Here we are, well into 2014 and the Democrats barely even have any candidates named for office.  That’s no surprise, considering the destruction their party has wrought on a national level.  Anyone with a “D” next to their name is likely to get a well deserved, good old-fashioned hinder-spanking.  What they are doing, however, is getting their tinfoil-hat brigade into full swing in letter-writing mode, hitting the “Letter to the Editor” pages as frequently as they can.

I’ve written my share of letters to the editor of our local newspaper as well, and I think it’s a great means of citizen activism.  What I am pointing out in this article is the orchestrated wave of motivated foot soldiers, belching Democrat Party talking points to the printed page in increasing volume.

I’ve noticed it lately because I check the Tribune’s Letters to the Editor page regularly.  I’ve mentioned before that their Comments sections (when they had them) were where one could go to kill a few brain cells.  But these are actual letters submitted to the paper, verified by the editor, and signed with people’s real names.  But who are these people, and why should you pay attention what they’ve written?

In the case of the Bismarck Tribune, you only have to do one additional click to get some background on a letter writer before you lend credence to what they have to say:

Take this cookie-cutter screed from Henry Lebak (to whom I’ve retorted on the Tribune’s Letter to the Editor page) going after Margaret Sitte.  This is the only race I can think in which the Democrats actually want to compete, so here comes the attack.  Well, simply click on good ol’ Henry’s name in the blue byline text, and you’ll come up with this list of what he’s written in the past:

Mister Lebak’s been busy.  He’s got a litany of “Republicans bad, Democrats good” type stuff in his repertoire. Fine…that’s his right.  But my point is that this isn’t just some regular guy who finally got so fed up with Senator Sitte or the Republicans that he had to finally write a letter and air his grievances.  No, this is a semi-pro.

There are other leftists, such as the one shown in the top image, who have an even longer list of vitriol than Henry does.  I don’t have to accuse Mr. Lebak or others of being shills for the Democrat Party, and it doesn’t matter if they are.  They’re activists, as evidenced by the volume of their writing, and it all reads like Democrat Party fundraising letters and talking points memos.

I’ve got few letters to the editor on the Tribune’s site, too…but I’ve got a website on which I’ve boldly declared where I stand on matters of faith and politics.  You may agree with me, you may not.  But if you still don’t know who I am, clicking on my byline will also bring up my list of rants and give you a good picture of who this crazy right-winger extremist zealot is.  Do your research.

This is especially important right now because, as I have pointed out above, agents of the left are already busy pecking away at their keyboards (with the W’s still removed, no doubt) and flooding newspaper editors’ inboxes all over North Dakota.  Take the time for one extra click, see what else they’ve written, and if you get a list as long as the guys above you can be sure you’re dealing with an activist.

Posting has been a little light (okay, I haven’t posted at all) in the past week because of a big live production event I needed to prepare for and execute. In times like that I usually resort to simply posting snippets on this blog’s Facebook page or Twitter feed.

First, some random thoughts on the whole debacle:

– If you screw up at any job you’re likely to be reprimanded. If you screw up really big at any job you can expect dismissal. Dropping the F-bomb in your first sentence on the air is a big screw-up. Period.

– People who I know who know AJ Clemente say he’s a nice guy, a good kid and taking it all humbly. Good deal, I wish him the best. I hope he learns this valuable lesson and cleans up his language off camera, like I had to do back when I was in broadcasting. Thankfully I was in the control room instead of on the set, or I may have had a similar incident before I straightened out.

– It looked like there were a few audio and communication problems. For instance, the music cut out during the headlines. There may have been something amiss. Even so, when you’re in a TV studio at 5:59pm, you ought to assume that your microphone will be open without warning.

– It looked like AJ said “gay” at first. If you keep watching though, it appears that he’s trying to pronounce the name of the London Marathon winner, Tsegaye Kebede. If you had to figure out the pronunciation of that name for your broadcast debut, you’d be flustered too. Of course, that stuff should be figured out before the newscast starts. The sad thing is, people of a certain ideological persuasion won’t have any problem with the F-word or S-word, but will be “offended” by the perceived use of “gay” in a bad context. Sad.

– Before I became a Christian, which would be during my long stretch at KFYR-TV, I was well versed in the use of the F-word and other profanity…so I’m not acting high & mighty. I’m speaking from experience: if you don’t talk like that in your daily conversation, you won’t blurt it out on the air. In fact, I bet AJ would not have said it if Monica Hannan or other KFYR-TV management was sitting in the studio to observe. But when your guard is let down, and your mouth is trained to spout profanity, bad things can happen.

– It’s totally ironic that the TODAY Show led off with the story Monday morning, and KFYR had to carry it. I am told that AJ will be making some TV appearances this week, including on LIVE! with Kelly and Michael, another show carried on KFYR. Awkward.

– Letterman’s Top Ten List was pretty funny, though. Thankfully it’s available online so I don’t have to suffer through what his show has become to catch the list.

– By the way, there are plenty of broadcasters from my time who I never heard utter a profanity – even off camera. You’d recognize them because they have had long, respectable careers in North Dakota broadcasting and in many cases are still on the air. As you can imagine, it’s easy to have additional respect for those people because of their behavior.

– By the way, when I worked at KFYR-TV it was expected that all employees, not just on-air personalities, conduct themselves in a way that reflects the station in a professional manner. That included off the job. When you deal in a product and brand so publicly seen, that’s the nature of the business. Every move you make is viewed by thousands of eyes, everybody deals with your business on a frequent basis, and you represent that. My view on it is that if you don’t like the scrutiny, perhaps broadcasting isn’t the job for you.

– There have been well-known broadcasters terminated because of what they did in their private lives, because it reflects on their employer. Again, that’s the nature of the business.

– I’m dismayed at all the people who think AJ was treated unfairly. This is going to be day four of KFYR-TV being dragged through national news because of this incident. If you did something to put your employer in this kind of national spotlight, do you think you’d still have a job?

– This brings up the larger issue: profanity should not be an accepted part of public discourse. It’s called profanity because it is profane. The fact that so many people think it isn’t is a sure sign that things are heading in the wrong direction in our culture, even here in good ol’ North Dakota.

– This event was preceded by baseball player David Ortiz yelling, “This is our f***ing city!” at a baseball game when talking about the Boston Marathon Islamic terrorist attack. People cheered this deplorable outburst, and the FCC said it wouldn’t fine anybody. Why? Has this language suddenly become acceptable?

– One interesting tidbit is all the Generation-Y types who say, “Come on, KFYR – your page has had more Facebook likes than ever because of this!” as if that’s a meaningful metric of anything. Only in the self-absorbed world of the modern social media junkie, perhaps.

So, once again, I hope AJ can recover from this and hopefully make some vocabulary adjustments. It’s too bad to have a simple rookie mistake take on such magnitude. Maybe this notoriety will help him get back on his feet and get a second chance. I sure hope so, and wish him the best. I still think KFYR-TV did the right thing, and will be seen as an establishment which does not condone profanity – a position which I think reflects the majority of North Dakotans.

According to this interview on comingsoon.net, the screenplay for TDKR was begun right after the previous Dark Knight movie hit the screens. A distinct allusion to Charles’ Dickens work “A Tale of Two Cities” was present from the get-go.

As luck would have it, or by coincidence if you aren’t a detective, I recently began re-reading the Dickens work with fervor. I’ve been taking my time to really get into the characters and the setting of revolution-era France, and I have found it profoundly more stirring than in times past. Because of my newfound intimacy with this story I was easily able to see its influence on TDKR, particularly with regard to Gotham City…or what Bane, the villain, causes it to become.

I would love to outline a few of the direct comparisons between the two, but I can’t risk letting any spoilers fly. All I have to say is that reading A Tale of Two Cities, no small task at that, prior to watching Dark Knight Rises will give you a better feel for the film and the blight that strikes Gotham City. I’ll leave it at that.

By the way, what happens to “the rich” is not glorified in this movie, as much as the American left loves to champion disdain for successful people under the leadership of the modern Democrat party and the current occupant of the White House. Believe me, if there was such a slant in this movie I’d perceive it. I did not. With so much liberal activism in Hollywood these days, it’s not out of line for us to expect it, but you have nothing to worry about here. Enjoy the show.