On August 9, Ferguson Missouri police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man. Initial reports indicate that Brown had his hands up in the air when Wilson fired multiple times. The Brown family lawyer proclaimed that Wilson was guilty of murder. Riots ensued, and SWAT teams and national guard were called in to restore order using military equipment and weaponry. The riots have since ended, but there’s still unrest, distrust, and anger simmering in the St. Louis suburb. And why not? After all, Ferguson was a public safety disaster waiting to happen. The population of Ferguson is 63% African American, yet the police force is 94% white.
It is amazing to me that in America you are guaranteed a jury of your peers, yet we can’t guarantee policing by your peers. This is something that Attorney General Eric Holder should try and rectify as a violation of basic civil rights. I also think that police officers should live where they work. Anyway, that’s my input, and while it would take time to implement those proposals, at least they’re viable. That’s in contrast to the irresponsible and bone-headed input by some in the news media over the past few weeks.
The FOX news team, of course, was quick to paint Wilson as the victim and Brown as the criminal. But my favorite skewed coverage was on CNN. Commenting on the Ferguson riots and police use of tear gas to disperse crowds, CNN anchor Rosemary Church suggested, “Why not use water cannons? At least it’s not something that is going to have the same kind of effect.” Typical of today’s beauty queen news anchors, Ms. Church made the mistake of opening her mouth and showing us how little she knows. She also demonstrated a thorough lack of historical perspective and sensitivity. Those of us who came of age in the early 1960’s remember all too well the disturbing images of southern cops blasting innocent black citizens with water cannons. It was inexcusable behavior by racists parading as public servants. So thanks for your suggestion Ms. Church—you freaking idiot.
Meanwhile, not all insensitive coverage was initiated by the electronic media.
Syndicated cartoonist Taylor Jones amplified the 1960’s water cannon era by portraying a Ferguson storm trooper as Barney Fife. In the foreground of the cartoon is a black man with raised hands while Fife, armed with an assault rifle and pointing a semi automatic pistol at the man, says, “We’ve got to nip it in the bud!” For me, Jones’ illustration and political commentary was the last straw in the media frenzy about Michael Brown’s killing, and for two reasons.
For many years now I have grown increasingly embarrassed to tell people that I work in television because increasingly, local and network news operations have filled their ranks with airheads whose main qualification is that they are young and attractive. Ironically, though, when attempting to ad lib, what they say is often very unattractive. The killing of an unarmed black youth by a white man in authority is becoming an all-too familiar occurrence in this country, and any news person who fails to grasp the significance of that racial divide is not fit to wear a microphone.
The other reason I reached my boiling point last month is because a tragedy born out of prejudice is never well served by satire born out of prejudice. Jones’ cartoon wasn’t funny because his metaphor wasn’t appropriate, and smacked of prejudice against the South. If ever there was a kind and gentle law enforcement officer, it was the fictional Barney Fife, loyal deputy on “The Andy Griffith Show”. To portray Fife as a violent, racist cop even in jest is a misrepresentation of the character Don Knotts created, and an insult to the millions of white people in the South who live with and respect people of color.
To be fair, Jones isn’t the first media professional to pick on Mayberry. Two years ago producers of the prime time EMMY awards show presented a parody of “The Andy Griffith Show” in which Andy and Barney were portrayed by characters from “Breaking Bad”. The segment ended with Bryan Cranston (“Andy”) and Aaron Paul (“Opie”) murdering Barney.
For some big-city media types, it is stylish to make fun of the South, and when based on facts, those parodies can be helpful. But no TV anchor, pundit or cartoonist has the right to indict all southern towns for something vile that takes place in a single locality. Barney Fife is nothing like Darren Wilson. For proof, just heed Fife’s own words; “It’s a wise man who knows it’s illegal to take the law into his own hands.” Barney also said, “I’m a student of humanity. I guess that’s the difference between a sharply honed lawman, and a jerk wearing a badge.” And once when Barney was swearing in extra deputies, he told them, “That badge means something. Don’t any of you disgrace it.” I believe that the majority of police officers and deputies in the South feel the same way as Barney, and that’s something of which we southerners can be proud.
Later this month, the town of Mount Airy will host its annual “Mayberry Days” event, where visitors can celebrate what’s good about small town America. There will be plenty of good food, good music, and good conversation. And yes, there will be plenty of good cops around to keep an eye on things. There’s no doubt that the Ferguson police force needs swift reform, but not all small towns are full of racists. Anyone who seeks to lump us all together should just nip it right now
I first met Nancy Stafford at the Western Film Fair where she and I spoke about the passing of her Matlock co-star Andy Griffith. Nancy has returned to North Carolina several times since then, including making personal appearances in Mt. Airy. It’s appropriate that she has donated a handbag to this year’s auction, which is being held in Andy’s hometown.
Speaking of hometowns, Anna Wood was born and reared in Surry County, and her Mom, Mary Beth works at the Woltz Hospice Home. Anna was a big hit in Deception, and can be seen this fall starring in the CBS crime drama, Reckless. 
The former Miss America had played Catwoman to Adam West’s Batman, she was also a scientist in The Time Tunnel, and she portrayed Buddy Ebsen’s daughter-in-law on Barnaby Jones. The year after our Hollywood event, Lee happened to be shooting a movie in Winston-Salem, so she, and my wife Pam and I spent a wonderful evening together. During the course of our dinner conversation, Lee told Pam she needed to buy some underwear, so the next day, the two women went shopping for unmentionables. I was not invited to come along. And what kind of purse has Lee donated to this year’s auction? A leather one, of course. Catwoman wouldn’t have it any other way.
Mad Men is set in the 1960’s, so I asked Matt if one of his actresses might consider donating a purse. His reply was immediate. “How soon do you need them?” he said. A few days later, not one, but two purses arrived at my doorstep. One was from Elisabeth Moss, who plays Peggy on Mad Men, and the other came from
Jessica Paré, who plays Jon Hamm’s wife Megan. Even better, the handbags were actually carried by Jessica and Elisabeth in several episodes of the EMMY award winning drama. The episode numbers are tagged on the purses, making them particularly valuable as collectibles.
Posted September 10, 2014 By Triad TodayFoxes in the Congressional Henhouse
Back in 1831, North Carolina Congressman Robert Potter castrated two men whom he suspected of sleeping with his wife. His colleagues in the House took no action against him. Later, when serving in the State General Assembly, Potter was caught cheating at cards, and was immediately expelled from the chamber. The moral of the story is that it’s OK to cut from the bottom of a dick, so long as you don’t cut from the bottom of a deck. Clearly, legislators just don’t have their priorities straight.
Then as now, Congress is still ethically challenged. Today it nurtures and condones a revolving door system for its retiring members, which allows them to go to work for industries whom they have previously championed, or for whom they intend to obtain access, or both. The most recent example of this is Republican Congressman Eric Cantor from Virginia. The powerful House Majority Leader had built a substantial power base during his 13 years in Washington, where he was an advocate for big business. Last week he accepted a job with investment bank Moelis & Co., who is paying him a $1.4 million dollar signing bonus, and a $2 million dollar annual salary.
Upon hearing of Cantor’s windfall, Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren implied to Katie Couric that Cantor will be selling access to his former colleagues “who are still writing policy, and who are still making laws.”
Such criticism is not particularly new. ThinkProgress.org reminds us that former Reagan OMB Director David Stockman once described Cantor as a “Bag man for Wall Street.” Stockman was referring to Cantor’s support for TARP, and his opposition to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. It’s no wonder that Cantor’s Tea Party opponent used the Bag Man tag to defeat the incumbent in a recent primary election. According to ThinkProgress.org, David Brat said, “All of the investment bankers in New York and D.C., they should have gone to jail, but instead went on Eric’s rolodex and sent him big checks.”
Cantor’s primary defeat was unexpected, especially since that same investment banking industry had lined his campaign coffers with nearly $8 million over the past few years. But while Virginia voters finally got wise to Cantor’s antics, Congress itself continues to turn a blind eye to the practice of revolving door power brokering. In recent years, Senate Banking Chairman Phil Gramm took a job with UBS. House banking subcommittee chairman Rick Lazzio went on JP Morgan Chase’s payroll, and former Representative Larry LaRocco became a lobbyist for the American Bankers Association. In fact, today, 50% of all retiring Congressmen now go on to become lobbyists. That compares with just 3% in 1974.
To be fair, such influence peddling hasn’t been limited to Congressmen. Revolving door politics has also been a problem in the West Wing. That’s why on his first day in office, Bill Clinton signed an executive order that barred retiring senior staffers from lobbying their former colleagues for five years. However, in the last few days of his second term, Mr. Clinton revoked his own order so that his outgoing staff could transition into the private sector without delay. History repeated itself nine years later when President Obama had his staff and appointees sign an Ethics Pledge. But the terms of Obama’s pledge had loopholes big enough to drive a truck through, including a provision by which the director of the OMB could issue waivers to certain White House insiders.
That brings us back to the Legislative Branch and people like Eric Cantor who are supposed to serve the public, but end up mainly serving themselves. Under current federal law, Senators are barred from lobbying Congress for two years after leaving their post, and House members are barred for one year. But here’s the rub. Folks like Cantor can leave office and immediately go to work for one of his pet companies without breaking the law. That’s because he can “advise” his new employer on how to navigate the halls of Congress without directly lobbying former members himself, who, by the way, he’s free to meet with socially, wink-wink. But Cantor isn’t necessarily even being paid to help Moelis in the future. As The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart pointed out, the millions Cantor is reaping from Moelis is just compensation for services already rendered. Stewart is right on target. If nothing else, Cantor is being richly rewarded for protecting the interests of the investment banking industry while serving in Congress.
Republican Rep. Michael Bennet and Democratic Senator Jon Tester would like to see retiring members of Congress barred from any kind of lobbying for life, but their attempts have fallen on deaf ears, and will continue to do so, at least until we can send enough fresh faces to Washington who aren’t interested in lining their pockets. Once that happens, then we might see some viable ethics reform enacted. My suggestion is to tie the length of a lobbying ban to the actual number of years served in Congress. For example, if a one term representative leaves office, he could go to work anywhere he wishes after two years. But if that same official remained in Congress for 10 years, then his ban would last for a decade. In Washington, power and influence only come with time served, so my plan would render powerful incumbents virtually powerless to influence policy upon their retirement.
In the meantime, we need to keep pushing for term limits and vote out as many incumbents as possible. Otherwise we’ll be stuck with elected officials who look the other way while they and their contributors (and future employers) screw the American public. It makes you mad enough to want to castrate those corrupt officials. Where’s Robert Potter when you need him?