Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

The battle over abortion has changed little since the US Supreme Court made its landmark decision legalizing it in 1973. The justices ruled in Roe v. Wade that laws against abortion in the United States violated a constitutional right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

A constitutional right to privacy…

Abortion has proven to be as polarizing an issue as gun control, gay marriage or capital punishment. One is either in favor of a “woman’s right to choose,” or an advocate for the “right to life.” Pro or anti abortion, respectively - there is precious little middle ground.

These defining issues place us on one side or the other of an ideological fence; the divide is clear and stark. And although there have been some changes in the tactics of the protests and counter-protests, very little is considered “off limits.” Indeed, it has been guerrilla warfare from the very start.

A recent campaign by those opposed to abortion is being staged at the Planned Parenthood clinics in Sacramento and Roseville, the only two area clinics that provide abortions. It has been billed not as a protest or a picket, but rather a public “prayer vigil” just outside these clinics.

Part of a nationwide protest orchestrated by an organization calling itself 40 Days for Life, it began on Sept. 26 and runs until Nov. 4. The protesters - by talking to patients, praying and handing out literature - have replaced the in-your-face graphic photos and confrontational tactics of the past.

A welcome operational change to be sure, and one that likely will attract more sympathy than the methods of their more militant counterparts, but there is an insidious component that the anti-abortionists seem to have a penchant for - no matter how reasonable they might appear to be.

The Planned Parenthood clinic on B Street recently had a red cedar fence installed along the parking lot. It was planned before this current protest, but its purpose is not so thinly veiled. It is meant to protect the patients’ privacy… from the protesters.

The installation of the fence just happened to take place in the midst of this most recent vigil. And of course, 40 Days for Life doesn’t like the fence. Not one bit.

They don’t like it so much that they have taken aim at the company that built it.

The following was lifted directly from 40daysforlife.com/sacramento. It was cut and pasted, no spelling or grammar corrections have been made. They are, however, boldly noted where needed.

As you all know, Planned Parenthood has erected a redwood "screen" in front of it's clinic. While we respect that they have every right to do so, we feel it would not be appropriate for anyone who considers themselves pro-life to do business with a company who does business with an abortion provider. We encourage you to contact the fencing contractor to express your dissapointment in thier affiliation with Planned Parenthood.

The name of the fence company, its phone number, address and the name of its owner are listed as well.

This is a local, small company just trying to make a buck. Although it is perfectly legal for 40 Days for Life to call for this boycott and even for it to encourage its supporters to “harass” the owner, it is a low blow all the same.

But since Pandora’s Box is now open, lets take a look at 40 Days for Life. In addition to having a complete lack of care when it comes to grammar and spelling, it would appear that the organization is associated with eChristianChurches.com, a division of WEBPRO PRODUCTIONS, LLC - a decidedly for-profit business.

WEBPRO PRODUCTIONS is a web-design house like so many, many others. It has an affinity for certain segments of the market, and religious “right to life” organizations appear to be among them - but not exclusively so. It also markets its services to a wide variety of other secular business interests - businesses that might not want to be associated with a web designer with such strong ideological stands.

I’m not suggesting that anyone should boycott WEBPRO PRODUCTIONS - I would never stoop so low - I’m only suggesting that it has already chosen which side of the fence it stands.

I am, however, suggesting that we should leave the guy who built the fence alone.

National Holiday Day

Christmas is nearly upon us once again. Many would call it the undisputed heavyweight champion of all contemporary holidays. It has it all - decorations, presents, a grand meal, family tradition, a religious origin, symbolic icons, parades, music and extreme commercialism. And like only a handful of other holidays, it has an “-eve” to welcome its arrival. It even has its very own season with its very own greeting... "Season's Greetings." Yes, Christmas might just represent the pinnacle of what every holiday aspires to be.

Which means that all other holidays are lacking by comparison. Where’s the justice? Why should some holidays receive all the glory while others deserve only a footnote on the calendar?

There are other holidays that have religious overtones, perhaps even more so than Christmas. Take Easter, for instance. Not just one day, but actually three starting on Thursday night, through Good Friday (aren't all Fridays "good"?) and ending on the evening of Easter Sunday. Talk about holiday potential! Instead of one day, there are three solid days for gift giving, parties and festivities. Imagine the commercial build-up. Imagine the spectacle. Throw in a Monday and it can't lose.

But no, all we get is a cheesy bunny. He somehow lays multicolored eggs and then cleverly hides them. If we’re lucky, he pushes out (from where I don’t want to know) some that are made of chocolate and puts them and other candy in a basket with plastic grass that gets everywhere.

And speaking of candy, what about Halloween? Here’s a holiday that’s not a holiday. There are the parties, sure… and decorations galore, but there has never been a day off. An included day off really is a must for any self-respecting holiday.

There are holidays better known by the dates they fall on like the Fourth of July or, hijacked from our neighbors to the south, Cinco de Mayo.

Then there are the “Monday” holidays. These are the holidays that are on one day, but “observed” on another. In 1971, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved Veterans Day, Memorial Day and George Washington’s Birthday (before it was given an identity crisis by combining it with Lincoln’s Birthday into “Presidents Day”) from their original date to a convenient Monday so federal employees would have more three-day weekends.

The act also created Columbus Day, the dumbest holiday of all time - glorifying a wayward sailor who got lost and discovered… India. No. America. No - India. No, ok, America, but let’s call the people there Indians. Oddly enough, there is no Indian or Native American Day. It wasn’t a “new” world to them, they knew it was here all along.

After protests by veterans groups, in 1978 Veteran’s Day was moved back to its original November 11th date. The vets felt it had lost its importance and had become nothing more than just another three-day weekend.

Lost its importance?

Well then, let’s move on to some of the more innocuous holidays. In no particular order and with no particular importance, some of the most pointless are: Groundhog Day, Flag Day, the afore mentioned Presidents Day (Honest Abe and George must be rolling in their graves), Pioneer Day, Patriot’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Saint Patrick’s Day, and the ever-popular Grandparent’s Day.

And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, here are some of the “unofficial” holidays created to commemorate God knows what: Bloomsday, Buy Nothing Day, Friendship Day, Husband Appreciation Day, Wife Appreciation Day, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, International Kitchen Garden Day, Mole Day, Monkey Day, National Gorilla Day and a day that needs no description - No Pants Day.

Yes, seemingly there is a holiday for every occasion. Not yet mentioned - Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. I have one of each and I am a father - these are among my favorite holidays. It was not always the case - when I was young, there was the perennial question children always ask, “How come there’s no Kids’ Day?” The reply, always the same, “Every day is kids’ day.”

And so it is.

That must be why adults need so many damned holidays.

How to be a Patriot

It happened again. This time is was the Navy. At least they had the decency to wait until after my son turned 18. The Army, the Air Force and the Marine recruiters all called my son - at home and asking for him by his name - while he was a still a minor. And the mail that comes to his/my home is addressed to him as well - not “to the parents of Matthew Althouse.”

The San Juan Unified School District kindly provides the information to the military recruiters, directed by provisions in the Education Code as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act. Although not thrilled with this provision in the act, I have stopped fighting, at least on my son’s behalf. I know he is not joining and he is my youngest - I’m through. From a personal perspective, this battle is over - I win.

But there is still a nagging question… What if?

What if they had reached my son? What if they had convinced him to enlist? What if they had sold him before I even had a chance to discuss it with him?

Before we go any further, let’s get a couple of things straight: No one loves this country more than I do - I am as patriotic as one can be. To prove it, I question my government with great regularity. Furthermore, I have nothing against the principle of serving in the military and, more importantly, nothing against any of my sons serving themselves. In fact, there is great virtue in serving and much opportunity available. Granted and granted.

However…

Now is not the time. I am not willing to send my boys to Iraq to be just another pawn in this administration’s deadly game. Of course, the decision is ultimately theirs and if they decided to go, that decision would be supported. But know this also - if I get to them before some recruiter does, there’s not a snowball’s chance in Iraq that they would make that decision.

Taking this stand does not take away from the honor of those who are serving in Iraq. Not supporting this administration’s policies does not mean I do not support our troops. The notion that disagreeing with the administration regarding the war somehow means I do not support the troops is idiotic. I have the utmost respect for them and their families should be proud. I would be if my kids were there.

Raymond Spencer, Sr. is. He last spoke with his son on June 17 - Father’s Day. Raymond Spencer, Jr. was scheduled to come home on leave from Iraq on July 1. He never made it. On June 21 he was killed in action when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his Bradley fighting vehicle. Just 23 years old, Spencer, Jr. wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps as a soldier... as a combat veteran. Before enlisting, father and son discussed the risks involved... the pros and the cons. Spencer, Jr. wanted to be a soldier. Raymond Spencer, Sr. is proud of his son - his only son.

Whether Matthew follows in my footsteps or not is really not important. It is, however, vitally important that I have a voice in that decision-making process, just like Raymond Spencer, Sr. did with his son. When military recruiters try to circumvent my parental influence, it is irritating like nothing else. This is my government - nationally at the level of the military and locally at the level of the school district - trying to bypass my rights and obligations as a parent and sell my son on a future we didn’t discuss.

Yea, I’m questioning my government. I am a patriot.

Warhol Knew

I was on TV today. It happens with infrequent regularity in my line of work as I am often caught in the video crossfire of my broadcast journalism brethren while covering the same story for our respective outlets.

I didn’t see it myself as I was still covering the story, but when the snippet was broadcast on a local morning news program, one of my friends did. And although it is not everyday one might find oneself on TV, with the proliferation of cable TV stations and cameras capturing every little detail, it is much more common than when I was a kid with one family TV (black and white, no remote) and only five stations - seven if you count UHF.

Indeed, the luster of the accidental television appearance has all but worn off… and to make matters worse, along comes YouTube.

Now anyone, and I do mean anyone can appear via video anytime and as often as he or she likes. Once upon a time, an appearance on the small screen was a one-shot deal. Home video recorders were not invented yet and when they came along, they were not the ubiquitous “must-have” appliances they are today. Even when home VCRs were commonplace, the replaying of these magic moments of fame only took place within the privacy of one’s own home.

YouTube and other sites that accommodate video publishing like Blogger and MySpace have proven Andy Warhol’s prediction, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” as a coming reality. Although there is no guarantee a video will garner widespread fame - the odds are considerably better than they were in days gone by. YouTube eliminates an element that prevented many from ever being broadcast - being in the right place at the right time. It has taken the luck of the draw or whatever powers that be out of the picture - um… so to speak.

A simple search of the most watched videos on YouTube reveals a veritable smorgasbord from the inane to the important, the silly to the sad and everything else imaginable. There is no telling what might strike the masses’ fancy on any given day at any given moment.

Video Pabulum? Sure, much of it is, but not all of it and the mainstream media and other very much “for profit” entities have begun to recognize YouTube’s commercial value.

Nokia, Verizon and Best Buy are just a few of the multi-national, multi-million dollar corporations that have taken advantage of the YouTube phenomenon. Even the United States Navy has a YouTube channel. Other specialized campaigns such as movie releases, new product launches and promotional contests have found a home on YouTube as well. Additionally, there are companies who have produced particularly clever campaigns that are reproduced and posted by private, everyday citizens with an urge to share… or perhaps enjoy some vicarious fame.

Recently I was searching for some older video clips from one of my favorite rock bands. In my YouTube quest, I turned up a video produced by the Sacramento Bee. It was originally posted on the Bee’s Web site, SacBee.com, but not surprisingly it found its way to YouTube. I had an opportunity recently to speak with Sue Morrow, the Bee’s photo editor, and I asked her if the Bee was posting any of its material - specifically that clip - on YouTube. Although she didn’t know, she was adamant that the Bee should be taking advantage of sites like YouTube. Like many others, Morrow’s vision of the future for the news media includes the use of non-traditional outlets.

The clip I found was covering a free concert by Sacramento’s own Tesla at Cesar Chavez Plaza on May 31, 2007. I was looking for older material, but I happened to be shooting that concert as well. It wasn’t long before I recognized the video as the one produced by the Bee, and if there was any confusion, it would have been cleared up by the title attribution, “A Sacramento Bee Video.”

I watched it again. I was in it.

The Last Word

Every writer has his or her own style. True, some resemble others - and to an extent some can be imitated, but in the final analysis, a writing style is a unique manifestation of the life experiences that created it. Elements such as clarity, authenticity, and credibility are revealed not only in what is written, but how it is written. Real life transcends the hyperbole, the extremism and the sensational. Writers such as Anna Quindlen use their mastery of the written word to do more than just write.

They talk with us. They remember. They give us context.

Quindlen, a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and best-selling novelist writes about the world as seen though the eyes not of a writer per se, but as a member of the human race. In the preface of her 2004 book “Loud and Clear,” Quindlen writes about not writing.

“I do not fly to my desk each morning with a full heart and a ready hand. I skirt the perimeters of my home office with a sense of dread, eyes averted from an empty computer screen. Instead of creation there is always procrastination.”

She was describing the beginning of a day like any other, yet one that would be tragically different. It was September 11, 2001. Although the piece was written long after the fact, Quindlen chronicles the day’s events like it was yesterday. She recalled it in terms of her relationship with her family, her friends and her profession. And though neither the preface nor the collection of columns that follow it are about the events of that traumatic day, the tone and the gravity of what such an event means to a mother, a wife and a journalist comes through with the clarity Quindlen is known for.

“The morning of September 12, 2001, I was at my desk first thing, no preliminaries, no computer games, seizing the chance to write about an event more destructive, more transformative, and more important than any I had ever written about during three decades as a journalist. And at that very moment I thanked God, not only for the safety of my family and friends, but for the gift of being permitted to do what I do for a living.”


Quindlen began her career as a reporter for the New York Post in 1974. She joined the New York Times as a general assignment/city hall reporter in 1977. By 1981 she had her own column, “About New York,” and from 1990 until she left the Times in 1994 to become a full-time novelist (and mother), she was the writer of the nationally syndicated column, “Public and Private.” Currently, Quindlen writes Newsweek’s back page column, “The Last Word,” alternating weeks with columnist George F. Will.

In her March 19, 2007 Newsweek column, Quindlen begins, “This is not a column about Ann Coulter. Otherwise, it would be irrelevant.” And indeed it was not, but rather a means to contrast Coulter’s most recent publicity stunt with issues that are relevant.

“This is an election that really matters…”
“The war that is a fruitless quagmire…”
“An education system that seems not to educate…”

More than just commentary, Quindlen brings a bit of herself to her work, and it comes through. In the April 2, 2007 issue of Newsweek, she writes of how things might have been if her then boyfriend’s draft number had been lower. She wrote about the husband and three children that might never have been. Of course, her column that week wasn’t about Vietnam, but about how war affects everyone and whether the policymakers know that. “Do they realize they have dragged heavy hands across the map of the world and altered the details of daily life?”

It’s not just about public policy or government, but also about insight. She has an ability few possess; she allows the reader to crawl inside her head. Quindlen gives us a piece of herself in everything she writes… and plenty of it has nothing to do with public policy. She writes about her family, her job(s), her friends and about life in sweeping generalities as well as decidedly specific personal anecdotes. Her writing leaves one with the feeling that, no matter what she writes, it’s personal.