Texas: A State of Shame

24/05/23 09:52

May 24, 2023 (Vol. 17 No. 24) - It has been one year since the horrific shootings in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 children and two teachers were murdered by an automatic weapon-wielding maniac while local police stood by. The tragedy has been compounded by local, state and federal officials who continue to do nothing about the proliferation of weapons of mass murder. As I have said before, the Second Amendment is not a hunting license. And yet, that's exactly how the Congress, the Texas legislature and the state's authoritarian governor treats it. Adding to the misery of the families of the victims, the investigation into what happened has been slow, secretive and incomplete. Everyone seems to be in a state of CYA. Their inaction borders on criminality. You can't help but wonder what the heck the people of Texas are thinking. As I discuss in my historical fiction novel Thirteen Minutes: Death of an American High School, the birth of the "American Madman With A Gun" was the Texas Tower in Austin in 1966. There have been additional mass shootings in the Lone Star State since Uvalde, in Cleveland and Allen. Governor Greg Abbott had the temerity to call the victims of the Cleveland shooting "illegal immigrants" - focusing on his immoral and un-Christian-like political agenda while failing to show empathy for the innocent victims. Perhaps we should be turning our "thoughts and prayers" toward a political and social awakening in the sorry state of Texas. (Save a few for the leaders in the sorry state of Florida while you are at it.) Texans would have you believe that they live in a special place. In fact, they live in a state of shame. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.

Don't Give Up On AM Radio

15/05/23 15:14

May 15, 2023 (Vol. 17 No. 23) - The Washington Post reported this past weekend that major automakers are eliminating AM radios from new cars. This move comes despite protests from radio stations, their listeners, first responders and, well, me. My professional life began in AM radio and everything that followed sprang forth from that experience. Not only would I have not gotten the progression of jobs I have had over the past 50 years - broadcast-related or not - because of my radio background, I wouldn't even have the life I enjoy now. There's no way I end up in Hawesville, Kentucky, and meet my first wife if it hadn't been for a job offer at country music station WKCM. Frankly, I probably would not have met my second wife: Without a broadcast news background (see 1978 photo above of me with N.C. Governor Jim Hunt), there's no way I would have taught journalism at the University of Kansas for nearly three decades. Sentimental reasons aside, there are very valid reasons to preserve AM radio in cars. First and foremost, radio remains the most portable of mass media, even in the digital age. It is more adept at providing credible localize information - especially that of an emergency nature - than most other media. It is also important that it is still the medium of choice for much of rural America. Outside of metropolitan areas, no one is providing information vital to the health, safety and quality of life than local radio - which is still mostly AM radio. Hey, I'm not a luddite. I actually listen to satellite radio in my car more than AM radio. But Sirius-XM isn't going to do me any good when there is tornado on the ground or the local schools are being dismissed early for whatever reason. There's only so much information you can get from text alerts - and you shouldn't be reading your phone when you are driving, anyway. I know that commercial AM radio is more than 100 years old and, in so many ways, cannot match the versatility of other media. But - and this is my main point - for millions of people, it still can. The time has come to tell Ford, Tesla, BMW, VW, Mazda and others that since the Americans taxpayers have bailed them out on numerous occasions, act which merit their consideration of our pleas to keep living-saving AM on their radio dials. That's it for now. Fear the Turtle.