MIKEWEEK BULLETIN

MIKEWEEK BULLETIN #214

2011-10-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

Quote of the Week:“Hey what’s that sparkly thing in the water—see it? The one all the fish areswimming to.”

October 7, 2011

Marinduque, Philippines

Month Jets By InManila: While the pace of life in the Philippines is on the easy and slowside, September seems to have flown by in an instant. Even so, it has been morethan a month since my return to Manila. Enough time gone by, that my dad has taken to the salutation—To MyFilipino Son, when he launches emails this way. Then, one of myNevada contacts said the story I had just filed from Manila worked out great,still he was wondering would I always be able to turn stories on time—now thatI had “moved” to the Philippines? Could he be reading dad’s emails? Either way,I assured the source this was only a visit, and take these as ample smokesignals that it’s time to board Delta’s cattle-car 747 for the long trek backto JFK. The planes are old, but even in the coach, the service is better thanaverage. (Don’t want to jinx the ride back with high praise).

Marinduque, Bellarocca & Boac: Lastweekend Vincent’s family formed in “Entourage” fashion to explore a new spot, BellaroccaIsland which sits off the coast of Marinduque (MA-rin-DU-kay) and is located a couple hundred miles due south of Manila. Our expedition partyincluded Vince’s mom & dad, three brothers, a sister, several in-laws, agaggle of nieces and nephews—and in the Filipino fashion—each child travelswith their nanny (aka “Yah-Yah’s).

Itwas a short flight to the Marinduque, which is heart shaped, and legend has it theisland formed when two lovers drowned themselves in that spot after thebride-to-be’s father rejected their union—preferring to behead the groom—who narrowlyescaped to take the fatal plunge with his beloved. Nice tale. (Snide politicalaside: perhaps this could be a science question at the next GOP debate—how wasthe Island of Marinduque formed)?

Aviation Buffs should be advised that I made every effort to ascertain the type ofaircraft that shuttled us to the island, but could not find a single marking. Isuspected it was of Asian vintage (and sort of a copy of Saab’s turboprop) andthe Dabs found the Answer on-line: The aircraft is a Xian M60 which is craftedin China—with a rear entry door that is such a tight squeeze that Vince managedto bang his head upon entry.

Only one flight per day touchesdown per day at Marinduque, and a loud siren sounds to alert locals when theflight takes-off from Manila. That gives them thirty minutes to line up thelocal band, which greats arriving passengers (decked out in the kind of tribalgarb that the angry dad probably put on, just before he grabbed his sword andthreatened the loving couple). There were no harsh threats upon our arrival,only some interesting masks and lots of drums.

More challenging than theflight, was the short boat ride from one island to the next. Our rubber launchwas tossed around in the six foot swells, and the folks in the bow took somesee-saw like crashes into the coming waves.

Bellarocca Island is a resort, owned bythe Japanese and constructed in a series of villas, and soon to be spas, in theMediterranean manner. It took four years to build and opened in 2009—the placeis still in its infancy; the staff friendly and helpful, and in a couple moreyears, it will be running in high gear. We got the rainy season discount andhad a swell time, relaxing, swimming, kayaking and of course eating. (Foodrates about a B).

The QOW was uttered underwater and through snorkeling tubes, asabout a dozen of us were checking out the local fish population near a clusterof rocks. A sharp eyed member of our snorkeling party saw a rush of fish all toone spot, and shouted this week’s quote. It was around this time, that Mr andMrs Violago surfaced and upon seeing her husband, Mrs. Violago inquired asfollows: “Did you wear you dentures today Daddy?” To which Mr. V responded: “Oh-Oh”which means yes in Filipino, but also equally applied in English. Major laughsthen ensued as our helpful guide dived frantically, parted the fish andretrieved the shiny object, so Mr. V could reinsert his choppers.

Brief Humor note for WASPs: for the declining WASP population, raised on the notion that one should never say anything that might risk hurting someone else’s feelings. This noble notion runs contrary to the Filipino brand of Humor which works roughly as follows. Five people are standing in a group, one of them being bigger than a house. The other four then proceed to tell jokes in front of the very fat person, about how fat they are and all five proceed to laugh. Suffice it to say Filipino humor is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended, and Mr. Violago had little trouble laughing at his plight and his teeth along the rest of us (me of course snickering quietly as one raised in the semi-detached-Episcopalian way).

Tricycle Side Trip to Boac Our flight back to Manila was delayedwhich gave Vincent, Alma (his former Yah-Yah—and a major source of my fivepounds) and I time to take a trike into Boac the capitol of Marinduque. Dabneyhad provided minor inspiration for this, as he had previously noted that thetown had the same name as the British Overseas Airways Corporation (member of “geny” please see “BA). We found no evidence that the British or their airline hadany role in the foundation of Boac, but the placedoes have an incredible church which was packed to the rafters for a very largefuneral when we visited.

The trip also gave me a chance to ride both inside and on the back seat of a tricycle.

(Only Vince elected to brave the riding the roof)

“Manila” Mike Stats:Typhoons (2), Wake (1* week+), Debut (1), Iced Coffee’s Consumed (MONDO) =Filipino Food Pounds Added (5): Sothe final score for Manila III, the sequel: Two typhoons passed close enough tobe worth a mention. The first shook the roof and gave us 30 hours of rain. Thesecond happened while we were on an excursion to the south—and it missed us bya good ways. The northern part of Luzon took the brunt of both storms—therewere more than 50 fatalities, severe flooding, and in some spots have yet todry out. At this writing, a good many Filipinos are relying on emergency foodrelief. This trip was also marked by the Passing of Papa Do, an 18 year oldDebut party for one of Vincent’s cousins and enough wonderful local food tohave added about five pounds to your humble
correspondent.

Timely Returns to NYC: I have beenreporting and sending tweets on the Occupy Wall Street movement (aka #ows in Twitterspeak). My reporter’s gut tells me that this movement will get a whole lotbigger before the powers that be are able to get the steam out of the balloon.About the time I departed NY, our Mayor opined that the violence of recentriots in London couldnot be ruled out in the USA, and my hunch is the Big Apple will be lucky inthe extreme if the anger directed at Wall Street remains peaceful andnon-violent (which I surely hope it does).

Forthose who don’t Tweet: A brief snippet of some of the insight on can gain fromthe 140 character witticisms which find their way onto twitter (A recent tweettaken from web at 2:47AM EDT Friday—for those not paying close attention #owsis twitter shorthand for Occupy Wall Street)

63 RupertMurdochPR NotRupert Murdoch

Ailes tosses the kitten aside, demands keys to the earthquakemachine. "We'll shake those #ows hippies lose, they'll runscreaming." 3 of 4

Now,back to NYC returns: For those who did not get my email blasts—Vince got preliminaryapproval for his H1B visa. Now, the US Embassy in Manila must apply the properstamps to the appropriate papers and fingers crossed he will arrive in NYC, wehope before Halloween, and who knows maybe wearing a Marinduque mask.

Click this Link for More Photos

Bulletin #213 EXTRA

2011-09-27T06:29:00.000-07:00

24 hour plus Manila Rain Event…..RainEvent turns out to be Typhoon Nesat (aka Pedring)

September 26, 2011

Quezon City—Despite working against a 12 hour time swing, Imanaged to crank out more stories in the last 9 days here than I usually doworking my freelance gig from New York’s Upper West Side. I am rustling afterstories like a bear getting ready for the winter hibernation—I know I will losea work day or two due to jetlag returning to JFK, so I am working in over-drivenow.

A major factor is that the news story gods have been kind. Theyturned on the spigot for some really solid story ideas—just when your humble correspondentneeded to get cracking.

At the same time, the weather gods seem to feel that I havedone my fair share work for they decided to pour enough rain onto Luzon, theisle that is home to Manila—that the power company shutdown the works. It hasrained here for a day straight and the morning arrived with strong winds (yourveteran hurricane watcher would have rated them at around 50 mph) which tore atthe roof of the Violago home and managed to put a gash in the upstairs ceiling.

This was all happening two hours before my story deadline—andno power meant no way to feed my story, which was back from the editor and justawaiting my voice for the various versions of the radio packages. Since, I fileusing Skype, no internet meant no phone to let another producer know to pitchin

I woke up two hours prior to deadline to be sure I hadtime, but I had not planned for this.

Mrs V must havespotted the bullets of sweat forming at my brow, for she kindly asked Mr V toset off on a mission to find gas for the generator.

The deadline gods decided to smile upon us through therain: In rapid action, Mr V found gas and made it back by 830—he had thegenerator cranking juice by 8:45, and I was able to announce, edit, and upload theshort version of radio “wrap” in time for the East Coast Story Feed at 9pm ET.This was one of those one-take situations, where you had to cut it live ontape, because there was no time left for re-takes. The old hurricane “improve”skills kicked in nicely.

Next, I uploaded the longer versions of my radio report forstations to use Tuesday morning. It turned out to be a pretty interesting storyconcerning a federal discrimination suit filed against Mayor Bloomberg and thecity for allegedly failing to properly prepare to evacuate people with disabilitiesduring Hurricane Irene.

One reason I had to hold off on voicing the story until dawnhere was that we were awaiting a response from the Mayor, and my co-producerMark was kind enough to insert that response while I caught some precioussleep.

That work was now complete, I thought about heading back tobed, but the generator was still whirring away. No sense letting good power goto waste, I reasoned. As fate would haveit, I already had recorded both of the interviews on Skype that I needed forWednesday’s story. So, I wrote the draft and got the copy and sound uploadedfor Wednesday’s story, so an editor will be able to review the work. In themeantime, I will need to touch base with one of the story sources for a brieffact check.

Reporter (tropics) Rule number one is when you have power,and web access, make sure you use it, because one never knows—when they will berestored and reliable enough to get the next round of work done.

Typhoon Nesat (source) CNN

Since, I am writing this Blog style, I can now happily admitthat I buried the “lede.” It was not until mid-afternoon that Vince informedme, the rain event was actually the outer bands of a Typhoon Nesat…whichcarries the moniker of Pedring in the Phillipines—which pretty much meansPeter. The Asian weather folks and most of the world will have a different namefor the storm—but there is in fact only the one typhoon—which gets a new namewhen it crosses the Philippines.

I have been so involved keeping tabs on my beats in thestates that I had not even glanced at the local news. Vince says we wereexpecting rain, but not the typhoon. He says, they normally track north oncethey hit land, but this one was so strong it just cut straight across Luzon,and Manila got hit hard in spots. One river is near over-flowing and if it topsit will flood a highly populated part of the city that saw water around 9 feetdeep in a recent typhoon. Early signs are this was quite bad in spots, first reports of deaths have it at seven dead and likely to go higher.

When we aren’t fending off typhoons, much of this trip hasbeen spent at Vince’s new office where he has twenty employees who are doingresearch and translation work

For those who know Manila, his office is located in a highrise at West Ave at the corner of Quezon Ave.

His staff is mostly comprised of recent graduates inlanguage study at the University of the Philippines and they are eager for thework and fun to be around.

BTW, this is my third trip to the Philippines and my secondtyphoon, so I guess I still have the reporter’s knack of being around stuffwhen it happens. As my old sidekick (Fischman) liked to recall, the one time Iwent to Rome the Pope died (for the inquiring mind—John Paul I).

MIKEWEEK Bulletin #212

2011-09-27T06:02:00.000-07:00

RIP Papa Do (aka Boss Freddie) A Grand FilipinoSend-off

Quezon City—The wake for Papa “Do” lasted eight days and seven nights And for the past week Vince and I were either working or at the wake.

There is no telling how many people came, although it had tobe over a thousand, and certainly no way to account for all the food that wasserved. Many who showed their respects were from family and then there werepeople from the auto industry and workers at the insurance company which PapaDo (aka Boss Freddie) ran with Mama “Fel.”

I guess the best way to describe company, is it is pretty much the Geico of the Philippines, all 7 thousand islands of them, when it comes to car insurance, and in particular Toyota's.

Both Felly and Papa Do have done a lot of charitable giving, including out helping the family members of local entertainers when they were sick and needed care (The GOP would be proud, there is minimal, as in close to nonexistent national healthcare here, and you pay for ICU as you go). And, so on the final night of the wake some notable Filipino entertainers each took the turn at the microphone and sang some beautiful songs in his memory.

The day of the funeral began with a mass, and then ofcourse, a full meal. Then we loaded into vans and ten full sized busses to the cemeterywhich is the final resting place mostly for well to do Filipinos and people of ChineseAncestry.

It is a nice spot that happens to be situated on the final approachpath to Manila International Airport, so you get these interesting views of AirQatar Jets on short final over a Pagoda Style memorial chapel.

The most memorable part of the send-off, for me, was theslow walk we all took behind the hearse bearing AlFredo. We were each issued aPeople’s General Insurance Company umbrella and we all opened them to shield ourselvesfrom the hot mid-day sun.

All that was missing was a Jazz band to transport this scene to New Orleans. One can imagine the producers of “Treme” having a visual appreciation for the moment.

I mentioned this trip marks my second typhoon, and thefuneral day for Boss Freddie also marked the first time that I have ever beento Mass twice in one day—pretty amazing for this occasional Episcopalian.

And I thought I would include a final shot of Papa Do, fromour last visit, engaged in a more happy activity—Dinner at a local Filipino restaurant.

MIKEWEEK BULLETIN #211

2011-09-18T23:22:00.001-07:00

Quote of the Week: “Mike…PopaDoc is Dead!”

September 19, 2011

Quezon City,Philippines—September finds me back with Vince and working my freelance gig,via the power and reach of the world-wide-web, with a 12 hour time change (16hours plus for my Nevada stories). I departed New York City, the land ofearthquakes and hurricanes, the week after “Irene” and am now in Manila for some ofthe best weather of the year.

My bestreference for life here is New Orleans, and the first similarity is that life(and even death) revolves around food. Manila is also a city made up of the very rich and very poor—with little room left (which is all that isneeded) to accommodate the few who would qualify most places as “middle class.”

September Cheer: For the unknowing,which certainly includes most of those bustling through their daily lives on the isleof Manhattan…the 100Days til Christmas Countdown began last week. One is made aware by the Christmas decorations that have already started to go up on houses in and around Manila. There are also holiday items springing up in the mall, and someradio stations are playing an occasional Christmas tune—as we all countdown tothe big day.

Did I mention, that Filipinos, like New Orleans Saints fans, tendto be “All-in” or in the local parlance—Lahat.

Vincent’sH1B visa application went to Uncle Sam last week, we should know by earlyOctober if he gets the OK, then he has to get the government here to issue avisa. We were both hoping to travel back to the states together in earlyOctober, but it may take Vince a little longer to return.

Vince hasplenty to do in the meantime. He started an outsourcing company thatspecializes in "I-P" ...as in intellectual property research and translation. He named the company Research Manila Partners. It took some major cajones to start this venture,because his first contract involved almost exclusively research in Japanese.Did I mention that Vince does not speak Japanese, nor at the time did he havemuch contact with anyone who spoke it?

Well, he did a bunch of research andcame up with some amazing candidates, and now, just six weeks into the venture,he has twenty employees who are doing research and translations in sixlanguages. Most of his employees graduated Magna or Summa Cum Laude

Today, we are both working fromVincent’s family home, because the Jeepnydrivers are on strike, and that means most of his employees won’t be ableto get to the office. Not a major problem, because they can all do theirresearch from home. BTW…a Jeepny is an elongated Jeep that holds around 20…andin rural provinces when you count those hanging off the back, sides and on theroof maybe double that.

I mentionedfood being big in both life and death and that brings us to the Quote of the Week. It was uttered as I descended the stairs in Vincent’s family home insearch of the days’ first cup of coffee—when Vincent’s mom appeared. She wasvisibly shaken, when she uttered the QOW…and I was suitably confused.

Vincent wasbehind me on the stairs and I asked him…"Why is your mom so upset…Poppa Doc wasthe dictator of Haiti..and I think he has been dead for a while? “Not Doc, Doh…”Vincent, said, “From dinner last night, Pappa Doh”

Like NewOrleans, Manila is a land of many nicknames—the Cajun nickname “Boy” is also afavorite here. The Papa Do in question was Alfredo, the longtime partner ofVince’s brother’s, Mother-in-Law—aka “Mama Fel” short for Felly.

The wake forPapa Do will last more than a week, and it is unlike most anything you have seen. Thereare tables set up for hundreds of friends and family and food is catered and includes a half a dozen entrees that are served to all, pretty much around theclock. Vincent confided, “If you come to this wake every night, you will gain20 pounds!"

As fatewould have it, we were with both Papa Do and Mama Fell the night before he died.
It was at a huge celebration his 62^nd birthday. Vincent’s brother “Ton-Ton”smiled and said to me at the wake—you have been to most everything now: aFilipino Christening, Wedding, several birthday bashes, a debut, a picnic in a graveyard (Filipino's snack with their departed family on the anniversary of their deaths) and now awake.

Mama Fel isas hard working as she is generous, and in fact spends so much time at work, that Vince and I could not help noticing how happy she was the night of thebirthday celebration. She has been very kind to include me in so many familyevents; both Vince and I feel great sadness and send our condolences for herloss.

On a happiernote: I can report some small progress in learning a smattering of Filipino—a languageof many short vowels. There is no word for “to be” or “it”, and repeated vowels,ang’s and ng’s can change the meaning ofeverything. I took a reporter’s approach to the language and have started withthe main questions every reporter knows by heart—Who (sino), What (ano), When(kailan), Where (saan), Why (bakit), and How (paano). From there, I pick upscraps of other words and on occasion have a vague understanding of what’sbeing said.

CurrentReading: Another Dad pick and this one is terrific. Gary Shteyngart’s Super Sad True LoveStory. It depicts life in the not too distant future, where verbalcommunication is all but dead and America has moved to a one party state. Ifyou mixed Saul Bellowwith Kurt Vonegut, andadded a dash of “1984” you might capture some of the brilliance of this book.What is most scary about it, it that as wild and far-fetched as the author’simagination is, you don’t have to look so very far into the future, to see thisview of a very diminished American taking hold.

Speaking of the Written Word: Manila has one more striking similarity with my longtimehome New Orleans—in the many signs which mangle the English language. During myTulane days, I used to ride the “Freret Jet” aka bus to my meat slicingjob atMaspero’s. Each time the bus passed, I would chuckle at a sign that hung from a localpharmacy. It declared, “Food Stamps Excepted.” Likewise, these chuckles await as soon as youexit the plane at Manila International Airport. The sign on the jet-way cautions you to “Watch your Steps” andthen once you get on the six lane highway, another orders you to “Stay On YourLane.”

More Eats: I have notyet gained 20 pounds, but I have certainly added a few (pause here to pray forlong life, and no additional wakes during my stay).

Our best meals out havebeen at Cherchio andMesa. Although truth be told, no restaurant hold a candleto Alma’s cooking—she is Vincent’s nanay (That means mother, but it is used as a term of affection for his lifelong nanny). In addition to being able to climb a coconut tree, and fix almostanything under the sun, Alma can put most Filipino chef’s to shame—this weekendshe treated us Chicken Adobo—which could easily make the menu at Galatoires, alongside oneof my favorites—the ChickenClemenseau.

(Chef Alma and her daughter Althea)

Bulletin 211/Ridenhour Awards 2011 “Unlikely Heroes”

2011-04-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

Quote of the Week---“Unlike much of what goes on in this town (DC)...this is Soul Nourishing”

Washington, DC—A former NSA intelligence officer, an independent filmmaker, a former U-S Senator and a guy who chucked his job as a well-paid flack for the insurance industry—almost by definition, you would have to cast this bunch as unlikely heroes.

On Wednesday, all four received an award named for Ron Ridenhour (a former New Orleans pal) the citizen soldier who changed the course of the nation’s history in the Viet Nam War by reporting to Congress the unhappy details he had personally ferreted out about the My Lai Massacre.

In describing the Ridenhour Awards, Andrew Bresleau the one time CNN producer and now president of The Nation Insitute got it right, when he uttered the Quote of the Week. The Ridenhour Awards are unique in terms of the events that draw large numbers of press in DC.

Breaslau likened it to a splash of cold water. He called the day “Soul Nourishing.”

Wendell Potter will never get an award for speech making, but he is a prime example of this soul nourishing sort. It was inspiring to hear him speak of how he found the courage to quit a “soul killing” six figure job doing PR for the insurance industry, because he could no longer stomach the way it routinely put profit-making ahead of providing access to healthcare—even in life and death situations.

Potter earned the Ridenhour Book Prize for “Deadly Spin” which Bill Moyers described as a probe "of corporate power that reveals why real health care reform didn’t happen, can’t happen, and won’t happen until that power is contained.” A copy of that book is next in my line on the must read list.

Thomas Drake could easily be confused for someone in the insurance biz (perhaps that is why the National Security Agency selected him in the first place) and hired him on the most unlikely day of September 11^th, 2001.

Drake was no radical. His resume included stints in the Air Force, Navy and at a major DC consulting firm. But, like Potter, Drake saw stuff happening---this time, in the name of domestic security. He believed it flew in the face constitutional protection and he found he could not remain silent.

Drake still expresses amazement that you can be “charged with a crime for reporting a crime” in this country, but that fairly well describes his lot in life these days, working at an Apple store while awaiting trial this June on espionage charges…and facing a possible life sentence. Drake went up and down through all the proper channels expressing his concerns that Bush era eaves dropping programs were going beyond the limits of the law. After several years of inaction, Drake finally shared his concerns with the press.

Drake is also somewhat surprised that the Obama administration has made history in enforcing the Espionage Act more than any other administration. There have been only four Americans ever charged under the Act, but to be fair to Obama, the WikiLeaks scandal has kept the current administration more on the front lines of this controversy than they would like to be.

On Wednesday, Drake joined Daniel Ellsberg in the very small company of Americans who have both been charged under the Domestic Espionage Act, and also have reicieved a Ridenhour Award, in Drake’s case, the Prize for Truth Telling.

It is to see and hear these courageous folks that your humble reporter returns to DC each year and it’s a good thing he ran into some old pals from New Orleans this year, upon arrival.

I fully expected to take my usual place at one of the tables at the back, but was informed that, I had been invited to sit at table four up front, with the founders of the Ridenhour Awards and The Dark Side author Jane Mayer a former Ridenhour Award Winner

Happy circumstances indeed.

I can report that when you sit at a table like this, people like former Senator Russ Feingold walk up to you, offer their hand, and introduce themselves….to you. Then, a few moments later, he was on the podium receiving the Ridenhour Courage Prize.

Feingold was one of the few members of the Senate to cast a vote against W’s Invasion of Iraq, and he stood absolutely by himself in casing the only vote against the Orwellian named Patriot Act. If you think history has proved Feingold correct about those bits of history, perhaps you should hear what concerns him now.

Feingold is greatly worried about the Supreme Court’s “overturning a Century of settled law” and tilting the legal tables greatly in favor of the interests of big business. Feingold was tough on political leaders of both political stripes. He came down on Democrats and the White House for moving the trial of the September 11^th attack suspects to GITMO, and he was critical of Republicans for their attack on collective bargaining rights in places like his home state of Wisconsin.

A new award was given this year, for documentary film making and it went a trio of producers behind Budrus which focuses on a Palestinian Community Organizer. It is on my must-see list, and a full report is promised.

A documentary film that never got produced may be one reason I got to sit at that front table. It is one that one that Randy Fertel, a co-founder of the Ridenhour Awards, and I worked together on and it focused on what wrong at My Lai.

Each year, at these awards, Randy finds a new way to inject a little bit of Ron into the proceedings. This year, Randy talked about Ron’s habit of immoderation. He accurately remembered Ridenhour as an “investigative journalist who turned in 10,000 word pieces for 1000 word deadlines — late of course.”

I can vouch for that, Ron free-lanced for me, when I was news director for WGSO Radio—and he was always trying to fit ten minutes worth of content into a buck thirty worth of radio time.

Randy’s point about Ron is that he was human and that he did not go out looking to be a hero. It was a job that fell to him because of information he came to know, and felt compelled to act upon. Like Thomas Drake working at the Apple store, Ron never got rich or even famous from doing the right thing…in fact when he worked for me, we could only afford to pay him with a company gas card, as a way to defray his costs while he worked for bigger projects for the world of print.

But, Randy’s point about Ridenhour is bigger still. It is about whistle-blowers in general and how they get treated like villains in our country.

Ron Ridenhour ended up on Nixon’s “enemies list” and Drake on trial for his life.

So yes, Ron was big, and brash and he often set off on long and seemingly impossible quests. Randy Fertel summed it up nicely, when he said, “If his is the picture of an immoderate man, we should all embrace his immoderation, his courage –– and his pure zeal for life and for truth.”

When I remember Ron, and I think of how these awards do nourish the soul each year. In particular, I think of something he said (when we were taping a My Lai discussion with Ron at Tulane University for the documentary). To quote Ron, "You find honest people in the most unlikely places."

I believe Ron was right, and that is why I was little surprised to find a documentary about Palestine winning an award on Wednesday…documentaries in the Middle East are the kinds of things we normally associate with taking big chances to blow the whistle on wrong doing.

My greater surprise, and the reason I return for the awards each year, is for those amazing heroes who keep showing up from the most unlikely places---like the NSA, the Insurance industry and certainly these days, the U.S. Senate.

MIKEWEEK/Bulletin 210

2011-03-07T02:19:00.000-08:00

Travels to Bangkok, Musings on Middle East and Return of the "QOW"

Quote of the Week: “What do you mean Bush “thinking?”

It was 25 years ago, that the People Power Revolution toppled the Marcos regime in the Philippines, so this is an interesting vantage point to watch the freedom movement ride the rails from the home of one Middle Eastern tyrant to the next.

I penned this update the last week in February, after a brief visit to Bangkok where we covered a good deal of ground in our three days. I can relate the experience best by comparison to Manila, the only other Asian city I know. Bangkok is to Manila as Atlanta is to New Orleans. In Bangkok, the king assures that the trains are clean and run on time, the traffic while snarled actually obeys most traffic laws, like driving in one lane at a time—whereas Manila traffic is more like the start of the Indy 500 with drivers scrambling for any opening they see, no matter how slight.

Vince and I got to see several fine temples. We took in an evening show that explains the mythical empire of Siam in a giant stage production that near Vegas in its proportions. We were treated to a “free tour” which had a wonderful beginning, but ended with stops at several shops (which was clearly the reason the tour was free).

The whole trip was done on a shoestring, we stayed at a hotel off the beaten path, but it had a nice pool. We stayed in what amounted to a suite and the dinner special was 50 baht (about a buck and a quarter). Instead of the dinner canal cruise, we took the express water taxi which was 20 baht versus 75 bucks.

Following the DAB's advice, we did a lot of our travel by SkyTrain and in fact we found a great on-line resource for touring Bangkok via the local transit system.

We also made our way to the local version of Christopher Street, which is friendly and well kept, and a couple blocks over the Bangkok version of Bourbon Street, where hawkers kept grabbing Vince by the shoulder and pulling him into the doorway for a sneak peek of the stage show. We had several free transfers in the hotel van, and the driver kept trying to take us to a strip show involving a ping pong ball—in fact ping pong seemed to comprise about 50 percent of the words he could speak in English.

So like, Atlanta, Bangkok is organized, efficient, but also a little stern. Whereas Manila has some of that Red Beans and Rice on Monday laid back, easy going feel, where the service is friendly and even sincere. Admittedly, the fact that about 80 percent of folks in the Philippines speak some English is probably a big factor—the percentage in Bangkok felt like around 20%--tops.

The Quote of the Week is back this Bulletin, after long last.It comes in response to a message I sent to family, regarding my take on the turmoil in Libya—which we have been following best we could from Bangkok (free wireless internet is a rare commodity there).

In my message home I wrote:

Wonder if "W" Bush is walking around thinking he started this crashing of dominoes in the Middle East? The NY Times said absolutely not--but one can imagine this will be fodder for debate in years ahead. Being as it is mostly Muslim States with little love for us that are in revolt (and we backed most of the thug dictators who they are ousting), my first blush take is the Times got it right.

It was Dad who penned the above Quote of the Week, in response to my Middle East observation.

Street Hockey Update: The Longman team had to play on, without my stick in the annual street hockey match against the Lyon family and various classmates from Long Island (circa 1978). Brother Bill reports the Longman clan got back on track this year with a victory. Am certain the Pizza at Christiano’s tasted a whole lot better after the match with the victory in hand.

Will send a an update shortly on the final week in Manila. And am looking for an alternate way to post more photos. Flickr set up a way to post through Gmail, but then SUDDENLY dropped that service, so the photos I posted earlier are no accessible…Heck of a job, Flickr! Working on alternate ways of making them accessible on the web.

MIKEWEEK BULLETIN 209

2011-02-12T01:12:00.000-08:00

Sadie Christened, Jon & Mae Married (again) Mike & Vince reunited, Keith Richards Life, Many Photos and more...

Manila, Philippines — Your humble reporter was able to flee New York’s dreadful winter and reunite with Vincent in the Philippines for what is to be my longest stay in his country yet. I guess I must have looked like I knew what I was doing, because not one, but two fellow air passengers asked me where to go, when we landed in Tokyo, for the stopover on the way to Manila.

Milestones: Many were in the works this trip and the first happened only a day after my arrival when we all headed to a grotto in a local church for the baptism of Sadie, who is the daughter of Vincent’s sister Mae. She endured the ceremony with amazing grace and her older sister had great fun, running back and forth through the little cave the church set aside for family baptisms.

One of Vincent’s great Aunts tells me, Filipinos eat five times a day, and like New Orleans, much of the day and any celebration revolves around food. After the holy event, we all repaired to a wonderful restaurant called ADARNA which served historically correct food and like Antoine’s and Arnaud’s in New Orleans—even maintains private rooms-one dedicated to carnival, decked out with old carnival announcements and Filipino carnival gowns; while the second is reserved for stars of local stage and screen.

Next up on the agenda, was Mount Pinatubo. Bulletin readers, with very ample grey matter will recall on our first visit, we mounted very small horses to climb the Taal Volcano.

Apparently, climbing a volcano is one of the things visitors are supposed to do, so this time we tackled Pinatubo. No horses this time. Instead, an intestine juggling ride across rocky terrain and streams until you got to the base of the Mountain and started climbing.

With Vince and me for this journey, were Jon—Mae’s soon to be re-wed husband, his parents: Margo and Chappy, and Jon’s brother and best-man—Josh. Once there Jon’s family swam the waters of the crater and then we began the long trek on foot and jiggling 4x4 back to civilization.

A day or two later, we all awoke at 3AM to head to the resort island of Boracay (pronounce-Bah-rock-cai) for Jon and Mae’s wedding. Careful bulletin readers already know that your correspondent stood witness to Jon and Mae’s civil wedding, at the Bronx courthouse some years ago.

This was to be the big deal wedding for family and friends. Thankfully, the Vince’s family had just started a taxi business, and we were able to commandeer a small fleet of the taxi cabs to whisk us all to the airport.

We flew Air Philippines to Boracay, a small airline which I heartily recommend. Actually we flew to a lovely little town called Kalibo, and then took a ferry to Boracay where we all crammed into a small van, whose roofline was clearly designed for small Filipino’s; meaning people who stand five feet or shorter. It was a funny ride to our budget friendly digs, aka The Boracay Hideaway Gran Prix Hotel.

The rooms were clean, the staff helpful and cheery and what the heck, breakfast was thrown in for good measure. The Rehearsal dinner took place right on Boracay’s main beach, which is highly acclaimed worldwide and Vincent’s favorite. Because the average guest was traveling ten thousand miles plus, the wedding party was limited to about 45 people---which turned out to be a wonderful size, because we all ended up having a bit of time to spend with one another.

As one would expect, for such a milestone event, Jon and Mae stayed, and the ceremony itself was held at somewhat more elaborate digs than our hideaway hotel—it took place at Shangri-La Boracay. Jon and Mae had honored me with the roll of being emcee for the reception, so Vince and I were around for the behind the scenes, regal treatment of Mae and her entourage as they were made ready for the wedding.

The ceremony itself was lovely—presided over by a local mayor, whose grasp of English contained certain gaps, so he referred to Sadie—as SAAA-DEE and Jon as JUN-na-thon. I was half expecting him to make mincemeat of Marriage, like the character in the Mel Brooks movie who keeps saying---Maa—wige. After the mayor resealed the deal for Jon and Mae, there were cocktails on the beach and extraordinary group of local fire dancers that featured a rather stellar drag queen.

Filipinos like to joke about most everything, and since I did not know any local jokes, I decided the best way to get a laugh as emcee, was to try to throw a few Filipino phrases into my commentary. I am still not sure whether it was my awful pronunciation, or the way I looked in the local wedding garb-the Barong; but, I can report that I was able to spark a few chuckles during the course of the evening.

Dinner took place in the grand ballroom, followed by dancing, where Vince was instrumental in tearing up the carpet. The next morning we all enjoyed swims on Shangri La’s secluded beach.

PHOTOS: You can see lots more photos of the trip---to date---at www.flickr.com/mlcliff (BTW...flickr has this annoying habit of loading everything backwards, so you will see the wedding first and the beginning of the trip first—someday I will find the time to get them in order. For now, what the heck, use your vivid imaginations).

Short Takes: We are in and out of internet contact here, so just go the news Hosni Fled Egypt. I think my short line was two weeks…which seems to have just about panned out right. We did not get to watch the Superbowl for breakfast—turns out the local satellite company put it on a pay channel this year, so we had to content ourselves with occasional updates via internet. Fox did not even stream the game on its own website…not a fair more for those of us in the Asian sticks.

Current Reading: Keith Richard’s Life…a Dad pick, doled out to all Longman brothers at Christmas. Well worth the read, and as dad comments, he really explains the whole process and art of making music.

Work: The news service which is my main gig, has been most supportive of my reunion with Vince..even though it means five weeks away from the states. I turned my first story this weekend, and expect to turn several more over the course of the trip. I have co-producers at the ready, should a story come in that requires a quick turn-around, while I am working long distance, on stories where there is enough advance warning, that I can work around the 13 hour time change to New York and 15 hour difference with Nevada…Yikes!

Bulletin 208/Holiday Greetings/From CPW..Bridgetown...and Beyond

2010-12-24T10:56:00.001-08:00

I pen this Bulletin from dad’s desk overlooking Central Park on a sunny, brisk, Christmas Eve.

We celebrated Christmas a week early this year, after much juggling of schedules around work, Nick and Julie’s team sports practices, and commitments to other extended families—that was the weekend we could all be together.

One highlight of the weekend was a game of baseball trivia, where in order to make up for dad’s vast knowledge of the sport, the rest of us were allowed to offer “Seinfeld Clues” to help each other deduce a possible answer. As dad is one of the few New Yorkers to have barely seen two Seinfeld episodes, this evened the playing field somewhat, but dad and Matty still emerged the victors—with dad naming some obscure players from the 30’s and 40’s to close out the match. The game was tough enough it even had a category that involved knowledge of “famous baseball umpires”, which seems an unlikely combination of words.

Bill and Nick placed second, based on their combined knowledge of baseball and Seinfeld, while Julie and I came in a few squares behind in last place. Julie now knows to pick me as a teamate for NFL trivia rather than MLB.

I just finished saying hello to Vincent and his family (via SKYPE Video) in Manila where they just returned from Christmas Eve Mass. I will be headed back to the Philippines at the end of January for the wedding of Vincent’s Sister Mae….this wedding puts the icing on the cake of Jon and Mae’s civil marriage which I stood witness for in the Bronx. I have cleared things with my boss to work long distance, and after the wedding celebration, I will work from Manila for the month of February.

Vince has picked up more work in the Philippines. He is still doing contract work for a San Francisco research group, and he is also setting up an outsourcing company at the request of another former New York employer. The goal remains finding a company to sponsor his return to the U-S of A. That may happen with the San Francisco company, but they are going through a reorganization at the present and aren’t ready to make those kinds of moves right now.

As for our condo, our wonderful tenants asked if they could keep renting our place until September. The timing sounded about right, so we gave them the green light. Meantime, I have been sticking with my plan to spend at least a week of every month, someplace other than dad’s apartment.

Earlier this fall, my longtime Tulane Pal Bob alerted me to a 300 dollar round trip fare JFK to Barbados—where he is currently working as a media consultant. So I grabbed the fare, loaded my work gear, and spent the week working out of his office and finally getting to see his island. Bob had come to visit us on St Martin back when we were in college, and I had been planning to visit him one year when he was back in Barbados…and some 30 odd years later we finally got it done.

The headline photo for this Bulletin is Bob (aka the Dabs) and I at the Kensington Cricket Oval in Bridgetown, where I viewed my first ever Cricket match this fall..

One of Bob’s better heeled clients is Sandy Lane, the resort you may recall as the place Tiger Woods rented (as in every room) for his ill-fated wedding. I tagged along for one of Bob’s grueling assignments—the morning Sandy Hill took delivery of two new Rolls Royce Phantoms.

It was the morning I was set to depart back home to JFK…and in the old days, Bob probably could have swung a ride for me to the airport, but those days are long gone.

Heck, it turns out Sandy Lane charges its own guests three hundred bucks for the airport run in the Rolls. And you know what, the mega-wealthy folks they cater to, seem happy enough to pay it.

There is much to be grateful for as we near the end of 2010. My family and friends are in good health, work has been steady, and Vince and I have found ways to say hello to each other every day even when we are miles apart.

This Skype thing is really simple and amazing for those of you who have not tried it. I am conservative about making technology changes, and kept my old landline the first two months I had Skype—but the sound quality is excellent, so good in fact, that I know do all of my work on Skype—and that means I have to drag around about half as much equipment when I take my work on the road.

For 2011 I already have one trip planned to visit David and Ruth Pardoe at their lovely home on Joy Hill in Huntington Massachusetts. Dave just turned 93, so there is plenty of cause to celebrate. He was my political science teacher and Ruth was the librarian at Syosset High—my school. They are wonderful friends and I will be up there in a couple weeks. And then, sometime this spring, I hope to get down to New Orleans. The HBO series Treme made my heart ache for my favorite city and real home, so I want to take at least a month and spend it there this spring.

Merry Christmas 2010 and All the Best in 2011!

Philippines Part II (Penned during the voyage…but due to backlog of work upon return, only able to post now).

2010-11-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

The waves are crashing ashore only 50 yards from the dining room table, of the open walled villa where Vince and I are now staying on the private island of Mangenguey Our hostess Helena advised us at breakfast that we should be mentally prepared for the possibility that our stay on her island, which she likes to call Utopia, may be extended, as a result of Typhoon Megi which is currently waddling its way to the Northwest of us in the South China Sea, and sending large waves and occasional bands of heavy rain showers. Helena says we are now conserving diesel fuel for the generator, so power will be only on briefly at one pm today and then turned off again until dinner. I have an hour and 24 minutes left on the computer battery and am will use the current cloudy spell to catch up on the Bulletin.

As with any good tropical vacation, the days have started to all run together, so at this point, it seems best to write from today backwards to where I last left off.

Our current digs consist of a main house which is built into the side of a slight hill which looks onto one of the island’s three beaches. Helena moved onto the island five years ago from New York where she owned a self-named tapas restaurant which she describes as located between the Blue Man Group and Indochine on the lower East Side.

Helena is Catalan which explains our menu which has varied from almond croissants and fresh fruit to seafood Boullabaise(?) and last night a chicken and sausage paella. Once again the tropical mindset, has allowed me to bury the lead—as only hours after arriving and coming all this way—we learned that in New York Helena and her husband turn out to be our neighbours. Their apartment is at 147^th and Convent which is only three blocks away from our condo on 146^th and Riverside Drive.

We are sharing Utopia with a couple from London who we formed an easy bond with during our rather harrowing adventure getting to the island. We met at the dock on the Island of Coron, on the day Megi was upgraded to a “Super Typhoon” and was crashing ashore to the North of Luzon, the biggest island in the Philippines. Coron Island is 40 minutes to the south by turboprop, which meant we were more than a couple hundred miles from the eye of the storm, but I was still a little bit surprised when I saw the 17 foot wooden catamaran that that arrived at the dock to take us to the island.

Alan and Peter did their best to make the boat storm worthy, erecting a makeshift plastic wrap barrier that rose about three feet in front of us, then they handed out umbrellas which our hostess Ruby Ann unfurled and poked out under the canopy in front of us to shield us from the worst of the rain. We rode in heavy rains for more than an hour, and then when the rain let up, we next encountered rising sea swells—as the nose of our little boat crashed up and down—as the waves grew from three to five feet and higher. It was around this point in our journey that I remembered that I had placed my passport in my right hand pocket of my now soaked shorts, expecting that I might need to show identification at some point. It was still thankfully there, but somewhat curled and very damp. It will be interesting to learn whether the nifty new electronic strip Uncle Sam now includes in the passport still works when I try to get back Stateside next week.

Anyway, during all the pelting of rain and crashing of water from the deck into our open cabin, we got to know our British companions. Matty works in the computer technology industry and Thea is an IBM consultant.

Flash forward to the present—“My gosh” Vincent exclaims, looking up from his copy of Obama’s Wars as the sky has opened up with another band of rain showers. We have moved to the far side of the dining room, as a good bit of the rain is making its way onto the beach end of the long dining table.

We had about an hour of sun yesterday, enough time to get in a nice swim and to walk the beach in front of the main house.

In addition to Helena there is a staff of three men and three women on the island. We were originally supposed to stay in one of the small cottages, but Sanjee the main housekeeper suggested that Helena “upgrade us” and the British couple to the main house, where we each have a private bedroom upstairs at opposite ends of the house connected by a library that doubles as a small dining room, where we enjoyed a candlelight dinner.

We intend to return to “Utopia” again someday soon…hopefully with friends and family. Helena is a wonderful hostess, should would have forced to sun to shine all day—were it in her power. Instead she RubyAnn, Belinda and Danji gave us the run of the place, it is a wonderful spot…and we wish them all great success.

Bulletin 206-Mike in Philippines Part I

2010-10-11T20:59:00.001-07:00

October finds your humble correspondent on a two week visit to Vincent at his family home in Quezon City one of the cities in Metro Manila. I had a mercifully easy 19 hour flight from JFK via Tokyo to get here and have had a wonderful adventure getting to see his country for the first time.

Mealtime at Vincent’s is prepared by Alma who has been the family housekeeper since before Vincent was born. She is a wonderful cook, and when things are quiet, will slip a plate of some new Filipino delight before me to try. Alma and her daughter Althea are considered to be members of the family and have joined us on many outings.

To get from place to place we are driven by the family driver who actually is a family member, a cousin named Des-Des. One look at the main drag into Manila—which is at times 6 lanes wide and filled with cars, busses, scooter, people on bike, people standing in the middle of the traffic trying to sell things—and you can see why it is wise to have a driver.

Our second night found us at a five star hotel and a birthday bash thrown by Vincent’s rather well to do in-laws. Vincent’s twin brother is named Victor, and Victor’s mother-in-law “Tita” Fely threw the birthday bash for Vincent’s 7 year old niece Keisha It was an event that could make a Wall Street Hedge fund manager blush.

The gala included Hello Kitty characters, a magician, famous Filipino actors and actresses, an elegant buffet dinner and more balloons, gifts, and pomp than I had ever quite witnessed in one place.

Happily Keisha, who underwent no less than three designer dress costume changes during the course of the four plus hour evening, seems to have come through it all with good grace.

She and her younger sister Sophie Bella seemed to have just as good a time the next night when most of Vincent’s family took me to a local restaurant in Global City in an old fort that is now a new mall.

As an aside, Starbucks and Gap’s presence here nearly rivals that of New York's UWS.

Monday found us headed to Tagaytay and the Taal Volcano. It was a day spent in the countryside, on the water and the backs of mule like horses.

This particular volcano is nested in a thousand foot deep lake inside another volcano, so first you

travel by boat toget to the base of Taal.

Next, a guide leads you on horseback, up narrow, rocky trails.

Sometimes the guide is on foot, then the next thing you know they inquire, “together?” and before you can answer they have hopped on the back of the horse and are now urging it double time up the volcano.

It is a beautiful spot and well worth the ride both up and down

Afterwards we headed to a restaurant Vincent and his mom found called Sonya's Garden that specializes in dishes prepared from vegetables grown on the property.

It is lovely restaurant, hotel and Spa that Matty, Nicolle and Ben

(the Vegan wing of the Longman family) would most enjoy.

Next Vincent had a surprise in store that would have delighted my step-mom Karlene—a stop at the spa which is attached the restaurant’s garden where Vincent treated the family and your humble reporter to a massage—good move, as it greatly reduced the impact of saddle sores.

And so that pretty much gets you up to speed with my first four days in the Philippines. In addition to showing me around to his favorite spots, Vincent is also making sure I partake of

some of the best local bargains, like a trip to the dentist where you can get your teeth cleaned with the utmost care for 500 Pesos, or about 11 dollars. Before the gala he also took me for a relaxing oxygen facial, so I would look my best for introduction to the extended family. For the inquiring mind that runs about 25 dollars in this part of the world.

MIKEWEEK BULLETIN 205

2010-07-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

July 17, 2010 – New York, NY

Greetings from CPW

It has been a long time between Bulletins and yes there is much to report.

My pal Vincent had to return to the Philippines for a while. He parted company with his New York employer and is home helping his family start a taxi company, and looking for another multinational company to work for. He has a great resume, a Masters in Economics and a great track record at work, so we both believe he will be back to work very soon.

Some of Vincent’s in-laws are visiting New York, and they rented our condo for the month, which is the reason I am banging out this bulletin from dad’s library on CPW (many thanks to he and K for providing this housing, so I can get somebody else to pay the condo note and fee for a month.

I just spoke with Vincent by Yahoo messenger, which has a videophone, so we were able to enjoy each other’s smiles as they bounced from Manila to NYC via the magic of the web. We have had plenty of practice in the long distance relationship department as his recent job required lots of West Coast Travel, so we both view this trip as just a little bit longer and a little bit farther away—that’s all.

I will be looking to lease out the condo from time to time while Vincent is gone, and hope to squeeze in some visits to family and friends in New England, New Orleans and yes to Vincent in the Philippines—that trip will likely come in October. It will be my first chance to see his country. We also see this as an opportunity for Vincent, because up until now every job he took depended on a US company being willing to sponsor him, and that greatly limited the field of options. Now, he can look all over the world for a job he really likes, and many countries do not share this country’s increasingly crazy outlook on immigration, so the field should be a lot more open.

As for me, the work has been steady and over the past year I have been able to broaden its scope. I still produce around 20 radio stories a month for my main radio gig. On top of that, I have added work for a new service called Labor Radio, and just got word yesterday they have renewed funding, which should mean an assignment or two per month. And, then there have been occasional print assignments. So, despite the economy, things are going well, and I hope to use some of the extra time I have on my hands, to keep reaching out for new writing, reporting and investigative gigs.

The print review I wrote for Jarrett on the HBO series “Treme” really drove home, how much New Orleans is a vital part of me. Perhaps I will be able to figure out an assignment that brings me that way for work as well as for pleasure. With BP and the Danziger Bridge Police case, there certainly seems to be no shortage of New Orleans in the news.

No question this time brings new challenges—we go from a two income family to my income and still a pretty hefty condo note. And, I go from having Vincent’s smiling face to return to each night to living solo for a time. But, as I told my dad, It was six years ago last week that I walked out of the gate at Butner and made my fresh start on life. And at this very desk that I sent out the resumes that landed my first job---in telemarketing of all god awful things, and then back in radio, and now for radio, print and the web.

So, I am optimistic that both Vincent and I will come through this stronger and better, and hope to be in touch with all of you in the weeks ahead for a phone call—or who knows a visit, or maybe even a video call on yahoo messenger. Vincent made up my address it is Violong1301mango…kind of long, but catchy.

Current Reading: Just finished The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman-very funny short novel on the very believable charters who staffed a dysfunctional (aren’t they all?) newsroom in London.

My Take on HBO Series "Treme"

2010-04-18T17:07:00.000-07:00

In case you missed Part One, or are just looking for a little more info on the new hit HBO series...

My review was just published..

'Treme' Stew: Race, Culture, Politics...I invite you to take a look

http://ow.ly/1zZWH

Ridenhour Awards 2010—Humble Courage

2010-04-15T11:02:00.001-07:00

Riding the rails back to NYC from the 2010 Ridenhour Awards at the National Press Club…my annual reconnection with the nation’s power center, old friends from New Orleans, and to why I wanted to grow up to be a reporter.

For me 2010 is a year of taking stock, of gratitude that hard work and persistence, and yes some solid reporting—is paying off.

Normally, I would board the train and be writing a review of the year’s awards, but this year I was up before dawn—preparing to write a print of review of Treme aboard the DC bound train--on the way to the awards—so by the time the ride back rolled around, I needed a little time to recharge. (insert two hour nap here--now back at computer)

Work has been as plentiful in the first quarter of this year, as it was sorely lacking in the last quarter of 2009. (Life is also very full, my pal Vincent and I just returned from a wonderful week at the new Vdara hotel in Vegas--more on that in a future bulletin)

I have picked up a new side gig where I cover labor issues in New York. The long time gig continues, and this month in addition to covering my usual states- New York and Nevada—I have been filling in for a co-worker and covering Washington State as well.

Then came the call from my pal Jarrett, who asked me if I could watch the new HBO Series Treme and review it with an eye to my knowledge of New Orleans and some of the bigger issues the drama touches on, as concerns post-Katrina New Orleans. So, work life is about as full and busy as one humble reporter can handle.

Humility is one trait that I will always remember when it comes to Ron Ridenhour—he somehow had the capacity to be both brash and humble at the same time,

When he was digging into really tough stories, he would be passionate about getting to the bottom of it, and yes about nailing “the lying mother F’s to the wall,’ but as to his own roll—he was just a reporter doing his job; nothing less, nothing more.

And so it was reassuring to hear Matthew Hoh, the Winner of the 2010 Ridenhour Prize for Truth Telling confess that he was kind of incompetent with his check book, and yes, he had just messed up with his longtime girlfriend—but, when it came to our nation’s ever increasing commitment to the war in Afghanistan-that he had little choice but to tell the State Department, “F-U, I don’t want this job any more.”

America’s premier Investigative reporter-Sy Hersh introduced him, and you got the genuine feeling that this was honor enough for Hoh; he confessed that he never expected to get an award for his actions. The former Senior Civilian Representative for the US Government in Iraq on September 10, 2009 became the highest ranking government official to resign in protest over our government’s foreign policy in Iraq.

The bottom line he explained was that our men and women in the military were putting their lives on the line to allow the people of Afghanistan to participate in free and fair elections. Hoh reckons at least 100 marines have died to support the Karzai regime since he stole the election. He wrote a four page letter to the Foreign Service outlining in detail why he could no longer support our military effort and resigned from one of the best jobs he ever had.

Letter writing to the US congress in 1969 was the very act that began the transformed of Ron Ridenhour from a soldier in Viet Nam—first to a whistle-blower seeking justice for defenses civilians massacred at the village of My Lai—and then into a long career as a distinguished investigative reporter.

In 2008, Bill Moyers noted that while Ridenhour won significant praise and a Polk Award for his courage and reporting skill, he still had a rough time making a living as a reporter—as Moyers noted, truth telling is often not rewarded or a sought after by those who run news rooms. If that was true when Ron was still among us more than a decade ago-it is now all the more so, as bigger and bigger corporations consolidate their control of more and more media outlets. One wonders, what corporate news honcho would be willing to take responsibility today for a “loose cannon” like Ron —no matter how big, or important the scoops he brought to table.

Ron briefly worked for me, when I was a news director in radio. It was a running joke between us that his print stories about cracks in nuclear power plants and corruption at city hall were all so detailed and so long that nobody could possible get all the way through them. I still feel a little guilty that as a young turk in radio, I figured what people could digest is what you should give them.

When I say Ron worked for me, he did radio versions of his print stories—and in return, I was able to get him use of one of our company gas credit cars. With that, Ron could fill his gas tank, and with me looking the other way, he could also buy some food at the gas station quick mart and a six pack of beer here and there.

Moyers was right; there are no big bucks in truth telling. But Ron cared about the stories he covered, I thought they were important, and the gas card was all my station manager would let me do in terms of paying Ron, so that is the deal we made. (Note: there is a funny Op-Ed Art Piece from the Times this week that captures he absurd lengths freelance reporters go to, in order to eke out a living at http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/13/opinion/20100413_opart.html )

Each year I make the trip to the Ridenhour Awards, I feel a sense of renewal. It reminds me of the core values of why I wanted to be a reporter in the first place. It is an event that constantly tells truth to power.

The Ridenhour Awards also constantly remind me how small the world and my profession are. This year, former WCBS-TV Anchor Dave Marash presented the Ridenhour Book Prize to Joe Sacco the author of Footnotes in Gaza.

Marash was one of the brains behind getting my pal, the former Mets Right fielder, Ron Swoboda into broadcast journalism. Today, as I watched Marash ad lib his introduction to Sacco and wrap his mind around the complexities of the long conflict in the Middle East-it reminded me of why he was one of the few people in Television I ever wanted to try to live up to—he is sharp, witty, and insightful as ever.

Ron Ridenhour often bugged me to play handball with him more often, and indeed we played barely a month before the day he took the court with another fellow and collapsed and died. We were competitive on the court, and in the newsroom, but underneath the bravado were also good friends.

Randy Fertel makes a special effort each year to bring Ron’s courage and commitment back to life, and to explain why his actions and My Lai still matter. The main thing that strikes me, each year I come back to these awards and see another trio of courageous truth tellers awarded in Ron’s memory—is that Ron…. of all people, is the last person in the world who ever would have expected that anyone would have taken the time, and effort to remember him and his work this way.

And, so it was most reassuring for me, that the winner of today’s courage award was not only like Ron in that he dared to write a letter that told truth to power—but, that he also was quite humble about all the fuss being made about his actions. He just did what he thought anybody would do in his shoes—what he thought was right.

Farewell Bobby...to your Big Grin, Big Life and Big Heart

2010-02-03T14:55:00.001-08:00

I have known two truly great private investigators in my life. They were my sources, friends and from time to time, I did some digging for them myself. The first is New Orleans' own Gary Eldredge. And then, from San Francisco, came Robert Buechler…or as we all knew him—Bobby.

The two could not be more different in nature—Gary is quiet, pensive and modest to a fault; while Bobby was brash, excitable, a consummate self-promoter, and doer of good deeds, who could fill an entire room with his laugh and wide grin.

About six weeks ago, I called Bobby just to check in, and asked him how he was doing?

“I’m dying” he told me. He said he would tell me more soon, but I could tell he really did not want to talk about it…and he never did. I just learned that Bobby passed away last week.

I first met Bobby, in an unusual way for a reporter; I was his source.

It was while I was working for WWL TV on the cops, courts and corruption beat in New Orleans. My phone rang, and Bobby introduced himself and said something like, “I am in town digging on a possible story for 60 minutes. I understand you are the guy to talk to about this stuff…and I was thinking you might join me for lunch on CBS, so we can compare notes.”

We met over a fine meal, with more than a few drinks, and talked about a number of members of the New Orleans Police Department who had been accused of misconduct. I could see from the very start that Bobby had done his homework. I had been covering the force for about 15 years when we met, and he had only touched down in New Orleans for a couple of days... but he had quickly sized up who the players were, what they were suspected of doing, and why it mattered.

That last point is something both Gary and Bobby shared...the WHY. They really understood why it mattered when a police officer steps over the line. They were passionate about wanting to protect the public from that kind of misconduct. It is a passion that they and I shared, along with a handful of attorneys like Mary Howell and reporters like Allen Johnston.

Like all great investigators Bobby knew how to make you feel like you were his most important source. When the truth was, I was but one of many.

Just as he was talking to reporters who knew the bad apples in the NOPD from the outside, he was also talking to cops, even some top brass…taking a little bit of what he learned from one side and figuring out a way to loosen up tidbit from the other side.

Bobby had this nervous sort of laugh, whenever you were really getting down to the nitty-gritty.

And so, there would be the good food, the drinks, and this big gangly guy with his grey curly hair, coming to the point and asking something like, “are you saying this officer ordered a 'hit' on somebody? I mean is that what we are saying here?” And then, the nervous laugh to remind you that this was both: hard to believe, and yes, dead serious.

After a couple of lunches, my phone rang in the newsroom and it was Bobby---he said, “I need you to get us a reservation at Galatoire's… Mike wants to eat there, but he can’t stand in line.” Mike was of course, Mike Wallace from 60 minutes.

In those days, Galatoire’s did not take reservations, and I told Bobby that, but he was unmoved by my explanation, so I called the restaurant and explained the situation.

It was then, I learned what I guess was a pretty closely held secret, “just say your party wants the Bouillabaisse, that takes 24 hours to prepare.” They asked me when I needed the table for and using the Bouillabaisse trick, which is typical New Orleans Black Magic, Bobby and I sat down to dinner with Mike Wallace, his producer Lowell Bergman and New Orleans print reporter Allen Johnson.

It was an evening I will never forget.

These were the days when the networks really dug deep, when they were willing to invest weeks and even months into a series, or single story. I got the chance to watch two great minds in action. To sit at the other end of a question from Mike Wallace and to watch how he and Bergman sized up your answer.

And, of course with all these outsized personalities at the table it was a night of great laughs and tall stories.

60 Minutes would eventually produce not one, but three stories on the NOPD. And, Bobby would develop a love for New Orleans that would see him back there for many more projects in the days ahead, including investigating police misconduct post-Katrina.

Some quick memorable moments…Bobby worked with Bergman on a number of 60 minutes stories including, I believe, the story on Big Tobacco that was the basis for the Movie “The Insider” where the roll of Bergman is played by Al Pacino and Christopher Plummer plays Mike Wallace. Bobby got a speaking part in the movie (I think he played a private eye) and of course he played it up to the hilt.

That was 1999.

As the years moved on, I would check in with Bobby and ask how he was doing. He really loved working in depth projects for “Sixty,” as he called it. But there was a problem. “The dinosaurs” he told me, “they are starting to die off.” It went further, “the producers each have their own dinosaur and they are clinging to them for dear life.” By that he meant the old guard, the Ed Bradleys, Mike Wallaces and Morely Safers were doing fewer stories and that meant less work for Bobby on “Sixty.”

But, just as with his sources, Bobby never put all his eggs in one basket.

Bobby also had producers at the Nightly News desk at CBS who liked his work. He had his pitch down to a science; it came from the private investigator’s art of writing a pithy summation of the case. They were usually just a single page—a who, what, where, why and how that teased the network’s interest to the point that they would send him dashing off to some new place on their dime to figure out if there really was a story there, and whether it was time to assign a correspondent.

The news of Bobby’s passing comes to me, the very same week that one of the best News Directors I ever worked for announced that he is moving on from CBS News. Joe Duke was there in the great days of television, and he was the kind of news director that inspired fearlessness in his reporters (at least the good ones). You knew, if you went out and did the legwork and came back with a solid story, that Joe would back you both before and after the story aired.

It was after a story aired, that Bobby got a call from a particularly “green” producer at Nightly News. It turns out that there was some issue about some aspect of the story. Well, the green in this case did not refer to the environment, but instead the slight amount of experience this young lady had on the job.

She called Bobby in, and told him, “I am going to do more stories with you, but next time…next time the bar will be higher”

I would give a million dollars to have seen the expression on Bobby’s face. “The Bar” he about hollered back, “I don’t need you to tell me where the ‘f…ing bar is!” And, you can be certain Bobby’s closing argument went on through a good many more “f’s” before he was done.

Needless to say, he did not get a lot more work from that producer, but the news business has a way of knowing who has the goods and who doesn't. It wasn't long before she no longer produced for the Nightly News and Bobby was back in the saddle.

I mentioned he was a doer of good deeds…not the least of which was working hard for the compassionate release of Deborah Peagler, a victim of domestic violence who Bobby argued, had been wrongfully incarcerated since 1983.

Debbie was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer and Bobby was instrumental in winning her a most rare release from prison. Bobby worked the entire case Pro bono and helped raise money for a documentary on Debbie's fight.

It was only last week that I learned, from a reliable source, that it was the very same form of cancer, that for the final time, managed to silence my boisterous, generous, resourceful friend…Bobby Buechler.

Filibuster Threat? Perhaps Obama should tell GOP to “Bring it On”

2010-01-28T07:58:00.000-08:00

Thursday January 28, 2010/MikeWeek Bulletin

New York, NY—President Obama commands the largest Democratic majority in decades, yet they have been doing the nation’s business, under the constant threat of a Republican filibuster—that would slam the breaks on everything in the Senate.

My Question for President Obama is....why not tell the GOP, to go ahead and “bring it on.”

Obama used his State of the Union to rise above partisanship and party bickering.

And, he used strong words to paint the GOP into the obstructionist corner.

“If the Republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town -- a supermajority -- then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well.”

Obama briefly touched on the political calculation that he believes is in the mind of his opponents… “Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it's not leadership. We were sent here to serve our citizens, not our ambitions.”

In my view, Obama would be well served to move this argument from words to action.

Word is that Republicans agreed there would be no shouts of “Liar” from their side of the aisle at this address. They got some short term props from some quarters for that brash display, but they know the nation is looking for solutions, not hot air.

I believe the USA could use a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 2010 refresher on what the heck a filibuster is.

Yes, I saw the Mr. Smith on the big screen years ago. I realize that Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) was the hero. And yes, his great moment was when he stood up on principal and started a filibuster, but this is 2010…the nation is in a very different, demanding, fowl and angry mood. And, we have the 24 hour news cycle.

Which member really wants to be seen on the Cable networks stopping the nation’s business in the depths of a recession, when threats of terror are morphing to acts of terror? Which senator really wants to stand up and read the minutes of the Congressional Record, or whatever other extraneous material he or she can find, to keep talking, as the rules require…to prevent a bill from coming to a vote.

I understand the political risk. Sure, one member of the GOP would get to take a few free shots at the administration and the opposition might actually enjoy the first couple hours of coverage

But, this humble reporter’s gut tells him —the nation is struggling to claw its way back…people are already very angry because they don’t see their leaders keeping their eye on the ball and getting things done.

Days and Days of round the clock coverage of the same lawmaker talking non-stop to stop the nation’s business would not have good shelf life.

I think the nation’s anger would gravitate towards the party that is perceived to be standing in the way of reasonable discourse and working towards common ground.

My hunch is that it would not be too many hours into the 24 hour news cycle, before the Grand Old Party pulled the plug on this not so grand old tactic.

What do you think?

The Dark Side

2009-05-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

Your humble reporter is almost finished reading the Dark Side and had it in mind with former Vice President Dick Cheney appeared Sunday on Face the Nation. Comments to follow

on the latest torture headlines and how one of the morning hosts I admire, "Morning Joe" really missed it, when he turned his powers of political analysis on this issue.

2009-05-07T19:43:00.001-07:00

Your Ad Here

BULLETIN 204 / Quote of the Day: “It’s tough, it can be dangerous, it requires courage and it can take a long, long time—but it can be done.”

2009-04-16T21:22:00.000-07:00

Ridenhour Awards 2009: NY Times Herbert says Americans Must Quit the Powerlessness Game, Jane Mayer calls Rumsfeld “wrong” on rotten apples defense, and your humble reporter rubs elbows with former Louisiana Congresswoman Lindy Boggs and one of MSNBC’s biggest talking heads.

Ridenhour Courage Prize Winner Bob Herbert pictured with Randy Fertel of the Fertel Foundation

National Press Club, Washington DC:

NY Times columnist Bob Herbert worried aloud about two trends in the national thinking. He said they are both….wrong and dangerous.

He was talking about Americans feeling “powerless” as they sit each night before their flat screened TV. Just as bad he said, is the notion that they are “not responsible” for the decisions being made and the resulting state of the nation.

Herbert knows Americans can agitate for and produce change.

He witnessed it firsthand as a reporter covering the civil rights movement, the women’s movement and as a columnist chronicling environmental action and the election of the nation’s first black president.

According to Herbert, just electing Obama was not enough, citizens must do more. He said they must fight for change, and his passionate description ended up being the above mentioned “Quote of the Day.”

Herbert then posed a question that could be applied rather equally to both the public at large and the progressive members of the news media who were in attendance.

Where were you… when these decisions were being made?

He then harkened back to the national debate over welfare reform.

“When millionaire’s on the senate floor stood up and cheered the withdrawal of benefits from small children.”

Hebert said, “If you didn’t understand then, that when they finished up tearing up the safety net for the poor, that they would soon be coming after the middle class—then you bear some responsibility.”

“It wasn’t long before they started going after social security,” he added, “We are all responsible for the state of our society.”

Your humble reporter has always admired Herbert for his willingness to be way out in front and report on perspectives that can be deeply unpopular. His early opposition to America’s warrior response to 9/11 is a good example.

But there is a second equally important quality that I know to be Herbert’s trademark.

Despite the fact he is often one of the first reporters to tackle an issue, he seldom has to issue a correction. And, in time views that he offered that may have initially seemed to be way out there in left field—years later have take on the quality of mainstream reliability.

It takes a very farsighted, careful and talented reporter to accomplish all that.I started reading Jane Mayer’s The Dark Side on the metro back to Union Station and it was hard putting it down, so I could write this bulletin on the train back to New York. (BTW-one sign of our economic times is that I am aboard the cheapie regional, which is packed with many other bargain seekers, rather than our usual high speed ACELA train).

Accepting the Ridenhour Book Prize, Mayer recalled the words she saw on a poster which depicted the massacre at My Lai, in Vietnam.

At the bottom of the poster was a short quote. It was pulled from the questioning of Lt. William L Calley Jr. as he was asked about the youngest murder victims at My Lai…

“And Babies?” … “Yes sir, and babies.”

Mayer never met Ron Ridenhour, the soldier and journalist who blew the whistle on the massacre. She was only in high school when the story broke, but she witnessed the stir Ridenhour created and took from it a lifelong lesson.

“Just by getting the truth out…society could somehow heal itself.” Mayer remembered, “And that’s part of the power of our society that we can get to the truth and change.”

Ridenhour was angry that William Calley was the only soldier forced to take responsibility for My Lai. Ridenhour’s sources had told him that orders had come from higher-ups and he believed until his untimely death, that they should have been court marshaled along with Calley.

Mayers warned that history was in danger of repeating itself when the first reports of torture seeped out of Abu Ghraib.

Then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld maintained the inhumane treatment of prisoners at the notorious prison was simply the result of “a few rotten apples.” And, in a stark reminder of Vietnam, only low ranking members of the military have been jailed in connection with the abuses at Abu Ghraib.

Mayer maintains the abuse doled out by US forces in Iraq was “not an aberration.” Instead she said, “Abuse and torture were the systematic delivery of official policy of the Bush Administration.”

The Ridenhour Awards are unique (Mayer noted) in that they are the only major awards that go beyond the hard work of journalists, to include the courage and determination of their sources.Thomas Tamm the winner of this year’s Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling certainly exhibited courage when he picked up the phone and decided to become a source for the New York Times.

It is because of Thomas Tamm’s 2004 phone call that we now know that the Bush Administration was engaged in illegal wiretapping of US citizens.

Sadly, five years later the FBI seems more interested in building a case against Tamm for disclosing state secrets, than going after administration officials who ordered the illegal wiretaps.

“A My Lai a Month” was The Nation's article by Nick Turse which won him a Special Ridenhour Prize for Reportorial Distinction.

The article relied on declassified documents which indicate that Ridenhour was right when he called My Lai a military “operation, rather than an aberration.” The documents uncover body counts that are so high, in relation to the number of enemy captured that they point to the likelihood that civilians were targeted by the US Military in Vietnam.

Celebrity Sightings: In my day to day freelance duties, in West Harlem, your humble reporter does not find himself regularly rubbing elbows with the Washington or media elite. But, each year at the Ridenhour Awards, rub elbows…we do.

At this year’s luncheon, I found myself seated at the same table with one of my favorite cable news talking heads: Christopher L Hayes, The Washington DC Editor of the Nation.

Hayes, a regular on MSNBC with Olbermann and Maddow. proved himself to be a consummate DC multi-tasker, grinning, texting, and munching on salad as he took in the afternoon’s acceptance speeches.

At the next table was former US Ambassador Joe Wilson of “PlameGate” fame and Daniel Ellsberg who published the Pentagon Papers. Both men were recipients of the first Ridenhour Awards, when the ceremony attracted a much smaller crowd.

Fellow New Orleans exile Remi Braden joined me for the luncheon along with her pal Tracy Vincent who represents Louisiana’s sugar cane lobby. New Orleans pals Pinkely and Pope gave us a warm welcome as we entered the Press Club and they suggested we say hello to former Louisiana Congresswoman Lindy Boggs.

Remi had met Boggs years ago in connection with Remi’s royal days at Mardi Gras.

But, I had Remi beat in the Lindy department by a decade at least.

I casually leaned over to the woman who was the most powerful woman in congress for decades, and reminded Boggs that she and I had shared a car ride together some 30 years ago.

In fact it was two car rides. One to WTUL radio’s studio and then another ride back, the day she threw the switch on the stations new high powered FM transmitter.

Lindy seemed to get a kick out of recalling our little car ride together. I know that I did.

CULTURE WATCH: One more chance to catch Rigoletto at the Met

2009-04-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

A healthy portion of the audience stayed to applaud at the final curtain—a sign that last night’s performance of Rigoletto was special. In this season’s offering of the Verdi classic at the Metropolitan Opera, which tenor you get depends upon which night you see the performance. Tuesday night, Joseph Calleja the young tenor from Malta gave a bravado performance. He almost had you believing his version of the Duke might be able to stick to just one woman—his voice oozed with sincerety.

The biggest cheers at the final curtain were for Sorprano Diana Damrau whose Gilda was especially brilliant when she sang counterpoint to Robert Frontali’s Rigoletto.

While even the occasional opera fan will know much of this score from the opening opera—the strength of Rigoletto is in the way it builds toward the quartet in the final act.

Even the staging in this production seems to get stronger as the show moves to it’s tragic end.

Friday is the final night this season for Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera House. (Link to Met Opera: 8:00 pm, Rigoletto )

The Class: Part documentary, part drama…examines potential and comes close.

2009-04-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

I am a fan of both French movies and school yarns featuring unyielding, but inspiring teachers and professors. The Class (Entre les murs in French) offers both and is to be admired for taking on a tricky subject—multicultural education. It also gets a nod for sticking to that subject no matter which way the on-camera students, or the audience for that matter, might wish it to go.

For me the problem is the film offers a tad too much drama for a documentary, but then so rigid in its documentary approach that you feel like a lesson should have been learned in the process. I, for one, came away feeling I was not really sure what the lesson was.

In the Paper Chase, a film about law school that offers no apologies about its dramatic approach, we get the lesson. Professor Kingsfield is a merciless, and at times a one dimensional taskmaster, but the ends eventually justify the means as students emerge from his classroom with little question that they know the law.

The Class features François Begaudeau as a somewhat laid back, French version of the taskmaster. Begaudeau is the former teacher who wrote “Between the Walls.” the autobiographical novel upon which the film is based.

One cannot imagine this film without Begaudeau in front of the class. He is convincing in his desire to reach his students, and unlike Kingsfield he desires to reach them on their own terms.

The students, fellow teachers and administration are equally convincing, and the documentary approach works as it plays all of these forces against one another and they combine to form an ever growing wall that that teacher must climb as the film moves on.

The students evaluate themselves at the end of the Class and the film leaves the most important lesson up to you. You have been given a kind of cliff notes view of multicultural education: all the basic challenges are there, and in the end you are left to draw your own conclusions: Are most of these kids better prepared for the future by the end of the class, and for those who are not, was it their teacher, the administration, or something bigger that leaves them wanting?

Watch trailer here.

Encounters... Penguins Gone Wild and Life in Antartica

2009-04-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

“Is their such a thing as insanity among penguins?” Herzog asks a scientist who has been studying the colony for decades. Encounters at the End of the World, a film by Werner Herzog, set in frigid Antartica may seem just another Discovery Channel documentary on global warming, but it goes deeper by examining the odd assortment of people who inhabit this remote continent.

One thing that struck me is that Antartica attracts a particular breed of settlers the same way Ernest Shackleton hand-picked his crew a century ago. From scientists, philosophers, phycisists, zoologist, volcanologist, glaciologist to a former banker, linguist, a woman who “traveled from Ecuador to Lima, Peru, in a sewer pipe”, a plumber whose ring fingers marks his “royal Inca/Aztec heritage” and music producer Henry Kaiser whose under-ice-covered-water footage inspired the film, you meet them all.

Herzog aims to find out if penguins are crazy, but your close encounters with the subjects of this documentary lead you to wonder if the crew that went along with Shackleton went there because he picked them, or because they were just drawn to place the same way this unusual collection of folks ended up there today.

Watch trailer here.

MIKE’S FLICKS: Eye Gouging, Gritty Crime Drama…Eastern Promises

2009-04-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

If you are craving a crime flick with plenty of credible, well crafted twists and turns, and you can take above average doses of violence, Steven Knight’s screenplay delivers.

This crime drama opens with a curious execution and a dying mother who leaves behind a mystery child. Naomi Watts plays Anna Khitrova the midwife who uses the dying mother’s diary to find a home for the baby, but instead the tiny book leads her and her family into a messy encounter with a London based Russian mob.

Viggo Mortensen is mysterious, convincing and sexy as Nikolai Luzhin the Russian crime family driver. Few will soon forget his fight scene in a Russian bath. You find yourself drawn into the fight and ready to throw your own punch, the same way director Sam Peckinpah pulled you into a fight to the death in Straw Dogs (1971).

Armin Mueller-Stahl is equal parts charm and fatherly dictator as Semyon the crime family kingpin who runs his operation from a lavish Russian restaurant.

The plot is dark and the actors clearly enjoy each time that take you down another notch inside the slang, habits and brutal methods of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood. Like the best of this genre…you spend a good time wondering which side some of the main characters are really on.

Available on DVD –THREE Bowls of Borscht --- Russian Realism and moderate caution as to violence.

Watch trailer here.

Clunkers are Lemons Right? So What Do We Call The New Cars Returned By the Jobless?

2009-04-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

We need a new name. Clunkers…Lemons….most of us know those terms for reject cars that rolled off the assembly line with some sort of defect, but now we need a new name for today’s cars. What are we going to call those cars that the dealers are selling right now with the new “payment protection plan.”? Ford, GM and Hyundai are all offering a big brother guarantee that, if you happen to (whoops)…lose your darn job….then the car company will pay your car note for a few months, and then heaven forbid if you are still out of work—you can simply bring the car back.

Everything these days gets a name…so what are the dealers, driving public, bloggers and taxpayers going to call these contraptions ?

If a lemon was a clunker then what will we label cars that are soon to be returned? What are these cars “only driven to work by out of work workers?

I think it is only right that we come up with a proper name…in time for the 2009 International Auto Show here in New York.

BTW…while we are at it, can you think of any OTHER consumer items that manufacturers should be willing to buy back if we loose our jobs?

Do we draw the line at microwaves? Slightly used golf clubs? A half a jar of Skippy? Choose from the recession menu below.

UPDATE: Irma Thomas at the BB King

2009-04-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

Irma Thomas packed the house and got several fired-up standing O’s at BB King’s in Times Square last night. She brought her fat songbook and, as always, invited fans to suggest away-which they did, offering everything from obvious classics like “It’s Raining” to songs so obscure that Irma had a hard time finding them in her fake book. Her band, The Professionals actually kicked off one tune, that Irma started singing as her fingers searched the song book and search she did, through the entire tune—never locating the sheet music, but smiling as she found enough of the words in her 68-year-old memory to please that fan and the crowd.

Like some of New Orleans best chef’s…Irma does not scrimp when it comes to portions. Despite having to fight off a cough, and brief but classy brush off with some geek making an “unauthorized live performance video”—Irma still gave her all for a two hour plus performance capped by an encore which included a tribute to Etta James, who will follow her next month at the same venue.

Last night, was my first experience at BB King’s. Seating is first come first served, and we got there early and ended up in the first three rows. The sound system is excellent, the sightlines great, and it looked to me that even folks standing which lines the back wall, still had a good view. The waiter suggested Steaks, the smallest of which topped 30 bucks- we opted for the Warm Roquefort Wedge Lettuce Salad with a Side of Gulf Shrimp which gets the tab into the 20 dollar range and was quite good for club food. (Click here for menu.)

The emotional high point of the night came when she sang Backwater Blues which she says she avoids singing too often…and as you heard her bend the lyrics of this Bessie Smith tune you knew exactly why. It’s because this song from the 20’s cuts too close to the wounds New Orleans still carries from Hurricane Katrina.

She got the crowd to do a reasonable version of a second line (no mean feat in NYC) with a medley of Mardi Gras tunes and wowed your humble reporter, as she always does with her rendition of Simply the Best.

Headed to BB King’s to see the Soul Queen of New Orleans...

2009-04-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

Unlike blackened redfish, Irma Thomas is one of the few New Orleans originals that travels and keeps it real. No matter how muddy the infield at the Fairgrounds at Jazz Fest, or how much we over ate at Galatoire’s we always made sure we had enough left in the tank to take in Irma’show in the heart of bail bond country. Tonight it is...
At BB King’s in Times Square…full review to follow.

Mike Blogs Book Suggestions: Lush Life, The Good Rat and Rumpole Misbehaves

2009-04-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

I have been taken by some recent high and lowbrow crime drama—actually it’s all great writing and just that subjects that inhabit various rings of Dante’s hell.

Lush Life is novel number eight from Richard Price and it was my first encounter with his pen. I used to cover cops for a living and Price obviously spent a good deal of time hanging with them, because he gets both the mindset and the gallows humor just right.

He is also a master of capturing his surroundings: he wraps the Lower East Side around you in all of jumbled glory, and puts you inside the head of some very interesting and troubled characters on all sides of the law.

On the non-fiction side, I tore threw The Good Rat by Jimmy Breslin and loved every second of it. Breslin’s just the brass tacks facts approach is refreshing...especially after eight years of hyper-focus on evildoers, as if they were some special breed. Breslin knows what makes dumb crooks tick. He has seen greed, and killing in untold variations, and he knows the interesting underside of New York. You would be foolish not to tag along for this wickedly well-written primer.

Finally, fans of Rumpole will be glad to see the creator of the Old Bailey hack somehow keeps finding his way back to the typewriter—one assumes he would not waste much time on new fangled contrivances such as the computer. The title Rumpole Misbehaves is itself a joke to anyone who has read even one of the 20 or so Rumpole titles, as Horace Rumpole is rarely doing anything if not misbehaving. He still drinks the house brand at Pomroy’s Wine Bar, and his troubles with She Who Must Be Obeyed as always are in fierce competition with those who want to bring him down in court and at work. John Mortimer seldom has Horace misbehave just to keep in practice; usually his small social transgressions are aimed at getting us all to pay attention to stupid developments in the law and the world at large. In this case it is to agitate around Anti-Social behavior Orders, known as the ASBO in the UK.

BOY A – Crime Drama: Boy seeking redemption finds girl and faces critical choice

2009-04-06T12:57:00.000-07:00

BOY A: 2007 BAFTA award-winning film adaptation of Jonathan Trigell's novel of the same name.

Did you ever have a secret that you thought it might be best to reveal, but people you trusted told you not to? This is the story of a young man who has a chance for redemption after making the rather typical choice of choosing the wrong friends as a boy.

His options in life seem to be flourishing as he meets a girl and finds a decent job, but that only heightens the odds as to the picture's central question…should he confess his criminal past or keep his mouth shut?

Andrew Garfield captured Best Actor BAFTA TV Award showing equal parts of a vulnerable youth and a young man facing adult decisions that can make or break a life.

Watch the trailer here.

BULLETIN 203

2009-04-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

In this Edition: WTUL Progressive Radio…34 years on, Chess Rematch with Jude Acers, Steve Ross at the Algonquin, Gitmo Book Review and Street Hockey Redux.

Quote of the Week (Quarter if you are paying attention): “I was station manager too…in 1998”

Blogosphere Brings Bulletin Back: Vincent and I have been experimenting in the Blog- World and figured that was ample excuse to bang out a bulletin. Here are some of the highlights to date in “09.

WTUL/New Orleans: I had passed on my 30th Tulane reunion, because I only knew a few classmates who would be likely to return. When my college radio station announced a reunion, I could not resist. TUL was staffed by students from many different class years, and most of us lived a good part of our college career, spinning records, producing newscasts and just hanging out in the basement studios of WTUL.

I alerted Monaghan that we would be descending on Molly’s at the Market and that’s were the reunion got its unofficial start.

Pictured are Maurice Roe (longtime pal and Station Manager ’77, Charles Driebe & Bob Dabney (World of Jazz Hosts ‘75-‘78) and your humble reporter (aka Station Manager ’75-’76).

The current staff was kind enough to turn over the airwaves to a bunch of us from “back in the day,” and I got to host the weekday morning show that I used to alternate with Kathy Fishman. DJ Cupcake helped me keep the show on the air and right-side up as we did the 8am-10am show on Friday morning. It was around 9:45 on one of those Friday morning shows back in 1975, that I picked up the request line and got a job offer from WQUE-FM, a commercial rock station. I asked only one question, “Are you going to pay me?”

About three months after I was hired at WQUE- I finally got the guts to ask them, “Why did you pick me?” Easy they said, “We liked the music you played.” You will understand a lot about the radio business when you know that they had hired me to host the morning show on an automated radio station…where of course I had no say in any of the music that was played.

It was during the get together at Molly’s that a classmate was talking how it had been ten long years since she was in charge at WTUL…and then she uttered the above mentioned Quote of the Week. Upon hearing those words, Dabney and I did our calculations…let’s see she was in charge in 98 and that was ten years ago. Then, we were in charge in ‘75 …damn! That was 34 years ago.

Jude Acers Rematch: No return to New Orleans is now complete with out a brief duel with Jude at the chess table. Broome is always kind enough to give me a couple warm up games, and then it is just me versus the Decatur street chess master. I played well enough on day one that I almost managed to take a game. As my reward, Jude suggested I return for another round before my departure. He then dispatched me with added gusto, just so the first day’s effort did not go too far to my head.

New Orleans Pal Updates: Thanks to Brobson and Ken for use of their slave quarter and a great dinner at a sibling of the old G&E Courtyard Grill which just opened in Metairie. To Brian Fitzgerald who hosted a wonderful welcome home party, complete with wait staff where New Orleans jetsetters like Ron Swoboda and “Country Kate” Caraway were in attendance. To Carlton who treated me to a fine dinner at the new Besh restaurant called August. Carlton is working at another local restaurant and doing well. To Keith who brought me up to Magazine Street for oysters. Kit and Billy welcomed me for a surprise breakfast at their place; the surprise was on them, that I was coming. Kit rewarded Dabney and me with signed copies of her latest book, New Orleans Classics Gumbos and Soups. Also can report good times were had with Jeff McNeilly, Broome and Ashley, the unstoppable Peggy, Jim Jr & Alana and the entire staff at Molly’s and of course Viezer who passed along his usually unbeatable horse picks (rumor has it a local former newsman may have bested him this time around).

Street Hockey Survivors: The Longman clan once again returned to Long Island for the annual street hockey clash. Nephew Nick donned a jersey and took to the rink for the first time, along with Vincent’s brother-in-law Jonathan. Both provided much needed fresh legs and kept the Longman’s ahead of the competition for another year. As always wounds and goals were celebrated at Christiano’s…home of Billy Joel and LI’s best pizza.

Steve Ross and NY Culterwatch: Swoboda was once again in attendance as dad hosted us to night of Steve Ross at the Algonquin—which is about the best place to enjoy New York’s finest cabaret performer. Steve was great and we have also been catching his appearances at the fine performing arts theater at the Metropolitan Museum. Other recent cultural highlights have included Guys and Dolls on Broadway and the “Great” and I caught the Modest Mouse concert at Terminal Five which is one of Manhattan’s best venues for catching bigger name acts in a smaller setting.

Current Reading: I heartily recommend Clive Stafford Smith’s Eight O’Clock Ferry to the Windward Side which tells the story of our nation’s unfortunate torture policy from one of the few lawyers who was regularly inside Gitmo. I know Clive from his days defending death penalty cases in Louisiana and he is both a terrific lawyer and compelling writing. Better late than never, I also suggest Rise of the Vulcans which explains Bush policy through major forces in the lives of key policymakers, and how those experiences motivated their decision. Both are now cheap reads in paperback.

Frozen River: Draws You In…then Warms the Heart

2009-04-03T12:36:00.000-07:00

Indie Crime Drama meets Humanistic Thriller. Small movie draws splintered family into unexpected union with unemployable Native American from Mowhawk Tribe. Grit and well earned cynic humor drive the story.

Frozen River is the story of a dysfunctional family that is barely making ends meet in a broken down mobile home in a hardscrabble town on New York’s border with Canada.

At first you wonder if you really want to tag along with this hard luck story. But in short order Melissa Leo goes off searching for her gambling addicted husband and ends up in an unlikely partnership with a Native American. In the process you are drawn into a life of car thieving & immigrant smuggling

Melissa Leo is unforgettable as the mom whose drive for a double wide mobile home is second only to Captain Ahab.

Misty Upham gets under your skin as a totally unemployable Native American who is forbidden to see her own child, because of her criminal lifestyle.

Charlie McDermott is impressive as he dons the skin of the older brother who copes with his daily existence through liberal doses of adolescent sarcasm.

MIKEWEEK

2008-09-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

06 Septmeber 08/Bulletin 202
Quote of the Month: “I must admit feeling a bit guilty about this.”

New Orleans Dodges Bullet: The Bulletin was glad to hear from many New Orleans friends who made the wise choice not to stick around to meet “Gustav” in person. Even better news was that the G-named Hurricane turned and landed west of the city, packing lighter winds than had been forecast.

Perhaps no evacuee had it quite as good as the “Dabs” aka Bob Dabney who uttered this month’s quote from the safety of dad’s seats at the US Tennis Center. Not only did Bob get to flee directly to the US Open and the delights of Serena Williams blasting an opponent off the court, but his guilt pangs were made all the worse when American Airlines upgraded him to first class on the flight out of New Orleans.

The Dabs and I and our pal Lisa enjoyed the evenings matches and we could not help but make note that some folks simply know how to flee better than others

Culture Watch: If my partner Vincent were not an economist, he would likely be singing for his supper. Dad, Karlene, V & I took in the new production of “Hair” ….under the stars, in Central Park…V has been belting out “Good Morning Sunshine,” pretty much night and day.

While Hair is stamped all over with phrases and symbols from the 60’s, the play still delivers a powerful message while it delivers one intelligent, memorable tune after another.

I first saw Hair in the 10th grade, with the Viet Nam War in the last stages of quagmire and a wrong number in the draft card lottery was still a likely ticket to the killing fields.

The producer introduced this production with a live remarks explaining that those little cards they are burning at the end of Act One “are draft cards.” It seems undeniable that this country drifted back to war and was able to stay there for almost five years with so little protest, largely because the draft no longer threatens the country at large.

Lou Dobbs Almost Comes Knocking: Less than 24 hours before Vincent was to start his job at a major accounting firm, he got a letter from a law firm (seldom good news) advising him that his visa request had been denied (really not good news) GULP…what now, we wondered?

Thankfully, Vincent had offered to start his job early, and the company liked him so much, that they allowed him to continue working under his existing visa. They will try to get him the new work visa again next year. Since V now has a Mater’s Degree his odds of approval are much better next time—as the U.S. sets aside 20-thousand so called H1B visas for people with advanced degrees.

If that Visa request fails, the backup plan would be to work for the same company in England, which we both think would be quite an adventure. Still, it all seems quite silly. Vincent got his BS and his Masters from Fordham-he had scholarships for much of his education and he is trained in Economics and Math- the very skills this country badly needs. How stupid, if this country can’t benefit from people educated in this country.

Uncle Duties: Yes, the time between Bulletins has stretched to incredible lengths, so much so that we can report that Vincent’s niece Chloe just celebrated her first birthday and my Nephew Benjamin will celebrate his on October 7th! Vincent’s sister Mae and her fiancé Jon purchased a condo from the same developer, just two blocks from our place, so Vincent and I get plenty of time for Uncle duties.

We are both looking forward to our second chance to say hello to Ben at the first ever Longman Christmas in Vermont at Matty and Nicolle’s.

New York Print Debut: In the late 90’s I meet an up and coming investigate reporter at an Investigative Reporter’s and Editor’s Conference. As I recall, I had an expense account and he did not, so I bought us a meal and we traded war stories. Flash forward to the New Orleans Magazine article I wrote from Band Camp which included my mailing address at Butner. The up and coming reporter (who was by now working for the Village Voice) wished me well and suggested he would repay that lunch upon my release. The reporter left the Voice in the middle of one of many management shakeups and became the investigative editor of an urban policy magazine. This spring he convinced his editor that they should take an in depth look at efforts to rebuilt New Orleans and he suggested that my knowledge of the city in question might come in handy. Many of you have already gotten the link to this article, but for those who did not; please follow this link to read my first work in print in the Big Apple.
http://www.citylimits.org/neworleans/

House Warming: Our new place is bigger than the old one, but still only fits about ten, so we had a small gathering for the housewarming. More photos of the digs coming soon.

Bulletin 201 "The Big Move"

2008-06-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

MIKEWEEK
4 June 08/Bulletin 2008
Quote of the Month: “Oh I see, Mike and Vincent…both mens!”

The Big Move: I know we must have set the land speed record for a real estate purchase in the Empire State.

Come the first of May, I let our old landlord know that I was “petty sure” we would be moving out at the end of the month, but couldn’t be sure because we did not even have a closing date yet…let alone financing.
My landlord was an Italian guy named Tony, who owns about 6 buildings in New York. Tony said, “Those condo conversions are crazy. Thanks for letting me know…and keep me updated.”

I did get financing approved several months back, but it took the state a little longer than expected to approve the change over to the condo. And, wouldn’t you know it: but it was during those very months that the United Stated home mortgage industry chose to dive into major meltdown.

Luckily, Vincent and I had turned to a mortgage broker by the name of Glenda. She hails from England and has nerves of steel. “Michael” she would say, “let me do the worrying, don’t you worry about a thing.”

Easy advice to give, but hard to take; especially considering the fact that the ten percent that I had already put down on the condo, could end up being forfeited, should I not be able to obtain financing for the entire deal. That is how it works, with these condo conversions. What…me worry?

Countrywide…rides to the rescue: I would have laughed harder when Glenda called with the good news, that there was one bank in America still writing so called “non income verification loans.” That’s the sort we needed to qualify for this purchase, because Vincent’s future income at Ernst and Young could not be counted at the time we closed.

Relieved we were that Countrywide (now owned by Bank of America) still was willing to loan based on such metrics and snatch that option we did, at a remarkably fair 6.35%, 30 years fixed rate.

Ah, but wait. The story gets more interesting, because even Countrywide decided to bail on this

particular method about a week after they gave us the approval. Still, thanks to our broker, they made good on our deal. We are given to understand that we got one of the final ten or twelve such loans that Countrywide ever issued of this sort.

The rest was an Amazing race to the finish…After getting financing approved in the second week of May it turned out the sellers were still willing to close the very next week. We dashed down to the law offices of one of Dad’s former Yale Classmates (the Pryor) of Pryor and Cashman for the closing and signed all the papers.

The signing happened at 1pm, we got the keys at 2:15 and by 4pm we were already starting to move stuff in.

The place is even better than we imagined it: The condo sits on the 5th floor of a 6 story pre-war building with 35 other units. As fate would have it the fifth floor will be all owners but for one kind older black woman named Ms. Williams.

Vincent and I were the very first condo owners to move in, and our agent suggested we knock Ms. William’s door. She is a renter and it turns out, a shut.

She came to the door with a big smile. “I am so relieved to have somebody else moving in and living on the same floor” she told us. We traded small talk and as we said goodbye she looked us each up and down, smiled and then uttered the quote of the month.

June arrived and We have gotten the cardboard box count down to under a dozen and will take some pictures soon. We get wonderful morning light from the kitchen and bathroom windows which face north. Then the sun travels in the afternoon and evenings… to the living room and bedroom which face south. That also means we get something we did not have in the last studio, and many New York City dwellers only ever get to imagine…cross ventilation. Amazing!

The neighborhood is called Hamilton Heights: And, it is a work in progress. Columbia University is migrating slowly up our way, with new buildings slated to takeover abandoned properties in a run down area that sites halfway between us and the university. Above is another neighborhood, Inwood which has gone through major improvement.

Our neighborhood is largely Dominican and Jamaican and Vincent’s research tells us that he is not the only Asian moving here—they are the fasted growing ethnic group in our zip code. For now, I guess you could say I am from the local minority group.

People have been outgoing and friendly, and we have already found more than a few steals at neighborhood restaurants. A Cuban sandwich with a cup of deep rich café con leche can be had for five dollars.

Riverside Drive is a big reason we moved here. It is a wonderful Avenue with wide sidewalks, lots of trees and many places to sit and enjoy New York. Other motivation came from the fact out rent at the studio finally got so high that it was crazy not to buy.

And finally, there is Riverbank State Park, which local’s call the “secret park” because so few New Yorkers even know it exists. It boasts everything from a skating rink to a full track, but our main use will likely be the four tennis courts, which are lighted every night until 11pm.

More to follow, but I figured it was high time I got a bulletin out and shared the good news about the new place and our new “hood.”

Clinton's Not So Big Win: Primary Math for Democrats

2008-04-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

Dick Morris will never make Keith Oberman's list of Best Person's in the World (and may have made the Worse, Worst, or Worser) but he did get the math right!

After all the boxing, horse racing and yes even tennis examples; the scrore is Hillary with a ten percentage point win, but minus the ten percentage points she needed to catch Obama.

The bottom line has been clear for all to see: Obama WILL win 1) twice as many states 2) the most delegates 3) the popular vote.

Hillary's last gasp is the super delegates. She has given them the new name, AUTOMATIC, but I doubt they will turn out to follow her argument like robots.

Hillary's bet is that they will hunker down, out of fear BECAUSE OBAMA MIGHT NOT HAVE WHAT IT TAKES and instead give the nomination to her: the candidate who could not win by any of the three standard measures.

Like Morris, I think even the Democrats are wiser than that.

Just because one state that is populated by a large number of older people (who remember and some even rode in the covered wagon) went big for Hillary---and 10 points is Big, just not BIG Eough. That does not mean that is the way to go for this party. The future is the new blood, the independents (who could not vote in PA).

Hillary cannot change the math... and it is not Obama's job to find the Fat Lady--I guess Howard Dean will have to suffice.

Vacant Seats at Stop Loss and ABC's Vacuous Flag Pin Debate

2008-04-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

It is by long training from my dad that on Saturday nights one heads to the movie early in Manhattan, so as not to end up on one of those front row seats on the far left or right of the theater. Alas, you could walk right into this Saturday night's screening of Kimberly Peirce's edgy, moving and necessary film Stop Loss and you could still get a seat seventh row center. I counted less than 25 fellow New Yorkers, and we all seemed to know we were doing a sort of civic duty by viewing a film focused on the controversial (read-unfair) backdoor draft during a far less controversial, and now widely repudiated war in Iraq.

Critics by and large liked and recommend this movie and largely got it right. The war scenes which were inspired by and edited to include actual video clips from our soldiers in Iraq have the desired effect of putting you instantly in confusion of urban combat, "where everybody has a gun" and you have NO WAY of knowing who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. Under different circumstances, our soldiers often faced similar problems of not knowing in Viet Nam and it was one of my primary concerns with putting our troops there in the first place--how can they fight a battle when they don't know the enemy from friendlies?

But I digress, it is all those empty seats. I come to film and debates about war as number 363 in the draft lottery in 1974 the year I graduated from High School, whenViet Nam was winding down. I went thorough my own strong internal debate as to whether I would serve in that war, but my high draft number and our withdrawal meant I never had to make my own decision on way of another.

I prepared for that decision the way most of my fellow teen males did, reading about the war, arguing about it and of course at the movies watching. I don't remember it became before or after my draft number, but movies like The Deer Hunter were standard fare and they may not have been blockbuster hits, but the did not suffer the same level of reality avoidance that Stop Loss appears to be suffering from now.

In the same way real life is edited into the final war tapestry of the movies fiction, so too is Stop Loss part Deer Hunter, part Thelma and Louise and yes with the edge of real life imperfections of her masterwork Boys Don't Cry.

I saw the film the week of ABC's Flag Pin, Bitter Debate and wonder if either of the moderators have been to this movie. Given Charles Gibson's tone deaf questions about college professor couples pulling down two hundred grand, one suspects he could use a solid does of this does of reality caught on film.

The film ends with a couple numbers, let me see if I can remember them right.
650 thousand Americans have served in Iraq and 80 thousand of those were stop loosed; which means they served there tour and were ordered back, or to stay longer by President Bush.
And in the recent surge....numbers have not yet been released as to how many of the soldiers Bush poured were in fact forced back in through stop loss.

Before you loos a lot of sleep over whether a candidate is patriotic enough to pin a flag replica on his lapel, I challenge you to test your own patriotism and take in this film. It is no Deer Hunter, not quite so stark or violent, but it is an effective telling of a tragedy that being largely shielded to the public by a combination of pentagon policy, an disinterested media and a public suffering from Iraq fatigue.

These are the young men and women who were pissed off enough by 9-11 that volunteered when the president said we need to strike back. And they fought for us, even after they got over there and figured out the people they were fighting were not the guys who hit us. Now, they are being shoveled again and again back into this fight, because of some fine print on the form they signed when they volunteered.

For those who feel it important to take the action of placing a pin upon their chest, or deem it necessary for a candidate to wear the flag-the next time you make that demand, or snap one I, I suggest you also take action concerning these volunteers being forced back into battle--at very least you could take the action of seeing the movie about their plight.

Moyers Comments in Full

2008-04-18T19:28:00.000-07:00

Your humble bulletin reporter suggest you follow this link to read the full remarks from Bill Moyers at the National Press Club in Washington DC as reported by the Nation concerning his acceptance of this year's Ridenhour Courage Award.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080421/moyers

MIKEWEEK BULLETIN

2008-04-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

17 April 2008/Bulletin 200
(Dobbs, Ridenhour, Moyers and Obama’s Teflon)

Quote of the Month “I have a lot of baggage, and everybody has rummaged through it…”

Latte Drinking UWS Liberal: I must confess that I have added Latte drinking to my long list of cardinal sins. But, that can’t be all bad, because my brother Matty admits he and his wife Nicolle indulge too (they even use the Latte frothier I got them for Christmas). In my continuing quest to stay hip and on the cutting edge, I have turned to latte drinking and drum roll please----posting the Bulleting on the World Wide Web.

For the Already computer savvy familiar with the techniques of say, late 1995—
Please click on the following link to read the rest of Bulletin 200 on line at:

http://mikeweek.blogspot.com/

Moyers Gets Ridenhour Courage Award: Three cheers to the Fertel Foundation and the Nation Institute for selecting Bill Moyers for this year’s top Ridenhour Award. In the spirit of full disclosure, which is just so in vogue that it seems like you can’t publish anything these days unless you have some hidden connection to the story that you can disclose to your fair readers.

Well…The Moyers family and I share a bond through our involvement with Hazelden, the fine substance abuse rehab where Bills’ son William and I both first got sober. So, as my pal Joe Walker would say, “there you have it.”
It was reporters like Bill Moyers who made CBS News, in its best years, the one network we all dreamed we would one day work for.

Because of the (above noted, disclosed) friendship, I learned firsthand that Moyers thoughtfulness is as genuine in real life, as it appears to be, when you watch his news work on the small screen.

When Bill learned that my mother was ailing and that she was a big fan of the PBS series he produced based on the book “Follow Your Bliss,” Bill wrote her a most wonderful letter that raised her spirits for many a week when times were quite tough, near the end.

I also knew Ron Ridenhour, the reporter who broke the news about the massacre at My Lai during the Viet Nam War. I knew Ron as a co-worker, a friend and as a fellow journalist who I often kidded with, but always looked up to (more disclosure done). Ron would be blushing to the max at the prospect of Bill Moyers being handed an award in his name; but it was a natural choice.

Moyers and Ridenhour shared a professional bond. Both maintained a lifelong hard and fast commitment to getting the facts out, even when stories were complex in nature, difficult to dig out as they were to tell, and both did not countenance bush league standards or wimpy editors. In fact, they required the same tough nosed types at the top to stand up for their work, and perhaps that is why there is so much less reporting of their caliber, especially in Bill’s medium Television, these days.

In accepting the Courage Award, Bill scoffed at the notion anyone should think of him as courageous. He said, “It wasn't courage I counted on; it was exhilaration and good luck.” Put simply Bill was just working hard at a profession he loved, and I like to think that’s how Ron would have put it, too.

Good Life on UWS Headed Uptown: I pen this from a sundrenched sidewalk café on Amsterdam Avenue. It’s one of those brilliant spring days when you feel like you can conquer most anything that comes along. There is plenty to be optimistic about.

Vincent and I are preparing for our big move to a more pioneering address along Riverside Drive where it intersects with 146th Street on the edge of West Harlem. (By the way, I tried sending the bulletin a different way last time, so not all readers learned that our first bid on a co-op did not go through at the first of the year).
We regrouped and decided to go the condo route and found this marvelous space which is larger, less expensive to buy and costs about half in monthly condo fees. It’s in a 6 story pre-war building and the condo has south facing windows on the 5th floor overlooking brown stones, and smaller north facing windows in kitchen and bath. The icing on the cake is that the place sits on the edge of a big state park with a skating rink and tennis courts; not bad for a first home in NYC.

This is a condo conversion, which means the state must OK it, but so far all looks good. And, those following the news know getting a home mortgage loan is a bit more tricky than usual these days. I have a sharp broker who says, “Mike, don’t lose any sleep, let me worry about it.” So keep your fingers crossed for us.

Lou Dobbs May Have to Brace Himself: Those of you who have met my partner Vincent already know that he hails from the Philippines. He will receive his Masters in Economics from Fordham in May and is slated to start work with Ernst and Young this summer pending approval of his work visa. Vincent is exactly the kind of candidate that should get through, if logic prevails. He has an advanced degree in a field where this country is wanting. Still, just as with the roiling waters of home mortgages there is a lot going on that is crazy right now in this country, so we anxiously await the work papers. Hope we don’t have to ask Lou for permission too.

The Debate Before PA: One thing that was fun about Butner (and there were a few things) was that the mail was so slow, that I would write a Bulletin about an issue that I saw on the tube and then it would be days before the New York Times arrived, where I would get to see what commentators like Dowd or Friedman were saying.

Sometimes, I would feel reassured that I still had a gut instinct for the news business, when one of them had picked up on a similar detail or line of thinking, that I had reported in my bulletin.

My take on Wednesday Night’s Debate is that it was basically a draw, although Obama spent a lot more time on the defensive than he would have liked.

My sense is that Obama has acquired the same coating of Teflon that Ronald Regan did all those years ago. (PA will be a major barometer to determine whether this is true, whether that is a fair state for the test or not).
While they are miles apart in thinking, Obama represents change just like the “Gipper” did, pure and simple. No matter how many knives they (or she) stick in him, my hunch is the change voters don’t care. They expect it, are sick of it, and will ignore it. We shall see.

I was glad to see Tim Russert and Gail Collins both picked the same Hilary baggage line that I selected for this month’s quote.

It is a line that most of the talking heads missed the night before! It’s also a sign that Obama was either super committed to taking the high road, or that he was wobbly from all the stab wounds, that he seemed to miss it too.
To me, that was Obama’s biggest missed opportunity in the debate. He should have followed up her admission of all that baggage pointing out that it comes in all sizes and shapes. Because, it is not that Clinton lacks the smarts, or ability that is causing her trouble, rather it is the fact that she seems to do things in such a “Clinton way.”

And, while I would be the first to argue that there was a heck of a lot that was very, very good for this country during the Clinton years; when it comes to the winning at all cost, divide the party by race if need be, cut your throat type of (Clinton) politics; sorry but that lost me along the way.

Perhaps it is just the last gasp of Bush fatigue, but truth to tell, I can live with any of the three contenders and am relieved that are all so capable.