September 6th, 2009 
joel We started our new year of Press and Tower talking about job losses and Tom Ridge’s book.
You can keep the conversation going on this open forum. To participate, just click the Deep Background post title and scroll down to the “Comments” box. Or you can send an e-mail to me at joel@nataliemedia.com, or tweet @pressandtower.
Thanks for your continued support and, embrace the chaos!
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Tom has disappointed me. He is a good and honorable man whom the GOP has overlooked since Bush the First picked Dan the idiot to be Veep. He took a real political gamble become homeland security color picker and when he felt he had to tell the truth about how disastrously stupid the whole thing was the GOP secret police came down on him. SAD that Sara Palin and Michael Steele are the folks chosen to represent whatever farcical position Glen beck and Rush Limbaugh wake up with….
Additionally, while I’m ranting….the President is going to address our nations school children about the importance of working hard, being responsible and doing well in school. Why are you against that? How can you be against that? And how dare you censor a sitting President and raise a ruckus that is wholly unfounded. When I am using the term “you” I don’t mean “you” but I hope “them” because if you hang around with Natale, you can’t be dumb….
Is this turning into another media left wing ranting site?
No CRANK. It is not another left wing ranting site.
This may be hard for you to believe, but Jim Stewart has HIS opinion, and you, and your three aliases, have “yours” opinions.
It appears that Stewart believes the children of America and their President are NOT mutually exclusive, and it should be a simple lesson in civics, to hear the President speak on whatever he wants to say to the children in the land. Afterall, he was elected to the top slot. Like or dislike the man, but teach the kiddos to respect the office.
And, no one complained when another President spoke to children in Florida. It was at a Sarasota school and confined to one group of children. The top elected (maybe) official in the land read to an elementary group of kids, as nearly 3,000 citizens lay dying under enemy attack. President Bush read “My Pet Goat”, even after being given notice that we are at war, he finished the WHOLE book, so that we could have Mission Accomplished.
There is no right or left going on here.
However, when you inject that Stewart’s opinion objectifies the entire blog, we have right and WRONG going on here. In this case, you are wrong.
It is ok to be out of power.
It is ok to have views at variance with CRANK.
It is NOT ok to lose an election and whine for years about it.
We are continually campaigning, and never able to govern in this land, for the losing party does not do its duty, it seeks to undermine the winner, making governing impossible for either party.
Let the readers of this blog decide for themselves if Mr. Stewart’s opinion is worth the read or not, and whether they agree or not.
I am sure you are aware of all the right wing sites Erie has to offer. How about you post on one on solving Health Care. Those out of power are quick to condemn solutions presented by the President (and I am not altogether happy with his proposal myself).
However, the Republicans are saying ZERO, in terms of what they would do in lieu of current proposed reforms.
They just whine away.
Solve health cae, and buy a color coding book at a store near you this week. Duct tape is on sale everywhere.
Happy Labor Day, Erie!
Only two years ago, the ETN/GoErie group were kind enough to fill us in on “Moving To Mexico”, the saga of an Erie firm leaving town in search of greater profits in Mexico.
Firms had been doing the same for about 3 decades and the buildings in town are empty,so the ETN thought it was time to send someone to Mexico and take a look at where Erie is now (down there).
In case you missed this exciting report on Labor Day two years ago, GoErie has offered the story every single day of the year, in each of the last two years since they discovered jobs left us. Labor Day was a good time they felt, to show our folks, former employer at work in Mexico.
You can still read the famous story, for it still runs every day at GoErie. In case you are new to town, or just born, feel free to keep up with this current story, on this Labor Day.
If you are gonna eat Smith Hot Dogs at the beach today,(note: the beach and Smith Hot Dogs are still in Erie so far), then read about “Moving to Mexico” every day of the year when you choose.
You can find it at GoErie here:
http://www.goerie.com/steris
Thank you Danny, for answering my question. I have a pretty good idea now what to expect.
Danny, I’d like to ask you a question. If you were in GWB’s shoes, how would you have reacted when you found out the news (especially considering where he was at the time)? Was he supposed to run around like a chicken with his head cut off or stop and explain to the children about what happened? Do you really think a bunch of young children would understand what he was talking about? While I’ve never been a big GWB fan, I’ve always felt that he got crapped on for his reaction when he got the news.
I wonder how the big studio reconstruction project is going at WICU-TV/WSEE-TV? I’ve heard so many different stories, rumors and opinions that it would be counterproductive to list them all. I can’t find any information at all if 2 control rooms are being built? Or if the 1 main control room is being configured for 2 control rooms? Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product – and hopefully it will include a “live” 7pm newscast? (And no taped 6pm show)
Management at 12/35 can really make this work…and make it work very well – just listen to your employees and swing for the fences!
A minor side note: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that Jennifer Antkowiak (formerly of WJET and KDKA) is returning to anchor the morning newscasts on KDKA-TV. Smart move, KD usually languishes in last place in the AM – this oughta shake things up? (And start the rumors all over again that Jen will be heir apparent when Patrice King Brown retires!)
I was watching WSEE’s Mornings Live today. Stephanie and Ray showed some video of the set construction at the beginning of the 6:30 half-hour.
It doesn’t look too bad and kind of reminds me of WICU’s set, except with different colors and a triangular news desk (two sides for the anchors and a front, similar to the one used at the Peach Street studio). I don’t know what kind of backdrop they will use; that was not in place yet. It also has those “light boxes” seen on WICU’s set.
I didn’t catch everything, but I think they said that the set should be done by the end of the week, and it may debut sometime next week. Hopefully, this does mean live news for WSEE. Stephanie and Ray have been calling the temporary set, the one located in the “closet” that WSEE has been using for the past couple of weeks, “The Bunker.”
” If you were in GWB’s shoes, how would you have reacted when you found out the news (especially considering where he was at the time)?”
~~~Paul, question to Danny
Fair question Paul. And unfair.
Why? Hindsight is always easier to come up with woulda, coulda, and shoulda.
But if you are willing to overlook hindsight, I am willing to answer what I think.
Teachers have plans for every day and every hour, made in advance. They seek to accomplish set goals in a set time. But life does not work that way, and they must adjust.
Many times, and unannounced fire drill occurs and students must leave the building immediately, regardless of the importance of any individual teacher plan that moment. Safety first!
GWB was reading to very young children, but no matter the grade level, upon announcement that the World Trade Center was first hit —the first building, NOT the second — the President needed to call the teacher to his side, and tell her that an unscheduled emergency makes continuation impossible. Gotta go!
The teacher is in charge of the kiddos.
He should have stood up, said a brief goodbye…VERY BRIEF… and left to determine a course of response.
I say this, even if it was an errant commercial airline and not terrorism. The President’s day is divided into thin sectors of constant change, despite planned by the moment. Adjustment is critical.
Moreover, many Federal Offices were in those buildings. He is in charge of all of those employees. It was HIS building, so to speak, for it housed FBI, Federal Reserve cash and gold in enormous amounts in the basement, and myriad other federal people.
That alone should have justified immediate intervention, by alerting the military—from the school, calling the Governor regarding National Guard intervention, to secure the gold, and aid in triage, traffic, or whatever.
I won’t get into a commercial airline further, for we know it was terrorism. But during the entire day, the President was truly not running the country.
{Katrina was further proof of Bush under leadership need and lack, thereof. Gotta chop wood in Texas at the ranch.]
President Cheney Administration, er…vice president Cheney was calling the shots from Washington, including decisions on shooting down the final plane that crashed in PA. Read up on the confusion of those first several hours and DAYS, until Thursday (bullhorn moment).
Had it been a nuclear sub, 200 miles offshore, there would be zero response for we would be gone in total.
The hysteria went on until anthrax in the mail to Tom Brokaw and Congressmen a month later. Notice how quiet anthrax talk is these days? Ever see a prosecution on that, though multiple mailings came out of the same post office in NJ ?
There is a current and growing rift between Bush and Cheney, for it was not until the last month of eight years, that Bush realized HE was president, not Cheney.
He refused to pardon Scooter Libby, best bud of Cheney and fall guy for our vice-criminal.
I think Bush could have also chosen a better book than “My Pet Goat” for the kiddos, and believe Bush has taken a slightly unfair hit on that, due to Osama laughing his head off, year after year….and likely tommorrow (9/11/2009) too, on “My Pet Goat”.
Those folks live among the animals, and the book is a double entendrelaugh track of mockery for them.
But Bush could NOT have known that in advance.
I would have suggested he read “Love You Forever” to the tykes, or character building books, or one with virtue, given the moment.
It was political anyway for No Child Left Behind…..as we began leaving children behind, since Bush became Cheney’s lapdog, and followed his directions…including picking Cheney as Veep after all of Cheney’s interviews of folks for the job. It was sham from day one.
So I can forgive the book fiasco, but as commander-in-chief, his immediate actions, and his actions all the days until he went to NYC and grabbed a bullhorn to speak to the world louder, were lamentable at best, and negligent at least.
[BTW, have you noticed the absolute silence at Obama and the Somali Pirates fooling around with one of our ships?
Obama sent the Navy Seals, and they immediately put a bullet into the pirates head, freed our people, and everyone went home. Those people leave our ships alone now.
Reagan did the same with Klingenhoffer getting his wheelchair shoved off a cruise ship off Libya by terrorists. Reagan promptly dropped a couple of bombs immediately down Moamar’s chimney, and the guy has slept in a different spot every night since.
These are two commander-in-chief’s who commanded, immediately, and resolved future hassles.
We, compliments of Cheney/Bush, color code, and buy duct tape, and take shoes off at the airport to defeat the enemy, while hiring a “volunteer army”, giving them no protective equipment or winning orders, and redeploy them over and over, for this is not a national war, it is political.
Osama should have been killed by Christmas 2001. We knew his whereabouts and he was most vocal as the guy who killed our folks in all those places—worse than Pearl Harbor. The world would have looked the other way had we crossed into Pakistan and killed his sorry a$$.
The moment was lost.
I believe the WTC should have been rebuilt (both buildings) as before, and added 13 stories MORE, to remind us of the 13 original colonies, and our independence. On those thirteen floors at the top (of both buildings) should be all memorabilia of the events that day. That is what I believe.
But I have been to NYC many times since, and the people there were the most vociferous in protesting Iraq invasion. THEY KNEW who killed their loved ones, and protested Iraq long before anyone, and they did it at Ground Zero, as well as across from the Statue of Liberty, on Manhattan lower side. I will never forget their anger at his choices. Osama was the goal. He beat us under Cheney’s administration, and Bush puppet on his lap.
But it began in a classroom in Florida. Ineptness to the umpteenth degree, and a rogue president stepping into the vacuum of no leadership.
Danny,
You don’t know what the heck you’re talking about.
Why does history begin for you with Bush in that classroom?
Go back to the formation of al Qaeda. Go back to the first TWO times Bin Laden declared war on America.
Go back to the African embassy bombings.
What did Clinton do?
You have the nerve to whine about Bush talking to school kids for 7 minutes while Clinton ignored the entire issue for 8 years.
Clinton’s presidency was bookended by attacks on the World Trade Center.
I’ll give you this Danny, you’re able to string all of the clichéd, ignorant, paranoid, anti-Bush hate into flowery prose. But it’s still hate.
Dude,
I suspect you do not know how to read, but I am positive you do not know how to comprehend.
History does NOT begin for me in the classroom, for GWB on 9/11/01. However, a reasonable question by Paul was made directly to me on that very topic. He said this:
“Paul says:
September 9, 2009 at 1:07 AM
Danny, I’d like to ask you a question. If you were in GWB’s shoes, how would you have reacted when you found out the news (especially considering where he was at the time)?”
And Dude, I answered HIS question. That is called being polite.
You, on the other hand, see my reply as a string of hate and not knowing of what I speak. To prove your contention, you drag in a prior administration, African Embassies, Al Quaeda elsewhere, and a plethora of simple drivel unrelated to Paul’s question.
You frame the history you desire, instead of answering Paul’s question like I did (and it was directed to me).
Why stop there in history? We could go back to the Edwardian era, discuss class distinctions and bring it forward to kids serving in Iraq as volunteers, due to Bush tax cuts and wealth redistribution to the rich, with his all time high tax cut for them only, and no jobs for the kiddos, so they volunteer.
Bush = Socialism!
But I suspect the Edwardian Era would be out of your league to discuss, let alone follow the keen trail forward. You do not comprehend what you read.
Hate?
Yes, I hate that Sam Huff was an only child to my friend Bob. She joined the military at 18, and had an IED, blow her leg off and kill her before she was 19.
She was looking for Weapons of Mass Destruction.
No wait! She was after Sadaam.
No wait! She was freeing Iraqi people.
No wait! She was establishing a democracy in the mid east.
The reasons changed as circumstances required by Mr. Bush. His memoir will blame Hurricane Katrina and the loss of New Orleans on Osama somehow.
The news won’t show you this:
http://www.freewebs.com/sam-huff/
Dude, you can scroll and look at the pictures of an 18 year old in marching band, and then dead. Others are welcome to read the tribute to her.
I hugged Don Oakes family at our church as he became Erie’s first casualty. You may recall his memorial at the Warner, as the entire community came. The effects of war. I am not against war at all when we are attacked.
Our goal was Osama, not Sadaam. The guy we killed did not do 9/11. Osama still lives, while our youth die.
That is called negligence.
Not enough troops.
Poorly protected.
Ineffectively deployed.
FAMILIES send protective gear, for the government did not supply it to the troops. They are just volunteers anyway, eh?
Wrong country for the war.
Lies. Lies. Lies.
March into Afghanistan and get him. If he goes to Pakistan, follow him and get him. No one in the world would have stopped us in 2001, for the world was appalled. No one in the world will have anything to do with us now, for the world is MORE appalled at our behavior, than at Osama.
We attacked a country, unprovoked, and with false evidence, (actually, no evidence).
West Point grads are leaving the military in droves. We will have a huge military problem in 2015, 2020, 2025, and forward, due to lack of trained leadership.
I could go on about truth, but you have established it does not matter to you. You read hate everywhere.
So read this! I voted FOR Bush twice.
(See how ignorant you are?)
And HIS actions as President make me feel unworthy of ever voting again. How could I be so stupid?
Because I trusted he was telling the truth to me, and he lied.
You frame me, just like you frame your history, and get both wrong. You exemplify the typical voter.
Uninformed by choice. End of country.
A democracy requires an informed populace.
Iraq does not have one, and lately, our media enthrallment with entertainment versus informing the public, has dumbed down Americans to third world levels.
We are a Banana Republic as we dumb down.
Oh, and thanks for the prose compliment!
Truth always has that ring to it, eh?
Dude,
I answered you.
And when Joel releases my response from filter prison, you will read it too.
Comprehending the answer is another story.