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Direct TV vs. Viacom

July 13th, 2012

Well, here we are again. It was only a couple of summers ago that I was writing about the standoff between cable company Suddenlink, and media giant Viacom. Well, the boys who brought you the annoying,walking and talking sponge are at it again. As I understand it, Viacom is demanding a thirty percent rate increase from Direct TV, for the privilege of providing its list of cable channels like MTV, Nick and Nick Jr., TV Land and quite a few others; this despite sinking ratings.

The Satellite provider has refused the higher rates and has stopped broadcasting the extra networks until such a time as a deal can be struck, but its not going well. Neither side is willing to budge. Now I am not necessarily an opponent of big companies. The person or group who provides goods and services has the perfect right to ask what they want for those goods and services. I’m fine with media, cable and satellite providers making money.

A rising tide lifts all boats. I get it. But I’m increasingly opposed to what I see as Viacom’s shakedowns of every cable and satellite company who carries their channels. The fact is the network giant does the same thing to the carriers as they do to us. They sell their networks in packages, forcing them to pay for unpopular, low rated channels and programming in order to obtain programs that actually sell. Thus, we as customers can’t pick and choose our own lineups.

Now I should say that this is all perfectly legal, however, I read a few different articles in order to better understand the issue, and numerous authors cite the probability that the loss of channels will drive more customers to the likes of Netflix or Hulu where they can not only pick their networks but their individual programs. I’m certainly no expert on how these markets operate, but it seems to me that Viacom is working hard to get as much milk as possible from a dying cash cow, before she finally expires. The company would do better (in my humble opinion) to find a way to give as much choice to the consumer as possible before they go somewhere else entirely.

Persecution of Christians is on the Rise Again

January 18th, 2011

There has been an increase in violence against Christians in Middle Eastern and African countries Like Egypt and Iraq in the last few weeks. It’s interesting that there is very little government concern in those predominately Muslim nations about the “rising tide of Christian-phobia” sweeping the region! In fact authorities in these countries are very hesitant to act in protection of their Christian minorities because they fear popular reaction and that of the religious leaders and clerics.

What we in the west fail to grasp is that in the Islamic world, the separation of church and state simply doesn’t exist. Iraq for example is a theocratic state. To choose another faith, especially Christianity, is not only a religious statement but a statement of political dissent. To attack a Christian, in many Muslim societies, is an attack on the western society. Americans are constantly citing the separation of church and state (usually incorrectly I might add) but to many in countries like Iraq and Iran this distinction simply does not exist. We are all from Christian cultures, therefore we are all Christians.

Western governments have been slow to bring political pressure as well. Strange, given that when a nutty and generally misguided pastor of a tiny Florida church threatened to burn the Koran, all political hell broke loose. Calls came in from far and wide urging the man to release his leather bound hostages and restore world peace. Look I don’t like book burning in any form but how does the empty threat to burn a few texts compare to blowing up a crowd of human beings leaving a church after mass? The loudest protests to this point have come from Italy (Rome) of course, who plans to work to reduce aid to offending nations from the EU and the UN. Pope Benedict has also called on eastern governments to protect their Christian citizens.

Now I will of course offer the standard disclaimer that I’m not talking about all Muslims. Ironically I doubt that as a Christian I would receive the same courtesy in the Muslim world. The fact is, outside the context of Europe and North America, where political correctness reigns, there is an actual religious cleansing going on. But it’s not likely to become a cause celeb given the fact that the victims are Christians. Christianity is of course the only religion / culture that modern political correctness allows us mock, ridicule and generally persecute.

Tyler Public Library

December 3rd, 2009

Tyler Public Library

Tyler Public Library

Our family loves books. In fact, in ten years of marriage, we have moved 6 times. Every move whether before children or after all four kids had come with all of their accessories, the thing that still took up 40% of our moving boxes was books.

So, in an effort to curb the rising tide of literary treasures and still satisfy our need for new reading experiences, I decided it was time to visit the library where we could fill our basket with golden nuggets, read to our hearts content, and return the next week to say goodbye to the adventures of the week before, and start the whole treasure hunt again.

My first visit to the Tyler Public Library was disappointing. Not only did I receive wan looks from staff and patrons upon my arrival with baby in stroller and two well-behaved younguns in tow, I found it impossible find a quiet nook to read aloud the one adventure my daughter just couldn’t wait until we got home to hear. I felt myself glancing around to see who was irritated by our low whispers, and shuttling them about trying to find a section of mother-approved, age appropriate books. Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of selection at the Tyler Public Library, but it’s harder to find the best of the best in between the Disney movie regurgitations, and the 49th Golden book that should never have been written, as well as some very obscure out-of-print books which are out of print because…? Yes, well you get my point.

I had such fond memories of going to the Library as a child back home in Minnesota, that I quickly decided my deep disappointment was getting harder to mask, and I didn’t want this place to mar my children’s enthusiasm for going to the library. While I simply wanted to make a hasty exit and pretend I hadn’t just talked up the glory of the Library to such false extremes, I thought I must at least make good on my promise of exciting new books to read. I hurried my two girls along to pick a book apiece and then up to the front to check out and get a Tyler library card.

After glancing at my driver’s license, the lady at the counter looked down her nose and declared, “Oh, you don’t live inside city limits,” as though we were illegal aliens attempting to get food stamps. She went on to describe in a most patronizing tone that we could purchase a punch card for five or ten dollars or spend $25 on a six-month membership (I wanted to yell, “NO Way, Jose!” but restrained myself). After a glance at the $5 punch card and some quick mental calculating, I realized that it was good for ten books. $.50 a book meant that every time we came, I’d have to restrict my indiscriminate young girls to one or two books every time while I myself frantically combed through the rubble to find a few gems. At this point I was just ready to get out of this place, and maybe try to redeem the whole library experience with a quick run through the McDonald’s drive through. Consolation fries for everyone.

Now I recognize that if you do live inside the city limits, you don’t have a passel of kids, and you don’t mind reading rehashed Disney stories to your princess, the Tyler Public Library has a lot to offer: read aloud story time, book clubs, and special events to encourage literacy. But I have to confess…I’ve got a punch card with 8 book rentals left on it, and it’s up for grabs because I’m not going back.

West Loop Development in Tyler

November 24th, 2009

Da Hippie
Update: The shopping complex in Tyler TX that houses such places as Da Hippie and DragonBytes has gone through a massive renovation since this article. Bravo! (said in a snobby accent) The new commercial facility renovation looks great!

Over the past few years, I have been excited to watch the economic growth and expansion occurring in West Tyler. The west loop has seen numerous decayed and crime ridden businesses closed and the real estate sold to make room for legitimate, contributing entrepreneurs. We’ve seen the likes of Wingstop, Subway, Walgreens, Starbucks, Papa Murphy’s, and numerous others, set up shop along the west loop and sixty four. Even the west loop Wal-Mart, as messy and sometimes run-down as it is, has brought with it quite a bit of development since its arrival around five years ago. It all goes to validate the maxim that a rising tide lifts all boats, something most of our current political leaders have either forgotten, or chosen to ignore. The expansion also proves that a great way to foster healthy communities is to allow healthy individuals and businesses to succeed. Give people the opportunity to buy up infected areas and they will purge the corrupted property and bring in new dollars.

With this principle in mind, I must express a certain amount of disappointment that up until this point, the West Loop and thirty one has been largely left out of the recent renaissance. I’ve long been embarrassed by the look and content of thirty one west. It has been Tyler’s ugly back door for quite sometime. It has been, and remains my hope that the development of the Cascades and the new Airport will help buoy property values and bring improvements to this ugly highway.

When the developers do decide to take the plunge and move towards Chandler, I would like to suggest a few eyesores I eagerly await seeing bulldozed completely. I do not even care whether or not they are replaced with more reputable establishments… Well that’s not true, I do hope for improvements. However a pile of rubble is preferable to these businesses (and I use the term loosely). The originally named “Sports Club,”(once named the Unicorn Club), as well as close neighbors “Da Hippy” (I can barely contain my contempt as I type this), the “Dragon’s Byte,” (their spelling not mine) and the nondescript corner gas station, have long been a breeding ground for drug use, crime, third rate tattoo artists, and general filth. The real estate is located at the corner of thirty one and Greenbriar, where a healthier more upstanding business could potentially make a successful go of it. As developments like the Cascades expand toward highway thirty one, properties like the ones I mentioned could be a source of prosperity for some entrepreneurial risk taker. The day “Da Hippy” is bulldozed I’ll be there with popcorn to watch.