A long time ago in a metropolis far far away....

I was a reporter.  And during my time as a reporter (1986/87) I saw the local (Las Vegas) television news covering one high speed chase.  There were other high speed chases but none that ever drew media attention.  This one did because it went on for over an hour.  The TV news people didn't have news helicopters in those days, so they were chasing the police chasing the driver.  We sat in the radio station waiting for the chase to end.  When it did, I drove there and had the story on the air before television.  Such is the immediacy of radio news.

So why do local news stations here in L.A. obsess about these chases?  Because they are visual?  Because they fill up news time and don't require much work except to pay the pilot and cameraman, and of course purchase aviation fuel?  If someone knows why they do this, please share that information.

Other things I'm pondering on this Thursday morning:

Why is it that the mainstream media insists on labelling those who entered this country illegally as "undocumented", rather than "illegal immigrants"?  If I were to be out driving on the public highways without the required driver license (yes, there's no "s" after driver, check the DMV website if you don't believe me), would I then be an undocumented driver?  If I were to sneak aboard an aircraft without buying the required ticket, would I be a stowaway or would undocumented passenger be more appropriate?  If I get cash from an ATM without authorization and therefore don't have a receipt, am I an undocumented withdrawer?  If someone doesn't file their tax return, are they an undocumented taxpayer?  The law is the law.  If you break a law, it's an illegal act.  It may not be serious.  If you park at a meter and the time expires and you get a ticket, you weren't an undocumented parker.  You were parked illegally.  You'll pay a fine and that's the end of it.  Why is it that the violators of every other law in this nation aren't given the same treatment as illegals are in labelling them as "undocumented"?  Because of political correctness.  There needs to be a solution to the problem of illegal immigrants and it probably involves some form of amnesty.  But the answer is not pretending there isn't a problem and calling them undocumented as though that makes their illegal entry into the nation any less wrong.

On a related note, there's no problem with a private foundation giving $1 million to UC Berkley to fund scholarships for illegal immigrants.  If that's how they want to spend their money, more power to them.  If the current administration in Washington, D.C. won't enforce immigration law, there's nothing to be done.

Why do people who make things up not keep better track of their stories?  I heard one of the residents tell a story about something and there were five people present (the number is important to the story).  Five minutes later as she was finishing the story she suddenly altered the number to six.  But the extra person didn't fit into the original storyline.  I suspect she was lying.  Maybe she just has a bad memory.

I wonder when it is 12/12/3012, the human condition will have changed so much that some couples that marry on that day will be around 100 years later to celebrate their...whatever a 100 year anniversary would be.  Platinum?  Uranium?

No, no walk this morning.  Last night really wore me out and I have to go back tonight.  Plus I have errands to run a little later this morning.  I actually got up this morning, sat at the keyboard and worked on this for fifteen minutes and then just went back to bed.  Not a good omen as pushing myself a bit just exhausted me.

We all know that Yahoo's news and sports departments suck.  They suck badly.  But this is just beyond belief.  This is the last line of an article that apparently no one has edited.

"A New Year's Eve game often draws a modest crowd simply because ticket holders are out of to"

Was there some reason the "w" and the "n" couldn't be typed in?  Was the writer over his letter allotment for the story?  Or are ticket holders really "out of to" on New Year's Eve?

How cool is T. Boone Pickens?  With all of his perceived flaws by his detractors, he's a generous guy.  The above story with the big gaffe in it was about his decision to buy the last 4,000 tickets for the OSU home game that night against Gonzaga and have OSU distributed them free to students on a first-come, first-served basis.

Is it okay for Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni to tell L.A. Times columnist T.J. Simers that he was "starting to piss me off"?  Simers pissed me off for years before I stopped reading his columns.  But I'm not a pro coach who needs to be at least civil to the media that cover his team.  I think he overreacted.

This Date in History:

On this date in 1577, Sir Francis Drake sets sails from Plymouth on his round-the-world voyage.
On this date in 1636, the Massachussetts Bay Colony organizes militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians.  This is recognized as the founding of the National Guard in the U.S.
On this date in 1642, Abel Tasman reaches New Zealand.  And yes, he was honored by having the Tasmanian Devil named after him
On this date in 1809, Dr. Ephraim McDowell performed the first ever ovariotomy, removing a 22 pound tumor.
On this date in 1939, Nanjing fell to the Japanese Imperial Army, starting the Nanjing Massacre. 
On this date in 1941, Hungary and Romania declared war on the United States.
On this date in 1960, Emperor Haile Selassie I is visiting Brazil and his Imperial Bodyguard seize the capital and proclaim him deposed.
On this date in 1972, the final "moonwalk" took place, as astronauts from Apollo 17 did their final EVA.
On this date in 1988, Yasser Arafat gave a speech to the U.N. General Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, after the U.S. refused him entry to speak at the U.N. in New York City.
And on this date in 2003, Saddam Hussein is captured.