Giving Thanks in 2013

Image by None via CrunchBase

OK, so Thanksgiving was a month ago.  As we close 2013, we'd like to salute (backhanded and otherwise) some of the people and events that made this year what it was.  So in the spirit of all those award-show acceptance speeches:

We'd like to thank . . .

• Edward Snowden.  For years we've wondered if Big Brother was watching us.  Because of classified documents Snowden has released under dubious circumstances, we have our answer.  They are watching us.
• Pope Francis.  In the short time that he's been pontiff, he's been saying things about social matters that makes the Catholic Church seem less stuffy.  Wonder how long that'll last?
• Pope Benedict for getting out before being carried out.
• Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, for proving that Americans do not hold a monopoly on sex-crazed and drug-addicted politicians.
• Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer, for helping influence people like Ford.
• Republicans in Congress, who brought the nation to its knees in ridiculous arguments over raising the debt ceiling and trying to kill the Affordable Care Act.
• the government healthcare website, which was so screwed up that they affected President Obama's job approval rating.
• Michele Bachmann for raising the national IQ with her announcement that she's not running for Congress again.
• Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, for picking up where Bachmann left off.
• Miley Cyrus, who proved that twerking, sticking out her tongue and getting naked with a wrecking ball is a great way to remind folks that she's not Hannah Montana any more.
• Robin Thicke, for reminding a new generation of what a Marvin Gaye song sounded like.  Unfortunately, so do attorneys who represent the Gaye estate, who are suing him.
• law enforcement officials who shut down the city of Boston, in search of the suspect allegedly involved in the Boston Marathon bombing.  It was more like Boston strong-arm tactics.
• Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad for seeing the Arab Spring as his chance to declare war on his own citizens, while classifying his opponents as terrorists.
• the states that have so far approved same-sex marriage, whether through the ballot box or  judicial fiat.  It may not be something Phil Robertson of TV's "Duck Dynasty" approves of, but we have become so used to gays and lesbians that who really gives a quack?
• the former director of Minnesota's health insurance exchange, for being an example of why it's never a good time to take a vacation when you're in the public eye.
• George, the newborn son of Prince William and Kate Middleton.  Great.  Another royal family member the tabloid media can swoon over for the rest of this century.
• Paula Deen for learning there is no recipe for undoing the damage the N word can do.
• Jennifer Lawrence for proving you don't need to watch the "Hunger Games" movies to see what a good actress she's becoming.
• the Kardashians for being the kind of family few want to keep up with.
• Kanye West for being his humorless, self-important self.  However, he did do us a favor by not overexposing his baby by partner Kim Kardashian, and for naming her North instead of something that starts with the letter K.
• Lara Logan, who took a few too many lessons from Dan Rather in how to mess up "60 Minutes'" reputation.
• Ray Price, Nelson Mandela, Joan Fontaine, George Jones, Jean Stapleton, James Gandolfini, Tom Laughlin, Peter O'Toole, Lou Reed, Esther Williams, Cory Monteith, Sylvia Browne, Tom Clancy, Marcia Wallace, Karen Black, Eileen Brennan, Dennis Farina, Joyce Brothers, Jonathan Winters, Bonnie Franklin, Annette Funicello, Elmore Leonard, Vince Flynn, Eydie Gorme, Ray Manzarek, Phil Ramone, Richie Havens, Margaret Thatcher, Ed Koch, David Frost, Helen Thomas, Roger Ebert, Pauline Phillips (the original Dear Abby) . . . just for being here.
• you the reader.  Thanks for finding us.  Please visit again.

WCCO: May We Help You Today?

English: The WCCO building in downtown Minneapolis, 2006 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WCCO-TV (CBS 4), in its never-ending quest to promote itself to death, recently revived a onetime Twin Cities icon in its version of the Northwestern Bank Weatherball.  Erected atop its Nicollet Mall studios in downtown Minneapolis, the Weather Watcher (as they're calling it) lights the skyline with the CBS eye atop the letters WCCO.

Much like the original Weatherball (more on that later), the Eyeball (as we're calling it) flashes the current conditions this way:  Red is for warmer weather.  Blue is for cooler weather.  Green is for snow or rain.  White is for no change.

If you've spent more than enough time in Minnesota, you know that weather is a big deal here.  So the local TV stations have resorted to gimmicks to make their weathercasts stand out.  It's not enough to get the First Forecast on the air following breaking news coverage of a cat being rescued from a tree, or seeing who has the biggest Doppler radar.  KARE-TV (NBC 11) has had a Backyard for three decades, for the perverse pleasure of watching their meteorologists brave the elements.  WCCO has added a rooftop studio adjacent to their Eyeball in belated response.

Not to get all "Lost Twin Cities" on you, but a little history is in order.  The original Weatherball was introduced in 1949 by Northwestern National Bank on top of its downtown Minneapolis headquarters.  It stood twelve stories, or 157 feet tall, according to the website forgottenminnesota.com   Eventually, the bank's catchy jingle (first on radio, then TV) created enough awareness and business to warrant little Weatherballs at their branches all over town.

The Weatherball stood for more than three decades until Thanksgiving 1982.  That was when fire destroyed an entire block of downtown Minneapolis, including Northwestern Bank and Donaldsons department store.  The ball, which miraculously survived the fire, was moved to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.  It sat there for 17 years before being consigned to the junk heap.

By 1983, Northwestern Bank had become Norwest, with a big green 'N' for its logo.  They merged with Wells Fargo in 1998, which has an icon of its own with a stagecoach and a team of horses.  That burned-out hulk has since been rebuilt as one of the tallest buildings in Minneapolis, and is now known as Wells Fargo Tower.

So there it stands, the WCCO Eyeball--ahem, Weather Watcher, taking its place with the Foshay Tower,   IDS Center and Mary Tyler Moore statue among the landmarks of downtown Minneapolis.  It might serve as great promotion for a TV station that hardly needs it.  But in this age when checking the weather is literally in the palm of your hand, who's gonna look at an eye in the sky?

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)

Português: Brasília - O presidente da África do Sul, Nelson Mandela, é recebido na capital federal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To understand the impact that Nelson Mandela, who died at age 95 after a long illness, had on South Africa and the world, you had to understand the social and political climate of the country he lived in.

We talk about the Civil Rights movement in the United States in the 1950s and 60s, combating the Jim Crow laws in the American South with marches, boycotts and sometimes violence.  In South Africa, Jim Crow was called apartheid, another way of saying the races were meant to be separated with white people on top.  There it was national policy  Period.

Mandela, as a member of the African National Congress, spent his adult life trying  to convince the white-run government that blacks and those of mixed race deserved equal treatment with Caucasians.  For that, he served 27 years in prison.

While incarcerated, Mandela's legend grew as his name was censored in his own country.  "Free Mandela" protests became common all over the world.  Countries and noted figures refused to do business in South Africa.  The pressure on the government intensified as protests grew louder, tempers got shorter and apartheid laws were strengthened.

Then Mandela was released from prison to cheering crowds in 1990.  He worked with white President F.W. deKlerk to rid South Africa of its racist system, and helped to create a new country in the process.  Mandela served as President for one term, then oversaw the election of his successor.  For this, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with deKlerk in 1993.

Granted, Mandela wasn't always considered the hero he is today.  The United States government first labeled him a communist because they wanted to get in good with South Africa during the Cold War era.  And it took until 2008 to get Mandela off the terrorist watch list.

South Africa today is still on shaky ground with its multi-cultural government, but so far things seem to be holding together compared to the rest of the continent.  It's anyone's guess what will happen with Mandela's passing.  Will things remain peaceful, or will it go the way of so many African countries into war, terrorism and dictatorship?

Nelson Mandela chose to help change South Africa from a white-based method of legal discrimination against people of color to a democratic, multicultural society, and he chose to do it peacefully.  For this, he was an inspiration to his country and to millions around the world.  It is a legacy well deserved.  

Going Nuclear (Or Not)

Aside from the disaster that is the Affordable Health Care Act and plunging approval ratings, the last few days have been rather significant for President Barack Obama and the Democrats.  How significant remains to be seen.

A temporary deal to limit Iran's alleged nuclear program.  U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan for another decade.  And the Senate does something about filibusters.  In all, it's quite a gamble.

Iranian Nukes Frozen

After months of secret negotiations, the United States and Iran came up with this deal:  The Iranians will stop making the nuclear materials allegedly intended to be weaponized, in exchange for some economic sanctions to be lifted.  Already it has had an effect in the U.S., where gas prices have been going down.

But the deal is for six months, with a more substantial agreement to be negotiated.  That has America's allies, especially Israel, on edge because they were not taken into consideration during the negotiations.  Congressional Republicans (and some Democrats) feel the same way, believing that the tougher sanctions that have been in place are still the way to go.

Should there be no deal, however, all bets are off.  Truth be told, the Israelis would rather bomb the Iranians  than negotiate with them.  And some of the more conservative Iranians aren't crazy about the idea either.  It's been 34 years after U.S.-Iranian relations were severed over the the American diplomats being taken  prisoner for over 400 days.  "Death to America" is still a common refrain heard around Tehran.  But more moderate leaders are in power now, and that's what led to this apparent thaw.  For now.

Another Decade in Afghanistan

Despite a promise by President Obama to get U.S. soldiers out of Afghanistan by this time next year, it looks as if this country's longest war will get longer.  Under a proposed new agreement with the Afghan government, as many as 10,000 American military personnel would remain there in a noncombat role through 2024.  The Afghans say they are now in a position to handle their own security, so what do they need the U.S.'s help for?  Or is there more to this than that?  Afghanistan just happens to sit right next to Iran and Pakistan.

The Senate Nukes Filibusters  

Senate Democrats, tired of watching their Republican brethren using stalling tactics to stop important legislation dead in its tracks, have decide to do away with the filibuster by way of the so-called "nuclear option".  From now on, a simple majority is needed to pass the President's agenda and most of his judicial appointments.  But the Democrats can only get away with this as long as they have a numerical advantage in the Senate.  The 2014 midterm elections are less than a year away, and the "nuclear option" could come back to bite them if the GOP gains enough seats.

All these issues and more could either help or hurt President Obama and the Democrats in the next few years.  What they can't count on is whether voters "go nuclear" themselves at the ballot box.
 

JFK: The End of Innocence

Cover of John F. Kennedy

At one p.m. Central Standard Time on November 22, 1963 in a Dallas hospital, President John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead of gunshot wounds.  An hour earlier he, with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy riding alongside him in a motorcade, smiled and waved at the crowd gathered along the parade route.

Suddenly, this youthful-looking, forty-something President who had inspired a nation, saved the world from nuclear destruction, and projected an image of vitality and glamour was gone.  In his place was a much older man who could have been his father.  And the world faced a new reality.

Fifty years later, there are more questions than answers about what really happened that day in Dallas.  Lee Harvey Oswald may have been fingered as the trigger man, but did he really act alone or was there someone else behind it?  All of those involved are now either dead or sworn to secrecy.  Everybody seems to have their own theory, but it doesn't really matter who did it or why.  JFK is still dead.

Fifty years ago, America was a fat and happy country living on the edge of annihilation (but only if you ignored rumblings from the Civil Rights Movement), where everybody did the Twist, the Rat Pack was in full flower, and "The Beverly Hillbillies" was the number one show on TV.  After November 22, America became a scared, distrustful country.  In some ways, it still is.

Never again would people trust their government to have all the answers as they once did.  Wars, political scandals, economic decline, security breaches, etc., pretty much took care of that.

Never again would a President be allowed a scintilla of privacy.  We didn't know until years later that Kennedy allegedly had extramarital affairs, and that his poor health left him addicted to painkillers.

Never again would the news media be as docile, because by 'gentleman's agreement' Kennedy's private foibles weren't reported.  If this 'agreement' was still in place, Richard Nixon would have been President for eight years instead of six.  And we never would have heard of Oliver North or Monica Lewinsky.

Never again would we be surprised when another sniper or terrorist commits mass murder, whether it's in a place of business or a pillar of learning.  If there's one thing we've learned, this has made Americans more--not less--willing to lock and load, as if the Second Amendment gave them the God-given right to do so.

Most of all, never again would we have the confidence to go forward in our daily lives without watching our backs.  We lock our doors, keep the kids inside, make fortresses out of public buildings, and get searched at the airport before boarding a flight.  Being safe is not the same as being free.

That's why what happened on a parade route on the streets of Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963 still matters in 2013.  John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, wasn't the only one who died that day.  So did America's innocence.

Bully Nation

They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  If you have been getting threats day after day, night after night because of the way you look, sound, act, where you came from, what you believe,what your sexual preference is, etc, that gun in your hand, that noose hanging overhead, or that cup of poison looks mighty tempting right now, doesn't it?  Before you go that far, keep reading.

We are all bullies.  It's been that way since the dawn of humanity.  Because of that, wars have been fought.  Kings, queens and dictators have come and gone.  Races, sexes and nationalities have been enslaved, subjugated and discriminated against.  Millions have died because of bullying.

In the modern world, bullying isn't restricted to schoolyards and cyberspace  You don't even have to be a child.  Bullying happens in the workplace, corporate boardrooms, sports locker rooms and inside the halls of Congress.  It happens at home:  Parents bully their kids.  Kids bully their parents.  Men rape, beat--and even murder--their women.  It also happens on TV, in the movies and in video games.  College campuses call it 'hazing'.  In the mean streets of the big city, people aren't safe from bullying even inside their homes.

If you choose to be in the military, you are bullied from the moment your drill instructor starts yelling at you to the moment they put a rifle in your hand and tell you who to kill.  If you're part of the police department, that "protect and serve" stuff goes out the window the moment they give you your badge.

In church, preachers bully their flock with what they say is the word of God.  They also bully young people into committing acts the Bible says you shouldn't do.  Certain religions bully the female population into covering themselves and accepting the consequences of unmarried sex.

Bullying also happens when terrorists bomb an airplane or a marathon, and when governments spy on and intimidate its own citizens--often in reaction to what terrorists do.

This supposed 'epidemic' of bullying has led to calls for new laws on the state and federal levels to make it illegal.  Why?  Any proposed law would be as effective as the ones that tell you not to rob a bank, steal other people's property, or shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater.  Bullies don't care about the law.  They just hire bullies of their own to represent them in court.  After they're tried and convicted (in most cases), they're sent to prison.  No shortage of bullies there.

If, by now, you've decided against using that gun, drinking the poison or jumping off the bridge and decided instead to stand up to the bullies in your life, good for you.  Just remember that retaliation makes you just as much a bully as everyone else.  Only you know if it is really worth it.

It's a vicious circle, isn't it?

Performing Surgery On a Sick Website

The Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) went into effect a month ago.  Despite many Republican efforts to defund or kill it, we are well into an era where millions of Americans who couldn't get health insurance either because it was too expensive or pre-existing conditions prevented them from getting it, now can.  And President Barack Obama, for whom the ACA is his baby, promised everyone that if we liked the health care we had before, we can certainly keep it.

That is, if you've been able to get on the website.

HealthCare.gov is supposed to be the starting point for those who want to buy policies, unless your state has its own insurance exchange (such as Minnesota).  So far, however, the site has resembled Murphy's Law, where anything that can go wrong did.

Those who have accessed the site (or tried to) encountered long waits, security glitches, lost information, no browsing through plans unless you're registered, etc.  There have also been media reports that HealthCare.gov had too many flaws, and not enough time to fix them before it went live.

Remember that promise the President made about keeping your health insurance if you liked it?  Well, some people got the word that their plans were being dropped because they were not compatible with the ACA.  So they're forced to go on HealthCare.gov, finding that the plans there are much more expensive than what they had previously.

Who's to blame for all this?  Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services secretary, has offered herself as a sacrifice.  That's noble of her, but she's not the only one.  Whoever designed the website is also responsible.  Those who were in charge of the planning also are, as well as those whose job it was to adequately explain the ACA and how the website works to everybody.

Politics, of course, has plenty to do with how the ACA has turned out.  It was initially passed in 2010 by a Democratic Congress and signed into law by Obama, and not one Republican voted for it.  The GOP now has control of the House and is inching toward a majority in the Senate, so they've gotten a lot bolder about getting rid of the ACA--to the point where they threatened to shut down the federal government over it.  Oh wait, that's already happened.

Progressives say that, despite all the problems with HealthCare.gov, the ACA will come out smelling like a rose.  Well, so far it's smelling like something else, and it's not roses.  Even if the website were fixed tomorrow, it has planted doubts in people's minds about the effectiveness of the ACA, and whether the cure is worse than the disease.

Maybe a delay of a few months to a year for the deadline to enroll in health care coverage might not be such a bad thing, if only to allow time for people to get to know the plans without being rushed into them to avoid paying a penalty.  Until then, the Affordable Care Act will continue to be more of an albatross than a feather in the cap for President Obama.