Edited For Clarity – The Lost Show – Sexting & Parents

Transcript below the video:

Transcript

Thanks for hanging around…

Last week, teachers in some Clark County, NV schools had to have a talk with their fifth grade classes. It wasn’t about academics, no reading, writing or ‘rithmetic. No, the talk was about…

Sexting.

Yes, fifth graders, 10- and 11-year-olds had to be admonished on the topic of sexting and its dangers. Why? Because some had been caught sexting each other.

Again, these are 10- and 11-year-olds. Look I’m not naïve. I know kids learn about sex at a younger age. I know they are surrounded by the marketing of sex, bombarded with sexual images on a daily basis. But there’s a whole other problem here, isn’t there?

First, why do these kids have cell phones to text with? They’re 5^th graders. What could they possibly need to have a cellphone for? If you need to get hold of them, you call the school. If they need to get hold of you, the school can call.

So the only reason I can see is that for some reason, the parents feel they need to have a cellphone before and after school. In other words, these kids aren’t necessarily going home.

Now I understand that child care is expensive. During the school year, I spend around 10% of my take home pay on childcare alone during the school year, so I understand the cost. And I understand that many, many families need two incomes to make it. So I understand parents not being able to pick kids up after school or be home when they are. But I was one of those kids. I came home every day, and I had to be there to answer the phone when my mom called. Took about 45 minutes to walk home, so I had to hustle.

It’s not like I didn’t get to play with friends, go to the pool, ride my bike around the neighborhood. No, I got to do all those things. But I came home first.

So like I said, I’m understanding of the situation. But I think a lot of folks are allowing things like cellphones take the place of responsibility for their kids. And I hear teachers complain about it as well.

Since the ill-conceived No Child Left Behind Act, teachers have been spending way too much time teaching to tests, meaning the more advanced kids get to twiddle their thumbs while the others work on scoring well on the test. Last week, the school district in Washington, D.C. Let go about 200 teachers for under-performing. The problem? 50% of their evaluation came from a single test score. I’m all for holding teachers accountable. It’s necessary. But I don’t think a single standardized test is going to do it.

But what does it have to do with parents? Well, a big problem with why schools are failing has to do with parents. Parents hold sway over school administrators, complaining whenever their kids get an unsatisfactory grade.

When I was a kid, if you got a bad grade, you didn’t want to go home. But more and more, I’m hearing of situations where the kid gets a bad grade, and the parent comes in to blame it on the teacher. They move the kid to a different class, ask for extensions on home work beyond the deadlines, ask for accommodations of every sort. And they get them, leaving teachers wondering what excatly they’re supposed to do. They are supposed to get these kids taught and have them pass standardized tests, but the kids get excused by their parents for their failure to work.

Remember when you actually worried about not passing to the next grade? Not anymore. No, apparently kids are no longer held back. It might hurt their self-esteem.

Did you catch that? It might hurt their self-esteem. Because it doesn’t hurt your self esteem more when the other kids are brighter than you are or can spell and read and you can’t. But they don’t get held back anymore. I’ll give you a guess where the whole self-esteem thing comes from.

Parents.

These are the same parents that have removed scoring from little league games, or soccer games. “They’re ALL winners”. No. No they’re not. Some kids are not going to be the next Landon Donovan. They don’t have the coordination. And that’s ok. But there are winners and losers in life. They’ll be good at something else, I promise. It’s not fair to them to give them a false sense of their abilities. It’s also not fair to the kids who are good to not be able to celebrate it. And how do you teach sportsmanship and being a good winner – if you don’t even have the chance to win. Or to be a good loser. Most importantly, the kids KNOW who won or lost. Do we really think we’re fooling them?

But of course, this came from parents. I’m sure it was well-meaning. No one wants their kid to feel bad. But it’s the wrong extreme. And so it is with not keeping kids back when it is warranted. If they’re held back, it’s for one of two reasons – they either are having learning problems, and need some additional help and time to catch up, or they have behavioral problems that are causing them to miss work or not pay attention.

Are there mitigating circumstances? Sure. Kids diagnosed with some type of problem such as dyslexia or ADHD can get accommodations and put into plans that will help them get to where they need to be scholastically. So it’s not like there isn’t a way to help those who really need it. But the kid who goofs off in class, refuses to do homework, and lies to their parent about it? That’s not something that needs accommodation. It’s something the parent needs to deal with. Instead, many of these parents are putting the blame on the teacher and are shocked to find out their student has been lying to them. And even when they do find out, they try to mitigate the consequences for the kid.

What exactly is this teaching the kid? If you complain enough, you can slack off and not have to do what’s expected? That the rules don’t apply? Just wait, these parents will be shocked -SHOCKED – when these kids have issues with authority in high school. They already know how the game is played, and they’ll work it.

So the issue comes down to parents. Look, I’m not a perfect dad. I try. Maybe it was my upbringing. Maybe I’m old fashioned about some things. But these kids are getting away with stuff we never would have dreamed of. And the parents are acting as enablers. Maybe it takes too much of their time. Maybe they’re overwhelmed. But either way, they’re doing their kids a disservice by letting them off the hook. And the teachers get to deal with it.

The sexting comes from a gap in supervision. Kids see this stuff, but we as parents can have a strong influence on where they take it. Kids might learn about it, but with good supervision – asking questions and being involved with their kids, we reduce the chance that they make bad choices.

What do you think? Should kids have cell phones? What age? Do you think parents are the problem? Leave us a note in the comments – we’d like to hear what you think.

We’ll be right back.

Edited For Clarity – V1 E8 – The Lost Show – Segment 2

Well, after writing, recording and editing…

It never went up. In fact, some never got edited. Such is the problem when you do this kind of stuff in your free time with a full-time job and you’re a single dad…

So, we’re going to refer to this as the lost show. I’m working on the new show already, with hopes to get it shot and posted by the 7th of August. In the meantime, we’ll post what did get done in terms of video, and all of the scripts.

We chose not to post the first segment, as it is a news update, and at over a week old, a bit out-of-date. So the first segment we’re releasing is the second one filmed.

The transcript is below the video:

Transcript:

This week, a hard-working, good-hearted employee at the USDA was dragged into the limelight over alleged racist comments. She was told to submit her resignation, over her Blackberry, and was removed from her position.

The problem? The claims weren’t true.

The evidence was made up of a clip from an NAACP meeting over 2 years ago. At that meeting, Shirley Sherrod, a black woman whose parents were killed for the color of their skin, told of a farmer who came in for help and treated her an an inferior. She admits that she did not want to give this man all the help she could because he was white.

That’s the part that ended up in the video released on Tuesday. The part that was to ostensibly be played on the Glenn Beck show. The word of this got to the upper levels of the USDA, who called and demanded Ms. Sherrod’s resignation. The NAACP got wind of it, and also demanded action.

But the problem is, that was only a small part of the video. What was on the rest of the video turned the story on its head.

What is seen by looking at the entire video is that the statement is not a proud exclamation of revenge, but of a turning point, where Ms. Sherrod realized that she was being guilty of the same racism she had experienced – that she was perpetuating the problem. And that it changed her way of looking at things.

What is also not seen in the video is that she went back and did everything show could for that farmer. The farmer and his wife have since come forward and backed Ms. Sherrod, saying their success, their livelihood, was due to the help they received from Ms. Sherrod. Indeed, they are friends to this day.

How did this happen? Well, primarily, this was the result of knee-jerk reactions from the USDA, the NAACP, and perhaps the White House. All have delivered mea culpas, but the damage is done. They all jumped when a conservative blogger posted the selectively edited video. And in fear that there might be a controversy, they all jumped – far too quickly.

But this is a symptom of a different problem. As I mentioned last week when talking about the Republican strategy, Democrats need to get tough if they want a chance this election season. And part of that toughness is not reacting to everything as if it’s an emergency. Especially those of a blogger.

Look, I understand the desire to increase transparency, to seem responsive. But this instant reaction to everything is self-defeating. And the right have figured out how to get it happen on cue, and make the most of it.

And the folks on the left help it along. The traditional circular firing squad of the left came out in full force, first screaming for the resignation, then screaming at those who asked for it. And all the while, the folks on the right sat back and fed them ammunition.

In understand the frustration. After years of conservative policies tearing down liberties, shuttling money to big business and the wealthy, driving us into wars, people on the left wanted a change. But, it seems, they naively believed it would happen immediately. And when it doesn’t, the left forgets the achievements that have been delivered, and only focus on what hasn’t happened.

And so the left’s circular firing squad takes aim, and shoots themselves in the foot. And everywhere else, damaging the gains that have been made, pushing them to the rear while these lousy, bogus attacks come to the forefront.

For example, just this week, Wall St. reform was passed and signed into law. With it, some of the most powerful consumer protections in history, protections designed to avoid a future financial meltdown like the one we are currently working our way out of.

What kind of protections? First, an end to “too big to fail”. To do this, measures have been put in place to create a fund, a back-up – paid for by the finance industry itself – so that companies that are on the brink of failure can be unwound without putting taxpayers’ dollars into play to keep them afloat. Had such a system been in place before the current mess, there would have been on bank bailout, no taxpayer money loaned to private institutions. And there would have been no threats from the industry that the failure of one company would bring the world economy crashing down. They simply would have used their fund to put the failing company to rest.

On top of this, more stringent requirements have been implemented in terms of bank capitalization. This means that banks will have to have a larger share of the money they loan. The leveraging that banks allowed during the years leading up to the crisis resulting in far more money being loaned than the banks had. When those loans went unpaid, it quickly snowballed. By requiring lending institutions to have more of that money actually on hand, the exposure to damage from bad loads is reduced, creating more stability in the financial industry.

Shareholders will also be given a say in CEO compensation. This means that consumers who hold stocks will have a more direct connection and influence on how much CEOs are paid. If you think that’s not a big deal, here’s a little tidbit for you: in 1950, the average executive’s paycheck was about thirty times the size of the average employee’s paycheck. Today, that ratio is between 300 and 500 to one. So either those execs have become ten to fifteen times more valuable than they were in 1950, or something has gone WAY out of whack. Even amid the financial crisis, Wall St. bonuses for 2009 were up 17% from 2009. Shareholders, many of whose monthly income relies on the health of the stocks they own, should have a say in the pay structure of the people running their company.

There are a number of other protections included as well, including protections in credit cards and lending as well as credit card rate hikes.

Also passed this week were extensions of unemployment insurance benefits, giving relief to millions who are still struggling to get back to work. While Republicans cry about tax cuts being allowed to expire, the fact is that money spent on unemployment benefits has more of a positive effect on the economy than putting more money in the hands of the wealthy. The unemployed immediately put that money back into the economy, paying their bills, and keeping other folks employed in the process. The wealthy, on the other hand, are sitting on their money, waiting for a better time to spend.

Also passed this week, with little fanfare, was the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act. This was passed UNANIMOUSLY by both the House and the Senate. The idea? Remove excess spending and fraudulent payments from the system. One example given is that of a $3 million being spent annually for a radio navigation system for the Navy – when we have GPS. 20 years ago, this cost MIGHT have been justified. Eliminating these expenditures alone represent $20 billion – with a B – in cost cutting, just by finding unnecessary redundancies.

The second focus of this bill is to reduce “improper payments”. These are payments made to the wrong person, or entities that should not receive them. For example, payments to contractors that are no longer allowed to work for the government, or payments to individuals who are trying to defraud the government – including payments to dead people. The estimated savings from this area alone is estimated to be around $110 billion – again, with a B. That’s a total of $130 billion in saving from this one program.

In all. Three separate important pieces of legislation were signed last week. How many did YOU know about? I can guarantee that the right doesn’t want you to know about any of them. Heck, they have vowed to REPEAL Wall St. reform. Remember that when they start spouting their campaign talk – they want to REPEAL the protections that were signed into law this week. The right will try to get you to forget about gains made this week and in the past few months.

Meanwhile, the left gets so up in arms about the stumble made over the Sherrod flap that they completely miss the real news – that there was a whole lot of good done this week. Here’s what I say to them – KNOCK IT OFF! Who needs Republicans when the left will simply bash themselves into the ground.

A whole lot of good was done this week. I just thought you should know.

We’ll be right back.

“Unfriended” By The Right

Yes, I’m on Facebook. Yes, I post there fairly regularly. Yes, I have some friends. Apparently, I have one less than I had a week ago.

This individual and I have know each other for a long time, 30 years. But as happens, people move, people change. So it’s really no surprise that our life paths have led us to different interpretations and political views. Debate is healthy.

Unless of course, one side of that debate is being informed by the far right.

The email string that apparently triggered my banishing from this person’s friend list started with a discussion about the piece on Rachel Maddow’s show regarding Shirley Sherrod. I had posted about it, sharing it with the folks on FB. I soon got a message:

Leo How is the NBPP story not about racism, hear one of the perpetrators run his mouth off about hating white people? Shirley Sherrod told a story of “redemption” while still saying things like refer him to one of his “kind” , while the NAACP crowd laughed at the story prior to her speaking of any elements of redemption.

Of course, he missed the point, that being that there is now this disguised racism, one which many appear to be blind to. I responded:

These stories all pushed a narrative of “look at the racist black people”. Where is the “expose” of Stormfront – the white supremacist group that is backing Tea Party candidates?

The Sherrod story was a non-story completely fabricated by Breitbart and pushed by Fox. He had the video for three weeks, but amazingly chose the day that Wall St. reform was being passed to release it? Why? It wasn’t to verify the story – he made it up. He intentionally edited the video to make it look the opposite of what it is.

The point of the piece is that there is a concerted effort to try to scare people into believing that there is some nefarious plan afoot, that all blacks hate all whites, and there is a need to be scared. And to deflect criticism of obvious racism by whites in the same breath. It is a concerted effort by individuals, and by a media organization that calls themselves “news”, but is no more than a propaganda machine – a motive that has been supported and promoted by its owner and execs.

FYI – I haven’t edited or changed a single word of this exchange. You see it as it appeared.

Apparently, my attempt to clarify wasn’t good enough.

I think that is the point of the article, but, the ACORN story had to do with corruption and nothing with race. The Sherrod story is difficult as she ostensibly tells a story of redemtption while using racist language. the NBPP is obvious racism. Who would conclude all black people are racist? That is just plain stupid, as stupid as all white people are racist, yet Mark Williams is a racist asshole. The article is very misleading and frankly the majority of racists in this country are on the left not the right. I do not think the Wall Street “reform” had any thing to do with it, but, what a travesty of a bill, the same duo of idiots who helped create the crisis “fixing” it.

As you can see, the perception of this individual has a distinct ring to it. The discredited – and fabricated – ACORN story, the completely overblown National Black Panther Party story, the attempt to still paint Shirley Sherrod as a racist. Also, the perception of the left being far more racist. And a swipe at the Wall St. reform bill to boot.

Then, before I had even finished reading that message, I got this one:

Wait unless you mean black people cannot be racist? Which ironically is a racist view point, and naive.

And there it is – the “reverse racism” claim. I didn’t say, or imply, that there are no black racists. My suggestion, that there are people who think all blacks are racist, was dismissed as ‘stupid’ – even though it’s a fact. The blindness to the racism comes right out. No one could possibly think like that, right?

So instead, it must be me, the middle aged white guy, who is racist because I believe there are whites who think all blacks are racist. Still following me? I’m racist because I think some whites are racist.

But, I tried to be restrained:

ACORN? Oh the “expose” that was “broken” by – wait for it – Breitbart? Using edited video (and badly at that) from Republican kids “undercover” that ended up being NOT what they claimed? That ACORN story?

Isn’t it curious to you that Breitbart seems to keep coming up with stories that involve black people doing something wrong, that somehow always have video, that always seem to have been edited specifically to fit his narrative, that end up being false? And isn’t it curious to you that Fox continues to go back to the guy and push his stories?

Who would conclude all black people are racist? Open your eyes. They’re all around you. But again, it’s the implication that they are. The seed of that thought, the way the stories are shaped to push that narrative, by a news source that far too many trust.

Your distrust of the left is all too apparent, but why is it that to find a story of “racism”, guys like Breitbart have to dig for a 2-year-old video of a mid-level person in the USDA, but folks on the right pop up like weeds – and proudly so? They are unrepentant, and growing in number. Except now, they use the “reverse racism” model – they’re just speaking out against those black racists, dontcha know…

You know I didn’t say anything about blacks being incapable of racism. And insulting that you would insinuate it.

Prove your statements. Show that “the majority of racists” are on the left. You can’t, but go ahead and try. Racists come from all stripes, but they tend to congregate in the extremes. And they have been congregating on the right for a long time. They’re proud of it.

Which again, goes to the point of the story. The knee-jerk reaction to the Sherrod story came because the left denounces racism, and didn’t want to appear soft on the issue. They stupidly jumped at Breitbart’s bait and didn’t look into it. They should have considered the source before passing judgment. The right then made the story about the admin jumping on Sherrod, and eliminated the discussion of Breitbart’s fabrication.

And that, dear reader, is the last I heard from this individual. After not seeing any of his right-wing updates for a few days, I checked my friend list. Lo and behold, he’s gone.

But I don’t feel bad about it. If anything, I feel sorry for him.

I don’t know why he got to the point of fear that he feels. To him, government is “Big Brother”, always trying to take away what’s his. Business is to be trusted before government. The states should be left to their own devices.Buy gold now – the worldwide crash is coming! Be sure to stockpile those canned goods for the collapse of society under the pressure of socialism.

The list goes on. The fear is immense. During one conversation, he actually tried to equate the persecution of blacks to conservative Christians, saying he knew what that discrimination was because he gets it all the time as a conservative Christian. He was trying to make the claim that he is persecuted as a conservative Christian.

This is what the right has been working on for at least a generation. To get their base so fearful of everything, that they MUST follow the right’s lead to restore the country to its moral foundation.

It’s calculated and cold. It plays on one fear, and builds on it. It preys on folks who are scared for their livelihood, for their belief system. It gives them a boogeyman to be afraid of, to blame their problems on. It uses religion, money, race – anything it can to create a fear. Whether it’s the illegal immigrant crossing the border to take their jobs, or the Muslim believer that doesn’t share their faith, they are given something to fear.

And it is repeated, over and over and over again, until the lies are taken as gospel.

It is propagated by Fox News, who push the narrative. And by their reticence to call out Fox, the other media outlets are complicit in helping the narrative along. Instead of pushing back and exposing the facts, they maintain a false sense of “balance”, airing two sides of a story, even if one is pure fantasy.

The civil discourse, the informed debate, is gone. The email exchange above is an example. When called about the falsehoods, there is no back-up, just and end to discussion. Facing the facts forces an examination of the belief systems that support the fear. And that is even scarier to the folks who are already afraid. If they see the facts, it means their belief system is flawed. That is more than they can handle.

So the conversation is cut-off.

As I said before. I’m not upset. I am sad. Maybe one day, he’ll realize he’s being played. I can hope.

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Andrew Breitbart – Serial Prevaricator?

Breitbart is a conservative activist blogger with a history of “breaking” stories that are less than factual.

This week, Shirley Sherrod, an employee of the US Department of Agriculture lost her job because of a severely edited video that purported to show Ms. Sherrod showing racist tendencies while doing her job. But that was because of the editing. The actual video showed that Ms. Sherrod was talking about how she overcame racism, and helped a white couple save their farm.

Who would have published such a blatantly damaging – and false – video?

Andrew Breitbart.

The ACORN controversy in 2009 was started with videos released by Breitbart. The videos purported to show ACORN employees advising a prostitute and her brother how to avoid detection, dodge taxes and other acts. This led to investigations and eventually lack of funding to ACORN and the shuttering of their offices nationwide.

But the investigations turned up virtually nothing. There was some indication of unprofessional actions by lower-level employees, but no criminal conduct. And the prostitute and her brother? Young Republicans Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe, who concocted the act to try to capture ACORN employees doing something illegal. Giles is an employee of Breitbart’s.

The videos, used to launch Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com website, appear to be severely – and badly, – edited to aid in creating controversy and to act as false evidence. Most of the comments from employees were edited out, leaving questions as to the context of answers. For example, one employee actually went along with the story, but contacted Mexican police to inform them of the “child smuggling” plot that Giles and O’Keefe related. That information was completely omitted from the tapes. While ACORN was never found guilty of any criminal activity, the tapes had the desired effect – destroying ACORN.

The latest controversy is the also severely edited video of Shirley Sherrod. Again, the salient portions of the video had been edited out to push a specific narrative. In this case, Fox News ran with the story, and knee-jerk reactions by the NAACP, USDA, and even the White House resulted in a premature demand of Sherrod’s resignation. The overly-quick rush to judgment by the media and polticians gave Breitbart another win, making the pols look worse than he did – at least in terms of action.

Brietbart has given conflicting stories of how and when he obtained the tape, but has tried to turn the story away from himself, blaming the media and everyone else he can think of for not fact-checking their stories on his video.

This is the Breitbart modus operandi. He pulls the pin on a grenade, drops it into a crowd, then calmly walks away. When it goes off, he sits back and laughs, and blames them for standing there in the first place.

As to Breitbart’s sensibilities, he famously went after the late Ted Kennedy in the hours after his death, posting on Twitter comments calling Kennedy a “duplicitous bastard”, “villain” and a “prick”. His motives are not hidden. In an interview with ABC’s “Nightline”, Breitbart describes his motivations:

“I’m fighting back against years and years and years of the cultural and the political left telling people to sit down and shut up,” he said. “And I’m finally telling a bunch of people, whether it be a conservative or a libertarian on a college campus, whether it be an actor or a director in Hollywood who wants to make movies that represent his world view, I’m sayin’ I’m gonna lead the charge. And you want to follow me? Fine. And there are people who are followin’ me. I want to make things equal. I want people to have a free and open voice.”

Breitbart’s “free and open voice” is about saying what he wants, regardless of the consequence – or even the truth. He has, on multiple occasions, invented his own version of the truth, to promote his own agenda. A serial prevaricator, and one who is proud of it. The next time you hear the story came from Breitbart, consider the source.

What’s The Truth?

This week, an unsuspecting employee in the US Department of Agriculture lost her job when a conservative activist blogger posted a video purportedly showing her making racist comments. The trouble is, it wasn’t true. The video was edited so severely that it didn’t show that she told the story to explain how she overcame racism.

The incident has opened up a number of discussions. Are bloggers journalists? Are journalists doing their job? Is it ok to run a story without fact-checking it? Who is doing the fact-checking?

In a conversation with some folks over Twitter, the topic of concern has been how some bloggers, and in fact, some media outlets, have been complicit in spreading false information, blatantly partisan spin, and out and out lies. They are backed by “pundits” and “analysts” who have overt agendas, and no one seems to be calling them on it.

To be sure, part of the problem is that there is so much of this going on, from both sides of the political spectrum, that catching all of it may be like trying to drink from a firehose. But why not try.

So, in this space, we’re going to try going after some of these bits of hackery to get to the bottom of things. We’re going to try cutting out the crap. And we’re really going to try to keep it to facts and not opinion.

People deserve facts, and as the midterm elections come up, they need to be able to see where people stand, and What they have said – and done – before.

We hope you’ll participate. And we hope you find this enlightening – or at least interesting.

Transcript: Wrap Up and Contest – 7/19/10

Well thanks for watching this week’s show, we hope you enjoyed it.

If you saw something you liked, didn’t like, made you smile, made you mad- let us know. We’re always want to hear what you think. We take suggestions for show topics, critiques of the show, and the occasional compliment. So give us your feedback!

As always, we’d like to thank Dave Gosse for his donation of audio equipment. Dave’s business is Gadgets Inc. in Mississippi, online at gadgetincms.com. Dave offers video editing services, website design and hosting and a whole lot more. If you need some help getting your business to grow, check out Dave’s site.

We also have to be sure to give our music folks a plug- Kevin McLeod, whose music you can find at www.incompetech.com, and Dan-O, whose music is at danosongs.com.- Thanks guys for great bumper music.

As a reminder, our Facebook contest is still on – have a friend become a fan of the show and you could both win valuable Edited For Clarity schwag. Just make sure they tell us who sent them to our show. If they’re the right fan – you’ll both win some Edited For Clarity gear.

Well, that’s our time for this week, we’ll be back next week for a whole new show. We’ll give you another sample of Rock Sugar to take us out. Hope you gave a great week, and we’ll see you next time.

Transcript: Rock Sugar! – 7/19/10

This week, we’re taking a turn into music and hoping to introduce you to a band we’ve really come to like.

The backstory for Rock Sugar is that of am 80′s hair band that gets stranded on a desert island with nothing but their instruments, a Hello Kitty boombox, a case of batteries, and a 13-year-old girls 80′s CD collection.

Stranded as they were, they had nothing to listen to but what they could play, and the music on the CDs. And from this was born some of the best mash-ups we’ve heard in a long time.

In reality, these guys are awesome musicians, and have a phenomenal sense of humor. And they were just signed to be the “house band” at the House of Blues on Sunset Blvd. In Hollywood, every Monday night.

To give you an idea of the kind of stuff they cram together , there’s Shook Me Like A Prayer, a combination of AC/DC and Madonna, and Straight to Rock City, a mash of Paula Abdul’s Straight Up and KISS’ Detroit Rock City. They also have a penchant for Journey songs, like Round and Separated, mixing Ratt’s Round & Round with Journey’s Separate Ways.

And here’s their take on Metallica and Journey, Don’t Stop the Sandman

[Video]

I love that one…

If you want to see Rock Sugar, you can see them Monday nights at the Hard Rock on Sunset. You can also find their music all over YouTube, just do a search for Rock Sugar. You can also find them on Facebook, at facebook.com/RockSugarBand and their website, RockSugarBand.com

Transcript: CRANKED UP! – 7/19/10

Welcome back.

There was a time when unions were necessary. Really necessary. The power of the individual employee was overshadowed by the employer. The guy with the moist money usually won the battle. And unions came in and leveled the playing field.

That was the good side.

Now, unions are more and more getting to be obstacles. I am sure there are a number of unions that still serve their members well, protecting them from excesses and abuses by their employers. But a great many are doing more to hurt their members than serve them well.

Here’s a prime example: the hotel workers at Disneyland went on strike recently. They have worked without a contract for about two years. The main sticking point – healthcare insurance. For years, Disney has paid the entire cost of healthcare for these workers, with no contribution from the employees. Disney wants them to contribute. The union says no.

Now, details are in order. The union says that the new healthcare package “could” reach a total of $500 a month for a family of four. That sounds horrifically high. Or does it?

In my household, I pay about $300 a month for just the two of us, my daughter and I – and that’s on the lower cost plan. And that’s about average. Had there been another adult, that would have shot up even higher. So $500 for a family of four isn’t all that much more.

Now, I understand that they aren’t used to paying it, and that it might be a burden in some cases. And perhaps the solution is to find something in between. But healthcare costs continue to skyrocket, and the majority of folks with health insurance have to pay for it.

But instead of working to find a solution, the union has instead chosen to have their employees undertake hunger strikes at the gates of Disney. Frankly, this is a very poor calculation on the unions part. They would be far better off getting back to the negotiating table. The strike won’t make a difference. Meanwhile, they’re still collecting union dues every month – and still no contract, two years later. What, exactly, is this union doing for the employees?

In my last day gig, we saw another union do something similar. The Transport Workers’ Union went into a couple of casinos to unionize the dealers. Here’s the first problem – it’s the Transport Workers’ Union. What do they know about the casino business or dealers? The answer is: apparently not much. They went into the Wynn and unionized the dealers. Two years later, no contract, no new pay agreement, none of the grievances had been resolved. But they collected their union dues. Then the union went into Caesar’s to do the same thing. And then had no contract. And no resolution. But they were getting their dues.

In both of these cases, the union saw an opportunity to capitalize and get their foot in the door of a casino – and collect some dues. But they had no experience in the dealing business. They had no idea how things worked. They just saw a way in. And the employees are still paying.

As I said before, I know there are some unions that do a good job for their members. And they are to be commended. But I think there are far too many who are more concerned with filling their coffers than helping their members. The protection that unions once afforded can now be had by just about anyone. Lawyers who have a chance at going after a deep-pocketed abusive employer are a dime-a-dozen. They’ll take their cut of the settlement and be off to the races. And the employee will do fine as well.

Not that unions don’t protect their members. In fact, in some cases, they protect them all too well. More than once, I have seen union employees who have violated company policies get off scot-free once the union was involved. And when it comes to protecting jobs?

Again, in my former gig, I had worked to get new flat-screen TVs installed in the area I worked. Now I’ve installed flat screens, including running all the cable through walls. Took me, all told, about an hour and a half for one screen.

This particular installation took three weeks. Why? Because of all the unions involved. First, the drywallers had to come out and cut a hole for the electrical installation and for the mount. Then the iron hanger had to come out and put up the mount. Then the electrician came out and ran the AC power for the TV. Next came the video cable guy, who ran the video cable to the location. Once all the cable was run, they had to call the drywaller back out to finish up the ceiling. Then the painters. Next, they needed Teamsters to lift the TV into place. Once in place, the AV guy ran the cable to the TV, but then had to wait for an electrician – TO PLUG IT IN! Each stage took a day or two, and thre was anywhere from a 1-3 day lag between each step. The Av guy couldn’t plug anything in, the drywaller couldn’t paint. The day they were plugging the TV in, we had an AV guy at the top of a ladder waiting for an hour – because the electrician took lunch earlier than he usually did. Then, the electrician arrived, and the AV guy went to lunch – before connecting anything.

These guys were all playing by the union rules. All of them. Yet what should have taken 1-2 days took three weeks. And there were four more to install.

Of course, the question is – what happens to the dues? How much of it is actually going to help members and how much is going into the unions coffers. Much is likely focused on lobbying activities, on twisting the arms of some politicians while greasing the palms of others. But what is that getting the members. Like taxes, it’s not about how much you’re paying. It’s about what you’re getting for that money. If you aren’t getting your money’s worth, you need to start asking a lot of questions.

But, I do think there are some uses for unions, and one could help in a much different area – immigration.

The major reason there is still illegal immigration into this country is that employers are hiring illegally. The jobs are here, so they come to work. Unions could be a great resource to employers to ensure that the people being hired are here completely legally. In fact, they could offer their services to non-union houses as well – for a higher fee. The idea is that they could act as a clearing house for workers, ensuring that when someone was hired, all legal checks had been performed. Employers who hired someone from a union could be confident that the background checks had been made, and if there was a problem, it fell on the union, not the employer. In this way, the union is protecting the employer AND the employee. The jobs are going to folks here legally, protecting American jobs.

Would there be potential for abuse or misconduct? Yes, but you’d know where to go first. And union employees would be the first to make a complaint about someone who wasn’t supposed to be there.

Unions have lost a great deal of relevancy in the vast majority of industries. They don’t have the clout they used to have, or the power, regardless of what some folks might think. They are a voice, but not as loud as they were. But they do have a place – it’s just not the same place it used to be.

Meanwhile, they need to be careful, in this economy, of what they complain about. When they start complaining about having to pay for benefits, when most of us are struggling to pay ours, it falls on deaf ears. When folks are already paying $250-$400 for their benefits every month, they aren’t going to feel too badly for the folks that have paid none. Sure, it’s a matter of perception. Sure, they may have made pay concessions to keep those benefits without paying for them. But none of that will play to the average wage earner who watches a huge chunk of their pay go to healthcare benefits.

In the end, unions need to find their relevancy again, if it’s possible. But it shouldn’t be about protecting employees that underachieve. And it can’t be walking off the job because they don’t want to do what most wage earners already do.

We’ll be right back.

Transcript: International Grownup Field Trip Day – 7/19/10

Thanks for coming back

My daughter went on a field trip last week, and it got me to thinking. Why don’t adults get field trips?

You remember them – those days you waited weeks, even months for. You’d be gone from class most of the day, with your friends, doing something fun. No schoolbooks, no tests, and you might even learn something.

Often it was to a museum or a performance of some type of motivational group for kids. But sometimes – the really good times- it was to someplace fun. For my daughter, it was Soak City.

Soak City is a waterpark, with the slides and the wave pools and the lazy rivers you can float on. She spent the better part of the day there. Got a heck of a tan too!

So why don’t we get those days? Why can’t we get a field trip. We work hard, we do what we have to do as responsible adults. We should get to have a day to goof off too!

So, we have launched International (shoot for the moon, I say..) Grownup Field Trip Day. The idea is simple. Take the day off from work, preferably with friends, and make a day of it doing something fun and silly. Go to a water park, head to the beach, visit an amusement park.

But the key is- you have to treat it like a field trip. Get everyone in matching t-shirts. Carpool, or even better, get a bus! Stick together as a group and have fun as a group.

Our first International Grownup Field Trip Day is slated for August 20th – but it’s still flexible. You can sign up for updates on Facebook, just search under Groups for International Grownup Field Trip Day.

While you may not be able to attend the specific event we are planning, try to plan your own on the same day. Get your friends together for a good time. But remember, this is GROWNUP field trip day. Taking the kids is missing the point. We all love our kids, but this is intended to be a day away from work, away from our own kids, so we can be a kid ourselves for awhile. Do something goofy and make a day of it. Get Grandma to watch the kids, or send them off to a friend’s house for the day. This field trip is for you!

You know, it’s important to get yourself away every once in a while, to go out and be a kid again. We get so caught up in our day to day grind that we forget some of the simple joys of being a kid. Like a chocolate dipped ice cream cone on a hot summer day. Water balloon fights. Just hanging out under a shady tree. All the kinds of things we used to do as kids. These are all all things we can still do as adults, but never seem to get back to. And I think we’re worse off for that.

On one hand, we miss out on those joys and an opportunity to lift our spirits and feel good. And we all deserve that. Nowadays, life is a test, and sometimes when you’re getting ready for a test, you need to take a break. Just getting out and doing something silly, something fun, something out of the ordinary from our daily lives lets our psyches recharge a little. And that recharge keeps us a little more sane when we get back to the grind.

We also get to build more memories. As the saying goes, you never hear someone say on their death bed that they wish they had just worked a few more hours of overtime. WE need to have those other experiences as a balance in our lives, and to strengthen the bonds to our friends. It’s just plain healthier.

But I think there’s another aspect that’s just as important for those of us that are parents – playing like a kid lets us remember what it was like – so we can make sure our kids get to do it too.

At lunch today the conversation turned to kids and how they are almost forced to grow up too quickly. I’ve seen 7-year-olds – same age as my daughter, with cellphones. Really? I mean, the school has a phone if I need to get hold of my daughter, and if there’s a problem they can get hold of me. Where exactly is my daughter going to be that she needs a cellphone? Does the kid really need to be able to text before they hit 2nd grade? Most kids are still learning to spell and instead they’re using text-speak. They start using sentences like “R U gng 2 D fair?”. I’d like to hear from teachers how many kids are using text-speak in essays or written answers.

Another example came out of the teen survey we did a couple of weeks ago. We asked what the biggest issues for teens are today. In retrospect, this wasn’t worded quite right. We got responses from teens, but we also got them from adults, who wanted to tell us what THEY thought should be important to teens. These included the socialist downfall of the US, the soaring deficit, and liberties being taken away.

This is what adults wanted teens to be focusing on. Any wonder these kids look at us like we’re fungos? The biggest issues to these teens are the same things that were issues to us – appearance, sex, money, family, fitting in. And yet, some have parents that want to make sure their kids are prepared to defend themselves against the onslaught of institutionalized socialism – like the kids are gonna care.

And that’s why I think it’s important for us old fogies to go out and be kids every once in a while. We need to remember what it was like so we don’t try to shove kids forward into adulthood before their time. Life is gonna slap them in the face soon enough. We need to give them the time to just be kids.

So, here’s an official invitation to join us, whether physically, in your own area, or just in spirit, on International Grownup Field Trip Day, August 20th 2010. Join the group on Facebook and chime in as what you’d like to do. We also invite you to drop a comment in and let us know what you think would make a great Grownup Field Trip and what fun things you’d like to do.

And if you do celebrate it, we want to hear what you did! Upload pics, spill dirt – we want to know what kind of fun you had. If it’s a good one, we’ll do another – and another. So be sure to snap lots of shots, plenty of video, and send them to us – we’d love to see them.

And yes, we’ll be issuing permission slips soon.

We’ll be right back.

Transcript: “Global Warming” Is Wrong – 7/19/10

Thanks for coming back

The first six months of 2010 have been the warmest on record. January through June, sea temperatures and land temperatures around the world have been higher than ever. In fact, June 2010 is the warmest June in recorded history. Nevertheless, climate change deniers will point to record snowfalls this winter and say “What global warming?

The problem is with the the term global warming. It’s misleading. The problem isn’t global warming – it’s global climate change. What’s the difference? A whole lot.

The folks who coined the term “global warming: did themselves – and science – no favors. Because while technically accurate, the phrase paints the wrong picture. People hear that phrase, and they think it means that the globe is constantly hot, that winters will be shorter, less snowfall, less rain. But the warming is only half the picture. To understand the real importance of the globe warming up, you have to understand what it does to the world as a whole, even in the colder seasons.

One of the first effects of a warmer average temperature is a melting of polar icecaps. Yes, polar icecaps melt every year. That;s part of the ebb and flow. But as fall and winter roll around, sea ice forms, and the glaciers build back up. This pattern has been going on for millenia, renewing the glaciers every year.

The problem is that in recent years, glaciers and sea ice recede but do not return to their former levels in the fall. That’s a lot of new, fresh water entering the oceans. And that water gets spread around. The sea ice is already in the ocean, so thir melting is not an issue. But the sea ice protects the glaciers, and keeps them from melting more quickly. Less sea ice means more glacial melt. More glacial melt means more water in the ocean.

Now, the usual conclusion here is that it will raise sea levels in some catastrophic level. That’s likely not the case, at least as first. To be sure, sea levels rising start to affect many areas, such as the Gulf Coast region of the US. It doesn’t take a big rise to start having an effect on coastal cities. In fact, the just a few inches causes greater coastal erosion and a higher danger of flooding.

But the real effect of this additional water comes in adding humidity to the atmosphere. Moisture in the atmosphere is one of the catalysts for storms, particularly tropical storms. T now, add the fuel of higher surface temperatures and you get more storms, more power in those areas prone to tropical storms. In fact, you’ll get more powerful storms everywhere.

This includes winter storms. As tropical storms become more powerful, so will winter storms. Snowfall amounts will be greater, storms will be more fierce. And this is one of the great dangers of climate change. Weather patterns will intensify. If the winter storm would have been great, it will be greater. If a region would have been hot, it will be hotter. Global climate change creates more extreme weather. Over time, the highs will be higher, and low temperatures will also rise. With less cooling overnight, temperatures rebound higher the next day.

Drought-prone areas will be hit harder as temperature rise to new levels. Meanwhile, areas prone to flooding will see even more as supercharged storms dump higher levels of precipitation. Heat waves will be longer and hotter. The pattern that we have known as our climate for hundreds of years is changing, and not for the better.

Of course, the climate change deniers will ignore the evidence. They hang their hat on the “global warming” phrase whenever there’s a record snowfall or anomalous cool weather when it should be warm. What they don’t realize is those anomalies and those stronger winters are actually right in line with climate change. Sure, sounds funny to say “global warmiing” with record snowfalls. But that record snowfall was driven by something else. If you put more moisture into the atmosphere, such as evaporation from melting glaciers, that moisture is going to be present when storms form. If those storms form in the winter, that will come as snow.

So, let’s say you’re on the fence about it. You’re not sure. What do you do?

It’s actually quite simple. Act like it is true.

If we follow the deniers and take no action, or as some like to do, purposely take the opposite action, like those that burn trash and turn on every light on Earth Day, the best possible outcome is no better than where we are today. We will continue to use non-renewable fuels, continue our dependence on foreign sources of oil, continue to deplete resources. And that’s if climate change science is wrong. If it’s right, the path is nothing short of catastrophic.

But what if we simply assume the science is right? What if we act like it is fact? What’s the downside? Sure, we might have to learn to better at conserving. But we’d also become less dependent on foreign sources of oil. We could generate jobs by creating new energy technology and new markets. We could become the world leader in efficient, Earth-friendly energy. The downside here is change, not destroying the planet we live on.

So how do we fix this? How do we stop climate change and start minimizing our impact? The answer is to appeal to greed.

Look , there’s no way you get an oil company to put themselves out of business. Never happen. And frankly, if I was a stockholder in that company, I’d be pulling my money out if it looked like they were. No, the greed to be worked on is that of the new entrepreneur, the giy with ideas. We need to find ways to make it profitable – very profitable – to produce alternatives. Whether that’s through grants, prizes, incubator programs – we need to find ways for them to easily produce new technologies, and to profit from them.

I’d like to think folks would invent breakthrough technologies just for the benefit of society. I;d like to. But it’s a pipe dream. Nowadays, new technologies are tied to making more money. I don’t begrudge this. In fact, I think they should make money f they can bring us something that improves conditions for all of us. My fear, however, is that money-making part of the endeavor will overtake the search for a beneficial technology. Patents will be held back, and the technology will seep out slowly. In some cases, this will result in a lack of adoption, and the technology will die due to lack of interest.

But if we can support these new technologies, there is the potential for a breakthrough – or series of breakthroughs – that will change the path we’re on. And we need to change that path.

We need to give global climate change the attention it requires. Even if you don’t believe in it, or just aren’t sure, what’s the downside? How does it hurt to combat it? Why can’t we demand vehicles that are more efficient, yet just as powerful? Why can’t we demand a different, less expensive, alternative form of fuel? Why can’t we insist that recycling be a habit, not an afterthought?

There are myriad ways of effecting the change in your own life. And if you don’t believe in doing it for the environment – do it for your wallet. Most conservation ideas actually save you money, either directly or indirectly. A more fuel efficient car saves you every time you go to the pump. Enough of those come into use, and gas prices will go down along with demand. Returning those recyclables can actually bring you back a few bucks. Those bottles that require a deposit – one that is rightly yours if your return the bottle.

Shorter showers mean less water wasted, a smaller water bill, and a reduction in gas and/or electric usage to heat the water. Again, more money left in your pocket. The list goes on and on. The ways you can conserve, reuse, or reduce your consumption are so varied and include so many easy options that there is no reason that everyone can’t find at least one or two ways to do their part.

Again, what’s the downside here? That you had to find a bin for your recyclables? Maybe an extra 100 yards to the recycling center in the grocery store parking lot? In the end, minimal effort on your part – on everyone’s part – can make huge differences in our consumption. And in the overall picture of climate change.

The key is that we start. Start small, but start. Everyone has some little thing they can do to make a difference. That little bit may not seem like much, but the aggregate difference that all of us make is enormous. It’s important to the environment. It’s important to national security, it;s important to our wallets. Pick a reason – there are plenty. But get started. We’ve already made huge changes to the global climate picture. Many can be reversed, but only if we act.

Like I said before, if we act, and the climate change concept is wrong – there’s really no harm. But if we don’t act, and the climate change science is right, we are bringing the consequences down on ourselves and our children.