.

The (Shhhh) Artist

2012-03-01T21:46:00.001-06:00

     The movie that won big in the Academy Awards last Sunday is coming to The Capri Theater, the Art Theater in Montgomery's Cloverdale neighborhood, March 16th- 22nd.
     But one of the remaining commercial theaters in Montgomery has done an end-run around the Capri and booked The Artist for THIS Friday. I'm not sure how this works, because I've been praising the Capri management for selecting it early, thinking that meant getting the exclusive showing. Apparently not.
     The Capri made about two years profit from My Big Fat Greek Wedding when they were smart enough to book it before the big guys did.
     Anyway, here's a note about the situation from the Director of the Capri, Martin McCaffery:

As you can see, The Artist is scheduled to play at the Capri Theatre on March 16. However, the local multiplex has re-booked the film for this Friday. We feel this is the perfect opportunity to show corporate Hollywood the importance of local independent art houses. We are hoping you, and your friends, will wait to see The Artist where it was meant to be seen, at the Capri Theatre.

Please go to the Capri website and do so, or send a link to this post to your Montgomery friends. Martin is right...where better to see a silent movie than an old fashioned style theater?

[PLUS: Learn more about art theaters, including The Capri, from Independent Lens here.]

In Alabama, NCLB--We Hate It, But We'll Use It!

2012-03-01T17:23:00.000-06:00

The embattled No Child Left Behind effort took another blow this week at the same time the Montgomery School Board used it to clean house at an embattled Montgomery County/City High School.

The State became the latest to ask for a waiver from parts of the law, realizing like many others have that it will be impossible to meet the goals set down in it by the approaching deadline.
Then, according to a story on WNCF ABC-32, the Board started firing teachers and administrators at Lee High School today---tenure or not---something NCLB allows.

Superintendent Barbara Thompson issued a statement:

“Lee has a wonderful tradition,” Thompson said in a press release. “We are focusing on restoring that tradition by putting the programs and the people in place that will provide students with the instruction, tools, and student/teacher relationships needed to succeed.”

When was it that Lee had a great tradition? Do the teachers bear all of the responsibility for the situation? None of the students? None of the parents of those students? None of the taxpayers who provide barely enough money for public education?

Two more U.S. Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan

2012-03-01T07:42:00.000-06:00

This time it wasn't an Afghan soldier firing the shots...but an Afghan civilian working for the Afghan military who opened fire.

Still waiting for an apology from Mr. Karzai.

What Caused the Start of AIDS?

2012-02-28T08:06:00.000-06:00

An article in today's Washington Post says it was...

...when the West forced its will on an unfamiliar land, causing the essential ingredients of the AIDS epidemic to combine.

Here's the story.

Which States Have The Highest "Well-Being"?

2012-02-27T15:11:00.003-06:00

Not Alabama...ranked 45th in the Gallup survey...in fact most of the low ranking states are Southern, and most of the top tier States are in colder climates. Is the temperature the key to a high sense of well-being???

MMMM # 189 The Writer's Words

2012-02-27T01:00:00.025-06:00

I caught a headline in a FOX story online that made me go to read the article..it was the use of a term I had not heard before...the first two words in the story:

Life groups are hailing an opinion by an Alabama Supreme Court justice who argued that it's time to abandon the viability standard used in Roe v. Wade because medical breakthroughs -- backed by case law and legislation -- have shown a fetus is only as viable as the technology monitoring it.

You can read the entire story here.

     When did "Pro-Life" become just plain "life"? Does that mean the other side will be called...death groups? Choice groups? I'll be interested to see what they select.

     Words have meaning, or course, and the ones used by journalists are especially important.
     If a government comes up with a name for a military engagement, like "Operation Defeat Tyranny", the writer become a part of the state's effort to sell that war when he uses the phrase beyond, perhaps, a first story about the name itself.
     The word hero has been so watered down in the years since 9-11 that it is virtually meaningless now. Someone who serves in the military or as as a paramedic or police officer or firefighter isn't automatically a hero. They earn that title once they have performed an exceptional act. Most of the civilians killed in the World Trade Towers weren't heros...unless they would have agreed to be inside knowing in advance what was to happen.
     Lawmakers are fond of giving their bills names that are so patriotic and worthy-sounding that news copy begins to sound like endorsements if the chosen names are used.
    Political parties love choosing new names for stuff they don't approve of, like the label "Obamacare", which is virtually spit out of the mouth when used by critics. Reporters who use it are doing the same---perhaps without any actual spit.
     The language wars have been going on longer than any of the actual shooting wars...Frank Luntz wrote the rule book several years ago, which includes a list of words NOT to use and the appropriate replacement. #14

                            NEVER SAY Inheritance/Estate Tax.     SAY The Death Tax
     Propaganda language is fine for political operatives, but it becomes troubling when reporters start using it.

[PLUS: The WSJ reported last week that over-the-air TV is becoming more popular, because people are quitting cable as a cost-saving measure, and because they're learning about popular broadcast shows online...kind of a snake-swallowing its tail story, since the broadcasters have been concerned about the flow of programs to online.]

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this website.]

National Enquirer(LACK OF) Good Taste

2012-02-26T17:06:00.001-06:00

The tabloid printed a picture showing Whitney Houston in her coffin caused an outburst of criticism.
As this website pointed out two years ago, The Enquirer and other newspapers have a long history of showing bodies.

That post in June 2010 has been among the most visited on this site, so now, with this re-posting, I expect to see it on the top of the list for a very long time.

BP Suit Settlement?

2012-02-26T16:23:00.000-06:00

     The case is due in court in New Orleans tomorrow, but at the last minute, a one-week delay was announced.
     There may be a settlement agreed to.
     BP has no interest in spending the next half year or more in court generating more negative headlines, so they have an incentive to settle. State and Federal Government coffers need a quick infusion of cash about right now, so they're ready too.
     We'll see.

Afghanistan

2012-02-25T13:37:00.001-06:00

     I'm still waiting for the apology from Hamid Karzai for the murder of the two American officers in what is supposed to be one of the most secure places in his godforsaken country.
     President Obama was quick to apologize for the accidental burning of Qurans with hate messages written in them that were taken from prisoners, and was pilloried by Republicans for doing so. So where's Karzai's mea culpa for the murders?
     Perhaps all American personnel there should wear jackets with inscriptions of the Quran on them. Since that book is so revered, perhaps that would be an incentive not to murder (which I guess is not written in he book itself?)

The Golden Food Stamp Years

2012-02-25T05:47:00.000-06:00

The CBS Evening News included a story on Friday night about a college-educated retiree who is on food stamps in Pennsylvania after losing his job. Here's his quote:

"These politicians are scaring the daylights out of me and I am sure other seniors. What's going to happen if they decide that I cannot go on Medicare until I am 68? Where is it all going to stop?"

There seems to be the current bait and switch game being played by candidates for President. Want to show you are tough on deficit spending? Just keep moving the goal line for seniors. Social Security at 64? Nah, let's make it 68. Medicare at 65? Nah, let's make it 69. or 75.

Alabama has among the highest food stamp rate in the country. The number of people receiving that assistance increased by about 6,000 between October and November of last year...the total is now approaching 1-Million, a significant number in a state with just 4.6 Million people.
About 14% of poor Alabamians are over 64 years of age.

Gabe Watson Acquited of Murder Charges

2012-02-23T15:14:00.000-06:00

     A judge in Birmingham has decided the state of Alabama had not presented enough evidence for a jury to convict Watson of killing his wife on their Australian honeymoon.
     Watson had already been convicted of a lesser charge in Australia and served 18 months, but then Attorney General Troy King moved to have Watson extradited back to Alabama to face trial here, on the theory that he had plotted the killing here.
     Australia refused the extradition unless Alabama agreed not to seek the death penalty. Alabama has the highest per-capita death penalty in America. There is no death penalty in Australia, and in fact, in most of the world.
    King agreed and the state moved forward with the prosecution that ended today.
     There's no telling how much this effort cost Alabama taxpayers at a time when every state service is being slashed, but the flight from the U.S. to Australia alone is one of the most expensive in the world.
     The cost to the fractured state image is another thing. On top of the Immigration Law, this affair may have made the state seem bloodthirsty, willing to use any means to prosecute.

The African American History Museum Groundbreaking

2012-02-23T07:43:00.001-06:00

The Groundbreaking mentioned in the previous in the "Rosa's Dress" post. President Obama does the honors.

Wind Turbine Breaks.mp4

2012-02-22T05:59:00.000-06:00

WOW. Winds gets the best of a huge wind turbine.

Rosa's Dress

2012-02-21T16:25:00.000-06:00

     The Dress Rosa Parks was wearing that December Day in in 1955, when she decided she would not give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white man, is now part of the collection that will go on display at the National Museum of African-American History and Culture A groundbreaking for that new museum is set for this week in Washington.
     As for the rest of Mrs. Parks earthly goods, a significance collection of them was the subject of a long legal battle between her family and Elaine Steele, the woman who ran Park's life for the last decade or so.
     The New York Auction house that's been trying to sell the collection based on previous court rulings is still advertising the collection, but a newly revealed agreement means the profits will be split between Park's nephews and  nieces and Steele.
     The Rosa Parks Museum, part of Troy University's complex on the site of Park's arrest, was the first place the auction company called, but I suspect it it too pricey at the moment. We hope the new agreement will make it more affordable and TU or another reputable archival location will be able to secure the materials for the future.

WWII Records

2012-02-21T16:01:00.000-06:00

     My sister is the best archivist in our family, and she's forwarded a newspaper story about a 1973's fire in St. Louis that destroyed millions of records from WWII....including apparently, our Father's records with the Army Air Corps.
     Some anti-government/tax zealots might call the effort to restore the partly burned records a waste of money.
    I say do what you can.

MMMM# 188 -- Freedom of The People

2012-02-20T12:57:00.000-06:00

     We call it freedom of the press, but everyone has the same rights. And an event in New Jersey illustrates one of those rights rather nicely. A man was harassed by police in Jersey City New Jersey because he was taking pictures from a public sidewalk of the personal vehicles of police officers in a parking lot.
     He had been told a lot of those vehicles had obvious violations, like FOP badges obscuring part of their tags, or windows that were too darkly tinted.
     The cops came out and hassled him, took his camera too. But he's the local director of the ACLU, so a suit is in the works.
     There are rights and freedoms in America, and one of them is not to be harassed when you are taking pictures of a public place on public property.
     And you don't have to be a reporter to exercise that right.
     Click!

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this website.]

Oscar (UN) Worthy

2012-02-19T17:38:00.002-06:00

There are two films on the 2012 "Best Picture" list that I just don't get. One just surprises me because I don't think it's that great of film..more of a one trick pony...and that's The Artist. After the first couple of minutes of silent movie novelty, I'm thinking..uh OK...now what?*

But the other---the one Brad Pit wondered aloud what it was about (and he was the star!) is The Tree of Life.....which I not only don't see as a Best Picture contender, but hated! Perhaps if I had looked more at the movie poster I would have resisted seeing it? The fact that it ended up actually nominated may say some something about the chasm between reviewers and the people who actually pay to go to movies. If it wins, there ought to be a revolt against reviewers everywhere.

War Horse is a touch too Disney, manipulative and predictable, The Help (a local favorite because of Octavia Spencer) is good, but great? Like absolute best picture? Maybe not.

I have not seen some of the other front runners, like The Descendants and Hugo, but since I kinda despise Sacha whatever his name is, I'll let that bias eliminate the latter. I like George Cloony, who makes great acting look like a walk across the street, so I'll put that--unseen!---towards the top. As for Incredibly Big and Very Nearby, or whatever that forgettable name is, sorry, but 9-11 is still a touch close for me to enjoy Hollywood's take on it (even with Tom Hanks!).

For a story well told and well acted, my money is on Moneyball.
And baseball isn't exactly my sport.

The envelope, please?

The Oscars air on ABC next Sunday at 6:00pm Central.

[UPDATE: The L.A. Times today reports the Academy members who cast the votes are hardly a snapshot of American 2012...mostly old white guys.]
[*UPDATE #2: Some movie goers in London demanded their money back because they didn't know The Artist was a silent movie.]

The Koreas

2012-02-19T14:06:00.000-06:00

So North Korea is threatening to bomb the South if they hold a live fire exercise?
And this is from the same country that killed several South Koreans by opening fire on an Island a year or so ago? The same place that sunk a South Korean military vessel, killing dozens of sailors in 2010?
Sure they should be allowed to have nuclear weapons...sure!

The Cost of Stuff

2012-02-18T12:33:00.001-06:00

I don't like pecans, but the price of a relatively small bag caught my attention at the supermarket on Friday. $14.99???

Now I know why I've seen so many more people than usual on lawns collecting them!

And in another store the Valentines were on discount:

Which seemed a little sad.

M(F)MMM # 187 -- The Candidate vs The Media, Part 2

2012-02-17T15:32:00.000-06:00

GOP Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum tore into CBS This Morning* Host Charlie Rose this morning for asking about a supporter's comment on MSNBC about abortion, saying Rose was holding him to a different standard than he held President Obama. The supporter made some crack about the good old days when all you needed was an aspirin, which the girl would hold between her knees. He Haw!
Santorum will get points from his base for attacking the "liberal media", but if his campaign doesn't want people like supporter Foster Friess being quoted, they should keep 'em from being booked as representatives of the candidate.

And by the way, my hat off to Jon Stewart for his takedown of TIME magazine for their lighter than air covers for their American editions, in marked contrast to what they offer in Europe and Asia. My friend Gary says TIME is trying to be "THE WEEK", with lots of tiny digestable nibbles of stories. And perhaps that is the only way news magazines will survive.

[*Marcy Novak and I had had a devil of a time adjusting to the shows' new name, being nearly identical to CBS 8 This Morning. Wait, I take that back. Marcy does fine, but I've dropped an "8" into the name a few times.]

[The Monday--and soemtimes Friday--Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this website!]

"Mixed" Marriage becoming more common.

2012-02-16T08:30:00.000-06:00

a Pew report finds a majority of Americans don't object to those marriages within their own families:

...(63%) say it “would be fine” with them if a member of their own family were to marry someone outside their own racial or ethnic group.

But regional differences exist...most of the states where there are the largest per cent age of interracial marriages are West of the Mississippi. Yet the South has a larger percentage that the North-East.

Only Happy Dogs Need Apply

2012-02-16T08:27:00.001-06:00

The Westminster Dog Show people only wanted you to see happy pups...not sad ones in cages at shelters.
They cancelled Purina as sponsor (Uh, doesn't that usually work the other way around?). Replacing Purina is Nestle Pedigree Pet Care, which presumably agreed to show only smiling pups, not shelter pups nehind bars.

A Prayer for...something.

2012-02-15T07:41:00.000-06:00

Not sure exactly what happed in the Cloverdale Neighborhood, but I came across this incident about 3:00am today near Boutier Street...obviously a car struck a tree, knocking it down, and a young man was moved to kneel down in prayer.
That's all I know for sure...details later when I can get the MPD on the phone.

Again, I don't know if the young man was driving the crashed vehicle or what his involvement---if any--- was. More later.

2012-02-14T00:01:00.003-06:00

The Real Reason for Repeal

2012-02-13T14:00:00.001-06:00

     Some legislators are sponsoring a populist bill to revoke a 61% pay hike legislators voted for themselves in 2007...after thirteen years without any pay hike. Before you leap on the revocation bandwagon, would you consider it fair for the company you work for to go that long with no increase?
     Why is the revocation an amendment to Alabama's much-amended 1901 constitution? It could be done through a simple legislative vote, but instead the legislators have tied it to a scheme to get lawmakers salary tied to the median income in the state. If that goes up, they get a raise.
     It's supposed to be an incentive for legislators to do whatever it is they're supposed to do to increase salaries in Alabama.
     But there's a less obvious reason to do it as an amendment. That will give voters more of a reason to go to the polls in November. Think of it as a taxpayer funded Get-Out-The-Vote program for candidates of certain parties.
    Democratic and Republican legislators have been using the tactic for a very long time.
    Watch for ads in October urging people to go revoke that big pay hike, and by the way, how about voting for our party while you're at the polls!

MMMM # 186 -- Teaching Future Journalists

2012-02-13T01:00:00.008-06:00

It was an NPR story about the large number of sports reporting schools in Argentina that got me thinking about the topic of this MMMM.
I teach an Electronic News Gathering course at Trenholm Tech in Montgomery and I want to leave the students with information that will apply to old media like print as well as new media like web-only news centers.

Many years ago in New York City, I "taught" at a place that was not a school, because if it had been, it would have had to follow a ton of regulations. Instead it was a production company looking for wanna-be D.J.'s announcers, public speakers etc etc. They were promised they would be on-air!

The company had purchased the weekend overnight hours from a radio station in nearby New Jersey, and the "non-students" would create Public Service Announcements, feature stories, fifteen-minute DJ segments and more. Then all of that material was edited into six hours of program for the cross-the-river station. Program Directors like myself worked with the non-students to improve their product...for a fee of course, ranging from $10 a week to much more. I don't know if a single student translated that experience into a job or not, but I did borrow the name one of the non-students gave to her features--People's Journal--and used it starting in the mid 1970's on WERC Radio in Birmingham.

Journalism schools across America are trying to adjust to the new reality of media. They're creating web only products and teaching students how to get their material onto websites. The truth is nobody really knows what "the media" will look like a decade from now. But one thing is fairly certain. Content...stories...will still be at the center. And students who can find them, and then communicate them clearly, will always find work.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this website.]

Think Alabama is a College Fooball Crazy State?

2012-02-12T14:31:00.000-06:00

...then read this article about West Virginia, where a U.S. Senate career may be in the balance over College Football.

It seems West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are in a virtual war because of hurt feelings over...college football.

A Meeting of The Minds

2012-02-12T09:29:00.000-06:00

I doubt Don Siegelman agrees with much that columnist George Will writes...but today's column is an exception. Will writes the U.S. Supreme Court should agree with Siegelman's appeal.
And I'll bet more than one Supreme Court Justice reads Will's columns.

Rude American Children

2012-02-12T07:32:00.001-06:00

There's been a spate of articles recently about parenting, going back to the Asian "tiger mom" (Who the Wall Street Journal seemed to praise), and more recently another article in the Journal about how much better the French are at raising kids. The French!
This morning, former New York Times columnist and author Judith Warner weighs in with the message that American parents fail when they put their kids' needs above everything else...including the needs of other kids:

French kids can be a whole lot more pleasant to be around than our own. They’re more polite. They’re better socialized. They generally get with the program; they help out when called upon to do so, and they don’t demand special treatment. And that comes directly from being taught, from the earliest age, that they’re not the only ones with feelings and needs.

In my own personal experience with kids here in Alabama in recent years, I must disagree.

I have neighbors with two pre-teen kids who are unfailingly polite. They "Sir" and "Thank you" me to death.

Among my best friends is a couple who raised a boy and a girl who are now grown and out in the workforce, and they have always been the nicest, least me-me-me-me kids I know.

But if you were to determine the state of kids in 2012 based on movies and TV, forget it. The kids..especially the American kids...are rude and miserable to their peers and to their parents too. I frequently find myself saying "I can just imagine what my Mom or Dad would have done if I had said/done that!" about the child characters. And no, I am not one of those who thinks everything was great in the "good old days". I'm with The Boss: "The Good Old Days weren't always good, tomorrow not as bad as it seems".

Then there's that real-life celebrated YouTube Father who's daughter wrote rude things about him on her Facebook page. He made a video to get back at her...complaining about her behavior and the curses he saw in her Facebook rant. (He curses throughout his own video, perhaps explaining where she got it from.)
I'd love to know if most of the 18-Million people who have watched his video are kids laughing or parents cheering.

One thing for sure: "social" media and cell phones have provided a new way for kids who are already rude (American or French I suppose) to display it on a grand scale. Some schools in Montgomery have banned them.

"Red Tails" shown only to boys--not girls-- in 5th grade...

2012-02-11T13:23:00.000-06:00

     It happened in Dallas, where officials thought the boys would enjoy it more, so the girls got to watch Akeelah and the Bee instead. This happened the same week the Pentagon expanded the combat jobs approved for male and female military personnel.
  Are Dallas Public School caught in a time warp? Do they think it is still 1950?
  The slogan for the movie is "Courage Has No Color". But apparently in Dallas, it does have a gender.

The Air That We Breathe

2012-02-11T05:48:00.000-06:00

     Ten States sued the EPA on Friday because that agency failed to post new revised regulations regarding soot...the air pollution from power plants and some vehicles.
     Alabama was not, of course, among them. Alabama wants The EPA to do just what is has done about the soot regulation: nothing. In fact, Alabama would be perfectly satisfied if every one of the EPA employees went home and turned off all of the lights.
     We are home, after all, to the country's largest toxic waste dump and the largest commercial landfill East of The Mississippi.
     Pollution R' Us.
     I took the picture on the right from the WERC traffic helicopter back the mid to late 1970's. As one of the good-ol'-boy D.J.s back then liked to quip "That's not pollution up there..that's jobs!"

Psssst Wanna Buy A TV Building?

2012-02-10T13:04:00.000-06:00

The New York Times Regional Newspaper's Dana Beyerle reports the Alabama Public Television Building in Montgomery is now for sale. That's me almost exactly three years ago leaving that building and carrying my tie collection with me.
Dana's story says APT wanted to buy a $600,000 building in Birmingham, but the commission that oversees it said no.

Santorum on Women in Combat

2012-02-10T08:16:00.000-06:00

The candidate says he opposes women in combat positions because...

"people naturally may do things that may not be in the interest of the mission because of other types of emotions that are involved."

Or whatever.

Weapon testing!

2012-02-09T19:48:00.002-06:00

Students from Monroeville Alabama meet with the president, as he
tests a new "weapon" against the forces of evil at The White House Science Fair video, courtesy Jay, Editor in Chief of all things scientific on timlennox.com

New Nuke

2012-02-09T17:32:00.000-06:00

     The NRC has approved the first new nuclear power plants in the US in three decades...and they will be owned by Alabama Power parent company The Southern Company.
     The location? At the existing plant Vogtle in Eastern Georgia, almost exactly 200 miles from the Alabama state line.
     And yes, they say the lessons learned from the Japanese plant destruction will be used in building these new reactors.

Sister Angelica's TV Network vs Women's Reproductive Rights

2012-02-09T16:11:00.000-06:00

The Irondale Alabama based EWTN has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against the Federal Government's rule that all companies must provide birth-control as part of their health insurance plans...even TV Networks who are proselytizing machines for the Catholic Church.

I'm a bit confused about the controversy here. The health insurance reform act approved by Congress doesn't say anyone has to use birth control...only that it must be offered along with all of the other medical services most people in this century use. EWNT and others, especially Catholics, say their religious freedom permits them to refuse to provide birth control for their employees, regardless of that employee's faith.

By that same logic, would a company owned by a group that doesn't believe in any man-made medicine, relying on the power of prayer alone, be allowed to provide only new Bibles as a health benefit for their employees? Or could a Catholic firm also refuse to provide coverage for AIDS and STD treatments? Or could Mitt Romney's firm...do whatever a Mormon company might do to follow its theology?

The easy answer here is don't go to work for a company with such restrictive benefits. Sometimes easier said than done.

A Headline Today.

2012-02-09T13:02:00.000-06:00

It reads : Kodak to stop making cameras. Really.

Next? Chevy to stop making cars?
Clorox to stop making bleach?

It almost would have been better to have the Kodak brand just go away.

Sigh.

M(W)M(N)MM #185 --- Awards for Reporters

2012-02-08T19:29:00.000-06:00

     OK, I missed posting last monday's Morning Media Memo..this is a one person operation after all (-:

     But in lieu of that, let me point you to an article about a CBS Reporter being ctiticised for accepting an award from a right-wing organization.
Here's the story.
     I agree with the critique...awards from truly non-partisian groups like The Associated Press or The Society of Professional Journalists are one thing, but when there is an agenda...and I even extend that to groups like Trial Lawyers Associations and Medical Associations..avoid accepting them.
    They're lobbying groups, after all, and journlaists shouldn't be in bed with them.

[The Monday (and sometimes Wednesday) Morning (and sometimes evening) Media Memo is a regular feature of this website!]

Getting The Lawsmakers You Pay For

2012-02-07T15:53:00.000-06:00

   There's a scheme afoot to reduce Legislative pay.
     It's part of the continued effort to eliminate the 62% pay hike approved by the legislators themselves a few years ago after thirteen years with no increase.
     It sounds good...and who's going to vote against reducing the cost of government, right? It would require a constitutional amendment and would tie their salaries to the median salary in the state. The story linked above quotes one legislator as saying it will be an incentive for legislators to improve the state's economy.
     Forgive my cynicism, but really?
     This is mostly populist political theater to convince poor but proud Alabama voters to rush to the ballot box in November and vote against the fat cat lawmakers and show them a thing or two. Take that!
     Keeping legislators' salaries low also ensures that the average Alabamian can't afford to be a legislator, since only someone like an attorney or accountant can afford to hold the part-time position. Would your employeer let you take all of that time off from your job to go to Montgomery?
     And speaking of public employee salaries, a North Alabama legislator wants to keep teacher salaries low too because higher salaries would attract people doing it for the money. Shocking! He also justified it by quoting the bible.
     Yet that same lawmaker--Shadrick McGill-- loved the 62%pay hike!
     The legislative session began today, and Democrats have shown up to once again have their faces shoved into their lockers by the GOP Super-Majority.
     The last session produced the widly satirized Alabama Immigration Law.
     What can they possibly come up with this time around?

2012-02-05T12:49:00.001-06:00

Alabama Senator Mitchell (D-Luverne) passed away Saturday afternoon at the age of 71, after a long illness.

About Cassanova

2012-02-05T07:39:00.000-06:00

You probably read the story this past week about the Auburn recruit who said on signing day he chose Auburn over Clemson because there "you have to go like 15 minutes to find a Chick-Fil-a, a "real restaurant".

Yay for Auburn in attracting this apparently talented player.
If Chick-Fil-a is a "Real Restaurant, then I have so been eating wrong all my life.
Where you attend college ~~to learn~~ to play sports should involve a little more than the location of a fast-food place, no?
Aren't we all paying a little too much attention to these teenagers whose skill sets are mostly limited to the field? Has anyone ever done a story about the number of National Merit Finalists who choose Auburn or Alabama? Ever?

Cassanova McKinzy tried to clarify his comments later in the week, saying he was just joking. Even more reason for us to pay less attention to what these H.S. jocks say. Like that's going to happen?
Each year signing week and day will be treated the same, giving the kids adult status and expecting more than kid talk.

Sleeping With Mom

2012-02-04T17:45:00.000-06:00

     If another reminder was needed about the danger of infants sleeping in the same bed as parents, it is this story. I don't know you to make it clearer...I presume pediatricians, hospitals and health clinics try to make new Moms understand it?
    What a horrible thing for the family in that story, and for any parents who go through it.
     Get a crib. Use it.
     CDC has information on a "Cribs For Kids" program.

Hubble finds a A Milky Way Twin

2012-02-04T16:21:00.001-06:00

The Milky Way has a mysterious twin! The Hubble, about the best investment in space exploration the U.S. ever made (next to the Mars Rovers), found the doppelganger, which includes three quazars. We know so little.

Astro Turf Candidates

2012-02-04T13:21:00.000-06:00

     Anti-abortion provocateur Randall Terry, declaring himself a Democratic candidate for President, wants to buy ads showing fetuses in and near the Super Bowl in several TV markets (none in Alabama), and a TV station in Chicago wants the FCC to rule in their favor and let them reject the ad.
     It is almost impossible for TV stations to refuse an ad for a true candidate, which he maintains he is.

Says Mr. Terry:

“Is the FCC going to force all candidates and voters to bow their knees to the party?”

    Mr. Terry is forgetting that these are party elections. The parties get to run them just about anyway they want (with the exception of states covered by the Voting Rights Act, which have to have changes in any election approved by the U.S. Justice Department.)
    I have and continue to argue that because of that, The parties should pay for the elections themselves, but that's another issue.
   Watch for a quick FCC decision!

Crowd Rule/Vox Populi/Democracy at Work

2012-02-03T19:28:00.000-06:00

     The folks at the Komer Foundation have now learned the lesson they could have discovered much more cheaply by paying attention when the Banks tried to impost a debit card fee There was also the entire Occupy movement, and more recently, when SOPA and PIPA were about to be passed by Congress.
     I'm confident there are meetings going on in corporate boardrooms, trying to figure out a way to avoid the same fate.
     How about considering the effect of decisions on customers/clients before pulling the trigger?

Where Do They Send THEIR kids?

2012-02-02T04:00:00.004-06:00

Tonight on CBS 8 in Montgomery, a report on some of the people who pull the strings for public education, but who send their own children...to private school.
Watch our CBS 8 News Extra: Where They Send Their Kids. Tonight at 10:00pm on CBS 8 in Montgomery! And take our online poll after the report too!

(Forwarding or linking to this post is especially appreciated! Thanks!)

Alabama Gives Day

2012-02-02T03:36:00.000-06:00

Alabama Gives Day There are non-profits who depend on you, and today is an opportunity to show them you do care.

Walking and Biking (NOT!)

2012-01-31T17:51:00.000-06:00

Q. Which U.S. State has the lowest percentage of folks who walk to work?
A. Alabama.
Q. Which U.S. State has the lowest percentage of folks who ride a bike to work?
A. Alabama
Q. Which U.S. State has the highest obesity rate?
A. Alabama.

Do I see a trend here?

     The new report from a walking and biking group also shows there is more biking and walking in rural America, and with Alabama being such a rural state, you would think....
     For all I know the walking and biking group is funded by bike and walking shoe manufacturers, but so what!
     The enemy really is us.

Something else to worry about!

2012-01-31T17:37:00.000-06:00

U.S. News & World Report includes a story that most of the U.S. States have now reported a new infection that is resistant to antibiotics...and has a mortaltiy rate of 40%+.
Most in danger: people with compromised immune systems. And yes, YOUR state is probably on the list. Here' a map.

Take with one hand, reject with the other.

2012-01-31T16:32:00.000-06:00

     This liberal diagram purports to show how many Red States get back more in Federal tax dollars than they send to Washington. I don't know about the other states on the list, but Alabama has long been on the receiving end of Big Government money, always getting back more than was sent.
     A good investment you might call it.
     But The Alabama Congressional Delegation is in the front lines of fighting to reduce that Federal spending! Just who are they working for, anyway?

MMMM # 184 -- The Candidates & The Media!

2012-01-30T01:00:00.016-06:00

     Newt and Mitt aren't running against each other. They're running against the media!
     Newt says the audiences at debates should have the right to take part in the debates. He objected when NBC's Brian Williams dared to tell the audience to "hold its applause".
     Previously, he lambasted a moderator for asking him--HIM!--a first question about his "open marriage" request of wife #2 while he was dating the woman who would become wife #3.
     This is all rather textbook politicking, and rather tiring, frankly. The fact that voters allow candidates to make the media the enemy makes me think of herds of votersheep, ready to bleat their approval of any attack against the evil reporters.
     This past weekend, the media fired back! Sorta. NBC sent a letter to the Romney camp objecting to a new campaign ad that is composed almost entirely of material from one of their newscasts. It was a story about Newt being reprimanded by a Congressional Committee. No immediate reaction from the campaign, but that's not a new issue either and the campaigns know it. Broadcast material is copyrighted, and it can't be used without permission.
     Alabama Public Television had a similar run-in during the 1990 Paul Hubbard Campaign for Governor. Video of Guy Hunt praising the AEA chief in a For The Record interview was used in a campaign ad. The campaign refused to remove the ad and actually threatened legal action against APT if they continued to try to have it pulled!
    In the end, I think it was so close to the election date that the issue died with Hubbard's campaign.

[UPDATE: Gingrich says he will not take part in any debate in which the media moderates it. Of course he has just lost Florida tonight 1-31-12, so perhaps that won't be a problem for him?]

(The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this website.)

Terrible Gainsville Florida Wreck

2012-01-29T09:54:00.000-06:00

Nine dead, fifteen or more vehicles involved just South of Gainsville on I-75. Smoke from a brush fire may be a contributing factor.

Belittling The Charges

2012-01-28T17:16:00.000-06:00

     The lawyers for the Alabama fan charged with tea-bagging a passed out LSU fan in New Orleans are belittling the charges against their client.
     I wonder how they would feel if the victim was their son or brother or father? Or their sister?
     Watch for a settlement.

The Penalty for an Early Spring

2012-01-28T16:16:00.001-06:00

     We've had virtually no Winter here in Alabama, like a lot of the country.
     The high Thursday was 70...and it was 60 on Friday and today.
     As a result of all of this relative warmth, trees and plants are starting to bloom Below is a tree near the house...maybe a Chinese Tulip Tree? The at-freezing temps last night nipped the buds a bit, and it will be cold again tonight.
     But with February starting next week, and the forecast showing no frigid air mass in site, perhaps we can consider the non-Winter of 2012 gone?

What Me Worry?

2012-01-28T07:35:00.000-06:00

The Birmingham News is out with a poll/survey of Alabamians about what are the most important issues for Alabama Legislators to work on when they meet on February 7th.

Jobs are Job #1(32%)---but after that the issues trail off.

Immigration? Who cares (5%).

Constitutional Reform? Not me! (2%)

Health Care? What's that? (2%)

But the second largest percentage after jobs?

"NO OPINION"--22%.

Perhaps too many people in Alabama are busy trying to feed their families and avoid foreclosure to worry about what the legislators will do...or they have no faith that the lawmakers who spent so much time on Immigration last session will or can do anything that matters.

Bus to nowhere.

2012-01-27T18:18:00.000-06:00

This Montgomery bus is on its regular route to a nonexistent location.
The Montgomery Mall no longer exists, at least as far as being a mall.
The city in buying portion of it for a Fire and Police facility. A church
is buying the other end of it. And the middle is being developed by a
private company that hopes to give it a medical theme.
So what should be on the bus sign instead of Montgomery Mall?

Here Come The Killer Bots!

2012-01-27T07:03:00.000-06:00

An amazing story tells of The Pentagon developing the first drone that has no pilot...neither in the plane nor on the ground. Shades of Terminator!!

Dissin' The Presidency

2012-01-26T17:16:00.001-06:00

The C.S. Monitor asks if the Arizona Governor's finger-in-the-face was a few inches too far when it comes to disagreeing with the President.
The story doesn't mention it, but the in-your-face book she wrote has suddenly jumped in sales by about two-thousand per cent. So instead of an insult to the presidency, was it just a cheap sales stunt to pump up sales?

Inflating Page Views

2012-01-26T12:39:00.000-06:00

     Am I the only person around who hates it when websites force you to look on multiple pages to see a list of some kind? Take Travel and Leisure Magazine, for example. Their list of the least and most tourist-friendly cities* caught my attention.
     But each of the cities is on its own page, forcing visitors to click on a link to see each page...and the page is so loaded with ads and animations it can takes forever to load. Why not just print the list on one page? Because they want to increase their page views, that's why. It's artificial manipulation of Internet traffic.
     Now, if you want to see the rest of this timlennox.com rant, click here. (just kidding).

*Washington D.C. was listed as the worst

NASA and The Blue Marble

2012-01-25T19:08:00.001-06:00

NASA says this is the most spectacular photo ever of our planet from space. Hard to disagree!

MMMM # 183 -- Machine and WRONG News Decisions

2012-01-23T01:00:00.003-06:00

As some journalism processes have become automated, more and more examples of why a human touch is a good thing have cropped up. For example, MSNBC's Travel page last Wednesday includes this sub headline

"Getting there is half the fun, so the saying goes. MSNBC.com's travel team examines the issues of the day and, of course, the joy and hassle of traveling."

Immediately below was a huge picture of the broken cruise liner off the Italian Coast. Oops.
The computer programs that select photos to go with stories on journalism-lite sites like Yahoo and Charter (and, apparently MSNBC) often chose appallingly bad examples...pictures or sketches that really don't really go with the story, but which were probably "selected" by the computer.

In a world in which all media are interconnected, from websites like timlennox.com, to the TV Networks, a tiny error can quickly be magnified. That's what happened on Saturday when a small student newspaper reported the death of Joe Paterno...who was still alive at the time*.
CBS Sports picked up the story and ran with it, apparently without considering the source was a student paper. Pack journalism at its worst.

Even more serious was the fake CNN News Alert that looked legit, but was not. The email made a false claim about Newt Gingrich on the day of the South Carolina Primary, which he went on to win. No media outlet apparently went with that incorrect report.

News consumers must remember that many news sources online are reliable, others not so much, and some are outright frauds.
The media needs to remember the same thing.

*Paterno died on Sunday.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of http://www.timlennox.com/]

Poor Tuscaloosa Under The Gun Again

2012-01-22T12:35:00.000-06:00

The overall threat of severe weather covers the area in the yellow box, which includes Montogmery. Let me recommend CBS 8 as a good source of information later today and for the next 24 hours as this system moves through.

After last April's deadly tornadoes, you know Tuscaloosa folks will be watching the skies very carefully.

ASU Stadiium Cost Up by $12-Million

2012-01-22T05:00:00.011-06:00

The New ASU football stadium can be seen above the school's new softball complex.

The Montgomery Advertiser has the story. Lots of rumors about money for the stadium being used elsewhere on campus, which the paper quotes ASU officials as denying.

There's been a building boom of sorts at ASU, new student structures, new entrances to campus, the softball and football facilities, the Selma to Montgomery March interpretive Center and more. Some of the building may come from the reduced cost of construction right now, when companies are hungry for any work and will cut prices. But The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees looked at the economy and rejected a proposed Football stadium stadium for the Birmingham campus....or maybe there was more going on in that decision. Read this story by The New York Times Regional Newspapers' Dana Beyerle. He writes of a virtual rebellion by the system's Birmingham and Huntsville campuses.
Meanwhile at ASU, it's full steam ahead. The stadium is scheduled to be finished in time for the 2012 Turkey Day Classic'

"And The Oscar (Does NOT) Go to...."

2012-01-22T05:00:00.009-06:00

     The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided to make the list of nominated documentaries shorter by imposing new restrictions.
      One of them: If your work wasn't reviewed by The Los Angeles Times or the New York Times then it is NOT eligible.
     So at the exact time that the world of big screen media is opening up to more and more creative folks because the price of "prosumer" video equipment has plummeted, the Academy has decided to virtually eliminate those new bodies of work.
     Opined The Washington Post:

But the rule might diminish the prospects of those who make smaller and less prominent movies; these filmmakers have often qualified their documentaries without the kind of commercial release that typically leads to reviews by the two news organizations

     If there are just too many entries, name panels of regional judges and let them select the ones that go to the final judging by the members. Or something. But don't give those two papers the power of life or death, the ability to shut up new emerging artists.
     Oh, that's the way it was done before the changes? I see.
     The Oscars air live on ABC February 26th. Here's a cute promotional trailer for the broadcast, hosted by Billy Crystal.

Military Records

2012-01-21T22:23:00.000-06:00

Now that Newt Gingrich has won South Carolina, let me ask if Ron Paul's criticism of him in the last debate before the Primary had merit.

In case you missed it, Paul presented Gingrich as a military chicken hawk who never served. Gingrich said his father served, and he had a deferment because he was married with kids. Video of the exchange is here.

Has anybody seen a fact check on the question of military service by the two? Our last three Presidents have had no military service (other than Bush's National Guard service, which virtually guarenteed he would not serve in Vietnam. In my own Basic Training in--ironically, South Carolina--the Drill Sergeants referred to National Guard members as "N-G, as in No Good", and mocked them.

Nowadays, the opposite is true. National Guard troops have been almost assured a tour or tours of Iraq or Afghanistan for the past decade.

I expect the next crew of presidential hopefuls in 2016 and 2020 will include at least some veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Coming Up Sunday on TimLennox.com

2012-01-21T17:44:00.001-06:00

One positive from the Great Recession: construction costs are down. Is that the reason for the building boom at Alabama State University in Montgomery?

PLUS: Just as the lower cost of almost-professional video equipment has made it possible for an average Joe or Jill to make an Oscar worthy documentary, The Academy has changed the rules.

Barbour's Bias?

2012-01-21T09:18:00.000-06:00

The Christian Science Monitor has raised and sought to answer to an interesting question about Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's pardons. Why were they so disproportionately issued to white inmates?

The story goes below the surface answer (Mississippi is a racist state).

Friday Notes

2012-01-20T15:06:00.000-06:00

A few notes I've wanted to post, but time, as it sometimes does, got away.

Etta James has passed. I blogged about her poor health recently, with her sons being hopeful, but alas and At Last, it was not to be.
We aired a story on CBS 8 News that gives a peek into the building process at the site on Harrison Road in Montgomery in which CBS 8, ABC 32, and The CW will share quarters later this year. You can watch it here if you are so inclined.
My question about what if the Bourbon Street tea-bagging incident had a women as the victim? Well late last night the suspect was charged with sexual battery and obscenity, despite comment like "oh it's just frat boy pranks."
And who knew that President Obama could sing? He did Al Green one better---well, not really, but just as the rich man's jokes are always funny, the leader of the free world's entertainment is always entertaining.

Have a great weekend! Spring is right around the corner!

Red Tails

2012-01-19T16:45:00.002-06:00

The movie, which opens Friday, tells the story, more or less, of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black combat pilots in the U.S. Military.
The folks at Alabama Heritage Magazine offer up their non-dramatized story of the airmen as a primer before you go see how Hollywood handles it.

The movie is doing quite well, despite critics, like this one for The Associated Press, who finds it a poor telling of the real drama behind what the men accomplished in the air over the theater of war and back home on the ground in America. He did, however, like the aerial scenes.

The Boston Globe review finds the making of the movie depressing because he believes moviegoers will be foreced to support it, despite the fact that it is not a very good movie. And he writes that it stalls in the aerial scenes.

My Father was in The Army Air Corps in World War II, the all-white Army Air Corps.

He and I never talked about that aspect of the war, in fact not much about the war at all. But my Mom told the story of traveling to Florida from New York to visit him during one part of his training.

She got on a city bus in or near Miami and grabbed a seat at the back. You guessed it, the driver told her to move because that wasn't where she belonged. I would love to finish that tale with a reverse Rosa Parks moment, but alas, Mom did as told and moved to the white section.

[NOTE: The CBS 8 Newsroom reports Red Tails sold out at The Rave Theater Friday night.]

SCOTUS says No to Alabama Prosecutors

2012-01-19T07:48:00.001-06:00

The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered a new hearing for an Alabama Death Row inmate who was never informed of a court decision against him, because his lawyers had left their firm and never received word of the decision. Corey Maples (left) missed an appeal deadine because of the miscommunication.
Alabama prosecutors seem to have really gotten their backs up about this, appealing it all the way to the highest court, at who knows what expense. Why the state didn't simply agree to a rehearing is beyond me. Clearly the inmate was treated unfairly through no fault of his own...why not admit that, espcially in a case in which the inmate's life is at stake?

[PLUS: The Atlantic magazine has an interesting article looking at the Scalia vs Ginsburg arguments in the decision.]

Ink NOT

2012-01-19T03:26:00.001-06:00

A Cobb County, Georgia ten year old asked his Mom if he could get a tattoo with the name of his brother, who had been killed in a car wreck, on him. She thought about it and said yes. The State said Oh No You Don't and sent her to jail.
I mean, really? JAIL? What ever happened to small government staying out of people's lives?

Birmingham vs Atlanta Economy

2012-01-18T11:31:00.000-06:00

The Brookings Institute has a new study of global large city economies, and it ranks Birmingham higher than Atlanta.

Birmingham was the only Alabama city included in the study.
Follow the link for an interactive map showing the other world cities that were included.

Obit: Kim Price

2012-01-17T17:11:00.000-06:00

     The publisher of The Wetumpka Herald has passed, and journalism has lost a steady, reasoned voice.
     I'd known Kim Price since my earliest days in Birmingham, when he was an AP reporter and I was a fledgling member of the Alabama AP Broadcasters Association.
     Kim was a regular and always welcomed guest on the old For The Record on APT too, and I could always count on him bringing a passionate and thoughtful commentary to the table.
     Kim leaves behind his wife and three children, to whom I send my deepest sympathy. He was 57.

Crimson (Faced) Tide

2012-01-17T16:24:00.000-06:00

     Is it just some intoxicated Alabama fans having fun at the expense of a barely conscious LSU fan on Bourbon Street...or evidence of a sexual assault?
     That may depend on the report you read. Here's WWL-TV's report on the incident at a Krystal following the Alabama victory...an incident being investigated by the New Orleans Police. Here's an AP report in The Tuscaloosa News.
     The Alabama fans toss food and trash on the LSU fan, stick fingers in his ears and nose, and then one man in an Alabama Jacket unzips and simulates a sex act, touching the unaware LSU fan with his genitals in the process.
     That WWL report does NOT include the video. You can however find it here and elsewhere online. The apparent Alabama fan is perfectly identifiable, though I have not seen him named anywhere so far.
     And here's a question: if the passed out LSU fan were a female, would there be any doubt that a crime occurred? So why not now?

Governing by camera.

2012-01-16T09:03:00.053-06:00

Starting today, tickets will be issued to the owners of cars caught speeding by hidden cameras in Montgomery.

It's an extension of the red light cameras now in use at numerous intersections in Montgomery, Selma and other Alabama cities.

Red Light Camera

In both cases the tickets go to the owner of the vehicle, not the driver. Does that not seem like a violation of due process? (Proof, if any was needed, that Tim did not attend law school?)

The speed-cameras will be "hidden" inside out-of-service police cars, so city officials argue that you deserve the ticket if you're so stupid as to speed past a marked police car.

Speed Cameras

The red-light cameras have a mixed history, with some cities tearing them out after citizen complaints, and after studies suggested the companies that collect the revenue had an unfair incentive to interpret the photos against drivers and for the city (and themselves).

If Montgomery residents are unhappy about the use of the cameras, there is a rather simple way to eliminate them. Start mobilizing like-minded citizens, send petitions to members of the council and the mayor, and make sure they know that they will be unelected if they don't pull the plug. They're betting people will forget by the time the next election comes around, and there is no power of recall in Alabama that would allow them to be removed before the election.

But a patient electorate, and a campaign of ads against those who voted for the spy cams, could work.

Warning Signs

Or the voters could do the opposite, rise up in support of the cameras and demand even more be installed, to catch jaywalkers and litterers and people cursing or violating the new ban on smoking in public buildings and....

MMMM # 182 -- They know It When They Hear or See It

2012-01-16T01:30:00.008-06:00

The Supreme Court heard arguments last week over nudity and/or "obscene" language on broadcast radio and TV. Think Janet Jackson (and why is Justin Timberlake always left out of the telling of that Super Bowl incident?)

Among the points made:

"...the FCC had received complaints about the opening episode of the last Olympics for showing statues with bare breasts and buttocks."

Yet cable TV channels, one click away on virtually all TV's from their broadcast cousins, can show virtually anything they want. Watch some True Blood or Shameless for examples.

The only real difference between one channel and the other is that you pay to bring cable in, while broadcast is free. Does the public really see a significant difference between cable channel 4 and channel 400?

"...I know it when I see it..." (Justice Potter Stewart, 1964, in an opinion on what "hardcore pornography is".)

Nonetheless, the current Supremes seem inclined to not only maintain the current FCC regs, but maybe even expand on them, probably on a 5-4 vote, as usual. And the cable companies hope that is exactly what they do.

ALSO: a reader spotted what certainly seemed like a great story for the MMMM...it said a Christian Talk Radio Network had been airing the same programs over and over on a 365 day cycle, since 1988. On first read I though, hmmmmm. On reflection, I recognized it as satire. All things online are suspect, including this one.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of http://www.timlennox.com/]

Ships At Sea

2012-01-15T05:34:00.002-06:00

Twice recently, really big ships, presumably with the latest in modern navigation, have run aground.

First it was a container ship that broke up off New Zealand several months ago, and now, of course, the cruise ship that capsized off the Coast of Italy.

At least Titanic--- almost exactly 100 years ago---lacked most of that modern equipment.

According to last night's CBS News, the company that owns the passenger ship has had a history of problems, and the Captain is in police custody for abandoning ship before many of the passengers were evacuated.

If we ever need proof that life is fragile, that even the most routine activities can go bad, stories like those are more than ample.

[UPDATE: The best navgation equipment in the world won't do any good if the Captain intentionally steers close to shore so the family of one of his crew can see the ship from their coastal home.]

Paula's Diabetes

2012-01-14T13:24:00.001-06:00

The Queen of Southern Fried Foods has joined the large per centage of Southerns who are diabetic.

Sure, genetics play a role, but diet---and weight--play a bigger part.

We loved Paula Deen's fried-everything, but can we have seconds now please? Second thoughts?

King quote to be changed.

2012-01-13T20:56:00.000-06:00

The Washington Post, ABC and others are reporting that the disputed quote on the MLK Memorial will be changed to better reflect what he actually said.

Monday is the King Holiday, of course...as well as the Alabama State holiday for Jefferson Davis. The inscription on the left is part of the Civil War Memorial in Montgomery.

We love our dichotomy here in Alabama.

Honor and Decorum for Dead Terrorists

2012-01-12T18:30:00.000-06:00

     When soldiers of any nation are trained, they are trained to kill.
     To kill.
     That's not exactly something that comes naturally (or is it?).
     Even in my very Basic Training in South Carolina a while back, the Drill Sergeants expected me to be fairly unthinking in my ability to open fire on people with an M-16 or grenade ( and I wasn't even going into The Infantry).
     Now comes the story of U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of some Taliban terrorists who they had killed, and the Pentagon is in an uproar and high level government officials are demanding their heads.

     So let's see. These are men--U.S. Marines no less---trained to kill in whatever vicious manner we've selected, trained to hate the enemy so much that a blade to their throat or a bullet to the head at close range is more than they deserve. But once the children-killing, puppy-gutting, WMD-making bastards are dispatched to wherever it is they are going, our military is supposed to treat them like saints or little children and give them a reverential funeral and wire flowers from FTD?
     If it had been the other way around, I'd be calling for the heads of every Afghan alive, but I would also understand that war is a crappy institution in which people are trained to act against the best instincts of humanity.
     We're supposed to be angry enough to kill 'em, but not to disrespect 'em?
     The Marines didn't help the peace process, or U.S./Afghan relations. But in the killing part of armed diplomacy, that's not their job.

The Death Penalty

2012-01-12T08:19:00.000-06:00

If you listen to opponents of Capital Punishment, the tide is turning against the use of the death penalty.
But a new Pew study finds little change in recent years. A majority still favor it.

Russia points a finger at The U.S.

2012-01-10T14:07:00.001-06:00

All of those problems the Russians are having keeping space-craft going in the right direction, and staying where they are supposed to?
Maybe it's the CIA or The Pentagon, or the Boy Scouts of America! The Russian space folks are hinting that outside forces may be to blame for some of their failures. No, they really don't name the Boy Scouts, but they may as well. When things to awry, it seems to be a particularly Russian reaction to blame others. Maybe you just screwed up Mr. Cosmonaut?

Not in Alabama, for Sure!

2012-01-10T11:00:00.001-06:00

ESPN: LOWEST RATINGS EVER FOR A BCS CHAMPIONSHIP.

What's going on here? Bias against the SEC? Did viewers expect the same result as the previous Alabama-LSU game so they didn't need to watch? Was Monday night a bad night?

[PLUS: Read USA Today's take on what it is about Alabama that makes it such a college football powerhouse...(though I'm not sure they found an answer as much as they asked the question in-depth.)

MMMM #181 The New Year

2012-01-09T01:00:00.005-06:00

2012 is going to be a landmark year for the media in Montgomery.

The gathering of WAKA CBS 8, WNCF ABC 32 and WBMM CW 22 under one state of the art roof will offer tremendous opportunities. Construction is progressing and we'll be in the new HD facility on Harrison Road in plenty of time for the Fall 2012 TV Season.

TV and just about all other media continues to flow to smartphones, keeping people in touch all day every day.

The challenges that have faced print aren't going away. The Montgomery Advertiser saw additional layoffs in 2011, a shrinking of the paper's width, and a tightening of the overall operation.
Prime Montgomery Magazine published for its first full year in 2011 (The 2 year anniversary is in April) and is going strong.

Alabama Public Television closed its Montgomery Studio and production facility on Madison Avenue in 2011, firing all but one employee, an engineer. I understand APT has started hiring some people in recent weeks to operate its studio in the Alabama Statehouse when the Legislative session begins next month. It's unclear what programs they will air and when. Their website appears to be down this Sunday evening.

     Online media continues to grow, though profits are another story. Some local Montgomery sites are doing a good job covering events in the Capitol, like MidtownMontgomeryLiving.com
     Radio is still struggling too, with the usual format changes and consolidation of stations (not unlike what's underway with CBS 8).
     In the Fall of 2012, this website will celebrate its 5th Anniversary...Lord willing and the creek don't rise. Which on a rainy night like tonight seems like a distinct possibility!

[ADDENDUM: The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to stop regulating speech on Broadcast TV tomorrow. Broadcasters argue in a multi-media world, they are being treated unfairly.]
[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this website!]

The Long Haul of Joblessness

2012-01-08T14:52:00.000-06:00

The Wall Street Journal says the impact of the U.S. unemployment resulting from the Great Recession will be felt for a long time, pehaps for generations.
And since Alabama's unemployment rate has been higher than the national average....

When Getting There is NONE of the Fun.....

2012-01-08T07:57:00.000-06:00

     Picture this:you are walking in one of the urban areas of Alabama...Birmingham, or Montgomery..maybe Huntsville or Mobile, and you are not familiar with the streets.
     So you ask your GPS enabled smart phone-pad-flash-drive-cassette to create a route for you. And you want it to include a stop at a hot dog place.
     Microsoft has patented a program that will do just that...avoiding "bad neighborhoods" and giving preference to hot-dog places that just happen to be advertisers on the program.

     There will be some unhappy business owners if the smart-machine decided their hot dog stand is located in a "high-crime" area and sends the user away...conveniently to the competition.
     I'm actually surprised there isn't already a program identifying homes for sale where violent events, criminal or otherwise, or even just plain natural deaths, have occurred (for the poltergeist phobic among us)...and that rate various neighborhood blocks on a ten scale for the number of break-ins that have occurred to homes or vehicles.
     Programs like this tend to have a self-fufilling feature. Like the Top-Ten Stories list in newspapers, which increase the rankings for those stories by attracting more readers, insuring they will stay in the top ten longer.

Equal Protection Against The 5 Iron

2012-01-07T06:55:00.001-06:00

I overheard two women talking on Friday about Elin Nordegren using a bulldozer to tear down the Florida mansion she and Tiger Woods lived in before the cheating and the divorce. The comments were positively gleeful, picturing her driving a huge yellow machine of destruction through the multi-million dollar home to punish her cheating spouse. You go Elin! Then one of the women added how happy she was when Elin had attacked Tiger with a golf club too, and the other agreed. When I raised a question, they were "just kidding", of course.

     I had not read anything about the mansion destruction at that point, but as I usual, I started asking myself questions. Does she own the place? Fine, tear it down, burn it, do whatever she legally wants to. But if it's jointly owned with her ex? No way.
     And about the golf club assault...which as far as I know was never verified...if the situation had been reversed, and it had been Elin cheating on him, would it have been a cause for celebration if Tiger had taken a club to her? Of course not.
     I'm not advocating or excusing cheating, just suggesting equal treatment.
     The subject of spousal abuse was fresh on my mind because of an interview I did over the holidays with the Executive Director of the One Place Family Justice Center in Montgomery. He told me about the percentage of men who are abused physically and verbally by their wives, and how difficult it is for them to report it. With some folks cheering the beating of a male spouse, cheater or not, I can understand why.
     When I finally did read the mansion story, it was much less dramatic. There was no vengeful hard-hat wearing Elin, her fist raised in victory as she drove a bulldozer through the home. Instead, she's tearing down the 1932 house that had termite damage to build a new one. And it was a demolition company doing the destruction, contributing whatever could be salvaged to Habitat For Humanity.

Welcome to New Orleans (NOT)--UPDATED!

2012-01-06T19:30:00.000-06:00

New Orleans Times-Picayune reporter Ted Lewis has a welcome to The Big Easy article for the Crimson Tide and fans today. It places Football in Alabama (or, Alabama Football, if you will) and The Civil Rights struggle, on parrallel time tracks. He quotes Historian Taylor Branch:

"Football and segregation were parallel manias in Alabama in the 1960s," Civil Rights Era historian Taylor Branch said. "And they were so imbedded with the idea of segregation, they couldn't find a way out of it except through football.

To his credit, Lewis mentions that LSU had it's first black player after UA.
Roll Tide?

UPDATE: Not to be outdone, The Wall Street Journal has a story about LSU with the headline "You Can't Spell Lush Without L-S-U." Really!

Weight Watchers PR Problem

2012-01-06T07:37:00.004-06:00

The problem's name is Charles Barkley....a paid spokesman for the company who describes the company as a "scam" in on off-air but recorded chit-chat during a game. I'm sure there's a PR way to turn it around that doesn't involve the obvious...firing Barkley. Suggestions?

Business

2012-01-05T08:56:00.000-06:00

     ~~BEST~~ BUY Executives must be having a terrible morning after this morning's online Forbes article.
     Ouch....the story of a retailer who was perfectly positioned to slide into the online environment, and yet, according to the writer, failed.
     What other companies have taken the same journey to online failure?

Gene Bartow

2012-01-04T19:33:00.000-06:00

     I'm not a sports reporter (there's an understatement!) but over the years I've covered a variety of sports stories, mostly because I was the last person left in the newsroom. (Remind me to tell you about the time I filled in for Eli Gold on the old WERC "Calling All Sports" show.)
     The death of Gene Bartow reminded me that I had covered the announcement that the was leaving UCLA after just two seasons and coming to UAB to launch a basketball program. It was 1977, and I had been in Birmingham for about a year when the news conference was called. The details are fuzzy, but it was such a big announcement that even sports neophyte me could sense the impact it would have. The room was packed with reporters from everywhere.
     I hadn't thought about that event probably at all since it happened, but today's story of his passing brought it flashing back. If there were negative stories or controversies about him (other than leaving LA for Birmingham, of all places!) I don't remember them. He brought a ton of class to sports in Birmingham, and helped put UAB on the sports map. Rest in Peace, Coach.

Terrorism Tower Directory

2012-01-04T17:45:00.000-06:00

Taliban agrees to open office in Qatar.

Debt.

2012-01-04T08:34:00.000-06:00

Don't miss Paul Krugman's column today about debt and the deficit. His message: the situation isn't nearly as bleak as you may think.

2012

2012-01-01T13:47:00.000-06:00

Heading now into the new year...and as usual for me, I find it hard to believe it is 2012. The 20's always sound like something out of a Scifi movie (perhaps the influence of 2001 A Space Odyssey?).
It will be a Presidential election year, either the end or a second term for President Obama. And perhaps I have been paying a bit too much attention to politics? Google tell me:

You've read 61 articles about Politics. That's 6 times more than most readers, and it earns you a Platinum badge!

     Oh my! And of course that only counts the ones I read through their news gathering site.
     Most folks pay scant attention to politics, and after the do-no-business year in Washington, and the Immigration debacle here in Alabama, it's no wonder.
     Yesterday I found myself embroiled in an online back-and-forth with former high school classmates over a religious issue and I was amazed how quickly it became a name-calling match! As I wrote to them, now I remember what I didn't like about hosting talk radio shows.

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

2011-12-31T16:48:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! Tim

WARNING!

2011-12-31T16:15:00.000-06:00

There are reports that some decorations being put away for the year....

Are making a run for it!

Happy New Year to everyone!

Consumer Wars on the Eve of 2012

2011-12-31T07:42:00.000-06:00

The WSJ has a story about the increasing number of customers fleeing expensive cable TV plans, or at least negotiating their own rates downward. From the article:

Although cable operators don't widely market it, a federal law requires them to allow consumers to tack on premium channels such as HBO or Showtime for roughly $17 a month, even if they only have the most basic cable package.

Really? In my last negotiating session, I spent time arguing with the agent about the benefit (to customers) of cafeteria pricing..letting us select what channels we want and paying only for them. I told him I wanted basic plus one HBO and one SHOWTIME, but was told that wasn't possible. He insisted it would be more expensive for customers. Hmmmm I'll have to look into that Federal regulation to quote it next time around.
Related: by now I'm sure you've read of Verizon's capitulation of it's $2 a month fee for customers who pay online without setting up an account or who pay by phone. I loved the tortured language used by the CEO to make the announcement that they were listening to customers:

"Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time."

     How many suits and lawyers does it take to say we screwed up? About a hundred, if that's the best writing they could agree on.
     And Verizon isn't alone...as I've blogged about before...AT&T charges a $5 fee if you want to pay your bill by phone using an actual real-live person. How is that not discriminatory against seniors, who may be more likely to need assistance with the complex bills companies use these days?
     Add the bank's retreat from their monthly debit card fees and the lesson for 2011 is this: Social media is teaching companies how quickly their customers can turn on them.

The Most Ridiculously Priced Stuff

2011-12-30T19:01:00.000-06:00

     There are a number of articles and lists like this one on the web that list the most overpriced things we buy.
     Curiously*, the one linked to above omits the top item on many other lists: printer ink. One site estimates the ink cartridges costs the equivalent of $64,000 a gallon!

     Other lists also include mattresses. In fact I found a site devoted to that one topic: how not to get ripped off buying one!

* maybe not so curious. It is an AOL page, and AOL is owned by....Time-Warner, which owns, well, so much stuff that it's not possible to figure out if there is a conflict of interest in their ink page.

A Leaf Drives in Montogmery

2011-12-29T18:16:00.002-06:00

     I met the owner of the only all-electric car in Montgomery today...at least she's pretty sure that's the case. She had to buy it in Auburn at the Nissan dealership there after a wait of a couple of years. The local dealer has not had any to offer to far.
     I learned long ago to be careful about any news story that includes a superlative...best, oldest, only...so if someone else does have one, my apologies.
    The owner runs a committee that promotes, appropriately enough, planting trees in the Capitol City!

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