News at 10

This just in...

A sequel to "The Walking Dead" is in the works. It will be called "The Walking Republicans." The plot of TV series is that heroic survivors will have to defend themselves against creepy Republican zombies with old, dead ideas.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has a bridge story he'd like to sell you.

Someone named Mitt Romney showed up at a Republican meeting of sassy and gloomy, rich Republicans and no one knew who he was.

After a history of water fights, Senator Marco Rubio got into a struggle with Sarah Palin over her Big Gulp drink. Rubio was very thirsty.

What does CPAC stand for? Well, how about Conservatives Peek Around Corners. Or, maybe, Conservative People Are Cranky. ???

The Stock Market recently hit record-breaking levels. Rich people were jumping for joy again. Some of them even thought it might be nice if President Obama and Congress focused on helping the middle class now by adding work projects and infrastructure jobs. They even may hire some more workers, after they pay their CEO huge bonuses.

Costco pays good salaries and benefits to workers and let's them unionize. Wal-Mart doesn't. People all over the nation are anxious for a Costco to come to town. In most places, there's a building already big enough to facilitate them--if Wal-Mart will move out it.

Concerning the $2 trillion that the Iraq War cost America, it was estimated that if every American man, woman, and child had to pay an equal share of the war cost America, each person would have to pay thousands of dollars. Said former President George W. Bush, "Well, if they added dogs, then the share would be lower." Said former Dick Cheney, "And if they added cats, it would be even lower."

This week's CBS Sunday Morning "Moment of Nature" was a scene of lobbyists stampeding toward a Congressional hearing.

Hollywood has announced that the fad of reality TV shows may finally come to an end. Apparently, all of the Louisiana swamp people have already been featured. There's nobody left who has long beards and wears bib overalls, unless they hire actors for the role. But the reason they went to reality TV shows in the first place was so they wouldn't have the expense of real actors. It's become the circle of life.

Obamacare (aka Baucuscare, aka Romneycare) apparently had 400 bugs concerning its website debut. Several cans of bug spray were used.

What's the plural of TV series? Serieses or seri? It needs one.

"Baby fingers" is the new name of the latest nano cell phone and texting device because that's what you're going to need to be able to text. It also has a screen for watching movies that's the size of an ant's you-know-what. But, wow, "Lawrence of Arabia" has never looked so epic.

Be aware that a drone the size of an ear wig bug is coming to an ear near you.

Be aware that if a pizza or a book drops on your windshield from the sky, it is still better than a drone dropping on it.

You will want to get one of those driver-less cars so you can watch movies and play video games in the backseat. Teenagers will use the backseat for other activities.

The reality show "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels" has been renewed for another season. This week, former basketball star Dennis Rodman climbs out on a branch of a North Korean tree.

The Best of 2013...

Happy New Year, everyone! It's 2014 and I am glad to be writing again, after a long hibernation. A grizzly bear woke me up, so it's time to write again. Hope you are all fine. Here are the Sage Street blog recognition for 2013, as I provide my best and worst categories....

BEST TV SHOWS TO WATCH--"Castle," "Major Crimes," "Longmire," and (because it can get depressing, be sure to have a big bowl of ice cream afterward in order to upswing your mood) "The Walking Dead."

BEST TV NEWS SEGMENTS--CBS Sunday Morning feature stories, CBS "On the Road" segments with Steve Hartman, PBS NewsHour segments, PBS Frontline reports, PBS American Experience programs, Morgan Spurlock's CNN program about guns, and Sanjay Gupta's CNN program about marijuana called "Weed." Honorable mentions: Melissa Harris-Perry Show segments, Ed Schultz Show segments, Rachel Maddow Show segments, 60 Minutes segments particularly featuring Scott Pelley, Fareed Zaharia's GPS show, Anderson Cooper 360 program and later night group discussions, numerous other MSNBC programs, CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, ABC Weekend News with David Muir, NBC Evening News with Lester Holt, and the McLaughlin Group.

DISAPPOINTMENTS: Reality shows (just a continuously awful TV genre), History Channel for too much reality stuff, chatty morning "news" shows that are really about pop culture, and Sunday morning news programs with dull talk by anchors, hacks and pundits, such as Meet the Press, (with the exception of CBS Sunday Morning show and the Melissa Harris-Perry Show). And please no more Wall Street movies with the usual greedy characters, the cynical anti-hero TV shows, anything Star Wars or Hobbit, Fox News, nutty gun culture, anything that has to be "set up" in order to be enjoyed (and that means technological stuff), the informational or promotional crap at the bottom of the TV screen that prevents viewers from seeing the entire picture of what's going on, inane social media, and any more girl singers who think they have to do a Madonna and draw attention through stunts rather than just rely on their talents.

BEST MOVIES: "42" about Jackie Robinson, "Lincoln," "The Impossible," "Jack the Giant Slayer," "World War Z," "Life of Pi," "Argo," and "The Way, Way Back."

ACTORS AND ACTRESSES TO WATCH--Sandra Bullock, Stana Katic, Nathan Fillion, Sam Rockwell, James Franco, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Claire Danes, Andrew Lincoln, Melissa McBride, and Garrett Hedlund.

BEST DOCUMENTARIES: "Blackfish," "Conscientious Objector," "My Flesh and Blood," "A Place at the Table," "The Power of Forgiveness; The Karla Tucker Story," Jeremy Scahill's "Dirty Wars" about use of drones, and "Bridegroom."

BEST BOOKS: Wyoming Almanac (sixth edition), "A Life of Barbara Stanwyck" by Victoria Wilson, "David and Goliath" by Malcolm Gladwell, "Dinner with the Smileys" by Sarah Smiley, "The Bully Pulpit" by Doris Kearns Goodwin, and "Defending Jacob" by William Landay.

PEOPLE TO REMEMBER (who died in 2013): Helen Thomas, Julie Harris, Jean Stapleton, Nelson Mandela, and Peter O'Toole (especially in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips").

PEOPLE OF THE YEAR nominees: Elizabeth Warren (for real progressive leadership), Robert Reich (for progressive insights), Bill de Blasio (for showing liberals how to win on issues), Michael Bloomberg (for his effort in organizing mayors against guns), Pope Francis (for showing churches and politicians that populism and caring about the poor garners popular support), Edward Snowden (for whistleblowing and showing the over-reach and waste of agencies like the NSA and CIA), Jeremy Scahill and Glen Greenwald (for their investigative journalism work), Barack Obama and Joe Biden (when they stay to the progressive left as their voters wanted), Malala Yousafzai (for her courage), Nelson Mandela (for showing leaders how to set "George Washington" leadership examples for democracies, a lesson that Morsi of Egypt failed to understand), Tina Fey (always clever and funny), Dolly Parton (for her gifts of books to children), Malcolm Gladwell (for his interesting insights), Mark Udall (for his progressive stances), and Ralph Nader (for his ongoing progressive stances).

"PERSON OF THE YEAR" winner for 2013: Elizabeth Warren, for giving hope to the middle class and poor with her populist, progressive leadership.

The trouble with guns is that they kill...

There was an interesting and troubling cover story in a recent Time magazine about Olympian Oscar Pistorius and the culture of violence (and guns) in South Africa.

Lots of people in South Africa are fearful of crime, which is likely related to high levels of poverty, as half of the population earns less than $65 per month. So, people there buy guns in hopes that they will be safe. Pistorius lived in a fortified mansion... in a rich, white neighborhood with electrified 8-foot security walls, barbed-wire, and guarded security forces, and still he kept guns and was fearful of burglaries.

South Africa has a high crime rate and is ranked as the fourth most inequitable country. It is sixth in gun homicides, after Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, and the United States.

Pistorius had a lot going for him--inspirationally rising about the obstacle of a disabiity, gained worldwide fame at the Olympics, and had a beautiful model in his bed. And while the details are murky, at guilty worst, Pistorius deliberately and violently killed his girlfriend. And, at guilty least, he fearfully but unintentionally killed his girlfriend.

But, because he had the guns to do it, he was apparently mindset willing and ready to kill whoever was beyond the bathroom door--whether that meant a dangerous criminal out to hurt him and his girlfriend or a foolish teenage burglar with no intent to harm people. Because someone was in the dark (I don't know where light switches play into this story) and on his property and he was fearful and he says he didn't think it was his girlfriend and one major addition--he possessed guns--, he felt the need to kill the intruder, not look first or threaten or even wound them.

And whether an act of guilt or accident, it was still a violent response, a life-changing reaction, a crutch mentality about faith in guns as an answer...and he will have to live with it for the rest of his life.

The Year of 2012...

The Sage Street Award recipients for the year 2012 are...

Best Event of the Year: The re-election of President Obama and Vice President Biden. Though Obama sometimes seemed lackluster and likely to lose, especially because of the high unemployment rate, the alternative choice of Mitt Romney and the Republican Party/Tea Party was horrifying and apparently uniting for the 2008 Obama voters who stayed the course. It was a transitional election moment, shifting the nation to the left and reaffirming progressive ideas. Runners-up: The Summer Olympics, the presidential and primary election debates (the debates of the Republican candidates were eye-openers about how extremely conservative--and out-of-touch--those candidates seemed).

Worst Event of the Year: The mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut in December. It shocked the nation. It abruptly altered the seasonal mood of joy to tears and reflection. I think and hope it has awakened sensible people, including hunters, to the need for gun restrictions, including bans on assault rifles and large ammunition magazines, and a need to stop encouraging a gun culture, which includes video games and movies. The runners-up in this category were Hurricane Sandy, which hit New York, New Jersey, and the East Coast and brought a new realization of the concern about climate change and the July mass shooting in an Aurora, Colo. theater, killing 12 people and dozens of others. When two of the worst events in America in a year are mass shootings, it says that America has a gun violence problem.

Best Movies (of the ones I saw, which means they could have been produced in previous years): "A Better Life," "The Artist" (which was the Academy Award best picture of 2011-2012), and "The Three Stooges" (the new version with actors impersonating the original Three Stooges). Runners-up: "Being Flynn," "Prometheus," "I Am Four," "Carnage," "Midnight in Paris," and "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter."

Best TV Shows: "Longmire" and "Falling Skies." Runners-up: "The Walking Dead," "Hell on Wheels," "Saturday Night Live," "Merlin," and "Wipe-Out."

Best News Programs: "The Rachel Maddow Show," "The Melissa Harris Perry Show," "The Ed Schulz Show," "60 Minutes," and "360 with Anderson Cooper."

Best Documentary: "The Dust Bowl" (PBS).

Best Discoveries That I Enjoyed: The writing of journalist/author Sanora Babb, the writing of poet/author Nick Flynn, the music of William Brittelle.

Books Most Enjoyed: "An Owl on Every Post:" by Sanora Babb, "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City" by Nick Flynn, "Hedy's Folly, The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr" by Richard Rhodes about actress Hedy Lamarr and her inventive brilliance in developing "frequency hopping," "Pete Seeger and the Power of Song" by Allan Winkler, and "Cody's Cave" by Phil Roberts.

Best Songs I Heard for the First Time: "The Color of Rain" by William Brittelle, "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals, and "Tongue Tied" by Grouplove.

Best Website: The Delta at mvcdelta.com, Amazon.com, Netflix, National Geographic.

Best YouTube Video: "Where the Hell is Matt 2012" about a guy named Matt Harding who dances with groups all around the world.

Leaving a Great Legacy (some amazing people who died this year): Former U.S. Senator George McGovern (the first presidential candidate I ever voted for) for standing consistently for progressive ideas and working to reduce world hunger; actor Andy Griffith for the gentle, quality comedy of "The Andy Griffith Show;" Andy Williams for the song "Moon River" and other standards; Neil Armstrong for being the first man on the moon; U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii; and Donna Summer for "Last Dance" and other disco songs.

Biggest Losers of the Year: Mitt Romney for flip-flopping all over the place; for being pulled like taffy to the right by the Tea Party crowd; spending a billion dollars to lose the election; unable to rationalize Mormonism to the rest of the nation probably because, like numerous religious dogmas put under a microscope, it seems utterly unbelievable; and for the lasting image of a mistreated dog in a carrier on the roof of a car. Runners-up: Actor Clint Eastwood for his embarrassing rant of a conversation with a chair at the Republican National Convention; defrocked bicyclist Lance Armstrong; Donald Trump (not sure what he is but he's on TV too much and is incredibly arrogant); and the NRA for its reckless, selfish advocacy in support of guns without reason and also not thinking about the greater good of the culture.

Person of the Year nominees: Oscar Pistorius (inspirational Olympics runner), Melissa Harris Perry (host of her MSNBC show), Vice President Joe Biden who seems consistent in progressive ways, Ken Burns (for the excellent PBS documentary "The Dust Bowl"), Ralph Nader (consumer activist), Bob Costas (for hosting the Olympics and his statement about the need for gun control that was even prior to the Connecticut school shootings tragedy), record-holding skydiver Felix Baumgartner; statistician Nate Silver who predicted correctly the outcomes of how every state's population would vote in the presidential election, Elizabeth Warren (new U.S. senator from Massachusetts) and Julian Castro (San Antonio, Texas, mayor and Democratic Convention keynote speaker). Note: Biden, Warren and Castro look like potentially great and impressive future U.S. presidents to me.

Person of the Year: President Barack Obama (which was also Time magazine's "Person of the Year") for achieving a second term in office. Stay progressive please.

My praise of George McGovern

   With the death today of George McGovern, the former U.S. senator from South Dakota and a Democratic presidential nominee, I remember fondly that I was one of the 18-year-olds in 1972 who first got the right to vote in a presidential election and I cast my first vote for McGovern. It was a proud moment for me that has never diminished over the years.

   Well, that was also the year of the Nixon landslide, though two years later Nixon would resign in disgrace. But the initial election victory of the criminal (Nixon) over the decent man (McGovern) taught me a lot at that young age. It taught me that the American majority is not always correct. It taught me that bad can win over good but that good has a greater, longer role which usually leads to vindication (as it did with McGovern). It taught me that I should follow my beliefs, based on a lot of reading and research, which often are contrary to notions of the crowd. And it means, to the woe of some of my friends at places like Facebook who prefer less political and social-issues talk, that if there's a forum, I can't self-impose silence over issues or matters that I care about.

   Look, I went through a time when a criminal defeated an honorable and decent man and my nation was at stake. It would be horrible to not speak up.

For Father's Day...

There are many great moments I can think of concerning my parents. As this is Father's Day, I think one moment involving my dad would be the traditional aspect of a father steadying and running behind a boy on a bicycle for the first time. I learned to ride a bicycle on my older brother's tall, heavy bike. I was too short, my legs weren't long enough to jump down to secure a stance stop without receiving some male pain because there was a long bar at the top of its frame. So, if I needed to dismounted, I would have to angle it into a stop and often it was so heavy that it would fall and crunch my skinny bones. It was no small banana-seat bike. So, to learn to ride on it posed real threats to pain, but great trust that it was achievable. Thus, support was crucial. I can still see my father running behind me, keeping me balanced until I figured how to do it and took off down the alley in Worland, Wyo., in solo flight. And really, though I only understood it later, that scene was a metaphor for where my father would be for the rest of his life and for decades of my life--supporting me, standing behind me, helping me to get to my destinations. His name: Leslie J. Roberts, 1915-1989. Happy Father's Day!

News at 10...

This just in:

"Mitt Happens" is a bumpersticker slogan that the Romney campaign won't be using on the campaign trail. So, also are "Bain Is Our Bane" and "We'll Take You for a Ride Like a Dog in a Cage on the Top of A Car." But "Spit for Mitt" is still being considered, especially for NASCAR and rodeo events.

Democrats are wondering if the Obama Administration has any job creation programs. An Obama spokesman seemed perplexed. "I thought we were part of the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party, with the Clintons and Geithner. I didn't think we had to care about Main Street jobs for regular Americans."

What about the better health care systems in European countries? Republicans say that's socialism. What about the lack of capital punishment in European countries? Republicans say not to be like Europe. What about the failed austerity measures attempted by the conservative European leaders? Republicans say, hey, we need to try that, too.

In the latest attempt of the audacity of austerity, Congress is cutting budgetary assistance for orphans.

Evangelicals got very confused and started protesting against restaurants for serving BLTs. An educational effort is under way to inform them that GLBT means "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered" while BLT only means "bacon, lettuce and tomato" and refers to sandwiches. Hopefully, they will calm down.

Donald Trump appears to be just as stupid this month as he was months and months ago. And he's still on TV, too.

Mount Rushmore has given inspiration to a group of  business developers who would like to carve a mountain into completely obscene images. It could be a big tourist attraction and really help the economy, said I.M. Rich. "Just ask the French if they'd like to visit the Grand Tetons."

A billionaire is the only donor for a PAC that wants to promote term limits for U.S. Supreme Court members.

What we'd like to hear at least once on TV: "I'm Morley Safer. I'm Lesley Stahl. I'm Steve Croft. I'm Charlie Rose. I'm Bob Simon. I'm Anderson Cooper. I'm Lara Logan. I'm Scott Pelley. I'm Chicken Little and the sky is falling. Those stories tonight on 60 Minutes."

Mitt Romney recently released not only his birth certificate, but also the Mormon Church's baptism certificate for Anne Frank. 

Barack Obama "evolved" on the issue of accepting the idea of gay marriage. However, Joe Biden was heard saying, "But I evolved first." Romney "evolved" when he was governor of Massachusetts, but since he's been running for president, he's reverted to "Neanderthal." Rick Santorum doesn't believe in evolution or birth control.

In agreement with Mitt Romney's statement that "corporations are people," Exxon Corporation and a Texan named Chuck were married in a Las Vegas chapel.

As well as the privatization of the space industry, private companies are also getting into the business of selling drones. "It's fun to watch the neighbors in their backyard from the clouds and then swoop down and scare the crap out of them," one happy customer said.

Las Vegas bookies are taking bets on who has the greater moral authority: the Catholic bishops criticizing nuns for radical feminism or the nuns who actually help people in need. Oh, do you really have to think about it?!

In this week's episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels," football quarterback Tim Tebow tebowed for nuts.

The approximation of a smile

Facebook as a stock share probably means it will need to become more commercial. Becoming more commercial is why I left eBay and watch less movies and TV. Now it is rare for my e-mail to include a personal letter, but there is a whole herd of commercial spam. I don't tweet because being terse and limited in word count makes sense to me mainly for cussing. My hope for my electronic life is for connecting with others, enjoying creativity, and finding nuggets of knowledge, news, or interesting discussion. Sometimes it is about the search, journey, and discovery. But it is also about having the patience not to de-friend Frankenstein. With a constant fear of being hacked and other sordid technological mysteries and miseries. And the reality is that the electronic world has to contort punctuation in order to offer the approximation of a smile.

Information Station

Here are various items in the news or in my thoughts for this week...

As a study, I listened for and noted any time that Twitter was referred to as a source within TV, as I surfed many channels for one week. I heard only one reference. It concerned a "tweet" from reality TV star Snooki concerning her "baby bump." (And I do dislike the replacement of the word "pregnancy" with something that sounds like it came from a TV reality show, which I also dislike.) Anyway, I don't know what this says about Twitter, but it would make a fascinating graduate study about the times that other media forms use the social media of Twitter and if it is about serious news or celebrity chatter.

I have not joined the Twitter world yet. I tend to think the restriction of words mainly only makes sense for headlines or for cussing.

According the Rock the Vote organization, 13,000 young Americans turn 18 years of age every day.

Another statistic: About 600,000 students drop out of high school every year.

Another statistic: Being terminated from your job can take one year off your life, according to a recent study.

What creature has killed the most people in history? According to the History Channel, the answer is mosquitoes.

For the first time in American history, minority births (at 54 percent) outnumber white births. But does that mean then that everyone becomes part of a minority group?

When Kim Kardashian, Rhianna, and Justin Bieber end up on Forbes magazine's Top 10 list of the Most Powerful Celebrities, it does make me realize how unfair life is. And that luck is an underrated commodity.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made $20 million in one day when Facebook offered shares of stock this past week. Apparently the rich 1 percent were the ones who had early access to buying shares. (The rich 1 percent always need an edge to help them out.) But 57 percent of Facebook users apparently never click on ads or sponsored messages.

Not all social media stories end with great success. Rupert Murdoch purchased MySpace for $580 million, but later sold it for $35 million.

Over the last 100 years, only two names for babies have remained in the top 10 of popular baby names in America (and they are both for baby boys). The names are Michael and William.

A reality show on Spike TV channel is called "Repo Games." It is about this guy who quizzes frazzled people (who need their cars) about trivia. If they answer the trivia questions correctly, he won't repossess the car. !!!

A SyFy channel show called "Total Blackout" puts contestants in total darkness and they must identify objects with only their senses of touch or smell (not sight). It was amusing to hear this one lady screaming like crazy when, in her imaginative mind raising all kinds of fears, she had to touch the rough texture of a pineapple. Scary!

Why the bully mentality matters...

   The psychology of a presidential candidate is always interesting and can be important in how America functions inside its borders as well as with the rest of the world.
   A recent story in the Washington Post noted a long-ago incident involving Mitt Romney at his private high school. Apparently, Romney led a group of boys who took down another boy and used scissors to cut off the boy's longer hair.
   As some people have noted, kids can do some stupid things in high school. Even in college, too. And it doesn't mean they would ever do similar acts again...Or does it?
   I think too often people get forgiving boys and girls for youthful immaturity mixed up with trying to understand why they did it in the first place and how their personality, which they carry on into adulthood, is impacted by their actions and thoughts. Yes, it is forgivable to do stupid things as a kid. But, on the other hand, if they carry forth their mentality as adults, that's not so forgivable. If the teen is a bully, what are the chances that he will be a bully as an adult? Is there a reality for that connection?
   I recently read an article that noted that, for his campaign, Mitt Romney seems to lack the personal narrative of defending differences and thus standing up to the larger group. This is interesting because Romney is a minority when it comes to his Mormon religion. If anything, from this campaign alone, especially in dealing with evangelicals and conservative Christians within his own political party, he must realize the pressures that confront a minority group.
   But religion is a little different than the more appearance-based aspects of other minorities, particularly ethnic minorities. A person can have very different thoughts and beliefs but still blend in, through traditional appearance, and camouflage that kind of minority status.
   Romney comes from a conservative religious background. Conservative religious groups tend to celebrate conformity, not differences. The socialization is about being part of the group--Being like-minded, but also sameness in appearance and probably like-groomed and like-fashioned for acceptability.
   Thus, in the high school bullying incident, Romney apparently felt driven to assault some high school teen who dared to look different, as the boy with the long hair was an affront to the socialization of Romney's world.
   So, what does that say about Romney today, 50 years later?
   One lingering curiosity I would have is if any of the sons of Romney ever had long hair or looked the least bit different from one another. But that's personal and part of the family dynamics, so that's private and affects them but not the American public.
   More interestingly is Romney's comment on the campaign trail that he "likes to fire people." Hmmmm. Now who, even as an employer, would say that and use the word "like" with firing people from their jobs? Most employers I know don't find the matter of terminating an employee to be an enjoyable task. The loss of a job is going greatly harm someone's economic condition, whether they deserved the job loss or not. If a boss likes doing that, it rather fits the bully mentality.
   And why is the bully mentality something America needs to avoid at all costs? For one reason, it can mean a disrespect for people or groups perceived as different, which is contrary to the good ideal of diversity in America. That can impact social issues.
   Even greater, the bully mentality tends to surface particularly in the actions of war. I think that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney had "bully mentality" issues of personality (which often also is a sign of insecurity). When secret prisons arise and the word "enhanced interrogation" becomes part of the national conversation and it's real meaning is "torture," then the bullies are in power and setting the agenda.
   And another grave consequence for America was two, long wars.

The Year 2011...

On the last day of 2011, here some notes about 2011 and then the annual Sage awards for the best and worst of the year...

Interesting Travel for 2011: I traveled to Turkey, with my brothers and sister-in-law, in July, with first-time stops also for me in Germany, Canada (in Vancouver), and Seattle, Washington. In Turkey, we visited Istanbul, Izmir, and Yenipazar. And back in Wyoming, I was able to visit my aunts and uncle, all whom are in their 90s. For the college in April, I traveled with other faculty members by train to Chicago for the Higher Learning Commission conference. With the Delta newspaper students at the college, I also traveled in April to Springfield, Mo., for the MCMA convention. During the Springfield trip, we enjoyed a national performance called "The Aluminum Show." All were great trips!

Most Interesting Project at the College: Working in the summer with an amazing student named Amit Jain who designed and created the Delta Online newspaper website, the first for Mass Communication at the college.

Another Digital Book: With my other digital e-books on Amazon.com of "Sage Street" and "The Wolves and Short Stories," I added just this month "News At 10," a compliation of "This Just In" columns from this blog.

Most Interesting Professional Moment: I was pleasantly surprised to receive the John McCallum Excellence in Teaching Award at the college. It is voted upon by administration, deans, and past recipients, with nominations from fellow faculty. With it in May came months of drafting my speech for the Convocation ceremony in September. It went well and people said they liked it.

O.K., now for the Sage citations of best and worst....

Best World Historical Moment: The "Arab Spring" uprising that started with Tunisia and continued to Egypt and Libya, as people cast off dictators and claimed their right to democracy. It is still a work in progress, but it is a hopeful sign for a better world for all.

Best U.S. Historical Moment: The homecoming of the American troops out of Iraq for the end of the Iraq War this month. Finally!

Worst National Problem: Unemployment. It is still too high. People need good jobs. Other nominee: The Afghanistan War, another quagmire. (An awful national event was the Joplin, Missouri, tornado.)

Terrible World Disaster: An awful world event was the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, followed by the nuclear plant leaks. (I don't think I had ever seen such devastation in a string of ongoing horrors.)

Worst Scandal: The Penn State University football program's child sex abuse scandal, said to be the worst in U.S. sports history. Terrible problems were exposed by the so-called "Paterno culture" concerning college sports.

Most Irritating Line: "To take America back," uttered mainly by Tea Party people. Backward would be the correct definition of it.

Best Books read in 2011: "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass, read for yet another time and "American Massacre" by Sally Denton about the Mountain Meadows massacre, the worst civilian massacre in the 19th century. (I enjoyed reading both books as a class book club reading with students in the Basic News Reporting class.) Other nominees: "The Amateur Emigrant" by Robert Louis Stevenson (read on a plane to Turkey), "The Colonel and Little Missie" by Larry McMurtry (read on a train to Chicago), "Quarrels That Have Shaped the Constitution" by John A. Garraty, "Polio, An American Story" by David Oshinsky, and "Moments, the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographs" by Hal Buell.

Most Amazing TV moment: When Anderson Cooper of CNN and his camera crew had to run from thugs who were unhappy about coverage of the Egyptian protestors in Tahrir Square in Cairo.

Most Amazing TV Feature moment: The "60 Minutes" segment by Lara Logan about the mountain climber Alex Honnold who doesn't use safety ropes and scales cliffs with just chalk-covered fingers and strength. Amazing!

Most Awkward TV moment: When Texas Gov. Rick Perry forgot his campaign rhetoric and then just made it worse by trying, unsuccessfully, to remember. I was embarrassed for him, but glad to see his campaign sink like a rock because of his poor debate performances.

Most Entertaining TV Reporters to Watch: TV reporters who were drenched by hurricanes. Always entertaining to see wet and wind-shoved TV reporters.

Best TV program: "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC. I watched it regularly throughout the year and was greatly informed. Other nominees: "Nightline" for interesting news segments on ABC; "Saturday Night Live," though some shows were better than others; "Hell on Wheels" on AMC; "Haven" on the SyFy channel; "Prime Suspect" on NBC because actress Maria Bello is great and provided an interesting character; "Merlin" on the SyFy channel; "Glee" for the musical performances on Fox; "Teen Wolf" on MTV which I stumbled upon while channel-surfing in the summer and was pleasantly surprised by the scary elements with a good ensemble of characters; "60 Minutes" for continued reliability; "CBS Sunday Morning" for interesting feature stories; "The Ed Show" on MSNBC, "the McLaughlin Group" on PBS; "Anderson Cooper 360" on CNN; and "Wipeout" for being so strange as a contest with witty banter; and many programs, such as Frontline and musical performances on PBS.

Best TV Actress and Actor: Maria Bello (Prime Suspect) and Anson Mount (Hell on Wheels).

Best Network: PBS. Other nominees: MSNBC, History channel, Animal Planet channel, SyFy channel.

Worst TV programs: The many reality TV shows. When will that trend end?

Watched with Mixed Emotions: I watched all of the Republican presidential debates, because I thought I should, being in journalism and as they were part of history. But, wow, it was difficult and aggravating at times, leading to believe that this crop of Republican candidates (with a bunch of Tea Party types) is the worst selection I have ever seen.

One Appreciated Moment from Republican Candidate Mitt Romney: When he said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer just today that he watched and enjoyed Laurel and Hardy and the Three Stooges.

What I Didn't Watch (historical moment or other): Not one minute of the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Not one minute of "American Idol" (in fact, I never have seen it).

Most Under-Reported Subject: The military's drone program, wherein apparently drones are killing more civilians than terrorists.

Most Used Website: The Delta Online. For a national one: Probably Facebook. Other nominees: Highereducationjobs. com, Journalismjobs.com, Mandy.com, Amazon.com.

Best Song discovered in 2011: "Tonight the Streets Are Ours" by Richard Hawley. Other nominee: "Ah Leah" by Donnie Iris.

Best Movie seen in 2011: "My Boy Jack" about Rudyard Kipling's son and WWI. Other nominees (seen through Netflix DVDs): "Howl" about Allen Ginsberg's controversial poem with drama and illustrative art mixed interestingly; "Get Low" with performances by Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek; "Devil" which was scary; "Monsters" for the way the couple's relationship developed as they traveled space alien-infested territory; "Triage" with Colin Farrell; "Prayers for Bobby" "Skyline," "Clash of the Titans (2010 version); "Vanishing on 7th Street," "A Shine of Rainbows (with might have been an Irish movie)," and "The Disappearance of Alice Creed" for twists and turns.

Best Foreign Movie seen in 2011: "Fateless" with memorable scenes in a story about a Polish Jewish boy during the Holocaust. Other nominees (also seen through Netflix): "Even the Rain" about a film in Bolivia about Christopher Columbus while residents fought for water rights; "The Devil's Backbone," "Kisses," "El Bola," and "Swimming Upstream" about Australian Olympic swimmer Tony Fingleton.

Best Documentary seen in 2011: "A Day in the Life" about clips from videos taken on one day July 24, 2010 around the world. Other nominee: "Exit Through the Gift Shop" about a graffiti artist. (Previous great documentaries in this category have been "The Tank Man" which is probably the best I have seen; "Two Days in October" based upon the book "They Marched Into Sunlight;" "Born into Brothels," "The Conscientious Objector;" "Pete Seeger, the Power of Song;" and "McLibel.")

Best Magazine: History magazine. Other nominees: Mother Jones, Country, Intelligence Report (of the Southern Poverty Law Center), the Amnesty International magazine, and Mules and More.

Other Sage nominees for Person of the Year: Elizabeth Warren, candidate for U.S. senator from Massachusetts who speaks so eloquently for the middle class and poor; Ralph Nader, consumer advocate who continues to be correct on the issues, most recently about the problems of money and college athletics; Gabrielle Giffords, U.S. Congresswoman who survived a terrible assassination attempt; mountain climber Alex Honnold for his amazing skill and fearlessness; and Barack Obama, U.S. president for ending the Iraq War and sounding more like the candidate with the liberal ideas that most of us voted for.

Sage Award Person of the Year: This year, Sage Street agrees with the choice of Time magazine's person of the year, which was the "protestor." The Sage Street blog editor proudly accepts the award, in being a long-time protestor on many issues and levels over the years. But the award actually goes to all of the freedom and rights protestors of 2011, especially those in the "Occupy" movement and the "Arab Spring" democracy protests.

News at 10...

This just in:

The Republican presidential candidates held yet another debate and not any of them were arrested for "occupying" the stage for too long.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum was seen in Iowa throwing a big tantrum--stomping his feet and waving his fists--saying he still hadn't had a turn to lead in the national polls.

The Time magazine cover for "Person of the Year" was the generic protestor, symbolic of the "Arab Spring" protests and "Occupy Wall Street" protests. A scratch-and-sniff spot in the magazine provides a whiff of pepper spray.

Hot-air balloonist Donald Trump withdrew from moderating an upcoming Republican debate after most presidential candidates fled from it faster than you could say "You're fired." Trump said he only regretted that he didn't have more opportunity to say the title of his goofy reality show in every sentence uttered about the debate.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's new "Contract With America" is that he promises not to cheat on his third wife. Gingrich is almost 70 years old, so Americans really don't want to know if he cheats, even if he cheats. New rule for 2012: Teenagers and people older than 70 never talk about sex. Not ever!*

*Caveat: In the world of the Paterno Culture, it is okay and important for kids to talk about sex
-- To the grand juries.

WikiLeaks has revealed the Secret Service name for Republican presidential candidate Michelle Bachman. It is "Scary Eyes."

As a result of the effort by some people to see that Christ is not taken out of Christmas, another effort is under way to see that "ho," as in "ho, ho, ho" is not taken out of Happy Holidays.

The U.S. troops are coming home from the Iraq War after 9 years; more than 4,400 U.S. soldiers killed; more than 32,000 U.S. soldiers wounded; more than 115,000 Iraqi civilians killed; and more than $1 trillion in war costs for America. With the exception of Ron Paul, all of the other Republican presidential candidates think U.S. troops should stay longer there. !!!! Probably all of those candidates sacrificed little, if nothing, in the war effort and even got big tax cuts when the war costs made the federal budget deficit soar.

A new silent movie called "The Artist" is getting rave reviews and Academy Award chatter. It probably won't win sound editing awards.

The U.S. Supreme Court, which had declared that "corporations" are "people," recently provided a 5-4 decision that "people" aren't "people."

This week's episode of the reality show "Celebrities Chasing Squirrel" features the Kardashian family in an "Alvin the Chipmunk" song segment about hula hoops.

News at 10...

This just in...

Someone finally got a job in America. Unfortunately, it was Chelsea Clinton, taking a job as a correspondent for NBC away from an actual, real, qualified journalist.

The Republican TV debate about foreign policy on CNN competed with the commercials for excitement. Newt Gingrich has become the non-Romney candidate this week. A commentator referred to Ron Paul as the "last hippie" for his anti-war and marijuana stances. Herman Cain and Blitz Wolfer were there. Michelle Bachmann had a strange look in her eyes (okay, she always has a strange look in her eyes). Gov. Perry didn't Alamo-massacre a statement, fall asleep, or forget where he was. And no pepper-spray was used. Not even on the audience.

I don't get it?! It took one brief yell in a high-tech microphone (that was supposed to drowned out other sounds) to end the campaign of Howard Dean in 2004, but look at all of the political gaffes that this year's slate of presidential candidates have gone through...and they are still going. It's enough to wear-down the Energizer bunny, but they still keep going. Gov. Perry has enough money to run until he's at least at 8 percent again. Herman Cain can't go much beyond 9-9-9. And Rick Santorum stays on the debate stage because it gets him out of the house and something to do. Wow, times have changed!

After the presidential campaign, the next stop for some of the candidates is likely the "Dancing With the Stars" TV show. Watch for Gov. Perry to square-dance, Michelle Bachmann to waltz around the stage, and, for some real eye-popping ratings, Rick Santorum as the first guy to be paired with a male dancer.

First Jenna Bush and now Chelsea Clinton, NBC has hired presidential daughters as TV personalities. The Obama daughters are also in negotiations at other networks, possibly replacing Brian Ross and Sanjay Gupta.

In the CBS "Sunday Morning" show's "Moment of Nature," presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is seen eating a donut.

You know you are getting old when you have no idea what the claim to fame is for the "Saturday Night Live" guest hosts.

Penn State University will be the setting for a new series of commercials for eye glasses called "Turn a blind eye." The series will not include shower scenes.

Modern definitions...The Paterno culture: A culture where a nation is ranked first in sports, but 17th in the world in science education.

Second definition...The Paterno culture: A culture where the highest paid federal employee is not the President ($450,000), not the Speaker of the House ($223,000), not the Senators ($174,000), certainly not the deployed soldier ($38,000) or the average senior citizen living on Social Security ($12,000), but rather is...pep band drum roll...yes, a football coach. Or three of them--the Army, Navy, and Air Force football coaches (one and probably a second making more than $1 million).

Third definition...The Paterno culture: A culture where the highest paid public employees in most, if not all states, are university football coaches.

Fourth definition...The Paterno culture: A culture where it takes five years for a reporter to request, through the Freedom of Information Act, the amount of money that the Penn State football coach makes annually.

Students engaged in recent peaceful protests at UC-Davis in California were pepper-sprayed by the police. A Fox News anchor said the pepper spray was probably diluted. No, Fox News anchors are diluted.

With all of the attention paid to pepper-spray by police on "Occupy" protestors, the Republicans in Congress are now trying to classify pepper as a vegetable for school lunch menus.

It was reported that tear gas used by the Egyptian military on pro-democracy protestors in Cairo was made in America. That's pretty amazing, because just go to a store on the Black Friday shopping day and try to find anything else made in America. How did the American tear gas industry keep from getting moved to China?

This week's episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels" involves a segment of New York Mayor Bloomberg chasing the squirrels out of a park. The mayor also had his police force chase protestors out of the park. The city parks are designated for homeless people and derelicts.

11/11/11...

As this is 11/11/11, I thought I should write something profound, profane, or prophetic.

1. "Don't be picnicking in Yellowstone Park when the volcano goes off."


2. "The phrase 'Oh, hack it' will be obscene one day, according to the super-computerized robots."


3. "I enjoyed living in a world where there were bees, whales, and helium."


4. "Janet Jackson will sing again at a Super Bowl half-time."


5. "I predict that, by 11/11/2111, every time your finger presses your nose, your brain will refresh your thoughts."


6. "I'm sorry for the plastic bag that I threw away today." (I read that a plastic bag will stay in the environment for 1,000 years.)


7. Humor lasts a long time.

News at 10...

This just in...

President Obama proposed a jobs creation plan. But it may be just a bit too radical for the Republicans, as it proposes the construction of highways and schools. Said one angry Republican congressman, "That smacks of something that President Eisenhower would do." (Historical note here: Eisenhower was a Republican, but that was back when Republicans were sane.)

It was no surprise...Gov. Perry plays poker, former Gov. Romney plays "Hearts," and Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann plays "Slap Jack."

During the recent Tea Party presidential debate, the audience applauded the death penalty and letting a 30-year-old die if that person didn't have health insurance. They also applauded air pollution, global warming, child labor, chastity belts, non-regulation of rancid meat, drowning of witches, and fences with razor-wire.

At the Tea Party presidential debate, CNN's Wolf Blitzer failed to ask the "evolution" question. You know, the question that asks if the candidates reject the theory of evolution and then all the Republican candidates hold up their hands, and the rest of us then wonder if either they are lying to pander to their wacko religious base or they slept through every science class in junior high, high school, and college. Blitzer, with the first name of Wolf, was the perfect one to ask it, since all dogs come from wolves and, Wolf, that's evolution!

Regardless of evolution, wouldn't it be blasphemous to credit (or blame) God for creating poodles? !!!!

To help the ratings and draw a viewing audience, the next gathering of the Republican presidential candidates won't be on CNN, but instead will take place on the TV show "Wipe-Out." Michelle Bachmann will dodge wet sponges when she isn't dodging the truth. Rick Perry will have to sink or swim in a pool of water and uncertainty, and Mitt Romney will have to jump over a big round ball and Newt Gingrich. But there will be no tango dance number by Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, because that's another TV show concept. All of the candidates will have to plunge down a water slide.

Just because Lady Ga-Ga wears a meat dress doesn't mean Justin Timberlake can wear a beef jerky suit.

Because Congress wants to cut deficits rather than save jobs and provide services, there will now be one post office per state. Please drive to your state capital to pick up your mail.

When the United States stands virtually alone in vetoing the United Nations proposal for giving Palestine "observer status," it will be interesting to see how the U.S. suggests that Palestine return to the peace negotiations with Israel, when it hasn't solved much in 20 years. But, hey, somebody has to support Israel in this time of the so-called "Arab Spring" of developing democracies in Middle Eastern countries before Israel becomes completely irrelevant in the region. Struggling against democracies, that promote freedom, tolerance, and peace, is just not the same as struggling against dictatorships.

This season of "Dancing With Pseudo-Stars" includes the guy who was on the "Love Boat" for two episodes; the author of the book about the mystery of Obama's birth certificate; someone who once worked for Enron; and a dancing polar bear.

The popularity of Twitter is now being challenged by Cusser. Every user gets just four characters to express vulgar intent.

The next episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels" involves Dick Cheney plugging his lousy book, not in the branches of government but instead in the branches of a poplar tree.

Remembering the dreadful 9/11 decade...

On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, it seems like the past 10 years, which could be called the 9/11 decade, have been rather dreadful for America.

Sept. 11, 2001 was a horrible day. I can't think of any other national moment where, as a TV viewer, I was able to watch the ongoing terrible tragedy. We were glued to the TV sets, listening as news anchors and reporters attempted to fill in the gaps of informaton, watching the smoke from one of the World Trade Center towers, then the appearance of a second large plane hitting the second tower, then the collapse of both buildings. The plane attack on the Pentagon building and the plane crash in a Pennsylvania field meant that a massive terrorism attack had been coordinated against America.

The stories of heroism and sacrifice by people ranging from the fiirefighters and other emergency response people at the sites of the attacks to those on the United flight who stormed the plane cockpit to try to end a hijacking and to thwart a diabolical plan are truly amazing and inspirational.

Of course, America had experienced moments of terrorism before, particularly the home-grown variety, with the terrorism of the KKK in the South all through at least half of the 20th century and the violent attack by a monstrous renegade on a federal building in Oklahoma City. Certainly, the attack on Pearl Harbor by the nation of Japan prior to WWII was a jarring national moment leading to war, as was the case with 9/11.

While a quick U.S. military response to dislodge and punish the Taliban government in Afghanistan for its accommodation of al Qaida bases and the Osama Bin Laden terrorists seemed appropriate, the military reach then went beyond the mission, reaching into Iraq to topple a dictator and then back into Afghanistan, to prop up a weak leader, all with the steady drumbeat of fear. Fear was the biggest winner in the 9/11 decade and was that what the terrorists wanted?

The result has been two seemingly endless wars, thousands of U.S. soldiers as well as Iraqi and Afghan civilians killed, and huge expenditures in defense spending (from the monthly billions in war expensive to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security to the massive increase in war contractors and war profiteers).

There were more problems and troubling issues over the decade, such as the hopefully short governmental embrace of torture, thanks to moronic leaders like Dick Cheney, who turned the higher moral ground of a democracy on its ear and made me, many other Americans, and the rest of the world wonder what had happened to the American conscience. There were secret prisons and the use of rendition. There was political demogaguery to exploit fears at every turn, rampant from politics to the media.

Then there have been the effects on the "homeland," a term that the Bush administration brought into the American lexicon but a term that I have always disliked as it has a "Nazi Germany" ring to it. America is my country. I care about what happens to my country, just as I care about what happens in the world.

Because of one criminal with explosives in his shoe, we all now take off our shoes at airports and go through the "naked" scanners and let the security officers bark at us and feel our bodies through our clothes, as though that's the expectation for air travel. (We have one unemployed person...No, wait...100,000 unemployed people...No, wait...1 million unemployed people...No, wait...14 million unemployed people in our country and what do we do collectively to end that problem? Is it because fear apparently isn't part of how people and politicians view unemployment?)

My fears are somewhat different from those of politicians on a debate stage. When I look out into my college classes and see the honorable ROTC students in their military fatigues, I fear for them. Will they have to go to a pitifully unstable place like Afghanistan or Iraq, and be part of what looks to be as hapless a military adventure as the Vietnam War was but longer? I fear for those students because I am not sure if American political leaders and even true military leaders command those wars or if instead the wars have become a business venture for the benefit and profits of contractors within the military industrial complex. When there are more contractors on the ground than there are soldiers...when the contractors are paid 10 times what the soldiers would get for the same work required...I seriously wonder, and dread that 9/11 has reached beyond now a decade. How long will those wars go?

Bin Laden never believed that his militia was capable of defeating the American military. The numbers and weaponry and budgets would never make it so. But he saw the American reach as similar to the old Soviet reach and hoped it would break us financially as it had done to the Soviet Union. And in 2008, he lived long enough to almost see the collapse of the American economy, probably saved from a great depression by a huge expenditure (and debt). It took nearly 10 years to find bin Laden, who was then killed. So, a person who advocated violence came to a violent end. There's a lesson for the world.

As for 9/11, there were many heroic stories that need to remembered.

Following the 9/11 tragedy, there have been some encouraging aspects. Hopefully, the American network of law enforcement is working better together for coordinated security. And I recently saw a report about how the better construction of buildings could at least prevent a towering building from collapsing. The report noted that if a plane had flown into a building like the Empire State Building, with its better foundational and cement structural support from the older days when buildings were made tougher, it would have been unlikely for the building to collapse. So, it might cost more to make stronger buildings, but, especially for skyscrapers that are at risk from planes, internal fires, earthquakes, or other problems, the safety for people is worth the expense.

As I hope nothing happens in a "terrorism" way today on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 to elevate a renewed fear and its consequences, I also hope America can escape the fears and traps of the dreadful 9/11 decade.

News at 10...

This just in:

TV reporters are getting soaking wet and wind-blown from standing outside as Hurricane Irene arrives along the East Coast. A hurricane is a terrible event, but it really is fun to see the pretty TV people drenched by rain and trying to stand up in a mighty wind.

Rick Perry, governor of Texas who is running for president, was recently accused of doing a bad George Bush impersonation.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney says that corporations are people. And sometimes churches are corporations. And then catsup is a vegetable. And some leather shoes are cows.

A guy from Wyoming wondered why people in hurricane paths are concerned about 50 mph winds. "It's that windy every day here," he said, walking at an angle.

An American got a job recently and President Obama took his Canadian-produced bus to go shake the guy's hand in hopes of keeping the Stock Market from dropping like a rock.

Obama's advisers said sometimes Obama has been so far to the right that he's angered his liberal base. But his advisers think that's okay and they advise him to anger more of his liberal base so that he can compromise with Republicans and produce more mediocre legislation, even if it means his base will abandon him and he ends up with only 100 votes (the votes of his advisers). But his advisers advise him that that's okay. Nothing like good advice to make a president successful.

TV reporters are getting drenched from standing outside and covering the hurricane news. Newspaper journalists, who get to stay inside because they don't have to rely on dramatic visuals on video, are dry, but still a bit windy.

If Gov. Rick Perry doesn't win the Republican nomination or the U.S. presidency, he will return home to Texas to consider becoming potentate when Texas secedes from the union.

Counseling services, like the one run by presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and her husband, came under fire recently when a straight man complained about counseling services to "cure" people from being gay. Said an angry straight man, "Why do gay people get all of the services? It's discrimination! Where are the counseling services for a person who wants cured of being straight?!"

TV reporters are still out in the hurricane weather, getting soaked by the rain. The TV ratings have been so good that some networks have decided to spray their TV reporters with water from garden hoses while they give the news, whether there's a hurricane in the area or not. The drama of a pretty person in a windy down-pour is just too darned good to limit it to just times of rain and wind.

This week's episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels" includes a remarkable segment about a squirrel saved in a hurricane by a valiant, but well-drenched TV reporter.

A TV reporter during the hurricane was seen hugging a tree with his legs flopping parallel to the ground. He was advising people to stay inside because it was too rainy and windy. He said, "Some people don't have enough sense to come in from out in the rain."

My advice about his advisers...

President Obama ought to fire all of his advisers and start over. The Clinton people and his friends from Chicago didn't do him a bit of good. He should start over, as it still might not be too late if he decides to be a real progressive, and he should look for advisers who read about FDR.

Otherwise, we need a new presidential candidate from the left (who really is from the left).

(Update: The same evening that I placed this blog entry, an Obama adviser was on TV, telling the news anchor and the audience of watching Americans that Obama has so tried to compromise with the Republicans on issues that he has even made his base unhappy. Wow, the Obama advisers are actually using the dissatisfaction from Obama's own base to promote the idea of compromise, as though any person from the right is going to vote for Obama. Newsflash: The people on the right don't give a rat's whisker about Obama's move to the middle or even to right. They aren't going to vote for him next time. Period. And if Obama doesn't keep his base and maintain his base since after all they are the ones who elected him, those goofy advisers can take him out of the oven because he's done, his goose is cooked. Wow, brain-dead advisers. Obama, for the love of the country, get rid of them and become the president you said you'd be as candidate.)

Ralph Nader was correct...again...

Ralph Nader was right, again.

He wanted to forge a third-party alternative to the corporate Democratic Party. He put his reputation on the line, taking considerable criticism, in hopes that something from the left, like the Green Party, would have at least a say at the table of American politics.

Democrats, even the progressive ones, were slow, or completely unable, to grasp the importance of an alternative party.

Their enthusiasm about finally achieving a "liberal" candidate named Obama apparently was based on false hopes. Saddled with a lackluster and corporate two-party system, America has suffered the consequences.

And ironically, it was the outrage and action of people from the right, unhappy with the corporate Republican Party, that actually spawned results in the form of the infamous Tea Party. Though it is only a minority group, it still has power and clout within the Republican Party and thus on the national stage.

Too bad it wasn't the Green Party minority from the left having the influence.

Fourth of July, 2011...

The memorial report on PBS for July 4, 2011 of American soldiers killed in war (all in Afghanistan) noted the following eight men:

Riley S. Spaulding, 21, of Sheridan, Texas (Army)
Nicholas S. O'Brien, 21, of Stanley, North Carolina (Marine Corps)
Jason D. Hill, 20, of Poway, California (Marine Corps)
Michael W. Newton, 30, Newport News, Virginia (Army)
Mark A. Bradley, 25, of Cuba, New York (Marine Corps)
Gustavo A. Rios-Ordonez, 25, Englewood, Ohio (Army)
John F. Farias, 20, of New Braunfels, Texas (Marine Corps)
Donald V. Stacy, 23, of Avondale, Arizona (Army)