WorkingReporter - Ron Olsen on the web

   After being repeatedly warned (threatened?) that I can change now or be forced to change later, I have bitten the byte-coated bullet and switched to Facebook Timeline.  And I don’t care for it.

It’s too busy.  Too cluttered.  Too much stuff on the page destroying the simplicity of what FB was, all of it, detracting from its user-friendliness.   How do I get rid of that stupid map, designed to eventually track my every move via cell phone, telling the world where I am at all times?  Isn’t that the idea?  I think it is, but I could be wrong.  I’m nowhere as smart as the Facebook guys, so I really don’t know what all they might be up to.

I’m not sure Mark Zuckerberg, doesn’t have dreams of world domination.  Not bad for something that started with dorm room laptop technology.  I doubt it occurred to any of the Facebook brainiacs back in the day that their product would be one of the keys to a successful uprising in North Africa, or that it would be used by the IRS to look for tax cheats, or that employers would use it to check out prospective employees likes, dislikes and general social demeanor?  A survey conducted by CareerBuilder in 2009 points to 45% of all employers using social media sites to check out job seekers.  It’s downright Orwellian and becoming more so by the moment, as Facebook interfaces with other companies like Yahoo!  I was on a site having nothing to do with Facebook the other day, or so I thought, when a message box popped up asking me if I wanted to log into my Facebook account.  Huh?  If I wanted to do that I’d go over to Facebook and log in.  It’s now officially okay to be a little paranoid.

I’m concerned with the whole “Timeline” bit.  I don’t enjoy the thought of a company (or any number of others) having access to my thoughts, my likes, dislikes and personal contacts stretching back in time, all neatly categorized on a month to month basis.  Not to mention all the other personal info they’re able to gather at one convenient central location.   It’s ingenious.  A marketer’s dream.  Kudos to Mr. Zuckerberg and friends for pushing Capitalism to a place it’s never been before and falling backwards into a truckload of money in the process.   Luckeeeeeee….  Napoleon and Pedro aside, they were also smart enough to take advantage of an opportunity, even though it apparently jumped up and bit them on their backsides.  So there’s that, too.   Good for them.

As for the rest of us  — caught between giving away our cyber-souls to Facebook on one hand and becoming disconnected from old friends on the other — we continue to get what we pay for as something that began with a spark of brilliance gallops headlong into the world of crass, cold, calculated, corporate, commercialism.  It feels like the death of an old friend and another bump up the social networking ladder for Big Brother.

It’s true, of course, that Facebook does provide some “basic privacy controls.”  If you’re happy with that then so be it.  I have to wonder how many Facebook users are?  How many think that everything’s just fine, that this is the way it’s supposed to be?  There’s nothing you can do about it anyway, right?  Or as a friend recently put it as he borrowed from the Borg, that “resistance is futile.”

You can count on my old buddy Andrew Blankstein to come across with the very latest news on breaking crime stories in Los Angeles.  Blankstein and co-writer Robert J. Lopez are reporting in the Times about a brawl outside the Kodak Theater that ended with a Jack Sparrow character being pepper-sprayed while Catwoman, a second unidentified pirate and “the alien fled the scene.” The Times reports that the LAPD is “searching the streets.”

The newspaper reports that this most recent episode  follows a situation in September, when police detained SpongeBob SquarePants near Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

  A couple of interesting, possibly even hopeful, economic indicators.  The British government, has stripped away knighthood from former Royal Bank of Scotland Group CEO Fred Goodwin, who was in charge of the Bank when it collapsed.  It’s no small thing, losing one’s knighthood.   Bloomberg reports the move, “reflects a turning point for bankers as politicians and voters step up criticism of pay and performance.”  We can only hope.

Over on the continent, European Union regulators (they still have some) have refused to approve a merger between Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext.   Had it taken place, the merger between the German investment banking firm and Euronext, would have formed the world’s biggest market for derivatives, giving just two companies control of 90% of the global market.  Remember derivatives?  Remember government-sanctioned gambling with other people’s money which continues here in the United States and those oh so complicated “financial instruments” that helped cause the market crash here in the U.S. in 2008, as well as economic disasters in Greece and Italy?  Remember any of that?

You don’t need a degree in rocket science.  Although they want you to think you do, so that you’ll feel helpless, with no means of fighting back against a system rigged in the favor of the rich.  Rigged in favor of people like Fred Goodwin.

Then there’s  the Australian bus company owner who sold his company and doled out $16 million (US) to his loyal employees as a token of appreciation for their good and faithful service.   Chief Executive, Geoff Grenda, said the appreciation of his employees was “overwhelming.”  Isn’t it wonderful to hear about bonuses going to someone other than greedy investors who put thousands out of work by either crippling or shutting down companies and then walking away with all the cash in a system that’s rigged to favor the wealthy?

Perhaps the United States needs to take a cue from the Brits, the European Union and Mr. Grenda?   Thing is, much of the country has been so thoroughly brainwashed by the right with nonsense about European socialism that it may be utterly impossible to awaken American conservatives from their greed-driven economic coma prior to another monetary blowout taking place.  It appears there are those among us who cannot imagine the human condition without the continued existence of unnecessary suffering.

   The United States military is coming to downtown Los Angeles and “other portions of the greater Los Angeles area,” where they’ll be backed up by the LAPD for “joint military training exercises.”    That’s what they’re calling it.  The Daily Breeze reports sections of downtown will be closed to the public in the evenings through Thursday for the training.  Huh?   Sounds like L.A. is being invaded by our own military with “support” from the LAPD?

When did our police department become an arm of the military?

I can’t remember anything quite like this happening in a major U.S. city.   At least, not here in L.A.  Not since the riots.  But that wasn’t training, that was for real.  I know the military trains for urban warfare, but don’t they have urban warfare training facilities for just that purpose?   I have to wonder if this is about general military training, or is it more about using the military in conjunction with the police for tactical assault purposes in our own cities?   This is a little too close to home.  Literally.   Is this for general urban warfare training, or is the U.S. Government anticipating widespread trouble in America’s urban centers?  Trouble so bad that it demands military intervention?

Meantime, while the LAPD is backing up the military downtown (and in other undisclosed sections of L.A.), Porter Ranch has been hit by a spate of home-invasion robberies, cops are all but nonexistent in the San Fernando Valley and city officials are acting like the cost of cleaning up the City Hall lawn following the Occupy movement is going to bankrupt the treasury.  And our cops are being paid to back up the military in joint exercises?  Maybe they could move the training to a city that isn’t as economically strapped as Los Angeles currently is?  Someplace that has a bigger per-capita police department?  With one of the smallest police departments of any big city in the U.S., we kinda need every cop we’ve got to take care of…you know…police work, as opposed to closing streets so the military can attack sections of our city.

According to KCBS-TV, “The exercises are designed to ensure the military’s ability to operate in urban environments, prepare forces for upcoming overseas deployments, and meet mandatory training certification requirements, police said.” 

Right….   Obviously, they couldn’t accomplish any of that at their existing urban warfare training centers?

Why does this feels like a bad novel about our democracy being supplanted by some other form of government followed by an uprising in the cities requiring military intervention?  I’m sure I’m wrong.  At least, I hope I am.

If you thought the news helicopters were noisy, wait until the military moves in.

   Note to the Academy:  Please go back and watch “My Week with Marilyn.”  It’s one of the finest films of the year and horribly underrated.   Maybe because it’s too British?  It’s certainly better than “Hugo” (good children’s movie), “The Descendants” (good but not great - probably got the nod because Clooney’s in it) and “The Tree of Life”  (a deadly dull attempt at one-upping Arthur C. Clark).  Marilyn, on the other hand is a great film, due primarily to Michelle Williams amazing portrayal of Marilyn Monroe.   Beyond that, the direction, acting and contrast between the staid and proper Brits and the sexy child-woman bombshell creates a milieu that causes Williams to not just “pop,”  but to explode onto the screen.  “Marilyn” is fun, interesting and intriguing and it should be up for best picture.

Kudos to the Academy for at least noticing another hugely underrated film, “Margin Call.”   It’s up for original screenplay.  It too, should be up for best picture.  I can’t understand why this film with a stellar cast including Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Simon Baker and Stanley Tucci, and perfect topical timing - possibly the best movie about Wall Street ever made - was largely ignored by the industry?   Perhaps the acting was too good to the point of appearing effortless, leading awards screeners to conclude it presented too little challenge to the cast and crew and was therefore not worthy?  Why its release was limited to second-tier theaters and all but ignored for major awards is beyond me.   This was a huge miss.

  Our political system is beyond broken, it’s been annihilated.   A case in point:  Miriam Adelson, the wife of casino mogul, Sheldon Adelson, has just given $5 million to the “super-pac” supporting Newt Gingrich.  That’s in addition to the $5 million her husband already contributed.  So between the two, Miriam and husband Sheldon are into the Gingrich campaign for $10 million.  Do you think Newt’s gonna take their calls if he wins the presidency?  Think they’ll have more influence than the rest of us poor regular slobs out in middle America?

This is madness. Only campaign finance reform will save us, and that, it appears, will require a constitutional amendment thanks to the thoughtlessness of the right-leaning Supreme Court of the United States.   Or we can just continue on, pretending that we have a representative government.

  Facebook is getting to be a bit too much.  I know, I know,  it’s free and I shouldn’t complain, but they need us to keep selling ads on their site, so keeping their subscribers happy is something they probably ought to think about?   Then again, with so many subscribers and billions in the bank, Mark Z. and friends probably aren’t all that worried about the little people?  Not sure, maybe they are, but that’s not why I’m here writing this right now.

I’m here because somebody put up a second Facebook page on me.  It’s a “Ron Olsen - Author” page.  It’s in addition to my regular Ron Olsen page.  I’m flattered and all, as the page now has six “likes.”  Six brave souls who have been generous enough to let the world know they like my writing.  And yet, it’s left me a little flummoxed.  Somehow, people are moving pieces I write on this blog over to the “Author” site on Facebook.  I have no idea how they’re doing it, but occasionally I check the “Author” page, just to see what’s there.  Recently, I saw that a guest column written for my blog by a friend had been posted to the FB Author page.  I noticed a little “x” to the right of the post.   I wanted to see what it was for, but by the time I got my mouse off the “x” I had inadvertently told the FB people that I thought the piece was “inappropriate.”  Whoops.  Didn’t mean to do that at all.

After I marked it as “inappropriate,” the piece disappeared.  I wanted to put it back up but couldn’t figure out how, and this is where the fun started.  Thinking you had to join the page by clicking the “like” button, I did that and became a fan of myself which made no difference at all.   Couldn’t leave things as they were, me liking myself wouldn’t be right, so I clicked on the “unlike” button to get rid of the “like.”  So I now officially “unlike” myself, which I’m not crazy about, either.  And I still can’t figure out how anyone is posting articles from my blog to the Facebook page.  Or how I can do it.  Unless maybe the one person that created the page has total control over it?  But if that’s the case, then why was I allowed to tell the Facebook police that I thought an article was inappropriate?

And how did the “Author” page become magically linked to the Wikipedia page containing info on me?  Who did that?  And why is it, that when I click to “Home” on my personal FB page,  I am automatically being told what my Facebook friends “like” and even which articles they’ve been reading over on Yahoo News!?  I can only assume Facebook is also telling all my friends about my “likes” and what I’ve been reading?  Wonder if it’s occurred to any of the brainiacs at FB, that I don’t want anyone to know what I’ve been reading?   With FB all hooked up with Wikipedia and Yahoo News!, can it be long before they have a FB page devoted to everything I’ve been doing on the Web?  Well, within limits.  But more than I care to have anyone know?  Is that where the FB people are headed?  Toward making themselves the central clearinghouse for all social media (and some that’s not social, like news stories you’ve read and websites visited)?  Is that Mark Z’s, plan, to be the ultimate MCP (Master Control Program) in this  real-life game of Tron?  Is it time for us all to be just a little paranoid?

I think Facebook’s really cool and all that, but at some point somebody’s gonna have to tell Zuckerberg and company, that they’ve got a hit on their hands and they can stand down.   Or at least take a breather.   They also need to consider the fact that their success isn’t limited to the young.  According to a piece in the Los Angeles Times, over-50’s are one of the fastest growing groups on Facebook.  And there are 99-million of us here in the U.S. who spent $2.7 trillion on consumer goods in 2010.  Some of us are heading for techno-overload.  Others, are already there.  Many of us are concerned that anything resembling privacy is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

Remember the “KISS Principle?“   Might be time for you guys to take a deep breath and think it over.  Marketing-wise, that is.

David Stockman on Crony Capitalism from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

  Haven’t written anything in a while out of disgust with the people the Republican Party is running, not to mention the system in general.   It would appear Santorum and Ron Paul, don’t have a chance in hell of getting through the primary intact, leaving Republican voters with the coldest man in America,  Mitt “I like being able to fire people” (while paying only 15% in taxes) Romney, and nasty Newt Gingrich, who continues down the path of trying to be the meanest man alive with his destructive, insensitive, sick and pathetic  list of derogatory words he recommends using against political adversaries.  No need to get into the hypocrisy of some on the Christian far-right for preaching against infidelity but saying Newt should be forgiven for cheating on his wives (one while she was suffering from cancer) — or the fact that his own caucus booted his more than ample ass out of the House after being the first Speaker in history to be disciplined for ethics violations.

Even if you think Gingrich should be forgiven on an issue of faith, it’s ludicrous to think his record of betrayal to those closest to him, both personally and politically,  shouldn’t be considered an issue with regard to his general character (or lack of same).   The man is running on a record of failure and he got rich doing it.  According to Bloomberg, he pulled in between $1.6 and $1.8 million working as an adviser for Freddie Mac.   Now that he’s running for office, he’s become an advocate for breaking up Freddie Mac.  Twisted, isn’t it?

That’s the heart of it.  The money.  The fact that the entire government process has been bought off.  Thoroughly co-opted by the wealthiest 1% and their lobbyists from K Street, who regularly send truckloads of money over to the hill to grease both sides of the wheel, ensuring our elected representatives will continue favoring the best interests of wealthy Americans and corporations, both domestic and foreign, while ignoring the interests and needs of the masses, whose power to control their own destiny has been neutered by the Supreme Court’s despicable decision in the “Citizens United” case, giving corporations the same rights as citizens.    It’s about the destruction of political equity and the American middle class.  And mostly,  it’s being ignored.   Or maybe the Republicans are waiting until they clear the slave states to get into the real issues dealing with the survival of what once was the American way of life.   We once were the envy of the entire world.  Now, some Canadians are afraid to come here, because the cost of getting sick or injured might wipe out their life savings.  I know they are.  I’ve talked to them.  Actual Canadians, that is, as opposed to PR people for big pharma, the insurance companies and the rest of our esteemed healthcare industry that’s convinced much of the country that being ripped off is far better than paying a fair price.  Canadians, know better.

50-million Americans are without health insurance as we continue to be one of only three  “developed” nations that expect their citizens to go without adequate healthcare.   The other two, are Mexico and Turkey.  We continue to pay far more for some prescription drugs than other “first world” countries.   On top of the already inflated prices, uninsured Americans are slammed again, as they are forced to pay as much as 60% more  for meds than those with insurance while those on the right continue to complain about “Obamacare” going too far.  Millions of jobs have been off-shored.  We are in need of 30-million jobs right now.  China places a tariff of 25% on American goods shipped to their soil, while we charge China only 2  1/2% on their products coming into America.

Our gap between the rich and the poor is chasmic.  A recent headline in London’s Daily Mail reads, “America’s pay gap shame:  Inequality between rich and poor is worse than Cameroon, Ivory Coast and revolutionary Egypt.”

And the Republicans answer is what?  To cut government spending.  Cut health care for the poor and the elderly.  Cut funding to education.   Cut rebuilding our national infrastructure.  Cut, cut, cut, so that corporations and the wealthiest of the wealthy at the top continue reaping huge profits while paying the lowest taxes in many years while the nation crumbles around them.   A nation (and its military) that gave them the opportunity to acquire the wealth they now have.

How many thousands of Americans have died in wars to preserve the idea that we are all equal under the law, and that our democratic process cannot be bought off by fascist economic interests?

These people are disgusting.  And no dear friends, this is not to say the Democrats, or most of them anyway, haven’t been bought off as well.  They have.  I readily admit it.   Our entire political system has been co-opted by the rich with the assistance of a totally politicized Supreme Court.  According to thinkprogress.org,  “American oil and gas industry lobbyists have spent nearly $12 million in campaign contributions to both Republicans and Democrats since 2009, when the Keystone XL building permit was originally filed.”

Kudos to Mr. Obama, for putting the Keystone pipeline project on hold, pending further discussion and analysis.  There are those who think the President could be doing far more.  Being a bit less cozy with the “too big to fail” boys on Wall Street might be a place to start.   His new White House Chief of Staff, Jack Lew, comes from Citigroup, where, according to The Huffington Post,  he invested in a hedge fund “that bet on the housing market to collapse.”  Working with the opposition is one thing.   Asking vampires to keep an eye on your bloodbank is another.

Deplorable though his demeanor may be, Newt Gingrich is right about one thing.  There are more important issues to discuss than his alleged infidelity or whether he really asked for an open marriage.

From John Corcoran- 

The first thing I noticed when the Golden Globes began this year was the terrified look on the faces of the celebrity-strewn audience. I confess I did not watch the arrivals–I lost interest in who anyone was wearing years ago. Okay, actually I never cared.

This year I knew something was very different. Over the years the opening shots of the telecast have reflected the state of liquored-up revelry the stars are in. The Foreign Press feeds its celebs (and the Media, more on that later) and the Hollywood Elite,  high-end hooch and champagne before, during and after the ceremonies.

Soon the reason for the uncharacteristically morose edginess became evident—the host Ricky Gervais was introduced to markedly reserved applause.  Last year Gervais caught Hollywood by surprise. He was snarky, rude, insulting, upsetting—and to my mind—hilarious. Grow a pair, Hollywood–learn to laugh at yourselves.  You’re only stars. 

This year the crowd started relaxing only after they figured out Ricky had gone into the tank and had decided to pull his punches. He went easy on everyone.  That was bad news for two reasons. Anticipation of more snark had made his audience look miserable and defensive; and Ricky wasn’t funny.

By the end of the three hours, almost everyone in the audience realized there was nothing to worry about and seemed more at ease, relaxed and half in the bag—even the night’s losers.

This year’s edition was a snoozefest as entertainment, and I doubt Gervais will be back next year. (Don’t bet against Jimmy Fallon.) However, the GG got a lot of the winners right in the movie categories. In my humble opinion.

You can start with the decision to honor the gifted Morgan Freeman with its Cecil B. DeMille honor—the show’s highlight. And it is no secret that the night’s best picture winners, “The Artist” and “The Descendants,” are favorites to duke it out for the Big Prize later this year. So far, so good.

Movie acting choices made sense, too.  Jean Dujardin, wordlessly brilliant in “The Artist” and Michelle Williams, whisperingly sexy in “My Week with Marilyn,” won in the Globes bizarre “Comedy or musical” acting category. In drama, George Clooney gave the best performance of his career in “The Descendants” and who can argue with Meryl Streep doing an accent?

You can’t invite Steven Spielberg to your shindig and not give him something, so an animated honor (“The Adventures of Tintin”) made sure he didn’t go home cranky. I believe they got it right with Martin Scorsese as best director for “Hugo.” The staccato-voiced director thanked everyone he’s ever met in his acceptance speech–except the late Groucho Marx for loaning him the eyebrows.

If a songwriting award is necessary to drag the always publicity-shy Madonna to your event, well the HFPA figured that was a price they were willing to pay.

As for TV? Any show without “The Good Wife” at least nominated for best program can’t be taken too seriously, and I have no idea why most of he night’s TV winners won.

I covered the Golden Globes from 1984 to 1986 and from 1990 to 1997 as entertainment reporter at KABC-TV and later KCAL-TV. I can tell you from that experience, the Globes were by far the most media friendly broadcasts I’ve ever attended. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association—being media themselves—know you keep Media morale up the same way a general takes care of his troops. You make sure they’re well fed.  The Globes were (and presumably still are) the only such event where media eat their backstage meals off real china with actual silverware set on table-clothed tables. (Relax sticklers, we don’t get goodie bags and we need sustenance over what can be a six-hour or more lockdown).

The Globes have gotten big time since the days when I used to cover them in person. How small were they then? One year they couldn’t fill their tables and dragooned some reporters (myself included) to sit inside with the stars. I was at a table with the late Robert Stack, Gary Busey, and Carl Reiner.  I fully enjoyed my time inside the Velvet Rope with an Untouchable, an Unfathomable and a Comedy Immortal. But, if memory serves, my post show live shot was a little slurry.

-John Corcoran  1/16/12

It’s being reported that the North Koreans have decided to turn the body of their dear departed leader Kim Jong-il into a display piece.  They’re going to preserve his corpse and put it on display next to the corpse of his dear departed father,  Kim Il-sung.  Just like Roy did with Trigger.  And Norman Bates, with his mother.  It’s understandable, I guess.  It can be hard to let loved ones go.  The whole putting a corpse on display thing though seems a little medieval, doesn’t it?

In another thoroughly progressive move, the country’s leaders are now apparently going to punish those who failed to express sufficient grief during events held to mourn for Kim Jong-il.  One report indicates that some of those deemed to be insufficiently mournful might be sent to re-education camps.  But for what?   Hysteria lessons?

You have to wonder if the people at the top who are directing this governmental cuckoo’s nest, don’t ever look one another in the eye and admit that the entire world thinks they’re a bunch of boobs and that just a little effort, a little redirection of their idiology, would improve the country’s living standard and better secure their hold on power by doing something to actually help people.  Instead, they seem determined to maintain control thorough fear and terrorism.   How long can it last, with thousands upon thousands of people forced to weep, wail and tear their hair for a guy most of them probably couldn’t stand?   And now his cherub-faced son, who looks like he takes a daily milk bath and has probably never done any real work in his life, has been handed the reigns of power.  Come on fellas, you aren’t really fooling anybody.  It’s a house of cards.  Take a lesson from the U.S.S.R.  Look at what happened to them, even with the body of Comrade Lenin carefully preserved and still on display in Red Square.

In the words of Justice John Paul Stevens:

“The conceit that corporations must be treated identically to natural persons in the political sphere is not only inaccurate but also inadequate to justify the Court’s disposition of this case.”

“In the context of election to public office, the distinction between corporate and human speakers is significant. Although they make enormous contributions to our society, corporations are not actually members of it.

They cannot vote or run for office. Because they may be managed and controlled by nonresidents, their interests may conflict in fundamental respects with the interests of eligible voters.”

“The majority¹s approach to corporate electioneering marks a dramatic break from our past. Congress has placed special limitations on campaign spending by corporations ever since the passage of the Tillman Act in 1907″

“The Court’s ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation. The path it has taken to reach its outcome will, I fear, do damage to this institution.” - sanders.senate.gov

Click here to support an amendment overturning “Citizens United,” the Supreme Court decision giving corporations the right to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns.

Amending the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate, followed by ratification from three-quarters of the states.  I know it’s unlikely to happen, but doing something about the Supreme’s unconscionable decision in the Citizens United case, is better than doing nothing at all, other than complaining about the way our American Democracy has been undermined by a political system that’s been almost completely bought off.