Followup on mugging by UK "researcher"

I wanted to try and document some of my thoughts in the aftermath of the incident Tuesday evening which I wrote about entry before last. 

The next morning, which was yesterday morning, I sat down with a consent form that the so-called researchers had handed out. I guess that is so that the participants couldn't say they weren't warned. Well...the warning was pretty obtuse. 

But, much to their credit, they did give the number of the "Office of Research Integrity" at Univ. of Kentucky, with instructions that "if you have any questions about your rights as a volunteer in this research, contact the staff in the Office of Research Integrity," and provided a phone number. Well, heck, I thought, that is central to what happened to me - I thought that my rights had been violated and I had questions about it. So I called the number.

I got a receptionist and when I told her my experience, she said to hold on while she delivered my phone call to an appropriate someone. In a moment, I was on the line with a lady named Helene Lake-Bullock. She was very nice, and I told her my story. I did not present it as a "complaint," I just reported the incident. She took it seriously and asked me to put it in writing, which I did in my ruralthoughts.net posting. She said they would consider it as a complaint.

But in retrospect to my conversation with Ms. Lake-Bullock is that, when she was asking me info about the research project, which I provided to her, she found it apparently on some kind of database that the university keeps of all of their research projects. I think she said there were 500 some, but I could be wrong about that. But she apparently read to me a summary from her database or list as to what the research was about. But her one or two sentence summary said something to the effect that it was about using these "visualizations" and how they worked in persuading people, at least that's how I remember it. 

These visualizations have to be the computer generated graphics of the so-called "scenarios." But, in the researcher's literature, they say that the study is to "assist the local community to identify a vision for the future use of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site." When I told Ms. Lake-Bullock that the researchers were telling us that this was the purpose of the study, and not what she said, she made a comment to me something like, well, apparently "there is a higher purpose" to this study. 

This has stuck with me now for the last 24 hours. So what really is going on here? I mean, Mr. Anyaegbunam, the "mugger" out and out lied to me, so the question of whether or not he might go along with something completely deceptive has already been answered for me. And DOE has a sordid history of experimentation on people without their knowledge or consent. Who knows what is really going on?

But, one thing is clear - this is an attempt to get a lot of momentum to build a nuclear power plant at the PGDP site - without making much of an effort to involve the community at large. And, Mitch McConnell's name is all over it. But it's all over now, because they have been "outed." So, the best thing these folks can do is come clean about what they are really up to in their so-called "study" in Paducah. I'm pretty sure that the whole project is based in serious deception, secrecy, and manipulation.

more bird arrivals

Yesterday I heard a yellow billed cuckoo in our front yard for the first time this spring, and this morning we had our first catbird in the yard. Ahhhh...I love it when our friends return. Soon the white throated sparrows will be gone....I miss then when they go.

Mugged by University of Kentucky "researcher" - and then he calls the police on me!

Last night I went to the West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah to attend a “focus group discussion of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) Future Use Vision.” This is purportedly a “scientific study” (which is a bunch of BS) that will “assist the local community to identify a vision for the future of the PGDP.” The so-called “study” is being headed by a Dr. Lindell Ormsbee from the Kentucky Research Consortium for Energy and Environment. 

At the beginning, it was explained that this study was the result of a “federal earmark facilitated by Sens. McConnell, Bunning, and Rep. Whitfield.” That said a lot to me. But I thought that they should have the benefit of an opinion like mine, so I decided to participate. This actually wasn’t my first participation in this study. I had participated for a while several months ago in a group interview, but the study leaders lost control of the discussion and allowed one person to talk for like 45 minutes straight, and I had better things to do, and I left. 

There was only one other person from the “public” who turned out not really to be from the public, Rob Irwin. He was from one of the DOE cleanup contractors, “Paducah Remediation Services, who, according to his own statement, was there “at the request of the congressional delegation.” He had some interesting comments over the course of the evening, but he spent a lot of the night texting, especially when I was talking. I wonder what was going over those text messages. 

There were, on the other hand, 7 or 8 government people in attendance. They had all kinds of fancy technical stuff set up, and supposedly the entire evening was recorded. They had the process all planned on how they were going to guide us through getting our opinions heard about the future use of the site. But since there were only two of us (well, at one point maybe a little more than halfway through, a young man came in, identified himself as a student, and started to participate), the protocols designed to filter though a much larger group of opinions seemed superfluous, and there was a bit of open discussion, a lot of which I was interested in and participated in good faith.

At one point during this process, one of the university/government women, Anna Hoover, took the floor and said she had a little exercise for us to do. She went over to the table, which was set for 15 but which only had the two of us (which became three), and picked up one of a number of stacks of white large 9” x 12” envelopes. She brought one stack over to me and she was explaining that each envelope contained a “scenario” for the future use of the plant. She asked me to randomly choose one so I did - kind of like picking a card out of a deck. I picked one from the middle of the stack. I was instructed to look at it and basically give my reaction. So, I opened the envelope that I chosen.

Each envelope apparently contained (mine did) three very slick, color, photoshop artist renditions of what the site might look like under that scenario, looking at it from different directions. I guarantee you that these were very expensive graphics that a lot of work had gone into creating. 

I was taken aback because the scenario that I had chosen was “scenario 2” which was to build a nuclear power plant there. The graphics had cute little cooling towers, trees, hills, even the large landfill that DOE wants to build when demolish the site. When they asked for my reaction, I basically said that I was a little surprised and shocked to see such a scenario actually put into writing and passed out at a public meeting, because to the best of my knowledge there hadn’t been any kind of environmental studies, public hearings, or anything like that. I also reminded them that it is illegal to build a nuclear power plant in Kentucky. The researchers assured me that this was not a real proposal, just there to gauge my response. 

Earlier in the evening, the head of the study, Lindell Ormsbee, had showed a power point slide that indicated that they had an “advisory board” who was assisting them with the study. I started asking Ormsbee about how they came about choosing which scenarios they were going to put into the envelopes and show people. I asked if the advisory board had chosen the scenarios. He said, “yes,” but he was interrupted by Ms. Hoover, who said that it was from the 60 interviews. Ormsbee then changed his story, and said, oh, yeah, the interviews too. So I asked that if there were 60 interviews, plus the advisory board's input, then there must have been more than 12 scenarios out there that people had suggested. He said yes, there were hundreds. So, I asked, how did these 12, 2 of which I was to find out, were to build a nuclear plant at the site, get chosen? They had no good answer.

At that point I said that there were a lot of people in the community that would be interested to know that this had actually been presented in a public meeting in writing, and that I was going to be showing this document to people that I knew in the community. 

Later, after over 2 ½ hours of discussion (I actually put in over ½ hour more than they suggested at the beginning), the meeting started to come to an end. I picked up a notebook which had been provided, a couple handouts, and the white envelope with the three graphics of scenario 2, build a nuclear power plant at the site, and started to turn to walk out of the room.

At that point, a large government/university man named Chike Anyaegbunam, stood up and physically blocked me from leaving. He asked me for the envelope with scenario 2. I said, politely, no, I want to take it with me. He said, no, that I had to give it back, that it was a “research instrument.” I said, “but this is a public meeting, funded by federal dollars, and you have given out this document in a public meeting, and I want to take it with me.” He said, very threateningly, still blocking my way, that I couldn’t take it, and if I tried to, they would call the police. I said, “are you claiming this is a privileged document? Documents lose their privilege when they are handed out in public.” He said that they needed for their research. I said, but you’ve got it on computers don’t you. He blatantly lied to me and said, “no.” I said, “no? You mean to tell me that you don’t have these documents on a computer?” He said “no.” I said, “I don’t believe you.” I started to move forward.

Then Mr. Chike called out to Ms. Hoover to call the police. She picked up her cell phone immediately and started to dial. I said to her, “are you really calling the police?” She said, “that’s what I’ve been ordered to do.” Mr. Irwin said, “It isn’t worth it.” Then Mr. Chike, who had just told me that the files weren’t on a computer, told me would email them to me. Um, don’t they have to be on a computer to be emailed??? I said I wanted hard copies. Chike said that if I wrote my mailing address down, that he would mail me hard copies. I said, OK, gave him the copy back, wrote my address in his notebook, said that I expect these soon, and left. I was upset. 

Ironically, one of the main parts of their so-called “study” was this scientific method of gauging public involvement, I can’t remember the name, Arnstein or something like that. It was a “ladder” that started at “manipulation” as the lowest form of citizens involvement, where apparently the government totally manipulates the public to support what the government wants to do. It ended with “citizen control,” where citizens totally control the process. Supposedly this study was to help move the public involvement up the ladder, but after thinking about it over night and after having been physically intimated and basically mugged for the documents which were rightfully mine, I have to say that this process is one of the worst abuses of government manipulation of the public that I ever experienced in my 25 or more years of public involvement in environmental issues. 

This morning I called the University of Kentucky Office of Research Integrity, whose number was provided on a consent sheet that was handed out last night. I told them what happened. We'll see. People who deal with the public need to know the laws and regulations. You can't just make them up as you go, and you better be able to answer relevant questions that the public has. This particular process has lost credibility as far as I'm concerned. This Mr. Anyaegbunam has no integrity and uses physical intimidation to coerce the public. Ormsbee stood there and provided no leadership while all of this was going on. It represents the total opposite of transparency in government. 

The idea of putting a nuclear power plant in one of the highest risk earthquake zones, on one of the most polluted pieces of real estate on earth, in the Ohio River bottoms, is a very far out idea. And, it's against the law. Something like this deserves a very intensive, regional public information and involvement campaign, and would require a change of state law, something that failed this legislative term. This kind of secrecy and manipulation has no place in such a serious and consequential public decision.

more bird arrivals

Yesterday afternoon I heard an eastern Wood Pee off in our woods. That was the first of the year. A small flock of rose breasted grosbeaks came to our feeder. I also for sure heard a common yellowthroat down in our bottom where it is brushier. The scarlet tanager is hanging around, and I heard a tennessee warbler this morning again.

Sunday News Shows

The question du jour that I thought was more than trivial which was discussed in about all of the shows was what side of the aisle in the Senate Charlie Crist would sit on in the U.S. Senate if he is elected as an independent. He would answer the question directly. Most of the pundits said they thought he would caucus with the republicans. I think he's much more of a political animal than that. He's going to wait to see how the senate majority swings before he makes his decision. I bet that if the dems maintain a sizable majority, that may very well sit on the dem side of the aisle. After all, the republicans have been coming down pretty hard on him. But he has absolutely nothing to gain by saying now what he might do when he knows he may change his mind, just as he did with whether or not he would run as an independent. At least he's showed that he can learn. 

The rest of the subjects were handled in a very blase' manner. They were whether or not the administration had responded quickly enough in dealing with the Louisiana oil spill, and the Arizona immigration bill's aftermath. There was an interesting discussion on Too the Contrary as to whether, if a woman is to be nominated for the vacant Supreme Court decision, it matters whether or not she is a mother. Of course we need another female on the court. If Obama doesn't nominate one, then something is wrong. 

Meet the Press had an interview with Hillary Clinton. My comment to Kristi was that I'm sure there are a lot of times when Hillary wipes her brow, says "whew" and thanks the gods that she isn't president. One tidbit that she gave of which I wasn't aware was that Ahmadinajad is coming to the U.S. in the very near future to attend a nuclear non-proliferation conference that is part of Obama's ongoing efforts to try and bring some attention to loose nukes around the world. Clinton admitted that it appeared that the Iranians were going to attend, but said that she didn't know what they were up to, but that they wouldn't be allowed to "change the subject." My guess is that means that Iran is going to try to bring up, as more and more Arab countries in the middle east are bringing up, and which is clearly relevant, that if there is going to be an accounting of nuclear materials and weapons around the world, that Israel's has to be part of the counting. That's going to be a hot topic. Netanyahu didn't even attend Obama's opening conference on the subject several weeks ago to avoid having to answer questions. But it's time that Israel answered them.

More bird arrivals

We had a few new arrivals this morning. I heard both a black and white warbler hanging around the yard and a tennessee warbler. It isn't unusual for us to hear black and white warbers throughout the breeding season, and my recollection is that our neighborhood forests have been documented as having a breeding population of black and whites. The tennessee warblers we usually hear, although not always, in large numbers during migration. Their very mechanical, metallic chips are unmistakeable. But, I believe they become must less frequently encountered as we go get later into the breeding season.

We also had some male and female rose breasted grosbeaks on our feeder, and there has been a scarlet tanager hanging around the yard since yesterday morning. I think I may have heard a common yellowthroat yesterday afternoon, but I only heard it once and it was far away.

More birds arriving

I wanted to catch up on the bird arrivals at our place. This morning I heard a yellow breasted chat in a hedge row along the road of our place. This was the first chat I'd heard this season. A couple hours later, in a rainy, overcast mid-morning, I heard and then saw a scarlet tanager in a pretty big black walnut tree in our yard. I had forgotten to mention in the previous posting that I had seen one time an indigo bunting in our yard prior to my posting that entry. 

We had a cool event - the fledging of 4 Carolina wrens that came from a nest inside our screened in summer kitchen. This isn't the first that the Carolina wrens have nested on that porch. But, we just happened to catch them after work on Wednesday fledging, and we stood in the driveway and watched the parents coax all 4 out the open screen door, which Kristi had opened quietly and propped open.

Birds arriving

I wanted to document the arrival of some of the spring migrants. So I'll write a little blurb here. As always, the phoebes were first, way back in early March. Also, of course, we have had parulas and bluegray gnatcatchers for weeks. And, early on, probably a couple weeks ago, I heard a northern waterthrush, but it was passing by. I still hare them, but I'm not noticing any particular ones hanging around. The white eyed vireos have been back for 10 days or so.

A couple days ago, our first chimney swifts appeared, and yesterday morning I heard a wood thrush passing through. Today we heard the first summer tanager, and the first great crested flycatcher. Yesterday I saw the first eastern kingbirds. We've had whiporwills on and off for a couple of weeks, and the chipping sparrows have been around for awhile also. I've seen swallows at some of the bridges

All in all, it's been a late arrival for the warblers. They aren't here yet mostly. I'll document what I hear and see.

U.S. chastises Syria for sending Scuds to Hezbollah

The news media has reported for several days now that the Israel is after the U.S. to chastise Syria, (which they have done to an extent) for Syria purportedly sending "scud missiles" to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel is worried that these missiles could hit anywhere in Israel. Syria of course denies everything. Yeah, right.

Nevertheless, isn't it ironic that this comes out right on the eve of the U.S. re-establishing diplomatic relations with Syria and sending an ambassdor there after many years of no diplomatic relations? And what nerve by Israel? They wouldn't even attend Obama's international conference, which most all the pundits say was a success, a couple weeks ago, for the intent of securing loose nukes and nuke materials around the world. Probably that's because they are holding the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons outside the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which they won't sign. 

Geez, a little "pot calling the kettle black" here isn't there? And, with the ultimate of hypocricy, they are making this demand on the U.S. at the very same time that Netanyahu is saying, even as late as a couple days ago, that Israel isn't going to abide by the U.S. request to suspend settlements in any disputed territory, including in Jerusalem. Nope - they are just going to turn their nose up to the Obama administration and do what they want - oppress and occupy. Yet at the same time, they are asking Obama to do it's bidding when it comes to it's deepest fears with Syria. I'm sorry Israel, but you shouldn't have it both ways. You can't thumb your nose at the U.S. on one hand and then demand that they bend over backwards for you based solely on your word. 

Israel needs to get serious about peace. It's military advantage may protect it now, but that is short lived. It's belligerence and selfish nature will eventually bring serious threat to the country if they can't get along at all with their neighbors. That would be a tragedy for the many good people that live there and in the region.

Sunday News Shows

The Sunday News Shows were moderately boring today. They talked a lot about the so-called "financial reform" bill. From what was said, the Republicans are going to cave, after "getting a few more loopholes" (according to the CNN reporter on Meet the Press), and the bill will be passed. There was a lot of banter about it between the conservative and more liberal commentators, but basically no one thought that ultimately it wouldn't pass. That' doesn't mean it is going to solve the problems of excessive greed, but it makes for decent politics at the moment. 

I thought that David Brooks, (yeah - him) had one interesting blurb. He spoke, at one point during Meet the Press, about why the republican voters were going to choose the further right candidates over the "centrist" candidates, such as what is going on in Florida and Arizona. He tried to disavow what is happening in places such as Florida and Arizona, where very right-wing candidates are giving serious challenge, and very well may unseat establishment Republican candidates who are considered "moderate." Brooks said that the right wingers are coming off as "principled" and thus "gets voters." 

That's a cheap way out for the republicans and Brooks. "Principled" means nothing...well...maybe not nothing...but it doesn't automatically absolve the "principled" either. I'm sure that Mao, Hitler, Castro, Papa Doc, Idi Amin, and the like were all "principled." It all comes down to what those principles are. Our constitution's principles are basically that people should have equal opportunity, shouldn't be subject to excessive punishment, should have the right to change the government and to due process. But the leaders mentioned above, and many others, have principles that whatever it takes to stay in power is what they need to do. So Brooks dodge at the subject of how the republicans are moving far right is well noted.

Krauthamer kept saying that we need to "build a fence" between Arizona and Mexico, insinuating that the lack of a fence is the source of all the immigration problems leading up to the likely unconstitutional and ethically bankrupt recently enacted Arizona immigration reform bill. For someone that tries to come off as being superiorly intelligent, Krauthamer is really ignorant of many things, such as how the everyday person lives. Hey, I guess he might be "principled" and that makes it all ok, huh?

Pat Buchanan really ripped Goldman Sachs on McLaughlin Group. That didn't really surprise me, but the venom with which he went after them did suprise me a little. But I did chuckle and agree when he called them as "big hustlers." Another thing that didn't surprise me was that McLaughlin had Mort Zuckermann on to defend Goldman Sachs. The problem with Zuckerman talking about investments is that it is like Custer talking about military strategy. The guy has no credibility. He, trying to greedily reap unrealistic profits, lost a bunch to Bernie Madoff. I would never invest a penny with Zuckermann, and I wouldn't invest a penny of belief of what he has to say on McLaughlin or any other show. He is totally agenda driven in my opinion, and he has two agendas - money and Israel. Other than that he is hollow.

Again, "To the Contrary" had a wonderful discussion about whether women are supporting Obama or not. I can't remember the name, but a Democratic African-American congresswoman from Maryland was a guest (the first time I recall seeing her on national media) who was very articulate and persuasive. No wonder she got elected! I give a lot of kudos to "To the Contrary." Their show continues to improve and dig deep into subjects that the other shows wouldn't dare touch.

Sunday News Shows

The cutting edge discussion that I watched on the Sunday News Shows was on "To the Contrary." They dedicated their entire half hour to world water issues, and the tilt of the discussion is that the usage pattern that's are occurring in the U.S. are not sustainable. This was significant and very relevant, considering that we are in "Earth Week." One of the most disturbing parts of this discussion was in the form of quotes from a PHD in water issues, who looked as if he was Indian-American, and had a name of such, which I can't recall exactly, who said that the water infrastructure in the U.S. needed to be redone. Included in that was "more storage." I can only interpret that "more storage" means more dams and reservoirs. So what are we going to dam that isn't already dammed?

There was some very interesting discussion that got rather terse between Colby King and Charles Krauthamer. King characterized the "Tea Party" movement as being equivalent to the followers of former Alabama governor George Wallace. In other words - that it was a race-based movement. That riled Krauthamer. And while King's statement may contain some hyperbole, I believe there is a fact component to it. And, if anyone has the right to make such a statement, it would be King. 

Pat Buchanan is over-confident in still assuring us that the Republicans are in for a great big victory in November. The Republican's, ummmm...Mitch McConnell's strategy, of opposing everything of Obama's no matter what is starting to crumble. McConnell's attempt to put the Republican's in front of "too big to fail" bank reform as the "real" reformers is doomed to fail ultimately. Why? Because McConnell and the Republicans are on the same side as the big banks in opposing the legislation. Even the press can see through that one easily. 

The Republicans have "peaked too soon." The Tea Party movement has a lot of obstacles to overcome to avoid what appears to be marginalization to an extent, due to ideology, race, and economic status. The real question as to whether or not Obama can pull a rabbit out of his hat in November will come down to whether or not he can mobilize the youth and minority communities to turn out and vote for the candidates he wants them to vote for. I'm not sure about that. Obama's challenge is that these are the folks who are the worst hit by the recession, and the furthest from relief. Obama simply has to come up with a believable plan that his actions are going to actually change something for the better when it comes to the lowest income folks. I don't doubt that Obama may want to do that, but whether he can get that done by November, I'm not sure. 

One of the more interesting pieces on the shows was on McLaughlin Group about Robert Gibbs, Obama press secretary. McLaughlin's piece showed Gibbs to be arrogant, condescending, and speculated, probably correctly, that he is becoming increasingly disliked by the Washington White House press corps. McLaughlin wondered if Obama didn't give a darn about that, because they had Twitter, email, and the internet to communicate directly with people, and that the press corps is on edge anyway because they see their influence waning. I think there is some truth to that, but I do find Gibbs to be on the arrogant, flippant side. I do think that there has been a noticable gap between Obama's pledge to have an historically transparent administration and what is actually happening. 

All in all, I thought the news shows that I saw today were above average. They had very pertinent, interesting, and controversial discussions. Keep it up!

Gov. Joe Manchin and coal mine disasters

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin has once again been on the news in the last weeks a lot - as the sympathetic patriarch to the poor grief stricken families of the lost coal miners. He assumed this role before on the national media - in 2006 - during the Sago mine disaster in his state. 

I'm sorry, but I'm not impressed with his performance. He isn't cracking down on the coal companies, which he could do as governor. And he has good reason to do so. But instead, according to news reports, he pats the coal magnates on the back, and turns a blind eye to real enforcement. Only when people die does he get forced into the corner of the miner. But in my opinion, it's a dollar short and a day late. Or should that be dozens of miners short and too late. 

A person shouldn't have to die in their job, especially a civilian job. That Manchin is there, on the news again, teary-eyed, doesn't tell the real story of how these mines are getting away with murder, literally and figuratively. Manchin has had since 2006 to crack down on the mines, but the incidents of the last several days shows that he hasn't done what needed to be done to protect the miners. I hope the people of West Virginia see beyond the charade and elect a man or woman who is going to make the coal companies operate safely - period. And if they don't - then they are closed!

Sunday News Shows

I haven't written about the Sunday News Shows for several weeks. Mostly because either PBS was having fundraiser and wasn't airing the news shows, or I was busy doing something else, like travelling. But today's shows had some interesting tidbits.

I thought the number one, most interesting thing that happened consistently throughout the morning was how the conservative, Republican commentators, such as Charles Krauthamer, David Brooks, and the like, all tried to distance the Republican party from Sarah Palin. And...they had very similar ways of trying to do it - by naming other Republicans, like Paul Ryan from Wisconsin, as the "real" face of the party. 

Krauthamer expressed frustration that the media keeps bringing her up, which lead Colby King to an almost giggly defense of Palin and her right to speak out. Oh my!

In the same vein, the coverage from the Republican conference this weekend, where Palin and others spoke, produced a soundbite from Newt Gingrich, in his speech, saying that Obama was the "most radical president in history." Oh really?

So Richard Nixon, and his lies, and even criminal actions, was less radical than Obama? Oh my again! Gingrich is a hypocritical jerk. I hope he runs for president. He'll be ate alive.

Of course, the Stevens resignation was discussed. It blows my mind that they keep calling him the "most liberal" member of the court. That, my friends, is a very scary thought, and shows how the obsolete 5 person majority of the Supreme Court is outrageously to the right, and is out of synch with the needs of the country. Stevens is not a liberal. He's just someone who understands the average thinking of the average american a lot better than Roberts, Scalia, and the others do. 

Finally, there was some discussion of the Virginia governor somehow forgetting to address slavery while issuing an official statement about Confederacy History week, or something of the like. What's with these republican governors from Virginia anyway? Are they all racist? Of course, George Allen went down in flames with his infamous "macacaw" comment - totally oblivious to the racial insinuations. And now this? What's next...an executive order banning blacks from Virginia? OK, that is probably overblown, but I say it to demonstrate just how outrageous these kind of attitudes are, especially in an important state like Virginia.

Kentucky v. West Virginia

Kristi and I sat in Pizza by the Pound, the best and most local pizza parlor in Paducah, Ky, yesterday evening, after having worked as dressers at the Four Rivers Performing Arts Center for three shows of "Storytime," a cute kids theater production. We were exhausted, and wanted to have a beer and a one of the Pizza by the Pound's great pizzas and watch Kentucky play in the Elite 8 finals of the NCAA bball tourney. 

Luckily, we go the last two open seats at the bar, the best place to watch the main TV. The game had just started, and Kentucky had jumped out to an early 6 - 2 lead. From the first couple minutes, it looked as though West Virginia had no chance. But that changed. When all was said and done, a sloppily played game by both teams ended up with West Virginia winning by seeming to be the team that least wanted to lose. 

The officiating and the play wasn't very good. But Kentucky missed crucial freethrows down the stretch and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the field when it counted. They can only blame themselves. To say that there was disappointment in Pizza by the Pound, which fell into stunned silence as the last seconds ticked away and it became clear that Kentucky was going to lose.

It's just too bad that Murray State blew their game against Butler. Butler has had a lot easier time with their larger school opponents since they squeaked by Murray. It could be Murray going to the final four, and wouldn't that have been a hoot? I'd hate to predict who is going to win. It's wide open now. It would be fun to see Butler take it, but I also like Tennessee and Michigan State, who are battling as I write. But it will be fun!

Sheila Simon for Lt. Gov. makes NY Times editorial page: Quinn worried about Greens

It's going to be a close election for governor in Illinois. The Republicans have the best chance they have had in a while to make some gains statewide. Quinn, the unexpected, became governor after Blagojevich was impeached by a Democratic legislative branch. As I've already written, there was a bunch of the pot calling the kettle black in that episode. But between that and the horrible management of state finances by the Democrats in the last several years, it's enough to make even the bluest of people hold their nose. And while Illinois has become solidly blue, the democrat's hold on the governorship has been tenuous at best. And, with the right appearing to be more fired up at the moment, and knowing that close elections are not that uncommon, and a few hundred votes can mean the difference in a silly system that gives full power to anyone who gets 50% + 1 (and in some cases, you don't even need that much!) votes, a few hundred votes could be very important. 

Now we get to the New York Times editorial page yesterday, Sat., March 27. The column I refer to is regular editorial page columnist Gail Collins' opinion entitled "Nothing is Easy in Illinois." Collins writes, "On Saturday, the State Central Committee will make the final choice. (for Lt. Gov., in which they actually did choose Simon) Gov. Pat Quinn, who will be on top of the ticket, wants Sheila Simon, a downstate law professor. She is the daughter of Paul Simon, the late, revered U.S. Senator - a very big plus in a state with a crying shortage of revered politicians. On the other hand, her biggest previous foray into politics was losing a race for mayor of Carbondale to the guy (Rep. Brad Cole) who came in fourth place in the race for lt. gov...."

I'd like to take a few minutes to give my take on the Collins opinion. I have been thinking about this quite a bit since Quinn let leak that he wanted Simon as his running mate. I wondered why? First, I don't know Sheila Simon. I was acquainted with her father - who got mad at me when I wouldn't compromise on the Shawnee National Forest plan amendment, which his public policy institute got involved in. I hated that, cause I love Paul Simon and his political career is one of the best ever. I have been a fan of his since I was a youth reading his columns in the New Baden News, a Jenkins publication that supported Simon when he was state rep from Troy, not that far from New Baden, where I grew up. But I couldn't go along with his support of "multiple use" for our national forests. As I wrote him, that is an obsolete concept that does not respond to current issues regarding national forests. But this disageement doesn't erase the enormous respect that I have always had for Mr. Simon. 

I saw Sheila play with her band Loose Gravel one time at one of Hugh and Judy Muldoon's famous St. Patrick's parties. They were a lot of fun. But I can't remember ever being actually introduced to her. Nevertheless, I have a lot of dear friends around the Carbondale area that do know her. It's a community. Really more like small town than city. There aren't a lot of secrets. But that doesn't mean I can't write my opinion, and under the circumstances, I think I'd be wrong not to give my opinion.

Collins goes on to write, "Her (Simon's) main opponent, State Representative Art Turner of Chicago, argues he should be the choice because he came in second..." in the Democratic primary. I have to say, that I can't argue with anything that Collins says. So, one might ask, why would Quinn throw his support behind Simon and threaten to further split the party?

In my opinion, it is an attempt to get votes from Rich Whitney, Carbondale attorney and Green Party candidate for governor, who last election got 12% of the vote, more than enough to swing a close election. Carbondale, being a major university town, has a built in progessive constituency. Whitney, being a graduate of the SIU law school, and a long time resident and local social justice advocate, has a lot of respect, not just in Carbondale, but throughout southern Illinois. And in southern Illinois, that means taking votes that otherwise would go to the Democrats. This typically would be the Democratic base in southern Illinois. But because of the hard work of the Green party in Illinois, and Whitney's community-based campaign, the Dems have lost a key constituency in Carbondale to the Greens. 

On a statewide basis, this might not seem significant in a large population state like Illinois. And, considering that Quinn risks unmotivating African-American voters in Chicago by not choosing Art Turner, African-American State Senator who ran second in the primary for Lt. Gov, one can legitimately question Quinn's judgment. I guess when push comes to shove, Quinn feels the African-American community in Chicago and the rest of his state will stick with the Democrats no matter what. Maybe so, but the question is turnout percent. If Quinn gets a small turnout, he has a good chance to lose.

From a strictly merit system view of this, it's hard to justify the Simon nomination. The only thing she has going for her that qualifies her for this high level position any more than say, I'm qualified for it, is her name. But, I believe she could make a great Lt. Gov., and I don't want anyone to think I'm against her - I'm not. But from a strictly political analysis, I'm not sure this is going to win the election for Quinn. Quinn and the Democrats are too entrenched with the horrible state government that we have to have Simon's nomination peel away too many Green party votes. And for each percent of turnout that drops from the African-American community statewide, the likelihood of Quinn losing goes up exponentially.

From a strictly self-interest point of view, Quinn is too close to the big Green groups in Illinois, which are too close to the state agencies such as the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources. Agencies like the IDNR are way too secretive, dole out money to their buddies, and do a lot of environmentally awful things. And all this at a time when the state is going broke and talking about closing schools and parks.

Ahhhh...Illinois politics. And all this in the context of the recent New Yorker article about Mayor Daley II in Chicago. It gives Illinois a high profile. But this high profile doesn't necessary mean high accomplishments. Illinois is going broke, can't get it together on a budget, and still squanders billions annually with little accountability. I'm not sure Sheila Simon can fix Illinois and the broken Illinois Democrats - in fact, I'm pretty sure she can't. And while I hope she proves me wrong over time, right now, I would fill in the little circle on my ballot next to Rich Whitney.

Missouri Valley Bball conference shows it's strength

OK, I have to admit that I am a sports fan. I can't help it - I was raised by a father who was an athlete and coach for most of his adult life. I played sports since as long as I can remember. I don't play much anymore, but I still have an interest, and quietly follow sports, although most of my friends have no idea that I do it follow it so closely.

I do enjoy college basketball, but I don't really get interested unless one of the local teams like the SIU Salukis or Murray State Racers do well. Murray did very well this year. But nevertheless, the NCAA tourney, the "big dance" gets me paying attention. 

College basketball is a lot different now than it was when I was young. My early memories of the NCAA were of a few teams dominating - like UCLA for example. There were only a handful of teams that could hope to get toward the finals of the NCAA, and only one or two that had a chance to win. 

But now it's a lot different. I guess I've heard it called "parity," which is a good word. I think it's that more and more poor kids saw basketball on TV and realized that with a lot of practice they might be able to get a ticket out of their lower income neighborhoods. And playing basketball is fun, mostly - so you had the chance to work hard at something fun, get good, and get out. And not to mention get a lot of aclaim, fame, and the possibility of money in a pro career. So a lot of kids got really good at basketball, and there were plenty of schools out there that wanted to improve their basketball programs. 

Whatever the reason, over the last decade or so, across the board in men's college basketball, smaller, previously little known schools, such as Gonzaga, have become basketball powerhouses that regularly take down the best of the large school teams and end up being ranked in the national polls. And then there's the upsets in the big dance.

This year has seen it increasing even more. And while my heart was with the Murray State Racers, and they should have beaten Butler but by no means embarassed themselves, I do think that Northern Iowa's victory over Kansas points out something that I have thought over the last decade, and that is the lack of recognition of the level of play in the Missouri Valley conference. 

I follow the Missouri Valley because SIU is one of the members. In the last decade SIU has been one of the contenders if not the champion. Not this year. They ended up in the bottom. And, as often happens in the Missouri Valley, teams played themselves evenly throughout the year. The only team which sort of stood out was Northern Iowa, who won both the conference and the conference tournament. But the Missouri Valley, because of how the teams beat up on each other, more because of the high level of play across the conference, and most of the teams ended up with a number of conference losses, only placed one team in the conference. 

That was a bit of injustice in my opinion. And the fact that Northern Iowa defeated, without controvery, the number one team that even the president had picked to win the tournment, points to the injustice of the snub of that conference. 

The Missouri Valley places hard nosed, physical defense. That is the kind of play that wins games against teams that aren't used to that kind of play. The NCAA tournament committee should have realized that and had at least the top two teams in the Missouri Valley conference. Their omission looks very bad at this point in time. 

OK, sorry for getting off the subject here, but I just wanted to make my opinions known on this subject. At this point the tourney is hard to call. Kentucky fans are on fire, but their team is very young. They have their hands full with Cornell, who is seasoned and hot. But wouldn't it be fun to see Northern Iowa in the final four? It could happen.

Paducah city council finally starting to assert some control: City Manager forced out

It isn't hot-off-the-presses news that now former Paducah city manager Jim Zumwalt has been forced out of his position, but I haven't written about it yet. I actually was gone the last couple weeks visiting my mom, and I didn't post anything on this page in that time. But I have been trying to find the time since we got back to write some of my thoughts about these changes. 

I had written about the Paducah city government before. I was not a fan of Zumwalt. I think that it was time for a new vision in that office. In fact, I don't even like the city manager type of government. As I've written before, it is a form of government which gives too much authority and pay to a person that isn't even elected. I say, make the elected folks run the government. That makes them accountable to the people that elected them. 

But what is different now in the Paducah city council that I sense is a realization that relying too much on the mayor and city manager hasn't been producing the best results. It actually took them too long to figure it out - some real damage has been done to the city through bad decisions made in the past year or two - but better late than never. 

Let's hope that a conscientious city council will now start making decisions which benefit the majority of the people in the city and not just a few of the elite. There's been too much of that in the past. Change can be good or bad, but I'm pretty sure that in this case, the change is good. I did however, roll my eyes a few times when I heard that the city is paying a "consultant" $23,000 to find a new city manager. This only adds to the absurdity of the city manager form of government. Why elect people if the people elected are going to pay other people to do the most important work? Take that money and pay the elected officials to do the work. If they don't want to spend their time doing the people's work, then they shouldn't run for office. That's sort of how I feel about it.

Republicans going over the top again

While I'm not going to say that the Democrats have handled everything great leading up to the passing of the so called health care reform, the Republican's behavior has been horrible, and is getting worse. Besides becoming obviously totally anti-Obama, regardless of what kind of concessions he makes, they are now degenerating into extreme "sour grape-ism." 

They thought that perhaps the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts had given them the break to block the health care bill, but that didn't stop them. The Republicans are making all this noise about process, but that's mostly hot air that has no substance.

The fact that the House passed the Senate bill is totally legit, and did nothing to change the rules at all. The Republicans have no beef about that. Now this so called reconciliation bill is a little different. They probably have a beef over that, but this is hard ball politics, and they've played the same game a number of times in the past. If the Dems can ram it through, then so be it, that's how it is.

I think the Republicans are acting like children who have been told that they can't stay up late and watch some late night TV show. They are stomping around and throwing what country folks might call a "hill spell." It's very unbecoming. 

And this notion that they are going to make political hay by repealing this bill is most absurd. And they know it. And if I hear one more time Boehner or some other republican say "the American people" want this and don't want that, I'm going to hurl. They are the minority party, and I believe will stay that way, especially with the way they are behaving. It's a long time until November.

Facebook pages aren't just for social networking

by Berry Craig

They can promote social justice, too, according to Axel
Caballero and Ofelia Yañez of Los Angeles. They're battling anti-Latino “
Tea Party racism and violence on Cuéntame, their Facebook page.

“Both Ofelia and I have seen with great sadness and frustration
how Tea Partiers have unjustly and unfairly targeted the Latino community to
further their political agenda,”Caballero wrote in an email from the Culver
City, Calif.-based Brave New Foundation. 

Cuéntame is a project of the foundation, which uses media to
promote an open democratic society that encourages rigorous debate,
opportunity and justice for all." 

Cuéntame's latest campaign exposing Tea Party racism has hit a
nerve, not only within the Latino community but also with many folks across
the country who "are also sick of "...all the hatred, the violence and the
bigotry peddled by Teabaggers,” Caballero added.

The campaign features videos that can be viewed online at

http://www.facebook.com/cuentame?v=app_11007063052.

Caballero's email also explained that Cuéntame is a Facebook
community of users where Latinos and the general public can connect and
interact with fellow Facebook fans, activists, artists, bloggers, public
figures, musicians, journalists and other community members.” 

Cuéntame has a double meaning in Spanish, according to
Caballero: Count me in, and Tell me your story.’” 

The email from Caballero also said that From calling Mexicans
filthy, stinking animals,’ to listening the likes of Tom Tancredo and Sarah
Palin deliver hateful speech after hateful speech, to the increased use of
violence in their words and actions, Teabaggers have come out in full force
against our community.”

Sunday News Shows

The Sunday News Shows today had quite a bit to work with, but all in all, the ones that I watched fell flat. Meet the Press started out with John McCain. We put him on mute. Their roundtable was interesting, but nothing that memorable. 

Of all the shows that I watched, the most memorable thing for me is that the republicans have apparently come up with a talking point (I say that because it heard it more than once from republican talking heads today) that says that Obama pushing ahead with health care using “reconciliation” is equivalent to Bush going to war in Iraq. Their explanation for this position is that in each case, the president is going against strong public opinion against what they are doing. 

I think that’s a huge stretch. I do think that the dems have to explain why, with most of the polls saying that the public isn’t in favor of these secret, sweetheart deals to get legislation done, and that they don’t want this jammed down the throats of republicans, they feel justified in going ahead with the reconciliation process. I don’t think, in the light of all of their sleazy dealings in getting the bill to the point that it currently is, they have done a particularly good job of explaining to the average person how this health care legislation is going to help them.

Mostly, the people that can’t afford health insurance now think that they are going to be forced to buy relatively expensive health insurance, and that promises from the government that they are going to help pay for the premiums and keep them “affordable” over time are hollow and not to be trusted. That’s a lot of people. Basically, it comes down to a failure to stand up to the pressure and offer a single payer system - i.e. government run - where people’s health care is covered with a reasonable percent of income. Oh sure, all the republican extremists call this socialism, but they are just covering for corporate america. And the reason is because all these republican pundits are making lots of money. They have no idea what it is like to live on a small income. 

I honestly don’t know if the senate bill helps people like or not. I do sort of fear it. The blame for that goes to democratic leaders. If they can’t make me understand without a doubt that they are trying to make things better for me, how are they going to convince the average tea partier.

To the Contrary, the women’s issues show with an all female panel, continues to explore relevant issues and provide in depth conversations about subjects that the other shows won’t touch. Kudos to them!

Of course, there was a lot of discussion about the 7 hour Obama health care bipartisan forum. There is no clear winner from that, but a majority of the panelists thought that Obama improved his position, and that the dems, through Obama, were telegraphing that would get this health bill passed with a simple majority using the reconciliation process. I have no idea whether or not that is a good thing. If they had a better bill, I’d feel better.

And that goes to the heart of Obama’s problems. He has seriously alienated his base. He is calculating politically that he can operate better from the center, but I think that he may be wrong. He can only coax a certain percent of the independents who are persuaded by the conservatives that Obama is a radical tax and spend liberal to the point of being socialist. And while, at one point, he could count on his base for a minimum level of support, that support has eroded as Obama has moved toward the center. Obama needs to consider what his base is thinking. He may need to do some adjustment in his public posturing. 

Colby King, on Inside Washington, had the best quote of the day. I can’t remember it exactly, but it did reference “crap” in Washington. When I get a chance I’ll go find the transcript. But it was a bold and funny comment.