Deer Santa, heers what I want for Crismus...

In March of this year the FCC finally got around to holding a workshop on how to reform local television. At the event, Commissioner Michael Copps berated broadcasters for dropping the ball on public-interest programming.

Back in May, Hamid Karzai was invited to the White House where President Obama praised and feted the Afghan leader as a trusted ally. Republicans and Democrats alike told us that the Karzai government was a solid partner in the war on terror and would have our back in a fight.

Not long ago Al Gore was on fire, having won an Oscar, a Grammy and the Nobel prize. But adoration is fleeting, and the media is starting to scrutinize his credibility.

Life is all about second chances. That's why a lot of wives stay married after their husbands cheat on them, and why voters keep electing morally flawed politicians. There are, however, three crimes for which an offender always seems to escape hard time, and from which he never deserves a second chance: child abuse, DWI homicide and animal abuse.

If the recent election taught us anything, it is that most people aren't qualified to vote. For one thing, right-wing nuts like Sarah Palin (and George W. Bush before her) have succeeded in dumbing down Americans by making it chic to be ignorant.

While the news media and political pundits are still reflecting on the outcomes of last week's elections, we might be better served to focus instead on the flawed process under which those elections were run.

I was taught early on that voting is a privilege to be taken seriously. Unfortunately, given the quality of candidates these days and the tenor of their campaigns, it is difficult to take any of it seriously.

A few weeks ago, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines appeared on my Triad Today television program. During the interview, I admitted to having once been skeptical about the citys investment in the new Dash baseball stadium, and praised the mayor for his vision.

It was one of those weeks where a whole bunch of weird stories made news, none of which seemed to have anything in common. Until you start to connect the dots.

Last week Wake Forest University basketball player Tony Woods appeared before Judge William Reingold to confess a crime, and to receive his punishment. The confession part went pretty well, but the punishment part, not so much. Woods admitted to assaulting his girlfriend Courtney Lorel Barbour in the presence of their 8-month-old son.

Life is replete with contradictions, many of which are fraught with convoluted logic. Here are some recent examples:

I take no pride in telling Forsyth County District Attorney Jim ONeill and the SBI, I told you so. But I told you so.

Last week a firestorm of controversy erupted in the Winston-Salem Forsyth schools when district attorney Jim ONeill and the SBI launched an investigation into whether school officials, in particular attorney Drew Davis, had failed to report allegations of sexual misconduct to police in a timely manner.

Last week Michelle Obama and her youngest daughter returned from an overseas vacation, only to be greeted by harsh criticism from politicians, the public and the media. The official story is that the First Lady and little Sasha went on a simple mother/ daughter vacation.

Pie-in-the-sky idiots like to say that Michael Vick's dog-fighting saga served a useful purpose. They argue that the infamous case helped to heighten public awareness of animal abuse, and at least one city's data supports that argument.

Technology is a wonderful thing, except when it is misused, abused or overused. Television, for example, was invented to inform and educate viewers, not to be a repository for reality shows like "Jersey Shore" or "The Bachelor."

Earlier this month, local and state officials offered Caterpillar more than $70 million in incentives to locate a plant in Winston-Salem. The facility, which will cost $426 million, will manufacture rear-end assemblies for backhoes and is expected to employ 392 people.

Earlier this year, the NC Board of Elections was pressured by the Republican Party and the media into launching an investigation of campaign violations by Bev Perdue during her run for governor. Among the charges being investigated were $48,000 in contributions from nine donors who might have been reimbursed by their employers.