The Remarkable Story of Jerry Miller

It is one of my great joys that journalist Bill Moyers has returned to television. Moyers' new program, Bill Moyers Journal, is a platform for the veteran newsman to do what he does best. In my opinion, that's just about everything.

A couple of weeks ago, Moyers interviewed Jerry Miller, a Chicago man who was convicted of a brutal rape in 1982. Miller was found guilty in large part due to eyewitness testimony, in spite of the fact that he was watching a pay-per-view boxing match with his parents at the time of the crime. Miller was handed a sentence of 45 years.

After writing scores of letters to The Innocence Project, Miller finally found an ally in his quest to regain his freedom. Miller was exonerated earlier this year after serving a quarter century behind bars for a crime he didn't commit.

While I applaud efforts in recent years to ensure that the rights of crime victims are recognized, I have long felt that one of our society's greatest sins is that we don't seem to care what happens to people once they are locked up. As for Miller, he relates that he had to decide not to let his anger get the better of him. After all, he knew he was innocent. He had no choice but to stay focused on clearing his name, someday.

Moyers conducts a remarkable interview and one is left with nothing but respect for Miller, who has spent his entire adult life behind bars but isn't bitter about it. It seems that his only crime was that he was black and was in the wrong place and the wrong time, yet Miller doesn't dwell on those points. His story is an amazing testament to one man's character and a triumph of the spirit over gross injustice.

White House withdraws ambassador nominee

This story is unlikely to make the front page of your newspaper tomorrow but it was enough to make me smile. Sam Fox, a chief contributor to the phony Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, will not become the next U.S. Ambassador to Belgium.

When Fox appeared before a Senate committee last month, John Kerry grilled him about his $50,000 donation to the group that was "smearing and spreading lies" about the senator's service in Vietnam. Fox had the temerity to claim that he gave money only because he was asked, and that he didn't know what the group was going to use it for.

Today, with a tough vote only hours away and a letter to the committee from 11 of the real swift boat veterans urging members to reject Fox, the AP reports that the White House "quietly" withdrew his nomination.

While those of us on the left should never forget the character assassination of the 2004 presidential campaign, we can take a small measure of solace in the fact that one of Bush's pals won't be allowed to lie his way into a plum job. Just like my white boy bank shot, Sam Fox is rejected by the U.S. Senate. Today is a good day.

you sandbag my sheaf

At least once a month or so, just for giggles, I look through the mountain of spam in my Yahoo! Mail Bulk Folder and enjoy the subject lines. I have no idea how to sandbag a sheaf, but it sounds possibly illegal.

Aside from the latest political scandal involving the Bush administration this week, the big news in Washington was the appearance of former Vice President Al Gore. The onetime presidential candidate and Academy Award winner was on Capitol Hill to testify about global warming. I was amazed not by anything he said but by how hostile and downright disrespectful some Republicans were to Gore. The best part of Wednesday's testimony had to be when Senator Barbara Boxer dressed down James Inhofe in front of the entire room. He was being a dick, frankly, and he had it coming.

Jacquie and I continue to work hard in our jobs and I remain ambivalent about life in Shelby County, Alabama. Yes, I like my job. But I am tired of living in one of the fastest growing areas in the country. I wonder if my windshield can handle any more shit thrown on it from passing dump trucks? This is not what I like to think about on my way to work.

Things are well for the most part in spite of a couple of people who seem hell bent on making my life difficult. No, it's no one you know and I'll go no further with this thought. However I remain disappointed at the fact that I have not met more like minded people, even after living here for nearly five years...

I'm really rambling here, but I enjoyed venting and using this stupid subject line so much that I may well do it again. Soon. I get a lot of spam. Anyone have a spare G-Mail invite?

When Coulter Speaks, Evil Leaks

I preface these comments with my belief that we use words like evil entirely too often these days to describe persons with whom we disagree. But when confronted with someone like Ann Coulter, all bets are off. The woman is, in a word, evil.

If my conclusion strikes you as somewhat severe, read or watch her recent comments at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. Before a period of questions in front of a (predictably) friendly audience, she gave a brief speech, which was really more of a conservative stand up routine. Among the zingers delivered...

"When I first heard people babbling about An Inconvenient Truth I thought they'd made a movie about Bill Clinton's autobiography."

"What's Al Gore up to these days, about 400 pounds? My TV's been on the blink - it's a little snowy - so if you could help me with this... Did Al Gore actually swallow Michael Moore?"

"Liberals keep telling us we need clean fuel... but no nuclear power... Pursuing nuclear power is very dangerous. Unless the Iranians are doing it and then they're fine with that."

"I think Democrats have hit on the perfect candidate with Barack Obama... He has a background that's part atheist, part Christian, part Muslim so there's somebody for every Democrat to vote for. The liberal Democrats can vote for the atheist, the Bob Byrd Democrats can vote for the white guy, the black Muslims can vote for the black Muslim and the African-Americans can vote for Hillary."

"It's been all in the news that Obama isn't as popular with African-Americans as our first black president, Bill Clinton... because Obama's half-white, half-black whereas Clinton was half-white, half-trash."

Goodness, Ann, you're so funny! How about one more joke before we take questions!

"...I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic candidate, John Edwards, but as it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word faggot..."

Before addressing Coulter's bigoted and tragically unfunny comments let's consider another star among conservative commentators, Michelle Malkin. Like Coulter, Malkin grew up in privileged circumstances. The two women stake out opinions on the far right fringe: Malkin even wrote a book called "In Defense of Internment," in which she asserts that the American government was right to "relocate" 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.

I find the opinions of both women truly frightening but I'll give Malkin this: I've never heard her refer to someone on the American left as a faggot.

No one should be surprised, of course, at Coulter's comments. This is the same woman who has also leveled the gay charge against Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Last year in front of the same CPAC conference she said in reference to the dangers of a nuclear-capable Iran, "What if they start having one of these bipolar episodes with nuclear weapons? I think our motto should be, post-9/11: raghead talks tough, raghead faces consequences." In the wake of the 9/11 attacks she famously suggested that America "should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

Most reading this know me personally so I won't expound my anger about her racism and homophobia, but I would like to know why it is that conservatives will not do more to distance themselves from Ann Coulter's toxic brew of intolerance and hate. Just as importantly, why on earth is she treated as a legitimate commentator by the major media?

As a liberal I can't resist the urge to figure out what really makes Ann Coulter tick. I could be a dedicated lefty and employ a psychologist, who could dissect her childhood and help us explain why she's so angry at people who are "half-white, half-black." A sociologist could come up with an explanation that would probably be understood by many: because Coulter grew up in such privileged surroundings, she's simply never had to consider how the other half lives.

But all of those explanations are just too kind. What everyone will be talking about is how Ann Coulter not only likened John Edwards to a homosexual, she used a gay slur to do it. As when she claimed that a group of 9/11 widows actually enjoyed the death of their husbands in her latest book, Coulter knows well that this comment will catapult her back into the spotlight. While she spends a lot of time berating the media she doesn't shrink from using it to increase her exposure and hence, her wealth.

What people won't be talking about is the fact that after playing the Shecky Greene for reactionaries for 10 minutes, Coulter was unable to seriously answer any of the questions posed her save two when she was asked about the field for presidential candidates in 2008. For the majority who will never see it suffice to say that she is completely void of reflection during the Q and A. She hardly sounded like a person who was making a contribution to the conservative cause. Trash talk was the order of the day and the audience was eating it up, asking nothing more of her.

With the publication of her last book, Coulter's claims were so outrageous that she was asked often if she actually believed everything she wrote. Not surprisingly, she gave an unqualified yes to that question. I don't believe her on this score but it hardly matters. Coulter will use anything she can, from the regurgitated claims of the far right to outright slander (a tactic she equates with liberals) to sell her hate-filled screeds.

Most of us can remember some shameful moments from childhood when a group of kids would single out another kid and taunt him on the playground. Those were the times, with no adults nearby, when kids could be truly cruel. Some of us were on the giving end of these exchanges: four eyes, pencil neck, retard, faggot.

For the vast majority of us the twin redeemers of time and experience have proved that such words can only hurt others while doing nothing to make us feel better about ourselves. In Coulter's case, she has learned only how to appropriate a vocabulary once used by schoolyard bullies and now used by equally sophomoric adults who seek to raise their profile and enrich themselves.

If that isn't evil I don't know what is.

The Virtues of Following Stupid News

I've gotten some recent notes about the lack of updates here. The truth is that I've pretty much given up on this space. Although I have a few die-hard fans, I simply don't want to put that much effort into comments that I know will only be read by two or three people. Having admitted my dark secret - my desire for attention from others - I suppose that it would be hypocritical of me to criticize those who chase instant gratification.

That is precisely what my stupid news blog has become for me. Launched on January 1, 2006, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World has featured nearly 350 posts. It's still amazing to me that I can post a stupid story, say Britney Spears recent decision to shave her head, and have 25 or 30 views of it within hours.

There is another unexpected benefit of maintaining a blog dedicated to useless fodder, which is the fact that if I did not do it, I wouldn't know what other people are talking about. While I have limited patience for news of no consequence, it's been a good way to keep up with current events and get outside of myself a little bit.

This evening I made the mistake of taking Jacquie to a restaurant that was showing American Idol on several of its multiple screens. Not only were we treated to the screeching of karaoke-on-steroids, we got to enjoy a show called Are You Smarter than a 5^th Grader? The latter made me worry about the future of this country almost as much as what's happening in the White House these days.

To the few that have asked me about Jake's Place, I thank you. I do intend to post here in the future, although not with the vigor and frequency that I once did. For those who can't get enough Jake, I invite you to track my stupid news blog. I do post other things there, like new music artists that I find and viral videos that I come across during my travels on the Web. I'm also still posting book reviews to Books@LP Blog. I've posted seven or eight times in 2007, about half of which are new book reviews not previously posted here.

Passing of a President; Happy New Year Wishes

I've been watching the coverage of President Gerald Ford's funeral in Washington, D.C. While it's hard to imagine a more uninspiring trio of speakers - - Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and Vice President Richard Cheney - - to eulogize the man, I have found myself unable to stop watching this history unfold on my TV screen.

I hope everyone is well where they are. Since this will likely be my last entry for 2006, I wish everyone a Happy New Year.

Is New Media the Answer? For now, I Have Hope

I've not been in the mood to write about anything political in a long while. It's not that I've stopped paying attention, but for the most part I've disengaged myself from the din of 24-hour cable news and talking heads, who pick apart every sentence trying to find the hidden meaning. It's as though every politician's utterance is treated like poetry anymore. Could it be that they mean what they say, at least some of the time?

But the most annoying phenomenon in today's political coverage is how the media pick up on a name or a theme and construct a new reality rather than report the facts. This was woefully evident during the 2004 presidential election, when Howard Dean was declared the front runner before a single vote was cast. Is it little wonder that senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and political neophyte Barack Obama have already been anointed as the names to beat in 2008?

The last time I checked, neither had yet announced their intention to run.

As I see it, the challenge for the next generation of politicians is to find new ways to reach voters - - especially younger voters - - where they are and to speak to them in a language that they can understand. The campaign ads of the future will be seen on MySpace, YouTube and iTunes - in fact, we're already there. At least Clinton is already on YouTube and Obama is podcasting his thoughts via iTunes.

These emerging tools are cheap and available whenever the viewer is ready to watch them. Perhaps most importantly, candidates can actually communicate what they want to their constituents or potential voters, without the punditry interrupting them during every other sentence. Consider the MSNBC program Hardball with Chris Matthews. Imagine what this show would be like if it offered real dialog between people and their elected officials; without Matthews butting in every ten seconds like a rabid dog.

The sad fact is that there are remarkably few places, save C-SPAN, where one can watch events unfold without all of the spin. But for a fickle American public that yearns to be entertained, let's be frank here: C-SPAN is about as boring as watching cheese age. As much of a public policy junkie as I am, I can't blame people for changing the channel.

As things stand, I'm glad to read that voters under 30 turned out big in 2006 and perhaps made the difference this time around. It's heartening that the new generation isn't as apathetic as my own when it comes to important matters. I work with young people and while some of them are conservative and some are liberal nearly all of them are idealistic and smart: they're not falling for the silly flap over gay marriage and the supposed war on Christmas. For the first time in a couple of years now, I have reason for hope when it comes to American politics.

A note to the reader: I wrote the above nearly four weeks ago. I guess really am tiring of writing the public policy stuff. Maybe with a new agenda in Washington this year I'll find the incentive to pick it back up. We'll see...