Triad Today

At a 1962 dinner honoring a group of Nobel Prize winners, President Kennedy observed, “I think it’s truly the most extraordinary collection of talent that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” It was JFK’s way of recognizing Jefferson’s exceptional talent and versatility. The same case could be made for another Virginia-born genius, my friend Barbara Hall, who once wrote a TV pilot about a female super hero that I’m convinced was autobiographical.

Barbara is the lead singer for a band, author of 11 novels, has been honored by the American Library Association, and was awarded the Humanitas Prize for her television writing. She’s also a lecturer, a dedicated Mom and one of the most successful producers of primetime dramas since the millennium began. Her writing and producing credits include Northern Exposure, I’ll Fly Away, Judging Amy, Joan of Arcadia, Homeland, and most recently, the critically acclaimed Madam Secretary, starring Tea Leoni.

“I was approached by Lori McCreary who runs Morgan Freeman’s company, Revelations Entertainment, and they had an idea to do a TV series about a female Secretary of State,” said Hall. “They had some story ideas, then I came in and fleshed out the show, and we developed it.”

Madam Secretary is Revelations’ first foray into television, and Freeman is pleased with the result. In an email to me, Morgan said of Barbara, “Lori and I have never had a more satisfying, rewarding, and delightful collaborator.”

I first met Barbara when she participated in my “Women in Drama” event for the Television Academy back in the fall of 2000. Last month we spoke by phone about Madam Secretary.

JL: You once told me that you only like to write shows that you would watch. Is that still true?

BH: That’s absolutely true, and sort of why I lay low for awhile, because there just wasn’t anything on the TV landscape that I would want to do or watch.

But then with Madam Secretary, suddenly there was room for a show that I would want to watch.

JL: As producer and show runner, how much writing are you getting to do on the series?

BH: A lot. I wrote the pilot and the first episode, and I wrote episode 14 which will air in February, and I’ll write the last one. But that’s sort of a tricky question because I’m involved in breaking all of the stories and overseeing the story meetings and scripts. I’d like to do more, but the problem is that writing a script takes you out of the loop on everything else.

JL: Television audiences have been dumbed down over the past couple of decades, feasting on shows like Jerry Springer and Honey Boo Boo. With Madam Secretary are you trying to elevate, educate and engage viewers to some degree, or do you just set out to entertain them?

BH: (laughs) Well I want to do both.

But I don’t think you should use the word “educate”, because it’s not school. It’s just that I wanted to work in an arena where there are a lot of interesting stories to tell about a world that people might not understand. And so, really sort of pull back the curtain is more our approach, and show people, because I’ve done the research, and I’ve been able to go into this world to reveal the aspects of government that they might not know about, and they might find interesting at the same time. And, we have a secret plan to entertain them (laughs).

JL: Not too many years ago, trying to get a political show on the air was almost impossible, and now they’re all over the place. Shows like House of Cards, Veep, Scandal, and State of Affairs. And they’re all doing well.

BH: I know, I think it’s cyclical. All that has to happen is for one or two shows to do well in a particular arena, and then it fits into the landscape. It’s not that everybody jumps on the bandwagon, but it’s that everybody has circled around these arenas all the time, and when one or two shows break and make it possible and OK, it gives everyone else permission to write a show now. So certainly I benefitted from that.

JL: Conspiracy nuts might accuse you of using Madam Secretary to bolster Hillary’s next Presidential campaign. How do you plead?

BH: (laughs) Well my comeback to that is there are so many easier ways to get Hillary elected President than to create a TV show about her (laughs). Our show has nothing to do with Hillary at all, but if people are still seeing her in the character, they’re going to have to answer for that. Tea’s character has nothing in common with Hillary except she’s a female Secretary of State, and she’s blonde. I saw that train leaving the station, but there was nothing I could do about it. If you really stop and weigh the conspiracy, though, it doesn’t make any sense. If people understood what it takes to get a TV show on the air, and what a long shot it is for it to be a success, they’d see it’s not a very practical approach to getting someone elected to office.

A long shot maybe, but not so difficult for a female super hero.

(Madam Secretary airs Sunday nights at 8:00 on CBS. Barbara’s music CDs are available from CDBaby.com and her novels are available through Amazon.com.)

An unarmed black man was killed by a white police officer while resisting arrest. The details of the incident were withheld by police for over a week. Later, a judge dismissed murder charges against the cop, and riots ensued, including burning and looting. This wasn’t in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. It was in Winston-Salem in 1967. I was 13 years old at the time, and I remember riding to church and seeing National Guardsmen positioned on tops of buildings throughout downtown Winston-Salem. The Guard was there to restore law and order, the practice of which, ironically, had caused the civil unrest to begin with. Here’s what happened.

On Oct. 15, 1967, James Eller, an African-American father of four, was seen staggering across a street. Mr. Eller made it to the front porch of his house where several police officers caught up with him, and proceeded to arrest him for alleged public drunkenness. According to police, Eller resisted arrest and the officers tried to subdue him, first by spraying MACE into his eyes. That didn’t work, so patrolman W.E. Owens struck Eller on the head with a blackjack. It proved to be a fatal blow. Police didn’t release details of Eller’s death until eight days later, and it was another four days after that before Owens was suspended. Eller’s widow swore out a warrant against Owens, which according to the Winston-Salem Journal stated that Owens, “feloniously, with premeditation, deliberation, and malice and forethought, did kill and murder one James Eller.” Judge Leroy Sams dismissed the case, and that ruling triggered riots in downtown Winston-Salem.

Winston-Salem Journal and Twin City Sentinel reporters Roy Thompson, Steve Burns, Gene Whitman, Joe Goodman, and Eugene White, and editor Wallace Carroll provided extensive coverage of the riots, which included descriptions of damage to stores along Liberty, North Trade, North Cherry, Claremont, Main, and Fourth streets. Most of the businesses were looted then burned. Mobs particularly targeted jewelry and liquor stores, as well as furniture and appliance stores. Fires broke out everywhere, cars were overturned, bricks were tossed, and shots were fired.

Patrolman E.W. Thorpe described the Nov. 2nd sniper fire to Eugene White in saying, “Guns were reporting everywhere, and you didn’t know who was shooting at who.” Thorpe’s own patrol car was struck by sniper fire at 13th Street and Patterson Avenues. His partner, C.E. Crosby, who fought in the Pacific during WW II, described the rioting as a “small scale war.” Said Crosby, “We didn’t know where to take cover when there was shooting. We were afraid we might try to take cover where the shooting was coming from.”

Mobs also set a fire just behind a Reynolds Tobacco factory on Chestnut Street. The fire was burning near a gas tank, and had Thorpe and Crosby not arrived in time to put it out, there probably would be no Innovation Quarter today.

Twin City Police Chief Tucker told his troops to “take things easy on the mob,” but, he added, “Pull out the heavy stuff. Don’t use it unless you have to, but display it. But STOP it.” Normally, local National Guardsmen are not called upon to defend their own city, but the 200-man Winston-Salem guard was put on alert. Meanwhile, Mayor M.C. Benton and Governor Dan Moore deployed National Guardsmen from Mt. Airy. Most of them patrolled the streets, while others were given roof-top duty. Two of them, Spec 4 Tommy Hennis and PFC Rodney Cooke were positioned atop the Robert E. Lee Hotel.

After a couple of days, all that remained of the “small scale war” were charred buildings and debris in the streets. Order had been restored without loss of life, but there were a number of injuries reported, including to a “negro woman” who had been hit in the head by a brick. Mobs, it seems, are indiscriminant about who they hurt.

The events of Oct. 15, and Nov. 2, 1967, taught us a lot about race relations, the criminal justice system, mobs, and the way Winston-Salem dealt with all of them. Officer Owens probably didn’t mean to kill Mr. Eller, but his unnecessary use of force triggered a firestorm nevertheless. Critics of the time said the officers on Eller’s front porch that fateful day should have used handcuffs instead of mace and nightsticks. The police chief should have gone public within hours of Eller’s death. Judge Sams should have meted out an appropriate punishment for officer Owens. And the rioters should have stayed home. Instead, most of them sought to inflict deliberate damage to local businesses, and some intended to kill cops. One member of a mob was overheard saying to a policeman, “I’m going to get one of you for this.” Burning, looting, and killing is not an appropriate or effective response to police brutality.

In an editorial, Wallace Carroll wrote, “We cannot permit ours to be a city where people are divided against each other by race, and where public safety cannot be taken for granted. No city in America is immune from the passions of these days. But we can overcome them here. We must.”

Late last month, a group of concerned citizens marched along Hanes Mall Boulevard in Winston-Salem to peacefully protest the August killing of Michael Brown at the hands of a white officer in Ferguson, Missouri. It reminded us that while we still have a long way to go to improve race relations, we’ve also made some progress over the past 47 years. Instead of throwing bricks and setting fires, last month’s protesters held up signs. Instead of threatening to kill cops, they sought substantive reform in our nation’s police departments.

Their protests are being heard.

Recently, Forsyth County Sheriff Bill Schatzman ordered body cameras for his deputies, which will usher in a new era of transparency. Hopefully, that will also start a trend throughout the Triad. We also need to be ever-vigilant about representative hiring in local police departments, something at which the town of Ferguson failed miserably.

There will always be rogue cops who break the law, and mobs who use those incidents as an excuse to do the same. But by and large I think the events of 1967 and 2014 demonstrate that Winston-Salem, to paraphrase philosopher George Santayana, has learned from the past, and is not condemned to repeat it.

I’ve heard it said that we should never wish our lives away, yet every year about this time, it’s pretty common to hear someone say, “I wish this year was over already. Next year has got to be better.” I guess that’s how I feel, mainly because I lost my Mom in 2014. But at least with her passing I am left with a lifetime of wonderful memories to cherish. Not so with most of the other memorable events that took place this year. Here, then, in no particular order of sadness or stupidity, is a look back at some of the reasons why I say to 2014, “Good riddance and enough already.”

THE UN-CIVIL WAR

The fatal shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson Missouri police officer Darren Wilson, and the fatal choking of Eric Garner by New York City patrolman Daniel Pantaleo, ushered in a new era of racial divide unlike anything we’ve seen since the 1960s. Ostensibly because neither of the white officers were convicted, Ferguson was burned and looted, and it’s now open season on police in the Big Apple. Instead of blaming all cops, victims, or mayors, we need to focus on substantive reforms such as body cams and more diverse hiring practices on all police forces. Enough already with civil unrest.

PIGSKIN PIGS

This year we got to see videos of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punching out his fiance in a hotel elevator, and photos of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson’s bruised and battered 4 year old son, after his football dad beat his genitals with a tree branch. Just as we know that all cops are not racists, not all NFL players are guilty of domestic violence. Nevertheless, the League’s image took a hit, in part because team owners and the commissioner were ill prepared to deal with a problem that they had turned a blind eye toward for years. We are told that reforms are in the works, and hopefully public awareness will heighten as a result. Good riddance to domestic abuse.

ASH HOLES

Though Duke Energy executives had known for years that most of their coal ash ponds needed to be repaired, redesigned, or closed, they turned a blind eye to the problem, and the result was a massive leak of toxic coal ash into the Dan River. Initially, Duke Energy’s new CEO, Lynn Good, said customers would have to pay for the cost of the cleanup, but that didn’t go over too well. The company then appeared to cooperate with state and federal officials, and even launched a PR campaign to tell us how much they care about the environment. But the goodwill from that transparent stunt was minimized when Good was grilled by Leslie Stahl, and couldn’t seem to offer a good reason as to why Duke Energy hadn’t simply fixed the pond problems years ago. I’d like to say good riddance to the Dan River spill and hope that Duke Energy will make things right, but after watching the “60 Minutes” interview, I’m afraid Hell will leak over before that happens.

PETER PANNED

Last year we had to suffer through NBC’s live production of “The Sound of Music.” This year we were subjected to the most anemic performance of “Peter Pan” in the history of stage or television. The sets were impressive, but everything and everyone else was an embarrassment. Allison Williams’ pleasant but lightweight voice is okay for Youtube videos and late night talk shows, but not for belting out songs as the Pan. Christopher Walken was badly miscast as Captain Hook, mainly because he played Christopher Walken playing Hook. Meanwhile the flying sequences were second rate and the audio was plagued by too much ambient noise and incorrect microphone placements. If you want to see “Peter Pan” done right, pick up a DVD of Mary Martin’s 1960 live performance on NBC. The production was flawless and so were all of the performances. My advice to NBC is “enough already with the live musicals.” If you can’t do them right, don’t do them at all. Unfortunately, however, today’s television audiences seem to settle for mediocrity, so I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of live plays from the Peacock.

BARACK OBOMBER

As I pointed out in an earlier column, Barack Obama has bombed more countries than any other President, and this from the man who campaigned as an anti-war candidate, and who snagged a Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of diplomacy. Now, years later, his aggressive policies have only served to strengthen the resolve of every terrorist group in the Middle East. Obama should return his Nobel Prize and start practicing what he used to preach. Enough already with the bombing, Mr. President.

THE UNAFFORDABLE CARE ACT

The Affordable Care Act was supposed to reform our healthcare system and guarantee coverage for all. True, you can no longer be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition, but Washington buckled to the health insurance lobby and failed to impose a cap on premiums. That means you can buy insurance, but if your family is faced with a catastrophic illness, you may not be able to afford the monthly premiums. Speaking of which, Blue Cross Blue Shield is running roughshod over small business owners and individual policyholders with 2015 premiums expected to increase by nearly 80% in some cases. The Republicans were right. Obamacare must be repealed. In the meantime, enough already with for-profit health insurance companies.

DOUBLE DIPPING AT UNCG

Two UNCG employees were caught operating their own private business out of the University, on University time, and using University equipment. The two men and their supervisor, whom they paid to facilitate their scheme, were fired and arrested as they should have been. The public should have been outraged by the fraudulent actions of the UNCG 3, but thanks to a series of sensationalistic and one-sided articles by the Greensboro News & Record’s Margaret Moffett, the trio was transformed into martyrs. Shame on the UNCG 3 for stealing from taxpayers, and shame on the News and Record for acting as an advocate for three people who didn’t have the balls to start a business with their own resources like everyone else does. Good riddance to the UNCG 3 and enough already with your whining.

STERILIZATION VICTIMS VIOLATED AGAIN

It was bad enough that the state of North Carolina sterilized over 7,000 young people against their will, then kept stalling when it came to approving reparations. But finally after the surviving victims were promised $50,000 each, the state ruled those whose sterilization was authorized by a local board were not eligible for the state payout. How many times do we have to rape these people? Enough already with the degrading quibbling.

PASSING OUR MIDTERMS

The one bright spot in this year’s election cycle was Republican Mark Walker who defeated his Democrat opponent Laura Fjeld, decisively. The two political newcomers were vying for Howard Coble’s seat in Congress after the 30-year veteran announced his retirement. Walker promised early on not to go negative. Fjeld made no such promise and attacked Mark at every opportunity. In the end, Walker never aired or published a single attack ad, thus keeping his promise to stay positive. So good riddance to mudslinging, and to the pundits who said you have to go negative to win.

Here’s hoping that 2015 will be a great year for you and yours, and that twelve months from now, we’ll have no reason to wish away any of it.

As we celebrate and enjoy this holiday season, let’s not forget that there are people beyond our immediate circle of family and friends who could benefit from our love and generosity.

Over the past decade, I’ve been able to showcase scores of community organizations on my “Triad Today”

television show, and in the process, I’ve learned that there are several ways we can help these agencies help others. The first is to donate goods. Second is to donate money. And third is to donate our time. Of course, some nonprofit groups can benefit from all three types of giving. Here, in no particular order, are just a few organizations to which you might lend your support.

SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF NORTHWEST NC

In an economic downturn, many people are either unemployed or underemployed, and that translates into an increasing number of families without money for food. The Second Harvest Food Bank distributes food to churches and nonprofit agencies that feed hungry people in an 18-county area. You can write a check directly to the food bank, and you can drop off non-perishable food items at a number of locations in our area. For more information call 784-5770, or visit hungernwnc.org.

GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF NORTHWEST NC

Each year, over 45,000 people in Northwest North Carolina are served by workforce development programs that are administered by Goodwill. Those programs are supported in part by the clothing and other items we donate, which are then sold at Goodwill retail stores.

Goodwill also welcomes monetary donations. For more information call 724-3621, or visit goodwillnwnc.org.

SENIOR SERVICES, INC

Senior Services, Inc. operates an Adult Day Care facility, and offers a number of services to elderly citizens and their families. But their signature program is Meals on Wheels. Since 1962, volunteers of all ages have delivered over four million hot lunches to shut-ins, regardless of their ability to pay. Monetary donations are always welcome, and volunteers are always needed. For more information, call 725-0907, or visit seniorservices.org.

CANCER SERVICES, INC.

Their stated mission is “to enhance quality of life for those living with cancer, and to provide the gift of life through education.” Their services include patient advocacy, medication and financial assistance, providing equipment and supplies, offering peer support groups, and much more. 90 percent of funds donated to Cancer Services, Inc. goes directly to providing client services. In addition to money, you can also donate used equipment and supplies. Call 760-9983, or visit cancerservicesonline.org.

GREENSBORO URBAN MINISTRY

The Greensboro Urban Ministry is on the front lines when it comes to providing emergency assistance. Greensboro Urban Ministry provides homeless families in Guilford County a safe, temporary environment. They also operate a food bank, and offer a chaplaincy service. Volunteers are needed to prepare and serve meals, manage shelters, tutor children, and perform a variety of other duties. Monetary donations are also much appreciated. Call 271-5959, or visit greensborourbanministry.org.

HOSPICE

There are number of hospice programs throughout our region, and all of them are in need of volunteers to aid in the care of patients, and to comfort families. Mtn. Valley Hospice, for example, serves a 16-county area in NC and Virginia, offering personalized care to patients at the end of life. Due to the vast geographical area they serve, MVH-PC maintains six regional offices, and operates the Woltz Hospice Home. They also specialize in care for terminally ill children and veterans. To donate money or inquire about volunteering, call 1-888-789-2922, or visit mtnvalleyhospice.org. Other area hospices include:

Hospice & Palliative Care Center in Winston-Salem (888-876-3663, or hospicecarecenter.org); Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro (621-2500, or hospicegso.org), Hospice of Davidson County ( 800-768-4677, or hospiceofdavidson.org); and Hospice of the Piedmont (889-3450, hospice-careconnection.org).

THE WINSTON-SALEM FOUNDATION

Thanks to the generosity of donors, the Winston-Salem Foundation is able to issue scores of community grants every year, which go to support a variety of organizations and activities engaged in everything from improving healthcare to promoting economic development. The foundation also awards scholarships. For general information, visit wsfoundation.org. To learn about establishing a charitable trust or special fund, email giving@wsfoundation.org.

PETTY FAMILY FOUNDATION

NASCAR legend Richard Petty and his family support a number of charitable organizations and specialized programs, including Paralyzed Veterans of America and Victory Junction Camp, the latter of which provides an uplifting experience for children with severe disabilities and terminal illnesses. To make a donation or learn more, visit pettyfamilyfoundation.org.

CAROLINA DONOR SERVICES AND RED CROSS

There can be no greater gift at this holiday season than the gift of life, and that’s why you might consider donating blood, and signing a donor card. Either gesture requires only a few minutes of your time, and will almost certainly result in saving someone’s life in the future.

You can reach Carolina Donor Services at 1-800 200-2672, or at carolinadonorservices.org. You can call the Red Cross at 333-2111, or via the Internet at gsoredcross.org.

We all celebrate the holidays in different ways with different traditions and customs. But no matter your religious beliefs, donations of time, money, or goods to area community organizations is vitally important, not just now, but throughout the coming year. It’s also a way for us to expand the circle of people we care about, and that’s something worth celebrating in this season of giving.

There was a time not so long ago when kids looked up to athletes as role models and heroes, but that adulation has been strained as of late. The NFL has been sacked with one scandal after another, while NASCAR races seem to have more fistfights than caution flags. Fortunately, two iconic stars of racing and football, Richard Petty and Ricky Proehl, have stepped forward and teamed up to help improve quality of life for kids and their families this holiday season and beyond.

King Richard is NASCAR’s most decorated star, having won an unprecedented 200 races during a career that spanned more than 20 years. But the Petty legacy was dealt a devastating blow in May of 2000 when Richard’s grandson, Adam, died in a track accident. A few years later, Richard and his son Kyle started the Victory Junction Camp to honor Adam, and make life better for children with severe disabilities and terminal illnesses.

Petty: We’re celebrating our tenth year at the Victory Junction Camp, and with everyone’s help, it’s been really exciting. Victory Junction helps kids who can’t go to regular camp. It gives them a chance to get out and have fun, where they’re not the only one who is afflicted the way they are. It just changes their whole world.

Victory Junction Camp is funded in part by the Petty Family Foundation, which supports a variety of charities from hospice programs to cancer centers.

Petty: We’re about a little bit of everything I guess. Camp is one of our really big deals, but we also do a lot with Paralyzed Veterans of America where we help guys and gals coming back from war who are disabled. We do stuff like that because we’re a family foundation.

These days, Ricky Proehl works as wide receivers coach for the Carolina Panthers, but in his heyday, Proehl was one of the most feared and respected wide receivers in the game, having earned two Super Bowl rings along the way. He also opened Proehlific Park in Greensboro, a comprehensive fitness facility that is well known for its work with kids. The Park offers an after-school program, a basketball league, soccer leagues, physical training, and agility training. In 1995, Proehl expanded that mission when he started the P.O.W.E.R. of Play Foundation.

Proehl: We’ve learned that by showing a child love, acceptance and respect, that we can, in turn, help change their lives. The Foundation teaches the children in our programs through our core values of Play, Opportunity, Work, Excellence, and Respect. We tell them, “You can do whatever you want to do if you surround yourself with good people and make good choices.”

And though Petty and Proehl each help young people, their respective foundations had never joined forces until now. Earlier this year, Steve Hutchinson, CEO of Hutchinson Family Office, got the idea to bring the two sports icons together to help a select group of kids and their families during the holidays.

Hutchinson: Every year we sit down and think about how we want to direct our charitable efforts, and we’ve already worked with Richard and his Foundation, and we learned about Ricky and his Foundation, and it just seemed like a good mix for us, and they fit well.

In a sense, Hutchinson was motivated to help kids because of his own experiences growing up.

Hutchinson: When I grew up, most of my time was spent in the projects of Greensboro, and a lot of our Christmas and holiday gifts came from strangers. So this gives us a tremendous opportunity to give back. It’s important for us to work with Richard and Ricky – get these two foundations together. It’s all about helping the kids, and Christmas is a great time to help the kids.

Working with schools, social services, and other agencies, Proehl, Petty and Hutchinson identified 25 families in dire need of clothing, food, and toys this holiday season. Earlier this month, Richard jump-started the drive by presenting Ricky’s foundation with a check for $5,000, and later this week, Team Proehl will begin distributing donated items to the designated families.

And while this holiday drive is special, the work of the two foundations is never done, and relies on monetary donations throughout the year. I asked Steve, who helps his clients manage their wealth, if giving to these foundations represented a good investment.

Hutchinson: It’s an awesome investment because it’s one of the few ways, particularly with clients we work with, for them to be able to see the value of that donation during their lifetime. It goes a long way toward creating a legacy.

Petty, meanwhile, addressed his comments to the average working man and woman.

Petty: Most of us may not be as well off as we used to be, but we’re so much better off than the majority of people, so why not give back a little?

For more information on how to “give back a little” to these two Foundations, visit ProehlificPark.com and PettyFamilyFoundation.org.

Last week, comedian Chris Rock reminded us that it’s mainly white people who believe race relations in America are much improved. Looking back over the past two years, I’m afraid he’s right. Tea Party politicians have been vowing to “take back our country” (translation: get rid of the black President), Republican-controlled state legislatures have passed laws intended to discourage minority voting, and racial profiling appears to be on the rise, so much so that being stopped for DWB (“Driving While Black”) and WWB (“Walking While Black”) have resulted in a number of tragic events.

First there was nutty George Zimmerman, an armed neighborhood watch volunteer who murdered an unarmed Trayvon Martin for eating Skittles and wearing a hoodie. Then there was 12-year-old Tamir Rice who was shot dead by Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann because the boy was carrying a BB gun. Then came 18-year-old Michael Brown who was killed by a hail of bullets from Ferguson, Missouri cop Darren Wilson after the teenager hurled obscenities and two punches at Wilson. And there was 43-year-old Eric Garner who was choked to death by New York City patrolman Daniel Pantaleo because Garner refused handcuffs when being arrested for allegedly selling black market cigarettes. All four victims were African-American, all four were unarmed, and, to date, the white men who killed them have gone unpunished.

Late last month, a Ferguson grand jury found that Wilson acted properly, and last week, a New York City grand jury refused to indict Pantaleo. Protestors rioted in Ferguson upon learning that Wilson would not be charged with murder. The town was set ablaze and property was damaged. Since then, raised arms (the act of surrender which some say Mr. Brown did just before being shot) have become the symbol of protesting police brutality, and demonstrated by a number of high-profile individuals, including a United States Congressman and four members of the St. Louis Rams football team. Collaterally, the phrases “Hands up, don’t shoot”, “Don’t choke me, officer”, and “I can’t breathe” have become rallying cries from those who seek reform of what they perceive to be a racist law enforcement system, and a not-so-blind justice system.

In one of my earlier columns I called for all police departments to hire officers in direct proportion to the racial composition of their locality. Ferguson, for example, was a disaster waiting to happen. The town is over 60 percent black, but the police force is over 90 percent white. In this country we have the right to trial by a jury of our peers, so why is it that we don’t have the right to be policed by our peers? One wonders what would have happened to Tamir, Michael, and Eric had the cops who confronted them been African-American. Possibly the conflicts would have been resolved without incident, but if not, then protestors couldn’t have accused black officers of being racists.

Meanwhile, some localities are considering outfitting every policeman with a body camera, which, they assume, would cut down on excessive use of force. Of course, the video from those body cams could prove to be a double-edged sword for “victims” of police brutality, because displaying arrest footage in court or on social media could violate the defendant’s right to privacy, and possibly present a tainted impression to a jury.

And, just last week, Attorney General Eric Holder announced new guidelines for reducing incidents of racial profiling. But it was just another hollow gesture by the Obama administration because the new guidelines don’t apply to local police.

Nevertheless, reforms such as more diverse police forces, restrictions on some racial profiling, and the use of high-tech body cams, are at least a step in the right direction.

But while reforms are necessary, we must not assume that every white cop in this country is a violent, mentally disturbed racist. That assumption would constitute a sort of racial profiling in reverse, and would do an injustice to the hundreds of thousands of brave men and women who put their lives on the line for us every day. It’s no wonder, then, that the St. Louis police association was offended by the four Rams players’ display.

After all, the NFL (two-thirds of whose players are black) relies heavily on white cops to protect players and fans, week-in and week-out. And speaking of cutting off your nose to spite your face, I offer for your consideration, the puny-brained idiots who set fire to Ferguson. Their actions did nothing but exacerbate race relations, and force a lot of decent cops to use extraordinary measures in order to keep the peace.

Last week, amidst all the tweets and blogs from celebrities who are angry about the injustice in Ferguson, former NBA superstar, now TNT analyst Charles Barkley made news by putting a controversial spin on the volatile situation. “Those aren’t black people,” said Sir Charles. “They’re scumbags. There’s no excuse for people to be out there burning down people’s businesses.”

Barkley makes a good point. According to TheRoot.com, most of the businesses that were damaged or destroyed by African-American rioters were owned by African-Americans. Barkley also implied that the Ferguson rioters were ill-informed. “The true story came out from the grand jury testimony. Three of the four witnesses who were black said exactly what the cop said.” (Note: according to CNN’s Jason Johnson, sixteen witnesses actually contradicted Wilson’s testimony.) Barkley made those and other critical remarks during an interview with a Philadelphia radio station. He also used that forum to defend police in general.

“If it weren’t for the cops, we’d be living in the wild, wild west in our neighborhoods. Do you know how bad some of these neighborhoods would be if it wasn’t for the cops?” A few days later, Barkley expanded on his earlier remarks, telling CNN it is “ridiculous” to think that white cops are out to shoot black people. “You judge everybody on their own individual merit. I don’t care what any jackass has to say, you don’t put everybody together.”

Critics of Barkley say he’s just courting the law-and-order vote in preparation for a possible run at political office, but if that’s the case, so be it. We need more elected officials who speak candidly about race, and who don’t feel they have to be politically correct. After all, only out of honesty can come true reform, and Charles Barkley may just be the kind of individual we need in Washington to help us make realistic progress in the area of race relations. Of course, this is also the same man who once said, “I don’t hate anyone, at least not for more than 48 minutes, barring overtime.” Finally, a politician who makes sense.

It is ironic that an African American comedian is responsible for bringing down another African American comedian, but it looks like that’s what has happened. Back in October during a stand-up routine, comedian Hannibal Buress referred to Bill Cosby as a rapist, not once, but several times.

Said Buress, “Bill Cosby has the f**king smuggest old black man persona that I hate. (He says) ‘Pull up your pants black people.’ Oh yeah, well you raped women, Bill Cosby. (He says) ‘I don’t curse on stage.’ Yeah, but you rape women.”

Listening to the tape, audience laughter seemed a bit strained after Buress used the “R” word for the second time. They didn’t seem to know whether he was making a joke, or opening up an incredulously sick can of worms. As it turns out, he did both.

Almost immediately after Hannibal’s routine went viral, women from all over the country started coming forward to tell their stories of how the Cos allegedly raped them. To my knowledge, none of the women had ever met before, yet their tales of sexual assault were almost identical. Some of the incidents took place in hotel rooms, others in dressing rooms. One attack allegedly occurred at Cosby’s New York City brownstone, and another back stage at both the Carson and Letterman shows. But regardless of the venue, the common denominator was spiked drinks.

Typically and allegedly, Cosby would give his “victim” a glass of wine laced with a date rape drug. Once drugged, most of the women had foggy memories, but recalled Cosby standing over them, disrobing, then getting on top of them. The next thing they knew it was morning, and they awoke either totally or partially nude.

Variations of that scenario have been recounted by former super model Janice Dickinson, and (to date) 17 other women. Only one of the women, Louisa Moritz, says her alleged attack did not involve drugs or intercourse. In 1971, Moritz was preparing to make an appearance on The Tonight Show when, she says, Cosby entered her dressing room and forced his penis into her mouth. That incident, and all of the others (if true) speaks to the power and arrogance of a man who thought his fame and influence made him untouchable and unimpeachable.

The alleged rapes took place over a period of nearly 40 years, from 1965 to 2004, but during that time, only one woman went public. According to The National review, Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee sued Cosby for sexual assault. The case was settled out of court in 2004. The question is, why didn’t all of Cosby’s alleged victims come forward immediately after their attack? Perhaps the answer lies in a remark made by a former PR executive for the Coca Cola company, referring to a time when Cosby was a spokesperson for Coke, Jello, and numerous other products. According to The National Review, the executive said, “The three most believable personalities today are God, Walter Cronkite, and Bill Cosby.” Translation? Any woman who tried to accuse Cosby of anything other than saintly behavior, would simply not have been believed. That’s because potential judges and juries would have seen Bill as the kindly, caring TV dad from “The Cosby Show.”

Of course, the entertainment industry is a small community, so even though Cosby’s alleged victims didn’t go public, news of the assaults were commonly known or suspected by numerous individuals, including some in the press. Last week, New York Times columnist David Carr apologized for the role he and his brethren in the fourth estate might have played in turning a blind eye to Cosby’s many indiscretions. According to Fox news, even Cosby’s biographer Mark Whitaker was feeling guilty. In a tweet to Carr, Whitaker wrote, “I was wrong not to deal with the sexual assault charges against Cosby, and pursue them more aggressively.”

But even if the press had been more aggressive, it’s unlikely they could have taken on the iconic Cosby at the height of his popularity. Last week, the New York Daily News reported that Frank Scotti, a former NBC staffer is alleged to have been a bagman for Cosby’s pay-offs to women. According to the Daily News, Cosby gave Scotti bags of $100 dollar bills, which Frank then converted into money orders, and disbursed to Cosby’s alleged rape victims, in order to buy their silence. Meanwhile, Cosby had his own direct system for keeping the media at bay, just in case the bribes didn’t work. Last week, New York Post columnist Richard Johnson reported that in 1989, The National Enquirer called Cosby to tell the comedian they were about to break a story detailing his carousing with showgirls in Las Vegas. Cosby then allegedly made a deal with The Enquirer in which he would give them an exclusive story about his daughter Erin’s drug problem, if the tabloid would drop the Vegas story. And just a few days ago, another bombshell hit. It has been reported by the Associated Press that Cosby made a deal with the Enquirer in 2005 to kill a story about Beth Ferrier’s charges that he had raped her, in exchange for an exclusive interview about the Andrea Constand case. The reason? Had Ferrier’s accusations been published, it would have made Constand’s charges more believable.

These alleged rapes, pay-offs, and cover-ups reveal a side of Bill Cosby that the general public never knew. But how could they? For decades, Cosby set himself up as our moral compass. He was our arbiter of social values, always criticizing others for their bad behavior, even though his own behavior was far worse. In a speech at Constitution Hall in 2004, for instance, Cosby admonished parents to teach their children better morals. He also scolded black people for using incorrect English. And then there was his infamous lecture to Black youth to pull up their low hanging, saggy pants. Last week, SNL anchor Michael Che commented, “Pull up your own damn pants Bill Cosby.” And during his glory days as a spokesman for Coca Cola, Cosby once called up Eddie Murphy and told him not to use profanity on stage. Murphy recounted the phone call to Richard Pryor who told Eddie to tell Cosby to “Have a Coke and a smile, and go f**k yourself.”

It’s not surprising, then, that Cosby’s fall from grace is being celebrated in some quarters, and the fall-out is growing every day. Netflix postponed Cosby’s Thanksgiving special, NBC scrapped a project that was in the works, TV Land has removed “The Cosby Show” from its line-up, and most of Cosby’s upcoming concert dates have been canceled. Cosby was also recently removed from High Point University’s Advisory Board, and stripped of his title as co-Chair of University of Massachusetts’ capital campaign. And though the statute of limitations will probably keep Dr. Cosby out of jail, some of his alleged rape victims are now considering a class action suit.

Cosby’s attorney Marty Singer has tried his best to discredit the 18 women who have come forward, saying that their claims are “ridiculous.” A frustrated Singer also posed the rhetorical question, “When will it end?” For Mr. Cosby’s alleged victims, I hope the answer is “Very soon.”

Back in August, a team of Italian scientists announced that a complete head transplant is now possible. Of course, the donor and recipient must have compatible minds. My suspicion, however, is that those mad scientists have already secretly transplanted the head of one world leader onto the shoulders of another. The result of that operation is our current President, George W. Obomber. On what do I base my suspicion?

Think back to 2008. George Bush was winding down his second term as the most reactionary warmonger to ever occupy the Oval Office. One of his critics was candidate Barack Obama, who said he would have voted against the Iraq War, and, if elected, he would bring all of our troops home. In fact, Obama’s campaign pronouncements of peace based on diplomacy netted him a Nobel Prize. So Bush the hawk was succeeded by Obama the dove. But over the past six years, the dove has morphed into a hawk of the worst kind.

Earlier on in Obomber’s first term, I referred to him as George W. Obama because he had embraced his predecessor’s propensity for bombing and invading. Increasingly, however, it has become evident that my morphing moniker joke has proved to be grossly unfair … to Mr. Bush. As New Yorker columnist Ryan Lizza recently reminded us, Bush only bombed four countries (Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia) while Obama the peace candidate has bombed seven countries (the previous four plus Libya, Syria and Yemen). And it gets worse. Bush was a simple-minded religious zealot who confessed to at least one foreign head of state that the Bible justified his aggression toward Saddam Hussein. But Obomber is an intelligent constitutional law professor who justifies his military aggression by lying about his intentions, and breaking promises with striking regularity. They are character flaws that have particularly manifested themselves in recent months.

On Sept. 10, Obomber spoke about the ISIS threat, saying, “I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil.”

But just eight days later, Obomber announced he was sending troops to Iraq. Said the President, “The American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. Their mission is to advise and assist our partners on the ground.”

On Nov. 7, the previous lie bore out as Obomber announced he was sending another 1500 combat troops to Iraq. Then two days later, CBS newsman Bob Schieffer cornered the President for a clarification.

Schieffer: Should we expect more troops may be needed before this is over?

Obama: As Commander in Chief, I’m never going to say never.

OK, so let’s review. First, candidate Obama promises he’ll bring all of the troops home, then as President he redeploys troops to the region, and bombs seven different countries. Then he promised no more boots on the ground, then sent in more boots on the ground, but said they’re advisers. Then he increased the number of combat troops to fight ISIS and told Bob Schieffer he might send more. The question is, just how many more might that be? According to Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it will require 80,000 more combat troops to take back the ground gained by ISIS. At best, President Obomber is a serial promise breaker who gets away with daily deflections and deceptions. Given that, it’s hard to believe that we once ousted Bush 41 just for breaking one promise not to raise taxes.

It’s also hard to believe that a man like Obomber can actually believe that his continuous interferences in the Middle East can or will ever make a difference. I know the President is a fan of the “Daily Show,” so he must have missed the episode in which Jon Stewart interviewed General Tony Zinni, former Commander in Chief of CentCom (US Central Command).

Zinni: Ever since the end of the Cold War we just keep stumbling into these armed conflicts and actually making the situation worse. What we’ve inherited today is largely because we intervened in places without a strategy and clear understanding of what we needed to do, if we needed to do anything at all.

Stewart: So by destabilizing the Middle East through our intervention, we have destabilized it.

Zinni: Yes, masterfully.

It’s really sad that Mr. Obomber’s latest deception came on the heels of Veterans Day, a day in which we celebrate the bravery of soldiers who intended that their sacrifices would make it unnecessary for any president to create more veterans in the future. It is also ironic that the so-called peace candidate himself has attacked more nations than any other president in history.

Mr. Obomber, Mr. Nobel wants his prize back.

Morgan Brittany has been in the spotlight all her life. She began acting at age five and within a few years was earning enough money to help support her family. As a teenager, she hurt Opie’s feelings on The Andy Griffith Show, and as a full-grown vixen, she sort of murdered Bobby Ewing on Dallas. She also appeared multiple times as Vivien Leigh and Scarlett O’Hara. And, like Scarlett, Morgan is one tough cookie. So are her friends Ann-Marie Murrell and Dr. Gina Loudon. Together, the politically active trio launched PolitiChicks.com, a website with an unashamedly conservative viewpoint. The three friends also published a book this year titled, What Women REALLY Want.

I first met Morgan during her visit to the Western Film Festival two years ago (she’s a cowgirl at heart), and last month we spoke at length by phone about her new book.

JL: Is your new book just for women, just for men or both?

MB: It’s actually for both.

JL: So why did you and your fellow Politichicks choose now to publish the book?

MB: We got tired of hearing all about the “War on Women” that’s being perpetrated by the Left. It’s ridiculous because they’re picking issues and talking about things that are not really relevant in the real world. I mean, birth control? Really? It’s fifteen dollars, thirty dollars at most … a lot of women told us that there are bigger things going on in the world. We have ISIS, we have the economy, issues that are important. And women tell us, “We’re afraid to speak up because we get shouted down, we get demonized, called names.” So we decided we’d write a book and tell people how to counteract that.

JL: Speaking of being shouted down, you wrote of an incident in which an agent once told you not to be open about your religious views if you wanted to work in Hollywood. Have your faith or political views ever cost you a job?

MB: My political views, yeah. My agent said since I’m known as a conservative, when they bring my name up for jobs, the reaction they get is, “Oh no, we don’t want to deal with that.” They’d rather deal with somebody who thinks like they do. The Left grits their teeth and will hire someone like Jon Voight and other A-list Hollywood-types and look the other way when they really need him or her for a particular part. Not so for the majority of us who are not the A-list people. I feel particularly bad for the struggling young actors because they really can’t let their point of view show.

JL: You have always been very passionate about a number of legislative issues, so why didn’t you ever run for Congress?

MB: Back in the 1990s I was approached by the Republican Party to run for Congress. They said, “We really think you can win because you have name recognition, and people who don’t even know the issues will vote for you because they recognize your name.” But I told them I didn’t think the party would stand behind what my platform would be. They asked me why, and I said “Well, for one thing, I would shut down the borders while we have this problem with illegal immigration.” And they said, “No you can’t say that because we’re trying to get the Hispanic vote.”

JL: And though you’re an admitted “Right Wing Chick,” you still don’t move in lock-step with the Republican Party.

MB: I’m not beholden to anybody, so I don’t have to worry about what I say because I’m not running for office, and I’m not being paid by anybody, so I can basically say whatever I feel. Today the Republican Party is doing basically nothing. They treaded water until the mid-term election was overbecause they didn’t want to rock the boat. They didn’t want to do anything that might not let them win the Senate. That’s not the way leadership is supposed to be. You’re not supposed to worry about the next election. Being in Congress has become a matter of fundraising and who’s going to win the next election and not about the American people.

JL: The book is about what women want. So what’s something you want that you haven’t gotten yet?

MB: I feel so shackled by government. I live on a ranch, and there are so many restrictions on what I can and can’t do. What I have to plant. What I can’t cut or take down. I want my freedom back. That’s what I want.

JL: Your daughter Katie is 29 years old now. What do you want for her?

MB: That she’s not overburdened by debt. That she has the opportunity to pursue what she wants. Right now my daughter is thinking maybe her future won’t be as bright as the one her dad and I had, and that’s a sad thing.

JL: Having read your book and listening to you now I can’t help but hearken back to your performances as Scarlett O’Hara, and wonder if you are actually Scarlett incarnate.

MB: (laughs) Well in some sense, yes. Just put me in the dirt, and I’m gonna rise again. They can’t beat me down. Yeah, I say, “As God is my witness, I will overcome this.”

What Women REALLY Want is available in bookstores and from Amazon.com. For more information, visit PolitiChicks.com.

In the 2007 documentary Who is Norman Lloyd?, the late Karl Malden replied to the query as follows: “If you don’t know Norman Lloyd, you should know Norman Lloyd, because Norman Lloyd is the history of our industry.” Indeed.

Norman Lloyd was directed on stage by Orson Welles (“the greatest theatre director we ever had,” says Lloyd), and in film by Charlie Chaplin (“an absolute genius”), Alfred Hitchcock (“an extraordinary gift of storytelling”), Jean Renoir (he had great humanity”) and Martin Scorsese. He appeared in the first-ever TV movie in 1939 and directed the first ever broadcast of OMNIBUS with a five-part series on Lincoln. In his 70s, Norman acted alongside Denzel Washington, Robin Williams, Daniel Day Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer. In his 80s he co-starred with George Clooney, and in his 90s with Cameron Diaz. And this Saturday, after playing a set of tennis, Norman Lloyd will celebrate his 100th birthday.

Norman Lloyd was born in Jersey City on November 8, 1914, but the family soon moved to Brooklyn. By the time he was eight years old, Norman was entertaining ladies club meetings where his mother encouraged him to sing such rowdy tunes as “Father get the hammer, there’s a fly on baby’s head.” Norman caught the acting bug after his mother “took me to damn near every show on Broadway.”

But when he started going on auditions his Brooklyn accent proved to be an impediment. Enter theatre producer Eva Le Gallienne, who made Norman go to a dialect coach, and the result was one of the most mellifluous voices in the history of Hollywood. Speaking of Hollywood, he was coaxed there by Hitchcock in 1942 to star in the title role of “Saboteur,” and while Norman continued to act on stage, his career would forever after be linked more closely to film and television.

I first got to know Norman and his wife Peggy almost 20 years ago when I was doing research for a series of articles on the groundbreaking medical drama St. Elsewhere (Peggy passed away in 2011). I had been in broadcasting for some time by then but was just beginning to test my writing wings. Norman opened doors for me, which eventually led to my new mid-life career as an author and columnist. I dare say Norman opened a lot of doors for a lot of people, mainly because he’s a nice guy, but probably because he believes in paying it forward. In the early 1950’s Norman refused to name names for the House Un-American Activities Committee, so they blacklisted him. With no work coming in, and a family to feed, Norman feared he would never work again. He was also angered by the cowardice of studio heads and networks frightened by Joe McCarthy’s witch hunt. But his exile was short lived when he was rescued by his friend Alfred Hitchcock, who wouldn’t be bullied or intimidated by HUAC. Hitch needed a producer for his weekly television series, and Norman was his guy. Norman never forgot Hitch’s courage and loyalty, so it’s no surprise that he helped a lot of actors and directors by hiring them to work on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. One of those actors was James Best, who later gained fame as Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

Best: “I had the honor to have been directed by Norman in a Hitchcock episode called ‘The Jar.’ Having worked with hundreds of directors in my career, I found very few that had Norman’s qualities. He was most kind, gracious and patient with his actors. He is in all respects a complete gentleman in his personal life and I found it a genuine pleasure just to be in the presence of such a talented man. I am also doubly honored to consider him my friend. We are so blessed to have such a man among us for so long.”

After the Hitchcock series ended, Norman’s considerable producing and directing skills were in high demand. So were his talents as an actor, which landed him numerous guest roles on television. Then came a six-year run on the aforementioned St. Elsewhere, in which Norman portrayed Dr. Daniel Auschlander, a role he called more like himself than any other. But the role wasn’t originally slated to be permanent. Norman had come to the attention of producer Bruce Paltrow (Gwyneth’s dad) after he appeared with Bruce’s wife Blythe Danner in a play. Bruce (who passed away in 2002) once told me he wanted Norman to play a liver specialist who is dying of liver cancer and would only appear in four episodes. But Blythe wanted Norman to stay on the show. Lloyd said laughing, “If Bruce decides to write me out, Blythe is going to divorce him.”

Ed Begley Jr., Howie Mandel and Stephen Furst also portrayed doctors on the show, and all of them had the utmost respect for Norman.

Furst: “I always looked forward to coming to work because between set ups Norman would talk to us about film and television history — it was like going to film school. I was mesmerized by him and I didn’t even want to get up and go do my next scene.”

Mandel: “I love Norman Lloyd. He is a legend. I have spent hours like a little kid while he regaled us with stories of Hitchcock. He teaches, he entertains. He is a legend.”

Begley: “I worked with Norman Lloyd the actor and Norman Lloyd the director, and no one informed me better on the art of storytelling than that talented man. He is a constant inspiration and my eternal friend.”

Furst: “I never felt an age difference between Norman and me. He was a friend, a peer. I never felt I was talking to an older person.”

For Norman there was no slowing down after St. Elsewhere. Film and TV roles flooded in, including that of a stern schoolmaster opposite Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society. Other notable work included The Age of Innocence and Seven Days, a sci-fi series on the now-defunct network UPN. In 2000, Norman appeared in a live TV adaptation of Fail Safe, produced by and starring George Clooney. Clooney took a break from honeymooning to email me his thoughts on the 100-year young man.

Clooney: “Norman is not just the consummate professional, he’s also the consummate gentleman. In a town of two dimensional sets designed to look like the real thing, Norman IS the real thing. Congratulations Norman on reaching mid-life!”

From 1997 to 2003, Norman made occasional guest appearances on The Practice, which starred Michael Badalucco. Badalucco became a big fan of Lloyd’s and would later produce Who is Norman Lloyd?

Badalucco: “Norman Lloyd’s life is a treasure chest of show business experiences. The long lasting friendships he has shared are legendary. He is a centenarian to be cherished.”

Norman continued to act in the new millennium including with Cameron Diaz in In Her Shoes, and on Modern Family alongside his real-life next-door neighbor, Ed O’Neill. To paraphrase production designer Roy Christopher, Norman’s creative motor is always running.

JL: How often do you play tennis these days?

Lloyd: I still play twice a week on Wednesday and Saturday.

JL: Do you always play fair, or do you cheat?

Lloyd: That’s an unfair question (Laughs. Norman watches very little TV, except for sports, and never those trashy reality shows.)

JL: Speaking of trashy things, has anyone ever offered you a part in a film in which you would have to appear nude?

Lloyd: No, I’ve never been that fortunate (laughs). If I had, my career would have ascended. It would have been enormous. I would of course have had a great fan club of the female persuasion.

JL: So what’s the secret to your longevity?

Lloyd: I eat reasonably and play tennis, and I believe having a positive attitude is very important. I will make a confession. I do take a shot of bourbon before dinner.

JL: Is that to get your confidence up in case a nude role does come along?

Lloyd: I don’t need that. I can go do it without the booze (laughs).

It’s a rare thing for someone to be so accomplished in so many fields for so long, yet Norman has done just that, having excelled as an actor, director, writer, and producer. But ask him which he prefers, and the answer comes quickly.

Lloyd: “When you start as an actor as I did, no matter what else you do, you’re always an actor.”

The late Hume Cronyn once described his friend Norman as “The Ultimate Pro,” which the kid from Jersey City told me “sounded like a fitting epitaph someday.” We all hope that day is a long way off. Happy birthday Norman!

On Monday, October 20th, Governor Pat McCrory stopped by the ABC45 studios to tape a special edition of Triad Today, which was broadcast this past weekend. McCrory has been a frequent guest of the show, dating back to his tenure as Mayor of Charlotte, but on this visit, we focused much of our discussion on how the State has fared under his administration, and what he’s been able to accomplish in his first two years as our Chief Executive.

Here’s the full show, and below is a transcript of some highlights.

THE ECONOMY

JL: Give us a comparison of economic indicators from the time you took office until now.

PM: When I came into office on Jan. 5 of 2013, our unemployment rate was the fifth highest in the country. We owed the federal government over $2.5 billion for unemployment compensation. The previous administration and legislature had a missed forecast of over $500 million on Medicaid. Those are the things we walked into. We’re reducing unemployment compensation debt now because we’ve reduced the amount of money given. It’s now equal to what South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia pay. We’re going to pay off the $2.5 billion debt within the next two years — it’s below $600 million at this point in time. That’s a huge improvement. We’re getting off the credit card. We had the fifth highest rate of unemployment, now we’re around the 35th in the nation in unemployment. In fact, we’ve had the largest drop in unemployment of any state next to Florida.

INDUSTRY INCENTIVES

JL: Most industry incentives don’t create new jobs, they only shift jobs from one locality to another. Have you begun to put more conditions on incentive packages?

PM: We’re putting a lot more conditions on them, and now we have a statistical assessment of every industry to determine if it’s sustainable. I’m looking for long term, sustainable investment, not just a one-time hit for the next election. I’m looking for industries that will invest capital for the next 20, 30, to 50 years, not just for the next year. I’ve got a bias toward manufacturing because when you invest in manufacturing, that means you’re making something.

JL: But filmmaking is a clean industry that makes something, and yet you ended the existing incentives program in favor of offering grant money.

PM: The film industry is exciting. I’ve been in three films myself when I was Mayor of Charlotte. I even received a residual from one of the movies.

JL: I hope you reported that to the IRS.

PM: I had to because I got a check for $7.35 last year.

JL: I’m going to look into that.

PM: The movie played in Spain, and I played the Mayor of Charlotte, which was a stretch (laughs). But what we’ve done for the film industry is we have a $10 million grant that’s available now. The last two years we spent $80 million cash on film incentives, and that’s something we don’t do for any other industry. Frankly, that’s where a lot of the money for teacher raises went.

EDUCATION

JL: Speaking of education, what have you done and what are you doing to improve and transform public instruction in K-12?

PM: The first thing I did was demand that K-12, pre-K, community colleges and universities work as one team, not as four different silos. In fact, according to State statute, the four leaders were supposed to be meeting quarterly, and they had not met for four years.

Now I bring them together, and we’re starting to share budget information, seeing how we can share buildings, resources and technology. That had not been done in a long time. I convene every one of those meetings and haven’t missed a meeting, so we’re talking to each other now. We have no more silos.

We can’t afford it anymore. We’ve got to have teamwork, so I’m looking at education as a kindergarten through 20 process.

TRANSPORTATION

JL: Education helps to attract and create new jobs, and so does infrastructure. Tell me about your 25-year transportation plan.

PM: We’re still feeling the impact of President Eisenhower, even today, because of the highway system he built in the 1950s connecting rural and urban, east and west. We’re now presenting a similar plan in North Carolina. We have a rail plan, a road plan, a communications plan and an energy plan.

And when I recruit industry now, I show them my 25-year transportation plan. When I was Mayor of Charlotte, I’d drive down certain highways and they would go from two lanes to eight lanes and back to two lanes, and it didn’t make any sense. What I realized is that wherever they were widest, they were named after a politician.

JL: Yeah, it’s called the Fat Cat Highway.

PM: (laughs) I would never call it that. I’ve got to be a little more politically correct.

JL: I don’t have to be PC.

PM: But where the roads were the widest, it was based on a political decision and not a decision based on traffic, economic development, and safety, and those are our three criteria.

MEDICAID

JL: When you first took office, you called the State’s Medicaid system “a mess.” Where do we stand now?

PM: The system was bought by the previous administration, and they were supposed to turn it on six months prior to me coming into office, but they didn’t. When we turned it on, my secretary said, “We might have to go back to paper,” because they bought a system for which there is no backup, and without sufficient training. When we turned it on, it was working at about 75 percent capacity, and we caught heat for that. We’re now at 98 to 99 percent capacity.

DAN RIVER SPILL

JL: Speaking of taking a lot of heat, your critics were afraid you wouldn’t act swiftly to deal with Duke Energy after they spilled thousands of tons of coal ash into the Dan River.

PM: Yeah I saw a commercial the other day that said I did it — that I caused the spill.

JL: But you had a relationship with Duke Energy from having worked there.

PM: They were like a family to me.

JL: So did that relationship make you reticent to be punitive with them?

PM: Absolutely not. In fact if anything, I knew what they did wrong because I used to work in engineering, and their engineering people didn’t do their job, and frankly the politicians before me didn’t do their job either. They even passed legislation in 2009 and 2010, which weakened some of the standards for coal ash.

GAY MARRIAGE

JL: The high court says North Carolina cannot ban gays from marrying, but a lower court says the GOP can appeal. Do you continue to oppose gay marriage?

PM: Yes, but it’s my job to follow the law, and I’ll do just that and I won’t play games. We’ve already adjusted our forms and processes and procedures over the past several weeks to make it happen.

(For more information about policy initiatives, visit www.governor.state.nc.us)

We are living in an age of the 24-hour news cycle, and that can be both good and bad for political candidates. Good if they utter a memorable sound bite. Bad if they say something stupid. As a result, politicians and their handlers have become increasingly guarded; so much so, that their televised debates have evolved into nothing but a series of thoroughly vetted (often negative) campaign talking points. That’s why, when candidates appear on Triad Today, I abandon the traditional debate format, and instead, engage them in civil conversation about the issues.

Sixth District candidates Democrat Laura Fjeld and Republican Mark Walker appeared together on Triad Today this past week. The questions and answers unfolded organically without putting a stop watch on every response. The result was an exchange of ideas and problem solving. Of course, the program was not devoid of fireworks, like when Ms. Fjeld, an attorney, attacked Walker, a minister, as an extremist on women’s issues. It was a contrast in styles and beliefs from two passionate people, and I appreciated their candor. Here then, are some highlights from our discussion.

 

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EBOLA

JL: Did President Obama put us in danger by refusing to issue a travel ban from West Africa, and would you support a ban now?

MW: I believe he did. Being married to a level one trauma nurse who helps manage the Moses Cone ER, this is certainly a personal issue with me.

LF: I would vote for a travel ban, and I would base my vote on the best advice from the people who really understand this disease and how it travels. We want to know from experts across the globe who are studying Ebola, what is the best way to contain it, and then end it.

MW: I’m not so concerned with positions by international healthcare providers. As your next Congressman, my oath would be first to make sure we protect the citizens of this country. So I have no qualms about immediately establishing a travel ban.

THE MIDDLE EAST

JL: Though we profess to be a peace-loving nation, the United States has been engaged in nearly a hundred foreign conflicts since the early 1990’s. Now we’re bombing Syria. It seems like we’re always at war. Do you support the President’s bombing strategy and should we keep intervening in the Middle East?

LF: I absolutely support the military air strikes, but we’ve got to go further. I’m not satisfied with a trajectory that takes us out years before we can isolate or eradicate ISIS. They are terrorists, and we must do everything we can. Coming from a family of Navy men, I think “boots on the ground” is a last resort, but I just don’t think we can take anything off the table.

MW: We are facing a clear and present danger right now. ISIS is bringing in $3 million a day, they’ve commandeered oil fields in Syria and Iraq, and they’re also profiting from the sex trafficking industry. We do have to stop them. However, you also have to look back and say, “How effective have we been in intervening in these Middle East problems which go back 2000 years?” I feel sometimes like we’re wasting resources and putting our troops in harm’s way. I’m not an isolationist, but I would have to think long and hard before we enter into some kind of conflict.

LF: This is a group that’s recruiting in this country right now. This is not the war in Iraq. This is a different and new threat, and we have to look at it in that light.

MW: There are times when we have to stand up, but history tells us that [our interventions] have not been effective. If you look simply at results, they’re not there, so I think we need to develop some new strategies as we move forward.

IMMIGRATION

JL: Do you favor deportation of undocumented workers, and what about children of illegal immigrants?

LF: I do not favor amnesty. We cannot reward people for breaking our laws. But I do believe that the children who came here through no fault of their own, who want to be productive citizens in this country and want to go to school here, and serve in our military, that they should have a chance to do so.

MW: Securing our border is something that’s past due. Last week there were four ISIS members caught coming across the border, so who knows how many are getting across there.

LF: One of the things that differentiates me from Mr. Walker is his view, which was expressed quite clearly this summer, that we should actually be bombing the border with Mexico.

JL: Mark, was that said in jest?

MW: The paragraph before and after that was talking about going after drug cartels. This has been a spin by their campaign to come after us. We’ve chosen not to go the negative route, but to continue to concentrate on the issues.

LF: Well those are the words that Mr. Walker used to deal with our immigration crisis on the border.

MW: But that statement was by no means talking about going after Mexican citizens. It was talking about going after the drug cartels.

TAXES

JL: Mark, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you said you favor replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax. Laura you said you do not.

LF: Well, now is not the time to raise taxes on anyone, and the implementation of a national sales tax on everything we buy would hurt the middle and working class families who can least afford it.

MW: Jim we never said concretely that’s the way we want to go. We said there are many options, such as a fair tax, or even a flat tax model that would also include deductions for higher education, charitable giving, as well as mortgage interest.

MINIMUM WAGE

JL: Do you support raising the minimum wage?

LF: I absolutely believe we should raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. That allows individuals who are working very hard to put food on their tables, some of them working two and three jobs to do that. This is a livable wage, and more importantly it allows people to get off food stamps.

MW: I don’t think it would get them off food stamps. The Congressional Budget Office has said it will cost 500,000 jobs immediately upon implementation, so the answer is no.

LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA

JL: Do you favor legalization of marijuana, which would raise revenues and possibly reduce street crime?

LF: I have some concerns about legalization, but I certainly favor looking at it for medicinal uses.

MW: I agree, but I would add to that: the Governor of Colorado just said it might have been a little reckless to approve that legislation. There’s still some studies coming in, and I’d like to see those before we make any long term decisions.

GAY MARRIAGE

JL: In light of recent court rulings, do you support gay marriage, or would you join with those who seek to repeal those rulings?

LF: I do support marriage equality and I don’t believe government should tell people who they can love.

MW: From an equal rights standpoint, our Constitution should allow any two people to enter into any kind of civil agreement. However, I want to make sure our State’s constitution is being implemented to its fullest.

WOMEN’S ISSUES

JL: Laura, you’ve referred to Mark as an extremist on women’s issues. I want to know why, and Mark, I want to know why women should vote for you.

LF: I believe strongly that a woman’s healthcare decisions should be left to that woman in consultation with her doctor, her family, and her faith. And that’s the way it must be. Mr. Walker’s view is that a woman should never have that option, not even in cases when she’s been the victim of a violent crime like rape or incest.

MW: I want to be an advocate for all life, both the mother and the unborn baby. I am pro-life and I’m not ashamed of that, and I want to stand for the healthcare of all people involved.

LF: His is an extreme view held by very few people in this country, and then to say he will work diligently to pass legislation that would result in the banning of common forms of birth control, such as the pill and IUD, the Congress shouldn’t even be dealing with contraception.

MW: The last conversation I had about birth control was nine years ago when my wife came in and said we need to sit down and talk because we’re expecting our third child.

FAITH AND POLITICS

JL: Mark, as a Protestant minister, what assurances can you give Jewish voters, Catholic voters, and Muslim voters that any votes you cast in Congress will reflect the views of all your constituents?

MW: My oath is to the Constitution, and not to any specific denomination. That’s why we have bipartisan support across this district.

JL: Laura, for conservative voters who are still undecided in this race, what assurances can you give them that you won’t vote in lock step with Obama and the Democratic party?

LF: Well I never have and I never will. This race is really about issues and policy, and as a working mom, I’m the only candidate who’s actually had experience working with people of very divergent backgrounds.

 

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If elected, both candidates feel they can help to break the gridlock in Washington. Perhaps they can. Though their views on many issues are far apart, they are alike in two regards. They are both good listeners, and they aren’t hamstrung by huge egos. That’s something Washington needs more of.