Selling Fear

So, here I am in Florida listening to talk radio. I happened to like talk radio as an art form, when done well. Left or right a good talk show is fun to listen to. We have some locally, but honestly the most popular talk shows here are more familiar than they are good; like an old, comfortable but disgusting pair of slippers.

In Tampa Bay there are some pretty good talk shows. I mentioned one in the last blog. This day brought a new turbo charged effort by conservative talk shows to scare the pants off us at the possibility of an Obama administration. It is a real war footing. It seemed to start with the interview in Orlando with Joe Biden and WFTV news anchor Barbara West. I'm not quite sure what to make of the interview and that's not really the basis for my observation. It certainly was a newscast that made news.

Here's where I will confuse you as far as my position in all this: I agree with some of the conservative commentators that many voters are not listening to what the candidates are saying, either candidate. What they are doing - what we are doing - is leading with emotions. We are not listening to John McCain, who has discovered a mantra: "redistribution of wealth." We are not listening to Barack Obama who is actually outlining a plan that could very well be called, yes, redistribution of wealth.

The fact is we already have our wealth flowing all over government and an otherwise private industry. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 is by definition taking money from us the taxpayer and giving it to banks and other financial institutions. The theory is that if we sure up these businesses we will have a better chance of getting to that money when we need it in the form of loans. Tax deductions, farm subsidies, automakers bail outs, even charities and needy members of our own family, it's all a form of financial equilibrium. We are constantly redistributing wealth. The fear we are being sold is that the wealth you and I are working hard for is going to someone who is either not as talented, not working as hard, or not working at all. Mr. Obama is not that stupid, and Mr. McCain does not really believe we are that stupid.

So forget the mantras. Here's the hard part, put aside the emotions, especially fear. You really need to know what these two men stand for and choose the one who best reflects your vision of your country - our great country. This will be the 14th presidential election I have lived through. Each one was important, and at the time seemed to be the most important election of all time. Wars, shaky economies, social upheaval, it was all there and it has always been there.

The merchants of fear are doing a land office business, but there's is no law that says we have to buy it.

The Jesus Show

St. Petersburg, FL – Back here on the Sun Coast perhaps for the last time in the foreseeable future. The one thing that occasionally dragged us down here is about to disappear. Can't say I will miss the place. Not that I hate it here, it's more the contempt bred by familiarity. I know almost all there is to know about Tampa's older sister. I bristle when folks talk about the AL Champs Rays playing in "Tampa." Wrong! They play in St. Pete in an area collectively known as Tampa Bay. Even that's a misnomer. Tampa Bay is a body of water; two if you count "Old Tampa Bay". It's kind of like calling the Cavs the Northeast Ohio Cavaliers when they played at the Coliseum.

So Omi (mom-in-law) is firmly planted in her living room recliner and loving her little family in Hudson; that would be Monika and me. Now a call comes in on Thursday from the realty lady and the deal is pretty much done. I'm here to pack up what remains of the memories and say one last goodbye to the ghost of my little centenarian – Omi's late husband who left her with few worries.

Because I am in the business I'm in I do like visiting this radio market. Tampa Bay radio stations (here the designation is actually accurate) are very interesting and have some parallel to what happens back home. But I really wasn't ready for the late morning talk show hosted by a guy named Jesus. No, this is not a Hispanic show headed by the common Latin name, with a clearly non-biblical pronunciation. This is the so-called "heavenly host" Jesus Christ. That's what he calls himself, that's the role he plays, the way he answers the phone and the way those on the other end address him. Those fans of the show speak with reverence and ask him questions assuming powers one ascribes to the real Jesus.

There was a real Jesus, for many there is and always will be. My views here are not the issue, so I will leave it at that. But I don't quite know how to take The Jesus Show. I get that it's some form of performance art, akin to seeing Hal Holbrooke playing Mark Twain, or any number of people playing Abe Lincoln, or James Whitmore quipping as Will Rodgers. Yet until now it just wasn't done. There are movies, TV shows, all kinds of representations of the man who walked the earth, and died on the cross over 2000 years ago. But to hear one of the most irreverent of professions representing the most revered figure in history was, well, more than a little creepy.

The Jesus Show is a Premiere Radio syndicated Sunday morning talk show produced by Neil Saavedra, who is acting the role. In fairness he uses common sense and human values as his show prep. As near as I could tell from a short listen this morning he has a good biblical knowledge and infuses it into the show. Some might find this highly offensive, but one thing I heard Mr. Saavedra say that seems to ring true is this: if Jesus were back, and in the flesh, in order to go where the people need him most what better place for him to work his miracles than talk radio? Back then he walked among the least of us, maybe a radio talk show is just a 21^st century version of doing exactly that.

Better Than Fair

I was listening to a critique about some of the would-be presidential proclamations. There are many. This is a tough campaign. Aside from the usual buzz words – and a couple of new twists – one of the labels placed on the Democratic ticket is a desire to be "fair." John McCain defined such a promise as "spreading the wealth." That is one of the hottest of buttons linking his opponent to near socialist practices.

Perhaps it is the result of the type of education many of us have experienced. I can recall a comedy sketch where the coach of a girl's soccer team had to find ridiculous reasons to give every child on the team a trophy. As with all good comedy there is more than a kernel of truth. The system we have chosen, still the best system out there, is based on a representative republic. Without turning this into a civics class, that means that some will have a greater say than others. Historically many groups were marginalized by design. This country has never been fair. I will take it one step further; this country cannot be totally fair. No workable society can. It's been tried and it has never worked.

What is fair, and what we can claim as one of our best features is the opportunity to succeed. Nothing is more illustrative of this than this election season.

This Sunday Gen. Colin Powell went on Meet the Press and announced that he would vote for Barak Obama. Powell is still a Republican and his appearance was just as much an indictment of the McCain campaign – while correctly praising the Arizona Senator. He mentioned the tone of the campaign and the often misleading characterizations used to frame Obama as a Muslim, or even an associate terrorist. What struck me were two things; firstly the importance of this announcement on the campaign itself; secondly how far we have come in real opportunity.

A few blogs ago I wrote how more men on death row look like me. This Sunday I was struck by the notion that both General Powell and the presidential nominee also look like me. It's something that most of you might take for granted. But for women and minorities in America it is a nagging little reality that all American presidents have come from fundamentally one group. And thanks to the selection of Gov. Palin, this last inequity is about to crumble no matter who wins.

Spreading the wealth as represented by a guy named Joe will be at the center of the McCain campaign for the next two weeks. General Powell's comments will be repeated hundreds of times by the Obama campaign. We will get sick of it, if we aren't already. But one thing lost in the process might be this: the fact that Obama, Powell and Palin have come this is a prime example, not of spreading wealth, but of one thing all Americans should take pride in: spreading opportunity.

That is more than, better than fair.

 

 

Why I Hate the Death Penalty

I have many friends and family who are one issue voters. Most have a great passion for the abortion question and it is a big one; life and death. I have contended - some would say with profound cowardice - that the morning I wake up pregnant I will have a position on the question. Until then it is not for me to say. The de facto consequence of that hypothetical is that I am viewed as pro choice. But murder is murder and not fighting with all your might to protect human life means murder is okay with me. Trust me, it is not.

That question, women's rights, life rights, is just too complicated for my feeble mind. However, using that same logic, I could very well wake up one day on death row. Many of the men in that unenviable place look more look me than I care to admit. Notwithstanding The fact that we are either moments away from, or moments beyond the death of Richard Cooey, who is white, a black man is nearly four times more likely to receive the death penalty in a capital cases. It's true that there are more white prisoners facing the ultimate punishment in American prisons, but the proportion based on the population is way out of whack.

If I were sent to prison tomorrow for aggravated murder, depending on several factors, I could be sentenced to lethal injection. If that happened there's no turning back. It's done, I'm done, even though we both know I'm innocent.

"Letters From the Editor" has a very good blog up now that gives us a good snapshot of the lives cut short by Richard Cooey twenty-two years ago. It is a very sad story and a compelling argument that this murderer deserves what he gets. This man is learning nothing from dying except how to die, and like it or not, we all know how to do that. Some might say that others contemplating such evil might see what happens Tuesday morning in Ohio and have a miraculous epiphany. Of course we will never know if any minds have changed and murders prevented, but somehow I doubt it. Wipe all the other reasons away and what you have is revenge, or if you prefer avenge the death of Wendy Offredo and Dawn McCreery, two students at the University of Akron killed at the hands of then 19 year old Richard Cooey.

I don't know how many men will die at the hands of the state tomorrow, this week, this month. I just know that it could be me, rightly or wrongly I could be there and I would not be out of the ordinary. So my reasons are selfish and based on ignorance, much like my stance, or lack thereof, on the abortion question. But after all, aren't all so-called social issues based on self interests?

And if the timeline of my life turned particularly ugly, it would not be the dying that's so terrible, it's the knowing that at 10am on whatever day, whatever year, that's it, done, good bye and good luck. Makes me sick just thinking about it.

View from Afar

If we were sitting in Munich, having a dark Bock brew, the headlines on Der Spiegel Online would scream the end of America. In fact, they do, and with an uncomfortable amount of glee. Capitalism has taken a massive gut wound and ex pats like Noam Chomsky and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus are leading the cheers at our seemingly insurmountable problems. Others are talking about the bank bailout in cold war terms like "nationalizing financial systems" and "The New Soviets: USA."

Add to this the socialist tendencies of the front-running presidential candidate, the allocation of land purchases for poor Chinese farmers by their government, the return of an iron fist on a resurgent Russia, and you have a tipping point of global proportions. Are we about to succumb to history? Is this akin to the breaking down of a wall nearly 20 years ago? Only this time is it our society on the verge of crumbling?

Again, let's go to the satellite stations; it's partytime! The America haters truly believe they have won; a revolution from within fomented by our own greed – or to be more precise, our own misguided desire to extend the American dream to nearly everyone. That really gives the Noams of the world a charge. We can't even get nobility right.

Not so fast. If there is one thing the rest of the world should have learned about us is that we don't give up that easily. There is still plenty of fight left in us and the system is hardly broken. How do I know? I have a pretty good memory. I can remember the venomous racism from which this country has almost recovered. I can remember the cyclical economic crises that seem always just beyond our vision, and are always "the worst in history." I can remember the bloody chasm that tore this country apart during the Vietnam war. I can remember gas lines and double-digit inflation and I can remember September 12^th, 2001.

We are quite a country. My friend and this news-site's managing editor Ed Esposito stood on the field at Ohio Stadium as that big, bright flag rose above over 100,000 mostly young Ohioans. We put our hats over our hearts and sang our shared anthem. Looking around on that fall afternoon one could feel the pride and determination. When you look in those faces you see excitement and confidence in the future. It is perhaps the one thing that those in Europe, and those here at home who just don't understand America, fail to consider while writing our collective obituary: we always find a way back. Always.

You Don’t Need a Weatherman…

Following the mini-Woodstock of American politics – the only VP debate – the cameras and reporters began paying close attention to Gov. Sarah Palin. And not for more material for The Daily Show, but because the GOP VP candidate is a contender, even if her boss is still trying to find his footing.

Gov. Palin came out swinging. One of the weekend sound bites contained her talking about Barack Obama's alleged alliance with University of Chicago Professor William Ayers – terrorist, sorry, revolutionary. She was careful to frame the background of this man with words that have signaled modern Islamic terrorist; very clever, very politic.

In fact Bill Ayers is co-founder of one of the more notorious and violent anti-Vietnam war protest groups of the late 60's and early 70's. It was called the Weather Underground. For those too young to remember the Weathermen adopted the "by whatever means necessary" posture of the Black Panthers and other similar groups. By their own admission they plotted bombings and would have done worse if not for the FBI closing in.

Fast-forward to the most important presidential election in recent history. Ayers is a star of the Chicago far-left. It should surprise no one that the paths of these two men have crossed.

I am not much younger than Bill Ayers, so let me tell you about Charlie M. In high school he rode a Harley and he and Bob N were known for wearing the same pair of jeans an entire school year; the same unwashed pair of jeans. They went to the protests and were the first to pump fists, use the f-word and confront – spit on the police. As we got closer to draft age, the quarterback and class president joined the Marines, while Charlie and John got more radical. One day Chuck disappeared, packed up his blue Harley and did an "Easy Rider" due west.

About a year later Charlie returned to the old hang out. He had stories of mass protests and violent plots. He talked about overthrowing the government, weapons training and trusting no one. Charlie moved in shadows and spoke in slogans suitable for blood-red posters. Charlie M was comfortable between the cracks.

Here's the rub: I knew a Weatherman. Chuck was part of that underground for however long it held his interest. The quarterback and the class president came back from Vietnam with devastating heroin addictions. They lost all ambitions and one ended up in prison. The last time I heard from Charlie M he joined the police force in Detroit, of all places. He became what he once raged against.

I'm not sure of the point of this, except to show how easy it is to have unusual associations. I am not running for president and Charlie was not a founder of the Weather Underground, but he changed - dramatically. Professor Ayers changed, of that I am certain. And he is probably not the owner of the most questionable past among those supporting the liberal, anti war candidate. Should we attach all these fringe ideas, these fringe individuals to the candidate? If he is not your guy, then it really doesn't matter, now does it?