Lessons Learned In 2011

Image via WikipediaIn 2011, we learned that . . .

• just because the economy is improving, it doesn't mean you are.
• Osama bin Laden, Muammar Gadhafi and Kim Jong-il may be gone.  But American citizens can still be poked, prodded and sent away to prison in the name of defending the "homeland".
• in the spirit of Howard Beale, people around the world are taking to the streets and shouting "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it any more!" at governments and the economies that run them.
• Washington (and some state capitals) has become a "no compromise" zone.
• women politicians are just as capable of losing their jobs due to alleged sexual shenanigans as their male counterparts are, and have more to lose because of it.
• being the beneficiary of a controversial jury verdict doesn't mean you can be allowed to live in peace.
• one man can have an effect on his company, and leave behind a legacy of products people never knew they wanted.
• no secret is safe, now that even classified documents can be put online.
• for all their rantings about being part of the 99%, some liberal commentators take home salaries worthy of the 1%.
• tactics used by some British tabloids make the American media's methods of getting the story seem tame by comparison.
• we didn't know who Kate Middleton was before she married a king in waiting, and we still don't.
• the world's climate may be changing, but the debate about it isn't.
• what didn't kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords only made her stronger.
• the space shuttle entered the final frontier--history.
• Minnesota can still produce politicians that make Jesse Ventura look good.
• Sarah Palin and Donald Trump didn't run for President.  But the Republicans had plenty of characters who did.
• Russia's Vladimir Putin is not a lock to win another presidential term.
• Neither is President Barack Obama.
• the use of technology behind the wheel can be just as deadly as getting drunk.
• wars end when you least expect them to.
• in Japan, disaster came in threes.

Class resumes January 1, 2012.

Minnesota's GOP: Pot, Meet Kettle

Image via WikipediaOne year ago, Minnesota Republicans were riding on a national wave of electoral triumphs, promising tax cuts and shrinking the federal deficit in a faltering economy.  They captured both houses of the state Legislature, and would have had Tom Emmer as its Governor if Democrat Mark Dayton hadn't won the recount.

Now the Minnesota GOP is a party in shambles.  In the waning days of the regular Legislative session, they dithered with things like the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage instead of working on the state's massive budget deficit, which eventually led to last summer's government shutdown.  The party is a million dollars in debt after its bombastic chairman Tony Sutton resigned.  Currently, there is no credible Republican challenger for Democrat Amy Klobuchar's U.S. Senate seat.  And Emmer, who currently co-hosts a morning drive talk show on KTCN (AM 1130), was recently turned down for a teaching position by Hamline University.

What is most surprising (and a bit disturbing) is the sudden fall of State Senator Amy Koch of Buffalo.  She had to resign her position as Senate Majority Leader because of what is termed as an "inappropriate relationship" with a fellow staffer.  Michael Brodkorb, who was on Koch's staff, was also fired.

What is meant by "inappropriate relationship" has so far been shrouded in secrecy and legal mumbo-jumbo by those in the know, pending an ethics investigation.  One figures either the state GOP doesn't want the public to know how bad it really is, or they're just plain embarrassed.  Respecting people's privacy is one thing.  Obfuscating the truth is quite another.

Koch, who still plans to serve out her term and is not running for re-election, has publicly apologized for her actions.  She still has a lot of explaining to do with her family (she's married with a daughter) and her colleagues.  If she chooses to share her predicament with the public at some point, then that's her (and her attorney's) call.

These developments have made Republicans look like hypocrites going into the 2012 elections.  All that talk about lower taxes, ethical government and family values tends to blow up in their faces when something like this happens.  But this isn't really news to anyone who follows politics at the state and national levels.  It is also true that all this might be forgotten by the time November rolls around.  Remember, power is an aphrodisiac.  You can get burned if you get too much of it.

Country Gives Lite FM The Boot

Image via WikipediaSanta's leaving a late Christmas present for Twin Cities country music fans.  On December 26, WLTE  is replacing its annual holiday music marathon with Buzz'n @102.9, providing competition for K102 (102.1 FM), which is now the top-rated radio station in town.

A new staff for Buz'n will soon be hired, which means that those who worked for WLTE will soon be joining the multitudes at the unemployment line.  Just in time for Christmas.

WLTE, owned by CBS Radio, had been a light rock station for three decades, playing the hits of Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand and Phil Collins.  Then it went from music for the dentist's office to music that more resembled a Top 40 station--Neil and Barbra, meet Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.  Ratings suffered.

For months there was speculation on what direction WLTE would take.  Would it stay adult contemporary?  Would it start simulcasting with WCCO-AM (830)?  Or would it be something else?

Ultimately, the choice was country, which was no doubt influenced by the presence of Mick Anselmo.  He's a local CBS Radio executive who used to run K102 as one of the premiere country stations in America, before owner Clear Channel let him go.  Now Anselmo's competing against himself.

As further proof that this is not your grandparents' country music, both Buzz'n @102.9 and K102 are going for the same audience:   Young women who love Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert, and Rascal Flatts and Lady Antebellum.

CBS is not planning a call letter change for WLTE at this time.  But it should be noted that the handle for K102--KEEY--has been in use since the 1970s, when it was a beautiful-music station.

Frankly, K102 needs a little competition.  It's been at least a decade since another major station took them on (and no, Bob 106.1 doesn't count).  The question that must be asked is:  Can the Twin Cities support more than one country music station?   We should know the answer in a few ratings books.

UPDATE:  Seems the folks at CBS couldn't wait to unwrap their new present.  Buz'n @102.9 took to the airwaves on Christmas night.  And it's just been announced that the new call letters are KMNB, which means that if some other station wants to go Lite, WLTE is there for the taking.

KIm Jong-il: The Not-So-Dearly-Departed Leader

Image via WikipediaKim Jong-il, the North Korean strongman who held power for nearly two decades, has died at 69.  The government, whose job it was to embellish the legacy and legend of the "Dear Leader", said he had a heart attack while traveling on a train.

As dictators go, Kim Jong-il was standard issue with a few wacky touches. While his citizens starved and dissidents were either tossed into prison or killed, Kim Jong-il lived a life of luxury.  He ate well, had an absurdly low round of golf, and loved Hollywood movies to the point where he had thousands of them on DVD.

There are two reasons why Kim Jong-il was taken seriously by the rest of the world:  (A)  North Korea lies in a dangerous part of the world where a state of war with South Korea still exists, even though there hasn't been fighting in almost 60 years.  The United States has thousands of soldiers along South Korea's side of the 38th parallel.  (B)  The possibility that North Korea has nuclear weapons.  Despite claims of using nuclear power for energy needs, suspicions remain that they've built a weapon or two to use on Seoul, Tokyo, or even an American west coast city.

Adding to it is the fact that North Korea and its government is so isolated and secretive, one never knows what's really going on.

Kim Jong-il's handpicked successor is his son Kim Jong-un (apparently, his other sons were not deemed worthy).  Not much is known about him, except that he's in his 20s and is rumored to be a bit of a hothead.  Remember that attack last year on a South Korean sub?  That was believed to be his doing.

Some world leaders have expressed hope that a more moderate North Korea might emerge under Kim Jong-un, while others are more cautious.  Because the New Leader is so young and inexperienced, he may be under pressure initially to keep things the way they are.

Since he's presumably going to lead North Korea for a long time to come, Kim Jong-un might develop a taste for wine, women and movies just like his old man did.  And he can also watch his country's population shrink as they slowly starve to death.

All-American Bigotry

Image via WikipediaSome of you may have noticed a new show on the TLC channel.  It's about families in a Detroit suburb trying to make their way through life as normally as possible, even though their religion and culture is quite different from ours.  It's called "All-American Muslim".

This show would have settled in quite nicely with the rest of TLC's reality lineup, which includes shows on families with multiple kids, children competing in beauty pageants, style-challenged women who get makeovers, and--oh yes--"Sarah Palin's Alaska".

But then came the Florida Family Association, another one of those conservative Christian groups who make names for themselves by attempting to dictate the morals of everyone else.  They have called for a boycott of of "All-American Muslim", because it dares to put a lifestyle on TV that they don't agree with.  (The group has also complained about the ABC sitcom "Modern Family" for similar reasons.)  It's not so much that FFA objects to seeing Muslims in a positive light after years of being portrayed in TV news reports as terrorist thugs.  Instead, it sounds like they don't want Muslims on TV, period.

So far, two companies have pulled their advertising from the show, which is due to resume in January:  home improvement superstore Lowe's and travel website Kayak.com.  Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons has announced that he would buy whatever ad time the two companies gave up.

North Carolina-based Lowe's, the second-largest hardware chain in America behind The Home Depot, has more than 1700 stores nationwide, and has put its name on a speedway outside Charlotte that hosts two major NASCAR races a year.

Civil liberties groups have called for a boycott of Lowe's.  But is that really a good idea in this economy?  With so many people struggling to hang onto their jobs along with a terrible housing market, why should Lowe's employees pay for the stupidity of their corporate bosses?  Oh wait.  That's already happening every single day, which is the reason why we have Occupy Wall Street.

What the Florida Family Association has succeeded in doing (besides calling attention to themselves) is to turn "All-American Muslim", a show that some critics believe is mediocre, into a cultural phenomenon.  TLC couldn't have asked for better publicity than this, as they anticipate a big audience for the show's return in January.  Meanwhile, there are thousands of people of the Muslim faith who just want to go about their business and not be lumped in with the ones who gave them a bad name.  Good luck with that.

Saturday Night's All Right For . . . Debating?

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeWith a few weeks to go before Iowans go to their caucuses and New Hampshirites go to the polls, six of the remaining Republican presidential candidates went after each other in yet another debate, this time at Drake University in Des Moines.

This debate was televised by ABC, which was only the second one of these to be seen on broadcast TV.  The other one was on CBS a few weeks ago, and also on a Saturday night.  Since Saturday prime time has become a dumping ground of reruns and college football where Jackie Gleason and "All In The Family" once aired, many of you may not have noticed there was a debate on.

But there was, with ABC News' Diane Sawyer (who once worked for President Richard Nixon) and George Stephanopolous (who was part of President Bill Clinton's administration) asking the questions to a group of Ralph Kramdens and Archie Bunkers.

Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who's certainly no Edith Bunker (or is she?), had the line of the night in characterizing Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney as "Newt Romney", as if they were a celebrity couple combining names.  Bachmann wasn't far off the mark, either, with both of them about to suck the life out of the GOP nomination.

Former House Speaker Gingrich, the new front-runner in the polls, took heat for his stands on replacing janitors with school children, and for referring to Palestinians as an "invented people".  He also inferred that Romney's career as a politician might have been longer if he had defeated incumbent Edward Kennedy in the 1994 Massachusetts U.S. Senate race.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, inadvertently reminded everyone that he might as well be Thurston Howell III.  He tried to make a $10,000 bet with Rick Perry concerning his (ever-changing) positions on health care, but the Texas governor declined.  After all, who but Romney has $10,000 to burn?

Perry's still trying to live down his gaffes.  He made a campaign ad bashing gays and President Obama while boasting about being a proud Christian, which got a record number of "Dislike" votes on You Tube (previously set by Rebecca Black for her "Friday" video).  And he got the number of Supreme Court justices wrong, as well as flubbing Sonia Sotomayor's name.  Well, that's not as misleading as asking 21-year olds to vote for him on November 12, 2012.

The most applause lines of the night went to Texas congressman Ron Paul.  Considering he's a libertarian whose biggest support has come from college students (this was Drake, after all), it wasn't all that surprising.  What's scary is that he's making more sense than the other GOP candidates combined.

The next real debate will be Thursday night, and will be seen on Republican-friendly Fox News Channel.  The one after that, starring Donald Trump as moderator, might not take place as scheduled two days after Christmas.  Most of the GOP candidates, with the exception of Gingrich and Rick Santorum, have decided to take a pass.  Gee, I wonder why?

Once the votes have been cast in Iowa and New Hampshire, we should have a better idea as to which one gets to face President Obama next fall, and which ones get a one-way ticket off of "Fantasy Island".  Or is that "Gilligan's Island"?

Herman Cain: No Longer Able to Run

Image by TalkMediaNews via FlickrThere's still a logjam of candidates running for the Republican presidential nomination.  But Herman Cain has decided to join Tim Pawlenty and Donald Trump on the sidelines.  Cain says he's suspending his campaign in part because of all those sexual harassment allegations that keep popping up in the media, claiming they have hurt his family and his fund raising efforts.

Cain has become the latest politician to have his past come back to haunt him, interfering with his present aspirations.  The last straw was a woman named Ginger White, who told WAGA--Atlanta's Fox affiliate--that she had a 13-year affair with Cain which recently ended.  It was different from all the other women who claimed that unflattering comments and certain body parts were involved, but it was still proof that Cain might have some explaining to do with his wife.

Other than that, the former pizza chain executive didn't have much experience at campaigning, and it showed.  He didn't seem to have much grasp of the issues that any other candidate needs to have, and it showed.  But he's great at catchphrases such as "9-9-9", and for his amazing ability to promote himself.

For a brief period, as polls showed Cain running neck and neck with Mitt Romney for the lead, people actually began taking him seriously.  Now Cain can go back to selling his book, which must be what this whole campaign thing was about in the first place.

With Cain out, this is the remaining GOP field going into Iowa and New Hampshire:  Romney the flip-flopper that conservatives are running away from, Newt Gingrich the front-runner that Cain has reportedly endorsed, Rick Perry and his memory lapses, and Michele Bachmann's tendency to speak before she thinks.  We haven't even mentioned Rick Santorum, Ron Paul or Jon Huntsmann.  Should we?

You know that song about sending in the clowns?  Don't bother.  They're already here.