Don't Take My Debate TV

I thought my ears were deceiving me when I heard that John McCain aimed to cancel the presidential debate and suspend his campaign.

I flipped to WVON, caught a snippet and ran to my laptop to verify. There is was, confirmed on the New York Times website.

McCain wants out.

So much for those ballroom, bar and hall rentals. I have received more emails for debate parties and viewings in the past two weeks than I can count. News radio, tv and web banners are hyping the debate like it's a heavyweight champion fight.

I guess it is, well, if it happens.

Supposedly, McCain wants to take these precious two days to work on the economy. Wisely, Barack Obama stated that with just 40 days left until the leader of the free world takes the reigns, the American people deserve to know the candidates' views on the matter and wants the debate to go on.

The story goes that Obama initiated the call to McCain, suggesting that they make a joint statement regarding the economy. Six hours later, McCain jumped the gun and made his crash and rash announcement, taking Obama's good intentioned jesture a step further and recommended ending the debates.

It's this assumption that the American people are idiots that I take issue with. Obama's numbers are up, McCain has repeated frequently that the economy is his weak point, he's not the most intriguing speaker in the world and the haste to cancel the debate makes McCain look like he's running scaird.

There is no spin to make this action look lofty. Citizens deserve to see their presidential candidates debate during this unique time.

The debate should go on.

Economy Matters- Dumb it Down

With the economy being the talk of the town, I've found myself either talking to people who are de facto economy experts or explaining to people just what the heck is going on.

I've probably done a little more of the later than the former. In fact, I found myself in a circuitous explanation on the whole affair with my mom for like an hour. In my attempt to be as simple and thorough as possible, I realized that I had a hard time explaining it in part because the concept of a mortgage backed security doesn't really make any sense. How can you create an industry that people invest in backed by a debt bundle with no actual or liquid value? But that's another conversation.

At any rate, while watching political pundits on TV turned economic experts, I've discovered something else.

Explaining the mortgage backed security fiasco cannot be done in a sound-bite.

There's no condensing this stuff. Forget making the whole matter neat and easy for the common man. There are no winning sports analogy, no bare knuckle moose wrestling metaphors, and no patriotic slogans to explain this mess.

While I've heard a few commentators manage to at least de economize the language, I still hear people tossing in peanut gallery remarks that have nothing to do with the matter at all.

Politicians with any savvy know that if you can't say it in a soundbite, you might as well not say it at all. That's in part what's happening. People are trying to spoon feed an elephant. If you're talking to an audience who get skittish when explaining stocks, well you still owe them a hearty expression on the matter. Pull out some charts, make some graphics, anything but don't act like a few cowboy quips will put those who don't know at ease.

There are so many misguided catch phrases tossed around to sway the masses on the government Wall Street bail out blaming "overcompensated Wall Street CEOs" or "they're giving money to the people who got us in this mess and not the people who lost their homes." There's even a proposed march planned on Wall Street, which I don't understand either.

Oddly, Pat Buchanan was one of a handful of political pundits turned economist who explained the whole deal in a comprehensive three sentences. I was impressed. Barack Obama proposing that American citizens be viewed as investors and should benefit from the upside of their tax dollars in a bail out. A smartly worded statement as well.

While, the television medium is not typically the home for complex brain activity, when it comes to explaining the economy in this day and age, it has to be.

Family That Preys - The Return of the Smack

I saw The Family That Preys Together last night.

I won't review it. And I won't ruin the ending, but I do have a question which analyzes a scene, which implies the trajectory of one of the characters, which could be a spoiler, so read with caution.

That said, drum roll please . . .

Is there ever a justifiable reason for a man to smack a woman? Is the movie smack back?

Sanaa Lathan's character, a savvy corporate woman who loathes her blue collar husband (Rockmond Dunbar) is having an affair with her high profile boss. She makes some pretty heated comments, spewing some lines that no woman with any sense would ever say to a man without either a can of mace in her hand or her foot on a gas pedal, bags in the trunk, while pulling off on a drive way. At any rate, she makes these mind blowing revelations to her husband in front of the rest of the fam and POW, her mild manner husband smacks the beejeezes out of her and she goes flying over the counter. No one runs to her aid, no family tackles the husband. The next scene, her mom is icing her down and I believe the sister, played by Taraji Henson says something like "Wow, I never saw him that angry before."

I'm not saying her revelations weren't worthy of a smack. I'm not saying that the do good husband didn't have his reasons. I'm just saying I didn't exactly like the repercussionlessness of it all. Domestic violence is domestic violence, justifiable smack down or not. And I was uncomfortable with the fact that all is fair in love and war, including a heavy handed man knocking out a woman.

Before you answer, I have to refer to that comic genius Chris Rock who said no one is above a beat down, just don't do it. "There's a good reason to kick an old man down a flight of stairs," he said. "Just don't do it."

Back in the 30s flicks, women were smacked all the time. With the changing of the times, education on domestic violence, the justifiable man smack had disappeared from film imagery.

So while, the smack might move along the plot, I echo my comedic hero. "Just don't do it."

TKO - Economy sends lipstick gate packing

The economy trumps lipstickgate this week.

Thank goodness.

Despite my self imposed temporary exile from 24 hour cable political news viewing due to last week's Palin overdose and the global pig attack, I am still avidly listening to radio and of course reading. And it's great to see everyday people having hearty water cooler conversations about financial instruments and institutions and actually wrestling with some of the real causes of the overhauls in the market instead of being the ra ra squad for political propaganda football.

It's a thumbs up to the Democratic process that analysis of strategy for the moment has taken a back seat to the real issues that citizens of all walks of life are experiencing - issues that our presidential candidates should be addressing in the first place.

But Obama for the most part has been trying to divert the conversation back to the economy for some time now. But news outlets treated his speeches as a teaspoon of cod liver oil compared to the cotton candy antics of the Palin/'McCain camp (My inversion's intentional). He had to toss in some rogue small town metaphors about a pig to wedge his economic arguments back into the limelight. Too bad it took the sudden closing and sale of some of the nations oldest financial institutions for the economy to top the news line up.

That said, I think it's the problem solving aspect rather than the dooms day angle of the economy that concerned people should be engaging themselves in. To quote Melody Hobson of Ariel Capital who spoke on Al Sharpton's show earlier today, the worst is over and done with. Now it's time for the work.

Books Ink - Knight in a Shining Bookstore

I'm a bookstore addict. Give me a cup of tea, a magazine rack and a couple of bookcases and I'm in readerholic's paradise.

So imagine my excitement when I attended the reopening of Books Ink, a quaint bookstore in the Beverly area of Chicago. I was knighted to teach a screenwriting class there at the end of the month (SHAMELESS PLUG at the end of the story).

In the age of Amazon and the omnipresent chain store it's cool to see someone who is dedicated to the cause of the independent. Nearly 100 people came out. It was very community friendly affair with tables for self published authors promoting their works a host of raffles, and the chipped in services of a coffee shop. After my hunger induced visits to the cake and pasta line, I made my bookshelf rounds and was surprised to find a unique collection of books including a novel on Ira Aldridge, the Shakespearean actor who toured Europe in the 1800s; a biography by fashion editor Andre Leon Talley; a self published book on the first black catholic priest, and a children's book on Barack Obama.

It was a reminder that independent bookstores are incredible relevant and versatile, despite the competition, - a fact, that futurist, I'm sure, are boggled over.

The concept of the book on demand, online orders has revolutionized the book business. While searching online for books works great if you know what you're looking for it's totally overwhelming for browsers.

Books Ink, founded by Constance Shabazz featured mostly hard to find readers on African American life. Although most major bookstores have popular titles, rare books are still hard to come by. They are even harder to find if you don't know they exist.

Moreover, there are a watershed of self published writers looking for homes and launching pads for their work. While Internet presence is a must, a brick and mortar site can't hurt, and is a great companion tool for grassroots marketing.

But the coolest thing is that Books Ink doubles as a community resource hosting book readings, book clubs and classes (SHAMELESS PLUG: I'm teaching a screenwriting class there beginning Monday, Sept. 29th).

After doing a series of writers workshops, I've found that the need for accessible writing/book friendly classes are a must have in our communities.

So during a time when technology connects us more than ever, opportunities to bond in person are increasingly precious.

Cheers to the indie bookstore. May they continue to thrive.

Books Ink is located at 1835 W. 103rd. Call 773-445-9984 for details on Screenwriters Ink Courses.

Lipstick Politics and the Pytharorean Theorem

Feeling shut in by the McCain/Obama lipstick debates, I decided to cruise through the aisles of Borders and find something intellectually stimulating to take me away from the absurdity of the political sphere.

It was a bit difficult at first, trying to find the magazine without Gov. Palin and the shotgun, so I made a hard left to a section where I could be modern day election free - The Greek Classics.

I flipped through Antigone, as if reading it for the first time and found it to be unusually refreshing considering it's a Greek Tragedy. Antigone was bold one and prone to giving life or death "keep ya head up" kinds of speeches. The section was home to the Iliad and the Odyssey. I think subconsciously I was looking for the impossible dream of Greek writing - - - a new ancient Greek story. My search beat hearing rehashed opinions on barracudas and pit bulls and pigs and make up, so I decided to hang around the section a little longer.

That's when I discovered The Music of Pythagoras, by Kitty Ferguson.

Being an HBCU grad, Clark Atlanta University to be specific (GO PANTHERS), Greek history lessons were always buffered with the reminder of its Egyptian and Babylonian influence. So any mention of Pythagoras and his theorem was always quickly followed with "well you know the Babylonians knew that 2000 years before" or "he studied it in Egypt." Naturally, the book did nothing to contradict this. But Pythagoras was always a point of curiosity for me. Whenever I read up on ancient middle eastern history, Greek culture, or early Christian history, a sect of Pythagorean followers always popped up, so I figured I should read up on him.

Plato referenced him as the original philosopher king, a guy who's teachings changed Croton society and ultimately influenced Greek and eventually Roman culture. He was also in a quest for the mathematical order to everything.

On another day, I might have looked right past it, but the day before, I was talking to a friend of mine and we glossed over higher level math and joked that if I taught a math class I'd probably wind up making the kids do a play on formulas (not quite sure how we got on that topic), so when I saw the book I figured it was synchronicity.

And it's pretty doggone interesting, in part because there's so little known about Pythagoras, and what is known falls in the realm of folklore. But not only do they know very little about his personal life, there's also a total information gap regarding what this Samian taught. Pythagoras had a school and followers that lasted for centuries. What they taught exactly is a mystery.

The book came out this year, so it's the latest of the latest on Pythagoras. I give it a thumbs up.

It beats lipstickgate any day.

My Nightly Love Affair - Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews

I've been trying to ween myself off of my political news junkie syndrome and was hoping I could write something on bikram yoga, leadership frays, the falling of the leaves.

But just as I was about to write some diatribe on the blight of orange on the city's foliage, my heart skipped a beat. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews were removed from their nightly political coverage beats. They will do commentaries for the rest of the presidential election.

I was surprised.

Obviously Olbermann, a little more than Matthews, were Barack Obama supporters. But with right wing charges of overt liberalism, media elite Obama bias and Sarah Palin criticisms paraded by spinmasters as sexism, these two journalists were ripe for the blame.

I always thought of Olbermann's Countdown show as the anti Bill O'Reilly. Reilly, a right wing zealot is on at the same hour, and a segment of each Countdown show was dedicated to his demise. But during a time when virtually no political coverage isn't washed over in bias, I thought Olbermann's wit and honest criticisms, though favoring liberal thinkers was a nice counter balance to other coverage I've watched. Olbermann had a left leaning, usually younger audience that found another home away from reports via Internet, that addressed concerns from their perspective.

Matthews, on the other hand, who in my opinion gave keen, honest assessments on Hardball, a benefit from his days in the political trenches, seemed to merely find Obama's efforts more genuine than the McCain campaign. He was equally vigilant in questioning both sides, but was more impressed with team Obama in the end. Either way, I don't think this took away from his reporting ability, and frankly I'll miss his laser direct questions.

But I do look forward to their commentaries. No longer tied to walking the line of journalistic balance, I'm sure their zany opinions will be even more pointed. The dogs, so to speak, have been let loose.

Can't wait to tune in.

Palin Overdose - Escape from Alcatraz

I officially had a Palin Overdose, yesterday.

I think I might petition the American Medical Board or whatever organization you reach out to when it's time to report an undiagnosed ailment, because this thing is serious.

It's my fault, really.

Yesterday, I hopped to the laptop piping early and made the crucial mistake of turning on cable news and never turning it off.

As the news unfurled with analysis after juicy analysis, a 12 hour preshow to Sarah Palin's career defining speech, I think I heard every possible spin and strategy assessment repeated a gazillion times, each time with a slightly different twist to keep me hanging and wanting to hear the next analysis and rebuttal.

And it's not like I did nothing all day. On my way to my morning meeting, WVON had a lively discussions about the condemnation of teen pregnancy.

After the meeting NPR was talking about Palin's extreme conservatism.

When I got back to the office, it was more nonstop- Palin. The investigation regarding her brother, new revelations about her husband, her pastor; photo ops with McCain with her pregnant teen daughter and boyfriend.

It was inescapable. I wrote maybe two stories or so, did some interviews and had some conference calls. But in between every working moment I heard a new twist on Palin.

Her name must have bounced off my ear drums at least 12,000 times. Which is odd because it had never bounced off my ears before.

As the hour of the speech grew near, I found myself feeling claustrophobic.

Someone reminded me that Venus and Serena Williams were playing tennis as well.

"You've gotta be joking?" I said, speeding through the streets looking for an impenetrable Palin zone, shocked that something else was actually going on in the world.

I drove to my self proclaimed workout cottage and did several dozen butterfly kicks. I almost forgot this Palin fever. I felt refreshed, renewed. There is, apparently, something else going on in the world besides Palin's pending speech. But just when I thought I'd escaped the web of political spin I went to to freshen up and her speech was blaring on the TV screen.

So I watched it. I felt it was my duty after all the hype to have an opinion on it.

Obviously, I didn't agree with any of it. But that's not the point.

The point is, that when I returned to my fair laptop, my TV set was still on and the analysis was in full steam. But I was too deluded from stream of consciousness politico clouds in my brain that I couldn't turn it off. Weary, I fell asleep. But the news was still on, rewiring my dream sleep with enough political strategy to make me conjure up a few during REM zone myself.

I should probably call a campaign manager and share them.

Nevertheless, when I woke up, I felt like I hadn't gone to sleep.

Calm was only restored when a self imposed silence doubled as my aspirin and I was able to regain consciousness.

Boy, what a nightmare.

Marie the Flame, McCain and the Pin Drop

I really don't think I should know Marie the Flame of Florida.

But thanks to my devotion to political conventions, now I do.

I was editing some business stories last night while former Tennessee Senator and actor Fred Thompson was praising John McCain at the convention. The TV in one room and me in another, it was my preventive measure to stay work focused while still hearing convention rhetoric without being fully devoted to it.

Nevertheless, with a southern drawl and humor tinged commentary, Thompson elicited riotous applause. He said what I would expect him to say until roused by a canon ball of enthusiasm he threw in a quip about McCain's stripper girlfriend on the convention floor.

“In flight school in Pensacola, [Sen. John McCain] did drive a Corvette and date a girl who worked in a bar as an ‘exotic dancer’ under the name of ‘Marie the Flame of Florida,’” he said.

The crowd went silent.

Then he added "And the reason I'm telling you these things, is that, apparently, this mixture of rebellion and honor helped John McCain survive the next chapter of his life:

Now he followed this with a heartfelt tale about McCain's POW days and was able to rebuild excitement. While the pundits questioned a line Thomas made stating that McCain's POW experience didn't mean he should be president but showed his character (a line certain Democrats would be pummelled for) or a line Thompson misquoted regarding Barack Obama and abortion, I was still stuck on Marie the Flame of Florida.

I was stuck because I couldn't believe I actually heard it.

In fact, I text my editor, who was up rereading the stories I was editing to see if he heard the same thing. Surely, my ears hadn't deceived me. And he had.

Not one to stay on smut, I'm less amused by McCain's stripper dating days than I am by the need for either Thompson or some speechwriter to toss it in. Where exactly does this fit in the party platform? I'm assuming this wasn't in the approved speech or was it? Was this an ill advised effort to make the nominee one with the legions of men who spend their nights in strip clubs? The new "common man approach?"

How did that line make it past an editor?

I'd like to think that Thompson got excited by the attention of it all and thought he'd throw in some off the cuff folksy insight. But what was he trying to say? It was very boys club and conflicted strongly with McCain's efforts to woo women. By the sounds of the pins dropping after his raucous comment, I'm sure the audience was shocked, too.

I don't know where Marie the Flame is now, but I'm sure she never expected to get a shout out at the Republican Convention.

Katrina Shadows- A Convention and Gustav

I was writing during most of the Labor Day break.

During my escape from the laptop, I watched some of the Republican Convention. To prioritize the possible impact of Gustav, convention organizers scaled back and dedicated much of the convention to addressing relief efforts.

Politics, it was noted, was put aside.

Each of the states impacted by the storm have Republican governors, most of whom did video packages on the state's relief effort for the convention. But it was odd that Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, the state hardest hit by the storm a Republican rising star of Indian did not do such a video. At one point, he was a likely vice presidential candidate.

Either way, Gustav was an eery reminder of the federal administration's failures regarding Katrina which hit just three years ago. New Orleans and much of the coastal towns in Mississippi are still ravaged by the storm. Thousands of Katrina victims can't return home. And the efforts to rebuild one of the nation's greatest city's has been unbelievably slow.

Katrina was one of the Bush Administration's greatest failures to its citizens. With all the controversy over Iraq, memories of Katrina had taken a back seat, until now.

So while the conventioneers storm efforts were noted, it was nearly impossible to shelve those awful horror stories from years past - a city drowning before our eyes and a president who allowed it to.

Katrina can't be forgotten.