviewed the drawing today, I saw something that was not readily apparent to me the first time through...stay with me on this one...

My faux pas was that I temporarily forgot that mimes were associated with the French (the most famous modern mime, Marcel Marceau, was born in and currently lives in France). That rather innocuous fact about a famous performer then gets mixed up with that country's recent political history of opposing the US's war in Iraq...you still following? The final piece of this puzzle comes from John Kerry's personal connection with France (he spent his childhood summers at his maternal grandmother's estate in the northwestern part of that country).

Still don't see it? Mimes are French...John Kerry used to live in France...John Kerry is a Democrat...therefore, Democrats must be French mimes! If you still don't get it, I guess you just aren't using the right-wing of your brain! :-)

Conservative Reasoning 101

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I did get to listen to Air America Radio on my flights on Thursday. Because AAR is changing their schedule this coming Monday, Rachel Maddow was taking a few days off to let her get adjusted to her new 6:00-8:00PM time slot. Bill Crowley filled in but it just wasn't the same experience so I reverted to 'plan B'--my iPod--to entertain me for the duration of that rather drowsy flight (alarm had me up at 4:30AM). The return trip was uneventful except for the unanticipated pleasure for my ears from Sam Seder, the remaining host of AAR's 'Majority Report' show. Sam and his former program ‘compadre’ Janeane Garofalo were two of the original on-air personalities when AAR debuted in late March 2004. Since that auspicious start, the show suffered from poor ratings (not broadcast in some markets due to scheduling conflicts--WCKY & WSAI did not air the show because they tape-delayed AAR's 3:00-7:00PM programming until 6:00PM to allow them to bring their listeners Ed Shultz during that critical commuter 'drive-time' time slot) and the departure of Garofalo in July 2006 (she had already been splitting her time between the show and appearing on 'The West Wing' as Louise Thorton, campaign manager for the fictional Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) presidential bid.

(I know that she's also done movies and television but I'll always remember her as Jerry Seinfeld's fiancé Jeannie Steinman who turned out to be just too much like him (same initials, both ate cereal for dinner, loved Superman) and led to them having the world's first--and only--mutual breakup, much to the chagrin of George "We Had a Deal" Costanza who later inadvertently 'offed' his fiancé Susan with the toxic glue from the old invitation envelopes. Even though that show ended over eight years ago, it still remains as surreal as ever).

Back to Seder…although I was up for almost 16 hours, Sam’s passion and conviction for what he feels is needed to point our country in the ‘correct’ direction gave me a much-needed ‘second wind’ to finish my day. He was taking calls from his listeners who were upset that the Majority Report was ending the following evening. Many of the callers had started listening since the early days of the show and had grown accustomed to Seder. Air America must’ve also sensed this level of devotion and passion and has given him his own show in the 9:00AM-12:00PM timeslot alongside Jerry Springer on their network. According to AAR’s website, they are giving their affiliates the option of carrying either of the two programs and early indications show that the majority will keep Springer for that timeslot (AAR also has a similar arrangement with Thom Hartmann who has daily program that is on opposite the Al Franken Show). Since Cincinnati is Springer’s adopted hometown, I doubt that WSAI will drop him to pick up Seder; however, I will now be able to stream audio of his show during my working hours to keep me as energized as I was at 32,000’ this past Thursday evening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, Air America Radio did NOT declare bankruptcy as some media outlets forecast earlier in the week. A spokesman for the network stated that there were some employee layoffs but they were associated with AAR’s move in the New York City radio market (changed their flagship station from WLIB to WWRL). He also admitted that there have been some ‘cash flow problems’ but that Al Franken would be receiving his paychecks (earlier statements from Franken indicated that he had stopped receiving compensation). During his Thursday show, Franken stated that bankruptcy would not silence the progressive network, eluding to the fact that other companies—specifically mentioning United Airlines—continue to provide services during their financial restructuring.

The rumors of AAR’s demise had many of their right wing deriders salivating. Newshounds.com reported that Bill O’Reilly, Franken’s personal ‘punching bag’ over the last 2-3 years, was absolutely giddy about this news and shared his disparagement of progressive talk radio with guests Alan Colmes and Michael Gallagher. All three host radio shows (both O’Reilly and Gallagher have nationally syndicated conservative-leaning radio talk shows while Colmes hosts a liberal talk show on Fox News Radio); however ‘Bill-o’ and Gallagher constantly ‘piled’ on AAR, calling them “mental patients” and “soulless”.

Colmes, Sean Hannity’s liberal ‘lap dog’ on their nightly FNC television show, agreed with their premise that AAR was ‘message first, entertainment second’ but refused to bash them—even after being baited by his segment colleagues. In his defense, O’Reilly did state that there were hateful right-wing hosts and programming on the airwaves today which Gallagher just laughed off and went into another screed about Janeane Garofalo and ‘Stuart Smalley’—one of Franken’s characters from his ‘Saturday Night Live’ days.

O'Reilly--AAR Bankrupt! (click on the photo to watch the video)

In the aftermath of this clarification by AAR, some of the network’s right wing deriders seem to be having it both ways. In a posting on the Hot Air website, they stated that they had a ‘warm Friday fuzzy’ for their supporters (Hot Air claims to be the world’s first full-service conservative Internet broadcast network) in their analysis of the thinkprogress.org’s posting from Wednesday. Their logic works this way: either the first announcement was right and AAR is ‘circling the drain’ or that Think Progress got the story wrong and will be humiliated by their ‘cyber’ peers. Such small things entertain those with so little to blow their own horns about...

My question for these folks is this: why would they think that humiliation would work on Think Progress when many more crucial conservative ‘untruths’ are routinely dispatched from 1600 Pennsylvania with little to no shame attached?

AAR to Declare Bankruptcy on Friday

2006-09-13T22:17:00.000-04:00

From thinkprogress.org's website earlier this evening:

Air America To Declare Bankruptcy, But Progressive Radio Remains Strong

Air America Radio will announce a major restructuring on Friday, which is expected to include a bankruptcy filing, three independent sources have told ThinkProgress.

Air America could remain on the air under the deal, but significant personnel changes are already in the works. Sources say five Air America employees were laid off yesterday and were told there would be no severance without capital infusion or bankruptcy. Also, Air America has ended its relationship with host Jerry Springer.

The right wing is sure to seize on Air America’s financial woes as a sign that progressive talk radio is unpopular. In fact, Air America succeeded at creating something that didn’t exist: the progressive talk radio format. That format is now established and strong and will continue with or without Air America. Indeed, many of the country’s most successful and widely-syndicated progressive talk hosts — Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller, for instance — aren’t even associated with Air America.

Radio giant Clear Channel is so committed to progressive talk radio that, this week, it will announce a partnership with the Center for American Progress and MSS Inc. to conduct a nationwide search for the next Progressive Talk Radio Star.

UPDATE: Air America responds.

If Air America had filed for bankruptcy every time someone rumored it to be doing so, we would have ceased to exist long ago; it may be frustrating to some that this hasn’t happened. No decision has been taken to make any filing of any kind, we are not sure of the source of these rumors and frankly can not respond to every rumor in the marketplace.

Hmmm...I've got a left-leaning website announcing the imminent bankruptcy filing by the major progressive/liberal radio network in the country. I'm not really sure who to believe but I do know it will make my on-going quest that much more difficult. While right-wing America will be celebrating this news, filing for bankruptcy does NOT mean the death of AAR. They've carried a lot of debt through their start-up and 2+ year existence and this will allow them to better structure themselves and (hopefully) their product.

P.S. I'm out of town on business tomorrow (leave in the early AM, return in the late evening) and I'll be flying on Air Tran Airways. Besides offering a non-stop flight to my final destination, they pipe XM satellite radio through their entertainment system and AAR is currently on their station line-up (#167). I'll definitely be tuned in to Rachel Maddow in the morning and I guess I'll listen to 'The Majority Report' on the way back (the show isn't carried by WSAI).

I was hoping to listen in to 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' on the return trip but XM dropped MSNBC programming audio late last month--I better set the DVR before I hit the sack!

DDN's 'Open Mike'

2006-09-12T21:39:00.000-04:00

A few months ago, the DDN opened up another portion of its op/ed pages to the whims of its reading audience. In their continuing effort to placate the 'DDN is a liberal rag' faction, the paper announced the start of a weekly contest, called Open Mike, to help caption a cartoon drawn by their Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Mike Peters. He does all the artwork but then leaves a 'word balloon' above one of the character's heads to allow the reader to supply what they believe to be the funniest or most satirical line. I'm guessing that newspaper readers (including me) have secretly desired the power to do this and now the DDN has given us our chance.

Every Saturday, a new panel is unveiled for the readership to review and submit their entries for. There is no limit on the number of submissions per person but that portion of the contest is halted on noon the following Tuesday. At that time, the editorial board picks their five favorites and posts them on their website to allow readers to make their choice of their favorite. If selected, you will be recognized when the panel is reprinted the following Saturday along with a new panel for that week. They also receive an original copy of the cartoon from Peters

The first contest I participated in had a panel with President Bush sitting behind his desk in the Oval Office. Next to his desk, a large hole in the floor is visible with a word balloon coming from someone down in the hole. Because it was in the early weeks after Vice President Cheney's notorious quail hunting incident, many of the entries had to deal with errant discharges of firearms. While these seemed to be very popular, others referenced the Cheney reference to the infamous 'secure undisclosed location' or the administration's constant search for Iraqi WMDs or the plummeting approval ratings for the president since Hurricane Katrina. I must have submitted over a dozen lines myself and I patiently waited until late Tuesday to see if one (or more) of mine was (were) selected. When they posted the finalists that evening, I could not believe what inferior choices (IMHO) the board made. I did not see any satiric wit or 'gotchas' in the entire lot. Despite my disappointment, I did choose one of the 'lame five' and wasn't at all surprised when even THAT one was not selected the winner for that week.

I haven't returned to the contest page since then, although I do look at the Saturday edition of the DDN to check out that week's winner as well as the new panel. It wasn't until the one this week that I felt compelled to jump back into the ring; however, when I finally got around to going to their site, the deadline had already passed.

Here is last Saturday's panel and the editorial board's five favorite reader captions:

Out of these five, the last one is extremely lame (the WH press secretary isn't sworn in with the Presidential Seal in front of him on what appears to be the Capitol balcony) and the fourth one a little less so (harkens to Bush's weakness on remembering people and countries during the 2000 campaign). I do 'get' the second one but Iraq is the most pressing issue for today's military today--not ballistic missile defense. That puts the first and third ones as the most logical choices of the five and I predict that people will vote based upon their party affiliation (although I do think the 'democrats' one is more true than funny).

In the spirit of cyber-democracy, I have cast my ballot (it's still a voter's privilege not to reveal their choice); however, if I would've been more proactive, this is what my entry was going to be:

In the spirit of my blog's original raison d'être, I will now start posting my entries, submitted or not, here on a weekly basis. And who knows...if I ever learn to draw, maybe Mike Peters could get a future run for his money!

Personal 9/11 Story

2006-09-11T22:08:00.000-04:00

This post has taken several days to edit and 'polish' before I felt it was up to my personal standards for putting in my blog. The pictures were taken with a very primitive digital camera but I was lucky to have it with me during this historic time.

With apologies to Orwell, today was a 'double-plus bad' day for me. While the date marks the 5-year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it also marks the lowest point of my life in terms of serving my children, my wife and my country.

2001 was a strange time in my life. I was in the midst of a raging 'mid-life crisis'. My wife and I had grown apart over the years and I looked to other avenues to seek understanding and support (emotional--not physical). I had received orders in January to report to an overseas base that could not support the medical needs of my family. Although I had enough years in uniform to opt for retirement, I had no viable plan in place to secure my post-military career in this area. My wife was employed at the time and did not want to relocate again--we had moved six times in the past 10 years--so I could find work in the Washington, DC area (considered 'Mecca' or 'the mother ship' for intel types).

With reality slapping me squarely across the face, the 'crisis' faded and we opted for me to take the unaccompanied, 2-year tour away from Ohio, the US of A, and my loved ones. We bought a house in the local area (we were living on WPAFB at the time) and prepared for the separation. I started an online graduate studies program so that my time away would be productive. I took almost the entire month of August off so that I could spend time with our kids and take them back east to visit their aunts and uncles in Pennsylvania. As the days counted down to my departure, I started to realize that this tour was going to be a lot harder than originally thought, especially for my son. When the fateful day arrived, we filled up my wife's car and drove to the airport. Back in those days, family members could still go as far as the departure gate; however, I opted to make things less traumatic and opted for a curbside goodbye. With tears in our eyes, we said our farewells and as they drove away, I could see my son start to bawl uncontrollably in the back of the car. Girding myself, I gathered my personal things and entered the terminal. I found a phone so I could leave a message on the house's answering machine (I'm always a little uneasy about flying and--somewhat morbidly--want that appliance to extend my mortality in case the worse happened). Once I hung up, I headed to the check-in counter to start my long journey--the date was September 10th.

My early flights were rather uneventful. A layover in St. Louis had me watching the NY Giants playing the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football (at one time, I was planning to be at that game but that's not a subject for this posting). I continued on to Seattle where I would join plenty of travel-weary and sleep-deprived military travelers for an early morning (4:45AM) departure for the Far East. Not feeling very sleepy, I found the airport's USO lounge, plugged in my laptop computer, and worked on some of my schoolwork to pass the time. As we started to board the plane, I was starting to feel the effects of sleep-deprivation but I was drawn to one of the televisions in the waiting area. On the screen, CNN's "Daybreak" was showing a live shot of the White House (the sun had already come up in Washington) and it looked utterly splendid in that light (weather across the entire eastern seaboard was nearly perfect that morning--cloudless and plenty of sunshine). We proceeded to board the plane and I barely stayed awake through take-off. It was supposed to be an uneventful, 8-to-9 hour flight--but no one would've imagined the events that were about to unfold.

About two hours into our journey, we were awakened by the captain making an announcement on the speaker system. While I was rubbing sleep out of my eyes, I thought I heard him say that a 'national emergency' had been declared and that we were going to be diverted to Anchorage, Alaska for an unscheduled stop. As others began regaining full consciousness, we started to chat among ourselves about what this 'emergency' could possibly be (the captain gave no supporting information). Some thought assassination--president, vice president or both--while others couldn't fathom a plausible reason that would ground an already airborne plane. We flew along for about another hour or so and had breakfast before we did something I never thought I'd experience on a plane--the jettisoning of perfectly good jet fuel. We took off with enough to get us all the way to Japan (with some to spare, just in case) and the pilot expected to use all of it prior to arrival and keep our landing weight within prescribed tolerances. Since we were not going to stay airborne long enough to burn it all, we had to get rid of it in some other manner. I had a window seat and was able to witness firsthand the plane expel its precious fuel into the Gulf of Alaska via a tube near the end of the wing (the entire process took between 15-20 minutes).

Jet fuel being expelled from our charter jet (stream coming out of the nozzle near top center of photo)

Since we were a military charter flight, the pilot was now directed to land at Elmendorf AFB (sits on the outskirts of Anchorage). It was a rather uneventful touchdown but the anxiety level was high because we would finally be told the full cause of this diversion. The plane then taxied to a spot on the apron near a large mobility hanger that would be our first staging area. It was only after the plane physically stopped moving and the engines were shut down that we were informed about the attacks on the East Coast. There was widespread disbelief that those actions happened yet an internal relief that our own flight did not share a similar fate. Some on the plane still had their stateside cell phones and started to call their relatives and friends to assure them that they were OK. I borrowed a fellow passenger's phone to call my wife but she had already left work to meet the kids when they were sent home from school. I eventually called my old office to have them relay my status to her.

Once emptied, our plane sat idle for almost three full days

Because Alaskan time is four hours behind EST, it was just a little after 7AM local when we landed and the base was only in the early stages of hunkering down against a then-unknown enemy and the possibility of more attacks. We deplaned and were herded over to the large hanger in order to begin our formal ‘conversion’ into a quasi-military unit of active-duty, retired and civilian passengers. After an impromptu roll call (checking identification cards against names on the flight’s manifest), we were free to wander inside the building. I really was in need of some caffeine so I began to look for a snack bar or soda machine. During that search, I walked past a conference room that appeared to be overflowing with people. I was able to wedge myself in and it was then that I got my first glimpse of the aftermath in lower Manhattan (the buildings had fallen about an hour or so earlier).

Trying to come to terms with our situation

I have visited New York City a few times and flown in and out of its surrounding airports so I was familiar with its world-famous skyline. We took our 6^thgrade class trip to NYC in 1973 and the Twin Towers had already been completed and occupied a year or so earlier. We didn’t visit them that day (I never did get the chance) but I was drawn to their sheer size while waiting for a ferry to take us out to the Statue of Liberty. While the WTC had its detractors, it eventually grew into one of the city’s enduring symbols—and one that also attracted undue attention. While assigned in the Washington, DC area, I had the pleasure of visiting the Pentagon on several occasions. To me, it felt confining and a bit confusing for a visitor to navigate one's way around, but I felt envious of the personnel who were assigned there--feeling the 'pulse' of the Defense Department from close range. With a Pepsi in my hand, I found an empty chair and sat down to watch the news coverage (they were interviewing a few analysts and experts in their studio). It wasn't until I saw the lingering shots of the carnage in lower Manhattan and northern Virginia that I realized that our nation will never be the same and I began to reflect on how these events would affect my upcoming assignment.

Viewing TV coverage in the conference room

After watching non-stop coverage for around an hour or so, I returned to the main assembly area to find out that we were not going to continue on to Japan that day and that we were going to be housed locally until we got the authorization to proceed. Families traveling together would be placed into the base’s billeting facilities or, if no room is available, be placed in local hotels. Since Anchorage was a waypoint for many trans-Pacific flights, the city’s main airport was suddenly the destination for many inbound flights to the US. Due to the amount of people that normally travel on long-haul commercial aircraft, a lot of those passengers were going to have to be placed in temporary lodging and probably be inconvenienced for the duration of their unintended stay in Alaska. Since I was flying ‘solo’, I was directed to report with the other unaccompanied members from our flight to the base’s recreation center to await deliveries of bedding (cots) and food (meals ready-to-eat or MREs) later in the morning. We (approximately 160 people) were then transported by a bus convoy to our new ‘home away from home’—growing somewhat impatient but also anxious about how our lives were about to change.

Elmendorf AFB's recreation center--our 'home away from home'

The facility used to be an old hanger (not as big as the first one we were in) and lacked in most of the creature comforts we cranky and dirty passengers were outwardly craving. The cots arrived first and we began to form up our ‘cot communities’ based upon newly formed friendships during our trip. We next received a delivery of MREs which, after going for almost six hours without a real meal, tasted surprisingly good. The next order of business was cleaning ourselves up. The center did house some gym equipment (treadmills and other aerobic devices) but it had limited changing and showering facilities (4 showers—two male, two female—and a household-sized water heater). After weighing their options, the only viable solution would be for our hosts to bus us over in shifts to the base’s gymnasium (already closed due to the emergency). Once clean and fed, most of us decided to nap while some clustered around the available television sets (each set to a different network) to watch the wall-to-wall coverage. Later that evening, we had the opportunity to eat at one of the base’s dining facilities (we were bussed again and had to sign out and in to maintain personnel readiness and accountability).

To occupy our free time, the center had a single Internet-connected computer available for public use and we devised a schedule to provide people equitable opportunities to use it. Since I had my laptop with me, I could draft my emails ‘offline’ and then upload them to the ‘net’ via floppy diskette. The base’s Services division also provided each person a phone calling card to allow them to contact their relatives and update them on their status. When we turned in that first night, we thought it would be our last in these contingency conditions; however, it was not to be.

Bunking down for the first night

The next morning, after showers and breakfast, our ‘commander’ (the highest ranking person on the flight—turned out to be a Navy chaplain) was told that our plane would be leaving that day and that we need to prepare for our departure. This entailed repacking our luggage, disassembling our ‘communities’ and cleaning up the facility. After we had about half of the cots on the trucks, another official showed up and regretfully told us that we were not going to be able to go after all. According to a hurriedly drafted priority matrix, only the top six categories of flights would be allowed to fly—we fell out at #9. Back went the cots but our ‘captors’ lessened this latest ‘blow’ by allowing us to visit the base’s exchange complex (akin to a civilian shopping center or strip mall) to pass the idle hours.

Trekking for breakfast at one of the base's dining facilities

While fewer people were glued to the televisions, more of us started to form our own cliques. One couple (I’m assuming they were traveling together without the benefit of a marriage license) was so dismayed that they could not ‘sleep’ together took the bold step of creating a yurt-like fortress near the center of the main floor to conceal their amorous activities. It was humorous to witness the base’s commander (a one-star general) attempt to explain this ‘conjugal tent’ to his young son who accompanied him on his perfunctory ‘grip-and-grin’ with us ‘refugees’. Other lapses of discipline started to occur due to boredom and anxiety. Beer and liquor were smuggled into close proximity of the center and several folks chose to imbibe. A rather raucous card game continued throughout the evening which inconvenienced anyone within earshot (it was eventually broken up shortly after midnight). A mandatory meeting was held the next morning to address these breeches of communal etiquette but no one was actually cited or counseled for their activities.

We had now been in Alaska for two full days (landed early on Tuesday and it was now early on the 13th) and almost all of us were eager to leave. It was early afternoon when we found out that our priority had been ‘elevated’ high enough to earn us departure clearance. We waited until the final minute to tear down the cots this time and proceeded by bus over to the terminal for boarding. Because we were interrupted in our trans-Pacific journey, we needed to be ‘inserted’ back into the flight patterns at approximately the same time we would’ve been flying past Alaska on our original flight so that we could land in Japan at the appropriate time. This meant we were taking off at nearly 4:00AM on the morning of the 14th. Being so soon after the tragedies, military security screening had not progressed to the level of discomfort commercial aviation adopted when flying resumed. Having hardly slept since early the previous day, I was slumbering shortly after takeoff. Due to the International Date Line, we ‘lost’ a day and landed in Tokyo at approximately 7AM on the morning of the 15th. At the military air terminal, outgoing passengers were still glued to the stateside newscasts that had not yet returned to their normal schedule. Some of them would be boarding the plane we just disembarked to fly back to a nation that had changed dramatically since their last visit.

Waiting to board our continuation flight to Japan

While I share our nation’s pain on each subsequent anniversary, they also provides me an opportunity to reflect on this occasion in a personal way. History is chock full of definitive moments. Like Pearl Harbor nearly 60 years before, America was attacked from an outside enemy in a way that displayed a blatant ignorance of civilized rules and norms. The Japanese conducted a surprise attack (some might claim otherwise due to RW revisionist history attempts over the past 5-10 years) on US soil. While I will not introduce my personal take on the whole ‘who’ issue concerning 9/11, the sad fact is that thousands of innocent people were killed for no other reason than working in facilities or riding in aircraft that represented the United States. As I said earlier, I choose to ignore the intertwined politics today and instead reflect and privately honor the victims. There are plenty of other days available throughout the year to spar and debate.

My introspection concerns my perceived weakness at that moment in time. While I was fully protected when confined inside an airborne aluminum tube or behind a razor-wire chain link perimeter fence, my family was totally exposed to the unprecedented chaos and horror of that day without me there to shield or comfort them. I did have opportunities to talk with all of them on the phone and exchange emails, but that long-distance solution does not meet my standard—at least in my own mind—of fulfilling my paternal or spousal obligations during one of the greatest crises in American history. With my professional background, I requested permission to report over to the local intel unit to provide whatever assistance they might need but administrative issues and our uncertain departure plan nixed that idea. So all I could do for those three days was sit…and watch…and wait…and think...about things...like marriage...and fatherhood...and life...

These past five years have gone by in fits and starts--times of manic activity and accomplishment matched with lonely and lethargic spans. I have been back in Ohio for over two years now with both my family and marriage intact. Not totally without some residual issues, I credit my survival during this separation on a deeply personal desire to be part of something greater than myself and a case could be made that those tragic events in September 2001 helped us to grow individually and as a couple. My wife gained a greater sense of independence during my absence, being both a mother AND father to two sometimes challenging children. I had to maintain an entire household on my own--and all the associated responsibilities of doing that in a foreign country-- for the first time in my adult life. I finished my online degree and we now are reaping the financial benefits for me attaining that additional level of higher education.

Since I am no longer a religious man, I believe fate positioned me in a specific place at that specific time where I was virtually incapacitated and isolated in order to help me learn an important life lesson. Each September 11th, I mourn for the victims of those attacks but I also recognize the painful 'death' of a previous version of me. While bureaucrats are still wrangling about memorials for that date's 'hallowed grounds', I get to live with mine for (hopefully) a long time to come.

In Remembrance...

2006-09-11T13:33:00.000-04:00

On this day of national unity, I choose to ignore political things and instead reflect and privately honor the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives just five short years ago. There are plenty of other days available throughout the year to spar and debate...

A New 'Mania' Surfaces

2006-09-10T15:34:00.000-04:00

Today marks the first regular season Sunday in the 2005-2006 National Football League schedule (NBC jumped the gun by showing the Steelers-Dolphins game on Thursday night). I will admit that I am a lifelong football fan and use its opening weekend as an indicator that fall is right around the corner (just like baseball announces the promise of spring). I do have my favorite team (E-A-G-L-E-S...go Eagles!) and my wardrobe contains several articles that sport either their logo or color scheme.; however, I don't think I qualify as a 'fanatic' and I will publicly admit that I've only been to one pro game in my entire life (Dolphins-Jets game at Shea Stadium in the late 1970s) and have voluntarily missed watching important games due to other commitments (including TWO Super Bowls due to international travel).

This season is a little different, though. After continued prodding by a co-worker (and a last-minute vacancy in a 10-team league), I have taken the plunge into the world of fantasy football. Our work league had our draft a few weeks ago and I have been fixating upon my 'team' ever since. I was lucky enough to get the #3 pick in a serpentine draft and I picked up LaDainian Tomlinson with my first selection (Larry Johnson and Shaun Alexander were already taken). The draft lasted for 18 rounds and I was able to get some decent players (allegiance to Philly meant picking Donovan McNabb, David Akers, Correll Buckhalter and their entire defensive unit--also got Kurt Warner and Adam Vinatieri to help round out the squad and acquired some free agents). Our league is divided into two conferences and plays a 14-week regular season schedule that concludes with a two-week playoff to crown its 2006 champion. With the kickoff last Thursday night, everything was set into motion; however, I wasn't ready for the 'hook' that set itself in early this afternoon.

The website that hosts our league provides all of the statistical data required to accurately manage your team. During our draft, I consulted my laptop numerous times to determine which player met my more immediate needs or, if met, was the best 'fantasy' athlete available. During the season, players or teams earn or lose points from an approved scoring scheme depending upon their performance on the field. One option available is 'live' monitoring--seeing a 'score' in near real-time to determine how the players on your team is currently doing in the head-to-head match-ups with our scheduled opponent for that week.

I didn't pick any Steelers or Dolphins so I was already down 3.0 to nothing when today's action started. Although I had the Bengals-Chiefs game on the television, one eye was constantly monitoring my laptop to keep track of my fantasy players' accomplishments. After the early games, I was trailing 52-38; however, I wasn't too worried because my quarterback (Warner) and #1 running back (Tomlinson) had yet to take the field (playing the 4:15 and late Monday night games, respectively). Final results for the weekend won't be known until very late Monday night (at the conclusion of the Chargers-Raiders game) so our 'trash talking' will have to wait until Tuesday morning. If I do lose, it might be because I swapped out McNabb for Warner at the last minute (the Eagle quarterback returned from injury and posted a 'monster' game to earn 28.0 points). LATE UPDATE: Warner also earned 28.0 fantasy points--it's a draw!

In closing, on this special day I'd like to pay respect to one of the icons of American professional football:

"And then, on the seventh day, the game was played..."

As a middle-aged fan, I can easily imagine NFL Films legend John Facenda saying the above line (he'd have to add the TV revenue-driven Monday, Thursday and Saturday editions to reflect today's realities). Known as 'the Voice of God', John narrated weekly television programs that were the only place where sports junkies could get their football 'fixes' in the days before ESPN came on the scene. A chance encounter with Ed Sabol in a Philadelphia bar in 1965 introduced this legendary anchorman's poetic narrations to millions of potential fans and helped the league expand its presence in the embryonic television sports market of the 1960s.

A few years ago, I bought a CD called "The Power and the Glory" which featured the music that accompanied the films and the narration of Mr. Facenda or the show's hosts (Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier in its heyday). If you have younger children, you might recognize some of these pieces on the Nickelodeon show "Spongebob Squarepants"--especially during episodes that feature Mermaid Man and his 'young' ward Barnacle Boy. In one selection, simply titled "Lombardi", Facenda speaks for only 17 seconds but in that short span entrances the listener with a haiku-like passage that succinctly describes the essence of the coach and the game he helped to popularize.

"Lombardi...
A certain magic still lingers in the very name.
It speaks of duels in the snow and cold November mud."

Due to the current diffusion of football among a variety of broadcast and cable venues, we will probably never again have a single personna--or voice--like Facenda's to brand the league apart from other competitors for our discretionary time (Harry Kalas, a fine sportscaster in his own right, replaced John in 1975 but IMHO he just doesn't match up to the original standard set over 40 years ago). Thank goodness the Sabol family had the foresight to preserve his awesome voice for future generations of NFL fans to admire.

"Coulter-geist" in Dayton

2006-09-09T20:57:00.000-04:00

I read in today's edition of the DDN that Ann Coulter will be visiting "The Gem City" tomorrow afternoon (September 10th). Dayton Right to Life, a local anti-abortion organization, invited her to speak at their "Viva la Vita 2006" fundraising event at the Schuster Performing Arts Center due to her personal pro-life position and, undoubtedly, her huge popularity among conservatives--DRTL's target demographic. As of the writer's posting of the story, over 2,300 tickets and dozens of standing-room only passes for an adjacent overflow area had already been distributed for this advertised 'celebration of life and hope' (admission is free but donations will be solicited from among the attendees to fund their education and outreach programs--they're 'hoping' to rake in $350,000). Normally, I don't pay attention to such events (I am pro-choice and Americans STILL have the right to assemble peacefully to support their causes) but reading about this invitation for such a radioactive personality to come to Dayton piqued my interest.

Time's 'Ms. Right'--she complained about how big her feet looked!

While she is not one of the columnists that the DDN chooses to use to placate its conservative readership, Ann has been garnering a lot of (negative) attention due to her recent guest appearances on television. While promoting her most recent book "Godless: The Church of Liberalism", she regurgitated several highly controversial opinions on 'the Jersey girls'--a group of politically active widows of victims of the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers--to the Today Show's Matt Lauer and other program hosts. She used the term 'liberal infallibility' to describe how critics of conservative positions, by her accounts, always seem to be represented by someone who has suffered a personal loss--Cindy Sheehan, Christopher Reeve, and the previously mentioned widows. Such a highly sympathetic spokesperson supposedly boosts public sympathy for their causes and restricts the ability to make opposing counterclaims. Although vilified by many mainstream media outlets for making such public statements, she has yet to apologize for making them and has subsequently referred to them in her writings as 'harpies' and 'the witches of New Brunswick'.

Attacking the 'Jersey Girls' on the June 6, 2006 Today Show

Ms. Coulter, equally disparaged by her detractors as 'the wicked witch of the Right' or 'the high priestess of archconservatism', has been the subject of recent revelations about her professional and personal life. "Godless" has been roundly criticized by several medial outlets for issues concerning irregularities in her citing of factual sources (similar claims have also been made about plagiarism in her newspaper columns--all were dismissed by her syndicater). She is currently embroiled in a voting controversy in her home state of Florida (cast her ballot in the wrong precinct in February 2006) and has retained the services of one of attorneys who assisted George W. Bush's position during that state's 2000 election snafu.

Keith Olbermann's 'Coulter-geist' graphic--she's a frequent 'winner'

In today's world of political pundit 'pugilism' (akin to participants of World Wrestling Entertainment), Ann is the equivalent of Stephanie McMahon--merely 'window dressing' that has to slug it out from time to time in her respective 'ring' but aren't really taken seriously by the 'powers-that-be' (Vince McMahon or the other male stars for WWE, everyone except Fox News--and MSNBC's Chris Matthews-- for Ms. Coulter). Although highly educated (graduate of Cornell and University of Michigan's law school), she often comes across as shrill and shallow and gets easily confused when she is steered away from her prepared talking points. On a recent FNC broadcast, she stated that the situation in Afghanistan was going 'swimmingly' and proceeds to walk off the set when her erroneous claim was countered by her liberal 'sparring partners' (she can be heard to be asking co-host Sean Hannity for 'help' but he wisely left her to fend for herself or, in this case, flee).

"Sean, help me--Sean, where are you?"

As an individual, Ann Coulter is (like the rest of us) rather insignificant in the cosmic order; however, the corrosive vitriol she regularly spews out to a willing audience further destroys any semblance of political discourse in our country today. She debuted as a public figure during the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit against President Clinton and is credited for talking Ms. Jones into rejecting a settlement with apology in order to hold Clinton publicly accountable for his actions (she still holds our 42nd president in very low esteem to the present day--referring to him as a 'rapist' in a rebuttal to Hillary Clinton's demand for a public apology to the 9/11 widows). A self-described 'polemicist', her first column after the 9/11 attacks advocated a 21st century resumption of the Crusades via WWII-esque 'carpet bombing' of all suspected Muslim countries--terrorists and civilians alike. Other personal desires include the death of Supreme Court justice Paul Stevens by 'rat poison', an Oklahoma City-like bombing of the New York Times headquarters building, and the execution of American Taliban supporter John Walker Lindh in order to intimidate US liberals not to become 'traitors'.

Quote from her September 12, 2001 column--medieval thinking, indeed!

All of these (and many other similar remarks) have been explained away by her supporters and sponsors during her career by them saying that she is a 'satirist' or displays 'great humor' in her remarks--funny, I don't remember Will Rogers or Mark Twain using such bombastic language to comment on the issues of their respective times! IMHO, Ann gets away with it simply because she is 'window dressing'--blonde, short skirted, attractive (although I do not get a rise out of her at all!)--and while she has verbally assaulted wide swaths of the American population, she has never physically acted upon her own toxic screed. As a US citizen, she is protected by the First Amendment and it would take a court of law to determine if she has crossed the legal line of free speech--as a lawyer, I'm assuming she's fully aware of where that lies.

I will predict that Ms. Coulter will linger in the public eye as long as her audiences continue to desire her unique brand of 'entertainment'. The law of the marketplace will eventually catch up with her (consumers eventually tire of their products and she will have to either rebrand it or take it off of the shelf). Time also has a way of removing 'blights' from our society and I feel it will affect her especially hard (the aging process will eliminate any 'eye candy' benefits she might currently have; the centric nature of politics diminishes the staying power of anyone straying too far away from the middle; she's burned way too many bridges and will have a limited number of public career options available to her).

"The Surreal Life"...could this be in Ann Coulter's future?

What's my advice? As unpleasant as it may sound, just suck it up and let her enjoy her '15 minutes'. Correct and refute her obvious factual and logical errors to as many people as possible and let her wander about the country looking for her dwindling tribes of sycophants to schmooze up to. The sad truth is that people will pay their hard-earned money to see their 'Amerikan idol.' Hopefully she invests her income wisely so we won't have to see her like other 'has-beens' doing reality television in 5 to 10 years time--do you REALLY want to watch her having to share a bathroom with Tara Reid on 'The Surreal Life--Season 12"?

Air America Radio in Dayton--Just A Pipe Dream?

2006-09-05T21:33:00.000-04:00

One of the things that bothers me the most about living in the Dayton area is the limited access to progressive or liberal media outlets. While the DDN tries its best to straddle the ideological divide between the region's conservatives majority and the rest of us, it is a very lonely outpost for obtaining opposing views available through traditional local sources (radio, television, print media).

Flashback warning...personal background info provided for context follows. The above thread continues later down the column.

As someone who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, I was definitely a 'TV child'. As long as I can remember, we had a television firmly planted into the center of our living room. In fact, we were one of the first families in our old neighborhood to own a console color set (back when Sylvania still made televisions)--with a whopping 25" diagonal screen! Our hometown was one of the first in the nation to be wired for cable and we were fortunate to get several stations from the New York City and Philadelphia markets in addition to our local network affiliates and the fledgling public service station. I personally witnessed history as it was happening when Neil Armstrong took his grainy 'giant leap' in July 1969. I saw a president resign from office in August 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run in April 1975 and complained when a special report on the Camp David Peace Accords interrupted the world premiere of (the original) 'Battlestar Galactica' in September 1978.

While TV played a significant role in my upbringing, it was radio that truly piqued my interest. I received my first transistor radio when I was 7 years old and frequently had to have the batteries replaced by my mom or dad because of its constant use. I advanced to a clock radio a few years later and was also smitten by my grandfather's multi-band set that picked up police calls. I began to monitor broadcast signals to find out about them and determine just how far away they were (known as 'DXing' to radio buffs) and quickly cataloged many of the higher powered AM radio stations in the eastern half of the US and Canada.

Not satisfied with these 'local' offerings, I progressed to listening to shortwave stations that directed their programming out to an international audience and English language transmissions to specific target audiences. This was the mid 1970s and Cold War propaganda was going strong in the battle for 'hearts and minds' around the globe. All of the major players were present: the US (Voice of America, American Forces Radio for our widely deployed military members), the USSR (Radio Moscow), Great Britain (BBC World Service), Red China (Radio Peking) and various stations from the Warsaw Pact and other satellite nations (Radio Havana Cuba, Radio Prague). Listeners were asked to write to the stations to report their reception strength and quality and were rewarded with QSL cards and other assorted goodies for their information (I received numerous souvenirs like calendars and pennants--I even received a vinyl recording of several communist anthems that I still have today). This hobby helped steer my interests upon entering the military and vectored me towards a lengthy career in the intelligence services (although I thought that my many 'red' gifts might preclude my obtaining the necessary clearances for such a line of work).

End of flashback...continuing with the present...

Now that you have a better understanding this unique dimension of my personality, one can see that radio has been an important part of my life and a crucial element in how I observe my surroundings and get a 'feel' for where I currently live or where I might temporarily be. When I travel around the country by car, it's perfectly normal for me to scan the bands and see what my current location has to offer. During these surveys, I specifically look for the AM talk radio stations--at one time the exclusive domain of the right wing due to Reagan's rescinding of the FCC's 'fairness doctrine' in 1987. From this abandonment of balanced coverage of issues and equal opportunity for rebuttal, the likes of Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy, Michael Reagan and a myriad of others set up shop to 'parrot' their highly conservative (and oftentimes evangelical-tinged) agendas to a wide listening audience.

It wasn't until 2004 and the creation of Air America Radio that liberals and progressives started to seriously venture into this arena. AAR was to serve as an alternative source of news and talk for an audience that did not subscribe to the existing views espoused by that medium's entrenched incumbents. Although this initiative did cause somewhat of a stir in the months following its inaugural broadcast on March 31st, this level of interest was seen as being directly related to that year's divisive presidential election campaign. As the months went by, more stations were added to their 'network' (currently have 87 terrestrial stations and one channel on XM satellite radio) but ratings have steadily floundered (averaging a 1.2 share nationwide throughout most of their 29-month existence).

Ohioans fed up with the ideological 'wasteland' AM radio has become had reasons to celebrate in 2005. That year saw AM stations in Cincinnati (WCKY), Akron (WARF) and Columbus (WTPG) becoming AAR affiliates in a state considered crucial in current and future US politics. Unfortunately, Dayton was overlooked and listeners in this area would have to try to tune in to WCKY or WTPG over the AM airwaves (the Akron station is too far and too weak to hear locally) or continue their internet streaming or satellite reception to get their AAR 'fix'. Although both stations are nearly equidistant from the greater Dayton area, WTPG's low signal power (1,000 watts) is dwarfed by the 50,000 watt transmissions from the Cincinnati station. While it didn't 'boom' in like our local AM stations, I was able to listen in most of the day and early into the night before they reconfigured to a directional antenna pattern for operating during hours of darkness. My morning and evening commutes could now be used for becoming better informed instead of simply being 'entertained' by the likes of Bob & Tom or other local 'wannabes' in our local radio market.

Sadly, this acceptable arrangement was impacted by the invisible hand of capitalism. In July 2006, WCKY swapped formats with sister station WSAI (supposedly because of low ratings) and now AAR programming is relegated to a 5,000 watt platform. While this new outlet is still more powerful than its sister affiliate in Columbus, it no longer broadcasts on a 'clear channel' and routinely experiences interference with 65 comparably strong stations that share that frequency in the US and Canada (compared to their former 50,000 watt signal looming over 33 other lower powered transmitters). Now, many morning and evening drives have me trying to 'dig out' AAR programming from among the clutter and spurious noises that routinely plague the AM radio spectrum.

The maps are provided below to tangibly illustrate this degradation of coverage. Many factors affect reception of AM radio programming (weather, time of day, sunspots, etc.) but the primary one when considering signal quality is effective radiating power (ERP) and this level-of-magnitude reduction greatly impacts listeners outside of the station's local listening market.

WSAI/1360kHz (left) vs WCKY/1530kHz (right) -- daytime coverage maps

WSAI/1360kHz (left) vs WCKY/1530kHz (right) -- nighttime coverage maps

According to radio-locator.com, there are 34 stations in 'close listening range' (between 8 and 60 miles) of Fairborn--21 are FM stations and 13 reside in the AM band. Five of the AM selection are classified as adhering to a 'talk' or 'news' format and three of those are affiliated with the Fox News Radio network (the other two prominently feature right-wing programming). If we include 'fringe' coverage (within a 170-mile radius), the number jumps to 101 ( 55 FM/46 AM) with 20 of these classified as 'news/talk'. Other than Cincinnati's WDBZ (urban-centric) and two of the three previously mentioned AAR affiliates (WARF is apparently too weak to ever be heard in the Dayton area), all of the others either feature pro-conservative programming or do not provide enough information via the web to label them properly. Conservative counter that NPR-affiliated stations carry programming aimed at a more liberal or progressive audience but this solitary station (WYSO) does not feature the kind of material heard on AAR or its conservative competitors.

After analyzing this environment, what are our available options for AAR programming in Dayton?

- The local radio spectrum is almost completely filled (regulated tightly by the FCC to eliminate interference between broadcasters) and the cost of starting up a new station can be financially prohibitive (starts at the seven-figure mark for commercial operations). If you catalog Dayton's AM market, you'll see plenty of the tried-and-true formats (the five [!!!] 'news/talkers' are joined by three separate, two religious broadcasters, and one each of country, oldies, and urban contemporary).

- Dayton listeners could petition Clear Channel Communications, the owners of WSAI and WCKY, to ask them to reverse their July decision and have AAR programming returned to their more powerful outlet. Radio waves do not stop at the boundaries of cities, counties, or states, and while we might not be in their intended market, those transmissions--most noticably from the 50,000 watt outlet, do enter our homes and our lives on a 24/7 basis. I wonder if this scenario was factored in to their ratings-driven decision. WLW, another 50,000 watt member of Clear Channel's Cincinnati news/talk stations, has a large following north of the city (and around the country) and I would bet that any changes to their format or programming would be done only after polling their entire audience--not just the ones who live inside of Interstate 275.

- Advances in technology, specifically HD radio, would allow for more stations to operate within the current AM and FM frequency allocations (extra channels could become available for leasing to out-of-area broadcasters like AAR) but this is not expected to become widespread for several more years and requires modifying existing receivers or purchasing new ones capable of processing the digital signals.

- Currently, satellite radio is our most reliable and flexible solution (can be listened to in the home, the car, as well as on the go) but competing companies (XM and Sirius--the 21st century's continuation of the "VHS vs Betamax" debate) and exclusive contracts to highly desired networks can 'shut out' listeners from their desired programming (AAR was originally broadcast on both satellite providers but signed a long-term contract with XM in early 2005 to have their programming exclusively available via their subscriber service).

- Broadband and wireless technologies extend the range and utility of today's computers as well as the opportunities to listen to streaming audio broadcasts provided by AAR directly or through one of its affiliates (sadly, this has been my primary method of enjoying their programming). Problems with AAR's server occasionally happen due to the amount of listeners trying to access the streaming site simultaneously exceeding the capacity of their hardware.

- Finally, Air America Radio now offers a premium service that allows its paying subscribers to download audio files that can transferred to portable music players for later 'podcasting' at the listener's convenience.

The common thread of all the above options is money. Money is required to purchase the hardware items (receivers, computers, routers, antennas and wireless capability). Money would be needed for entry into the local market (construction of new station or purchase of existing one to change its format, leasing of spare HD frequencies of local broadcasters). Money has already influenced the public's opinion of AAR (financial difficulties when it started up, poor Arbitron ratings influencing advertising rates to potential customers) and these facts have been 'red meat' to the conservative talking heads who have predicted AAR's demise from its first day on the air. Money would also have to flow from the pockets of the liberal and progressive listening audience to the businesses that choose to advertise on a potential local affiliate.

Sadly, in today's local economy, money is not easy to come by, especially for those who are truly at the core of the progressive movement--George Soros notwithstanding. Unless some local media-savvy individual can be persuaded to see our community's need for this type of programming--as well as a potential payoff for him and any investors, Mr. Soros' philanthropy might be our only hope to bring AAR to Dayton's airwaves.

'Labor' Day?

2006-09-04T15:37:00.000-04:00

As I sit at home today and enjoy a federally-mandated break from the daily grind, I wonder if my conservative friends and coworkers understand just how endangered organized labor is in this country.

In Sunday's and today's editions of the DDN, the paper ran several stories highlighting how 'Joe Sixpack' is not sharing in the rewards of our currently 'healthy' economy like his neighbor 'Calvin Caviar' seems to be. Jim DeBrosse provides non-partisan objective data to bolster his claim that wages are not reflecting the growth witnessed in the 1990s (take-home pay experienced similar stagnation for the 20 years previous), despite increases in worker productivity and a 50 percent rise in corporate profits over the past three years. Today's op/ed pages debate this same issue, with the staff providing an opposing view (an editorial from the Investor's Business Daily) citing evidence that workers are in fact receiving far more in total compensation than they have in earlier years. Above the section was a cartoon done by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's R.J. Matson (titled "Left Behind a Rising Tide") which (IHMO) displayed the sentiments of the 'non-levitated' so succinctly.

As their publication implies, Investor's Business Daily looks at this issue from the perspective of the 'elevated'. That publication cites an overall increase of 13.1 percent in tax-free benefits to employees since 2000 and an 8.7 percent gain in total compensation since 2003. While these statistics might be correct, they could be rendered null and void in the psyches of the average employee who sees more and more of his discretionary income going towards fueling his/her vehicles, co-payments and premiums for health care (if they can afford these policies in the first place), and rising tuition costs to educate his/her children to hopefully replace them some day in the American workforce (and help fund their post-retirement incomes--if Social Security still exists in the future).

If I can evoke the rallying cry of John Gibson's and Bill O'Reilly's recent 'War on Christmas' campaigns, I would like to ask you the following question: what did you do today to keep 'labor' in Labor Day? Was it just a day off from work spent at the mall? Did you attend a public event (such as Kettering's Holiday at Home Festival-an end-of-summer gathering) that has no connection to the local or national labor movements other than volunteers manning fund-raising food booths? Or did you participate in a labor-centric celebration (I know...they are few and far between these days)? Did you know that Labor Day was first celebrated in New York City in 1882 (coincidently the birth year of FDR who later nationally instituted the guidelines of a 40-hour workweek and a minimum wage)? Do you know who Samuel Gompers was and what his role in the formation of today's labor movement? Were you aware that the rest of the world celebrates labor on May Day (May 1st of each year) to commemorate a riot that occurred in Chicago in 1886?

It appears that the White House also doesn't 'get' the significance of the holiday. If you read this year's Labor Day presidential message, you will see that any reference to organized labor is conspicuously absent in order to placate the egos of the new 'captains' of industry and their shareholder sycophants. Little do they realize that their successes are built on the backs of the hourly laborers who long ago began a fight for the benefits most of take for granted--and for a growing number of our fellow citizens, will eventually lose.

Labor Day is a day of remembrance and reflection for me. My siblings and I grew up in a home that directly benefited from the labor movement. My dad was a linotype ('hot type') typesetter for two major daily papers (to include the now-defunct Philadelphia Bulletin) before we moved back to northeastern Pennsylvania in 1966. I was the oldest of five children that were being raised in a traditional middle-class way in the late 1960s and early 1970s. My two brothers and I were privileged enough to attend Catholic school run by our local church. Although neither of them was new, we were a 'two-car' household. We had a family get-away every year (a full-blown vacation or just a long day at one of the local amusement parks). My father's single paycheck was enough to put food on the table, clothes on our backs, and still have enough left over to enjoy the niceties of life.

A 'stock' photo of a linotype machine and typesetter, circa 1960s

We hit a rough financial patch after we were flooded out of our house during Hurricane Agnes in 1972 and my dad entered a debt cycle that he couldn't recover from. In October 1978, his union (International Typographical Union) and three others from their local newspaper guild went on strike against their new union-busting Wall Street-centric mangers (Capital Cities Communications) and formed their own newspaper, the Citizen's Voice (now the oldest US paper formed by striking workers--coincidently in the smallest market that still publishes two daily papers in this country) to compete against the Times-Leader. The switch from a corporate operation to a worker-run enterprise took a financial toll upon everyone in the guild, to include the family members. Already experiencing a shaky marriage, the stress of these life-altering events (my dad was his local's president) led to a physical separation of my parents that lasted until he passed away just 13 short years later.

So, as this day draws to the close, I return to my original inquiry--what do my conservative associates do or think about on Labor Day if it's not labor? My guess is scheming to name something else after or create a new national holiday for their labor 'icon' Ronald Reagan.

As president of the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan was recognized as being notoriously pro-management and he greatly weakened that union bargaining power before being pressured to resign before the expiration of his term. In 1981, he began an 8-year quest to single-handedly rescind any federal concessions given to organized labor since the passage of the 'New Deal'. The recent plane crash in Lexington can be directly attributed to his disbanding of PATCO back in 1981 and the weakening of the controllers' position in establishing wage scales and working conditions in FAA facilities (Lexington tower only had one of its two authorized controllers on duty when the Comair flight crashed eight days ago).

Some on AM progressive talk radio believe that these functions will be eventually outsourced to distant locations (perhaps India?) in future budget-cutting moves to minimize costs and maximize the dividends of the airlines' shareholders--all to the potential detriment to passenger safety. Now THAT would be a legacy to be proud of; however, I doubt such facts will dampen their zeal in beatifying 'the Gipper' to sainthood within the 'church' of American conservatism.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry to be so cynical (or borderline disrespectful)...when I see how the greed of others potentially led to events that directly impacted me or the lives of my siblings or children, I tend to lose my objective perspective.

4-Day Weekend

2006-09-02T21:42:00.000-04:00

I decided to take a day off on Friday to give myself a 4-day span of staying away from my office. It's not that I don't like my 'home away from home' (just moved to an office along the outside wall of our building--now I have a window!). It's just that I have procrastinated on several projects at the homestead and I need to complete or at least claw a little closer than I am now.

The most pressing of these is clearing out our two-car garage that we currently have to park both of our cars outside of out on the driveway. Since we have a small house, we must rely upon that area to store our "want to keep but can't find room for it" items or out-of-season clothing that is rotated every six months. At its best, the garage has only been able to yield enough space to park one car during our ownership. Since mine is newer, I've had the privlege of parking inside ever since I purchased it a little over two years ago. For the past few months, however, both vehicles have been exiled to the driveway because of a long-standing effort to finally go through all of our collected worldly possessions and determine which ones will be kept and which others will be thrown away/recycled/donated. This initiative started with earnest but has waned somewhat due to the summer heat. With the recent break in temperatures, I feel it is now time to complete this task (or at least clear off the parking 'half') to allow me to bring my car back inside and avoid the pending weather-induced tasks of scraping off the windshield or brushing off snowfall accumulations. Two trips to the local donation center have returned approximately half of that desired space to us but there is a lot more work ahead.

After one of my deliveries, I stopped in on base to check out the latest offerings at the base exchange (known as the BX in the heavily acronymized military). As a military retiree, I am still able to shop at this and other facilities normally the exclusive domain of the active-duty community and their family members; however, I rarely do. I'm not sure if it's because of the inconvenience (entry to the installation can be time-consuming, especially during exercises or contingencies) or the realization that I can now afford to shop out 'on the economy' (monthly retirement pension supplements my current bi-weekly paychecks) and don't need the base's economic assistance (no sales tax, subsidized pricing) anymore.

Another subtle reason might be that I don't want to delve into its partisan political atmosphere that permeates it and other military faclities these days. I guess it isn't a modern phenomenon (I do remember the Lee Greenwood, chest-thumping bravado during the Reagan years) but it has become much more obvious since the 2000 election and has mestastitized itself due to our nation's transition to a 'post 9/11' world. Prior to 1998, I kept my political views to myself (in accordance with regulations that still exist today). I was stationed in Washington, DC during the Clinton impeachment and it served as the 'topic du jour' for many water cooler bull sessions. My uniformed coworkers were simply unable to see past their own take on him and his policies to recognize that his 'transgressions' were purely of a personal and political nature. Clinton had issues with the military throughout his entire presidency (he introduced his 'don't ask, don't tell' plan shortly after taking office) and the impeachment was a befitting end many of my uniformed compatriots wanted to see for their commander-in-chief. This hatred ran so deep that several acquaintences of mine (to include a very high-ranking officer) refused to accept a presidential certificate of appreciation solely because it was signed by Clinton. They chose to wait until the new version with our current president's signature was issued before making their official requests--even though they retired prior to Bush being sworn in as president. When I retired in 2004, I held no such notions of waiting until after fall election to ask for one with (hopefully) Kerry's signature. I accepted my tangible token of appreciation from my Constitutionally mandated commander-in-chief, as I routinely remind the others, "like a man."

When you walk into the BX, the first thing you notice is the sound of the Fox News Channel. In these days of cheap televisions, you can hardly avoid their glow in many public facilities (airports, restaurants, even bathrooms) and the exchange is no different. Just like the White House's own policy, sets near the main checkout counters make it almost impossible to ignore the blather and bias of their selected station. It gets worse when you walk back to the electronics department and are faced with a 'wall' of Shepard Smiths or Brit Humes parroting the administration's positive spin on its latest embarassment or failure. Luckily, the store closes at 9PM or else I might fall under the hypnotic spell of a dozen or so Sean Hannitys tearing down the remaining shreds of my own reality to replace it with his own.

I do have to say that the atmosphere has changed somewhat since our global 'war' on terror started. I was assigned to a somewhat-remote overseas base shortly after the 9/11 attacks (I was on a plane flying to that location when the towers were struck and was forced into a 3-day unplanned delay while we waited for our flight to be allowed to continue on to its intended destinations). With that installation's exchange the most convenient location to purchase goods (buying on the local economy was somewhat expensive and a language challenge), residents of that base were at the mercy of the military's stateside purchasing corporation and the added issues with shipping goods halfway across the globe. We never went without the necessities but selection was somewhat limited. This was especially true in two distinct entertainment mainstays: books and movies.

The exchange's book store carried a wide variety of stateside and local offerings; however, almost all the non-periodical offerings seemed to be 'slanted' towards a pro-administration, Christian customer base. Items in the 'newly arrived' and 'most popular' displays mirrored its already large 'spirituality' section. It was a rare find to see Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men" or Al Franken's "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" among the many copies of Ann Coulter's "Slander" and "Treason" or Sean Hannity's "Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism" available for purchase. Luckily for me, the Internet and online booksellers allowed me to avoid the exchange's censorship panel and obtain offerings counter to the prevailing political dogma.

Movies on similar subjects, either for purchase or for mass viewing, didn't fair much better. When "Bowling for Columbine" was released on DVD in the summer of 2003, copies of this Academy Award-winning documentary never appeared on our local retail shelves nor did it run in our local movie theater (neither did 'Fahrenheit 9/11' the following year but I had already departed for Ohio). Contrast that to Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." The film opened on Ash Wednesday 2004 stateside and was shown on our base on Easter weekend--that's less than a 6-week delay! In AAFES' defense, other less-controvertial 'blockbusters' ("Star Wars Episode II", "Spiderman II") also experienced 'Passion-like' speed to the entertainment-starved 'hinterlands' but their wholesale refusal not to show this commercially successful movie in overseas' theaters during the run-up to the 2004 presidential election could be seen as informal partisanship or blatant censorship.

Back to the present...when I visited the local BX this weekend, I perused through the books and magazines area. While still heavily populated with family-oriented, religious or pro-military items, I did happen to see a few books that caught my eye. One was James Risen's current bestseller "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration". This author, the NY Times reporter that broke the recent stories on NSA communications eavesdropping and monitoring of terrorist-linked finances, would expect to have his head mounted on a pike outside any military installation, now has his book displayed alongside the 'usual suspects' of Bill O'Reilly, Bill Bennett and other right-wing pundits. Another book was Chalmers Johnson's "The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic." I had recently seen him in the documentary "Why We Fight" (which was also available in the DVD section) and decided to purchase his softcover edition for my library.

The real tangible sign of 'conservative hangover' was seen in the September 4th edition of Air Force Times, a unofficial commercial trade weekly available for anyone willing to pay $2.75 to get a slightly unvarnished look at today's USAF. I used to subscribe to it when I was in uniform but let it lapse in retirement. Many of my then-contemporaries despised this paper for providing a forum for 'disgruntled troops' to vent about their superiors or policies or for simply exposing the Air Force as an imperfect organization (a variety of Public Affaris-approved choices are circulated throughout the force). One area of that periodical that has usually held staunchly against dissenting views has been their opinion columnist pages. I must say I was rather impressed that this week's issue featured a commentary by the president and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (his column "Christianity in Combat" is available via this link). The other columnist, Robert F. Dorr, provides his take on the apparent 'mission creep' of our current vice-president into the military chain of command (as his column stated, there is no 'vice commander-in-chief' as one AF unit so proudly displayed in their headquarters until corrected--the Constitution draws the line of command directly from the president to the Secretary of Defense). He also highlights a very telling fact about Mr. Cheney's involvement in the government by stating that he has 15 military and national security advisers on his staff--his predecessor, Al Gore, had only one!

Although such facts have been available to those of us who choose to look for them, the matter of publishing such dissenting views/opinions for ready consumption by a wide military audience (the Christianity column was also printed in this week's Navy Times and Army Times) is a remarkable departure from repeating the latest offerings from Bush-Iraq 'echo chamber' and could be seen as a sign that our uniformed citizens (and voters) are losing faith in the 'democracy experiment' that their leaders and commanders are risking their lives for.

Stuck in a Rut

2006-08-30T22:17:00.000-04:00

After my 'breakthrough' posting this past Sunday night--the first entry for almost five weeks, it appeared that I had returned from my blogging 'slumber' and was ready to get back into the daily saddle again. Alas, it was not to be...

Monday is the traditional 'back to work' day for most of us working stiffs and I had the added chore of doing the weekly grocery shopping after leaving the office. After catching the 'nouvelles de soirée' from Bob Scheiffer and the lead non-story about the legal circus out in Boulder, Colorado, I went into mental shutdown during dinner with a double dose of syndicated comedy ('The Simpsons' followed by 'Seinfeld') on our local Fox affiliate. At 8PM, the channel changed to MSNBC but Keith Olbermann was traveling and a sub was hosting so I flipped through Time Warner Cable's other offerings in our bedroom. When I came across the Weather Channel, I noticed that we were receiving severe weather warning notices that would not expire until after midnight so the computer was turned off...without me posting a blog entry.

Last night, I decided to watch a movie that I received in the mail on Monday from Blockbuster Online. "V for Vendetta" received a lot of buzz via television and internet advertising as well as theatrical reviews when it opened last spring. Some of that hoopla centered around Natalie Portman ('Evey') having her long locks of hair shorn down to their nubs (I won't go into the innuendo or discussion that this unorthodox action stirred up on some of the discussion sites I visited). The setting for the movie is Great Britain (at least I think it was still called that) in the not-too-near future (believe about 30 years from now) and they are under totalitarian rule after several biological attacks by supposed religious extremists scared the public to back such a government.

Since I never read the comic book series of the same name by Alan Moore, the film version was not tainted by any preconceived notions or expectations. Plenty of readers have vilified the Wachowski brothers (of "The Matrix" franchise) for transforming the original story from a commentary about Margaret Thatcher's governments (Britain's prime minister from 1979 to late 1990) into a Bush-era 'parable', complete with secure underground locations and the main character now posing as a freedom fighter instead of an anarchist. No matter the controversy, I found the movie to be very entertaining and, as the Brits would say, 'spot on' in its criticism of the current American state of affairs.

One of the rewards I get from watching movies that are set in locations where I used to live is that seeing famous landmarks on the screen (the Parliament building played a major role at the end of the film) triggers personal memories of me or my family visiting them. I was fortunate enough to tour through the various halls of the British legislature and we actually got to go inside the House of Commons (they weren't in session so we were able to sit in the seats and pretend we were 'backbenchers'). Normally, you are only allowed to 'peek' inside or step up to (but not cross) the 'blood line' (a red strip of carpet that harkens back to the days when swords were commonplace) that circles the room. Now that sessions of Parliament are televised live (like our own Congressional sessions are broadcast on the C-SPAN networks), the anticipation of peering into a veiled-off part of democracy (and our own past) has subsided.

The other odd recollection was the movie's focus on Guy Fawkes and the famous 'Gunpowder Plot' to blow up Parliament back in 1605 (the movie was supposed to open on the 400th anniversary of that event--November 5th, 2005--but it was inexplicably moved back to the following April). Both times when we were stationed in the UK, my wife and I lived on a military installation and did not get to truly experience English life like the Brits did. We did our share of traveling and going off of the base, but we didn't get that sense of communion with our temporary hosts as someone who lived next door or had over for meals. However, I do remember one year where I noticed fireworks in the distance on a cold November evening. Being a typical 'yank', I thought that Americans were the only ones that used such pyrotechnic displays to commemorate important occasions (like the 4th of July--which in itself is a weird thing to experience when you are physically standing in the country that we broke away from). At work the following day, I asked around my duty section about what I saw the previous night and was then first told about one of history's most famous anarchist/terrorists.

The film uses the lines from a popular British childrens' rhyme that perpetrates the event:

Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot;
I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

So that's where my Tuesday went...well worth it...

What about tonight? More errands after work (our son turns 16 tomorrow and we normally wait until the last minute to plan for such occasions) and a quick run out to the local Taco Bell to pick up some dinner drained any surplus creative energy I might've stored up for blogging. I did catch MSNBC's 'Countdown' broadcast and Keith Olbermann's on-air skewering of Donald Rumsfeld's remarks at the American Legion convention this past Monday (tonight was his first night back from a long weekend away). During that speech, the Secretary of Defense evoked mental imagery and drew deliberate analogies between today's dissenters of the White House's Iraq war strategy and the Chamberlain government of 1930s Britain (the main proponents of 'appeasing' Hitler during his early annexations of his neighboring countries). Olbermann took those comparisons one step further and equated the Bush Administration to those same British politicians in terms of ignoring intelligence and being the only true arbiter of 'truth' in today's political landscape. The video is already posted online and I'm sure it will evoke a 'digital tsunami' of commentary, both pro and con, before it fades to the backburner when another 'crisis' or sensational story grabs the nation's short attention spans.

Listening to such political rhetoric reminds me of Godwin's Law, which states the following:

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

I believe this axiom could be rewritten to fit the 2006 political landscape:

As a politician's platform precipitiously falls out of popular favor and the potential for defeat increases, the probabability of comparing his/her opponent to Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

They (the Nazis or their infamous leader) are the last remaining 'politically correct' group that can be attacked without fear of retribution in this country (homosexuals are just now being allowed to depart that exclusive 'club'--to the detriment of the religious right). However, when you throw out that remaining 'trump card', you are in essence telling your opponent one of two things: a) that you possess no other rational or relative facts for use in defending your own perspective; or b) you are old enough to remember the Nazis and their effects upon your own life or the world at that time.

The '4th Reich' is not the exclusive property of either of America's major political parties. West Virginia Democratic senator Robert Byrd mentioned the Nazis in a floor speech defending an attempt by Republican senators to limit speeches on judicial nominees as part of their proposed 'nuclear option' threat during the recent Supreme Court nominee deliberations. Byrd referred to his GOP colleagues as the 'tyrannical majority' and revived the imagery of Hitler and Mussolini for consumption by the media. In his case (he's 89 years old), he easily meets the b) criteria stated above and, in my opinion, did not trespass into 'desperation' territory. In comparison, Rumsfeld used his epithets as a 'boogie man' to plant the seed of fear into those already in the White House's fold as well as others who may still be undecided on their policies or are starting to lose faith. While Rumsfeld may barely qualify for the latter above, the rhetoric he spewed easily exemplifies a) and the dearth of solutions from the Bush Administration on Iraq and other pressing national issues.

Wow...it's now Thursday (12:25AM)...Wednesday's gone...with a birthday tomorrow, I'm guessing it'll be Friday before I get another chance to put thoughts to keyboard...

Has it REALLY Been Almost Five Weeks?!?

2006-08-27T21:10:00.000-04:00

As I've said in a previous posting, I really underestimated the sheer amount of time involved with providing daily inputs to an online blog. My last entry took me a week to put my thoughts into words and that effort has to come out of the 24 hours I'm alloted each day. With my other responsibilities weighing on me, I must choose between what will be accomplished and what will wait until the next day. Needless to say, blogging has not been near the top of my to-do list...until this evening.

What has rustled me out of my 'slumber'? A lot has happened locally and in the world in the 34 days since I've logged in. Our family took a long-deserved vacation down to San Antonio and Houston during a 2-week sabbatical from my job. We used to live in the 'Alamo City' during a military assignment in the late '80s and early '90s (our oldest child was born there). We got the chance to have dinner with our former neighbors (they have two children of their own) and the years seemed to melt away during our shared time at the restaurant.

After we returned, I attended a work golf outing at a local country club. Since these events usually start early in the morning, I had to get up at 5:45AM for a 7:00AM departure. When I turned on the television, the first thing my foggy mind noticed was that I was seeing a British news channel on my set (we used to live in the UK and I am familiar with their screen logo) in place of MSNBC. As the fog of slumber started to lift from me, I started to comprehend something 'big' was happening. Video of passengers standing outside of Heathrow Airport was being shown and the superimposed text indicated something to do with a terrorist attack either happened or was pre-empted. At 6AM, the US news channels started to do their own coverage of the events out of Great Britain. I had to peel myself away from the screen in order to shower and leave for the course so I had a long 'blackout' period where I was 'stuck' with the then-current information until I could get to a radio, television or computer several hours later.

As it turned out, the alleged terrorists were nowhere near carrying out their intended actions (no passports or tickets) but the U.S. told the Brits to round them up as soon as possible (Scotland Yard wanted to continue their surveillance to determine if there were more individuals involved than those already identified). As more information was trickled to the media, some news outlets openly wonder if this is another attempt by the Bush administration to push bad or embarassing news off the front page of the nation's newspapers (the recent defeat of Iraq War supporter Joe Lieberman to an anti-war challenger in the Connecticut Democratic senate primary) by superseding it with another 'victory' in the on-going global war on terror. As the host stated, their listing of terror warnings could also coincide with the opening of major chain stores (more on that below); however, the sheer number of coincidences is startling to anyone who chooses to accept the notion that elected officials might choose to put their political needs before the safety of their constituents.

The Greene Town Center finally opened to the public this past Thursday after resolving a lengthy dispute over tax incentives with the Beavercreek School District. Located approximately halfway between two existing malls along Interstate 675 on the outskirts of Dayton, this venture hopes to increase our retail appeal to those outside of the local area and bring commercial prosperity (jobs, money) to the region to reverse recent economic downtrends. Detractors believe this new shopping facility will only attract customers from the older malls and hasten Dayton's already steady demise to its surrounding suburbs. We haven't ventured over there yet but it does look nice (at least from the photographs we've seen in the DDN--which has been non-stop 'Greene' since the cover story in last Sunday's edition). In fact, the coverage has been so over-the-top that today's op/ed page had a special section specifically addressing readers' comments about the fervor of the paper's advocacy for this new shopping center.

On Friday night, I participated in my first fantasy football (FFB) draft. As a person who normally follows the sports pages, channels and websites, I was totally unprepared for the depth and breadth of statistics, ratings and opinions a FFBer must have access to in order to pretend to be an owner/general manager of a football team. We have 10 teams in our league split between two divisions. Each team drafted 18 'players' (some of your picks are entire defenses of current pro teams) and assigns their starters in preparation for our first week of the season (coincides with the NFL schedule). Since I'm a Philadelphia Eagle fan, most of my picks revolved around them (Donovan McNabb as one of my quarterbacks, kicker David Akers, and the entire defensive team). LaDainian Tomlinson was my first round pick (I had the #3 overall) since Larry Johnson and Shawn Alexander were already taken. I even worked out a draft night trade (got Adam Vinatieri for Shawn Graham--turns out that the other 'owner' lives in the same apartment building as the Bengal kicker). I don't know how the season will play out but I know I will have something to talk about around the office come Monday morning.

We are also in the mid throes of (hope Jon Stewart doesn't mind too much) 'Indecision 2006'. With the fate of the Congress (and Bush's second term--and perhaps his presidency if impeachment is in the cards) hanging in the balance, Ohio once again will be a major focal point in the national election process. Already, we have seen national 'heavyweights' in the state stumping for our statewide and Congressional candidates. John McCain was in Columbus last week with Mike DeWine dutifully in tow and he dropped a 'bomb' in terms of dissing the White House on their 'misunderestimations' about the Iraq War--never mind that McCain echoed those same sentiments in the immediate aftermath of the fall of the Hussein government in the spring of 2003.

We can expect plenty more from both parties (Hillary, Edwards, Giuliani, maybe even the president himself) in the coming weeks. The airwaves are already getting their fair share of 'mud' from the campaigns. The station I listen to at work has been targeted by the Blackwell for Governor campaign so I get to hear them try to 'out-value' an ordained minister at least three to four times a day (guessing the frequency will increase as November 7th aproaches). DeWine was already cited for 'doctoring' a photo of the Twin Towers (a cheesy graphic with fake smoke superimposed over a photo of the buildings prior to the attack) in an attempt to taint his opponent (Rep. Sherrod Brown- OH13) and his Congressional voting record on terrorism-related legislation. With so much as stake in both Columbus and DC, I'm guessing we've only scratched the surface of the all-out war that is surely to come.

I know I've probably missed some other things but those can be topics for another day...nice to be back!

George Will vs. the Neo-Cons

2006-07-24T23:48:00.000-04:00

*** This entry has been almost a week in the making. While it reflects my personal views, many of the major political bloggers and websites have also weighed in on this issue as the election draws nearer so my thoughts might sound similar to items already published. Ned Lamont has now pulled into a statistical ‘dead heat’ with the incumbent and former President Clinton stumped for Joe Lieberman today to support a long-time ally and friend. With only two weeks to go, it could be a ‘heckuva’ race…

In my Tuesday posting last week, I presented my thoughts about conservative columnists Jonah Goldberg and David Brooks and their recent editorials concerning Joe Lieberman’s difficulties in his current senate primary race against newcomer Ned Lamont. Although neither man is a liberal or a resident of Connecticut (both live either inside or near the DC ‘beltway’), they feel obliged to enlighten their readers about the ideological battles they perceive occurring inside today’s Democratic Party (Goldberg mentions several factions, including ‘the people” versus “the establishment”; Brooks uses the labels ‘fundamentalists’ and ‘quasi-independents’ fighting it out about how politics should be conducted).

To the GOP, this Connecticut primary is politically akin to a huge piñata—a big fragile target expected to break apart when repeatedly struck. We are now witnessing every rightwing columnist worth his/her muster coming forward to take their best swings (sans blindfold), crawl around on the floor, and collect their expected treats. One of those recent ‘swingers’ turns out to be George F. Will, columnist for both the Washington Post and Newsweek.

Like his two conservative compatriots, Will is another DC-tethered journalist that can be counted upon to uphold the finest traditions of that political philosophy. In a January 2001 editorial, he came to within a few choice words of calling the departing Democratic president a rapist and ended his column with the following:

Clinton is not the worst president the republic has had, but he is the worst person ever to have been president.

Will had already established his right-wing bona fides through his alleged assistance to Ronald Reagan when he prepared for his televised debate with Jimmy Carter in 1980—an ethical ‘no-no’ for supposedly neutral journalists (at least in the pre-Fox News days). He maintained his contacts with the GOP through their ‘revolutionary’ 1990s and has sustained his op/ed support to them and the conservative movement to the present day.

Will was one of the more vocal journalists advocating for the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. His support was so fever pitched that he was given the nickname ‘war pimp’ by Baltimore columnist William Hughes; however, in the months and years since President Bush’s declaration of ‘mission accomplished’, his declining support for this military occupation has been very noticeable to many—especially those on the right. In his most recent DDN column (July 18^th), he jabs at the administration’s current miscalculations in the Middle Eastern crisis and the ‘advice’ they are getting from their neo-conservative faithful:

The administration, justly criticized for its Iraq premises and their execution, is suddenly receiving some criticism so untethered from reality as to defy caricature. The national, ethnic and religious dynamics of the Middle East are opaque to most people, but to the Weekly Standard -- voice of a spectacularly misnamed radicalism, "neo-conservatism" -- everything is crystal clear: Iran is the key to everything.

(I believe that the term ‘crystal’ was chosen specifically as a direct jab aimed at the Weekly Standard’s editor--and co-founder of the Project for a New American Strategy movement--William Kristol--DDN Op/Ed Critic)

I believe the last sentence above holds the key to his growing discontent with the Bush White House. Mr. Will is a ‘dyed-in-the-wool’ traditional Reagan conservative, who believes in such things as limited government and fiduciary constraint with the taxpayers’ resources. The current administration is buoyed by a neo-conservatism credo—somewhat akin to their ‘paleo’ cousins but one that advocates a unilateral and moralist foreign agenda, focusing less on social conservative issues, and having a weaker dedication to minimalist government policies. In an interview with the Pittsburgh Gazette’s Bill Steigerwald, George gives the following description of individuals who follow that particular political persuasion (with my reddened text for emphasis):

Neoconservatives are persons who in domestic policy often were former Democrats who felt that conservatives had erred in not accepting the post-New Deal role of the central government. They were in their early incarnation focusing on domestic policy and were distinguishing themselves from Goldwater conservatives.

Also in domestic policies, however, as the '60s unfolded into the '70s and '80s, they led the critique of overreaching in domestic social engineering, saying that we accept the post-New Deal role of the central government, but the accumulated powers thereof are being wielded in a way too confident and optimistic and hubristic, if you will.

In foreign policy, and here's where it gets interesting, they have a more ambitious, more confident approach to the use of power than regular conservatives -- if you see the symmetry here? They say that America is a nation uniquely equipped as the sole remaining superpower to order the world and spread our values, etc., etc.

Very telling…he classifies ’neo-cons’ as NOT true conservatives but as former Democrats who wanted to keep some of their New Deal-based roots but also adopted the use of force (either in a coalition or unilaterally) to push American values to the rest of the world. In a question and answer session following his February 2006 keynote address to the Conservative Political Action Committee, Will went a bit further with a back-handed critique to his audience:

They have, in my judgment, an expansive and imprudent understanding of what the United States can do in projecting force and what follows force. The neo-conservatives, it seems to me, make one basic mistake—and these are wonderful people, public-spirited, American nationalists, the kind of people we want to work together with—but they don’t ask the question “But then what?”

Insights like these let observers see how a seemingly unified party can have vastly different political 'wings' and allows them to witness their internal 'marriages of convenience' struck for the sake of the GOP. Will’s discontent with the neo-conservative movement has been rising since the wheels began coming off of the administration’s rational for a preemptive invasion of Iraq (after WMDs were not found to be where officials believed them to be but before they were officially discredited by the Duelfer Report in September 2004). His July 2003 editorial, titled ‘A Questionable Kind of Conservatism’ was one of his earliest swipes at the administration--one he had previously buoyed in the face of heated anti-war criticism—for its “identity crisis of conservatism” due to then unflattering events on the foreign and domestic fronts.

Over the course of the past three years, Mr. Will has found fault with other activities conducted by the White House. During the political turbulence caused by the President’s nomination of his personal friend Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, he stated that "there is no evidence that she is among the leading lights of American jurisprudence or that she possesses talents commensurate with the Supreme Court's tasks"— a direct swipe at the president’s judgment to nominate the best qualified conservative candidate for the post. After the stinging judicial rebuke the Dover Board of Education received for introducing the theory of intelligent design into the science classroom, he gave the following evaluation of the ‘storm tossed and rudderless Republican party’ that was still stinging from the Miers nomination debacle:

Dover's insurrection occurred as Kansas' Board of Education, which is controlled by the kind of conservatives who make conservatism repulsive to temperate people, voted 6-4 to redefine science. The board, opening the way for teaching the supernatural, deleted from the definition of science these words: ``a search for natural explanations of observable phenomena.''

Mr. Will has turned increasingly critical of the Bush White House following the disclosure of the secret NSA surveillance programs on both foreign communications and domestic calling records. In an editorial entitled “No Checks, Many Imbalances”, he analyzed Congress’ September 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)—cited by the administration as their ‘get out of jail free card’ for these and other classified programs undertaken in the course of combating terrorists. After carefully peeling the veneer off of the numerous arguments made in defending unitary executive prerogative, Will stated the following:

The administration, in which mere obduracy sometimes serves as political philosophy, pushes the limits of assertion while disdaining collaboration. This faux toughness is folly, given that the Supreme Court, when rejecting President Harry S Truman's claim that his inherent powers as commander in chief allowed him to seize steel mills during the Korean War, held that presidential authority is weakest when it clashes with Congress.

He has also kept an eye on the upcoming Congressional elections and he criticized his own party (and his own journalistic community) for their arrogance in deeming only conservatives to be ‘values voters’:

It is odd that some conservatives are eager to promote the semantic vanity of the phrase "values voters." And it is odder still that the media are cooperating with those conservatives.

Conservatives should be wary of the idea that when they talk about, say, tax cuts and limited government -- about things other than abortion, gay marriage, religion in the public square and similar issues -- they are engaging in values-free discourse. And by ratifying the social conservatives' monopoly of the label "values voters," the media are furthering the fiction that these voters are somehow more morally awake than others.

It’s an easy task to lob grenades over a wall to attack an enemy that is safely stationed on the other side. It takes a lot more courage to aim them at someone on your own side of that protective barrier, especially when you know that you may likely suffer collateral damage due to your actions. Although I might regret saying this, Mr. Will might actually understand his party’s current political dilemmas and it would behoove the GOP to listen to his ideas. Luckily for the Democrats, today’s Republicans are too captivated by their own hubris to pay attention.

A Really Nice Night Out

2006-07-22T17:01:00.000-04:00

Oops…I missed a day (no entry for yesterday). Since I don’t think very many people even know this blog exists, I doubt there was a huge outcry due to the lack of new content or any mild concern expressed that my absence might be health or crime related. If the truth be told, I simply had an opportunity land in my lap that (with no disrespect to Don Corleone) I simply could not refuse.

Early yesterday afternoon, one of my fellow employees (and a long-time friend) asked me what I was doing after work. Being the middle-aged guy that I am, I couldn’t bluff with some tale involving Catherine Bell and hot scented oils so I told him the truth—probably nothing besides watch some TV shows that I DVR’d during the week. After wondering what kind of commitment I might’ve stepped into (perhaps a slideshow of a boring family vacation or something else comparable to Chinese water torture), he asked me if I wanted to go to the Reds-Brewers game down in Cincinnati. It seems that he and his wife were invited by one of her former co-workers to attend the game but she had to bow out unexpectedly because their 4-month old son was under the weather. Although I’m not a Reds fan (I live and die with the Philadelphia Phillies), a night at a major league ball park is better than, well, nearly anything (if Ms. Bell is not a possibility--just kidding, dear).

After I told him I would ‘volunteer’ to accompany him on the 60+ mile trip down to the ‘Queen City’, we then started to discuss logistics (when to leave, who would drive, etc.) and that’s when I found out why this would be a really nice night. Shortly after he offered, I asked him where we would be sitting (I wanted to get an early mental image of what my spectator viewpoint would be) and he said something about ‘sky boxes’. I went to the Reds’ website but couldn’t find anything mentioning those types of seats and emailed him back to elaborate further. He sent me a response that truly stunned me.

His wife’s friend is a doctor who wanted to do something nice for his former co-workers from the Dayton area (he now lives in Michigan). Somehow he came up with the idea of renting one of the stadium’s available ‘Triple Play' party suites (accommodates upwards of 35 people). In addition to an unobstructed-view seat down along the first base line (just to the ‘foul’ side of the ‘fair’ pole), guests are treated to a pre-game buffet and a variety of beverages during the contest. When I went through the line to pick from the culinary offerings, the line ‘give me some salad and chicken breasts’ went through my head but it just didn’t fit into my pre-conceived notions of being at a baseball game; however, I was pretty hungry at that point so I wasn’t going to complain too loudly.

Eating and drinking was all we could do for our first three hours at the stadium. When we were approaching Cincinnati, we noticed that the sky was getting very dark but we weren’t ready for what we drove into. We tuned in to the pre-game show on the car radio when the host informed his audience that the ball park was suddenly getting walloped with severe thunderstorms (lots of rain and a pretty good light show—actually felt some heat on my forearms from a close lightning strike as we were exiting I-75 to the downtown area). The game was supposed to start at 7:10PM but the first pitch wasn’t thrown until 10:05—two hours and 55 minutes late.

The game itself turned out to be rather exciting. After surrendering five runs, the Reds started their comeback (two home runs by Jason LaRue and Juan Encarnacion landed just below us in the left field bleachers) and they eventually won it in the bottom of the 9^th inning (Ken Griffey Jr. singled in the tying and winning runs with a single to the gap in left-center field). Unfortunately, we weren't there to see this exciting finale (left at the end of the 7^th inning) because it was getting rather late (Griffey got his hit at 1:15AM—at a time when some of the West Coast games had already finished) and we had a long drive ahead of us (I finally rolled into my driveway at 2:15). I was hoping to see video of that play on this morning’s SportsCenter but I didn’t roll out of bed until nearly 11:30.

This was the second Reds’ game I’ve attended since moving here in the late 90’s (took my son to a game 4 years ago when they were playing at Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field) and I must say that I was impressed by their new facility. My ‘formative’ years were in the 70’s and I recall attending many games at Philadelphia’s Veterans’ Stadium. The ‘Vet’, Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers, St. Louis’ Busch Stadium and Riverfront/Cinergy were forever linked by the moniker ‘concrete doughnuts with Astroturf filling’—multi-purpose stadiums that allowed their budget-conscious cities to host both their baseball and football teams (plus any other large special events or minor sports events). Baseball purists complained that these generic fields took away some of the nostalgic ambiance of the game and that the trend was limiting this type of 'communion' to a dwindling number of locations, such as Chicago’s Wrigley Field or Boston’s Fenway Park. In the early 90’s, the Baltimore Orioles established baseball’s current trend of stadium renovations by building their ‘retro-feel’ Camden Yards facility. By providing plenty of luxury boxes and modern amenities, the team aimed to secure its financial future (and growing player payroll) through building a new fan base from among its more affluent followers. I’ve been to a few games there and must say it is a very nice venue for baseball. All of those ‘doughnuts’ I mentioned earlier are gone -- replaced with stadiums like Great America Ball Park and Philadelphia's Citizen's Bank Park--and are now relegated to photographs and the memories of the millions of fans who passed through their turnstiles over the years.

Going to baseball games also brings back some special personal memories. I attended ‘Mickey Mantle Day’ with my dad and uncle at Yankee Stadium in June 1969 (I remember getting a special souvenir program that had an enclosed vinyl recording of Lou Gehrig’s famous ‘luckiest man’ speech—with eBay and today’s lucrative collectors’ market, I wish I still had it!). My uncle also took me on a trip to Cooperstown, NY to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. My dad and I saw Phillies' ace Rick Wise’s 4-0 no-hitter over the Reds in 1971 and our family witnessed Karl Wallenda’s historic tightrope walk over Veterans’ Stadium between games of a doubleheader against the Expos in August 1972. The last game my dad and I went to see together was in the late 1980s (our Phillies were playing the Houston Astros—my wife also joined us for the trip). He’s been gone now for almost 15 years but it is times like last night that make me realize that he is never really that far away from me.

Not wanting to sound ungrateful, I did have to make some sacrifices (a little sleep plus some gas and wear-and-tear on my car for the 120-mile round-trip) for my night out, but I got a free ticket, some good food, major league baseball, and an evening that I will always remember in return. I tiredly thanked my host when I dropped him off early this morning for his display of friendship and hospitality; when I see him next week, I will have to share with him the true scope of his gesture.

Was I Ahead of the Trend???

2006-07-20T20:38:00.000-04:00

I just had to smile a little bit when I saw this cartoon earlier this evening. It looks vaguely familiar to what I talked about in my Tuesday column (conservative columnists' unsolicited opining over the Connecticut Democratic senate primary).

The grin quickly disappeared because I then imagined how much more 'outsider' advice/analysis we will have to endure before August 8th...

Taking A Night Off...

2006-07-19T22:01:00.000-04:00

I didn't realize just how much work went into creating new entries on a daily basis (while also having a full-time job and family/home responsibilities). I now have a healthier respect for the bloggers that I rely upon to get my daily dose of news and opinion.

I'm catching up on some TV tonight. South Park is re-running its 'Out of the Closet' episode on Scientology...I guess Tom Cruise didn't get his way this time!

Some items 'on deck' for later in the week: George Will, vs. the neo-cons, 'jewel boxing', and the creation of a new award--the 'Libra'!

Self-Examination is Just Too Hard—Let’s Whack the Dems Instead!

2006-07-18T22:41:00.000-04:00

On Sunday morning, readers of the DDN were treated (?) to the latest serving of ‘librul bashing’, served up by none other than Jonah Goldberg (the five of diamonds from internetweekly.org’s “GOP Most Wanted” deck of cards). In his latest syndicated column, (titled “Big Ideas? Feh”), Jonah decides to weigh in on the current ideological ‘angst’ inside the Democratic Party and he specifically highlights the August 8^th Connecticut primary that pits three-term senator Joe Lieberman against media millionaire Ned Lamont (this came out right on the heels of a NYT op/ed piece written by fellow conservative David Brooks, titled “The Liberal Inquisition”).

Within this invective-laced dissertation (the word ‘liberal’ is used 12 times in this 834-word piece), Mr. Goldberg provides his customary ‘spot-on’ analysis where he identifies everything he believes to be wrong with the issue or constituency he chooses to assail but then fails to mention the failings of those he personally advocates. In Sunday’s column, he homes in on the Democratic Party’s current philosophical schisms with hardly a mention of any similar Republican woes (historic low Congressional job approval, focus on ‘wedge issue’ legislation, etc.) in the run-up to the November general election.

Here are a few paragraphs to give you a ‘taste’ of his unique brand of conservative ‘wisdom’:

Exhibit A is the liberal fight over Sen. Joe Lieberman’s reelection battle in Connecticut. Lieberman, America’s favorite Jewish uncle, is in the fight of his political life because limousine liberal Ned Lamont is challenging him in the Democratic primary. Oceans of ink and pixels have been devoted to explaining the factions behind this “civil war” on the left. Some paint it as the “netroots,” or left-wing bloggers, versus the Washington establishment. Others talk of hawks versus doves, or populists against elitists, the “party line” versus independents, cats versus dogs.

Alas, Chait has it right: “Feh.” For good or ill, there are no grand “big ideas” behind the anti-Lieberman cause. It’s driven by a riot of passions, chiefly against President Bush and “his” war. Any ideas are mere afterthoughts and rationalizations used to gussy up animus as principle. Several Lamont supporters, also known as “Nedheads,” have faulted Lieberman for such obscure transgressions as criticizing President Clinton’s behavior in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Please. There was no lack of enthusiasm for Lieberman when the sainted Al Gore picked Joe as his running mate.

Wow…where should I start? After I stripped away all of the haughtiness from his assessment, I can plainly see an ‘outsider’ (GOP conservative elitist) attempting to convey an intimate understanding of a complex issue facing Democratic voters. He quickly postulates that Lamont’s supporters can only be classified as rabid ‘Bush Haters’ instead of ordinary voters voicing their increasing opposition to decisions Senator Lieberman has made while representing the citizens of Connecticut. While it is true that Iraq is at the epicenter of their discontent and it does receive the most attention in the media and ‘blogosphere’, there are other issues (healthcare, education, jobs) that have tainted that state’s Democratic voters’ faith in him during his most recent term in Washington.

In this current primary, Lieberman is having a hard time effectively rebutting the claims that he is too close to the White House (a current Democratic ‘no-no’). Time and time again, he has refused to revise his staunch support for the war or move towards a more centric position (like fellow Senators Clinton, Biden and Bayh). He currently is in the minority of Democratic lawmakers that backs the administration’s ‘stay the course’ strategy. In infamous video footage (referred to as 'The Kiss'--shown above), Lieberman can be seen in a most-compromising embrace with President Bush at the January 2005 State of the Union Address. There was press speculation last December that he would replace Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. Although such a move is not unprecedented (Clinton chose a Republican—William Cohen—to run the Pentagon from 1997-2001), making such an appointment would have doomed any political future he might have with the Democratic party faithful who celebrated his ascendancy to Vice President of the United States-elect less than six years ago—only to have that taken away by a 5-4 Supreme Court vote.

I could go on and on with picking apart Mr. Goldberg’s points, but then I would be as guilty as he is (and Mr. Brooks) by interjecting myself into a matter that really concerns only the Democratic voters of the ‘Constitution State’. They must make their own choice in a few weeks’ time about who they want to represent them in the United States Senate and I believe both candidates must agree to abide by their wishes—meaning no independent candidacy for Mr. Lieberman. If the political handwriting’s on the wall, it takes a big man to accept his fate and step aside—and stay aside!

My Most Recent DDN Rejection

2006-07-17T23:55:00.000-04:00

This is your front-row seat to the final chain of events that led to the creation of this blog (refer to my earlier 'Why the Strange Name?' for additional information). Below is the letter that appeared in the DDN's 'Letters to the Editor' on July 5th that caught my attention:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dems are hypocrites on issue of war

The Democratic Party has complained for the past several years that President George W. Bush lied to them and led the United States into the war in Iraq. I have done some research and have come up with some startling facts:

Did you know that President Franklin Roosevelt led the United States into World War II with Germany? Germany did not attack the United States; Japan attacked the United States. Also, President Harry Truman led the United States into the war with Korea. Korea did not attack the United States. President Lyndon Johnson led the United States into war with Vietnam. Vietnam did not attack the United States. In addition, President Bill Clinton sent American troops to Bosnia. Bosnia never attacked the United States.

All of these presidents were Democrats. I wonder if any of them lied to the Republican Party when they led the United States into war with the above countries.

Islamic terrorists attacked the United States in 2001, and Bush responded.

Does anyone see the hypocrisy of the Democratic Party's attack against George W. Bush?

—(name and address masked)

*** The person did sign his letter and identified the city in which he lived (a DDN requirement). As a courtesy, I will not include such personal information on local submissions when I repost them in this blog. My goal here is to challenge the submitter's words, logic or bias--not the attack the submitter him/herself. I am also trying to retain my own anonymity in case someone recognizes their submission, does not care for my critique, and decides to take up a new habit--like stalking! Since the syndicated columnists are paid the 'big bucks' to put their thoughts to paper, they are fair game...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This piece 'pegged' my internal hypocrisy meter because I immediately recognized it as an blatant attempt by a GOP partisan to deflect criticism of the administration's constantly evolving Iraq policy by a growing majority of Americans. After several hours of research, composing, and polishing, I sent in the following reply at 12:26AM on 6 July:

To the editor:

After reading his recent ‘Dems are hypocrites’ submission (5 July), I was ‘startled’ that Mr. (masked) only used the most elementary logic (Dem president in office, war declared against country X but country X did not attack the US, Dems lied to go to war) in his conclusions about US armed conflicts in the 20^th century. I believe he needed to do a more thorough review of the events he referenced in his letter to see the entire spectrum surrounding those scenarios:

- It was Germany that first declared war against the United States and that action occurred four days after the attack at Pearl Harbor and three days after FDR’s call for Congress to declare war against Japan.

- The US never declared war against North Korea but instead went to the United Nations to ask that organization—employing a 17-nation coalition—to intercede militarily in that Cold War-tinged civil conflict.

- Although disputed by historians, LBJ used two possible acts of Vietnamese aggression against US naval forces stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin to justify his escalating of our involvement in the decades-long Vietnamese civil war.

- NATO, not the United States, was the lead organization tasked during the ‘shooting’ portion of the Bosnian conflict. Neither NATO nor Clinton declared war and US troops were introduced to perform peacekeeping duties only after the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords.

- In all of the above scenarios, acts of aggression against the US (either directly or to regions/countries of national concern) provoked our responses—before Iraq, we never preemptively attacked another nation.

I do agree with one of his statements: Islamic terrorists, based in Afghanistan, did attack the US in 2001 and President Bush took the appropriate action in our subsequent military response (Operation ENDURING FREEDOM). Almost all Democrats supported this action against a nation directly linked to this unprecedented tragedy on US soil. They almost all disagree, however, with the president’s preemptive actions against Iraq in 2003—a nation that has been repeatedly proven not to have been involved with the 9/11 events.

Something Mr. (masked) chose to ignore during his search for Democrat deception and duplicity is the GOP’s own hypocrisy in terms of their habit of retreating from conflicts. It was Eisenhower who negotiated the Panmunjom cease fire agreement that has left North and South Korea at a technical state of war for the past 53 years. This act of ‘appeasement’ can be directly linked to the potential nuclear jeopardy our nation now faces. Nixon negotiated a settlement—‘peace with honor’—with the North Vietnamese in 1973. South Vietnam fell just two short years later, placing them under Communist control and reunifying this colonially divided nation. Reagan withdrew US troops from their UN-sanctioned peacekeeping mission in Lebanon four months after the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that claimed 241 lives. This pullout helped extend the on-going Lebanese civil war for an additional six years.

When Mr. (masked) and his kind dredge up narrow interpretations of historic events or use the term ‘cut and run’ to discredit any opposition to the current ‘stay the course’ strategy in Iraq, the failure of their long-term memories (pre-Clinton) is quite evident.

Almost four hours of work went into this email. In that short span, I breathed live into those bits--535 words, 10 paragraphs, 18 sentences. According to my version of Microsoft Word, it was written at a 15.4 grade level--perhaps a little lofty for an ordinary reader. I just thought it was too good of a rebuttal to that original faulty claim and didn't want it to go to waste or be deleted forever via the DDN editor's desktop Recycle Bin.

I guess I can take solace in how this whole thing worked itself out. Although that email didn't make it to print, a new life has now risen from its digital ashes...vive l'Internet!

Sunday 'Two-Timer'

2006-07-16T23:15:00.000-04:00

I know I’ve only been doing this blogging thing for a little less than a week, but I have a secret that I’m forced to divulge at this time (I’ve given myself permission to ‘leak’ it so I guess it’s OK to tell you). Here goes...

Every Sunday morning for the past 18 months or so, I have been ‘hooking up’ with another woman—one that sometimes goes by the name of ‘The Gray Lady’. I’ve been carving out an hour or two of my busy (?) home schedule to facilitate these weekly trysts. Although I maintain my loyalty to my local love, this out-of-town temptress has so much more to offer. When I open my door, she’s there like clockwork, waiting patiently and wearing only the sheerest of rainwear—and if the weather is nice, she might arrive sporting nothing at all! On the rare occasions when she has failed to arrive, I would immediately be on the phone pleading to know her whereabouts. If that call from me came too late in the day, I would be forced to venture out and retrieve her from one of a few local business establishments she caters to.

Now before you run to cover the eyes of any impressionable children within eyeshot of your monitor, the ‘lady’ in question is none other than The New York Times—considered by many to be America’s ‘paper of record’ but, more recently, tarred the ‘paper of treason’ by those who become infuriated when it chooses to run stories supposedly embarrassing to the current White House or GOP politicians. As you might have already guessed, I’m in the group that champions the first label. I grew up in a newspaper family back east (my dad worked as a linotype setter for a major Philadelphia daily in the early 1960s) and learned to read by practicing with the copies he brought home with him every morning. We moved to northeastern Pennsylvania when I was in kindergarten (he got a job with a paper closer to my parents’ families—one that eventually fired him when his union local took strike actions against them in 1978). That particular part of the state was nearly equidistant to both New York and Philadelphia so local newsstands offered a wide variety of what both two cities had to offer. We used to get the New York Daily News as our supplemental paper to the locally published Sunday Independent and it wasn’t until I left to join the military that the NYT became my favorite ‘broadsheet’ out of the ‘Big Apple.’

All throughout my adulthood, I’ve had the opportunity to be ‘exposed’ to a variety of papers available at the locations where I served. In San Antonio, we got both of their local newspapers delivered to our apartment (one was morning, one was evening—needless to say, we didn’t do much on Sundays besides read). When we lived in the Baltimore/Washington area, I would hear the ‘thump’ of The Washington Post hitting our front door every day. While overseas, the military-themed Stars & Stripes had to suffice when we were stationed in non-English speaking countries. During our last tour in the UK, I would regularly pick up copies of the London Times (the Brits referred to it simply as ‘the Times’) or The Daily Telegraph at the local shops (OK, I occasionally bought a copy of The Sun but it was for the articles—not for the ‘Page 3 girls’ :-) ). My last tour in Japan had me buying copies of the Japan Times to get their perspective on current affairs and US-related issues (our military presence in that country since the end of World War II, trade policies, Iraq).

While I subconsciously understood that all of these publications had biases associated with their target audiences, I read them primarily to gain a greater understanding of the countries and the populations that were hosting me and my family (S&S officially declares itself ‘neutral’ but it does feature articles from several elements of the DoD’s public affairs apparatus which has demonstrated a pro-administration slant in several controversial events occurring in Iraq and during our current ‘global war’ on terrorism). Politics really didn’t sink in with me in my selections of stateside papers—we generally subscribed to the publication that had the most features we wanted to have (specific Sunday magazines or daily comic strips, feature non-political columnists—Dave Berry, Ann Landers, Dayton’s own Erma Bombeck). Because of nation’s progression towards the 24/7 television news outlets (and most recently to a wide variety of Internet news sources), print papers now find it hard to compete with these readily available outlets. In our now highly politically tinged society, bias can be the sole ‘trump card’ when either accepting or declining your locale’s sole daily publication.

As the ‘paper of record’, the NYT is one of only a handful of papers (Wall Street Journal, USA Today) that are available at almost all major news outlets from coast-to-coast. Originally published only in the New York metropolitan area and transported out to a sprinkling of locations, the Times struck contracts with various printing facilities around the country (including Dayton) to increase its availability to over 200 US markets (its sister publication, the International Herald-Tribune, has a similar arrangement in 33 overseas sites for worldwide distribution to over 180 countries) . When I do purchase a copy during visits back to my old ‘stomping grounds’, that edition displays a pricing scheme based upon one’s distance away from New York City (we were within that radius so it didn't serve as a disincentive for purchase). I do have to scratch my head when I still have to pay $5.00 for my Sunday edition when it was printed just down the road (and get billed even more because of home delivery) but that's probably a topic for a future entry.

What is my attraction to this controversial publication? Well, I like having a big paper to sink my mental ‘teeth’ into on Sunday mornings. While comparable in size to the Sunday NYT, the DDN edition must bow to its commercial masters and make most of its bulk revenue-centric (coupons, circulars, classified ads). Dayton’s paper does have the requisite color comics, Parade magazine, and weekly television listings but it must rely on much of its national and global news from non-DDN sources (wire services and other papers, to include the NYT). The Times, on the other hand, sits within the portfolio of the New York Times Company, a world-class media conglomorate ($3.5 billion in 2005 earnings) that owns 17 other newspapers and several other television, radio and Internet outlets. Its Sunday edition consists of seven different numbered sections (we don’t get sections 6 & 7 here—not sure what they might contain) and includes two pull-outs (their weekly book review and its own magazine). With 16 operating locations in the NY region as well as 11 national and 26 foreign bureaus, many of the stories it publishes are filed by their own reporting staff.

Over its 155-year history, the NYT has earned 94 Pulitzer Prizes—the highest honor in print journalism (I believe the DDN has won just two) and has previously delved into issues that appeal to my sense of democracy and bold reporting (the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 which revealed a more accurate depiction of the Vietnam War than the government was publicly admitting, the unearthing of the Tuskegee Experiment which infected African Americans with syphilis to study its effects and history). One of its latest honors was accorded earlier this year for their coverage of potential Constitutional irregularities with a previously undisclosed NSA wiretapping program.

Reporting on another US surveillance program (the screening of international financial transactions recorded in Belgium’s SWIFT database) in June has drawn the most recent conservative rage over alleged disclosures of classified information. In the right’s current outbursts, the motives of the Times’ staff—specifically of its editor, Bill Keller—have been called into question even though two other papers published similar stories on the same day about the same subject. This latest attack as well as recent internal controversies (journalistic fraud allegations against reporter Jayson Blair, Judith Miller’s jailing on contempt charges in the Valerie Plame outing case, hefty payments to underperforming executives) has caused some concern among stockholders who have seen a 50 percent decrease in its share price since 2002. This trend has been seen by many companies within the print newsmedia due to declining circulations and weak advertising, but enemies of the Times see this downturn to be directly related to their various attempts to discredit them and other ‘mainstream’ media outlets as being tainted by ‘liberal bias’.

In terms of its op/ed pages, the NYT has no rival—at least from my personal political perspective. Boasting a lineup of center-left to center-right columnists, the paper routinely attracts attention due to their particular takes on current issues, whether it is about the Darfur genocide, our government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, or the US’s policies in the Middle East. My favorite of the bunch has to be Frank Rich (only posts a Sunday column but it is well worth the 7-day wait for his next offering). Originally a theater critic for the paper in the 1980s, Mr. Rich has gravitated towards politics and popular culture, especially after the current Bush Administration took office in January 2001. His more recent columns have been aimed squarely at the NYT ‘treason’ issue. He went on sabbatical earlier this year to finish work on his new book (“The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina”—due to be released September 19th on Amazon.com) and I almost went through withdrawals awaiting his return in late April.

Paul Krugman is my next favorite NYT columnist. An economist by trade, he stayed in that field until being hired by the Times in 2000. After January 2001, his writings have focused primarily on the failings of the Bush Administration’s foreign and economic policies. Saddled with many conservative ‘supply side’ detractors, he has the real-world background to find and focus on the truly significant statistics about current US and world economic conditions that allows folks like me to ‘catapult the propaganda’ for a better insight into what is really happening. I occasionally read Tom Friedman’s and Bob Herbert’s columns and peek in on Maureen Dowd if the title sounds ‘snarky’ enough. Nicholas Kristof recently won the Pulitzer Prize for his commentary about Darfur’s on-going genocide campaign (I loved how he taunted Bill O’Reilly by offering to pay for his round-trip tickets to the Sudan to personally witness the horrible realities in that region—the Factor host declined) but I really haven’t been following that issue as closely as I should.

The two I seldom (if ever) read are David Brooks and John Tierney—the ‘token’ right-wingers of their op/ed pages. Originally a self-declared liberal, Mr. Brooks is now one of the conservative movement’s most visible spokesmen. In addition to his two columns per week in the Times, he is a regular on several of the Sunday morning talk shows. Mr. Tierney is a libertarian and has previously taken that political tack on subjects ranging from the ‘war on drugs’ to Amtrak to mandatory recycling. I have no personal animosity towards either of these gentlemen but I don’t feel their particular points of view are in step with how I would approach the issues they write about.

As someone who grew up with newsprint on his hands at a young age, I find it hard to transition to electronic versions of these ‘old friends’. I begrudgingly succumbed to the practice of viewing characters on a glowing CRT screen during my last overseas military tour. At that time, almost all of the major newspapers offered free online access to their print editions; however, today’s market realities have forced some—including the NYT—to post some or all of their content behind subscription-only barriers (coincidently, the conservative Wall Street Journal only makes its editorial materials freely available to viewers while locking out everything else). Since I take delivery of the Sunday Times, I am allowed access to their ‘Times Select’ areas for ‘free’ (non-subscribers wanting to view any of their op/ed columnists must pay an annual fee of around $50). Sadly, this appears to be the future of commercial journalism so I guess I better start learning to live with it now...

BTW, if you were worried about how my wife reacts to my weekly ‘rendezvous’, she actually doesn’t mind it at all—I’ve learned early on that I can secure her indifference by giving her the crossword puzzles…