July 31, 2022

S2 EXI

S2 EXI

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A new political party, the origins of Champaign, the Coast Guard, and our distrust of the media.

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 S2 EXI

Hello and welcome! Thank you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube! I’m your host, Bob Woodley. On this episode, we’ll hear about the origins of Champaign, the Coast Guard, and College sports plus, the reason why today’s media creates division. But first, (not the headlines)…

Have you ever wondered why only Republicans or Democrats get elected President? Do you wish you had another option? Well, the truth is, you do. More than two political parties present the American voter with candidates for our land’s highest office. There’s the Libertarian Party, the Independents, the Socialist Party, Green Party. There were some other parties besides the Democrats and Republicans that have had success at our highest level of government. But they were all early in our history. Our first President, George Washington, wouldn’t join a political party for fear that it would divide the nation. Our second president, John Adams, was the only representative of the Federalist Party to hold the office. His son, John Quincy Adams, became president as a member of the Democrat-Republican party, as were the other three of our next four presidents. Imagine that. A Democrat-Republican party. The only other political party to put a candidate into office of the president was the Whig Party. The Whig Party was a reaction to the policies of President Andrew Jackson, who they believed would ignore Supreme Court decisions and interpret the Constitution in a way that suited him. The Whig Party put four Presidents in the White House, the last being Millard Fillmore. Since then, all Presidents have been either Republicans or Democrats, with Republicans leading 19 to 16. 

But now there’s a new political party to contend with, if all goes well for the people who started it. Reuters reports a new political party created by former Republicans and Democrats called the Forward Party. Naturally, a lot of political pundits expect this third party to fail. History in America has not been kind to political parties that aren’t polarized. But we’re now in a political climate where more and more people are looking for an alternative to what the prevailing parties have to offer, and an alternative to some of the extreme views the fringe seems to support. There’s a call for a more centrist, cooperative government that uses common sense to solve problems instead of using ideology to create division. The Forward Party aims to do that. It’s leadership is made up of, among others, former presidential candidate Andrew Yang and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman. A former Democrat and a former Republican, respectively. The team consists of a number of former members of both parties, and it has a limited platform for now. More choices on the ballot are one priority, and a reinvigorated economy is the other. It’s a centrist party, and the direction they take when it comes to solving the big issues facing America is not left, not right, but forward. They hope to build the party through local elections for city councils and school boards, and have a presidential candidate on the ballot for 2024.

Let’s go back liner... 

1492

The Jews are expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect. This is an interesting story in that the peninsula that now forms Spain and Portugal was at one time a Muslim stronghold, and Jews moved there because the Muslims would protect them. How times have changed. But then, Christians gradually took over the area, and when hostility toward Jews became more overt, many of them converted to Christianity, while secretly practicing their original faith. When Ferdinand and Isabella became King and Queen of the Kingdom of Spain, they ordered the 1480 Spanish Inquisition to weed out the insincere converts, especially the ones who were trying to get other converts to keep practicing Judaism, and the ones who were friendly with the Muslims. Thousands of Jews were killed in the following 12 years, then the Alhambra Decree was put into place. It gave Jews four months to convert to Christianity or leave the Kingdom. Muslims, too, were eventually forced out. If the year 1492 sticks out to you, it might be because that’s the year Christopher Columbus was financed by the same king and Queen to voyage across the Atlantic in search of a shorter route to India. He found America instead. The decree was eventually rescinded, though. But it took awhile. It wasn’t until the Second Vatican Council that the decree was officially revoked. December 16th, 1968! So for nearly 500 years, Jews were officially not welcome in Spain. 

1610

Henry Hudson sails into what is now known as Hudson Bay thinking he had made it through the Northwest Passage and reached the Pacific Ocean. Psych! We talked about Henry on this program before, when his crew mutinied after being stuck on the shore all winter. That was on a subsequent visit, after the bay had been named after him. I can understand how the size of a body of water can be deceiving to the eye, even for an experienced sailor and explorer.

1693

is traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon’s invention of Champagne, although there’s no reason to believe he actually had anything to do with the invention of sparkling wine. He did, however, live in the region of Champaign, France, and was a monk in charge of wine-making. But it was actually British vineyards that had developed the process for making sparkling wine 30 years earlier.

1703

Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted not with vile liquids, as had been customary, but with flowers. A pillory, as you may recall, is the device that clamps into it your head and hands. Defoe is the same guy who wrote Robinson Caruso. A prolific writer of pamphlets, which at that time, were about the same as a collection of social media posts would be today, Defoe upset Queen Anne when he wrote a pamphlet that was satirical of the church and Queen Anne’s battle with nonconformists. He was sentenced to three days in in the pillory, and the public actually protected him from the scorn usually associated with the punishment. He was also fined what would be the equivalent in today’s money of about 70-thousand dollars, and had to stay in prison until the fine was paid in full. His release came earlier than expected, though when two men arranged for his release in exchange for his service as a spy. After his release from prison, he went on to publish The Storm, which is considered by many to be the first example of modern journalism. 

1790

A newly passed tariff act creates the Revenue Cutter Service. Back then, the country was still new, and broke. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton urged Congress to create tariffs on imports. They did. Now, they needed a way to enforce the tariffs and curb smuggling. Ten Sea Cutters were commissioned to patrol the east coast of the United States from New England to Georgia. President Washington would commission the first seven the following March. The Master of each ship was paid 30 dollars a month, and had a budget of 50 dollars to divvy up between his top three crewmen. He was allowed 6 other crew who were paid as little as 4 dollars a month. For the next 8 years, this was the only armed maritime service the US had, since the Navy had been disbanded. Within a year of its founding, the service was responsible for intercepting American ships illegally importing slaves, since President Washington signed a law prohibiting the practice. The Revenue Cutter Service had the authority to board suspect ships to take inventory, and had guidance from Hamilton himself on the authority. He instructed that the Cutter crews “will always keep in mind that their countrymen are freemen, and, as such, are impatient of everything that bears the least mark of a domineering spirit. …” and that the Service “will endeavor to overcome difficulties, if any are experienced, by a cool and temperate perseverance in their duty – by address and moderation, rather than by vehemence or violence." Alexander Hamilton was one cool cat. The Revenue Cutter Service was merged with the United States Life Saving Service 125 years later to become the United States Coast Guard.

1852

Harvard wins the first Boat Race between Yale and Harvard. The race is also the first American intercollegiate athletic event. What a can of worms that turned out to be! Today, college athletics is a multi-million, if not billion-dollar industry. Especially college football. Most, if not all football coaches who work for the state make more than the Governor of the state. Alabama’s coach made 8.9 million in 2019, while the Governor made 120 thousand dollars. Even the lowest state-paid football coach in 2019, UNLV’s coach at 600-thousand, made more than the Governor of Nevada at 150 -thousand. More recently, college athletes now have the right to get compensated for their images and likenesses in video games and other forms of compensation as a result of their popularity as college athletes. If you’ve ever said you prefer college sports over professional sports because college kids are playing for the love of the game, you probably shouldn’t say that anymore. 

1861

During the American Civil War, in order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861. It was 3% of all incomes over 800 dollars. Believe it or not, the tax was rescinded just 11 years later in 1872! The war was over, and most people didn’t think it was needed anymore, so it was allowed to expire. Congress wouldn’t even look at tax law again for another 20 years. 

1890

At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair. It took two tries to get the job done. The first jolt, 1000 volts of A/C current lasting 17 seconds only managed to knock out the man who was convicted of killing his wife with an ax. An attending doctor then ordered another shock without delay. Once the chair was charged, the convict was sent a 2000 volt charge that ruptured blood vessels. It worked, though. The entire process took about 8 minutes. Clearly, there was more work to be done to perfect the system. Electric chairs are still available today, although in most states that have capitol punishment, lethal injection is the preferred method, with the electric chair as a standby in case of the inability to get the required drugs needed for lethal injection, or if courts decide that lethal injection is a cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution. 

1927 The Nanchang Uprising marks the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Communist Party of China. It’s commemorated as the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army. You can probably expect a lot of sabre-rattling coming from the Communists in China. Especially after they warned Nancy Pelosi to not visit Taiwan or risk reprisals. Some say the invasion of Taiwan by China is just a few decisions away. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Chinese Communist Party saw the current state of world affairs a prime opportunity to flex it’s muscle. Right now, China has the most dependable sources of energy and they’re not contributing their arms to somebody else’s war. I’m not saying we shouldn’t, I’m saying China may view it as a vulnerability.

1930 The radio mystery program The Shadow airs for the first time. (soundbite)

1937

The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal. Soon, what was a tax act became a criminal act, and the federal government put a stop to cannabis and hemp production for any purpose. At the time, hemp was widely used for a variety of applications, mostly for its fibrous qualities. Cannabis was attacked as a poison that caused psychosis or insanity, neither of which has been proven to be true. Call me crazy, but….today, possession, or sale of marijuana is still a federal offense. Many states have made it legal for not only medical, but recreational purposes. Many studies have shown marijuana to have beneficial qualities when ingested. It’s time our federal government puts the responsibility of marijuana use back to the state level and remove federal restrictions on the marijuana industry, including banking restrictions, and give federally-licensed media like television and radio stations the freedom to advertise those services just as billboards and digital media can. The quickest way for that to happen would be for a state to enact laws that challenge the courts enough that they end up in the US Supreme Court. Then, just like with Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court will have no choice but to strike down any federal laws regulating marijuana. 

1940

Estonia was illegally annexed by the Soviet Union. Gee what a surprise! Russia strong arming another country to capitulate in order to create a barrier around the homeland. That’s why former Soviet republics are now members of NATO.

1941

During the Holocaust: under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS General Reinhard Heydrich to “submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question.” We already heard about how the Jewish people were forced out of Spain, and remained unwelcome for nearly 500 years. Well, within those 500 years came the Nazi’s, and they, too considered the success of the Jewish population to be a threat. It wasn’t enough for the Nazi’s to just banish the Jews from their territory, though. They took the defamation of Jews a few steps further. When destroying their businesses wasn’t enough, when creating an environment that considered them a pariah wasn’t enough, the Nazi’s final solution to the Jewish Problem, as they called it, was to attempt to exterminate them. Six million of them were eliminated in the name of racial purity and religious persecution.

1944

A tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse where they find and arrest Jewish diarist Anne Frank, her family, and four others. The Frank family had been in hiding for two years already, having moved from Germany after Hitler came to power. All but one of the people discovered, Ann’s father Otto, died in Nazi death camps. Upon liberation of the camp Otto made his way back to Amsterdam, and was presented with his daughter’s diary, that somehow managed to be overlooked by the Gestapo, and was for all that time in the possession of one of his former employees at the wharehouse. Ann Franks diary was published in 1947 and became a best seller. It’s been translated into 70 languages. If you read it before 1995, you didn’t read the whole thing. In 1995, according to history dot com, a new English version of the diary was published that included material that was previously left out of the original version. The restored material made the work about 30 percent longer.

1945

World War II: the Potsdam Conference, at which the Allied Powers discuss the future of defeated Germany, is concluded. Germany, and then Berlin, were separated into territories of the victors. France was later included in the disbursement. But the war wasn’t over yet. There was still work to be done in the Pacific theater. Also this week in 1945, World War II comes one bomb closer to ending when Hiroshima is devastated by the atomic bomb “Little Boy.” Around 70,000 people are killed instantly, and tens of thousands later die from burns and radiation poisoning. Since no surrender was offered, Nagasaki would be next. That’s the bomb that ended World War II.

1966

Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes the official policy of the People’s Republic of China. It was the beginning of Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution. He’d been in power for 20 years, and felt like he needed to rearrange the furniture of his government. He and his wife, along with a few close associates, would make moves to reassert the Chairman’s authority. He closed the schools and called on the young people to call out party leaders who lost the spirit of the revolution and purge the impure. Minorities and religions suffered the most. The Cultural Revolution lasted 10 years and resulted in the deaths of millions, and the incarceration of just as many. It was a very complicated 10 years of Chinese Communist history, but it ended without accomplishing much at a macro level. Deng Xauping, who was purged during the first part of the revolution, got redemption by being named the leader of the party when all was said and done. 

This week in 1970 came Black Tot Day for the Royal Navy. The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration. Until 1970, sailors in the Royal Navy, or the British Navy, got a daily ration of rum This was known as a tot, and a tot was one gill of rum. A gill equals 4 ounces. For lower ranks, they got a half-pint of grog, which was one-third of the tot plus two-thirds water. This would have been a lot easier with the metric system! To avoid scurvy, lime juice was added. Eventually, for reasons that vary from personal behavior to financial, the practice was abandoned. Today, sailors from a variety of countries save their drinking for when they get to port.

1974

Vietnam War: the U.S. Congress places a $1 billion dollar limit on military aid to South Vietnam. Today, a billion dollars of military aid isn’t enough to curb the crime in Chicago.

1977

US President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy. We needed a Department of Energy. In 1973, OPEC, or the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, 12 middle-eastern countries, agreed to not sell oil to the United States. Why would they do that, you ask? Well, for one reason, they were upset that President Nixon took the United States currency off the Gold Standard. That was a major move that upset a lot of our trading partners, but historians will tell you was inevitable anyway. It happened abruptly, and had volatile effects on the price of gold and the value of the dollar, which was, and still is, the world currency. Plus, we helped Israel during a conflict against Egypt and Syria. So for six months, until March of 1974, the price of oil skyrocketed as it became scarce. Gas rationing was implemented. At first, you were only allowed to buy so much, then it came to only cars with license plates that ended in an odd number could buy on certain days of the week, while cars with license plates that ended with even numbers could buy gas on the other days. Before any of that happened, gas was cheap and plentiful. My dad would send me to the gas station up the hill from where we lived with a one-gallon gas can and two quarters. He wanted his change when I got back. Before all this happened, gas hovered around 29 cents a gallon. It made a lot of sense for President Carter to create a new federal department in charge of the country’s energy supply and availability. Just to drive the point home, the Iranian Revolution created another energy crisis in 1979, just two years later. The overthrow of the Shah of Iran, who was an ally of the United States, created such an instability in the oil market that panic ensued. Since then, the Department of Energy has, with the help of private industry, successfully learned and taught us how to conserve energy, and use it more wisely. Our cars are as efficient as ever, we have LED lightbulbs and energy-efficient appliances in our homes and apartments. We’ve made great strides in energy production and ways to harvest energy. Since the 1970’s, America has advanced the concept of clean energy, and found ways to capture carbon-emissions to protect the ozone layer. The air and water quality in America have both benefited because of the creation of the Department of Energy. We learned that we could be stewards of the environment, and by using energy wisely, we could all participate in making a collective improvement in the quality of our lives and the lives of our grandchildren. But more important, we learned that we could live without relying on foreign sources of energy. We could create our own. And we did. All kinds of it. The electric company that powers my home uses windmills as a source. People have solar panels on their homes and garages. Both sources are also used on a commercial scale with great success in the right conditions. It didn’t go unnoticed when two oil-producing states, Texas and Alaska, actually benefited from the OPEC embargo and the late 70’s crisis. Then, as the years went by, vast amounts of oil are discovered somewhere nobody ever thought it would be. Everywhere. Thirty-two of our 50 states produce oil. Seven of them produce less than a million barrels a year, while five of them produced 71 percent of our oil output in 2020. A large part of that production came from the southwest. Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma account for a big chunk, but Colorado and California also contribute a lot of our county’s oil. Did you know there are oil rigs in Beverly Hills? And, no, the Clampets did not bring the oil with them. Colorado produced more oil in 2020 than Alaska. We learned how to become energy independent. Not just through oil, but also through natural gas, solar, wind, biofuels, conservation and education. Not only did we come up with ways to create clean energy, we came up with ways to make the way we make energy cleaner. We pulled out every tool we had in our toolbox. We got the job done, like we did with the atom bomb and putting a man on the moon. It was a major achievement that America could be proud of. Then came Day One of the Biden Administration and shutting down a major energy pipeline. This, like the OPEC oil embargo in 1973, or the Iranian revolution in 1979, sent shock waves through harvesters of fossil fuels. Except in this case, it was American harvesters of fossil fuels. We have a lot of fuel to contribute to the world supply, and that’s what drives prices. The less we make, the more it will cost not just us, but the rest of the world. We still import oil from other countries, but having more influence on the world market is something in which the Biden administration doesn’t seem interested. In the meantime, American’s are being encouraged to buy electric cars to avoid the cost of gas to the consumer, as well as the environment. But electric cars are mostly fueled by coal, and rolling blackouts in states like California and Texas make electric cars a gamble when it comes to reliability. As it stands right now, our Department of Energy is putting a lot of pressure on our Department of Transportation, and our Department of Transportation isn’t doing so well. Neither is our Department of Energy. Maybe they could convince “the Big Man” to change some policies if only they worked together to do what’s best for the American people they’re supposed to serve. 

This week in 1981, MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles. The Buggles were an interesting group of musicians who considered themselves “studio insects.” They started referring to themselves as the Bugs, when someone commented that they’d never be as famous as the Beatles. So they became the Buggles. The founders of the band, Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes were also part of the progressive rock group Yes for the Drama record. I was in broadcasting school when MTV became an American phenomenon, and there were a lot of us who aspired to be VJ’s instead of DJ’s. But there were very few VJ positions to be had. In fact, when MTV hired the original lineup of VJ’s, they were told to keep their day jobs and to not buy any permanent residence. Of course, that was when MTV only played music video’s. Everybody loved MTV! The video’s were fun and artistic and sexy. But the statement that video killed the radio star was premature. While MTV now consists mostly of Rediculousness episodes, which is a funny program, the lure of music video’s tapered off, and the only thing that’s come close to killing radio is iheart media, by taking local personalities out of the mix and replacing them with piped-in programs by people you don’t know and can’t say anything but general information stuff because it’ll be played on radio stations in different cities. Other than the damage done to radio by the largest owner of radio stations, there hasn’t been a medium that’s been able to knock radio off its perch. 

1981 Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work. He said he was going to do it, and he did it. Much to the surprise of many. But how can you fire an entire union? Isn’t that part of what unions are meant to prevent? 

Look that up liner…

It is, but not if you work for the federal government. A 1955 law banned federal employees from striking. The law had never been applied before, but was deemed Constitutional in 1971. When Postal workers went on strike in 1970, none were fired. But according to an article on the website of University of Texas at Arlington libraries, President Reagan knew he had the upper hand, and ordered all striking Air Traffic Controllers to report back to work in 48 hours. Many did. More than 11,000 who didn’t were fired, and not just fired, but banned from ever getting their jobs back. Reagan wasn’t one to pussy foot around. Some union leaders were also arrested. 

As it turns out, the doom and gloom the union promised would accompany their absence never came to fruition. Seven thousand flights were canceled during the strike, but three thousand supervisors and two-thousand non-striking controllers, along with 900 military air traffic controllers kept most of the planes flying, with hardly a dent in cargo flights. 

1987

The Federal Communications Commission rescinds the Fairness Doctrine which had required radio and television stations to present controversial issues “fairly”. While on the surface, this seems like a good idea, and it was since 1949. The fairness doctrine did encourage radio and television stations to present both sides of an issue, or opposing sides of an issue. It was meant to make sure the public wasn’t biased by radio or television owners who had control over the media. We all know how powerful the media is, what with its power to stifle stories about laptops left at repair shops and promote stories that promote whatever the prevailing winds dictate, without regard to the actual truth and the effect it will have on the American people and how they vote. The Fairness Doctrine was the gate-keeper of information. It kept the media in the median, between the right and the left. It meant that the American public was exposed to more than one side of an issue, and given the information necessary to make an informed decision about said issue. It was when the public was trusted with coming to the conclusion that best suited the people who would be most effected by the issue, without the spin that today’s media puts on every issue. Ultimately, is was deemed that to put such a requirement on the media was a violation of the media’s right to free speech! Like the media has a mind of it’s own! The year 1987 might be when our faith in the media ended. 

2010

California’s Proposition 8, the ballot initiative prohibiting same-sex marriage that was passed by the voters in 2008, is overturned in the case Perry vs. Schwarzenegger. Yes, today’s bastion of liberalism once voted to outlaw same-sex marriage. See, in California, the public can get anything on the ballot they want, as long as they can get enough other people to agree that it’s something we should all get to vote on. You do that by getting people to sign a petition agreeing to the proposed proposition. So, if I lived in California, I could start a campaign to add a proposition to the ballot on an upcoming election that says “Everybody in California should give Bob Woodley a dollar” and if I can get enough signatures on the petition, the whole state gets to vote on it. In the case of gay marriage, fifty-two-point-24 percent of California citizens voted against gay marriage just 14 years ago. But gay marriage was already practiced in California, and now nobody knew what was going to happen to those people and there were protests and all kinds of court cases followed. Ultimately, it came down to the very essence of equal rights. That the minority cannot be deprived of rights by a vote of the majority. Who could argue with that? That’s why we have a Constitution, that’s why we have laws. We have to protect our freedoms from those who would try to usurp them. Our government can’t make laws that take away our rights, even if enough people vote for it. The Constitution is there to insure that anyone of us has the same rights as all the rest of us. So even though a majority of the voters in California in 2008 voted to prohibit gay marriage, the court ruled that was a violation of our civil rights. Yes, I said our civil rights. Even though I’m married, I’m not gay, but it’s still our right that was being violated. It’s a right, and like all other rights we have under the Constitution, it applies to all of us. If the government is going to issue marriage licenses, then anybody should be able to get one. Our rights apply to all citizens. Now, let’s use that same logic to examine the recent Supreme Court decision on abortion rights. If gay marriage is allowed because we all have equal rights, and I believe we do, then in the question of abortion, the primary question we have to ask the court isn’t when life begins, but when do our rights begin? There are arguments for the moment of conception, and there are arguments for at birth. We don’t need our courts to decide when life begins. We can argue that until the cows come home. It doesn’t matter. The bottom line the court needs to decide is when our rights begin. It won’t be an easy decision, because they’ll have to take into consideration the mothers rights, the father’s rights, and also decide whether or not the fetus has any rights, or if the parents have rights that outweigh those of the fetus. I wouldn’t be surprised if every judge in the country hasn’t already made up their mind about it, but no legislation has been introduced to settle the question. No judge wants to be the one to make the decision, especially if they’re competing for an elected position. Neither side really wants an answer to the question, either, because they’re all using the issue to gather folks on either side to get them to agree with them on other issues as well. As long as it’s an unanswered question, the lunatic fringe on both sides can use the issue as a tool. Our political parties wouldn’t know how to be valuable to us if we weren’t separated into Gun-toting, Bible-thumping conservatives and Pot-smoking, baby-killing liberals. That’s politics. The Constitution dictates our rules and our rights, and the court decided gay marriage was legal because everybody has the same rights. The Supreme Court threw the decision about the rights of a fetus back to the States. Ultimately, the Supreme court will have to decide if a fetus has the same rights as somebody who has actually been born. Don’t count on that decision being made any time soon. In the meantime, the rights of the few are being protected from the whim of the majority, in the same way same-sex marriage was in 2010. 

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