April Fools

Bloviator and prima donna Keith Olbermann has been fired for the fourth time in his career, this time as host of Current TV's Countdown, and by Al Gore of all people. With nightly viewership of 177,000 (yes, thousand), this isn't really news.

In the current fashion, Olbermann tweeted his plans to sue to claim his $50 million contract. Current TV has already hired his replacement, that paragon of ethics and personal decorum, Eliott Spitzer. With Al Gore's programming, hiring and compensation acumen, is it any wonder Fox News is such a success?

What's next (or left) for Olbermann, Al Jazeera?

MegaMillions

The 2012 population of the United States is more than 313 million, and China's is 1.3 billion.

So why are the odds of winning the China Union Lotto better than MegaMillions?

Either lottery has dreadful odds. In fact, you're much more likely to be hit by lightning.

Etch-a-Sketch

Christopher Weyant ~ 2012

And Ohio Arts didn't miss the opportunity to make itself relevant again in the age of the iPad.

Justice for Trayvon?

Miami Heat ~ March 22

It took a few weeks for the political opportunists to seek advantage from the tragic shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida last February 26. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and President Obama have commented on the case with words designed to foment racial division during an election year. The Black Panthers have put a $10,000 bounty on the shooter. And others, like at least one member of the House of Representatives and the entire Miami Heat basketball team, have taken to wearing hoodies to show their solidarity with Martin. 

While the case is being investigated by local law enforcement, the FBI and Justice Department, it was heartening to read Juan Williams' thoughtful and provocative op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, titled The Trayvon Martin Tragedies, where he asks the bigger, more important questions.

"The shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida has sparked national outrage, with civil rights leaders from San Francisco to Baltimore leading protests calling for a new investigation and the arrest of the shooter.

"But what about all the other young black murder victims? Nationally, nearly half of all murder victims are black. And the overwhelming majority of those black people are killed by other black people. Where is the march for them?

"Where is the march against the drug dealers who prey on young black people? Where is the march against bad schools, with their 50% dropout rate for black teenaged boys? Those failed schools are certainly guilty of creating the shameful 40% unemployment rate for black teens.

"The most recent comprehensive study on black-on-black crime from the Justice Department should have been a clarion call for the black community to take action. There is no reason to believe that the trends it reported have decreased since 2005, the year for which the data were reported.

"Almost one half of the nation's murder victims that year were black and a majority of them were between the ages of 17 and 29. Black people accounted for 13% of the total U.S. population in 2005. Yet they were the victims of 49% of all the nation's murders. And 93% of black murder victims were killed by other black people, according to the same report. "

Dick Cheney's heart transplant

Dick Cheney had heart transplant surgery yesterday at age 71, and is reported to be recovering at a hospital in Virginia. According to The Wall Street Journal, Cheney, who had his first heart attack at age 37, was on the transplant list for nearly two years.

In July 2009, I blogged about Cheney's successful operation to install a VAD, or ventricular assist device, and cited an article then from The Wall Street Journal. Reader comments were many and visceral. It's no different after his transplant operation yesterday.

Here are a few of the "get well soon" comments:

• "Get well soon Dick Cheney, we will keep you and your family in our prayers."
• "Best wishes for a speedy recovery, sir, you are a fine man and did great service to our country. Best wishes also to your wonderful family- I wish Liz would run for President."
• "Best of luck and a quick recovery. It must be a terrible feeling going to bed each night not knowing if you will wake up next morning or getting ready for a surgery that one might not wake up from. I can't imagine it and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. This is why organ donation is so important. It saves lives. What can be more noble than that ?"
• "Here's praying for a speedy recovery."
• "I voted for him twice and would again, but didn't always agree with him. Always respected him though."

And some from people who wish Cheney something else:

• "Dude, Dick got his first heart in this operation, it was no transplant."
• "He'll need extra recovery time, this being his first heart and all. Next he needs a brain transplant."
• "Dick Cheney? The last President? The one who threw the country under the bus? There needs to be a heart in his chest in the first place for there to be something called a transplant."
• "His body will reject a real heart."
• "Cheney swallowed the new heart whole in order to gain the donor's soul."
• "Cheney is already dead."
• "He needs to dance in hell as soon as possible."

 Meanwhile, The New York Times' editor of its editorial page recently ran an article titled "Has Political Discourse Hit Rock Bottom?"

My G'damn Back

Well, it's actually inflammation of the sciatic nerve in my right leg.  And that's the result of herniated discs in my L4, L5 and S1 vertebrae. It's been absolute misery for nearly three months.

Weeks of working at home in repose, narcotic pain meds and anti-inflammatories, two rounds of lumbar epidural cortisone injections, regular (and painful) stretching, yoga, deep tissue massage and acupuncture haven't eliminated the pain. I've also read a book that says chronic back pain is mostly in my head and that I'm creating muscle tension because I repress my emotions. Sigh.

One thing is crystal clear: sitting is out. Even my ergonomic Herman Miller Aeron chair feels like the rack.

A friend sent me this infographic. The hellish fonts, colors and graphics are there for good reason.

Daydreaming

It's 75 degrees today, but the summer solstice is still two months from now on June 20.

Drew Dernavich ~ 2012

Moral Majority?

Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies - Tree Day, 1910

In the rural northwest corner of Massachusetts, 19th-century Christian evangelist Dwight L. Moody founded two schools on opposite sides of the Connecticut River: the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies in 1879 and the Mount Hermon School for Boys in 1881.  In 1971, the schools merged as the Northfield Mount Hermon School with boys and girls on both campuses. I graduated from NMH in 1975, as did my eldest son in 2006. The school's enduring mission is "to educate the head, heart, and hand." Consistent with this mission, it has always operated with a progressive policy of admitting a large and diverse number of students on full or partial scholarships, supported in part by the "work jobs" that all students do throughout the year; washing dishes, mopping floors, raking leaves, etc., reducing expense and building character and community.

During my son's sophomore year, the school's trustees announced their decision to consolidate the school on the Mount Hermon campus, citing declining private secondary school enrollment, and the capital and maintenance costs of supporting two campuses with redundant assets like two libraries, two gymmasia, etc. In 2005, the Northfield campus was closed and the student body downsized to about 600 students from a high of around 1,200 in the 80s and 90s. This decision inflamed the town of Northfield, school donors and alumni.

The school's trustees and a team of advisors began marketing the 217-acre Northfield campus, seeking a single owner, preferably one with an academic mission consistent with Moody's teachings and the school's history.  In 2009, it was announced that Hobby Lobby, a private, family-run chain of arts and crafts stores, had bought the campus for $100,000, and that the tenant would be the C.S. Lewis College of Great Books.

Now it seems the C.S. Lewis College has missed its $10-15 million fundraising goal and has lost its "sole beneficiary" status to the campus, leading Hobby Lobby to seek a new institution to use the campus, a decision the original sale of the campus leaves entirely to them. Due diligence reveals that Hobby Lobby is run by David Green, whose net worth is reported by Forbes to be $5 billion. Over the years, Green has amassed a collection of bibles purported to be the largest in the world. He has also given money to a range of religious institutions, including Virginia's Liberty University, a Christian college with a current enrollment of 12,500 on campus and another 61,000 studying online. Green's agent has shown the Northfield campus to more than a dozen Christian institutions, including Liberty University.  And there's the catch.

Liberty University was founded by the late Jerry Falwell, who also founded the Moral Majority. Such news travels fast. According to The New York Times, "More than 1,000 alumni of Northfield Mount Hermon have signed a petition calling Liberty “an extremist, homophobic, and intellectually narrow institution that clashes with the values of D. L. Moody."

An NMH alumni group on Linkedin is seething, with many, including a former trustee, describing the prospect of Liberty University in Northfield as either "heartbreaking, disturbing, sickening, saddening, horrifying or disgusting."

I was never a follower of Falwell or the Moral Majority, but I recall there was a difference  between Falwell's more virulent comments about behavior he believed was an affront to God, and his avowed support for LBGT civil rights.

It is no small irony that those so opposed to Liberty University's potential use of the Northfield campus demonstrate the same small mindedness and intolerance they so detest and found fault with in Jerry Falwell.

Mount Hermon Bible Class - 1888

I'm Clarence, I'm a 4G hotspot.

Marketing agency BBH is drawing fire for hiring homeless men to be walking 4G wireless hotspots at SXSW in Austin, Texas.



Remember more innocent and less politically correct times?

Summer in winter

I think it hit 70 degrees today.

There were no melting snowmen because it hasn't snowed in weeks.

Roz Chast

The best a man can get?

dollarshaveclub.com goes viral and turns traditional razor marketing on its head.

Best places for second homes

This weekend's Barron's has an article about the 20 best places for second homes.

At the top of the list is the Hamptons. Third is Martha's Vineyard.

3. MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MASSACHUSETTS

Seven miles out at sea, the rich and powerful pick up lobsters from Larsen's in Menemsha. It's also a place to potentially bump into President Obama, whose favorite summer rental, Blue Heron Farm, sold in September for $23.7 million. The celebrity scrum is frequently avoided by escaping to Philbin Beach, dotted with nude sunbathers, or the barrier South Beach, a fine-sand sliver between the sea and salt ponds. The town of Chilmark is considering special planning reviews for McMansions that could presage island-wide change. In Edgartown, site of older and larger homes and the focus of our sales data, the late Walter Cronkite's $11.3 million house was 2011's high-water deal, but the previous year's included $18 million-plus sales, which explains the median price drop. Nearby Nantucket is also well worth a look. Prices on this history-drenched little island fell about 2% last year.

Median Price 2010: $1.3 million
Median Price 2011: $725,000

Breitbart - a happy warrior?

Like a lot of people, I was shocked and saddened by the death of Andrew Breitbart this week at the age of 43. While his incendiary tactics were questionable at times, I admired his passion for exposing hypocrisy and his effectiveness in changing the status quo. He had an innate understanding of the web and social media, and how to mobilize public opinion and change events, often in a matter of days. Think sexting and Anthony Weiner.

His death, of an apparent heart attack, brought to mind a talk I heard former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry give at a conference in the late 1990s on how the internet and cable news had changed politics forever. He spoke about how the Drudge Report "broke" the Monica Lewinsky story in January 1998 when they reported that Newsweek had spiked the story about Clinton's affair with an intern. McCurry then lamented the 24-hour news cycle and how it no longer allowed people caught up in controversial events the time to consider the issue, develop strategies, and choose their words. Instead, sound-bite-driven news ricochets across the web and TV, exhausting the participants, the public, and often crowding out the important issues that really matter.

So, when I read that Brietbart spent his last hours drinking wine at a bar in Brentwood, debating politics with a stranger, all the while checking and tweeting on his Blackberry, it made me think that his always on, always engaged "happy warrior" ethos just wore out his reportedly weak heart.  David Frum in a Daily Beast post is more pointed, and says it was Breitbart's negativity and racism, while the The Atlantic's Robert Wright says it was his hostility.

Whatever it was, he leaves behind a wife and four children, and that's so sad.