Give a kid the gift of fresh air

When I was really young, the area that I grew up in was semi-rural. Farmland was less than a mile away. As the neighborhood grew, so did suburbia and farmland turned into highway. By the time I was seven, the farm was gone, replaced by an exit ramp. The pond was asphalt.

But I was lucky. Every Sunday I got to travel a whole 14 miles to visit a real farm. An this place was really out in the country. Cows. Horses. Goats. A lake with bass, trout, and an occasional snake.

Tall hardwoods like Oaks, stand alone Maples, and pine trees as far a you could see. The smell of pine on an early fall afternoon is the smell of fresh air.

I saw a calf being born. Saw it try to stand. Same thing with a colt.

And, I milked cows too. Just once. Only for a sec.

I caught frogs. Green frogs. Leopard frogs. And one big 'ol bullfrog.

I drove a tractor before I drove a car.

I was a lucky kid because I got to experience things that most other kids could only dream of. Part suburban kid. Part Huck Finn.

That's why I'm so enamored with the fact that the company I'm working for, Abraham Harrison is helping the Fresh Air Fund offer inner city kids from New York City to experience the same type of things I was able to experience so long ago.

But there's a hitch. Right now there's 200 kids who are registered to be in the program who don't have selected host families quite yet. They're especially in need of families who would be willing to extend an invitation to a 9-12 year old. And they really need more families who want older children and boys.

These kids need a break. They need to see beyond their own relatively small worlds. Sometimes a world defined by anything but fresh air.

So, if you want to get involved, or learn more, please email Angie at angie@freshair.org. Or youcan call 1 - (800) 367-0003 and ask for her.

A note on the Fresh Air Fund. It's an independent, not-for-profit agency, that'ss provided free summer vacations to more than 1.7 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877.

Nearly 10,000 New York City children take part in free Fresh Air Fund programs annually. In 2007, close to 5,000 children visited volunteer host families in suburbs and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada. 3,000 children also attended five Fresh Air camps on a 2,300-acre site in Fishkill, New York. The Fund’s year-round camping program serves an additional 2,000 young people each year.

Prejudiciously Manufacturing Bigotry

It seems NBC is now on a mission to locate anti-Islamic bias in America.

No doubt it exists. And I'm sure it's increasing. Any type of bigotry is wrong and the vast majority of Muslims living here in America have nothing to do with terrorism, al Queda, or 9/11.

Still, I'm concerned over a planned series on NBC's Dateline. Apparently, to show how Muslims suffer from prejudice, they are placing Arab and Muslim volunteers at places like NASCAR races. Since this is a planned story - it doesn't follow a specific incident - it, to me, shows how much of mainstream media views certain segments of the American public. IN this case, fans of NASCAR.

I have no problem with putting hidden mikes on people and letting them go do their thing and wait for a reaction. But to choose certain settings, based on preconceived perceptions, shows a prejudicial mindset. I doubt they'll go to Berkeley or cocktail parties on the Upper West Side.

It turned out it was without incident. NBC was wrong about its assumption.

Bush, Scooter, leaks and the legitimacy of the news media

For about two years now, we've heard about the leak of classified inforomation regarding the 'outing' of former US ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame. If you remember, the Bush administration had said, in making it's case for building up for war, that Iraq was seeking to buy yellowcake uranium from a country in west Africa, which turned out to be Niger. At the behest of the CIA, Wilson - who had been recommended to be selected to go by his wife who was a CIA employee that was 'classifed'. While in Niger, Wilson found absolutely no evidence that of any type of transaction was had taken, was taking would would take place. He reported back his findings to the CIA and thought that was it.

But the Bush administartion, in its push for war, still used that story to make it case. It was obvious to Wilson that the evidence was being twisted, so he wrote an op ed piece. http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm

Suddenly, Valerie Plame's name was appearing in columns written by conservative commentators. (Ironcially it first appeared in a piece written by Robert Novak, a conservative columnist who happens to be against the war.)

This is a leak of classified information. The administration denied any wrong doing and the president himself said he'd remove anyone from his administration who was a leaker.

Looks like now, he personally authorized the leak. And hi administation is now saying it was no big deal. It wasn't a matter of national security. But wait -

When the leak occurred, many intelligence officials were horrified, saying divulging an undercover officer could put the officer's contacts and former contacts in a threatening and potentially deadly position.

And it also is a helluva way to thank a long serving person who reprented his country and volunteered to make this important trip.

Here's the problem though...this isn't just Bush. It's also the media. Now leaks happen all the time. It's part of Washington to advance policy agendas. But this is more than that.

it was used to help justify the start of a war, not get a bill passed
it was to push forward what may have been a lie as opposed to a miscalculation to start that war
it was 'personal' - done to hurt an individiual and not about policy
it was revenge - not a generic discrediting of someone, but one that could cause danger
it was done against two individuals who had been serving their country
it was followed by denials and denials
it was done in cahoots with the media
I'll say it: to me this story is huge. Absolutely huge. OK, a bit nebulous, but it shows how much the White House will go - using official gov't information - to discredit critics of the war.

Now that last bullet point is important. It's important because the media understandably (and justifyably) sees leaks as being an integral part of their profession. But the depth of the nature of this leak, and considering those seven bullet points I just listed leads to an obvious question...

Will the media that will now be covering this story concentrate on the reasons behind the leak (to help justify the start of a war), the content of the leak itself (revealing a undercover official of the CIA), and the reasons for the leak (to get personal revenge by discrediting someone)...or will they lay off a bit because 1) the media as a whole is somewhat culpable in this sordid affair and 2) they don't want the concept of getting "off the record" leaks to be sullied too much because that's the way they do business?

In other words will the media be more interested in defending the concept of getting leaks from which to report than investigating what could be a very serious crime - the content of the leaks? Will the media want to expose themselves as being 'used' to disseminate what may be lies that were used as justifications to start a war? Or will they now try to minimize the whole thing so as not to expose their role?

What do you think?

Bob Woodruff and the attitude of Maureen Dowd

I woke up this morning, poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down to read my Sunday Washington Post. The Style section had a big feature on the two new telegenic young anchors that ABC had selected to replace the late Peter Jennings, Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff. Good article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/28/AR2006012801187.html

I then hopped online to check my email and noticed the headline ABC's Woodruff serioulsy hurt in Iraq. You've probably have already heard that Woodruff and his colleague, cameraman Doug Vogt were riding along in a humvee when the vehicle hit a IED (improvised explosive device), shattering the vehicle and causing shrapenel wounds to the head of both men. An Iraqi soldier was also hurt in the blast. Woodruff and Vogt are in serious condition and it said that the next few days will be critical regarding their outcome.

Woodrull is barely a month into his stint as co-anchor with Vargas. He's 44, married with four children. Trained as an attorney, he decided that the like reporing better, so he switched careers, began in a small market and worked his way to Washington.

I then began to remember a piece I read by the New York Times Maureen Dowd. She decided that ABC wasn't quite ready yet to have a woman anchor by herself, so she wrote "ABC teamed Ms. Vargas with the pretty-boy android Bob Woodruff." That was last December, long before the recent tragic events.

The NY Times now has something called "Times Select" in which it want people to fork over money to read articles form its columnists. So I Googled "Bob Woodruff", "Maureen Dowd", and "android". Here one place I found the article.

http://fbihop.blogspot.com/2005/12/maureen-dowd-can-mommy-know-best.html

Back to the point. Pretty-boy android Bob Woodruff.

That's a sexist derogatory remark. I know that many do not see that anti-male remarks such as this as being sexist, but that's exactly what it is. OK, Woodruff is a good looking guy. I'll also add that Vargas is a very attractive woman. For that matter, I'll also add that Dowd is quite attractive herself.




Isn't she beautiful?

But that android Bob, who worked his way to the top is now lying in a hospital in Ramad, Iraq. God knows how extensive his injuries are. We don't know yet what type of life he will lead, if he'll ever be able to maintain his career in journalism.

But we do know that Dowd has written a book "Are Men Necessary?". Apparently it's about the difficulties that high-powered women have getting dates in Washington. In interviews I've seen her give right after the book was released, she always assured the interviewer that she, of course, had no problem getting dates. But are men necessary? To me Maureen, yes we are. Very much so, thank you. Just like women are.

I say that before the likes of Maureen Dowd judge the professionalism of the likes of Bob Woodruff, Ms. Dowd should take leave of the salons of Georgetown and get her butt in a humvee and roam the streets of a insurgency hotbed area in Iraq.

I'd call Maureen a bimbo, but that would be sexist. So I'll just call her an self-absorbed idiot.

And let's all pray for Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt.

You've Got to Be Kidding:

Dad: Clooney made Abramoff daughter cry

OK, I can understand how a father can get riled up and protect his son and feel for is granddaughter...and I can understand how a daughter could be hurt about all the bad things being said about her dad. But had grampa stopped to think what his beloved son did to his clients, to the concept of clean government, to all of us? Frank Abramoff, the son you raised, Jack, is one materialistic jackoff.

And you're granddaughter is now only at the earliest stages of her suffering. Thanks to her dad.

Losiing Their Hearts and Minds and Our Souls

Losing Hearts and Minds
I woke up this morning to the main headline in my Washington Post saying "U.S. Strike On Al Queda Top Deputy Said to Fail". I thought, damn. We missed getting that terrorist zealot Ayman Zawahiri. I had briefly heard of the incident the night before while I was watching the football playoffs.

Then I read a bit more and I was horrified. We had not only missed our target, but we had killed seventeen innocent people, including 6 children.

I then thought a bit more...

We're not at war with Pakistan. This was not Afghanistan before the fall of the Taliban. In other words, the seventeen were not unfortunate collateral damage of a specific war.

The location that we hit was not a terrorist camp or a cave hideout, but a Pakistani village. Yes, there are many villages and villagers that are very sympathetic to al Queda and its goals. But this was a village - again, in a country that we are not at war with - and a village that had families, that had chldren, or for that matter full fledged adults that could not in anyway defend themselves from an incoming US missle.

It was also reported that tens of thousands of Pakistanis stageda an angry anti-American protest, shouting "Death to America!" and "Death to Musharraf!" Would we not feel differently in this country?

While it didn't ignore the tragedy, the article seemed to concentrate more on the missed opportunity of killing Zawahiri and the geo-political fallout from the deaths of innoents. The reporters seem to have compiled this article from Kabul, a couple of hundred miles away in Afghanistan.

The only thing I can say in defense of what happened is that apparently the Pakistani intelligence services helped us out in this effort - a sign that we're not just bombing indiscriminately.

But I can't help but think how actions like this wil win over the 'moderate Muslims'.

This is a story that will likely be soon forgotten about by the American media and of course, the American people, as we soon turn to what happened to the next missing attractive woman or we wonder who will capture our collective hearts and be our next "American Idol".

The AFA vs. Ford

The American Family Association is once again threatening the Ford Motor Company fo a boycott of dealerships if Ford continues to advertise in certain gay-oriented publicatons. This is disgusting.

Ford is selling cars, not aligning itself with political issues. The extent of the closemindness of the AFA and the potential political power of the AFA is unsettling.

Instead of concentrating on where a major company places a partiular ad for a car, why doesn't the AFA concentrate on, say, helping the poor?

I'm Trying

Well, I've obviously dropped the ball here. It's been three months since I last posted. I've started a professional blog, www.digitalstreetjournal.com.

Connor is excited for Christmas.