As a cartoonist, and being among those multitudes who love cartoons, we're used to seeing superheroes of all kinds - with capes, in tights, with masks, and special powers.
Today though, we celebrate the superheroes that most Americans don't see in comics and cartoons every day - those Americans who have served in our Armed Services. These folks aren't in any G.I. Joe movie, and you won't see most of them on television. Whether they're gay or straight, old or young, men or women - even officers or enlisted - in the military they were all just service members. They all had their own political views, but regardless of how they felt, they did their jobs well - and came home alive.
Today is a day for us to celebrate their work and their service.
We hope, if you have a chance today, that you volunteer some of your own service at your local Veterans Hospital or with another veterans support group. If you're looking for some guidance on who needs help in your area, we recommend the IAVA, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, or your local VFW.
We also hope you'll simply say, "Thank you" to a veteran, for his or her willingness to serve. And to do our part, we're sending out our own "Thank-Yous" today.
Thank You to our Army Veterans, who've fought in locations near and far across the globe - and came home far too often with bodies or minds seriously scarred.
Thank You to our Navy veterans - including our webmaster - who have guarded, protected, and patrolled the roughly 2/3 of the planet the rest of us normally don't think much about.
Thank You to our Air Force veterans, who not only patrol the skies, but keep an eye on the thousands of objects that orbit our planet - and who know the difference between an airplane contrail and a missile launch.
Thank You to our Marine veterans, who so often go places that not even other armed services members wish to go, and accomplish tasks that most other people think are impossible.
Thank you to our Coast Guard veterans, too often overlooked. When Americans need to be saved from our own mistakes - for example, when massive cruise ships end up dead in the water off the coast of California - our Coast Guard members simply and humbly do their jobs.
Chances are statistically near 100% that someone you interact with every day is a veteran. Many of them are people you may not have even realized that served. So ask around today. Find a veteran or two. Thank them for their service.
Real-life superheroes appreciate gratitude too.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Dr. Jekyl, Mr. Hyde, And Ethics
Having integrity as we work in the fields of media and communications requires that we hold ourselves to higher ethical standards. It also requires that we apply those same standards to both those we comment upon and those within our own own career field.
We're willing to admit for some of our staff that there has been some pushback lately in our hammering of those in the Tea Party and on the far right who claim to be Republicans. To us, Republicans as we remember them, and as most Americans think of them, tend to identify more closely to functional libertarians. Not the ideological strait-jacketed insanity of Rand Paul (which already appears to be loosening up), but classic Republicanism. Those kinds of Americans are assertive (not aggressive) about a number of things - fiscal conservatism, military readiness, and smaller government, when sensible and possible. However, they also understand and fully respect that good government means being willing to compromise.
The problem is, that's not what a growing number of those using the Republican brand want the GOP label to mean. That's why we continue to point out the Jekyl and Hyde nature of the modern GOP. For those of us who are conservative, that doesn't make us RINOs. It makes us honest.
Likewise, for those of us on the left, there are those in our field who claim not to know the difference between "progressive" and "liberal" when we know damn well those claims are false. We've caught heat for that lately, but we've called out some of our fellow journalists for that lapse in honesty, too.
Which brings us to Mr. Keith Olbermann.
We won't belabor the subject. Others inside and outside our business have obsessed about this to the point of ridiculous for the past four days.
Suffice it to say that we know Mr. Olbermann knows the old journalistic axiom that, if you have to ask if your actions or words could be considered unethical, you've already gone too far. He apologized last night to his viewers and others for his lapse in judgement, and we applaud him for doing so.
As Mr. Olbermann's colleague Rachel Maddow mentioned last week, for those of us in the media who choose who hold ourselves to higher standards, the rules are different. Our ethical conduct is what separates us from those in the media and elsewhere who operate with a two-faced agenda, claiming to be fair while having an outright bias.
"Anything worth doing is worth doing well," is a phrase that we take very seriously around here.
If more people both inside and outside the media took that phrase to heart, maybe there might not be such a huge gap between the faces we show the world, and those we show each other.
We're willing to admit for some of our staff that there has been some pushback lately in our hammering of those in the Tea Party and on the far right who claim to be Republicans. To us, Republicans as we remember them, and as most Americans think of them, tend to identify more closely to functional libertarians. Not the ideological strait-jacketed insanity of Rand Paul (which already appears to be loosening up), but classic Republicanism. Those kinds of Americans are assertive (not aggressive) about a number of things - fiscal conservatism, military readiness, and smaller government, when sensible and possible. However, they also understand and fully respect that good government means being willing to compromise.
The problem is, that's not what a growing number of those using the Republican brand want the GOP label to mean. That's why we continue to point out the Jekyl and Hyde nature of the modern GOP. For those of us who are conservative, that doesn't make us RINOs. It makes us honest.
Likewise, for those of us on the left, there are those in our field who claim not to know the difference between "progressive" and "liberal" when we know damn well those claims are false. We've caught heat for that lately, but we've called out some of our fellow journalists for that lapse in honesty, too.
Which brings us to Mr. Keith Olbermann.
We won't belabor the subject. Others inside and outside our business have obsessed about this to the point of ridiculous for the past four days.
Suffice it to say that we know Mr. Olbermann knows the old journalistic axiom that, if you have to ask if your actions or words could be considered unethical, you've already gone too far. He apologized last night to his viewers and others for his lapse in judgement, and we applaud him for doing so.
As Mr. Olbermann's colleague Rachel Maddow mentioned last week, for those of us in the media who choose who hold ourselves to higher standards, the rules are different. Our ethical conduct is what separates us from those in the media and elsewhere who operate with a two-faced agenda, claiming to be fair while having an outright bias.
"Anything worth doing is worth doing well," is a phrase that we take very seriously around here.
If more people both inside and outside the media took that phrase to heart, maybe there might not be such a huge gap between the faces we show the world, and those we show each other.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
The Biggest Difference between Campaigning & Governing? Specifics.
Although the 2010 midterm elections are mostly history except for a few remaining recounts, the normally increased levels of incivility that happen between the political left and right don't appear to be diminishing any time soon. In fact, those politicians who attempt to claim Tea Party support (usually only when it's convenient) don't appear to be in any mood to focus on the specifics of governing on issues like the budget cuts they claim they'll make - but can't identify.
Frankly, this only irritates us.
On the positive side, according to the most recent USA Today/Gallup Poll, we're not the only ones who are hacked off. And unlike those attempting to appease the Tea Partiers, we have specifics.
We fully expected USA Today to lead the presentation of their poll results with the most unsurprising statistics - that Democratic and left-leaning voters are currently more willing to find compromise in order to fix problems the country is facing than Republicans and Tea Partiers.
What we didn't expect to find in the deeper poll numbers was that the politicians who appear to have missed the message that voters sent a week ago aren't President Obama and the Democrats or even traditional, sane, fiscally conservative Republicans. For example, according to the numbers, voters don't really care about the Health Care Insurance Reform bill - only one-third want the law repealed.
What did become broadly clear is what the voters DON'T want.
They're not in the mood for two more years of partisan bickering and fighting without getting much done.
51% trust that Democrats will make a sincere effort to move the country forward, and work WITH Republicans to fix the problems Americans are facing. They overwhelmingly think President Obama will work towards compromise, by a 2 to 1 majority.
What they don't trust or believe in right now is that Republicans are going to be making a sincere effort to make things better for struggling Americans. Only 43% believe in the Republicans.
Further, for truly independent-minded voters, who statistically made up such a large portion of the Republican Party's winning vote count by a nearly 2 to 1 majority, they also want Republican leaders to get done what America needs done, instead of strictly adhering to political talking points and party dogma.
While we understand what some politicians like Rand Paul are doing, claiming that they'll be willing to drive the entire world's economy into the crapper in order to stay true to their campaign promises, we hate to remind them of the difference between campaigning and governing.
"You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose." - NY Gov. Mario Cuomo
Frankly, this only irritates us.
On the positive side, according to the most recent USA Today/Gallup Poll, we're not the only ones who are hacked off. And unlike those attempting to appease the Tea Partiers, we have specifics.
We fully expected USA Today to lead the presentation of their poll results with the most unsurprising statistics - that Democratic and left-leaning voters are currently more willing to find compromise in order to fix problems the country is facing than Republicans and Tea Partiers.
What we didn't expect to find in the deeper poll numbers was that the politicians who appear to have missed the message that voters sent a week ago aren't President Obama and the Democrats or even traditional, sane, fiscally conservative Republicans. For example, according to the numbers, voters don't really care about the Health Care Insurance Reform bill - only one-third want the law repealed.
What did become broadly clear is what the voters DON'T want.
They're not in the mood for two more years of partisan bickering and fighting without getting much done.
51% trust that Democrats will make a sincere effort to move the country forward, and work WITH Republicans to fix the problems Americans are facing. They overwhelmingly think President Obama will work towards compromise, by a 2 to 1 majority.
What they don't trust or believe in right now is that Republicans are going to be making a sincere effort to make things better for struggling Americans. Only 43% believe in the Republicans.
Further, for truly independent-minded voters, who statistically made up such a large portion of the Republican Party's winning vote count by a nearly 2 to 1 majority, they also want Republican leaders to get done what America needs done, instead of strictly adhering to political talking points and party dogma.
While we understand what some politicians like Rand Paul are doing, claiming that they'll be willing to drive the entire world's economy into the crapper in order to stay true to their campaign promises, we hate to remind them of the difference between campaigning and governing.
"You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose." - NY Gov. Mario Cuomo
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