Decision '08: God Help Me-I'm A Racist?

For reasons unclear to me, I take my right to vote more seriously than most of the people I know; so I'm grappling with who to endorse for the '08 presidential election 11 months early. It's been said by folks smarter than me that all politics is local- meaning that if the average Joe's perception of his hometown is good; if the streets and parks are clean and the police and fire department squared away, then Joe thinks everything is fine and probably won't stray too far into the political fray asking questions and comparing the candidates. For this reason almost all incumbents, or their political parties, are re-elected. This is probably a fair assessment of recent elections. However we live in a much different world now than we did even 2 or 3 years ago.

As I begin to ask questions and look for solid answers I am troubled by the following:

• Hillary thinks she has been training for the oval office for 35 years. She knows better and we know better.
  

• Some of Hillary's experience in the oval office includes the Monica Lewinski debacle with her husband Bill Clinton. While the Democrats are too polite to make it an issue now, you can bet the Republicans are waiting patiently to play the Monica card. In my view when they do it will cost her the election.

• We are at war with a country who was never any threat to America and our young people are dieing.


• Old white men have ruled our nation since I have been alive. Shortly I'll be an old white man.


• Busch and Cheney (my almost contemporaries, so to speak) seem to have little concern for truthfulness or accountability and seem happiest when they can make important decisions in a vacuum.

And there is also the "baggage" I carry with me as I work my way through the candidates: As a young man I never cared much for black people. I applied the same thought process to that conclusion 35 years ago that I apply today to tofu - never tried it and I don't like it. Old habits are hard to break. But there is hope, even for an old dog like myself.

A middle-aged white man trying to reconcile a thought process based upon lifetime of racial indifference is a lot of work. Sometimes brutal honesty within the confines of one's own head can be well - brutal. Up until now it was irrelevant. Then came Barack Obama.

Like Joe Biden I see Barack Obaba as clean, articulate, fresh and intelligent. From where I come from that's a good thing and an important first step in coming to terms with what comes next: Can I trust him to do a good job? Can I trust him with the future of my 13 year old son? In the end it's 2 things that lead me to my answer.

Number One: Kinky Friedman, who was running for governor of Texas in 2007 remarked: "How hard can it be?" While simplistic, it's true today when you use Bush, Cheney and their cohorts as the benchmark for how our country is running. To be more direct: How could it get much worse for America no matter who is elected president?

Number Two: When I visit a doctor for the first time or hire a contractor to fix something around the house my first impressions of the people are unfiltered and honest and usually correct - and I act on them. I also hate to fly and I apply the same First Impression Test to the pilot and crew before I board. Last December I'm waiting to board a flight to New York where there's a snow storm. I'm more concerned than usual about arriving alive and I'm waiting for a glimpse at the crew - needing to apply that First Impression Test to the likelihood of my plane arriving in one piece with me in it. In they walk, Captain, Co-Pilot, 3 flight attendants. The captain is an an African American man. My first impression: We're OK. As a black man living in a world full of indifferent white men like me, he probably had to be smarter and work harder than I would have had to become an Airline Captain. I guess that makes me a racist?

Like the airline pilot, Barack Obama probably had to work harder and be smarter than his contemporaries to get where he is today. My impression: We're OK. I'm voting for Obama. And to be clear, I'm not voting for Clinton/Obama. The only democrat I can vote for is Obama and his choice for Vice President. I think he can end the war and reunite our country. I think he will work harder, and be more honest and accountable, than any other candidate. That's an amazing change in my personal thought process.

From Here To IMUS

On December 2, 2007 I traveled to New York City to attend the 1st broadcast of the new IMUS IN THE MORNING radio program live from Town Hall Theater in Mid-Town Manhattan. Here is how it went:

I arrived at Laguardia Sun. afternoon & had made advance arrangements for transportation to my hotel in the Bronx. Yes, I know- I made the hotel arrangements based on price. Upon arrival I phoned the car service only to be told I had a 90 min. wait "because of the snow storm". So I grabbed a taxi. Hodgie my driver needed to call the hotel for directions after driving 40 minutes in the wrong direction. My 10 mile taxi trip took almost 90 minutes. HA!

My hotel (H.J. Express) was located underneath a train track, hard by the expressway (now I get the express part) next to an abandoned building. NICE! The desk clerk suggested I stay in and order pizza rather than try and walk to a restaurant for fear I might get mugged. As I fearlessly wandered around in the rain foraging for edibles and trying hard not to get mugged all I could find was a McDonald's-I've not been to one since my 13 year old son was young enough to be fascinated with the "Play Palace"? The food was worse than I remembered.

Back to the room-30 min. nap-its 9:00 Sun. night, I'm wide awake. I walk to the corner dough-nut shop, ( 2-day old glazed) NICE, off to the train station for directions to Town Hall. I decided what with the rain & ice I should skip the car service & brave the train so I arrive on time for the Monday Morning Resurrection. Its the # 2 train I'll be looking for in a.m.

Toss-turn, here comes the train AGAIN. Siren, moron downstairs in lobby screaming incoherently, call home to report I haven't been mugged yet, TV on-TV off, toss turn-its 2:00 am, no sleep for me. I'm up & in the shower, dressed, checking out at 2:45 a.m. Desk clerk asks where the hell I am going, says "you should take the center car so you don't get stabbed," NICE...

At the ticket office I ask about the # 2 train, tell the gal I'm not from here-I'm not making this up-her coworker asks if I'm from Poland, Ha!! Seems he was admiring my Greek fisherman's hat which according to him was guaranteed to get me robbed while on the train. SO-I changed hats and headed for the platform where I met Maurice-a black man on his way to work as a substance abuse counselor who got me to Manhattan in 1 piece.

3:30 a.m. Times Square is empty & looks so cool! I can still see it in my minds eye: me still trying not to get mugged, piles of trash, cops, an occasional pedestrian. McDonalds again for coffee, I'm at Town Hall by 4:00.

Its me, 2 cops & 1 TV reporter. I walk into the theater at the stage door, Levon Helm & the band are doing sound checks, this is too cool! Shortly I'm asked to wait out front.

More cops are arriving by the minute which as you know is good for me as I'm still trying hard not to get mugged. Mike who I assume is with WABC comes out front & we talk. Nice guy. Cops set up a fence, I'm in the front of the line as others begin to arrive. Lots of security guys from Bo Dietel & Asso. The cops don't know who Bo Dietel is-funny. 5:00-the huge personal bodyguard with the Van Dyke walks out-black limo pulls up, IMUS is in the building with Deirdre who is sporting a fashionable new hairdo.

I'm interviewed by 2 television reporters and a newspaper reporter who are impressed (ah-hem-maybe think I'm an unbalanced stalker) that I made the trip from St. Louis. I meet other IITM junkies,-5:20 Charles walks right up next to me trying to make his way into the building. 5:30 doors open, I'm the 1st one in the theater, take an isle seat, row 5.

Bernie is running about, Charles is in his seat, Levon & the band are waiting, Charles opens with the news, IMUS makes his entrance, the crowd starts applauding, He looks confident, humble and happy.

I heard the same talk you all did about the Rutgers debacle and think that after weeks of speculation on how Don would handle it-he did so masterfully. "Things pretty much ended they way they should have." "I already lost my job, I was trying to save my life."
Not much left for the haters to b#$%* about after those opening remarks, huh?

I'd go to see IMUS do a show off of the back of a truck in Idaho so I can't say anything bad about the resurrection. Town Hall was a great theater, the crowd was wonderful, Levon was outstanding with his heart wrenching rendition of "Annalee".

Onto the train, the M60 bus, the plane, back to STL, 4:30 p.m. still no sleep but to the amazement of many I didn't get mugged..HA!

The Megan Meier Tragedy: Computers Don't Kill People, People Kill People...

Every evening Ron Meier sleeps 4 doors down from the Drew family who engineered an anonymous & twisted campaign of Internet torture, fraud & misrepresentation against his 13 years old daughter Megan, so complete that it pushed her into taking her own life. He sleeps in the same house with the computer that carried the message to Megan as well. I'm no Internet Cop & I bristle at the slightest suggestion of censorship, that said, who is responsible for what happened to Megan?

In case you have missed this story here is the crib notes version. Megan Meier lived near another teen girl named Sarah Drew. It's been said that Megan struggled socially & was perhaps withdrawn, depressed & slow academically. Some ordinary teenage issues between the girls led Sarah's mother, Lori Drew to post a fake MySpace page in an attempt to lure Megan into a emotional on-line relationship with a nonexistent boy named Josh. Josh's mission was to see what Megan would say about Sarah. Megan was intentionally toyed with and ultimately an unintended consequence of this pathetic misrepresentation by the Drew family was that a fragile Megan hung herself in her closet and died on October 16, 2006.

One of the strangest components of this sad story is that Megan died almost a year ago yet only recently did her parents go public with their story. It seems Ron & Tina Meier were told to be quiet while local law enforcement grappled with the situation. They went public with their tragedy after learning that the fraud that was perpetrated against Megan by the Drew family, and aided by the Internet, is not illegal. The Meiers are in the middle of a divorce right now. I have to wonder if going public with this much earlier could have saved their marriage? I don't think law enforcement has the right to silence grieving parents looking for justice.

So I wonder... how does the Meier family forgive the unforgivable and how do they move on from here? Sadly they probably don't. If I could turn back time, and reshuffle the deck for them I can't see how they could have done much better with their Megan. From what I have read Tina Meier had a better handle on Megan's Internet habits than most of the parents I know, myself included.

While I didn't know Megan, I have seen her picture. She had dark hair, dark eyes and braces. She was a beautiful young woman trying to figure it all out. I have surprised myself by shedding some tears for Megan and her parents while writing this story. If I am any example of the social conscience of the jury pool here in the St. Louis metro area, the Drews should be very concerned.

Let me explain: For starters-if I had visited such a nightmare on a family who lived 4 doors away from where I lay my head at night, I would be afraid to sleep. Anything could happen. The Drews need to move now! Away from the scene of the crime, away from the Meier family. Next-the Drews should expect some legal eagle to come forward to represent the Meier family gratis, and file a civil action against them any day now for wrongful death ala O.J. Simpson or Robert Blake. Finally, as if their actions so far don't say enough about the Drew family-I still have to wonder how in hell can they possibly stand living 4 doors away from the family that they have destroyed? Without question someone in the Drew family owes a debt to the Meier family and society for their actions.

We now know that for all its benefits, the computer & internet can be a deadly tool in the hands of a fragile teenager or a deranged, immature adult. In memory of Megan Meier I'm asking all parents to speak with their kids this weekend about their Internet use. Let them log on and read this story, leave a comment and ask God to bless Megan & her family.

Is This A Blog, Essay, Commentary Or What, & Who Is D.W.

Let Me Be Clear From The Get-Go, I'm No Journalist.

So if you're a grammar cop or English major, move on. I started this page because I have very strong opinions on a variety of issues. I thrive on debate, discussion & an open exchange of ideas. For years I have posted my thoughts on C.L./Back Page so on. I have always wanted my voice heard and my own blog seems like the next step.

What will I say here? I'm big on personal freedom and the responsibility that goes with it. I have a unique & outrageous sense of humor so I'll occasionally try and make you laugh. I don't put up with bullies and I tend to try and help those who are being screwed. I am rabid about national politics so I will talk often about the issues, candidates and the '08 election. I don't stand for censorship of anybody on any level so I'll talk often about freedom of expression & speech.

I'm from St. Louis and occasionally I'll talk about regional issues that concern me. If you are from Albany NY, please hang in here. Eventually I will have something for everyone.

I am passionate and aggressive & sometimes people mistake that for anger. It's not...I try not to get angry.

I'll be adding the finishing touches to this page soon & by week's end I will write my first Essay, Commentary or whatever. Check back often For this to work, I need your help. I need you to tell me what you think about what I think. Make your voice heard on my blog, try and change my mind on an issue if you dare. Teach us something. Let's go!