Category Archives: Transcripts

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Edited For Clarity – The Lost Show – Sexting & Parents

Transcript below the video:

Transcript

Thanks for hanging around…

Last week, teachers in some Clark County, NV schools had to have a talk with their fifth grade classes. It wasn’t about academics, no reading, writing or ‘rithmetic. No, the talk was about…

Sexting.

Yes, fifth graders, 10- and 11-year-olds had to be admonished on the topic of sexting and its dangers. Why? Because some had been caught sexting each other.

Again, these are 10- and 11-year-olds. Look I’m not naïve. I know kids learn about sex at a younger age. I know they are surrounded by the marketing of sex, bombarded with sexual images on a daily basis. But there’s a whole other problem here, isn’t there?

First, why do these kids have cell phones to text with? They’re 5th graders. What could they possibly need to have a cellphone for? If you need to get hold of them, you call the school. If they need to get hold of you, the school can call.

So the only reason I can see is that for some reason, the parents feel they need to have a cellphone before and after school. In other words, these kids aren’t necessarily going home.

Now I understand that child care is expensive. During the school year, I spend around 10% of my take home pay on childcare alone during the school year, so I understand the cost. And I understand that many, many families need two incomes to make it. So I understand parents not being able to pick kids up after school or be home when they are. But I was one of those kids. I came home every day, and I had to be there to answer the phone when my mom called. Took about 45 minutes to walk home, so I had to hustle.

It’s not like I didn’t get to play with friends, go to the pool, ride my bike around the neighborhood. No, I got to do all those things. But I came home first.

So like I said, I’m understanding of the situation. But I think a lot of folks are allowing things like cellphones take the place of responsibility for their kids. And I hear teachers complain about it as well.

Since the ill-conceived No Child Left Behind Act, teachers have been spending way too much time teaching to tests, meaning the more advanced kids get to twiddle their thumbs while the others work on scoring well on the test. Last week, the school district in Washington, D.C. Let go about 200 teachers for under-performing. The problem? 50% of their evaluation came from a single test score. I’m all for holding teachers accountable. It’s necessary. But I don’t think a single standardized test is going to do it.

But what does it have to do with parents? Well, a big problem with why schools are failing has to do with parents. Parents hold sway over school administrators, complaining whenever their kids get an unsatisfactory grade.

When I was a kid, if you got a bad grade, you didn’t want to go home. But more and more, I’m hearing of situations where the kid gets a bad grade, and the parent comes in to blame it on the teacher. They move the kid to a different class, ask for extensions on home work beyond the deadlines, ask for accommodations of every sort. And they get them, leaving teachers wondering what excatly they’re supposed to do. They are supposed to get these kids taught and have them pass standardized tests, but the kids get excused by their parents for their failure to work.

Remember when you actually worried about not passing to the next grade? Not anymore. No, apparently kids are no longer held back. It might hurt their self-esteem.

Did you catch that? It might hurt their self-esteem. Because it doesn’t hurt your self esteem more when the other kids are brighter than you are or can spell and read and you can’t. But they don’t get held back anymore. I’ll give you a guess where the whole self-esteem thing comes from.

Parents.

These are the same parents that have removed scoring from little league games, or soccer games. “They’re ALL winners”. No. No they’re not. Some kids are not going to be the next Landon Donovan. They don’t have the coordination. And that’s ok. But there are winners and losers in life. They’ll be good at something else, I promise. It’s not fair to them to give them a false sense of their abilities. It’s also not fair to the kids who are good to not be able to celebrate it. And how do you teach sportsmanship and being a good winner – if you don’t even have the chance to win. Or to be a good loser. Most importantly, the kids KNOW who won or lost. Do we really think we’re fooling them?

But of course, this came from parents. I’m sure it was well-meaning. No one wants their kid to feel bad. But it’s the wrong extreme. And so it is with not keeping kids back when it is warranted. If they’re held back, it’s for one of two reasons – they either are having learning problems, and need some additional help and time to catch up, or they have behavioral problems that are causing them to miss work or not pay attention.

Are there mitigating circumstances? Sure. Kids diagnosed with some type of problem such as dyslexia or ADHD can get accommodations and put into plans that will help them get to where they need to be scholastically. So it’s not like there isn’t a way to help those who really need it. But the kid who goofs off in class, refuses to do homework, and lies to their parent about it? That’s not something that needs accommodation. It’s something the parent needs to deal with. Instead, many of these parents are putting the blame on the teacher and are shocked to find out their student has been lying to them. And even when they do find out, they try to mitigate the consequences for the kid.

What exactly is this teaching the kid? If you complain enough, you can slack off and not have to do what’s expected? That the rules don’t apply? Just wait, these parents will be shocked -SHOCKED – when these kids have issues with authority in high school. They already know how the game is played, and they’ll work it.

So the issue comes down to parents. Look, I’m not a perfect dad. I try. Maybe it was my upbringing. Maybe I’m old fashioned about some things. But these kids are getting away with stuff we never would have dreamed of. And the parents are acting as enablers. Maybe it takes too much of their time. Maybe they’re overwhelmed. But either way, they’re doing their kids a disservice by letting them off the hook. And the teachers get to deal with it.

The sexting comes from a gap in supervision. Kids see this stuff, but we as parents can have a strong influence on where they take it. Kids might learn about it, but with good supervision – asking questions and being involved with their kids, we reduce the chance that they make bad choices.

What do you think? Should kids have cell phones? What age? Do you think parents are the problem? Leave us a note in the comments – we’d like to hear what you think.

We’ll be right back.

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Edited For Clarity – V1 E8 – The Lost Show – Segment 2

Well, after writing, recording and editing…

It never went up. In fact, some never got edited. Such is the problem when you do this kind of stuff in your free time with a full-time job and you’re a single dad…

So, we’re going to refer to this as the lost show. I’m working on the new show already, with hopes to get it shot and posted by the 7th of August. In the meantime, we’ll post what did get done in terms of video, and all of the scripts.

We chose not to post the first segment, as it is a news update, and at over a week old, a bit out-of-date. So the first segment we’re releasing is the second one filmed.

The transcript is below the video:

Transcript:

This week, a hard-working, good-hearted employee at the USDA was dragged into the limelight over alleged racist comments. She was told to submit her resignation, over her Blackberry, and was removed from her position.

The problem? The claims weren’t true.

The evidence was made up of a clip from an NAACP meeting over 2 years ago. At that meeting, Shirley Sherrod, a black woman whose parents were killed for the color of their skin, told of a farmer who came in for help and treated her an an inferior. She admits that she did not want to give this man all the help she could because he was white.

That’s the part that ended up in the video released on Tuesday. The part that was to ostensibly be played on the Glenn Beck show. The word of this got to the upper levels of the USDA, who called and demanded Ms. Sherrod’s resignation. The NAACP got wind of it, and also demanded action.

But the problem is, that was only a small part of the video. What was on the rest of the video turned the story on its head.

What is seen by looking at the entire video is that the statement is not a proud exclamation of revenge, but of a turning point, where Ms. Sherrod realized that she was being guilty of the same racism she had experienced – that she was perpetuating the problem. And that it changed her way of looking at things.

What is also not seen in the video is that she went back and did everything show could for that farmer. The farmer and his wife have since come forward and backed Ms. Sherrod, saying their success, their livelihood, was due to the help they received from Ms. Sherrod. Indeed, they are friends to this day.

How did this happen? Well, primarily, this was the result of knee-jerk reactions from the USDA, the NAACP, and perhaps the White House. All have delivered mea culpas, but the damage is done. They all jumped when a conservative blogger posted the selectively edited video. And in fear that there might be a controversy, they all jumped – far too quickly.

But this is a symptom of a different problem. As I mentioned last week when talking about the Republican strategy, Democrats need to get tough if they want a chance this election season. And part of that toughness is not reacting to everything as if it’s an emergency. Especially those of a blogger.

Look, I understand the desire to increase transparency, to seem responsive. But this instant reaction to everything is self-defeating. And the right have figured out how to get it happen on cue, and make the most of it.

And the folks on the left help it along. The traditional circular firing squad of the left came out in full force, first screaming for the resignation, then screaming at those who asked for it. And all the while, the folks on the right sat back and fed them ammunition.

In understand the frustration. After years of conservative policies tearing down liberties, shuttling money to big business and the wealthy, driving us into wars, people on the left wanted a change. But, it seems, they naively believed it would happen immediately. And when it doesn’t, the left forgets the achievements that have been delivered, and only focus on what hasn’t happened.

And so the left’s circular firing squad takes aim, and shoots themselves in the foot. And everywhere else, damaging the gains that have been made, pushing them to the rear while these lousy, bogus attacks come to the forefront.

For example, just this week, Wall St. reform was passed and signed into law. With it, some of the most powerful consumer protections in history, protections designed to avoid a future financial meltdown like the one we are currently working our way out of.

What kind of protections? First, an end to “too big to fail”. To do this, measures have been put in place to create a fund, a back-up – paid for by the finance industry itself – so that companies that are on the brink of failure can be unwound without putting taxpayers’ dollars into play to keep them afloat. Had such a system been in place before the current mess, there would have been on bank bailout, no taxpayer money loaned to private institutions. And there would have been no threats from the industry that the failure of one company would bring the world economy crashing down. They simply would have used their fund to put the failing company to rest.

On top of this, more stringent requirements have been implemented in terms of bank capitalization. This means that banks will have to have a larger share of the money they loan. The leveraging that banks allowed during the years leading up to the crisis resulting in far more money being loaned than the banks had. When those loans went unpaid, it quickly snowballed. By requiring lending institutions to have more of that money actually on hand, the exposure to damage from bad loads is reduced, creating more stability in the financial industry.

Shareholders will also be given a say in CEO compensation. This means that consumers who hold stocks will have a more direct connection and influence on how much CEOs are paid. If you think that’s not a big deal, here’s a little tidbit for you: in 1950, the average executive’s paycheck was about thirty times the size of the average employee’s paycheck. Today, that ratio is between 300 and 500 to one. So either those execs have become ten to fifteen times more valuable than they were in 1950, or something has gone WAY out of whack. Even amid the financial crisis, Wall St. bonuses for 2009 were up 17% from 2009. Shareholders, many of whose monthly income relies on the health of the stocks they own, should have a say in the pay structure of the people running their company.

There are a number of other protections included as well, including protections in credit cards and lending as well as credit card rate hikes.

Also passed this week were extensions of unemployment insurance benefits, giving relief to millions who are still struggling to get back to work. While Republicans cry about tax cuts being allowed to expire, the fact is that money spent on unemployment benefits has more of a positive effect on the economy than putting more money in the hands of the wealthy. The unemployed immediately put that money back into the economy, paying their bills, and keeping other folks employed in the process. The wealthy, on the other hand, are sitting on their money, waiting for a better time to spend.

Also passed this week, with little fanfare, was the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act. This was passed UNANIMOUSLY by both the House and the Senate. The idea? Remove excess spending and fraudulent payments from the system. One example given is that of a $3 million being spent annually for a radio navigation system for the Navy – when we have GPS. 20 years ago, this cost MIGHT have been justified. Eliminating these expenditures alone represent $20 billion – with a B – in cost cutting, just by finding unnecessary redundancies.

The second focus of this bill is to reduce “improper payments”. These are payments made to the wrong person, or entities that should not receive them. For example, payments to contractors that are no longer allowed to work for the government, or payments to individuals who are trying to defraud the government – including payments to dead people. The estimated savings from this area alone is estimated to be around $110 billion – again, with a B. That’s a total of $130 billion in saving from this one program.

In all. Three separate important pieces of legislation were signed last week. How many did YOU know about? I can guarantee that the right doesn’t want you to know about any of them. Heck, they have vowed to REPEAL Wall St. reform. Remember that when they start spouting their campaign talk – they want to REPEAL the protections that were signed into law this week. The right will try to get you to forget about gains made this week and in the past few months.

Meanwhile, the left gets so up in arms about the stumble made over the Sherrod flap that they completely miss the real news – that there was a whole lot of good done this week. Here’s what I say to them – KNOCK IT OFF! Who needs Republicans when the left will simply bash themselves into the ground.

A whole lot of good was done this week. I just thought you should know.

We’ll be right back.

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Transcript: Wrap Up and Contest – 7/19/10

Well thanks for watching this week’s show, we hope you enjoyed it.

If you saw something you liked, didn’t like, made you smile, made you mad- let us know. We’re always want to hear what you think. We take suggestions for show topics, critiques of the show, and the occasional compliment. So give us your feedback!

As always, we’d like to thank Dave Gosse for his donation of audio equipment. Dave’s business is Gadgets Inc. in Mississippi, online at gadgetincms.com. Dave offers video editing services, website design and hosting and a whole lot more. If you need some help getting your business to grow, check out Dave’s site.

We also have to be sure to give our music folks a plug- Kevin McLeod, whose music you can find at www.incompetech.com, and Dan-O, whose music is at danosongs.com.- Thanks guys for great bumper music.

As a reminder, our Facebook contest is still on – have a friend become a fan of the show and you could both win valuable Edited For Clarity schwag. Just make sure they tell us who sent them to our show. If they’re the right fan – you’ll both win some Edited For Clarity gear.

Well, that’s our time for this week, we’ll be back next week for a whole new show. We’ll give you another sample of Rock Sugar to take us out. Hope you gave a great week, and we’ll see you next time.

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Transcript: Rock Sugar! – 7/19/10

This week, we’re taking a turn into music and hoping to introduce you to a band we’ve really come to like.

The backstory for Rock Sugar is that of am 80′s hair band that gets stranded on a desert island with nothing but their instruments, a Hello Kitty boombox, a case of batteries, and a 13-year-old girls 80′s CD collection.

Stranded as they were, they had nothing to listen to but what they could play, and the music on the CDs. And from this was born some of the best mash-ups we’ve heard in a long time.

In reality, these guys are awesome musicians, and have a phenomenal sense of humor. And they were just signed to be the “house band” at the House of Blues on Sunset Blvd. In Hollywood, every Monday night.

To give you an idea of the kind of stuff they cram together , there’s Shook Me Like A Prayer, a combination of AC/DC and Madonna, and Straight to Rock City, a mash of Paula Abdul’s Straight Up and KISS’ Detroit Rock City. They also have a penchant for Journey songs, like Round and Separated, mixing Ratt’s Round & Round with Journey’s Separate Ways.

And here’s their take on Metallica and Journey, Don’t Stop the Sandman

[Video]

I love that one…

If you want to see Rock Sugar, you can see them Monday nights at the Hard Rock on Sunset. You can also find their music all over YouTube, just do a search for Rock Sugar. You can also find them on Facebook, at facebook.com/RockSugarBand and their website, RockSugarBand.com

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Transcript: CRANKED UP! – 7/19/10

Welcome back.

There was a time when unions were necessary. Really necessary. The power of the individual employee was overshadowed by the employer. The guy with the moist money usually won the battle. And unions came in and leveled the playing field.

That was the good side.

Now, unions are more and more getting to be obstacles. I am sure there are a number of unions that still serve their members well, protecting them from excesses and abuses by their employers. But a great many are doing more to hurt their members than serve them well.

Here’s a prime example: the hotel workers at Disneyland went on strike recently. They have worked without a contract for about two years. The main sticking point – healthcare insurance. For years, Disney has paid the entire cost of healthcare for these workers, with no contribution from the employees. Disney wants them to contribute. The union says no.

Now, details are in order. The union says that the new healthcare package “could” reach a total of $500 a month for a family of four. That sounds horrifically high. Or does it?

In my household, I pay about $300 a month for just the two of us, my daughter and I – and that’s on the lower cost plan. And that’s about average. Had there been another adult, that would have shot up even higher. So $500 for a family of four isn’t all that much more.

Now, I understand that they aren’t used to paying it, and that it might be a burden in some cases. And perhaps the solution is to find something in between. But healthcare costs continue to skyrocket, and the majority of folks with health insurance have to pay for it.

But instead of working to find a solution, the union has instead chosen to have their employees undertake hunger strikes at the gates of Disney. Frankly, this is a very poor calculation on the unions part. They would be far better off getting back to the negotiating table. The strike won’t make a difference. Meanwhile, they’re still collecting union dues every month – and still no contract, two years later. What, exactly, is this union doing for the employees?

In my last day gig, we saw another union do something similar. The Transport Workers’ Union went into a couple of casinos to unionize the dealers. Here’s the first problem – it’s the Transport Workers’ Union. What do they know about the casino business or dealers? The answer is: apparently not much. They went into the Wynn and unionized the dealers. Two years later, no contract, no new pay agreement, none of the grievances had been resolved. But they collected their union dues. Then the union went into Caesar’s to do the same thing. And then had no contract. And no resolution. But they were getting their dues.

In both of these cases, the union saw an opportunity to capitalize and get their foot in the door of a casino – and collect some dues. But they had no experience in the dealing business. They had no idea how things worked. They just saw a way in. And the employees are still paying.

As I said before, I know there are some unions that do a good job for their members. And they are to be commended. But I think there are far too many who are more concerned with filling their coffers than helping their members. The protection that unions once afforded can now be had by just about anyone. Lawyers who have a chance at going after a deep-pocketed abusive employer are a dime-a-dozen. They’ll take their cut of the settlement and be off to the races. And the employee will do fine as well.

Not that unions don’t protect their members. In fact, in some cases, they protect them all too well. More than once, I have seen union employees who have violated company policies get off scot-free once the union was involved. And when it comes to protecting jobs?

Again, in my former gig, I had worked to get new flat-screen TVs installed in the area I worked. Now I’ve installed flat screens, including running all the cable through walls. Took me, all told, about an hour and a half for one screen.

This particular installation took three weeks. Why? Because of all the unions involved. First, the drywallers had to come out and cut a hole for the electrical installation and for the mount. Then the iron hanger had to come out and put up the mount. Then the electrician came out and ran the AC power for the TV. Next came the video cable guy, who ran the video cable to the location. Once all the cable was run, they had to call the drywaller back out to finish up the ceiling. Then the painters. Next, they needed Teamsters to lift the TV into place. Once in place, the AV guy ran the cable to the TV, but then had to wait for an electrician – TO PLUG IT IN! Each stage took a day or two, and thre was anywhere from a 1-3 day lag between each step. The Av guy couldn’t plug anything in, the drywaller couldn’t paint. The day they were plugging the TV in, we had an AV guy at the top of a ladder waiting for an hour – because the electrician took lunch earlier than he usually did. Then, the electrician arrived, and the AV guy went to lunch – before connecting anything.

These guys were all playing by the union rules. All of them. Yet what should have taken 1-2 days took three weeks. And there were four more to install.

Of course, the question is – what happens to the dues? How much of it is actually going to help members and how much is going into the unions coffers. Much is likely focused on lobbying activities, on twisting the arms of some politicians while greasing the palms of others. But what is that getting the members. Like taxes, it’s not about how much you’re paying. It’s about what you’re getting for that money. If you aren’t getting your money’s worth, you need to start asking a lot of questions.

But, I do think there are some uses for unions, and one could help in a much different area – immigration.

The major reason there is still illegal immigration into this country is that employers are hiring illegally. The jobs are here, so they come to work. Unions could be a great resource to employers to ensure that the people being hired are here completely legally. In fact, they could offer their services to non-union houses as well – for a higher fee. The idea is that they could act as a clearing house for workers, ensuring that when someone was hired, all legal checks had been performed. Employers who hired someone from a union could be confident that the background checks had been made, and if there was a problem, it fell on the union, not the employer. In this way, the union is protecting the employer AND the employee. The jobs are going to folks here legally, protecting American jobs.

Would there be potential for abuse or misconduct? Yes, but you’d know where to go first. And union employees would be the first to make a complaint about someone who wasn’t supposed to be there.

Unions have lost a great deal of relevancy in the vast majority of industries. They don’t have the clout they used to have, or the power, regardless of what some folks might think. They are a voice, but not as loud as they were. But they do have a place – it’s just not the same place it used to be.

Meanwhile, they need to be careful, in this economy, of what they complain about. When they start complaining about having to pay for benefits, when most of us are struggling to pay ours, it falls on deaf ears. When folks are already paying $250-$400 for their benefits every month, they aren’t going to feel too badly for the folks that have paid none. Sure, it’s a matter of perception. Sure, they may have made pay concessions to keep those benefits without paying for them. But none of that will play to the average wage earner who watches a huge chunk of their pay go to healthcare benefits.

In the end, unions need to find their relevancy again, if it’s possible. But it shouldn’t be about protecting employees that underachieve. And it can’t be walking off the job because they don’t want to do what most wage earners already do.

We’ll be right back.

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Transcript: International Grownup Field Trip Day – 7/19/10

Thanks for coming back

My daughter went on a field trip last week, and it got me to thinking. Why don’t adults get field trips?

You remember them – those days you waited weeks, even months for. You’d be gone from class most of the day, with your friends, doing something fun. No schoolbooks, no tests, and you might even learn something.

Often it was to a museum or a performance of some type of motivational group for kids. But sometimes – the really good times- it was to someplace fun. For my daughter, it was Soak City.

Soak City is a waterpark, with the slides and the wave pools and the lazy rivers you can float on. She spent the better part of the day there. Got a heck of a tan too!

So why don’t we get those days? Why can’t we get a field trip. We work hard, we do what we have to do as responsible adults. We should get to have a day to goof off too!

So, we have launched International (shoot for the moon, I say..) Grownup Field Trip Day. The idea is simple. Take the day off from work, preferably with friends, and make a day of it doing something fun and silly. Go to a water park, head to the beach, visit an amusement park.

But the key is- you have to treat it like a field trip. Get everyone in matching t-shirts. Carpool, or even better, get a bus! Stick together as a group and have fun as a group.

Our first International Grownup Field Trip Day is slated for August 20th – but it’s still flexible. You can sign up for updates on Facebook, just search under Groups for International Grownup Field Trip Day.

While you may not be able to attend the specific event we are planning, try to plan your own on the same day. Get your friends together for a good time. But remember, this is GROWNUP field trip day. Taking the kids is missing the point. We all love our kids, but this is intended to be a day away from work, away from our own kids, so we can be a kid ourselves for awhile. Do something goofy and make a day of it. Get Grandma to watch the kids, or send them off to a friend’s house for the day. This field trip is for you!

You know, it’s important to get yourself away every once in a while, to go out and be a kid again. We get so caught up in our day to day grind that we forget some of the simple joys of being a kid. Like a chocolate dipped ice cream cone on a hot summer day. Water balloon fights. Just hanging out under a shady tree. All the kinds of things we used to do as kids. These are all all things we can still do as adults, but never seem to get back to. And I think we’re worse off for that.

On one hand, we miss out on those joys and an opportunity to lift our spirits and feel good. And we all deserve that. Nowadays, life is a test, and sometimes when you’re getting ready for a test, you need to take a break. Just getting out and doing something silly, something fun, something out of the ordinary from our daily lives lets our psyches recharge a little. And that recharge keeps us a little more sane when we get back to the grind.

We also get to build more memories. As the saying goes, you never hear someone say on their death bed that they wish they had just worked a few more hours of overtime. WE need to have those other experiences as a balance in our lives, and to strengthen the bonds to our friends. It’s just plain healthier.

But I think there’s another aspect that’s just as important for those of us that are parents – playing like a kid lets us remember what it was like – so we can make sure our kids get to do it too.

At lunch today the conversation turned to kids and how they are almost forced to grow up too quickly. I’ve seen 7-year-olds – same age as my daughter, with cellphones. Really? I mean, the school has a phone if I need to get hold of my daughter, and if there’s a problem they can get hold of me. Where exactly is my daughter going to be that she needs a cellphone? Does the kid really need to be able to text before they hit 2nd grade? Most kids are still learning to spell and instead they’re using text-speak. They start using sentences like “R U gng 2 D fair?”. I’d like to hear from teachers how many kids are using text-speak in essays or written answers.

Another example came out of the teen survey we did a couple of weeks ago. We asked what the biggest issues for teens are today. In retrospect, this wasn’t worded quite right. We got responses from teens, but we also got them from adults, who wanted to tell us what THEY thought should be important to teens. These included the socialist downfall of the US, the soaring deficit, and liberties being taken away.

This is what adults wanted teens to be focusing on. Any wonder these kids look at us like we’re fungos? The biggest issues to these teens are the same things that were issues to us – appearance, sex, money, family, fitting in. And yet, some have parents that want to make sure their kids are prepared to defend themselves against the onslaught of institutionalized socialism – like the kids are gonna care.

And that’s why I think it’s important for us old fogies to go out and be kids every once in a while. We need to remember what it was like so we don’t try to shove kids forward into adulthood before their time. Life is gonna slap them in the face soon enough. We need to give them the time to just be kids.

So, here’s an official invitation to join us, whether physically, in your own area, or just in spirit, on International Grownup Field Trip Day, August 20th 2010. Join the group on Facebook and chime in as what you’d like to do. We also invite you to drop a comment in and let us know what you think would make a great Grownup Field Trip and what fun things you’d like to do.

And if you do celebrate it, we want to hear what you did! Upload pics, spill dirt – we want to know what kind of fun you had. If it’s a good one, we’ll do another – and another. So be sure to snap lots of shots, plenty of video, and send them to us – we’d love to see them.

And yes, we’ll be issuing permission slips soon.

We’ll be right back.

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Transcript: “Global Warming” Is Wrong – 7/19/10

Thanks for coming back

The first six months of 2010 have been the warmest on record. January through June, sea temperatures and land temperatures around the world have been higher than ever. In fact, June 2010 is the warmest June in recorded history. Nevertheless, climate change deniers will point to record snowfalls this winter and say “What global warming?

The problem is with the the term global warming. It’s misleading. The problem isn’t global warming – it’s global climate change. What’s the difference? A whole lot.

The folks who coined the term “global warming: did themselves – and science – no favors. Because while technically accurate, the phrase paints the wrong picture. People hear that phrase, and they think it means that the globe is constantly hot, that winters will be shorter, less snowfall, less rain. But the warming is only half the picture. To understand the real importance of the globe warming up, you have to understand what it does to the world as a whole, even in the colder seasons.

One of the first effects of a warmer average temperature is a melting of polar icecaps. Yes, polar icecaps melt every year. That;s part of the ebb and flow. But as fall and winter roll around, sea ice forms, and the glaciers build back up. This pattern has been going on for millenia, renewing the glaciers every year.

The problem is that in recent years, glaciers and sea ice recede but do not return to their former levels in the fall. That’s a lot of new, fresh water entering the oceans. And that water gets spread around. The sea ice is already in the ocean, so thir melting is not an issue. But the sea ice protects the glaciers, and keeps them from melting more quickly. Less sea ice means more glacial melt. More glacial melt means more water in the ocean.

Now, the usual conclusion here is that it will raise sea levels in some catastrophic level. That’s likely not the case, at least as first. To be sure, sea levels rising start to affect many areas, such as the Gulf Coast region of the US. It doesn’t take a big rise to start having an effect on coastal cities. In fact, the just a few inches causes greater coastal erosion and a higher danger of flooding.

But the real effect of this additional water comes in adding humidity to the atmosphere. Moisture in the atmosphere is one of the catalysts for storms, particularly tropical storms. T now, add the fuel of higher surface temperatures and you get more storms, more power in those areas prone to tropical storms. In fact, you’ll get more powerful storms everywhere.

This includes winter storms. As tropical storms become more powerful, so will winter storms. Snowfall amounts will be greater, storms will be more fierce. And this is one of the great dangers of climate change. Weather patterns will intensify. If the winter storm would have been great, it will be greater. If a region would have been hot, it will be hotter. Global climate change creates more extreme weather. Over time, the highs will be higher, and low temperatures will also rise. With less cooling overnight, temperatures rebound higher the next day.

Drought-prone areas will be hit harder as temperature rise to new levels. Meanwhile, areas prone to flooding will see even more as supercharged storms dump higher levels of precipitation. Heat waves will be longer and hotter. The pattern that we have known as our climate for hundreds of years is changing, and not for the better.

Of course, the climate change deniers will ignore the evidence. They hang their hat on the “global warming” phrase whenever there’s a record snowfall or anomalous cool weather when it should be warm. What they don’t realize is those anomalies and those stronger winters are actually right in line with climate change. Sure, sounds funny to say “global warmiing” with record snowfalls. But that record snowfall was driven by something else. If you put more moisture into the atmosphere, such as evaporation from melting glaciers, that moisture is going to be present when storms form. If those storms form in the winter, that will come as snow.

So, let’s say you’re on the fence about it. You’re not sure. What do you do?

It’s actually quite simple. Act like it is true.

If we follow the deniers and take no action, or as some like to do, purposely take the opposite action, like those that burn trash and turn on every light on Earth Day, the best possible outcome is no better than where we are today. We will continue to use non-renewable fuels, continue our dependence on foreign sources of oil, continue to deplete resources. And that’s if climate change science is wrong. If it’s right, the path is nothing short of catastrophic.

But what if we simply assume the science is right? What if we act like it is fact? What’s the downside? Sure, we might have to learn to better at conserving. But we’d also become less dependent on foreign sources of oil. We could generate jobs by creating new energy technology and new markets. We could become the world leader in efficient, Earth-friendly energy. The downside here is change, not destroying the planet we live on.

So how do we fix this? How do we stop climate change and start minimizing our impact? The answer is to appeal to greed.

Look , there’s no way you get an oil company to put themselves out of business. Never happen. And frankly, if I was a stockholder in that company, I’d be pulling my money out if it looked like they were. No, the greed to be worked on is that of the new entrepreneur, the giy with ideas. We need to find ways to make it profitable – very profitable – to produce alternatives. Whether that’s through grants, prizes, incubator programs – we need to find ways for them to easily produce new technologies, and to profit from them.

I’d like to think folks would invent breakthrough technologies just for the benefit of society. I;d like to. But it’s a pipe dream. Nowadays, new technologies are tied to making more money. I don’t begrudge this. In fact, I think they should make money f they can bring us something that improves conditions for all of us. My fear, however, is that money-making part of the endeavor will overtake the search for a beneficial technology. Patents will be held back, and the technology will seep out slowly. In some cases, this will result in a lack of adoption, and the technology will die due to lack of interest.

But if we can support these new technologies, there is the potential for a breakthrough – or series of breakthroughs – that will change the path we’re on. And we need to change that path.

We need to give global climate change the attention it requires. Even if you don’t believe in it, or just aren’t sure, what’s the downside? How does it hurt to combat it? Why can’t we demand vehicles that are more efficient, yet just as powerful? Why can’t we demand a different, less expensive, alternative form of fuel? Why can’t we insist that recycling be a habit, not an afterthought?

There are myriad ways of effecting the change in your own life. And if you don’t believe in doing it for the environment – do it for your wallet. Most conservation ideas actually save you money, either directly or indirectly. A more fuel efficient car saves you every time you go to the pump. Enough of those come into use, and gas prices will go down along with demand. Returning those recyclables can actually bring you back a few bucks. Those bottles that require a deposit – one that is rightly yours if your return the bottle.

Shorter showers mean less water wasted, a smaller water bill, and a reduction in gas and/or electric usage to heat the water. Again, more money left in your pocket. The list goes on and on. The ways you can conserve, reuse, or reduce your consumption are so varied and include so many easy options that there is no reason that everyone can’t find at least one or two ways to do their part.

Again, what’s the downside here? That you had to find a bin for your recyclables? Maybe an extra 100 yards to the recycling center in the grocery store parking lot? In the end, minimal effort on your part – on everyone’s part – can make huge differences in our consumption. And in the overall picture of climate change.

The key is that we start. Start small, but start. Everyone has some little thing they can do to make a difference. That little bit may not seem like much, but the aggregate difference that all of us make is enormous. It’s important to the environment. It’s important to national security, it;s important to our wallets. Pick a reason – there are plenty. But get started. We’ve already made huge changes to the global climate picture. Many can be reversed, but only if we act.

Like I said before, if we act, and the climate change concept is wrong – there’s really no harm. But if we don’t act, and the climate change science is right, we are bringing the consequences down on ourselves and our children.

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Transcript: The Republican Strategy – 7/19/10

A new Washington Post article out on Friday has a hint at what issues Republicans will be running on in November.

None.

Interviews with GOP strategists and pollsters regarding their advice for politicians running is to not go into issues. To stay away from them. Consultants are arguing that public anger, if properly stoked, alone can carry the party over the finish line. In their view, getting bogged down in the issues is a distraction and even a potential liability.

In a nutshell, the idea is to have no ideas. Not surprising, given the general tenor taken by the Republicans to date. But the real question is: will Americans notice?

Minority Leader John Boehner revealed even more of that “strategy” today, saying that he would be supportive of a moratorium on ALL government regulation. Not just oil drilling, not just finance reform, not just health care. No, he wants a moratorium on all of it. What he Is essentially saying is, he intends to vote against any piece of legislation that involves regulations, regardless of how beneficial it is to the American people.

The there’s the 53-page missive from the conservative-dominated US Chamber of Commerce that was given to the White House, explaining all the things they want – less taxes for business, less taxes for the wealthy, less regulation – the standbys of big business.

So here’s what I see. While the Republicans want to tell you that they want what’ s best for the country, they are making it as painfully obvious as they can that their real focus is on what’s best for their already fat wallets. Congress critters make $174,000 per year. The median household income in the US, as of 2008 was 52,000. They like making more than three times the median, and the perks that go with it. Oh, and in Boehner’s district, the median income is even lower – 43,753. So when he talks about tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, he’s not talking about his constituents. He’s talking about his buddies on Wall St.

No, the plan for the Republicans is not about progress. It’s not about ideas. It’s about obstruction. It’s about saying “NO”. Because they don’t care about the average American. They care about their wealthy benefactors. But the real question is: will Americans notice?

Look, the Democrats are not innocent in this. Rahm Emanuel, the current White House Chief of Staff, had a similar strategy in 2006. In his case, it came down to a simple formula: spend 80 percent of your time attacking the other side, and 20 percent talking about issues. The goal? Keep the other guys on the defensive, and while they’re trying to counter, you can drive home your issues. And it was an effective strategy.

But here’s the difference: Emanuel’s formula still included talking about issues. Not a whole lot, but it was there. The new Republican strategy? Don’t talk issues at all. No solutions, no answers, no plans. Just attack, attack, attack.

In the Senate, the plan is even simpler. Say no. That’s it. Again, no plan, no solutions. Just say no. And no again.

It’s a tricky gamble. It relies on Democrats doing what they traditionally do – stick to the issues. And they do so often to their detriment. In their desire to make sure people understand the “why” of what they are doing, they don’t connect with the emotional side of the issues. And this election season, emotions are running high. And with good reason.

Unemployment is still high, and the economy still has a long way to go. Americans have seen Wall St. bailed out, auto manufacturers bailed out, the greatest ecological disaster to hit the United States – the list is long.

But the economy HAS improved. Jobless rates have fallen and jobs have been created. Bailout money is being paid back. In addition, finance reform has passed, healthcare legislation has passed, and there are signs of improvement. But the real question is: Will Americans notice?

That’s really the key to the elections this fall. Will Americans see what is going on in Washington, or continue to listen to rhetoric? Will they ask the questions that need to be asked? Will issues matter, or will the Republican strategy work?

Of course, the issues SHOULD matter. Regardless of your political stripe, you should be able to tell where the candidates stand. Do they stand for tax cuts for the wealthy? Financial reform? Expanded offshore drilling or a moratorium on new wells?

The actual issues are irrelevant, as long as they have an importance in your life. What is relevant is how the candidates address these issues. And from the sound of it, the Republicans have no intention of letting you find out before November.

So how did we get here? How did we get to where winning the an election is more important than doing what’s best for the country? And how did we get to where a group can essentially hold legislation hostage?

A lot of folks would point to the filibuster. Common wisdom is that the filibuster was designed into the Senate rules so that the minority party could have some recourse against the majority. Turns out, common wisdom ain’t so wise.

The filibuster was actually created by accident. It was never intended. It was born from advice by Vice President Aaron Burr in 1806. He had noted that there were many rules in the Senate that were duplicates or had no useful or practical purpose, and he suggested that the Senate go through and clean up its rules. The Senate took his advice, and quite inadvertently, the filibuster was born.

Keep in mind, there is no filibuster in the House. That’s because of a basic rule referred to as the “previous question” rule. Basically, at any point, debate on an issue can be closed by someone asking for a vote as to whether the House can move on to the “main question”, essentially ending debate. That rule also existed in the Senate, but was deleted during the Burr-inspired “clean-up” of the rules.

It actually took decades for legislators to figure out that they could use this inadvertent deletion to hold up legislation. Until that time, senators expected debate, and expected it to end with an outcome. But now, there was no good way to end the filibuster.

Now since the Senate makes its own rules, they could make changes to end the filibuster. But those efforts were themselves filibustered. They can still change it. But that requires a 2/3 majority to pass, which of course, is unlikely to ever happen. Why, because the party in the minority is never going to give up the power to delay. It’s not in their interest.

So what can be done? Can these rules be changed? Yes – but changing them immediately may not be the answer. One idea that has been proposed is that a bi-partisan committee be put together to examine and streamline the Senate rules, with a specific caveat – the rules will not go into effect for at least six years after they are ratified. Why six years? Because no party, no matter how confident, can predict who will hold the majority and minority that far out. So you remove the incentive to make rule changes that only benefit one side. If you make a rule that benefits the minority party, and you happen to be in the majority party, the rule isn’t going to work too well for you. So by delaying implementation, you encourage fair, even-handed rules.

Will this ever happen? Probably not with the atmosphere currently in Washington. It will take some courageous individuals to push this type of change forward, individuals who truly want to make the process work more smoothly, for the benefit of the country and not the party. I’m not sure those people are in office right now.

Removing stalling tactics, correcting the accident known as a filibuster, streamlining the legislative process in the Senate – these are all good starts. But none of them makes any difference unless the electorate pays attention. When the people who can really effect change – the voters – are more willing to listen to gratuitous sound bites than fact, we face an uphill climb to change. The concept of civil discourse, of real debate, is fading fast. Instead, the conversation has degraded to name-calling, to slinging half-truths – or untruths in many cases. And that is exactly what Republicans are counting on with their new strategy. Forget progress, just stand in the way, and make the other guys defend everything. Don’t present new ideas, or try to improve anything – just obstruct. Exaggerate, lie, make up things out of thin air – anything but actually deal with the issues. That’s the strategy.

This strategy should, by all rights, fail. You’d expect it to, if people put even a little effort into examining the issues, and the positions. If you don’t have a position other than “no”, no solution, then why on Earth should anyone follow you or vote for you? That should be an automatic red flag. But the GOP strategists are counting on a simple fact – that you’ll get more riled up, more motivated, by catchy phrases or simple slogans – and you’ll ignore the facts. That you’ll get angry enough that you won’t ask the next question: What’s YOUR solution. That’s the question they really don’t want asked, because they don’t have an answer.

So here’s the deal – every time you hear a politician, from either side, saying a piece of legislation is bad, should be repealed, etc., ask the next question – What’s YOUR solution? Look for that answer. Demand it. If they don’t have one, then you can pretty much bet that their opposition has nothing to do with the legislation and everything to do with power. If they have a good solution – that’s awesome. But if they don’t – Danger Will Robinson.

The key has to be that we need to insist that the people we vote into office are working for the betterment of the country. Not special interests, not big business or big oil, but all of us. We need to demand that they earn that generous salary they get. And that they do more than just say no. If we can consistently do that, we’ll get better legislation, the country will move forward. But the real question is: Will Americans notice?

We’ll be right back.

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Transcript: News Update 7/19/10

Welcome to Edited For Clarity
I’m Leo Soderman

We’ve got a whole lot of stuff to talk about this week, so let’s get right to the news.

On Thursday, the valves on a new sealing cap were closed, and the oil from BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico stopped flowing for the first time since April 20th.

The cap is being tested to see if the well can sustain pressure. If the pressure in the well remains high, then the well below the sea bed is in good shape. If pressure drops, it means there is a leak somewhere below the sea bed, and may present problems when the relief well is used to kill the well. The test is expected to last about 48 hours.

While oil flow is currently stopped, there are still lines connected to collection ships on the surface, and these lines will be opened up prior to the relief well completion to lessen the pressure on the well as the bore is breached.

This is the best news we’ve heard from the Gulf to date. But even if the flow has been stopped, the clean-up will take years.

Former Vice-President Dick Cheney released a statement this week saying he underwent heart surgery to have an impeller pump implanted. The pump is used to keep blood flow moving when the heart is failing. A unique side effect of this is that Cheney will no longer have a pulse. The pump keeps the blood flowing constantly, instead of the pulsing of the heart.

This fact could be the setup of a whole raft of jokes, but you won’t hear them here. Medical experts have explained that the installation of a pump really is a last resort measure. The heart is damaged to the point that it can no longer function. Short of a transplant, there is no other solution to keep the former Vice-President alive. There’s no joke that makes that reality any less serious.

Remember the crash test dummy commercials in the 80′s and 90′s to get you to buckle up? Well, for their valiant work, they’ve been given a home at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Vince and Larry, as the dummies are named, were part of a public service campaign designed to raise awareness of seat belt safety since 1985. The campaign ran through 1998, and the duo became familiar icons for safety.

The Senate passed Wall St, reform this week, on a largely partisan vote. Three Republican senators joined Democrats in passing the finance reform package, intended to put regulations in place to prevent another meltdown in the financial industry. It also enacts strong consumer protections designed to curb what has been perceived as excesses in terms of fees and charges that are racked up against consumers by banks. The legislation is slated to go to the President’s desk and is expected to be signed quickly into law.

The administration has been on a bit of a roll, getting more major legislation passed during this session of Congress than has been passed in decades. Heathcare reform, financial reform, economic stimulus – that’s a pretty full plate for most administrations in four years. This administration has accomplished all of it in 18 months.

But Democrats are facing a potentially hostile electorate this election season, and a fairly confused electorate. Only 46% of Americans give the President a positive rating in terms of handling the economy. And that’s a low number.

But that’s not the whole picture. When asked about whether they thought Democrats, could handle the economy, that number drops into the 30s, and when asked about Republicans, the number drops even further, into the 20s. What this shows is an electorate that just doesn’t trust the folks in Washington

Republicans are already measuring the drapes in Congressional offices, with public exclamations of impending victory. But are they right? It’s hard to tell. While there has definitely been some momentum, recent stumbles by Republicans have been eating into that mo. From Joe Barton’s apology to BP, to Michael Steele’s revisionist version of the war in Afghanistan, a number of gaffes have been stumbling blocks. Adding to the issues for the Republicans are the Tea Party folks. As a rule, they tend to be farther right than the majority of the Republican party, and a few Tea Party favorites made it through the primaries.

A prime example is Sharron Angle in Nevada. Harry Reid was facing near certain defeat in Nevada before the primaries. But with the selection of Angle, a Tea Party favorite, his reelection chances are rising and he currently leads. Why? Angle’s views are now in the spotlight, and her extreme right views on a number of issues are turning off even staunch Republicans. A similar situation is playing out with Rand Paul. His gaffes the night after he was nominated, talking about his views on the Civil Rights Act got him “sequestered”, with party leaders pulling him out of the limelight so he doesn’t continue to ruin his chances.

Unfortunately for both of these candidates, video lives on. There they are, recorded in all their glory, espousing views that the average conservative can’t support. And thse types of stumbling blocks may be what stops the Republicans.

But it will be a battle for the Democrats. What they will need to do, if they want to keep control of Congress, will be to tie Republicans not only to the extremes of the Tea Party faves, but to their recent actions, or lack thereof, in terms of legislation. For example, Republicans did their best to stop Wall St. reform measures, even vowing to repeal them in the fall – despite the overwhelming majority of Americans who are frustrated with the finance industry and their pay packages and bonuses. If Democrats can tie Republicans to Wall St., Republicans will have to spend a great deal of time just undoing that connection.

Democrats can also pile on by reminding voters how the GOP has been apologizing to BP. Not only Barton, but many Republicans have tried to come to BP’s rescue. Again, if Democrats can continue to tie Republicans to big oil, as well as Wall St., the issue becomes which party is further in the pockets of big business.

Add to this the racist tones that many in the Tea Party have been taking, and you have a recipe for beating conservatives at the polls.

But it won’t be easy. While healthcare reform is gaining popularity (over 60% say they don’t want it repealed), the furor over the heathcare debate will be played up again to gain voters. Immigration reform will also be used against Democrats. There is a wave of anger over perceived faults of the federal government when it comes to immigration, and this will be used as a wedge as well.

In the end, if the Democrats want a chance at winning, they’ll have to do something they’re not used to – get tough. Democrats like to appeal to reason, to logic. Unfortunately, they’re facing opponents who care less for the facts, and more for the win. I’m not saying that Democrats should be dishonest by any stretch. I am saying, they can’t pull any punches. If they want to win, they’ll need to be throwing haymakers, not jabs.

We’ll be right back.