Television quote sums up 2010 America perfectly

“There are times when the only choices you have left are bad ones.”
This quote comes from a character on the Fox television show “Fringe,” and when my wife, Jenny, and I heard it this past week while catching up on our DVR watching, we both looked at each other and said truer words haven’t been spoken about 2010 America.
The character who spoke those words, Phillip Broyles (played by the great Lance Reddick who is best known for playing Lt. Daniels on “The Wire” – my vote for the greatest television show of all time), was referring to a bad predicament his Homeland Security unit found itself in following a series of unfortunate events.
All the choices unit members had in resolving the situation had serious consequences in which people would be harmed or killed. Still, a decision needed to be made and acted upon, because doing nothing would be even more harmful.
As this country attempts to climb out of a recession that hasn’t been this deep since the Great Depression, it’s clear recovery is going to be slow, if true recovery even takes place at all. While some economic indicators say recovery is taking place slowly, other indicators point out we shouldn’t be so hopeful because it’s not happening.
Based on the things I hear from local officials about budgets in coming years, especially at the state level, people should brace for the worst. The dollars aren’t there, and unless massive changes are made at all levels in the way government operates, the only choices left at budget time are going to be bad ones.
We’re already seeing it at the local level. Stevens Point Area School District residents voted against two spending proposals. Many of those who rejected them did so because they’re worried about their own well being, especially when facing salary reductions, reduced hours and even layoffs, more than they are worried about the setback local education could suffer with budget reductions.
Few people liked having to choose between personal well-being and education, especially knowing education plays a huge role in everybody’s well-being as the young generation becomes our future. But the choice was on the table to get the ball rolling. By rejecting the proposals, school officials knew they had their own difficult choices to make: cutbacks, which meant layoffs, and finding alternate sources of funding.
School officials made those choices, few of which they thought were good. Next year’s school budget has been balanced, although it won’t be official until October or November, and then the process will begin all over again. And since the school funding mode is completely broken, the process of bad choices will begin all over again before anyone can even breathe a sigh of relief.
The county felt a bit of this type of pinch when coming up with the 2010 budget late last year, but for the most part it was relatively unharmed compared to most municipalities. Good planning by our leaders can be credited for this, but even the best planning won’t prevent a bigger pinch from occurring during the next budget cycle.
The state continues to place numerous unfunded mandates on counties and then takes away funding from them. It adds up, and for 2011 the county may find itself scrambling, like local schools, to balance its budget. The choices it will have to make will most likely be bad ones.
I’m sure the state can argue it’s putting counties, schools and other municipalities in these situations because of the pinch it’s receiving at the federal level. And the federal government will most likely have something to blame, too.
Perhaps the only way to get out of this never-ending cycle of bad choices is to start over again. Government at all levels may need to re-examine how it operates, especially in how it obtains funding through taxes and how it distributes those funds.
John Holdridge, chair of the town of Hull, told me he hopes a Property Tax Seminar being co-sponsored by Portage County, the town of Hull and Portage County University of Wisconsin-Extension Wednesday, June 23, at the Lincoln Center, 1519 Water St., Stevens Point, will start such a grassroots movement at the local level to re-examine how government operates.
I hope he’s right. And then maybe government won’t be faced with bad choices, because unlike “Fringe,” which managed to find a good choice so no one would be hurt, life isn’t television. Problems don’t disappear in the final act.

Word of mouth should be heeded

Word of mouth is a great thing in this world, as it can help people look past the hype, ratings, box office figures and sales to see the truly great movies, books, television shows, video games and other entertainment out there.
Chris Randazzo, the former associate editor of The Gazette and now a downtown Stevens Point comic book and gaming store owner, hyped HBO’s “The Wire” in the pages of this paper in 2007, saying it was “the most compelling and thought-provoking drama on television.”
For more than a year he tried getting Gazette staffers to watch the show, to no avail as we all seemed to have better things to do. That was until late last year when John Kemmeter, the sports editor, decided to listen to Chris.
And once John started, he never stopped, finishing all 60 episodes of the crime drama in a short amount of time. John, in turn, recommended the show to everyone he knew, including his siblings, parents and co-workers.
Less than a month ago, I finally listened to John and Chris, and started watching their recommendation. I’m glad I did, because I haven’t stopped. I’m through the first three seasons of the five-season show, and I’m craving more.
Set in Baltimore, Md., “The Wire” focuses mainly on a group of police officers in a special unit of the Police Department that focuses on major cases, specifically ones involving two high-level drug dealers and the people under them.
But the show also gives a good amount of attention to the people connected to the officers, such as their bosses, the politicians (some of whom are corrupt) that dictate the policies they must abide by, representatives from the district attorney’s office, their families and fellow officers in other units.
It also spends time with the drug dealers, drug addicts, ordinary citizens whose lives are impacted by the drug trade and people who rob drug dealers.
Season two also looks at union workers on the ports of Baltimore, while season four examines the education system and season five follows the media.
David Simon, a former Baltimore Sun reporter, and Ed Burns, a former Baltimore police officer and teacher, incorporated real-life experiences to create the show, which helps it become more authentic and dramatic than any other show in the history of television.
The three-dimension world of Baltimore they portray in “The Wire” is harsh, sad, honest, compelling and one without mercy, yet it’s one most people will come to care about everyone in it, even the so-called bad guys, as even the worst people have redeeming qualities and the best people have their faults.
Personally, I’m ashamed I took so long to finally listen to two people whose opinions I value. Both highly recommended the show, even going so far as to say it was the greatest show on television ever.
That’s a mighty claim, and one that should have drawn my attention immediately. When I give others my recommendations as the best all-time television shows, I suggest “The Sopranos,” “Dexter,” “Lost,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” as ones I hope they check out. Most people are usually familiar with “The Sopranos,” “Lost” and “Seinfeld,” but when they hear me recommend “Dexter” or “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” I hope they’ll check those shows out as soon as possible.
Some people do, and often give me feedback I’m expecting: “You’re right, that show rules.” In return, I hope they recommend the show to other people, which I hope helps the show build up enough of a cult status that it gets renewed for more seasons.
Seeing as I just finally listened to two other peoples’ recommendation, I did not do my part to help “The Wire,” as its fifth season was its last. Since I haven’t watched the final two seasons yet, the show was probably fated to end its course after the fifth one, but I can’t say that for sure.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that is the case, as I will kick myself if I could have helped bring about a sixth season.
Listen to the word of mouth, as it’s usually right on.