The Faces of St. Paddy's Day in Roanoke

What's a parade without batons?^

Drum major of the Scotish variety.^

Brooklyn Tinsley is 7 and distinctly Irish.^

Another Irish lass.^

Now THAT is marketing.^

Nice tat on the right eye, ma'am.^

My old pal Tom is Irish, too.^

My granddaughter Madeline gives directions to her pals.^

Pals Steph and Bruce got to be judges. That's Steph's natural color.^

Star of 'How Green Was My Valley.'^

Green goes with everybody.^

Some Irish are prettier than others.^

Dressed in the old style.^

Ann Trinkle and her daughter.^

I can see beer in this guy's future. Green beer.^

Mayor David Bowers loves attention.^

Lemme take this call, honey. I'll be right back.^

My old buddy Dick Raymond was with the 29th Infantry on D-Day.^

Like mama, like daughter.^

Purple feathers mean he's the boss.^

Can you see through those things?

Roanoke's St. Patrick's Day Parade was this morning and the faces were the main draw for me. The crowd was huge and the parade was, as usual, about half military, police or right-wing politics, none of which interest me, so I just look the other way and shoot pictures. Fun time.

An Opportunity for Labor: Smarter and Wiser?

It is not quite the stretch you might imagine to equate the NFL players decertification of their union and subsequent lawsuit against owners (Millionaires, et. al. vs. Billionaires, et. al.) with Wisconsin Republicans' massive attack on state employee unions.

The most obvious difference, of course, is one of scale: Peyton Manning's millions per year compared to a state cop and his thousands. But there's a good bit more to it than that.

Employee unions of all kinds have their genesis in the same place: unfair management practices, whether it is coal mine owners making virtual slaves of coal miners or baseball owners owning the contracts of their players for as long as they want them with absolutely no opinion accepted from the player. Unions helped equalize the relationship in both those instances and in many more industries in America.

Pre-union "labor practices" didn't exist in this country. Owners simply treated workers any way they wanted, paid them as they chose, fired them at will, discriminated against them because they were African-American or Irish or women or had brown hair. The federal and state governments in the U.S. sent troops to quell labor unrest and in one instance (in West Virginia in 1922) actually sent its new air force to bomb striking miners.

Labor is not without fault in the current climate where it finds itself the underdog most of the time. Greed, affiliation with criminals and the idea that workers are entitled to certain wages, benefits and rights out of line with what most Americans enjoy has worked against the movement, which gave America its middle class. 

Those opposed to organized labor, led by the richest Americans, have brilliantly framed the current debate in tribal terms. Ours is a land of tribes and when you can set them at each other's throats, the people who benefit from their labor are served. Here, though, we have middle class workers in unions being opposed by middle class workers not in unions because of a few dollars difference in pay and benefits per year.

In the case of the NFL, it's simply a matter of scale. The owners have been given exception to normal labor rules and regulations for many years because of what they believe to be the special nature of their sport/business. Let these athletes be free, they reason, and prices will get out of hand. If you look at the price of a ticket to an NFL game (or an NBA game), you see we've achieved that union or no union.

It appears we'll lose pro football for a year and that Wisconsin's state employees will be left to fend for themselves. But the backlash is coming. It's coming soon and my guess is that labor, if it plays this one smart, will emerge much stronger and, I hope, a whole lot wiser.

Quote of the Day: Thanks, Scottie Boy

From the Banana Republic of Wisconsin, where Governor for Life Scott Walker and his goose-stepping brownshirts are re-defining what it means to be a union member we have this, from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (above), who is organizing to fight back:

"I guess I ought to say thank you particularly to Scott Walker. We should have invited him here today to receive the Mobilizer of the Year award from us."

Here's a story on labor's plans to counter-attack after public employees lost the right to negotiate (after making all kinds of pay and benefits concessions).

Building Regulation Sometimes a Lifesaver

Almost uniformally in this country, business owners will rank regulation among the most important detriments to profit. At Valley Business FRONT (the magazine I edit), we have just finished a story on manufacturing in this region and I heard over and over from owners that regulation is driving businesses overseas--even more so than inexpensive labor, some say.

Regulations can be strict, niggling and often marginal in their importance. Regulators can sometimes be overzealous. Regulation can be expensive (a good friend of mine is pouring $20,000 and about four extra months into complying with some Roanoke regulations she sees as marginal at best), time consuming and nerve-fraying.

But in Japan this morning, a lot of people are thanking the Buddha for that country's strict building codes. The codes are credited for saving many, many lives after yesterday's powerful earthquake left us horrifying scenes of destruction. This morning's New York Times story detailing Japan's efforts at minimizing earthquake damage with its strict building codes is revealing. The codes are expensive and time consuming to comply with, but when you look at what has been salvaged in the center of such utter destruction, can there be a question about their worth?

(Image from chinasmack.com)

FOI Workshops Scheduled in Roanoke April 27

The Virginia Council of Governments has scheduled a Freedom of Information seminar at The Roanoke Times' Barton Morris Conference Room April 27 9:30-3:30. This one's perfect for bloggers, journalists and ordinary citizens who want to know what government's doing.

The first workshop, from 9:30 to 12:00, is a FOIA workshop geared primarily toward citizens, bloggers and journalists, but will also be helpful for government employees. You'll learn the basics of making FOIA requests and learn tips and strategies from citizens, reporters and government about the best way to get the information you're seeking.

The second, from 1-3:30, is a records-management seminar geared primarily toward government employees in charge of managing records and/or filling FOIA requests. You'll learn tips from fellow public servants about how to make your records more accessible, thus making it easier and less time consuming to fill FOIA requests.

The cost is $20 for single workshops and $35 for both. Register here.

'Car Talk' Hires Tech Animal Expert

Kieran Lindsey of Tech will be a regular on 'Car Talk.'^

Kieran Lindsey, who directs the Natural Resources Distance Learning Consortium for Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment, has that distinction these days. She’s the new voice for wildlife on NPR’s “Car Talk,” one of the network’s most popular shows.

She’ll address cars vs. animals when the questions come in (like how to store the monkey in your take, maybe?). She’s been at Tech since 2008, earning all her degrees (she has a PhD) from Texas A&M.

She has headed up a nonprofit wildlife center in Houston, and been host for a weekly radio program, “Wild Things Radio,” which aired on public radio in Albuquerque, N.M. In May, she will be a keynote speaker at the International Urban Wildlife Management Conference in Austin. A lot more people will know her by then.

Apples and Pears, Fat Asses and Heart Attacks

OK, Lardos, there's a new study out there that'll interest you. It's apples vs. pears and you don't get to eat either, though maybe you should have one of each today. 

The study is a close look at visceral fat that surrounds surrounds the the organs in the abdominal area and the subcutaneous fat found under the skin. The former is defined in apple shaped people, the latter in pear shapes. Women know all about this stuff. Men tend not to pay that much attention. Maybe they should.

The British study from Cambridge University looked at 220,000 fat asses in 58 studies over a decade and found that "having a higher waist-to-hip ratio was no better a predictor of heart disease and stroke risk than being generally overweight, as measured by body mass index."

Neither shape is healthy, but we're know from past studies that apples carry a risk of heart disease and pears tend toward osteoporosis, varicose veins and menopausal symptoms (the latter is mostly in women). Pear-shaped women and apple-shaped men have more risk for life threatening blood clots, according to the American Heart Association.

There is some contradiction, according to a study in Lancet, the British medical equivalent of JAMA. The study "found the risk of heart attack was not increased by fat being concentrated around the waist.

It contradicts previous work that found overweight people with 'apple shaped' bodies were three times as likely to suffer heart attacks than those with more generally distributed fat."

The British study notes that "around three-fifths of Type 2 diabetes [cases] and one-fifth of heart disease cases are attributable to excess body fat. Six cancers are also linked to obesity."

My guess is that the encouraging side here--and the one that doesn't contradict itself--is that celery-shaped men and women don't have much of any of those worries.

(Graphic from brainyweightloss.com)

Wasena Park Flood Reduction: It's Working

The new bridge at Vic Thomas Park has plenty of room.

Debris on new low-water bridge.

Water went over this bridge, as usual.

Water is high, but causing no damage.

Water is far from the greenway path.

Here are some photos, taken late this afternoon in Wasena Park, site of recent flood control efforts by Roanoke (working with the federal government). It's working. Quite well, thank you.

The rain of the last few days and the heavy squalls we had this afternoon would have flooded this entire area a year or two ago, but all the work that has been done to reduce the flooding has left the park with a high river that is causing little or no damage.

Kudos to the boys who did the work.

Public Broadcasting and Tax Dollars: Stop the Flow

Above is a poster from a conservative organization (with which I have no affiliation) opposing funding of public broadcasting.^

As a longtime supporter of and participant in public radio at the local level, I'm going to take a stand here that might, on the surface, sound counter-intuituve. I think it's time for NPR to tell the federal government to keep its subsidies.

Don't wait for the combative and cranky Republicans to trim the funds a little at a time, death by 1,000 cuts; just tell them to keep the money and put it into their overblown and most often undeserved pensions. Or maybe give it out in bonuses to their banker pals.

NPR is supported by local member stations' dues and grants. The locals pay handsomely for programming. The local stations are beneficiaries of state tax money, a lot of small contributions from listeners and from local business support (we dare not call it advertising). Donations are tax deductible, so there's a government contribution, regardless.

About two percent of NPR's budget is from the feds (268 affiliates--"member stations"--receive an average of about 10 percent of their budgets from the federal government; some rural stations get as much as 40 percent) and none of it comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which seems to be a constant target of Republicans. The CPB primarily takes care of local stations and PBS, the television component.

The Repubs accuse NPR (and Public Television, as well) of liberal bias in their news organizations and I'm not sure that's absolutely untrue. I do know that the most trusted news in America--according to poll after poll--is from NPR. And if you want bias, simply go to Fox on the right or MSNBC on the left and wallow in it. NPR will give you the news, untarnished and honest.

I am not comfortable with our government being involved in funding a news organization and never have been, regardless of how well that has worked in the past. I am not comfortable with corporations owning news organizations, either, but that's another seminar.

Republicans, under Bush The Lesser and Ken Tomlinson (head of CPB who eventually resigned in disgrace), nearly destroyed public broadcasting in America by attempting to change its structure with appointments who opposed the concept of public broadcasting.

They put on shows that made no sense and tried to subvert it at every turn. They were finally turned back, barbarians at the wall, as it were and some form of normalcy returned with the appointment of the capable Vivian Schiller. Schiller, who resigned today after a Republican-manufactured scandal, is credited with putting NPR on strong financial ground. She also beefed up the news organization to enviable levels.

Truth is that NPR is financially sound and that it likely doesn't need government funding. The same cannot be said for local affiliates. WVTF in Roanoke is an exception in that it is a strong station with an audience from Wise to Richmond to Charlottesville to Danville, a huge coverage area, and considerable support. It is the No. 1 station of any kind in Charlottesville. But some stations will fail without government money.

I'm afraid we'll just have to accept that. I hate for these smaller--and more rural--stations to disappear because they are probably the ones most needed, reflecting, as they do, their regional cultures and heritage so well and educating beyond what we realize. One of the benefits of this cut will come as these small stations start to die and their congressional representatives (many of them Repubs) have to explain it.

I am not nearly the devotee of PBS that I am of NPR, because the radio voice is unique. Public Television--as television and not counting its educational component in the community--is not dramatically different in content from much of commercial TV, except that its ads aren't as annoying (during pledge drives they are). And yes, both public radio and public TV have advertising. They just call it something else.

But let's stop the war with the Repubs and simply support the hell out of public broadcasting with our contributions and by turning it on, listening and taking part in every way we can. Most of the arts in this country has had to adjust to the reality that Republicans don't want to support them (the only First World country with an outlook so backward). Republicans will continue, however, to put millions of dollars into military bands (and military toilet lids at $10,000 each).

The difference is philosophical, political, sociological and a matter of taste. It is time public broadcasting took its name literally and went straight to the public for its money without involvement of Congress. That's an institution that becomes less relevant every day. Public broadcasting doesn't have to suffer that fate.

Studying The Taubman's New Rate Structure

When The Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke announced its new lower rates a couple of days ago, I took the blanket 30 percent reduction as gospel. You gotta study these things.

Under the old rate structure, I was considered a "senior" (60-plus) and got a discount off the laughable $10.50 general admission to $9. Under the new structure, I get in for $7, but I'm no longer a "senior." You gotta be 65 or older. Those lovely old souls get in for $6. Can't trust artsy dudes.

Anyhow, here's the rate structure old vs. new:

• General goes from $10.50 to $7
• Seniors drop from $9 to $6 (but a senior is 65 or older now, not 60)
• Students are $8.50. Apparently they paid full price before.
• Children 4-12 were $5.50; children 5-13 are now $3.75 and younger than 5, they're free (that was 4 before). Children ought to be charged triple, but that's just me.
• Groups of 10 or more get $2 off.
• Military is $6 (there is no discount for peacemakers or vegetarians).

(Get the cap at villagehatshop.com)

Having Pun With Funs

OK, so I fully understand that it is beneath our collective intellectual level to laugh at puns or—god forbid—repeat said puns. They represent the lowest form of humor (Shakespeare's dalliances with punnage notwithstanding) and they draw far more groans than laughs.

So, with that disclaimer, I send you to this Web site to feast on 25 truly awful puns that will have you rolling your eyes out of the back side of your head. (I will note that my friend Richard Rife sent these. I had nothing to do with it.)

Here you go (duck!):

• The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
• A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
• Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
• The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
• Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

That’s all you get without going to the site. Don’t go. Please, don’t go.

(Graphic from daintyballerina.blogspot.com)

Yet Another Scoop for My Pal Val

Court Rosen (right) shows off his plan.>

My admiration for Valerie Garner of the Roanoke Free Press continues to grow. Today she posted this information about Councilman Court Rosen's plan for Huff Lane School and my guess is that it is far, far more complete and insightful than anything you will get from the area's other media.

Val lives in the city and cares about what goes on here. That does not exclude her from reporting fairly and incisively on the activities of government. She's not a trained journalist and her writing is a real challenge, but Val is professional, thorough and accurate--and I trust her. That is a tribute to her consistency and to the fact that she cares a great deal about what she's doing.

I live about three blocks from Huff Lane School and have real concerns about how it might be developed and now I have some good information on which to judge what the city is proposing (I like Court Rosen's plan, frankly; he's a thoughtful kid and we're lucky to have him on council).

The Loss of Another Good Liberal Voice

Dan Radmacher (second from left in this photo of officers in 2010) was elected president of the National Council of Editorial Writers.^

With the announcement by the local daily that it's editorial page editor, Dan Radmacher, is leaving to take a job with a bunch West Virginia liberals who want to save some mountains, my guess is there's a muffled cheer among our conservative brethren. They have been frustrated by Dan over the years for much the same reason they disliked his predecessor, my friend Tommy Denton. He's waaaaay too literate, reasonable and honest.

The newspaper story, which is inexplicably under "Business" on the paper's all but impenetrable Web site (here), says Dan will be with the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment, under whose attention falls mountaintop removal. That is one of the most significant Us vs. Them issues in the liberal-conservative debate nationally. Dan's on the side of the guy who built the mountains in the first place. The coal barons and their personal Congressional representative Morgan Griffith sit on the polluting side, screaming "jobs," when they mean "money."

The most significant criticism I've heard of Dan over the years is one he shares with Tommy: they use big words when they write. Mark Twain once said, "The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."

Dan and Tommy, who worked the editorial department for 18 years between them, did their homework and wrote beautifully reasoned editorials in fluid prose. Good writing is a work of considerable craft, regardless of the side of the political spectrum the writer defends. Some of the best editorial writers ever have had views opposite mine and I appreciated their opinions for the same reasons I appreciated Dan's: they were reasonable, thoughtful, researched and based in something besides volume and personal assault.

Dan and I got into a spat over the value of journalism awards at one point and, even though one could have made the argument that I was diminishing an award he had just won (I most certainly wasn't), he never said that. His argument was solid, based in his philosophy ... and wrong. But, hey. We all get one of those occasionally.

Walter Rugaber, the much missed former publisher of the local daily here and a towering journalist in his own right, once said that if this region had a liberal bent, he would have searched out conservatives for the editorial department. He liked to keep things stirred up and Dan fit that mold nicely.

One of the nice little personal notes is that both Dan (who is 46 and has plenty of career left) and Tommy (who is retired, but not inactive) are courtly, gentlemanly, almost shy, kind and good men whom these local conservatives would love as next door neighbors if they knew them. And they can know them if they want. Dan, who was married in October, will continue to live in Roanoke and Tommy's not going anywhere, either.

Good for us to have men of such caliber among us.

Good Work, Salem City Council

I wanted to offer a belated "attaboy" to Salem City Council for showing a bit of the wisdom of Solomon in its recent chicken flap (I couldn't resist that). I wrote some unflattering words about council's lack of conflict on the issues recently. I see conflict as necessary in government and "being nice" as counterproductive to good government.

This time, though, that solidity helped avoid a truly stupid decision, one that would have made keeping chickens in the city limit illegal. This should not only be legal, it should be encouraged, as much as gardens should be encouraged for those who can have them.

My Raleigh Court neighbor Dewey Houck (the greatest neighbor anybody ever had) raises 11 little brown chickens and they have become a neighborhood delight. The children flock (pardon, again) to them and adults are introduced to an animal we may well have either forgotten or never got to know.

Chickens are friendly, social little animals who are curious and affectionate. Except for the roosters, which can be as noisy as a barking dog (now there's an issue, if you need an issue), they are generally quiet, clucking contentedly.

Chickens in their natural state are not white, wobbly-legged, dull-eyed with four-pound breasts. That is what we eat and it is a travesty that we would distort one of god's creatures for our own oversized bellies. Agribusiness chickens are kept in conditions that are best described as "inhuman," but that only begins to tell the story of how we have become insensitive to the world around us, considering only our needs and how best to meet them.

Salem Council's decision, whether or not it took into account any of these issues, avoided the prospect that this small town with rural roots would listen to one or two of its idiot citizens and do the very thing it should not do. Good work boys and girls.

WDBJ7's Keith Humphry To Retire in May

One of the region's more substantial news figures, Keith Humphry (right) of WDBJ7, will retire at the end of May, ending 31 years at the station. Humphry, whose run at WDBJ7 as a reporter and anchor began in 1980, will broadcast for the final time May 27.

Humphry, who is an award-winning journalist and a college instructor in journalism, may not disappear from the airwaves. News director Amy Morris said that Humphry has agreed to be involved in special projects for NEWS7.

He has anchored “NEWS7 at Six” for 31 years and has been involved as a reporter with a special interest in criminal cases. Humphry says, “WDBJ7 has let me follow any story wherever it led. No matter what the commercial impact or whose interest was at stake, if a story was worth telling, the company always backed me up.”

He has been the face of “NEWS7 at Six” longer than any other anchor. “Keith has set an example of great reporting for a couple of generations of young reporters,” observed WDBJ7 president and General Manager Jeffrey Marks. “NEWS7 is the solid news organization that it is in no small part because of Keith.”

From a personal standpoint, it is nice to see faces with a few lines and creases--veterans like those of Humphry, Joe Dashiel and Robin Reed--doing the news. The procession of hotties and studly do rights is tiresome in a business where integrity, skill and trust are of utmost importance. My belief is that Humphry, et al, have given WDBJ the stature in this market that has been dominant. We are, I think, more apt to believe these people because they've been around for a while and it's sad to see a good one go.

Childrens' Dinner Theater, a First

On Friday March 18 and Saturday, March 19 patrons can enjoy a pasta bar dinner and a show, "Tuck Everlasting." The buffet style Pasta Bar featuring alfredo, meat and vegetarian sauces also comes with salad, dessert and drinks.

"Tuck" is the story of family, friendship and the value of life.

Artistic Director Pat Wilhelms will be on hand to talk about some highlights and fun information about the play and interesting facts from behind the scenes. The buffet will be from 5:30-7:00pm. The hour long play begins at 7:00pm and Nora's will be open for one hour after the play to enjoy dessert and drinks as well.

Local Group Wins Top Awards at VA Film Fest

Jenna Swann and Tom Landon (right).>

"A Gift for the Village” was recently selected as the Best Documentary and won the People's Choice Award in the same category at the VA Indie Fest (formerly known as the Virginia Independent Film Festival. The festival was held at the Byrd Theater in Richmond and offered a series of screenings for films in the categories of Documentaries, Short Films and Features.

The film chronicles seven friends who traveled from this region to a village in western Nepal to deliver a painting by artist, Jane Lillian Vance, a Virginia Tech professor, about Tsampa, a Tibetan amchi-lama-doctor and mind-healer.

Vance is the first woman and first westerner to be granted permission by the Dalai Lama to create such a piece. The film's premier was held at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke in September of 2010.

Jenna Swann is a fifth-grade school teacher at Prices Forks Elementary and Tom Landon is a filmmaker and owner the of Lucky Dog Productions, who is a certified Social Studies teacher for grades 6-12.

The Bias Behind 'Bracketology'; A Study

“Bracketology” has become a modern art if not a modern science and a couple of assistant professors at Virginia Tech, whose basketball team is perennially “on the bubble” for the NCAA tournament (meaning it may or may not get in), have taken a scientific look at the numbers for past selections. What the numbers tell is that there is human bias, they say. Like so many academic studies, there's hardly a surprise here, since people do the picking.

Here’s a Tech press release explaining their findings:

By examining historical data, statisticians in the College of Science at Virginia Tech have quantified biases that play a role in granting Division I at-large basketball teams inclusion in the NCAA March Madness Tournament.

Assistant professors Leanna House and Scotland Leman (pictured above) found that in addition to the standard Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) used by the 10-member selection committee, biases such as the the team's marquee and the strength of its schedule are also factors.

“We wanted to quantify how much bias there is for bubble teams,” Leman says. So-named “bubble teams” are those that do not have an automatic bid but are still considered potential teams to be invited to the tournament. Usually bout 30 teams fall into this category.

One bias for bubble teams, House and Leman found, was consideration of the marquee (or pedigree) of the team. For instance, a team that historically has an outstanding record and is usually included in the tournament has that fact in its favor. “Having a rich history of a spot in the tournament will ‘break the tie,’” House says.

She and Leman found that inclusion probabilities were much higher for marquee teams. For example, in the 2009-10 season, the bias of not being a marquee team lowered Virginia Tech’s chances of receiving an at-large bid from 0.83 to 0.31. During the 1999-2000 season, the marquee bias increased the University of North Carolina’s chances from 0.32 to 0.85.

“UNC’s marquee status during that season had a substantial influence on the committee’s decision.” Leman says. “Of that, I'm sure."

The statisticians also explored the influence a team’s schedule has on its RPI in addition to its record. By using a hypothetical model Leman and House determined that the more powerhouse teams a bubble team plays in a season, regardless of whether they win or lose, will help them win a bid in the tournament. “Of course scheduling is a complex process and involves a lot of negotiation,” Leman says. “But in cases where a coach is able to select to play a powerful team or a smaller, less powerful team, it is better to pick the power team. The rule of thumb is: the more powerhouse teams, the better.”

At the beginning of each March Madness decision-making process, the selection committee is provided documentation that contains season statistics and the RPI for each team. Other measures of team strength are excluded. “The RPI accounts for known, quantitative biases in raw winning percentages that may impact their ratings, but it has been shown repeatedly that raw winning percentages per team are not adequate for ranking teams,” Leman says. “Tournament decisions made for teams with only moderately high RPIs (bubble teams),until now, were not clear.”

Leman and House say their research was motivated by a chance meeting with Virginia Tech head basketball coach Seth Greenberg in a restaurant in the spring of 2010. At that time, Virginia Tech had not won a bid for the tournament. Greenberg suggested that he would like to know how tournament decisions are made for at-large teams. The two statisticians, along with graduate assistants John Szarka and Hayley Nelson, stepped up to the challenge and have presented their conclusions just in time for this year’s March Madness to begin.

“We don’t want to create, improve, or validate a ranking system, House says. “Our goal was simply to evaluate how the selection committee has chosen teams for the tournament in the past.”

'Unknown' is a Fast-Paced, Solid Thriller

Director Jaume Collet-Serra's "Unknown" is an easy movie to overlook at a time when the Oscar contenders are all around, but it is a solid thriller, one that will leave you breathing hard and feeling challenged as the credits roll.

It is the story of a professor attending an important international conference in Berlin who becomes separated from his wife because of an auto accident, then finds he has lost his identity--and his wife--to another man. He is confused, angry and intent on getting to the bottom of what happened. And that's the rub. Nothing is as it seems and Liam Neeson's Dr. Martin Harris is left to put together an unlikely coalition of an illegal Bosnian immigrant, a former German secret service spy and a few other incidental people to sort it all out.

The supporting cast--particularly Frank Langella and Diane Kruger--is solid and the writing is fast-paced and intelligent.

It is playing at several theaters in the Roanoke area. (This movie is not to be confused with 2006's "Unknown" with Jim Caviezel.)

The New Economy: Good Jobs for Bad

Graphic from Sen. Al Franken's Web site.^

As the Koch Brothers and their toady-boy Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin attempt to strip any remaining voice from the American worker, there comes word that the job growth we've been experiencing nationally of late is a good bit more underwhelming than you might expect.

Richard Eskow tells you what you need to know about the Koch gang and its attempted takeover of the American workplace (and the huge government contracts it will reap in the process) here, but as important is that good jobs in our economy are being replaced by jobs that either don't pay a living wage or are barely there.

The National Employment Law Project tells us that jobs in high wage industries constitute 14 percent of growth and 40 percent of job loss; jobs in low-wage industries had a 23-percent loss rate and gained 49 percent. The middle lost 36 percent of its jobs and gained 37 percent back.

The housing and financial sectors lost the most jobs. Here's a look at the report.

And here's a final insult to injury caveat courtesy of my pal Bonnie Cranmer. Seems employers and recruiters in the U.S. want job applicants who have jobs, not those who are unemployed. How many ways can that be wrong?

The Words Just Won't Come

A few minutes ago I received a 564-word e-mail from one of my favorite writers explaining that her 600-word story, due a week ago, isn't finished. Just can't find the words, she says.

Sometimes editing is a real riot.

'Barney's Version' Thoroughly Entertaining

My suspicion is that it is a lot better for the moviegoer not to have read Mordecai Richler's 1997 novel Barney's Version if you're going to enjoy Michael Konyves' version on the silver screen. This was a deep, multi-layered novel covering 40 years of a complex man's life, crammed into 132 minutes and, frankly, I enjoyed every one of them. I didn't read the book.

Paul Giamatti, as Barney Panovsky, is, as always, just about perfect and he is ably supported by Dustin Hoffman as his beat cop, Jewish dad and three wives played in succession by Rachelle Lefevre, Minnie Driver and the lovely Rosamund Pike. You'll note that I say Ms. Pike is "the lovely," ignoring that description for Ms. Driver, whom I've been in love with for 15 years. Says something about Ms. Pike, I think.

Anyhow, it's a fun, involving, loving and touching movie that I truly liked and didn't expect. Nice treat for a pretty spring-like evening in mid-February.

Here's Why We All Adore Republicans

This is random, I know, but logging headlines in today's Huffington Post, then Googling "GOP Opposes" and "GOP Supports" resulted in the following:

• GOP Sends State Troopers After Dem Leader
• Planned Parenthood Funding Blocked In House Vote
• House Votes To Defund Health Reform
• House Blocks EPA From Regulating Greenhouse Gases
• Government Shutdown More Likely Than Not
• GOP Goes After Funding for Public Broadcasting
• Sarah Palin Goes After Michelle Obama Over Breastfeeding Initiative
• House Debates Blocking Funds for Reform
• Goodlatte Seeks To Block Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Funding
• GOP Opposes Vote Extending Middle Class Tax Cuts
• GOP Opposes Meatpacking Changes
• GOP Opposes Federal Fracking Regulations
• GOP Opposes DREAM Act (immigrant education bill)
• GOP Senators Oppose U.N. Children’s Rights Convention
• GOP Opposes Medical Funding for 9/11 Victims
• GOP Opposes U.S. Envoy to Damascas
• GOP Opposes Policies That Will Help Economy
• GOP Opposes Expanded Water Act
• GOP Opposes Extension of Unemployment Benefits
• GOP Supports Extending Tax Cuts for Wealthy
• GOP Supports States’ Rights
• GOP Supports Offshore Drilling
• Iowa GOP Supports Amendment To Strip Obama’s Nobel Prize
• Montana GOP Supports Police State
• GOP Supports Survival of Fittest

'That's the dress I wore to the prom ...'

Samantha Hawley, who plans to wed in June, tried on wedding dresses Feb. 12 at the Goodwill Industries retail store on Williamson Road and ran into quite a coincidence as she looked behind her. Deidra Stultz (in the blue dress) had left Northside High School's Saturday morning basketball practice to look for a prom dress and this one seemed to score. Samantha looked at Deidra as she was being photographed and said, with delight, "That's the dress I wore to the prom last year!" The bridal gown day was a special promotion at Goodwill.

River Laker: Funny Guy or Public Menace?

Here's River Laker in better times and clothed.^

River Laker's impromptu striptease (with a bicycle helmet covering his jewels) has caused something of a ruckus and brings to mind a simple question: What the hell did you people expect? This is River Laker. He does things like this all the time.

The defensive posturing by event sponsors and owners of 202 Market, where the stip occurred, would be laughable if not so pitiful. OK, so some minor ABC law might have been smudged, but this is River Laker. Riv is quoted in this a.m.'s daily paper as saying he likes to see how far he can push the envelope before the employment police terminate him.

Lighten up, people. River seems to be the only person involved in this who has the proper perspective: it was a joke. It was funny. So laugh and get on with what's next.

Bobby Pence Triology Begins To End Tonight (With Nudity)

The finale of Kenley Smith's Bobby Pence triology begins tonight at Studio Roanoke with "The New Testament" (the poster calls it "The Brand New Testament") and if you've seen the first two, this is a can't miss. And it has nekkid people in it. Briefly, it warns. Lots of cussing, too. And, my guess is, lots of Kenley Smith's memorable, fall down funny writing.

In the final episode, Bobby has become a "charismatic healer, lay preacher and budding Internet phenomenon" and all that raises questions in the mind of a young researcher looking for the truth. Kenley's understanding of Southerners and their love-hate relationship with religion has been spot-on in the two previous installments of the triology.

"The New Testament"follows predecessors "Devil Sedan" and "Twelve Stations of the Cross." Buy tickets online here for $15 or call 540-343-3054 and buy them for $20. Seniors and military personnel pay $12.

The play runs Feb. 9-20 at 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturdays with 2 p.m. matinees Saturday and Sunday.

How a Dope Gets Elected to Congress

If you've wondered how a plodding, slow-witted, dim bulb like Morgan Griffith defeated one of the most consistent, intelligent and honorable men in Congress during the last election, a story in the L.A. Times will give you a pretty good clue. Here it is. My pal Tom Barger sent me the link.

One point that the Times article doesn't make is that the Republican Supreme Court's decision on campaign finance (effectively saying a corporation or any other organized group is a "person" with full citizenship rights of free speech, which is patently absurd, but is the kind of logic you expect from this pack of ravenous Constitution shredders) enabled massive infusions of secret, outside money to be channeled to people like Griffith.

He's a man of such monumental lack of accomplishment and narrow intellectual scope that he has never wanted to operate in the open. He is a guy who doesn't like to speak publicly, debate or even be interviewed because he is so easily exposed as a doctrinaire fool. These are the people who are manipulated by the obscenely wealthy people like those in the Times story.

The Times article is scary on a lot of levels, not the least of which is watching people like Griffith replace capable, intelligent, accomplished legislators.