Rant #537: Slow Day

Yes, it's another slow day as far as news is concerned.

The heat is picking up in the Northeast, and I am sure that no matter where you are in the U.S., you are looking forward to July 4 and the long weekend that accompanies that holiday.

I know that I am.

And on Sunday, as I have for the past few months, I will be recording--and watching later--the morning fare on something called Antenna TV.

Antenna TV was created by WGN, and it is parceled out to its Tribune Broadcast Company affiliates, including WPIX in New York. It is one of those stations that exists near where you get your regular channels, in that area in between the regular channels in our HDTV universe.

For me, I get it because I have Verizon FiOS.

The idea for such a channel--one that shows only reruns of classic and many forgotten TV shows and movies--began when a few years ago on Saturday nights, WGN showed a block of oldies programming, mainly former CBS shows like "The Bob Newhart Show." The two-hour broadcast of these shows received good ratings, so the thought was, why not create an entire network around these shows?

And with the burgeoning HDTV boom, there was finally room for such a niche station.

It took some time, but Antenna TV sprung up a few months ago. Sure, it shows the same stuff you can get on TV Land like "All in the Family" and "Sanford and Son," but on Sunday mornings into early afternoon, it really shines.

This is the time when it dredges from TV heaven a number of shows that haven't been seen on TV in years. Such shows as "Circus Boy" (with the adolescent future Monkee Micky Dolenz, known then as Micky Braddock); "Rin Tin Tin," "Here Comes the Brides" (with Bobby Sherman and David Soul), "Gidget" and the "Flying Nun" (Sally Field's stepping stones to stardom) are shown.

Later in the day, "The Monkees" and the horrid "The Partridge Family" are shown.

Yes, the shows are heavily edited, and often roughly cut. "Rin Tin Tin," a guilty pleasure from my childhood, is really ripped to shreds, with obvious editing, dubbed-in speech at times, and new, tacked on background music and end credits, but at least it is being shown again.

And the Sunday programming doesn't trump the weekly and Saturday programming, where they show many classic favorites like the aforementioned "All in the Family" and "Sanford and Son," as well as "Good Times" and "Maude" (with the ever luscious Adrienne Barbeau).

And on Saturday, they have major blocks of cartoons, many of which haven't been shown on TV in decades.

You can't get Antenna TV everywhere; check your local cable and satellite listings to see if it is running in your area.

If you are not attached to satellite or cable, you should be able to get it if it runs in your area just after its affiliate. In other words, in New York, Antenna TV can be found at 11.4, or just right after WPIX at Channel 11.

I hope you can get it, because it makes Sunday--and during the week and Saturday--much more fun, especially during the summer months.

Visit its homepage at http://www.antennatv.tv/ to find out more about this channel.

Rant #536: Brady Bed Bugs

Yes, it is the middle of summer, and yes, it appears, at least right now, to be a very slow news day.

Not much to talk about ...

Unless you are Florence Henderson, erstwhile actress who will forever be known as the mother of the Brady brood on "The Brady Bunch" TV show.

In order to sell her memoir, "Life Is Not a Stage," Henderson reveals that she had an affair in the late 1960s with then-New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay and subsequently picked up a sexually transmitted disease from him.

According to Henderson, she was cheating on her husband, and got cozy with Lindsay, who was cheating on his wife.

They did what they did, and after the brief affair, Henderson said she was shocked to wake up with "little black things" crawling over her bed and body.

What she had was pubic lice, also known as the crabs.

I guess this affair has given new meaning to the term "Fun City," as New York City was known by then, before it became "The Big Apple."

In the book, Henderson denies an affair with Brady Bunch co-star Barry Williams. She said something to the affect that she knew he had a crush on her, but it was never acted upon.

Henderson, now 77, also talks about her abusive childhood--doesn't it seem every actor grew up in an abusive household?--and the ups and downs of her long career.

Back to Lindsay: he can't defend himself, since he died several years ago, so I guess Henderson can say whatever she wants to say, without any retribution.

Lindsay was the mayor of New York City during its "Mod" era, when unions were set to strike at a moment's notice, and the city literally was on the precipice of disaster. It never reached that point, but the policies set in place by his administration led to New York City's failures into the 1970s and beyond.

He was a good looking guy, but he was a horrid mayor, although he was quite popular with the populace, and evidently with the ladies too.

Rant #535: "Amos 'N Andy" Anniversary

Sixty years ago today, in 1951, a TV show debuted that would rankle many people to this day.

Today, the TV version of the successful “Amos ‘N Andy” radio show debuted on CBS.

“Amos ‘N Andy” had been a sensation on radio, portraying various stereotypical black characters in ways that made audiences gravitate to them. They were lazy and shifty, slow and surly, and awful funny.

And they were portrayed on radio by white men.

But you couldn’t get away with that on television, so black actors were the stars of the show. In fact, “Amos ‘N Andy” was the very first network TV show to feature an all black cast.

Although that was the case, the show was chastised by many for its racial stereotyping. It only lasted a few years on the air, and then faded off into TV heaven, although it was rerun into the mid 1960s, as I remember watching the show as a kid.

Several prominent blacks raked the show over the coals, especially as the civil rights movement heated up.

But others took a more levelheaded approach to the program. The late Flip Wilson once said something to the effect that yes, the program displayed blacks in a less than stellar manner, but the show should not be forgotten or banned or not shown, because it shows how far blacks had come, as well as how far they had to go.

And things have come pretty far. We have a black man leading this country as its President and commander in chief, and blacks have made inroads in just about every area, from politics to private business.

But how does “Amos ‘N Andy” figure in this movement? To some, they would say the show probably had no influence at all, as it showed racial stereotyping at its lowest level. To others, the show was a stepping stone to something better, the bridge to “Julia” and then to “The Jeffersons” and later to “The Cosby Show” and later, even to “Oprah.”

It took man millions of years to evolve, and it took decades for network TV to make blacks as ubiquitous as whites in its programming.

Whether “Amos ‘N Andy” was part of that TV evolution is up to your individual tastes. But as a kid, I found it to be a very funny program, and I doubt I even realized the stereotyping that was prevalent on this show.

So I vote with Flip Wilson; let’s not forget the show, let’s watch it and study it on DVD as an artifact of a time that was long ago, but not so long ago that it should be totally forgotten or dismissed.

Rant #534: Take Me Out To the ... Museum

My family and I, and my son's friend, went to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees take on the Rockies this past Saturday.

The Yankees won the game 8-3. The game was basically over in the first inning, when the Yankees scored two runs. The Rockies' runs were tagged on during the last two innings, and the way C.C. Sabbathia was pitching, they were lucky they got anything that day.

And it was a giveaway day. We received Yankees lunch boxes, probably big enough to put a sandwich in and that's it.

And no, you can't get your $10 beers into that lunch box.

That aside, our seats, in the upper deck, were about the worst I have ever had. They were in section 414, I believe, right on the aisle, which was good for my legs and feet, but not so good for my sight line.

There was a railing right in front of me that was in my sight line for home plate, and you can see it in the photos on the bottom left. I tried my best to not include it in the photos, but I failed miserably.

Also, this was a busy area, as people kept on coming up and down, with food, having to go the bathroom, with kids, etc. I couldn't get a clear view of a lot of what was going on because people were in the way.

That being said, the Yankees won the game, and that was fine with me.

Prior to the game, we finally got to the Yankees Museum, which is right in the new stadium.

Although it isn't very big, it stores a wealth of memories and memorabilia from this storied team.

You can see old uniforms, balls signed by every player ever to suit up for the Yankees, and Thurman Munson's old locker, which has been preserved since he died in a plane crash years ago.

And you are allowed to take photos of anything you want, as long as you don't use a flash.

I tried to get as many photos as I could, and a sample of them are here.

Back to the game ... the last photo is one of my lucky ones, showing Mark Texeira hitting a home run in the eighth inning.

Usually, I try to take my pitcher/batter photos just as the pitcher goes into the end of his windup. I usually wind up with nothing much, but this time, you can actually see Texeira rocketing the ball into the stands.

What a lot of luck from my crappy seat!

Getting home was, as usual, a mini-nightmare. We proceeded correctly, but we tried to get onto the Major Deegan South, I believe, and they blocked the entrance.

Rather than sit in a line of cars that must have stretched into New England, we saw a sign for the Whitestone Bridge--now known as the RFK Bridge--and took that into Queens and then into Long Island and home.

It took us a little more than 90 minutes, and that is better than I expected, especially since we couldn't get onto the highway that we needed.

And that is the final Yankee game we go to this year.

It is very, very expensive, and I would rather watch the games from home.

We'll go next year, but it is getting increasingly difficult to do so.

But it is fun. And I guess that's really all that counts, isn't it (as I count my lack of money in my wallet)?

Rant #533: What Can You Say?

Beyond water balloons, another story on Long Island has made national news this week.

The terrible tragedy at the Medford drug store, where four people were shot dead as a druggie rifled through the contents of the store looking for hydrocodone, has once again put the spotlight on the abuse of prescription drugs.

The alleged gunman, David Laffer, and his wife and accomplice and fellow drug abuser, Melinda, will probably get the book thrown at them when they go to trial in the coming weeks and months.

Their spiral into the abyss of drug abuse was quick. Laffer, a military veteran, and his future wife seemed to be the perfect couple. He proposed to her during a sporting event on the big screen, and they appeared to be hard-working people who would one day raise a family and fade into the framework of suburban living.

But the two had a secret that they shared, and it was drug abuse. Various aches and pains led the two to doctors who prescribed them prescription drugs, which they became hooked on.

Their moods changed, and their faces showed the hallow effects of such drugs on their systems.

When Laffer recently lost his job, that appeared to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

He entered the pharmacy on Father's Day as it opened, allegedly shot two workers--one just 17 years old--and then shot two patrons. He then allegedly stole more than 10,000 hydrocodone pills. Hydrocodone is s synthetic opiate used in Vicodin.

His wife, waiting for him in the getaway car, whisked away, and they went home, and reports are they then tended to their lawn. They were picked up and charged over the past few days, Laffer with first-degree murder and his wife with third-degree robbery.

Honestly, I don't know what more can be said about this horrible incident. If found guilty--and the wife has already said that they did these cruel deeds--they will spend many, many years in prison, and that is if they are lucky.

I am not sure of the current status of the death penalty in New York State, but if it is in force, then Laffer might be facing execution for these deeds if found guilty.

I personally can't think of a better case to employ the death penalty, and I am sure there will be people lined up to pull the plug on this individual.

Heck, I can't think of one compelling reason to keep him alive if he is found guilty of these heinous crimes.

But that aside, what happened to these seemingly normal people that led them to such a desperate act?

Drugs are a scourge of society. I don't care if you are talking about marijuana, heroin, or prescription pill abuse, they are all in the same boat.

They make people do things that are irrational--and yes, pot does too. They are completely unnecessary, but the demand continues to be huge for these poisons.

And it isn't just lower class people who are using these things. You see people from all social strata getting hooked on this garbage, and you see its use often glorified by Hollywood. How many recent movies show people smoking pot, as if it were akin to drinking a glass of water?

And I do not profess to know what the solution is.

The only solution lies with the individual. People should learn to say no, and if they don't say no, understand the consequences that entails using this stuff, and yes, even pot.

When you don't have all your faculties, you can't think straight, and to get hooked on these things damages your mind and your ability to make the right decision.

I was lucky. Yes, I grew up in a culture of drugs, but I never took anything, never.

I had one bone-chilling episode which illustrated very clearly to me that I should never do this stuff, even the milder stuff.

In about 1970 or so, I was helping my friend deliver newspapers in the afternoon in Rochdale Village.

We used the stairways to move about, as it was easier than using the elevators when delivering the papers.

We walked in one stairway, not knowing that two guys were shooting up drugs right there.

And yes, they were doing heroin, I am pretty sure of it. They had the needles, and their arms were propped up as if they were giving themselves shots.

We saw them too late, and they saw us.

We stopped dead in our tracks.

One guy said to us as he was shooting this crap into his arm, "Just move on. Don't look back."

We stepped over the two guys, and went on our way.

I will never forget that incident, and it always came into my brain when I was in a situation where drugs were being used.

No, that stuff was not for me.

Maybe people need to see such bone-chilling incidents to set their minds in the right direction.

I just don't know.

But the abuse of prescription drugs is another thing altogether. These drugs were generally designed with "good" in mind, designed to help people battle through pain or sickness or just uncomfortableness.

But they are addictive. When I was in the hospital for as mild an operation as a removal of my gall bladder, I was offered a prescription for pills. I was lucky, I never had a reason to use them, but I will tell you, I don't think I would have anyway.

Those pills are powerful, more powerful then we realize. And when not used properly, they are very addictive.

Going back to the incident in question, I don't really know what our society can do to prevent such a thing from happening again.

I just think it is up to the individual to make a choice--and hopefully the right choice--when it comes to using these things.

They are available, are controlled substances, but obviously, people can get them if they need to.

It shouldn't be so easy, but it is, and this incident proves that people are so hooked on this garbage that they will do anything to get them.

Anything. Even murder.

Rant #532: Ban Stays

As a short followup to yesterday's story, the East Rockaway, New York, students who were banned from their prom and graduation ceremonies due to their participation in a water balloon fight are still banned.

School district officials heard what the participants, and their parents, had to say about the ban, but they ultimately decided that since warnings were sent out in writing about the consequences of engaging in this activity, they kept the ban in place.

Each of the participants' situations were looked at on an individual basis, and the ban was kept intact. It is not known how many of the 50 students who participated in this fight are part of the ban.

As I wrote yesterday, one of my sources said that some of the balloons were not only filled with water, but might have been filled with urine and Nair. Nair uses various chemical compounds to aid hair removal, including calcium hydroxide, also known as lime. This can be an irritant if it gets in someone's eyes or mouth.

This is completely unsubstantiated, but if it is true, it adds to the mess.

Kids had to dodge the balloons on a traffic-filled street, and administrators and a crossing guard were also pelted.

Bravo to the school administration on this one. They did their due diligence--they reviewed each case individually--and they stood their ground.

It is not as if the kids didn't know not to participate in this action. Notices were sent out on two occasions, and parents and kids should have realized that the ramifications to this action were great.

I love how the parents are protecting their wonderful children on this one. Obviously, they didn't do a real good job, because they lost their case.

Now, the parents have a chance to explain to their kids that because of their stupid actions, they robbed them of the feeling of accomplishment that goes with going to a graduation and seeing your child receive their diploma.

I had that feeling last year when my daughter graduated college. It is a good feeling, one that these parents, because of their own stupidity and the stupidity of their children, might never experience.

The prom is one thing--not everyone goes to the prom--but to miss out on graduation, well that is a shame.

I also heard from my source that this is a school district that will back its students to the highest degree, but when the district gets backed into a corner, like they did in this incident, they understandably have zero tolerance.

No, these kids aren't angels by any stretch of the imagination, and yes, they deserve their punishment.

The saddest part of this is that the school is teaching these kids what is right and what is wrong, instead of their parents.

Yes, that is the saddest thing about this incident, not that the kids lost their graduation, but that the schools have become the parents, because the parents have failed.

How sad.

Rant #531: Water Balloons Bursting In Air

You might have heard about this story. It has made national news.

A group of East Rockaway, Long Island, High School students are being banned from their prom and graduation ceremony because they participated in a water balloon fight just off of school grounds.

About 50 students participated in the fight, which is supposedly an annual "rite of passage" at the school. Never before has the school taken action against fight participants.

However, this time, the fight kind of got out of hand. Not only were participants pelted with water balloons, but reportedly so were two high school administrators, a crossing guard, and several students who were not participating in the fight.

The school claims that the participants were causing traffic and safety problems, and were told to stop or they would face disciplinary action.

The decided to go on with the fight.

The parents of the participants have appealed to the school, and administrators are deciding whether they should go on with the ban or not.

The prom and graduation are big events for high school seniors. These kids worked hard to get to this point, and after a dozen years in the system (plus kindergarten), they are being banned from these big events in their lives due to one blemish.

But on the other hand, the fight evidently did get out of hand, and people not even participating were getting pelted on a busy street. When the crossing guard gets hit, you know the thing got out of hand. And the kids were told to stop, or else.

Let me tell you a story. I was substitute teaching in a middle-class district on Long Island. I was standing in for a well-regarded veteran teacher, and I had to sub for his five classes one late May day.

I didn't have many problems until I got to one class, filled with graduating seniors. The teacher gave me one thing to do with the kids. It would have taken 15 minutes to complete.

The problem was that that day, the seniors got their yearbooks. I recognized that, and I said that if they just did this one thing that the teacher left for them, they would have the rest of the 45-minute period to have their yearbooks signed. Heck, I told them that I would even sign the yearbook if they wanted me to.

Well, after about five minutes of pleading, the kids finally got what I was saying and decided that they would do what I was asking.

Except for one kid.

He verbally abused me, using every curse his 18 year old mind knew, he threatened me, and he was a nuisance.

After a warning and continued taunts, I yanked away his yearbook from him, and placed it in a drawer in the teacher's desk, As many of you know, once you close the top drawer of a teacher's desk, the other drawers automatically lock. So I had the yearbook in the drawer, locked away, and I said that I would give it back to him after the lesson.

And I fully intended to do this.

The kid went ballistic, to a degree I have never seen. His adrenalin must have kicked in on high, because he rushed at me, still yelling and screaming, and threatened me with bodily harm. About five boys tried to grab him, and he knocked all of them down with one fell swoop. And these boys who tried to restrain him were not small.

He then went to his seat, which was in the front row. If you recall, in high school, the chair is attached to the desk.

He proceeded to pick it up, and throw it at me.

Yes, throw it at me, a chair and desk that probably weighed 50 lbs. or more.

It went over my head, hit the blackboard, and bounced harmlessly away.

As I was in shock, he ran out of the classroom.

He brought back a teacher who was on hall duty, and the teacher was defending him, believe it or not. I threw both the kid and the teacher out of the room, and somehow proceeded with the lesson.

And yes, as promised the kids got their time with their yearbooks.

(By the way, the class I was teaching was Religion. I kid you not.)

I reported the kid, and the school said they would take care of him.

And take care of him they did.

I mean, I could have been hurt or worse, and since they don't care about subs, what would have happened if the projectile hit one of the other kids? I don't even want to think about it.

And when I say take care of him, they did.

I asked that he be suspended from graduation and the prom.

They suspended him for one day. In late June. And that was it.

So when I heard about the incident at East Rockaway High School, I originally thought that maybe the punishment was too harsh.

But then I remembered my experience, and I quickly changed my mind.

The punishment not only isn't too harsh, it is too lenient.

These kids should not only be banned from the prom and graduation, they probably should have to do some community service work too. And they should have had to clean up the grounds that they soiled with their water balloons.

What would have happened if they injured someone while doing this? What would have happened if someone got in a car accident because of this?

The school probably would have been sued, that's what.

As the parent of a 15 year old and a 23 year old, I think we have to be a bit strict with these kids, because the consequences of their actions could have been much worse.

Schools have to send out a message to kids--and their parents--that this type of behavior will not be tolerated, because it only takes one time for something really, really bad to happen.

(And no, I don't want these kids punished in retaliation for the kid in my incident getting a slap on the wrist, if that is what you are thinking.)

Throw the book at them. Let them learn that there is a right way to handle yourself and a wrong way to handle yourself.

And they handled themselves in a very wrong way during this incident.