Just an Accident

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Oh Brother…

NEW YORK — CNN apologized Tuesday for mistakenly promoting a story on the search for Osama bin Laden with the headline “Where’s Obama?’’

A spokesman for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama said the apology was accepted.

The blunder came Monday evening on Wolf Blitzer’s news show “The Situation Room.’’ Both Soledad O’Brien and Blitzer offered separate apologies during CNN’s morning show Tuesday.

CNN called it a “bad typographical error’’ by its graphics department.

“We want to apologize for that bad typo,’’ Blitzer said. “We also want to apologize personally to Sen. Barack Obama. I’m going to be making a call to him later this morning to offer my personal apology.’’

Tommy Vietor, Obama’s press secretary, said he appreciated the bloggers and activists who brought the error to light so quickly and helped make sure it was corrected.

“Though I’d note that the ‘s’ and ‘b’ keys aren’t all that close to each other, I assume it was just an unfortunate mistake, and don’t think there was any truly malicious intent,’’ Vietor said.

And didn’t I hear something about Barack Hussein Obama being hanged this weekend? Time for a name change. How 'bout Barack Cahnman?

Forditude

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I hope this isn’t what Detroit is counting on to save the American auto industry. I don’t know shit about anything but I have a hard time believing there is going to be much interest in an ugly gas hog called the “Interceptor”. But this is America, I could be wrong.

Mail Takes (a Long) Holiday

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I hate to bitch about something so minor (OK that’s a lie, why else have a blog) but today is going to be the third day in a row without mail delivery: Sunday, New Year’s Day and now the day of mourning for former President Gerald Ford.

UFO Over Illinois?

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From the X Files, Northern Illinois division:

CHICAGO -- Federal officials say it was probably just some weird weather phenomenon, but a group of United Airlines employees swear they saw a mysterious, saucer-shaped craft hovering over O'Hare Airport last fall.

The workers, some of them pilots, said the object didn't have lights and hovered over an airport terminal before shooting up through the clouds, according to a report in Monday's Chicago Tribune.

The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged that a United supervisor had called the control tower at O'Hare, asking if anyone had spotted a spinning disc-shaped object. But the controllers didn't see anything, and a preliminary check of radar found nothing out of the ordinary, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.

"Our theory on this is that it was a weather phenomenon," Cory said. "That night was a perfect atmospheric condition in terms of low (cloud) ceiling and a lot of airport lights. When the lights shine up into the clouds, sometimes you can see funny things."

Yeah, well the aliens probably left in search of a less crowded terminal.

Anniversary

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Two years ago today a blog was born. Ummm, that would be this one. I’m not sure why I can’t stop. There needs to be a new 12-step program.

In those two years, I’ve seen at lot of local bloggers come and go. I wish they were all still blogging. Blevins, by the way, is the latest to move on.

Damn Good Question

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I didn’t know this and it does concern me. Marie at Disarranging Mine is on the case:

The Great Western Railroad station is owned by the State Journal-Register

The Great Western was the station where Abraham Lincoln departed Springfield to take office as the President of the United States. It is the station where he gave his touching farewell address. It is the station to which he would never return.

The station, located at the Tenth Street tracks and Monroe Street, is owned by the State Journal-Register. The salaries of the U.S. Park Rangers who operate it are funded by the paper. The paper and its proprietors have done an excellent job of maintaining and keeping alive the memory of Springfield's smallest, but most important, passenger station.

What will become of this treasure when the newspaper is sold?

The SJ-R is in danger of being sold. I have to believe, though, that someone or some organization will step in if the new owners of the SJ-R, whoever they may be, aren’t interested in continuing the relationship. I mean, the train station has changed hands many times already and I can’t believe it would just be discarded at this point. I think it’s time a governmental organization, at either the state of federal level, take over the site once and for all.

Northern Lights, Camera , Action

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There is nothing so spectacular in nature as auroras, or the Northern Lights as they are more commonly known around here. They also photograph surprisingly well and offer a magnificent backdrop.

I’ve seen the Northern lights only three times: twice here in Springfield in 1990 and 2001, and in Northern Illinois in 1994 (I think). The ones I saw in Northern Illinois were really spectacular with waves of green shimmering in the northern sky.

Spaceweather.com features photos of auroras and here are some sample shots of the December 14 lights (these were visible here but I missed them that night).

From Ida Grove, Iowa:

From Soldatna, Alaska:


From Bismarck, North Dakota:

Again, these were all taken just a few weeks ago. See the whole Spaceweather aurora photo galery here.

More Blognostication

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There is a new AP poll out on what Americans are predicting for the new year. Let me post some of them along with my predictions for those same things.

American People (A-Peeps): Six in 10 people think the U.S. will be the victim of a terrorist attack.

Me: Maybe but doubtful. If there is one I predict it will be domestic in origin.

A-Peeps: An identical percentage [60%] thinks it likely that a biological or nuclear weapon will be unleashed somewhere else in the world.

Me: No

A-Peeps: Seventy percent of people in the U.S. predict a major natural disaster in the country/

Me: Well, that’s a little vague. Define “major”. Katrina-esque? Probably not but there’s always a chance. Springfield 2006 type tornados, sure.

A-Peeps: An equal percentage [70%] expects worsening global warming.

Me: Yes that would be technically true since global warming is an ongoing and growing problem. However, it’s hard to say the effects of global warming will be any more or less noticeable in 2007.

A-Peeps: 35 percent predict the military draft will be reinstated.

Me: No way.

A-Peeps: 35 percent predict a cure for cancer will be found.

Me: Nope. I don’t think there is A CURE for cancer, rather there will be many cures someday after we stop wasting trillions on war and concentrate on life.

A-Peeps: 25 percent anticipate the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Me: Based on what? A quarter of the population is so ego-centric as to believe they live in the “end times”? That’s actually kind of frightening.

A-Peeps: 19 percent think scientists are likely to find evidence of extraterrestrial life.

Me. No but it’s far more likely this year than the second coming of Christ.

A-Peeps: Eight in 10 people predict lawmakers will raise the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum wage. It would be the first increase since 1997.

Me: That's a near certainty and I’m glad.

A-Peeps: Fewer than half the public think it likely the U.S. will go to war with Iran or North Korea. Should it come down to that, 40 percent think the battle will be with Iran while 26 percent said North Korea.

Me: No, our military (the Army and Marines in particular) is far too depleted to be taking on adversaries that are 10 times more problematic than Iraq.

A-Peeps: Higher gas prices, legalized gay marriage and the possible arrival of bird flu also are seen as being in the cards.

Me: Yes, yes, and no. I’m really hoping for a no on that last one. And the gay marriage thing will continue to become more accepted but not totally legalized throughout the land.

Happy New Year!

Others Are Looking

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The Bloomington Pantagraph uses the Springfield area to examine inequities in the city and county smoking bans. The article reinforces my belief that we need a statewide ban to prevent the addicts from screwing with things.

SPRINGFIELD -- Owners of The Still successfully annexed into nearby New Berlin to avoid a smoking ban affecting the unincorporated areas of Sangamon County.

“If we would not have, we wouldn’t be around today,” said bartender Sherry Freesmeyer. “Eighty percent of our customers are smokers.”

And, she said, those customers could have gone a few blocks into town to smoke at the downtown bar. Now that customers can smoke at The Still, Freesmeyer said, “We’re starting to get people from Springfield.”

[snip]

In Springfield, state employees working in a leased building were among the first to receive tickets for violating the new ordinance. But they challenged the charges and forced a legal opinion on the matter. The decision: While state facilities are exempt from the ordinance, leased buildings are not.

The citations were dismissed because of the confusion, said Jim Henricks, director of environmental health at the Sangamon County Department of Public Health.

There’s even more confusion elsewhere.

Henricks said there are establishments within the county that have to abide by the smoking ban, but others -- literally next door or across the street in one of several small municipalities -- allow smoking.

Some people are arguing that the current local smoking bans need to be modified or rescinded altogether unless or until the ban is made uniform statewide. I say we keep the gains we’ve made, even if somewhat inequitable, pending further action on the state level. I just hope that action is actually coming.

Friday Night Videos: Simon Dawes

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Rockin' with the Dawes. Check out the quick clips of the Effingham Cross (don't blink) and the St. Louis Arch.

Simon Dawes - Awful Things

Overindulgence

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I was reading this David Sirota post over at the HuffPo when something perhaps obvious, but at the same time quite revealing, occurred to me.

In his post, Sirota writes about how he is on vacation and had to learn how to do with out news, the internet and current events. He ended his isolation right as the media became flooded with Gerald Ford post mortems. He was annoyed at the wall-to-wall coverage that was being lavished on the death of someone he considers “unimportant” as presidents go.

At first I kind of resented that notion. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Ford presidency was important to me because he was president for 2 ½ years during a period when I was actively becoming very interested in current events. When Ford died the other night, I couldn’t get enough coverage.

Still, I know where Sirota is coming from. The story of the day, whatever it is and no matter its relative importance, is all over cable news channels, blogged about incessantly and is the topic on talk radio stations everywhere. Mountains are regularly made of molehills and if you are addicted to news and information, the attention can often be seen as just plain silly.

And that’s when it hit me. This is my (or Sirota’s or your) problem, not the problem of the media.

A huge change has occurred in the news and information media since I became interested 30+ years ago (when Gerald Ford was president). Back then, hungry for news, I would eagerly catch the half-hour network newscasts on TV. Here in Springfield they were all on at the same time: 5:30 PM. And that was about it for national news for the day on television. There was the SJ-R that landed on my parent’s porch each morning, but it came out only daily. I got weekly news magazines (how many high school kids can say that!) but that was a once a week window.

Information was much, much more limited back then and if you didn’t catch it when available, you missed out. All of the media formats were limited (sometimes VERY limited) in the depth of their coverage due to space and time considerations. Even radio had not extensively embraced the talk format and radio news was even more truncated than on television. Making things worse was the absence of the internet, cable TV and the VCR.

Nowadays there is as much information as any human could possibly want to consume available 24/7. Some of us, like Mr. Sirota and me, have been slow to recognize a need to regulate our own consumption based on what we think we need to know and what our interests are. And that’s my point. It’s up to us to decide what is and isn’t vital and useful, unlike the media of old that, due to limitations, made that decision for us. We are our own masters now when it comes to our information diet. It’s just that some us have to learn portion control.

The War Against New Year

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What has our society come to? People (probably Libruls!) are trying to take New Year’s out of the vocabulary. Several times in the last few days I’ve heard people say, “Have a good holiday!” or some such. Of course they’re referring to New Year’s Day but are too politically correct to actually say it. This War on New Year’s hasn’t gone unnoticed by me and I plan to thwart it. I will now be boycotting ANY business that has an employee who says anything other than “Happy New Year” or “Have a happy New Year.” I also plan to point out how un-American and unpatriotic individuals are who fail to use the N-Y words. Won’t you join me? This may be the last chance we get to stop the downward slide of western civilization.

Astrophotography

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The top 10 best astronomy photos of 2006.

Friday Beer Blogging: Dead Guy Edition

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Last Friday night I was out doing field research on beer in its natural habitat once again. Actually, it was the annual Christmas reunion at Brewhaus with Former Wingman SK & Friends. This year we sampled something called Dead Guy Ale.

Dead Guy is brewed by the Rogue Brewery out of Newport, Oregon. They describe Dead Guy thusly:

Gratefully dedicated to the Rogue in each of us. In the early 1990s Dead Guy Ale was created as a private tap sticker to celebrate the Mayan Day of the Dead (November 1st, All Souls Day) for Casa U Betcha in Portland, Oregon. The Dead Guy design proved popular and was incorporated into a bottled product a few years later with Maierbock as the elixir. Strangely, the association with the Grateful Dead is pure coincidence.

Dead Guy is a German-style Maibock made with Rogue's proprietary "PacMan" ale yeast. It is deep honey in color with a malty aroma, rich hearty flavor and a well balanced finish. Dead Guy is created from Northwest Harrington, Klages, Maier Munich and Carastan malts, along with Perle and Saaz Hops. Dead Guy Ale is available in 22-ounce bottles, 12-ounce 6-pack, and on draft.

Former Wingman SK & Friends and I enjoyed the 22-ounce bottles. Too many of those WILL kick your ass. Fortunately, before we had too much, we moved on to other beers (that subsequently DID kick our asses). It was also fortunate we remembered to pack a designated driver.

Anyway, even though I’m not much of an ale guy, I have to recommend Dead Guy Ale.

Blognostication

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Contribute your local predictions for 2007 here. The blogosphere is never wrong cuz posts can be edited at a later date.

The Land of Robbertunity

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There were two more armed robberies in town last night and this morning (Starbucks on Clearlake and Papa Murphy’s on Sangamon). Are there any stores in the city that have now NOT been robbed?

Snarky(er) follow-up question: Have any of these robberies over the last few months been carried out by homeless library crashers?

Fearing the Homeless

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Sigh.

I’m not sure where this comes from. That is, the notion that somehow the homeless are dangerous. Yes, many of them seem “different” (mental illness) and many of them smell and some of them beg for money. But where is there any evidence they are dangerous?

I’m not picking on ThirtyWhat. Almost everyone I’ve been with while walking past the homeless gathered in or near the downtown Lincoln Library has expressed some fear of these folks. I’ve even heard completely irrational fears coming from members of the Springfield City Council.

Now, before you start in on me being naïve or somehow unfamiliar with the public behavior of the homeless, let me say that for three years I lived very near Chicago’s State Street Mission. I encountered dozens of homeless every day. Never was I attacked or threatened. Hit up for money? Yeah, all the time. Was I ever annoyed by being continually approached? Yes, but I was never fearful.

Here in Springfield, I think you would be hard pressed to find many acts of violence perpetrated on the rest of the population by homeless people. Can you find ANY examples of violence by a homeless person here or somewhere else? Sure, and I can do the same for doctors, lawyers, police, computer programmers and housewives.

Having said all that, I agree that the issue needs addressing by offering more help to those who need it. And maybe Blevins is right, we just don’t have the will as a city to cure the illness rather than just treat the symptoms. But fearing the homeless isn’t going to lead to positive solutions.

Going Steady

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Dumb video, good song.

The Raconteurs- Steady As She Goes

Speaking From the Grave

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Fascinating article by Bob Woodward:

Former president Gerald R. Ford said in an embargoed interview in July 2004 that the Iraq war was not justified. "I don't think I would have gone to war," he said a little more than a year after President Bush launched the invasion advocated and carried out by prominent veterans of Ford's own administration.

In a four-hour conversation at his house in Beaver Creek, Colo., Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the current president's justifications for invading Iraq…

[snip]

The Ford interview -- and a subsequent lengthy conversation in 2005 -- took place for a future book project, though he said his comments could be published at any time after his death. In the sessions, Ford fondly recalled his close working relationship with key Bush advisers Cheney and Rumsfeld while expressing concern about the policies they pursued in more recent years.

[snip]

Ford was also critical of his own actions during the interviews. He recalled, for example, his unsuccessful 1976 campaign to remain in office, when he was under enormous pressure to dump Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller from the Republican ticket. Some polls at the time showed that up to 25 percent of Republicans, especially those from the South, would not vote for Ford if Rockefeller, a New Yorker from the liberal wing of the Republican Party, was on the ticket.

When Rockefeller offered to be dropped from the ticket, Ford took him up on it. But he later regretted it. The decision to dump the loyal Rockefeller, he said, was "an act of cowardice on my part."

Another act of cowardice was to withhold public opposition to the war until after his death. The reason this war was allowed to proceed was because too many who knew better were silent.

Undivided Nation

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I keep seeing and hearing that Gerald Ford healed a “divided nation” or that the country was a “nation in turmoil” when he pardoned Richard Nixon. Funny, I remember the nation being pretty united on wanting Nixon brought to justice. In fact, Ford’s poll number fell like 20 percent overnight after issuing Nixon's pardon. So I’m not sure what divisions he healed. Rather he’s seems to have simply made the whole process of justice just go away. Sure the nation moved on more quickly than it would have otherwise but what else could it do? Well, there was one thing it could, and did, do. It did not re-elect them man who issued the pardon.

I’m not trying to diminish Ford’s legacy by cherry-picking things with which I disagreed with him, but I’m also not going to re-write history in honor of his passing.

Update: Even odder is the notion that it was in the national interest to dispense with the messiness of a Richard Nixon trail for very real crimes, but there was plenty of time and resources for a trial over a presidential blow-job.