PBS – Eternal Government Sponsored Bailouts

I read where the local PBS station WQPT is considering the process of separating from Black Hawk College. The public station has lost it’s funding from Black Hawk College about two years ago during State of Illinois Budget cuts. That leaves just federal funds and private donations as the station’s source of revenue. According to a Dispatch/Argus story, the station and the college have come to an agreement where the PBS station can stay on campus for up to three years, at $5000 a month rent, while they make final determination of their future. The story said there was a possibility that another college might be willing to take over the station license.

I have not watched PBS -other than a handful of Iowa amateur wrestling programs- since I switched to cable and then Direct TV. As for WQPT, I would like to see it survive since I know it has a following. Perhaps they can find alternative funding from private donors or another University. However the best answer to their financial problems is the solution offered by many people, when the split between the Black Hawk College funding and the station became evident – Sell advertising and quit relying on federal and state taxpayer money! Taxpayers should not have to pay lifetime mandated government bailouts for stations like WQPT to be on the air. If PBS/WQPT cannot survive using the same promotional systems that every other television station relies on – then maybe they should just fade away into history. PBS needs to learn to survive like every other corporation. If they need cash they need to start earning it or close up shop.

Revolution – To Be or Not To Be

I like much of the rest of the World have been observing what actual citizen/government conflict content surrounding the latest Iranian election that makes it out Iran. There seems to be a general excitement around the free societies of the World that there will be big change in how the Iranian government will actually operate. Maybe, maybe not. Even considering the slight prospects that the reelection of Iranian President Ahmadinejad is overturned by the massive protests, will it have much effect on the real Iranian Government? I am guessing that it would have some effect but for the most part the government will still be controlled by non elected officials. The clueless disturbing face of Ahmadinejad may disappear as the talking head of the unelected government theocracy, but the way political system works his successor will still have had to make it through the vetting process required -by the political power brokers- to be considered as a candidate for a political office. We do the same thing here in the US. Unless you are a Democrat or a Republican your chance of ever being President of the United States are basically ZILCH! And to be considered by either party as the potential POTUS representative in a National Election – you must first jump through all the hoops each party sets up as the vetting process to receive the party ordainment as a possible candidate. If you do not kiss up to all the right people in all the right places, while making all the right political promises – you AIN’T gonna get on the party ballot. Each Party decides who can run and the voters get to choose in our Primary elections from the party-selected puppets. In politics change is a word championed by many but controlled by few. And real change is rare. Take a look at the last US election where the lemmings in this country bought into the media ordained POTUS Obama message of change and hope – and elected what has become just another in a long line of False Prophets of Change and Hope. It was inevitable. You cannot change a system that requires you to knell before it in order to be accepted to play in their reindeer games. So while I expect to see some change over all with the Iranian government, after the dust settles – the political games will still be played by the real power brokers standing behind the stages pulling the marionette strings and they will still direct the country.  And perhaps I am coming across as the cynical and despondent Peter Finch character –Howard Beale- from the movie Network. But the facts are the Iranian people are figuratively and literally holding their heads out of their windows screaming for change at the top of their lungs. And like the Howard Beale character they are saying  – I am as mad as hell and I am not going to take this anymore – except they are living in a real and dangerous situation where their government has no problem classifying them as an anarchist and then lopping off his or her head for the same reason. The real problem whether calling for change in a country like Iran or a country like the US – the only real change comes when the mindless humanoids awaken from their slumber and oust both the marionettes dancing out their plays on the stage plus the puppet-masters hidden behind the stages pulling the strings of their puppets. Until then all you get are remakes of the same theatrical productions. And while the question on the Worlds tongues are, Revolution – to be or not to be.  My guess is not to be as real revolution is more bloody than the modern world has the ability to tolerate.

The Illogical Logic of Politics

The difference between being part of a private/business organization and being a political pawn was never more obvious than recently. When you are a part of a private/business organization if you embarrass the organization you face the wrath of the company. If you are an important pawn in the political reindeer games – the political spin-doctors will fight to the last breath to repair your sinking ship. About a month ago a Miss USA contestant, Carrie Prejean, made a statement that she disapproved of gay marriage. That is a similar sentiment held by the majority of the population of this country. Gay marriage proposals constantly take a beating in the voting booths. Still the media fueled by gay rights activists created a media blitz to disparage the beauty pageant contestant that has finally led to her dismissal as Miss California of the Miss USA pageant organization. Of course the head of the organization has come out saying that her dismissal was for other reasons. Of course it was. That is how corporations work. If they want to get rid of you over something you have done -that could cause them publicity or legal problems- they find another reason to get rid of you. Now the reason may or may not have caused you to be given the boot had they not been looking for a way to dismiss you. More often than not it is a previously known wild card an organization keeps in their back pocket when they want to defend a controversial dismissal. That is just the way the private sector works.

And while controversy can cost you a government position or appointment – the power play people inside the political parties keep people on hand to fix similar problems their nominees face. They have the money and the power to do so. And more often than not it works. If you look at President Obama’s numerous advisors that he has appointed many have real serious legal tax issues. The kind of issues that can get the common man tossed into jail. Yet despite all those legality issues faced by Obama appointees – several still managed to get through the approval process and start drawing fat government paychecks. And not just legal issues. Candidate Obama managed to secure his parties POTUS nomination despite spinning the facts about what he did or did not know about the many close friends and family members and their racist behavior. Face it only a political party zombie is going to believe that Barack Obama sat in a church over 20 years led by a man, Rev. Wright, whom preaches Black Supremacist bigotry and yet Obama claims he never heard the man spout his prejudice. Please! Since Wrights exposure,  Obama’s twenty-year life long mentor has taken a non-apologetic for his bigotry and in the last few days has continued displaying his bigotry by blaming “them Jews” for Obama distancing himself from the good reverend. But as Wright factually included in his statement – it is all just a political move by Obama and after the Obama presidency is over the two will once again be like father and son. I have no doubt that Wright is correct in that assumption. And in a situation more closely resembling the Miss California event – Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor has been exposed as making bigoted, racist and sexist statements in her past. Yet the political spin-doctors have been busy shushing the controversy surrounding her statements. And those doctors are playing the race card to protect someone caught making racist statements. And it will work.  Now that is true entertainment. I guess what the Obama spin doctors are saying is that while in the private sector  it could cost a beauty queen her all powerful spokesman position when she makes a political statement – when a real political pawn, like Sotomayor, being nominated to hold one of the most important jobs in our governments judicial system, a job that will require her to make decisions often involving bigotry, makes a bigoted remark it should be overlooked. I suppose that passes as logic in an Obama presidency. If you can nominate a tax evader as head of the treasury why not nominate a bigot to the Supreme Court.

Rev. Wright – Blame the Jews

In life friends and relatives often find ways to cause you to lose face and marginalize your successes by exposing your connecting links to the real world. Media selected President Barack Obama is no exception. His former pastor – Reverend Wright whose frequently racially laced Black Supremacist sermons Barack Obama mysteriously missed in over twenty years of attending the Reverends church- is once again making headlines for his “son”. It seems the good Reverend is unhappy that Obama cut formal ties with him during the election. But that is okay with the Reverend as he understands the public separation  is all a smoke and mirror show so that Obama could get elected President. And when Wright was asked if he had any regret for any of his bigoted  sermons that came back to haunt his “son” Obama during the election he replied -absolutely none!  And Wright says he understands the political process and that after the Obama presidency is history they will be back to the same relationship they had before. In the meantime Wright knew exactly whom to blame for his lack of access to Obama.  It seems that in a CNN article -according to Wright-  the Jews won’t let him talk to Obama! Who knew -other than Rev. Wright-  the problems with the Obama presidency were just another set of Jewish plots!

Sports, Schools and Students

For the last several weeks I have been “volunteered” to assist an individual in babysitting a young junior high school kid. At one time in my 29+ years upon this planet I would have jumped at the chance to help watch the youth of our country. But I have reached a point in my life, where I usually wait to be “volunteered” by others – when it comes to sacrificing my free time babysitting the future clueless, hellions and thugs our Quad City school systems flip into the social structure like pancakes from a griddle. Still this one is a particularly bright young kid despite his friends’ and the school system’s attempts to dumb him down. His mother is constantly fighting with his decreasing study habits while his father (a big -yet mostly negative- influence on the young mans life), is a sometimes likable yet sometimes you want to rap his head with a hammer individual. The father is a poster child for the very subject I am about to address. Like many young boys (and girls) of his age, this boy has bitten into the frenzied American pursuit of athletic/entertainment trophies over the reading, writing, arithmetic and science pursuits afforded by our public schools. And like most young men and/or women that seek athletic agendas over scholarly curriculums – his grade points have started to drop. The concentration I have noticed that schools, some teachers, administrators and parents have put on the athletic/entertainment endeavors of these young boys and girls has made me even more wary about the decline I see in our public school systems.

The decision to chase athletic and entertainment careers are both extremely alluring and baiting when you look at the outlandish rewards involved for those that succeed. Yet those that actually find the high reward superstar success in those fields are a low percentage. And in the case of athletes, most that are successful are winding down their careers at about the same time the average individual is coming in to the peak of their potential. Most of those that lack superstar ability have even shorter careers.  It is not uncommon to find many athletes, average or superstar, in a quandary because their career was cut short by injury.  Nor is it uncommon to find past superstars and many non-superstar athletes, still trying to feed their egos and/or living expenses as hucksters or traveling sideshows because they neglected their scholastic pursuits over their athletic and/or entertainment pursuits. Thus when their short athletic career is over they have no real life skills to reenter society. Some even end up as modern tragedies that adorn the headlines and gossip sections of our media.

I can remember as a young boy and above average athlete the coaches and teachers stressing how important it was to pursue my normal school studies. My parents, my immediate family and surrounding family friends also stressed the importance of education. I do not really think that the basics of that have changed.  I listened, though not as hard as I should have. During high school, as my interest in non-scholastic events increased, my grades fell off drastically to mostly B’s and a few C’s.  I allowed myself to get too distracted by the allure of sports.  It is easy to do. The school systems like young boy and girl athletes and what they bring to the table. Plus if you want to be noticed or a leader, and especially if your family has come from more humble beginnings – as mine did, being successful in sports is a method of attaining those goals. I think both school personnel and parents understand this and try to exploit it in an attempt to keep the kids in school. I am not sure that either exploits it very well. Another goal in excelling in sports is the boy-girl attraction especially when it comes to male athletes. Excelling in high school sports activities for young boys has become the equivalent to the male peacock that fans it feathers to attract a mate. Which only serves to increase the lure of sports achievements over scholastic achievements. Another problem I have noticed with young boys that center their school years around their athletic achievements is that many of them find ways to not study and still get through the school system. More than one young athlete I have known has used various girlfriends to do their homework. It can often be noticed come test times. Yet they still manage to get through the school systems. Some of the more physically gifted athletes even carry the same scholastic avoidance habits into college.

I am not saying school athletics are a negative thing. Just the opposite, I think school athletics are a very positive thing. I just think that too many students that abuse the athletic programs in search of the wrong goals or for goals that they will never achieve. I do think young girls understand the importance for school study better than young boys. I do think too many parents, teachers and school administrators put way too much emphasis on the school athletic/entertainment programs. I think that the system needs to demand more from these students, especially physically gifted athletes, when it comes to their scholastic habits. As I have talked to the kid (and some of his playmates) I have noticed how totally unaware of the very nature of the sports they seek to attain glory in. As I considered the their lack of understanding of the very basic structures of sports, I came to a realization that at their ages I also had the same lack of perceptions concerning the framework of sports. Nor do I remember any teachers or coaches ever explaining just how much influence the school basics of math/geometry, science, reading, writing and other communication skills have on the very structure of all the sports I have always loved. But not just sports, the basics of school are the heart of your everyday life, even your love life. Perhaps if the teachers, coaches and other adults in my life had been more explanatory in explaining how the basics of school studies were the very foundation on how to excel in sports; Maybe I would have spent more time with my books and less time in the gym. Sure my biceps would have been smaller but maybe I would have had more A’s than B’s and C’s on my report cards. And from talking with this young man and his friends I have not seen any better impression of how the basics of school studies are at the heart of excelling in any sports activities. Perhaps the adults in their lives should find better ways to tie the two programs together in the minds of the children they are raising. And maybe a better understanding of their geometry lessons will at least slightly reduce the amount of clueless, hellions and thugs endangering my vehicles parked on the Quad City streets (and wherever else I park my vehicles for that matter) with their errant throws/kicks of baseballs, footballs and soccer balls.

Obama Echoes POTUS’ Past – USA Not at War with Islam

Will the Message Finally Get Through?

Media created Pope Obama made his much anticipated and media ballyhooed speech to the Islamic Nations of the Middle East. The message was a good message, reminding the people of Islamic nations that the United States of America was not interested in bombing the Middle East nations back to Jurassic Age. Plus he touched on the need for a two-state solution for the Israel and Palestine conflict. He also touched on the need for improved women’s rights. The press has certified the speech as an historic moment. I do not know about that. The message was positive but basically a decades old repeat with an Obama spin of what US Presidents have been telling the Islamic Nations since I was old enough to read. The Obama spin is no better or no worse than his predecessor’s, George Bush and the numerous preceding POTUS, attempts to take their message to the Islamic nations that the only Middle East individuals we have a blood-feud with – are those that have declared a blood-feud with the USA. The message is still the same – that we may have differences but we would rather settle any differences with diplomats not bombs and blood. Of course those Radical Islamic Militants that work diligently to keep the blood-feud active between Islamic Nations and the USA were energetically doing their best to disrupt any attempts to bring about a peaceful solution to the Middle Eastern by continuing to paint the USA as the evil monster from the West.

Despite all the media hype- the Obama message is just another recreation of past USA pleas towards the Islamic Nations. The advantage is that many of the individuals in the Middle East are as enamored of Obama as the rest of the world. Though the attraction is based on a fantasy belief in the Obama False Prophet of Hope and Change image and not reality – it could play out well for the USA as long as they keep drinking the Obama Kool-Aid. And maybe, just maybe – the World can settle some of the terror-driven bloody dust flying around in the Middle East before they realize Obama is just a different face and is really no different in his Middle East approach than his predecessors.

Sotomayor vs. SCOTUS Politics

Let The Party and Mudslinging Begin!

Pope Obama’s Choice for the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, has made the same mistake so many people that get pushed or drawn into the political arena make – she stuck her foot in her mouth trying to make a cute pundit. In her case she made a statement that I have seen described as racist and sexist. I read the words and no matter how the pundits spin it – it is at the very least bigoted and sexist and in all fairness to reality it is a racist statement – even if it was made as a quip. The questions become: is she a racist and is she fit to serve on the Supreme Court?

The first one is not easy. Is she a racist – in my personal opinion, probably-maybe-who knows! In my opinion she certainly made a racist statement. It goes with the territory when members of a society that wants to call it self one nation yet still refers to themselves as Special-American such as Irish-Americans, Dutch-Americans, Jewish-Americans, African-Americans, Mexican-Americans and etc… and then demand special treatment.  Heck I have lost count of the times I have been called a racist -for simply and factually calling Obama out to be the False Prophet of Hope and Change- mostly by the Leftist Socialist Nation Regulators of the Democrat Party. Now that is an actual bigotry of mine –Far Leftwing Progressives- despite my being a former Democrat Party supporter. I once was a Carter and a Gore Supporter – I scorn them both now. Still if you criticize anyone or their constituency that decides the individual is a Special-American you automatically open yourself to the tag of racist or tagged with some ‘ism ending slur. You can’t continue to segregate yourself from the country as a Special-American if you want to defeat bigotry and racism. All you do is deepen the dividing chasm. Democrat and Republican Party leadership realize this – and still they both choose to find ways to widen the chasm. And the lemmings of both parties continue to follow them over the cliffs. It is a free country and they get to make that choice.

The second question is Sotomayor fit to serve on the Supreme Court. Is she who I would want to see sitting on the bench? No. But I have yet to see anything brought out that says she is not as worthy as any other candidate Pope Obama will toss out for the  nomination.  I seriously doubt if she is any worse than the individual she is replacing.  Whomever is President will attempt to choose a nominee that will make him and his political admirers giddy!  Then the politicians get to grill the nominee and decide if they are worthy. That is part of the point of the hearing after all: to expose the merit of the nominee. The rest is for the eventual losing side to make their political points and punditry. Some of the politicians -from both sides of the aisle- will be using the process as way of repayment for some perceived past political sin committed by the opposing sides. And yes there will be mud slinging from both parties at each other, the candidates and the party faithful. Some of it will come back to haunt them later in life as Sotomayor’s previous episode of bigotry is now haunting her nomination. This is the somewhat-United States of America after all and a media fed circus full of finger-pointing, name-calling and mudslinging are what our political system is all about. Let the party and the mudslinging begin!

   Yee Haw!