Memorial Day 2011

The handsome young man on the left is my dad, Bill Morrissey; the handsome young man on the right is Toni's dad, Mario Zarantonello. They both served in the big war. Dad served in Europe and in the Army of Occupation in Japan; Mario served in the Pacific. Dad was Army combat infantry, and Mario crewed on a B-29 in the Army Air Force. Both made it back home alive to start their own businesses and be successful family men.

In November, on Veteran's Day, I'm going to write a long post about their service.

But today is dedicated to the memory of the many men and women my dad and Mario served with who didn't make it back alive; and the many other soldiers, sailors, and marines who paid the ultimate price.

It seems a lot of people these days think Memorial Day and Veteran's Day are interchangeable or are the same thing. The distinction between the two holidays has been blurred by, among other things, a generation of broadcasters who don't know the difference and haven't been corrected.

They think today is a day set aside to honor all men and women in uniform, and not to specifically honor those who were killed in battle.

That's OK, I guess. I have no problem with anyone who takes time to honor those who serve their nation in the military for any reason.

Folks my age...and I turn 62 tomorrow....remember the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day because when we were kids, Memorial Day was called "Decoration Day", and it meant going to the cemetery to decorate the graves of soldiers who'd given their lives for their nation.

We knew the difference between a parade and a procession, another distinction which has been sort of lost in the shuffle.

You'll seldom hear folks my age say "Happy Memorial Day" because there's not much that's happy about observing the death of so many people - and, let's face it, mainly young people - who lost their lives in the line of duty.

Ours is the only house in our neighborhood that has the flag flying on this beautiful day. Not too many years ago, there would have been a lot more flags flying.

To those who gave their lives in the line of duty, thank you; rest in peace.

Not A Sufferer Of Fools

The picture above, which is copyright Television Wisconsin Inc., shows Hizzoner being sworn in – again – as Mayor of the city he loves. Of all the pictures I could have selected of my long-time friend, I chose this one, because it reminds me that Paul Soglin has strong opinions and does not suffer fools gladly. Many of you will recall that as the young lady was swearing in Paul at a meeting of the City Council, she flubbed one of the lines – and Paul corrected her, after making one of his trademark faces when she blew it.

Now, Council members and the public prints seem shocked that Soglin has spoken so bluntly about the fate of the Overture Center, and there’s plenty of fake outrage going around about it. Soglin told the Capital Times he expected the Overture Center’s latest bailout plan to “crash and burn”, and that he’d be left to pick up the pieces; then the State Journal editorialized that hizzoner was being too blunt and too negative.

And you expected…..?

Speaking his mind is one thing Paul has never had a problem with, and I know from having interviewed him on-the-air scores of times that if you ask a question Paul thinks is stoopid, he’ll let you know about it right away. 20-some years ago, when my wife (before she was my wife) and I were doing “Madison’s Morning News”, we had Soglin on the show to discuss some hot topic, and Toni asked him a question he didn’t like. (Let the record show that she threw the hardballs on that show – bless her Journalistic heart – while my contributions were usually along the lines of failed or veiled humor.) Soglin sputtered and snorted and said “that question does not advance the debate on this issue one iota”, or words to that effect.

Paul doesn’t pull his punches.

So when his predecessor appointed Paul to a commission to study the continually faltering finances of the Overture Center, Paul did it like he does everything: all in, or not at all. He made a detailed study and enunciated publicly the problems nobody wanted to talk about, and uncovered other critical bits of information that nobody had thought to look for. The sort of stuff that makes the arts mavens and politicians very nervous. Plain talk.

So, if Paul says the Overture Center’s latest bailout plan is going to crash and burn, and he hopes it doesn’t take the whole city financial structure down, and that he’ll be left to pick up the pieces, he’s not hyperbolizing. He’s telling it like he sees it. Yes, it’s blunt. Yes, it’s hard to take. There’s no sugar coating.

But I’d expect no less from Paul. And we’re owed no less, particularly when it comes to the Overture Center’s future.

Social Engineering?

That’s something the Democrats do all the time, right? From the very top, President Obama, trying to force European-style Socialism onto us, to the lowest ward-heeler in Madison, trying to drum up support for still another lefty candidate for some office or another to foist their liberal agenda on us.

The folks on the other side of the aisle, well, they’re too busy trying to balance the budget and create more jobs to have time to do any social engineering.

Except for school vouchers, so well-to-do folks get a little help in sending their kid to a private school.

And passing that Voter ID bill, which has nothing to do with social engineering and has everything to do about….well, I’m not sure what the voter ID law is designed to do.

Making sure that open-pit mine up north in the trout streams gets fast-tracked, to create all those jobs – that’s not social engineering. That’s jobs, baby: j-o-b-s.

Oh yes, and passing that law that will force Wisconsin cops to hold anybody who can’t prove they’re an American citizen or here in the U.S. lawfully….that’s not social engineering.

Privatizing huge swaths of government? Commerce? DNR? No social engineering there. Privatizing BadgerCare? Trying to dump SeniorCare? What’s social about that stuff? Damn, that Tommy Thompson was a socialist governor.

Locking down the Capitol building? Has everything to do with security and nothing to do with social engineering. And it keeps those smelly hippies outta the people’s haus.

And for God’s sake, can’t we once and for all make abortion a crime in this state? After all the work that nice Julaine Appling and that nice lady she shares a house with have tried to do to keep marriage safe for straight folks like Randy Hopper, can’t we at minimum go back to the days when it used to be difficult to get an abortion in Wisconsin?

Guns. Lots of guns. Guns for everyone. Guns everywhere. This has nothing to do with social engineering and everything to do with honoring the intent of our founding fathers and the framers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Some of those amendments are really good!

Politics is just like herding sheep. You have to guide people to help them feel the right way about things.

RoJo Speaks!

Our other U.S. Senator has been heard from! Ron Johnson appeared this morning on the Faux News Channel, to inform the anchors and anchorette that he’s been observing Washington D.C. from the inside for nearly five months now, and has concluded that “Washington is broken.”

Kudos to the Freshman Senator for using the appropriate “broken”, and not “broke.”

I don’t consume a great deal of political news, and I don’t spend a lot of time watching the Faux folks, but they’re in my regular morning scan of channels, and RoJo happened to be on when I stopped at DishNet channel 205. I didn’t stay around long enough to find out what the President has done in the past 24 hours that’s bad…something you can rely on Faux to provide every day….but I’ve got a nickel that says they ridiculed him for drinking Guinness in Ireland while Joplin was picking up the pieces.

While I’m scanning the TV band and slurping coffee, my wife is reading the morning paper, and most of the time when she hears the Faux people, she sighs audibly from behind the paper. She is a journalist to the core, and still can’t understand why I would spend any time watching Faux News. I’ve told her that I’d rather watch Gretchen Carlson bash the President – or do any other story – than to hear Ali Veshi prattle on, on CNN.

But I digress.

RoJo fielded softball question after softball question from Steve Doocy (who some months ago called CNN the “Communist News Network”) and then Steve hit RoJo up with a hard slider – if Paul Ryan’s proposed budget were to make it to the Senate as-is, would he vote for it? This is the kind of yes/no question most politicians are adept at dodging. But RoJo didn’t miss a beat and answered in the affirmative.

It’s the first time I’ve seen RoJo on TV since he was elected.

It was enough to hold me for another six months.

77 Square Miles....

I got an e-mail from a friend in the Fox Valley with a link to a story in the Wisconsin State Journal about Madison School Board member Ed Hughes’ harebrained idea to spend ONE MILLION taxpayer dollars to “bonus” the teachers, as a way to show appreciation for their work. Hughes abandoned the idea late yesterday, but the stench lingers.

The subject line of the e-mail said “Is This For Real?”

Back in February, 17 hundred of the district’s four thousand Madison teachers shut down the district for four days to protest at the Capitol. They got their pay docked to the tune of a million bucks. Hughes wants to spend the “savings” to give each of the four thousand teachers a $200 Buy Dane gift card and $60 to cover the taxes on the gift.

Never mind that the school board is going to have to increase property taxes AGAIN.

Never mind that the school board is constantly telling us it’s harder every year to deliver quality education because of fiscal restraints.

Never mind that the four thousand teachers were essentially given amnesty for their unlawful job action in February. The only consequence was their loss of pay for the four days.

Never mind the massive inconvenience their activity, justified or not, caused the owners of the school district. (That’s right, the OWNERS, not the “customers”, as one former Madison school superintendent with a heavy Arkansas accent used to call us.)

Whether you believe the teachers’ activism was justified or not, can you see how the rest of Wisconsin views the sort of foolishness that Hughes is suggesting? How it adds more grist to the mill for the Madison-bashers who use “Madison” as a synonym for anything wacky?

This kind of rogue grandstanding taints the efforts and reputations of other school board members, who are grounded in reality and are hard-working public servants fighting a constant battle for money and resources. (Board Member Lucy Mathiak called Hughes’ scheme “goofy”.)

And you wonder why they say Madison is 77 square miles, surrounded by reality.

(The image at the top of this post is copyright Madison Newspapers Inc.)

Gettin' Old

I don’t know very much at all about Lady Gaga, except, of course, that she’s famous for being famous. My wife said “I wouldn’t know her if I walked by her on the street.” Forbes Magazine, famous for making lists of things, says Gaga is the most powerful celebrity on the planet.

Really?

Oprah could buy and sell Lady Gaga a hundred times over, but apparently Gaga has more Facebook fans and Twitter followers, which makes her more “powerful” under the Forbes metric. Oprah, by the way, was supplanted at the top of the list by Gaga, and Oprah is now #2.

That Bieber boy is #3, and if you haven’t seen him in the past year, welcome back from your extended imprisonment in some Arab nation. The rockers U-2 are #4 and Sir Reginald Dwight, a/k/a and d/b/a Elton John, is #5.

There are few people of any substance whatsoever, save for Oprah, on the list. The names are those of the court-jesters, jocks, and singers so many people go gaga over. Tiger Woods is #6 and LeBron James is #10, representing two of the most shallow and self-absorbed personalities you could encounter. A couple good movie-makers (James Cameron and Jerry Bruckheimer) are below the middle of the pack, and author Steven King is #79.

Of the whole mess of them, Steven King is probably the only one I’d enjoy meeting, and he’s the only author on the list. Johnny Depp would be fun, I’m sure, at a cocktail party. Blowhards Limbaugh and Boeck are on the list, of course, but no other left- or right-wing shouters.

Reese Witherspoon, a Stanford dropout, is probably as smart as anybody on the list, and I think she’d light up a cocktail party, too. Mark Wahlberg is on the list, and I’m sure my wife would LOVE to have a drink or two with him.

But this Gaga girl is the most powerful? Lord, I’m getting old.

At least the Kardashian girls didn’t make it. And Britney Spears didn't, either.

The Rush to Dump Right-Wing Radio Shouters

Within the past few weeks, Glenn Boeck has lost his home in several of the nation’s largest radio markets, including New York City. He was pulled from a Madison station a couple months ago, but the reason was different. More on that, later.

As any broadcaster will tell you, shows like Boeck’s live and die on ratings, and Boeck is dying. His tiresome schtick no longer amuses the masses. The other headline in this story is the waning audience for Rush Limbaugh, which has been the top-rated radio national radio program since 1991, but that’s changing.

Why?

A new way of measuring audience, called the portable people meter (PPM). It’s from Arbitron, the broadcast ratings company. The way radio (and TV) audiences were measured for decades was by people keeping “diaries” of their viewing or listening habits. So, it was really a memory test, and a popularity test. It’s why radio stations say their call letters about 15 times every hour. You need to remember what you’re listening to, to write it down. But around the turn of the century, a far more reliable way of measuring radio listening was devised, and it is in some ways similar to the way TV viewing is now measured: using a device attached to your TV that records which station you’re actually watching.

The PPM is a device about the size of a pager, and it “hears” which radio station you’re listening to and records the information. Not every radio market is measured that way – yet – but slowly Arbitron is putting portable people meters in every radio market. Madison will be a PPM market soon. The bigger the market, the sooner the PPM arrives. And what the PPM is telling radio stations and advertisers is that Boeck is failing badly. And Rush is nowhere near as popular as had been thought.

It’s heinously easy to “game” the system of dairy-keeping; people tend to write down stations and programs they don’t actually listen to. But the PPM can’t be gamed like that. It simply keeps track of the radio station you’re actually listening to, wherever you are.

Boeck has lost his gig in some really big radio markets in the past few weeks, because PPM data shows people simply aren’t tuning him in, and, in the radio biz, that means you’re gone. Stations that carry Rush Limbaugh are having their eyes opened in the PPM markets, discovering there’s a huge difference between “diary” reports and PPM data. Dairy-keepers apparently were reporting listening to Rush when they actually weren’t. Practically, what this means for radio stations that carry Rush in PPM markets, is that they can’t charge as much for ads in Rush’s show, because they’re delivering a smaller audience.

It’s not the “death of right-wing radio”, as some are saying. But as the PPM moves into more and more radio markets, we’re discovering that Rush doesn’t have nearly as big an audience as was once thought. Boeck’s antics that drew so many advertising boycotts were one thing when he had strong ratings, but now that his ratings have eroded, he’s going….going….gone in market after market.

As to Boeck’s demise in Madison….I don’t think it had anything to do with ratings. Boeck was on a station that for years has been at the bottom of the ratings in Madison, and Boeck’s show was dumped at the height of the capital protests against the Walker administration. Boeck’s show never fit with the lefty programming of the station, and it was probably a convenient time to show him the door.

Sean Hannity must be very nervous.