E.J. Svoboda

Here’s his latest diatribe (oh I’m sorry his “talking points”):”Talking Points” — is “troubled by the behavior of NBC, which cheap shots FOX News on a regular basis and has been doing so for some time.” (By NBC, he apparently means Dateline’s Josh Mankiewicz and MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann.)”It is only a few people doing this, but NBC President Robert Wright allows it to happen. Wright knows exactly what’s going on, because he’s been made aware of it. Now we understand that NBC has major problems. Its prime time programming is dead last. Its cable operations are ratings failures. And the network may lose Katie Couric to CBS, but that is no excuse for unprofessional behavior.Consistently cheap shotting a competitor is beneath the fine standards that NBC has set in the past. Robert Wright would be wise to understand that.There is no question the amazing success of FOX News has affected all TV news operations, but CNN, for example, usually competes with class, not bitterness. Likewise, we respect ABC and CBS for their work ethic and competitive zeal.But there’s something very wrong at NBC. And if it continues, ‘Talking Points’ will go into greater detail about the problems besetting that network. We hope Robert Wright will right the situation and believe he has the power to do it.But perhaps we’re wrong about Wright. Maybe he’s out of the loop or maybe he just doesn’t care. Well, he should care. We’ll let you know what happens.”——————————————————————————————-Alright, let’s see . . . Number One: What a whiner! A thin skinned, don’t pick on me because you’re being mean, I’m going to tell my mom, going to get the teacher whiner.Number Two: Robert Wright has been “made aware of it” by whom? The Whiner? Number Three: I’ve watched Keilth Obermann and the fellow from dateline – Josh Mankiewicz. They’re funny. They’re insightful. They actually seem to understand the news. They don’t spin. They’re so not like O’Reilly.Number Four: It sounds to me like O’Reilly and the Fox gang are getting scared of NBC and maybe even MSNBC. Frankly, MSNBC has a much higher level of quality reporting when compared to FOX News. There’s an actual discussion of a story with analysis rather than just right wing talking points.Number Five: Where does O’Reilly get off making acusations without presenting any evidence about problems with NBC. He’s making threats. He’s being a bully. He’s being Bill O’Reilly. Finally, I have taken to referring to O’Reilly has “O’Leilly” for some time given his constant on the air lies. I guess I am going to have to change that to “O’Whiney”.

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A very short history lesson.Once upon a time (1832) the state of South Carolina decided that they would pass a law that basically stated that they didn’t have to obey federal laws that disagreed with their state laws. In response the federal government essentially created the “Force Act”. In a variety of subsequent cases before the U.S. Supreme Court it was determined that the laws of the federal government trumped those of the states. Essentially, ending the practice of the states ignoring federal legislation.How does this have much to do with President Bush and signing statements? It’s a bit of a leap I suppose but it seems that the basic premise of the various rulings by the Supreme Court has been that no branch of government can choose how they will comply with federal statutes.President Bush has issued a record number of signing statements where he basically indicates how he will comply with the law he is signing. These statements are worthless legally but that has yet to be challenged. The reason they are worthless comes down to the same set of arguments that led to the demise of the concept of Nullification. Simply put the President is bound to legally uphold the laws as passed by the congress. In fact he took an oath to uphold the constitution and the laws of the land. In our system of government – one of checks and balances – no one branch is truly superior. The signing statements are not worth the paper that they are printed upon and should have no legal basis as to the interpretation of federal statutes.

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Work has begun on two potential book projects.The first deals with Modern Jazz and the second deals with a vintage woodwind company. I’m also in the process of writing an essay about what makes a jazz great.

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I’m working my way through yet another of Nicholas A. Basbanes books. This one is “A Splendor of Letters”. As always an interesting read.

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I’m about 20 percent through Charles Darwin “On The Orgin of Species” which was written in 1859. I’d like to say that the book is a wonderfully quick read but that wouldn’t be the truth. There’s a lot of time devoted towards talking about pigeons and various domesticated animals and where they may have came from. With that said, I believe that this is an important book that should be read especially given the present strange debate about Evolution in the United States. Too many people shy away from reading a difficult book instead of putting in the time to get through it. I believe that it is important for people to expand their reading habits from time to time to include something that stretches them as a person and challenges them with content that they are not well versed with.

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The Vatican On “Intelligent Design” Here’s an excerpt from the article:Intelligent design “doesn’t belong to science and the pretext that it be taught as a scientific theory alongside Darwin’s explanation is unjustified,” he wrote.”It only creates confusion between the scientific and philosophical and religious planes.”———————————-This is the essential point that I think needs to be brought up on this issue. “Intelligent Design” is not science. It is not even psudo science. It is religious philosophy. I’m not even sure that it is sound religious philosophy but I’ll leave that to others to debate.

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I think Studs Terkel is one our national treasures and I have great empathy for his politics. Studs remains the Number One author in Chicago according to New City. His book “Working” is considered to be one of the greatest non-fiction works of the 20th century. And he’s quotable:”I tell my cardiologist, I have two martinis a day, but what about my cholesterol count? He says, At your age, cholesterol count is about as relevant to you as truth is to George W. Bush.” – Studs Terkel

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Nicholas A. Basbanes – Patience and FortitudeOne lazy Sunday morning I was checking out what was on BookTV on C-SPAN and came across a very interesting conversation with Nicholas Basbanes. He was discussing book collecting and his book “Amoung The Gently Mad”. As an avid reader and book lover I decided I needed to read this book. A quick dash up to Amazon.com and in a week the book arrived. A wonderful read.When I find a quality author I generally like to read everything that they have written (this habit has led to my book collection to have quite a bit of certain authors over the years). This led to me to pick up copies of “A Gentle Madness” and “Patience and Fortitude”. Both of these books are immensely interesting and highlight the wonderful richness of Basbanes writing style. The diverse collecting habits of many of the individuals that he profiles challenges the reader to learn about subjects outside of their normal purview.”Patience and Fortitude” is especially interesting in that it goes into great detail about how certain institutions, book sellers, and book collectors have protected and nurtured the written word through time. With the advent of mass acceptance of technology there is a movement to make the book “obsolete”. Frankly, I think that movement is doomed to fail for two reasons: 1) Books (when stored correctly) will outlast any of the storage technologies that we presently have and 2) Books are easy to use. I suppose I could add that books don’t require power as well but that would be obvious (although e-books do but they’re not really books � they are e-books!)One last thought about books and people – you can gain great insight into a person by their library and the books they have read.

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