The Trayvon Martin Case, Part III

People are funny, especially those on the internet, especially nitwit helicopter pilots in south Louisiana with internet access: That's always a dangerous thing.

My latest post on the Trayvon Martin shooting elicted two comments, ostensibly from two different anonymous responders, but really from just one. Look, if you don't have the balls to leave your name when you make comments, that's fine. Be ball-less, I don't care.

This particular ball-less commentator took me to task for my last post (the one about that USA TODAY reporter), incorrectly assuming that I've taken sides in the Trayvon Martin shooting.

"Anonymous Nitwit #2" wrote:
A black reporter tries to slant an article in favor of black guy. A white guy comes down on the side side of the guy who killed him. What a f****** surprise!

Okay, you anonymous nitwit, I haven’t come down on either side in this case. I just think that “the media”…ALL of the media aren't being objective, not just one USA TODAY reporter. Oh, and she didn't "try" to slant the story, she DID. Even though the correct information is out, Whatserface Alcindor *still* misrepresents certain things to make Zimmerman look bad and Martin look completely innocent. I find this aggravating and insulting.

"Anonymous Nitwit #1" says, “A guy was shot and killed. Has it occured to you that maybe we should try and figure out what the hell happened?”

“We?” What, you got a mouse in your pocket? WE should try to find out what happened? How the hell would *I* know what happened, much less *you*? Maybe "we" should rely on the media for our “facts?” Well they have so far not proven themselves to be reliable in that regard.

Stuff just doesn't add up. It seems to me that the story that Martin had just nipped out to the corner store for a box of Skittles and a bottle of ice tea is weak. There are no neighborhood stores nearby. So that does matter. What *was* he doing out at that hour?

Witnesses reported that during the altercation, it was Zimmerman who was on the ground underneath Martin as they fought. Zimmerman had injuries consistent with being in a fight. Martin had no such injuries (save for a bullet hole). I know one thing: Nobody...NOBODY is going to get into a fistfight with a guy holding a gun. I don't think that even Trayvon Martin was that stupid. This means that Zimmerman pulled his gun after he and Martin went to the ground.

And remember, Zimmerman was just doing his job as Neighborhood Watch guy. He was legally authorized to carry his gun, and he might well have been within the bounds of his job in stopping Martin and asking what he was up to. But we don’t know that, do we? Everyone just assumes that Zimmerman was some racist gun-nut out to kill a black guy that night.

People die…get killed…every day in this country. But the media has focused on this Trayvon Martin case like a laser. Yet the story has not been reported accurately; they’ve gotten a lot of it wrong. They’ve jumped to conclusions that aren’t necessarily logical, reporting things as "facts" that may or may not be. Why, just the other day I even heard a reporter on NPR state, “…and the police told Zimmerman to stop following Martin.” That has been repeated so often now that people just assume it is true. And it reinforces in people's minds that Zimmerman was on the hunt!

Personally, I don’t know whether Zimmerman is guilty or not…or even what he might be guilty of. We are all, in theory, innocent until PROVEN guilty. I honestly have not made up my mind. But I do know that he’s not getting a fair deal here. What's troubling is that so few people seem to care

More Commercial Fun

Let's have some fun.

You know how much I love a good TV commercial - it's an art form I really appreciate. I am even more greatly impressed when good/clever commercials are combined with really good music. Sometimes though, the producers get a little too clever for their own good: The music dominates and I don't even remember what the commercial was about. Like that Saab commercial from some years ago that used Donovan's "Catch The Wind."

Such is the case with our first example, a commercial for a company called Trex that apparently makes outdoor decking - although it's a little hard to tell.



Wait...what was this for? The first time I saw this awesome commercial I was literally gobsmacked (a phrase my friend Hal Johnson dislikes). But I was. The music and images are so cool- I stared at the screen transfixed. I completely missed the "Trex" logos, which only show twice (and only briefly). The song is timeless. Is it new? It took a bit of internet searching before I found that it's a Mel Torme song from 1962...Mel friggin' Torme! Are you kidding me? Nice going, Trex! It works. (Oh and by the way, I'm pleased that Trex did not take the obvious route and go with a song from the '70s band, T Rex. That would have been too easy. And wrong.)

Then there is Chevy's commercial for their Sonic model. This spot first appeared during the 2011 Super Bowl. The commercial has the Sonic doing some...odd...things for a car: Skydiving; bungee jumping; and doing a "kickflip" (which where a skateboarder jumps up with his board and flips it underneath him). What's hilarious about this commercial is that the captions note things like "Sonic's first skydive," etc. Umm, first skydive?? First kickflip?? As if they anticipate some else skydiving their Sonic? (Oh, and I love the Chevy emblem on the bottom of the car which is visible only when the Sonic is upside down.)



The song used as a soundtrack in the Sonic commercial is called "We Are Young" by he band Fun. At the time of the Super Bowl, the song was just a cut on an album of an unknown band. It is just now, three months later in heavy rotation on Alternative Music radio stations.

But the absolute best commercial I've seen recently is for the new Ford Mustang. The premise of the spot is that we all have parts of ourselves that the Mustang would bring out: Your "inner Mustang" according to Ford. It's a really clever commercial. The car prowls around town interacting with certain people who view it and then transforming itself. Watch!



There are so many things I love about this spot. First and foremost is the Mustang itself! I haven't really been fond of the "re-imagined" musclecars that have come out lately (e.g. Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger), but the Mustang (which never left) kicks ass! What a good-looking car! The commercial shows it from its best angles. And in that commercial I especially like how the sequential turn signals are timed to the beat of the music - you barely notice unless you're looking for it. And that music! The song is called "How It Starts" from an album released last year by a band called The Features. And it fits the spot perfectly. (Watch at the end for the reflection of the little girl in the pink ballerina outfit in the Mustang's windows. I love it!)

Hands down, the commercial for the 2013 Mustang may be the best commercial of the year. But I'll tell ya, that Chevy Sonic commercial and the one for Trex decking are right up there. If only ALL television commercials were as good as these three.

More On Trayvon Martin Reporting

You would think that by now the media would at least have their story straight on the Trayvon Martin shooting. Nope! An April 14th article in USA TODAY shows that the media have their own narrative about what happened that night and by God they’re sticking to it!

Here’s what USA Today’s Yamiche Alcindor wrote in today's article:

Trayvon, 17, was shot and killed on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., as he was returning to a gated community after buying candy at a nearby store. The gunman, George Zimmerman, whose father is white and mother is Hispanic, now faces a charge of second-degree murder.

I have already shown using Google Maps and Bing that there are no convenience stores “nearby”…none within two miles of where Trayvon was shot. It was raining that night. Are we to assume that Trayvon walked a total of four miles in the rain just to buy a box of Skittles? Come on.

Secondly, what the hell does the ethnicity of Zimmerman's parents have to do with anything??

Blacks have already made up their mind about this case. They're making a big deal of the fact that Zimmerman is "white" and Martin is black. Well, from the tone of this USA TODAY article, can we assume (would it be racist of me?) that Yamiche Alcindor is black…and therefore prejudiced against Zimmerman? Some objective reporter! Nah, that would be unfair of me!

More from the article:

Trayvon was "profiled" by Zimmerman, who "falsely assumed (Trayvon) was going to commit a crime" as the teen was trying to get back to the home of his father's girlfriend, according to public filings by Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey. The documents portray Zimmerman as the aggressor throughout the incident, remarking to police at one point that people like Trayvon were "punks" causing trouble in his neighborhood.

Alcindor does not make it clear that the statements are from the special prosecutor’s charges and are not yet established as fact. (Trying the case in the media, Ms. Corey?) We do not know that Zimmerman “falsely assumed” that Trayvon was going to commit a crime. Perhaps Martin was going to commit a crime. We have no idea what Martin was doing out at that hour. Zimmerman may have assumed that Martin was going to commit a crime, but we don't know that it was a false assumption.

Alcindor goes on:

After spotting Trayvon, Zimmerman called 911, got out of his vehicle, and followed the teen. Zimmerman then "disregarded the police dispatcher" and chased Trayvon as he was trying to return home, the records say.

Oh dear Lord, here we go again. First of all, if you listen to the 911 call Zimmerman made to the police, at no time does it appear that he was chasing Martin down. Following him, yes. But then Zimmerman comments that Martin is coming toward him. Also, as I've previously pointed out, the police dispatcher did *not* tell Zimmerman to stop following Martin. All the dispatcher said was, “Okay, we don’t need you to do that.” Zimmerman was not working for the Sanford P.D. and therefore would not have had to comply with any instructions. A dispatcher saying, “We don’t need you to do that” to a neighborhood watch guy is NOT the same as ordering him to stand down.

We should be able to trust the media. We want to be able to trust the media. But in the Trayvon Martin case “the media” has shown us just how biased and untrustworthy they are. Everyone assumes that they “know” what went down that night. And in reality none of us do. You can make up your own mind. Me, I’m going to wait for the trial.

Oh, and just so you know? In the interest of full disclosure, I found a picture of ace reporter Yamiche Alcindor! Here ya go!


What a fucking surprise.

The Trayvon Martin Shooting Circus

Heh. So the news media are falling all over themselves so badly to get any angle on the shooting of Trayvon Martin that they are making fools of themselves.

First, NBC edited George Zimmerman’s 911 call to the police to make Zimmerman appear more racist. When called on it, NBC News went, "Oopsie!" and is now doing an “internal investigation” to see…oh dear!...how on earth that could have happened.

Yeah. Right.

Then ABC News originally aired some video showing Zimmerman being brought to the police station in Sanford, Florida. From that raw video, ABC News concluded…concluded! that Zimmerman was uninjured and that his story must therefore be bogus. Solved that case!

But then…

Someone at ABC must’ve thought better of it. Someone must’ve said, “Hey, you pinheads, surveillance camera video isn’t all that good. And aren’t we supposed to report the news…ohhhhh, what’s the word…ACCURATELY???” Whoever it was had the News Division see if they could clarify that video. Which they did. And guess what? Now ABC News is saying that, well…ahem…err, yes it does appear that Zimmerman has injuries to the back of his head consistent with his statement to the police.

What?! Why I oughtta…

Which leads me to ask: Why didn’t ABC News have the video enhanced BEFORE airing it? Or why didn't they simply wait until the police made public the results of Zimmerman’s medical examination after they got him to the station? Oh, right, ABC News was conducting ITS OWN “investigation.” Such bullshit.

Of course, no apology for their previous reporting was issued. Haven’t heard a peep from NBC either, the miserable bastards.

You know, I go on and on about Fox News and how horrible it is. But I am equally aware that the mainstream media also sucks. It’s appalling. The coverage of this shooting has been horrible. It’s a damn circus, is what it is. And it shows just how dangerous the “free press” has become: You cannot trust it. George Zimmerman doesn’t need a fair trial; he’s already had his trial in the media!

Since everyone and his brother are weighing-in on this, here’s my guess as to what will happen from here: Zimmerman was legally able to carry his gun that night. His description of the altercation with Trayvon Martin will be allowed to stand since the boy cannot testify in his own behalf. Injuries to Zimmerman’s head will back up his story, as will witness statements. Zimmerman will probably not be charged. A Grand Jury will conclude that there’s probably not enough evidence to convict him in a trial. This will lead to more furor and spluttering outrage from the black community. Hey, who was it that sang, “You can’t always get what you want.” Well keep singing it, baby!

Oh yeah, and did you hear that the New Black Panthers have put a $10,000 “bounty” on Zimmerman’s head? Oh yes! Read about it HERE. Of course, they only mean a $10,000 reward for Zimmerman’s (cough-cough) “capture” – as if he were fleeing from the law. Which he isn't. But we all know what would happen if a group of angry black men came face to face with George Zimmerman, don’t we?

Race relations in the U.S. have been set back twenty-five…maybe fifty years. There may yet be more blood in the streets.

What a country!

UPDATE! April 3, 2012: Today, NBC News apologized for their "error" in editing of the tape. Read the report HERE.

The Neighborhood Watch Guy

Call me crazy, but I thought that in this country you were presumed innocent until proven guilty? Apparently that is not the case with this George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch guy who shot Trayvon Martin, President Obama’s-son-if-Obama-had-a-son. The reporting of and reaction to this event is literally insane.

No matter who you talk to, no matter which newspaper you read or news report you hear/see, Zimmerman is presumed to be guilty of cold-blooded murder. The narrative is that Zimmerman hunted down Martin and killed him for wearing a hoodie while the boy was innocently walking home from a convenience store armed with a bottle of ice tea and a box of Skittles.

Me, I’ve got questions and plenty of them. Me, I’d like to hear the whole story before we string Zimmerman up. But here’s the deal: Only two people know exactly what went down that night and one of them is dead. So that’s a problem.

First of all, plug these coordinates into your favorite online map program: 28.792165, -81.331422. They will bring you to the Retreat View subdivision in Sanford, Florida. If you zoom in and look around, you’ll see car dealers, a school and a bank, but no convenience stores anywhere. So where was Martin coming from?

I’ve heard it reported that Zimmerman was “ordered” by the police to not follow Martin during Zimmerman’s call to 911 (which you can listen to HERE). Really? Not quite. The 911 Dispatcher asked Zimmerman if he was following the guy. When the reply was yes, the dispatcher in fact said, “Okay, we don’t need you to be doing that.”

So now my questions are: 1) Is the 911 Dispatcher a cop with authority to tell someone what or what not to do? 2) And what does the phrase, “We don’t need you to be doing that,” mean? Semantics, yes, but in my mind (and evidently in Zimmerman’s), the message is not so clear. To me it sounds more like advice, not an order. And let’s remember, it was Zimmerman who called 911 requesting police to respond in the first place.

People jump to some funny conclusions. It is generally assumed that Martin was hunted and gunned down by a lunatic, racist neighborhood watch guy. But one report I read said that the fatal gunshot wound was administered at extremely close range. Add to that the witness statements that both of them were on the ground with Zimmerman on the bottom. I am left wondering just what exactly was going on there? Zimmerman may well have been the aggressor, but what was Martin’s reaction? Perhaps Zimmerman really did fear for his life.

Which is probably why the police, who were on the scene fairly quickly did not immediately arrest Zimmerman, which ignited the public outcry and subsequent national furor. And now, more than a month after the event, even with all the protests and inquiries into the case by everyone up to and including President Obama and (of course!) Geraldo Rivera, Zimmerman still has not been arrested and charged. Oh, but he will be! Ironically, I think it will be nearly impossible for him to get a fair trial, if and when it comes to that.

And we do want Zimmerman to get a fair trial, don’t we? Well don’t we? The problem is, many people apparently don’t. It strikes me as doubly-ironic that guys like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are leading the lynch mob out to get Zimmerman. And you know what? That is a sad commentary on 2012 America.

Business Aviation

A while back, the heads of the “big three” U.S. automakers were vilified for flying to Washington D.C. in their corporate jets to ask for money from the government. Some said it was a huge and unnecessary waste of money. Small jets were portrayed as extravagant…frivolous toys for the rich and famous. It made all of corporate aviation look bad.

The other day my boss embarked on a trip in his business jet. Although I am not rated to fly it, I was invited to ride along. Three of us (plus the two pilots) left Brewton, Alabama early, headed for an airport in South Carolina where the boss had a site to visit. Distance flown was 390 miles which is a little under an hour in our jet. We cruised at 33,000 feet doing 435 knots which is right at 500 mph. Not the fastest jet in the sky, but even so that’s moving along right smartly.

After a couple of hours on the ground in South Carolina, we left with an additional passenger for Knoxville, Tennessee where we picked up one more person. This leg was 188 miles and it took us just under a half-hour. From there we went down to Lafayette, Louisiana where my boss had another site to visit. We covered the 600 miles in just under an hour-and-a-half.

By 3:00 we were in the air again, headed to Tunica, Mississippi for a mobile home manufacturer’s convention. The 330 mile flight took us 45 minutes.

The boss spent the next morning at the convention, did his business and we were airborne and headed for home by 1:00 p.m. He was in the office by 2:00. The schedule simply could not have been accomplished using the airlines. Many of the airports we used do not even have airline service. Not only that, the boss was able to conduct business in the jet between stops; hence the term “business jet,” which ours is.

Not every business aircraft is a jet. The aircraft used are as varied as the needs of the particular companies that own them. For instance, one company at our home field uses a single-engine Cessna 210 for their business; it suits them well for now. A company that sells flowers to big stores like Walmart and Home Depot uses a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron (as well as a Cessna Citation jet). The ubiquitous twin-turboprop Beech King Air that we operated for a time may be the most popular business aircraft of all time. My own boss also has our helicopter which he considers invaluable.

Some people hire pilots to fly them around. Others fly the plane themselves, like the attorney I know who commutes from Pensacola to Mobile, Alabama every workday in his own four-seat Mooney 231.

General Aviation (i.e. everything that is not the airlines) is often misunderstood by people. They do not see the value in using an aircraft for business purposes. But an aircraft is an incredible tool that lets smart businessmen use their time efficiently and get more things done than would otherwise be possible. We proved that this week. It was fun for me to be a part of it.

A Little Rock n Roll History

Two things got me thinking about the music of the 1960s: the recent death of Davy Jones of the Monkees; and a conversation with my brother Bill when I was up in New York a couple of months ago. So I punched up YouTube and started noodling. I’ll tell ya, YouTube can be addicting, especially if you like watching music videos as much as I do. There's a treasure trove!

Okay, look at this guy…

Cute kid, no? You probably don't recognize him; cute kids were a dime a dozen in rock bands back in the '60s. But this one's name is Stevie Wright and he was the lead singer of a band called The Easybeats. He could have - and should have been the Justin Bieber of his day. The Easybeats were pretty popular overseas (Australia, where they were from, and the UK), but as fate would have it they had only one big hit here in the States in 1966. It was an incredible anthem called, “Friday On My Mind.” Wright was seventeen. Below is a video in which they’re performing the song live. It's 2:45 of musical heaven.

It’s an awesome pop song, and it’s nice to see how accurately they reproduced the way it sounded on the record. What’s surprising about the video is the young Stevie’s manic dancing; he was getting down! And yet he still managed to belt out the song without the benefit of lip-synching or employing the dreaded AutoTune. It's fun watching him - he's clearly having fun despite having performed the song perhaps a bazillion times by then.

Had they stayed together, The Easybeats could have been huge. But they broke up in 1969. Stevie Wright went solo. Unfortunately, by 1973 he was giving in to the allure of drugs and alcohol, which probably short-stopped his career. By 1976 he was in rehab. In an effort to get clean, he hooked up with a quack who may or may not have been a psychiatrist by the name of Dr. Harry Bailey who used a controversial combination of deliberately-induced comas and electroshock therapy to help his patients. Often this “treatment” did more harm than good, and Stevie (among others) suffered permanent brain damage from it. Some died. While being investigated about the deaths of 85 of his patients, "Dr." Bailey committed suicide.

Fortunately, Stevie Wright is still with us...damaged. It is sad to see what has become of him. The best we can say is, "At least he's alive..."

Also in the Easybeats were two guys who would go on to become extremely noteworthy behind the scenes in the music industry: Harry Vanda and George Young. Young was from a musical family. His two younger brothers, Malcolm and Angus were in a band that in 1973 became AC/DC, which you've heard of, I'm sure. Vanda and Young have produced many of their records.

Vanda and Young were not only producers but also recording artists in their own right. In the late 1970s they formed a group called Flash and the Pan. They weren't what you'd call insanely popular here in the U.S., but in 1977 they did have one fairly big hit called, "Hey, St. Peter." I present it to you below. But I warn you! It is perhaps even cheesier than the Survivor/"Eye Of The Tiger" video I so gleefully made fun of a couple of posts ago.

The fun thing to watch for in this almost-unwatchable video is, just past the middle where George Young dresses up in a schoolboy uniform. He is spoofing his younger brother, Angus, who has forever appeared onstage with AC/DC in a similar getup. Enjoy! ...Or not.

Ouch! Well that was awful. In spite of the horrible video, "Hey, St. Peter" is a wonderful song. Vanda and Young have put out some great music in the '70s and '80s. Unbelievably, AC/DC is still around and reportedly working on a new album. As for The Easybeats...well...it's still fun to go back and listen to their big hit, because as sentiments go that one is as relevant as it is timeless.

Monday, I'll have Friday on my mind..