Radiofree West Hartford -- The Crow's Nest by Tom Evers

THE CROW'S NEST

By Tom Evers

January 28, 2004

Blue Back faces attack

Any momentum that the Blue Back development project had appears to be slowing down dramatically. Outraged West Hartford residents have managed to slow the proposal release date until Spring. Mayor Harris and his pals on the West Hartford Town Council seem to be caught in a quagmire of sorts - residents have complained that such a large-scale project should have widespread citizen support - instead of the buy in of the majority of Democrats running the Town Council.

Regardless, Democrats on the Council will be hard-pressed to explain to residents why such an enormously expensive project should be financed by taxpayer dollars. Moreover, questions are surfacing about why such a "metropolis" should be constructed in an already congested part of town.

All in all, this proposal looks more and more like a bad idea every minute. West Hartford politicians aught to do the right thing, hold hearings on this monstrosity, and then - put the development plan to a public referendum.

Kerry the Nominee and Bush's inept handlers

As of this post, its almost incomprehensible that John Kerry wouldn't get the Democratic Nomination. Of all the candidates in the field, he is probably the toughest one to defeat. Kerry is a crafty political veteran, a strong interviewer, and has strong appeal to his liberal base. He also has a great military record (not including his anti-war antics), and to some extent - he looks the part. Like it or not he looks like Presidential material.

Here is an interesting article http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=352185 which, in part, describes John Kerry's mindset on U.S. military operations. Make no mistake, Kerry is a huge United Nations fan - a lover of "globalony". In stark contrast to President Bush, Kerry believes in seeking out permission from the United Nations before America acts either offensively or defensively. He believes that Paris, Berlin and Moscow aught to stamp approval, if not coordinate, American military efforts.

The next general election is clearly about two very different ideologies. It will be hard for Kerry to campaign in the middle because - he has a very long voting record. His public votes are in the public record and it will be very hard to twist or spin away his congressional positions. Simply put, his recent attempt to claim that he voted in support of the war was only because of some private assurances from the President is ludicrous. There are hundreds of conditional votes, which Kerry participated in, where can blame the policy outcome on others without taking personal accountability for his own vote.

This is hardly a quality that could make you a leader of people, let alone President.

Before the debates begin to center around gun control, education, environment, taxes and the usual host of hot button issues, we need to focus on all of Kerry's stances over the past fifteen years. The Bush campaign must focus on showing the clear contrast between Bush's action and ideology, and Kerry's liberalism. These should be the questions that the media is asking for clarification, instead of looking at Bush's national guard record.

This is a fight in which Bush can choose to win or lose on his own. He must rally supporters through speeches and forgo any additional interviews like the one he had on Meet the Press last week. Such appearances are fatalistic to the Bush campaign; whoever coached him to appear as he did should be terminated immediately.

George Bush is a man of principle, honor and integrity, but he's not an interviewer; he's barely a speech-giver. And his handlers aught to understand this by now. This battle is about ideology and direction. Media types will only be happy to loop an interview showing a confused Bush over and over again until its solidified in the public mind.

Lastly, the White House and Republican National Committee have been slow and flawed in their inability to handle the Democrats charge of Bush's military service. The President just got criticized for landing a plane on an aircraft runway for God's sake. He must have learned something somewhere. Can't they drum up anyone willing to stick up for the President? Can't someone on the Republican side show the anti-war, anti-American side of young John Kerry as he testified on so-called "American atrocities"?

Also, there are plenty of quotes from John Kerry showing his disapproval about the Vietnam War record being questioned when Bill Clinton was running. Is it time that someone called attention to the irony here?

It's beginning to look like the Bush campaign is being run by folks from the failed Bob Dole campaign. There needs to be a serious shake up - and fast. Or else a cakewalk will turn into a disaster for Republicans, and for the Nation as well.

The Halftime Show (from Hell)

First Jacko, and now Janet. But isn't this what one expects from the Jackson clan? Well, what about the rest of it?

I was one of the few people that stomached the entire horrendous halftime show that the National Football League fed to Americans and others around the globe. Without any previous knowledge of teasers sent out by Viacom that Janet was "going to shock the world." I recognized what happened as a staged event meant to further poison American society.

I still fault the pundits and television personalities for not noting a larger problem - the lyrics of the so-called songs in the half time show. Terrible displays that included words describing "crack heads", drugs, and all other terrible elements in society got unnecessary airtime on an international stage. People like Sean "P-Diddy" Combs, Kid Rock and Nelly are hardly the kind of performers that mainstream television audiences - filled with children - should be subjected to.

Here was the opportunity for America to show the world what it's made of, and a group of street hoodlums get up there and embarrass us all. But it's not beyond MTV to produce this kind of smut and garbage; in fact it's a way of life. The music industry (if you can call it that) gives us rap songs and hip-hop crap that burns our ears and demoralizes our youth.

It's this kind of poor judgment, which sends the clear message that television networks have a hard time distinguishing right from wrong, or determining "what's suitable" for the general public. In the midst of a quality football game they opted to try and take away from what's become a family holiday from all of us. Where were the adults at the controls in Network land? Are they're any?

I'm not censoring art or music. If you want to broadcast that kind of grotesque and foul subject matter - then go do it on HBO or the Playboy Channel. Just leave the rest of us alone.

In closing on this point: shame on the networks for not keeping the public trust, shame on the already shamed MTV, and shame on the NFL for not considering the ramifications of their actions - they share equal responsibility for making sure the show is clean. As for the participants - the Jackson, the Timberlakes, and the rapper clowns - they have no shame. They are what they are - derelicts and lowlifes of our society.

Let's see if Powell's FCC can hand out suitable punishments, or are they on the Hollywood-Music Industry dole? Only time will tell.