Phil_Shuman's Blog

Can we deal with that ? Can she ? Can he ?  Lotta lotta questions about whether Hill could, would or should  be VP.... questions we've been talking about for  year of so. For my money, I say "why not ??" But that's more of a  philosophical emotional question where a colder political calculation needs to be made.  Let's face it, the concerns over her '' agenda'' as  a VP, whether she'd support a theoretical President Obama or secretly sabotage him  or have Michelle posted as ambassador to Outer Mongolia or create her own secret cabinet etc etc etc, are legit but let's not forget the purpose of selecting a vice presidential candidate is simply and totally to help the presidential candidate get elected.  You think George 41 wanted Dan Quayle for the ''heartbeat away'' concept ?   At any rate, I'm not completely qualified to do the political calculus regarding Hill's conbribution to the potential ticket and how that translates into votes in the 23rd district of Western Pennsylvania vs the 31st precincts in upstate Ilinois, and etc.... but i'm just thinking that in the big picture, if half the Dems love him and half of em love her... then why not make everybody happy and give em both ? Now we just have to figure out a face saving graceful strategy for her to say ''yes'' in a way that makes it her idea and not his....  

     Let me just start off by saying, in general, i'm now once again  a Kobe fan.  I love his basketball , I love his work ethic, i love his international upbringing, I even kind of like his giant earring though in general I'm not a huge guy-earring fan.  Having said that, I still marveled at how the calm composed stylish family man sat in front of a Los Angeles news conference on Tuesday , with his adorable daughters in his arms and said all the right things about the honor and thrill of winning his first MVP.  I , like many others no doubt, flashed back almost five years ago to another time when Kobe sat in front of a Los Angeles news conference, this time with his wife Vanessa painfully quiet at his side and said "I made the mistake of adultery ".  If things had turned out differently, if Kobe couldn't afford the best lawyers, if the alleged victim in Colorado  had been stronger or more believable, ( and we really don't know exactly how what happened happend )  perhaps Kobe would be sitting in prison today having been convicted of the charge of felony sexual assault that was filed against him, , rather than sitting on the top of the basketball world with his team having an excellent shot at winning it all.   So, the moral of the story is, don't go to hotel rooms alone with young women , particularly if you're married, spend whatever it takes on lawyers if you get in trouble, settle civil lawsuits no matter what the cost and include confidentiality agreements....and don't get too low during the bad times  and don't get too high during the good times because,  remember things can always turn around and you can go from the outhouse to the penthouse.   Phil might call it "Zen" .

     I've seen the end of the world as we know it.  Hillary on Letterman doing the famous "Top 10" list with that now famous perma-smile on her face.  I understand that politicians or perhaps their consultants have now made it standard operating procedure that candidates have to go on the ''funny'' talk shows in order to show potential voters that they are ''regular'' guys ( and gals).. in other words, if someone is funny on late nite TV, or Jon Stewart, or Colber, then those (younger) voters out there say ...''hey.. they can roll with a joke, they can hang with Dave and Jay, that means they'll be a great President!  I should vote for them . !"  If I'm a little off on the logical progression there, someone please tell me .    I just don't get it. It's blatant pandering.  It's transparent.  It smacks of desperation even.  Now I like a good joke as much as the next person, but to see Hillary struggling to be funny while delivering semi-lame Top 10 lines about pants suits.. when she probably could use some sleep is a little ridiculous. Obama was perhaps a little better.. not sure if I've even seen McCain but when he tries to be funny it has a little Richard Riordan edge to it that makes me vaguely uncomfortable.  At any rate, if you put down a list of 10 or even 20 characteristics you'd want in a President, I wouldn't think ''funny'' would be on the list.  When that phone rings at 3 a.m. in the White House it aint gonna be Jackie Mason looking for material for his new one man show. 

To reinforce what my friend and fellow reporter Al Naipo wrote... last nite I had the remarkable good fortune of attending and reporting on the 8th annual Holocaust remembrance event at Chapman University in Orange, which is a gem of a school in a most unlikely but charming setting.  There were literally some 100 survivors of the Nazis there.. it was just overwhelming to hear about their experiences and the horrors they witnessed and overcame.  One man was among a brave few in the Warsaw Uprising who held off hundreds of trained German soldiers for days with nothing.  Another, now ''only'' 78  was the youngest of the famed ''Schindler's list " group... Schindler managed to get him a factory job when he was only 13 when most young people were immediately exterminated... that man was extremely fortunate in that his parents and other siblings were also spared due to Schindler and he went on to have a long career as a teacher in the LAUSD.  Another man, in his 80's immediately broke down and wept telling me that he lost 70 members of his extended family.  Another, 91, told me that if he survived he'd dedicate his life to preserving Jewish tradition and has funded Univesities in Israel.   I mean these memories are as raw and real as yesterday...... So... the reason i bring this up, because we've heard these terrible stories before, is that it's a reminder to stop and think about your supposed 'problems' and keep things in perspective.  This was only 60 years ago.... these folks are still with us, as are their children and grandchildren,  they can appreciate what it's like to live in America free ( mostly ) of persecution , and they're a powerful reminder of the worst and also the best of humanity. 

Howard Dean, remember him ?  He's apparently back from a vaguely defined low key primary season to pronounce that one of the two democratic candidates need to 'quit' to unify the party.  Really ? Thank God he made that clear for us.   The more pressing issue is 'when' and Dr. Dean apparently beleives we can go another month or two of in-fighting, bickering, attacking, cross purpose fund raising, dividing.. pick your fatalistic term.  I'm thinking yesterday would've been a good time... for the one in the race that doesn't play basketball, but I understand how that certain candidate feels obligated to hang tough and fight and avoid being tagged with the ''Q'' word.... problem is.. it may result in at least 4 more years of war and death , while the Dems do clever post mortems and plot strategy for 2012 ... Is Chelsea too young then ?. Tragic. 

White Rolls Royce.... Range Rover... Mercedes... Lamborghini ( orange ? ) ... another Rolls...( black...)    Bentley... Mercedes... Lexus ( get that out of there ).... Navigator... Mercedes... Bentley .... Escalade... Bentley... Mercedes.... Navigator... Jag..... you get the idea.. no it's not the LA Auto Show.. it's the LA Lakers auto show.. specifically the valet parking area outside Staples after a Lakers game... it's an ostentatious unbelievable display of automotive excess and conspicous consumption.... as one obvious tourist said '' it's LA baby"... So for all of those worried about 4 dollar a galloon gas, the housing crunch, the scarcity of rice, the declining economy, the election, health care, child care, education.... paying for more cops... etc etc.... rest assured.. there are PLENTY of really really rich folks in LA who could care less as long as they get their front row seats and their cars back from valet parking QUICKLY.    Enjoy the show.. it's free.. and appearing every nite at a Lakers home game near you.  As for the Clippers crowd..... well.....  
(( p.s. I recognized a lot of those rich folks.. and i dont really really think they don't care. completely.. i know they give money to good causes... also , Jerry Buss, who has his own brand new black Rolls the size of Montana, was escorted to his car by some young babe ( surprise) and like 4 aides... He climbed into the right front passenger seat ! and pulled away slowly.  His vanity license plate read 9Xchamps   .. which means he got this like 5 championships ago... or didnt count Milwaukee ? i havent researched it yet... anyway,,, nice wheels but the Doctor was moving mightly slow )

     This is about gangs.. or more specifically how to 'get rid' of them.   Forests have been sacrificed to writings on this subject, however, that shouldnt stop us from trying to contribute.  "Gangs" are hot right now, to be cynical, because of some high profile gang murders and Mayor V's budget , but that's cyclical.  ( Not of course, to the families and friends of the dead)  .  Much has been made of late of the need to spend money on the programs that work, which would be a lot easier if we could figure out which programs work  . Having said that, i'm thinking that the key to all this is basically two words... education and jobs.  Again, not radical concepts.  But in spending a long nite w/ some honest to goodness gang bangers... past and present, tough and not so tough, and hearing their stories,  it was crystal clear to me that if we offered a way to see them thru school, and a guaranteed job with health benefits in exchange for saying good bye to their local clique... we'd be a long way down the road towards ridding ourselves of the gang violence that is bred by turf wars, the drug trade, and macho posturing.  Father Greg Boyle has been proving this for years .  and dont even start in about another whiny liberal in the media who wants to provide babysitting services for gang bangers...

       Now this is of course way too simplistic.  There is a small percentage of gang bangers who are hard core criminals and to them I say lock em up and throw away the key, and if they happen to have something worse happen to em along the way i will shed no tear, but they didn't get that way overnite.   

    So, how do we do this.. hmmmm  let's see... money..?  that's the key, as always... and we aint got enough, right ?  Well, it's a question of priorities.  The last LAPD budget in round numbers i believe is a billion dollars... The amount of money the city of LA spends on intervention and prevention is about 20 million.. you do the math..... and we aren't even talking about LA County yet.... So that's why community leaders and politicians who have the courage to be ''non P.C.'' say that much of the talk about fighting gangs is lip service cause we ain't putting the cash on the line to fund the programs that can make a difference...,and if someone like Janice Hahn proposes a 'parcel tax " to specifically fund anti gang programs, everyone criticizes her for wanted to raise taxes....  but she and many others have been to the funerals and also been to the intervention and prevention programs that make a difference.... so the basic concept is 'put up or shut up' and continue to live in violence and fear and tragedy and another generation or two of gang bangers lives are wasted when  they should be able to  say '' i want help'' and get it.

I believe the Pennsyvlania primary is tomorrow.  At least I hope it is.  It seems like Hillary and Obama have been campaigning for this one for a year.  Is it me, or am I burned out on all this before the real race even starts?  I'm not even paying that much attention other than professionally to McCain because he hasn't really had much to do except go around the country and try not to appear old and irrelevant in his Kmart plaid shirts and blazers.                  ( disclosure..., I once bought dishes and other kitchen items at a  Kmart after my divorce when I had time to kill before a story in Simi Valley, and I have purchased inexpensive snow boots there for assorted children in Big Bear, but I digress).  I know the pundits and those on the political beat are constantly salivating over almost every utterance of the big O and the big H , because that's their job,and it is important, but my strong sense from talking to a lot of folks who inhabit mostly the real world every day, is that enough is enough and it's time to get to the actual election and focus full time on the issues instead of in between the 'he said she said ' '. I know i'm not the only one who feels this campaigning has been going on forever....

Well we all know candidate's love their photo ops.. whether it's the Commander in Chief on the aircraft carrier ( "Mission Accomplished " anyone ? ) or Barack playing basketball with Bryant Gumbel or John McCain going to Iraq... but Hillary knocking back shots of whiskey in some blue collar bar in Pennsylvania ? Puhlease.. is she that desperate to show she's a 'regular gal' that she has to start drinking in public ?  Having been married to Mr. Bill so long, it's virtual certainly she's a heavy drinker i private... but....on the campaign trail ???Actually, she just kinda took a girly sip of it, but that's not the point. I just can't see how the candidates figure that having TV crews around while the engage is the behavior of the moment is going to somehow sway INTELLIGENT voters that they're the one ... ... oh maybe that's it.... how dumb of me..

The Democrats have been providing plenty of material of late, and will no doubt continue to do so, but I figured this week I'm all about equal time since this is the ''news'' and my grandparents are Fox have that 'fair and balanced ' slogan don't they ? Anyway, to me, one of the more interesting items to come out of the weekend is the concept of Condi Rice for Vice President.  Yes ? No ?  Well the White House pianos would certainly get a workout.  I have to say, I'm intrigued.  Talk about a way to stick it to the Dems on a couple of different fronts...  She's obviously qualified intellectually, but not sure if she has the personal dynamic to be the  Commander in Chief.. ( then again, did Dan Quayle . ) .  I've always believed ( no  big secret )  the first reason you sign up a VP during the campaign is to help you get elected in areas where the main man is perceived to be weak...so let's see.... McCain... could he use help among women and blacks...?. uhhhhh you think ?   Something about McCain's public personae bugs me though, can't quite get a handle on it, beyond that he's stiff as a board and almost as old as Charlton Heston  ( RIP)...this weekend, while being interviewed aboard his campaign plane about the Condi as Veep story.. the best he could come up with is essentially ..... '' she's a great American'' " a great Patriot ' .... why couldn't he just say "I'd love to have her, she'd be perfect, we'll have to wait and see.. " Cause that would mean he's telling the unvarnished truth, which is difficult if not impossible for those in the public eye....  And you know what, if he doesn't grab her up, maybe what's their names ?? Hillary and Obama might... now THAT   would be interesting.
later

    It's tough to not want to watch the news when you do the news.... yet I understand and often sympathize with people out on the street when I ask them what news they watch and they say  " I don't.... it's depressing, it's scary''.  I hear ya. it is, but ,  sometimes it's uplifting too and even fun and ecuational,  but you gotta watch closely to get that.   Just this morning while getting ready for work i've got Good Day LA on and I see Suzanne Marques w/ the shooting of a man on the 101 freeway in the Valley, .. Sherman Oaks!!! Wow.. even white people might start getting scared at this point..... What ? oh .. a relief in this his death might be an unfortunate and bizarre suicide in an apparent reaction to his girlfriends suicide the day before. .. then Bob De Castro's in Glendale w/ a police gun battle there... in Santa Ana a man and an off duty cop apparently exchange gunfire.... This isn't even the ''gang'' violence that we've become almost numb too while proclaiming outrage.  So... as Gigi wrote in another post.. things seem crazy lately..crazier than usual. Is it because we're in such a big area that there's always something violent and bad going on ? Would we have this in Bar Harbor Maine? Probably not... but that's small consolation. This is our home, where we're raising our kids,  and when it's a disaster zone, we don't like it....but do we do anything about it ? Volunteer ? TEach ? Mentor ? Join the Neighborhood Council ? Write a letter ?  Who are are heroes that will help once and for all to get rid of the guns and the gangs and the crime and restore the pride we should feel in living in one of the most beautiful and diverse places in the world?   Maybe it's easier just to fight traffic alone in your car... get home, and lock the door.

Heard an interesting item on "Bill Maher" this past weekend.. which is the best show by far for political commentary... at least I think it was Bill Maher.. it might've been Larry King... or maybe Bill O Reilly....or Keith Olbermann.. don't you always get all of them mixed up...?  anyway, the point the commentator was making, or maybe it was a comedian acting seriously, was that the three main presidential contenders have been campaigning for so long , and talking so much, that it seems like all three of em have already been president!!! we know what they'd be like and we don't particularly love any of em.... so... we need someone new !!!! ... a little extreme but makes some sense..this presidential race and all the incessant blathering is seemingly endless.. is it possible someone new from either side will come in and dynamite the whole process so we start anew ? fresh ? clean ?  do I here phones ringing in Tennessee again ? I kinda hope not.. but in many ways we run the risk of alienating all those new voters that have turned out and tuned in and gotten involved ,  to make things so interesting in the first place.

Ok..she dodged sniper fire while in Bosnia.. what ? it wasn't actual sniper fire ? it was the THREAT of sniper fire.. ok... She ran to her car without an official greeting party . What ? Okay she walked really briskly to her car... and the party was there but they didn't wave....  Obama was at church when the loud racist preacher was spouting his over the top comments.. but not THOSE comments, just some comments that were made another time.... Obama DENOUNCED the comments but he didn't REJECT  the comments,,, but now if you want me to REJECT the comments he'll do that because DENOUNCING and REJECTING are the same thing to him, except if they aren't depending on who's doing the asking.

Does all this sound a bit ridiculous ? This is what our press corp is obsessed with...  we're not ignoring the other issues.. like 4000 dead in Iraq,  nine dollar a gallon gas, record home foreclosures ( even pets are being lost according to USA Today..... oh no..    not PETS )  I mean is this the best we can do ? I agree that candidates should be truthful but if Hillary wants to sound a little mas macho by claiming she dodged a bullet or two... or Obama still wants to hedge his bets with the pastor ( a little more worrisome)  I don't think it should be a national crisis... 

Meantime, a no doubt smug John McCain is traveling the country laughing at how the Dems are destroying themselves.....thinking he can benefit by grabbing the undecided and disgusted.  anyone thought about that ? or maybe you thought you thought about it but you were mistaken.. because your initial recollection was that you  thought about it on Wednesday when someone first said you thought about it on Tuesday, so you mis-spoke about that mis-statement which you promise to correct as long as the other guy corrects the earlier mistake which wasn't actually a mistake but more of a diffrerent interpretation of something you thought he said but was actually said by that other guy.. and is it on You Tube yet anyway ?????   .  What, how did that recession sneak up on us ?

( with apologies to Jackie Mason)

Newsflash. the surveys are in.. " Obama's relationship with his controversial Pastor has cost hi some support among democrats .... "  You think ? I mean i coulda told you that off the top of my head.  Now word that tomorrow Obama will give a speech on race and talk more about his one time ''friend. '  That chuckling sound you hear no doubt is coming from Camp Hillary, who , if my memory serves me correctly, was essentially written off and expected to withdraw way way way back, like 2 weeks ago ?

So, it's an ebb and flow.. and with the voracious media looking for anything juicy, a conspiracy spewing Pastor works...  imagine how much coverage there wouldve been if there weren't that controversy with that former Governor of New York ? What was his name again ?

later 

 Sitting in traffic on my home away from home, the 405 , listening to radio news... and hear the state's likely laying off thousands of teachers due to our alleged budget crunch.. i'm thinking.. what kind of country do we live in when we're spending a    BILLION  and change per month in Iraq for very dubious reasons while we lay off teachers ?  Don't get me started.