Triad Today

If there was a competition for the “Most Enthusiastic CEO”, Jennifer Wilcox would be a finalist for sure. Though still new to the job of Chief Executive Officer (she was hired in late July), Jennifer is both leader and cheerleader for Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont, an organization that stretches across 40 counties in North Carolina, and serves nearly 7,000 Girl Scouts. Jennifer comes by her enthusiasm for Girl Scouts honestly, as she told me during a recent segment of Triad Today.

JL: You might be new to Girl Scouts in this area, but you’re not new to Girl Scouts.

JW: That’s right. I grew up in southern Indiana, and I was a Girl Scout in Jeffersonville, which is right across the river from Louisville, Kentucky. I was a Girl Scout Brownie and Junior, and I stayed in Girl Scouts until I got to middle school.

After graduating from the University of Evansville, and obtaining a Masters from Webster University, Jennifer served as the Associate Economic Development director for her hometown of Jeffersonville, then started her own non-profit agency to promote community development throughout Indiana and Kentucky. Before long, Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana came calling and hired Jennifer as Chief Operating Officer. Most recently she served as Senior Director of National Events at Girl Scouts of the USA, where she created the first-ever virtual National Council Session during the 2020 pandemic.

JL: You had great success at the national level, so what attracted you to this job?

JW: The attraction to come to North Carolina and to be a part of the Peaks to Piedmont team was really about coming home. I had a fantastic opportunity with Girl Scouts USA and got to see the global reach that we have, but I had a longing to get back to the basics of our organization, and back to the basics of our mission.

JL: I’ve learned over the years that a big part of that mission is to empower girls, so how would you describe the value of being a Girl Scout?

JW: There are so many wonderful things that girls get to take away from Girl Scouts. You get to make new friends, and you get to have fun. You also have fantastic role models and mentoring. Above all, Girl Scouts is a safe space that gives girls an opportunity to try new things that they may never have otherwise tried, and you have leaders around you, and sisters around you to support you in that space.

JL: YoYou mentioned leaders and role models. How many adult volunteers do you have now, and do you need more?

JW: We have 4,000 volunteers employed across the forty counties, but we still need more. In fact, we’re in the middle of our recruitment season, and we’re looking for both girls and adult members, so this is the perfect time to become a Girl Scout.

To learn more about becoming a Girl Scout or an adult volunteer, visit GirlScoutsP2P.org or call 1-800 672-2148.

I would imagine that most wealthy nonagenarians spend their days relaxing at the beach or at their mountain villa, but not Ed Asner. After appearing in over 150 TV shows, 70 films, and countless plays, Ed had, as of late last month, no less than fifteen current projects in post-production and five more announced. Of course, anyone who knew Ed wasn’t surprised by his energy or his level of professional activity. It’s what we expected from the man whose blue-collar upbringing taught him the value of hard work. And with role models like two older sisters who were social workers, and a football coach who once explained to him the rights of laborers, it was also predictable that Ed would work hard fighting for others. Ed was an actor who didn’t just talk the talk, he also walked the walk, speaking out against everything from repression to suppression, and raising money for a plethora of charities and causes, even when it meant being criticized and blackballed. It’s no wonder, then, that The Hollywood Reporter just named Ed as their 2021 Icon. That issue came out on August 25. Ed passed away four days later. Ed Asner was 91.

I first got to know Ed back in 2010 when he was filming Elephant Sighs in North Carolina and stopped by to tape an episode of Triad Today. We stayed in touch regularly by phone after that, including discussions about politics and his reason for writing The Grouchy Historian: An Old Time Lefty Defends Our Constitution Against Right-Wing Hypocrites and Nutjobs, which was published in 2017. We spoke shortly before the book was released.

Ed: My co-author Ed Weinberger and I were unhappy with how the right-wing was constantly claiming the Constitution was theirs, and we decided some counter-thrust should occur.

Jim: What’s worse, right-wing nuts who abuse the Constitution, or a President who hasn’t read it?

Ed: [laughs] What’s the difference. Trump is a P.T. Barnum like I’ve never witnessed in my life. There’s a sucker born every minute, and I think he’s corralled most of them.

Ed’s political beliefs got him in trouble with conservatives who called him everything from a communist to a socialist, to unpatriotic. But he never wavered in those beliefs throughout his career, and what a career it was. Following a brief stint in the Army, Ed performed with the Playwrights Theatre, then made a living by playing character roles in episodic television and films, before being cast as Lou Grant in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He then headlined the spin-off series Lou Grant, and became the only actor in history to win an EMMY for playing the same role in two different series, one a comedy, and the other a drama. He won seven Emmys in all, served as President of the Screen Actors Guild, and was named to the Television Hall of Fame.

During Ed’s visit to Triad Today in 2010, we discussed his youth, his career, and his social activism. Here are some highlights:

Jim: By now it’s common knowledge that your buddy Gavin McLeod was asked to audition for the role of Lou Grant, but deferred to you instead, because he thought you’d be better in that role. It’s also a well-known fact that you blew your first audition for MTM.

Ed: They told me I gave a very intelligent reading, which is a euphemism for saying “it stunk.” I did a second reading, and this time they asked me to be crazy, wiggy, and wild. I did and they loved it. Then they asked me back to do the same thing with Mary. Afterward, Mary said to the producers, “Are you sure about him?,” and they said, “Yeah, that’s your Lou Grant.”

Jim: MTM was a huge hit, then you did five seasons as the star of the spin-off, Lou Grant. No one had ever attempted to take a sitcom character and have him headline a drama as the same character. There must be a reason why no one had tried.

Ed: There was. We were going from 180 degrees difference, and nobody, producers, writers, crew, nobody knew what it was like to try and take a half-hour comedy show with three cameras, and make it a one-hour drama with no audience. It took us two years to get it right.

Jim: In Lou Grant, you play a big-city newspaper editor who was sort of a throwback to the days of muckraking.

Ed: I love muck [both laugh].

Jim: Do you think that show made a difference in addressing social issues?

Ed: I know it did. For example, we did a show on dogfighting, and it helped change laws in four or five states.

Jim: While flying high with Lou Grant, you sent money for medical supplies to the rebels in El Salvador who were fighting against a dictator that the Reagan administration supported. All of a sudden, the White House and the news media painted you as some sort of communist. Why did you do it?

Ed: Because our government was supporting a dictator who sponsored death squads. They went around killing the peasants unless they supported the evil government. These squads killed nuns, they killed priests, but the American media led folks here to believe that my sending medical aid was a communist move on my part.

Jim: Bowing to political pressure, CBS then cancelled Lou Grant, and you were virtually blackballed for a while afterwards. Did you ever regret what you did?

Ed: I second guess it all the time. My great regret is that a show with ideas was removed from TV. The causes we covered on Lou Grant are still untreated, and that’s the guilt I carry.

Jim: So why didn’t you ever run for Congress and fight those causes as an elected official?

Ed: I should have because all you have to do is serve one term, and you get a good health plan for life [laughs]. In fact, everybody in this country should run for Congress and get a good health plan. I also think people who run for the Senate should do what NASCAR drivers do, and put the names of their corporate sponsors on their suit. Look, a lot of folks back then thought I was positioning myself to be governor, but I have far more power speaking out as an actor than I ever would as a congressman or governor.

Jim: Why DID you become an actor?

Ed: Two reasons. It was good therapy, and it was a romantic, safe adventure. Acting is a safe adventure.

Jim: Well, just before we started taping, I noticed that you were trying to be romantic with my wife.

Ed: I was merely resuming where I had been before [both laugh].

I last spoke with Ed this summer to get his thoughts on the passing of our friend Gavin McLeod. Now, less than three months later Ed is gone too. His lasting legacy is one of entertaining and serving others without pretense, and he will be missed. Of course, were he with us now, I’m sure Ed would want the last word, so here’s one more of our exchanges.

Jim: What would it take for you to stop being grouchy?

Ed: I don’t want to stop being grouchy. I think being avuncular is very attractive, and I like filling those shoes, so mind your own God damn business! [both laugh]

The Grouchy Historian is available from Amazon, and you can view my complete television interview with Ed on JimLongworth.com.

 
 

I’ve always had a strong affection for the Atlantic Coast Conference because we were both created at the same time. On May 8, 1953, commissioner Jim Weaver officially opened the first ACC office and made history, while my parents officially closed their bedroom door and made me. Eighteen years later I left high school, and the University of South Carolina left the ACC. It marked the beginning of a great journey for me and the beginning of the end for the real ACC.

Sixty-eight years ago, the ACC was comprised of eight schools: UNC, North Carolina State, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina. Granted, none of the league’s football teams were national powerhouses in those days, but oh my, could we play basketball! Speaking of which, the competition was so great among the four North Carolina schools, that the ACC even held an annual “Big 4” tournament from 1971 to 1981. Of course, the “Big 4”, like the ACC tournament, was always held at the Greensboro Coliseum. Sure there were periodic rumblings from non-Big 4 schools who felt like they were outsiders, but only South Carolina acted on its paranoia and left the conference in 1971 (Maryland eventually pulled out in 2014). The ACC’s second commissioner, Bob James waited eight years before admitting Georgia Tech to the conference, and while many fans missed the heated competition with South Carolina, the Yellow Jackets proved a good fit for at least restoring the league of eight.

Losing the Gamecocks was a blow to ACC purists, but the real insult came in the decade between 2004 and 2014 when commissioner John Swofford allowed seven more schools to join the conference. In came Boston College, Notre Dame, Miami, Virginia Tech, Pitt, Louisville, and Syracuse, and out went the character and traditions of the ACC. Suddenly the Greensboro Coliseum wasn’t big enough and accessible enough to suit our new interlopers, so the ACC tournament was held at rotating venues including in Atlanta, Washington DC, and New York City. Not so gradually, our little regional family had morphed into a major corporation. But, hey, at least the conference office and its 50 employees would still remain in Greensboro, right? Maybe not.

Earlier this year, Jim Phillips took over as ACC commissioner, and by late last month, he had hired Newmark, a Texas-based real estate advisory firm, to help him decide where the conference headquarters should be located. That means sometime soon, Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan and a team of hand-picked ambassadors will have to do a dog-and-pony show for some guys from Texas who could care less about the Gate City, or the history and traditions of the ACC. The good news is if anyone can save what’s left of the real ACC, it’s Nancy Vaughan. The bad news is I’m afraid the handwriting is already on the moving van walls.

As far as I’m concerned, the ACC hasn’t been the ACC for nearly 20 years, so I suppose one more nail in the coffin won’t make much difference. Still, I hope I’m wrong about Mr. Phillips, but I can’t help thinking that what my parents were doing in 1953 is now being done to Greensboro in 2021.

Once upon a time, local TV stations were really committed to local programming, and I’m not just referring to local news and weather.

It was a time when locally produced programs defined the station, and the people who produced those programs did it for one reason. They loved television. That was Jack Markham in a nutshell.

Following a stint in the Navy, Jack attended UNC-Chapel Hill and was in the first graduating class of the University’s famed Department of Radio, Television and Motion Pictures. After that he spent the better part of three decades at WFMY-TV, first working in production, and later as Program Director. During that time he either directed or oversaw the production of scores of local programs, including The Good Morning Show, What’s Cooking Today, RFD Piedmont, TV Matinee, A&T Sports Report, The Old Rebel Show, Newsmakers, Sandra and Friends, and many others. And it was Jack who authorized and coordinated a multi-station telethon to raise money for what became the North Carolina Zoo. Jack helped to put WFMY on the map, and made it one of the most successful and respected TV stations in the country. He also happened to be the best boss I ever worked for. Jack passed away last September during the pandemic, and his memorial service will be held this Saturday. Jack Markham was 93.

After learning my craft at the UNC-G studio where we produced weekly programs for UNC-TV, I was hired by WFMY to run the camera and perform other related production duties on just about every one of our local programs. Eventually, I worked my way up to late-night weatherman and promotion manager, but in those early days Jack’s door was always open to the crew, so whenever I had an idea for a special program, he would tell me to go for it. During the bicentennial, for example, he let me produce So you Think you Know the Constitution, which challenged viewers to answer questions about our nation’s greatest document. I also produced an Old Rebel tribute program, a salute to Vincent Price, and a prime-time half-hour special with Red Skelton, which was taped at the WFMY studio in front of a live audience (and can be viewed on JimLongworth.com). One year, Jack even sent me to Hollywood to tape a series of interviews with CBS stars.

In addition to being program director, Jack was also an actor, and a real ham, so I occasionally recruited him to appear in my farcical Newsreel 2 segments, which aired during the 11 p.m. Nightbeat news. One evening I was assigned to attend a cocktail party to interview celebrities who would be playing in the Pro-Am at the Greater Greensboro Open (forerunner to the Wyndham). But prior to that, Jack and I had traveled to a muddy field in Guilford County and taped an interview at what we said was the site of the Newsreel 2 Open, a fictional golf tournament that was to compete with the GGO. During that spoof segment, Jack portrayed a developer named Mark Jack, who guaranteed that the course would be ready for play that weekend. Fast forward to the cocktail party where I asked the celebrities if they would be willing to skip the GGO and instead play in the Newsreel 2 Open. Some of the celebs thought Jack and I were serious, but most of them got the joke.

Then there was that afternoon in 1977 when I came to Jack and said, “You know, Saturday Night Live is really popular, and CBS doesn’t offer much on Saturday nights, so how about letting me produce a weekly variety show?” Jack gave me the green light, and several weeks later I delivered an hour pilot titled, Grab Bag, which featured celebrity interviews, a magician, music by Sammy Anflick’s Jazz Band, and a fake telethon in which we pretended to raise money to fight dandruff, psoriasis, and venereal disease. Jack looked at the show, laughed a lot, then killed it. It was, he said, just too racy for WFMY. I was disappointed, of course, but Jack’s decision taught me about boundaries and made me a better producer in the decades to come. In fact, this is my 51st year in broadcasting, and not a week goes by that I don’t think about Jack Markham and how much he meant to me. In addition to all he did for his industry and his community, you just have to love a guy who can make up a fake golf tournament.

It’s human nature to blame someone or something else when we screw up. We all do it, but only up to a point. On the other hand, there are some folks who carry the blame game to an absurd and often offensive level. In 2015, the man who murdered several students at an Oregon community college blamed his crime on the fact that he was a frustrated virgin. In 2017, an Ohio man who slaughtered two people said that pain pills made him do it. Every year we hear of a young mother who kills her baby and blames it on post-partum depression. And then there are the husbands who get caught cheating and blame a sex addiction for their bad behavior. Speaking of bad behavior, how about New York Governor Andrew Cuomo? During his resignation speech, Cuomo said he wasn’t aware that groping women was wrong, and blamed his ignorance on a generational and gender divide.

In almost every instance of the blame game, whether it involves groping or murder, offenders like to say, “That’s not who I am”. But the truth is, that’s exactly who they are, and nowhere is that more evident than in cases in which someone has gotten caught using a racial or ethnic slur. For example, in 2006, actor Mel Gibson was pulled over for driving drunk and then preceded to lambast the arresting officer with a string of anti-Semitic slurs. Later, Gibson blamed his behavior on alcohol.

In 2018, Roseanne Barr went on a late-night Twitter rant in which she claimed that Valerie Jarrett (Barack Obama’s former Chief of Staff) was the product of a marriage between the Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes. At the time, Roseanne was riding high with the revival of her former ratings winner, Roseanne. But the racial slur got her fired from her own show. When making a public apology, Barr claimed she didn’t know that Jarrett was Black, and blamed the sleep aid Ambien for the slur.

In 2020, while competing in a virtual race, NASCAR driver Kyle Larson cut loose with the “N” word, and later said, “I wasn’t raised that way.” Earlier this year when he thought his microphone was switched off, an announcer for an Oklahoma high school football game also uttered the “N” word. The next day he blamed his behavior on low blood sugar. And recently, country music star Morgan Wallen got caught (again) using the “N” word in public, then blamed his utterance on being sleep deprived.

Let’s be clear. Alcohol, Ambien, virginity, low blood sugar, and lack of sleep do not make White people say the “N” word. You either have that word in your vocabulary or you don’t. Put another way, if someone gets caught using the “N” word, you can bet they’ve used it before. And if you’re that comfortable using a racist slur, then you are a racist. Just once I’d like for one of these high-profile offenders to admit that they are racist, instead of saying, “That’s not who I am” and then blaming their prejudice on something else. I’d much rather deal with a racist than a liar.

According to PetFoodIndustry.com, Americans spent $36.9 billion dollars on pet food and treats in 2019. Meanwhile, CompareCamp.com suggests that this year, those figures will rise to over $38 billion dollars. On a micro level, PetPedia.com says that pet owners in this country spend an average of $300 per year on pet food. However, over 40% of pet owners spend two or three times more than that, in part because their veterinarians prescribe a special diet to improve such things as digestive health and urinary tract ailments. In truth, these specialty pet foods do contain healthy ingredients, but they are not deserving of the name “prescription.”

A prescription, by definition, is “a written order, especially by a physician, for the preparation and administration of a medicine or other treatment.” However, there is no medicine contained in any prescription dog food. And that brings me to a 2016 lawsuit that was filed in California by plaintiffs who alleged that the accused pet food companies were, “in violation of antitrust and consumer protection laws for making certain veterinary diets available by prescription-only, in order to willfully overcharge consumers.” Plaintiffs also charged that these companies mislead consumers, “into believing the foods contain some kind of drug or controlled ingredient to justify the prescription labeling.”

A California District Court dismissed the lawsuit in July of 2017, but in July of last year, an Appeals Court ruled that the case could continue. In that ruling, the Appeals panel concluded that plaintiffs, “sufficiently alleged that the sale of the prescription pet food exclusively through vets, or with veterinary approval was a deceptive practice. In addition, plaintiffs satisfied the heightened pleading standard for fraud because they alleged sufficient facts to show that prescription pet food and other pet food were not materially different.”

In reporting on the lawsuit for iHeartDogs.com, Dina Fantegrossi wrote, “They (the plaintiffs) feel that the prescription-only status misleads consumers into believing the foods contain some kind of drug or controlled ingredient to justify the prescription labeling. In truth, veterinary prescription diets do not contain any ingredients that cannot also be found in conventional foods.”

And while there has been a recent surge in the sale of so-called prescription pet food, the underlying problem is anything but recent.

According to TruthAboutPetFood.com, prescription diet pet food companies have enjoyed a long-standing relationship with veterinarians, dating back to the 1960s. In fact, By the late 1980s, these companies even began supplying vets with prescription pads as part of their marketing effort. That alone should have alerted the FDA to the alleged fraud, but, as DogsNaturallyMagazine.com reports, “While the FDA practices enforcement discretion when it comes to veterinary diets… the FDA has not reviewed or verified the health claims on any veterinary diet.”

And speaking of prescription pads, if you should run out of “prescription” food when the vet’s office is closed, there are a couple of chain stores that sell it, but only if you have (you guessed it) a written prescription. It’s like trying to buy Sudafed. It’s not really a prescription sinus medicine, but I can’t buy it without showing a driver’s license, because the government thinks I’m going to start a meth lab in my basement. Likely as not, the FDA will eventually mandate that greedy pet food companies stop calling their products “prescription.” which, in turn, could lead to a lowering of the inflated prices being charged for these non-medicinal foods. It’ll be a win/win for everyone unless your dog needs Sudafed. In that case, he’ll need a driver’s license.

Over the past couple of months, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina has taken steps to expand its services, first by opening a satellite warehouse in Greensboro, then by breaking ground on a new hub facility in Winston-Salem. The two projects are coming none too soon for people in our area who go hungry every day. And just how bad is the food crisis?

According to Feeding America, over 1.4 million North Carolinians don’t have enough to eat, and 420,000 of them are children. We’re also one of the ten worst states for senior hunger. FoodShuttle.org reports that 32% of all seniors live in or near poverty, and 18% struggle with hunger.

It’s no wonder that TruthOut.org ranks North Carolina as the 9th hungriest state in the nation. Fortunately, Second Harvest Food Bank is committed to waging war on hunger in our area.

“We provide the main support to the area food assistance networks, and we have over 430 programs that we support across 18 counties. We actually supply 81% of the food that food pantries, shelters, and other programs provide to our neighbors,” said Eric Aft, CEO.

Eric was a guest on Triad Today back in April, and before we talked about the new expansion projects, I asked him to evaluate the effect of the pandemic on hunger.

Eric: Well, it was a great challenge before the pandemic, and then the hunger crisis spiked as we entered the pandemic. Early on the government programs helped, like unemployment and food stamp benefits, but we continued to see a tremendous need. To give you an idea, pre-pandemic we were distributing about 38 tons of food out of our warehouse every day. We’re now at over 50 million tons of food per day. It’s amazing how the community has helped us, but it’s also very sad that, due to the economic impact of the pandemic, the need is so substantial.

Jim: What are you looking for over the next few months?

Eric: I think we’re going to be at this sustained level for quite a while. What keeps me up at night is when the moratoriums on rent and utility payments end, and when those bills come due for those families, they’re going to need additional assistance. We’re prepared to respond to that, but I worry for those families.

Jim: Tell me about your new facility.

Eric: Our goal is to get food where it is needed most, so we’ve opened a satellite facility in Greensboro. It will enable us to get more nutritious food to those who need assistance and support. As you know, items that are kept in a refrigerator or freezer are also the most expensive things for us to purchase, whether it be dairy, meats, or produce, and this will enable us to get more fresh food out to the eastern counties that we serve, but not impacting what we’re able to do here in Forsyth and to the west. We’ll also be able to extend nutrition education work that helps people understand how to use food to keep them healthy.

Meanwhile, the new hub facility in Winston-Salem will be up and running by the summer of 2022, allowing Second Harvest to put all of its operations, including refrigerator storage, under one roof. The hub will be located at Whitaker Park, formerly home to R.J. Reynolds manufacturing. To learn more about the food bank or to make a donation, visit SecondHarvestNWNC.org.

US map showing the states color coded according to the strength of their animal protection laws in 2020. Green are strongest, gold in the middle, red are weakest. North Carolina was ranked 39th in 2020. The rankings are according to the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s annual U.S. State Animal Protection Laws Rankings Report.

Here in the United States, an animal suffers abuse every 60 seconds, and each year more than 10 million animals die from abuse. Given those statistics, you’d think that we as a nation would inflict extremely severe punishment on the abusers. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Take, for instance, NFL quarterback Michael Vick who tortured, burned, hung, and killed at least eight dogs, and abused dozens more. He served a mere 21 months in prison, then returned to the playing field to loud cheers, and saw his jersey become the NFL’s top-selling item. Is it just me, or is there something wrong with this picture? Does the public care so little about animals that we easily forgive and reward people who abuse them? Perhaps so. After all, state legislatures and the courts don’t consider animal torture a serious felony, only a minor one. More on that in a moment. First, let’s take a look at a couple of recent abuse cases closer to home.

Last month, a particularly evil individual snuck into Martin Luther King Park in Statesville and proceeded to use ducks for target practice. He also beat some of the ducks over the head and cut the feet off of others. A total of 43 ducks were tortured and killed. That person is still at large. Not so with Caleb Dewald, a 19-year-old man from Winston-Salem. Dewald was arrested last month on multiple counts of animal cruelty, including electrocuting squirrels, and cutting off the ears and noses of other animals while they were still alive. Fortunately, Dewald was stupid enough to post the torture online, otherwise, he might never have been caught. But catching and arresting an animal abuser is one thing. Convicting them and putting them behind bars is quite another.

Here in North Carolina, animal torture is a Class H felony, so a convicted abuser faces only a maximum of 25 months in jail. That needs to change. Our state legislature should re-classify animal torture as a Class B felony, which carries at least 8 years in prison. Unfortunately, a lot of folks don’t agree with me. They don’t value the life of animals, and they think that prison is too harsh a punishment for abusing, torturing, and killing them. But even if you don’t care what happens to animals, you should care about what else their abusers are capable of.

According to the humane society, 71% of domestic violence victims reported that their abuser also targeted pets. In fact, pet abuse occurs in 88% of families under supervision for physical abuse of their children. These statistics are consistent with a report by the Animal Legal and Historical Center, which revealed that 85% of battered women entering shelters say that pet abuse occurred in their families. And what about young people who torture pets? What becomes of them? For decades, FBI studies have warned that children and teens who torture animals often grow up to commit violent crimes, and even become serial killers. Such was the case with Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and Jeffrey Dahmer. Purdue University professor Gail Melson concurs, concluding in a recent report that, “Animal abuse is often the first sign of serious disturbance among adolescent and adult killers.”

The warning is clear: people who turn a blind eye to animal abuse might also be turning a blind eye to violence against humans. That’s why we must lobby our state representatives to make animal abuse a more serious felony. Criminals who torture animals deserve to be locked away for a long, long time. For all of our sakes.
 
 

Former senator John Edwards is best known for his scandal-ridden, failed presidential campaign, but he did manage to succeed in gaining more awareness for poverty as a national crisis. During his 2004 run for the White House, Edwards often spoke of the economic disparities between the haves and the have-nots, something he called, the “Two Americas.” Seventeen years later, those disparities are not only still with us, but they are growing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are over 34 million people living in poverty, and 12 million of those are children. It’s a sad situation caused by low wages, where these families are living off of $26,000 a year or less. But hey, we’ve just come out of a pandemic, so everyone is hurting, right? Wrong.

Last year, while America was under siege by COVID-19, the average CEO made $15.5 million, while the average nonsupervisory worker made $43,000. That’s a ratio of nearly 300 to 1, which prompted former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns to tell Reuters, “Astronomical CEO pay during the pandemic is abuse.” But in many cases, the gap is much wider. In 2019, for example, Disney CEO Bob Iger made $65 million, or 1,400 times more than what he paid his average employee. Closer to home, Marvin Ellison, CEO of Lowe’s Companies, made $23 million last year, which is 940 times what he paid his average worker. That report comes from a recent article by the Winston-Salem Journal’s Richard Craver, who also revealed that Hanesbrands CEO Stephen Bratspies made nearly 700 times what he paid his employees, 88% of who work in third world countries.

One could argue that CEOs have always earned more than the people they employ, but the greed factor was never this extreme. According to the AFL-CIO, in 1982, the ratio of CEO to worker pay was only 42 to 1. But by 2012, that ratio jumped to 354 to 1, and there’s no indication that the pay gap will significantly decrease any time soon. So what’s the solution?

Fixing the pay gap can be achieved in one of two ways, either by self-regulation or by government regulation. 68% of the Swiss people chose the latter back in 2013 when they voted to enact the “Popular Initiative Against Abusive Executive Compensation.” Among other things, the initiative bans golden parachutes either at the point of recruitment or severance. Lord Wolfson, former CEO of NEXT Clothing, chose the former option for reform when he decided to give his $3.7 million bonus to his employees. And, long-time Bank of South Carolina CEO Fleetwood Hassell, agreed to cap his salary at four times that of his average employee, who, eight years ago made $48,000 per year. Meanwhile, Sen. Bernie Sanders wants to enact tax penalties for any company whose CEO pay ratio exceeds 100 to 1. Each approach has merit, so perhaps the best solution is for Congress and industry leaders to work together to create a hybrid initiative that encompasses the best elements of each. In any event, we need to make a course correction sooner than later.

In Craver’s report, he cited a 2018 study by the Institute for Policy Studies, which concluded that if something isn’t done, “the typical employee would have to work at least a thousand years to earn what their CEO made in just one year.” Unfortunately, there will always be a pay gap between executives and employees, and that’s why there will always be two Americas. But there’s no reason why the two Americas have to exist so far apart.

 
 

Whether Democrats care to admit it or not, there is a very real danger that liberal policies and too much political correctness could land Donald Trump back in the White House in 2024, and perhaps put far-right Republicans back in power in next year’s midterm election. This warning comes from such Democratic notables as James Carville, who told VOX, “Wokeness is a problem and everyone knows it…Democrats won’t admit it because they’ll get clobbered or canceled.” The same can be said of moderate Republicans and unaffiliated voters, as former South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges noted to CNN, saying, “If we learned anything from 2020, it was that growth with suburban voters, many former Republicans, carried Biden across the finish line, and these same voters will make the difference in competitive swing state elections.”

Recent polls bear out what Carville and Hodges are saying. In 2018, an NBC/PBS poll showed that 52% of Americans were, “against the country becoming more politically correct”, while a PEW poll from May of this year revealed that 57% believe “people today are too easily offended by what others say.”

In some cases, these warnings and indicators come as a result of liberal talking points on the Green New Deal and defunding police, but also from social philosophies and policies. For example, until last month, if you visited Disneyworld, a recorded voice over the public address system greeted you in the following manner: “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, dreamers of all ages…” But thanks to an overly PC culture, Disney has now dropped the ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls from its greeting. Meanwhile, beginning next year, if you apply for a U.S. passport, you will be able to indicate your own gender by selecting “X”, instead of “M or F”, even if the gender with which you identify does not match other documents, or your biological sex at birth. In like manner, if you live in the state of New York, you will soon be able to mark “X” on your driver’s license. If you run into singer Demi Lovato on the street, you must now refer to her as “they” or “them”. And if you teach school in Virginia, Lord help you if you refer to boys as “boys”, and girls as “girls”. If you do that, then students will refer to you as “suspended”.

According to The PBHS Closet, there are now over 60 gender identifications and classifications that the Left expects us to embrace. They include: Cisgender (when you identify with the gender you were assigned at birth); Bigender (identifying as two genders); Polygender (when you identify with multiple genders at the same time); Pansexual (when you are attracted to all genders) and, Genderfluid (someone who is moving between two genders). It’s a lot to process, but if you want to be politically correct, you better bone up. Don’t get me wrong. Every person has the right to his, her, or their own sexual orientation, but the LGBTQ movement is getting hijacked by labels and initials, the likes of which we’ve never seen before.

You can only force just so much political correctness and social change on people before they become resentful, and when that happens, you lose their support. Older, socially conservative Whites and Blacks who were worn down by Trump’s bullying and bluster, supported Biden in 2020. But go tell them that Biden thinks it’s OK for a 16-year-old boy who “identifies as female” to use the girls bathroom and showers at their granddaughter’s school, and see how fast they either stay home in 2024 or gravitate to the Republican party. To prevent that from happening, Biden and the Left need to focus more on improving quality of life for everyone, and less on promoting gender prefixes for a few.

 
 

While it’s true that Chevy Chase became an international star because of his films, he was already a cultural icon in this country long before his face ever appeared on the big screen. That’s because of the pratfalls, news anchor parodies, and brilliant writing he contributed to Saturday Night Live, for which he won 3 EMMYs. Perhaps the late, great Harold Ramis gave us the best perspective on Chevy’s popularity. Speaking with a reporter, Ramis related an incident that took place while on location directing the first Vacation film.

“We were shooting at the Grand Canyon, one of the most spectacular natural sites on the planet. But all of the tourists who were there, were standing with their backs to the Grand Canyon, looking at Chevy. The Grand Canyon could not compare to the fact that Chevy Chase was there.”

Truth is, we’ve all been looking at Chevy for a very long time, beginning with his work on the groundbreaking PBS series, The Great American Dream Machine. That show premiered 50 years ago, and gave Chevy his first national exposure. I first met the versatile actor/comedian at the EMMY Award Governors Ball in 2009. We reconnected recently and talked at length about his television career, comedy influences, politics, the press, and the slings and arrows he has endured along the way.

JL: The Great American Dream Machine has often been described as a variety show, but that doesn’t do it justice. It was more like Ernie Kovacs, the Smothers Brothers, and 60 Minutes rolled into one.

CC: Yeah, but it wasn’t quite as funny as all those things. I was a writer back then, was sending stuff into Laugh In, and was hired on Dream Machine primarily as a writer.

JL: But you also appeared in a number of sketches. One that comes to mind is where you were seated, and a guy used your head as a bongo drum.

CC: That was Ken Shapiro hitting my head to the tune of “I’m looking over a four leaf clover”. That damn near killed me because we had to do it a few times. It hurt, but I still had to concentrate on the words. [laughs]

JL: Was that the first time you remember sacrificing your body for a laugh on TV?

CC: No, I worked on something called The Groove Tube with Ken and a bunch of others. We did that for almost five years and did it in a theatre and on underground television. It wasn’t broadcast as you put it, but it gave me 25 bucks a week [laughs]. Some of that stuff made it into the Groove Tube movie.

JL: During that period of time you also wrote for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. I’m thinking that the work you did on that show, as well as on Dream Machine, and on stage with Groove Tube, were all sort of the impetus for Saturday Night Live.

CC: Yeah, I think so, now that you say it. By the time Lorne (Michaels) hired me, what I’d been doing all along is creating SNL. [laughs]

JL: Lorne hired you to be the head writer, then quickly moved you in front of the camera. I understand you were paid $800 a week. Was that for writing or performing, or both?

CC: Both. I just got one check. [laughs]

JL: Some years later, your buddy Dan Ackroyd said in an interview, “Chevy put SNL where it is, and Chevy’s film work was worldwide currency for SNL.” I mention that because your work prior to SNL really gave rise to SNL. You even helped Lorne cast the show. By all rights, shouldn’t your name be on the credits each week as “co-creator” or something?

CC: Oh, I don’t know. That kind of thing is for the big wigs. [laughs]

JL: You brought your style of physical comedy with you to SNL. Where did that come from?

CC: The Honeymooners actually had a major affect on me as I got into performing more, because Art Carney was very physical, and I’m totally a physical comic. I think that’s what I’m best at. And that’s why I helped make SNL work because we didn’t have a lot of physical people. We had John (Belushi), who was very funny.

JL: It’s been well sourced and spoken of by folks like Jane Curtain and others, that John was very jealous of you for being the first break-out star on SNL, even to the point of stirring up a fist fight between you and Bill Murray the night you returned to host. Why the resentment?

CC: I’ll tell you why, because we had done Lemmings together, and John was clearly the star of that show. He was like the announcer at Woodstock, so he was always working the audience, and introducing stuff that I would do, or Chris Guest would do. So later I get to SNL, and Lorne wouldn’t hire John because John had said, “I don’t do television.” So Michael O’Donoghue and I said to Lorne, “Come on, let’s hire him,” and we did because John really does do television, the liar [laughs]. He just wanted to look more sheik. The best thing that ever happened to John was being hired for SNL.

JL: Let’s talk about “Weekend Update”, which you created for SNL. Did you write all of the news stories?

CC: No, I wrote the top story and a few others, but other people would throw in their ideas, like Michael for instance. He was also the head of The National Lampoon Radio Hour, which I was featured on.

JL: One of your signature bits on SNL was your over-the-top impersonation of then President Gerald Ford, in which you made him look really clumsy and inept. It has been said that your portrayal of Ford cost him the 1976 election. Later, you and Ford became good friends, so did you ever regret satirizing him to that degree?

CC: No! Any President is worthy of that kind of satire [laughs], particularly because Jerry would make it easier by falling down the steps of Air Force One and things like that. One day I was at the White House to tape a series of bits with Jerry for the Today show. The production crew was set up in the Oval Office, and I met Jerry in another room. When we walked over to the Oval Office, we had to enter through a back door because the crew was re-arranging furniture. And as he and I were walking down this darkened hallway there were a lot of cables and shit on the floor, and my God, he just kept tripping, and I had to hold his arm to save him [laughs]. It was very funny. But he was a great athlete, and these things happen when you get older. Anyway, later we went upstairs where he was making a speech at a lectern, and as he was talking, he kept leaning into this lectern, and the lectern started falling over [laughs], and again I had to rush over and hold him. Everybody thought it was part of our act, but it wasn’t our act, it was Jerry’s act. I had to save him again. [laughs]

JL: And you never got credit for acting like a secret service agent.

CC: No.

JL: Speaking of politics, SNL has always been a very liberal show, but SHOULD a comedy/variety series be so one-sided? Or should it be neutral?

CC: I think neutral. Back when I did the show, there was a lot of crap happening then, with Nixon and all that shit, and so we were all liberal, and there was only six of us. Now a days, there are like 28 cast members, and some are liberal, and some are not.

JL: OK, so let’s talk about cast members. Over the years, reporters have asked you your opinion of whatever group was on SNL at the time, and often times you would single out and praise certain performers. But in one article you really slammed the entire cast.

CC: I was totally misquoted. The reporter made up the quote, I couldn’t believe it. It came at the end of the article, and it came from the fact that I didn’t give her much throughout the whole interview, so I guess she wanted to have something controversial to show.

JL: That sucks.

CC: It does suck. Earlier in the interview she asked me, “What about the young comedians?” And my answer to her was, “I don’t have much to say about them because I haven’t seen anybody who really stands out. There are a lot more performers on SNL today than there were when I did the show, so it’s hard to make that kind of statement.” She then wrote that I had said something like, “The young comedians aren’t as good.” I wrote a strong letter to the reporter, but my wife said not to send it, so I didn’t.

JL: My favorite SNL sketch of all time was the one you and Richard Pryor did, in which you portrayed a personnel director, and Rich played a guy who was looking for a job. The bit was about you giving him a word association test, except that every word you gave him was a racist slur, and every one he gave back to you was an increasingly angry slur directed at you. It is the funniest and most instructive sketch ever done about racism, and we could learn from it now. Unfortunately, our society is too politically correct to receive it today.

CC: Yeah, I was thinking that myself one night when I saw Colin (Jost) and Michael (Che) doing Weekend Update, and I was thinking that they could have done that sketch back in the old days, but not now. Rich and I wrote that sketch in about a half an hour just before the show went on air. He was the funniest guy I knew. By the way, I didn’t write the “dead honky” line, that was Rich, [laughs]

JL: A couple of years after you left SNL, you did a one-hour variety special for NBC.

CC: I remember that, but I can’t remember who was in it.

JL: Yeah, I can’t find any tape on it.

CC: Well there’s NBC for you [laughs]. I don’t think they liked it.

JL: Well since we’re focusing on your television career, we can’t forget to mention the times you hosted the Academy Awards, in 1987 and ’88.

CC: I loved doing it. You just can’t miss ’cause everybody else makes a fool of themselves. [laughs]

JL: There was a writers’ strike the second time you hosted. Did you violate any Guild rules by writing your own material?

CC: That’s for the cops to determine [laughs]. I do remember coming out on stage and saying, “Settle down Jack (Nicholson). He was sitting on the front row, clowning around. That’s how open I felt. I could say anything, you know? And I’d get big laughs.

JL: Let’s talk about the late night show you did for FOX in 1993, which only lasted for five weeks before the network pulled the plug. The story goes that you thought you’d be able to do a different kind of show for that time slot, but that FOX executives wanted it to be more traditional.

CC: And I didn’t like that idea, and didn’t know how to do that. I think I wanted to come in as a funnier person or something, and it didn’t come off right.

JL: But didn’t your company, Cornelius Productions, own the show?

CC: By God, then it must be lying around here somewhere. [laughs]

JL: I bring that up because if you could see it wasn’t working, couldn’t you have just told FOX that you’re going to do it your way?

CC: I think I did do that, and basically f#@*ed it up. [laughs]

JL: In 2002 you were the guest of honor at a Comedy Central Roast in which a bunch of hack comedians basically spent the entire evening saying some very cruel things about you and your past problems with addiction. It was tasteless and hard to watch.

CC: Yeah, it was nothing like a Friars Club roast where there’s always a friendly thought behind the jokes. This was younger comedians who weren’t familiar with a roast, and just came out and battered me. It just wasn’t that funny because it seemed to have an attitude of, “let’s get this guy.”

JL: So when did comedy start requiring comedians to be mean?

CC: Probably before the first century [laughs]. Way back, like “Hey, how about that Alexander? What’s so great about him? [laughs]. Look, you’ve got to be balanced between mean and having a little love in you. That didn’t happen with me. I thought the best guy on the roast was Stephen Colbert. He didn’t know me, and he didn’t want to hurt my feelings, you know? Anyway, at the end of the show, we went up to Paul Shaffer’s room, and I had a couple of tears in my eye, and he had the biggest apology. Paul felt almost as if what happened was his fault because he was the emcee and had something to do with picking the people to speak. But of course, it wasn’t anybody’s fault except the people who didn’t know how to do it very well.

JL: In 2006 you did a dramatic turn on an episode of Law & Order, in which you portrayed a character loosely based on Mel Gibson and his anti-Semitic rant after being stopped for drunk driving. In real life, Gibson blamed the alcohol for his language, just as Roseanne blamed Ambien for making her send a racist tweet. Given your past history with substance abuse, do you think it’s possible for drugs or alcohol to make you say words that are not normally in your vocabulary?

CC: Jesus, that’s a good question. I’m trying to remember my own situation with cocaine and alcohol. The thing about coke is it makes you feel like you’re driving over the speed limit, and living over the speed limit. It was a pleasant drug, and yes, things would come to you that would never normally not come to you.

JL: You turned in a great performance on Law & Order. Did you enjoy playing a serious role for a change?

CC: Yeah, they came to me to do the role, and I did it because I like doing things that are challenging, and that was challenging.

JL: In 2009 you joined an ensemble cast on Community, but it wasn’t long before you became discouraged with the quality of writing by Dan Harmon who also created the show. Harmon has since apologized publicly for his bad behavior during that period, but once when asked about your frustration, you said, “I’ve been too funny in my life to play a character who’s just moderately funny.” Some folks interpreted that statement as being egotistical, when you were actually just talking about the high standards you have, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

CC: No, and that’s the way I felt. It’s got to be coming indelicately from me, and not from a guy like Harmon who wrote Community. I agreed to do the show because I thought it might be fun and funny, but ultimately, Harmon had problems with drugs or alcohol himself, I don’t know which one, but that can make writing less good.

JL: Let’s circle back to the pain you often endured and injuries you suffered in your career, particularly on SNL. I see these old, retired NFL players sitting at home in wheel chairs and suffering with the after-effects of injuries, and they always say they wouldn’t have done anything differently. Did you ever regret being so physical with your comedy?

CC: No, and not only do I not regret it, but I’m still that way at 77. I gotta tell you, I can still do a great fall.

JL: Earlier you talked about being influenced by the physical comedy of Art Carney, but what film stars made you laugh as a little kid? I’m guessing it was also a physical comedian.

CC: At first I guess it was whoever my Dad said was the funniest, ’cause you can’t have a perspective on that if you haven’t seen that many comedians. But Dad was totally in love with the Marx Brothers. As I got older, it was Chaplin. Ultimately, I feel more like Charlie Chaplin than I do any of the Marx Brothers.

JL: You have a lot of Buster Keaton in you too.

CC: Yeah, but Buster wasn’t as good as Chaplin. It’s just that Buster was willing to break bones to be funny, and he was funnier than hell.

JL: Who makes you laugh today?

CC: Well (long pause), shit, I haven’t laughed in years. I like to look at old shows and tapes, so how could I not say Dan Aykroyd. When he did Julia Childs on SNL, man that was so funny. Dan has done so many incredible things. He was our resident genius on that show, and he’s a wonderful guy. We’re very close friends.

JL: Speaking of those early SNL days, and before you met your lovely wife Jayni, did you ever get fan mail from women who wanted to sleep with you?

CC: Yes, but they had to sleep in the other bed [laughs]. Sure, but only before SNL, during the “Lemmings” period when I was single. I still get lots of fan mail today, but they mainly want me to autograph a photo.

JL: We’ve been talking about your television career because this is your 50th anniversary on TV, but adding all of your films in the mix, do you realize how many hundreds of millions of people around the world whose lives you’ve touched, and made more fun and bearable? Do you ever think about that?

CC: No, not in that way, but it’s nice of you to say that, so I better start thinking about it [laughs]. I guess I just think about how I haven’t worked much at anything the last couple of years, and that pisses me off, but I should think more about those things. It would probably raise my spirits.

Truth is, if Chevy Chase never made another film or TV series, his place in pop culture history is already well cemented. He’s one of those rare performers who has achieved success in every medium, including social media. Just check out his 1986 music video appearance, the song “You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon, which is re-discovered by new audiences every day via Youtube, and has been viewed by over 91 million people. And, if you troll various posts and blogs, you’ll find plenty of praise for Chevy and his work from people of all ages. “Chevy is a national treasure,” writes evillink1. “Chevy is a funny guy with great comic timing,” says ArchStanton. “Chevy is an amazing actor!”, says TheOnlyCelt. And Daniela Simittchieva says it all, “Chevy Chase is a LEGEND!”

No doubt about it. So long as Chevy’s around, we’ll all have our backs to the Grand Canyon.

 
 

One of my late father’s favorite sayings was, “That guy just don’t believe sh*t stinks.” It was a colorful way of describing someone who stupidly refuses to accept an obvious fact or situation. Were he alive today, Dad would be applying his smelly admonishment to anyone who denies that January 6 was an insurrection or that voter suppression is real. But, in light of recent statistics, my father would also be ranting about people who deny the realities of COVID and refuse to get vaccinated, including a few selfish baseball players from N.C. State who just cost their teammates (and their school) a shot at the College World Series. And just why did that happen? Because those young men “don’t believe sh*t stinks,” that’s why. I imagine they thought COVID couldn’t touch them, that COVID was just an old person’s disease, and that there would be no consequence to refusing the vaccine. They thought wrong on all counts.

Up until last Friday, the Wolfpack had been on an impressive post-season run, beating number one Arkansas twice in the Super Regionals, then dispatching Stanford and Vanderbilt in the opening rounds of the CWS. The Pack would only need to beat Vandy once more to reach the series finals, but an hour before game time last Friday, NC State coach Elliott Avent learned that some of his players tested positive for COVID and were unable to play. Avent then fielded a makeshift line-up, which was no match for Vanderbilt. Nevertheless, State still had high hopes of reaching the finals. All they had to do is avoid double elimination and win on Saturday afternoon. But by that morning, the second round of bad news arrived, with officials telling Avent that a number of other Wolfpack players tested positive. Adhering to strict COVID protocols, the NCAA had no choice but to cancel the game and send the Pack home to Raleigh. So much for a College World Series title.

Right after the first COVID shoe dropped on Friday, Coach Avent was asked by the press what had happened and why so many of his players had neglected to get vaccinated. Said Avent, “My job is to teach them baseball, but I don’t try to indoctrinate my kids with my values or my opinions…These are young men that can make their own decisions, and that’s what they did.” Up until that moment, I had been a fan of Elliott Avent, but no longer. His head-in-the-sand explanation was ignorant, irresponsible, and an abdication of his responsibility to his players, the University, and the boosters and taxpayers who support him. Former Wake Forest football coach Jim Grobe once told me that a college coach should first and foremost be an educator of young men. As such, a coach must be a leader who teaches his players about good choices and encourages them to make those choices. The moment that COVID vaccines were widely available, Avent should have announced that only vaccinated players would be allowed to participate in post-season tournaments. The stakes were too high to do otherwise, and I don’t just mean preserving the students’ baseball season but also preserving their health. And that brings me to the most important lesson to be learned from the Wolfpack saga. Despite various incentives being offered to those of us who get vaccinated, the demand for shots has slowed to a near stop over the past few months because a lot of folks “don’t believe sh*t stinks.” They think we’re out of the pandemic woods. We’re not.

Right now, only nine states can claim that at least 60% of their adults have been vaccinated. The other 41 states are nowhere close to that. North Carolina ranks 28th in the nation with 44%, and the states with the least number of vaccinated people are now showing a surge in COVID cases. Then last week came the news that nearly 100% of all recent COVID deaths involve patients who had refused to get vaccinated. Yet despite this recent data and a virulent Delta strain of COVID spreading through the country, North Carolina lawmakers just announced that they were lifting the mask mandate for public schools, even though hardly any kids have been vaccinated.

The message is clear: if more people don’t get vaccinated soon, then the wearing of masks will be the least of our problems. We could very well see a return to overloaded emergency rooms and closed restaurants. And, to paraphrase my dad, anyone who doesn’t believe this could happen has a serious problem with their sense of smell.