One Hundred Days of Oil in the Gulf

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One hundred days have passed since an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig owned by the energy giant BP killed 11 people, leaking so much crude into the Gulf of Mexico that both wildlife and marine life are threatened.

To date, federal scientists estimated that up to 218 million gallons of oil have been spilled.  Around 80 million have been either skimmed or burned off, which leaves 40 million unaccounted for.  Gee, maybe the crude just sank to the bottom, leaving untold damage to the Gulf?

Lately though, it seems as if the oil has pretty much disappeared--on the surface.  And no one seems to know why.  Could it be that the so-called "temporary" cap BP put on the leak until a permanent fix can be found is actually working?

With all that, those whose lives and livelihoods depend on the Gulf face an uncertain future.  Most beaches from Texas to Florida haven't been affected by the oil, but tourists have chosen to stay away.  And the fishing industry may take decades to get back to what is considered normal.  No amount of BP's money earmarked for Gulf residents is going to change that.

Speaking of BP's money, they lost quite a bit of it in the second quarter of 2010.  A record $17 billion, in fact.  They're going to pay a lot more than that before this is over, even if they somehow get the government to help foot the bill for the cleanup.

BP is also making a change at the top.  Tony Hayward, the CEO who was villified for looking clueless in the face of disaster, is moving on to a new job with the company in Russia and taking a reported $18 million with him.  Hayward's replacement is Robert Dudley, the first American to run BP.  One wonders if he's just window dressing to appease angry Gulf residents and government officials.

Still, things are improving in an area of the country that's seen a lot in the last few years, and will continue to see.  Thank goodness they haven't had a major hurricane to really mess things up.  Yet.

Is MN Forward Going Backwards on Consumers?

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If you live in Minnesota and have been watching TV this campaign season, you've probably seen ads for Tom Emmer, the Republican candidate for Governor.  His campaign had nothing to do with the ad itself.  Instead, it was produced and paid for by a pro-business group called MN Forward.

MN Forward is one of those corporate-funded political organizations that came along in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows such things.  And they are putting their money behind candidates such as Emmer who support their agenda.

Two of the better-known contributors to MN Forward are Target Corporation and Hubbard Broadcasting.  This creates a problem for those who intend to vote for other candidates, and might show their displeasure by not patronizing those companies--at least until after the election.  What are the options?

First, you could stop shopping at Target and switch to Walmart.  But if some of Walmart's business practices and alleged treatment of their employees leave you cold, then you can support your local merchant.  It might cost a little more and the selection might not be the greatest, but at least you're sending a message to those fat cat corporate types who dare to mess with our elections.

Hubbard Broadcasting owns four TV stations in Minnesota (not counting the repeater channels), and three radio stations in the Twin Cities.  You can avoid their newscasts (even though KSTP, Channel 5 has pledged to mention their parent company's financial contribution every time there's a story about Emmer), but try tearing yourself away from such ABC shows as "The Bachelor" or "Dancing With The Stars".

Are you a sports fan?  Then you should know that Target Field is the name of the Twins' new ballpark, and that the NBA Timberwolves play at Target Center.  Hubbard's KSTC (Channel 45) televises the Wolves, the NHL Wild and the high school sports championships, and KSTP-AM (aka 1500 ESPN) is the radio home of the Twins.

All of this points to the danger corporations face as they get more involved in politics.  They risk losing customers and TV viewers if the candidate of their choice clashes with the whims of the electorate.  But, like anything else in business, it's all about the bottom line.

We don't advocate boycotts because they don't hurt corporations all that much.  If you disagree with their politics but like their product, where does that leave you?

Lindsay and Mel: More Hollywood Drama

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Somebody once said that the rich are different from you and me.  They just have more money.  Same goes for celebrities in the second decade of the 21st century.  Except that when we hear about their misdeeds, it usually comes through YouTube and the tabloid media.  The rich (with the notable exception of Paris Hilton) do a better job of not airing their dirty laundry in public, unless the Feds come calling.  There's no TMZ for those people.

Take the cases of Lindsay Lohan and Mel Gibson, two celebrities who can't seem to stay out of trouble.

Lohan, the noted actress and reputed party girl, was arrested twice in 2007 for cocaine possession and for driving under the influence.  Now she's been sentenced to 90 days in jail for violating her probation because she failed to attend alcohol education classes.

Lohan was sentenced in '07 to 24 hours in jail.  She served about an hour or two.  This time, she'll spend a little more time in the clink.  According to reports, Lohan should be out by the first week of August.  Just in time to film her next movie.

Then there's Gibson, the actor and film director who's been known to say nasty things about gays and Jewish people.  According to the website Radaronline, he was caught on tape allegedly making profane and threatening comments in a phone call to Oksana Grigorieva, his former partner and the mother of his child.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff is currently investigating whether or not to place charges of domestic violence on Gibson.

You will recall that Gibson was picked up in 2006 on charges of driving under the influence, then making some anti-Semitic comments toward his arresting officer, who happened to be Jewish.  Gibson was sentenced to three years probation and has apologized for the incident.

If this were you or I being charged with DUI or domestic violence, we wouldn't be spending an hour or two in jail and issuing apologies.  Instead, there'd be fines and serious prison time.  The rich and famous have access to the best attorneys they can get.  The rest of us only have access to whatever legal representation we can afford.  And if you're a person of color, do I have to tell you the rest?

So whenever you hear about some Hollywood star who gets in trouble with the law, remember, it could be worse.  It could be you.

Out-Of-Context Racism Ruins a Career

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President Barack Obama may be the first African-American to hold the office, but that hasn't stopped all the racial finger-pointing from the left and right.  What happens when it ends up ruining lives and careers when further evidence proves there was no basis for it?

We have an example now in Shirley Sherrod, a Department of Agriculture official who had to resign from her post for comments she made at an NAACP gathering in March, and was posted by a conservative website.  In it, she described her initial reluctance as an African-American in 1986 working for a non-profit agency to help a white farmer in Georgia retain his farm when so many others of her ethnicity had trouble keeping theirs.  

That remark alone would have been grounds for dismissal.  It turns out, however, that the website only ran part of Sherrod's speech.  The remainder dealt with how she had come around to the view that people of all races needed help, and that the man she helped got to keep his farm.

By then, it was too late.  Fox News Channel, which prides itself on "fair and balanced" reporting, picked up the story on its website.  Their conservative commentators had harped on it for days before the rest of the mainstream media were forced to take notice.  And this was before the extra video footage surfaced.

If you want to know why the White House and the Democrats seem to treat Republicans and Fox News with kid gloves, it's because (A) GOP fundraising and conservative talk radio are great at getting their base all fired up and spending money, and (B) Fox News' ratings are far above their cable news competitors.  Even when the big story breaks, that's where viewers go.  It doesn't matter if what they report is fair or balanced, as long as it suits their agenda and people choose to believe what they're told.

Others have suggested that the Obama administration needs to work the liberal media to get its message out.  Two problems:  (1) What liberal media?, and (2) Progressives themselves aren't too happy with the President these days for not living up to their expectations.

Sherrod has gotten apology after apology from President Obama, the White House and the USDA, who offered her another job there.  It's all very nice.  But after the damage has been done, who could blame Sherrod for telling her former employer "thanks, but no thanks", hire an attorney and haul into court those who did her wrong?

Twins Midseason Report: Treading Water

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Target Field, the Minnesota Twins' new baseball palace in downtown Minneapolis, has been getting kudos from all who have been there since it opened.  Less than rave reviews, however, have greeted the team that plays there so far this season.

The Twins are currently tied for second place with the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central, with the division lead going to the Chicago White Sox.  The Twins have done OK in their new home, but are atrocious on the road.  For one thing, they just don't seem to do well against teams in the American League East whether it's the front-running Yankees, or the bottom-feeding Baltimore Orioles.

Injuries, lackluster offense and ineffective pitching have caused this team to slide from its onetime perch on top of the standings.  The Twins' two biggest stars, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, have spent time on the disabled list.  Carl Pavano and Francisco Liriano have been their only reliable starters, while the rest of the pitching staff belongs in a landfill.  But Delmon Young, Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel have been having good years at the plate.

Because of all these injuries and inconsistencies, we've been seeing players shuffle between the Twin Cities and Rochester, New York.  But that's not helping the Twins' AAA minor league team, who have the worst record in the International League so far this season.

There's been pressure from the local baseball pundits on the Twins to trade for an established starter such as Cliff Lee of the Seattle Mariners.  But these are the Twins, one of the most frugal teams in Major League Baseball in spite of a new stadium and signing Mauer to the biggest contract in club history, and the very definition of a "small market" franchise.  So naturally, they watch Lee get traded to the (bankrupt) Texas Rangers.  The Twins don't do rent-a-player, which means that what you see on the field now will likely be what you get the rest of the season.

As any baseball fan know, the season is a marathon, not a sprint.  There's still plenty of time for manager Ron Gardenhire's team to climb back in and do battle with the White Sox and Tigers.  But if the Twins don't start playing better, Target Field might become more of a tourist attraction than a baseball destination.

Vindication for Bono, Cher and Janet Jackson

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The real news from a federal appeals court's ruling that the Federal Communications Commission over stepped its bounds in policing "fleeting profanity" isn't that f-words and "wardrobe malfunctions" are now permitted on network TV.  It's that the court accepts the reality that such things are now considered socially acceptable, whether we like it or not.

The FCC, in this new media world where just about anything you wouldn't want your kids to see can be downloaded, has been trying to hold the line by levying hefty fines on broadcasters who show such things.  What they're really doing is to dumb down network TV to the point where they are fighting for survival.

Blurred body parts?  Those "Who's Your Daddy?" episodes of Maury Povich rendered unintelligible with all that bleeping?  No wonder folks have been fleeing to cable and the Internet, where the FCC has no jurisdiction.

(Maybe that's why we haven't seen much coverage of the controversy surrounding Mel Gibson's allegedly hateful comments directed at his girlfriend.  Broadcasters couldn't have run the tapes without bleeping half of the dialogue out.)

You've heard of the V-chip?  That's the device included on most new TV sets that can block certain shows and channels that might have objectionable material.  Chances are, though, that most parents don't use it.  Or if they did, the kids might have found a way to defeat it.

And no matter how hard parents try to shield their kids from the realities of life, it just keeps getting tougher.  Block the channels if you must.  But kids usually learn bad words from their classmates at school, web sites, or visiting relatives.  As for the mysteries of sex?  Repeat the previous sentence.

Nevertheless, it should be parents who set boundaries on what their offspring see or hear.  Not groups like the Parents Television Council, who criticized the court's ruling.  They need to get out from behind their Bibles, get a life and leave the rest of us alone.

The FCC will decide soon whether or not to appeal the ruling any further, preferably to a more conservative court.  They should really focus their energies on regulating the new forms of media that seem to come out almost every day, instead of telling the rest of us what we can see or hear just because children might be watching.

Remember, if you don't like what's coming out of your video screen, we say:  You have a remote.  Use it.

Midsummer Politics: Gaffes and Sour Grapes

As the August 10 primaries approach, bizarre things are happening in Minnesota politics.  But then again, bizarre things always happen around election time.

First of all, there's Tom Emmer, the Republican candidate for governor.  We don't know what kind of tipper he is.  But the next time he dines out, he should know better than to criticize the help.  Last week, Emmer said he was in favor of a "tip credit", in which hospitality workers earning tips are paid below the minimum wage.  He also made the claim that the owner of a St. Paul restaurant told him his servers made more than $100,000 a year.  That owner has since denied ever saying that.

Fast forward to Wednesday, when Emmer hosted a public meeting at a Roseville restaurant populated mainly by servers who would love to be making $100,000 a year (heck, any kind of decent wage).  Let's just say it didn't go well.  They got to hear Emmer hem and haw about his positions, and then blaming the media for blowing the whole thing out of proportion.  It got worse when a man protesting Emmer's support of Arizona's new immigration laws rushed the stage and dumped $20 worth of pennies in front of him.  Meeting over.

We don't know what kind of tipper Emmer is when he goes out to eat.  But the next time he does, he should know better than to criticize the service he's getting.

Next, there's the man Emmer is trying to replace.  Governor Tim Pawlenty recently claimed on (where else but) Fox News Channel that Al Franken owes his Senate seat to felons who voted for him in the disputed election.  Pawlenty cited a report by Minnesota Majority, a conservative group, in which they say they found that more than a thousand felons had voted illegally.

You could write this off as another bad case of Republican sour grapes, timed to mark the anniversary of Democrat Franken's being declared by the courts as the winner over incumbent Norm Coleman.  Too much time and money has been spent checking and re-checking every single vote to worry about the voting habits of convicted criminals.  So a new recount is not considered likely.

Besides, we understand Franken's doing rather well as Minnesota's junior senator so far, serving on committees and sponsoring some important legislation.  And he's been playing it straight, not resorting to the wisecracks that marked his days as a satirist and radio talk show host.  What more could you want from a U.S. Senator, no matter how he or she got elected?

Finally, there's Margaret Anderson Kelliher, who's running for Pawlenty's job as a Democrat.  After weeks of ads from millionaire opponents Mark Dayton and Matt Entenza, Kelliher finally hit the airwaves with one of her own.  Given her low profile and a mouthful of a name, one wonders if it's already too late for her to make any kind of headway with voters, even with the endorsement of her party. 

After all this, let's see if anyone shows up at the polls on a warm August day.

Legacy of a Yankee Boss

George Steinbrenner, the longtime owner of the New York Yankees, died early Tuesday at the age of 80.  Later that day, Major League Baseball played its annual All Star Game in Anaheim, California with several  million dollars worth of talent on the field.

That's just one of the many legacies Steinbrenner left behind to the Yankees and to baseball itself.  Because he stocked his team with the best players he could find, and was willing to pay them for the privilege, other teams nearly went bankrupt trying to keep up.  Not all of them could point to a stadium where legends played, money flowing from such sources as their own TV network, and one of the most important cities in the world to convince players to come play for them.

Since Steinbrenner took the Yankees off CBS' hands in 1973, the team has won 11 American League pennants and seven World Series titles.  Great players from Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson to Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter have passed through here.

But there was a flip side.  Steinbrenner hired and fired so many managers, most notably Billy Martin several times, that it became a national joke.  And he found that his money didn't always buy championships.

Steinbrenner's money also bought him trouble when it came to illegal contributions to President Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign, and to paying a gambler for disparaging information about a player.  Both times he was suspended by Major League Baseball.

But Steinbrenner was not above having a sense of humor about himself.  Witness the beer commercials he made with Martin, and as a recurring character on "Seinfeld" as George Costanza's boss (he was actually played by Larry David and filmed from behind).

Whatever you thought of George Steinbrenner, you have to give credit to him for making the Yankees consistent winners over the years, even if the ends justified the means to the detriment of baseball.  Now that legacy will be passed on to his sons as they try to create new legends in the House That Steinbrenner Built, which is across the street from what was the House That Babe Ruth Built--And Steinbrenner Rebuilt.

Spain Reigns in World Cup Soccer

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Spain won its first World Cup soccer title Sunday night, as approximately 700 million people around the globe watched them defeat the Netherlands 1-0 in overtime in Johannesburg, South Africa.

After so many memorable moments in this tournament, the final illustrated why soccer gets a bad reputation in the United States.  It was a boring, scoreless regulation match until Andres Inesta of Spain booted in the winning goal in the 119th minute of extra time, while the Dutch drowned in a sea of yellow cards.

There are three things this World Cup became known for:  Questionable calls by the referees, vuvuzelas providing the soundtrack, and an octopus from a German zoo picking winners.  Pick your poison.

Calls by officials that, unfairly or not, determined the outcome of some games drew the most heat from those who wanted to see replay brought into the sport.  But FIFA, who runs this tournament as well as much of international soccer, won't do that for the same reason baseball commissioner Bud Selig declined to do it for his sport beyond home run balls:  It's about preserving the game's integrity.  That, and the apparent belief that the rest of the world is not as technologically advanced as the U.S.  So FIFA says they'll take a more novel approach, like improving officiating.

Vuvuzelas, the South African noisemakers, have been the sound we've come to know and loathe.  They make stadiums sound like giant beehives, to the point where you wonder how all that noise affected the players.  For those of us watching on TV and chose not to mute the sound, it might put you to sleep if it doesn't make you crazy first.

The United States team made it to the Round of 16 in spite of a fluke goal, lack of offense and those aforementioned missed calls.  They lost to Ghana in the second round, but the best thing they did was to make their fellow Americans sit up and take notice that soccer can be compelling too.

Thanks to the Americans' performance, TV ratings for the World Cup on ESPN and ABC were way up from previous years.  But so did the ratings for hockey during the Winter Games in Vancouver.  There's been no halo effect for Major League Soccer or the NHL, so it must be an Olympics thing.

Also, ESPN improved its coverage by having British voices such as Ian Darke and Martin Tyler call games.  Even though both of them came off sounding like Mike Emrick, who called NBC's Stanley Cup playoff coverage, American announcers could learn a few things from them.

But the Spaniards are the champions of world soccer, just like Rafael Nadal rules the tennis courts, Seve Ballesteros and Sergio Garcia in golf, and Pau Gasol helping the Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA title.  They have the next four years to prove it wasn't a fluke.

King James Chooses a New Throne

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The months and years of speculation over where a certain superstar free agent basketball player, who has yet to win an NBA title, will play is finally over.  LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers has made his decision.  He will be playing for  . . .drumroll please . . . the Miami Heat.

Those of us who watched on ESPN and sat through nearly a half hour of talking heads and commercials (profits allegedly going to the Boys and Girls Clubs.  How sweet.) before we got to James' little announcement found it rather anticlimactic.  See, the network had tipped us off hours before that James was going to South Florida to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh (who just fled the Toronto Raptors), creating the NBA's latest Big Three that could threaten to dominate pro basketball for years to come.

Imagine what would have happened if James had chosen to stay in Cleveland.  We would have felt like we were ripped off, cheated, over our time being wasted like this.  All those suitors vying for LeBron's services--the Heat, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets--and he chose to stay home?  With all that fame and fortune awaiting him, why would he want to do that?

But back to our regular universe.  The Heat will become an NBA superpower rivaling the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics (who curiously didn't get in on the bidding), while the Cavaliers will be reduced to the level of teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, dependent on lottery picks and having a hard time selling good players on the benefits of playing in a city like Cleveland.

Regardless of how much money James and the other newly-signed free agents can wheedle out of their teams, storm clouds are on the horizon.  The NBA's collective bargaining agreement expires after this coming season, and chances are real good that the owners might lock out the players.  That happened over a decade ago, resulting in a shortened schedule.  Future free agents might not be so fortunate.

Now that LeBron James has decided to move his kingdom south, we can have our lives back.  That is, until Brett Favre decides whether or not he wants to play football this year.

Will The Political Circus Return to Minnesota in 2012?

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Minneapolis is one of four cities the Democratic party will pick from to host its 2012 convention, the one where President Barack Obama might be nominated for a second time.  Also in the running are Cleveland, St. Louis and Charlotte, NC.

You'd be forgiven for wondering why the Twin Cities would want to host another political shindig so soon after the Republicans left town in 2008.  For one thing, it was St. Paul that had the honor of hosting Sarah Palin's coming-out party.  But TV viewers, weaned on years of watching sports telecasts, thought it was in Minneapolis.  This time, Minneapolis wants its own shot at glory, having not hosted a convention since 1892.

The main venue for the convention  might be the Metrodome, now that it no longer has baseball.  But what if the Minnesota Vikings succeed in getting a new football stadium, which would likely be built at or near the site of the Dome?  Well, they could always sign a short-term lease once they get Legislative approval.  Or they could be in Los Angeles by then.

Another question mark has to do with the political climate.  In the last few presidential elections, the road to the White House has gone through Ohio and Florida because of their large bloc of electoral votes.  This is why the GOP has already picked Tampa, Florida for its next convention, and why the Democrats are seriously considering Cleveland.

Minnesota has 10 electoral votes, which went to Obama in '08.  But if Governor Tim Pawlenty has a serious shot at the GOP presidential nomination, that could change.

Besides, do the Democrats really want to saddle Obama or whoever it nominates with a losers' image?  Certainly they're aware that Cleveland's sports teams haven't won a championship since 1964, and its fans have endured a lot since then.  Now they're waiting on pins and needles to see if LeBron James signs with another NBA team.  At least there's still the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But that's just Cleveland.  St. Louis is in Missouri, another swing state for the Democrats, as well as being much closer to Obama's hometown of Chicago.  Charlotte is the longest shot in this group because North Carolina is considered GOP territory.

Whichever city the Democrats choose will face a myriad of challenges in terms of venues, accommodations for delegates, security, etc.  The Twin Cities have already done that once before, and they're hoping to get another chance to do it again.

Knowing When To Sign Off

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Nothing lasts forever.  Not even cable talk show hosts and local TV news anchors.  Here's two more examples of those who chose to get out before they're put out to pasture.

The King of Cable Talk Relinquishes His Throne

Larry King began on CNN in 1985 after a successful run as an overnight host on the Mutual radio network.  To date, he's done at least 50,000 interviews in his 53-year career in broadcasting, talking to presidents, entertainers, sports figures and people in the news.  Now King says he's hanging it up in the fall, though he says he'll still do specials.

It's no big secret that King's (and CNN's) ratings have taken a nosedive ever since Fox News and MSNBC surged ahead with partisan talk shows starring the likes of Sean Hannity and Rachel Maddow.  Nor are the recent headlines in the tabloid media detailing problems between King and his seventh wife Shawn, though they have reportedly patched things up.

There's been talk that King's replacement might either be Ryan Seacrest or Piers Morgan, two non-journalists who have made their name in reality TV.  Or maybe CNN should forget about competing with the other guys and just schedule another news hour.  It's the least they could do instead of trading in one embarrassing talk show host (Lou Dobbs) for another (Eliot Spitzer).

Another Anchor Bites The Dust

Cyndy Brucato has become the latest Twin Cities TV news anchor to sign off.  She's leaving KSTP, Channel 5 in September after the Minnesota State Fair ends to return to her communications business, and to spend some time with her father.

Brucato was teamed with co-anchor Stan Turner in the 1980s during the glory years of what is now "5 Eyewitness News", ruling the TV ratings before KARE, Channel 11 came out of nowhere to dethrone them.  Then KSTP spent the next two decades playing musical anchor chairs while their ratings were spiraling downward, to the point where today they're in fourth place.

Brucato left the station during the 1990s to work as chief of staff for then-Governor Arne Carlson of Minnesota, a Republican.  She returned to KSTP in 2004 during another of their anchor upheavals, and the numbers started improving--at least for awhile.  In recent years, she's been relegated to anchoring the 6:30 p.m. news.

People are wondering if, given the current state of local TV news, "elder statesmen" such as Dave Moore and Don Shelby will be allowed to continue being anchors.  For women, unless they've Botoxed themselves to death, that's even less likely.  Viewers (and male TV executives) apparently like their female news anchors to be young and smokin' hot.  Like the rest of TV, experience matters less than what you look like and how young you are.  For Larry King, Cyndy Brucato and others in their situation, that seems to be the bottom line.