2014: Letting It Go

English: Singer/actress Idina Menzel outside the Today Show studios following an appearance and performance promoting the release of her debut Warner Bros album "I Stand." (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The U.S. and Cuba are reestablishing diplomatic relations after more than 50 years.  Is it an admission that Communism will survive the Castro brothers?  The biggest stumbling block to any lifting of the embargo contains the words "requires Congressional approval", and that's not going to be easy.

The Sony Pictures hacking scandal, which resulted in the movie "The Interview" being pulled from release, only proves that making a comedy about killing the real-life leader of a real country wasn't such a bright idea after all.  Or, for that matter, letting the world know what Hollywood studio executives really are thinking behind closed doors.

After the Senate released its report on the CIA allegedly using torture to get answers out of terror suspects, only to find they'd say anything to make it stop, are we really all that different from the terrorists, brutal regimes and Dick Cheney?

The Islamic State has used beheadings and recruitment videos to get its message across.  So how come it took until they had swallowed up half of Iraq before anyone noticed?

It's been a rollercoaster ride for Vladimir Putin's Russia.  First it was the triumphant and controversial Winter Olympics in Sochi.  Then it was taking a piece of Ukraine, and threatening to invade at least half the country.  Now it's an economic crisis brought on by cheap oil and international sanctions.  You sure you want to bring back the Cold War?

We haven't heard about the Ebola epidemic since the election.  That doesn't mean it's over, though.

Michael Brown and Eric Garner became symbols of protest against power-hungry police and the system that enables them.  What will it take to get law enforcement to realize that skin color is not always indicative of criminal behavior?  And how long will it be before the slogans "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" and "I Can't Breathe" are trademarked by Nike?

With Congress about to be run by Republicans for the next two years, should we expect more or less from them?

It sucks to be Malaysian Airlines right now.  Or, for that matter, CNN.

A simple request for all those soldiers returning home from whatever war America is fighting this week:  Would it be possible to keep those contrived homecomings to yourselves, and to not take credit for preserving freedom and democracy where there isn't any to keep?

Target, Home Depot and others whose consumer accounts were hacked into learned hard lessons in how not to react to a crisis without alienating your customers.

TV shows like "Naked and Afraid" and "Dating Naked" would be a lot more interesting if they were on HBO or Showtime.

Those who "cut the cord" in order to save money on their cable and satellite bills should remember two things:  (A) Broadcast TV really is the vast wasteland Newton Minow once talked about, and (B) many of those same cable giants you complain about also happens to control your broadband service.  They're also the ones who want to own the Internet.

We say goodbye to:  Joan Rivers, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Maya Angelou, Jan Hooks, Harold Ramis, Lauren Bacall, Shirley Temple Black, Mickey Rooney, Richard C. Hottelet, Mike Nichols, Polly Bergen, Don Pardo, James Garner, Casey Kasem, Ann B. Davis, Russell Johnson, Gerry Goffin, Marion Berry, Jane Byrne, Joan Mondale, Ben Bradlee, Garrick Utley and Robin Williams.

We got through this without once mentioning the name of a certain tune from a popular Disney animated feature, which made Idina Menzel the Celine Dion of the 2010s.  Oh, we already did?  It's in the title?  And we're using Menzel's picture?  Damn.  See you in 2015.

Five More Years for Tom Barnard

92 KQRS Morning Show (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As an indication that the more things change, the more they stay the same in local radio, the Minneapolis Star Tribune recently reported that Tom Barnard is staying as morning host at KQRS (92.5 FM) for another five years.

That would, by the end of the new contract whose terms weren't disclosed, mark 34 years for Barnard and KQ as the top-rated morning show in the Twin Cities, even though its ratings aren't in the stratosphere like they used to be.

It would also mean another five years of Barnard spouting off about politics, race relations and the news of the day with his personal sounding board of Terri Traen, Bob Sansevere and others.  Those, along with the sometimes juvenile atmosphere that surrounds the 'KQ Morning Show", have gotten him and his station in trouble before.

Recently, Barnard has been delving into the podcasting business, in which he puts out a daily two-hour show recorded from his home with material not suitable for radio.  The Star Tribune says he plans to expand the podcasts to three hours a day.

But there are indications that listeners are tiring of Barnard and KQ, which has had the same classic rock format since he began working there.  Three different owners in the past decade--Disney/ABC, Citadel, and now Cumulus Media--have determined that the station isn't broken, so why fix it?  It's great that there's a place on the dial for "More Than a Feeling" and Led Zeppelin.  But it wouldn't hurt to have something fresh once in awhile.

Barnard, who is now 63, doesn't seem to be contemplating retirement.  He told the Star Tribune that he got bored during the Thanksgiving holiday, saying "It's really hard to annoy people if they can't hear you".  He shouldn't have that problem for the next few years, whether it's podcast or broadcast.

Elsewhere in local radio . . .

• KQ's former sister station KDIZ (1440 AM) is being sold along with other Disney-owned stations that make up the Radio Disney network, which will continue digitally.  Some of these stations have already been sold to religious and ethnic broadcasters, who seem to be the only ones interested in low-watt AM signals that Radio Disney's intended audience--kids and their parents--have long since abandoned for the smartphone.  So don't be surprised if KDIZ starts quoting the Bible or speaks a different language than Ariana Grande in the near future.
• Hubbard Radio, the owners of KSTP (1500 AM, 94.5 FM) and KTMY (107.1 FM), has plunked down $8 million to buy 16 radio stations from Omni Broadcasting in northern Minnesota.  These include some familiar call letters if you've ever traveled or lived there:  KWAD and KKWS in Wadena, WJJY and KLIZ in Brainerd, KIKV in Alexandria, KBUN and KBHP in Bemidji.  Some of these new stations are affiliated with ABC News Radio, which ties in nicely with the coverage area of ABC's Twin Cities station KSTP (Channel 5) and its satellite in Alexandria.

No Indictment, No Peace

It's been over three months since Michael Brown, an 18-year old African American resident of Ferguson, Missouri, was shot and killed by a white police officer named Darren Wilson.  Brown was unarmed.  He also happened to be a suspect in a convenience store robbery, according to police.  Since then, things have been rather tense in the St. Louis suburb as police, demonstrators and the rest of America waited for the other shoe to drop.

Monday was the day it did drop.  A grand jury, after months of investigation and inquiry, had decided not to indict Wilson.  A jury that reportedly included nine whites and three African Americans.  Not that it was unexpected, mind you.  It's just that they and most other juries still believe officers wearing blue uniforms can do no wrong, despite possible evidence to the contrary.  Not unlike looking the other way when Our Heroes in khakis commit war crimes in the name of Freedom and Democracy.

Despite pleas from Brown's parents, President Barack Obama and the governor of Missouri to remain calm, it was obvious to all that once the decision was announced, Ferguson would erupt.  And erupt it did.  Bottles, rocks and tear gas have been flung.  Cars and businesses were torched.  Stores were looted.  Scores of people arrested.  Just like every other case of civil insurrection since at least the 1960s, except this one was played out live on TV.

It's understandable to see why African Americans in Ferguson and elsewhere feel the way they do about the grand jury verdict.  They have felt that they've been given a raw deal by white-dominated law enforcement, government and society in general for keeping them poverty-stricken, drug-addicted, and forced to live in areas where violence thrives.  It's been that way for centuries.

So the answer lies in burning and looting your own neighborhood, setting back progress for years if not decades?   That's probably because most protesters don't have access to the superior firepower law enforcement possesses, so they have to have something to retaliate against.  But they end up hurting themselves.

The Civil Rights Movement may be a chapter in the history textbook you've already forgotten, but it does serve up a valuable reminder:  Working for change is a lot more effective than tossing bricks.  Being in a position of authority doesn't mean you have to act like a jerk.  Respect is a two-way street.  Bromides aside, the days ahead in Ferguson, Missouri should tell us a lot about how race relations in America have and haven't changed.  And also why the legacy of Michael Brown and others who ended up just like him isn't to shoot first and ask questions later.

Did KSTP See The Sign, Or Miss The Point?

Entrance to the KSTP studios on University Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

KSTP (ABC 5) has been a pioneering Twin Cities news station since going on the air in 1948.  There were even times when they had the top-rated newscast in the market.  This is not one of those times.

Recently "5 Eyewitness News" (as KSTP likes to call themselves) aired a report in which they showed a picture of Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges posing with an African American canvasser named Navell Gordon during a "get out the vote" drive, in which they gestured at each other in a manner that some might take to mean they were using gang signals.

KSTP did not identify Gordon in the report, but they did mention that he had a criminal past.  According to the Star Tribune, the man was charged with drug and firearm possession, but said he was trying to straighten out his life.

The KSTP report indicated that certain law enforcement officials--namely a police union president that the Strib said was having a running beef with the mayor--believed that the finger pointing gesture Hodges and Gordon used were also being used by a north Minneapolis gang.

Mayor Hodges bears some of the responsibility for this controversy.  No matter how innocent they say the gestures were, posing with a man with a criminal record looks bad on TV  In the future, she might want to rethink how she's portrayed in photo-ops.

This incident has been all over social media, mainly taking KSTP to task for bad reporting, racial stereotyping, and willingness to believe cops with a grudge.  The station's current reputation as a Fox News wannabe (they're an ABC affiliate) stems from owner Stanley Hubbard's reported contributions to conservative political candidates and organizations, which sometimes influences news coverage.  Hodges, by the way, is a Democrat.

If KSTP and other media outlets can prove that Hodges has gang connections, then she should resign as mayor.  If they can't, then they should issue a retraction and an on-the-air apology.  (Which begs the question:  Why are the other Twin Cities TV stations silent on this issue?  This isn't just KSTP's problem.)

As it is, KSTP is standing by its reporting.  If the finger gestures are as innocent as everyone seems to believe, then the whole story is something about nothing.  And everything that's wrong with 21st century journalism.

UPDATE (11/18):  KSTP continues to take heat for its report on the finger-pointing, even as they continue to defend it.  A local health insurance provider named U Care has dropped its advertising from the station.  Hubbard got into it with some protesters during a speaking engagement at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, refusing to back down and apologize as his station is being ridiculed from coast to coast.

In all the finger-pointing about the finger pointing, one thing gets lost.  What's going to happen the next time there's a gang-related shooting somewhere in Minneapolis, and either a police officer or an innocent bystander gets killed?  Are they gonna blame this on the mayor, too? Or KSTP?  If that happens, then the comedians can leave the room.

Congress Turns Red (And So Do The Voters)

English: Official photo cropped of United States Senator and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Republicans will soon control Congress by winning a majority in the previously Democratic Senate and maintaining theirs in the House of Representatives, the result of midterm elections that reflected the anger of voters who have seen what years of gridlock have done to the country.  Or maybe it's a reaction to all those political ads that people loathe, but TV stations love because they're getting a financial windfall from it.

In truth, the GOP has been running the show in Washington for the past few years by yelling the loudest and getting little done while Democrats--even when they had a majority--cowered.  Not to mention undermining a President who they believed should never have taken office to begin with.  And you wonder why voters were angry.

President Barack Obama has not helped himself with low job approval ratings, slow reactions to crises involving Ebola and ISIS/ISIL, and the general sense that things really aren't getting better despite the improving economy.

Both the President and GOP Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky (who most assume will be the next Senate majority leader) have stated that they heard the voters and have pledged to "work across the aisle", so to speak, to get needed legislation passed.  That's what you'd expect them to say the day after an election.  On key issues such as immigration and health care, however, the two sides are so far apart that compromise is not even considered.  And if the President doesn't like the legislation he's been given, he can always use a veto or an executive order as the last word.

So prepare yourselves for more of the same finger-pointing between the parties while very little gets done.  The 2016 campaign begins in three . . . two . . .one . . .

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Meanwhile, back in Minnesota, this state has become an oasis of blue for the Democrats in a sea of red.  Governor Mark Dayton and Senator Al Franken won new terms without having to resort to recounts, handily defeating their GOP opponents.  Also going back to Washington are Rick Nolan, Collin Peterson, Betty McCollum and Keith Ellison.

The Republicans had something to crow about, too, to go along with their national victory.  Congressional incumbents John Kline and Erik Paulsen were re-elected, and Tom Emmer is replacing Michele Bachmann as the Sixth District representative.

The big story, really, is that the GOP has taken control of the Minnesota House.  The Democrats retain control of the Senate only because they weren't up for election this year.  With a divided Legislature, Governor Dayton will have a much tougher time getting his agenda passed in his second term.  It also increases the possibility of another state government shutdown caused by budgetary gridlock, something both sides say they'll try to avoid.  Again, just like with Congress, we'll believe it when we see it.

Uncivil Behaviour in Canada

English: Parliament Hill, viewed from east, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We can't say Canadians have had an easy time of it then it comes to protecting themselves from suspected terrorists since 9/11/2001.  Like the United States, the Land of the Maple Leaf has its share of people who want to do harm to its fellow citizens in the name of a twisted version of their religion, or in behalf of a Middle East terrorist organization, or both.

What happened in the national capitol of Ottawa Wednesday has given Canadians a sense of what Americans have been going through for years.  You could call it their 9/11, but it was more like Columbine or Sandy Hook than the collapse of the World Trade Center.

A man police identified as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau shot a soldier who was standing guard at the Canadian war memorial, then proceeded to enter the Parliament building while it was in session.  It was there that Zehaf-Bibeau was gunned down by Keith Vickers, the Sergeant-at-arms of the House of Commons (a ceremonial position), who had previously served 29 years with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  Police have ruled out any other suspects.

Canada, if you choose to believe the stereotype, is considered a mild-mannered country.  Its citizens tend to shake their heads every time some crazy American shoots up a school, a movie theater, or a military base.  Then they wonder why nothing is ever done about it, because guns are better-regulated there than in the States.

The Canadian government has joined the United States' new war on ISIL/ISIS, which has so far proved that airstrikes have only made them stronger.  Or that the Islamic state is getting pretty good at recruiting volunteers to convince them to commit jihad against their own countries.

If nothing else, the shootings at Parliament Hill have become a wakeup call to Canadians.  Like Americans, they will slowly become used to living in a security state with the freedoms they used to take for granted replaced by checkpoints everywhere they go, and suspicions about every one they meet.  The border between the two countries will become a little more fortified. 

As Prime Minister Stephen Harper so brilliantly put it while he channeled his inner Winston Churchill, he told his nation that Canadians will not be intimidated.

Canada, welcome to the real world.

Outbreak of Fear

English: Ebola virus virion. Created by CDC microbiologist Cynthia Goldsmith, this colorized transmission electron micrograph (TEM) revealed some of the ultrastructural morphology displayed by an Ebola virus virion. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Every few years, there have been worldwide epidemics of diseases that governments and modern medical science have been slow to get a handle on before it's too late.  AIDS.  SARS.  H1N1.  You get the picture.

Now it's Ebola, a disease that was discovered a few years ago and has no cure.  To date, nearly 4500 deaths have been reported in west Africa (where it all began), Spain and the United States out of nearly 8000 cases.  By the end of 2014, according to the World Health Organization, there could be as many as 10,000 new cases per week.  Repeat--per week.

The Obama administration and the Centers for Disease Control (Centers?) have been telling us that the chances of an Ebola epidemic in this country are almost nonexistent, that it is very difficult to contract.   

So how was it possible for a Liberian named Thomas Eric Duncan to die in a Dallas hospital of Ebola, infecting two nurses and possibly more?  Or having several other Americans flown from Africa to be treated here, and are currently recovering?  Simple.  It's that modern-day carrier called the airplane, carrying infected patients from one place to another without anyone knowing it.

President Obama has reacted to the crisis by sending thousands of American soldiers to west Africa to help fight the disease, and has so far designated five airports along the Eastern Seaboard to check flights from that area for infected passengers and possibly quarantining them.  Which is all well and good, unless those soldiers bring home the Ebola and charges of racial profiling becomes a problem every time a TSA screener sticks a thermometer down someone's mouth.

Besides, what's to stop somebody from ISIL/ISIS, al Qaeda or another terrorist from deliberately coming into the country and spreading the virus?  There's no defense against that.

Despite all the reassurances from the government and the CDC, are we really ready to take on Ebola or any other kind of killer disease?  Some nursing organizations don't think so.  They have complained that their members have not received adequate training and equipment from their hospitals to protect themselves.  Other medical officials are concerned by the slowness of the U.S. government's response to the epidemic.

So about all any of us can do is to hope that the authorities are right about controlling the spread of Ebola, and that we shouldn't lay too much of the blame on those who chose to emigrate here from Africa.  Because then we'd be creating a whole new epidemic of something that's all too common in America.  It's called fear.

Just Asking . . . The Sequel

English: Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Is Vice President Joe Biden warming up for 2016?  Or did he just talk his way out of it?

Now that an Ebola patient has died in a Dallas hospital, will sending U.S. soldiers to west Africa and screening passengers coming into our airports really stop the spread of the disease?  Doesn't this border on racial profiling?  And can we really trust those who say there won't be an Ebola epidemic in this country?

Will same-sex marriage join abortion rights as issues we'll still be arguing about 40 years from now?

Will North Dakota's population boom last as long as the oil does?

Does it surprise anyone that China wants to bring Hong Kong into their fold?  Or that students are protesting over it?

Is Ben Affeck as liberal as he thinks he is?

Is Jennifer Lawrence getting more attention for calling the hacking of her nude photos a sex crime than for the photos themselves?

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  It is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  What sells better, purple or pink?  And will we be more or less aware of these causes on November 1?

Does the limited appearances of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell indicate that the league just wants all this domestic violence stuff to go away, and we can all get back to football?

If an American company moves to a foreign country for tax purposes, is it still an American company?

Stephen Harper is the Prime Minister of Canada.  So why is he less well-known on this side of the border than Toronto mayor Rob Ford?

Does anyone still care about network TV's fall schedule?

Just Asking . . .

English: iPhone 4. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Random questions that may (or may not) be too much for Twitter . . .

Why would a Republican-dominated Congress decide so quickly to fund President Obama's new war against the Islamic State?  Are they afraid of seeming unpatriotic?  If so, isn't that the way Democrats felt when they voted to authorize George W. Bush's wars?

When is Hillary Clinton going to tell us whether or not she's running in 2016, and get it over with?

Why do politicians and the media think the public really cares about how their tax dollars are spent?  Is it really ours to begin with?

Do you really want to split up California?

Why does Stewart Mills III, who's running as a Republican against incumbent Democrat Rick Nolan in Minnesota's 8th Congressional District, look like a trust-fund surfer dude who needed something to do?

Why is Senator Al Franken, the former "Saturday Night Live" satirist turned serious politician, leading the polls?  Why is Mike McFadden, Franken's GOP challenger, trying to be funny in his TV commercials when we know that he'd vote with his party every time if he's elected?

Despite leading in the polls, why is Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton so vulnerable?

Whatever happened to the Independence Party?

Is John Kline so screwed up as a congressman that he's being targeted for defeat by HBO comedian Bill Maher?

Is it possible that health insurer Preferred One bit off more than they could chew before leaving the MNSure exchange?

Doesn't the voice of Siri sound an awful lot like Daria Morgendorffer?

Why do we que up for the latest thing in smartphones when we know that we'll be junking them in a few months for the next latest thing?

With so many Kardashian family-related shows on its air, shouldn't the E! network rebrand itself as The K! Channel?

Are the women in ads for online dating services really single?  Or are they just models/actresses whose boyfriends/husbands urged them to take the gig?

OK, you don't have to answer that last one.

9/11: Unfinished Business

English: President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama meet in the Oval Office of the White House Monday, November 10, 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in American history, it's time once again to take up arms against a foe that could be a threat to the so-called "homeland" that we really don't know much about.  Just like Ho Chi Minh, Saddam Hussein and the Taliban.

Their name is ISIS.  Or is it ISIL?  Whatever their name is, they're another terrorist organization based in the Middle East bent on spreading death, destruction, and the imposition of their fundamentalist brand of Islam on the entire world.  Just like Al Qaeda and its spinoffs.  ISIS/ISIL is reputedly more dangerous and better funded than Al Qaeda ever was, having swallowed up chunks of Syria and Iraq by taking advantage of political instability in both countries.

ISIS/ISIL has gotten the world's attention through kidnappings of Westerners and beheadings, and have succeeded in getting some Europeans and Americans to join them through such recruitment tools as the Internet.

If ISIS/ISIL is as brutal as some government officials say they are, then what has President Barack Obama done about it?  Well, so far he's ordered airstrikes inside Iraq to take the pressure off the friendly forces battling back the insurgents, helped form a new coalition government to replace the old corrupt one, and sent some soldiers to provide more security to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

But all that doesn't seem to be enough.  So the President made a nationwide address Wednesday night to tell us what more he can do to meet the threat ISIS/ISIL supposedly poses.  Such as more airstrikes (which will now include Syria, whether Bashir Assad likes it or not), more military advisers, more aid to those fighting ISIS/ISIL, and an attempt at putting together a worldwide coalition to help defeat the terrorists.  The President has even promised no American "boots" on Iraqi soil.  Let's see how long that lasts.

President Obama has said this new conflict could take awhile.  After more than a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, is this country up for another battle against an enemy that may or may not live up to the hype?  Airstrikes are effective for only so long, because "shock and awe" has a way of turning into "been there, done that".  And in the Middle East, you don't have to win the war to score points among true believers if you hang around long enough.

Barack Obama became President with a mandate to end the wars that George W. Bush started.  And he has.  But with poll numbers dropping like a rock as his time in the White House is almost done, Obama has chosen to stake his legacy (and risk the security of the nation) on a new war that he might not be able to finish.  Is he, and other war hawks, right about ISIS/ISIL?   Let's hope it doesn't take another 9/11 to find out.

Joan Rivers (1933-2014): Something to Talk About

English: Joan Rivers at Musto's 25th Anniversary. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the male-dominated world of comedy, Joan Rivers was not everyone's cup of tea.  She got laughs for telling it like it was, and sometimes she got in trouble for it.  When Rivers wasn't doing standup, she could usually be found at award shows and other formal occasions (when they let her on the property) skewering certain female celebrities for their choice of evening wear.  This was at a point when people actually started caring about such things.

Rivers was a trail blazer who has influenced scores of female comedians, some of whom have imitated her caustic style.  She never got her own sitcom, like Roseanne Barr or Phyllis Diller.  But she did become the first woman to host a late night talk show, which just happened to be the very first program ever broadcast on the Fox network, launched in 1986.

Legend has it that, in order for Rivers to do the Fox show, she first had to leave her cushy gig as permanent guest host of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson".  Unfortunately, she neglected to inform Carson of her plans.  Carson, then one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, promptly cut Rivers off and banned her from his show (she didn't return until Jimmy Fallon's first night a few months ago).  "The Late Show" lasted less than a year on Fox.

To date, Rivers remains one of the few women who have ever fronted a late night talk show.  Fox is no longer in that business, having decided to put its money into sitcom reruns and news on its local stations.

Life outside comedy wasn't easy for Rivers.  Her husband, whom she often joked about in her act, committed suicide.  And her relationship with daughter Melissa wasn't always the greatest.

Joan Rivers often asked in her act "Can we talk?"  She stopped talking for good at the age of 81, following complications from minor throat surgery.  Now we're the ones who are talking about her.

Miley's People

Again this year, Miley Cyrus used the MTV Video Music Awards to call attention to herself.  Never mind that MTV no longer bothers with music videos, or that Cyrus and almost everyone else on Sunday's telecast were merely warmup acts for Queen Beyonce.

Instead of twerking and sticking out her tongue, Cyrus did something else that had people talking.  After it was announced that she won the Video of the Year for "Wrecking Ball" (presumably the PG-rated version, and not the one where she rode that ball naked), Cyrus pulled a Marlon Brando and brought out her "date" for the evening, a young man named Jesse Helt, to accept on her behalf.  Helt just happens to be homeless.

Just like Brando used Sacheen Littlefeather to voice his concern over the plight of Native Americans as he refused his Best Actor Oscar for "The Godfather" in 1973, Cyrus used Helt to highlight her concern over America's young homeless.  Sure beats dumping a bucket of water over your head, right?

Homelessness is a serious problem that gets worse every day.  From drug abuse to mortgage foreclosures to unemployment, men, women and children have been forced out onto the street, seeking whatever kind of help they can get.  It's a struggle just to survive, and a lot of them don't make it.

Cyrus has been criticized as just another celebrity opportunist using her status to bring "awareness" to a social cause.  Whether she's sincere about helping Helt and others like him or not, we'll just have to wait and see.

It also turns out that Helt has a warrant out for his arrest in Oregon on a probation violation--something to do with alleged trespassing and not checking in with his probation officer, which is punishable by maybe spending one year in jail.  We don't know if getting into trouble with the law is part of the reality of being homeless.  But there are plenty of folks taking to social media and blaming the news channels for taking a nice story and wrecking it.  So we ask:  Do you want the truth, or do you want the legend?

Whatever happens, Miley Cyrus will go on to her next project and Jesse Helt will either get a modeling contract, or go back out on the street.  Neither of them will be wondering where their next meal is coming from any time soon.  But countless others will.

Why The Bucket Challenge Is All Wet

of the New York Yankees, cropped from a posed picture of 1937 Major League Baseball All-Stars in Washington, DC. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It began as a way for football teams to celebrate a championship, dumping an ice-cold bucket of a certain sports drink on the coach at the end of the game.  Now it's become standard practice even when a team wins its only game of the season.

At a time when there's violence in the Middle East and in the Midwest, we have what's called the Bucket Challenge, a fundraiser allegedly benefiting ALS research that has so far netted over $40 million.  It goes like this:  Person A challenges Person B to drop a bucket of cold water over himself, or write a check payable to ALS research.  So you have a choice--catch pneumonia or suffer the consequences of a lighter bank account.  It sounds like extortion.

Everyone in America who should know better seems to be doing it.  Celebrities, athletes, business moguls, even Presidents past and present have taken this "challenge".  The publicity value they seem to get from sacrificing their dignity must be enormous.

This is all supposed to raise "awareness" about ALS, short for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  It is a degenerative neurological disease that causes muscles to weaken, and makes it difficult to speak, swallow or breathe.  Some have lived long lives after being diagnosed.  Most others, unfortunately, do not.

ALS is also known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease", named for its best-known victim.  Gehrig played baseball for the New York Yankees between 1923 and 1939, appearing in 2130 consecutive games (a record since broken by Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1995).  He led the Yankees to six World Series championships, and was one of the first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Gehrig had to retire when he was diagnosed with ALS, then made his famous speech at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939 declaring himself "the luckiest man on the face of the Earth".  By 1941, Gehrig was dead at age 37.

ALS is too serious a disease to be left up to self-aggrandizing fun seekers.  For that matter, it seems that anyone who walks barefoot across America or dips himself in a vat of hot nacho sauce doesn't do it for personal satisfaction.  Instead, it has to be tied in to some kind of "good cause", covered by an army of media who didn't bother to ask silly questions like "Who is this idiot, and why are we encouraging him by putting him on TV?"

There are two major problems with this stunt.  First is the tremendous waste of water.  If you've been paying attention, there was a water contamination emergency in Toledo, Ohio as well as a continuing drought in the West.  Ask those people how important clean drinking water is.  Also, as climate change worsens, wars might be fought over what available water is left.

The second problem is that this "challenge" is a huge waste of money.  Presently, there is no cure for ALS.  Instead, billions of dollars in donations have been spent for this and other diseases on research for as long as anyone can remember, and getting little in return.  So what happened to that "research"?  Is it really that hard to find a cure, or is it just an excuse for so-called non-profit organizations to live high on other people's money?

Should some kind of a cure be found--maybe even within our lifetimes, you can bet that Big Pharma and Big Charity will find a way to keep themselves in business by making the cure so expensive that no insurance company will want to cover it, Obamacare be damned.  Treatments and long hospital stays are where the money is, baby.

We can't stop you from getting soaked, or from donating money that would have gone into whatever bills you have to pay.  That's your decision.  Just remember that for every "good cause", there's bound to be a lot of empty promises and fatter pockets.

The War at Home

It began with the murder of an African-American citizen in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri.  It has since escalated into a violent confrontation between the white-dominated police and protesters in that city.  And Americans watching on TV are wondering if law enforcement is becoming more like an occupying army.

Michael Brown, an 18-year old resident, was gunned down by a white police officer as he was walking to his grandmother's house on a Saturday afternoon.  Brown was unarmed.  Police say he was a suspect in the robbery of a local convenience store.

Ferguson is one of those places near every major city where mostly African-Americans lived after the white population fled farther into the suburbs, but still control the local government and police force.  That has become a sore point to the African-Americans and other minorities who have been harassed by the city's finest, whether it was deserved or not.

The police in Ferguson have made a couple of mistakes that have enraged the "No Justice, No Peace" crowd, first by having delayed releasing the identity of the officer who allegedly shot Brown, and for releasing a video showing Brown shoving a convenience store worker out of the way.  They only made things worse by turning back with tear gas and arresting protesters, journalists and anyone else who happened to get in the way with the kind of force usually seen on the streets of Baghdad and Kabul.

That's no accident.  As another legacy of 9/11 and the wars that resulted from the terrorist attack, the Pentagon has been sending its surplus weapons and armored vehicles to law enforcement all over the country.  This has encouraged the men and women in blue to play soldier against the people they're supposed to protect.

It's not just the equipment that puts people off about the police.  It's the attitude of some (but not all) members of the force that, once you put that uniform and badge on, it gives you carte blanche to harass anyone--black or white--and get away with it because you are The Law.

Granted. the vast majority of police officers do not subscribe to that rogue attitude and resent the ones who give them a bad name.  But we don't know that.  Respect is a two-way street.

After the Ferguson police and Missouri State Patrol have tried and failed to maintain order, Governor Jay Nixon has brought in the state's National Guard and eliminated the curfew that has peeved residents even more.  So after a few days of quasi-military rule, is there really going to be a big difference when the Guard is patrolling the streets?

The people of Ferguson, Missouri and around the country are demanding answers as to why it was necessary to kill an unarmed teenager who was going about his business, even if he was a suspect in a robbery.  What we should also be asking is how can we ever again trust those who take an oath to serve and protect their neighbors, only to abuse the privilege?

So You Wanna Be Famous

Hollywood Sign (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"So you wanna be famous, huh?  Nowadays you don't need real talent to make it big.  All you need is a YouTube video of yourself singing 'Fancy' in the shower--it doesn't even have to be good--and a billion hits later, everybody wants you."

"Before we go any further, I wanna ask a few questions.  Forgive me if they're too personal for you."

"How are things at home?  Are your parents still alive?  Or are they divorced, drunk or dead?  Did you graduate?  Just barely?  How's that job flipping burgers going?  Are you in a relationship?"

"Well, you can kiss all that goodbye once Hollywood comes knocking.  Once you sign that contract, you're off and running.  Record deals.  Blockbuster movies with your name above the title.  A hit TV show.  And more money than you've ever seen in your life."

"There's also the perks.  Beautiful women.  World premieres.  Big-ass cars and mansions.  Great seats at the ballgame.  Endorsement deals.  You name it, and it's yours."

"But there's always a downside.  There's no privacy.  TMZ and the Enquirer will be all over you and whoever you date like a cheap suit.  And no matter how much you put into your work, it's never going to be enough.  The pressure will be on you to create the next great work of art, and it will probably not be as good as the first.  'Cause not everyone can be a Michelangelo, or even a Warhol."

"Then one day, it all comes crashing down.  The hits stop coming.  Your last movie tanked at the box office.  The network cancels your TV show.  Why?  Well, maybe you've been in and out of jail a bit too much.  Maybe you mouthed off or flashed your private parts on TV because you were drunk or high on cocaine, and it went viral.  Or maybe your adoring public just got sick of you."

"It gets worse.  Your house and car are repoed because of back taxes.  People quit following you on Twitter.  Your wife or lover leaves you for someone else.  And you spend whatever money you have left on booze and the white stuff, no matter how many times you've been to rehab."

"Now you're standing at the abyss.  You have a choice to make.  You can either get help to get off the drugs and the booze, or you could kill yourself.  Now I ain't recommending it, but if you did that the media would pay attention to you once more, and people would wonder why you did what you did.  Meanwhile, they'll buy up and download all the stuff you ever did because, you know, death sells."

"So I'll ask again.  You still want to be famous?"

Obama Is Not a Crook. Is He?

Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It's been 40 years since Richard Nixon became the first President of the United States to resign from office.  He had been many things:  a crusading anti-Communist congressman, Dwight Eisenhower's vice president, loser to JFK by a 5 o'clock shadow, opportunist in the tumultuous year of 1968 to win his own term in the White House.  And he was brought down by a two-bit burglary inside the Watergate complex, leaving his handpicked VP Gerald Ford to pick up the pieces.

Barack Obama, the current President, is no Nixon.  But try telling that to House Republicans.  Originally, they were going to impeach him for being asleep at the wheel when crises in Europe and the Middle East flared up, while swarms of undocumented children made their way past the United States' southern borders.

Instead, the House GOP leaders are suing Obama for what they believe is exceeding his constitutional authority when it comes to the Affordable Care Act.  They claim the President's been going over Congress' heads to get some of those proposals into law, because it's been his pet project since his first term.

Obama has signed many executive orders during his administration, mainly because partisan politics have prevented Congress from doing its job.  That might sound positively Nixonian, but the President is within his rights to do so as long as he doesn't overdo it.

Obama has been laughing off the threats of impeachments and lawsuits, dismissing them as just another desperation move by the GOP.  Maybe he shouldn't be.  Before Nixon resigned, the House was ready to impeach him and the Senate was going to put him on trial.  President Bill Clinton was the last to be impeached, but not removed from office, for having lied under oath in testimony regarding the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Any legal action against the President, unless it was fast-tracked into the Supreme Court docket, would have a harder time getting through the judicial system than the GOP would like.  It is also possible that Obama's term would be over by the time there's a decision.  It would, however, affect his successor.

Now that the Republicans have further poisoned the well against President Obama and the Democrats in this campaign year--not that they needed any help, with various polls showing both the President and Congress at their lowest ebbs--isn't it just possible that they'll just continue to paint themselves into a corner until they don't have Obama to kick around any more?

Off the Air, But Not Out of Sight

English: The Jason Lewis Show Talk Radio Host Jason Lewis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jason Lewis, a syndicated talk show host based out of Minneapolis, made headlines recently for suddenly bolting from his July 31 radio broadcast.  Lewis later said he had quit the show to focus on his new website, which is aimed at libertarians like him.

It turns out that Lewis' leave-taking was nothing more than a publicity stunt to promote the site.  His contract with KTLK (AM 1130) was about to expire, and he didn't want to make his last weeks on the air to be one long goodbye.  Fair enough.  But he could have chosen a less-dramatic departure.

Lewis joins a growing list of former broadcasters who, for reasons of their own, have moved to the wonderful world of new media.  Tom Barnard, who still hosts the morning show at KQRS (FM 92.5), has set up his own podcast network, which features shows by Tom Mischke, Rusty Gatenby and others.  Rick Kupchella, former KARE (NBC 11) reporter, now runs the "Bring Me The News" website, and has a radio news operation based on it.

Lewis' new site is more in line with those of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin.  For a small fee, you can read or hear them talk about conservative political philosophy as they see it, blame President Barack Obama and other Democrats for the sun setting in the West, and wave the flag every chance they get.  Oh, and Palin might throw in a few hunting tips if you're really good and can spare a few more dollars.

As we said before, Lewis could have chosen a better way to make his point than stalking off the microphone and blaming government for his troubles.  He could also have admitted that the Twin Cities media scene had become so boring that the reveal of KARE's new backyard, and the local version of the Kardashian family--also known as the WCCO (CBS 4) news team--had become worthy of our attention.

As it is, Lewis is being replaced at KTLK by a host named "Joe Pags" Pagliarulo from owner Clear Channel's station in San Antonio, WOAI-AM.  Another cog in the talk radio echo chamber, all saying pretty much the same thing.  Jason Lewis has escaped all that for right now.  One wonders if his new venture will keep him out of the chamber for good.

UPDATE:  Pagliarulo has since been replaced on KTLK by local host Dave Thompson.

Jesse Ventura and Chris Kluwe: Credibility Gaps

Governor Jesse Ventura (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jesse Ventura and Chris Kluwe are two men who have a few things in common.  Both used to be professional athletes, one in wrestling and the other in football.  Both have dabbled in politics, one as Governor of Minnesota and the other as a gay rights activist.  Both are now (or soon might be) embroiled in legal controversies that could endanger their credibility, not to mention their careers.  Some might say that's already happened.

Ventura filed a defamation suit against the now-deceased author of a bestselling book (whose name and tome will not be divulged here), who was once a Navy SEAL just like the former Governor, who wrote about getting into a bar fight in 2006 with a man he called "Scruff Face", and who he said was making disparaging comments about the war in Iraq and about dead soldiers.  In later interviews, the author said that "Scruff Face" was in reference to Ventura.

Ventura denied all that, saying the incident never happened, and the author's claims have cost him the respect of other military personnel, as well as having financial setbacks and lost job opportunities.  You might say people stopped taking Ventura seriously a long time ago when, after his term as Governor ended, he hosted a TV show highlighting conspiracy theories.  Suing a dead fellow SEAL and his widow was bad enough.  Losing to them in court may be even worse.

As for Kluwe, the former Minnesota Vikings punter is contemplating a lawsuit against the team for not suspending assistant coach Mike Priefer when he made an offensive comment about gays, and for not releasing a full report of a six-month investigation into alleged homophobia in the locker room.

Kluwe got only part of what he wanted.  The Vikings suspended Priefer for three games, not the four he asked for.  They also released only a few pages of the report, not all of it flattering to Kluwe.

Not only did the Vikings cut Kluwe before the 2013 NFL season for strictly football reasons and not for his activism (he was also let go by the Oakland Raiders soon after), but the report goes on to say that Kluwe made joking references to the Penn State child sex scandal in the locker room.

If that's true, then Kluwe just shot himself in the foot.  He had all this support from those who believed in his efforts to get same-sex marriage legalized, and he punted it away (so to speak) because of a heinous joke.  You suppose those LGBT organizations would want the money Kluwe promised to give in case he won the lawsuit?

At this writing, the Ventura case has gone to the jury.  They have yet to reach a verdict.

Also at this writing, Kluwe's case has yet to be filed because he, his attorney and the Vikings are reportedly negotiating a settlement.

Whatever happens, both men will either be vindicated, or will need to take a good look at themselves.  And so do we.

UPDATE (7/29/14):  It took the Ventura jury six days and a vote of 8-2 to come up with this verdict:  $1.3 million in "unjust enrichment" and $500,000 for defamation for the former Minnesota Governor.

In wrestling terms, it was a split decision.

Death Flight Over Ukraine

Vladimir Putin - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2009 (Photo credit: World Economic Forum)

In the post-9/11 era, this is what governments fear most:  A band of terrorists using surface-to-air missiles (how they got them doesn't matter) fires one of them at a commercial airliner, obliterating the plane and all those aboard.  This could occur practically anywhere in the world.

Something like that did happen in the skies over Ukraine.  A Malaysian Airlines flight that was coming from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down by one of those missiles, killing almost 300 passengers and the flight crew.  The wreckage is scattered over eastern Ukraine, which just happens to be a world hot spot right now.

Right now, the recovery efforts are being poorly handled.  Forces loyal to Russia have commandeered the crash site, and the bodies were held inside refrigerated rail cars.  The rebels claim they will forward the bodies and the evidence over to investigators once they arrive on the scene.  But will they let the investigators do their jobs in what amounts to a war zone?

Before that happens, the finger-pointing has already begun.  The United States and its allies have pointed theirs at Russian President Vladimir Putin, who they claim is backing the insurgents that threaten to seize the eastern half of Ukraine.  Putin, who has made no secret of his wanting to get the Soviet Union back together, has accused the Ukrainian army for shooting down the plane.

But what can you really do to hurt Putin and Russia outside of meaningless economic sanctions?  Western Europe is in a no-win situation because they need Russia's energy and commerce.  And Putin is the man they must deal with, so that's why they're letting him have his way.

For Malaysia Airlines, getting people to fly with them has become an even tougher sell.  Remember Flight 370, the plane that apparently sank somewhere into the Indian Ocean?  They still haven't found it, and may never find it.

So now we have another mystery plane, this one fraught with so many international and security implications that one doesn't know where to begin.  For the victims' families, they don't care about any of that right now.  They just want their loved ones home, one way or another.

The Supreme Court Needs a New Hobby

A Hobby Lobby that looks different! (Photo credit: Nicholas Eckhart)

It has become an annual ritual around this time of year.  People wave the flag, have picnics, shoot off fireworks and go on vacation.  The United States Supreme Court does something similar.  The fireworks come from the controversial decisions they make, sometimes providing a feast of rulings favorable to Big Business, all in the name of interpreting the U.S. Constitution as they see fit.  And then they go away until October.

Having concluded a few years ago that corporations are people, it shouldn't have come as a surprise that the justices also consider them to be a religion unto itself.  In a 5-4 decision, the Court allowed the Hobby Lobby chain of arts and craft stores (and other companies like them) to ignore parts of the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), and deny their female employees coverage on contraception for religious reasons.

This leads us to the question of whether employers should impose their religious beliefs on their employees.  Never mind health insurance.  What about pharmacies who won't sell birth control products?  Would Muslim-owned businesses or other fundamentalist organizations require women employees (regardless of religion) to be covered up?  Would some employers use the Court's decision as an excuse to not hire those of certain races or sexual preferences?  Or would employees have to follow company guidelines even when they're off the job?

Would you work for such a company?  In this job market, where things are improving (but not by much), some people may find it's a choice between employment or nothing at all.  Others may find that compromising their principles is worth a steady paycheck.

The Supreme Court justices may have just opened a new can of worms here.  They're inviting  discrimination lawsuits of all types, based on who's doing the hiring and who claims to be discriminated against.  In the Hobby Lobby case, its female employees can either find another job, or stay and think twice about ever having sex again.

Boycotting Hobby Lobby isn't going to solve things, if you're not into arts and crafts.  Neither is getting a law passed in Congress to address the ruling.  (In this Congress?  Are you kidding?)

It's been 50 years since President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing discrimination on the basis of race in public establishments, employment and at the voting booth.

Fifty years later, we have a Supreme Court that's more interested in upholding the rights of corporations than in the rights of the people who work for them.  Affirmative action and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 have already been gutted by the Court under Chief Justice John Roberts.  What other attempt to rewrite the constitution could the Court come up with in the next session?

Maybe the justices need a new hobby.

ABC News: Sawyer Out, Matinee Idols In

English: Diane Sawyer attending the premiere of Jesus Henry Christ at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It's been almost ten years since ABC News anchor Peter Jennings passed away, leaving a vacuum at the top of their evening news broadcast.  Bob Woodruff, Elizabeth Vargas, Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer have tried to fill it, with varying degrees of success.

The anchor desk is changing once again, as Sawyer is leaving "ABC World News" after five years to become the network's de facto replacement for Barbara Walters.  Sawyer will be doing special reports and the prime time celebrity interviews Walters used to do.

Replacing Sawyer beginning in September is David Muir, who's been anchoring the weekend news and co-anchoring the newsmagazine "20/20" with Vargas.  This is great news for ABC's female-skewing audience, if the comments section on Facebook is any indication.  In their eyes, Muir is much younger (at 40) and handsomer than the other networks' anchors.

Muir is OK as an anchor, but we think the job should have gone to George Stephanopolous.  In a sign that ABC is not completely sold on Muir, they made Stephanopolous their chief anchor for breaking news and special events coverage (such as political conventions and elections).  He will continue to host "Good Morning America" and "This Week".

Once again, there will be three men anchoring the evening news on network TV:  Muir, Brian Williams at NBC and Scott Pelley at CBS.  Women have not lasted long in this job.  Not Sawyer, Vargas, Connie Chung or Katie Couric.  Anyone wonder why?

ABC is a solid number two behind NBC in the network news wars, which still attracts more viewers than cable, though their numbers are older and dwindling.  CBS, for all their promises of "real news" and "original reporting" that harken back to the days of Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow, is still stuck at number three.

Sawyer never looked comfortable as a news anchor, and "ABC World News" has been plagued with the same kind of gimmicks that makes local newscasts almost unwatchable:  Screaming graphics, pop culture reporting, features such as "America Strong" and "Made In America", and those bottom line "what's coming up" headlines during the first commercial break.  They certainly couldn't help promoting enough of Disney's product, since that's ABC's parent company.  To paraphrase Waylon Jennings, are you sure Peter Jennings would have done it this way?

At least Diane Sawyer is going to a place where she can do better work than reading a Teleprompter every night.  David Muir has the tough job of not only keeping ABC News relevant in a time of media change, but also to keep George Stephanopolous from breathing down his neck should the ratings go south.  Should be interesting to see how this all goes down.

Iraq. Again.

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki after a joint press event on Camp Victory, Iraq, April 7, 2009. Obama spoke to hundreds of U.S. troops during his surprise visit to Iraq to thank them for their service. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After American soldiers left Iraq in 2011 following nearly a decade of war, it was widely believed that the government there would stabilize long enough to hold together a fragile country.

Uh, no.  Right now the Iraqi government, headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, is hanging on by its fingernails as a militant Islamic army marches south toward Baghdad.  Iraq's forces have so far shown no desire to fight back, surrendering at the drop of a hat to a group named ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) that's considered to be more extreme than al-Qaeda, if that's possible.  ISIS has already taken control of portions of Syria and Iraq, intending to impose sharia law on those areas.

To meet this threat, and to avoid the embarrassment of losing all the ground the United States had gained (at the cost of over 4000 soldiers) in the late and unlamented Iraq war, President Barack Obama announced Thursday that he's sending 300 military advisers to help out the Iraqi army.  He's also sending some Marines to protect the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.  Airstrikes might be necessary.  But the important thing is, so far as the President is concerned, there will be no "boots on the ground".  That means no combat forces.  Period.

And the next question you're probably asking is, does no really mean no in this case?

This situation has created a lot of clucking among the war hawks in Washington and in the conservative media, the ones who cheered on President George W. Bush's decision to declare war on a country on the pretense of "weapons of mass destruction".  These people are saying that Obama has made the mistake of pulling the troops out of Iraq too soon, and now look what happened.  It's just like what happened with Vietnam when the Viet Cong finally overran Saigon, and what could very well happen if the Taliban conquers Afghanistan once the Americans leave.

Obama apparently believes that the United States should be backing off from its "world policeman" role and let countries like Iraq and Afghanistan work out their own problems.  Which is nice in theory, but maybe the next President will create an excuse to meddle in the affairs of another country in the name of national security.  Especially if that country happens to have a resource essential to keeping the American economy going.  In Iraq, it's called oil.  And ISIS reportedly has taken over a well there.

Then there's the question of whether or not the U.S. should cooperate with Iran, who as it happens is also helping their Shiite brothers in Iraq drive back the Sunni invaders.  The U.S. and Iran are wary about each other, given the controversy over Iran's alleged nuclear program.  But if this works out, who knows?

President Obama may not want to fight Bush's wars any more, but that's what he's been doing for most of his term in office.  If he is really serious about letting Iraq and Afghanistan handle their own affairs, he would have brought home the troops long ago.  All of them. 

Casey Kasem (1932-2014): Radio's Countdown King

Casey Kasem at the 41st Emmy Awards (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Casey Kasem, who died Sunday at age 82, was known to one generation as the man who counted down the hits every week on radio.  To others, he was the voice of "Shaggy" on TV's "Scooby-Doo".  Either way, Kasem made his own impact on American contemporary pop culture.

After a long career as a radio deejay and sometime actor, Kasem helped launch "American Top 40" in syndication on July 4, 1970.  The original version lasted almost two decades, at a time when the Top 40 format on AM radio was giving way to the demographically-parsed programming (contemporary hits, album rock, etc.) of FM.  For three or four hours every weekend (depending on the city), Kasem played what America listened to, regardless of whether your radio station had them on their playlist or not.

A typical "AT40" had Kasem introducing the songs as they were ranked by Billboard magazine's (or somebody else's) record chart, interspersing them with tidbits about the song or the artist.  Kasem would interrupt the countdown long enough to add extra tunes, salute stations that carried his show, and deliver a "Long Distance Dedication" from (typically) a soldier serving overseas to his sweetheart in Bozeman, Montana.

Kasem did his countdown shows in various formats for nearly four decades before retiring in 2009.  Ryan Seacrest has been hosting "AT40" since Kasem turned the show over to him in 2004.

In Kasem's spare time, he lent his voice to animated characters including "Shaggy", some commercials, and was at one point the voice of NBC.

Recently, the end of Kasem's life was a tragic soap opera that played out on the evening news.  Because of the form of dementia that he was living with, his voice was gone.  He was the subject of family squabbles over money, how he was physically treated, and who had legal control over his affairs.  Then it was reported that Kasem disappeared, only to turn up somewhere in Washington state.

Then Casey Kasem died on Father's Day, leaving behind a legacy of "Scooby-Doo" reruns and classic "AT40" episodes that still air on some radio stations.  Say, didn't he end his show by urging his listeners to keep their feet on the ground and to keep reaching for the stars?

He's probably among those stars right about now.

Down Goes Eric Cantor

Official portrait of Congressman . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ever since the start of Barack Obama's presidency, the Republican Party and the Tea Party have combined to undermine the President's and the Democrats' attempts to make the nation in their own image, while at the same time polarizing Washington to the point where nothing gets done.

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare?  Grudgingly passed.  Gun control, immigration reform and tax reform?  Nope.  Finger-pointing on Benghazi, Bowe Bergdahl and a militant army occupying Iraq?  Absolutely.

But there comes a time when ordinary people get tired of political parties who can't go along to get along for the good of the country.  That happened Tuesday, when Rep. Eric Cantor lost his 7th District GOP primary in Virginia to a little-known Tea Party candidate named David Brat.  It was shocking, and it wasn't even close.  The next day, Cantor resigned his position as House Majority Leader, effective at the end of July.

Cantor had all the support his incumbency could ever need:  a solidly Republican base, a national profile and outspending Brat by a 2-to-1 margin.  It was that national profile, along with a softening of his previously hard-line views on immigration, that had Cantor's constituents wondering what he's done for them lately.

The defeat of Cantor has every incumbent on edge in this election year, even the ones representing the so-called "safe" districts where there's little chance of not getting re-elected.  It has also given the Tea Party's extreme conservatism a big shot in the arm, after being written off as a bunch of wackos by most of the politicians and pundits.

But Cantor's defeat won't change the projected makeup of Congress come November.  Most pundits believe (and so do we) that the Republicans will retain their majority in the House, then try to do the same with the Senate.  Just who those newcomers will be, and how they will govern, is anyone's guess.

All of which makes Michele Bachmann's decision not to run for Congress again seem smart by comparison.  Bachmann could have spent millions of dollars to keep her seat in Minnesota's Sixth District, risking voter fatigue with her antics over the past few years.  But she didn't.

Don't worry about Eric Cantor, folks.  He'll either land on his feet as a lobbyist, or be in a Cabinet position under a Republican president.  It's the ones who, like Cantor, were arrogant enough to lose elections because they weren't taking care of business back home that we need to worry about.

Coming Home . . . To What, Exactly?

Private First Class Bowe Robert Bergdahl, United States Army. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The war in Afghanistan is winding down, so we're told.  President Barack Obama just announced again that major American combat operations will cease at the end of the year, and that a small number of forces would serve as advisers for a while longer.  We'll believe it when we see it.

Soldiers returning from war have been popping up everywhere, it seems, with impromptu reunions  upstaging graduations, sports events, local celebrations, and even the neighborhood barbeque.  We know this because cameras just happened to be at these events for no good reason, becoming a fixture on local news shows along with the latest stunt to raise "awareness" for some disease.

Along with all the manufactured giddiness that coming home entails, comes reminders of the costs of another bad war that had no bearing on national security.  Thousands of soldiers returned in body bags.  Thousands of others also returned with their limbs blown off and their minds ravaged by being in a constant state of deployment.

They didn't have to go to war, you know.  It's not like Vietnam, where your choice was to either fight there or flee to Canada if you couldn't get a deferment.  Instead, today's soldier chose to be one after witnessing the attacks on 9/11/2001, needed money to pay for college, or couldn't find a job back home.

Once you do go to war, you become so frustrated by what is going on around you that it makes you want to go nuts or go AWOL, or both.  An American soldier named Bowe Bergdahl apparently did just that.  He allegedly stepped off his military base in Afghanistan one day in 2009, then found himself as a guest of the Taliban for the next five years.  Bergdahl was recently released in a swap with five prisoners from Guantanamo Bay that the Obama administration engineered.

(Officially, the U.S. government says it does not negotiate with terrorists.  Unofficially, this probably happens more times than people think, so long as everything is kept on the QT, and no one needs to know about what we're really doing, right?  Because if you don't negotiate, people die.)

When you get home from the war, you can expect to get treated for your combat-related maladies at a VA hospital near you.  Wait times may vary, of course, just as in any civilian hospital depending on where you live.  If you happen to live in a politically-sensitive part of the country where veterans and seniors abound--let's say, Phoenix, and for some reason your VA hospital is the subject of a congressional investigation into why some people died while waiting to get taken care of.  This has resulted in Eric Shinseki resigning as secretary of Veterans Affairs,

If, however, your head is so messed up by so much combat that you start confusing your loved ones  with enemy combatants, or you start going all Rambo on your co-workers, that's another story.  PTSD is a serious problem, and the sooner it's diagnosed and treated, the better.  Also, keeping weapons away might also help.

Americans turn into flag-waving idiots when it comes to Our Soldiers.  Even though they haven't done a damn thing Over There except for exporting destruction, misery and hate, we are expected to kiss up to them as conquering heroes by those who don't know any better, or were blinded by conservative talk radio.  All those cute reunion videos won't mean a thing if we took a hard look at what kind of people they became while serving in the wars of the last decade.  And what they might do in the future not just to themselves, but to the rest of society.  This is what coming home is all about.

Legislature '14: It's For the Kids. Really?

Minnesota State Capitol (Photo credit: Mulad)

The Minnesota Legislature finished its 2014 session a few days ahead of the mandated deadline, but they did get a lot done.  (That's what happens when the House, Senate and the Governor are all from one party, which in this case was the Democrats.)  They agreed on tax cuts, a $1 billion bonding bill, raising the minimum wage, and a new Senate office building.

They also didn't approve Sunday liquor sales, restricted the sale and use of e-cigarettes, and required smartphones to have kill switches.

Other than that, this legislative session was all about children--or it sure seemed that way.  Minnesota passed the toughest bill on medical marijuana in the country, approving ways for people with certain ailments to take the drug that don't involve smoking it.  But the debate was framed in such a way that a vote for medical marijuana would keep all those sick children and their parents from fleeing to Colorado, where it is currently legal.  A vote against it meant siding with those meanies who happen to work in law enforcement, to which Governor Mark Dayton was staking his political future.

It wasn't a fair fight.  With the news media looking for stories that play to their 18-49 female demographic base, families turned up at the Capitol to push pictures of their sick children at TV cameras and any legislators who happened to be listening to their tales of woe.  Lo and behold, a compromise was worked out and flights to Denver were canceled.

The same scenario played out for the bullying issue.  This cause du jour prompted the Legislature to approve a bill that requires schools to investigate bullying cases, and to train teachers and staff to help prevent it.  All this after countless hearings in which the same tactics used by medical marijuana proponents to dominate the debate were used here.  Going forward, will these people realize that they themselves are just as guilty of bullying as the kid who demanded your lunch money?

Using children to further your political agenda is not a new idea.  They've been used to protest wars and abortion, create new traffic laws when none were needed before, marginalize sex offenders to places where no one else would want to live, turn schools into minimum security facilities, etc.
And not to sound too negative, children have also been used to justify tax increases to fund expansion of schools and athletic facilities.

They say that children are our future.  Yes, but right now they are children.  Every law there is that purportedly benefits children affects adults too, and not always in a good way.  The real problem is the adults who try to control other people's behavior through children.  Getting certain legislation passed has a better chance if that child is sick or dead, and the law is passed with that child's name on it.

That's why issues such as medical marijuana and bullying must be debated intelligently and seriously, instead of playing to the TV cameras as an emotional issue.  We can't have a democracy where everything is decided on a whim, right?  Isn't that how certain dictators did business?

Barbara Walters: Pioneer Woman

English: Barbara Walters at the Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark opening at Foxwoods Theatre, New York City in June 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Barbara Walters wasn't the first woman to make her way into the world of broadcast journalism when she joined NBC's "Today" in 1961 as a writer.  Like many of her contemporaries, she was relegated to features, giving "a woman's view of the news", and asking questions of important guests only after the male interviewers had used up all the good ones.

Walters' career (and reputation) didn't really take hold until 1976 when ABC, which was desperate for any kind of foothold in the network news wars then dominated by NBC and CBS, made headlines and history by luring Walters away from "Today" (she was by then a co-host, the first woman to achieve that honor) to co-anchor its evening news for a then-stunning million dollars.  It did not go well.  Walters was paired with Harry Reasoner, who clearly didn't want her working there.

The network brass soon figured out that Walters was more of an interviewer than a news anchor.  So she scoured the world to question every world leader, celebrity and newsmaker she could get her hands on.  Depending on the question, Walters could be probing, silly, or succeed in getting her subjects to cry.  Hey, if you didn't do that, you weren't trying.

Walters and her style of interviewing have been criticized and lampooned for years, mot notably by Gilda Radner from the original "Saturday Night Live".  Her characterization of "Baba Wawa" was a revelation for those who were not aware or ignored the fact that Walters had a speech impediment.  Not that it made any difference.

For many years, whenever you turned on ABC, there was Barbara Walters.  She co-hosted the newsmagazine "20/20", mostly with Hugh Downs.   She interviewed celebrities and Oscar nominees on her prime time specials.  She's executive-producer and occasional co-host of "The View" weekday mornings.  And she remained a contributor to ABC News when the occasion called for it.

Now Barbara Walters, at 84, is retiring from television after a half-century.  ABC News is renaming its headquarters in New York for her.  But her real legacy lies in those who followed her.  Without Walters, there would be no Oprah Winfrey, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric and countless other women in broadcast journalism.  Nor would there be a "Mary Tyler Moore Show", "Murphy Brown", Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Jane Curtin, and others who have portrayed journalists on TV and in the movies.  They all owe Walters a debt of gratitude.  And so do we.