Keywords by David Yonke

I only have a few minutes so here is a quick update on cigarettes, radio, American Idol, religion reporting, and Twitter:

First of all, my radio appearance has been delayed 24 hours. I'll be on YES-FM at 8:20 a.m. Friday instead of tomorrow. Again, it's streamed live online at www.yeshome.com.
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Federal cigarette taxes are jumping from 39 cents to $1.10 per pack today. Aren't you glad you don't smoke? Sorry if you do. This is a disproportionate tax that has its greatest impact on the poor. Rich people will just shrug and pay up. Poor people will have to sacrifice for their ciggies. And most of them will continue to smoke. It's a cruel and nasty habit and extremely hard to quit. I come from a family of smokers so I know firsthand.
Also, I remember when I was at Duke I worked part-time at Sam's Quik Shop, where cigarettes were 28 and 33 cents a pack. I used to buy cartons and take them home for my family and relatives. Obviously I'm getting old to remember when cigarettes were so cheap but also N.C., home of tobacco road, had cigarette prices that were lower than anywhere else -- seeking to promote the local industry.
I remember waking up in my dorm and smelling the smell of tobacco curing in nearby warehouses (kind of a nice, earthy smell when it's not being smoked).
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Janet and I watched American Idol last night, we've become faithful fans. I enjoy the early rounds with all the zany characters but now that it's down to the final 9, the competition is intense and the talent level is impressive.
To me, Adam Lambert is by far the top singer in the competition. He has incredible vocal range, tons of personality, and artistic diversity and individuality.
I like Danny Gokey a great deal also, he's more down to earth than Adam and has a terrific, soulful voice. I wasn't feeling it last night when he sang, however, possibly because I am biased against the band whose song he covered -- Rascal Flatts, whom I view as just another one of those plastic neo-country/pop acts that the Nashville record execs crank out to feed their money mill.
The judges felt differently than me, however, as they did with Scott McIntyre. I hated his rendition of Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are," but the judges loved it. His voice sounded thin and tinny and the arrangement was mundane. I believe his vision handicap has garnered him an inordinate number of sympathy votes and he is far below the rest of the competitors when it comes to sheer talent.
I think Megan Joy Corkrey is going to be gone after tonight. She's a beautiful lady with a great smile and bubbly personality but her song (a Bob Marley tune) was awful last night and she was having trouble hitting the notes. I'll miss her and that little Corkrey twist she does when she sings.
Anoop Desai also may be leaving soon. He's got a modicum of talent but has not picked his songs well lately and on top of that he's a University of Carolina student and I'm a Duke grad so I have no compassion for anyone with tar on their heels.
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The Religion Newswriters Association is anguishing over proposed changes in the bylaws that would allow writers for religious publications to become members. Until now, it was for journalists working for mainstream (secular) media, but with the state of the news industry the RNA feels it must open up its membership rules to attract more people. It's probably a good thing, a sad reality.
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Someone sent me a note asking me to Twitter. It may have been a generic, mass email but supposedly this person wants to follow my Tweets. I don't want to get into that at the moment. It seems distracting. I am not doing something interesting at every moment, and it seems weird to be posting short updates on Twitter. I'm already wondering about the Facebook notifications. People put the most ordinary things on there, telling the world that they're brushing their teeth or combing their hair or watching TV. It feels dangerously close to Jim Carey and The Truman Show.
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That's all for now! Have a great April Fool's Day! (I'm not planning any tricks but two memorable ones stand out for me: one time Cara and I called Janet and said we forgot to put Cara's pet rat back in the cage and would she mind doing that. She freaked out before we could tell her April Fool's. The rat is long gone, by the way. Second, when I was in high school we picked up our math teacher's VW and carried it to the opposite end of the parking lot.)

Bob Dylan does not do many interviews. He prefers to let his art speak for itself. But with his new album due out April 27, he seems to be doing a little more promotional work than usual. This is quite an interesting, albeit brief, interview with the London Times. His views on Barack Obama are particularly interesting. -- David

Bill Flanagan: In that song Chicago After Dark were you thinking about the new President?

Bob Dylan: Not really. It’s more about State Street and the wind off Lake Michigan and how sometimes we know people and we are no longer what we used to be to them. I was trying to go with some old time feeling that I had.

BF: You liked Barack Obama early on. Why was that?

BD: I’d read his book and it intrigued me.

BF: Audacity of Hope?

BD: No it was called Dreams of My Father.

BF: What struck you about him?

BD: Well, a number of things. He’s got an interesting background. He’s like a fictional character, but he’s real. First off, his mother was a Kansas girl. Never lived in Kansas though, but with deep roots. You know, like Kansas bloody Kansas. John Brown the insurrectionist. Jesse James and Quantrill. Bushwhackers, Guerillas. Wizard of Oz Kansas. I think Barack has Jefferson Davis back there in his ancestry someplace. And then his father. An African intellectual. Bantu, Masai, Griot type heritage - cattle raiders, lion killers. I mean it’s just so incongruous that these two people would meet and fall in love. You kind of get past that though. And then you’re into his story. Like an odyssey except in reverse.

BF: In what way?

BD: First of all, Barack is born in Hawaii. Most of us think of Hawaii as paradise – so I guess you could say that he was born in paradise.

BF: And he was thrown out of the garden.

BD: Not exactly. His mom married some other guy named Lolo and then took Barack to Indonesia to live. Barack went to both a Muslim school and a Catholic school. His mom used to get up at 4:00 in the morning and teach him book lessons three hours before he even went to school. And then she would go to work. That tells you the type of woman she was. That’s just in the beginning of the story.

BF: What else did you find compelling about him?

BD: Well, mainly his take on things. His writing style hits you on more than one level. It makes you feel and think at the same time and that is hard to do. He says profoundly outrageous things. He’s looking at a shrunken head inside of a glass case in some museum with a bunch of other people and he’s wondering if any of these people realize that they could be looking at one of their ancestors.

BF: What in his book would make you think he’d be a good politician?

BD: Well nothing really. In some sense you would think being in the business of politics would be the last thing that this man would want to do. I think he had a job as an investment banker on Wall Street for a second - selling German bonds. But he probably could’ve done anything. If you read his book, you’ll know that the political world came to him. It was there to be had.

BF: Do you think he’ll make a good president?

BD: I have no idea. He’ll be the best president he can be. Most of those guys come into office with the best of intentions and leave as beaten men. Johnson would be a good example of that ? Nixon, Clinton in a way, Truman, all the rest of them going back. You know, it’s like they all fly too close to the sun and get burned.

BF: Did you ever read any other presidential autobiographies?

BD: Yeah, I read Grant’s.

BF: What was he like? Any similarities?

BD: The times were different obviously. And Grant wrote his book after he’d left office.

BF: What did you find interesting about him?

BD: It’s not like he’s a great writer. He’s analytical and cold, but he does have a sense of humor. Grant, besides being a military strategist, was a working man. Worked horses. Tended the horses, plowed and furrowed. Brought in all the crops – the corn and potatoes. Sawed wood and drove wagons since the time he was about eleven. Got a crystal clear memory of all the battles he’d been in.

BF: Do you remember any particular battle that Grant fought?

BD: There were a lot of battles but the Shilo one is most interesting. He could’ve lost that. But he was determined to win it at any price, using all kinds of strategies, even faking retreat. You could read it for yourself.

BF: When you think back to the Civil War, one thing you forget is that no battles, except Gettysburg, were fought in the North.

BD: Yeah. That’s what probably makes the Southern part of the country so different.

BF: There is a certain sensibility, but I’m not sure how that connects?

BD: It must be the Southern air. It’s filled with rambling ghosts and disturbed spirits. They’re all screaming and forlorning. It’s like they are caught in some weird web - some purgatory between heaven and hell and they can’t rest. They can’t live, and they can’t die. It’s like they were cut off in their prime, wanting to tell somebody something. It’s all over the place. There are war fields everywhere ? a lot of times even in people’s backyards.

BF: Have you felt them?

BD: Oh sure. You’d be surprised. I was in Elvis’s hometown – Tupelo. And I was trying to feel what Elvis would have felt back when he was growing up.

BF: Did you feel all the music Elvis must have heard?

BD:No, but I’ll tell you what I did feel. I felt the ghosts from the bloody battle that Sherman fought against Forrest and drove him out. There’s an eeriness to the town. A sadness that lingers. Elvis must have felt it too.

BF: Are you a mystical person?

BD: Absolutely.

BF: Any thoughts about why?

BD: I think it’s the land. The streams, the forests, the vast emptiness. The land created me. I’m wild and lonesome. Even as I travel the cities, I‘m more at home in the vacant lots. But I have a love for humankind, a love of truth, and a love of justice. I think I have a dualistic nature. I’m more of an adventurous type than a relationship type.

BF: But the album is all about love – love found, love lost, love remembered, love denied.

BD: Inspiration is hard to come by. You have to take it where you find it.
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Bob Dylan's new album Together Through Life is out April 27 on Columbia Records

To read more, go to bobdylan.com

Note: Hello readers, thanks for your interest and your loyalty. This blog marks another milestone as it is entry No. 500. Last week, the blog had more than 5,000 hits. Not bad for an independent, unaffiliated blog. I deeply appreciate your visits to this site and am glad that you find the writing and observations worthwhile. Best wishes to all of you, I look forward to sharing many more blogs with you in the future. -- David
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Toledo is dealing with a massive budget deficit, now estimated at $27.7 million. The 2009 budget originally was supposed to be balanced when Mayor Carty Finkbeiner submitted it, but when projected tax revenue started to drop the deficit started to grow.
Now the mayor says there isn't enough money to fix potholes on sidestreets.
NPR had an interesting story recently that may solve this problem: In Louisville, KFC (fast-food chicken) paid $3,000 to fill 300 city potholes and in exchange gets to paint its Colonel Sanders logo on each of the potholes it paid to fix.
The mayor of Louisville was laughing about it but said hey, at least the potholes have been filled in. He said the mayor of Baltimore once let people buy their own pothole and paint their own message on it for $10.
So in this time of budget crisis, I propose the mayor of Toledo sell potholes for $10 each and let people write a message, as long as it's not inappropriate.
I could buy one and put my website URL on it, for example. Or express my love for my wife. Or say a few kind words about my dog. Perhaps my church would purchase a couple hundred for marketing or "outreach" purposes.
The only catch is that the KFC logos in Louisville are only expected to last a week before they wear out or wash off. That's bad for the buyers but good for the city -- they could re-sell the space up to 52 times a year.
It's time for some creative solutions to the economic disasters. This one would fill a real need, so to speak.
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April 6, 2009
Toledo, Ohio

I'm going to a talk today by Dr. Hilton Sutton, an expert on the End Times, aka the end of the world scenario. I've been doing a little research ahead of time. There are a lot of people who believe the current turmoil in the world contains numerous signs that the end of the world is nigh.
I'm not sure what to think but I do know there is more chaos and uncertainty at the moment than any other time in my life thus far. There have been more multiple-shootings in the last month than we've had in most years. Economic disasters everywhere. An earthquake in Italy. Famine and war in Africa. Drought in Australia. Europe moving toward a united government... and Tony Blair saying he wants to be president of Europe.
Whether these are the "birth pangs" leading to Armageddon that Jesus warned about, well no human being really knows. And plenty of people have looked extremely foolish in the past by predicting the end of the world.
I remember one group of people who sold all their earthly belongings and went to a mountaintop and waited for the world come to an end. And waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually they gave up, and got back to reality a little humbled and trying to figure out how they miscalculated. It made for good news stories, however.
But the... one of these days ... God won't be bluffing!
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I did a story on eco-friendly palms for Palm Sunday (here's a link), trying to make sure that the palms are harvested in environmentally friendly ways and that the workers in Mexico and Guatemala are paid a fair wage.
I got a very nice letter from a woman in Florida saying the Latin American growers have put many Florida palm farmers out of business, so instead of worrying about paying the Mexicans and Guatemalans a fair amount maybe we should be buying palms from American growers instead.
That's a good point and one that I wish I had addressed in the story. Sometimes you don't realize a story angle until after the article is published and someone brings it to your attention.
I'm thinking maybe that will be a good way to write about Palm Sunday 2010... If the world is still here.
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So the North Carolina Tar Heels are the NCAA basketball champs... Who cares anyway! It's only a stupid game... Not! I love the tournament, one of the greatest in sports, and still don't can't root for the Tar Heels because of the Duke blood that runs through my veins. I admit they have a terrific team and the title was well deserved. They trounced Michigan State, it almost embarrassing. Now I'm into "wait until next year" mode ... Go Blue Devils!
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Yesterday was a bad day for my teams all around, actually. The Indians and the Tigers both got stomped on opening day. But at least the baseball season is under way... Love to go to ballgames.
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Toledo, Ohio
April 7, 2009

I have really enjoyed teaching a reporting class at Bowling Green State University. There's less than a month left and I'll miss the students when it's over. I know there are many fine professors at BG but none of them have 30-plus years of experience in a newsroom like I do, and that gives the students a different insight into journalism than they get from the strictly academic world.
Except for a few problem students, and there always are some, it's been a positive experience all around.
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I was glad to see Scott McIntyre voted off American Idol last night. He seems like a very nice guy but he was way behind the field when it came to vocal talent. I give him props for getting that far and for not letting his sight problems hold him back. A good guy, but it was time for him to go.
Next to leave: I predict it will be Anoop, Lil Rounds, and Matt Giraud in that order. The final 3 will be Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey and 16-year-old powerhouse Allison.
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Did you see 60 Minutes on Sunday? There was a very disturbing report about University Hospital in Vegas shutting down its outpatient oncology center due to budget shortages.
People who depended on the hospital for treatment were basically handed a death sentence when the hospital mailed out letters saying it could no longer afford to provide care.
The reporter spoke with several people who have nowhere else to turn. It was a very troubling story and shows how the economic turmoil can cost lives.
What's Obama gonna do about it? I think we're heading toward socialized medicine, although it's a long way down the road. But it seems to be the way of the future, for good and bad -- lots of bad, some good.
I hate to see people turned away from medical treatment simply because they don't have the money or insurance. It's certainly not fair and it's almost inhumane. And you can't blame the already financially strapped hospital when it would cost $21 million a year to provide such treatment.
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One of the weirdest stories ever heard on TV was included in Sunday's 60 Minutes show: Dolly Parton talking about when she was 3 years old her parents found in the pig sty alongside a litter of piglets and she was sucking on the mother pig's nipples. She swore to God it was a true story. That definitely falls into the category of Too Much Information.
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Well I'm off to Findlay today to write about Roger Powell's biblical sculptures, made with 200 tons of sand. He does it every Holy Week... and it inspired a book trilogy, the Sandman Series, by Catherine Ritch Guess.
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Toledo, Ohio
April 9, 2009

This is quite amusing because back in the old days ... ah yes, I know, I'm sounding like my father ... concert halls were almost always filled with smoke from both cigarettes and joints... Artists either didn't notice, didn't care, or toughed it out. I never remember any singer or musician disappearing because there was too much cigarette smoke.
On the other hand, I'm glad most U.S. venues are smoke free. It's much healthier and much more comfortable. I think Britney's staff should have checked out the venue's smoking policy before the show was booked. I'm sure they will do so from now on... -- David

Britney Concert Goes Up in Smoke

The latest stop on Britney Spears' Circus tour featured a little too much smoke and not enough mirrors.
The pop star has issued an apology to ticket holders of last night's Vancouver show after smoky conditions on stage led to a 30-minute delay of the concert—a delay that came just three songs in after Spears walked off stage without explanation, leaving the crowd to sit (and boo) in the dark arena..

"The building is awfully smoky," an announcer finally explained to the sold-out crowd, per the Vancouver Sun. "It's become uncomfortable and unsafe for the performers, including Ms. Spears..

"Please extinguish all cigarettes…The show will resume as soon as the air around the stage is clear.".

A spokesman for Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment, which owns GM Place, the Vancouver venue where the concert was held, said that despite initial reports claiming the smoky air was a byproduct of toking-up concertgoers, the smoke was believed to be from cigarettes, not marijuana..

(The rep did not comment on why anything was being lit up in the first place, given as smoking indoors is illegal there.).

"We want to apologize to all the fans who attended our Vancouver show tonight for the brief pause in Britney's set," reads a statement on Spears' blog. "Crew members above the stage became ill due to a ventilation issue.".

I was in Findlay today working on an article about the 260-ton sand sculptures of biblical scenes, created every Holy Week for the last 10 years by Roger Powell, and one of the people who was watching was Karl Anderson of Xenia, Ohio.
I asked him about the infamous tornado that struck the city, just north of Dayton, and he had an incredible story.

Karl, 57, remembered it like it was yesterday. Aprl 3, 1974, he said. It struck about 4:30 in the afternoon. He was 22 years old and working at a machine shop. He said the workers stood outside and watched the twister approach.
"We were looking at it and saw something spinning around. We thought it was the front end of a VW bug," he told me. "Then we saw that it was the whole car, spinning around and around."
When the twister got close, and Karl pointed to some buildings about 1,000 yards away to illustrate how close it was, they went into a small basement room below the shop.
"There were 42 of us who squeezed into the 10-by-10 basement," he said.
The twister leveled the entire building and scattered the heavy machinery all over the place, including on top of the basement exit. It took the workers half an hour to get out of the cellar. When they did, he said you could look straight down a line that seemed miles long in which nothing was left standing.
The Xenia tornado killed 32 people on a day when 148 twisters struck in 13 U.S. cities.
Here's a link to a web site that has extensive information on that deadly tornado.
Karl said that for years afterward, many Xenia residents were struck with fear every time a storm darkened the sky. I can understand why.
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Sylvania, Ohio
April 9, 2009

Today is Holy Saturday, the day the Christian world pauses to reflect on the death of Jesus Christ and to await his Resurrection.
It is also the day that Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was brutally murdered 29 years ago -- on Holy Saturday, although that year the holy day was April 5.
It took 26 years before her killer was convicted of murder. Today, Father Gerald Robinson is serving time at Hocking Correctional Facility for Sister Margaret Ann's murder.
I realize that there are some people who feel an injustice was done when Father Robinson, a Toledo diocesan priest, was found guilty of murder. Some continued to maintain the priest's innocence even when the Ohio 6th District Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's ruling. And again when the Ohio Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal.
In all of the legal maneuvers and court rulings and motions, I am afraid that the victim sometimes is forgotten, or at least overlooked.
Sister Margart Ann was a devout and wholly Catholicl nun who had dedicated her life to serving Jesus Christ. She was murdered on the eve of her 72nd birthday. She died in a horrible way and her body was left in the sacristy partially naked, exposed to those who made the grisly discovery.
The nun did not deserve to die such an ignominious death. And on this day, of all the days of the year, we also think about how our Lord Jesus Christ did not deserve to die by crucifixion.
I pray that Sister Margaret Ann rests in peace now, comforted in heaven by the God she devoted her life to here on earth.
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April 11, 2009
Sylvania, Ohio

Today, April 14, is Father Gerald Robinson's 71st birthday. He's spending it in prison at Hocking Correctional Facility. I wonder if he gets a cake today.
Sadly, Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was 71 years old when she was strangled and stabbed to death, the horrific crime for which Robinson was convicted.
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Toledo, Ohio
April 14, 2009

I went to the 8th annual MultiFaith Banquet last night at Congregation B'nai Israel in Sylvania. I was told that there were 20 different faiths represented among the 250 attendees. I don't even know which specific faiths were present but among those who sat at my table were 3 Baha'is, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, a Catholic priest, and a Hindu pandit (or priest).
I bumped into all kinds of people I've written about over the years including Sikhs, Unitarians, Sufis, Shiite and Sunni Muslims, Reform and Conservative Jews, Buddhists, and several mainline Protestants.
The only group noticeable underrepresented, if represented at all, were evangelical Christians.
I think face-to-face connections, especially sharing a meal, is a great way to dispel stereotypes and build bridges with people who come from different faith traditions, beliefs, and backgrounds.
It's easy to demonize a group of people when you don't know anyone who belongs to that group.
Once you meet them in person and get to know them, it can drastically change your mind about a group. You realize that those who often get the publicity (or notoriety) are not the norm, but the extremists and radicals. The good people of faith seldom make headlines... It reminds of that bumper sticker I've seen around town a lot lately:

"Well-behaved women rarely make history"

Saturday was Record Store Day. Didn't you throw a party?

Independent record stores are an endangered species today and I am glad they are banding together to raise awareness of their place in society. I am so tired of the box stores and their rows and rows of compact discs and no employees in sight and those who can be found know little or nothing about music, at least about music that I'm interested in.
And online shopping for music at iTunes and Amazon is like taking a shower with a raincoat on, to borrow a phrase often used for an activity quite different.
Sure, you can save a few bucks buying a CD at Best Buy or Wal-Mart but you can't get that personal touch you get when you walk inside a store like Culture Clash in Toledo. The owner knows his music and he knows your musical tastes. He can find stuff for you and make recommendations. They host in-store concerts by touring and local artists. I bought the new U2 disc at Culture Clash and it was $11.99. Best Buy had it for $9.99. It was worth extra $2 to promote a local business and keep the grooviness of a record store alive (pun intended).
I used to love going to Boogie Records and B-Bop Records in Toledo and Schoolkids in Ann Arbor but the Toledo record stores are history now. I was in Greenwich Village, NYC, not too long ago and even in the Big Apple most of the record stores are gone now.
I like the sound of CDs but the old 12" vinyl records were so much bigger and the art was so much more enjoyable. The fold-out LPs were always memorable. Those days are gone but let's do what we can to keep record stores in business. Think about it and do something before it's too late.

Kudos to Bruce Springsteen for celebrating Record Store Day with a special vinyl release.
Here's the press release about it:

CELEBRATE RECORD STORE DAY WITH
A BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN SINGLE

Record stores across the U.S. are celebrating Record Store Day on April 18, with exclusive, collectible items from a broad range of artists, including Bruce Springsteen.

Columbia Records has produced a 7" vinyl single, with collectible photo insert, available only on Record Store Day:

Side A: "What Love Can Do" from Working On A Dream
Side B: "A Night With The Jersey Devil"

Check out Record Store Day to find your nearest participating store, and don't forget to visit on Saturday, April 18!

Visit brucespringsteen.net for the latest Bruce Springsteen news, tour information and Backstreets.com's eyewitness reports from the road!

According to a number of news services, there was "a dramatic diplomatic walkout today" in Geneva when President Ahmadinejad of Iran told a major UN conference against racism that the state of Israel had been founded "on the pretext of Jewish suffering" during the Second World War. He also accused Israel of establishing "a cruel and repressive racist regime" in Palestinian territory.
Around 20 delegates, including envoys from the UK, France, Canada and Finland, stood up and left the room at what was considered an anti-Semitic remark by the Iranian leader, who has repeatedly called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
The U.S. delegation didn't need to walk out since it boycotted the event.
* * *
Incidentally, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Holocaust survivor, and author Elie Wiesel was among the protesters outside the U.N.'s Geneva HQ where Ahmadinejad was speaking. Professor Wiesel is a hero and an inspiration to me.
* * *
Maybe Ahmadinejad should be reminded of the fact that his country has just sentenced an American journalist to 8 years in prison for spying -- after holding a one-day, closed-door trial in Revolutionary Court. Talk about repressive regimes!
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Here's another controversial news item with religious overtones, this one sent out by the Church Report website:
Miss California Carrie Prejean, while competing in the Miss USA beauty pageant last night, was asked if she believed in gay marriage by the pageant host, Perez Hilton (whom the aforementioned site described as "an openly gay gossip blogger").
Miss Prejean responded: "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."
* * *
For all you Kiss fans out there, get ready to party on Monday. It's Ace Frehley's 58th birthday. Wonder if Ace's face paint covers up the wrinkles?
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Toledo, Ohio
April 20, 2009

I got this via email -- it's not my own creation but was too funny not to share!

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car
and three kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and take either music or dance
classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must take care of his three kids, keep his assigned
house clean, correct all homework, complete science
projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of "pretend"
bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget money for
groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends
and relatives and send cards out on time--no emailing.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's
appointment, a dentist appointment, and a haircut
appointment.

He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per
child to the Urgent Care.

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned
house, planting flowers outside, and keeping it presentable
at all times.

The men will have access to television only when the kids
are asleep and all chores are done.

The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, adorn
themselves with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish
shoes, and keep fingernails polished and eyebrows groomed.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure
severe abdominal cramps and back aches and have extreme,
unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down
from other duties.

They must attend weekly school meetings and church and find
time at least once each week to spend the afternoon at the
park or a similar setting.

They will need to read a book to the kids each night and in
the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teeth, and
comb their hair by 7:00 a.m.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each
father will be required to know all of the following
information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe
size, clothing size, and doctor's name. He also must know
the child's weight and length at birth, time of birth, and
length of labor; and each child's favorite color, middle
name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink,
favorite toy, and biggest fear. He also will know what they
all want to be when they grow up.

The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The
last man wins only if he still has enough energy to spend
quality time with his spouse at a moment's notice.

If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over
and over again for the next 18-25 years, eventually earning
the right to be called Mother!

April 19, 2009

Op-Ed Guest Columnist

It’s 2009. Do You Know Where Your Soul Is?

By BONO

I AM in Midtown Manhattan, where drivers still play their car horns as if they were musical instruments and shouting in restaurants is sport.

I am a long way from the warm breeze of voices I heard a week ago on Easter Sunday.

“Glorify your name,” the island women sang, as they swayed in a cut sandstone church. I was overwhelmed by a riot of color, an emotional swell that carried me to sea.

Christianity, it turns out, has a rhythm — and it crescendos this time of year. The rumba of Carnival gives way to the slow march of Lent, then to the staccato hymnals of the Easter parade. From revelry to reverie. After 40 days in the desert, sort of ...

Carnival — rock stars are good at that.

“Carne” is flesh; “Carne-val,” its goodbye party. I’ve been to many. Brazilians say they’ve done it longest; they certainly do it best. You can’t help but contract the fever. You’ve got no choice but to join the ravers as they swell up the streets bursting like the banks of a river in a flood of fun set to rhythm. This is a Joy that cannot be conjured. This is life force. This is the heart full and spilling over with gratitude. The choice is yours ...

It’s Lent I’ve always had issues with. I gave it up ... self-denial is where I come a cropper. My idea of discipline is simple — hard work — but of course that’s another indulgence.

Then comes the dying and the living that is Easter.

It’s a transcendent moment for me — a rebirth I always seem to need. Never more so than a few years ago, when my father died. I recall the embarrassment and relief of hot tears as I knelt in a chapel in a village in France and repented my prodigal nature — repented for fighting my father for so many years and wasting so many opportunities to know him better. I remember the feeling of “a peace that passes understanding” as a load lifted. Of all the Christian festivals, it is the Easter parade that demands the most faith — pushing you past reverence for creation, through bewilderment at the idea of a virgin birth, and into the far-fetched and far-reaching idea that death is not the end. The cross as crossroads. Whatever your religious or nonreligious views, the chance to begin again is a compelling idea.

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Last Sunday, the choirmaster was jumping out of his skin ... stormy then still, playful then tender, on the most upright of pianos and melodies. He sang his invocations in a beautiful oaken tenor with a freckle-faced boy at his side playing conga and tambourine as if it was a full drum kit. The parish sang to the rafters songs of praise to a God that apparently surrendered His voice to ours.

I come to lowly church halls and lofty cathedrals for what purpose? I search the Scriptures to what end? To check my head? My heart? No, my soul. For me these meditations are like a plumb line dropped by a master builder — to see if the walls are straight or crooked. I check my emotional life with music, my intellectual life with writing, but religion is where I soul-search.

The preacher said, “What good does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” Hearing this, every one of the pilgrims gathered in the room asked, “Is it me, Lord?” In America, in Europe, people are asking, “Is it us?”

Well, yes. It is us.

Carnival is over. Commerce has been overheating markets and climates ... the sooty skies of the industrial revolution have changed scale and location, but now melt ice caps and make the seas boil in the time of technological revolution. Capitalism is on trial; globalization is, once again, in the dock. We used to say that all we wanted for the rest of the world was what we had for ourselves. Then we found out that if every living soul on the planet had a fridge and a house and an S.U.V., we would choke on our own exhaust.

Lent is upon us whether we asked for it or not. And with it, we hope, comes a chance at redemption. But redemption is not just a spiritual term, it’s an economic concept. At the turn of the millennium, the debt cancellation campaign, inspired by the Jewish concept of Jubilee, aimed to give the poorest countries a fresh start. Thirty-four million more children in Africa are now in school in large part because their governments used money freed up by debt relief. This redemption was not an end to economic slavery, but it was a more hopeful beginning for many. And to the many, not the lucky few, is surely where any soul-searching must lead us.

A few weeks ago I was in Washington when news arrived of proposed cuts to the president’s aid budget. People said that it was going to be hard to fulfill promises to those who live in dire circumstances such a long way away when there is so much hardship in the United States. And there is.

But I read recently that Americans are taking up public service in greater numbers because they are short on money to give. And, following a successful bipartisan Senate vote, word is that Congress will restore the money that had been cut from the aid budget — a refusal to abandon those who would pay such a high price for a crisis not of their making. In the roughest of times, people show who they are.

Your soul.

So much of the discussion today is about value, not values. Aid well spent can be an example of both, values and value for money. Providing AIDS medication to just under four million people, putting in place modest measures to improve maternal health, eradicating killer pests like malaria and rotoviruses — all these provide a leg up on the climb to self-sufficiency, all these can help us make friends in a world quick to enmity. It’s not alms, it’s investment. It’s not charity, it’s justice.

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Strangely, as we file out of the small stone church into the cruel sun, I think of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, whose now combined fortune is dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty. Agnostics both, I believe. I think of Nelson Mandela, who has spent his life upholding the rights of others. A spiritual man — no doubt. Religious? I’m told he would not describe himself that way.

Not all soul music comes from the church.

Bono, the lead singer of the band U2 and a co-founder of the advocacy group ONE, is a contributing columnist for The Times.

I've only cried a few times while covering stories. One was yesterday after a local Yom HaShoah ceremony, or Day of Remembering, to recall the Holocaust.
(The other times were after interviewing the family members of a teenage girl who died in a car accident on a snowy road, and after interviewing a young Marine who had just come back from Iraq and matter-of-factly told me about the times he almost got killed. It just really hit me hard, while driving back to the office, just how much so many good young men are putting on the line every day for our nation's -- yours and mine -- security and safety.)
Yesterday I interviewed several Holocaust survivors and then introduced two of them to 15-year-old girls from Notre Dame Academy, a local Catholic school, who have been studying the Holocaust. I looked over and one of the girls was crying quietly. I got choked up at the sight and then while driving home to write the article felt the tears flowing down my cheeks.
The Holocaust is beyond belief, but it really happened. No matter how many times I write about it or read about it or watch movies about it (the latest being the powerful "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"), I find it almost incomprehensible that one group of human beings could be so cold-blooded and methodical that they would try to wipe out an entire race of people.
The survivors' stories, the girl's tears, the quiet and solemn candlelighting ceremony, all hit me hard as I left the synagogue. Even veteran reporters have their weak points.
Here's a link to the story I wrote, published today.

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On another note, here's a different spin on global warming, reported by Levine Breaking News:

FAT PEOPLE CAUSE GLOBAL WARMING: The rising number of fat people was yesterday blamed for global warming. Scientists warned that the increase in big-eaters means more food production a major cause of CO2 gas emissions warming the planet. Overweight people are also more likely to drive, adding to environmental damage.
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April 22, 2009
Toledo, Ohio

Have you seen the famous performance everyone is talking about from the show Britain's Got Talent (the original version of American Idol)?

If not, you have to see Susan Boyle's performance. Here is a link to it on YouTube.
It's worth your while, I guarantee it.
One lesson to be gained: Don't judge a book by its cover or an artist by his or her appearance.

P.S. Happy Earth Day, everyone. Hope our planet and the human race can coexist peacefully for many more millenia to come.

This is quite a story... be sure to read the last few paragraphs. -- David

Paraguay leader hit by third paternity claim

One woman files paternity suit, asks for DNA test;
Analysts say scandal damage to president will be light

By Daniela Desantis
ASUNCION (Reuters) — A third woman in two weeks has claimed that Paraguay’s bishop-turned-president Fernando Lugo fathered her child, intensifying a political scandal that has made him the butt of lewd jokes and even a pop song.
Damiana Moran, a teacher aged 39, told local media that Lugo was the father of her 1-year-old son and she was negotiating child support with the president’s lawyer.
Two days after going public, a second woman, Benigna Leguizamon, 27, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to get Lugo to take a DNA test to prove he is the father of her 6-year-old boy.
Earlier this month, Viviana Carrillo, 26, stunned Paraguayans when she revealed that Lugo, known as the “bishop of the poor” before he quit the church in late 2006 to run for president, was the father of her son, who is almost 2.
The president recognized Carrillo’s boy as his son and even remarked that they looked alike, but he has not accepted or denied paternity in the two newer cases.
Many Paraguayans said he was brave to admit paternity in the first case, and women in his cabinet defended the 57-year-old leader even though Carrillo claimed she started having sex with Lugo when she was 16, below the legal age of consent in Paraguay.
Opposition politicians from the conservative Colorado Party, in power for decades before Lugo’s victory, railed that the president was a national embarrassment and not trustworthy but analysts said the political damage would be light.
“Yes, a lot of people are indignant and it will damage Lugo’s image, but it’s not going to become a question of state or interrupt the government,” said analyst Alfredo Boccia.
He predicted that the paternity suits would soon move onto the back pages as Paraguayans turn their attention back to perennial issues such as poverty as the economy stumbles.

NO DENIALS

The president’s office said it was setting up a team to handle the complaints and related media requests.
Lugo was elected a year ago at the head of a center-left coalition and took office in August, pledging land reform to help poor peasants in the landlocked South American nation that exports beef, soy, and electricity.
After his election, Lugo won a rare dispensation from the Vatican allowing him to return to lay status.
Most of Paraguay’s 6 million people are Roman Catholics but, as in other Latin American countries, many people have low expectations of priests after repeated pedophilia scandals.
Political commentators said Lugo’s failure to make good on his promises of cleaning up corruption and finding land for poor farmers would hurt him more than paternity suits.
“In Paraguay, we don’t punish people for moral mistakes. This isn’t the United States. But, if he continues being inefficient in governing that will be a much bigger scandal,” Bernardino Cano Radil, a former congressman with the Colorado Party, told Nanduti radio station.

Many jokes making the rounds in Asuncion focus on Lugo having broken his vows of celibacy as a bishop but apparently respecting church rules against condoms.
“Lugo’s got heart, but he didn’t use a condom,” go the lyrics of a dance tune being played on the radio.
In fact, in a macho country such as Paraguay, some said Lugo could gain status by breaking priestly vows.
Lugo’s brother Pompeyo Lugo told Argentine radio love is more important than celibacy, which goes against human nature, and said the president had lived the greatest love story in Paraguay in a century.
According to the women there were multiple love stories. Carrillo met him when he stayed at the home of her godmother and that he seduced her with his way of talking.
Leguizamon said she met Lugo when she went to the church for help with her first baby, whose father had abandoned her.
Moran told ABC newspaper her son “is the fruit of a relationship that came out of a great love, total surrender.” (Additional reporting by Mariel Cristaldo, Writing by Fiona Ortiz, Editing by Anthony Boadle)

I took this photo with my phone yesterday, it's Father Gerald Robinson's home with a for sale sign in front (can't really see the sign but it's there).
I don't know if selling his home implies that he doesn't expect to be getting out of prison soon. Maybe he would buy a different house if he wins his appeal.
I heard the priest's nephew had been taking care of the house and property while he was in prison, but it's been nearly 3 years since his incarceration and things change.
One possible selling point for this house: it's right next door to the police station.
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Toledo, Ohio
April 23, 2009

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Which reminds me... I was driving north from Bowling Green just last week, moseying along in my Saab doing about 60 mph on State Rt. 25.
It's kind of a straight stretch of a four-lane highway that cuts through flat farmland. As I was minding my own business, not totally concentrating on the driving but not doing anything wrong, what seemed like a rocket ship zoomed by me in the left lane. Startled by the sight and sound, I quickly gathered that it was a fairly new, silver Chevy Corvette that was going at least 160 miles per hour -- and probably closer to 180.
I have been to many races and know what I'm talking about here -- this is not an exaggeration. I was passed by a car going at least 100 mph faster than I was, and I was 5 mph over the speed limit at the time!
I couldn't believe how fast the person was driving on a public highway. Fortunately nobody pulled into his or her lane at that speed...
I've topped 150 mph in a car, but it was in a full race car and I was on a race track. It's quite an exhilarating feeling. Every nerve ending in your body is on high alert. But I would never do that on a highway... unless it was the autobahn. Or the Arizona desert with a radar detector... Or ... well it all depends.
But I will never be a contender for being ticketed for the highest speed over the posted limit. That honor belongs (unofficially, since no official records in this category are kept) to a 20-year-old motorcylist in Minnesota who was clocked by a police state patrol airplane at 205 mph -- in a 65 mph zone.
Here's a link to the amazing USA Today story about the 2-wheeled speed demon and his record-setting ticket.
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Sylvania, Ohio
April 23, 2009

As many of you know, my daughter Cara and her husband Dustin are moving to Gainesville, Georgia, after being married just over a month, Today, Dustin and his dad, Doug, left in a rental truck loaded with their furniture and other items. Cara will join them next week.
It's been so wonderful to have this young couple living in Toledo for a year and a half (and their precious dog, Roxy). Janet and I have gotten to know Dustin well and are grateful for the time we've had to spend with him and Cara as they were dating, engaged and now married.
On the other hand, it's really hard to let them go. We are a very close family and they'll be living 709 miles away -- a bit too far to just drop in for lunch. But we'll make it work as best as we can.
Dustin has a tremendous job and ministry opportunity working at a 12,000-member megachurch where the famous Jentezen Franklin is lead pastor.
It's a transition time for the Yonke's in many ways. Some things in life are beyond your control and this is one of them. We are just trusting God and believing this is his divine plan and we are excited for their new adventure but sad at the same time. I'm sure you understand. But I believe God has great things in store for them and I am also praying that their path leads back to Toledo eventually.
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Sylvania, Ohio
April 27, 2009

A few weeks ago I went to a talk by the Rev. Dr. Hilton Sutton, an 84-year-old evangelist from Texas whose specialty is biblical prophecies about the End Times.
For those of you who aren't familiar with this area of theology, it's been studied and analyzed for millennia and there are many different theories about what signs will herald the end of the world.
Dr. Sutton is an old-school preacher who said he has been studying this for more than 60 years. He certainly knows his scriptures, but some of his interpretations of scriptures are just that -- one man's analysis of a mystery.

Dr. Hilton Sutton

He said he believes the Anti-Christ will come from one of the 10 nations that will lead the European Union and that this evil world ruler will be homosexual.
Dr. Sutton said he believes homosexuality has become so prevalent in society today and so much more acceptable now than a decade or more ago because the path is being cleared for the arrival on the world stage of a homosexual leader who eventually will be revealed as the Anti-Christ.
One of the key verses Dr. Sutton cited for this prediction is Daniel 11:37, which he quoted in the King James Version of the Bible:

"Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all."

"He will have no respect for the gods of his ancestors, or for the god loved by women, or for any other god, for he will boast that he is greater than them all."

"He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all."

Got a call today from a TV producer for a show that will air on MSNBC called "Verdict: You Decide."
They are filming an episode on the Father Gerald Robinson murder trial and will be in Toledo this week to start production.
They have asked to interview me for the show and warned me it will be a rather lengthy session.
I'll let you know how the taping goes and what the tentative broadcast date will be.
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Sylvania, Ohio
April 28, 2009

The New York Times ran a terrific Sunday profile story on Toledo-born jazz pianist Larry Fuller. You can read the story here.
I've written about Larry a number of times and count myself among the local jazz aficionados who have long been proud of this Toledo jazz piano virtuoso. Rusty Monroe always mentioned Larry when she was talking about the great jazz artists who played at her club.
Religion pops up in the Times story in one of Fuller's funniest quotes. He was talking about singer Ernestine Anderson, who hired him in her band for his first "big break."
She happened to be a Buddhist, and used to seek spiritual from Buddha, according to Fuller:

"I used to pick her up to go to the plane, and she'd invariably be late. So she'd get in the car, and we're flying off to the airport, and she's chanting so that we can make the plane. And I'm thinking, 'Why don't you just leave on time?'"

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Here's a story I wrote about Larry in November, 1998:

FULLER BACK FOR JAZZ ENCORE

``IT'S KIND of a ladder that you climb,'' pianist Larry Fuller said, describing a jazz artist's career.
The Toledo native and member of the Jeff Hamilton Trio, which performs with the Toledo Jazz Orchestra Sunday and Monday, has been scaling new heights lately.

``I recently got to tour a month in Europe with Ray Brown, and it was the thrill of my life,'' Fuller said, referring to the bass great who used to perform with Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, and Oscar Peterson (and who was married to Ella Fitzgerald from 1948-52).

Fuller also recorded his first CD as a frontman, on which Hamilton played drums and Brown played bass.

``I've been on tour so much that I haven't even had a chance to mix the album,'' he said. ``We recorded Aug. 18 but the tapes are still sitting in my home.''

Although he doesn't have a record deal yet, he isn't overly concerned. The names Brown and Hamilton virtually guarantee its marketability in the jazz world.

Fuller, 33, grew up in the Old North End section of Toledo, on Erie Street, and knew as early as junior high school that he wanted to be a professional musician.

``I studied with Candy Johnson, the great tenor saxophonist who had played with Count Basie's band, and with Bill Doggett's and Duke Ellington's bands,'' Fuller said. ``He had a music program in the public schools, the Toledo All-City Youth Jazz Band.''

Fuller cites Oscar Peterson and Monty Alexander as his main inspirations on piano, and said he ``practically grew up'' at Rusty's Jazz Cafe. He is glad to be back in town this weekend when owner Margaret ``Rusty'' Monroe celebrates her 80th birthday Sunday.

``When I was in high school it was the only real place to play in town,'' he said. ``I had a steady Sunday night gig there.''

After graduating from Central Catholic High School, Fuller worked regularly at the Bird of Paradise Cafe in Ann Arbor, Mich.

One weekend in 1989 he played in a local trio that accompanied famed singer Ernestine Anderson for three shows.

``She liked my playing and asked if I would be willing to go on tour with her, and I agreed to.''

Anderson hired Fuller as her musical director and pianist, and he moved to her hometown of Seattle in February, 1990.

The ``grunge rock'' movement exploded out of Seattle at about the same time that Fuller moved there, but ``I don't run in those circles and I didn't see it too much. ... I'd just read in the paper about these bands with funny names becoming famous.''

Hamilton, a native of Richmond, Ind., has played drums for the bands of Woody Herman and Lionel Hampton, and has appeared on more than 175 recordings. Among the artists he has accompanied are Barbra Streisand, Mel Torme, Dr. John, Natalie Cole, and George Shearing.

He joined the Ray Brown Trio in 1988 and left in March, 1995, to concentrate on his own group. Playing bass with the trio is Christoph Lundy, a native of Stuttgart, Germany.
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Toledo, Ohio
April 29, 2009

“This moment contains all moments.”