SAIGONBOB

Will Sam Zell Keep the Los Angeles Times a Great Newspaper?

The Times/Tribune goes private in a couple of weeks.

    The most important thing to the readers of the Los Angeles Times is: Will Sam Zell keep it great?
    Forget about all of the financial information--the debt rating, selling the Chicago Cubs, or perhaps, even KTLA--the station owned at one time by Cowboy Gene Autry.
    Through all of the changes, in the last decade, the reporters and editors of this Los Angeles based newspaper have consistently performed with utmost professionalism.
    I've been reading this newspaper since the early 1950s--since I used to hop on the "red car" with my Mom in West Hollywood.
    There have been moments when I have been frustrated by its placement of stories, or a columnist, but as as lay student of its news dynamic--as a political press secretary and Vietnam Veteran, I have been generally enlightened by its coverage of national, state, and local events.

    The recent political coverage has been way above par, with the analysis of the political blog, as well as the "street" reporters who cover the presidential campaigns.

    But, will Sam Zell get it?

    Does he understand the important impact the Times has on keeping government and our various political leaders on alert?

    Mr. Zell, taking the Tribune Company private, has inherited an obligation left by the Chandlers, to keep this newspaper viable and moving.

    While the new owner tinkers with a billion bucks here and a billion dollars there, I hope he makes a special visit to the newsroom of the Los Angeles times, and maybe, just maybe, gives the hard working reporters a raise...and perhaps even hires more journalists to cover the City of Los Angeles and its billions of moving parts.

    He owes it to the rest of us.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos   

Mike Huckabee vs. Barack Obama: Who Wins?

    I think a Huckabee-Obama contest for President of the United States would be the most fun of all possible contests.
    With Huckabee's humor and Obama's intellect, and both men showing a positive attitude while campaigning, even our children could watch the contest.

    Politically, while Huckabee would run away with the Southern Vote in the general election, Obama would score well in Ohio--the State that defeated John Kerry.

    The North would have a hard time with a Preacher as President, while the Southwest States would probably split the Electoral Vote.

    Therefore, in this match-up, I give Senator Barack Obama a solid victory in November of 2008.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos

   

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi: Help National Guard with College

    Some members of California's National Guard were recently asked to help in the fight against the horrible fires surrounding Southern California.
    This brings to mind, once again, the incredible sacrifice these young men and women are asked to do during earthquakes, floods, and other national disasters.
    Many of us have felt for a long time that they have been misused during the war in Iraq.  Why weren't regular Army troops pulled from South Korea, for example, and replace these service members who are known for their honorable domestic deeds?
    Millions of people watched as California Lt. Governor John Garamendi held news conferences during those fires, complementing the fire fighters, which included over a thousand National Guard troops.

    However, in one of the most cheapest, narrow-minded episodes in California history, the State Legislature, denied the request of the National Guard to provide 3-million dollars of college scholarship aid to these same fighters.

    This same legislature recently approved an early Presidential Primary of February 5, 2008, at an estimated cost, by the Secretary of State, of 60-90 million dollars!---"Let them eat votes."

    While Lt. Gov. Garamendi was arguing on Fox News about the numbers available to fight the fires, because of the War in Iraq, and the State Legislative leader was spending thousands of dollars in a restaurant in Paris, these idealistic young fighters were being denied college aid.

    Lt. Governor John Garamendi knows his way around Sacramento and has the opportunity to show leadership on this issue.

    It would be a just cause for him to push for college aid for the National Guard, as he pursues his attempt, at the same time, to lower College Tuition.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos

   

   

Dick Cheney's Health:Please Resign: Appoint Colin Powell as VP

    I'm very sorry that Vice President Dick Cheney has health problems.  Even though I can't stand his politics, I don't see our political leaders as comic book characters. 
    However, its time for the sake of the nation to make a change.
    Bush has a little over a year left in office.  With the changes in Iraq, and the problems in Afghanistan, it would be the perfect time to appoint former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, as the new Vice President of the United States.
    Powell is an open leader, has the experience of two tours of duty in Vietnam, including the Purple Heart, and is proved as a leader while he was Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff.
    With the ear of the President, he could oversee the war on terror and help in the transition of the new leader, who will take over the Executive Branch in January of 2009.

    Colin Powell is the perfect choice to take over for the constantly ill Dick Cheney. 

    Powell will have the confidence of the Democratically controlled US Congress, and can give all of the American people, a bit of hope during this very divisive time in the body politic.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos

Tom Bradley and the Environment--by Bob Kholos

    Before Tom Bradley's long fight to become Mayor of the City of Los Angeles, he was battling for the environment.
    My memory goes back to the Alan Cranston for US Senate campaign of 1968, when City Councilman Tom Bradley, representing the 10th council district, supported Mr. Cranston and his drive to stop additional oil drilling off the beautiful Santa Barbara coastline.

     Mr. Bradley was also an early opponnent to drilling for oil off the Pacific Palisades coast.

    This was prior to the first Earth Day of 1970, and as a champion of the environment, Bradley was an early leader.

    Bradley also joined together with an early labor movement of Jobs and the Environment.  Many in the Union movement thought it was somewhat esoteric, at the time, to make issues such as Smog, overpopulation, congestion and alternative forms of transportation, a priority.

    But, Mr. Bradley, who had broken so many stereotypes as a former Policeman, Lawyer, track star at UCLA, and politician, had a love for this city that had given him so many opportunities.

    He wanted to preserve the greatness of Los Angeles, while forging ahead with a mass transit plan, modern sewage treatment, recycling, and other important conservation issues which barely made the newspaper headlines, during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

    I want to thank Norm Emerson, the top transportation aide to Mayor Bradley, and Anton Calleia, his Mayoral representative to the Los Angeles City Council for 20 years, who gave me a recent briefing on some important facts.

    As a City Councilman in 1970, Tom Bradley gave a major speech on the environment before the Caltech Symposium on pollution.

     Within this major speech, he outlined some solutions to the problems of:

      1. Smog: Alternative Transportation

      2. Water Pollution: Massive Water Reclamation

      3. Trash: Recycle and Separating Organic Wasts

      4. Noise: New Building Codes, Airport Regulation, Block SST(Supersonic Transport)

      5. Coastal Waters and Beaches: New Federal Laws to Protect the Coastline.

      When Tom Bradley became Mayor of Los Angeles in 1973, he pushed, at great opposition, for a mass transit system.  During his first try it was defeated, but eventually he was successful.

      It is still amazing to me, that a kid who picked cotton in Texas, and was the Son of a sharecropper, and the Grandson of a slave, could fight all of the negatives of our society, at the time, and become the only person to be Mayor of Los Angeles for 20 years.

      The fact that he was totally fixed on the issues of the day, to help the city and people, who helped him on the way up---is a testament to the human spirit.

       Thanks for reading:

        Bob Kholos

      

   

   

   

   

         
   

The New Harvest of Shame--by Bob Kholos

(Re-posting for Thanksgiving--Original Posting was summer, 2006)

    Not many people know about Arvin, California.   Fewer people know about Salud Zamudio Rodriquez.
    Both jogged my memory today, as I worked my way up I-5, from Los Angeles to Eugene, Oregon.  It was 8:30 in the morning and the temperature had already risen to 85 degrees.
    Arvin is a small agricultural area off the freeway; a little more than an hours drive north of Los Angeles, just prior to the Bakersfield turnoff.
    Not many people notice this town, because drivers are too intent on passing the produce trucks that are carrying the food in transit to your local supermarket.
    Mr. Rodriquez was a farm worker who picked Bell Peppers on a local farm. 
    My mind went back to 1968, when I was working as a reporter for Radio News West, under owner Tom Quinn.  RNW was the audio part of City News Service in Los Angeles.
    When Caesar Chavez was going to break his fast, which was in support of the Grape Boycott and the United Farm Workers, I was sent up to Delano to cover the action.
    Chavez was lying down in front of a huge crowd in a little park.  People were packed in so tightly that it was hard to breathe.  Photographers from the major news services were holding their arms straight up so they could get a good photo over the crowd.
    Then all hell broke lose. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was in a car coming toward the park with his entourage, in support of Chavez.  This was just prior to his announcement that he would be running for President of the United States.
    The crowd started screaming, “Ken-ne-dy, Ken-ne-dy, Ken-ne-dy.”  He was so loved that people started jumping on his car by the dozens.  Finally the soon to be assassinated Senator from New York, got out of his car, and greeted the crowd.
    Reporters pushed our way up to the stage where he held a brief news conference.   I don’t remember his comments, except that I asked him what he was going to do about the situation of farm workers.   He responded in vague terms.  It was a supportive statement, but no new federal legislation would be introduced, as I understood his response.
    Kennedy was so charismatic.  Close up, he looked like a movie star.
Chavez broke his fast and everyone cheered.  It was bedlam.
    Now, 38 years later, as I drove past Arvin, I said a little prayer for Salud Rodriguez.   Last summer, while he was picking Bell Peppers in 105-degree heat, he died from heat stroke, according to Lupe Martinez, who was Vice President of the United Farm Workers.
    There was not enough money for his funeral.
Every time we go to the market under air conditioning and pick a Bell Pepper from the shelf, we should picture ourselves shaking the hand of Mr. Rodriguez and all of the people who toil under very hard conditions to bring us food for our tables. He was 4 years old when Mr. Chavez broke his fast in 1968.
    If our government can’t help the most powerless people in our society, than why have a government?
Thank you for reading.

Bob Kholos

Barack Obama:Getting Bad Advice: Las Vegas Debate

    Did the Obama campaign not understand that he was going to be asked the undocumented worker drivers license question again in Las Vegas?
    While Senator Clinton finally learned from her mistake, and gave a crisp answer to the same question she stumbled over in the previous debate, Obama (who I will most likely vote for) stumbled with a professorial answer.  This made him look weak.
    Also, what is this posturing business, where the Senator from Illinois, has to change his body language to "front" Hillary with a glare and a combative stance?  This must be made for TV direction, discussed by staff members.
    Both Joe Biden and Chris Dodd were clearly the debate winners and actually sounded like they knew what the hell they would do as President of the United States. 
    However since the main media have already made their news choice for the Democratic President with objective "analysis" from CNN's James Carvelle(See LATIMES political blog under "politics.") who has raised money for Mrs. Clinton and is responsible for the Bill Clinton's Presidency ("It's the economy stupid")....it came across as a Hillary Clinton win.
    Former Senator John Edwards was booed by the pro Clinton audience, and the producers for the CNN debate engaged in censorship by choosing which questions Senator Clinton (softball) would be asked by the audience.

    Gov. Bill Richardson, who I also like, made the stupid political statement of saying that human rights always trumps security.  He certainly has a point for a college debate, however, if he does get the nomination, he will be creamed by his GOP opponent in this post 9-11 environment.

    Barack Obama still has a decent chance to upset Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucus. If John Edwards doesn't get to a certain level during this Jan 3rd event, his supporters have to move to another part of the room and support either Clinton or Obama.  My guess is now, since there seems to be bad blood between Edwards and the former First Lady, his supporters will move to Obama's corner.

    If the Iowa caucus goers are really frustrated by the lack of leadership in these debates, they may shock the nation and elect Senator Joe Biden.

    With Michigan only having candidate Clinton on the ballot and Florida delegates possibly being ignored at the convention in Denver...we may have a real mess on hands after super-duper Tuesday, Feb. 5th, 2008.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos

   

   

       
   

In Praise of Dennis Dixon:A Class Act

    It is not often, these days, when we watch a great football player show his grace under stress.
    This was the case on Thursday night, on national television, when the University of Oregon quarterback, Dennis Dixon, on his way to a Heisman trophy and a possible national championship for his team, crumbled behind the line of scrimmage, when his knee gave out under him.

    You could hear the entire state of Oregon cry-out in pain, when their new favorite son, laying the fetal position on the ground, knowing that this comeback kid had probably performed in his last college football game.

    When his father came down to the sidelines to comfort his son, proudly wearing his kid's #10 shirt, all parents watching this game played against the University of Arizona in the desert, could feel in unison, that gut wrenching pain, we know so well.

    Dennis Dixon cried on the sidelines.  You could see his head shake with sobbing, as the ESPN television crew focused closely on this superb gentleman-athlete.

    Last year was almost a disaster for the quarterback.  He started off hot and then had a few bad games at the end.

    This year, a new offensive coach, Chip Kelley from New Hampshire, told him not to worry about an interception, here and there, and this gave new confidence to the Senior.

    With his lean body, and skinny legs, Mr. Dixon dazzled his opponents and skeptics, and was being considered as the best football player in the United States this year---until this tragic incident.

    When previously interviewed by the media, Dennis stood tall and confident, but also showed an incredible amount of class in his attitude.  He is always subdued and subtle--touching on the humble.

    All of us have setbacks to our life, and most of us comeback.

    At this young age, Dennis Dixon has had to fight off defeat from last year, and lead his team to be ranked #2 in the nation.

    Like a pitcher in baseball, the quarterback is the main man, when it comes to his teams success.

    Dixon's career is not over.  He will comeback again, perhaps playing major league baseball, or even has a football game left in that sprained knee, which allows him to dart through the defense, like legendary "crazy-legs" Hirsh, a few generations before him.

    We all understand that Mr. Dixon will have a great life, because of his attitude, confidence and grace.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos

 

   

   

   

Can Barack Obama Upset Hillary: Has Hillary Clinton Peaked too Soon? 50+days till Iowa/New Hampshire

    Has Hillary Clinton peaked too soon?
    Yes.
    Can she survive Barack Obama in Iowa and New Hampshire?
    Maybe.
    Senator Obama, in the latest political polls, has picked up about 5% against the former First Lady in New Hampshire...while Mrs. Clinton has dropped 5%.
    This is very important, because it shows that Hillary may have peaked, and will be playing a very defensive game against the Senator from Illinois, when December rolls around.
    Obama, after much criticism, has been more open to the working press, recently and has appeared on Meet the Press on NBC.  He has finally come out of the shadows...but is it too late?
    No.
    Barack Obama has also started to talk about specific issues, such as Social Security and special interest influence on the body politic.
    After a lackluster campaign, it appears that Mr. Obama has a chance to dethrone Mrs. Clinton.
    Some Democrats are re-looking at the "monarchy problem" where we go from a President Bush to a President Clinton, to a President Bush, to a new President Clinton in 2009.

    It's still Hillary's campaign to lose, but with all of the upsets in college football this year, perhaps upsets are in the air in politics too.

    Thanks for reading:

    Bob Kholos   

Veterans Day: Welcome Home: A Hamburger and Coke

    There are a lot of serious issues confronting returning Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as those still suffering from Vietnam,and Korea.
    This includes the fact that 25% off all of America's homeless population are Veterans.
    Even with the current suffering of increased PTSD from the fighting men and women coming home from the war on terror...there are some positive moments.
    The owner of the Detroit Tigers baseball team, and CEO of Little Caesars Pizza, a former Marine, just gave a franchise operation to a Veteran, who had lost both his legs to an I.E.D. blast in Iraq.  The owner has since started a program to help returning Vets start their own Little Caesar restaurants.
    On a smaller note and one that is not serious, I remember, as a soldier with the 4th Infantry Division, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, having a constant craving for a hamburger and a Coke.  I thought, a million times, when on guard duty, that if I made it home, the first thing I was going to do was get a Burger and an ice cold Coke.
    A Marine, Vietnam Vet, friend tells me that he had a craving for a Chicken Salad Sandwich.
    So, every Veterans Day, I go out to a restaurant with a family member, or just alone, and get a hamburger and an ice cold Coke.
    This Veterans Day, I think I'll order a pizza from Little Caesars too!
    Thanks for reading:
    Bob Kholos