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Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - 17:28:47
Just in case anyone was traveling in from the Forbidden Zone to attend Thursday’s meeting of Fayetteville’s Telecommunications Board, the meeting has been changed to next Thursday, May 22 - 5:30pm, Room 219, City Hall.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - 10:00:35
Been reading this morning about Hillary’s appeal to all those hard-working white folk. And, of course, the mindless pundits were hammering the point home last night, in a less-than-exciting evening of television.
Doesn’t sound any less racist coming from them than it did when it did when she said it last week.
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Cloud Cuckoo Land
Every Fayetteville administration since the early 1990s - even the anti-progressive Hanna regime - respected the authority of the Cable Board/Telecomm Board. Then comes along the supposedly progressive Coody admiration, with its absolute terror of the public - well, the wrong sort of public - and the TB finds itself being pushed into a sort of irrelevancy.
And not by any sort of legislative fiat, either. The City Council, which has given the TB authority to set policy over PEG issues in Fayetteville, still largely backs the TB.
The Public Information Officer, who is largely seen as doing Coody’s dirty work on this, has not only fired the Cable Administrator, but is working in conjunction with the City Attorney to deny the people of Fayetteville the right to request issue forums or roundtables on the Government Channel.
By gutting the Telecomm Board of its authority, they rob the citizens of their protections, should a less-progressive administration (though that’s hard to imagine at this point) takes over in the future.
But too many of the issue forums and roundtables have raised topics that have raised the ire of City Hall.
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The I Love Dan Channel?
Meetings and programs about Dan Coody pointing at pretty flowers - that is what some fear the FGC will turn into. More than a few are already saying the name should change to the I Love Dan Channel.
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You didn’t get the memo? Oh, well, you’re just not in the loop - sorry. Maybe next time. Hee hee
Naturally, the Telecomm Board - who might actually have an interest in such things like forums and roundtables being in the sniper scope of a paranoid city administration, and the fact that PUI Thomas expects “significant” changes in the nature of the programming that will be shown on FGC, hasn’t received any notification yet - by email, telepathy or Pony Express.
We all read about it in our morning papers, though.
“Oh,” Thomas may exclaim, when asked, . “What? You don’t need to worry your pretty little heads about that. Let the grown-ups take care of it. You’re just an advisory board, after all.”
***
Time to phase out the job of Public Information Officer?
This might be something for the next mayor to seriously consider. Or, better yet, why not make the job an delectable position.
Oh, yeah.
**
Quote of the Day
When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist - Archbishop Helder Camara, Brazilian liberation theologist
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - 01:22:55
I watch a different local “news” station every night at 5pm, though I try to avoid KNWA on Wednesdays when the editor of Celebrate magazine manages to commandeer a portion of the program. I still don’t know if Celebrate pays for the minutes she uses to promote Northwest Arkansas events - and Celebrate magazine.
It’s just so cheesy.
Today we watched KFSM. A pretty easy day for the KFSM folk. They had coverage of the China earthquakes, the presidential election, and, oh, boy! “Sex and the City” has been released! Let’s talk about their shoes.
Later (6pm) we had the “Creation versus Evolution” segment - pretty shallow stuff, as befitting a station that a few weeks ago couldn’t tell the difference between a psychologist and a social worker. The story is also on their website.
http://www.kfsm.com/Global/story.asp?S=8319361
This is the station that also once ran a story on Bigfoot - which I’ll believe in when Chris Hansen snags one on “To Catch a Predator.”
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This is the Way Life Works Department
Given the excitement - if you can call it that - of the last week, the one thing I wouldn’t want to miss is this week’s Telecomm Board meeting. Yet this week we’ll be on our way to Elk City, Oklahoma, still dealing with what can only be described as an emergency trip, dealing with lawyers and real estate folk, all over the matter of Tracy’s mother’s estate.
I spent half an hour grousing, but family trumps city business. Though I talk a good show, I am far rom indispensable.
Not gonna let Tracy read that last line, though . . .
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On the air with Shannon X. Caine
On Monday, May 19 (7pm) Shannon X. Caine, writer of In Memoriam," will be my guest.
“In Memoriam" - one of a series of books - is a collection of obituaries that Caine has collected, and found of interest. Many of the older obits were very creative, and told a great deal about a person - often in humorous ways. She also discusses her journeys to several graveyards in Northwest Arkansas in areas that no one even suspect they exist.
Caine, is also a journalist who has also written fiction, essays, poetry and more. She is a vocal and instrumental musician, and a former radio announcer. She is interested in history, early American music, and 20th Century art history. She holds a degree from the University of Central Arkansas, and has completed studies in several other fields, including Travel and Tourism.
She also has an interview program on C.A.T. "The Caine Interviews," and has been involved with the program, "Abbey of the Lemur," for several years.
Her website can be found at:
www.angelfire.com/ar3/recordfiles/index.html>http://www.angelfire.co
m/ar3/recordfiles/index.html
Additional times and showings:
Monday, May 19- 7pm
Tuesday, May 20 - noon
Saturday - May 21 - 6pm
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I'm not proud . . .
54 years old this week! Though I’ll be out of town, if anyone wants to buy me a life-size Dalek, and leave it for me - well, anywhere within reason - I’m not likely to turn it down.
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Quote of the Day
Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive. - Elbert Hubbard
Monday, May 12, 2008 - 23:56:36
With the word from City Hall that a planned roundtable discussion on Fayetteville’s Government Channel on the future of Fayetteville High School - scheduled for later in May - has been abruptly canceled by City Hall, many are now wondering if this is just the sound of the expected other shoe dropping, especially since former Cable Administrator Hilton was a firm proponent of such citizen-initiated roundtables and public forums - much to the displeasure of some above him in City Hall.
It now appears that all such forums and roundtables may be headed for the chopping block.
Will candidate forums be next to go?
It’s not unexpected, but just 72 hours after Hilton’s firing? Nothing subtle about this, is there? Don’t they realize that it just gives conspiracy theorists grist for their mills - or do they even care?
Thursday night’s Telecomm Board meeting should be interesting, at any rate.
Monday, May 12, 2008 - 14:11:12
Bill Ramsey of the Chamber of Commerce to announce his candidacy for mayor? The same chamber that has bought into the regionalism nonsense that is leading to Fayetteville’s economic downturn?
That should be fun.
Rumors are flying it that Commissar Dan “I’ve got the thinnest skin in politics” Coody is rethinking his retirement plans.
I can’t even get a joke out of that - sorry.
Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 10:47:51
According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (“More firms turning to bankruptcy” - May 7), over 200 commercial bankruptcies were filed in Arkansas in the first four months of 2008, as companies - hurt by the economy - are seeking protection from their creditors.
Nationwide, over 18,000 firms have sought such protection in the same period, while 43, 000 went into bankruptcy in 2007.
With great fanfare, the United States Congress passed a bill sometime back that made it far more difficult for individuals to seek such protection. Blanche Lambert Lincoln (whom the Democrat-Gazette fondly refers to as “Miss Blanche”) voted proudly foe this bill.
Will she and the rest of the U.S. Congress be in favor of legislation with makes it just as difficult for companies to file bankruptcy?
I suspect she’d run for the hills if faced with that matter on the Senate floor. Nevertheless, I emailed her office this morning. I’ll let you know what reply I get.
I’ll also write to Boozman, whose heart is almost never in the right place, and doesn’t even pretend that it is.
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Fayetteville City Hall: Nobody here but us faux-liberals
Fayetteville has the enviable record of being the most progressive (liberal?) city administration in Arkansas. Open Government is the mantra we live by, and the new urban god of Sustainability is worshiped at every turn.
Well, progressive up to a point. When it comes to employment matters, the good liberals in City Hall suddenly turn into second-rate Snidely Whiplashes, hiding behind the old mantra, “Hey, it’s a Right-to-Work State! No appeal process for terminated employees!”
I always enjoy the part when someone makes the point that while being in a Right-to-Work state means that, well, true, your boss can fire you at any time - for any reason - well, gosh, workers can just quit at anytime they like, too.
It all balances itself out, dude. Really.
*****
On the Air with Frank Scheide
This week I’ll be interviewing Frank Scheide, a film historian who teaches at the UA. We will be discussing film and its impact on culture. This was a really fun show to do. Years ago, Frank and I did a show, “Scheide on Film“ about the history of motion pictures. It still runs occasionally.
Show times:
Monday - 7pm
Tuesday - noon
Saturday - 6pm
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At last, a holiday for the entire family
No, not Mother’s Day - no offense, Mom.
But did you know that today is also National Twilight Zone Day? Suddenly, everything makes sense . . .
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Quote of the Day
Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. - George Bernard Shaw
Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 09:58:28
For several years I worked in security for a company in Northwest Arkansas, and one of the most unpleasant things that we ever had to do was to escort terminated employees out of the building - much as Marvin Hilton was escorted out of the PEG Center on Friday.
For the most part they weren’t villains; they were just men and women who had fallen afoul of “company policy,” or had failed to live up to what some martinet had expected of them.
Those in upper management would hide behind the claim that it was Standard Operating Procedure. But those of us in security - as well as the co-workers of the fired employee - saw it as something else:
It was the company’s last chance to humiliate the terminated employee on their way out the door.
I always felt sick to my stomach - and furious - while escorting the person on their final walk through the company doors. There is an inhumanity to it that the sanctimonious powers-that-be never recognize - until it happens to them.
Below is part of an interesting article I discovered this morning written for the Cleveland Plain Dealer a few years ago, about this growing trend. I tried to post the link, but it wouldn’t take, but if you want to find it, just go to Google and type in:
perp walk - humiliation - terminated employees
Termination anxiety In today's tense business world, workers
often get the boot in cruel fashion
Sunday, October 08, 2006
John Campanelli
Plain Dealer Reporter
Carole Rorrer was working at a Lorain County nursing home a few years ago when one day, while she measured medication for a patient, a boss approached.
Come to the office, she was told.
Once there, she got the employee's equivalent of a kick to the teeth.
She was fired.
She was ordered to surrender her keys, grab her coat and purse, leave immediately and never come back, according to Rorrer.
One of Rorrer's supervisors escorted her out of the building, parading her in front of co-workers and patients.
"I was in tears by that time," she says. "I was really humiliated. It was probably one of the most traumatizing moments of my life. It was terrible."
It's also not uncommon.
More and more companies, afraid their terminated employees will steal, sabotage or just go ape, are putting the "dis" in dismissal.
They have security guards watch the freshly fired as they clean out their desks and then walk them off the premises like Action News perps. Some companies have laid off workers using FedEx, voice mail or worse. Some simply lock them out of the building . . .
Friday, May 09, 2008 - 13:40:56
There is a certain humiliation in having to clear out of your office immediately, and be escorted out of the building by a police officer, in front of all of your colleagues. It has all the sensitivity of - oh, hell, it why bother to pretend there was any sensitivity or respect in the way that Cable Administrator Marvin Hilton’s termination by the city of Fayetteville today was carried out?
In the coming days and weeks there will be many theories about just why Hilton was terminated by the city. In truth, there has been friction between Hilton (who has been CA for over a decade) and the Coody administration for quite some time.
Hilton has never spoken publicly about his own frustrations with an administration that he has long felt wanted to curtail the number of citizen-initiated issue forums and roundtables on Fayetteville’s Government Channel. Just last week, a forum was held (with the rather unimaginative title, "Fayetteville's Unique Televised Issue Forums: How they work , And who can use them"
Not a great title, but a really great discussion.
No doubt it will be relayed at some point soon either on FGC or on C.A.T. You don’t want to miss this one.
Of course, Hilton’s bosses have their own beefs - which he contests - with him.
As I say, Hilton has never spoken publicly about his frustrations or his feelings on the subject. But thanks to the termination this morning (which he refused to sign), he is now what is known as a Free Agent.
This means that Marvin Hilton can talk to anybody he pleases, be they reporters, talk show hosts, bloggers, or the man on the street.
His expertise can utilized, should someone put together a roundtable or issue forum, whether they be on the FGC or on C.A.T. He could be called upon to answer questions before the Telecomm Board.
Hey, he could even apply to be on the Telecomm Board. Think Comrade Coody would veto him?
Lyndon Johnson once expressed the finest bit political wisdom I’ve ever heard for just this sort of situation:
It’s better to have someone inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent, pissing in.
Thursday, May 08, 2008 - 10:58:18
Adam Fire Cat has announced for mayor, and already picked up an endorsement. Dylan Ferrell, host of “W.T.F.” - shown Thursdays at 4pm on C.A.T. - gave the newest Fayetteville mayoral candidate an enthusiastic endorsement on his show last week.
Evidently this guy won the national bussing championship in Las Vegas last year.
Not that I’ll vote for him, but at least we’ve got two guys in this race who actually have first-hand experience of what working class issues really are.
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The Postman
Once upon a time there was a really, really great science fiction novel called "The Postman," by David Brin. Many of us read it and longed for the day when it would be made into a movie.
Well, that day came, and it was made by Kevin "I love myself" Costner, and was total crap. This summer, while waiting hour upon hour in that airport, why not curl up with an astounding novel of adventure of redemption. And then share it with a friend - it's that good.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008 - 10:37:47
Primary Day!
Primary Day!
Are you as excited as I am?
Tracy and I have stocked up on Crackerjacks and Coke Zero to scarf down while we watch the results come in on MSNBC, watching their panels of experts (though any group that includes the likes of Pat Buchanan should be considered less than “expert”), who will tell us the same things they told us a few weeks ago, and even a few months ago.
And if nothing is resolved tonight, we’ll be hearing the same things over the nest few weeks. It’s like Christmas in Springtime!
The Reverend Wright will be discussed - though of course we will once again be treated to the same video snippets we have all seen ad nauseam, and not the full text of what he was saying in his sermons. In other words, he will be taken out of context yet again.
Hillary’s new role as “Working Class Hero” will be discussed. Whatever.
When commentators run out of things to say, they will once again make references to movies - can we expect a reference to “Iron Man” tonight?
Ah, Primary Day, why can’t we have several every year?
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Low-information Voters?
I heard this phrase the other day while watching the news. These are men and women who just get their information from radio and TV. I suppose they make up most of the ranks of the dreaded “undecided” voters.
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Working Class Heroes?
Ah, how nice to see candidates repackage themselves - for this year at least - at champions of the working class.
We’ve all been to this dance before. I don’t care about the Two-Step (the campaign) I want to know if you’ll be with me during the slow dance (after you take office).
Because that’s how we’ll know you’re serious.
****
Just when you thought it was safe to turn your radio back on
Comrade Johnny Tittle - late of KOFC - evidently has found a new place to land. KURM (790 AM) may be the place where zealots of all ages can roost and, well, whine mostly.
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