Adventures in TV News Live Shots

You never konw quite what to expext...

Ready For Prime Time?

I am in this short scene with fellow Chicagoan, Joe Mantegna in an episode of Joan of Arcadia. Don’t blink your eyes and miss my mug as I take an order and serve the Chief some lemonade. This Chief does not drink on duty.

Calm Down Folks!

Three young Arab men were “caught” with 1000 cellular telephones, and jailed on really high bail. Their “crime” is alleged to be money laundering? Okay, just try to get a conviction on that one.

Officials have admitted they don’t really know what’s going on with the cell phone purchases but think something’s, just not right. Terrorists have been known to set off bombs with cell phones! Without the bombs this is really weak suggestion.

The only thing that makes sense here is the reselling of the phones for simple profit. If it’s obvious that the phones can be sold for more money than these guys paid for the phones then, what’s the beef? That’s commerce, and what our entire economy is all about!

Don’t get me wrong we need to watch for suspicious activities but I think watching whoever is buying fertilizer would make more sense.

I think that the Arabs living in or visiting this country are a much bigger threat than the Japanese folks were that we rounded up and put in camps during World War Two. Is that the next step here?

Liquid Bombs You And The TSA

Nearly the entire TSA airline security program in nothing more than smoke and mirrors designed more to provide passengers with a false sense of security. The American public has been fooled into believing that the level of inconvenience, aggravation and humiliation they’ve been required to withstand somehow guarantees their security. This is the dirty secret our government does not want anyone to know.

Liquid explosives are nothing new and were around long before airplanes were invented. The political hacks in charge of the FAA and TSA were told this and also know determined bombers cannot be stopped. There are loads of low tech ways to detonate bomb materials without cell phones, batteries and wires. The only way to control bombers is prevent all passengers, crews, baggage, and belongings from being loaded on the airplanes.

Although I’m not an explosives expert I learned a thing or two as a medical Corpsman attached to an Army Combat Engineer Battalion and also as a cop. I knew enough to know that the TSA’s bomb detection equipment could never even slow down someone that knew just what I know.

I figured several ways to defeat the TSA and bring down a commercial airplane. If I could do this certainly our enemies could too. Thankfully this also made another fact abundantly clear; that blowing up our airliners is just not that important to the terrorists.

Passenger screening and terror prevention begins and ends with real law enforcement profiling. Armed and trained law enforcement people can protect us much better than those TSA workers.

It’s also time to demand that every trained and screened cop in America be encouraged and allowed to fly with their firearms. Let’s end the TSA’s security shell game.

I’ve Become A Blogcaster

First there was the soapbox, then the printing press. Later came the radio followed by TV and the world of dialup Internet. Now with broadband there is no limit of our ability to send our message to the masses.

With Google Video, Digital Live and Youtube along with a growing list of free video hosts the computer has been the place to post or watch the blogcasts.

I began this as a blooger last December. Since then I’ve learned how to use and abuse print, photos and video all at once. Presto, I’ve become a blogcaster!

The most amazing thing about blogcasting is you can do whatever you want. Total free speech, well almost. The opposite side of this sword is that you risk offending friends, business peers and clients who will never agree with all that you put out in cyberspace.

I have instant ratings via the site counter to see what works or not. A story headline can do nothing or bring in the viewers.

Soon our television sets will all be large flat panel jobs will be primarily used only to watch sports or movies. News and most entertainment will be blogcasted and watched on laptops and desktop computers throughout the land.

What’s the bad news? I discovered putting up a really lame home video of Brittany Spears brings in a lot more viewers than a news story that affects our lives. I guess I’m in trouble when sitting in some dentist’s office, reading an issue of People Magazine and I don’t have a clue who most of the people are in all those pictures.

TSA’s War On Airline Passengers with video...

Have you had enough? If not, don’t worry you will very soon. The TSA (Transportation Security Administration) patronage hacks are dreaming up new torture just for you!

Nobody in their right mind would take a commercial flight anywhere today unless they had no other choice. Taking a commercial flight now has all the glamour of flying via Con-Air. Con-Air is the nickname for the government fleet that hauls prisoners around the country. There is also a private prison version of Con-Air.

There are loads of people too frightened to fly and many more people like me that hate the degradation of being treated like a prison inmate by people with fewer credentials then that of prison guards.

How can the commercial airlines survive? This latest blow came not from terrorists, but our government’s response to a terror plot in the UK that was never hatched. The damage done yesterday is beyond repair. Chalk up yet another victory for Arab terrorists and their allies, our very own TSA.

The only winner of TSA’s, War On Passengers, is General Aviation. That’s where the wealthy must now go for humane passenger treatment. When you start your trip at places like the Santa Monica Airport you won’t find yourself on the wrong side of the security line unless you’re not a paying customer. Nobody is going, prod you with their hand held metal detector, demand you take off your shoes or surrender your lip-gloss. What you will get is star treatment.

The TSA will only get worse.

How much? If you have to ask, you can’t afford it. No they won’t accept your debit card!
You have two options that perhaps this video will help you choose.

The Brittany Spears Meltdown Is Complete!

Marriage and motherhood has taken its toll on Spears who will soon never have to complain about paparazzi cameras chasing here around anymore. Her young husband, Kevin Federline has insured her quick retirement from show business with this videotaped offering of their private moments.

Airline Security Insanity Must End.

Political correctness and ethnic sensitivities protects nobody from terrorists.

We are at war. The only threat comes from those we are at war with. Our enemies are Arab Muslims. To deal with this very real threat they sent in the clowns when we needed the cops.

We train the inflexible TSA clowns to disregard reality to make sure every airline passenger suffers the terrorist treatment not just the usual suspects. We allow the TSA clowns to waste time, effort and money as they treat Americans like the enemy terrorists. We just don’t have our eyes on the ball here.

The only effective security we can maintain is through profiling by professional, trained and equipped law enforcement officers. The non-law enforcement, TSA clowns we hired will never be up to the task.

Additionally we must allow trained and sworn police officers to travel with their firearms. We should encourage them with free flights or flights and greatly reduced fares.

We have never put in place an armed gauntlet of cops to deal with any group of armed terrorists that dare invade our airports. What we have in place could never stop a group of 12 well-trained and armed men on a suicide mission.

We are too busy frisking our fellow Americans to deal with the real threat from Arab Muslims.

We need help, but don’t send in the clowns… Send in the cops!

The Official Crimefile Review of World Trade Center

Frankly, I could not imagine a two-hour feature film telling the story of 9/11. That was just not possible. Screenwriter, Andrea Berloff and director Oliver Stone told a compelling story. A difficult feat since the whole world knows what happened and how this ended. I expected the NYPD and NYFD folks to be skeptical of this project’s resemblance to reality.

New York is a magical place, with its great restaurants, fabulous non-stop entertainment and character. The Wall Street area where the WTC stood is like no other place on Earth. I’d been there before and since the destruction of the towers. The buildings were nothing short of majestic.

In one scene they used the unique fence around the historic St. Paul’s Chapel that still contains George Washington’s special pew. Alexander Hamilton is buried in the adjacent cemetery. During the rescue and recovery operation that was where the cops, firemen and other recovery workers ate and slept for many months. The walls inside were covered with cards and letters from, cops, firemen and children sent from all over the world. That fence was also where photos of lost loved ones and memorial material to the known dead were part of a heartbreaking display.

There are millions of stories that surround 9/11 and the thousands killed and maimed. Families were destroyed and the lives that were not snuffed out were changed forever. I’m sure that the stories of the other dead heroes were no less compelling for making a movie.

This film was about two New York Port Authority cops, John McLoughlin and William Jimeno along with their families. These folks lived the horror that most of us watched on continuous TV news coverage.

The film is a must see. The actors were wonderful with all of them carrying their weight. Maria Bello, Nicholas Cage, Michael Pena and Maggie Gyllenhaal gave Oscar caliber performances. They made this film all too real. Oliver Stone and his crew made the words on the paper script come alive. I expect that the nominations will be many here.

Yes, be sure to bring the Kleenex tissues when you go to see this one.

It was about a year ago on a Sunday afternoon that I went to Jerry’s Delicatessen in Marina Del Rey. There I met the beautiful Maria Belo, who plays John McLoughlin's wife, her boyfriend, Dan McDermott and their good friend actress, Camryn Manheim. I was minding my own business eating my pastrami sandwich when Maria and Dan’s little boy slung a spoon full of strained carrots that hit me in the head! Maria and Camryn all but gave me a shampoo and blow dry getting the mess out of my hair. We all had a good laugh. Sadly, I only recognized Camryn although Maria looked familiar. Soon I was able to chat with Maria and Camryn at a function of the Screen Actor’s Guild.

See the trailer here.

Buy A Private Jet While You Still Can.

This will be the only way you can get around the TSA silliness. Three and four hours added to each way to every flight along with unprecedented aggravations from the low wattage TSA folks who are now in siege mode. I don’t expect things to improve.

I anticipate and huge increase in corporate sales of jets and planes. There’s also a rosy picture for pilots and crewmembers needed to haul the wealthy around so they can avoid the perils of the unwashed flying the unfriendly skies.

In the meantime I will do my best to stay of airplanes. I am not afraid of the terrorists; I simply refuse to put up with the indignity and abuse the TSA will put me through.

CNN has reported American passengers crying during their commercial flights today and clapping once their flight landed safely. That's so pathetic and a sign of how cowardly we’ve become. I’m starting to be ashamed to be an American anymore.

TSA Is In A State Of Siege Today.

My pity goes out to anyone who has to fly today. The TSA will be in NASTY MODE as they ransack your luggage and belongings like Viking warriors. Self-importance of the little airport Nazis will be in overdrive in response to the latest sensational United Kingdom terrorist plot. Why do I fear the TSA screening gauntlet more than any terrorist?

Expect the body cavity searchers to begin. Do you know how much explosive can be carried in human body cavities? The answer for those that don’t know, enough explosives to bring down a 747 can be hidden inside any woman.

Reporter/Anchor Steven Colbert Knows How To Do An Interview...

Reporter/Anchor Steven Colbert Knows How To Do An Interview...

This guy has a way of getting politicians to let it all hang out.