Election Day

Wow am I glad this is nearly over. I should start by saying what is bothering me is something that is actually good for my business but bad for my sanity.

Tomorrow is Election Day. And while people that know me generally know where I stand politically. I am not here to try and persuade anyone to any particular point of view. As I have said over and over for years, doesn’t matter if you are for it or against it, just vote.

The reason I am glad that it is over is the barrage of political ads that we have been bombarded with. Like I said this is a double edge sword for me. I work in broadcasting, an industry that has been hurt especially hard by the economy. Advertising is one of the first things businesses cut in time of economic difficulty. The foolishness of which I can discuss another time. But the influx of political advertising dollars will help many broadcast companies make their fourth quarter.

This advertising cycle has been one of the nastiest I can recall. When I was a kid people used to refer to it as mudslinging. This has gone more into the realm of tossing nuclear bombs at each other. So personal and bitter and angry. I will be glad when it’s over.

So go to the polls tomorrow. Make your vote count. And if you don’t believe that it does just look at some of the close races we have seen in recent years.

Even though I am tired of the process I thank God and our founding fathers that we do have the right and privilege to go to the polls. And we can do so without having to have blue ink on our fingers and in most cases we can be fairly confident that the elections will be fair and reflect the will of the people.

So like I said before, whether you are for it or against it….. vote tomorrow and do so proudly because you live in the greatest country in the world.

Old friends - Good Times

It could have gone either way. This weekend we were going to go and see old friends that we had not seen in around 15 years. Much water has gone over the damn since the last time we saw any of them. Of course we are all older, probably had changed physically, and have all had different life experiences since the salad days of 1993.

The build up and anticipation of facing these people lead to a day of thinking maybe we would call it off, but ultimately we decided to go and it was a great decision.

After again nearly backing out the last block before getting there we summoned our courage and went in. It would have been easy to back out since no one knew we were coming anyway.

It was all that we could have hoped for and more. I don’t go to class reunions or team reunions or anything like that. I’m just not normally a fan of that and find it difficult to know what to talk about outside of the, “Hey, what have you been up to the last umpteen years?”

What a nice surprise to be able to pick up conversation like it had been 15 minutes and not 15 years. The conversation, laughter and stories all flowed.

The best part though was when the person we were most looking forward to seeing said that he had spent time in the past three months looking for us on Facebook, Google and elsewhere. It was so nice to know that someone that had meant so much to us and that we had thought of so fondly over the years actually had cared for us as well.

So, we made a promise to not wait another 15 years and I hope that we keep it. I’m not convinced that I will become a fan of reunions or meeting up with people from the past but for one night it was a great time and I am so glad that we had the courage to go.

I'm taking a time out.

I have to take a time out. I don’t really want to but I think that my long term stability is at risk if I do not.

I spend an inordinate amount of time with the day’s news. Not just watching what passes for a local newscast but really doing a deep dive with the news and opinion shows that make up the 24 hour news cycles.

I take it all in, analyze it myself, and pass on what I see as interesting or thought provoking to others via the social networking sites. Then I watch the ones that hit the like button on Facebook and the others that tell me I am an idiot.

So for the past several months I have been following the story of young Kyle Van Nocker. A young boy diagnosed with cancer prior to his fifth birthday. He fought an amazing fight, kept his spirits and those around him up and even wore t-shirts printed with things like, bald is cool.

By all counts his parents insurance company, Health America, spent between 1.6 and 1.8 million dollars on his care. But before you start feeling sorry for Health America they reported a profit last quarter of 79 million dollars. Then Health America decided they had spent enough. They, not Kyle’s doctors, made the decision that he had received enough treatment. They were not going to pay for anymore.

Some actuary had made the decision that a young boys life was worth 1.8 million dollars and no more. They stopped paying. I defy anyone to tell me that this is not a death panel. The Republicans warned that with the new Health care bill we would create death panels. I say they already exist.

What happened to Kyle? If not a death panel, what? They decided what his life was worth. They made the decision that they were not going to pay for anymore treatment. They signed his death sentence and I’ll bet that they did not feel one bit of guilt.

Kyle has passed away. An unimaginable loss for this family and friends. Nothing but a damn statistic for American Health.

This is America. This isn’t supposed to happen here. Republicans say the Health Care Bill will destroy our current system. For once, I pray they are right.

When I watched the news of Kyle’s passing I broke down and cried like a baby. I didn’t know him but having followed his story I felt like I did. I was so upset and angry I spewed out a few choice words about The United States and what it was becoming.

Watching the news and looking at the Internet sites as much as I do has impacted me in a very negative way. I get very angry and feel very helpless. All I can do is vote. Which I do, and I don’t see things getting better.

I see people wanting to burn Korans, death panels killing little boys and people taking someone like Sarah Palin seriously.

So, I have to take a time out. I have to cut back my exposure. I will not stick my head in the sand and I will still continue to fight for what I believe in. I just cannot continue to be exposed to the gotcha debates, the hate from people like Rush Limbaugh, and the utter phoniness of Glenn “Lonesome Rhodes” Beck. I will also swear off Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann.

I’ll be back. In the meantime I have to take a little sanity break. Maybe a good David Baldacci mystery.

So this is what it has come too?

This is what it has come to? Last night I was watching television and saw an interview with a Minister in Florida that is organizing a rally on September 11th for a mass burning of the Koran. That’s right, a large group of people seem to think it is a good idea to get together and burn the Koran, the Muslim equivalent of the Christian Bible.

The interviewer asked the man, and I am reluctant to call him a Pastor because I cannot believe a man of the cloth would perpetrate such an event, if there was anyone person in the United States that he admired. He answered, “Yes, President Bush.” So the interviewer asked, “So if President Bush called and ask you not to do this would you stop the rally?” His answer was no.

Looking beyond outrage, I was saddened. I can’t believe that this is what I am hearing in the United States. A country symbolized by Lady Liberty standing on Liberty Island. “Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free.” Just make sure that they are not of the Muslim Faith.

What happened? Why did it take ten years from the 9-11 attack for this rhetoric to be ratcheted up so fiercely?

Some would say it is because of the proposed Islamic Cultural Center in lower Manhattan. A few years back we visited that area in lower Manhattan. I saw some amazing things. I saw people gathered outside of a first responder fire house across the street from the World Trade Center site burst into spontaneous applause when the fire fighters opened the station house door. I saw people lower their voices to a whisper when the crossed the street and walked the side walks by where the twin towers once stood. Speaking in soft tones like one does in a church or holy place. I saw the Church across the street where the rescue workers rested between shifts on those horrible days, the pews forever scratched and scarred from their boots.

That’s not all I saw. I saw shameless hucksters across the street selling souvenirs and trying to make a buck. I saw hotels and a Burger King, a huge retail Century 21 store and even a strip bar. All part of the fabric that makes up New York City.

The other thing that strikes you when you visit this area is how small it really is. The streets are narrow, the green space is non-existent, and the buildings are tall. You cannot see around the corner, let alone down the street.

But because the 9-11 hijackers were Muslims all these things, even the t-shirt vendors are OK on the often referenced scared ground, but not a community center for Muslims. Strip bars yes, Muslim Community Center, no. OK. So how many blocks away is appropriate. Apparently not as far away as Florida or even in Tennessee where in Murfreesboro they are trying to stop a mosque as well. Where then? The warehouse district, out in those industrial areas where they put the adult book stores?

What or who is to say what is appropriate for lower Manhattan. Who is to say what is appropriate for Oklahoma City or anywhere else that some group deems sacred ground? The constitution, that’s what.

The right to religious freedom is the very foundation that this country was built upon. Because some blowhard on the radio or TV or some politician looking to grab a headline or some misguided fool in Florida doesn’t like it, just doesn’t matter.

Is it distasteful? Perhaps. But how can you paint a broad stroke that all Muslims are terrorists? It would be like saying all Catholics are terrorists because Timothy McVeigh was Roman Catholic. It is pure racially motivated hatred and it sickens me.

My next door neighbor on 9-11 was Muslim. He and his family were ashamed and hurting just like the rest of us. He was afraid for his safety. Why? He didn’t do anything. I never thought he was a terrorist nor had anything to do with the World Trade Center coming down. He flew an American flag on his porch like the rest of us.

Everyone has the right to worship or not to worship as they see fit and where they see fit. Trying to stop this Islamic Center is a very slippery slope. What’s next? Regulating in what parts of the city there can be a synagogue? And what about the use of Roman numerals on buildings. Wasn’t Pontius Pilate a Roman? See? How far does it go?

Burning the Koran. Racial hatred, and all this on the eve on Dr. King’s historic march on Washington.

Keep feeding the 24 hour news channels. Keep listening to the hate mongers on TV and Radio. They will be there spewing this nonsense as long as there is an audience for it.

I for one am worried about the direction of my country. I will continue to pray for it, until such time as some politician decides my neighborhood is an inappropriate place to do so.