Episode X

 Tenth Episode

Well, hello there! Welcome to this edition of the Listening Tube. I’m your host, Bob Woodley. This week, we’ll hear about a kingdom that could lose its autonomy, and a union that may be missing a charter and will have to travel by school bus. Plus, I’ll answer the questions on a White Privilege Questionnaire. But first, (not the headlines) 

Did you ever want to wave your hand and your bills would be paid? You know, like some kind of magic? Well, now you can. There’s a company in Europe that makes a microchip that you can get implanted in your hand that’s connected to your bank account or credit card. It works wherever contactless payments are accepted, just like the credit cards that you just tap instead of inserting or swiping. This technology has been available for about a decade, and according to a story by business reporter Katherine Latham, has been commercially available since last year. A British/Polish firm called Walletmor is the first company to offer them for sale. The chip is incredibly small, and includes an antenna. The company’s founder says it’s safe, will stay in place, and doesn’t require a power source. So you don’t have to charge it! I guess that’s a good thing. You don’t have to stand with your hand over a wireless charger for an hour before you go to the grocery store. Or even worse, you get to the front of the checkout line only to discover your chip is dead and now you don’t have a way to pay for your over-priced eggs and ground beef. Now, you might be someone who says, “Not me, Bob. I’ll never get a chip implanted in my body for any reason.” Well, I feel ya. There are a lot of security issues that people will have concerns with, not to mention the thought of getting a microchip implanted in your body is something many of us would find appalling. One of the obvious concerns people have is the possibility of being tracked with the chip. Well, if they’re anything like the ones we put in our dogs in case they get lost, it doesn’t work like that. We can’t use the chip in the dog to find it, we can only read the chip after the dog is found. Surprisingly, fifty-one percent of more than 4,000 people in the UK and Europe said they’d consider getting the payment microchip. One person who already has the chip says the reactions he gets from cashiers are priceless. That’s a funny way to put it, considering he literally has to pay a price to get the reaction.

A noted sex therapist, Dr. Tammy Nelson, has witnessed a 45% increase in interest about open relationships over the past few months. Citing the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, the increased time couples have been spending together and because they’re bored with each other, there’s a growing interest in discussing the topic with partners. Now, I just have to say right now, that I would never even chance bringing that up with my wife. And I can’t stress enough that I have no desire to have an open relationship. In fact, I’m glad my wife doesn’t listen to this program, otherwise she’d be asking my why I even put this story in my little show! The common belief is that men are somehow biologically inclined to have sex with as many partners as possible to provide his DNA the opportunity to carry on. I’ve never hear anything about women having the same desire. Not being a woman, I don’t know what motivates them sexually. If you’re bored with your partner, the one you promised to love, honor and cherish, then maybe it’s not something that can be solved by having sex with a stranger. Doctor Nelson says that men are usually the ones who bring up the subject of more sexual freedom, which would support the hypothesis of human male mating strategies. But if you’re a man hearing about this study and thinking to yourself, “Hmmm. I can actually use science to get my wife to agree to let me have sex with another woman. Maybe I should go for it.” here’s a caveat: Even though it’s the men who bring it up, it’s the women who end up wanting to continue it. So be careful what you wish for. She might be the moral standard-bearer of your relationship. Otherwise, she may have left you long ago. 

Unfinished Business liner

On the last episode, I said that Elon Musk had been appointed to the board of Twitter. As it turns out, he had turned down the position hours before my program was produced, so I was incorrect. It would have been great if he had sent me an e-mail about it, but he didn’t. If you see him, tell him I’m a little bit upset about it. He’s free to speak to me. Anyway, what I said last week pales in comparison with what happened since then. Now, Mr. Musk has offered to buy Twitter outright in what some analysts are calling a hostile takeover, and many media outlets are calling a catastrophe of epic proportions! The same media that cheered Amazon founder Jeff Bazos’ purchase of the Washington Post are now calling foul. Do they think that twitter has more influence than the Post? How is it a threat to media? Elon Musk forces twitter into an epic game of truth or dare, and twitter chooses dare. I’m not saying twitter doesn’t favor truth. They have policies in place to control that. Changing those policies is what the media fear most. Plus, twitter itself doesn’t want to have Elon Musk in charge because he would change the fundamental way the company operates, and what motivates people to use it. So rather than risk twitter becoming a platform for all forms of speech, the board decided to implement the so-called poison pill. According to an article on CNBC, that means that if anyone buys at least 15% of the company without approval of the board, other shareholders would be able to buy additional shares at a discount, diluting the investment. That sounds like insider trading to me, but I don’t know anything about that stuff. Plus, as a shareholder, Musk would also be able to buy more shares at a discount. But basically the board told Musk that he can’t buy the company until at least April of next year, unless the board decides he can. So this is an ongoing saga right now, and I’m having fun hearing about it because there’s nothing I can do to influence it in any way, and I’m not on twitter. So I don’t care. 

Let’s go back liner

This week in 1905 The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York. This was a case that began with men who baked bread for a living, and would work a split-shift. They would prepare the dough on the first part of the shift, then take a nap while the chemical magic that makes bread dough rise happens, and then bake the bread. The men were paid for the time they slept. As it turns out, this process took more than 10 hours a day or 60 hours a week, which made it against the law in New York. The men who prepared the dough and eventually baked the bread argued that they should be allowed to do so if they wished. The Supreme Court agreed, saying that the 14th Amendment, which holds that the “right to free contract” is implicit in the due process clause. That means that if you want to let somebody else pay you to prepare bread dough, take a nap for awhile, then get up and turn that dough into bread, no matter how long it takes, you’re allowed to do that. My advice? Do it while you’re young!

This week in 1906 an earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California. A tragedy that changed the city overnight. The most recent tragedy in San Francisco has taken much longer to manifest itself and wasn’t caused by a natural disaster, but by political winds.

1907 The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day. Ellis Island arrivals peaked in 1907, with most of the immigrants from Italy. It was a fairly quick process to get through, but certainly more difficult than what’s happening at our southern border today. There’s an average of 6,000 people a day coming across our southern border. Immigrants through Ellis Island underwent medical checks and other information-gathering steps about who you are and where are you going, but it was a mostly paperless process. Very few people were pulled out of line to undergo deeper questioning. 

I have to be a little more specific about this one, because it was on the DAY of April 18th in 1930, BBC Radio announces that there is no news on that day. Imagine the panic that would reverberate through the news headquarters in the United States if we went 24 hours without anything newsworthy happening. Imagine a Friday morning meeting at Fox News or CNN and the producers tell the editors they don’t have anything to talk about. The graphic artists are trying to visualize a representation of nothing. The script writers are twiddling their thumbs. All I can say is they’re lucky it happened on a Friday and not a Monday, because 1930 isn’t the last time that happened. It happened again in Berlin, Germany in 1985, on a Monday, and it happened to me. I was in the news department at AFN Berlin, Armed Forces Network, back when the wall was still up. My daily responsibilities were several radio newscasts in the morning, starting at 6am, and a television story for the 6pm television news. It was all locally produced local news from local sources, including the German newspapers like Der Tagespiegel and the Berliner Morganpost. We had a gentleman who would come in to the broadcast center on Saargemunder Strasse and translate the stories from the German papers into English, and then I would re-write the stories in broadcast style for use on the radio. Then I would do the new on the radio for the morning disc-jockey show. The man who did the translations was a German man who’s name was Vladimir, but preferred to be called by his surname, Benz. Benz was a German soldier in World War II, was captured by the Soviets, escaped, and surrendered to US soldiers. He told me many of them did because they knew they would be treated better by the United States. He had been working for us ever since as a translator. He spoke six languages, and liked to show off his vocabulary by using words like “octopi” every chance he got. He was a beloved member of the AFN Berlin news team for decades, and I was honored to work with him. But one Monday morning, I walk into the office to get ready for a new day of news only to find Benz looking at me as if he’d seen Hitler’s ghost. I pretended to not notice, and asked, “What do you have for me today, Benz?” He told me he didn’t have anything. I assumed he was joking and prodded him for my news stories. Benz showed up for work at about 2:30 in the morning, taking the U-Bahn one stop from where he lives. He once confided in me that for decades, he never paid for a ride because, as he explained, “if you’re only going one stop, it’s impossible to get caught.” I would come in around 4:30 to get writing in time to have a newscast ready for 6am. I don’t remember how long my newscast was, but I needed at least a handful of stories plus the weather and the exchange rates for British Pounds, French Francs and German Marks. Two of which no longer exist. Benz insists he doesn’t have any news for me. He goes on to explain that he’s combed every source he has. This was in 1985, so we didn’t have news sources at our fingertips like we do today. Benz says there’s no news in a city of 3 million people, if you include east Berlin, and not one heroine overdose, not one false alarm, not one story of interest to anyone who speaks English happened over the course of a weekend in the most cosmopolitan city in all of Europe. Nothing happened in the bone in the throat of Communism, the City of Light, the spy capital of the world. And I’m the guy who has to do the news. By the time it all sinks in, it’s about 5am and I call my supervisor. “Hey, sarge. Benz says there no news.” “What?” “You heard that correctly. Benz says there’s no news.” What should I do? His response? “Recap Friday’s news.” 

This week in 1941, Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians throws the only Opening Day no-hitter in the history of Major League Baseball, beating the Chicago White Sox 1-0. On opening day this year, the Cleveland Guardians played their first game with their new name. Some call it sensitivity, others call it political correctness, but the name Indians is now taboo. Is the word taboo taboo? HMMM. I honestly don’t want to know. In any case, my High School alma mater nickname is the Indians. I wonder how much longer that will last. Will they have to get rid of the nickname, or will they have to change their mascot to Mahatma Gandhi? And will the football team have to follow a non-violent game-plan? 

This week in 1962, Walter Cronkite takes over as the lead news anchor of the CBS Evening News, during which time he would become “the most trusted man in America”. I hope to earn your trust someday. In the meantime, feel free to think of me as a less-hairy Wolfman Jack.

In 1986 The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon. President Reagan ordered the bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a bombing in Berlin nightclub frequented by US servicemen and women. Two were killed. I was stationed in Berlin when it happened. One of the women I worked with at AFN Berlin worked the door part-time at LaBelle’s, the nightclub that was bombed. I was in Frankfurt the night of the bombing. One of the A-6 Intruders that took part in the Libyan bombing was recently made a part of a veteran’s memorial west of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. I had the honor of researching and writing about it being placed there, after the plane was rescued from a trade school.

This week in 1989, Upon the death of Hu Yaobang, the Tiananmen Square protests begin in the People’s Republic of China. To some of us, 1989 doesn’t seem that long ago. To others, it’s a part of the distant past that may or may not be covered in history class. This is when the Chinese Communist Party cemented its grip on the population. Hu Yaobang was a reformer in China. He was the last hope for a new form of government and the people there knew it. He had a love/hate relationship with communist party, and tried to reform the government in China, but was rebuffed by the status quo, even as chairman of the party. When he died, students protested in his memory, prompting the Tiananmen Square protests and the killing of protesters. You may remember seeing a video of a person standing in front of a tank that keeps trying to go around him, while he keeps moving to stay in the path of the tank. That was as brave as a Chinese citizen has been since then.

A teacher in Ohio will not be retained for the next school year because the school board got complaints that she was teaching Critical Race Theory. In her defense, she claims she doesn’t know what Critical Race Theory is. She used a worksheet that she got from a website to supplement the reading of a book called “Dear Martin.” The worksheet is what started the complaints. When shown the worksheet by the principal, the teacher said, “Well, it’s not CRT. I don’t know what CRT is because I didn’t go to law school and we didn’t cover it in grad school. This isn’t it.” So, she said she didn’t know what CRT is, but she also said she did know what it isn’t. She didn’t learn about it because she didn’t go to law school, and she didn’t learn about it in grad school, so she doesn’t know what it is. But she also knows that the worksheet she used in her class wasn’t CRT. If I don’t know that I have a dime, and I also don’t know that I don’t have a quarter, how can I not know I don’t have 35 cents? Please allow me to read to you, and answer, the questions on the worksheet that the school district says is critical race theory, while the teacher pleads ignorance. The worksheet provides a scenario, and you must determine if the scenario applies to you or not by selecting true or untrue. Here’s the first judgement: True or untrue? I have never been discriminated against because of my skin color. I don’t know. I may have. I was walking around south central Los Angeles not long after the Rodney King incident that led to riots. It would be prejudiced of me to assume somebody there discriminated against me because of my skin color. Most of the time, today, people of skin color the same as mine and different skin color often hold the door open for each other at the convenience store. Judgment Two: I have never been the only person of my race in a room. Well, I was in the military, so yes. I’ve been the only person of my race in a room many times, but I never thought about it until now. You know what else I never thought about until now? How many races are there?

Look that up liner

According to several sources, there are four or five races among humans on the planet: European, Asian (which is the largest segment), African, American Indian and Australian Aborigine. The sources that only list four eliminate the American Indian race and I suppose include them in the Mongloid/Asian race. So, I’ve been the only person of my race in a room on at least two occasions, as I’m sure I was the only European among both African and Asian groups. 

Scenario three: I have never been a victim of violence because of my race. No. I have not. I have rarely been the victim of violence my entire life.

Scenario Four: I have never been told I “sound” or “act” white. True. I have never been told I sound or act white. I have been told I can’t disguise my voice. Evidence indicates that’s true.

Scenario Five: I can go shopping alone most of the time and feel sure that I will not be followed or harassed. Okay. I assume that I’m being watched every time I walk into a store. I’m on camera, there are loss prevention people in the store who’s job it is to make sure I’m not stealing anything. If you feel conscience about people watching you while you shop, you probably feel guilty for some reason. On the other hand, if you feel you’re being harassed, you should take immediate action to get an explanation of why you’re being singled out.

Scenario Six: I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented. This is actually two very different questions. One question asks if you can turn on the television and see people of my race widely represented, and also asks if you can open the newspaper and see your race widely represented. On television, it’s highly likely that any race can see themselves widely represented, as television, and specifically television advertisements, have made great efforts to include all races in advertising. Even to the point that some races are over or under represented proportionate to the population. As far as newspapers are concerned, most are local, and will have pictures representative of the local population. Anything else would be fictional pandering. Scenario Seven: When I am told about our national heritage or about civilization, I am shown that people of my color made it what it is. That’s true. I learned about the Founding Fathers of our country. There were pictures in the history books that showed a bunch of white men. I didn’t take their skin color into account at the time. I never wondered why there wasn’t a black man in the picture, and nobody ever told my why. Scenario Eight: I can walk into any hair salon and find someone who can cut my hair. Wow. This is a sensitive one for me. For decades, I’ve been trying to find a barber who can put some hair back on the front of my head. No luck. So this one is false. Scenario Nine: I am never asked to speak for all the people in my racial group. True. Nobody has ever asked me to do that, nor am I qualified to do that. I don’t know of anybody who would be asked to speak on behalf of their entire racial group, and anyone who tries to speak on behalf of their entire racial group is a fool (or full of themselves). Scenario Ten: I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race. Well, this is actually three different questions. I try to not swear when it’s not needed, as I believe you should be able to express yourself without swearing, so no, I’m not called out on it. I was the first-born, so I didn’t have to wear second-hand clothes, but we didn’t have a lot of money, and it’s none of anybody’s business if I answer letters or not. I don’t think any of the questions in this scenario have anything to do with race, but they’ve been put here to make them seem race-related. There are five more scenarios. Number eleven: I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the person in charge, I will be facing a person of my race. That depends on where I am, but since my race has more people living in the United States than any other race, the odds are that I will be. So, this isn’t a question of race or privilege, it’s a question of geography. Number 12: If a traffic cop pulls me over I can be sure I haven’t been singled out because of my race. That would depend on whether or not the cop is a racist. Scenario 13: I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children’s magazines featuring people of my race. Well, practically all of my favorite football players are black, so false on the poster, the other stuff I don’t buy. Number 14: I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me. True. And if you ask any doctor or lawyer, they’ll you that race plays no roll in the services they provide. And finally, scenario 15: I can choose blemish cover or bandages in flesh color and have the match my skin color easily. Well, they don’t call anything “flesh” colored anymore, simply because there are so many different shades of skin. There was a time when Crayola made a crayon that they called Flesh, but now it’s called peach. But this is still false, as I’ve never seen a bandage of any color that matches the color of my skin. So the more times you circled true, the more privileged you are! If you are privileged, congratulations! I hope you use your privilege in ways that make the world a better place for all of us.

Now a follow-up to the Disney company’s objection to the Florida law that addresses sex education for kids up to the third grade. As it turns out, Walt Disney World has a unique arrangement with the state of Florida that allows the theme park to act as its own county government. In a story by Winston Cho, he says the 1967 agreement allows Disney to impose taxes, adopt ordinances and provide emergency services at the park complex, among other powers of self-governance. But because Disney stuck their nose where it doesn’t belong, because their new CEO was pressured by employees to interfere with state policy on behalf of a special interest group that probably never even read the bill before it became law, Florida’s governor and some lawmakers want to repeal the agreement, and take away that privilege. It’s unlikely to happen anytime soon, if at all. The Florida legislature isn’t in session right now, and one democrat calls the whole thing “performative.” Disney does hold a lot of sway in the sunshine state, though, and has on several occasions influenced state policy. The were successful in getting a carve-out of a law prohibiting social media platforms from excluding political candidates. The law does not apply to a “company that owns and operates a theme park or entertainment complex.” In 2018, Disney was able to get and pass a ballot initiative that took the authority of lawmakers to expand gambling in the state and gave it directly to voters. The last thing Disney wants is more casinos, as they view them as an alternative to spending money at the theme park. In 2012, a lobbyist for Disney tried to convince Orange County commissioners to delay a ballot measure that would require sick leave to be extended to employees. I can understand why Disney would lobby for fewer casinos and less sick leave. They have a direct impact on the income of the theme park. But the Parental Rights in Education bill has no effect on park income. Well, it wouldn’t have if Disney just minded their own business, but they didn’t. Now, it may effect their income, as people have begun pulling back the curtain on Disney’s agenda, and don’t like what they see. There was a time when Disney was a shining example of wholesome. Now, it’s being exposed as manipulative and agenda-driven.

Speaking of which, another organization has apparently changed its ideals so much that it may lose its Congressional Charter. The National Education Association was granted a Congressional Charter in 1906 for being a “private, non-profit corporation which exists for patriotic, civic-improvement, charitable or education purposes.” The NEA was a very different organization when the charter was granted. Charles Baird, an economics professor at Cal State Hayward, wrote a lengthy essay on the NEA and its charter in 2016. We’ve all seen since then how the NEA operates and dictates to the Democratic party. It was the NEA that fought to keep schools closed in some of America’s biggest cities as a reaction to the Covid pandemic. It was the NEA that prompted the Attorney General to label parents as domestic terrorists for speaking out against the union’s influence. More than a hundred years ago, the NEA was an organization of professionals interested in promoting the education of the general public. Today, it’s a union of thugs that Forbes magazine once called the National Extortion Association, eager to use fraud and coercion to serve no interests but its own. We saw that very clearly during the pandemic, when the NEA pressured governments at all levels to do what it said. The NEA has a lot of clout, especially among democrats. Ninety-five percent of political donations made by the union went to democratic candidates, while none of the members had any input on where the donations were made. But I digress. In 1969, the house and senate agreed on a set of standards for granting a congressional charter. There are five standards: 1, it is an organization which is operating under a charter granted by a state or the district of columbia and that it has so operated for a sufficient length of time to demonstrate it permanence and that its activities are clearly in the public interest, 2, of such a unique character that chartering by congress as a federal corporation is the only appropriate form of incorporation, 3, organized and operated solely for charitable, literary, educational, scientific, patriotic or civic improvement purposes, 4, organized and operated as a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization, and 5, organized and operated for the primary purpose of conducting activities which are of national scope and responsive to a national need, which need cannot be met except upon the issuance of a federal charter. In 1906, the NEA probably met or came close to meeting all of these requirements. Today, they meet none of them. If the NEA tried to get a Congressional Charter today, they’d be laughed out of town. Mr. Baird itemizes his argument by stating that today’s NEA is not organized and operated for educational, charitable or civic improvement purposes, blocking meaningful educational reform. It doesn’t act in the public interest. He goes on to say that the NEA is neither nonprofit nor nonpartisan, and meets no national need. Its the only union in the country that has a congressional charter and a Secretary-level representative in the federal government. Plus, the NEA’s real estate in Washington, D.C. is tax-exempt because of the charter. That was worth two-million dollars a year in 1995. Now we hear a lot about how teachers are underpaid and under equipped. We hear about teachers that use their own money to buy supplies they need for classroom instruction. That’s not always the case. We just don’t hear much about teachers who are well-paid and making more than taxpayers in the same school district. That was the case in 1981 when the NEA pressured the school board of Alpena, Michigan to close down the schools because voters refused to raise local property taxes. Other cities in the state were also threatened with similar shutdowns. Blackmailed voters came up with the money. In another Michigan city, teachers were making 10,000 dollars a year more than the average citizen, and the school board granted years of pay raises for the teachers. But when voters failed to raise taxes for the teachers pay raises, the school board ended the school year two months early. When Forbes magazine called on the NEA for a comment, the national president of the NEA made it clear that other Michigan cities would experience the same wrath if taxpayers didn’t come up with protection money. The NEA doesn’t just extort taxpayers, it also extorts the teachers it depends upon for its existence. Teachers are forced to pay dues to local, state and national levels of the union, even if they want nothing to do with the union, or if they’re a member of the local union, but not at any other level. One teacher who objected to the extortion found dead cats thrown at her home and her dog was killed. The NEA also extorts money from its members by providing liability insurance that costs more than it would from alternative suppliers. Bottom line, the NEA does not deserve to have a Congressional Charter. They have no interest in anything but building they’re own wealth and power, then using it to get even more, at the expense of school districts, taxpayers, teachers and most importantly, students. A house bill called the National Education Association Charter Repeal Act was introduced this week. It will be a difficult bill to pass, considering the Democrats have the majority and most, if not all of them are on the NEA donors list. I’m sure their thugs will be pulling in favors. But the fact is, the NEA has become the opposite of what it was formed to be, and should be treated as such.

The Listening Tube is written and produced by yours truly. Copyright 2022. Thank you for being a part of the Listening Tube. I’m your host, Bob Woodley for thou ad infinitum.