(Photo by Robin Holland)
Below is an article by Public Affairs Television senior writer Michael Winship.
"Don't You Know There's a War On?"
By Michael Winship
A recent headline on the New York Daily News website was blunt: "In case you've forgotten," it read, "we're at war."
The story was about the deaths of six Americans in Afghanistan in five separate attacks and one accidental explosion, all on the same day. The day before, coalition forces had mistakenly killed six Afghan civilians when an artillery strike missed its target; the day after, the Taliban would kill eleven Afghan policemen and a district governor.
It is the deadliest year of the war in Afghanistan, now the longest in American history. And although for most of us it's out of sight, out of mind, each day, the numbers continue to slowly creep up. So far this year, 241 Americans have died, 60 of them in June, 39 in July, according to the website iCasualties.org.
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(Photo by Robin Holland)
Below is an article by Public Affairs Television senior writer Michael Winship.
"On the Foul Line with the Chamber of Commerce"
By Michael Winship
I may be one of the only Manhattan residents not disappointed with LeBron James' televised announcement that, "This fall, I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat."
You see, when the basketball superstar was contemplating signing with the New York Knicks last week, he came house hunting in my tragically trendy, downtown neighborhood, and news soon broke that he was looking at a $12.9 million fixer upper - with high ceilings -- directly across the street from my apartment building.
Visions of permanently camped-out paparazzi and crazed fans - in an area already besieged by Carrie and Samantha wannabes on the "Sex and the City" bus tour - had me scanning the real estate websites for a cottage small by a waterfall, preferably near a subway stop.
Sure, there would have been advantages to LeBron James as a neighbor- carpooling, for one - but all I need at this stage of life is yet another reminder of someone far younger, richer, and better coordinated than I am.
James' new deal reportedly is worth $110 million. And while fans in Cleveland are calling him all sorts of rotten names, depressed and angry that he's deserting their beloved Cavaliers, nonetheless I presume that he would make a more congenial local resident than, say, other rich folk about whom The New York Times reported on Friday.
Many seem to have found yet another way to take advantage of the gruesome economy some of them helped to create, skipping out on their mortgages "at a rate that greatly exceeds the rest of the population."
Continue reading "Michael Winship: On the Foul Line with the Chamber of Commerce" »
(Photo by Robin Holland)
Below is an article by Public Affairs Television senior writer Michael Winship.
"This Fourth of July, Celebrate "1776" -- The Movie"
By Michael Winship
As we commemorate the Fourth of July, one of the joys -- and there are many -- of life in these United States is that you never know what the hell we, the people, will say next.
There's the delightful teenage girl in Montclair, New Jersey, who when informed this week that the nice married couple nearby had been arrested as Russian intelligence agents, joked to The New York Times, "They couldn't have been spies. Look what she did with the hydrangeas."
On the other end of the comedy spectrum there's House minority leader John Boehner, who scoffingly told the conservative Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that financial reform was akin to "killing an ant with a nuclear weapon." Yep, the bank-fueled economic meltdown that created those 8 million U.S. job losses and $17 trillion in lost retirement savings and net worth was one heck of an anthill. Good one, John.
But one remark that really floored me occurred last week when I was interviewing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski before an audience at the Silverdocs documentary film festival just outside Washington, DC. At the end of the conversation, which covered everything from net neutrality and broadband access to the fate of investigative journalism in cyberspace, we took questions from the audience. One gentleman had several brief policy questions and then, of all things, asked Genachowski to name his favorite movie.
"'1776,'" the chairman instantly replied, with "Fiddler on the Roof" a close second.
Continue reading "Michael Winship: This Fourth of July, Celebrate "1776" -- The Movie" »
W.S. Merwin has just been named the new Poet Laureate for the United States. View Bill Moyers interview with Merwin below:
In February 2010 Bill Moyers talked with lawyers Ted Olson and David Boies. Once adversaries in 2000's Bush v. Gore Supreme Court case, now two of the nation's premier lawyers -- one conservative and one liberal -- teamed up to make the constitutional case for same-sex marriage. The duo has just finished presenting their arguments to the court against California's Proposition 8 -- the 2008 ballot initiative that put an end to same-sex marriage in that state. Find out what brought these two together over the issue and more about the case below. Also, in a Web exclusive, Olson and Boies talk about Bush v. Gore. and Citizens United v. FEC.
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Continue reading "What's Next in the Marriage Wars: Olson and Boies on Prop 8" »
(Photo by Robin Holland)
Below is an article by Public Affairs Television senior writer Michael Winship.
"Miley, We Hardly Knew Ye"
By Michael Winship
Amidst all the news of petrochemical malfeasance in the Gulf - and thank you Rep. Joe Barton, pride of Texas, for your apology to BP, demonstrating everything that's wrong with a Congress jammed too snugly in the pocket of big business - I watched teen sensation Miley Cyrus on David Letterman Thursday night.
Oh my. Listening to her, I thought, there is no there there. And that made me sad.
When Gertrude Stein wrote, "There is no there there," she was referring to the loss of her childhood home in Oakland, California. At 17, Ms. Cyrus already seems to have lost her entire childhood, careening into her majority like a runaway bus with a bomb on board.
Not that she isn't a smart, savvy young woman with talent. But of course, she's more than that - she's a Disney-manufactured phenomenon, with hit records, movies, the HANNAH MONTANA TV series and sold out concert tours, a role model to millions of adoring girls who buy up all the Miley-related merchandise they can get their hands on. "You represent popular culture," Letterman told her and he was right, with all the good and bad that implies. Then he asked, jokingly, "Are you looking for the warmth the spotlight can't provide?" Ms. Cyrus said, firmly, "No."
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David Lewis, renowned community leader was shot and killed in San Mateo, California on June 9, 2010. In 1992 Lewis, an ex-convict and drug addict, drew on his own experiences to help found Free at Last in East Palo Alto, California. The center helps more than 4,200 people annually and has become a model of community-based treatment.
Bill Moyers and producers Kathleen Hughes and Tom Casciato met David Lewis in 1991 during the filming of the documentary Circle of Recovery. Then Lewis was 35 years old and he was just getting on his feet, having spent most of his adult life behind bars in some of California's toughest prisons: Folsom, Soledad and San Quentin.
Kathleen Hughes continued to document Lewis' remarkable community efforts in Palo Alto for NOW with Bill Moyers in 2003. You can view that story online for the first time below.
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Continue reading "Remembering Community Leader David Lewis" »
(Photo by Robin Holland)
Below is an article by Public Affairs Television senior writer Michael Winship.
"The Supreme Court Says NO to the People - Again"
By Michael Winship
At a dinner party, an ever-so-proper aristocrat who had been at the British evacuation of Dunkirk 60 years ago, remained tightlipped despite intense questioning from the other guests about what he had seen there.
Finally, he shuddered at the memory and exclaimed, "The noise, my dear, and the people!"
An apocryphal story, perhaps, but the high-falutin' Supreme Court of the United States has the same attitude toward America - this would be such a great country if it wasn't for all the noise and people.
Bad enough that last week the court narrowly redefined Miranda rights in such a way that seems to say that if one of those aforementioned people is arrested and remains silent about their right to remain silent, anything you do say, if you say something, can and will be held against you. An interpretation as worthy of Lewis Carroll as it is George Orwell.
Continue reading "Michael Winship: The Supreme Court Says NO to the People - Again" »
(Photo by Robin Holland)
Below is an article by Public Affairs Television senior writer Michael Winship. We welcome your comments below.
"A Guide through Israel's No-One Land"
By Michael Winship
"Where is the balance between wisdom and force?"
I've thought of that question several times over the last few days, as accusations and counteraccusations fly over Israel's May 31 fatal commando operation against the flotilla of humanitarian aid ships attempting to break the blockade of Gaza. Nine civilians were killed, including a 19-year-old American citizen of Turkish descent.
On Monday, four others died, Palestinian divers shot by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) off the Gaza coast. Israel says the divers were preparing a terrorist attack; the commander of Palestine's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade says it was just a training exercise.
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(Photo by Robin Holland)
Below is an article senior writer for Public Affairs Television Michael Winship. We welcome your comments below.
"Congress Gets a Kick in the... Pants"
By Michael Winship
There's a story about a member of the British House of Commons who was stopped in the halls of Parliament by a constituent, an elderly pensioner. The little old man had a specific concern about his fellow senior citizens that he hoped the politician could solve.
He made his case clearly and intelligently and when he was finished, the Member of Parliament promised to see what might be done. As the MP turned to leave, the old man hauled off and kicked him in the backside as hard as he could.
The astonished politician turned; the old man waggled a finger and cheerily said, "Now don't forget!"
Few American politicians will forget that a lot of incumbent backsides were kicked by frustrated voters in Tuesday's primaries: longtime Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, a converted Democrat more from expedience than allegiance, lost renomination to Rep. Joe Sestak; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell saw his handpicked Senate candidate go down in Kentucky, defeated by Tea Partier Rand Paul; and Arkansas Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln was forced into a runoff by progressive Democrat Bill Halter.
Yet for all the talk of an anti-incumbent fever sweeping the land, the image of angry voters manning the tumbrels and throwing the rascals out, consider the special congressional election for the late Democratic Congressman John Murtha's seat in southwestern Pennsylvania. Democrat Mark Critz handily defeated Republican Tea Partier Tim Burns and pundits declared it a big loss for the GOP, which had tried to play on anti-Obama and anti-Nancy Pelosi sentiment to defeat Critz.
Continue reading "Congress Gets a Kick in the... Pants" »
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