From this week's Biggest Best Latest Loudest awards:
Highest-Ranking Foot-in-Mouth Award: Vice President Joe Biden, who told the “Today” show Thursday he’d advise family members to avoid airplanes, subways and other “confined” places to avoid catching the H1N1, or swine flu — even while others in the Obama administration were trying to tamp down the growing (and ill-founded) hysteria. Biden’s office almost immediately issued a statement saying that the vice president meant that sick people should avoid those places.
In a related story, Americans agree that logically impaired people should avoid speaking.
Painful-to-Watch Clarification Award: Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano, who had to ask for a do-over last month, too, after a leaked Homeland Security report suggested that returning Iraq veterans might be potential risks to foment domestic terrorism. This time, faced with the Biden gaffe, she was compelled to reiterate the government’s travel policy: Carry on.
In a related story, Napolitano’s title has been changed Secretary of Apologies.
Best Headline We Could Never Get Away With Using: "Swine Flu Conspiracy — The Aporkalypse,” from an undermedicated (or densely sarcastic) conspiracy blog, ahrcanum.wordpress.com.
But What About Mad Cow Disease? Award: You get swine flu from pigs, right? What? Oops. That’s our impersonation of America, after realizing that one has nothing to do with the other. Don’t believe anyone could actually be that silly? Tell it to the National Pork Producers Council, which says the industry has taken an $18 million hit since the influenza outbreak. Pork folk blame the “inaccurate” name.
“It is not a ‘swine’ flu, and people need to stop calling it that,” said Dave Warner of the pork council. The World Health Organization announced it would instead refer to the illness as “H1N1 influenza A,” which is not nearly as catchy — but then that’s the pork council’s point, isn’t it?
Best Attempt at Out-Bidening Biden: Israel’s deputy health minister, Yakov Litzman, a member of the Jewish state’s ultra-religious party, who said earlier this week that the name “swine flu” should not be used because it contains the name of the animal banned by Judaism. He suggested “Mexican flu,” which won him no friends in Mexico. Clarification time: “Israel has no intention of giving the flu any new names. It was nothing more than a slip of the tongue,” said an unidentified government official who almost certainly was not Janet Napolitano.
Hammiest Twitter of the Week: Steve Mullen of The Commercial Dispatch of Columbus, Miss., who had the gall to announce: “Inoculated self against swine flu by eating three pounds of bacon.” Seems like a marketing opportunity the pork council ought to be considering.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Billy Mize and the Bakersfield Sound
Buck Owens justifiably gets most of the credit for defining and popularizing the Bakersfield Sound, that rollicking cousin of rockabilly, but Billy Mize — whose 80th birthday party will be held April 28 at the Crystal Palace — was on the local music scene years before Owens.
In fact Mize, along with Bill Woods, deserves much of the credit for helping the music of the late-’30s Dust Bowl migration translate into Bakersfield honky-tonk, an important forerunner of today’s rock and country, and a spiritual predecessor of the alt-country, No Depression sound coming out of places like Austin, Atlanta and Seattle.
I’d never read precisely how the music of the federal labor camps evolved into Bakersfield honky-tonk, so a few years ago I did some research and found Mize (who went on to become a big TV star in the ‘50s and early ‘60s) right there at the beginning. An excerpt:
Most weekend days during the early post-war years, younger residents of the Sunset labor camp, as the Arvin labor camp was also known, would walk a mile east to mingle with migrant workers from the squatters’ camps around the town of Weedpatch, which was not much more than a single rural intersection in the middle of acres of table-grape vineyards. They would meet, hundreds of them, at a business called the Collins Auction.
“This is how it began,” honky tonk drummer Jimmy Phillips told me. “You have all these people that’s migrated here from Oklahoma and they’re squatted there (in tents on private land all around Weedpatch) … A lot of them people would go up and they’d listen to Billy Mize and Bill Woods … come out and play. Man, I’m tellin’ you, it would be like a dream for me and many of the others, just to go up and listen to ‘em. And you would think, man, one of these days, this is gonna work, we’re gonna get to get in and do this (ourselves).”
Mize’s story is an important chapter in a story that touches on Texas-style Western Swing, federal labor camps, and the West Coast shipyards and aircraft factories of World War II. Those were some of the ingredients that came together to create the Bakersfield Sound. Here, in all its 8,800-word glory, is the entire story.
In fact Mize, along with Bill Woods, deserves much of the credit for helping the music of the late-’30s Dust Bowl migration translate into Bakersfield honky-tonk, an important forerunner of today’s rock and country, and a spiritual predecessor of the alt-country, No Depression sound coming out of places like Austin, Atlanta and Seattle.
I’d never read precisely how the music of the federal labor camps evolved into Bakersfield honky-tonk, so a few years ago I did some research and found Mize (who went on to become a big TV star in the ‘50s and early ‘60s) right there at the beginning. An excerpt:
Most weekend days during the early post-war years, younger residents of the Sunset labor camp, as the Arvin labor camp was also known, would walk a mile east to mingle with migrant workers from the squatters’ camps around the town of Weedpatch, which was not much more than a single rural intersection in the middle of acres of table-grape vineyards. They would meet, hundreds of them, at a business called the Collins Auction.
“This is how it began,” honky tonk drummer Jimmy Phillips told me. “You have all these people that’s migrated here from Oklahoma and they’re squatted there (in tents on private land all around Weedpatch) … A lot of them people would go up and they’d listen to Billy Mize and Bill Woods … come out and play. Man, I’m tellin’ you, it would be like a dream for me and many of the others, just to go up and listen to ‘em. And you would think, man, one of these days, this is gonna work, we’re gonna get to get in and do this (ourselves).”
Mize’s story is an important chapter in a story that touches on Texas-style Western Swing, federal labor camps, and the West Coast shipyards and aircraft factories of World War II. Those were some of the ingredients that came together to create the Bakersfield Sound. Here, in all its 8,800-word glory, is the entire story.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Danny Gilmore shows some courage
Danny Gilmore, the Republican assemblyman from Hanford, is taking some heat for having declared his support for Proposition 1A. That’s the initiative on the May 19 ballot that would extend by up to two years a handful of temporary fees and taxes, including the emergency 1-cent sales tax the Legislature put in place in February to keep the state from sinking into a fiscal bog.
That took guts on Gilmore’s part because it could be fatal for his re-election hopes. Bakersfield talk-radio talker Ralph Bailey said as much Monday afternoon, essentially calling Gilmore a one-termer. Bailey could be right.
Why would Gilmore do such a thing? Maybe because he has decided to do what virtually every politician says he’ll do during the campaign but almost never does once he’s elected — forget his party affiliation and answer to the greater good.
It’ll be disaster if Prop. 1A fails. Disastrous for schools, law enforcement, public health — government services most voters didn’t even know they counted on. (And just in time for a potential swine flu outbreak.)
Gilmore knows this — and I sensed he knew it back when the state senate was trying to resolve the budget deficit three months ago. Gilmore didn’t have to vote to raise taxes then because the assembly already had enough votes to make it happen. Gilmore probably doesn’t have to say so now, either, but he’s willing to do so anyway because understands, as a former CHP guy, what a multi-billion-dollar budget shortfall will mean.
That’s called huevos, folks, and I respect him for it even if some of his constituents don’t.
That took guts on Gilmore’s part because it could be fatal for his re-election hopes. Bakersfield talk-radio talker Ralph Bailey said as much Monday afternoon, essentially calling Gilmore a one-termer. Bailey could be right.
Why would Gilmore do such a thing? Maybe because he has decided to do what virtually every politician says he’ll do during the campaign but almost never does once he’s elected — forget his party affiliation and answer to the greater good.
It’ll be disaster if Prop. 1A fails. Disastrous for schools, law enforcement, public health — government services most voters didn’t even know they counted on. (And just in time for a potential swine flu outbreak.)
Gilmore knows this — and I sensed he knew it back when the state senate was trying to resolve the budget deficit three months ago. Gilmore didn’t have to vote to raise taxes then because the assembly already had enough votes to make it happen. Gilmore probably doesn’t have to say so now, either, but he’s willing to do so anyway because understands, as a former CHP guy, what a multi-billion-dollar budget shortfall will mean.
That’s called huevos, folks, and I respect him for it even if some of his constituents don’t.
Friday, April 24, 2009
The award for hunkiest fictional president
Goes to ... Barack P. Obama — and in case you’re wondering, the “P” stands for Photoshopped.
Obama, who’s in pretty good physical shape for a socialist, graces the cover of the latest Washingtonian magazine. The May edition shows a shirtless Obama wearing nothing but red board shorts and sunglasses.
Problem is, the photo, taken in Hawaii by a paparazzo shortly after Obama won the November election, was doctored. Obama’s conservative black trunks are now red, and his skin tone appears more golden than anyone can remember seeing it before. (The magazine denies his skin tone was altered.)
Well, give the Washingtonian credit for resisting the urge to superimpose the beefier abs of, say, rapper 50 Cent.
Obama, who’s in pretty good physical shape for a socialist, graces the cover of the latest Washingtonian magazine. The May edition shows a shirtless Obama wearing nothing but red board shorts and sunglasses.
Problem is, the photo, taken in Hawaii by a paparazzo shortly after Obama won the November election, was doctored. Obama’s conservative black trunks are now red, and his skin tone appears more golden than anyone can remember seeing it before. (The magazine denies his skin tone was altered.)
Well, give the Washingtonian credit for resisting the urge to superimpose the beefier abs of, say, rapper 50 Cent.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Happy Birthday, Billy Mize -- party is April 28
Billy Mize turns 80 on April 29, but there's a party being held in his honor April 28 at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace -- and one of the features of the gathering will be a preview of a new documentary about his life and career. For those who don't know his story, here's a short excerpt from my 1997 profile. It picks up after TV host/fiddle player Jimmy Thomason quit his TV gig to run (unsuccessfully) for the state senate in 1954 and then, out of a job, moved temporarily back to Texas:
Billy Mize, a young, handsome steel guitar player, had taken advantage of the Thomasons’ self-imposed two-year exile, stepping in to host his own program. He called his KBAK show “The Chuck Wagon Gang” and teamed for a year and a half with Cliff Crofford (later to earn a reputation writing songs for Walter Brennan and composing mid-’70s film soundtracks including those for “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Every Which Way But Loose”).
Mize “sang like a bird,” said Roy Nichols, former guitarist for Merle Haggard’s Strangers and a some-time-regular on the “Trading Post.” “Looked good, too.” “He had a lot a trouble with girls,” Red Simpson said. “Trouble keeping them away.”
Mize, who rejoined the “Trading Post” gang after the Thomasons’ return, became the show’s host in October 1963 when Cousin Herb was forced to scale back following his first heart attack. After Henson’s death the following month, the show moved to KBAK, and Mize continued as the show’s host for its final years. The Thomasons essentially switched places with Mize, landing on KERO-TV.
A native of Kansas by way of Riverside, Mize was all over the Southern California airwaves in those days. In a two-year display of road-warrior grit during 1964 and 1965, he racked up 3,000 miles a week driving his pink 1959 Cadillac back and forth between Bakersfield and Los Angeles, appearing on two live, daily TV music shows: “Trading Post” in Bakersfield and “Melody Ranch” on KTLA.
Mize performed on several Los Angeles-area TV shows, including “The Hank Penny Show,” “Town Hall Party,” “The Cal Worthington Show,” and “Country Music Time.” He eventually sold his heroic, well-traveled Caddy to Buddy Mize, his songwriting brother.
Before the Academy of Country Music gave its “TV Personality of the Year” award to Glen Campbell in 1968, Mize owned the trophy, winning three years in a row. He recorded for Columbia, Decca, United Artists, Zodiac and others, but his finest moment in the studio was probably the day in June 1966 that Dean Martin recorded three of his songs, including “Terrible Tangled Web.”
Billy Mize, a young, handsome steel guitar player, had taken advantage of the Thomasons’ self-imposed two-year exile, stepping in to host his own program. He called his KBAK show “The Chuck Wagon Gang” and teamed for a year and a half with Cliff Crofford (later to earn a reputation writing songs for Walter Brennan and composing mid-’70s film soundtracks including those for “Smokey and the Bandit” and “Every Which Way But Loose”).
Mize “sang like a bird,” said Roy Nichols, former guitarist for Merle Haggard’s Strangers and a some-time-regular on the “Trading Post.” “Looked good, too.” “He had a lot a trouble with girls,” Red Simpson said. “Trouble keeping them away.”
Mize, who rejoined the “Trading Post” gang after the Thomasons’ return, became the show’s host in October 1963 when Cousin Herb was forced to scale back following his first heart attack. After Henson’s death the following month, the show moved to KBAK, and Mize continued as the show’s host for its final years. The Thomasons essentially switched places with Mize, landing on KERO-TV.
A native of Kansas by way of Riverside, Mize was all over the Southern California airwaves in those days. In a two-year display of road-warrior grit during 1964 and 1965, he racked up 3,000 miles a week driving his pink 1959 Cadillac back and forth between Bakersfield and Los Angeles, appearing on two live, daily TV music shows: “Trading Post” in Bakersfield and “Melody Ranch” on KTLA.
Mize performed on several Los Angeles-area TV shows, including “The Hank Penny Show,” “Town Hall Party,” “The Cal Worthington Show,” and “Country Music Time.” He eventually sold his heroic, well-traveled Caddy to Buddy Mize, his songwriting brother.
Before the Academy of Country Music gave its “TV Personality of the Year” award to Glen Campbell in 1968, Mize owned the trophy, winning three years in a row. He recorded for Columbia, Decca, United Artists, Zodiac and others, but his finest moment in the studio was probably the day in June 1966 that Dean Martin recorded three of his songs, including “Terrible Tangled Web.”
Monday, April 20, 2009
How do newspapers keep their oldest readers?
How bad are things for the Hodel's Kiwanis Club? Bad enough that they were compelled to bring me in as a luncheon speaker on Monday. They asked questions about the future of newspapers and I was compelled to give them straight answers.
A couple of older members (70 plus, I expect) were not pleased to learn that things are going in a digital direction. Neither of these gentlemen know how to use a computer. Newspapers won't be happy to lose their readership -- that demographic is a faithful customer.
They posed this question: How about printing something (now, soon,whatever) on how to use a computer? While I'm not sure that's the best use of limited newsprint, it does raise an interesting point: What are newspapers doing to bring along these older readers? Are we just giving up on them? Or is there a way to connect them to our digital future? Should newspapers be offering computer literacy seminars at senior centers, or it that too far outside our central mission? Should we be partnering with retailers to put laptops into their hands? (Yes, that stuff is outside the central mission, too, but maybe we should be thinking about that sort of thing as well.) These are customers who WANT to stay with us.
A couple of older members (70 plus, I expect) were not pleased to learn that things are going in a digital direction. Neither of these gentlemen know how to use a computer. Newspapers won't be happy to lose their readership -- that demographic is a faithful customer.
They posed this question: How about printing something (now, soon,whatever) on how to use a computer? While I'm not sure that's the best use of limited newsprint, it does raise an interesting point: What are newspapers doing to bring along these older readers? Are we just giving up on them? Or is there a way to connect them to our digital future? Should newspapers be offering computer literacy seminars at senior centers, or it that too far outside our central mission? Should we be partnering with retailers to put laptops into their hands? (Yes, that stuff is outside the central mission, too, but maybe we should be thinking about that sort of thing as well.) These are customers who WANT to stay with us.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Last place in mutual stalking society's contest
Actor Ashton Kutcher became the first Twitterer to to rack up 1 million "followers" Friday morning, edging CNN. If you're wondering why celebrities who hate gossip websites would encourage people to follow them around, in a digital sense, you're not alone.
One answer: They're anxious to help usher in the birth of the next generation of mass media -- not just Twitter, per se, but all sorts of user-driven content. Plus, in this case, Kutcher's effort was for a good cause: The first one to hit a million had agreed to donate 10,000 mosquito nets for World Malaria Day.
Kutcher, whose wife Demi Moore alerted authorities to a suicidal Twitterer last month, was helped in part by 1,144 billboards donated for a day by Lamar Advertising -- including at least one in Bakersfield. A bit further back, behind Kutcher, twitter.com/stubblebuzz ended the week with seven followers. What did you expect? No billboard help.
One answer: They're anxious to help usher in the birth of the next generation of mass media -- not just Twitter, per se, but all sorts of user-driven content. Plus, in this case, Kutcher's effort was for a good cause: The first one to hit a million had agreed to donate 10,000 mosquito nets for World Malaria Day.
Kutcher, whose wife Demi Moore alerted authorities to a suicidal Twitterer last month, was helped in part by 1,144 billboards donated for a day by Lamar Advertising -- including at least one in Bakersfield. A bit further back, behind Kutcher, twitter.com/stubblebuzz ended the week with seven followers. What did you expect? No billboard help.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Justin "Raymie" Meyer gets his due
Justin Meyer (known as Raymie during his days at Garces High, class of '56) was recently inducted posthumously into the Vintners' Hall of Fame at the Culinary Academy of America in Napa Valley. The writer Gerald Haslam, Meyer's good buddy and a fellow Garces alum, reports that the induction was a grand shindig and a well-deserved honor. Meyer, who helped co-found Silver Oak (there are no finer cabernets in existence, year in and year out) died in 2002.
I interviewed Meyer a few weeks before he died. Read it here.
I interviewed Meyer a few weeks before he died. Read it here.
All right, so now I'm Twittering
I'm in -- a Twitterer. Part of a new, bold social experiment. And just as I type this I see I have my first follower. A follower! Heady stuff indeed. Twitter me if you are so inclined. Join my parade. Whatever. I still don't have the lingo down, but I'll work on it. I promise not to Twitter about restroom breaks. Unless they are exceptional for any particular reason. Then all bets are off.
Here's my Twitter ID: http://twitter.com/stubblebuzz
Here's my Twitter ID: http://twitter.com/stubblebuzz
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Learning a thing or two from Obama
I had a chance to sit down with Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leadership's chief deputy whip, Tuesday afternoon. McCarthy says Republicans have learned at least one thing from Barack Obama: Don't underestimate the power and potential of 21st-century communication tools.
The Obama campaign built a highly effective campaign network with text messaging. Now the GOP leadership is plunging headlong in that direction as well. They're sharing info with each other via iPod, and they're communicating with voters via Twitter. McCarthy, who spent an hour and a half with the Californian's editorial board, says he is amazed and amused by Twitter's power.
When he Twittered about the fact that he had washed his car with a ShamWow cloth (that ubiquitous chamois-like product), the world noticed. McCarthy says his ShamWow blurb got more national media attention than anything else he has Twittered (with the possible exception of a swipe at Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan and his meticulously hair-gelled coiffure).
The message: Spare us the arcane details of public policy — what we really want to know is whether a ShamWow can actually absorb an entire can of soda pop.
The Obama campaign built a highly effective campaign network with text messaging. Now the GOP leadership is plunging headlong in that direction as well. They're sharing info with each other via iPod, and they're communicating with voters via Twitter. McCarthy, who spent an hour and a half with the Californian's editorial board, says he is amazed and amused by Twitter's power.
When he Twittered about the fact that he had washed his car with a ShamWow cloth (that ubiquitous chamois-like product), the world noticed. McCarthy says his ShamWow blurb got more national media attention than anything else he has Twittered (with the possible exception of a swipe at Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan and his meticulously hair-gelled coiffure).
The message: Spare us the arcane details of public policy — what we really want to know is whether a ShamWow can actually absorb an entire can of soda pop.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Documentary misses an opportunity
Bill O'Reilly's favorite actor, Sean Penn, lends his name and voice to "Witch Hunt," airing April 12 on MSNBC. The documentary, by Dana Nachman and Don Hardy, is the story of the six Bakersfield parents who were wrongfully convicted of multiple counts of child molestation in the 1980s. Many locals are undoubtedly well-acquainted with the horrific story, which features names likes Pitts, Modahl and Stoll, so perhaps there is little new knowledge to be gained from the documentary in this part of the country.
But almost three decades after the first arrests, you'd think we were due for some analysis, some historical perspective. The documentary pins much of the blame for the flawed prosecutions on Kern County District Attorney Ed Jagels. But how did he continue to get re-elected by such substantial margins, even after the prosecution's self-inflicted problems became evident? Why didn't anyone ever step forward to oppose him?
Could this only have happened in a community like Bakersfield that tends to assume guilt? Or is it a broader phenomenon?
And where was The Bakersfield Californian in all this? (Answer: Casting more and more doubt on the "molestation ring" as time went on -- something a cursory glance at newspaper archives would have revealed.)
The filmmakers had a chance to study the ingredients of community hysteria. Instead, they seem to have produced a docu-drama that leaves us only with this penetrating question: "Gosh, wasn't that a shame?"
But almost three decades after the first arrests, you'd think we were due for some analysis, some historical perspective. The documentary pins much of the blame for the flawed prosecutions on Kern County District Attorney Ed Jagels. But how did he continue to get re-elected by such substantial margins, even after the prosecution's self-inflicted problems became evident? Why didn't anyone ever step forward to oppose him?
Could this only have happened in a community like Bakersfield that tends to assume guilt? Or is it a broader phenomenon?
And where was The Bakersfield Californian in all this? (Answer: Casting more and more doubt on the "molestation ring" as time went on -- something a cursory glance at newspaper archives would have revealed.)
The filmmakers had a chance to study the ingredients of community hysteria. Instead, they seem to have produced a docu-drama that leaves us only with this penetrating question: "Gosh, wasn't that a shame?"
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Greetings from SLO County
It's 68 and sunny in Morro Bay, but 73 and musty in the Top Dog espresso bar (free wifi if you bring your own laptop and buy a coffee). After five days on the coast, it's clear to me that Kern County really needs to negotiate a reconfiguration of its borders with San Luis Obispo County. Since Bakersfieldians are essentially keeping the Pismo Beach economy from plunging, the Board of Supes really ought to look into trading Maricopa (oil-property tax revenue) for Pismo Beach -- or some sliver of coastline somewhere. Now is the time, in the midst of this buyer's market. I will now reward myself for this brilliant observation by investing in another iced latte.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Teach kids about their planet
Blue is for the expanse of sky on the western horizon that hints of adventures not yet imagined. Green is for the rolling hills of early spring so abundant with hidden life. Purple-grey is for the sea, so powerful and mysterious in its opaque vastness.
Pink is for the letters of termination sent last week to some of the naturalists who’ve made those colors, and all they signify, their life’s work. Camp KEEP, the Kern County Superintendent of Schools’ 35-year old earth sciences education program based on the Central Coast, is in trouble. Things are so dire, I am compelled to attempt bad poetry.
Budget constraints are forcing Kern County school districts to reevaluate their priorities. The Kern Environmental Education Program, five days of intensive (and potentially life-changing) instruction that 6,000 local sixth-graders (and, at some schools, fifth-graders) experience each year, could be partially axed.
The Panama-Buena Vista Union School District board will have a big say in the matter. At their April 14 meeting, the board is tentatively scheduled to decide whether to fund Camp KEEP next year. If you value that portion of the sixth-grade curriculum — and believe the district should, too — tell them now.
Pink is for the letters of termination sent last week to some of the naturalists who’ve made those colors, and all they signify, their life’s work. Camp KEEP, the Kern County Superintendent of Schools’ 35-year old earth sciences education program based on the Central Coast, is in trouble. Things are so dire, I am compelled to attempt bad poetry.
Budget constraints are forcing Kern County school districts to reevaluate their priorities. The Kern Environmental Education Program, five days of intensive (and potentially life-changing) instruction that 6,000 local sixth-graders (and, at some schools, fifth-graders) experience each year, could be partially axed.
The Panama-Buena Vista Union School District board will have a big say in the matter. At their April 14 meeting, the board is tentatively scheduled to decide whether to fund Camp KEEP next year. If you value that portion of the sixth-grade curriculum — and believe the district should, too — tell them now.
McCain wants to pardon Bakersfield fighter
It seems to have escaped attention in recent stories about John McCain's efforts to clear the name of Jack Johnson, but the first black heavyweight boxing champ was a Bakersfield resident. Johnson, who was sent to prison because of his friendship with a white woman named Lucille Cameron, who would later become his wife, lived in the southern San Joaquin Valley from 1901 to perhaps 1911, off and on.
Johnson was convicted in 1913 of violating the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport a woman across state lines for immoral purposes. McCain wants Barack Obama to grant Johnson a pardon almost 100 years after the fact.
The story of Johnson's connection to Bakersfield is here. The tale plays out like a great screenplay (in need of a screenwriter).
Johnson was convicted in 1913 of violating the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport a woman across state lines for immoral purposes. McCain wants Barack Obama to grant Johnson a pardon almost 100 years after the fact.
The story of Johnson's connection to Bakersfield is here. The tale plays out like a great screenplay (in need of a screenwriter).
Editing history to suit your purposes
I've received this message from five different people this week, so I guess it's worth addressing. It's the story of Medal of Honor recipient Ed Freeman, who heroically flew his Huey copter into the face of enemy fire, repeatedly, to evacuate wounded comrades during the Vietnam War. From the e-mail: "And, he kept coming back.... 13 more times..... And took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out. Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died last Wednesday at the age of 80, in Boise, ID ......May God rest his soul..... I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we sure were told a whole bunch about some Hip-Hop Coward beating the crap out of his girlfriend. Shame on the American Media."
Ed Freeman actually died last August. Somebody made it more conveniently recent, I suppose, in order to make fun of the coverage of the Chris Brown-Rhianna story. That’s why it’s still a good idea to rely more heavily on the American media, for all its faults, than emails created by people you don’t know. Yes, Ed Freeman would have been a great obituary, but when he got the medal of honor in 2001 it got a lot of play in mainstream media, including CNN. This widely circulated e-mail makes fun of the hip hop star beating up his girlfriend, but that story has people talking about domestic violence like nothing I have seen for quite some time. But, yes, a big obituary for Ed Freeman would have been fitting and deserving.
Ed Freeman actually died last August. Somebody made it more conveniently recent, I suppose, in order to make fun of the coverage of the Chris Brown-Rhianna story. That’s why it’s still a good idea to rely more heavily on the American media, for all its faults, than emails created by people you don’t know. Yes, Ed Freeman would have been a great obituary, but when he got the medal of honor in 2001 it got a lot of play in mainstream media, including CNN. This widely circulated e-mail makes fun of the hip hop star beating up his girlfriend, but that story has people talking about domestic violence like nothing I have seen for quite some time. But, yes, a big obituary for Ed Freeman would have been fitting and deserving.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
He gave the queen what?
When Republicans claimed candidate Obama lacked the experience for the job, they couldn’t have been talking about potential shortcomings in the protocol department, could they? A few weeks after Obama presented visiting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown with a DVD collection that Brown might have purchased at Blockbuster (and, it turns out, wouldn’t play in his European DVD player), Obama presented Queen Elizabeth with an iPod. Yikes! Is the president still shopping at Best Buy?
Turns out Obama also gave Her Majesty a rare songbook signed by composer Richard Rodgers. Whew. But should we actually care? Well, yes.
This business of having an elected leader behave like some sort of royal might strike some as vaguely unAmerican, but it’s important that Europe see Obama as a man fully adept at the demands of the job. And the job entails competency in every nuance of global leadership, right down to the details of reception-line nicey-nice.
Turns out Obama also gave Her Majesty a rare songbook signed by composer Richard Rodgers. Whew. But should we actually care? Well, yes.
This business of having an elected leader behave like some sort of royal might strike some as vaguely unAmerican, but it’s important that Europe see Obama as a man fully adept at the demands of the job. And the job entails competency in every nuance of global leadership, right down to the details of reception-line nicey-nice.
Not all social networking sites equal
Social networking sites, applications and tools like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Stumbleupon and Kosmix are growing geometrically these days, and many people are finding them both fun and useful. But not all of them are created equal. I was "friended" by someone via the social networking site Netlog, and when I checked it out, I found an old acquaintance who had issued this warning on her personal profile:
"Netlog stole all my addresses from my address book and sent message to all of them!! If that is why you are here I recommend you do not sign up for Netlog or the same could happen to you! I am so sorry for any problem this may have caused you. I did not realize what was happening. I am leaving this message for those of you who came here because of me. Your friend Ann (Mix)."
Nothing like the bones of those foolhearty explorers who came before to warn away others who might crash upon the same rocks. Thanks, Ann.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
I forgot to pull a prank
I'm bummed. It's April Fool's Day and I forgot to play a trick on my seventh-grader. I've done this three years running: I put a can of garbanzo beans in his lunch, with no can opener. (As if he'd open the can and eat the beans if he had an opener.) He gets nothing else, just beans, along with a note telling him where to find his real lunch. I don't know why I think this is funny — I just do. Must be the name of the bean.
Anyway, this year I completely forgot. I even made his peanut butter sandwich this morning. The opportunity was there. Clearly I am falling down on the job as a father.
Here, in the spirit of things, are two classic April Fool's Day jokes, courtesy of the Contra Costa Times:
• Burger King's Left-Handed Whopper (1998): The full page USA Today ad had readers hankering for a Burger King sandwich expressly for lefties. The condiments, they were told, had been rotated 180 degrees. Thousands of patrons requested the burger -- and many more asked for right-handed versions -- before the fast-food giant confessed the prank.
• The Metric Clock (1975): ABC News announced that Australia was converting to a new metric time system. Seconds would henceforth be broken into millidays, minutes would become centidays and hours decidays. Assisting with the gag, South Australia's deputy premier gave it a thumbs up and explained that Adelaide's Town Hall timepiece had been converted already. Phones rang off the hook at the TV station, and at least one department store manager said concerned customers wanted to know if their clocks would still work.
Anyway, this year I completely forgot. I even made his peanut butter sandwich this morning. The opportunity was there. Clearly I am falling down on the job as a father.
Here, in the spirit of things, are two classic April Fool's Day jokes, courtesy of the Contra Costa Times:
• Burger King's Left-Handed Whopper (1998): The full page USA Today ad had readers hankering for a Burger King sandwich expressly for lefties. The condiments, they were told, had been rotated 180 degrees. Thousands of patrons requested the burger -- and many more asked for right-handed versions -- before the fast-food giant confessed the prank.
• The Metric Clock (1975): ABC News announced that Australia was converting to a new metric time system. Seconds would henceforth be broken into millidays, minutes would become centidays and hours decidays. Assisting with the gag, South Australia's deputy premier gave it a thumbs up and explained that Adelaide's Town Hall timepiece had been converted already. Phones rang off the hook at the TV station, and at least one department store manager said concerned customers wanted to know if their clocks would still work.
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