The second annual Sages, for 2010...

This is the second annual presentation of the Sages, the end-of-the-year awards from the Sage Street blog. Congratulations to the winners, as well as the nominees!

BIGGEST POLITICAL WINNER--This category was painfully empty this year, as more people, including good politicians, actually lost. The nominees included Jerry Brown, a Democrat who won the California gubernatorial race for a second time; Scott Brown, a moderate Republican who used a pickup to pick up middle class support to win a Senate seat in Massachusetts; and both Democratic senators named Udall (cousins Mark Udall in Colorado and Tom Udall in New Mexico). But the winner is Lisa Murkowski, the former Republican and newly Independent senator from Alaska, who ran a long-shot write-in campaign and won. What Murkowski actually did was defeat the Tea Party, who had put up an extremely conservative candidate as the Republican nominee. Even better, Murkowski "defeated" Sarah Palin, who had backed the Republican candidate. It has been downhill in popularity and seriousness for Palin ever since.

BIGGEST POLITICAL LOSER--Wow, a filled category. The nominees included President Obama, who went to the aggravating center, compromised on important principles, and pretty much lost his progressive way, probably ending his chances for re-election as his enthusiastic majority faded slowly away. The young voters, who had supported his ideals, didn't like his need to rack up compromised achievements of lackluster legislation and so they didn't vote in the 2010 mid-term election and thus the Democrats lost the House and probably the future. Obama's concept of "change" seems to be replacing one Clinton Administration person with another Clinton Administration person. Doesn't he himself know anyone worthy of political thought outside of Clintonville and Chicago?! Other nominees included David Cameron, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, who showed the UK why conservatives don't lead to progress; the Democratic Party, who lost Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House and three great progressive politicians Russ Feingold, Joe Sestak, and Alan Grayson, all who lost their elections; the Tea Party who put up crazy candidates like Christine O'Donnell, Sharon Angle, and other backward-thinkers who lost their elections; the Republican Party which is burdened by the likes of Mitch McConnell and John Boehner; and John McCain, whose flip-flopping stance on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy just made him look like an "old fool." But the winner or, in essence, loser in this category is the American people, because of all of the previous reasons.

MOST AGGRAVATING--The nominees included the Republican zeal for rich people as indicated by their demand for the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy despite what it will add to a budget deficit; British Petroleum with its leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico which created the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history; the lack of jobs desperately needed by the unemployed; the failure of President Obama and the Democrats to promote a public option for health care; and the Republican denial of global warming despite the weather extremes and records. Many years ago, when I lived in Wyoming, I think my newspaper was the first in the state to recommend that Wyoming adopt the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The governor at the time, though a Democrat--which often doesn't mean much in Wyoming--dragged his feet and waited and stalled, but finally approved the adoption. But by the time it was done, its passage seemed more embarrassing, for being slow, than triumphant, for being bold. Such was also the case for the December repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy concerning gay soldiers in the military. It was with a yawn, an "About time!" and finally joining the rest of the world democracies that the repeal got through Congress and to the president. But the winner for most aggravating and generally horrible is the continuation of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, with the loss of lives and the huge cost. The war in Afghanistan goes into its 10th year, the longest in U.S. history.

BEST PEOPLE MOMENTS--The nominees included Shirley Sherrod, the woman who was unfairly removed from her job at the USDA, who showed why the rant and the sloppiness of the right-wing media is destructive; Velma Hart, the woman who spoke her mind to President Obama at a CNBC town meeting concerning the economy and expressed what most of us in the middle class were thinking; when the former insurance executive apologized and described to filmmaker Michael Moore the effort by Cigna and the insurance industry generally to undermine his documentary "Sicko" because the insurance industry didn't want Americans to start a populist movement for universal health care; Anderson Cooper, for an amazing moment after the Haiti earthquake when he came to the rescue of an injury boy; and the inspirational views of Elizabeth Edwards on the Larry King Live show, not long before her death. The winner is Jon Stewart whose speech at his D.C. rally noted the concept of respect and community by using the analogy of drivers taking their turns in traffic: "You go, then you go, then you go." And everyone gets to where they are going on the American highway of opportunity, freedom, and care.

BEST TV NEWS SHOW GUESTS--Howard Dean, Anthony Weiner, Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Edwards, and Joe Biden who is probably the best member of the Obama Administration for, as vice president, being able to speak to truth while the president speaks to politics. The winner is Ralph Nader, who showed up on the Lawrence O'Donnell news show. Wow, he had been missed!

THE QUOTE OF THE YEAR--The nominees included the response by President Obama in the Jon Stewart interview of "Yes, we can, but..." It was a "but" that just confirmed why Obama is seen in disappointing ways. Another nominee is the recent "tweet" by Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker that noted "I just doug out your car," a reference to his good work in helping to clear streets of snow but which also shows why politicians shouldn't use Twitter if they can't spell. ("Dug" not "doug" unless it is a play-on-words for a guy named Doug who had a snowed-in car and, in that case, might be clever. Twitter language is supposed to reduce letters to irritating spellings of "u" for you, not increase letter amounts.) And who could ever forget--even if you want to--the quote from a young man's airport security experience, "Don't touch my junk." It was aimed at Pat Down, the ubiquitous airport security person. But the quote of the year is "I am not a witch," spoken by Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell, conjuring up ghostly images of Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook." And when O'Donnell uttered the words, she was wearing a black blouse with a black background. All that was missing was a black, pointy witch's hat. Couldn't her PR people have at least suggested the colors of green or pink or blue as the color companion if she were going to go there?

A TIP OF THE HAT TO...All are winners here: Salvatore Giunta, Medal of Honor winner for heroic service as an American soldier in Afghanistan; Larry King, who retired from his interview show on CNN; Andy Griffith, who became a spokesman for TV public announcements about health care reform; and Leslie Nielsen, who died in December, leaving a movie legacy of deadpan humor and entertaining comedies.

BEST TV ENTERTAINMENT MOMENTS--The nominees included Andy Samberg's songs, often with nasty innuendo but always goofy and funny, on "Saturday Night Live"; the Geico Insurance commercial about the "woodchucks chucking wood;" the clever writing of James Thurber as read by MSNBC news personality Keith Olbermann; and the entertaining CNN teaming of Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin for the New Year's eve show. But the winner is Betty White, whose monologue and comedy-sketch performances as a guest host on "Saturday Night Live" was very amusing. She seems pretty ageless with her sparkle and wit.

BEST ENTERTAINMENT TV SHOW--"Saturday Night Live," "Merlin," "Haven," "The Mentalist," "The Closer," "Parks and Recreation," and "Monk." The winner is "Smallville" though the absence of the character Chloe, played by Allison Mack, was evident this past fall.

ACTORS AND ACTRESSES TO WATCH who are early in their careers, all of whom are winners: Ashley McKay, Yuval David, and Carlo Marks.

BEST NEWS SHOW--"Rachel Maddow Show," "Keith Olbermann's Countdown," "Anderson Cooper's 360," "Nightline," "60 Minutes," "Ed Schultz Show," "The McLaughlin Group," "Need to Know," "Fareed Zakaria's GPS," "Reliable Sources," "Caught on Camera," "Now," "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric." The winner is the PBS News Hour.

BEST NETWORK--MSNBC (except for the crime show schedule on the weekends), CNN, History Channel, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and the Sci-Fi Channel. The winner is PBS for depth of news and information, music, and historical programming.

WHAT I NEVER WATCHED (not once in 2010): Fox news or commentary shows, most reality shows, "American Idol," "Mad Men," and "Dexter."

BEST BOOKS (from the ones that I read, some of which were written in earlier years): "The GI Bill, A New Deal for Veterans," "Thirty-Eight Witnesses," "All the Devils Are Here, the Hidden History of the Financial Crisis," and "Jacob Riis, Reporter and Reformer." The winner is, but I'm very biased on this category, the sixth edition of the Wyoming Almanac. For digital books: "The Wolves and Short Stories" and "Sage Street."

BEST MOVIE (from movies I watched, some of which were made in earlier years): Not as many good ones as last year that I found, mainly through Netflix. "Avatar" and "Blind Side," which were two from last year that I finally watched. Also, "Daybreakers," and "2:37." For an indie film, the winner is "Entre Nos," a 2009 movie about Colombian immigrants in New York city. Paola Mendoza was the main actress as well as director in a story based upon her mother's experience in struggling to provide for her children. For a major film, it has to be "Avatar," which was excellent and really set a new standard in special effects. (Favorite movies continue to be "Dear Frankie," "Idiocracy," "Bella," "Sin Nombre," "Angel-A," "Children of Heaven," "Evil," "Unleashed," and "Across the Universe," and the segment leading up to the sheep driving the truck off the cliff in "Black Sheep.")

And drum-roll...

HONOREE (PERSON OR ORGANIZATION) OF THE YEAR--Last year, the Sage Street "Honoree of the Year" was singer Pete Seeger. Time magazine named Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, as its 2010 "Person of the Year." Sorry, Zuckerberg didn't even make the list for the Sages. This year, the nominees were:

Elizabeth Edwards, who lived with grace, optimism, and resilience and who died of cancer before the year ended. She also was probably the truest voice among the many leaders in politics and society for progressive action.

Jon Stewart, who kept the humor and insight going on his TV show. He continues to be a political power through his sharp perspectives.

Rachel Maddow, who provides meticulous depth on issues on her MSNBC TV news show while she also is smart, likable, has a sense of humor, and can easily smile, which is rather rare and unaccomplishable for most TV talking heads, especially the mean, angry ones on the right.

Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winner who writes about economics and politics for the New York Times, who always had insightful views about the economy and recommended an approach more like one from FDR.

The people within the organizations of Amnesty International and the ACLU for continuing the important missions of those organizations.

The winner is the WikiLeaks organization of people who have determined its mission of dedication, as a website, to worldwide governmental and business transparency. It is hoped that Julian Assange, the founder of the site, is correct in defining the criminal accusations against him as false and as a smear campaign. However, the site itself should not be judged by the personal conduct or behavior of one person. The information on the WikiLeaks is probably the most important addition to American journalism since the passage of the Freedom of Information Act.

(To see the first Sage award nominees and recipients, go to the Politics category for 12/29/09.)

Book Review: "The GI Bill, A New Deal for Veterans"

Book: "The GI Bill, A New Deal for Veterans"
Authors: Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin
Publication date: 2009

Ten years after WWII, the Census Bureau found that 15.7 million veterans had returned to civilian life in the United States. Of that number, 12.4 million (78 percent) benefited directly from the GI Bill. When surveys were taken of American veterans, two-thirds of them answered, "The GI Bill changed my life."

That information is part of a paragraph from the book titled "The GI Bill, A New Deal for Veterans" by authors G. Altschuler and S. Blumin.

The authors note that the GI Bill became the largest government program in American history. "By providing job training, unemployment compensation, housing loans, and tuition assistance, it allowed millions of Americans to fulfill their dreams of upward social mobility."

The GI Bill, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 under the name of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, allowed soldiers coming out of the world war, following the decade of the Great Depression, to go to college, acquire job skills, buy homes, and, in essence, create a strong middle-class for a healthy U.S. economy. It was, and continues to be (to this day), an economic stimulus package in reward to veterans for service to their country.

The book provides an interesting history of American politics concerning the treatment of veterans, dating back on the continent to settlers of Plymouth in 1636 with a measure "to maintain for life any soldier maimed in the colony's service."

Several dozen veterans' benefit laws--the first in 1776--addressed the needs of soldiers and veterans of the Revolutionary War. In 1817, fifth U.S.President James Monroe proposed that Congress award pensions to Revolutionary War veterans. At first, while Union soldiers benefited from national pension laws following the Civil War, soldiers of the Confederacy had to rely on the limited resources of their home states. Eventually, the Civil War pension system was expanded to all veterans. World War I veterans waited only 12 years for the enactment of a non-service-related disability or needs-based pension, according to the book, compared to 35 years for Revolutionary War veterans and 25 years for Civil War veterans.

But the largest expansion of assistance for veterans came with the FDR New Deal program in the 1940s. And it came the fastest for the WWII veterans.

Over the next few years, with government-backed loan guarantees, 4 million vets bought homes at low interest rates and 200,000 purchased farms and businesses, according to the book. "Education and training became the great surprise of the GI Bill. A whopping 51 percent of GIs took advantage of this provision: Altogether 2.2 million attended college or university and 5.6 million opted for subcollege training." The veterans were known for taking education seriously. According to the book, a Harvard professor said, "The window-gazers and hibernators have vanished. This crowd never takes their eyes off you." A student, competing with the veterans, said, "It's books, books, books all the time. They study so hard we have to slave to keep up with them." Harvard University's president, who had once been a critic of federal funding for higher education, said the GI Bill was "a heartening sign that the democratic process of social mobility is energetically at work, piercing the class barriers which, even in America, have tended to keep a college education the prerogative of the few."

Veterans became civilians and went to college, acquired job skills and went to work, bought homes for new families, and created a middle-class in the decades to follow that was probably stronger than any other time in U.S. history. And the whole nation benefited.

"The GI Bill, A New Deal for Veterans" is interesting and insightful. I found it at Murrell Memorial Library at Missouri Valley College, but it can probably be found in libraries and bookstores through America.

Bad poetry finds a home with rap music...

I was so moved by the bad poetry of the rap songs of Eminem and Lil Wayne on Saturday Night Live tonight that I took a few minutes to write some crappy rhymes for a couple of rap songs.

Here's what I came up with....

Title: SHEEP BLEAT
You walk down the street.
You can't find defeat.
You sure take the heat.
You might lose your seat.
You'd better like the beat.
Or go slip on the sleet.

Title: MY ROBOT FRIEND
Robot
I bought
for war
I thought
It tore
A lot
And what
I got
was not
One shot.

Title: JESUS AT WAL-MART
Jesus
Squeeze us
Freeze us
Please us
Have some rice
Throw some dice
Pack some ice
Kill some mice
Find a price
Wal-Mart

And finally this title: MAD FRED
Give 'em real.
Take a pill.
Don't fulfill.
Walk, talk, balk, polio guy.
Sock, sock, sock.
Argyles.
No cops.
Corn crops.
Sweet honey.
Got money.
Prosecute my pants from my ass.
And if I care.
Fred Astaire.

News at 10...

This just in...

The Las Vegas odds-makers, the jellyfish experts, and the spelunkers were correct with their predictions about President Obama and the extension of the tax cuts for the wealthy. Yep, he caved.

Republicans are working on what they will ask President Obama to cave on in 13 months when the unemployment benefits come due again for renewal.

President Obama's new slogan for the 2012 presidential race may not work quite as well as his slogan "Yes, We Can" in 2008. "Yes, We Cave" just doesn't have the same lofty ring.

Future Speaker of the House John Boehner cried three different times during the interviews by Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes" last week. Then Boehner watched the segment on TV, and cried again.

In a memo to all Republicans in Congress, Republican strategist Frank Lutz advised, "Never replace the phrase 'trickle down' with the wording 'urine stream'."

Presumably without compromising, President Obama recently signed the Child Nutrition Act, endorsed by first lady Michelle Obama. He joked that otherwise he might have been sleeping on the couch. In the meantime, Progressives have refocused their efforts on getting the first lady's support for legislation in the future. They call it "The Couch Strategy."

Time magazine named that Zuckerberg kid, the founder of Facebook, as the person of the year. The choice made future Speaker of the House John Boehner cry.

OK, let me get this right (or maybe reich would be the more precise word if it's up to the censors). The government has fits about WikiLeaks and probably does its bullying best to make sure Americans can't find the site, while, on the other hand, we can be bothered by someone who wants to buy a chicken for their fake Farmville on Facebook, learn on AOL what Taylor Swift is doing on her birthday, and probably surf a zillion online porn sites. But, no, don't try to find the WikiLeaks site.

Though hundreds, if not thousands, of people at all kinds of levels in the military and government, had access to material that eventually found its way to WikiLeaks, the government is going to prosecute a military private. Said the Secretary of State, said the Secretary of Defense, said the state department officials, said the defense department officials, said the diplomats, said the generals, said colonels, said the majors, said the lieutenants, said the sergeants, said the corporals, "Blame the privates."

This week's episode of the TV show "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels" features Bill O'Reilly fighting a squirrel for a nut. O'Reilly is mean, so the squirrel didn't have a chance.

President Obama called in former President Bill Clinton to try to sell his compromise on the tax cuts for the rich. Seeing Clinton again at the lectern was about as refreshing as kicking a skunk. But Obama couldn't call in former President Jimmy Carter, who took the Democratic Party to the center and then didn't win a second term, or former President George H.W. Bush who compromised on his famous "Read my lips" tax promise and didn't win a second term, or former President George W. Bush who already urged passage of tax cuts for the rich years ago. And since all other former presidents, many of whom were actually strong and tough, are dead, well, that left Bill Clinton.

The national news media went ga-ga when former President Bill Clinton showed up to point his finger and lock his jaw at Obama's presidential lectern. The U.S. Olympics committee declared that news personalities Chris Matthews and Chuck Todd performed the most perfect cart-wheels.

Former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson of the Debt Commission commented about the progress of the commission proposals, "Throw a rope around it and then see if any muskrats will gnaw at it." Asked about why he called senior citizens greedy, he replied, "Some grasshoppers are green and some grasshoppers are brown and fly farther." Asked about the large cost of war, he said, "Only dance when you can hear the drums." Asked what he means any time he speaks, he answered, "The mud is deep on the wet side of the river bank."

The Photo of the Year...

The photo that should be sent to everyone this holiday season to adorn their desks and tables is the one of Prince Charles and his wife Camilla with their astonished expressions when their Rolls Royce limousine on route to the theater was accosted by college students protesting tuition hikes in Great Britain and unkindly uttering "Off with their heads!"

It was a wildly entertaining photo, meant to become as good a holiday tradition for everyone's viewing as Jimmy Stewart's movie "It's A Wonderful Life."

Now, let me repeat part of the facts of that moment: The royals. In their Rolls Royce limousine. On their way to the theater.

And the second part of facts: Students in the street, hoping to afford an education.

Prime Minister Cameron, the current British leader from the political conservative right, is looking more and more like the Herbert Hoover of Great Britain. That means that Liberal Party leader Clegg, whose support was necessary for Cameron to ascend to leadership, is looking more and more irrelevant. For an American comparison, it would be like Cameron is the Republicans and Clegg is Obama. Of course, the royals are the main constituency of the Republican Party which is the 2 percent group of millionaires that the Republicans here so dutifully support, as was the case with the recent proposal for the extension of the Bush tax cut for the wealthy.

Wow, if the Bush tax cut extension for the wealthy does indeed get passed by the Republicans and Obama, despite the protests of progressive Democrats, then someone needs to send around a memo that says, "Got the tax cut again. Bless your lucky stars. And spend like hell." The memo needs to encourage all those millionaires, in the absence of their self-sacrifice for the nation, to do their darnedest to buy another car or two and an extra 3-D TV and some new laptop computers and the latest texting gadgets for their kids in college, to take a trip to Yellowstone Park, to hire another maid and gardener, and to expand that company that hires so many workers. In other words, to spend like crazy so that the economy improves and more middle-class people can find jobs and leave the unemployment lines.

And, of course, that's where it is especially important to include with the memo the photo of the royal distress and surprise of Prince Charles and his wife, as it wouldn't be good if that photo comes to define the future.

Presidential advisers mystify me...

I must admit that sometimes I am mystified by presidential advisers.

Like today, I saw two economic advisers from the Obama Administration on TV and they were both saying that Obama made a good deal when he compromised on the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Then they said that they didn't like that particular part of the deal, but that it would be easier in two years, right after the 2012 election, to get rid of the tax cuts for wealthy. Why? Because they said it would then be clear that it didn't help the economy. So, then it would be an easy cut.

Hmmmm. Now, I am no economic wizard, but doesn't that imply that in order for the tax cuts for the wealthy to be seen as unsuccessful, then also it means that the economy (or the employment rate) doesn't improve? Do they think the economy and employment rate won't improve in two years? Wow! I hope not. Because that means none of their ideas (or the least the few that they have) were successful and so they haven't worked. Wow, I sure hope this economy improves in two years.

But wouldn't it also be true that if the economy improves, the proponents of the tax cuts for the wealthy could point to it as one of the reasons for economic improvement and thus make the case even more than now that those tax cuts need to be kept in place? And then that would mean an extension of the extension of the tax cuts of the wealthy.

Wouldn't it be just better to eliminate the tax cuts for the wealthy now, which should reduce the national debt, and then to work like a busy FDR to improve the economy...and then show that the tax cuts for the wealthy weren't needed?

The Obama advisers mystify me. But maybe they have to say something and put as much of a happy face on it as possible, considering that they made such a goofy mistake.

Grace, disgrace, jellyfish politics, and journalism resources...

Some random thoughts on the news of our times...

It is certainly sad to hear of the death of Elizabeth Edwards, a health care activist and political leader in her own right. She died of cancer yesterday. Though she played a supportive role in her husband's campaigns, she would have been the better candidate. She had the passion and also the integrity. Through her illness and the scandal of her husband's affair, she showed spirit, resilience, and grace. She was inspirational and will be greatly missed by an America with so many needs for activists and courageous voices.

As a journalist and educator, I believe that the best resources that American journalists now have number six in general terms. They are: 1). The First Amendment; 2). The U.S. Supreme Court decision of New York Times v. Sullivan; 3). The Freedom of Information Act; 4). Shield laws when they are strong; 5). Sunshine laws for meetings and records; and 6). WikiLeaks, which comes new just this year to my list.

The jellyfish experts and the spelunkers were right. President Obama caved and sold-out to compromise with a Republican minority once again for some bewildering reason. This time concerning his willingness to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. That would be $60 billion per year that goes to the top 2 percent of income holders in America while the nation can't afford it. That amount of money is equal to what the U.S. could provide if it wanted to provide free college for students or $500 per American in a check rebate, according to a recent New York Times list of possibilities. If either political party were truly serious about reducing the budget deficit, this was the best first sacrifice to start the national effort going. Instead, President Obama gets rolled over again, like a bowling pin. Any new suggestion of where the budget should be cut now--usually aimed at the middle-class or people below the poverty line--would be a cruel and ridiculous joke. I do believe that it is essential that a candidate from the left emerge to challenge Obama in 2012. Perhaps Russ Feingold, Howard Dean, or others. Someone who is a real, actual progressive who isn't likely to dump a principle for a quick compromise. Obama appears to be weak and spineless. That won't be difficult to run against. I don't think Obama will win the 2012 election, so the Democratic Party is crazy if it provides him with the nomination. We expected FDR and we got Hoover who likes the banks. We were hoping for Harry Truman and instead got Bill Clinton and the love of the middle ground that always seems to be farther to the right and to satisfy the Republicans most of all. The middle-class desperately needs to have a better choice for the future.

President Obama's presidential slogan in 2008 was "Yes, We Can." Well, for his next presidential campaign for 2012, for accuracy it probably should be "Yes, We Cave." (My brother noted that phrase and I just had to use it here.)

I recently told PayPal to take me off their e-mail list as I don't intend to use that service, especially in light of their response to the WikiLeaks controversy. PayPal said it was intimidated by the U.S. State Department. Well, that's too bad...and I won't miss their promotional e-mails. I also recently asked to be taken off the Organizing for America e-mail list by the Obama campaign. Enough of that, too.

The difference between conservative and liberal environments...

I can tell that Americans live in a conservative environment socially and politically, thanks to politicians and media, based upon the issues that are framed as provocative or controversial.

In liberal environments, social and political issues tend to lack a provocative nature because freedom, width, breadth, and diversity allow for a lot. If it is done, it is tolerated, it is accepted, it is part of the fabric of the society, its controversy is diminished, if not erased. In conservative environments, on the other hand, provocative and controversial issues are widespread because they are far beyond the norm, the allowed, the legal, the narrowness.

Since about every feature or concept can usually be framed to accommodate the conservative mind or the liberal mind, it then rests on who's doing the framing. Usually those are the people in power, which includes generations-old senators and rich media personalities.

So, for example, the American media might refer to Julian Assange of WikiLeaks as an anarchist because he believes in the transparency of government, even if it means publishing governmental secrets, while the same media wouldn't use the same word to describe Rand Paul, the senator from Kentucky who ran on the platform of opposing government.

It is like with the silliness about the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the U.S. military. What a non-issue, if the environment were Sweden, Norway, France, Canada. But, of course, in the conservative environment of America, it is agonized over, debated endlessly, and senate committees waste time on its focus. Gay soldiers are already in the U.S. military and always have been. The recent survey of soldiers noted that most wouldn't have a problem with the repeal of the policy, which is discriminatory. Most straight soldiers probably are insulted by the idea that they couldn't handle it. The percentage of support for repeal is way greater than when President Truman ordered the end to military segregation of white and black soldiers.

Nonetheless, a stern Marine commander, who has higher percentage figures from his military branch to support the continued discrimination, tells a senate committee that the change would impact cohesiveness. Of course, there are no one polls to see how many bigots are in the Marines or other branches of the service and how that might affect cohesiveness. No, leave the bigots in there because we need them to fight. Apparently, most U.S. soldiers must have adjusted and adapted to the fact that some of their buddies are likely ignorant bigots and/or otherwise insecure about sexuality. Thus, the cohessive issue isn't about mind-set, especially if the mind-set, such as prejudice, comes from within a conservative culture.

About every political or social issue, from God to book-banning, also could be framed narrowly or widely depending upon whether the environment is conservative or liberal. The conservatives see it narrowly and thus any views beyond the status quo are seen as provocative and controversial. Liberals see it broadly. They see no need for stress and they accept the range.

People in other countries where liberalism isn't seen as horrifying must look at America and sometimes shake their heads in wonder. Of course, at least America has Iran, Iraq, and other also conservative societies beat...At least, thank goodness for that.

Changing the dynamics of world secrecy...

I like the idea of the WikiLeaks website changing the dynamics of world secrecy. I hope it continues to provide transparency concerning governments.

In the past, all that journalists had to praise for opening governmental secrets on a national level was the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and we all felt good when some 20- or 30-year-old secret, usually shameful, finally came to light about what the government, including its agencies such as the FBI and CIA, had done. Now, with WikiLeaks, that has changed. The release of secrets is pretty immediate. No decades to wait. No lingering darkness to accommodate the cobwebs of history.

While the government, through many presidents, tends to whine about national security being breached, I haven't seen much evidence that past revelations have done harm. There are people who say the release of documents endangers lives. Well, where is the evidence of that? It is a big claim, easy to inflate. But where is the proof?

It has been entertaining to watch the American TV networks handle the WikiLeaks story. Their reporters will say that WikiLeaks did the leaking--it's their fault--and then will go ahead and tell everyone listening about what was leaked. If the TV networks don't like the process of the leak, why don't they refrain from providing the information about what was leaked in the first place? U.S. journalists can blame WikiLeaks and then have their cake and eat it, too. The news is then reported. U.S. journalists also would probably have reported everything that WikiLeaks provided if they'd been first to have the source. That's how the profession works.

The New York Times printed the leaked history of the Vietnam War called the Pentagon Papers, despite the Nixon Administration's attempt at prior restraint. The U.S. Supreme Court settled the issue, with a verdict that favored the New York Times. Then Woodward and Bernstein used a source of leaks known as Deep Throat who happened to turn out to be the second highest official in the FBI. Though the Washington Post editors demanded that additional sources be found for verification of what Deep Throat said, the source was still a crucial part of the Watergate scandal story. Without him, who knows if the Watergate scandal story would have ever seen the light of day.

Julian Assange, the Australian founder of WikiLeaks, is currently entangled in a scandal relating to alleged sex crimes in Sweden. He says it is a smear campaign. Regardless of whether that aspect of the WikiLeaks story is true or fabricated, one man surely doesn't keep the website going. Nor does it mean that the mission of the website isn't worthy of support. The website is currently under attack by hackers, probably from governments around the world and likely from even the U.S. government. This is one time when I don't want nationalism to trump globalism. I want nationalism to bring forth better and more open government. If WikiLeaks helps in that regard, that's good.

So, calm down, government. Don't have a cow, Attorney General Holder. Take a breath, Republican and Democratic senators. And then go about the business of making government something we citizens can have respect for and pride in for being good, open, smart, wise, competent, honorable, and an example of the integrity we want and expect.

Information Station...and Comments....

Information and random thoughts:

• Here's a record achievement that no nation should want. Today marks the day that America tied, with the conflict in Afghanistan, the amount of time that the Soviet Union gave to its unsuccessful war in Afghanistan: Nine years and 50 days. The Soviet Union left Afghanistan in 1989. On the PBS News Hour, 10 more faces of young American soldiers who were killed in the war were shown.
• Because my nation can't seem to ever find or sustain peace for any good length of time, I gave up purchasing Peace-On-Earth-themed Christmas cards for the second year in a row. I don't want to participate in a cruel fraud. Some day, it will really be a joyful occasion to actually send out "peace" cards because it is true. But at this point, I won't wish for something that our leaders can't or won't accomplish. It feels too much like being a sorry character in "Waiting for Godot."
• Speaking of Christmas cards, I almost returned a box of Hallmark cards today after I saw that they were produced in China. So, then I looked at a box of Designer Greeting cards and those cards also were produced in China. Can I return two boxes? Then I looked at the last box of Christmas cards that I had purchased which were UNICEF cards. Guess what? They were made in the U.S.A. Well, how about that?! Good deal! And not only that, but also it said on the box that the purchase of the box will "help UNICEF provide seven notebooks for schoolchildren, opening up a world of possibilities through education."
• I can't think of anything I would want to buy that would ever turn me into a Black Friday shopper waiting in early morning hours for a store to open (or for a shopping stampede).
• Wal-Mart has the worst selection of books that I have ever seen. I went there today and they had multiple books by or about Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck and not much else. An awful selection!
• Newsweek magazine listed the "Power 50" of political media personalities who make the highest income annually. Here are the top 10: 1). Rush Limbaugh, $58.7 million (he makes more money per year than the combined salaries of all the members of the U.S. Senate); 2). Glenn Beck, $33 million; 3). Sean Hannity, $22 million; 4). Bill O'Reilly, $20 million (I bet those top four are loudly supportive of the extension of the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy.); 5). Jon Stewart, $15 million; 6). Sarah Palin, $14 million; 7). Don Imus, $11 million; 8). Bill Clinton, $7.7 million; 9). Keith Olbermann, $7.5 million; and 10). tie with Rudy Giuliani and Laura Ingraham, $7 million each. I guess this list means that there is a big-money market for conservative chatter. That's scary. It also means that "Demagoguery sells."
• "Exodus for Hunger" is a book by the Rev. David Beckmann of Bread for the World. He said recently on TV that the world produces enough food to feed every person on the planet. He said the big hunger increase in America is because of high unemployment. About 15 percent of all American households had trouble putting food on the table and needed the help of food banks, he said. One in four children lives in a household that runs out of food.

News at 10...

This just in:

Some people got jobs recently. They were Republicans elected during the mid-term election. Unfortunately, they didn't need jobs, don't want to extend job benefits to the unemployed, and the unemployment rate remains the same.

Airport security (the national TSA) is telling travelers that they have two choices in order to board a plane: 1). Walk through a full-body scanner and have a naked photo of you taken; or 2). Have some security guy feel your private parts. In light of complaints about those choices, TSA is considering a third choice: 3). Let some security guy squeeze your private parts and then cook them with the radiation from a scanner that takes 3-D photos of your naked body and posts them on Facebook, with a poke here and a poke there.

Progressives are wondering if President Obama has the backbone to not compromise with the Republicans on the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Las Vegas odds-makers, spelunkers, and jellyfish experts are not optimistic.

Junk once was stuff that people took to the town dump. Now people take it to the airport and let security guards check it for explosives.

Bristol Palin and her dance partner won again on the "Dancing With the Stars" TV show. This time, their competition was only Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in a historical film clip.

Apparently, a high number of Tea Party members watch "Dancing With the Stars." That's just one more reason for not watching the show.

In order to cut the budget deficit, the Debt Commission recommends that the retirement age be set at 105, unemployment benefits be replaced by a bus ticket and one TV dinner, and military spending be reduced by the cost of one nut and one bolt. Said former Senator Simpson, a member of the commission, "We need to stop square dancing and start peeling the potatoes."

This week's episode of "Stars Chasing Squirrels" features Glenn Beck almost catching one.

2010: President Obama said U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2014.
2014: President Brown said U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2018.
2018: President Hernandez said U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2022.
2022: President Robot 634 said U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2024
2024: Afghanistan becomes the 75th state of America, right after West Kansas, Iraq, Yemen. and Armpit.

Anderson Cooper on CNN finally threw up his hands in disgust and yelled at a politician. He's frustrated because he's been trying to "keep them honest." That's about as easy as trying to separate a college student from a cell phone.

Only about 40 years behind the times, the Pope is finally endorsing some use of condoms. Therefore, feel free to use them for water balloons.

A version of a "This Just In" repeat: Who would have ever guessed that there'd be more prostate exams at airports than at clinics?!!

Common ground sounds like dirt to me...

Some random thoughts on the mid-term election:

1). If I hear President Obama say one more time that he will try to find common ground with the Republicans, I am going to reach down, grab a handful of ground, and throw it at the moon.

2). It was particularly depressing to see Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, senatorial candidate Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania, and Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida lose in the election. If any of them want to challenge Obama from the left in 2012 (if Obama continues to compromise on important issues), I sure would be willing to join their campaigns.

3). A new third party from the left is definitely needed. It could be called the Progressive Party.

4). While only one percent of the Progressive slate of Democrats lost in the mid-term election, apparently 47 percent of the Blue Dog Democrats lost. Good riddance to the Blue Dogs, as they even gave dogs a bad name.

5). A friend recently noted in an e-mail that we really should be identifying the selfish jerks, who are against government and taxes that help to provide services, with the term "anarchists." I agree. The anarchists were in full-force this election.

6). Speaking of that, Rand Paul, the anarchist (Tea Party candidate) who won the senatorial seat in Kentucky, had campaigned on "taking America back" and more specifically "taking back the government." Well, it will be an interesting time seeing how he does that and where he takes it back to. If he gets his way, then it would probably be the 1930s, before FDR. Or maybe the 1850s, before the Civil War.

7). According to filmmaker (and Progressive) Michael Moore, if Obama doesn't return to respecting the concerns of his base (the liberals, young people, minorities, etc.), a "Naderesque challenge" is bound to emerge from the left. I agree. The one poke in the eye to Moore that I would mention, however, is that I remember a moment on a Bill Mauer show when Moore made a fool of himself on his knees begging for Ralph Nader to not enter the presidential race in 2004. What Nader was trying to do was build some kind of third party, which takes time (though apparently the Tea Party did prove it could be done faster). A third party from the left is essential now, for the same reasons of influence that the Tea Party will have on the Republican Party.

Irritating candidates: "Up" yours...

If I hear one more woman candidate say, "Man-up," I am going to run from the TV screaming like a girl.

What exactly is the female equivalent to the sexist remark? I know it isn't "grow a pair" as that refers, in a positive or negative way depending upon how it's stated, to comparing the quality of courage to the male anatomy, though women do have some anatomical pairs, too. On the other hand...or both hands...everyone and apes have thumbs. But while "thumbs-up" can mean approval or good movies, it is gender neutral.

But, concerning the question, it can't be "woman-down" as, though it is an opposite to "man-up,"
that's also a descending direction. Or maybe that's the purpose of the remarks anyway: to sting and to insult.

Maybe it is just the equal "woman-up," though I am not sure what that defines. If "man-up" means being more of a man, then I guess "woman-up" would mean being more of a woman. But what does any of that mean, beyond stereotypes and narrow gender notions? For men, they need to throw a football, drive a pickup, and spit? For women, they need to cook, have a baby, and wear a dress? Oh, the old days of Archie Bunker.

As much as I am annoyed by Missouri Democrats who claim in their political ads to be pro-gun, pro-life, and anti-Obama-care, I would be willing to use the term "Democrat-up" if I thought it would actually do any good. Too late for that.

I know there can be "giddy-up" for cowboys, but that usually involves a horse, too. And there's often "spit-up" for babies. There's "leg-up" for achievers...or for dogs.

But where else would it work? "Mature-up" for senior citizens. "Young-up" for young people. "Rich-up" for wealthy people. "Poor-up" (or "poor-down," like "trickle down" from the Reagan years) for the middle and lower classes. "Straighten-up" for straight people. "Gay-up" for gay people. "Black-up" for African Americans. "Hispanic-up" for Hispanics. "Catholic-up" for Catholics and "Protestant-up" for Presbyterians. "Large-up" for big-sizes. "Skinny-up" for beanpoles. I don't think any of it works, except...

..."Shut-up!"

News at 10...

This just in...

A lunatic at an anchor desk is ranting into the TV camera in an effort to move people through anger and fear. No, not the 1976 movie "Network" this time. Just another evening of FOX News.

He called her names. She called him names. They both called each other "liars" and "corrupt" and "lower than whale manure." No, not the latest reality TV show. It is the recent string of campaign attack ads.

Tea Party candidates, many of whom are disguised as Republicans for Halloween, have qualified for the book of world records as the strangest bunch of politicians ever known.

While Republican candidates are running against President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in every state where there's an election, Democratic candidates are running away from the national health care bill.

President Nixon said, "I am not a crook." Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell, wearing black, said, "I am not a witch." A public relations person was recently seen holding his hand over Rush Limbaugh's mouth, trying to prevent radio talk show host from saying, "I am not a big-mouth."

Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell read the First Amendment today. She still doesn't understand it.

Elliott Spitzer's new political talk show on CNN hasn't been doing very well in the ratings. So, CNN is considering a suitable replacement. They have been talking to Larry Craig, Monica Lewinsky, Michael Vick, John Ensign, Mel Gibson, Rand Paul's college buddies, and that evangelical pastor at the mega-church in Atlanta.

After the election on Nov. 4, defeated California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman will be selling her used campaign yard signs on eBay.

The politically extreme wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas left a message on Anita Hill's phone machine asking for an apology from Hill for her testimony at the Thomas confirmation hearing years ago. Hill said she had nothing to apologize for. So, then Clarence Thomas called back, asking Hill to at least return the pop can with the pubic hair on it.

It is very unlikely that NFL football player Brett Favre will be used in TV commercials to endorse any brand of camera.

Want to hear a joke about American business? The national Chamber of Commerce. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

A legislator just got awful legislation passed that will force people to wear polyester, walk on their hands, and eat rock salt. His success is contributed to the name he gave the legislation, the "Children, Football, God, Flag, Marriage, Puppies, Beer, and Pizza" bill. Said the legislators from the other side of the aisle, "We had to vote for the darned thing. Or else, next election, there'd be campaign commercials by our opponents saying we voted against beer."

Words born today...yesterday and tomorrow...

This just in for 10/10/10....

There are only two more years to go when a person could write 11/11/11 and 12/12/12 before it will be a long time to the next 1/1/01 (and some of us won't be around to see the next century). But our words have the opportunity of living into cyberspace and time, carrying on the DNA of thought, opinion, humor, and truth.

For that reason, meet my son...or daughter...named "Words," born on 10/10/10 and hoping to be seen, heard, valued, appreciated, enjoyed, and shared for years and decades and vast time to come.

Words Roberts was born on a pleasant day in a free country. He is strong. She is beautiful. They are happy to have a voice.

Easy answer why Obama has problems from progressive side...

Question: Why is President Obama having trouble in keeping his liberal base enthusiastic?
Answer: Because Obama's rhetoric hasn't matched the action.

It would almost be laughable, if it weren't sad, that now Obama is scrambling to encourage the liberal base to stay with him. But there is also a whiff of contempt and snottiness that those White House people seem to have for the progressive base that got them there in the first place. When Vice President Biden tells the left to "stop whning" or when press secretary Robert Gibbs refers to the left in insulting ways, then you can't help but wonder if they really want to represent the progressive view. Maybe it is just too hard to stand tough with progressive ideas and action. Maybe it is just politically easier to compromise with Blue Dogs and Republicans.

Obama and the White House people remind me a bit of "Eddie," the character from the old TV series "Leave It To Beaver." Eddie was always so proper and polite when he was in the presence of the Cleaver parents in that show. In articulation, he was the model young man. But the Cleaver parents were never fooled. They knew the reality that Eddie's actions, often bad-boy, didn't match his words.

Oh, that's President Obama's problem. He is the best speaker, with speeches, that I have ever heard in the current times of America. Martin Luther King Jr. was another eloquent speaker. Of course, King would have never bartered with the South in order to find some common compromise that, in effect, would have resulted in poor-quality law and bad social conditions. He wouldn't have traded for integrated drugstore counters in exchange for allowing segregated drinking fountains. King's words led the way to his actions. Unfortunately, Obama's speeches don't translate well into the action. His rhetoric doesn't seem to match the action, perhaps because the reality of politics won't allow it or perhaps because he doesn't committedly fight for it. As much as like Obama's speeches, I almost dread hearing them now. Am I hearing the ring of truth or the disguise of politics?

Now Obama needs the progressive base...again. Wow, imagine that. What visionary couldn't have seen that need? Only a fool who did care or who took his support for granted would have been so out-of-touch.

There are some good changes (that I can believe in) going on right now. Lawrence Summers, the economic adviser, is leaving the administration. Good riddance. Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, is leaving the administration to run for mayor of Chicago. Good riddance, and good luck to poor Chicago. Those are some changes that might lead to hope for progressive change and improvements.

However, when Obama's rhetoric truly matches the action, then he won't have any problem gaining the support of progressives. It is just too bad that a lot of progress and good candidates, like Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, may well be in danger because the Obama administration chose weak and inadequate compromise over strong principles that could have achieved both progressive action and strong support.

News at 10...

This just in...

Republicans are probably going to oppose President Obama's jobs creation proposal regarding transportation and infrastructure work. After all, Republicans and Tea Party members want to take the country back to the way it was. (And they apparently mean when jobs were being lost during the Bush years.)

Christine O'Donnell recently won the Republican primary to become the Tea Party candidate for the Delaware senate seat. It's no longer politics as usual. Now, it's politics as unusual.

Christine O'Donnell recently won the Republican primary to become the Tea Party candidate for the Delaware senate seat. Here's how that works: Republicans organize a primary, but all of their members have split to the Tea Party, which then organizes rallies to allow everyone, especially people over the age of 70, to act really mad because they want the country to return to something that doesn't have Obama as president, and then they all go to the Republican primary election and vote for people who are opposed to masturbation.

"Hey, Mabel," Charlie, her husband, yelled from the recliner chair in the living room. "That woman from Delaware who's against masturbation is on TV again."

Don't you think that if the only thing a person can remember about a politician is what they said about masturbation, then the Republican Party is in a world of hurt?!

Glenn Beck is planning a rally. He will dress in a robe like Moses and come down from a mountain top. Note for rally members: Bring your own marshmallows for the burning bush.

Glenn Beck is planning another rally. He will wear a fake beard to look like Brigham Young and then lead zealots with handcarts to Utah. Note for rally members: Bring either a zealot or a handcart.

The new TV season will include the show "Stars Chasing Squirrels." Each week, different celebrities will go to a park and chase squirrels. Celebrities scheduled for the competition include Rush Limbaugh, Pat Boone, Evan Bayh, Queen Elizabeth's piano mover, and Sarah Palin's third cousin from Homer, Alaska.

Flo, the lady in the insurance commercials, will host Saturday Night Live this week, with musical guests rapper Bad Poetry R-U-Cool and an electric pencil sharpener.

A pastor of a tiny, irrelevant and intolerant church in Bedbug, South Carolina, is threatening to burn Qurans, Torahs, Buddhas, rosary beads, Methodist hymnals, Jehovah's Witness door pamphlets, biology books, Dixie Chicks CDs, National Geographic magazines, French recipes, and sour-dough pancakes. The media coverage has swelled from community attention to statewide attention to national attention to international attention, as unnecessary outrage grows. It has even caused chauvinistic men in Middle Eastern countries to riot because they are so offended.

A college professor has introduced a new higher education concept for college courses. Students will sit in a class for two weeks and then the professor or instructor will get to choose which students stay in the course and which students are exiled to the library to silently read books for the rest of the semester. Faculty everywhere are ecstatic about the plan.

Thank goodness--One war down...

President Obama announced the end of U.S. combat troops in Iraq today. Thank goodness!

Bush, Cheney, and company were dishonest leaders who put young American soldiers in a quagmire. Shame on them...forever...for their recklessness.

Just for the record: Inventions...

Inventions or concepts that started here...

1). The Roberts pyramid...In journalism education, there is a newswriting style known as the inverted pyramid style. It is an upside-down pyramid which explains that the first sentence, or lead, of the story is the important, containing the 5 W's (who, what, when, where, why) and how or how much and sometimes an attribution. The inverted pyramid style of writing is old, dating back to the Civil War days, when news stories told in traditional ways of story-telling, like a fictional story, had to be changed in order to get through before telegraph wires were cut. When I use the inverted pyramid structure as a teaching tool for basic news reporting students, noting that they should eventually write more leads in the structure of nut graphs or featurized leads, I do incorporate a separate inverted pyramid to get them thinking about their lead. Thus, it is an inverted pyramid of important elements within an inverted pyramid of story structure. As the Roberts inverted pyramid concept is intended just the lead, the students are told to consider which one of the elements of the 5 W's and how or how much is most important and to start with that. It does seem to work in helping them design their leads. Usually, leads aren't started with the when or where elements. Usually, the leads begin with the who, what, why, or how much.

2). Pitch Golf...Many decades ago, in my book "Sage Street" and for my weekly newspaper, I wrote a column about my sports innovation of the exciting, but inexpensive game of "Poor Person's Golf." It is the golf game wherein people don't use fancy and expensive clubs to hit the golf ball down the golf course. Instead, they get to throw the ball. Then there is no need for anything but a golf ball. How many throws would it take for you to get down the course to the first hole? And what would be the likelihood of a pitched hole-in-one? They are all challenges in my "Poor Person's Golf" game, which is probably is need of a higher-brow name. Thus,..."Pitch Golf." While I haven't yet gotten a call from the PGA, I did encourage a recent college graduate who is golf club management to give it a promotional try. I am hopefully that it will catch on, especially in a tough economy.

3). We-Mail...I just saw on the Internet that a website called WeBuzz.Im or something like that has a new service called "We-Mail." Alums of a journalism newsletter that I have been writing for years should recognize the word "We-Mail" for its use for the We-Mail newsletter. The We-Mail idea, of course, is that we hear from each other, as a social network of alums using e-mail...Our mail to each other about news which is then turned into one for all--We-Mail. If a company has trademarked it, then it is legally theirs. But, just for the record, that phrase was one I've been using for journalism alums long before a Google search could find it referenced by others.

I have a few other inventions, concepts and developments--one that's even in fashion, if you could imagine--but maybe I actually should get patents and trademarks before I describe them in words. Inventing is tough work!

Meringue on a cowpie...

Alan Simpson, former U.S. senator from Wyoming, made the news today for more goof-ball comments--this time about Social Security. President Obama made the mistake of putting Simpson on a national taskforce committee. Another goofy effort to compromise an important issue into diddly-squat.

What really irritates me is Simpson's typical Republican view about Social Security. Simpson, with his undeserved Senate retirement, should keep his hands off my (and every other workers') Social Security, especially if his conservative ideas are for cutting it or raising the retirement age. How about proposing a raise in the Social Security payroll cap of just 2 percent (or even more) on those who have very high incomes (like Simpson)?

Many years ago, in my Medicine Bow Post newspaper in Wyoming, I noted that Alan Simpson's folksy baloney was like meringue on a cowpie. Looks like Simpson is still meringuing and haranguing.

News at 10...

This just in:

The 99-Weeks Club, the group of unemployed people who have come to the end of their unemployment benefits and still haven't found jobs, are hoping members of Congress who won't extend the benefits will join them someday...so they can see how it feels.

Though the government said the security scans wouldn't be kept, the best of the naked scans of people going through airport security were posted this week on the WikiLeaks website.

A woman traveling passenger class on a plane to Butte, Montana, was voted as Miss August by visitors to the WikiLeaks website concerning the naked scans by the airport security machines. A man traveling first class to Littleton, Colorado, was voted most likely to make naked-scan equipment workers laugh.

A teenager took the keys of the family car and then drove the vehicle into the ditch. His father said, "Son, that officially makes you a Republican." (Explanation: President Obama has referred to the Republican condition of the economy that he was left to salvage as a car that was driven into a ditch and that now the Republicans want the keys again to drive it.)

Mad Hatter of the Tea Party has claimed that Alice is an illegal immigrant and should be put in an Arizona jail.

Tea Party members ran for public office and lost in the primary elections. But they sure have funny hats and goofy signs.

It has been recommended that someone chip in a dollar for the Tea Party sign-writers, so they can buy a dictionary. (This is absolute true: A recent message on a sign at a Tea Party rally shown on a TV news segment was "Obama care not fare.")

The primary campaigns really got nasty and mean. One candidate accused his opponent of sleeping with bed bugs. The other candidate responded back that only bed bugs would want to sleep with his opponent. Pollsters are trying to figure out which bed bug accusation hurt the worst.

Obama's press secretary, the guy with the Southern twang in his mouth who complained recently about the "professional left," is trying out an interesting theory: Insult the Democratic base which is the left and remind them that the Obama administration couldn't come close to providing the same quality of a health care system that Canadians enjoy, and then see if they will vote for Democrats in the elections. Maybe he's an Einstein and the theory will work. Or maybe he's a Bozo.

Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and other billionaires have promised to give away half of their wealth during their lifetimes. Though on the other end of the economic scale, the Sage Street blogger wants to join the effort and thus promises to give away half of his poverty.

An opposite-sex couple filed for divorce today, saying that the prospects of same-sex couples having the same right to marry drove them to it. The Family Nonsense Council warned that it signals the end of marriage between a man and a woman. "No straight couple will want to get married if gay couples are doing it," said Al Mond, a religious nut.

Ben Nelson the asterisk is the U.S. senator from Nebraska who's a Democrat but who often votes with the Republicans. Well, something very strange happened. Stranger than paranormal activities, jackalopes, and Glenn Beck. Ben Nelson actually turned into an asterisk. A real, tiny asterisk. One moment he was a man, the next moment he was an asterisk. He's been shipped back to Nebraska for immediate display below a pile of corn cobs, with tiny type for explanation.

Update on Prop. C vote and other comments...

Update of the news: By 71 percent, Missouri voters supported Proposition C, the measure that opposed mandatory health care insurance. The national TV news downplayed the vote by saying that it didn't matter since federal law trumps state law. But the newspeople missed what the vote really meant: That a majority of voters, from the right as well as from the left, dislike the idea of mandatory health insurance with its costs in a reform measure that offers little change. The right dislikes anything that's Obama. The left dislikes the farce of watered-down health care with insurance companies still in control. That's what it meant. Legislators who continue to dilute measures because they think they will make more people happy by going to the center need to understand what that does to the enthusiasm and support factor.

Concerning the 9.5 percent unemployment nationwide, a conservative commentator on an ABC news show said, "Democrats are at an ideological deadend on jobs." He may have been referring to the Obama Administration which morphed into the Clinton Administration. But he sure wasn't referring to the FDR Administration during the Great Depression which had plenty of creative ideas for job growth. The difference is in leadership and vision.

There he goes again. Ben Nelson the asterisk, who is the Democratic U.S. senator from Nebraska but tends to vote with the Republicans on everything when he's not diluting Democratic measures, was the only Democrat in the Senate to vote against Elena Kagan as the U.S. Supreme Court nominee. Kagan was approved for the position and has become the fourth woman to ever serve on the U.S. Supreme Court (the others being Sandra Day O'Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Sonia Sotomayor).

Voting for the proposition that opposes mandated insurance...

Here's something you won't hear often...I am joining the Republicans in voting on August 3 for a Missouri proposition that opposes the mandating of people to buy health care insurance. (Of course, a lot of Progressives are also voting for it, so I am not alone with just the Republicans.)

The Republicans are voting for Proposition C because they throw fits about socialism and Obama-Care. However, I am voting for it because the centrists in government failed to provide a public option program in the health care reform measure, so the insurance industry continues to control health care in this nation. No public option, well, then to hell with mandates and padding the pockets of the insurance industry.

On one flyer that I received in the mail, the first argument that the opponents to Prop. C made was this: "By law, Missouri's hospitals must provide medical care in their emergency departments to anyone who is uninsured--even if they can afford health insurance. Hospitals must cover the cost of that care by charging more to patients who do have insurance...So, should Missourians who already pay for health care also have to pay for those who choose not to pay?"

Oh, boy! I really do hate mythical arguments that imply we all have to equally pay for a health care system that stinks and is set-up for the benefit of the middleman called the insurance company. If we all need to pay for health care, then why don't we just pay it directly to our local hospitals in order to keep our hospitals within the community and then, by doing so, we should be guaranteed that if we get sick we can go there and get free treatment. Why do we need to pay our money to insurance companies so they can make profits, spend on ad campaigns, and spend on lobbyists in Washington, D.C.?

The second argument from the pro-mandate group was this: "It is projected that $50 million a year will be directed away from Missouri. That loss will cause the greatest damage to community hospitals in Missouri's small cities and rural areas...perhaps the one your family relies on in times of need."

Well, I am not a fan of blackmail, either. If the government really cares about the health care of all of its citizens, then it won't penalize a state for refusing to force its people into institutionalized-thievery costs in the first place.

I don't even like being forced to buy car insurance when I almost never have had an accident. Oh, well, because I might someday. I might get caught in a flood one day too, but I can't afford insurance for that in the meantime. Nor a host of other insurance coverage for potential problems in life. When did car insurance become the mandated rule in some states, and how about repealing that? Because we are ALL forced to buy car insurance in Missouri, I sure haven't seen my costs decrease. So, the theory of come one, come all, and we'll all be better off, just isn't the reality.

And it is not about cost, it is about real quality. For instance, I greatly support having monthly amounts for Social Security taken from my paychecks, even if I never live to age 65 to get my share. I support it because I know others who need it are getting it and because it makes our society better.

I was more than willing to join the health care reform cause when I thought that the United States would be getting a geniunely good system, like those used in Canada and Europe. But with no public option or no universal health care, I don't intend to support reform that's not reform.

Ben Nelson the asterisk, wolf sex, feeling like you're going to boot, and other facts and information of the summer...a three-part series...

This is part of a three-blog entry series. The next one will involve bewildering, head-scratching moments from the news that I experienced this summer. The third one will be about some summer reading that I enjoyed. But below are some of the many interesting facts and information that I learned this summer...

1. New word of the summer: "Vuvuzela" -- The plastic horn that South Africans used to make that annoying noise throughout the World Cup games. The device is also known as a "lepatata." I am not sure which word I like better. Both are fun to say and sound musical.
2. New slang of the summer: "Boot" -- In modern college student language, a verb that means "to vomit." According to The Field Guide To College Slang by Natalie Sudikoff, other slang words that may be on campus this year include: "Gut Class" -- An "easy class that everyone does well in. "Blitz" -- Sending a short e-mail, as in "I'll blitz you." "Dormcest" -- Hooking up with someone who lives in your dorm. (Probably meant more for coed dorms, but these are modern times, too.) "Turkey Dump" -- When a freshman returns home for Thanksgiving Dinner to dump his or her "hometown honey." "Midnight Howl" -- A bellowing scream heard at midnight, the night before finals.
3. Interesting book of the summer: "The Man Who Stopped Time" by Brian Clegg. It is a book about English pioneer photographer Eadweard Muybridge, who has also been called the father of the motion picture. He is best known for his series of photographs of a horse in a gallop which proved, as moment to moment of the gallop was studied, that a galloping horse can indeed have its four hooves (legs) off the ground simultaneously. He had to use 24 cameras to catch every second of movement. What I didn't know about Muybridge was that he was a murderer. In 1874 in England, he killed his wife's lover. He was facing the gallows and he went to trial with the defense of "marital rights." Did the jury convict or acquit him? I shouldn't give it away in case you want to read the story, but I will mention it in an upcoming blog, the third in the series, about summer reading. If you don't want to know, then skip over the repeated reference to "The Man Who Stopped Time" there.
4. Interesting TV show of the summer: "The Human Family Tree" on the National Geographic channel. It was about the history of DNA of all the world's people since the time of early ancestors like "Eve" in Africa. There was a lot interesting information. For instance, there are 5,000 languages in the world today and speech was critically important in allowing the human species to progress. Also, researchers estimate that at one time, because of one terribly dry period in Africa, the human species probably only numbered around 2,000 and was on the verge of extinction. The program also noted that there are 3 billion letters of the human genome and only a few change the race. In other words, race differences are not more than skin deep. Genetically speaking, race doesn't exist.
5. Interesting documentary of the summer: "Yellowstone: Struggle for Survival," a three-part TV series by the BBC, which you can watch in its entirety by way of a DVD from Netflix. The film photography of the wildlife and landscape was stunning. Lots of interesting information about Yellowstone National Park. The park contains more geysers than in all the rest of the world. Real mama grizzlies, antelope, bison, beavers, elk, and wolves were featured. I had no idea that wolves have a rather problematic situation involving sex, but there is a scene of the potential hazards of the problem in the film. This is a family-oriented blog, so I will leave it vague, but the film also is great for family viewing. Heck, mammals are just better at illustrating the subject of sex than birds and bees anyway, so if you have children and if it leads to a discussion, you may discover that they know plenty already about the subject or, at least, they probably know more about it than you think they do. If you have teenagers, God bless and help you! In the modern world, college students are the experts on the subject.
6. Interesting TV quote of the summer: A TV news story in June 2010 featured author and former lawyer John Grisham. He said there are thousands of innocent people in prisons. About half of the time, the real killer is never found, he said. But here is the quote, pertaining to why it is important for the justice system to get it right, that I thought was very interesting from Grisham: "When you send an innocent man to prison, chances are you've just increased the crime rate."
7. Best News Anchor of the summer: Jake Tapper of ABC's "This Week" on Sunday mornings. He challenged guests with insightful questions. The permanent anchor for the show, starting next week, will be Christiane Amanpour from CNN.
8. Interesting asterisk of the summer: Ben Nelson the asterisk. Whenever I am speaking about and criticizing the Republican Party of "No," please note that more specifically I probably should be saying, "The Republicans and Ben Nelson." Nelson is the conservative senator from Nebraska who often votes with the Republicans. He's about as much a Democrat as rattlesnakes make good necklaces.

Information Station...

Here is some information from TV and Internet reports, as well as some comments...

• In a previous blog, I had mentioned that Americans need more news and information on subjects that really matter, rather than about celebrities and scandals. Add one more name to my list of those mentions that we don't need to hear about: Chelsea Clinton (and her $2 million wedding).
• Excluding the cost of college, the cost of raising a child for an average middle-class family is $11,000 to $13,000 per year. (CNN)
• The Pentagon can't account for 95 percent of the $9 billion for Iraq reconstruction money. (CBS).
• The War in Afghanistan costs America $5.5 billion per month. (CNN)
• The U.S. House of Representatives recently approved $37 billion for continued Afghanistan War funding. (PBS) (Wow, you add a billion here and a billion there for the war machine, and then does any politician wonder why there's a large budget deficit?)
• British Petroleum (BP), the oil spiller in the Gulf of Mexico, could qualify for a $9 billion tax cut. (CBS)
• Pakistan receives $1 billion per year in foreign aid from the United States. (MSNBC)
• Facebook has more than 500 million users. Facebook also has been recently criticized for its blocking of certain words, such as "Palestinian." (I have also noticed that if you place something light and trivia on the site, it is added pretty immediately to the news feed for others to read. If you place something political or the least bit controversial, the gatekeeping blockers kick into gear. A positive comment I made about the Americans With Disabilities Act, which is celebrating its 20th year, took more than 24 hours before Facebook posted it. It is to say that Facebook definitely is a SOCIAL networking site, with preference of talk about picnics over talk about politics.)
• The more you sit, the shorter your life span, according to a study, which also noted that the effect is worse, percentage-wise, for women than men. (MSN on the Internet)
• The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy are soon to expire. (What are the odds that the Democrats will cave and join the Republicans on keeping the tax cuts for the rich in place?)
• Last winter was the worst in the United States since 1979. This year so far is considered the hottest ever recorded for America. (CNN)

Quote: "My husband worked all his life to feed his family. He died hungry." -- Written on a paper plate at a soup kitchen in Ohio, July 2010. (CNN)

Sherrod provides a chance for wise counsel...

A few comments about media comments and political events...

The recent editing of the Shirley Sherrod video, out of context, by the reckless conservative blogger, the firing of her at USDA, the apology and job offer to her from USDA, and the call to her from President Obama was a distracting moment of political drama. It would have been even more disappointing and disturbing, however, if Sherrod hadn't fought back, also using the media, to make her case and shed some light.

Some media people have said, in essence, that the Obama Administration probably wishes to get beyond that story and put Shirley Sherrod in the past for political expediency.

Wow, that's the wrong attitude to have. I hope President Obama is wise enough to realize the opportunities that sometimes fall awkwardly into his grasp. The greater presidents have to be the ones who care more about issues and life in America than political expediency and media news cycles.

President Obama needs to seek counsel about real-world matters from people like Sherrod. He shouldn't run from her. Instead, he should see that she has greater gifts to give to him than just going away. She has an amazing personal narrative. She is older and from the South. She is also articulate, concerned, and looks to me like a pretty nice person. Obama should embrace the real-world people he meets along the journey of his presidency and seek their advice and counsel often, networking with them, as it will do him and the nation far better service than the political hacks around him who, of late, have managed him badly.

Also, I hadn't heard much about the biased history of the USDA until the Sherrod story happened. That means that the media, particularly always the TV media, need to do a better job in covering issues rather than following scandal-driven or entertainment-driven headlines. We need to see more about how the USDA improves its conduct and those kinds of issue stories, and far, far, far less coverage of actress Lindsay Lohan, Kate plus eight, and Mel Gibson. Intregity in media is often about quality.

Two other comments:

In the story about Alvin Greene, the candidate in South Carolina, I have heard from news reports that Greene had to pay $10,000 in order to file to run for the U.S. Senate. Well, why is that so? That sounds like a poll tax to me, to keep poor people from getting on a ballot. So what if there are more names on a ballot. That's democracy. I think someone should challenge that kind of fee in court. (And frankly, I'd like to see incumbent Senator Jim DeMint in South Carolina lose to anyone.)

It was interesting to see, from a segment on the Rachel Maddow Show, that in 1947, one year before President Harry Truman integrated the military, a survey of officers and enlisted men showed only 7 percent supported the idea of integration. Nonetheless, Truman stepped up courageously to the issue and did the right thing, in ordering integration of the military despite its unpopularity. Obama should find a lesson from Truman's actions as well concerning the modern issue of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" that punishes gay soldiers for speech any time, rather than solely for inappropriate behavior during military duty. It never should be difficult to do the right thing. But even if it is, America deserves the greater good, and presidential legacies are made by vision, courage, and leadership.

News at 10...

This just in...

An American got a job today and it was so rare that scientists were called in to give the phenomenon a name. After considering "New Worker" and "Employed Person," they decided upon the phrase "Person Who Uses Their Hands To Actual Make a Product Sold in America."

An American, with long-time employment service, got a job offer today in the USDA, but only after getting fired by people who panicked and over-reacted to an edited film clip by a biased weasel of a conservative blogger who was deceptive for the sake of a darned political agenda. (Hey, wait a minute, this actually happened to Shirley Sherrod this week. It just seems too ridiculous to be true.)

The Republicans in Congress finally approved extending unemployment benefits to jobless Americans after saying they had balked because, besides the fact that they had jobs and didn't have to worry about unemployment personally--at least, until election time--they think the budget should be balanced...finally and suddenly. (Note of truth to suddenly concerned Republicans as well as Democrats: The War in Afghanistan costs $5.5 billion per month.)

Sarah Palin recently used the words "mama grizzlies" to describe tough women in politics. She considered other animals references, but "black widow spiders" kill their mates, "female elephant seals" live in harems and get trampled by larger blubbery males, and "large bovines" are sent to slaughter for their meat.

Sarah Palin "refutiated" the dictionary today.

Actor Mel Gibson ranted and raved, belittled and used profanity and racial slurs again. This time to the pizza delivery guy after the pizza parlor failed to put pepperoni on his pizza.

Rahm Emmanuel, Obama's White House Chief of Staff, accepted the "The Disastrous Wizard of Oz Power Behind the Curtain" award. The previous recipient during the Bush Administration was Vice President Dick Cheney.

The film "The Crazies" came out in DVD form this past month. But the title is misleading and it is not a documentary about the national Tea Party rallies.

Electrolytes are burning out all across the humid Midwest and South.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" marks anniversary...

As this year is the 50th anniversary of the publication of "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, I wanted to present a book review that I wrote for the Sept. 26, 1997 issue of the Mirror, the student newspaper at the University of Northern Colorado, when I served as general manager there. I had written it for "Banned Book Week" and the student editor had generously allowed for its publication. For my review at the time, I noted that it was available at UNC's Michener Library, the college bookstore, and many locations. It is available now at bookstores and libraries everywhere.

The 1962 film version, starring the great Gregory Peck, is also excellent. (It was a good year for movies with serious themes. Other films that same year included "The Miracle Worker" about Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan, "Days of Wine and Roses" about alcoholism, "Lawrence of Arabia," "Long Day's Journey Into Night," "Bird Man of Alcatraz," "Lolita" and "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?")

I could also mention a lighter moment in education one time when I asked students to tell me what book Harper Lee had written. One student responded, "To Kill A Salesman." Probably its sequel was "Death of a Mockingbird," as I realized that the student had mixed up the titles of Lee's "Mockingbird" and Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman." Needless to say, education is an ongoing process. !!!! Anyway, here is my book review...

When Atticus Finch gives his children an air rifle, he tells them that they should never kill a mockingbird. Providing beautiful music to the world, mockingbirds do no harm to anyone, he says.

Harper Lee's 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" is a story about two children and the powerful lessons they learn from their father and from the racial inequities within a small Alabama town in the 1930s. Told from the narrative viewpoint of a 6-year-old girl, the story follows a lawyer's attempt to seek justice for a black man who is falsely accused of raping a white woman. The lawyer is the narrator's widowed father. He represents justice in a town where the Southern culture has preserved its corrupting traditions of racial and class prejudice.

The book emphasizes that children are born with an instinct for justice, but learn prejudice through socialization. Respect for the individual is also addressed in the relationship between the children and the father. Throughout the story, the father's messages to his children are a constant and deliberate attempt to lift them above the community's racism. "You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them," he says to his children. He tells them to judge people by their character and not the color of their skin, which is one of the strongest messages of the Civil Rights Movement.

Another lesson in this book is about real courage. Among many instances, the novel includes a scene of the lawyer, Atticus, facing an angry, gun-carrying mob as he sits unarmed in front of the jail where his client is being held.

Author Harper Lee, a descendant of General Robert E. Lee, undoubtedly rankled white Southern readers at a time that coincided with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In more recent times, the books has drawn anger from black readers who are particularly offended by the use of racial epithets by many of the characters. Since 1980, the book has been challenged in a New York school district as a "filthy, trash novel," in Indiana schools because it "represents institutionalized racism under the guise of good literature," and also in Arizona, California, Illinois, Mississippi, and Missouri schools because of racial slurs and profanity. The book was removed from a Louisiana school library shelf because of its "objectionable content," and was banned from a Texas school's English reading list because of "conflicts with the values of the community."

Racial epithets and a few off-color words are in the novel. However, people or groups who are offended by that kind of literary license should not read the book. If they don't want their children to read the book, that is also their choice in the role of parental guidance. Yet, book-banning is another matter. It is an infringement upon the rights of every reader within the school or community. Practically speaking, book-banning doesn't work. Many of the books at the UNC Bookstore's "Banned Books Week" display are best-sellers that have reached classic status.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" is one of the leading fiction books of all time. More than 15 million copies of the book have been sold. Those who punish "Mockingbird" for its harsh wording are missing the greater lessons of how prejudice undermines justice.

After years of being edited, "To Kill A Mockingbird" progressed from a short story to a novel. Lee's fictional and somewhat biographical novel has won widespread acclaim as well as a Pulitzer Prize. Lee, like the characters of "Mockingbird," was born and grew up in an Alabama community and her father was a lawyer there. According to the Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature, Harper Lee, born in 1926, was six months away from earning a law degree at the University of Alabama when she went to New York in 1949 to pursue a literary career.

Lee's "Mockingbird," as any mockingbird, provides beauty and song within the world that sometimes isn't so beautiful. It would be terrible to kill a mockingbird. It also would be terrible to ban a book that provides many excellent cultural insights.

Obama had the progressives and independents when he was liberal in his campaign...

O.K., genius mainstream media, explain this to me.

You say that President Obama is caught in a choice, as his approval rating drops. He needs to keep his progressive base, which has been unhappy lately, and he needs to keep his independent voters, who supported him in the election but are losing faith in him now. You say that Obama has to choose to go left to the progressives or go center and right to the independents.

Well, isn't that interesting, because when Obama was at his liberal most, in his campaign and for his election, he attained both progressives and independents as voters. He attained victory then.

Now that Obama has become a president leaning to the center, he is losing his progressives and the independents. Doesn't that suggest that going to the center has been a mistake regarding both groups? If he had their support before, in more liberal days (when he was anti-war, pro-public option for health care, and tough on Wall Street), but not now, in more milquetoast days (when he adds troops to the Afghanistan War, sacrifices the public option, and accepts weak financial reform), which days should he try to reconstruct and revive in order to keep his support and win re-election?

Of course, I believe Obama's sliding downfall, in the polls and in the hearts and minds, is because, when he became president, he surrounded himself with dreary, corporate, centrist Clinton administration people. He must not have had a network of Obama thinkers, though that seems unlikely to me. Instead, he selected Clinton people who are centrist do-nothings, like Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers. He added Hillary Clinton and turns to Bill Clinton, the great sell-out (NAFTA, GATT, Don't-Ask Don't Tell policy, and deregulation of corporations), for advice. He even selected a Clinton adviser, Elena Kagan, as U.S. Supreme Court nominee and her view remains a mystery. Then there's the Clinton guy Rahm Emmanuel who has become the Dick Cheney from the Bush administration for this administration, as the power and mouth behind the throne. It has all amounted to an Obama that couldn't find his own voice and didn't have his own people--despite David Axelrod--to keep him on the progressive track. He defined himself into Bill Clinton when we really needed, expected, and hoped for a Franklin D. Roosevelt. He has listened to his Clinton advisers and they have chipped away at his brand, taking him down, not as quickly as the Titanic but like in a slow, moderate drip. If the Democrats stay the course of another Clinton administration, they will be politically doomed.

In the meantime, no one should say that Obama and his liberal policies didn't work, because he never used liberal policies. He's had centrist, moderate, weakened, watered-down, compromised policies. And if he doesn't get off that road, there's no way he will retrieve the progressives and the independents that he successfully attained during his campaign. He doesn't see it, his Clinton advisers certainly aren't going to tell him, and the genius mainstream media apparently isn't going to offer much more than wrongheaded chatter.

More tepid legislation to the rescue?...

The problem with the Obama administration is its propensity for settlement for tepid, half-assed legislation.

The health care reform measure was like that, failing to offer anything very real in reform such as a public option. I have heard no one anywhere remark about how wonderful the health care coverage in America is, because the real quality of that reform was hacked away and the insurance companies still rule the day.

The same now is true of the financial reform measure. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin refused to support it because he knows that it will do nothing to avert another economic meltdown. He also knows, as do all honest experts, that the legislation does more for the banks and Wall Street than it does for consumers or the nation. In other words, it's a placebo at best and a fraud at worst, with a nice name on it. The Obama administration again sweats bullets to get something passed with the new majority number of 60 votes, now with the help of the two Republican women from Maine and the Republican centerfold guy with the truck from Massachusetts.

Then the Obama administration expects the disappointed progressive wing of his party to praise his efforts and say, "Wow, that's really great that you were able to pass 'tepid half-assed legislation.' Wow, it is far better than nothing at all." Settlement, settlement, settlement. Crumby, tepid, half-assed. Placebo, fraud, crap.

My recommendation to Obama: Don't do it if you can't make it great (and real).

Baffled by mysteries of popular opinion...

Sometimes I am baffled by the mysteries of media, politics, pop culture and life. Here are some examples...

1. Actress Lindsay Lohan recently made the TV news and I had one question: Why? I know it had to do with court, and that's always public record, but otherwise why would we care about an actress whose work I can't even cite in terms of one memorable movie or TV show. If it were Meryl Streep or Sissy Spacek or Hilary Swank, yes, those are actresses of measure, with awards to show for it. They'd be worthy of TV air time, for the good or the bad. But Lohan? Give us a break.
2. The Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu recently met with President Obama. I heard news anchor Chuck Todd on MSNBC say, "They both need each other." Netanyahu seems like a real yahoo and not in a positive sense, if you ask me. Maybe those guys need each other in some political sense, but as for the greater picture, I can certainly see that Israel needs the U.S.; I just don't see how the U.S. needs Israel. Israel needs the U.S. for the billions of foreign aid we give them and because American religious fundamentalists would have a fit if America didn't stand by Israel even when it doesn't deserve it. On the other hand, if Israel had good sense, it would have forged peace with all of its Arab neighbors decades ago. That's the best way to a secure future. Instead, Israel has been a thorn in the side of peace negotiations and has ruled under the arrogant terms of "might makes right" and the non-Golden rule of "We treat you like we wouldn't like to be treated." America has taken a beating because of that friendship and there are two wars going on that are rooted in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Of course, the Arab countries of the Middle East add to the dysfunctional politics because they are almost all commanded by dictators (and there's no future to that) and a conservative religion that wants to dominate political law. The best thing that ever happened in America was the concept of separation of church and state, which allows people to have whatever religion they want but denies the religious pulpit from narrowly ruling the government or society. Can you imagine if Baptists or Mormons determined the course of American political law? Oh, the horrors!
3. Queen Elizabeth visited New York recently. Ironically, near the Fourth of July, the date in 1776 when America fortunately gave the rule of royalty the boot. At least the modern royalty there doesn't have any real political power. Here's the difference between the Brits and me. They like their royals. I think they are wasting their money.
4. I saw a recent news report that teens in Texas were biting each other as a sign of affection (?!!! -- I guess because there are vampires in the "Twilight" movies). So-called "tween" girls (those beTWEEN teenager and diapers, I guess) enjoy the "Twilight" book and movie series. I always think it is good if people are reading books. As for the movies, I have watched two in the "Twilight" series (the first one because I was curious and the second one because I wanted to give it another chance) and I guess I would review those movies as "dull, slow, and boring." But I have never been part of the crowd when it came to movie series sequels that others liked. For some of the most boring movies I have ever watched, I would list these series titles: "Harry Potter," "Twilight," and, probably worst of all, "The Pirates of the Carribean," as well as the series of "Star Wars" movies, with the exception of the first one which was worthy because it set a higher standard for special effects. Thank goodness some series movies have hopefully come to an end, such as the cruel Hannibal Lecter junk (the first one was worthy for acting and scare), the exhausting "Indiana Jones" action, and the repetitive Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street slasher nonsense.
5. I really like Morgan Freeman as an actor. He is in a lot of great movies. But here's something I have never figured out. CBS News is using Morgan Freeman's voice as the introduction to Katie Couric on the evening news. Freeman's voice replaced the voice of Walter Cronkite. Though he is deceased, Cronkite is still the absolute best in news anchoring and reporting. Freeman is a great actor, but he's no Cronkite, especially concerning journalism. So, why would CBS choose to replace the voice of Cronkite? Wouldn't you think they'd want to keep that association?

And that's the baffling news and bewildered commentary for this news cycle!

Information Station...

Here is some assorted news and information from various sources:

• As of July, 14 million Americans were unemployed and looking for work. Another 8.6 million Americans were forced to settle for part-time work. And another 1.2 million Americans have given up looking for a job. (CBS News)
• Recently, the U.S. senators, who make $174,000 per year and are given a lifetime of health care benefits, decided to go home for the Fourth of July vacation after Republicans, with the help of Ben Nelson, filibustered and killed a bill that would extend unemployment benefits for 1.3 million Americans whose benefits had run out. With each week that passes, 375,000 unemployed people will lose their benefits. (My personal comment: The lack of action of the Senate and particularly because of the Republicans was shameful and disgusting.) (CBS)
• British Petroleum was so well-connected in Washington D.C. that even after being cited for 760 different safety and environmental violations, it still got environmental waivers for the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that's still leaking oil and destroying the Gulf of Mexico. (MoveOn.Com)
• Lady Gaga broke the record on July 2 for 10 million "friends" on Facebook. (CBS)
• 200,000 kids get hurt every year playing soccer. Boys mostly hurt their ankles, while girls mostly hurt their knees. (TV news)
• A recent Marist College poll showed that 40 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds didn't know what country the United States of America won its independence from and one-fourth of Americans of all ages in the poll didn't know. Only seven percent could name the first four presidents in order (TV news and the Internet)
• Ninety percent of all creatures on Earth are insects. (Animal Planet)
• There are 120,000 different kinds of flies. (Animal Planet)
• "Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed." --lecturer Michael Pritchard