TV News

I got hooked on watching, for the 10th time, that great movie "Network".  The Oscar winning 1976 movie predicted with uncanny accuracy what would happen to Television News in the future.  The premise was that the Network brass would allow the news operation to give commentary time to an anchorman who had gone crazy. (Think Glenn Beck and the Fox Crew.)   The ratings went up as the rantings went on.

I got a note today from someone who said Frank Magid had died.  He was a guy who single-handedly destroyed broadcast journalism with his 'happy news' format back in the early 70's.  He thought news shows should be populated with 'personalities' and banter rather than serious reporting.  His company was consulting for KOB-TV back then.  I was working as a reporter, anchor, and assignment editor at Channel 7.  Channel 4's new format was hurting our ratings.  This was back in the day when there was no cable or satellite and everyone watched local TV news.  So every rating point was worth revenue.  Of course, our management went out and hired a consultant too and journalism died at KOAT-TV, for the most part.  I remember well that I was producing and anchoring the news on the night that Nixon conducted the "Saturday Night Massacre" of Watergate fame.  I led with the story and was hauled into the manager's office and confronted by him and the consultant with leading with the story for the newscast.  They opined some dumb ass car wreck story was more important.  I left TV sometime later because I just did not fit in with the new formulas.  The General Manager at the station said I was a 'purist'.  I think he was correct.

Things have deteriorated ever since for TV News along with viewership.  Unless all you are interested in are sex related stories and poorly reported and researched political corruption stories. That is an old picture of me giving election results on the air in 1972.  One thing for sure, the technology is better.

Howard Beale: We'll tell you anything you want to hear, we lie like hell.

I Am Screwed

Many people who know me realize that I have a severe hearing problem.  It started in 1969 in the U.S. Air Force when I was caught in the danger zone of a jet fighter turbine without adequate ear protection.  A student pilot at Luke Air Force Base turned the wrong way.  The ear protectors we  had were little hollow rubber plugs.  Worthless.

I have had constant ringing in my ears ever since that day and about a 40% hearing loss.  I have now spent 10K on hearing aids.  They help.  I suffered one instance of total hearing loss for three days in one ear about three years ago.  Steroids brought back some of it.

This morning the good ear went.  It had been giving me trouble and I had been attempting to get into to see a Doctor. No appointments until April 1st were available.  Today I begged them to get in and got no where.  I went to my hearing aid specialists who said I needed to get in ASAP.  So now I am going out the door to an ER in hopes they can clear the ear.

I can't get veterans benefits because I am told I make to much money. I can't get in to see a Doc because our healthcare is so rationed.  So I will need to go clutter up an urgent care where some one might have more serious problems.

And the republicans insist we need do nothing about health care in this country.

Update:  3 PM   I got into an urgent care and a nurse fixed me up.  It worked out okay.  Just some left over problem from an ear infection.  As it turns out it could have been worse.

Not Missing It and a Question

I have to say I am not missing going up the the Legislature.  Now that I am retired and out of state government service I feel that one of the biggest perks is not  having to go to committee meetings or attend uninformed and libelous floor debate.  It seems far different now than when I started going up there in the late 60's to cover the sessions for Channel 7 news as a reporter.  Back then it was an exciting place to be for a young person like me.  There seemed to be a lot of humor in the air.  I don't get that feeling anymore when in the Capitol.

Maybe it is just selective memory but the level of debate seemed to me a lot more civil back then.  You could also see members of both parties practice bi-partisanship.  Right now the only bi-partisanship seems to be in killing tax hikes, which is okay with me as far as the sales tax goes.  It is too regressive.  However, just like on the national stage, if we are to reduce deficits some revenues have to be raised and income tax increases seem the fairest way to me.

Also, I find it peculiar that the media is on such a rant about one of Governor Richardson's bill vetoes being over ridden.  Yes, he is a lame duck like any other office holder with less than a year left to serve.  But, come on, one veto! I suspect there will be more but it really shouldn't be surprising given his heading for the door.

And question of the day.  Would the Albuquerque Journal editorial writers insist the US government help out a group of Americans who were illegally taking children out of Haiti if it were an Atheist group?  I hope not.  They would just be as dumb as the Baptist group who were spiriting children away to be, ahem, soldiers for Christ.

Maryland

Justin sent on some pictures of Maryland yesterday. His dog Geo hates the cold.

Big Oil and the Journal

The juxtaposition of stories in the Albuquerque Journal today is remarkable.  There is a front page story that is not much more than a frontal assault on environmentalists for wanting tough emissions rules put in place.  They trotted out their traditional whiners like Teri Cole (Who I find I agree a lot with on some issues) and Harvey Yates (Republican GOP Chair and Oil Tycoon).  They are tough emission standards indeed.  The Journal does not like the fact that some environmentalists sit on decision making bodies that will chart the course for debate on this issue.  The oil and gas industry used personal attacks in the article.

The Journal then has an op-ed piece by a oil and gas lobbyist on the evils of the tough New Mexico Pit Rule(from the oil conservation division) that is meant to protect groundwater saying it will ruin the state's economy.  It wont.

And then the Journal has an excellent story on the very real possibility of a gigantic sink hole opening up and swallowing part of Carlsbad because of oil and gas related extraction of brine water from the site.  The owner of the company that caused it said it was the state's fault(the oil conservation division) for not having tougher regulations.

The thing that bothers me greatly is the assault on environmentalists for wanting to be part of the decision making process and sitting on boards and commissions that make policy.  If this is bad, then why in the legislature do we allow people who sit on the Senate Conservation Committee to work in extractive natural resource industries?  Is there a difference at the end of the day?  Oh, thats right! Legislators are elected, although it is done with oil and gas money.

We Feel Smart

Bobbi and I are proud of ourselves for having the sense to get the hell out of Washington, DC a day early.  Baltimore airport was closed about 45 minutes after we took off.  My son Justin sent the picture above  early this morning from his Maryland home and it has gotten worse since then.  They still have power but most around them do not.  That big pile of snow at the end of the sidewalk is his VW Golf.

I talked to Ned Farquhar who is sealed up in his basement apartment in Georgetown.  He said he measured 30 inches outside.  I cant think of anything worse than being cooped up in a hotel room for three days in this kind of situation.

Leaving

We are having to come home early.  If we are lucky we will leave DC about 12 noon, just ahead of the big storm coming in to the east coast.  We had to change reservations and now will have to go through Florida to get home.  All flights are being cancelled in the region after 2PM.  Bummer.

On the Road

I will be in Washington, DC for the next few days at a meeting of the Wilderness Society.  Bobbi is coming too and we will be able to see Justin and Karly a couple of times.  Friday evening we are going to Ford's Theater to see the play "Rivalry".  It is about the Lincoln/Douglas debates.  We are looking forward to the trip.  Our heavily armed house sitter will be here.

Buried

Think what the Albuquerque Journal would do if Democrat Governor Bill Richardson has entered into a transaction that caused a lot of heartache with citizens and that ended up being taken directly to the Supreme Court by the State Attorney General Gary King.  Do you think that story might be at the top of the front page in bold headlines?   I am pretty sure it would be.

Now think about the republican Land Commissioner Pat Lyons being in the same position.  (the operative word here is republican)  Do you think that might qualify for at least being above the fold on the front page, even if it were not the headline?  Of course not, because this little controversy does not involve the Governor.  This story was buried on the state page.  This is the kind of thing driving some people crazy.  One of our dinner guests  on Sunday said he could not stand it any more and he cancelled his subscription last week.

A couple of years ago I met with Thomas Cole of the Journal to brief him on what I thought were really suspect transactions at the land office.  It was complex stuff and required deep investigative reporting.  I never saw any thing come of it.  But, it did not involve the Governor where much of his efforts were shifted towards.  Maybe it is time to turn Cole loose on the Land Office.

Insanity Again

How would  you feel if the legislature passed a bill that said all New Mexico police officers no longer had to qualify on firearms training several times a year.  Right now the State Police are required to take training every four months.  But a bill offered by Senator Stuart Ingle of Clovis says that those 17,000 people who are carrying licensed concealed weapons in New Mexico should have their training cut in half from every two years to every four years.  Ingle says, "We don't need it."  I can tell you right now that there are several hundred State Policemen who think he is full of it.  As one of them told me about the legislation, "We are not crazy about it."

As it is these license holders can qualify for their permits "as long as they aren't blind," according to some police officers I have spoken with.  So how does less training take care of safety concerns of the non carrying public.  And, can business owners keep these weapons out of their premises.  Also, would Senator Ingle agree to let these weapon toting folks come into the Capitol building?  Because right now they are not allowed to do so.  Did the legislature feel they would be less safe with them in their midst?  If so, why is it safe for us in a movie theater or city park?

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. Albert Einstein 

Leslie Rules and Solar

Leslie Lithicum of the Albuquerque Journal is a jewel.  She had the most heartfelt column this morning on the demise of old Hispanic names that I wish the Journal would run it again.  As the old ones die so do many of the names they carried their whole lives.  I want to add a couple to the list she had this morning.  My great grandfather's name was Esquipula. A great Aunt was named Lucinda.  My aunt 'Pelta' who died in September was born with the name Rupertita.  My father's name was Fermin.  The list could go on as I look at the family tree on the Baca side.  Thank you Leslie for doing this story.

On another note the Journal had a good story on making homes more energy efficient this morning.  There was one glaring mistake in it however that left the impression that Home Owners Associations have approval rights on the placement of photo voltaic systems on roof tops.  They do not have those rights after a law was passed in 2007 that negated all covenants in deeds that prohibited or controlled placement of solar systems on roof tops.  It was the right thing to do since dealing with HOA's can be a real detriment to energy efficiency.  The journal needs to do a story on this one issue so everyone understands it.  The city and state must also try to clarify it.

Misc.

The New York Times had a fascinating story on its editorial page today about American's awareness of how things work in congress and how ignorant many people are about how their representatives vote.  Only 26% know how many votes it takes to break a Senate filibuster.  And, only 32% know that no republican senators voted for the health care bill.  The numbers are even more dismal in the 18-29 age demographic.  I would bet many more people know how much money the movie 'Avatar' has raked in!  Time for the schools to fire up those Civics classes.  I know that immigrants who become citizens know much more about how our government works than the rank and file American.

The Albuquerque Journal negativity columnist Thom Cole outed me as a retired official of the Richardson administration in the paper today because I criticized the Journal in this blog for wanting people to come up with new negative slogans for our state.  I guess being a retired public servant is a bad thing in his mind.  Well, I still like him although I do get tired of his continued rewriting of stories that are aimed at the Governor. I mean, how many times can your rearrange the facts to make it look like a new story?  I would like him and his editors to actually find some new facts to enlighten us with.  Maybe start at the State Land Office.

I have one idea for the Journal.  Maybe they could do a daily factoid on the comics page about how our government works.  They could become a civics teacher and it would be a great public service.

Sanity and Insanity

The jury has convicted the murderer of the abortion Doctor in Kansas.  It took the jury just 37 minutes.  The religious fundamentalist catholic justified himself saying he needed to perform murder to save lives.  Thanks to the sane jury in Kansas.

State Senator Stuart Ingle of Portales has introduced a bill in the legislature to eliminate the requirement of refresher training every two years for those paranoids who carry concealed weapons.  Does that make you safer?  Or does it endanger you and your loved ones?  This is insanity.

Life goes on.

Misc.

The Albuquerque Journal this morning had its top item on the front page a banner on the Lobos victory  over BYU.  Second was a story about former Mayor Marty Chavez being responsible for an inflated salary for the Fire Dept. union Chief.  (Surprise, the union endorsed Marty.)  The third story down was President Obama's State of the Union address with a nice picture.  I think overall this was a 'populist' front page.

Senator Mike Sanchez of Belen is making waves about using state Permanent Fund monies to help erase the deficit.  These fund have always been referred to as rainy day funds but no one has ever dared to use them for those rainy days.  There might be some innovative ways for this to be done.  Perhaps setting an unemployment level threshold would work.  In other words, when the unemployment rate exceeds 9% then the fund could be tapped to support bonds for stimulus and government operations.

The cities are rightly worried about the state raising its share of the gross receipts tax to cover its deficit.  That means the cities, who have no permanent funds, will find it impossible to raise their rates.  Cities provide the most basic services to citizens and they could be hard pressed to keep up.

Revenue Enhancer

Senator John Sapien has a really bad bill in the Legislature that would put a 25% excise tax on medicinal marijuana.  He would also charge patients a gross receipts tax when buying it.  Sapien is just being a populist politician.  Meanwhile those patients, with terminal diseases and suffering, would have to offer up what little they have left under our health care system to make Sapien look tough on drugs.  He should go have a chat with some of these poor folks.

But in the spirit of things here is a revenue enhancing idea for the law makers.  They already want to raise taxes on soft drinks, chips, cookies and foods that are 'bad' for you.  So why don't we just legalize marijuana and heavily tax its sale for everyone but medical patients.  We all know what would happen then.  Everyone would pay their taxes on the grass, we would save taxes on criminal justice time wasting on marijuana prohibitions, and we would send millions of new tax dollars to the treasury from the new tax on munchies.  Everybody wins.

Bunglers

Unbelieveable. Click Here

Census Games

The ten year census has started.  Quietly.  It will count us and categorize us and possibly shake up politics on a national and local basis.  Some Red states will gain Congressional seats and some Blue states will lose them.  Mostly because so many people move to the southern and western parts of America for better climates and job opportunities.

On local levels there could be big changes in state legislative seats.  But the most interesting changes could hinge on the future of Congressman Harry Teague in southern New Mexico.  If he wins his reelection he will pressure the legislature to not fool around with the alignment of his district.  That includes strong democratic vote areas in Dona Ana, Socorro and Grant Counties.  But if he loses the race to the right wing wanna be again congressman Steve Pearce,  then the democratic legislature could move to make sure that two of the three New Mexico congressional seats are permanently democrat.  How?  They could reapportion the boundaries of the district in such a way that puts Teague's strong Democrat areas into Martin Heinrich's district and they could move the Albuquerque North East Heights voters into a district that includes Hobbs, Carlsbad and other ultra conservative areas.  It could happen and it could pass the straight face test using census data for the reapportionment.

Chew on that for a while.

Bric a Brac

I watched the NFL playoffs on Sunday.  The games were enjoyable, except for the asinine behavior of the players beating their chests. doing jive and pointing at opponents and mocking them.  I hate that crap, but we should expect it because our country is often doing it without knowing how bad we look.  I got a good feel for that after attending a lecture on Brazil on Friday afternoon at the Museum of Albuquerque.  It was put on by the Albuquerque International Association.

It is part of a series on what is known as BRIC.  That stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China.  Those four countries are leaving the USA and Europeans in the dust as far as economic development goes. They sometimes do it as the expense of their environment, but they are learning to deal with it.  They are investing in themselves and their infrastructure while America invests in $200,000 missiles to shoot from drones at mud huts in Pakistan and Afghanistan. (Those don't provide any return on investment for sure.)  And unless we do something about it we are going to be a member of the third world economy sooner than later.

I was watching another program this weekend on the construction of the Stone Cutters bridge in Hong Kong.  It is a magnificent structure and is incredibly expensive.  It is the kind of thing we don't do in this country anymore.  Because it won't pay for itself.  Just look at the grousing about the fact the the new Rail Runner doesn't cover its expenses. Well, neither do hell fire missiles and you can only use those once.

The Rail Runner is still a forward looking project and it could wither on the vine because a few whiners and bloggers who may convince the legislature to stop funding it.

I know, I am just doing a Monday morning rant.  but this is real.  It will affect our children.  They are going to have to get angry and take control of this country, and do it real soon.

Trial by Camera

There are a couple of lawyers in town who really work the media system.  One is Sam Bregman.  You always see  him on TV as he argues his cases outside the court room.  The TV stations are always obliging.  The other lawyer who is good at this is Victor Marshall. He is suing the state for his whistle blower client Frank Foy.  Victor knows how to work the media too.  He was Channel 7's lawyer for many years.  In the middle of his protracted legal proceedings on this case he takes time out to get his client Frank Foy in front of a legislative committee and summoned TV cameras and reporters in Santa Fe to complain about the Governor.  Everyone in the media piles on the story and once again a prospective jury pool listens to accusations outside the court room while a judicial process is in ongoing.

I am not saying that Foy and Marshall shouldn't get to the bottom of this issue.  I hope they find out one way or another what, if anything, led to the firing of Foy from his investment managing job with the state.  However, these dramatic appearances and news conferences will have an effect on a jury pool.  The aim is certainly one that will hopefully increase any cash award to Foy.

Democracy Earthquake

The Supreme Court's ruling today, on a 5-4 decision to let corporations spend as much as they please to elect candidates, will rattle our democracy as sure as Haiti was rocked and destroyed by an earthquake.  Make no mistake about it, the special interests and especially the oil and gas industry will now control our elections.  For sure.  Without a doubt.

And think of this company who put scripture on our soldier's rifle scopes.  They can now influence elections with the profits from their billion dollar contracts from the Pentagon.  Soon you may live in a theocratic/corporate nation.