Glenn Beck's Fox News finale - or the De-Fusion of Entertainment and Enlightenment

Yesterday, Glenn Beck did his final show on the Fox News Channel, wrapping up 2-1/2 years on the network, and about 5 years of being on TV.  While Beck entered the cable TV news scene as one of the freshest, entertaining and enlightening faces, he has left as one of the most toxic, notorious and polarizing figures in political media.

I was introduced to Glenn Beck on the radio in late 2001/early 2002, as stations were looking to grow his presence out of Tampa, FL’s WFLA.  I first knew of Glenn as this funny, edgy guy with a conservative/libertarian bent, whose staff produced many parodies and comedy bits, such as Jim Timoninin, Jim Dingle, "Retrospective," and "celebrity calls" from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Jackson.  There was the "Rally for America" in 2003, which was not a "pro-war" rally, but more a pro-America, pro-troop one.  In 2005, he had the "Glenn Beck on Ice" tour, which stopped in Indianapolis, and I had the opportunity to attend.  No, there was no ice at the Murat Theatre, this was Glenn's first real stage tour, and the show was divided into two parts – a comedic element that was an assault on political correctness (i.e. teachers using purple markers/pens to grade assignments rather than a “harsh” red); and an enlightening, heartwarming portion about family and inspiration.

The Glenn Beck Program eventually moved to Philadelphia at WPHT, where it gained steam, but slowly.  In 2006, the radio show moved to New York City as Beck was given a new TV show at CNN Headline News, thus further expanding the reach of Beck’s brand of soft, funny conservatism, on a show whose format changed at times, but largely reflected some of the content of the radio show.  The CNN show in some ways was not all that different from some news/commentary shows on cable, which had satellite interviews with pundits and political/news figures.  On Fridays, there would be full-hour interviews with celebrities, such as comedians, musicians – some whom Beck didn’t always agree with, but was a nice, fun discussion.  At least once, Beck filled in at Larry King Live.

By the 2008 election season, Glenn Beck took a more disturbed look critical of Republicans, seeing John McCain as “the lesser of two evils.” While critical of Barack Obama and Democrats with a fear of a too-overreaching government, Beck thought that Republicans were becoming complacent, out of touch with their principles (limited government, reduced spending), and leading the country towards the same destination as the Democrats, but by different means.  Beck had also done specials on Muslim extremists, which also increased some of his notoriety.  While Glenn Beck had gained much attention, his presence was not as prominent at CNN.

In the fall of 2008, Beck agreed to come on the Fox News Channel, thus leaving CNN, giving him a far more audience, though at a 5pm time slot.  The show began in January 2009, and the tone of the target audience had gone from a losing defensive mode, to a slowly energizing offense upon the election of Barack Obama to the White House, beginning the rise of the Tea Party movement, which attacked Obama’s policies of stimulus spending and healthcare reform.  What gained more notice was the anti-government sentiment that rose, attacking Obama’s policies as a move towards socialism and communism, and linking Obama to left-wing radicals in his presence, past and present.

Beck began the 9-12 Project in response to the conflicting sentiments in America, as a chance to unify as we once did on the day after the September 11 terrorist attacks coming on 10 years ago, as well as a statement of 9 principles and 12 values.  It was an organized result of “We Surround Them,” which sought to make government more accountable. 

With Beck’s departure from Fox News, Glenn Beck has stated values that I wholeheartedly agree with that can, and do transcend ideologies and party lines.  Over time, I’ve taken issue with Beck’s alarmist sentiment against progressives, which he fears leads to totalitarian corruption and the death of the country that its founding fathers had intended.  While there is reason to be concerned with too much power, I feel that the moment has created an anti-government sentiment that seeks to undo the will of the people of generations past.  While I believe there is always the opportunity to always tweak and reform our laws and political structure, I also see that the regulations in place were enacted for the good of a jurisdiction and/or country as a whole, even at the detriment to some.

In 2010, Beck’s next big move was to hold a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the Rally to Restore Honor.  It was one that was not political, and Beck urged followers to bring the family and leave the signs at home, but more spiritual.  While it was a message that could be taken across political lines, the message still got lost and trounced on.  As it was held on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech on that spot in 1963, some of those involved in or followers of King’s movement took issue with Beck’s rally and held a competing march.

While Beck’s show grew in ratings and audience, it was becoming toxic to many advertisers, greatly reducing revenue to Fox News, making the network reconsider Beck’s future on the network.  The show was gradually taking a gloom-and-doom tone, with a darkening studio, presence of chalkboards, and other elements that were, while solidifying a group of followers, becoming a turn-off to the general audience Beck was trying to grow.  In the spring of 2011, it was announced that Beck would be parting ways from Fox by the end of the year.

Is Glenn Beck leaving cable broadcast TV something to mourn? Celebrate? I say neither.  While Beck was something different from other conservative radio and TV hosts, he has become the most controversial and edgy of the bunch.  Beck will continue his syndicated radio show, while establishing his own online broadcast, GBTV.com.  Overall, Glenn Beck will be known simultaneously as one of the conservative movement’s biggest assets and liabilities.  I think that while his presence and movement potential has diminished, Beck’s place in political debate and discourse will likely forever be placed in the annals in history.

NKAPC helps improve quality of life, conserve resources, reduce costs

The Tea Party, in their effort to fight against "big government regulation," has an ally on their side, the Homebuliders Association of Northern Kentucky, and thus an enemy, the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission.  In their quest to eradicate NKAPC, and other local planning initiatives, they are in effect trying to undermine the principles of "smaller govenment, fiscal responsibility, and free markets" they claim to uphold.

In full disclosure, I have visited the NKAPC office in Ft. Mitchell several times, either for meetings, tours, or job interviews, and know people who have worked or do work for them, either as co-workers from co-ops or classmates at UC.  The provide planning services to jurisdictions in Northern Kentucky that otherwise can't afford to do so on their own, services that I believe are important to improve the quality of life for residents and municipalities, and sustain economic and social health.  

Some claim that the services of older northern Kentucky communities are not needed, because they are built out, and in many cases, with only a few vacant lots/buildings here and there.  Sure, that may be the case today, but what about 10, 20 years from now?  In turn, many of the buildings in a community may become vacant, dilapidated, and even a crime magnet, a drain on a city.  We need planning in our communities to explore new land uses, opportunities for development, and ideas that would not only enhance tax revenue and the quality of life for a community, but to also sustain that health for decades to come.

What the HBA and Tea Party want for northern Kentucky is to continue to go down the same road, of one-size-fits all single-use zoning, building whatever, wherever they see an open piece of land, and create this illusion that they are creating many jobs and providing homes and business opportunities.  

What they are doing in reality is leaving behind already developed areas that simply need to be re-tooled, and adding to the capacity demand of highways like I-75/71.  This highway is being reconstructed at the inconvenience of more and more people using it than ever, and also the need for a replacement of an overloaded Brent Spence Bridge, which will cost well over $2 billion.  Meanwhile, we are lacking ways to pay for the bridge, which will certainly too be overloaded due to the unbridled growth policies espoused by the Tea Party and HBA.

People seem to forget that what led to our struggling economic state was the rapid housing boom that easily led to a bust, and thus a glut of housing, shopping centers, and office buildings and parks.  We're duped into believing that we'll be back in order once we get back to our old ways, when reality says that our old ways are precisely what got us into this mess.  We simply cannot afford to keep building more schools, roads, and other infrastructure, when other infrastructure is either falling apart, left behind or overused.

Does NKAPC need to be retooled, reformed, so that it is more transparent, accountable, and efficient?  Possibly.  Having a healthy discussion on the right balance is always welcome.  But the combined power and propaganda of the Tea Party and HBA is not the right solution to a looming problem that puts the region at a disadvantage.

NKAPC/Tea party fight dominates meeting (nky.com)

More delusion at City Council, tax cuts only worsen deficit.

The Cincinnati city budget has been facing a lingering deficit, and yet City Council cannot agree to making the right balance of cuts and revenue increases.

Logic would say that if the City lost 10% of its population, between 2000 and 2010, service cuts should also be proportionate.  And while many city services have over recent years have been reduced, like parks and recreation, or in some cases, even eliminated, spending on the fire and police departments have actually increased over the past decade.  Has this directly made the City of Cincinnati a safer place?  The conservative member simply won't budge, because to them, it's a matter of perception with the media and the suburbanites, more than it is a matter of reality and actually working harder and smarter for safety.

I believe that this impasse is more a ploy to kill the streetcar project in its tracks.  Yesterday, it was announced that the project cleared federal environmental impact studies, allowing for contractor bidding for rails, construction, and the streetcar vehicles themselves.  However, the critics, from the four Republicans on council, to COAST, and talk radio, remain determined to take this job-creating, economic growth driving project down at the ballot, as they first failed to do so in 2009.  Do they really want to be the ones who clearly killed jobs, especially after the planning process was not only well underway, or better yet, construction had begun?  They will point to the city's continued insolvency as to why we "can't afford it," even though they themselves refuse to either make serious, reasonable cuts, or enhance revenue, through minor tax hikes.

Some of the cuts that the conservative council members are proposing are for programs that have a strong impact on the quality of life, yet have a relatively minimal cost, such as yard waste collection, the environmental impact committee, and support for festivals.

Is it fair to continue rejecting their hired expert's requests to cut officers and firefighters?

"I don't care about fair," Councilwoman Leslie Ghiz said. "Life is not fair. It's not fair that somebody got shot and killed last night on the street either."

This brings me back to the delusion - Ghiz claims that if we reduce police department levels, there will be a spike of shootings that could have been prevented, which cannot be proven.  Most of these crimes take place where patrols are absent, and it is simply not feasible to hire police to continually patrols every block.  We still have a crime issue that will not go away unless more effective measures, such as a more critical mass of residents, and revitalized neighborhoods.  Neighborhoods where homes are populated, and storefronts are occupied with businesses and services that create tax revenue, while reducing demand on public safety services.

In this case, we have politicians who choose to govern with theory - a theory that a larger public safety force and lower taxes alone will lead to safety and prosperity.  Reality says that it is simply not that simple.  Well-funded public services, from parks, recreation, planning, and economic development are necessary to tending to the needs of residents and businesses, which in turn add to tax revenue, while reducing the need on emergency services.  As councilmembers, they need to realize that they are public servants, not business executives.  While government can always borrow ideas from the private sector, government itself is not a profit-making business.

This fall will be a turning point.  When selecting their council members, will they go with people who propose concrete, innovative ideas to make the city work harder, and smarter to attract and retain residents, and enhance the quality of life; or will they continually listen to the voices of fear, despair, distraction, and gossip through talk radio sessions and soundbytes?  Will they listen to plans other cities have taken to not only balance their budgets and drive economic growth, or will they listen to the shakedown antics of the police and fire union bosses?

Council majority wants to cut taxes, can't agree on deficit plan (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Do Ohio’s children win when schools compete?

Plunderbund, a site dedicated to Ohio statehouse politics, has done a great analysis on whether Charter schools in Ohio have led to an increase in test scores in Ohio schools.  While charts have generally shown an increase in test scores,  those at charter school are below those of public schools in Ohio's four largest public systems.  Even those test scores remain well below the state average, which includes suburban and rural districts, where there is little competition from state funded charter schools.

The argument of supporters of charter schools is that unlike public schools that perform dismally, charter schools themselves do fail and close.  Here's the issue: if a charter school closes down due to poor performance, where do the children end up?  In many cases, back in traditional public schools, sometimes having to catch-up to their peers who were continuously enrolled in that public school.

Has the jump in test scores been the result of influence and competition from charter schools?  Maybe?  Then why do charter test scores remain below those of urban public districts, and still well below public districts in general?  If the charter system is to be intellectually honest, it's time to shut down many of the charters.

Or better yet, if Ohio is having a massive budget deficit, and needs to cut education funding, this would be the right time to pull the plug on a shaky free-market idea, and focus on reality, and make sure all our children are educated and become successful.  If innovation is needed, let's innovate from within, rather than against our own tax dollars helping to fund more administrators, executives, and facilities.  This goes against Governor John Kasich's campaign to "spend more dollars in the classroom."  But then again, look at Kasich's campaign funding trail, and that's where we see "priorities" means something different.

Do Ohio's children win when schools compete? - Plunderbund

Make cities, not war

Sarah Goodyear at Grist.org wrote how Secretary of Defense Robert Gates referred to the conflicts the U.S. is engaged in as "wars of choice."  As most Americans polled view our overseas military intervention excessive, they said so not only due to their cost (we're got a big deficit, remember?) but the emotional and reputational costs upon families and our nation.

I strongly see the past decade as a greatly missed opportunity to fix our broken cities.  The many dollars spent on war could have been used towards rebuilding infrastructure, having comprehensive mass transit in cities, beginning a high-speed rail network across America, which would have led to many jobs, especially for those trapped in impoverished neighborhoods.  Per the New York Times:

"There are so many better uses for the money," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore. Mayor R. T. Rybak of Minneapolis lamented that cities across the nation were being forced to make "deeply painful cuts to the most core services while the defense budget continued to escape scrutiny." And Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles said that the idea "that we would build bridges in Baghdad and Kandahar and not Baltimore and Kansas City absolutely boggles the mind."

I feel like we still have the opportunity to turn the ship around, given our lingering recession.  With ever-high gas prices and soul-sucking commutes, we have the opportunity to rebuild infrastructure, rebuild good, walkable urban areas, create jobs, foster private-sector growth, putting more dollars into the economy and in turn boosting revenue to eat at our nation's deficit.  I believe patriotism and national strength has to start at home, and what we're seeing here isn't making many of us too proud.


Make cities, not war (grist.org)

The return of the Blog is near!

Some of you thought that the Allen Arena blog was dead... but thinking about this crazy world, I've decided to resurrect my blog as a place to keep and share articles I come across that I find interesting in these "Sports":

• Architecture
• Planning
• Politics
• Transportation

There will also be posts related to other topics of interest, like comedy, roller coasters and amusement parks, and (actual) sports.

I will work out details, like colors, schemes, and maybe even the name of the blog.  But one way or another, it is coming back!  I also plan to link updates to Facebook and Twitter.

Diamondback - New for 2009!

Well folks, here it is! The one you've all been waiting for! Kings Island introduces Diamondback, a massive new steel hyper coaster, set to open April 2009!




Diamondback is Kings Island's first B&M coaster!


It will stand 230 feet tall, reaching a maximum speed of 80 mph.


The Layout!


As if the speed, heights, and airtime weren't enough, check out the splashdown at the end!

All the details, renderings, videos and such are at

Kings Island to Announce for 2009 shortly!

In less than 30 minutes, Kings Island will announce a major new attraction for the 2009 season. According to records on file wit the City of Mason Planning Department, it will be a hyper coaster, over 200' tall, designed by the prominent Swiss firm of Bolliger & Mabillard. The track is dark red with beige supports.

Shortly, we will know about what it will be called and all the details, such as renderings. Also, 2009 Season Passes are now on sale, though they will not be valid until next season - though the park is offering a free ticket to visit the remainder of 2008.

http://www.visitkingsisland.com/

A note to everyone, especially photographers.

As you may know, we live in a post-9/11 world, and because of what happened, we are taking things much more seriously, and with a more watchful eye and ear - what we say, where we go, what we do. While it might be too broad to link terrorist attacks to this specific subject matter, people are watching out like never before.

I was at the county fair, taking lots of pictures of different aspects - the midway, the exhibits, open areas, the ribbon-cutting ceremony. One intriguing exhibit is of historic transit buses and memorabilia. I couldn't help but enjoy seeing buses that once ran in Cincinnati, northern Kentucky, and Columbus - all fixed up and/or restored to look as if they were in the heyday. But of course, what county fair is complete with out farm animals?

There were great, cute animals, big and small, cows, pigs, roosters, rabbits, and the like. Many of them were being tended to by young, hard-working kids who do it out of love, despite the hours and the heat. While the farm animals weren't the focus of my photographic endeavor, I thought a photo essay on a fair would be incomplete without them. And naturally, some pictures involved not only the animals, but with the young ones taking care of them. Many people may agree with me that what I was doing was innocent, with absolutely no intention of causing harm.

Unfortunately, we can never be too sure of that. Because of the dangers of predators, be it kidnappers or even worse, pedophiles, who secretly (or are led to believe so) take photos of children. Due to this, it is presumed to be illegal to photograph children without consent of their parents or guradian or another chaperone.

I didn't know or realize this no-no until a fairgrounds security officer, who is a licensed and badged police officer, along with a concerned father/chaperone, approached me about my activities. They wanted to check some of the images on my camera. Because I had nothing do hide and was a bit frightened, I went along, and as the two guys saw photos that were in question, they asked that they be deleted, which I complied with. The officer wanted to run a background check on me, and then have me removed from the premises (which I would be willing to do). But then, after a little understanding, the officer decided to let me go, and remain on premises, sans the computer check.

Today, I learned the hard way about such restrictions. While the confrontation ended in a friendly manner, and I was let go, it was an awakening situation of how times have changed. In one way, I felt comfortable that there are people who are "looking out for our kids," especially when there are people and places where those who have the opportunity and obligation to do so - aren't doing so. On the other hand, it's a bit uncomfortable that innocent people are being lumped in with the maliciious ones.

If I had to choose which I would be more upset with if I were caught taking pictures of - it would no doubt be of transit systems, as I am an advocate and fan of public mass transportation. I've felt, like others, that a great way to promote and advance something you believe in is to find existing examples of it in practice. I'm sure that many railfans out there know what I am talking about.

But my main point and moral here is: watch out! Be aware of your surroundings, and be aware of what you are trying to photograph. Think before you act: what is out there, could be vulnerable, if it is seen by the wrong people? I learned today that it is our children.