WagTheNews

Remember back to 1999 when society was wondering what the next decade would be called? Long gone was the "Me Generation" and "Morning in America." As the 20th Century was ending, times were good, collectively. And other than the big scare that the millenium would shut down the world's computers, optimism reigned. Pop culture felt like the Roaring 20's, as stars were smiling, portfolios grew fat, and deficits became surpluses. Even new age thinking had a fighting chance to change the world. Pop culture was eager to named the new decade even before it began. Today, it all seems so naiive. September 11th spawned world's support of America and our values. Hunting Bin Laden in every cave was the days mission. But behind the curtain, neocons were seizing power, hitching their cart to Iraq, oil and their Christian vision for the world. Conspiracy of lies, deceit and an arrogance of power followed.

But before we coin this decade "The War On Terror", consider the harsher scrutiny and the calls for accountability that has, at least for the moment, become America's battle cry. 

The Mitchell Report on steroids in baseball reflects what society will tolerate even more than perhaps the war. People we've worshipped were found to be liars, cheats and traitors. Baseball is many things between the lines, but from a distance it is a metaphor for all things in life. Other sports may hold America's heart and television ratings, but baseball is still the only sport you can mark life's events by. Overlay a calendar with baseball and you'll see how it goes hand in hand with changes in society.  

The Mitchell Report did for baseball what all the reports on Iraq couldn't. It named names and pointed the blame directly on the shoulders of the players who knew better. Players who cheated and lied. Players who watched superstars perform like 3rd graders before Congress. Players who took teams to arbitration for more money. Players who walked away from loyal fans to cash in a big payday. Players who forgot the reason they started tossing a ball to their fathers in the first place. Big business will do that.

The Mitchell Report was too long in the making, allowing Barry Bonds to first break Roger Maris's single-season home run record and then surpass career totals of his Uncle Willie Mays, the immortal Babe Ruth and the stoic Hank Aaron. For every quote urging us to move on from the steroids era, there are lone voices saying hold your horses. For the masses who advocate steroid records to stand, there are the lone voices who ask "why?" 

Flawed decisions by leaders and heroes have generated so many reports you could fill a library. From 9/11 to Iraq, Gitmo to Global Warming. In each instance, few of the recommendations have yet been implemented. What Mitchell was able to do was encapsulate the decade of lost opportunity. Naming names has shamed players. And no one should shed a tear for them. The money they've made, the players they leap frogged to make a team, and the illusion they perpetuated over the eyes and hearts of fans should shame them right out of the record books.

Instead of having an asterick next to their names at the top of baseball records, each one should share the same page, at the back of the Baseball Encyclopedia, titled "Asterick" with their accomplishments and offenses. "Roger Clemens....ERA- 3.12.....Steroids Shot into Buttocks- 6".

The "War on Terror" will probably win the title for this decade. A bunch of marketing dollars has gone into it. But remember the "Reports of the Decade", the findings that embarrassed some players, caught some leaders, and made society accept bad behavior and wanting things to just go away. Maybe we'll have to wait until 2011 for people to take information from all these reports, stand up and scream for change. Really scream. For real change.                                                                      12/15/07

It's the first time Disney World played host. President Bush was beamed in to welcome these new Americans. Cuban-American musician Gloria Estefan sang the national anthem and country western's Lee Greenwood sang "God Bless America." It is a small world after all.

So why does the commercialization of naturalization feel so unnatural? Disney has a push-pull relationship in America that goes back over a half century. Disney reflects the yearning for yester-year among us. But it also provides a cheap stereotype for what it means to be an American. Hosting the July 4th ceremony was a coup for Disney's PR machine, the White House or a combination of both. 

Disney and Bush did what they could to capitalize on the American Dream for these new citizens. With immigration reform dead for the foreseeable future, Bush needed a place to re-iterate the American Dream without getting too close to these new Americans. The ceremony took place outside the Cinderella Castle. Disney Resort president Meg Crofton summed up the corporate connection to the flag. "What better day than Independence Day to celebrate the naturalization of 1,000 new American citizens. And what better place than Disney World, where dreams come true every day of the year. We are honored to participate as America bestows its greatest gift -- the gift of citizenship."

The push-pull America has with Disney is also reflected in the way Disney has been part of American politics. Michael Moore knows this all too well. Disney had its Miramax Films unit halt distribution of Moore's "Fahrenheit 911," the award-winning film critical of the Bush Administration's handling of affairs before and after the September 11th attacks.

Disney has also been part of the country's immigration debate, both as a public citizen and major employer. In June, Disney the Citizen hosted Democratic presidential hopefuls, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, as they spoke before National Latino officials gathering just days after the immigration bill failed in the Senate. In 1993, Disney the Employer was the target of an INS probe that leveled fines close to $400,000, at the time the largest in California history. Disney was accused of 1156 violations when investigators tried examining more than 6,000 employee files at Disneyland. The INS said 55 workers were fired. Disney said just 5 of them had improper documentation.

But Disney's history with who belongs in America and who doesn't belong dates back to the McCarthy era. In October 1947, Walt Disney himself testified before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Here is a transcript of part of that testimony.

Question: "Do you have any people in your studio at the present time that you believe are Communist or Fascist, employed there?"
Disney: "No; at the present time I feel that everybody in my studio is one-hundred-percent American."

Back then, coming out of World War II and facing the start of the Cold War and Red Scare, Disney was a movie maker and not yet a theme park owner. Movies were the propaganda tool of the world. Disney knew a "100% American" studio was reflecting what government wanted to hear and what many Americans wanted to be re-assured. America, and American propaganda tools, was all American. The start of baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet. End of story.

Today, Disney's embrace of other cultures and new immigrants is a safe marketing tool even with the immigration debate. Disney's embrace of new Americans puts the company on the side of legal immigrants. It also portrays the company as a present-day Statue of Liberty by welcoming the masses, even if it's just 1000 pre-chosen people on a national holiday. 

There are many things that make up a culture and no one can predict how fast a culture can change. Immigration has been a hot debate for more than a year. Disney either wants to truly lead the cultural revolution to capitalize on changing demographics for both its theme parks and movie audiences. Or it just wants to stay close enough to government, so government doesn't spend as much time staying close to Disney's business.                                                7/7/2007  

"Where Have You Gone...George Mitchell" was among the first entries in "WagTheNews." More than a year later, we have a better chance finding Joe DiMaggio than George Mitchell. The latter was picked by baseball execs to investigate steroid use in the majors. Then, there was hope that Mitchell would derail Barry Bonds before he surpassed Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron as baseball's homerun king. A feable year later, Mitchell and the rest of us will end up watching Bonds pass Aaron in a matter of weeks.

Nevermind a year ago, Bonds was as guilty as can be. Two newspaper reporters unveiled their investigative book "Game of Shadows." The conclusion: Bonds turned to steroids because he was jealous of the hero-worshipping surrounding Mark McGwire and his single season home run pursuit. After that 1998 season and continuing the next few years, Bonds took a variety of illegal and undetectable drugs to add strength, improve eyesight, and to smash McGwire’s homer run record. Bonds never disputed any of the books' facts, but filed suit for damaging Grand Jury testimony being leaked. 

Baseball execs said the integrity of baseball was at stake so they hired Mitchell to investigate. The former U.S. Senator had promised an independent investigation to include "all persons who we believe have relevant information." We've waited, and waited, and waited. Today Mitchell finally named names, but sadly Bonds was not one of them. Investigators want teams to send medical records of Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Grimsley, David Segui and Fernando Tatis. The hitch is the players would then need to grant permission to release the records to Mitchell. Fat chance. See you next year.

So we've gone nowhere fast, or more accurately, nowehere slowly. But how has everyone allowed time to pass without a final judgment? A year ago, we wrote that baseball and the Giants were co-conspirators in their silence before the 1999 season. A new Giants ballpark was opening in 2000 and the team had no interest in catching Bonds. It was only after the ballpark opened in 2000 that the team finally did background checks on Bonds's three personal trainers. The team still did nothing when they found steroid links among a trainer, a gym and Bonds.

Today we can add Giants fans as enablers to the sorry Bonds affair. And that's surprising, especially in a city like San Francisco, which has "pride in place" like nowhere else. It's puzzling for San Francisco fans to give Bonds standing ovations. It's even more troublesome that the entire city doesn't take a stand. Few issues go by in San Francisco where residents are not active participants. Dog's rights. Parent's rights. Gay's rights. With a city so vocal and filled with so many activists, why haven't the masses boycotted all things Giants? The games. The merchandise. The sponsors.  

Mitchell hasn't been able to get anyone to talk. San Francisco residents can make their money talk by taking a stand and sending a message. Instead the Bonds homerun pursuit is looking like a car accident, where everyone slows down to watch, just glad they're not a part of the wreck.                          5/9/2007

Paris Hilton leads the CBS Radio newscast Friday night at 11pm Eastern. ABC News Investigator Brian Ross leads 20/20 with a profile on a DC madam. An SUV at a red light proudly displays a license plate with the slogan "Support Our Troops." Flags fly at half-mast for 32 murder victims in Virginia. No such honor for 3300 Americans killed in Iraq. Gas surpasses $3 again. 

Welcome to America in 2007. Are you conflicted by all this? Or does this sound fine to you?

No sooner were students killed by a mentally ill classmate that Americans show sorrow and debate gun control. Most Americans are resigned to the fact that the National Rifle Association owns the issue and lawmakers will never ban handguns. That's no surprise.

What is surprising is our lack of commitment to conect the dots and do something better. First, we live in a country where more than one President was gunned down in public. But today we have more guns than ever. Second,  the framers of our Constitution spelled out "the right of the people to keep and bear arms." But we were a new country then, and even tough the Constitution was signed in 1776, and the Bill of Rights added in 1791, most Americans don't realize we were still fighting the Revolutionary War against Britain for many years 1776. Of course we needed guns back then. 

The cold, hard truth is Americans are not ready to steer its own culture forward. Virginia Tech, Presidential assassinations and a 234 year old Amendment haven't motivated us. For a dramatic and meaningful culture change, Americans would have to endure a Virginia Tech shooting everyday, or a Presidential assassination every four years.

Is it a great culture when American deaths in Iraq haven't led to mass trade-in of SUVs in the states? Like guns, Americans feel like they have the "right to bear cars." No one is going to tell citizens what they can drive, where they can drive and how far they can drive it. But when gas prices surpass $3 a gallon, especially near a Patriotic "driving holiday" like Memorial Day, that's when gas guzzling freedom-lovers start talking about the cost to fill up. Boo-hoo. Dead soldiers doesn't motivate our culture to change. Only money does.

The media fuels this cultural disaster, spending time on Paris Hilton, a disturbed woman who is famous for just being famous. ABC News with all of its proud branding ("More Americans get their news from ABC News than from any other source") was just one of many mainstream news organizations to play dead when the world needed them most. Their slogan should be an apology- "We're sorry more of you watch this crap than any other source."

So where do we go as a culture? Who do we turn to for leadership? Politicians? We know what we'll get, don't we? Business? Vision must be longer than the next quarterly report. The media? The "gatekeepers" should have the keys taken away. For our culture to change, truly change, we need people indebted to no one, but indebted to everyone. 

A lot is made of the word "sacrifice" especially in times of war. But no one is motivated to sacrifice while Wall Street hits new highs. We have to ask ourselves as a society, one society, big questions that a third grader could ask. "What if everyone drove a car the size they really need and not one they can afford?" What if. More questions that start with the words "what if" and see where the conversation goes.

"What if" people decided the culture, instead of it being force by politicians, business and the media?

What if? What if?                                                                                    5/6/2007  

Do you ever wake up and wonder if the whole world has gone mad? Do you ever feel like decisions made today are made without any perspective? Does it scare you to think the next generation will dissect our decisions and say "What were they thinking?"

From the moment airlines announced they were going to allow in-flight cell phone use, we knew it was time to take Amtrak. On the ground, it's difficult not to take a swing at someone invading your space with their cell phone conversation. How does an upper middle class woman, living in a posh suburb, enter a coffee shop on a Saturday afternoon and carry on a conversation loud enough for everyone else to hear? How does she continue when facing the stares of the rest of us. "Cheetos? You're kidding. She ate cheetos!" It got worse from there.

30,000 feet in the air, the prospect of hearing one-way conversations are worse. Imagine the one with the overly important businessman, or the laughter and anger from spouses, or the "Sex and the City" conversation from single lonely hearts. It would be enough to reach for the emergency door.

It wasn't until the cell phone industry said such calls would get in the way with their ground communication networks (lose a call lately?) that the in-flight babble idea crash landed. Big business told the FAA what was best after floating the trial balloon.

Enter Satellite TV for your gas guzzling minivan. Next year instead of rolling out vehicles that economically and enviornmentally appeal to Americans, Dodge and Chrysler will equip its fleet with Satellite TV. God help us.

Two screens for the kiddies to watch Nick, Disney and the Cartoon Network. One screen on your dash, so the driver can play DJ, switching between Sat-TV, Sat-Radio, the old fashioned AM-FM band and a navigation system. With all this high-tech on the dash, will there be any time to watch the road?

The end of civilization part comes in five waves.

First, the parents. Parents have less and less time to, well ahem, parent. Now they will give up "windsheild time" to find out what the heck is going on in their kids' lives.

Second, the children. Kids who have less and less time to, well ahem, be kids and grow up at a pace that doesn't resemble quick edits. Now kids will be watching and hearing fake life go by on a TV instead of watching and hearing real life roll by out their windows and in their minivans.

Third, the safety. How selfish for these new car owners to risk the safety of themselves and their own families. But what about the rest of us sitting at a red light, changing lanes, or getting crashed into by a minivan with Bugs Bunny music screaming from the back seat. Add the spike in car insurance rates and we have a pandemic.

Fourth, the enviornment. "Mom? Mom!!!!!! Take the long way home. I wanna see the end of Sponge Bob!" Ah the demands from this over-indulged, over-demanding demographic. So let's "take the long way home" and drive those 10-15 mile per hour guzzlers around and around, causing more emissions, more traffic and more road repairs.

Fifth, the national security. We are addicted to oil. President Bush said so. The more we drive, the more we depend on other countries. The more we depend on other countries, the more our enemies use oil dependency against us. Ask yourself, has the Iraq War been worth 3,000 lost Americans, tens of thousands of dead civilians, and $780 billion dollars in taxpayer money? Add those numbers to the price at the pump and you'll see you're paying a ton more than $2.50/gallon.

Instant gratification at the expense of vision for our lives and the planet. As the band R.E.M. sang, "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I--feel---fine."       3/30/07

Two events this week shine a light on Southern history, separated by one state and 150 years from today. In Florida, a Confederate flag hangs from a noose at a gallows in a Tallahassee museum display. Provocative to some. Insightful to others. Igniting the rage of the Sons of the Confederate Veterans for sure.  

The flag is part of a Black History Month exhibit. We've come a long way. After building fortunes and culture by exploiting blacks, the Confederate group's leader Bob Hurst says the display is "extremely offensive" thus "alienating a great deal of the people in this area." Offensive and alienating. Wonder how Hurst marked MLK Day? Chances are he didn't pay admission to the museum for a glimpse of other visual reminders of slavery: the Confederate flag shaped in a cross or displayed over a voting machine.  

Bob the Confederate says the display "teaches contempt for not only the Confederate flag but for everything associated with it. We still cherish our Southern heritage and history and culture." "Cherish" reveals the truth, that we haven't come a long way.

Four hours up the road in Atlanta, another symbolic message. Should the state of Georgia apologize for its role in slavery? A similiar resolution passed in Virginia last month. This one traces the history of slavery from arriving in Virginia, to the role of slavery in the Civil War, the lynchings of blacks and the Jim Crow laws which enforced segregation.

Lawmakers are having more problems with this "apology" resolution than they are with a bill sailing through to declare April as Confederate History and Heriage Month. Nothing screams Southern tourism dollars than a special Hallmark "Confederate Month" and just in time for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. 

Awareness, atonement, reconciliation. The South is burning with these words. 

Let's hope if Georgia gets a Confederate Month, it looks further 270 miles south and invites a provocative art display as it's lynchpin icon.       3/17/07