The Origins of Gridlock.

Courtesy of The Federalist Patriot:

If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise in a body to which the people send 150 lawyers,whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, & talk by the hour? That 150 lawyers should do business together ought not to be expected.

--- Thomas Jefferson

Weaknews Clarifies: It's the Government's Fault.

Weaknews has quasi-retracted their inflammatory story about the desecration of the Quran at Gitmo. However, Howard Fineman apparently clarified the real line of accountability for this deadly fiasco: it was the responsibility of Pentagon representatives that were shown a pre-press copy of the Periscope article to have provided comment on the report, which they did not. Therefore, Fineman argued on this morning's Imus program, silence by these government officials constituted some form of corroboration of the story for Weaknews. In other words, the Pentagon had its chance to deny the story, and they didn't, and therefore the story must be true? I didn't know that Weaknews had now outsourced their fact-checking.

Well, the Main Stream Meatpackers have reasserted their primacy over the Blogosphere - they certainly have the power of life and death.

The Legend of Taxalot.

Wizbang follows a great story about America's Royal Family - the Kennedys - and their artistry with the tax codes.

How would he know?

Ohio Senator George Voinovich (R!) blasted UN Representative-nominee John Bolton, stating that if Bolton worked in the private sector he would have been fired.

George apparently has quite an extensive and distinguished career in the private sector:

• probably in private law practice from 1961-1962
• Ohio Assistant Attorney General 1963-1964
• probably in private law practice from 1965-1966
• Ohio state/county/city office holder 1967-1988
• probably practiced law in 1989, while eating lotsa rubber-chicken suppers
• Governor of Ohio 1990-1998
• United States Senator 1999-present

I assume you were speaking theoretically about Bolton, eh George?

And your actions in committee was a true act of courage, George.

A Lucid Moment in Alabama.

Alabama School Drops Klan Founders Name (AP-Yahoo)

The idolatry that Alabamians have for Nathan Bedford Forrest, AKA "The Butcher of Fort Pillow", has always baffled me. Imagine Heinrich Himmler Hochschule in Bremen...

And now, a cheap shot.

During yesterday's emergency in DC, members of the House and Senate Democratic Leadership were taken to a daycare center at an undisclosed location...

OK, enough of that.

Tales from the Ivory Tower.

First, this outrageous story from Columbia University:

The Tale of Two Columbias (WSJ Opinion Journal)

And then a review of the problems on campus and some cautious hope for change:

Retaking the Universities, by Roger Kimball (WSJ Extra)

The story of the "courageous" vote at Columbia butresses Trilling's claim of the "adversary culture of the intellectuals" - and scholarship's form of "diplomatic immunity" from consequences of actions. Kimball also reminds the reader of another component of the problem:

Academic life, like the rest of social life, unfolds within a frame of rules and permissions. At one end, there are things that one must (or must not) do; at the other end, there is rule of whim. The middle range, in which behavior is neither explicitly governed by rules but is not entirely free, is that realm governed by what the British jurist John Fletcher Moulton, writing in the early 1920s, called "Obedience to the Unenforceable." It is a realm in which not law, not caprice, but virtues such as duty, fairness, judgment and taste hold sway. In a word, it is the "domain of Manners," which "covers all cases of right doing where there is no one to make you do it but yourself."

In other words, a chaired professorship is no excuse for intellectual slovenliness.

Over what-you-call-your Dey.

The Ghoul, beloved Rust Belt TV Schlockmeister, opines on FM radio. Well, perhaps they listen to Clear Channel Dreck in...Parma!

Opening Day, 2005.

The Last Saturday in April was cold and blustery on Michigan's Manistee River. But the fishing was excellent, with gorgeous brown trout rising to a Hendrickson hatch all afternoon. My buddies and I got to know one in particular quite well: an 18" fish working just upstream of a sweeper and taking flies for more than an hour - but turning his nose up at our humble offerings. Round one is yours, friend...

Hope for Radio.

Deaddrifts has excited a considerable number of screen phosphors lamenting the pathetic state of broadcast radio. Yet hope may come in the form of a mortal blow from space, allowing a more diverse, independent entity to rise from its grave.

Satellite radio may hurl the fateful spear to fall Levianthan. George Will noted today on radio listenership:

The fragmentation of the media market by technology is especially dramatic in radio. Just a blink ago the widespread lament was that a few providers, such as Clear Channel with 1,200 U.S. stations, were producing homogenized programming for a single mass market. Suddenly there is satellite radio. XM's more than 150 channels include Fungus ("punk/hardcore/ska"), Squizz ("hard alternative") and NASCAR2 ("in-race driver audio"). Sirius's more than 120 channels include one that is all Elvis, 24-7.

Not that satellite radio itself will ultimately be the champion of radio diversity (such a limited resource is bound to be centralized and homogenized) but it will render broadcast radio stations as a smoking pile of devalued debt. Smaller, regional concerns, our theory contends, will be able to buy the devalued stations and frequencies. And local access radio may be restored. While we wait, let's tune into the soothing sounds of Fungus Radio!

Hammering Credit Cards into Swords.

Tom "The Hammer" DeLay, inexplicably, hands the MSM and the Dems yet another sword in the form of a lobbyist's credit card. Lazy, sloppy, and inattentive to the need to be more chaste than Caesar's wife after last year's ethics reprimand, we now find out that DeLay's congressional office permitted a lobbyist to arrange and front his St. Andrews golf and public policy junket.

It doesn't matter that ultimately the NCPPR may have appropriately reimbursed the lobbyists' the front money (not determined as of this morning's press) - it's incredibly, mindblowingly stupid to conduct your business as a Chief Congresscritter in a manner for allow such an impression to be formed. Stupid, stupid, stupid! (Plan 9 from Outer Space) You idiot. Security will escort you to the door; you have 15 minutes to clear out your desk as House Majority Leader.

NPR's Crocodile Tears on LPFM.

Here's a Golden Oldie you'll all enjoy: In 2001 the NPR Ombudsman consoled us all regarding the NPR's victory in killing Low Power FM Radio. The LPFM initiative would have allowed the establishment of 2000 FM radio stations with radiated power of less than 100 watts. This was proposed by the FCC in response to the surge in unlicensed broadcasts of local public-access oriented LPFM since the early 1990s. The licensed LPFM stations would have legitimately served a clear need - real community access radio. NPR joined with the NAB, the National Association of Broadcasters, in lobbying Congress to kill LPFM, claiming that these stations would interfere with their broadcasts. This claim was never proved.

Jeffery Dvorkin, the ombudsman, reassured us that traditional public radio can serve these needs. Yeah, when can we schedule the local high school basketball game on the NPR station? Public access radio - whether unprofessional or uneven in production quality - is as legitimate a mission as broadcasting All Things Considered to every square mile of Kansas. Who made NPR the arbiter of what people need or want? If some fleabag ten-watter chooses to broadcast a lecture of a local author at the public library, why is this of any concern to you?

Congratulations, NPR: you have met the enemy and he is ...you. We hereby bestow upon your corporation the right dishonorable title of Monopoly. Take your seat next to J.D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, Pierpont Morgan, and Clear Channel Communications.

Cut NPR Loose.

In celebration of National Public Radio Begging Month, I offer the following idea: it's time to terminate federal support for National Public Radio. Not because it's biased and tends to present a lopsided leftist...sorry..."progressive" side to news and news analysis, true as that may be. The reason NPR needs to be pulled from the federal teat is because it isn't really public anymore.

Decades ago, arts and education radio broadcasting was almost exclusively a local affair, with independent radio stations operating through universities, colleges, high schools, and public libraries. Its content was, almost by definition, of local origin. Mostly classical, jazz, and American (i.e. folk) music was programmed, along with taped or live lectures by nearby academics, and a generous dollop of local and state news. It wasn't polished, but it really was public - i.e., local - radio.

Enter NPR, which dreamed of a nationwide network of radio stations to bring light and revelation to the masses. As determined by their impeccable tastes and predilections, of course. NPR needed stations and frequency space to build their empire, and in the late 1970s they lobbied the FCC to have the hundreds of low-power (less than 10mi reception radius) radio stations run by community colleges, high schools, and libraries eliminated from the low end of the FM band.

NPR then increased their geographic coverage and changed the program content of its "anchor" stations, primarily the higher-power noncommercial stations of colleges and universities. The nation-wide coverage was provided by the setting up of scores of small repeater stations, effectively monopolizing the FM band below 92MHz. So your contributions went for "keeping your public radio on the air", and also spreading its gospel to your "neighbors" on the other side of your state. It was also ironic that the small broadcast-footprint stations were merely replaced by a little larger robot repeater stations, bringing a homogeneous product to a region where there was once tremendous diversity.

Changing programming content proved challenging, because if done ham-handedly, it would alienate the stations' contributor base before it could either be swapped out with a more pro-NPR support base, or before the current contributor base could be "reeducated" to be more NPR-friendly. But it was done, successfully, at some of the biggest anchors in the country, including the University of Michigan's WUOM. In a now infamous incident, shortly after the 1996 spring fundraiser in which WUOM asked the public to help 'keep the programming that you love on the air' (my paraphrasing), the station management terminated much of the local on-air hosting and changed its format from a locally produced, fine-arts and education station to NPR current-affairs programming. Donovan Reynolds, WUOM station manager and leader of the station's pro-NPR junta, recently observed (Detroit News, March 14 2005):

"No other FM in Michigan was broadcasting public radio news and information as a format...it was a unique niche that we could fill. We put the new format on in '96 not really knowing how well it might do. But it was the right thing to do because we've been very successful at it. Revenue increased (emphasis added)."

Well, at least one now knew what was important to station management, not surprisingly, the same thing that was important to commercial radio stations - increasing listenership and making more money.

So, what now comprises the P in NPR? Looking at the WUOM schedule, we have the following line-up. I've italicized those programs that are locally produced or have significant local (local defined as statewide and the communities within 50 miles of Ann Arbor) content. I've also designated those programs that are provided by a satellite feed from NPR, or from another national public radio content producer:

• BBC World Service (NPR)
• Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, & All Things Considered (NPR)
• The Connection (NPR)
• Talk of the Nation (NPR)
• Diane Rehm (NPR)
• News and Notes (NPR)
• Marketplace (PRI)
• Day to Day (NPR)
• The Next Big Thing (PRI)
• Stateside (locally produced, statewide content)
• Studio 360 (PRI)
• Car Talk (NPR)
• Fresh Air (NPR)
• all other small-slot programs not mentioned above (NPR or PRI)
• all entertainment programs (PHC, American Routes, etc - NPR or PRI)
• Great Lakes Radio Consortium (regional coverage, only 5 mins Mon-Fri)

There you have it: out of 168 weekly programming hours, the flagship public radio station of the State of Michigan, funded in part by the University of Michigan, has less than one hour of regular programming that can be regarded as devoted to Michigan and local (rarely) communities. In a UM meeting in 1998, concern was raised that more university intellectual and education life should be on WUOM, and station management responded that this could be satisified with less than two dozen programs of university musical events, and a steady supply of UM faculty as commentators for NPR news programs.

This isn't public radio, this is corporate radio, marketing to the "Birkenstock Niche". Just like a classic rock, hip-hop, country, or talk-radio format commercial station, only with the commercials crammed into two weeks of the year, and daily on-air "acknowledgements" of corporate and special-interest underwriters.

I have no problem with such a media corporation existing. Best of luck to them in the free market. But let's not kid ourselves: NPR has clearly added to the homogenizing of the airwaves, just like the "commericial" media entities. And it doesn't need a penny of my taxes. The slice of federal funding is relatively small, but that slice should now be removed entirely. The claim of public participation - not just financial support - in "public radio" has become a canard.

Juggling Swords.

The Senate Republican Leadership is considering the so-called "nuclear option", namely changing the operating rules by which judicial nominees are confirmed (requiring a simple majority confirmation rather than a supermajority).

It's bad idea, for a lot of reasons based on good conservative principles. George Will recently detailed its dangers, and suggested alternate strategies. I've got another strategy the GOP should employ. One thing a Senator covets more than a principle is ...patronage. I wonder how many Democrat Senators would stand their ground on stopping these supposed "retrograde" judges if they had to sacrifice their state's new water projects, post offices, and the like. Take away Robert Byrd's bottomless pit of govenment-supplied asphalt for West Virginia roads...he'll be hands up in favor of these nominees by the end of the day. Let's Play Real Hardball.

Tax Day, 2005.

This Pulitzer Prize cartoon by the late, great, Jeff MacNelly pretty much sums it up. My own irritation for this day was the State of Michigan's 1040 booklet proudly announcing the option for e-filing, only to find their website a listing of other sites at which to e-file...for a fee. So let me understand this...I have the privledge of paying to make the state's tax collection easier? Who knows how much this financially-troubled state could save in paperwork costs if they hired a couple of hotshot programmers to whip together the state's own e-filing service. They withdrew "Tele-Tax" after only a single year, yet it made doing state taxes (admittedly fairly simple) as easy a writing a postcard.

The time has arrived for a profoundly simpler state and federal tax code and tax-filing system. Let's free the enormous amount of money now being consumed in the process of tax payment and collection to instead create new business and grow our state's economy.

The Unliveable Border.

Life for Americans on the southern border is melting down fast. Deadly cars crashes with speeding trucks packed with illegal aliens, gunplay between ranch owners and drug runners, the killing of NPS rangers, backpacks of drugs cached on homeowners' property, and strange "vistors" in the dead of night. The daily crap-shoot of life, courtesy of the United States Government, is being journaled at Desert Views.

Thanks, Jack, for the Memories.

The Bear Bids Farewell to Augusta National

Six green jackets - Jove among Golf Gods. When I was a kid caddying at Pine Lake CC, Mr. Nicklaus was The Man, with crushing drives (using the puny persimmon!), surgical iron play, and ESP: Extra-Sensory Putting. I began as a soldier in Arnie's Army, and crossed lines to join the Clan of the Golden Bear.

This event sends a chilling telegraph to me of the grind of time.

Hagen, Jones, Hogan, Snead, Palmer....Nicklaus!

NPR Priorities.

I woke up early this morning, and while getting ready for work I watched the solemn majesty of the funeral of His Holiness John Paul II. Clearly this was an event for the ages - a huge gathering of the faithful and the world's religious and political leaders. I found funeral coverage across the AM radio dial as well. Clearly this was news. I then thought: NPR must be providing some excellent coverage too; I mean, they're the serious radio network, right? Alas, a quick roll of the tuner over to the local NPR affliate gave me the typical ersatz news of Morning Edition: a seemingly endless piece on a new education program to teach kids to read using comic books...

The Last Saturday in April is approaching...
Posted by RollCast

Vox populi, vox Dei?

Deaddrifts recently noted the remarkable silence of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America on the Terri Schiavo Schindler tragedy; a review by Blogizdat shows how profoundly widespread this silence is among nearly all of the mainstream American Protestant churches.