I'm living in the Land of Tomorrow

When I was about 9 years old my parents took me to Disneyland in Anaheim on the second or third weekend that it was open. It was a drive of a little more than an hour from my home and my head nearly exploded when we arrived in the expansive parking lot and I could see the beautiful park approaching. (Photo is a view of Disneyland from the air on opening day)

Everything about the park seem unreal, but very exciting. At the time I thought I was the luckiest kid in the world to actually be at this magical place.

One of the things I remember was the "Land of Tomorrow" exhibit, which I believe was sponsored by General Electric. Moving displays showed the dreams and future inventions that GE believed were on the near and far horizon.

The one I was especially intrigued with was the display that showed two people talking on the phone and yet being able to see each other on television screens at the same time. That seemed so fanciful as to be impossible at the time.

At that time a long distance phone call was a big deal. They cost a lot and we had an egg timer by the phone so that no one would talk too long and run up a big bill. We planned and anticipated making a long distance phone call to the point that everyone would gather near the phone so we could pass the phone quickly from person to person to save time. It rarely happened more than a couple times a month. Handwritten letters were the communications staple of that day.

Last night, I downloaded Skype (I've had the computer for two years and didn't realize I could do this) and within minutes was talking to our daughter in Boston looking at her wonderful face on my computer screen as she watched me pick my nose on her end. I even got to meet her new cat, although I mostly saw its butt.

My son Tim apparently has the same connection and I tried to reach him unsuccessfully.

It's kind of cool to have lived long enough to be in "The Land of Tomorrow."

"To all who come to this happy place: -Welcome- Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past ... and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America ... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world."
—Walter E. Disney, July 17, 1955 4:43pm

A James Carville rant on the oil spill

There is nothing funnier, well maybe a few things, than a James Carville rant.

Some good newspaper news

The editor of the Buffalo News has some good news for newspaper fans in her column.

A song I like: Freeborn America

This is a pretty good song by Jimmy Joe Lee, a friend of a friend in California.



Just something I liked.

Reporter's license: A Michigan State Senator's idea

I'm sure it's frustrating to deal with the new media. So many new faces, so much on-the-job training, but one Republican state senator has taken it one step too far. The proposal by State Sen. Bruce Patterson (R-Canton) is the latest in a long line of politicians who wanted to harness the media.

The idea of a media license sounds like something out of a Soviet Union playbook, but here it is. This probably won't go far, or at least I hope not, but government should stay out of regulating the media. Period.

It makes me nervous that elected officials even feel comfortable talking about it.

Newspaper reporter fired for co-authoring magazine story

The Inside Out blog has a story on a newspaper reporter for the Oregonian being fired for writing a magazine piece without permission from the newspaper.

Most newspaper reporters know they need to clear any outside journalism efforts with their editors before working for another publication.

In the days after Jack Kevorkian assisted with his first suicide, I was contacted by the editor of Newsday and with permission from my editor submitted three or four stories, including one that ran on the front page of Newsday, about my interviews with Jack Kevorkian.

All the stories were merely rewrites of what I had already done for the Journal. It was pretty easy money. About three days in Newsday sent their own reporter to the area and my little gig was up.

I ended up making about $3,500 from the work, which helped by my first real home computer - an Acer, I believe, which in those days had about 1 gig of memory and cost more than $3,000.

How about this beauty of a 'misstatement'

I love it when politicians take a bald faced lie and turn it into a "misstatement." That in itself is a misstatement. When you deliberately tell something over and over that is not true, that is a 'lie.' Just because you surround yourself with combat veterans and call it a misstatement, doesn't change it from the lie that it was.


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Time to shuffle the deck in Washington, D.C.

If we can't have a viable third party, I'll certainly settle for voter anger that takes it out on all incumbents. Watching Arlen Specter concede last night was very gratifying. Good riddance to politicians who have as their overriding principle getting re-elected.

Hopefully the anger, fueled by unbridled spending and mounting deficits in the middle of a continuing economic distress will continue into the fall and voters will take a blanket "throw the bums out" attitude at the polls. Washington is completely broken. The President doesn't get it, the leadership of both parties doesn't get it, but hopefully they'll all get it in November.

In four major races, Mass., N.J. Virginia and now Pennsylvania the President has backed the loser. That's a message whether he wants to hear it, or not.

Time to take our government back. Time for both sides to drop the gloves and pick up the shovels. Time for the President to head back to his office and get to work and stop being in a total campaign mode. People want jobs, not speeches. As he himself said in the last election. "Words, just words..." As an aside remember this little bit of plagarism during the last campaign.

Those of us on the sunset side of our lives are concerned about the country we are leaving our children and grandchildren. We do not want them saddled with a huge debt to pay when we're gone. Time to rein in the spending and time to listen to the voters.

Getting rid of all the incumbents, shuffling the deck and starting over would not be a bad start.

A little non-partisan soothing music for Saturday

Since I scheduled this for posting on Friday, learned that Tammy Reaves, a former Flint Journal colleague, died after a long battle with cancer. Tammy was one of the truly nice and classy people at the newspaper and her loss, along with other former employees who have died too young, have me thinking about how precious life and friends really are.



Posting will end for the weekend.

Mayor Daley: Be careful what you wish for

Although Chicago's Mayor Daley is denying the revengeful reasons for it, his decision to post all investigative reporter requests online could seriously backfire on him.

While he believes he is messing over reporters who have been dogging his every move, he may find out that he will just be opening Pandora's Box by tipping off more reporters to the tips.

Chances are this will result in more scrutiny and not less, which would be a good thing in the political cesspool that is Chicago.

I'm just happy there are still investigative reporters.

Arizona law, misguided, but completely understandable

I have stayed out of the Arizona immigration law argument so far because while I understand the frustration of Arizonans to the lack of federal enforcement, I think the law they enacted is actually unnecessary.

Many of you know that I spent 7 years in the 1970s working for two California police agencies. What the Arizona law proposes is already done every day by officers in California. The only thing California law lacks that the Arizona law has is that Arizona has taken the federal law (almost word for word) and said the state can enforce violations of immigration law.

During my time in law enforcement in California I, and all of my fellow officers, routinely questioned people, mostly non-English speaking Hispanics without proper identification, about their legal status. In most cases they were illegal aliens.

When we called federal immigration officials to report the violations and have them take action we would be told: "Get a good address and we'll follow up." Yeah, right. Never happened and immigration enforcement by the federal government has beeen, and still is even in the wake of 9/11, a serious joke. Some times we were called to 'arrest' illegals because their employers wanted an easy way to get rid of them. We sympathized with the illegals to an extent and despised the employers, but still there was no enforcement either on the illegal or the company that hired them.

Last Monday, my USS Cogswell Association voted to hold our next reunion in Tucson, Arizona. The idea of boycotting a State because of a law someone doesn't agree with is perfectly legal, but then people should be free to start boycotts for other issues in other States. Gay Marriage comes to mind, legalized marijuana would be another, name your poison and groups everywhere could find reasons to boycott just about anywhere. We all make decisions to boycott or not to boycott businesses or events (I boycott Barry Manilow every chance I get), but when making a decision to lead a more public boycott people should at least be informed.

Below is a copy of current California law as it affects police officers and illegal immigrants, please note that it includes the same, or nearly the same "profiling" language that the Arizona law does and no one has yet suggested boycotting California:

California Penal Code Section 834b

(a) Every law enforcement agency in California shall fully
cooperate with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service regarding any person who is arrested if he or she is suspected of being present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws.
(b) With respect to any such person who is arrested, and suspected of being present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws, every law enforcement agency shall do the following:
(1) Attempt to verify the legal status of such person as a citizen of the United States, an alien lawfully admitted as a permanent resident, an alien lawfully admitted for a temporary period of time or as an alien who is present in the United States in violation of immigration laws. The verification process may include, but shall not be limited to, questioning the person regarding his or her date and
place of birth, and entry into the United States, and demanding documentation to indicate his or her legal status.
(2) Notify the person of his or her apparent status as an alien who is present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws and inform him or her that, apart from any criminal justice proceedings, he or she must either obtain legal status or leave the United States.
(3) Notify the Attorney General of California and the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service of the apparent illegal status and provide any additional information that may be requested by any other public entity.
(c) Any legislative, administrative, or other action by a city, county, or other legally authorized local governmental entity with jurisdictional boundaries, or by a law enforcement agency, to prevent or limit the cooperation required by subdivision (a) is expressly
prohibited.

The L.A. County Council, which voted to boycott Arizona, might want to note that they are in violation of the last section of that law.

And here is a dated legal argument on the California law. Here is a pertinent excerpt from that discussion:

"4. California AG Opinion 01-213 (11/16/2001): While California’s Penal Code Section 843b’s mandate that local officers inquire into immigration status has been enjoined, officers can still voluntarily make the inquiry. A local law enforcement officer during detention of Spanish speaking person for otherwise valid purposes may question the person as to immigration status, but may not question status solely because the individual speaks a non-English language. Local officers may continue investigation into a person’s immigration status prior to arraignment on state charges. In footnote 4, the Opinion indicates “Civil violations of immigration law are not cognizable” under a formula in Pen. Code s. 836, sub. (a), (a)(1), which allows California peace officers to arrest either in obedience to a warrant or without a warrant where the officer has probable cause to believe that a public offense has been committed in the officer’s presence."

Destroyer reunion over, back home

No time to outline all the fun and good times at my USS Cogswell reunion tonight, but I'm home and basking in the glow and fun of reconnecting with friends and shipmates I haven't seen for 43 years.

Some of those guys have really gotten old. Glad that didn't happen to me. I'll have some photos to put up as well.

Like cars? Check out Fast Eddie's Cruisin' blog

A long time friend, and one of the best newspaper photographers I ever worked with, has extended his car review reach to a new blog. Ed is a devoted and accomplished gear head and knows more about cars than any person I know. Fast Eddie's Cruisin blog should be a fun read.

I've put a permanent link over to the right and I'm sure Ed would love so readers and commenters.

Ed doesn't just write about cars, he has built a couple of the nicest rods I've ever seen.

Lessons from a former El Al security official

As part of another volunteer activity of mine I recently was privileged to hear a terrorism security consultant discuss some issues related to Homeland Security. The speaker, a former member of an Israeli airport security force, discussed the differences between Israeli airport security and the rest of the world.

It was a stark, but realistic and common sense appraisal of what most travelers already know.

El Al and Ben Gurion Airport have been remarkably successful in staying safe, considering the considerable enemies faced. So it was surprising to me that the speaker started out with criticism of the TSA and the ongoing efforts in this country and most of the rest of the world as it relates to airport and airline security.

Did you know, that there are no restrictions on El Al Airlines as far as liquid carryons? I didn't.

Israel doesn't worry about what is being carried on board airliners, its concerns are with who is being carried on airliners. Every passenger coming through Ben Gurion or boarding an Israeli flight is talked to by security officials and interviewed. Several rings of security, which start in the Ben Gurion parking lot and don't end until folks get on the plane, don't slow down security, they actually help speed it up.

"When was the last time you were talked to by airport security personnel in a meaningful way?," the speaker asked.

Israeli security officials are intensely trained on what to ask and what to look for in passengers who pose a risk. Every layer of Israeli security is empowered to act on any suspicions it has about a would-be traveler. Passengers in Israel or flying on Israeli flights must pass through a number of rings of security. In other airport security systems, there are only "security patches."

In some cases, people who raise suspicions are allowed to fly, but only after a complete body search and then they fly with an escort or marshall watching their every move on board the airliner. They will likely face additional scrutiny when the arrive in Israel.

Shoe bomber Richard Reid was one of those who raised suspicions and eventually flew into Ben Gurion escorted on the flight by a flight marshall. In later interviews he said he never flew on El Al again because, "too many people asking questions." He also picked another airliner to attack when he finally made his attack.

"Current airport security is focused too much on the means, and not enough on the terrorist. Don't look for bombs, look for bombers." Makes sense to me.

Certainly Israel uses technology and physical screening, but that's only a small part of their security approach.

The interviewing and suspicion is not based on ethnicity either. Israel doesn't profile based solely on your looks or physical factors, but on what your answers to their questions are. And a trained knowledge of body language. They are constantly tested on their proficiency in unannounced drills, he said.

In many cases this scrutiny costs less than the current technology heavy methods we use now, the agent said.

As soon as terrorists found out we were screening for liquids, they sent a terrorist on board the aircraft wearing liquids as underwear, the speaker pointed out. A series of speakers at the conference pointed out that while some might find comfort in the failure of recent terrorist attack attempts, most speakers point out that only the incompetence of the terrorist, and not effective law enforcement or intelligence saved us from a disaster.

"Most security efforts are aimed at the last attack and not the next one," the speaker said.

And random screening, such as pulling out a passenger every so often to reduce the liability for "profiling" is useless, the man said. Our worries about liability and negatively affecting our ability to make flights safe.

Israel avoids the liability by making everyone subject to the interviews and scrutiny until they have satisfied the system that they do not pose a threat.

Food for thought next time some TSA officer confiscates your 5-ounce bottle of expensive perfume you accidentally left in your travel kit.

Where have all the watchdogs gone?

Just by way of comparison I found this list of the editors and staff at the Flint Journal in 2006. Nearly all, with a few exceptions, were full time employees.

Here is the list today. Please note that many of those names are covering multiple beats and many are part time employees.

I give the new staff credit for doing all that they do with as small a staff as they have. You could probably find similar reductions at newspapers all across the country. It does not bode well for the future watchdog role that so few are watching so many.

A Saturday laugh

Found this on Facebook and found it too good not to share. This is the motto, or name of a donut shop apparently owned by some police officers. Their online store has a funny line of clothing.

Happy Mother's Day! It's not just for moms

Mother's Day is always a mixed blessing for me. My mother died just four days after Mother's Day in 1987. She left us way too early. When she died my mother was 59 and had battled breast and other cancer for 14 years.

I was just 39 years old, my brother was 36, and my sister was only 26 when she died. I still miss her tremendously. It was more than a year before I quit having the urge to call her on the phone, only to remember she was gone.

In the intervening years, I have tried to continue to honor the other major female influences in my life on Mother's Day. My wife, of course, but also my Aunt Judi, my mother's younger sister, who in many ways was always a second mother to me. My stepmother, Janet, who at a relatively young age took on two boys who were already half grown. I was also blessed with great mothers-in-law during my life.

Years before, my grandmother Ethel (from my father's side), was a tremendous influence on my life. We often stayed overnight in her beautiful hillside home in the Hollywood Hills. Grandma Smith was the gentlest, kindest person I remember in my life. Excellent behind a sewing machine, she devoted many years to making hospital gowns and clothes for children at The Children's Hospital in Los Angeles. She left us in 1969. But her example of kindness and service was one I could never forget. She was a tremendous cook and hostess and the times I spent in her care were some of the fondest of my life.

My cousin Cynthia (another great mother) and I were recalling how we used to slide on our stocking feet down her long tiled hallway at the Dundee Avenue home. Sometimes we would run around the house in circles, often flying off the stairs into the spacious living room without ever a rebuke from Grandma. She was so patient. Might have had something to do with raising three boys. She taught me a love of words through crossword puzzles and Scrabble and she sent me many times to look up words in a large (and I do mean large) dictionary that sat on a wooden pedestal in her living room.

My grandmother Ardath (from my mother's side) was more aloof, but no less loving.

Aunt Judi, Janet, the grandmothers and the mothers-in-law all contributed in large ways to the man I am now. So you can partially blame them. Not really, the faults I have, and they are legion, are the result of my own failings.

One day, long after my mother died, I was standing in a grocery store line in Davison, Michigan and a man in front of me had two pretty full grocery carts. As he checked in the items from one cart and paying for them and then repeating the process with the second he complained to the clerk, "It is really hard shopping for both my family and my mother."

His comment, an innocent and understandable gripe, caught me up short. I piped up. "You know, sir, there is only one thing worse than having to shop for your mother?" He looked at me with a funny look and I continued. "That would be when you don't have her to shop for anymore." He shook his head affirmatively and went on about his check out.

Today, Joan and her sister will attend the Mother's Day tea at the Buffalo-area nursing home where their mother is now living. I cannot go because each resident can only have two guests because of space limitations, but I know Joan's mother will appreciate the visit.

Yesterday, Joan received an extremely thoughtful gift from her daughter, my stepdaughter, and a note that made her cry, in a good way. It wasn't the gift that made her cry, but the wonderful sentiments in the note.

Parents know that none of what we do is for recognition. What we do, even when we fail, is done out of love for our children with no expectation for some reward. But, the acknowledgment and appreciation of what we have done by our children may be the greatest rewards we receive on earth.

Tomorrow, if you are blessed to still have your mother with you reach out and let her know just how much she has meant to you. If she is gone, remember those women in your life who have helped nurture and love you.

Grand Rapids trip over, blogging should resume, a little

Been away at a conference in Grand Rapids for a few days. I really love this city. Joan came with me so we went to the "Lord of the Dance" performance Tuesday night and the Ford Museum last night.

Both pretty cool.

I'll get caught up on blogging before we head over to Buffalo for my Navy reunion next week.

The world is running out of rocks, time to conserve

Oh, how I love satire, and no one does it better than The Onion. Thanks to Nathan for the link.

Lies, lies and more lies, Navy reunion approaches

For the first time in 43 years, I will be reunited with some buddies from my Navy days next week. My first ship, the USS Cogswell, which was affectionately called a "tin can" by those of us who served on her, has been out of U.S. service since 1970.

The reunion, which is in my second favorite city, Buffalo, New York starts Sunday. Joan and I are both going. Many of them have been meeting for years, but I have only recently had the time and availability to join them. The Cogswell was transferred to the Turkish Navy in 1970 and has since been turned into razor blades.

Buffalo is the host city for the USS The Sullivans, DD 537, which is a sister ship to the Cogswell. We'll get a chance to tour her as a group. That will be fun re-living memories. The Sullivans was named for five brothers who drowned during World War II while serving on the same ship. Following that tragedy, the Navy didn't allow sole surviving brothers to serve together.

When I was an 19-year-old sailor I didn't appreciate the old "Cogs" history. Built in the crucible of World War II she was on duty for many of the crucial battles of the South Pacific and was arguably the first ship into Tokyo Bay following the surrender of Japan. Arguably, because a number of destroyers claim to be the first ship leading the convoy into Tokyo Bay for the surrender ceremony. But the Cogswell was there.

She served during Korea and then again in Vietnam and I served on one of her Vietnam cruises. The reunion will include crew members from her entire history, including a "Plank holder," which is the designation for a crew member who served on the very first crew. I'm very excited to talk to him.

My tour of duty about the Cogswell started in 1966 and ended in 1967, a total of about nine months. I reported aboard just days before she left for a "West Pac" (Western Pacific - Vietnam) cruise. My previous experience at sea had been a trip to Catalina Island, 26 miles off the California coast.

Fresh out of boot camp, my uniforms were pressed and polished and I was eager for the adventure. The adventure started with three straight days of puking. Basically I had my head over the side from San Diego to halfway to Hawaii.

My first night I was awakened at 11:30 p.m. to stand my four-hour bridge watch at midnight. Sick beyond belief my request to be excused was met with an angry "no" and a helpful gift of a bucket to carry with me on watch.

Mercifully, they put me on starboard lookout so the cool wind would blow in my face and keep me awake when my head wasn't in the bucket. I was supposed to be looking for ships and obstacles in front of the ship, but I don't think I would have seen the Queen Mary if she was 50-feet off the bow.

Three days in, and about three boxes of saltine crackers consumed to keep something in my stomach and sop up the green slime that seemed to burn all the way up and out, I started to feel like I didn't want to die. It was the last time I would ever suffer from any kind of motion sickness. That includes a typhoon we hit just outside of Japan.

The bridge of the ship is about 30-feet off the water and the top of those waves were higher than the bridge. We rolled side-to-side to the point we were concerned we might roll completely over. (It has happened)

You ate with one hand holding your tray. If someone spilled something, it would slide back and forth across the deck as the ship rolled. Ocean water seeped through the hatch on the fantail and our sleeping compartment had an inch of salt water on the floor sloshing back and forth.

For fear of being swept overboard you made your way through the ship through the inside passageways. I loved every minute of it.

More than 100 men lived in a space not much bigger than a very large living room. Bunks were hung on a pole with three racks on a side. It was close quarters and the head (bathroom) was just as small. (Photo below shows the racks from USS The Sullivans)

My favorite times were at night, after the work was done, sitting on the fantail looking at a sky almost solid with stars. Later in my Navy career, both on the Cogswell and the USS Hoel, DDG-13, I was a quartermaster, which unlike the Army, is a navigation rate. Those stars were used to navigate. Today, I'm sure satellite navigation is the preferred method of establishing where you are.

The methods we had then were not so precise, although a good star fix using a sextant would put you within a mile of where you are. A sexton is an ancient seafaring instrument that was incredibly accurate. The star charts have been used for hundreds of years. The math and track of those stars was known by sailors in the middle ages.

Ship life was often routine, custodial chores and later when I moved to the bridge, keeping navigational charts filed and up-to-date. During underway refueling, I was the ship's helmsman, as well as during battle conditions and going in and out of port.

Speaking of ports (both ships), there was San Diego, Hong Kong, Pearl Harbor, Yokosuka, Subic Bay (Phillipines), San Francisco, Vallejo (California), Midway Island and Kaohsiung (Taiwan).

Visiting exotic places was pretty heady stuff for a young man who had only been to one other foreign country, Mexico, and then only the City of Tijuana.

During her entire history, about 3,500 crew members served aboard the Cogswell. Only 300 at one time, so about the equivalent of eleven crews. I'm proud to be among one of them.

More later.