A Christmas Surprise

My Facebook page exploded with congratulations this week after I announced my engagement to Linda on Christmas Day.    I had a crush on her back in our North Branford High School Algebra II class, but she had a boyfriend at the time.   Four decades intervened before we saw each other again at our class reunion.   You might think I've been a confirmed bachelor for life, but I never thought of myself as destined to be forever single.    We haven't made any specific wedding plans, since she and her two grown children are still absorbing the shock.   Yes, it was a surprise.   I admit that it still hasn't completely sunk in with me.   Recently when I had dinner with my last college roommate, he mentioned how his wife of thirty years was indispensable in keeping him focused and grounded.   In many ways I've been drifting through life.   We all do that to some extent, but Linda has really added that sense of purpose that has been missing.   It's like a missing piece of a puzzle that's taken until now to find.

Time To Stand Up

Abraham Lincoln, March 6, 1865

I saw the movie Lincoln the day after the Newtown school massacre.   The movie focused on the drive to get the 13th Amendment to the Constitution passed by the House before the end of the Civil War.   The amendment outlawed slavery.   You might think that after four years of war costing 600,000 American lives with the South in absolute ruins, the abolition of slavery would have sailed through the House after passing the Senate.  Instead, President Lincoln faced daunting obstacles, especially from House Democrats.   There were people close to his own administration who thought his amendment was lost and he couldn't get the votes.   The powerful forces of resistance in the North - as well as the slaveholding border states which did not secede - provided almost as great an impediment to change as the armed uprising of the ten Confederate states of the South.   The permanent nationwide end to slavery was by no means guaranteed.    Lincoln was a shrewd politician, but he was resolute in making sure the end of the Civil War meant slavery anywhere in the United States was gone for good.    If a bloody Civil War couldn't eradicate this shameful institution from our society, what would it take?  There was more than a century of work to be done, but President Lincoln prevailed.
 

We have seen our 2nd Amendment uncompromisingly defended by a powerful gun lobby for decades, led by the leadership and lobbyists of the National Rifle Association.   The NRA typically stays silent immediately after any mass shootings, and that pattern has continued after the Newtown tragedy.   With the murder of twenty innocent young children and six adults, their unfounded fear mongering about the administration attacking 2nd Amendment rights has run its course.   This time, Newtown has changed everything.   Politicians, clergy and other disgusted citizens are not backing down.   Has any rational supporter of gun restrictions advocated outlawing handguns for defending your home or rifles for hunting?   No.   Does anyone think reinstating the assault weapons ban will totally end our problems?   Of course not.   Do we have to look at how we've emphasized the entertainment value of violence throughout our culture?   That's at least as important in addressing the root causes.   We need to rethink our mental health system and focus on personal responsibility.    Addressing our culture of violence should be this generation's call to action.    President Obama is determined to prevail.

One more thought... Does government need to "put God back" in our schools, as some suggest?    Look at the beautiful, innocent victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School along with the heroes who worked to protect them and those who comfort their families.   How can you believe in God and think God ever left because of a 1963 Supreme Court ruling?   God is where you choose to find Him.

What Can We Finally Learn From This?

The tragedy in Newtown brought back memories of 9/11 for me. One difference: Facebook didn't exist eleven years ago. Most Facebook posts have been thoughtful and sensitive. Others upset me to the point where I wonder why I keep checking my page. In the interest of summing up my current feelings and listening to the voices of common sense, I wanted to share these well considered words from Nate Logan, one of my Facebook friends:      In the past few days I've seen and heard arguments for more guns, against more guns, for more religion in school, against more religion in school, the need for more treatment for the mentally ill, better parenting, etc.  Wounds are still open right now, people are still processing what happened. We're dealing with this each in our own way.  It's so easy to cast our own opinions and point fingers, and I'm just as guilty.  But maybe it wouldn't hurt if one of the biggest lessons we learned from this tragedy was that we need to learn to listen to each other, be a little more open to hearing other opinions, and giving a little more space to grieve before we start with all of the arguing. Just a thought.  The solution to a problem this complex will not be simple, and it's not just one problem, but many.  It will take many voices and many ideas to fix it. Keep in mind, action is bigger than a Facebook rant.  It means stepping up and acting.  In a perfect world I suppose...

Radio Pranks

DJs Michael Christian & Mel Greig

As radio prank calls go, this one seems tame by comparison. Australian radio personality Mel Greig pretended to be Queen Elizabeth checking with the hospital on the condition of Prince William's wife Kate Middleton and managed to get answers from a nurse there. After the call was revealed to be a hoax, the nurse later committed suicide. The DJs involved have been suspended and are obviously devastated. The suspension may be appropriate, since their careers are not the number one concern at the moment. Beyond this unintended tragedy, I am reminded of prank radio station phone calls and stunts that have made their unwitting targets look very bad and could have easily led to equally disastrous results. Here in the New London market alone, there was a DJ who made outrageous prank calls and got people extremely upset - all in the name of shock value entertainment. In another instance our WBMW morning show was the target of syndicated shock jocks Opie & Anthony, who had an axe to grind with the owner of our station and decided to take it out on me and my co-host. They'd take audio clips from our show and make fun of us as "whitebread local radio". A couple of their stooges even prank-called us, joking about something personal to do with my co-host. At the time we ignored them and they predictably moved on within two days to trash someone else. As broadcasters, being a target can be a hazard of the occupation, but most are not expecting to be ridiculed in front of a less than sympathetic audience. Radio personalities repeatedly prove there's plenty of money and ratings in making others look bad, but once in a while there are consequences.

The Phony War

From MSNBC

Merry Christmas? Happy Holidays?    I don't really have a preference.   I stick to the "holidays" greeting more because it incorporates the New Year than because of any religious observance.   If someone wishes me a Merry Christmas, they shouldn't have to worry about offending me if by chance I'm not a Christian. Christmas has been the dominant holiday, and our very secular retail landscape guarantees that fact for years to come. Nonetheless, Fox News claims every year that there is a "War on Christmas" led by the crowd Bill O'Reilly calls the "secularists".    Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee found himself on the receiving end of Fox News criticism when he referred to the state "holiday tree".   I agree that this is a bit too politically correct even for my left of center leanings.   It's a Christmas tree, for cryin' out loud!    While Fox and company pounced on the governor with the idea that the state was distancing itself too much from a ceremony based on Christianity, one Providence radio host who said he was Jewish suggested the state should just step aside and let the private sector sponsor whatever religiously connected symbolism they want.   Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams as a place for religious tolerance.    Maybe the state should separate itself from something the church and private enterprise are perfectly capable of handling.   On Capitol Hill in DC, congressmen can take a break from lighting Christmas trees and stay with the business of giving us all a Christmas present: avoiding the looming fiscal cliff.