NAB/RTDNA: Second day

Between all the things going on here and a mix up in my ticket registration, it didn’t seem like a productive Day 2. But in actuality, it has been.
To start, I managed to win a super-cool Marantz digital recorder PDM660 in one of those business card contests. On the first day here, I happened to pass by the Marantz/Denon booth and saw they were giving a bunch away. The PDM660 is the latest in recording technology for radio journalists. It records direct to .wav, .mpeg or .mp3 files instead of using minidisk [MD] format, which is actually pretty productive, as well as low cost. For whatever reason - probably because they have some other format coming - Sony is discontinuing MDs and all the major radio purchasing sites are no longer carrying recorders. What stinks is that the PDM660 is a $700 machine - whereas the MD recorders are in the $200 range. However, I’m told that the PDM660 allows for the computer user to grab the file and put it directly into Adobe Audition. This is actually a huge time-saver, since MDs require the real-time transfer of audio from MD player to Audition. This should save a slew of time in production of audio, especially long press conferences or meetings, which in the end, saves time which saves money.
But enough of the gadget talk.
Because of the ticket mix up, I was unable to get into a discussion about getting news stories in a pinch when nothing is going on. After trudging all the way back to the main registration desk on the other side of the convention center, I was able to get a new pass and catch the tail end of “50 investigations in 50 minutes,” hosted by Duane Pohlman of WEWS-TV. I plan on looking into purchasing the CDR of the talk because the last 10 minutes of the presentation which I did manage to catch were very enlightening.
While the discussion was mostly geared towards television and newspapers, the stories can be presented in any format. Topics like campaign finance contributions, pollution and drug statistics, child endangerment, and other things were listed. Most good reporters know to look at these things anyway. But it doesn’t hurt to get an overview.
Later in the day, our group rushed over to the NAB luncheon which really opened my eyes to not only the power that radio has over people’s lives but also the ability to connect with the community in a positive manner.
NAB President and CEO Eddie Fritts gave out Crystal Awards to 10 stations - narrowed down from 50 - for community service awards. To hear some of the things these stations did for their communities was truly impressive. Fundraisers, blood drives, voter reg. drives, charitable contributions and events, community meetings, hours and hours of assistance to communities they served was like nothing I’ve ever seen especially in these days of corporate-dominated media thinking of nothing more than the bottom line. It is also something to strive for in the future.
In the handout presented to luncheon attendees, all 50 stations really set out to serve their communities on a regular basis, however, a few of the 10 eventual winners really stood out. One station - KNOM-AM in Nome, Alaska - serves 150,000 square miles and flies 300 volunteers around the region to cover meetings and bring in audio clips to share with their listening public. Can you imagine that: Hundreds of folks, working for free, just to bring their regional news into the station? Amazing. What a community. Another station, WCMT in Martin, Tennessee, a 700-watt AM station, was also honored with an award, as was KLOS-FM in Los Angeles. A number of the other 10 stations named were under the ownership of Bonneville Broadcasting - a large corporate owner of more than 150 radio stations. Most of the speakers for those stations noted that the corporate mucky-mucks had encouraged GMs to reach out to the community - in big ways [I may talk later about NAB and the corporate owner issues. Right now, I want to stick to the positive]. I can’t stress enough how inspiring these awards were and all the work and time these stations put into the community - beyond an employee’s 40-plus hours a week. I couldn’t help but wonder how much good could get done if every employee of every company in media gave as much time. Of course, we all have personal lives too, and nothing is more important than taking care of one’s own family. But this part of the luncheon was really inspirational and really got me thinking about not only all the great things radio does but how much more we can do.
John Gage, the chief researcher and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, gave the keynote speech, speaking from random notes he put together from the day’s events on his Mac, which was then presented on large screens in the ballroom. Gage commended U2’s Bono for being able to galvanize thousands of people at concerts to use their cell phones to sign a petition to release the third world from their massive debts [As an aside, I am still waiting for Bono to take the initiative on this matter by going after the World Bank and IMF or even having U2 headline a massive tour in which the proceeds were donated to Africa aid relief. Can anyone say Live Aid II?].
Gage also discussed the benefits and dangers of new technology which was a bit compelling. Clearly, he had been gathering data, if you will, from the discussions at NAB, since this is a worry among broadcasters. Digital broadcasting to cell phones and other gadgets as well as the danger of RFIDs were also highlighted by Gage. He also introduced a new “product” his company worked on during the last two weeks - a converter for TVs which would distribute a digital signal to analog TVs which cost Sun about $30 in parts to build. Gage noted that current converters are about $300. He didn’t mention whether Sun would be getting into the converter business but his point was pretty clear to those folks who are working on the technology.
The late Jack Buck, a St. Louis-based baseball and football broadcaster, was given the NAB Hall of Fame Award. His second wife, Carole Buck, accepted the award and told humorous anecdotes of his life and charity and 50-plus years of sports broadcasting.
After the luncheon, I attended the last half of “What’s the future of radio news?” with a bunch of the big national radio news organizations as panelists: ABC, CBS, Clear Channel, NPR, and Sirius. The moderator, Thom Callahan, is the GM of AP Radio. The discussion, however, seemed less about “the future” of radio news and more about the current state of radio news. There was also some discussion about bloggers and how they can’t be trusted and neither could information on the Web.
Interestingly, a few of the panelists joked about wanting “world domination.” While it was a lighthearted comment by Robert Garcia, bureau chief of ABC Radio, others in attendance seemed to agree, including the guy from Clear Channel, Gabe Hobbs, the VP of programming for news, talk, and sports, whose corporation owns more than 1,200 radio stations. Hobbs made a couple of self-deprecating comments about his network, which were pretty funny.
There were some good, solid questions from the audience about where the new generation of radio news reporters was going to come from, and other issues related to employment issues. There was a guy from something called The Next Generation, apparently a group working with NPR, trying to come up with ways to get folks into the radio news industry. A couple of questioners asked about employment issues and a few of the panelists talked about their internship programs and how they were making new hires. Hobbs said he was unable to find good folks to work which garnered some scuttles in the audience and at least one college kid who stood up and said he would be looking for job in two years. He also deflected some criticism from a guy complaining about one to two person news teams serving multiple stations and pointed to a train derailment in upstate New York which spew chemicals into the community yet none of the stations were on the air live with a news team to report the incident. I don’t know if the stations were Clear Channel owned and operated but if they were, Hobbs handled the question well. He noted that in the case of the train derailment, the Emergency Broadcast System was not issued by authorities - leaving the stations in the cold - and therefore, it was the fault of authorities for not letting the public know about the incident.
I also made some comments which led to a question about the tabloidization of the media. First, I commented that bloggers - while often motivated by opinion - relentlessly research to prove their points, essentially doing the jobs that the media is supposed to do … like cover important stories, such as the foreign nations buying American debt. I then tied that into the question. While not naming the network that the station I work at carries, I noted that the Michael Jackson coverage had been particularly dark and disgusting, which could also harm listeners who might have been molested and would have to listen to the Jackson trial coverage ad nauseam, on the hour, especially during the accuser’s testimony phase of the trial [I could go into the perverse descriptions that were relayed by the news reporter over and over again but then, that would make me as bad as said network, right? You've all heard about the case. You all know what child molestation is about. 'Nuff said]. I also was critical of the Martha Stewart coverage [not knowing that Sirius had just signed Stewart to a radio show] and noted that Dave Ross of CBS News had a hilarious short radio commentary which aired on the day that Stewart was released from prison, collecting audio from all the networks and comments they made and wondering whether this was all that important a story to cover. What is the future of the important stories that radio news is supposed to cover?
Needless to say, there was some unease with my concerns.
All of them pretty much agreed that they didn’t think bloggers could be trusted and that the public was driving the tabloid coverage of the news and that there wasn’t anything they could do about it. The Sirius guy, Jay Clark, EVP of programming, jokingly said he hoped the news departments would keep talking about Stewart. Hobbs said he thought it was dangerous for news departments to not cover what the people wanted and instead, cover what news directors and departments want - or thought - they should cover [Note to Hobbs: What is the point of having a news director if they can't suggest important stories to cover instead of Michael Jackson?]. Harvey Nagler, the VP of CBS Radio News, grimaced during my comments and his answers, probably knowing that yeah, I was talking about his crummy network, and he gave me the evil eye for much of the rest of the discussion. He also reiterated that the tabloid coverage was driven by the listeners. Hogwash. Try not covering it for one day and cover something and see what happens. Challenge yourselves to inform and educate the listening public and not just titilate - or disgust - them!
These comments were pretty shocking to me but not surprising. They lend credence to the extremely important comments by Valerie Hyman which I wrote about in the previous NAB post - journalists are patriots, the only job protected by the Constitution, and whose jobs make for a better democracy. It also leads one to wonder about the state of the news and its future, something the panel didn’t seem to answer very well at all.

NAB/RTNDA in Vegas
I'm currently in Las Vegas for the National Association of Broadcaster's convention, as well as the Radio TV News Directors Association convention, which is a part of NAB. This post won't be very long, just a few quick observations.
First, the time change thing is a bit of a struggle. At three hours behind EDT, everything seems thrown off. Last night, after dinner, I turned in only to realize that in real time, I had been up for about 21 hours. I don't know how folks who zig zag across the country manage to do this without getting completely exhausted.
After our party landed, we took an Airport Limousine bus to the hotel and the first sign of the sociological problems I had a feeling I would see set in.
Our driver, while a nice enough man, seemed jittery and possessed, almost like some junkie musicians I have known over the years. I didn't think anything of it ... until the guy started driving. The bus clearly had mechanical problems and he was beating every bit of juice out of it that he could. At the first stop light, he looked down at his lap and started fiddling with something. Since I was in the front seat, I could see him acting strangely. I thought, ‘Oh, I hope he isn't getting ready to pop a pill or something worse.’ Well, he wasn't ... he was counting his chips. He separated them into colors and then re-separated them, clicking them together and fiddling with them nervously. It was a pretty weird thing to witness. He then quickly put all the chips into his saddle bag by his feet and began driving again.
The bus drove around the inner parts of the city before the hotels. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of XXX video stores and a couple of strip joints, as well as apartments and smaller, seedy - for lack of a better word - motels. We drove by a whole slew of boarded up apartments - not big brownstones like you would see in the Bronx - but what seemed like nice bungalows or something you would pay a small fortune for in a place like Miami.
I looked around at some old folks vacationing on the bus and at least one NABster annoying chatting on his cell phone and some were clearly worried about the ride they just got on. Thankfully, we got off the bus at the second stop.
The strip is busy ... almost like Times Square. Everything is loud and clanging, with horns going off, music, and Spanish street vendors handing out pamphlets for escort services. A "fat" Elvis is posing for free pictures outside one of the hotels but there is a Subway and McDonald's nearby. The hotels are big and glamorous, not unlike I expected and no different from what you see on television. The lights aren’t on - we would see that later - but you get the awe of the place.
At check-in, there is a long line and the cacophony of clamoring of slot machines so loud you can barely think straight. I think out loud that this is what a schizophrenic must have going on in the brain. The hotel, while trying, fails to blow away the cigarette smoke from the casinos and bars. Unlike Foxwoods, where people hog two and three slot machines and there is a look of death and hopelessness on faces far and wide, a lot of the machines and tables are not being used and people generally seem to be having fun. Of course, I'm not really paying as much attention to their faces because I am too distracted by the noise.
After check-in, we board the monorail to the convention center to check out the exhibits. I also want to attend the RTNDA seminar about being a new news director.
The monorail is pretty cool - not unlike the one in Miami. However, one can’t help but notice that it goes over almost all the seediness we just passed by to get from the airport to the strip. It is almost as if it was built to keep all the special people away from the riff raff. While that is good to keep crime down and preserve tourism, I wonder if it is the best thing for society. More boarded up apartments and construction everywhere can be seen.
I keep thinking about Stephen King's book "The Stand."
NAB is a radio, TV and film geek’s dream world. Every gadget you could possibly imagine is here - from antennae manufacturing to studio production and some of the coolest space-aged mixing boards I have ever seen.
“I wish I had a million dollars … hot dog!”
Before the news director’s seminar, my group checks out some of the vendors and has a couple of conversations with some interesting folks about software and mics. After leaving the NAB section, we head up to the RTNDA section which, as far as booths go, is extremely disappointing. There is a CNN store and a couple of other news booths, like AP and Consumer Reports. But there isn’t much else. I was hoping to find some other groups who might offer bartered news features or production tools. Not surprisingly, a few military interests have media promotion outposts, as does the HHS, where I grill a couple of folks on flu quarantine issues. Thankfully, they don't look at me like I am nuts and take my civil libertarian concerns very seriously.
For the record, flight attendants are reportedly trained to call airport officials who then call CDC officials when they believe there might be a medical emergency on a flight from overseas in which a quarantine/flu treatment situation might kick in.
I attend the first news director’s seminar about how to manage your news department after being promoted from within and other tips on getting the most out of your news staff. It was a pretty interesting conversation geared more towards TV news departments, but much of the information can be transferred into any management situation. I like that the main speaker, Valerie Hyman, kept stressing that in order to stay fresh and focused, news directors need to take breaks and schedule something I otherwise call "quiet time," to take care of those mundane tasks. Note to self: Take a walk in the middle of the day, especially if it is nice outside.
At the end, Hyman makes a most prolific statement about news directors being one of the most patriotic jobs a person can have and how the press is the only job protected by the Constitution. She also states that our job is one of the only ones that preserve democracy. I begin to feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :-)
Alright folks, that’s it for now. I may not be updating the blog while out here but I wanted to give folks a taste of what I am seeing. If something super cool or newsworthy happens, I will post something. Otherwise, check back in for a longer report by the end of the week.

Charlie Shannon: RIP
State Senator Charlie Shannon, D-Winchester, Mass., passed away this morning from complications from a bone marrow transplant treatment in his fight against leukemia, according to press reports. He was 61. There are press reports here: ["Charles E. Shannon dies at 61; loses battle with cancer"] and here: ["Shannon succumbs to long illness"] [Shockingly, there is nothing at The Winchester Star site about his death. CNC could have at least put up the thorough and decent Medford Transcript story].
When I lived in Somerville, Shannon was my state senator and I also covered him as editor of The Star for over 2.5 years.
At first, I wasn't all that impressed with him. He was just another socially conservative Irish Democratic pol who probably should have been a Republican. And in Charlie's case, he was a Republican when he was first elected. He later changed parties after, as he put it, Gov. Bill Weld and another Republican Senator tried to screw him on a budget appropriation. Charlie told me the story over coffee at Nelson's in Winchester one day saying he went to then-President of the Senate Billy Bulger and said he would switch parties if he could get his line item in the budget. Bulger got it done for Charlie and Charlie waved goodbye to the MassGOP. Another stupid move for Republicans since it was a Democratic seat being held by a Republican.
As I covered him in the press, I really learned to like the guy. He was a good ole coot. Although a conservative Democrat, Shannon was also a populist and fought for the working class of his Medford and Somerville district. He had all kinds of stories and was great with a quote. I'll never forget the times he tore into Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, calling him "heartless," for cutting funds to some of Massachusetts' most vulnerable. After Romney was elected, I did an analysis piece about how towns he didn't win in the election were seeing their local aid cut more deeply than towns who voted for Romney. It should have been a great statewide story had the Boston Herald bothered to publish it after I shared it with them. As well, no other state news outlet bothered to look at the numbers and find the story themselves. Anyhow, Shawn Feddeman, Romney's adorably cute spokeswoman, scoffed at the idea but Shannon laid into the guv. I had to edit his language, as you can imagine. But Somerville and Medford were getting whacked something fierce and Charlie was livid. That was the kinda guy he was ... always worried about the little guy.
Despite always being a target for Shannon, Romney acknowledged he fought for the little guy in a press release today, noting that Charlie was "a tireless advocate for the people." Unlike a lot of pols, Shannon never forgot where he came from. Unlike a lot of pols, Shannon never forgot why he was in the state Senate.
There was one thing he did that I didn't think was too keen - holding up a wine and liquor license in Winchester for trivial reasons, which also benefited the brother of a long-time campaign contributor. But hey, that's minor when you consider all the good things he did.
Unlike another elected Democrat from Winchester, who will remain nameless, Charlie didn't flip out when I looked into all the lobbyists and political action committees throwing money at his campaign committee. Instead, he sloughed it off and told stories about some of the guys he grew up with who went to his "times." He didn't take it personally and cry like a little baby; he knew I was just doing my job, asking the tough questions like any good writer or reporter does.
One of the last times I spoke to Charlie, he was reserving space in the paper for a killer column coming out against a huge $3.9 million Proposition 2 1/2 tax override in Winchester, strategically placed to run just before the election. A former selectman, he was furious at what he perceived to be mismanagement with the town finances. He also knew that even though he wasn't as powerful a pol as in the past, he could still sway the votes of some of the old timers in town, many who would be detrimentally affected by the increase in property taxes coming with the approval of the override. A big chunk of Winchester's residents are over the age of 65 and not all of them have trust funds. The perception that Winchester is an affluent town is skewed by all the newcomers who moved into town over the last decade or so, with their masters degrees, big salaries, and wives in Lexuses. Shannon's column was a brilliantly biting piece - with a headline calling on the voters of Winchester to vote No on "Winchester's Day of Infamy" [The vote was scheduled for Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day].
But Shannon's role went beyond just writing the column. I later found out that behind the scenes, he quietly helped organize the No forces so that they could defeat the override. I later learned - off-the-record, of course, which means that you don't reveal the source - that Shannon paid for a telephone push poll which called a ton of voters across the town, mildly urging them to vote No.
On the morning of the election, while the Vote Yes side was gleefully assuming they had victory in their grasp, due to freezing rain and snow pouring down on the community, Shannon was chipper and excited. He knew that the old-timers would come out and defeat the override, weather or no weather.
"It will be defeated by a two-to-one margin," he said.
"What?!" I asked. "Impossible."
"Two-to-one," he said again, laughing.
At the time, I didn't know that Shannon had authorized the push poll, so I couldn't report it. I also didn't know that the results of the poll were two-to-one against the override. In the end, the override was defeated and while it was a less than two-to-one margin, it lost by a whopping 1,000-plus votes.
Of course, a push poll of hundreds of voters wasn't the thing that killed the override. What killed the override was the fact that it was too much, too soon. And the fact that people actually went out and campaigned against it. Had the advocates proposed a smaller override, they might have gotten it and wouldn't be making plans to layoff a slew of school teachers. Shockingly, all of those with masters degrees, big salaries, and wives in Lexuses, never seemed to get those little common sense things that the rest of us realize.
Just before I left The Star, Charlie called to wish me luck. He was into his fight against leukemia again but was still energetic and funny. When he told me he was going to beat it again, I knew he would, and I also told him I would pray for him. Unfortunately, he didn't beat it. But he lived a full life and helped a lot of folks out. His family - and district - will miss him.

Speculation will now turn to a special election which will need to be held to fill Charlie's seat. It's been a long time since the district has seen a competitive race. However, that is all for another day.
Rest in Peace, Charlie.

A persistent vegetative state ...

Not unlike lots of other folks, I think it is tragic watching the Terri Schiavo case unfold 24/7 on every channel across the spectrum. And, if you are a news junkie like I am, you are seeing a lot of this case.
Personally, I am getting a bit sick of it. In typical fashion, the media are going completely overboard in covering this tragedy which is essentially a local - and family - issue. While Schiavo is incapacitated, it is easy to say that the media are also in a persistent vegetative state.
The coverage brings up a whole bunch of different emotions on a variety of levels. There is the issue of when life ends or who has control over someone in this state. There are those of us who are truly concerned about preserving "life" and there is the manipulation of the issue by some of the most craven politicians in our country: ["Dialysis was denied for DeLay dad "]. There is the issue over who should have guardianship in these situations - a husband who has two kids from another relationship - or the parents who want to preserve the "life" of their daugher. Having watched some of the relentless coverage, I am aghast at what I have seen.
Once again, FoxNews has gone completely over the top.
Rita Cosby on "The Big Show" Saturday virtually claimed that Michael Schiavo was somehow responsible for his wife's heart attack when everyone knows that the attack was brought on by a lack of potassium - a sign of bulimia. Maybe FoxNews is thinking that Michael somehow made Terri starve herself to lose weight. The Schindlers - Terri Schiavo's parents - did nothing to dissuade this kind of talk even though it probably isn't true. If I were Michael Schiavo, I would hire a libel attorney after seeing some of the coverage. But it isn't just these issues. I won't even go into Sean Hannity's night after night after night of claims that she can talk and that somehow her husband is killing her. And where are the conservatives - like Howie Carr, for example - who are always yelling at anti-war protesters to "get a job." They have been silent on this issue too, yet one could say that all these people holding candles need to get a life, no pun intended.
Like David Ross of CBS News said last week in his commentary, the Schiavo case hasn't really preserved life - it has preserved death. Everywhere, families and loved ones are having serious conversations about the end of life and how we would like to go out. Ross noted that most of the people he talked to stated the same thing: I wouldn't want to be alive if I were in her condition. This doesn't mean that a person's request will actually be respected in the end - without a living will or some other sort of documentation - but it does allow for these serious conversations to occur.
But what about "life" or the quality of said life? It is one thing to say that a fetus in a mother's womb has the potential to live a long life as a child if brought into the world; it is quite another thing to say that a person in Schiavo's condition is going to have any sort of life, lying there, unable to feed herself, unable to speak, unable to do much of anything that most of us would consider having a life. Personally, I wouldn't want to live that way ... but I wouldn't want to die that way either.
On a larger - and more important scale - look at what the world is missing while we are distracted with Schiavo case, the Wacko Jacko nonsense, Prince Charles' silly wedding, the pope's condition [which, granted, is important to hundreds of millions of Catholics], night after night: Important stories like this ["Baghdad Coup D'Etat For Big Oil"] or the second anniversary of the Iraq invasion, which was barely covered by most of the press, the bulging trade deficit and globalization wrecking the American family, foreign nations buying up all of our debt, the utter sin of the bankruptcy bill ["Christian lawyers say bill, Bible don't mesh"], etc. etc. It is an absolute disgrace. And, it is also one of the reasons I work in the media - so I can do relevant stories for people and not get caught up in all of this unimportant nonsense.
Ralph Nader has his thoughts about the case: ["The Many Layers of the Terry Schiavo Controversy"] which I found pretty interesting, and of course, there is Jesse Jackson's view, again, all over the place, including of all places, on FoxNews where Hannity was acting like a complete rump-swab ... actually treating Jackson like a human being instead of an adulterer and a swindler ... which has previously been the case with Hannity. Yeah, it was pretty shocking to see tonight.
We all know that life is precious ... and this is no way to end one, no matter what you feel about the issue or the outcome. 


Other stuff:
* Former Dem VP candidate John Edwards is on a tear of late: ["'08 White House Race Draws Iowa's Interest"]. Is he the one? As I have said before, I honestly believe that had he been out on the stump more, Kerry might have pulled it off. It seemed as though Edwards disappeared for a month there late in the campaign. Where did Shrum hide him?
* "Hot" Air America, as Nader called it during the 2004 campaign, gets raked over the coals this week on HBO: ["HBO to Air Docu on Air America: 'Left of the Dial'"]. I don't have HBO so I will be missing this but I bet it is amusing.
* This is so scary and makes me worry more and more about what is going on with this government: ["Administration kept mum about unapproved modified corn sold"].
* Danny Schecter is one of our country's most important commentators right now. He has a good piece on the coverage - or lack of coverage - of the anti-war movement: ["Miscovering Anti-War Protests (Again)"].
* I totally missed this but I bet it was a funny sight, for lack of a better word: ["SNL Tries Penile Implant"].
* This headline says it all: ["'One huge US jail'"]. Between the pipeline crap and this, what the hell is going on over there?
* Political things in Massachusetts are getting a little testy these days and once again, it looks like the Democrats are going to eat themselves alive. Typically, incumbents in the state Legislature are trying to protect themselves while reformers want to make the process better. At the same time, the party hacks want to make it harder for outsiders to get on the ballot: ["State Democrats seek to streamline primary process"]. Possible gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick is making the early rounds, in what will be a David vs. Goliath fight for the nomination: ["Impressions of Deval Patrick from Cambridge, 3/26"] and ["Dem rival gives gov run for his money"]. Then, there is this, by a former three-time non-victorious candidate from the left, George Bachrach: ["Reform the Democrats with more democracy"]. [I didn't really want to call Bachrach a three-time "loser" because while I think he can sometimes be a bit whiny, his heart always seems in the right place. And, as we all know in campaigns, more people are non-victorious than victorious, so Bachrach is in good company.]
* One of the reasons some liberals have no clue is because they don't read all forms of commentary. I may not agree with a guy like Robert Novak much, but he always has some pretty good ditties like this one; ["RNC warns Congress of Republican electoral disaster in 2006"] and this one: ["With Condoleezza Rice’s support, America will leave Iraq this year"].
* The book is still not closed on the 2004 election and this article proves it: ["Voting glitches haunt statistician"]. I will never for the life of me understand how so many smart people can get caught up in so many dumb theories. Exit polls are wrong all the time! They are completely unscientific. Folks lie on them. Maybe the pollsters didn't do their work properly. It is completely illogical to presume that a sampling of one one-millionth of a precent could determine the outcome of an election. The only thing exit polls are good for is for gathering data on the people who fill them out and to get some sense of what those sampled voters were feeling at the time. Exit polls are not good predictors. And lastly, these types of theories make wild and grand allegations about voting technologies that no one actually knows to be true. As was seen during the Nader recounts here in New Hampshire and the Miami Herald recounts in northern Florida, many historically strong Democratic towns and counties in both states in 2004 voted for Bush. The recounts prove it. In Ohio, the majority of voting machines are not computerized but paper ballot or punch card ballots. There may be rigged machines in some places across this nation but not so far in the ones that have been recounted and no one has still shown me that the nation's voting machines can be rigged in some giant conspiracy to swing the election. We know that there are other problems as noted in an entry posted here two years ago: ["Vote fraud, conspiracies, and real solutions to the elections problem"] Of course, no one wants to talk about double-voting or illegal aliens voting; it is much easier to keep perpetuating the theory that there is a wizard somewhere swinging the votes to the evil, Christian Republicans. Give me a break.

Primaries:
In the Northeast, we are right now in the middle of a pretty huge blizzard which is thankfully hitting us on a weekend instead of the middle of the week. This inclement weather is allowing folks like me to bundle up in the house and wait for enough snow to fall so that I can go out and snow blow without it being a wasted effort. The storm also allowed for the opportunity to sit in front of the TV watching C-Span - and the first hearing of the Democratic National Committee’s Commission on Presidential Nominations.
Unfortunately, only the first segment of the discussion was aired. Around lunch, C-Span cut to repeats of budget hearings. But what I did see was extremely interesting, with a lot of history being shared about previous commissions and campaigns. There was a very fascinating historical presentation by a woman from the JFK School, Dr. Kamarck, or something, where she solidified the importance of having the first primaries and caucuses in small states. She also made a plug for Iowa and New Hampshire keeping their places. After a few questions, she was whacked by Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan who has a recent history of trying to strip New Hampshire of its First in the Nation Primary. He even interrupted her when she was trying to answer one of his questions - which can happen sometimes at these things. It also made me think back to the initial introductions where I noticed that the state of Michigan seemed to have three folks on the panel representing their interests where other states only seemed to have one or two members. Why does Michigan get three? Why do the others only get two? New Hampshire seemed responsibly represented by former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and Terry Schumaker, an executive director with the NEA here in the state. But other states didn’t seem to have a voice at all.
There were also some interesting comments made by [I believe] Ronald Walters, a University of Maryland professor, about how the first states weren’t diverse enough and how fringier candidates like the Rev. Al Sharpton should be taken seriously by the party and the voters. While he makes a valid point about the lack of darker skin tones in both states, he ignores the fact that both Iowa and New Hampshire are diverse in other ways - like in economics. Skin color isn’t the only measure of “diversity.” Personally, I hate it when politicos get obsessed with skin color as if it should be a measuring stick for access to power or, that somehow, folks who are not people of color can’t relate to the trials and tribulations of our nation’s minority populations.
The interests of the DNC are not necessarily the interests of the voters when setting their calendar. This is clear from the previous results of commissions and DNC chairmen who have set the primaries up to be front-loaded - with the false impression that getting an early winner would allow that winner to compete more aggressively and, eventually, win. The DNC is interested in winning back the White House - not necessarily setting up a calendar of primaries which empowers voters and people into making the best decisions for the party. Levin’s relevance is to remove New Hampshire from the picture; just as Shaheen’s is to preserve our role. The goal of the commission, however, shouldn’t be to strip Iowa and New Hampshire of our status. It should be to set a calendar that creates a primary and caucus schedule that allows as many states as possible to have the retail political experience.
But it isn’t just the calendar that matters. It is also the media and the candidates who decide how long a campaign should be waged and whether other states have a role in participating.
In 2004, I thought most of the candidates quit too early. By the end of February, most were gone. Two of the candidates - Sen. Bob Graham and former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun - quit before a vote was even cast. Another candidate, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who could have waged a more relevant campaign had he not “changed his mind” on abortion and ran as a pro-life Democrat, stayed true to his message to the very end, giving his voters a reason to go to the polls, even though he was never going to win the presidency [As an aside, Kucinich did score some pretty good numbers in late contests - 26 percent in Alaska, 17 percent in Minnesota, 12 percent in Colorado, 12 percent in North Carolina, 10 percent in Kansas - it just wasn’t enough to make much difference - or even win many delegates].
Other candidates could have stayed in longer or forged alliances to beat the clearly unelectable John Kerry. There was a point in mid- to late-February where the Howard Dean and John Edwards forces needed to have a serious sit down - not the one they did have which led to nothing. Dean had amassed a number of super delegates and Edwards was surging as the Kerry alternative. The two of them together could have led to a stronger ticket than the Kerry fronted ticket. Imagine, no Swift Boats, no Massachusetts liberal [especially if Dean was VP], very little flip-flopping. Edwards would’ve easily beaten President Bush in the debates and Dean would have easily beaten Dick Cheney. It would have been a stronger ticket, Ralph Nader still would have only been a minor footnote, and the Democrats would have been stronger going into the final election.
Then, there is the media, which has done a pretty poor job of covering the candidates in the past. Gone are the days of relatively thorough, and decent coverage of the candidates; in are the days where a candidate’s howling at a campaign event is repeated over and over again to the point of personal destruction. It's not like he was tagging an intern or anything. There is also the issue of the Washington, DC cocktail crowd who always seem to manage to wreck everything with their pomposity and arrogance.
Another point: While there has been a lot of testimony by Democrats to the committee, the one thing missing - so far - is any response from non-insiders who might have interesting ideas about how to fix the system. Almost everyone on the panel is either an elected official [or former elected official] or some sort of party hack - for lack of a better term. I guess the regular watchers of the process will have to leave our comments to columns and remarks made on radio talk shows.

Catching up:
I have been incredibly busy of late but I thought I would take a minute to catch up here on some stuff that I have seen over the past couple of weeks. I was recently appointed News Director at WKXL 1450, along with my arts and entertainment duties. I will also continue to submit stories and host two hours of news during the day. It's an incredibly invigorating job. The news team all wear multiple hats at the station. Barring some minor production problems, it has been pretty good so far.
Here is a good story about what is going on in Concord radio, including some cute comments from my boss about what we are doing: ["Radio industry in flux "]. It is pretty exciting to be working for a truly community radio station.

Alright, let's start with this: ["Ridge, Pollsters Met During Bush Campaign"]. It isn't bad enough that he was taped partying in Hawaii on the dime of the federal government, under the guise of "homeland security," as covered by "20/20," but now we read that he was working with Republican pollster Frank Lutz while stating he wasn't involved in Bush's campaign. Yes, the same Lutz who was doing polling analysis and focus groups of the Democratic candidates for MSNBC was meeting with Ridge about homeland security issues. This is outrageous. Imagine if one of Clinton's underlings had done this in 1996. They would have been castrated! Yet, barely a peep about it in the news. Just this story and then, poof, it's gone. Gee, wonder why?
Also, isn't it interesting that we don't see those colored terrorist warning charts much anymore? Lutz is a pretty fair, IMHO, pollster. And yeah, pollsters are whores. They work for whoever pays the bills. But he should have known better than to get involved in this. It smells. It smells like stealing an election with fear.
Then, there is this: ["Bush team tried to suppress pre-9/11 report into al-Qa'ida"].

[Bretweiser] told The Independent: "There were 52 threats that were mentioned. These were present threats - they were not historical. There were steps that could have been taken. Marshals could have been put on planes that spring. Condoleezza Rice's testimony is undermined." To the consternation of members of the commission who published the original report last year, the administration has been blocking the release of the latest information. An unclassified copy of this additional appendix was passed to the National Archives two weeks ago with large portions blacked out.

The site for the documents is here: ["document"]. It kind makes you wonder about all of this. Maybe folks like Sander Hicks are on the right track: ["The Big Wedding"].

Hunter S. Thompson: R.I.P. When I heard he had committed suicide, I began to wonder about this too. The guy was always playing with guns, he lived a full and chaotic life, and then, he actually takes his own life? It doesn't make any sense. I know that Denver cops were furious at him for defending this woman on death row. Anyhow, read "Fear and loathing on the campaign trail, '72," one of the best political books ever written. Writers for the Boston Phoenix have a tribute here: ["Remembering Hunter S. Thompson"]. As does my ole Cambridge bud Ralph Lopez here: ["Huge balls to the end"].

Speaking of not seeing things in the media, why is it only the underground press that is talking about Jeff Gannon/J.D. Guckert gay prostitute getting a "hard" - no pun intended - press pass to the Bush White House? Why isn't this as huge as the story about Dan Rather going after the president leaving the National Guard early when we all know he left the National Guard early? Some of the video on this Gannon/Guckert guy is hilarious - thrashing Democrats and throwing softball questions at the president [Once again, thank God for C-Span!]. But when you combine this with Cheney's lesbian daughter and her wife on stage with the president after winning the election, I really have to wonder what is going on in this nation. I have no problem with people's personal opinions. But I hate people who act stupidly. It is clear that the good Christian folks of America, who do mean well, were duped by this clown. Or were they? Their other main choice was the pathetic, flip-flopping John Kerry. So, since they didn't really have a choice, maybe they weren't duped at all. Bring on 2008.

Speaking of 2008, there may be hope for the Democrats after all. Howard Dean was named DNC chairman last week. However, not all are happy with this move. Here is a piece by Bob Burnett that is worth a quick read: ["Meet The New Boss "]. I don't agree with his point at all but it is a different point of view that is worth noting for originality alone. I think he is off base because Dean has committed to invigorating the base from the ground up. And if he can do that - with incorruptible, normal folks trying to do what is right - the country will be a better place.
On a similar note, here is my hero, Ralph Nader, really clocking the NYT's Bob Herbert: ["A 'Participant-Observer' on Losing Elections, Pushing Agendas"].

There is another kind of abdication. That is when a progressive columnist, who reaches millions of readers, sits idly by and watches the Democratic Party spend millions of dollars with corporate law firms to file phony lawsuits to push Nader/Camejo off one state ballot after another, and unleash torrents of lies about this candidacy. Denying candidates' right to freedom of speech and assembly, which is what running for elective office comprises, might have been seen by a consistent Bob Herbert as an important violation of civil liberties - if not for the candidates, at least for the voters who were denied their choice of candidates.

It's true. There were very few columnists and writers who defended Nader's right to run. I was one of the few who did - and got beat up for it too. But who cares? In the end, the voters did what they did and the liberals still lost. But where are the responsibilities of those on the editorial pages to fight for freedom? If those folks won't fight for us, who will? And let's chuck the two-party system into the garbage can already. Every other country in the world - even the Iraqis - have more choices than we do. Enough already.

In the wake of destruction, some positive things occur. Check out this story about an ancient city found outside of India: ["Tsunami Uncovers Ancient City in India"]. Can you say, Wow!? And then there is this, lights above Hawaiian skies: ["Astronomy Picture of the Day"].

I'm not a big fan of The Nation's David Corn. Sometimes, he writes good stuff. Other times, he acts like a whiny liberal. However, this piece on his blog just nails it so hard it isn't even funny: ["Negroponte's Dark Past"]. And there is this from the Boston Phoenix today: ["Dumb Intelligence"]. And now this guy is the Director of National Intelligence? He couldn't see the crap going on in Latin America and now he is in charge? This, along with Alberto Gonzalez as the new AG, and is there any wonder that the United States of America is marching down the road to banana republic?

Another reason why I love bloggers: ["CNN's Nuke Plant Photos Identical for Both Iran and N. Korea!"]. How do they dig this stuff up?

Suicide is never the answer: ["'Over my dead body'"]. Rest in peace Curtis Greene.

This will open your eyes: ["Twenty Questions: Social Justice Quiz"]. Again, we are going backwards.

Why free speech is important, Part 1: ["Display Stirs Controversy In Land Park"]. Part 2: ["O'Malley Likens Bush's Proposed Cuts to Sept. 11 Attacks"]. Part 3: ["Professor refuses to apologize for essay, book about Sept. 11 attack"]. Part 4: ["What Ward Churchill Didn't Say "].

What's going on?:
Here is what is going on in the world these days. I haven't really had much time to watch the world argue, but it is happening. One thing that is nice about the sun coming up earlier in the morning these days is that I seem to be naturally waking up a bit earlier.

Let's start off this post by congratulating the New England Patriots for winning the Super Bowl, again. They are clearly a dynasty and work - and act - like a team. We don't see a lot of this in the sports world, where "teams" often have one or two superstars, and a whole lot of filler trying to become superstars. The Red Sox winning the World Series had a similar team-tone to it - although many have bolted for other teams to become superstars, with huge contracts.

Important programming note: As part of Black History Month, PBS is airing a documentary on Shirley Chisolm entitled "Chisolm '72: Unbought and unbossed." Those of you who don't know Chisolm should watch - and learn - about a remarkable and powerful woman who challenged the power structure in our country. Here is a link to the PBS site: ["Chisolm '72"] and a Boston Globe write-up here: ["'Chisholm '72' is riveting portrait of a pioneer"].

Speaking of the Globe, they broke this story recently: ["White House-friendly reporter under scrutiny"]. Interesting, I haven't heard word one about this on FoxNews.

Also, Richard Parker has an interesting essay here about the epic economic battles from the 1960s that continue to this day: ["The pragmatist and the utopian"]. It is interesting to note, as Dan Kennedy did over at Media Log, that almost everything that Milton Friedman touched has failed. From free trade on down. Do we really want to "privatize" Social Security or tinker with it a little bit to make sure that those of us who are younger can see some of our cash back? Of course, if we had a better economy for working folks, we would be able to save more and not have to worry about the tinkering ... oh, but that would be too easy to do.
One other problem is this, noted by a poster on DailyKos: ["Supplemental Tables and Figures"]. Private accounts have to grow at 11 percent to keep up with what future retirees were promised from the program. This is similar to data forwarded by others who advocate private retirement and savings accounts. If there could be a built-in guaranteed savings percentage for private accounts, say double inflation, or 6 to 8 percent, then this might be something to look at. But in most cases, there are no guarantees, even with banks. How quickly we forget that there was a huge S&L scandal that cost the taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars and very few of the people who stole that money were ever brought to justice. Sure, a handful were taken out, like the Keating folks and those connected to Madison, Silverado, and Whitewater. But most are still in the business of loaning and playing with money. Yet, at the same time that the S&Ls were bailed out, why is it that when the poor people's retirement fund looks to be "in trouble," it can't be bailed out? Why can't tax rates can't be adjusted to fix the problem? All income over $80,000 is not taxed. Maybe instead of taxing 7.4 percent of the first $80,000, we should tax 4 percent of everything. This would lower taxable amounts on workers who need to save and make the plan solvent into the 22nd Century while not costing "the rich" much at all.

While I have the Boston Phoenix on my mind, it is worth noting that one of its former reporters, Kristen Lombardi, the one who actually broke the Catholic priest abuse scandal a full 18-months before the Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning "investigation," is now at the Village Voice. This week, she filed this story, about a judicial activist jailed for challenging the elevation of a local judge: ["The Scourge of Her Conviction"]. It is interesting to note that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-Arkansas via NY, the supposed senator of the people, would consider this woman a stalker - instead of a seeker of justice. Oh how the times have changed since the days of the labor movement, civil rights movement, and women's movement, of the past. Are things really that great to stop fighting for justice?

Why am I not surprised by this headline: ["Election Complaints Emerge in Iraq"]. Irregularities here; irregularities there. Is this what has become of Americanized democracy? What happened to the old adage, It doesn't matter who wins or loses; what matters is how you play the game? What happened to the Christ-like principles that Christians are supposed to share? With trillions in oil money at stake and a country - the United States - with a history of setting and propping up dictators under the guise of free and open elections, it is obvious that the adage is irrelevant to the modern times. When a political leader worships at the altar of money, "the root of all evil," what are we to expect?
I also find it funny that educators of today are still using these adages, to the point of holding soccer games with no score and no winner. Are we truly preparing our children for the real world if we bring them up thinking that there is no score?
As any honest person knows, the fraud and irregularities of elections are bipartisan. The Republicans are not all bad; they just happen to be the ones that have allegedly done it successfully in the last two presidential cycles. In the past, it was the Democrats - ranging from the 1960 election to local elections from Boston to Miami to Cincinnati - who were the culprits. Don't forget that.

Then there is this: ["Rumsfeld Asks for Restoration of Nuclear 'Bunker Buster' Program"]. Oh, must we?

Down in Massachusetts, Democrats are analyzing why their gubernatorial candidates have been so pathetic: ["Democrats map strategy to win back corner office"]. I haven't seen the report but I bet they still don't get it.

Here is a cool article about film in New Hampshire. It mentions two guests I've had on the A&E show: ["nh film roots for indies"].

Over in Maine, IRV gets a bill: ["Bill would change Maine's voting system to 'instant runoff'"].

Lastly, I just saw Godzilla featured in a diarrhea commercial? Is there no shame?!?

Ideas

I love ideas. They don't have to be big or grand schemes. Even the small ideas can be interesting. And I admire people who try to think about things differently - or come up with unique ways of fixing problems.

Self-proclaimed right wing extremist and former talk show host Chuck Morse has a new blog called "Morse's Code" and has posted this referring to a column by Jeff Jacoby, the Boston Globe's token conservative: ["A bigger Congress would be more democratic"]. Jacoby wrote a similar column about five or six years ago. I recall saving the text of it but when I went to look for it I couldn't find it. Both Jacoby and Morse are also correct in their assertions that Congress should be expanded to a larger body. They also are right to question whether our nation is as democratic as it possibly could be. It should also be noted that Morse ran for Congress in 2004 against Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., as an independent - after getting caught in a registration snafu, unable to run as a Republican - and received 22 percent of the vote, just more than 62,000 votes - or about what other Republicans have received against Frank in the past. Other, more liberal columnists have made similar points - that if Bush wanted to promote "democracy," he should start right here, in the United States: ["A Fantasy of Freedom"].

The Globe has an Ideas section and other Special Reports it occasionally publishes in its Sunday edition. It tends to take one subject and expand it into a more thorough presentation of concepts. Here is a recent one about a report commissioned by the Boston Foundation: ["A Better Boston"]. What is so interesting about this piece is that most of the folks who give money to foundations like the Boston Foundation are some of the same folks who are wrecking the city. Of course, the editors who put these sections together never think outside of the box about who they allow to participate in the concept-sharing. But, they aren't bad sections. I would love to see a New Hampshire paper undertake a similar idea. Sure, these special sections cost money to produce, but it can be a very influential public policy tool.

While most Americans are not thinking about the 2008 presidential campaign, some out there in the political junkie world are. Here is one guy who is on to something: ["Draft Russ Feingold"]. Sen. Feingold is a fair trader, he voted against the invasion, he voted against the PATRIOT Act, he's a populist ... do I need to go on? Sure, he is too liberal on the social issues for much of America. And yeah, McCain/Feingold isn't working out as well as some had hoped. But it is better than what we had before. With the likes of Hilary, Long Jawn, and Big Al being floated for 2008, please, bring on Russ! Also, while Kerry was barely beating back Bush - by a mere 11,800 votes - Feingold beat his GOP opponent by 12 percent or 331,000 votes! If Kerry ran that strong there, the resources for Wisconsin could have been spent in other states, like Iowa, New Mexico, or Ohio. Just more proof that if you stand for something, you can get the votes. The guy who created the site also has a blog of Russisms: ["DraftRuss2008 blog"]. Another blogger has set up one for Sen. Barbara Boxer: ["President Boxer blog"].

One of the last great classic columnists died this week.
David Nyhan, formerly of the Globe and later of the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune newspaper chain, died while shoveling snow in Brookline. He was a great one, as noted in this column by bow-tied cocktail crowder Thomas Oliphant here: ["Remembering a gentle giant"] and here, in his obit: ["Retired Globe columnist David Nyhan, 64, collapses and dies"]. Nyhan wasn't held back by anything and didn't judge a book by its cover. He wrote about all kinds of people and never seemed to let the status quo guide his principles or his writing. In that, he was sort of a dying breed, like other columnists such as Jack Germond, Mike Royko, Peter Lucas, who wrote for the Herald, or author Thomas H. O'Connor, the definitive Boston scholar. Nyhan's books, while not bestsellers, clued readers in to the mechanizations of Massachusetts politics. In particular, I enjoyed his book about Michael Dukakis, called "The Duke," which I found in used paperback form a bunch of years ago.
While I didn't always agree with his take on things, I gained a fondness in my heart for him after he highlighted my appearance at a Brighton housing forum on May 29, 1998 during my independent run for Congress in the storied 8th Congressional District. In "Gang of 12 take a bow," Nyhan stated:

The candidates' night began hitting on all 11 cylinders when Anthony Schinella, the independent, announced: "Both parties are corrupt and have abandoned their core constituencies." He made the first pitch for the renter vote by lamenting his trouble finding an apartment while paid $8.40 an hour. His solution? "A 100 percent renters' tax deduction."

I was shocked after seeing the column since it was one of the first times the campaign received any press from the two Boston dailies. In fact, it was one of the only nice things ever published about me in the Globe, which later went on to take numerous cheap shots and publish inaccuracies which never were corrected, a serious flaw in any media organization. As everyone knows, when someone makes a mistake, a correction is published ... unless its the Boston Globe. Interestingly, it was one of the only columns he wrote about the 8th race. I've always wondered why he didn't write more. After all, he was their top political reporter. He could have written a whole book about that race.
Nyhan also wrote positive things about one of my favorite politicians, former California governor Jerry Brown, including a great column when he ran for president in 1992 that the campaign used as a lit drop, "The perfect non-politician," which was syndicated nationally.
Earlier tonight, "Greater Boston" had a segment on Nyhan's death, including film from his funeral ceremony where his kids gave passionate speeches about their dad. They were extremely impressive. Sen. Ted Kennedy also gave the eulogy. Thank you David and may you rest in peace.

Lastly, I spent a good chunk of this last week covering hearings in the NH Legislature for WKXL News. Most of the hearings have been out of the Elections Committee. Some of the bills included eliminating straight ticket voting and making it easier for independents to vote in primaries, among other bills. There was also an interesting bill from the State and Federal Relations Committee about urging the Congress to get the United States out of the United Nations. Another bill, from the same committee, promoted the creation of an international trade committee to watchdog over the negative effects of NAFTA and the WTO. I only caught the tailend of the hearing but I am hoping to interview the sponsor at a later date.
The hearings have been extremely interesting, with both sides of the political aisle promoting interesting ideas and holding respectful question and answer sessions. It is amazing that these folks are participating for the sheer love of participating or trying to make their state a better place. Sure, not all of the ideas are good - or passable. But at least people seem to be trying. Even the grandstanders and long-winded really have their hearts in the right place.
It is so much different than the Massachusetts Legislature - a bastion of do-nothing know-it-alls, who always seem to be on the take and accomplish little that benefits the average person. Part of this could be the fact that New Hampshire legislators earn $200 a year - compared to the $68,000 a year earned by reps in Massachusetts. However, I have noticed one thing about the state Legislature here that is a bit disconcerting: Most of the representatives are very old. I think three of the 60 reps I have seen so far in hearings were under the age of thirty; with maybe a handful of others under the age of forty. This tilts the makeup of the Legislature. Again, it comes back to the money issue. If you have to work a real job, in the real world, you can't play legislator for $200 a year. Some folks who own their own businesses or might have loose school schedules can attend hearings and votes. But how many people is that?
Thankfully, I have a job where I can cover these meetings and then relay what happens via a newscast that people can choose to listen to. And I am grateful for that. :-) But the fact is that this "citizen" Legislature is only attainable - and represented - by certain citizens. That doesn't mean that they aren't doing a good job. But it does mean that if you have to work 9-to-5 to survive - and that is most of us - you are going to have very little influence over what the state does. The Legislature doesn't hold its hearings at 7 p.m. like a Town Meeting or a City Council public hearing. But since the working class is the bulk of the people, it should have the ability to participate as much as possible, shouldn't it? Otherwise, the small minority of people who can attend the hearings - or spend hours and hours as a representative, basically for free - have the greatest access to power. And that is a shame and a major flaw no matter how great and honorable.

Another reason why it is great to be an American:

The missing headlines:
Here are some of the headlines that I have missed over the past couple of weeks.

Micheal Moore's "controversial" film won the People's Choice award for favorite movie: ["Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" Voted US Viewers' Favorite Movie of 2004 "], a bit of a surprise considering the hammering he received during the late stages of last year's presidential campaign. "The Passion" also won for Best Drama. There were rumors that the organizers gave Moore a heads up that he would win in order to make sure he showed up but the rumors haven't been proven yet.

Probably one of the most frightening things that happened in recent weeks was that Mass. Sen. John Kerry announced that he was contemplating another run for the presidency in 2008: ["I'm going to learn"]. Eh, isn't it a bit late for that now? Of course, I'm not surprised by all of this because many of us wrote about Kerry's problems early on in the primary process. I am still a bit surprised that he won the nomination. But I am not surprised that Kerry lost. In my gut, I knew he was going to lose.
Here's some reaction from the Dean folks about Kerry's future intentions: ["Bite Me John"]. And here is a story about Ohio's SOS asking for illegal contributions for a potential 2006 gubernatorial run: ["Ohio letter seeks illegal contributions"]. This, was also a surprise: ["Holdout Dems Seek Gore Restoration"]. If Nixon could do it, why can't Gore?

Some interesting headlines from the Boston political scene. First, Capuano chokes on a possible gubernatorial run: ["Capuano won't run for governor, raising questions on party unity"]. This is interesting, especially after the puff piece the Globe's clueless Brian Mooney wrote a few weeks back. Also, Frank Phillips' take on this is pretty amusing:

Capuano's departure from the race is likely to mean that the party will not have the chance to consider a candidate who would pull together the party's two strongest bases: urban voters and liberal political activists.

This is a good thing for the Democrats, Frank. Democratic nominees have historically had a lock on the urban and liberal voters in Massachusetts. Their problem is that this base has whithered away. So, in order to beat Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, they have to be able to attract new voters - which are more conservative, centrist, and suburban. Since Capuano is centrist on some issues, albeit not social ones, he could have been able to get some of these voters. More than likely, a candidate like nice guy Christopher Gabrieli will have a better chance at getting these voters. With unlimited resources - he was reportedly worth $80 million before the dot-con crash - Gabrieli could have potential in the nomination fight against AG Tom Reilly. It would be similar to what happened here in New Hampshire in 2004: The CEO vs. the CEO. Although, Romney is much less scandal-riddled than ex-Gov. Craig Benson was perceived to be.
In the end, Capuano made the safe - and yeah, smart - decision. He's relatively safe in the 8th seat but admittedly going nowhere. And for some, that is okay. The key for Capuano is to do what I suggested he do when he first got elected: Float the big ideas - and fight for regular folks.
In the puff piece by Mooney, Capuano said he was happy doing the small stuff. Well, that may not be good enough, long-term, for the people of the district who are historically used to the broader agendas of JFK and Tip. They may get a bit impatient. Although, they dealt with Joseph P. Kennedy II - an inept politician if you ever saw one, who turned against working folks by backing NAFTA and GATT/WTO - so maybe Capuano can ride this one for awhile.
Capuano also got a mention in this piece by former Boston Phoenix political writer Michael Crowley, who is now a senior editor at The New Republic, about taking on the GOP: ["Learning from Newt"]. Crowley is a good guy and this is a nice piece.
Speaking of Joe Kennedy, is this like a standing head or something?: ["Joseph Kennedy, once again, won't run for governor"]. The Globe quotes Kennedy:

"I have no intention of running for governor. I am not looking to get back into elective office."

I have to wonder if the writers didn't transcribe this quote wrong. Shouldn't it have been this:

I, uh, uh, have no intention of uh, running for uh, governor. I am, uh, not looking to get back in to uh, elective office.

Also, is it getting to look like Frank Phillips is fishing for a Democratic candidate?
I would also be remiss if I didn't post this excellent blog entry by my brother-in-law, Tom McCuin, a former MassGOP staffer who is stationed in Afghanistan, about the Republicans getting hammered in the 2004 mid-term Mass. elections: ["Seeing the elephant"].
Lastly, speaking of the Globe, did anyone see the bit in the Herald about married city editor Bryan Marquard allegedly getting arrested for "open and gross lewdness" after allegedly getting caught at the front door of two young women "naked and masterbating"? Nice.

Take a look at this piece by David Wedge: ["Cabral campaign manager preps for at-large City Council race"]. Note to amatuer political journalists: Always take a look at the year-end campaign finance filings to see if there is anything going on. Not only is Matt O'Malley, who came out of nowhere in 2003, prepping for another run, but there is also a new-comer no one has ever heard of, Sam Yoon, who raised more than $29k, quite a feat for a nobody.
But is he a nobody? A google of Mr. Yoon yielded some interesting finds including this discussion on boston-online.com: ["When will the Globe let us in on the secret?"]. Whoever posted this is being pretty astute. The Globe has a way of doing this: Elevating a candidate, often under the banner of "diversity," yet the person turns out to be an insider for someone in power. I'm not saying that Yoon is this type of person. But when you read "public/private partnership" - a mantra of a certain long-term Boston Mayor - you can pretty much guess where the candidate is coming from. As well, when you see some guy come out of nowhere to raise $29k, you can almost guarantee that candidate has some powerful connections. I would love to see the guy's financial statements.
As always, Adam Reilly of the Boston Phoenix, has a pretty good overview of the 2005 council race here: ["Breaths of fresh air"].

Those who have been saying Iraq is starting to look like 'Nam may have hit it right on the head: ["US deserters flee to Canada to avoid service in Iraq"]. Where again are the American media? I haven't seen this anywhere.

This is too funny: ["Rathergate vs. Saddam's WMD"]. The key here is "Number of firings resulting from investigation" ... Zero. Zilch. Nada. None.

This is not: Here's Howard Fineman, probably one of the worst of the Washington blathermouths, giving his opinion once again: ["The 'Media Party' is over"]. This is the same guy who went off on Howard Dean for being a little enthusiastic. Sorry Howard. If we have our way, you're next! In a perfect world, not only would the news departments turn over at places like CBS more frequently, but so would the pundits on the talking head shows. Here is another take on the issue from Howard Kurtz: ["Hollow Accountability"].

MLK: In the name of love ...

I've been super busy:
As many people read here on Politizine, I left my job at The Winchester Star in December and started a new job at a news/talk radio station, WKXL 1450, in Concord, NH. I hold down the 3 to 6 p.m. time slot at the station. At 3 p.m., I host "Arts & Entertainment around the Capitol Region," an interview program featuring authors, poets, musicians, literally anyone and everyone doing anything creative in the area. From 4 to 6 p.m., "PM New Hampshire" airs. During those hours, I read the news headlines, conduct interviews and attend local meetings for news segments. When New Hampshire's new governor, Democrat John Lynch, was inaugurated on Jan. 6, I was broadcasting live from the State House - during a blizzard! So, it is a pretty cool gig. So far, it has been a lot of fun working at WKXL. I've met some very interesting people. Everyone at the station is very professional and friendly, with all kinds of diverse backgrounds. There is some very interesting and exciting stuff airing at the station. Anyone who wants to listen can tune in on the Web at wkxl1450.com.
Putting together news for radio is much different than working in print. Instead of writing a 600 to 800 word story about something, a quick three or four sentences are written and then some audio of the person talking is recorded and spliced into the story. Sometimes you are reading the text and airing the audio; other times you are putting together a package to be broadcast during someone else's news. It is pretty cool how it all comes together in the end.
The new job and family stuff, however, has kept me from updating the blog. As promised, I do hope to soon have a couple more contributors in place to make it a bit more interactive. I did put a poll up about a comment section [only three readers voted ... thank you, though]. The "ayes" have it, so I will be implementing the comment section sometime this week. Tomorrow I will update the blog with some news and links I have not had a chance to post.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who responded to the blog entry and email letter about my family and put them in your prayers and made donations to them in their time of need. I don't have any new news to share with anyone yet. I know they still haven't found a new place to live and are split between a bunch of places. This weekend, there was supposed to be a big a fund-raiser/benefit, but I haven't heard yet how it went. When I do, I will pass the news on. Thanks again everyone.

Here is a picture of the Tre Bon Nouvel, the ship built by my father, burning last week. This picture was taken by some folks at the scene and was published in this week's edition of the Upper Keys Reporter. Here is an updated story: ["Family loses boat a week before Christmas"].

A family tragedy:

Dear friends,

I am sorry to be asking for your support tonight.
On Thursday night, my father, his wife, and five of their children, lost their home [a live aboard ship] due to a fire. Thankfully, everyone got off alive before the entire ship was engulfed in propane tank explosions and flames. A story from the Upper Keys Reporter is linked here: ["Missionary family loses everything in boat fire"]. I have also posted a couple of articles published about my dad when he was building the ship below.
The cause of the fire is not known at this time but the devastating effect of its damage is: Essentially, my family lost everything. Also, the ship was not insured.
They have lived in the Keys and southern Florida for the better part of 25 years and have done so much for so many over the years. Fortunately, they have a lot of friends and support. A local TV station set up a benefit fund for them and one of the churches and a radio station will be holding an event to raise money for them. They also have a place to crash until they manage to get enough money together to rent an apartment.

I know that times are tough for everyone right now. But if you have some extra funds that you can throw in the mail to the fund to help them get through this extremely rough period, I would be eternally grateful. The fund address is below:

Neighbors-4-Neighbors
Schinella Family Benefit
c/o First State Bank
171433 Overseas Highway
Key Largo, Fla. 33037

Thank you for your generosity and please keep my family in your prayers. Have a great holiday.

Here is an article from a paper in the Keys.