Peter Jennings reportedly near death

Mediabistro (from last night):

11:50pm: NewsBlues has posted a one-line item: "ABC alerts affiliates to prepare for death of Peter Jennings."TVNewser heard this several hours ago, but hesitated to post it. An ABC spokesperson denied that affiliates were being informed that Jennings' condition had worsened.

Update: 11:55pm: "May God bless Peter and give him and his family strength during these very tough times," a TVSpyer says.

My brother once bumped into Jennings at a New York gym several years ago and indicated that Jennings was profoundly indifferent about meeting his public. I think it's safe for me to say that of the Big Three Anchormen of his time, Jennings was my least favorite, but not for any good reason. He just seemed a bit more smug about his work than did Brokaw or Rather (though Rather grew quickly into the role in later years). I don't mean to speak ill of the almost-dead; it's JMO. Jennings was an extremely capable newsman and related the news -- and his own opinions -- with frankness and without rancor. He may have been the best journalist among the three men.

But I speak in this case in favor of something that I actually despise, and that is personality-driven newscasts. See FOX News, naturally, for the worst examples of this. CNN has desperately tried to follow suit, and made matters much worse by attempting to create personalities where none exist. It's possible that the two vacant chairs at CBS and shortly ABC will be filled by more than one person (and hopefully someone without testicles, but that's a post I'll save for later).

More so than the passing of the torch at the other two Alphabets, this transition will be more difficult for ABC simply because it didn't come as a result of someone's retirement. Disney is considerably more attuned to promoting their brands than either Viacom or GE, so I would look for World News Tonight to morph into something akin to ESPN's SportsCenter.

I'm not sure this is a good thing.

Then again, I'm not sure the networks give enough of a damn about news anyway.

Update (8/8) : R.I.P.

Texas blogs and bloggers

A summary of what's happening elsewhere online in Deep-In-The-Hearta:

-- the ownership change at Burnt Orange Report has not just made this long-time political blog better, but completely reinvigorated it. They have the most extensive interview I've seen online with Barbara Radnofsky.

-- at Corked Bats, Pragmaddict has some excerpts from Chris Bell's speech from the YDA convention in San Francisco, which include the following:

"Let's raise teacher pay, get out of the way, and let them teach."

"Tests don't make you smarter, just like rulers don't make you taller."

"Jesus didn't need a poll-tested focus group to kick the money-changers out of the temple, and David didn't need third-party surrogates to take down Goliath."

"How can we call ourselves progressive if we fail to offer progress?"

-- and there are two new team members at HouDem; Bucky Rea, who has a pretty good blog himself, and Hale Stewart, who has been writing at Kos on economic and public policy matters for awhile.

And all of these people take it offline too, which is to say that they attend candidate functions and DFA Meetups and organize precincts and a lot more. So we're not just banging on keyboards but banging on doors.

Together with the events conceived and sponsored by the two most prominent bloggers in my neck of the woods, I feel pretty encouraged during this hot, slow time in the political season about the prospects for an infusion of purple into the Lone Star.

I'm a big fan

of "Operation Yellow Elelphant", the satire conceived by the General to encourage Young Republicans to enlist.

Maybe he can work on those DLC keyboard warriors also.

"We've asked Mr. Novak to take some time off"

"Verily I sell unto you"

Is God becoming a business partner on Main Street, or are some savvy entrepreneurs just making hay on the pretense?

... There are now Christian real estate agencies, cellular and long-distance services, financial planners, computer repair guys, furniture stores, bed-and breakfast associations, diets, yoga and karate instructors, and goat breeders. These companies -- in contrast to religious bookstores, for example -- do earthly things in, they say, a Christian way.

Unlike Curves, Domino's or Coors, for example, which have been criticized for tithing their earnings to archconservative causes -- and unlike the Chick-fil-A fast-food chain, closed on Sundays because of its founder's religious beliefs -- these Christian companies link their work directly and overtly to their missions. ("Christian," in these cases, is generally taken to mean "born again," in which the business owner has a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ" that guarantees eternal life, and the responsibility to offer others the same opportunity.) The mission statement of Houston-based auto-repair franchiser Christian Brothers Automotive ("Christian" as in Christian, not a surname), for instance, reads: "To glorify God by providing ethical and excellent automotive repair service for our customers, according to Colossians 3:17, 'And whatever you do in word and deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.'"

* * *

"I got saved at an Amway meeting, so the marketplace is where I invite Christ into my life," says Chuck Ripka, 46, co-founder of Riverview Community Bank in Otsego, Minn. ("We invited Jesus to be the CEO of our bank," he says, attributing the bank's "supernatural" growth -- from $5.5 million in start-up capital to $103 million in 27 months -- to divine intervention.) While the bank's name may sound generic (and the company Web site is "God"-free), the Ten Commandments banner in the foyer, the "God Bless You" sign at the tellers station, and the painting in the CEO's office of two businessmen shaking hands with Jesus, might tip customers off. "God has allowed us to be who we are: We're Christians and we're bankers, and we're allowed to mix the two. To me, it's seamless. We're a bank first, but in the midst of it all, when customers express their own needs, I am able to pray along with them," says Ripka, who customarily asks God's blessing for reporters at the end of interviews. ...

"When someone asks, 'Who's your long-distance carrier?' it's a way for me to have a foot in the door to share the message of Christ," says Chandler, who also works as a sales agent for Blessed Hope Communications. Ripka of Riverview Community Bank says he has had 105 people "invite Christ into their lives" on bank premises. (He also claims over 70 faith healings.)

I will read and respond to, with much greater than the usual interest, your comments.

Back to Ohio (and then Tennessee)

Paul Hackett nearly pulled it off yesterday.

No, he didn't get elected to Congress. But he did collect 48.2 % of the vote in a southwestern Ohio district in which the previous four Democratic congressional candidates had garnered half that amount. The GOP spent five hundred thousand bucks and dialed every single Republican household in the district with George Bush's pre-recorded pleading to hold onto a district that has been safe for them for the past ten years.

Texas bloggers raised $2100 for the Hackett campaign. Thanks to everyone who dug deep.

On the other side of the Buckeye State, twenty reservists from the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Corps, have been killed in the last two days. The emotions in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park are raw from the news.

Next week I'll be in Cincinnatti for some business and some vacation, and hopefully we'll get to meet some Ohioans whom we've only known previously online. We'll chat and chew over the news above, probably talk about the Coingate scandal enveloping the Republican state leaders, and I'll try to glean some insight about what these things may mean for the possibility of Ohio going blue in 2006 (and 08), and if any of that wisdom can be migrated to Texas.

Before I head north, I'll be in Austin for the steering committee meeting of the Van Os for Attorney General campaign (check out the newly designed website). I'll blog about that next week from Cincy, along with our visit to the Underground Railroad Museum, the Harriet Beecher Stowe home, and the Reds-Giants baseball game we'll get to see from one of the suites at Great American Ballpark.

But this weekend you need to tune in to Justice Sunday II, starring our very own Tom DeLay. Bill Frist was uninvited, despite the event being held in his home state of Tennessee, apparently because he dared to learn that stem cell research is actually good science. Some details about the other speakers can be found here and here.

Update: At DriveDemocracy.org, Trevor wonders if the believers on the Right are concerned that DeLay grants special favors to Saipan, where officials forced "pregnant garment workers...to have abortions to keep their jobs". And the real imponderable is how a man nicknamed 'The Hammer' became a hero to the people who worship Jesus, who was nailed to a cross ...