Melder's Musings

As this is written, the Big Show is coming to you from the Starkville Cafe. I don't have anything to report (at least not at this very moment), but I have to give mad props to one of the first places I frequented in this town and what's still one of the best places in this town.

I'm making another of my whirlwind treks through the Southeast this week.

Tomorrow I'll be in Starkville, Mississippi, to see the new Board of Aldermen in action for their first official meeting. Rumors abound of various strategy sessions between the Aldermen-elect since election day. Now that they're official, those will have to stop (if they want to be legal, that is).

Later in the week I'll be in Jackson, Mississippi, investigating new job prospects. The idea of getting paid to do what I've done as a hobby is thrilling.

I'll finish the week in Texas to celebrate my mother's birthday.

There will be stops along the way in Arkansas and Louisiana.

Two reports from last week prove what I continue to say (especially to the Republicans I know): we are not safer under Bush!

First, the TSA was bilked by a private contractor for hundreds of millions of dollars. That should also prove that business isn't always better than the government (another tenant of Republican dogma).

Second, a man trying to outrun police crashed a truck through two "security fences" at the Phoenix, Arizona, airport. He managed to drive onto the taxiway and bring air traffic to a temporary halt.

Happy travels!

The outing of former covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, pictured with husband Joe Wilson for Time magazine, may bring down the man known as Bush's brain.

In another major decision last week, the Supreme court refused to hear the case regarding the outing of former covert CIA agent Valerie Plame.

For those not paying attention, Plame's identity as a covert agent was leaked in a piece by conservative columnist Robert Novak. Prosecutors are threatening two reporters with jail time if they do not reveal the source of the leak. Time magazine agreed to release its reporter's notes last week.

An MSNBC analyst is claiming that senior White House adviser Karl Rove is the leak. Rove's lawyer denies the allegations.

Meanwhile, President Bush is seeking personal legal counsel on the matter.

All of this is feeding speculation that Plame was outed intentionally. By ruining her career (allegedly), the Bush administration was getting revenge on Plame's husband, intelligence analyst Joe Wilson, who debunked some of Bush's so-called evidence for the Iraq war.

At the very least, Rove could be guilty of perjury if he did leak to the Time reporter and lie to the grand jury about it (hmmm...this is beginning to sound like Watergate...or even Monicagate). He could also be guilty of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982.

Meanwhile, the world waits to hear anything on the subject from Novak.

Stay tuned.

Supreme Court Justice David Souter: waiting to see if the eminent domain decision will come back to bite him...hard.

In an effort at revenge, Logan Darrow Clements of Weare, New Hampshire, is starting the paperwork process to build a hotel on the land owned by Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter. The site, 34 Cilley Hill Road in Weare is the present location of Souter's home.

Clements is CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, the group publicizing the effort.

Most noteworthy from Freestar Media's press release: "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged.

As you may recall, Rand's book is so bad it made Officer Barbrady regret learning how to read.

I don't think Clements will find much success. Congress is already working to pass legislation stripping federal money from any local government projects that take advantage of the Kelo vs. City of New London decision.

Paul Harvey: paying tribute to slavery, nukes, and genocide.

I present another story from radio today. Having spent a few years in it, I'm rather fond of it. Unfortunately, one of the medium's best has suddenly killed all the respect and admiration I once held for him.

ABC radio (subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company) personality Paul Harvey, one of the most widely listened to commentators in the United States, presented his listeners on June 23 with an endorsement of genocide and racism that would have been right at home on a white supremacist shortwave broadcast. While, thankfully, I did not hear his comments that day, I have FAIR to thank for the transcript.

Harvey's commentary began by lamenting the decline of American wartime aggression.

"We're standing there dying, daring to do nothing decisive because we've declared ourselves to be better than our terrorist enemies...more moral, more civilized," he said.

Drawing a contrast with what he cast as the praiseworthy nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, Harvey lamented that "we sent men with rifles into Afghanistan and Iraq and kept our best weapons in their silos" (suggesting that America should have used its nuclear arsenal in its invasions of both countries).

Harvey concluded:

"We didn't come this far because we're made of sugar candy. Once upon a time, we elbowed our way onto and across this continent by giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native Americans. That was biological warfare. And we used every other weapon we could get our hands on to grab this land from whomever.

"And we grew prosperous. And yes, we greased the skids with the sweat of slaves. So it goes with most great nation-states, which, feeling guilty about their savage pasts, eventually civilize themselves out of business and wind up invaded and ultimately dominated by the lean, hungry up-and-coming who are not made of sugar candy."

Harvey's evident approval of slavery, genocide and nuclear and biological warfare would seem to put him at odds with Disney's family-friendly image. The media conglomerate syndicates Harvey to more than 1,000 radio stations, where he reaches an estimated 18 million listeners.

Disney recently signed a lifetime contract (said to be worth $100 million) with the 86-year-old Harvey. He is one of only two people to hold that distinction. The other is KTRK-TV's Marvin Zindler (whose muckraking is the story behind The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas).

I'm troubled by more than Harvey's comments. I'm troubled by Disney's double standard.
In 2004, Disney forbid its Miramax subsidiary to distribute Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11, even though Miramax was the principal investor in the film. A Disney executive told the New York Times (on May 5, 2004) that it was declining to distribute the film because, "Disney caters to families of all political stripes and believes Mr. Moore's film...could alienate many."

One wonders whether Disney executives are worried about alienating families who oppose slavery, nuclear war and genocide.

Andrew Sullivan says having HIV is good.

While listening to the radio this afternoon, something very disturbing came to my attention. A well-known conservative (who just happens to be gay) is encouraging gay men to become HIV positive.

Andrew Sullivan, former editor of The New Republic, has a regular column in The Advocate, a news magazine for the GLBT community. In his latest Advocate column, Sullivan lists why HIV is such a good thing for him and why others should have it, too. Some of his more outlandish points follow:

• "It’s been almost 12 years since I became infected with HIV, and I haven’t died yet. I haven’t even had the decency to get sick. I am a walking, talking advertisement for why HIV seems not such a big deal to the younger generation—and indeed, many in my own age bracket.""HIV transformed my life, made me a better and braver writer, prompted me to write the first big book pushing marriage rights, got me to take better care of my health, improved my sex life, and deepened my spirituality."
• "I’ve even enjoyed sex more since I became positive—more depth, more intimacy, more appreciation of life itself...I look physically and mentally healthier than ever."
• "I have helped persuade them by my very existence that HIV isn’t such a curse, that it can be survived, that it can be treated effectively, that you can live well and long with HIV if you look after yourself and stay alert and informed."
• "My CD4 count remained virtually unchanged, and only recently have I had to go back on meds. Five pills once a day. No side effects to speak of."
• "But the bottom line is that HIV is fast becoming another diabetes.You can see the symptoms. Far fewer gay men are dying of AIDS anymore. Sometimes local gay papers have no AIDS obits for weeks on end."

What Sullivan doesn't tell you is that he got the disease by engaging in unprotected sex. He also doesn't tell you that his salary and health insurance pay for medication that most HIV+ patients can't afford. He doesn't tell you that the five-pill-a-day cocktail doesn't work in all patients, especially women. In that column he goes on to blast people and programs that attempt to teach the practice of safe sex...the very people attempting to keep others healthy while Sullivan extoles the virtues of self-infection.

See the column for yourself. Go to The Advocate online and click on "current article" (issue #942).

Why am I upset? That's simple. I have diabetes. Much like HIV (or any chronic illness), it's extremely expensive to properly treat. While my sickness is probably not my fault, there are things I could have done in my adolescent years to stave it off. It has made me take better care of myself, but that's certainly no reason to encourage it on others (as Sullivan does). No matter how well I care for myself, I'm still likely to die some 20 years sooner than I otherwise would. Am I healthier than I was ten years ago? Yes. Should you do all the unhealthy things that may cause diabetes so you can get healthier, too? Absolutely not.

Attitudes like Sullivan's are disgusting at best. They're murderous at worst.