COPS

     A city in New Jersey is going to take an unusual approach to restoring law and order. 
     They're eliminating the police department.
     The New York Times report says it's a way to eliminate the police union, and also improve police protection in the suburban Philadelphia town of Camden.
     If you are over your limit on reading free stories in The Times, there's a short UPI story online here.

Tomorrow in the MMMM

Monday is an historic day for Alabama newspapering, and we'll have analysis and comment posted about 1:00am in the morning, Don't miss tomorrow's Monday Morning Media Memo.

High Court

     The U.S. Supreme Court begins a new term on Monday, and the L.A. Times and others are using the occasion to speculate about the impact of the Presidential Election on the Court.
     The Times quotes one lawyer as saying:

  "Supreme Court nominations are one of most enduring

legacies a president has..."

Malvo Speaks

The then boy who took part in the Washington D.C. area sniper shootings---and the murder and attempted murder of two ABC Store employees on Zelda Avenue in Montgomery---has given a rare interview from jail:

"I was a ghoul. I was a thief. I stole people’s lives. I did someone else’s bidding just because they said so..."

Samuel L, Jackson's Wake the F**k Up! (clean version)

This is a kind of a FNMM....a Friday Night Media Memo...an interesting example of using social media to get a ton of absolutely free exposure (other than the cost of the production).

The Debate Debate

     The first Presidential debate is next week, and both sides are busy "managing expectations". The idea is to lower them, so your candidate looks great because he or she did better than expected. At the same time  you try to increase expectations for your opponent to make him or her look bad if they fail to meet those increased expectations.
     Here's a page with the times and dates of the entire debate series.

Parent Permission Slip: Beat My Kid!

     A school system in Texas has expanded its corporal punishment program to allow parents to request a paddling for their kid.
     Send a note allowing your kid to go on a field trip and throw in a spanking too. How efficient. And they've clarified that opposite gender administrators may spank the kids, though another same-gender employee must be present. That was decided after two girls were bruised when a male Assistant Principal paddled them.

OUCH!

     You know you may be on the wrong track when even the Rupert Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal criticizes your state immigration law...

" ....(Alabama) lawmakers might want to spend more time focused on expanding legal ways for foreign nationals to work in the U.S. and less time passing populist legislation that leads to labor shortages and less economic growth."

Confederate Air Force

   
     Yes, there used to be a group of pilots who called their group "The Confederate Air Force", but they changed the name a dozen years ago when controversy over the name overtook them.

     For a while in the 1960's George Wallace used that name to promote his independent run for President, handing out commissions to news-people covering the campaign. I imagine there are any number of reporters from that day who have them as keepsakes.
    Yet truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. There actually was a Confederate (and  Northern) "Air Force" of sorts: balloonists. And this article tells the story of the last balloonist to fly in the Civil War!

Obit: Paul Davis

     Alabama journalist Paul Davis has died.
     In addition to his stature as a veteran newspaperman, Paul was a frequent and always welcome guest on For The Record. Paul had a wicked sense of humor, and was knowledgeable enough about Alabama's people and issues to contribute to any topic that came up.
     He died Sunday in his home after a battle with cancer, at the age of 74. 
     RIP, Paul, and thank you for your hard work.

MMMM # 235 -- The Last Monday Papers

     The biggest newspapers in Alabama---The Birmingham News, The Press-Register in Mobile, and The Huntsville Times, may be publishing their last Monday editions today.
     The company that owns them announced exactly four months ago that they would begin publishing only on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday "in the Fall". They have not said what date that will happen, but another of the company's papers, The New Orleans Times-Picayune, will go to the new schedule starting next week...thus my calculation that today will be the last Monday paper for the three Alabama publications. Not sure about the others, but The Birmingham News will increase the charge to $1 for its Wednesday and Friday papers in machines. Sunday will remain at $2.00
     There are still many other questions still unanswered, like what will happen to the new multi-million dollar printing presses the company bought when they opened the paper's new building in 2006, just in advance of the arriving digital tornado. We know they will use them to print the equally three day a week The Huntsville Times too.
     As part of the 2006 hoopla over their new building, the News published a story about their production department, including its 180 employees. The ironic headline? Building For The Future. It included the factoids that each year they use:

• 27,495 tons of newsprint
• 574,196 gallons of black ink
• 70,237 gallons of blue ink
• 82,473 gallons of red ink
• 61,154 gallons of yellow ink

     Not any more.     
     It's not my job to help them sell newspapers, but collectors may want to pick one up today, in case my prediction is correct.
    And if I am right, this morning The Montgomery Advertiser becomes the biggest daily newspaper in Alabama.
     Wish I had bought one of the last Birmingham Post-Herald papers when they were forced out of business in 2005.

[PLUS: The U.S. State Department was critical of CNN for using Ambassador Chrisopher Stevens diary as a source on-air after promising his family they would not do so.]

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of timlennox.com]

SEMM* #234 --Saving The News Business!

     A big-name investigative reporter has a solution to funding journalism: a fee on broadband access...maybe a couple of bucks a month...with the money distributed to online news providers based on their "audience".
     Fortunately, this is happening in England.
     If someone suggested that in the U.S., they would be laughed OFF-line.
     a) Americans already hate the size of their ISP bills.
     b) Americans already hate the media and won't pay a dime if they can avoid it going to the papers or networks.
     c) A lot of Americans are gong nuts over Obamacare because if forces them to pay a penalty if they don't have insurance. Imagine what they would think about being forced to fund the media?

[NOTE: Tomorrow morning in the MMMM, Monday may be an historic day in Alabama! We'll explain. The MMMM will post about 1:00am.]

[The Monday (*and sometimes Sunday) Morning (and sometimes evening) Media Memo is a regular feature of TimLennox.com.]

More and more like a CURIOSity Tourist

     Curiosity will be getting a software upgrade soon that allow it to look for "interesting rocks" and take photos without stopping, like a tourist in NYC too busy to get off the bus.
     The robot (after all, that's what it is) is remaking the malevolent image of robots on space missions, most recently in the movie Prometheus, though he kinda comes around in the end. 
     Then there was HAL in 2001, one huge robot that controlled way too much.

     If NASA suddenly starts getting continuous photos by Curiosity of itself, we'll know we've turned the corner into cinema.

Does it snore too?

     Hey, I'm as big a fan as anyone of the Space Shuttle program, but The L.A. Times headline for a story about a pause in the trip moving Endeavour to its final location at a museum in California when a bit too far.

Space shuttle Endeavour resting at LAX before next big move.

Anthropomorphism at its best!

(And P.S. Isn't it a shame The Space and Rocket Center here in Alabama couldn't obtain one of the retired spacecraft? Of course we can't even pay our regular bills, much less buy multi-million dollar museum exhibits.)

Hold The Mayo

     The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is experimenting with robot tuna as a way to patrol the waters around the country.
     And on a completely different food-related item, I have fallen in love with a new (to me) ice cream flavor mix.
    Bryers Waffle Cone "Chocolatey" Chips.

    I don't have any ads on this website, but every now and then I'll send out kudos to a product I like, and this one of them.
    Now if I can have the discipline not to stand at the sink at 1:00am and eat the entire container.

A Civil War Burial SIte Restored

The State Civil War Memorial in Montgomery.

The Birmingham News reports on the restoration of the cemetery in Virginia that was almost eaten up by suburban sprawl. But even in restored state, there are monuments missing.

Fall 2012

      Welcome to the new Season. Fall officially begins this morning.

     The hot, dry, Spring and Summer have, I think, contributed to an early leaf fall in Alabama.
     My friends in Australia are, on the other hand, beginning  their warm season.
     Oh, and the new TV season begins Monday.

Political Party Welfare

The U.S. House is onto something in eliminating taxpayer assistance for the major party political conventions. But that's only a start!
They should also:

• Eliminate taxpayer funding of primary elections. Those are private party events, as private as a Kiwanis Club vote for officers, and should not be funded by taxpayers. Let them pay for the process to choose their candidates, and then we'll put those names on a ballot with the candidates of minor parties for the real election in November.

• The trips presidents take during campaign season on Air Force One. They go make a non-campaign visit to a school and then they attend the real reason for the trip...a big fundraiser. The school visit is an excuse to bill the taxpayers for the President's travel to the money event. Every president in recent memory has done it. Wink Wink? No! It's wrong and should stop. 

Any other suggestions?

Old Church Bombing

The Birmingham News is reporting a possible break in a half-century old bombing case...probably too late for prosecution, but not for reconciliation.

Could it be worse?

YES!

Tim says invest in heavy-duty seats.

     In case you missed it, a new study* projects obesity in the states in 2030, and Alabama's figure is 62.6. No, that's not the average waistline, it's the percentage of the populations that will be fat.

     And Alabama is ranked only 6th in the nation. There are five other states that will have even fatter populations by then.

     It is also a fiscal problem. The report details the cost to states for all of that fat.

     The financial winners? Manufacturers of extra strong seating, cloth manufacturers, and funeral directors. Everybody else loses everything, except, of course, weight.

(Scroll down on the linked page for your state's information!)

Penn State

     Apparently wanting to avoid even the slightest impropriety, Pen State has banned the song "Sweet Caroline" during football games.

     Seems some of the lyrics could be construed as sexual regarding under-aged girls since it was written about the then 11 year old Caroline Kennedy.
     Will they go through their libraries and book stores as part of that purge too?

"Touching me, touching you....."

Think things are tough in Alabama?

The top of the Alabama Archives Building

     Especially in light of the previous posting about the Civil War flag collection, read this story about our neighbors to the East.
     Georgia is closing it's state archives to the public!!!
     

Antietam + 150

The bloodiest battle ever fought on U.S. soil.
150 years ago today.
2,108 Union deaths.
1,546 Confederate dead.
17,000+ wounded.

     From Alabama, Fourteen infantry Regiments (including the 10th, The 11th, the 13th, and the 44th), and two Artillery Batteries, fought in the battle.
     The flags of some Confederate units from Alabama were taken by Northern troops during the battle. Three were eventually returned including the one below. All three are in the massive collection of flags at The Alabama Department of Archives and History.
     Watch a CBS Sunday Morning report on the anniversary here.

Thanks To Bob Bradley at Archives for collecting the information!

HIV behind bars in Alabama

Prisoners in Alabama state prisons are segregated based on HIV status...and Elton John is among those supporting prisoners who filed suit...a case that will be in Federal Court in Montgomery today.

MMMM # 233 -- J-School--TDAW-and Media Gossip

•      You could hear the surprise in newsrooms across the South...Emory University is closing its Journalism School. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported the program had been growing, but apparently not fast enough. Tough time for all such programs...how (and what!) do you teach in times like these? And speaking of:

•      The TDAW newspapers (The Alabama Media Group) are trying to shore up their Western flank in the latest Q and A column, addressing concerns of readers in Mississippi about the Press-Register coverage of news for that state when it goes to three days a week. "Best of both worlds" is their conclusion.

     

•      Meanwhile, local electronic media is the focus of news and gossip websites that report the latest on-air staff comings and goings. The sites include one called Alabama NewsWatch, which goes about its business anonymously. Another one, called Montgomery TV and Radio at least includes the names of the two people who run it...one works for the Alabama Department of Transportation, the other for the Southern Baptist Convention. Unfortunately, it allows anonymous comments, usually cracks about on-air folks (fat, old, ugly...just like what you might hear from middle school boys in the locker room). Most of the comments are also likely from the competition. Currently, the site is running a poll of the "best" reporters and anchors...and like all internet polling, it is completely unscientific and meaningless.   

      And I say that regardless of who "wins".

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of TimLennox.com]

Afghanisham

     So much violence there in just 48 hours...an attack on a U.S. Marine base in which the perimeter is breached by fifteen insurgents wearing U.S. uniforms. 
     Two Americans were killed, and a half dozen Harrier jets are destroyed...numerous attacks on U.S. soldiers by supposed "friendly" Afghans (the most recent was reported Sunday afternoon. It left four Americans dead at the hands of Afghan police they had gone to save during an attack. 
     And eight women and girls were killed by accident in a NATO strike. They were out before dawn collecting wood and were mistaken for insurgents. 
     Good old President Karzai had lots of criticism for the U.S. because of the womens' deaths (for which apologies have already been offered)...but he didn't have a word to say about the American soldiers killed by his police and military.) 

MARRIAGE SPOILER ALERT!

-DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE ENGAGED OR ABOUT TO BE-

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     A new study finds if you have those last minute jitters about getting married, there is an increased possibility your marriage will fail.

     Yet an absence of jitters is no guarantee your marriage will survive either.

     Just what about to get married folks need to hear! I can see parents of a child marrying someone they consider the wrong person leaving copies of this story all over the place the their kid to find.

Rural = Fat?

A new study indicates that here is a higher rate of obesity in people living in rural areas than in urban areas, with two major factors identified as potential causes:

• Richer diets with more deserts and sweets.
• Less physical activity than in the past because of mechanized farming.

     Certainly the Southern states rank toward the top in both obesity and in being largely rural.

     The study looked at actual measurements rather than self-reported height and weight, which as we all know, can be less than accurate.

Coal Ash

  The fight over the remnants of coal-fired power plants is far from over. The utilities are battling any added regulation, while environmental groups are trying to head off legislation that would block the EPA from regulating it.
.

 

      Coal ash is just about everywhere, but in Alabama it became an issue primarily when hundreds of tons from a big spill at a TVA plant in Kingston Tennessee was shipped by rail to the largest commercial landfill in the East in Perry County. There are also big
holding ponds at power plants in Alabama.  
  

    

     Now a coalition of those environmental groups has written a letter to U.S. Senators asking them to vote against the bill. There is only one individual from Alabama who has signed it, the Executive Director of the group Cahaba Riverkeeper in Birmingham.   

Mars Curiosity Descent - improved video quality with sound effects added!

UPDATED: F*MMM #232-- -- TDAW papers update

     The folks at the soon-to-be three-day-a-week newspapers have resumed the Q&A column that had inexplicably stopped for two weeks.
     But no word from them about what will  the last week of seven-day publication.  
     I'm betting two weeks from Monday---October 1st---, and I'm betting they won't say a word about it...that the Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times, and The Press-Register will just not be delivered or in machines that Monday.
      UPDATE: They posted another Q&A column today, except there's no Q, just A. About football. They say they'll do a great job covering it.

[*The Monday (and sometimes Friday) Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of www.TimLennox.com]

Prison

       Former Governor Don Siegelman starting serving his six year plus term in a Federal lockup in Louisiana this week, hoping for a pardon from President Obama. There's an online petition asking Obama to do just that, though the results won't be delivered to the White House till after the November election. If Obama loses to Mitt Romney, I kinda doubt they'll bother...though you never know.     
     What would he have to lose?
     Here his address, in case you want to drop a note:


Mr. Don Siegelman 
#24775-001 
P.O. Box 5010 
Oakdale, LA 
71463 
     His two adult children drove him to the prison, and provided CBS 8 with a video clip showing him walking into the facility.
     His imprisonment comes despite a letter signed by more than one-hundred former state attorney's general urging the courts to overturn his conviction.
     If he serves the full term, he won't get out till 2018.

Vipers, Part 2: Virgin births

     Bad enough to have a world filled with ssssssnakesssss waiting to pounce, now the male copperhead..already at the top of my kill-on -sight list.... has even more reason to be angry and deadly.
   Scientific American reports the female copperheads have been shown to be able to make babies without the males.
   So now those bad boys are pissssssed off too.
   Carry a big stick.
   Or a shotgun.
     

Power to the corporations

     The Alabama Public Service Commission has agreed to extend a special rate offered to new or existing companies that expand or open new locations. It's supposed to encourage economic expansion.
     But since the rate-of-return for the power company is guaranteed, won't giving a cheaper rate to the companies reduced their return, making it possible that the rest of the rate-payers have to make up for it? 
     How about a special rate for people on unemployment?

Blessssssing the little animalsssss

     Every October, some churches hold ceremonies to bless animals...pets, really, since I've never head of strays gathering for it.
     It's the day in honor of St. Francis Assisi, who was supposedly known for his love of critters.
     One priest in England has placed a limit on this year's events. NO SNAKES!
    Being a true snake-o-phobe, I heartily agree. He bases his decision on the bad rap serpents get
in the bible. I just don't trust 'em, and firmly believe they are deadly till proven otherwise.
     
(Master Ophidian Editor Jay sent this story to me. He really knows how to hurt a guy!)

Birds of a feather....

.....mourn together.
     So suggest new research into the scrub Jay. It shows the birds will gather near a dead jay and screech loudly together for as long as half an hour. 

     As the linked article points out, elephants and other animals have also exhibited mourning behavior, but this may be the first true study, limited to the jays, of the behavior.

CSS Alabama's only battle victim

     The wreckage of the only U.S. Navy ship actually sunk by The CSS Alabama during a battle in The Civil War has been exposed somewhat by recent storms off the Texas Coast...and now the Federal Government is working to map the wreckage of The USS Hatteras before it is covered up again.
     The sinking happened on January 11, 1863.
     Read the news release from The NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries here.
     For more information about the English-built steam & sail ship The CSS Alabama, check out our rather dormant but still interesting website here.

9-11

MMMM #231 "...but I played one on TV!"

      That's the ending of a line I've long used about weather. It begins "I'm not a meteorologist..."
     The weather folks I work with at CBS 8 are certified meteorologists, and I appreciate 
their abilities (and math skills!).

     This week's NY Times Magazine has an article of note about forecasting titled The Weatherman is Not a Moron (nor, I might add, in many cases, is he a man!) 
      It explores why some kinds of forecasts have gotten better while others have not, and some of the secrets of the business, like the "rain bias".
     I was on TV as a weatherperson in Birmingham for three years, and learned that it is like being a pilot of a big plane: 98% boredom and 2% sheer terror. Fortunately, we had a seasoned, learned expert on call to come in during the 2% of the time when severe weather struck.

     But sometimes people would ask how I could do the weather on TV at all, since I didn't have a degree or certification as a meteorologist. I asked them in return why they were more than willing to listen to me give the weather on radio for all of those years...when I knew even less about meteorology!
     Anyway, an interesting article, which you can read if a) you are a subscriber to the Times or b) you haven't read more than your limit of free articles on their website.

[PLUS: Though we are apparently just two weeks away from the three biggest newspapers in the state dropping back to a three-day-a-week publishing schedule, there's no word from the Alabama Media Group about the exact date. In fact the weekly columns they had been publishing answering questions for readers have vanished. The natives (readers) are restless about the changes, a least according to letters to the editor. AMG's Kevin Wendt didn't reply to a an email I sent asking about the end date.]

[ALSO: Philip Roth has gotten into a battle with Wikipedia over his attempt to correct an obvious error in the entry about one of his novels. The WikiStormTroopers won't accept his word for it. They say he needs "secondary sources".

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of TimLennox.com]

Uh, Secret Service guys???

The media reports this huge restaurant owner got overly enthused when President Obama came by. He gave Mr. Obama a bear hug that lifted him off the ground during a campaign stop in Florida! 

Thanks to bear correspondent Jay for forwarding this item!

Self-Portrait: Say Cheese

     Mars rover Curiosity has used its extended robotic arm (what other kind could it have?) to snap a self portrait, like some teen with his or her first cellphone. 
     All's well with the machine, and CBS has a gallery of some 60 photos taken since the perfect landing, including one shot taken by one of the orbiting craft that shows Curiosity's tread marks on the planet's surface.

Smile for the camera!

Tomorrow

In tomorrow's Monday Morning Media Memo: 

Secrets...

• about TV weather...
• about the biggest newspapers in Alabama...
• and about the case of an author whose word is not good enough about his own work for Wikipedia.

More on the 9-18-12 Vote

     Opinions continue to flood in about the election a week from Tuesday in which Alabama voters will be asked to approve (yet another) amendment to the Alabama Constitution. 
     It's the only item on the ballot that day. 
     It would allow use of $435-Million ub Trust Fund money to prop up the General Fund Budget over the next three years. Without the extra cash, even more drastic cuts than what has become normal are forecast for some state agencies, like Medicaid and Corrections.

     George Clark of the lobbying group "Manufacture Alabama" argues today---persuasively, I would say---in favor of the amendment in an Op-Ed piece in today's Birmingham News.
     But he does not address the more basic question here. Why are we voting on this in the first place? Why did the legislature not balance the budget without raiding the piggy bank?
     If you believe one South Alabama resident at a luncheon the other day, the few people who go to the polls will say no:

"Everyone in this room supports our state. But if we raid this trust fund, we’re no better than the Democrats..."

     Got it? Let the house burn down rather than "raid" your savings to buy water to put out the fire.
    Read the entire article by The Press-Register's George Talbot here.

Benn on Davis

Happier Times: Artur Davis and Ron Sparks, competing in
the Democratic Primary, which Sparks won, prompting
Davis to abandon his party...and his state. He live in VA.

     The Montgomery Advertiser's Al Benn is adding his comments about the 180-degree political turn made by former Alabama Congressman Artur Davis.
     His advice to Davis when he said he was running for Congress: you don't have a chance. 
     Al was wrong then, but right when he offered the same advice to Rep. Davis when he decided to run for Governor. 
     A good read.