The best event in Indy has set it’s monthly date for TONIGHT! We will be on the deck at Rick’s Cafe Boatyard on Eagle Creek Resevoir from 5 to 8 PM. They have fantastic food, a great view of the resevoir, and Corona Beers and Milagro Top Shelf Tequila and Corona Beer will provide drink specials.

It is like a meet-up group meets a Rainmakers networking event meets a barbeque on your back patio with friends. At this event last year, we had over 100 friends of the station come and mingle. We’ll be inside if it is sprinkling.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=21828181014

Here is how to get there:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=4050+Dandy+Trail+Indianapolis+Indiana&sll=-79.687184,146.25&sspn=174.359218,360&ie=UTF8&ll=39.837145,-86.295805&spn=0.029065,0.074844&z=14&iwloc=addr

You shouldn’t say the following things if you are drunk, a City-County Councilor, and have just said, “Do you know who I am!??!”: The following is a summary of the police report. You can verify this by reading the police report here. (Not edited for language. Names of other suspects, DOB, Addresses, and other sensitive information edited out.)

Three IMPD officers have arrived at a west side residence. They see Doris Minton-McNeil in the front yard.

 ”I’ve got a pedophile in my house, and I just want him out! You need to go in and get him out!” McNeil yelled. Before entering a house to arrest someone that had a knife, the police wisely wanted to know whom they were chasing. The Councilor became indignant.

“That Mother F^&ker is a pedophile, and I called him out on it! And he got a knife, and he tried to cut me!” She then approached one of the officers, who had not yet spoken to her.

“You are an arrogant Mother F&%ker, and so is he,” McNeil yelled. She walked to another officer and stated, “I’ll talk to him, because he’s the only one not being arrogant.” The officer pressed her for more information on the pedophile. She started yelling again.

“You’re arrogant, and I don’t like you. You ain’t here to help me. You are a racist Mother F%$ker like all the rest!” She then asked, “What district are you from?!” She began asking for their Major, or Commanding Officer. They then searched the house, finding no one. They asked her where he was, and she yelled again.

“You Mother F%$kers are going to get this guy out of my house!” They continued wandering through the house, and she kept asking about their superiors. The officers could not find anyone. Without provocation, McNeil started yelling angrily again.

“You guys are a bunch of racist Mother F%$kers! You ain’t here to help!” Councilor McNeil wandered to the back of the house, while the officers were in the front of the house. She began yelling, so the officers ran back to check on her. When they reached her, she was fine. She was fumbling around with her City-Council business cards. She tried to give them to the officers. She became irate when the officers refused the cards. McNeil pushed the first officer in the chest that had refused her card. The officer (Officer Emily Perkins) fell, and hit her hand on the side of the house. The other two officers ran to Officer Perkin’s assistance. McNeil was ordered to put her hands behind her back.

“No! You can’t arrest me! I’m on the City-County Council.” McNeil began to yell out the names of city officials that the officers needed to contact. (Wouldn’t you love to hear that list? Leave guesses in the comments.) McNeil resisted being cuffed. She twisted her body, and moved her arms, to avoid being cuffed.

“All the white officers on this f%$kin department are racists!” McNeill yelled. “I’m not going to be arrested.”  She then tried to break free again, causing her to be put in wrist restraints. She continued to yell about various city officials that should be contact. The officer assured her that their supervisors were on the way.

The officers smelled booze. Asked if she had been drinking, she replied, “I haven’t been drinking, I’ve only had two margaritas.” She asked to take a breath test. When the officer presented her with the test, she changed her mind.

“I changed my mind. I ain’t taking no test cause I ain’t drunk. “

She was loaded in to the wagon, and taken to lock-up. The report says that when she was taken out of the wagon, she “had urinated in her pants, and in the wagon.”

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After reading this, is there any way that she can continue on the council? A lesson for all of those in public service: You are here to serve the public. We are not here to serve you, and you are not superior to those you serve.

Read the Police report here (Not edited for language. Names of other suspects, DOB, Addresses, and other sensitive information edited out.):

http://wxnt.radiotown.com/DorisMcNeilIMPDArrestDoc.pdf

 Listen to the 911 call here:

http://wxnt.radiotown.com/Doris%20McNeil_911_Call_Trad.mp3

1 PM Update:

Ran into Dr. Woody Meyers. He is a delegate. His only future Political plans were to come into the convention and vote as a delegate.

Spoke to Congressman Joe Donelly. He had no public comment on Tony Zirkle… Hear that interview Monday.

We are in the Marriott. The room here is much smaller then the large hall the GOP had for their convention. Lunchtime is nearing an end, and folks are streaming into the hall. The crowd is a lot smaller then I figured it would be. It is also much youger then the GOP. Average age of attendee is 45. The GOP convention: 60. There are many more young people here then at the GOP convention.

I am sitting next to Amos. He wants to know who in the world would marry Abdul?! lol

About 1,000 delegates are here for the convention. I believe that is on par with the GOP, altough it does not look it.

1:30 PM

I thought Democrats had all this enthusiasm and energy. This is like sitting at a boring lecture. Maybe it will hit when Jill speaks around 3.

Andre Carson spoke. We won’t have that due to a mult-box issue. I promise that this time, it was not my fault, lol.

The organization here is weak. Twice in 15 minutes, people were called to speak, and they never showed up. People, pay attention!

The Democrats have officially nominated Richard Wood for Superintendent for Public Instruction. His slogan is “Experience, Dedication, and Results.” He is proud to be a party that looks to the future with vision and courage. At the end, the entire 8th district did not stand for Wood. There was a standing applause in the middle of the room (Districts 9, 2, 3, and 1.) The other districts (7, 4, 6 and 8 ) did not stand. Laziness or is there a meaning to this?

Wood had a power point slide show. Linda Pence has a video detailing how smart she is, and her accomplishments. It started with her fighting Shell Oil on behalf of a small town gas station owner. I think it’s clear they think they can win that race, and will pump a lot of money into it. Maybe they think the GOP will neglect Zoeller because he is not the “chosen” candidate.

More disorganization. Instead of bringing Pence right up after the video, and carrying on momentum, they went to a Louis Armstrong song, and then the chairman cam up and talked about how great life is. Then he finally announced Pam Carter, after a long speech on how long he’s know Pam Carter. Pam Carter was the first African-American and Female to be elected Attorney General.

Pam Carter forgot to nominate Carter, but the Chairman of the convention (Sherrif Dominguez from Lake County) quickly stepped up and officially nominated her.

Pence walked out to the theme of Law and Order. Andre Carson walked out to Stronger by Kanye.

2 PM Update

No mentions of Mitch, Bush or Cheney yet. You’d think in an hour, there would be more GOP hate-mongering.

About 1/4 of the room did not stand and cheer for Pence. Three-Quarters did not stand and cheer for Bauer. Where is the energy, people?

Bauer is the first person to hit Mitch Daniels. “Four years ago, a dark cloud came over Indiana. THEY SOLD OUR TOLL ROAD! I like Australians. I love Kangaroo Dundee. I just don’t want them to have our money.”

Bauer says Mitch raised property taxes a Billion Dollars. Bauer was apparently there to nominate Oxley. That was not expressed. Oxley had 3/4 of the room stand and cheer for him. He came out to Mellencamp’s Small Town.

Oxley thanked Bauer, and called him a “close confident.” I wonder how he spells “potato?” He also says Hoosier incorrectly. He says, “Whooysher.”

Oxley hit Mitch. He might be the heavy in the campaign. He went on with a list of Mitch Daniels uaccomplishments. One that stood out was that many Whooyshers die because Mitch Daniels doesn’t care about them, and does not give them health insurance. He made fun of the island in a sea of despair commercial by saying Mitch is on “Fantasy Island.” While speaking, someone in the crowd yelled out, “Privative Mitch!” That got a healthy laugh.

2:40 PM Update. Convention on time, to the suprise of the IDNC staff.)
JLT video is running. BATHROOM BREAK! Birch Bayh received the biggest applause pop, until Evan came on-screen. No sighting of Evan Bayh, Brad Ellsworth, Bart Peterson, Andy Jacobs, Frank Anderson or Baron Hill yet. They may be here, but will not speak and I have not seen them.

JLT is right in front of me, waiting to walk up the center aisle. She is taking a lof of deep breaths, and looks nervous. I don’t blame her. The crowds are more energetic with the sight of JLT, but the level is not the same as it was for Mitch. It is not as intense as the Obama crowd at Plainfield, or the crowd at Ben Davis for Hillary.

JLT is clearly standing on a box. (Mitch, while JLT’s same height, did not.)

None of the speakers, with the exception of Bauer, is particulary energetic. The crowds politely clap. The speeches are clearly memorized and rehearsed.

There are almost no mentions of Obama, Bush or McCain. This is clearly a convention focused on Change in the Governor’s Mansion. JLT only mentioned Mitch once in her speech, with a few slight digs. Her speech was focused on her strengths. The words “fighter” and “change” were mentioned a million times.

 Biggest applause was that JLT will reinstate collective barganing for unions. Click this link: http://www.howeypolitics.com/2008/06/21/democratic-convention-uaw-wont-endorse-jlt/

 She says she will get our economy moving again. ? She will give tax breaks to companys WITH health insurance benefits. No more free rides under JLT when it comes to business. Indiana will also become a national leader in the Green economy. She will also “stop the Daniels obsession with privatization.” She also told the crowd how much she loves them. The entire crowd went, “Awww.” I felt like I was at Sex in the City!”

This speeach, which can be heard on A.I.M. on Monday or podcast, is one of the most uninspired speeches I have ever heard. I am so bored. She could not be more droll or monotone. She has no central message. It is just the standard platform that Democrats ALWAYS bring foreward. There is talk of change and progress, but then she offers up the same ideas that O’Bannon and Kernan brought forward! How do the 1,000 delegates here not see that? She even walked off stage to Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down!”

As soon as she was done speaking, people headed for the door. Many didn’t stay for the balloon drop.

Tune in this Saturday for live coverage of the state Democratic convention. I will be streaming it live via webcam if possible. If nothing else, I will be doing to live blogging.

To toot my own horn, I will be the only person to cover all three conventions: GOP, Democrat, and the Libertarians.

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http://freedocumentaries.org/index.php

Totally Free, full-length political documentaries.

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New blog alert… Pastor, Social and Tax Activist, Community Organizer, and Friend of the Show Reverend Ajabu.

http://ajabuspeaks.squarespace.com/

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The passing of Tim Russert is a sad event in American Government. The media’s job is to challenge politicians on their words. No one does that better then Tim Russert. In fact, few do what Russert did. We are entering a dangerous age of journalism, and therefore, politics and government.

The pace of media has quickened. I am in radio, so you’d think that all I’d need to do is confer with sources and read as much as possible to prepare for the show. But as we enter this age, I need to write blogs, post podcasts, record and edit video. They all have to be different, and the content needs to be fresh. All of this takes time. It takes time to create, organize and promote YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook pages. It takes time to map things out, write out bits, record and edit them. The uploading takes forever.  But it all is necessary because other news outlets do it. You have to compete to remain relevant.

There are less people to do these things, because the media business sucks. A reporter, radio personality, or TV producer has more and more to do. As a result of all of this, the more time a media person spends on the content delivery, the more watered down the content becomes.  The pay is shrinking, so the quality of person behind the reports is lessened.

Today’s media will have less time to prepare for interviews. There are fewer reporters with less time to ask hard questions.

Because of the large amount of work to do, and the amount of information to process, many members of the media choose the angle of the story based on their conversations with the other members of the media, not the subject of the story. That is why you hear the same story angle in almost every major media’s (TV, Newspaper, Radio) report. The reporters all fish for a good sound bite. Some members of the local media don’t like that Abdul and I play the entire press conference. Guess Why? It exposes the lack of tough questions, and shows the fishing they do.

The subject (Politician, Movie Star, Sports Figure) are happy to oblige because they want to get on with their life. They don‘t need to prepare for any sort of tough question, because the reporters will all ask the same thing. They just need different versions of the sound bite. If they flip-flop, who cares! The reporters won’t notice, and the listener/reader/viewer is too busy to care.

So you turn to blogs and other forms of “new media” for a different point of view. They are advocates for their cause, and tailor their information to the message.

In fact, Advocacy Journalism will start to dominate the old media because it’s different. There is something that resembles humanity in their reporting. It doesn’t insult the listener/reader/viewer’s intelligence.

I’ll let you comment on the end result of all of this. (Actually, aren’t we seeing it? Isn’t our government dramatically failing us?)

Tim Russert was loved because he was a human being. He didn’t insult the viewer’s intelligence. He was prepared. He was everything a journalist should be, and something modern media should aspire to be.

I bought a Flip! Video Camera yesterday, and as soon there will be videos from the labs of Chris Spangle Productions! (There isn’t any such organizations, I just made that up.)

This little thing is $100 bucks (At Sam’s Club), and supposedly really good for a cheap camera. We’ll see. I am going to use it at various political events, for my weight loss journey, and various things that happen in my life. Follow me at:

http://www.youtube.com/ChrisSpangle

The best event in Indy has set it’s monthly date for June 25th. We will be on the deck at Rick’s Cafe Boatyard on Eagle Creek Resevoir from 5 to 8 PM. They have fantastic food, a great view of the resevoir, and Corona Beers and Milagro Top Shelf Tequila will provide drink specials.

It is like a meet-up group meets a Rainmakers networking event meets a barbeque on your back patio with friends. At this event last year, we had over 100 friends of the station come and mingle.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=37.0625,-95.677068&spn=30.737461,76.640625&z=4

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=21828181014

http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?videoId=171572

This was very funny.