A Shoe on the Freeway

I feel a little sheepish, back to the blog. Not only have I been absent from the cyberuniverse for a couple months, I have taken a few shots at blogging in general. Where‚s the love? Huh?

Meanwhile, the world keeps spinning, so here, without further putzing, is the best in random thinking:

OK, so the election is only a couple weeks away but that huge sucking sound is the modern process. Never do I remember so many people so annoyed with how we choose our leaders. Ricketts/Nelson is a no-brainer, but even the low-key Kleeb campaign, which has been long on intellect and short on nonsense, is getting edgier all the time. That, in my mind, means sympathy votes for Smith. We're tired. Somebody told me today that politics were even dirtier 100 years ago. Maybe. But personal attacks and lies serve no one. For exhibit A, step over to the executive summary of the latest Congress. If you look up "do nothing" in Webster's you‚ll see a team photo of this group.

I was reading some research this week that indicated most of us (42 percent) do not fall into a identifiable group such as conservative, populist, liberal, or libertarian. Perhaps club life is wearing thin on us, too, since assigning someone to a group often means that he or she shares only one thing in common with the other members.

My wife explained two things to me during Saturday's loss to Texas. 1) The players and coaches cannot hear me when I yell at the television and 2) I am going to Hell for my choice in language, especially certain combinations. While she has a point about my vocabulary in those situations (Mea culpa), I'm still not convinced that none of my suggestions get through.

Who We Are, An Ongoing Series: I read where a father of a youth football player in Pennsylvania pulled a gun on a coach after they argued about his kid‚s playing time. The league is for 6 and 7 year olds.

Posted by George Ayoub at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello from Espressions, just off the square in Aurora, Nebraska, but for my money and caffeine (actually I’m having a decaf Americano, two shots) the place could be on Melrose Blvd. in my old Los Angeles neighborhood. Not only is the coffee good and the pastry sweet, I have good music and a hot spot to conduct my blogribusiness.

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I skipped the $2,100 photo op with the Veep when he was in GI, preferring to educate my kid at a later date, make a house payment next month and fill up the beast for the rest of the summer. Like I was invited. Besides, DC is one of my least favorite public people. The questions about who pays the overtime for the police are reasonable. In my mind if the vice president was making a major policy speech, you could argue the extra pay would be warranted. A fundraiser cuts a different path. Yes, he is the VP and I suppose that brings some notoriety to the city, but after Fortenberry left Lincoln with a huge bill under some similar circumstances, the question is not out of line. Last Cheney thought: So Adrian Smith beats Grand Island Mayor Jay Vavricek in the primary and then shows up at the Holiday Inn with the vice president in tow to raise some cash in the defeated mayor’s backyard. Ouch! Smith’s hometown Gering was booked?

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There’s a Murtha evisceration making the rounds on the Web. I got one yesterday. John Murtha is the veteran who was the first in Congress who had supported the Iraq invasion to say it was time to brings the troops home. Now his record as a soldier is being pounded. This is what passes for argument these days. Don’t like the guy’s point? Attack him personally, question his manhood, gut his reputation, make fun of his family. There, that ought to do it. Showed him. Some people call it swiftboating, after the clobbering John Kerry took in 2004 election about his military service aboard a Navy swiftboat. (Kerry is preparing a lawsuit to refute the questioning of military service.) It was an ugly time. Looks like it may be continuing.

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I will write about this more in print, but Grand Island has to be at the top of the list for a Congressional hearing on immigration. We have experienced seemingly part of the immigration issue, every nuance, every bit of misinformation, every polarization, every attempt to bring newcomers into the community, every opportunity to see the changes happen. Whatever side of the immigration question you find yourself, you deserve a hearing in your backyard because the story is in our backyard.

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Here’s the quote of the day from Espressions: “Procrastinate now. Don’t put it off.”
That works. Wait, maybe it doesn’t. Anyway I see menus and ice cream, so Espressions is definitely on the blog tour.

Posted by George Ayoub at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the deep recesses —

Could we construe Congress’ no call on immigration as a dither? Part of me is doing that as I write. Come on boys and girls, make a decision.

After a deep breath, consider this: Hearings across the country will reveal what seems to be taken for granted — that 90 percent of Americans are ready to send all 11 million illegal aliens back. I’m not buying that. Aside from a gauge on what we’re thinking, House and Senate members in hearings need also to consider what is the right thing to do. If we want to enforce the law down to the last immigrant, then let’s apply the law with the same vigor to tax cheats, deadbeat parents and those knuckleheads on the freeways who drive as if it’s their own private highway.

I’m not making light of our laws, but a combination of fines, deportments, better border control, and reformed paths to citizenship is more realistic. If the naturalization process takes six years or longer and is so riddled with bureaucratic nonsense, no wonder so many skip it. A better system would also ferret out bad players. A bigger fence will change only ways of beating the border, not immigration.

I’ve talked myself into thinking hearings are good thing. Let’s see who shows up and let’s hope they have a hearing here. Letting this thing fester helps no one.
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Does it seem to anyone else that the city of Grand Island simply showed up one night and claimed poverty? Three words come to mind: long range planning. I say that as a supporter of the Heartland Events Center, the primary suspect in the shortfall. It’s not that simple, I suspect.

I only wonder because by any number of other measures (receipts, construction, enthusiasm) the city seems to be bustling along. Now we’re told our middle name will be austerity for the near and far future, the place where long-range planning lives.
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Maybe I’m reading this all wrong, but the initial reception to Vice President Cheney’s visit has been a little tepid. Here in redder than red Nebraska? Go figure.

Posted by George Ayoub at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The coffee is strong and tasty as I blog from Grounds to Go, my second office. Nothing like a Friday to dredge from the deep recesses. To whit:

Central Nebraska forgot to put its free admission where its votes were. “Forrest Gump” won the Independent’s Movie Madness tournament, but of the three shows than ran for free at the Grand last weekend, the Gumpster attracted the fewest folks. Don’t look a gift movie in the mouth.

We reversed out fortunes, actually. The Grand’s three choices were “Gump," “The Shawshank Redemption,” which was second, and “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which came in third. But at the box office (it was free!) “Raiders” nearly doubled “Gump” and was well ahead of a runner-up “Shawshank.”

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Pete Letheby’s Friday column cut to the chase about those using the immigration issue to traffic in hate. His reference to Woody Guthrie’s music reminded me of the haunting beauty of Nancy Griffith’s rendition of Guthrie and Martin Hoffman’s “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” Read the piece. Listen to the music. I wrote a few weeks ago about keeping the debate in the reasonable range the president called the “rational middle.” Pete’s column reminds us that some of loudest voices will be neither.

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In my Friday column I recommended some summer reading including “Hippo Eats Dwarf,” which details the hoaxes and other crap floating in cyberspace that often take on not only lives of their own but a patina of truth. Readers often send me stories they have found or have been sent to them. These tales are often spectacular, gruesome, or exceedingly graphic. And completely false. Those of us who use the Internet extensively (or anyone for that matter) need to develop what the book calls “Reality Rules,” guides to sanity and the truth. Maybe we should even throw in some principles of logic along the way. Alex Boese, who wrote “Hippo,” reminds us that just because it is on the Internet does not make it the truth. To which I would add the 1,000 Person Rule: If 1,000 people say a stupid thing, it’s still a stupid thing. Yes, I know. This is on the Internet.

I’ll be blogging from Scooter’s next Tuesday afternoon.

Posted by George Ayoub at 09:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you haven’t heard about Movie Madness, check the link on theindependent.com. It’s a hoot.

This morning Mike Bockoven, who reviews films for the paper, and I did our best Siskel and Ebert, handicapping the first 32 matchups.

The paper is trying to find Central Nebraska’s favorite movie since 1980. Of course the arguments started early when the staff got their grubby paws on the 64 flicks culled from “best of” lists.

Come on. Where was “Witness.” Where was “Phenomenon?” Where was “Michael?” Wait, did I just mention two John Travolta movies in succession? Oy!

Play the game. Enjoy.

Speaking of movies, what’s up with the kvetchers camped on “Brokeback Mountain.” The movie was the odds-on favorite going into the Oscars, only to lose to “Crash.” Now some of the principals behind the camera, including Annie Proulx, from whose short story the movie was taken, is accusing the “Crash” crowd of unfair politicking. They claim the Crashers blanketed Academy members with “Crash” DVDs and generally won the Oscar through campaigning.

I saw the movies and, while I liked both, neither was what I would consider a stunner. “Brokeback” was beautiful and haunting and, obviously, very edgy with its gay cowboy love story. By the way, stop with the sheepherder-not-cowboy shtick. Not that it makes any difference, but the story covers years after the summer on the mountain with sheep. Jack Twist becomes a rodeo cowboy for a time and Ennis works on cattle ranches for years.

“Crash” was set in my old neighborhood of Los Angeles and had a very familiar feel to it, that disconnect that Angelenos have and often nurture. The intersecting stories were terrific but I was surprised by its win, just as I was surprised to some extent by “Brokeback’s” favorite status.

Still, this is not a political race. It’s the Academy Awards. You have to flag “Brokeback Mountain’s” camp unsportsmanlike conduct and whining.

Posted by George Ayoub at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Maybe it’s the early May afternoon passing by the windows in this building on January 27, but I have no interest in the Winter Olympics, now 14 days and one Super Bowl away.
Can we be walking around Suck’s Lake in shorts watching kids fish and lovers snuggle and still expect to foam at the mouth that evening about the U.S.’s chances in luge?
I suppose if I skied or skeletoned (basically sliding on ice atop a shiny hot plate at 70 mph) or rolled a Frosty up in my front yard, I might be inclined to watch.
Or maybe if I lived in Colorado or Lucerne.
As it is now, the biggest news about Torino has been Bode Miller’s confession that he sometimes races under the influence, or at least that his BAC the morning after renders him Otis-like. Of course, Otis only let himself into the Mayberry hoosegow; Miller is letting himself through slalom gates at femur snapping speeds.
I’ll probably watch a little, just to see some snow, ice and well-coiffed and turned out European sophisticates in Spandex and fur.
Meanwhile, pass the sun tan lotion.

Posted by George Ayoub at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Let’s stick with television. I watched most of the “Golden Globes,” known more familiarly as the “Cleavage and Stubble Showcase.” I trued switching from a live Kiefer Sutherland to a taped Jack Bauer to see if he could save the hostages and the world on “24.” I had never watched much of the show, but was pleasantly surprised to see my buddy James Morrison playing the role of Bill Buchanan, an apparent reoccurring gig.
The Globes, one precursor to Oscar, is reportedly the best party of the year in Hollywood. It’s also a wakeup call for us slackers who have yet to see some of the films being nominated and honored. The fact that “Brokeback Mountain” won four Globes will probably anger a bunch of folks and probably send a bunch of others to the box office.
In the vernacular, stay tuned.
It was a giggle to watch the four nominated actresses from “Desperate Housewives, in anticipation of the Best Actress in a Television Drama award, holding hands like a quartet of coeds before the prom queen is announced.
I laughed out loud when Mary-Louise Parker, the only other nominee in the category won for “Weeds.”
Quickly back to the terminal when bad guys were in charge, but alas, Bauer had worked some sort of magic. I missed it … but it is always good to see James.

Posted by George Ayoub at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back on the blog, holidays and co-workers finished interfering with the my occasional offering. All blame aside, I’ve noticed at their most basic level blogs are beasts that need to be fed.
I thought Kathleen Parker had an interesting take on the blogosphere in a piece last week in Thursday’s print edition. She wondered about the sheer volume and spotty veracity blogs have to offer. According to Parker, the great democratic cyberleveler apparently comes with conditions and no warranty.
I had those same concerns when blogs exploded a few years — about the time Parker professed their goodness as Dan Rather was being outed.
But as Parker noted, many in the B-sphere do not do any actual reporting or research. Instead they rely on each other or the dreaded mainstream media, the same MSM they are trying to supplant for information.
Go figure.
Anyway, it was a good column and not simply because I agreed. Her insight about accountability and oversight was on the money … in my humble, now-blogging opinion.
Not that I came kicking and screaming into this. Instead, blogging — which I’ve done from the State High School Basketball Tournaments for four years — was the natural course for smaller observations or … don’t laugh … even a thought or two.

Posted by George Ayoub at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This Sunday Christmas schedule has me out of sorts, not in the Pepto-Bismol way but in the holiday rhythm sort of way.
Granted you (and my son who meticulously counts these things) get two for the price of one trip to church. Saturday also gives many of us a non-working day to get prepared for relatives about to visit: dusting, making food, hiding the sterling.
But if a holiday on a weekend isn’t quite like kissing your sister, but you can see it from there. Sure, we can party longer and the government has allowed us to call Monday Christmas too.
But Sunday is already … well … Sunday.
For my money (the last of which I just spent by the way), the rhythmic upheaval a mid-week Christmas causes is pure delight.
Combine that with the potential day or two buffer zones on either side, bookended weekends and you have yourself a Christmas week plus four.
Follow that with New Year’s (the second stanza of Happy Holidays) the next week, and you might run the table with 15-20 days of Yulish and Auld Lang Syne cheer.
That’s why I love Christmas — especially on a Wednesday. Now that’s a holiday.

Posted by George Ayoub at 04:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What’s up with the reaction to Tom Osborne’s notion that one term as governor may be enough for him? I’ve stayed out of this discussion to date, mostly because my wife is a cousin or two removed from Dave Nabity, who is also on the ballot. Disclosure and family tie explanations bore me and take up column inches in print.
Anyway, why, in a state that approved term limits by nearly three to one, would we be upset with a governor who suggests limiting his term before he runs? I have no idea which way I’m voting — even at the risk of eating in the garage at the next reunion — but I find the response to Osborne curious.

Posted by George Ayoub at 05:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I went Christmas shopping Saturday and did not witness one fist fight. We’ve improved since the day after Thanksgiving.
I barely got a sneer or a glare, although I did contribute a couple holiday daggers through my windshield in a couple parking lots.
What is so difficult about one-way arrows? Here’s a hint, free of charge: When all the vehicles are parked in one direction, chances are good that is the direction of traffic. Sure, I understand a goof every once in a while, but I was in a wrong-way warp late Saturday afternoon.
I survived without a scratch or fingered salute — mine or theirs, although neither would have been out of the question. Overcome with the spirit of the season, I moved on, in an orderly manner, with the flow of traffic. Yes, smugness is an unnatural greeting for the season.
I do have issues: While recognizing that I could be disrespecting an entire gender, I have to admit I completed my appointed rounds and now consider myself finished shopping 12 days before Christmas Eve. Sorry, fellas, I’ll do better next year.
My journey was not without effort, however, including 20 minutes in a checkout line where clerks struggled with extraordinary requests from customers who thought they were shopping online when in fact that was where the rest of us waited, on line (two words); computers with a chippy attitude; and, apparently, new gigs for a couple new employees. I wanted to ask if two Saturdays before Christmas Eve was the best time to break someone in, but extending my stay on line would have been cruel and unusual punishment.
Still, I was surprised at the civility of it all — myself included. After 10 minutes of waiting, I thought about what might have happened in Los Angeles, where I shopped for 10 Christmases. My theory goes like this: The larger the city, the less patience with things like 20 minutes on line to buy a gift certificate. Even in laid-back L.A., I might have witnessed that fist fight or, at a minimum, heard plenty of shouting. A trip to the post office or bank in my old neighborhood in any season was always worth a meltdown or two. The trick was to make sure it wasn’t you doing the melting.
Still, we have our moments here. A few years ago, while ringing the bell for the Salvation Army in front of a big box with a parking lot the size of North Dakota, I saw two guys nearly throw down over a parking space close to the door.
As one of them made his way toward the building, I thought about asking him the appropriate question, given what I had just seen: “Know anywhere I can score Laker tickets?”

Posted by George Ayoub at 04:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here’s a couple of useless words: conservative and liberal. I’m about done with them. Their value is next to nil. Too big, too inaccurate. Too easy.
Still, we hear them all the time, accepting them as precise from the radio or the television or the printed page.
They are worthless labels.
Unless they are all you have. My mission is always to have more.
We have run them into the ground. They have little meaning except perhaps to pigeonhole somebody when we take a cerebral nap, when our brains cramp from inactivity.
Conservative and liberal have been Reasonerized. Harry Reasoner once said he hated labels because they tend to lump you with people with whom you have only one thing in common.
And in a world where a bunch of self-proclaimed conservatives are running up deficits and out-loud and proud liberals voted for welfare reform, well, who you gonna call?
The answer to “Who the hell is Harry Reasoner?” in a minute. The guy had a point, though.
In a world where information reproduces like bunnies on steroids and cheap Chardonnay, we often depend on labels rather than thought — let alone research, facts or even simply looking it up. We’re label makers. We lump. We’ve traded thinking for Post-it notes. Just stick it on, and you’re good to go.
We find it easier to explain away a behavior or a thought or a statement with something like “so much conservative nonsense” or “just another flaming liberal” than to have the chops to discuss or debate or rebut.
Or find out.
My high school English teacher pounded me incessantly about lazy thinking, about assuming and shorthand and missing the point badly. He was talking, among other things, about labeling.
My mom said it was simply name-calling.
Harry Reasoner was an anchorman for CBS, when CBS reported the news, unlike in the Rather era, when it too often was the news.
Of course, if you want to slap a label on Harry — or anybody else — go ahead.
Problem is, eventually, the sticky side dries up.

Posted by George Ayoub at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Lennon was gunned downed in front of the Dakota apartment building in New York City 25 years ago today.
That was one day and 39 years after Pearl Harbor, shorthand for the devastation and death that yanked us into World War II.
I have read accounts of the Day of Infamy in my history classes. I have interviewed Pearl Harbor survivors and written their stories. I have realized that, for my parents’ generation, Pearl Harbor was, in some ways, the most momentous day of their lives.
Lennon’s murder does not carry that for me, but he and the Beatles were the accompaniment for my generation. They provided the background music for us when we grew our hair and howled at the moon, when we questioned authority, when we decided (if we have) to grow up. And we were irritated, yet somehow pleased by the familiar and personal, the first time we heard “Strawberry Fields” or “Lady Madonna” in an elevator or grocery store on the Muzak.
I was living in Los Angeles when we got the Lennon call from a friend in New York. We thought it was a story or a joke or something, anything other than the death of a part of our lives.
Young people may wonder why we 50-somethings living on Good Old Days Street in the middle of Geezerville even care.
Simple: It was the music.

Posted by George Ayoub at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)