“I’m a Christian first, American second, conservative third and Republican fourth. I’ll tell ya, there are a whole lot of people in this country that feel exactly the same way.” -- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX/Canada) I am quite certain that Sen. Cruz is 100% correct, that a whole lot of people in this country do indeed feel exactly the same way he does. The problem here is, unlike Mr. Cruz, not a single one of them is running to be President of the United States, hoping to become chief executive of the entire country, whatever their religious beliefs, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. armed forces, swearing an oath to protect, preserve and defend the U.S. Constitution. (A Constitution, it should be noted, which whimsically includes the very First Amendment.about making no law in regards to religion or the establishment thereof.) By the way, for what it's worth, I'm one of those "whole lot of people in this country" who actually feels exactly the same as Ted Cruz -- that he is indeed a Christian first, and an American second. And a Republican fourth. I would add, too, that if I was a Republican, it would creep me out to read a statement like this and even consider voting for him to be president. Or pretty much anything. Including leader of my party, which he puts fourth. I also think it probably wasn't a great political tactic of Mr. Cruz to proclaim he was an American second. After all, it comes as a sensitive time for and and leaves a wide opening for his opponents to say, "Ted Cruz's statement doesn't surprise me, since I would expect any person who was born in Canada to say he was an American second." In fairness, there's at least one perspective where his statement is reasonable. That's if he was running to be Pope. Unfortunately, a) the job isn't open, and b) he's not. An article I read on Daily Kos asked the pointed question, imagine if a candidate for president who was Jewish said that he or she was a Jew first, rather than an American. Their candidacy would be over. (The author noted, as well, that if any prominent American -- not even a candidate for president or any office -- noted being a Muslim before being an American. "Heads would explode." I'll go a step further with specifics. If John F. Kennedy had said this in 1960, he not only wouldn't have been elected president, he would not have gotten the Democratic nomination. A great many Americans were concerned that a Catholic president would take orders directly from the Pope. The barrier was so strong that Mr. Kennedy felt it necessary to address the issue head-on and went to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, an organization of Protestant clergymen and gave a long speech on the subject. Among other things, he said -- I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him. He addressed the issue forcibly, as well, in West Virginia, which had the lowest percentage of Catholics of any state in the Union, and ended up winning the state's primary, which is considered the turning point in his campaign. Certainly the situation of being Catholic is different from declaring one a Christian, but the principle of situation of the separation of church and state and no religious test for office is the same, as is the concept of considering if Kennedy had said he was a Christian first. For that matter, imagine if Barack Obama had ever said that he considered himself a black man first, and an American second. Conservative Republicans went nutso crazy when he and his wife simply tapped fists together, painting it as a black fist-bump. Yet there is Ted Cruz telling the public that before being an American he is a Christian. That his personal beliefs have precedence over any decisions he would have to make for the good of all America. (For goodness sake, he only had "Republican" fourth, remarkable for someone who wants to be the leader of Republicans.) Then again, Donald Trump just told people that he believed he could walk down Fifth Avenue and shoot a person, and not lose any support. Quite a gallingly thoughtless and mindlessly insensitive thing for anyone to say at any time, let alone in today's gun culture of mass shootings. But most especially if you want to be President of the United States. So, I'm not quite sure if my level of disbelief of how today's leading Republican Party candidates continually say things that disqualify themselves from being President could get any lower. Though they keep trying. And Ted Cruz came pretty darn close.
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The actor Abe Vigoda passed away today at the age of 94. For quite a few years, there's been an odd bit of pop culture with people tracking whether or not Abe Vigoda was still alive. That's why it was sort of odd, but amusing to do a web search today and find a listing on Google referencing the news, but making it clear that, no, really, he actually was dead. Seriously. Here -- What's odd too about this is that they felt obligated to say that when someone who died at the age of 94, it wasn't a hoax. Vigoda was best known for playing 'Detective Fish' on the series Barney Miller -- and its spin-off series, Fish, as well as co-starring in The Godfather as Tessio. But I actually worked with the fellow in one of his lesser-known films, Jury Duty. This came in my wayward days as a publicist. Alas, I don't have many stories about him. Probably more accurate is no stories. He only shot on the movie a few days, and I wasn't hired for the full production, but only was on-set for a couple of weeks. So, I think we overlapped on one day, maybe two. I do recall watching him work (it was on the steps outside the courthouse), which was a treat -- he played a judge -- and my memory is that I did stop by to say hello. He was fairly taciturn, but quite polite. Okay, you may not have heard of Jury Duty, but here's proof. (Sort of.) The movie starred Pauly Shore, and while it wasn't an epic, I think it was reasonably okay for a Pauly Shore movie. And he was pleasant to deal with. As I recall, he played a slacker (shocking, yes I know) who is put on a jury which gets sequestered in an incredibly elegant, luxury hotel (because that's how sequestering works), so he does whatever he can to keep the trial going as long as possible, so that he can keep getting the $5 a day and nice lodgings. It had a respectable cast, with Tia Carrere, Stanley Tucci (who I remember having some nice, thoughtful conversations with), Shelley Winters (as Shore's mother), Brian Doyle-Murray, and of course Abe Vigoda. (By the way, the movie was directed by John Fortenberry, who directed the first two episodes of the current second season of Galavant, which I wrote about at length.) Here's the trailer. You'll even get to see some of the courthouse steps scene. And proof that Abe Vigoda was in it! As a maniacally-relentless watcher of All Things Olympics, during the last Winter Olympics in Sochi I wrote about coming across the under-the-wire coverage of figure skating that was broadcast in the morning in full detail (including the lesser-skaters) on the minor NBC Sports cable channel. I said how terrific their broadcast team was, of Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir, and even the anchor Terry Gannon, who all had a wonderful and fun rapport and who gave actual sports coverage of the event, and in an entertaining (and occasional offbeat) way, rather than handling it all like a genteel arts performance.
I'd long since grown weary of the silence we got from the main NBC team of Scott Hamilton (who had it in him to be good on occasion) and Sandra Bezic (who pretty much didn't), saying things like "Let's just watch..." and not speaking a word for minutes at a time. Or, in Ms. Bezic's case, almost never saying anything during a skate except, periodically, "Oooh, how lovely" or "Oh, my." And the genial Vern Lundquist (who I much like in all his other sportscasting) not really having much of a clue about figure skating -- like most people watching. Which is all the more reason my you need analysts and a hosts who explained what was going on and why. Clearly, others noticed what was going on in those early mornings, as well, and not just any others but those in positions of authority, because not long after the Olympics it was announced that Lipinksi, Weir and Gannon were promoted to be the #1 team. Hamilton was kept, although as an analyst before and after events, or as an in-studio commentator. Over the past weekend, NBC broadcast the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships, and we got the latest chance to see how the team was doing with the passage of time. Happily, they were doing just great. The commentary of Lipinski and Weir had matured, and they got the balance of silence and analyzing during a skate respectably close to right. And Gannon's anchor management and even knowledge of the sport had gotten richer. Hamilton also seemed comfortable, enthusiastic and thoughtful in his more-brief appearances. Mainly, it was such a pleasure to watch a sporting event covered as a sporting event -- watching a skate and being told the details of what was going well and wrong and what to expect as it was happening, like analysis should be for a sports event. Yet they knew when to sit back and just watch for a few moments. And what was said was smart, honest, supportive and critical. And often whimsical. And Gannon's input didn't come across as clueless factoid interruptions ("Two minutes to go"), but rather supportive information by someone who knew what he was talking about. It's also clear that Lipinski and Weir adore each other as friends, sometimes even holding hands when facing the camera after a skate -- not that that ultimately matters, though it creates a strong rapport, which make things all the more listenable. And it's clear how much even more they have grown to like and rely on Gannon to keep everything focused. So, again, it's a great team. Lipinski and Weir seem far more confident. His flamboyance, sartorial and otherwise, in the past has sometimes come across more as forced, but it seems more settled now, not needing to push "I'm different" in your face, but just be himself, which is plenty flamboyant and different enough. And she comes across as substantive, not just opinionated. The opinions were always fine, because they were informed. Now, they have explanation. There was another surprising and impressive improvement, making the first significant change in figure skating coverage I've seen in perhaps decades.. Taking a clue from football and baseball, who now have small, box inserts on the screen with stats, NBC now had its own for figure skating. The box kept a running tally of the Technical Points being built up during the current skate, along with the leader's total, and what the weighted point level would be (in essence, how hard it was) for the next element upcoming in the skater's program. And it worked. While I've come to accept and slightly appreciate the stat boxes in other sports, I also find them a bit distracting. Here, it actually added to the broadcast. In part, that's because of the elusive bewilderment of figure skating scoring, but in part it's because (unlike other sports) most of the on-screen landscape in skating isn't important to watch, only the skater, so filling that screen with a stat box doesn't get in the way. It isn't blocking the field or other players. Also, the running stats didn't remove the dramatic "mystery" of waiting for the result, since it was only showing the Technical Points accumulated, and didn't include points for the "program components" (the phrase now used instead of "artistic," a name-change I assume to make figure skating sound less theatrical and more like a sport.) All in all, it bodes wonderfully for the future. There are other competitions to come before the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, but I look forward to seeing this team in prime time during the Games in two years. What I'll fill the morning hours with during the coverage, though, I don't know. I guess it just means more luge and bobsledding... This week's contestant is William Beyer from Des Moines, Iowa. The hidden song is extremely easy, and most people should not only get it, but get it quickly. The composer style though is one of those where I can throw a dart among several people and hope for the best. In fact, the contestant, who from his analysis of musical styles was clearly very knowledge, and he had a great deal of difficulty, though eventually got it (albeit it with a a few descriptive clues). So, I took a total guess to the one I thought it might be closest to -- and was wrong.
Okay, it's finally here. At last, my bizarrely-long overview of CES 2016. Readers of these pages got a hint during the tech show of some of my random thoughts, but those pieces only touched the surface. Sort of like a bite-sized appetizer. This is the full-scale, pig-out buffet. It's the article that comes semi-close to giving an idea of what the CES madhouse circus is like. Each month when I post "The Writers Workbench" column, I always note that I link to the article on the WGA website rather than post it here because it's much too convoluted to re-code the thing for this site, and after all it's already done for the WGA (as well as the Huffington Post). Well, if my normal "The Writers Workbench" columns are too convoluted to re-code here, then this column puts the concept of convoluted to shame.
One final word. I say this in the column, but it bears repeated here. This is a LONG column. If you don't like LONG columns, then do yourself a favor and don't read it and complain after how long it is. Or forever hold you piece. As it oddly happens, I've discovered over the years that some people actually like to know the details of CES and the sense of technology that is there, not merely a mention of the most-visible products everyone writes about. If you're not one of them, I get it. Fair enough. Check back later, we'll have something else for you. But if you're interested in know what CES was at least somewhat really like -- or just like to skim, or simply see all the pictures -- then here's the link. Today is the 100th anniversary of Jack Brickhouse's birth. That might mean nothing to most people, but Jack Brickhouse was a huge deal in Chicago. He's best known as the sportscaster for the Chicago Cubs, and his signature call of "Hey, hey!!" after a Cubs home run, but did so much more than that. Jack Brickhouse not only broadcast the Cubs for over 30 years, from 1948-1981, but he also did the Chicago White Sox games. Not at different times, but during the same. He'd do the play-by-play for maybe 250 games a year. This at a time when not only were there only 156 games in a season, but most baseball teams during those years only aired 20-40 games a year. But more than that, he also did the play-by-play for Chicago Bears football for many years. He even broadcast the Chicago Bulls basketball on TV for seven years. And he did other local sports. And national sports, as well -- most people have seen the famous footage of Willie Mays making his over-the-shoulder catch in the 1954 World Series. If you ever have seen that footage with sound, the announcer calling the play was none other than Jack Brickhouse. He called NFL championship games and even a Rose Bowl. He also did political reporting, covering political conventions, interviewing presidents and more. There is a great, culminating speech at the end of the great play, Bleacher Bums, that takes place in the right-field bleachers at Wrigley Field during a Cubs game. One of characters (played in the original production by Joe Mantegna) gives a long speech about His Dream, which ends with Ernie Banks coming out of retirement to hit a grand slam home run and win the World Series for the Cubs. It turns out that the speech is adapted fro a statement that Jack Brickhouse once made. A lot of people dismiss Jack Brickhouse for being a biased "homer" announcer for the Cubs. But when you call games for a team has lost for over 100 years, the last things viewers want is objectivity. One of his famous comments about the Cubs is, "Everybody has a bad century." Yes, he was biased and hugely outgoing but he was also always completely fair, called a great game -- whatever the game -- and was wildly entertaining. And he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. So for any of his detractors, sorry that you missed the point about how great he was. Here's a very nice 3-minute tribute that the Chicago ,Tribune put together a few years back with his widow, Pat. (Side note: It begins with the final out of Don Cardwell's no-hitter for the Cubs. I saw this last inning live. Cardwell had just been traded to the Cubs, and it was his very first start, making the exciting game all the more exciting. But what I remember most is that I was a very little kid at the time, and my older brother John was was incredibly excited after the third out and went running outside shouting to anyone who'd hear, "Cardwell pitched a no-hitter!! Cardwell pitched a no-hitter!!!" And I went right behind him, following his lead, running around the front yard in Glencoe, also shouting out loud full of excitement, "Cardwell pitched a no-hitter!! Cardwell pitched a no-hitter!!!" And what I clearly remember -- and I swear this is true -- is that while doing this, I was thinking to myself, "What is a no-hitter??"} Here then is Jack Brickhouse. On his 100th birthday. Back, back, back...Hey, hey!!! And as a bonus, here is Jack Brickhouse's call of The Catch by Willie Mays on the national broadcast of the 1954 World Series between the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians. Vic Wertz of Cleveland is at the plate. And Jack Brickhouse is at the mic. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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