From Hooters To BP and A Tip Of The Hat To Burger King

Can you believe it – It’s June already!  We’re already half-way through the year 2010 and what do we have to show for it?  Not a whole lot – but there are enough bits and pieces laying about that I think I can gather together to form another hodgepodge of random thoughts and ideas that I like to call “Frostbites”.

It doesn’t take a whole lot to make me feel old.  Last week, a bunch of the guys that I use to work with at RadioFirst in Port Huron got together for lunch and the restaurant that they chose to meet at – Hooters of Port Huron.  First, let me say – we had a good time at Hooters and the food was good (although a tad expensive for what we got), but at the end of the lunch I couldn’t shake that “I’m too damn old for Hooters” feeling.  It use to be that I could say that I was old enough to  be any one of the Hooter girls’ father – but I have actually gotten to that age where I could be their grandfather – and that’s a jolt to the old psyche.  When you get to be my age and you’re face to face with a Hooters waitress bent over the top of the table showing some cleavage as she takes your order – you know you’re just one step away from entering “dirty old man territory” if you decide to “take in the sights”. Once you realize that you have become too old for a place like Hooters – the next question that one asks himself is – “when did this happen?”  Yup, it was only yesterday that I was of the Woodstock generation and now I’m in that generation that takes all of the medications and medicines advertised during the evening network newscasts.

Pet Peeve.  As I have mentioned in past blogs – I love the Sunday morning news shows and journalism review shows like “Reliable Sources” with Howard Kurtz on CNN – but some television journalists can really piss me off.  I can’t tell you how many times that I have heard a television journalist bitch that they aren’t being taken seriously and in the next breath call the news broadcast that they are working on “a show”.  To me – a news broadcast is a news broadcast and a show is something that Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland use to put on in the barn or that Jim Henson use to do with the Muppets.  If you want to be taken seriously – call what you do what it is – if it’s a show that you aren’t a journalist you’re an entertaining minstrel  -- but that’s just my opinion.

Candy bar anyone?  I have come to the conclusion that when it comes to candy bars – you can’t go wrong with a Snickers with its caramel, nougat, peanuts and milk chocolate covering.

“Flavor of the month”.  Tomato and basil – it has got to be the new “in” flavor.  One of the newest flavors of Nabisco’s Wheat Thins just happens to be tomato and basil and Lay’s has introduced a new tomato and basil flavored potato chip.  I give high marks to Nabisco’s tomato and basil Wheat Thins – the new flavor element makes this cracker more enjoyable….the same thing can’t be said for the Lay’s chip though.  The tomato and basil flavoring is not as pronounced on the potato chip as it is on the cracker – you get a bit of the tomato taste, but nothing like what Nabisco is giving on you the cracker.  If I had to make a choice between the two for pure snacking enjoyment – Nasbisco’s Tomato and Basil Wheat Thin wins this one.

Burger King Is Selling What?  I love Burger King.  Their Steakhouse XL burger is more than just tasty – it’s downright delicious.  I even give them a tip of the old cap when it comes to their dollar version of McDonald’s Sausage and Egg or Ham and Egg McMuffin.  Both of them are not only delicious – but come on – they’re a dollar – which means that the price you would pay for one breakfast sandwich at McDonald’s you can get two just as tasty breakfast sandwiches at Burger King – what a deal!  But, I still can’t wrap my head around going to Burger King for ribs.  Yup, Burger King raises the bar on the premium side of their menu with ribs – what’s next lobster tail?

Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse…..

Is there nothing more sad than some of the pictures coming out from BP’s Gulf Coast oil spill of birds and wildlife so drenched in oil that they can’t move are left to die?  It took over a month for BP to finally contain some of the leak, but who knows how long this fix is going to last after seeing some of the results from the work of BP’s team tech team to stop the leak.

It’s not enough that the people from BP that are trying to stop the leak are a bunch of bumbling idiots – we have their fearless leader, Tony Hayward, the big mucky muck CEO of BP who is probably going to go down in history as the king of all idiots.  Hayward said in an interview this week that he wished that the whole thing with the spill was over with because he “wants his life back”.  He wants his life back!!!  Give me a break Hayward!  Eleven people died on that rig when it exploded, Mr Hayward – they’d like their life back, too.  The lives and livelihood on millions of people are being affected by this disaster of yours and it’s safe to say that the waters in the Gulf Coast will never be the same and you want your life back, Mr. Hayward.  And now they’re saying that oil is being spotted on the Florida shores and it’s a good chance that the east coast is going to see some of BP’s oil come their way – Mr. Hayward – these people want their life back, too.

There’s more news from BP that’s pretty astounding.  The federal government just presented them with the first bill for this disaster – something like sixty-seven million dollars and this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone – nobody has seen a dime from BP.  What is BP spending their money on?  Believe it or not – it’s a fifty million dollar ad campaign that advertising experts have told CNN.com is “an expensive and probably ineffective bid to rehabilitate the energy giant's image.”

The ads – both print and TV – feature BP’s CEO Tony Hayward telling everyone how BP is working to fix the problem and clean-up the mess – they don't show you the other side of BP. You see, the same week this ad campaign come out -- a representative from BP, Randy Prescott,  opens his mouth to assure seafood lovers that they shouldn't worry, because "Louisiana isn't the only place that has shrimp".  He may be right, but it's his company's oil spill that's killing the shrimping areas in that part of the country and who knows if BP can ever restore area for fish and shrimp to return there..  

I find it kind of ironic that BP has a public relations campaign already set up to “restore their image” and has yet to fully fix the problem that has presented them with this huge public relations problem to begin with. 

So, it is with sadness that I present “The Biggest Dickheads in the World” award to goes to Tony Hayward and BP Oil.  I urge everyone to boycott BP and Mr. Hayward, I  hope that you will never get your life back and that you relive this tragedy over and over again.  I would also love to see you criminally prosecuted in some way or another for this mess and that you rot in hell for being such an insensitive asshole -- but that's just my opinion.  Mr. Hayward and BP Oil – this tar ball filled with oil is for you!

Fox News And The Politics of Fear and Smear

There are three shows that I record on the DVR each and every week. They aren’t the most popular TV shows on the air today. The combined viewership of all three of these shows is somewhat insignificant when it comes to ratings. The only thing that connects each of these shows is that my watching them confirms the fact that I’m a news junkie and nothing else.

What shows do I record every week? There’s “Fox News Watch” with the ‘fair and balanced’ network taking a look at the news media and how it is covering the news of the past week. I also record the last half-hour of ABC’s “This Week” – only because I’m more concerned with the roundtable discussions and the “In Memoriam” and “Sunday Funnies” features than I am the newsmaker interviews. And, last but not least, I record CNN’s “Reliable Sources” with Howie Kurtz from the Washington Post – which is another journalism review show with the emphasis being on the electronic media. I find all three of these shows to be informative and thought-provoking and, as crazy as this may sound, they all pass as entertainment for me on a Sunday afternoon.

I was grateful that there wasn’t anything heavy near me while I was watching this weekend’s edition of “Fox News Watch”, because I was this close to sending something sailing through the television screen – but why should I destroy a somewhat new television set because of some faux journalist’s little rant.

The top story on this week’s edition of “Fox News Watch” centered on President Obama and how they feel like his administration is micromanaging the news with this week’s announcement of nomination of Elana Kagan to the Supreme Court. The host, Jon Scott, stated that the White House posted a biography and an interview that a White House staffer did with Ms Kagan on the White House web page, but did not make her available to the media nor did the President take any questions about the nomination. The conservative side of the Fox News Watch panel asked where’s the transparency that President Obama promised in his administration and felt like the White House is trying to craft public opinion the way they see it.

If they stayed with the micromanaging the news and opinion angle – I might have agreed these people, but it’s where they took the discussion from there that got my blood boiling. Does the White House micromanage the news? Hell, yes – there isn’t a White House, State House, or Corporation around that doesn’t micromanage their message and try to slant public opinion in their favor, but instead of bitching about it good reporters dig behind the public relations to get the story.

But, Fox News Watch didn’t stop there. From micromanaging the news, Jon Scott, the host of Fox News Watch, went on to compared the White House effort to get their side of the story out on Ms. Kagan to that of Russia’s Pravda Pleeezzeee!

Was I angry when I heard Jon Scott say what he did? Damn straight! As I mentioned – everybody to some extent tries to craft public opinion – it’s just the way things are done – but comparing it to propaganda and Pravda is ridiculous. They can’t just disagree with President Obama – they have to paint him with a brush that makes him out to be some commie pinko socialist etc. It’s enough to watch someone like Hanniety or Glenn Beck call anyone who disagrees with them as fascists – but Fox News Watch is suppose to look at how the media is reporting the news, yet it’s part and parcel of the other shows on the network that yearns for the days of commie witch hunts and blacklists.

Jon Scott has been in the news business long enough to knows that the White House can’t totally isolate a Supreme Court nominee from the media and the media will get a chance to ask questions to and about the nominee. I’m sure that there will be more than enough news outlets to come out against Ms Kagan’s appointment to the bench, but to paint the White House efforts in getting out the story to Pravda is reckless for any news organization that paints itself as being “fair and balanced”.

And, Mr. Scott, why don’t you take a hard look at your network. You complain about the Obama administration micromanaging their public relations image – yet you have Karl Rove, the man responsible for getting out the message during the George W. Bush administration. Where were your comparisons of Karl Rove’s years of government service to that of Pravda? I sure didn’t hear any during the eight years of Bush, but Fox News loves to lob those subtle comparisons to communism and fascism when it comes to the Obama administration. It’s easier to smear and spread fear than it is to do some actual reporting isn’t it, Mr. Scott.