Entries by Tom Rogers

OK, for starters I'll admit that what with vacation trips, which included a great biker cover band in Illinois, knee surgery, that semi-permanently ended my daydreams of being a running stud, a fried hard drive, that took several hours to replace and reprogram and a dying family dog, that affected me more than I'll ever admit, I've let politics slide for the summer. But like Rip Van Nixon, I've awakened once again to the political scene. Only I'm just not too fond of what my blurry vision beholds and I'm not talking about the issues.

Since the relative nastiness of the two Karl Rove architected presidential political campaigns worked like a charm, that lack of nice is apparently with us for keeps but now both sides play it with elan. McCain is attacked and sniggered at for being old and rich and therefore, establishment. Obama is berated for being young and idealistic and therefore elitist. Both candidates are hounded for gaffs, old statements, new statements and misstatements. The pundits on both sides of the political arguments are hacking bile and infecting absolutely every newspaper, TV news show, blog, and previously friendly interview with name-calling, guilt by association, and more than a little outlandish truth stretching and gross speculation.

It's gotten so bad that even folks who should know better are becoming followers of their favorite commentators, as if they are the first and last word in reasonable thought. Recently the editors of a suburban north side weekly proudly admitted being fans of Ann Coulter if for no better reason than her turning of phrases. Now, among all her spewage, Annie has said some outrageously clever things but like a kid throwing cow pies at the barn siding, it takes a lot of throwing to make anything stick and then no one would confuse the covering with fresh paint. I've read or listened to Ann, along with Michael Moore, Michelle Malkin, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Keith Olbermann. All of them are clever, funny, and even accurate at times. But most times they are all exactly what's wrong with American politics. They are so wrapped up in winning their point for their side or selling their books, projects, and airtime for millions that balance (what Fox News purports) and fairness (what MSNBC tries to sell) or lack of spin (what O'Reilly touts) is totally lost.

Maybe it's the times we live in, but it's getting harder to vote or even discern the issues over the smell of the garbage that passes for political discourse. Maybe we should simply listen to the candidates, make a decision, and vote accordingly. It may not be new, but it certainly would be refreshing.

In the spirit of summer TV rerundancy, I was watching a repeat of The Late Show the other night as Indy's own David Letterman interviewed Paris Hilton. Normally, other than a casual but leering glance at her semi-porn burger commercial, I would pay about as much attention to the Hilton girls as to those inheriting Motel 6, but the interview showed mild promise as Dave bantered about the new and improved celebrity brat.

Paris is nearly the intellectual match for Dave as I am for Stephen Hawking. But after Blondie's giggling through several questions about her current life and plugging her new TV show, Dave turned his attention to her entrepreneural endeavors. Apparently the Hilton fortune has fallen on hard times and impoverished Paris has to put her name to hair extenders and other non-essential items to buy gas and pay the rent.
Continue reading "Paris, when she's sober"

There are a lot of jokes making the rounds this presidential season. From pantsuits on Hillary to Depends on McCain, the comedy writers have been busy as usual yuking it up at the expense of the competitors...except for a notable lack of material on Barack Obama.

Oh sure, there have been jokes about Obama's pastor and the live-chicken-eating craziness surrounding statements made by Jeremiah Wright while Barack was a member of the flock. Those jokes may truly hurt Obama as Wright is or was a friend and represented Barack's strong faith. But compared to the up close and personal attack gags made on the other two including those regarding Hillary's looks, inferring a less (or more) than feminine mystique, and McCain's age, inferring the prospect of oncoming dementia, jokes dissing Obama are about as close to personal as another zip code.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure that somewhere, where the Klan is still the secret society of choice or the Aryans hold car wash fund raisers, there are sick and nasty jokes involving Barack's ethnicity and his Middle East middle name making the rounds. But back here in polite society, it seems totally acceptable to make fun of Hillary's "look" which is hardly out of the mainstream for her age group and McCain's codgerism which not only hasn't been demonstrated but seems to be automatically and generously applied to anyone old enough to collect Social Security. The only thing Barack has been mildly kidded about is his bowling ball's affinity for the gutter. This hardly makes him less of a man, athlete, or anything but a non-entity on the professional bowlers tour.

Recently, when his Barack jab drew silence on the Daily Show, John Stewart remarked to his audience that it really was OK to make fun of Barack Obama. With anyone else, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Whig, Green, or Commie, he hasn't had to pause to make that statement.

It's not that Barack is so good that his persona, personality, and presence are above reproach and pointed humor. Looking at it obtusely, it may simply be another example of the distance we have to go in this country before persons of color are fully accepted by the rest of us, uh, persons of non-color. We may like him, respect him, and vote for him but damned if we'll like him enough or feel comfortable enough with the fact of him to make fun of him. In that way, we continue to hold Barack and other African, Asian, and Hispanic Americans at arms length. As the saying around the old fraternity house went, "if you can't rip on a brother, who can you rip on?" Hopefully, some day we'll be close enough to do so.

I know, I know. You think you're about to hear more totally unfair, biased, loony left wing liberal bashing of Bush. Well OK, maybe, but the truth is that as the second and last term of George W. "Quincy" Bush winds down, I've been thinking that all the top contenders for worst President of the United States, Democrat, Republican or Whig, can rest easy. Seriously, I've been trying to think if any of our former Chief Executives ever sank to the level of W's low water mark and indelibly staining bathtub ring.

You're right. It's certainly not fair to judge our current President before his term ends or before he is judged by the sands of time. It's just that it's fun to wonder if thirty more years of scrutiny will really make any difference. Thirty-four years later, Nixon is still a crook though admittedly the botched second-rate burglary and Tricky Dick's paranoia seem somewhat quaint and inconsequential compared to the lists of transgressions and psychological challenges logged by some of today's politicians. And Nixon's accomplishments in foreign and domestic policy were and are notable if not far-reaching. Hey, look 'em up.

But what has George done that basks in a positive light or even a dim bulb? Try to name one successful program, positive initiative, good speech, or even a memorable sentence. Hard huh? Looking back and grasping for any low echelon comparison in recent history, Jimmy Carter was not a particularly strong President. Gasoline was expensive and sometimes hard to get, the economy was down, inflation was up and Iran thumbed its nose or flashed other, more expletive digits in our country's direction. But compared to Bush, Jimmy Grits looked like the world's statesman and domestic guru as he worked to get Israel and Egypt together and at least tried to help Americans in tough times. And that conclusion can be drawn before counting the recent starting of a war that is widely accepted by liberal and conservative alike as unnecessary at best and horribly catastrophic and humanly and monetarily wasteful at worst. W may never have slept around but the religious right must be yearning to trade W for a more randy President that also might occasionally get on base in any game by getting a hit or at least getting beaned by a wild pitch.

So as we see the last months of President George W. Bush enter the history books, somewhere Andrew Johnson and Warren G. Harding must be high-fiving. They're out of the cellar.

I'll admit that I had never heard of Eric Turner. I didn't know that he was the Assistant Republican Leader in the Indiana House of Representatives. I didn't even know that this powerful and apparently much coveted position existed. Now that I do know all this, I'm much happier to send a chunk of my income to support Eric's essential work in looking out for my marriage. Continue reading "The sanctity of "icky""

About a week ago I completed the mini-marathon, my fourth in as many years. I would brag much more but I'm only now able to type without some part of my body screaming and I'm still icing a knee. For those of us who simply point to the mere survival of the 13.1 mile trek as their major athletic success for the year, it's more maxi than mini. The Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini Marathon participated in by the serious and the silly is a study in human nature, bravado, guilt, perseverance and sadomasochism. It's also a hoot.

The only slight downer besides the pain experienced by the grossly under-prepared comes at the beginning. From my vantage point towards the rear of seeded starting corral ZZZ it takes longer for me to walk up to the starting line than it does the front runners to make it to the Speedway oval and the half-way point. As the excited announcer talks about the leaders rounding Tony's place, I adjust my various braces, my shoes, and my boys, and punch my Timex. At my breakneck pace, I could have started the night before and still not beaten the Kenyans.

But the sardine-in-waiting start is well worth it. The great part about the Mini is all the absolutely wonderful and crazy volunteers including a couple of guys named Mitch and Greg and a host of local residents who tirelessly hand out water, Gatorade, encouragement, live music and entertainment to the self-inflicted sufferers. The path leaves downtown and then snakes out to the middle class neighborhoods, factories, and small businesses adjoining the Motor Speedway and then makes the return trip to the high-rises.

But towards the end of the journey is my personal favorite other than the jog to the finish line: the Hi Neighbor Tavern on west 10th. Every year that I've passed this liquor landmark, the friendly bikers and biker babes, cheerful wannabees and dazed bar flies have belted out cheers and handed out adult liquid encouragement as the parade passes. This year I ambled past, deferring a brewski till later, listening to the strains of "You don't have to call me Darlin', Darlin'". As always, the Hi Neighbor delivers a smile. Time for another bag of ice and to re-up for next year.

After taking a hiatus from this is our country and vacationing down at the Gulf of Mexico, I returned to my little pink house and found that nothing has changed in my small town.

In politics, Barack and the Hill are still parry and the thrust; both getting melodic support from John Melancamp who has perplexingly decided that while his own John Edwards faltered, any Democrat is now more deserving of JC's words and music than any Republican. I'm guessing Cougar is stalking a ticket to the inaugural ball and thinks the old goat will be thinned from the herd. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, John McCain was trying to swim away from the Bush Administration while clinging like a drowning man to the voters who put the Bush Administration in office. Barrack used the wrong words, just like his pastor, but the Wright sentiment to describe some of us in the fly-over states as bitter when what he meant was that all politics is kitchen related as prices and wars turn sour resulting in a halt to the sweetening of the lives of our fellow men. Hill didn't duck much sniper fire until the campaign started but managed a shot and a beer on the way to looking second-and-twenty-first-amendment presidential.

In political religion, Ben Stein has a new Michael Moore film out this week. It's called Expelled and involves the stifling of thought when it comes to divining what started it all. I'm still trying to prescribe Sicko to my neighbors but plan to make a pilgrimage to Ben's Expelled because if health care fails to evolve we'll all need more intelligent design. Meanwhile, the Pope flowed and ebbed and showed some atonement for some of his clerical mistakes. This Holy See can probably be given a tip of the miter for acknowledging what his papal precursors turned a blind eye to.

Finally, in sex, Bill O'Reilly is shocked to find that Disney Ray Cyrus is a real, error prone teenager flashing her stomach on YouTubeTop and her back on Vain Fare. Bill, the culture worrier, is someone to keep your eye factor on. So too is Keith Olbermann, who excitedly counts strikes down to the election as he counts up the number of errors since mission accomplished.

The point is to sit in a different seat every time you go to class. Without changing your perspective, all this starts to make sense.

Time for another vacation...

Just in case Hillary and Barack are perusing the NUVO blogs as they campaign in Indiana...can you two and your respective spouses, offspring, ministers and staffs PLEASE get over this petty sniping, cheap shot politicizing, and whiney complaining? I'm so fed up I'm ready for "Screamer" Dean to pull this campaign over and make the pair of you sit all alone and rewatch Bush's Iraq 5th Anniversary Pentagon speech followed by Cheney's interview comparing his administration to Lincoln's. Keep your eye on the ball already! Continue reading "Sibling rivalry 'twixt non-siblings"

"She is a monster, too - that is off the record - she is stooping to anything." - Samantha Power, advisor, before resigning from the Obama campaign.

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." - Geraldine Ferraro, advisor, before resigning from the Clinton campaign.

"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either," - Trent Lott before resigning his position as the Republican leader in the Senate.

And now Barack Obama's twenty year minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who not only married the Obamas but baptized the kids has blamed US foreign and domestic policy for the 911 attacks and other atrocities. The minister has since retired. But how does Obama respond?
Continue reading "Learning to tiptoe"

Interestingly, in the same week that a profile of Pete Seeger aired locally, William F. Buckley Jr. died. Interesting, since both men were featured at times by the very same and sometimes vilified Public Broadcasting System. It is a wonder and credit to the American experiment that there could have been any two men of the same era who stood at completely opposite ends of the political and social spectrum and yet whose different means and messages were able to speak so clearly to and affect millions in the generations that followed. Continue reading "On the passing of Bill Buckley and the ongoing life of Pete Seeger"

I have a degree in mathematics. Ok, this is not a great pick-up line at parties. Admitting to having studied math with some success is in a parallel universe to wearing a really "excellent" HP scientific programmable graphing calculator on my Spiderman belt, a memory stick lanyard around the collar of my printer ink-stained Rube Goldberg shirt and actually admitting getting the inside jokes of "Big Bang Theory" on TV. But I can sheepishly stick one foot out of the closet because Danica McKellar of "The Wonder Years" has a math degree too. Of course "Winnie" wrote a groundbreaking proof of a theorem, "Percolation and Gibbs states multiplicity for ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller models on Z2", I can't even begin to understand; penned a book, "Math Doesn't Suck", I probably won't read, and recently showcased talent other than her Maxim, full-color total hotness on TV shows I didn't see. But just the same, she's pretty cool. Continue reading "Will reform make math suck less?"

There seems to be an awful lot of hate around these days as the country becomes more and more politically polarized. For some time now, the right has hated Bill Clinton, for being "Slick Willy" and lying about all that sex. The left has hated George W. Bush for the pre-emptive War in Iraq and the extreme right apparently hates just about everybody including John McCain for simply making nice with Democratic types. Evangelicals seem to hate Hillary Clinton and the Bill O'Reilly nemeses, secular progressives, seem to hate Mike Huckabee. I haven't seen much revulsion aimed at Barack Obama...but it's early yet. Continue reading "Fun with Hate"

Among the conservative positions including ones regarding guns, abortion, gay rights, spending, the war on terror, and business regulation, the one I currently find the most confusing and least defensive is the right's seemingly total distaste for universal health care. Some staunch conservative needs to explain this stand to me speaking very slowly and using lots of charts and hand gestures so even I can understand it. Continue reading "So...why not universal health care?"

I'm desperately trying to remain open-minded about the upcoming election. In this glorious quest I keep track of several different major and minor network and cable shows, pundits and print jockeys including Hardball, Countdown, the O'Reilly Factor, Hannity and Colmes, George Will, Michelle Malkin, John Carpenter, Steve Hammer, and of course, John Stewart and Steven Colbert, and try to hit both sides of the political spectrum. This even includes Michael Moore and Ann Coulter. (Synopsis and summary: He's funnier; she's better looking.)

Bill O'Reilly constantly rants against the corrupt mainstream media, its accused liberal bias, and the not-so-covert cheering for Barrack Obama and while I don't normally agree with Mr. Opportunism, I also follow the words of the Godfather and try to "keep your friends close but your enemies closer".

On Sunday night, I watched 60 Minutes on CBS since I had heard that both Clinton and Obama would be interviewed. As the race on the Democratic side is a dead heat, I hoped to see them both in a level, if not a tough-questioning, environ. Can't hurt to hope.

Steve Kroft led off with Obama. It wasn't anything new but did have some policy questions and at least one decent query as to the fundamental difference between the boyish Barack and the battle-hardened Hillary. There was a fluffy question about down time to which Barack added to March Madness by saying that he played pick-up roundball every day to release the tension and keep in shape. The question was short and upbeat and so too, the answer. Not a bad interview. Obama handled himself well and Kroft looked professional if not Mike Wallace-like.

Next Katie Couric sat with Hillary Clinton. The tone of the interview was immediately and whinily different. Katie asked if Hillary had any doubts that she would win the nomination. Hillary replied that she was sure of victory. Katie re-asked the same question throwing in something about the slightest of doubt. Hillary again replied in the positive of her campaign. Katie thirdly asked if Hillary had even a little bit of doubt in her deepest thoughts. At this point I'd had it and screamed "Dammit Katie, asked and answered already! Geez, get on with it!" Katie then turned to hard hitting questions such as since the campaign is so long and tiring, how do you possibly do it (at your age)? Apparently Katie was hoping Hillary would agree that it was tough to be a candidate who was also a woman and start crying. Instead the conversation focused on diet drinks and water that keep Hillary hydrated and going all day and then Katie asked the burning question of whether Bill would be helping with any decisions at all during her presidency, as if the former President, with all his good-and-bad experience, would ever be asked to do anything more in-depth than choosing the pattern for the White House china...or thinking up duties for interns. I'm sure there must have been some good questions asked sometime during the interview but I at this point, I wouldn't have noticed if both women had been naked.

On commercial, I suddenly remembered Bill O'Reilly and his assertion that the major networks were all really pulling for Obama. This was just one small example, CBS, and one show, 60 Minutes, but in this segment it seemed like the cards were indeed stacked in favor of the Senator from Illinois. Dang, I hate it when O'Reilly's credible. It's like finding out that 2 + 2 is occasionally 5.