Random Thoughts 2015, Volume 2

Is there anything new to add after the latest mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina that hasn't already been said before?  Or will likely be done about it?

Pope Francis has said that climate change is happening.  Now if he could only convince corporate executives and politicians who worship money more than they do God.  Oh by the way, doesn't the Pope have his own toxic mess to deal with?

How can anyone have an intelligent discussion about the Trans Pacific Partnership if no one knows, or can say what's in it?

Rachel Dolezal used to run the Spokane, Washington chapter of the NAACP until her parents claimed she was born white.  Dolezal said she identifies as black, and those aren't her real parents.  Who's telling the truth?  Does it really matter if she's black or white?  And how did the NAACP get caught up in all this?

The clown car that is the number of Republican candidates running for President now includes Donald Trump.  He may not be the nominee, but he's upped the entertainment quotient considerably.

With all due respect to Senator Bernie Sanders, isn't he just token opposition for the Hillary Clinton juggernaut?

A woman on the ten dollar bill to stand alongside Alexander Hamilton?  What happened to the efforts to get rid of Andrew Jackson on the twenty dollar bill?  For what it's worth, our choice would be Eleanor Roosevelt.

Jerry Seinfeld has complained that political correctness is killing comedy.  No Jerry, 9/11 did.

Brian Williams is back at NBC after being suspended for "misremembering" certain things about how he covered events.  He's been demoted to "breaking news" anchor status at struggling MSNBC.  How much do you want to bet that Lester Holt, who replaced Williams as "NBC Nightly News" anchor, is looking over his shoulder?

Bruce Jenner is now Caitlyn, a former Olympic decathlon champion who became identified with the Kardashian circus--and look what she is now.  So far, she hasn't been asked by the International Olympic Committee to give back her gold medal from the 1976 Games, and already she's being put up as a model of 'courage'.  Well, if changing your sex is something you thought you should have been doing all along, maybe it is courageous.

In other news, Kim Kardashian announced she's pregnant with a boy.  A fact which shouldn't surprise most NPR listeners, or anyone else.

Bud Kraehling (1919-2015): Minnesota's Weather Oracle

Bud Kraehling, who died at age 96 this week, was best known as the man who did weather forecasts from the 1950s to the mid-90s at WCCO-TV (Channel 4).  To many of his viewers, he was the oracle of weather in Minnesota long before anyone had ever heard of Doppler radar or meteorology, or of dewpoints and wind chills.

Like many others in the early days of television, Kraehling did his weathercasts the old fashioned way relying on information and equipment that we would consider primitive today.  An on-air presentation back then might look something like this:  Stand in front of a series of maps.  Use a pointer or a marker like a high school teacher would to highlight fronts and storms affecting our weather, and to show temperatures from across the region.  Relay the current conditions, which usually came from the airport.  Deliver the forecast for today and tomorrow, and maybe a couple of days after that.  Throw it to the news anchor or to a commercial when you're done.

After a few years in radio following World War II, Kraehling joined Channel 4 in 1949 when the station went on the air as WTCN (it became WCCO in 1952).  He did a little bit of everything on the air besides the weather, which included live commercials, station breaks and announced for other shows.

Unlike most others in TV weather, Kraehling had a way of communicating with his audience when he was delivering his forecast, or warning of a possible storm, in a calm and personable manner.  His unscripted banter during newscasts with 'CCO icon Dave Moore were, to put it mildly, legendary.

Kraehling left WCCO in 1996, just as a new generation of meteorologists came to TV with millions of dollars in satellite technology, and a newfound importance on weather at local news stations as the reason people watch. 

Today, you can get the latest forecast anytime you want with whatever technology you've got on hand.  Or you can turn on the TV to hear about the latest "Top Ten Weather Day", or live coverage of a storm happening miles away from your home.  But it is the rare chief meteorologist or weekend weather person who can relay that to viewers in a calm and professional manner the way Bud Kraehling did, and wish others did too.  For that, we thank him.

The Ugly Game

Português: Joseph Blatter, da Fifa, fala à imprensa após audiência com o presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, no Palácio do Planalto (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

World football (known in North America as soccer) has survived many things:  wars, depressions, violence on and off the field, use as a propaganda tool, etc.  Yet those who play and/or watch still swear by the game they love, often placing it high on the list beside family and religion.

So how come the game is run by incompetent fools who care more about making money than in improving the sport itself?  Or shouldn't we be surprised by this because that's how most corporations seem to work?

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation made headlines by announcing the arrests in Switzerland of several top officials in FIFA, which is soccer's governing body.  It's part of an investigation that includes $150 million allegedly doled out in bribes and kickbacks through U.S. banks over the past two decades.

Not among the indicted (at least not yet) is FIFA's longtime president Sepp Blatter, for whom no amount of wrongdoing involving the organization seems to have stuck to him.  Blatter was just re-elected to a fifth term with little opposition, so the soccer world still has to deal with him.  How much longer remains to be seen.

Much of the investigation revolves around what it took to award past and future men's World Cup tournaments in South Africa (2010), Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022).  FIFA officials allegedly took money from those countries' football organizations in exchange for a favorable vote to host a World Cup.  It's not much different than, say, a politician discreetly taking lobbyists' moolah in exchange for a favorable vote in Congress.

Russia and Qatar have their own set of baggage, none of which should affect their standing as future World Cup hosts.  For Russia, it's worldwide outrage over President Vladimir Putin's lust to regain territories lost after the Cold War.  For Qatar, there is the summertime heat that might force the move of the tournament to late fall, as well as allegations of human rights abuses.  It seems they've been building stadiums with alleged slave labor, or using labor who are paid and allegedly treated like slaves.

Given that this is an ongoing investigation, how much are things really going to change at FIFA?  There is talk of boycotting the World Cup among some countries and corporate partners, but do they really want to pass up the money and exposure that comes with such a prestigious event?  What about the backlash from fans in their own countries?

In the United States, where soccer is just starting to get a foothold on people's consciousnesses, will FIFA retaliate by denying them a chance to host a World Cup in the foreseeable future?  Or punish the American teams in other ways?  There is precedent.  The U.S. has yet to host another Olympic games (NBC's money notwithstanding) since the scandal involving the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.

(Oh, by the way, FIFA is holding the Women's World Cup in Canada this month.  Any guesses as to how this scandal is going to affect people's perception of the competition?)

Yes, the game of world football/soccer has survived many things.  Can it survive the people who run it?

UPDATE (6/2/15):  Blatter announced that he is stepping down as FIFA's president, pending the election of his replacement.  Maybe he just realized he's become a liability?