Eddie! (Half his actual size)
All the Wheels are Coming Off
It has been a bad few weeks for technology. The Concorde crashed, the Russian sub Kursk sank, Firestone tires were flying apart, and ....
Now, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. admits that for years they have been covering up defects in their automobiles.
For years, the Japanese auto industry was renowned for its quality, and rightly so. But, we don't seem to hear enough about the improvements American automotive manufacturers have made. For example, I am on my second Chevrolet S-10 light pickup truck. I traded the earlier one with about 40,000 miles on it, having never had to make a repair, other than smoothing out some brake pads that had abnormal wear from the grime on the country roads out here in the Outback.
I have just paid off the loan on my 1997 Chevrolet S-10, extended cab. I decided to keep it and make some upgrades. With 44,000 miles, the total repairs were one sensor in the gas tank, which was paid for under the warranty. And this week, the 100+ heat finally caved in my battery. My dealer tells me that this is typical record of "low maintenance." Yes, there are still horror stories about American vehicles, but taken as a whole, I suspect we would find that the percentage of defects are far fewer than 10 years ago.
I decided to put some new Michelin tires on the truck, and a few weeks later added some new shocks. I bought Monroe Flex shocks! They are expensive, but I have never seen anything that so dramatically changed the handling of a vehicle. Even at 70 mph, I can veer quickly and there is virtually no lean, as I had to do a couple of days ago when someone pulled into 70 mph traffic from a side road. Fairly rapid stops from high speed do not cause the nose to dive down. It is like driving a slot racer. Once you get your Firestone's replaced, take a look at Monroe Flex shock absorbers at your dealer or on the Web.
Late-Night TV Sick Humor
In the August 14 issue of Outback, I moaned about the poor taste of telling heart attack jokes by Letterman, Leno, et al., and about the "Sniper Wanted" overlay during a spoof of Gov. George Bush on "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn." CBS and Kilborn apologized for the "sniper" thing. Hardly an adequate response.
I was pleased to see that FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani sent a forceful letter to Les Moonves, president of CBS TV, in which she mentioned, among other things, that "America's patience with gratuitous violence on her airwaves is perilously thin." She had been flooded with calls, letters, and e-mails about the "sniper" thing.
David Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, Inc., produces both the Letterman show the Kilborn show. Harry Truman used to say, "The buck stops here." Those who deplore the sick and cruel humor on both the Letterman and Kilborn shows should hold Mr. Letterman accountable - and ultimately Mr. Moonves.
It was interesting that in just one week in The Dallas Morning News, there were two letters on the subject of sick humor. One deplored Jay Leno for his disparaging remarks about Dick Cheney and heart attacks. The other said that it was good that John McCain was no longer in the presidential race, as Leno and Letterman have missed an opportunity for "malignancy jokes." That is just one newspaper for one week.
If you have had enough of the mean-spirited and often despicable "jokes" on late-night about peoples' looks, infirmities, or health problems, voice your disgust.
The Producer of "Late Show with David Letterman" is:
Ms. Maria Pope, Executive Producer
Late Show with David Letterman
The Ed Sullivan Theater
1697 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
Frankly, it is doubtful that the lovely and gracious Ms. Pope, with the $million-smile, (who was kind enough to call me in response to one of my letters) has much to say about the content of the Letterman show. David Letterman is a very rich and powerful person, and my guess is that trying to reason with him is like it would have been to tell Gen. Patton how to run his army. But, Maria apparently reads her mail.
One would think that since David Letterman is the "boss" behind "The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn," where the "sniper wanted" (for Gov. Bush) episode took place, Letterman would be shamed into forgetting about the ridiculous Gore-versus-Bush debate he has been promoting. I hope that Gov. Bush endures whatever verbal attacks he takes from Letterman and refuses to ever go on the show.
The top guy at CBS to write to is the one the FCC Commissioner wrote to:
Mr. Leslie Moonves, President
CBS Television
7800 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
You might drop an e-mail to Audience Services at CBS: CBS Audience Services
Maybe 1000 e-mails with Subj: Heart attacks and snipers, might get some notice.
Over at the "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," the shy and attractive young lady who sits offstage, usually next to the comedy-writer, Jimmy Brogan, is Debbie Vickers, the producer. Once again, I doubt that she has much control over Mr. Leno, but at least she may read her mail. In the old days, when Carson was on, I could write a well-reasoned letter to Fred de Cordova and get an answer. He had some control of the show's content.
Ms. Debbie Vickers, Producer
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
NBC-TV
3000 W. Alameda Ave.
Burbank, CA 91523
And for what it is worth, you could fire off an e-mail message to: Tonight Show at NBC
Although it is hard to keep up with the musical chairs with the network "suits," I think that this fellow is the fall guy for NBC.
Mr. Garth Ancier, President
NBC Entertainment
3000 W. Alameda Ave.
Burbank, CA 91523
I can't help you much with what kind of sick humor may or may not take place on "Politically Incorrect," with Bill Maher, as I just cannot watch long enough to form an opinion. Other than this! I have no interest in what Dickie Smothers, David Spade and their peers, have to say about politics - or about anything. I just want to see them perform. Separated from the cast of misfits and shouters on his show, Bill Maher is an intelligent and thoughtful guy. And being a Libertarian certainly puts him in a nearly "no-man's land" out there in La La Land.
Mr. Stu Bloomberg, Co-chairman
The ABC Entertainment Television Group
2040 Avenue of the Stars
Century City, CA 90067 (from a list dated Nov. 1999)
ABC has an e-mail address for audience reaction at: ABC Audience Reaction
And of course, you could - and should - write an e-mail to the charming, gracious, and intelligent lady at the FCC, who among other things is the honcho for the "V" chip and wrote the letter to Mr. Moonves at CBS - Gloria Tristani. You will find her background and her web site interesting. You can view the letter and find an e-mail response site at: FCC
One point. Even if you write a performer or producer, also always write to the person who is at the top of the food chain. The letter to the top person may get bucked down the line, but if you write a performer, there is no chance that he or she will ever share it with the president of the network, for example.
If you know the name of the personal secretary to any big shot, write her. The hidden secret is that personal secretaries, now called executive assistants, run corporate America - and much of the government - while the bosses play golf and have 3-Martini lunches. And they are usually the most receptive and compassionate.
And don't forget to write the advertisers of the shows that offend you and let them know how you feel. Many sponsorships have been pulled over matters of "taste." Do your part.
The 2000 Census - Big Brother at His Worst
The Long Form of the Census this year was a roadmap to what is wrong with the Federal Government. They justified the form, which was sent to about one in six homes as being necessary to be able to properly allocate monies for various government programs, and so forth.
Here is a part of a paragraph directly from the Census Bureau FAQ on their Web site:
"Federal dollars supporting schools, employment services, housing assistance, highway construction, hospital services, programs for the elderly, and more are distributed based on census data."
So, now you know why on the Long Form, you were asked such questions as:
Has this person ever served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces, military Reserves, or National Guard?
(This is to pin you down in case you ever run for President and you try to lie about your military service. Or in case the government decides to send all Veterans a Christmas Bonus.)
What time did this person usually leave home to go to work LAST WEEK?
(This helps co-ordinate traffic signals across the United States. And helps allocate more Federal money for street lights if more people are leaving in the pre-dawn hours.)
How many minutes did it usually take this person to get form home to work LAST WEEK?
(This will help Valium and Scotch vendors gauge the demand for their products. And it will help Criminologists see possible causal relationships in domestic violence when they the correlate the data from arrests for spouse abuse with the data on how long it takes you to get home from work.)
The ethnic-profiling questions were simply off the charts. Again, the Census folks said they were required by law to ask those questions. Well, then, maybe the law needs to be changed.
And so it goes. Big Brother cares about you. In order to help you, he wants you to send him most of your money and a complete family biography. But, in truth, if he thinks you have too much money, he will give a lot of it to someone else.
With regard to the allocation of Federal dollars, it would be interesting to see what percentage of discretionary spending (that not needed for national defense and to run the government, etc.) is allocated via census data and what percentage is dispersed by Pork Barrel legislation. One only has to look to W. Virginia as possibly a microcosm of this phenomenon. W. Virginia has about 2-million inhabitants (1988), more or less. Yet, the venerable and powerful Sen. Byrd has funneled untold millions (billions?) of Federal money into projects for W. Virginia. For example, there are government offices there of all kinds. Of course, you probably need to build some highways so the bureaucrats and the tons of paperwork can swiftly shuttle back and forth between D.C. and W. Virginia. Or maybe a better airport. Or ....
Not only was the Census Long Form (D-2 UL) probably the most intrusive government document in the history of the nation, but the heavy-handed tactics of the "Enumerators" and their supervisors became legend this year. The Bill Clinton promise that "the day of big government is over," is one of the biggest lies ever told. It ranks with "your check is in the mail." I know something about being heavy-handed, with service in the Marines, the ATF, and the CIA - and something about abuse of government power.
For openers, the ground rules were that the Enumerator would make six attempts to contact you and then seek information from neighbors, or wherever they could. They left notes, asked you to call them with info. Many of them confronted people with belligerence and told people that "we have other ways of getting this information, if you don't cooperate." I was struck by the investigative zeal and the wielding of power exhibited by many of the Enumerators, whose average wage for the task was $14.00 an hour. I know Federal investigators who have played less "hard ball" than some of the Enumerators who were chronicled in newspapers, on the Internet, and on radio talk shows - and some I observed in rural Texas. That must have been one hell of a pep talk they got from the supervisors. Next census, they will probably get a gun, a badge, and handcuffs.
My favorite story came from a college-educated man(engineer, as I recall). He is a Libertarian and called in to a talk show. He devoted some time to become an Enumerator. His sole purpose was to scuttle as many inquiries as he could. He would go up to a house and tell people all they had to answer was how many people lived in the house. His supervisors questioned him how he could bring back so many incomplete Long Forms. He had a wonderful time and struck his blow for Freedom. His story made me feel good all day.
Taken as a whole, the 2000 Census was the most intrusive and oppressive exercise of government power I can remember (if we don't count Waco and Ruby Ridge). The public was livid with rage and indignation. This ought to be a good year for Libertarians at the voting booths, both local and national.
While your anger is still fresh, drop a note to:
Dr. Kenneth Prewitt, Director of Census
U.S. Census Bureau
Washington, DC 20233
or to: Census e-mail
Dr. Prewitt is obviously a brilliant man, with a distinguished record. The only blemish on that record seems to be that he accepted the job of Director of the Census and presided over the KGB inquisition known as the 2000 Census.
More importantly, write your Congress person and Senator and express your views. Maybe you thought they did a really fine job at the Census Bureau this year. Maybe not.
And you're never gonna believe this. There is in the House of Representatives, a Government Reform Subcommittee on the Census. What have they been doing with their time? Please, write and comment on the Census if you care to. I know that I will be sending them the URL for this page.
Representative Dan Miller
Government Reform Subcommittee
102 Cannon House Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
There is also a Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Sen. Fred Thompson, Chairman.
The Federal Government has about nine years to clean up their Census act. If they don't, they are going to find a well-orchestrated resistance and sabotaging of the 2010 Census. I feel it in my aging bones.
The TV Networks are Digging Their Own Graves
The TV networks are consistently losing audience share. There is the poor program quality, competition from cable, DVD movie players, VCRs, and so on. One things stands out here in the Outback. They are driving us nuts with the incessant commercial interruptions - and their length. The biggest fib told on TV is: "We'll be back in a moment, after this message." It is NEVER a moment, and it is NEVER "a" message. You can count on about 3 « minutes or more during most commercial breaks. Several commercials and network promos run. Time to feed the dog, go to the bathroom, clean your nails, read your mail, and do a little meditating over the course of a half-hour show. But it is maddening!
A recent set of statistics by MindShare, a NYC media planning and buying firm, tells us that in the first three months of 2000, ABC averaged 15.16 minutes per half-hour of primetime ads and promos. NBC managed 15.06 minutes per half-hour of primetime. Cable (and thus satellite) are not immune. ESPN for example, gave its viewers 11.13 minutes of interruptions per half-hour. People are channel hopping (only to run into another commercial), using VCRs that skip over commercials (mine works great), hard-drive based recorders that have a skip button on the remote. The most important button on the remote is the MUTE!
It baffles me that nowhere can I find a remote that has a timer associated with the MUTE. A few bucks at Radio Shack could buy the parts. You could set it in 30-second increments, up to about 4 minutes. Even better, for those of us with satellite TV and music channels, when you pressed the MUTE, it would use the Recall button to flip you over to your Jazz channel for the time you had programmed the MUTE segment - and then resume your program when the pause was up. If you have picture-in-picture, you could see if your program came back from commercial prematurely. All I ask is a 1% royalty when you market it. You will get rich.
The contrast to HBO, for example, is stark. An actual uninterrupted hour of drama, or comedy, or a movie, for which you pay a modest fee per month. Many network viewers would gladly pay a set fee to get rid of the commercials. But those fees would not support news anchors who make several million a year (for what?) or sitcom stars who make so much money they could never spend it. The support staffs to produce a TV show are enormous. Every assistant has an assistant, and so on. So, the networks are strangling in their own spit. Unless they cut back on some of the inflated salaries and expenses - and thus are able to reduce commercial interruptions with the savings - they will continue to lose audience share - regardless of program content. Sports will have to teach TV about a "salary cap."
English Only versus Bilingual Education
In 1985, while standing in a fast-food place in San Antonio, the whole bilingual argument became clear to me. The sign said Quarter Pounder con Queso. On July 1, 1988, I wrote an editorial piece for the Dallas Times Herald entitled "When in Rome, better learn the language."
I had lived, worked, or traveled in about 30 countries, and I knew the frustration and futility of trying to survive in a country while not speaking the local language. The theme of my Times Herald article was that immersion into English was the best way to learn the language, not the PC mode of bilingual education. I went on to recount how an American who tried to set up a business overseas or get a job, without knowing the local language would be committing economic suicide. I concluded with: "The language of commerce in America is English. To those who must be prompted with signs that say 'Quarter Pounder con Queso' will go only the scraps." That article has served me well for over a decade.
Bilingual education is at best short-changing a lot of people. For example, there are about 140 languages represented in the school district in Fairfax, Virginia (a commuter community for Washington, D.C.). If you teach Spanish and English, what about the other 138 languages?
Recently, I was pleased to see an editorial in The Washington Times (8/23/00) called "Viva 'English Only.' " In short, it said that English Only immersion teaching in California was beating the pants off bilingual education in the ability to teach kids to speak and read English. Washington Times
Concealed Weapons in Texas and the Luby's Cafeteria Closing
The Luby's in Killeen, Texas will close soon, as part of a downsizing of their chain. But for many of us who were not even there on the infamous day, the memories still will last a lifetime.
On October, 16, 1991, a lone gunmen crashed into the side window of a Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas. Twenty-three people were shot and killed, including the parents of Dr. Suzanna Gratia, a Chiropractor who was having lunch with her parents. She escaped with her life, but the event changed her forever. At the time of the shooting Suzanna's revolver was in her car, as there was no concealed-carry law in Texas.
She wrote a compelling article in The Dallas Morning News about the incident and how a concealed-carry law might have changed the outcome that horrible day in Luby's. I wrote her a letter of condolence and comfort and included several articles I had written about the folly of gun control. She responded and eventually invited me to visit her in the small town in South Texas where she had her office. We had lunch, and she made an impact on me that was nothing short of cataclysmic. And I'm not easily impressed. We drove out to her ranch in the hills to continue our discussion.
As we sat there cross-legged on the floor of her ranch house and talked, I became more and more impressed with her intelligence, and her passion for a concealed-carry law. Let me back up for a moment - to set the stage.
During the presidential campaign in 1992, I sent several articles and a bio to Ross Perot, suggesting that I could help him on the gun-crime/gun-control issue. To my surprise, he called me at my modest ranch one night and asked me to help by preparing a plan to keep guns out of the hands of violent criminals. Ironically, as you will see, I asked him if he had read the editorial by Suzanna Gratia, whose parents had been killed in front of her in Luby's in Killeen. He said that he had not, but would take a look at it.
In about two weeks, I had prepared a loose-leaf binder with summaries of every issue about guns, gun crime, and gun control that could possibly come up in the campaign. I thought I understood Mr. Perot's general feelings on the subject of guns and crime. So, with each issue, I included a "position" as a media response during the campaign.
On May 13, 1992, I delivered my treatise to Perot campaign HQ in Dallas. Ross was out of town that day, but one of his "issues" people read through the loose-leaf. He loved it! He immediately set about to make a copy to send to New York to some big-shot attorney who was their crime- issue guy. Terrific. But, like so much of the advice Ross got, I never heard him utter one word that I had written - or address the many issues. He never called to thank me. Nada. His total take on the problem during the campaign was: "When I grew up in Texarkana, we all had guns and didn't shoot each other." And the usual stuff about long prison sentences for those who used guns in crimes.
So, fast-forward to Suzy Gratia and I sitting on the floor at the ranch. I looked at her and said, "You can become the anti-voice to Sarah Brady and Handgun Control and all their lies." *(note) With that I produced another loose-leaf binder that said on the slip-in cover, as I recall: "A Summary of Gun Crime and Gun Control, especially prepared for Suzanna Gratia." I told her that it was my "Ross Perot briefing book," but I was sure she could make better use of it. We had dinner that night with her fiance, her sister Erika and her husband. At breakfast, Suzy and I continued our conversation, and then it was into the pickup and back to Honey Grove for me. But all the way, I knew I had met a truly remarkable person.
I ran into her at a convention once, and we have exchanged notes a few times over the years. I sent her a book or two to read. But, she needs no advice from me - and I leave her to do her thing - without another letter from me to answer.
Well, a lot happened since then. Suzy got married, has a couple of kids at my last count, has been on virtually every major TV interview show there is, and has spoken across the country to state legislatures imploring them to pass concealed-carry laws. She also got elected to the Texas House of Representatives! Now, it is Rep. Suzanna Gratia Hupp. To say how proud I am of her is impossible to describe. For about four years now, we have had a concealed-carry law in Texas. A lot of people either praise or blame Gov. George W. Bush for it, depending on their take on the issue. He signed the bill. But, here in the Outback, we call it "Suzy's Law," and with good reason.
I hope that I live to see the day that Suzy is Gov. of Texas or goes to the U.S. Congress. She is no one-issue, Nellie, as those who follow her work in the Legislature can tell you. Of the thousands of great and wonderful people I have met, Suzy is in that select group that you can count on one hand.
Last night, as I was lying in bed formulating these paragraphs in my head, I realized that my head was resting on a contour pillow that Suzy had given me while we were at her Chiropractic office that day so many years ago. She also gave me a lumbar pillow for my computer chair, so that I could write stuff that would make me a pain-in-the-butt-- without getting a pain in the back. Thanks Suzy - for everything.
Suzy's Legislative Web page is at: Rep.Hupp
*note: After my service as an ATF agent, where I enforced the Federal gun laws, I continued to work with police and do research on gun-crime and gun-control. For about 15 years, I wrote articles and letters-to-the-editor, and letters to Congress, et al., about gun control. In all the research I did, and it was prodigious, I never had the NRA lie to me or send me documents that contained lies. (Not that I agree will their sometimes crude tactics - and their complete refusal to accept anything that remotely looks like it might affect two gun owners in the country.) However, I consistently found distortions, incorrect data, and outright lies in the material put out by Handgun Control and in the speeches and writings of Sarah Brady. The whole campaign to get the Brady Bill passed was one of the most dishonest and duplicitous things I have ever seen. And I documented much of it in various newspaper articles and letters-to-the-editor.
I have pretty much given up writing about gun control. The politicians mostly use the subject for political advantage and seldom pass any meaningful legislation - that truly reduces gun crime. This election, I have decided to let the politicians tell whatever distortions they want. Nothing will change, once they are in office. Except that if Al Gore makes it, we will have scores of new laws that will affect only law-abiding citizens who have or want guns. Just what we need. Add more laws to the 20,000 we already have, that seldom get enforced. That is, unless you are a normally law-abiding citizen and you make a mistake on a Federal form or something like that. For the last damn time, criminals don't obey laws. That is why they are called criminals. Enforce the laws we have against criminal use of firearms. Then, maybe the government and the civilian "experts" can suggest something else. Stop clogging the statute books with useless laws - just to make political points.
When the politicians fail to get their pet gun legislation passed, they turn to such devious methods as getting people and cities to sue the gun manufacturers. Go ahead, shut down all the gun manufacturing plants in the country. There are enough guns out there now to kill everyone 1,000 times over. And so it goes. It would really help if we did something about the culture of violence in this country, but that is too hard to tackle. It is easier to register and regulate inanimate objects. As Ross Perot said, "When I was a kid growing up in Texarkana, we all had guns and didn't shoot each other." The day he first said that, it was kind of a throw-away sound bite in response to a question, but it may have been one of the most profound things he ever uttered during the campaign.
August 28, 2000
COPYRIGHT 2000 Richard C. Rhodes
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