T.D. and the Tater in Radio Land

I'll be reading from T.D. and the Tater and Other News from Augusta County at 5 p.m. July 25 on WMMT-FM. I'll be on Appalachian Attitude with host Jim Webb. The station is at 88.7 FM, and streams live on the Internet at Live365.com.

T.D. -- The Kindle edition

The Kindle edition of T.D. and the Tater and Other News from Augusta County is available now on Amazon at http://amzn.to/oITV5R

T.D. and the Tater in serial

I will be posting T.D. and the Tater, the title story in my new book, T.D. and the Tater and Other News from Augusta County, on my Facebook page and on Twitter in serial format. The first posts went up today. The story will be posted a piece at a time each day until the entire story is published online.

The story can be found at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sam-Adams-Reports/162246950468946 and at http://twitter.com/SamAdamsKY. To read everything posted until now on Twitter, search for #TDAnd.

Two arrested in alleged Danish terror plot

It's not really a close call, but it still makes you think.

Federal authorities have arrested two men in connection with an alleged terrorist plot to be carried out in Copenhagen, Denmark. The first arrest occurred a day before I left for the Danish capital.

The FBI arrested David Coleman Headley at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on Oct. 3. Police say he had espoused the view that the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed should be punished, and had met in Pakistan with members of Harakat-ul Jihad Islami, a group the U.S. government says has ties to Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani terrorist group.

Agents also arrested Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen.

Headley, who the FBI says was bound for Pakistan again, was carrying video of the newspaper entrance and Copenhagen Central Station, the city’s main train station. The station was about a five minute walk from my hotel, and the station where I arrived from the airport and departed on my way out of Denmark.

A sad statement

Back on the ground in the states, and it was a jarring landing. Not the airplane – that was great. I mean the realization that our security procedures in this country are way more intrusive and aggravating than they need to be.

Getting on the plane in Denmark, I passed through three security checkpoints and a passport control station, showing my passport at each spot. The metal detectors were easy. I had to take literally everything out of my pockets, but I got to keep my shoes on, and no one frisked me. The screeners were always very friendly and courteous.

I got to Atlanta, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents greeted me with smiles and a “welcome home” as I went through passport control. Agents at baggage claim and the agriculture check station were very courteous as their dogs sniffed my bags and they asked the required questions about food items, and my visit to a farm.

Then I got to the TSA. That was end of smiles and courtesy.

First, the woman at the x-ray machine snarled at me for not laying the paper bag with my duty-free items flat, and for putting my shoes in a basket rather than directly on the conveyor. Then I forgot to take my belt off before I went through the metal detector. I have only one thing to say to Mr. Sideburns-and-Beer-Gut manning that machine: Being a jerk doesn’t make my travel any safer. It just makes me write a hostile blog.

And it wasn’t just me. They were universally nasty to everyone who passed through.

I realize that we’ve been attacked here, and I realize that we need security. But how much is too much?

While in Denmark, I had the chance to visit two government offices – the Center for Green Transport and the Climate and Energy Ministry. At the Green Transport building, we had only to walk through open front door and up the stairs to a receptionist.

A minister is essentially like a cabinet secretary in the U.S., though Danish ministers also serve in Parliament. Going to Minister Connie Hedegaard’s office required no sniffing, no metal detector and no snarling security officers in paramilitary uniforms. We walked through a glass door by the receptionist, and were then shown upstairs to her office.

That same night, during Copenhagan’s annual Kulturnatten (Night of Culture), hundreds and possibly thousands of people wandered through Minister Hedegaard’s private office, shaking hands and making small talk with her. There was not even one guy in sunglasses, dark suit and ear piece. And Connie Hedegaard, as nearly as I can tell, is the Hillary Clinton of Denmark.

Just as refreshing was the trip to Amalienborg Palace, home of Queen Margrethe and the Royal Family. No gates, no fences, no concrete barriers. Cars drove through the palace courtyard unimpeded. The only guards in view were a handful of Royal Life Guards, one at each of several small guard stands along the outer walls of the courtyard. In their bearskin hats and 18th century-style uniforms, they stood in front of small guardhouses and stared straight ahead, making no move to stop, question or search tourists and citizens coming into the palace yard.

The White House, on the other hand, is surrounded by an iron fence, concrete barriers and a very conspicuous police and Secret Service presence. No one drives through the gate or walks through the gate without an invitation.

How did we get to this place in our country? Presidents used to let the masses into the White House on Inauguration Day, one even had his clothes stolen while skinny dipping alone in the Potomac River.

It’s a sad statement on the world climate that our president, an officer elected by the people, has become more secluded and more guarded than a European monarch.

Random shots in the dark

It's my last night in Denmark, and I'm too tired to put together a very coherent blog. Here are some random thoughts on the week.

• The bike lanes in Copenhagen really are a safety necessity. On streets that don't have them, cyclists will run down innocent pedestrians without blinking. More than once, I saw guys pedaling madly through the middle of crowds at Kulturnatten, an annual festival of Danish Culture that draws probably hundreds of thousands of walkers onto the streets to bounce from one museum to another.


• Cab drivers in Copenhagen are crazy. Take a train.


• Finding a train station in Copenhagen is easy. You walk approximately 8 kilometers to your destination and the station is across the street. The other end is in an undisclosed location.


• The letter 'd' is pronounced like the letter 'l' unless it's at the beginning of a word. The letter 'r' is pronounced like you have fish bone caught in your throat no matter where it appears in the word.


• There are more than 200 places to see during Kulturnatten. They're all on a map that will show you how to walk in a circle without finding the one you're looking for.


• Given a choice of visiting an art museum, Danish Parliament, or the Danish Design Center, Copenhageners will crush each other getting into the milk and cheese exhibit in the agriculture building.


• A kroner is like a miniature dollar. It's shorter and it buys less. If you go, take a wheelbarrow.

One other random thought: This is the most beautiful city I've ever seen. It's worth taking the wheelbarrow.

Once again, for a more serious look at Denmark go to http://greenindenmark.bloginky.com.

A more serious side to Denmark

Just a reminder that you can read a more serious account of my trip to Denmark at http://www.kentucky.com/greenspot. The blog there is called Going Green in Denmark.

The latest post is on wind energy and democracy on the island of Samso. Later today, I'll be posting something on energy-efficient housing.

Later still, I'll post the day's or week's absurdities and stream of consciousness here.

See below for a post on speaking Danish to Danes.

Irritatingly polite

OK, I’ve done it now. I’ve pissed off the Danes.

Before leaving home, I decided that I would not be one of THOSE Americans. You know the ones I’m talking about – the ones who assume everyone in every country should speak English, and we, being from the greatest superpower on earth, should not be required to learn their language.

So in late spring, I downloaded a free language software called BYKI, and started learning Danish. A week ago, looking into the so-called Copenhagen Card that allows tourists to travel on buses and the subway and visit museums free (after buying the card), I was very pleased with myself when I was able to read the Danish web site enough to understand the requirements. Then I went off happily to the airport and boarded a flight for Copenhagen. All was well with the world.

When I arrived, my first stop was the train ticket office.

“Hej. Jeg vil gerne til Vester Søgade,” I said.

The ticket agent, ever the polite Dane, answered with a smile and a ”Hej!” (hello), and said something back to me. What she said totally evaded me, so I fell back on a tried and true phrase.

“Jeg forstår ikke. Kan du engelsk?”

The clerk frowned at me. “Of course I speak English.”

I got my ticket, but she seemed rather annoyed.

Again at the information desk at Copenhagen Central Station, I asked, “Kan du engelsk?” Again the annoyed look, and the clerk promptly switched languages and gave me directions to my hotel.

I vowed not to ask the stupid question again, but I still wanted to be as polite as possible, so I approached the hotel desk with the appropriate phrase: “Jeg har lavet en reservation.”

The clerk nodded, asked my name and I replied in Danish. That’s as far as I got. She spoke the rapid-fire language and I must have looked befuddled, because she certainly looked concerned. I quickly employed my most useful phrase: “Jeg forstår ikke,” (I don't understand). This time, I decided it best not to ask if she could speak English, I just made it clear that I was ignorant of the language. “Jeg er amerikaner,” I explained.

Again, a quick switch to English, but this time with no annoyance. “Have you been to Denmark before?” I told her I had not, and got a surprised look back. “How did you learn to speak Danish???”

I vaguely answered, got my key and went to my room. I’ve got the hang of this, I thought. Off to get some dinner that night, I walked past the strip clubs on Gammel Kongevej to a 7-11. (Side note: there are approximately 7,711 of these within a 100-yard radius of my hotel.)

The Indian clerk had locked the door to go the restroom, but he gestured for me to wait and came back to let me in momentarily, greeting me in Danish. I didn’t attempt an answer, simply nodding and saying, “Tak,” (thanks) as he opened the door for me. I was perusing the glass case of sausages when he finally asked a question in Danish that required an answer. So I again employed my favorite Danish phrase.

“Jeg forstår ikke. Kan du engelsk?”

Again the annoyed look. “Of course,” he said with a flawless British accent and pointed again at the sausages. “Would you like a hotdog?”

After two days here, I now know that Danes not only speak English, they speak it better than I do. Apparently, so do Indians who live in Denmark. Even the waitress and the manager at the Thai restaurant where I had dinner last night speak English better than any Asian I’ve ever seen in America.

Camilla Steffensen, a spokeswoman for Dansk Energi, explained it to me in her near perfect American accent. Danes begin learning English in school in third grade. They already hear it from their parents and in businesses all around them. Also, there are only 5 million Danes and the language is difficult anyway. They have to know other languages to communicate with the rest of the world.

And finally, the most important reason: “We watch a lot of American television.”

I’ve also learned that the advice a well-traveled friend gave may be more appropriate than I thought. The friend, a former U.S. vice consul to India, said there is one phrase Americans should learn in the language of every country they plan to visit.

“Don’t shoot – I’m a Canadian.”

The knees knows

They say that when it comes to riding a bike, you never forget.

My knees definitely remember riding a bike yesterday. I cycled seven or eight kilometers (70 or 80 miles, I’m not sure of the conversion) around Copenhagen, Denmark, on a tour with the chief lobbiest and the project leader for the Denmark Cyclist Federation and four other bloggers/journalists.

Most of me loved it.

My knees were the exception. My left one has asked my thigh to tell me it’s never going to speak to me again. My right knee cut out the middle man and gave me the message personally.

You see, I haven’t ridden a bike for any distance in probably seven years, and the distance then was less than a mile. Since then, my biking experience has consisted of swinging a leg over my son’s bike and walking it out of the carport so I could air up the tires for him.

In Copenhagen, everyone rides. Lise Bjørg Pederson, the lobbiest for the cyclist federation, said there are 30,000 bicycle commuters in Copenhagen, compared to only 15,000 automobile commuters. All of them passed me yesterday.

I was so slow, parents taking their kids along for the ride in cargo cycles (think pedal-powered SUV – SUC?) passed me. There were little girls, young women, men of all ages, grandmothers. Everyone was pedaling – fast. The thing that impressed me as an American is that there were no fat people, unless they were the few driving by in Mercedes and Audi cars.

Suffice it say that there must be a huge market for talcum powder in Copenhagen, and a very small market for gasoline, er, petrol.

Today I’m off to the island of Samsø, where 100 percent of the energy comes from renewable sources. More on that tomorrow.

New blog coming up

Beginning next weekend, I'll be writing another blog -- this one attached to the Kentucky.com's Greenspot, the online environmental section of the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader.

The blog will chronicle my upcoming trip to Denmark to explore the environmental infrastructure and culture there, and see how some of that technology and mindset might be adapted to Appalachia.

"Going Green in Denmark" will be in the blog list on the right side of Greenspot, just below Easy Being Green and The Kentucky Pride Blog.

Funeral services to be held for Gish

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Monday, November 24, for Thomas E. Gish, the longtime editor of The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg.

Tom and Pat Gish bought The Mountain Eagle in 1956, and took control of the paper in January 1957. Over the years, they endured harassment, boycotts and a fire bombing after taking on corrupt county and city governments, and mining interests.

Tom Gish died Friday after a long illness. He suffered heart failure on Tuesday, and had been in a coma ever since. Visitation will be at the Letcher Funeral Home in Whitesburg beginning at 5 p.m. Sunday. Funeral will be the following day at Graham Memorial Presbyterian Church in Whitesburg.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Ben Gish of Whitesburg and Ray Gish of Brooklyn, N.Y.; three daughters: Ann Gish of Virginia, Sarah Oakes of Thornton, and Dr. Katherine Gish of Bottom Fork; four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Crusading publisher who took on mining interests dead at 82

Tom Gish, the crusading editor and publisher of The Mountain Eagle and my first boss in the newspaper business, died today. He was 82.

Gish was Frankfort Bureau Chief for United Press International and his wife Pat was a reporter for the Lexington Leader when they bought The Mountain Eagle and moved back to Tom's native Letcher County. Leaving his pregnant wife in Central Kentucky until the baby was born, Tom took over the operations of the paper in January 1957, just in time for the worst flood in 30 years. Hundreds of homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed, and much of the paper's history was lost to the flood waters. Tom put the paper out by himself as water rushed by the foundations of the building, appealing for help for the county.

Under his leadership, The Mountain Eagle gained a reputation for taking on entrenched interests in Letcher County. Both Gishes were tireless advocates for the poor, for the environment, for education, and for ethics in public office. In the 1960s, the paper became one of the first to decry the abuses of strip mining and it was burned to the ground for its trouble in 1974. A Whitesburg police officer was convicted of procuring arson in the crime, but a local judge probated his sentence.

Over the years, reporters for the paper have been threatened, harassed, prosecuted and even beaten. When I went to work there in 1986, right out of college, Pat's advice was: "If anyone doesn't like what you've written, just smile, tell them you're sorry they feel that way and walk away." Tom's advice: "Tell them to go to hell."

He was among the members of the first state school board to be installed following the landmark KentuckyEducation Reform Act of 1990, and spent many days traveling to Frankfort and around Kentucky, helping to implement the reforms.

Gish has been in ill health for years, and suffered heart failure Tuesday night. He had been in a coma ever since.

His leadership will be missed.

A Spectator Crime

Sometimes a community buries a murder so deep that the people who live there forget what really happened, or even that anything happened at all.

Like Leonard Wood’s mutilated body, the facts surrounding his murder are buried so deeply that few people in Letcher County, Kentucky, know the atrocity took place. Even his name is not sure, with some reports calling him Leonard Wood and some calling him Leonard Woods. But Wood’s murder was so outrageous and his subsequent mutilation so horrendous that it made national news in a time when there was no television and precious little radio.

To find out more about Leonard Wood's murder, read my post on today's In Cold Blog.

When is an apology not an apology?

When it comes from Sam Adams The Beer. The Boston Beer Company, maker of Samuel Adams Beer, has issued a statement regarding its cease and desist letter to the Portland, Ore., D.J.s who bought the domain names samadamsformayor.com and mayorsamadams.com. Unfortunately for The Beer, there really is a candidate for mayor of Portland named Sam Adams, and the D.J.s bought the names with the promise of giving them to Sam Adams The Candidate if he would appear on their show.

Those two web sites have been temporarily pulled because of the legal action. Not much word yet on what other Sam Adamses are doing about it. Sam Adams The Author (me) is still blissfully using his own name

The statement issued later by Sam Adams The Beer actually uses the words "for that we apologize" in regard to the incident involving Sam Adams The Candidate, but that's about as far as the mea culpa goes. In fact, the apology isn't for threatening to sue, or even for saying the company was willing to "discuss" allowing Sam Adams The Candidate to use his name "probably for the length of time the election is being held." No, Sam Adams The Beer apologized for not researching the matter more fully before sending the letter.

In other words, Sam Adams The Beer is sorry its bullying tactics blew up in its face.

No one should really be surprised by a nonapology from the Boston Beer Company. President Jim Koch has been issueing pseudo sorries for quite a while. In 2002, Koch apologized for appearing on a radio show during which couples had sex in public places. The fact that one couple ... well ... coupled in Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York caused a major uproar. Koch claimed he didn't intend to be part of a program that "crossed the line." He neglected to note that his company sponsored the event, and it was his second year to provide the commentary. According to Fortune magazine, each couple received a list of sites to be used for sex, with Saint Patricks listed at 25 points.

A beer by any other name

Sam Adams has a problem. Oh, not me -- at least not yet. I mean the other Sam Adams. One of the other Sam Adamses. Actually two of the other Sam Adamses.

I happen to live in Kentucky. But Sam Adams who lives in Portland, Oregon, is running for mayor, and in doing so he's drawn the unwanted attention of a lawyer working for a third Sam Adams -- namely Sam Adams The Beer.

Mark Mason and Dave Anderson, hosts of a KEX-Radio show bought two web domains -- http://www.samadamsformayor.com/ and http://www.mayorsamadams.com/, and Sam Adams The Beer has had its lawyer send a nasty letter to Mason and Anderson demanding that they surrender the domains. The problem is, Sam Adams The Beer has been using the trademark since 1984 while Sam Adams The Candidate has been using his own name since 1963. Coincidentally, Sam Adams The Author (me) has also been using the name since 1963. On learning this, Sam Adams The Beer's attorney has hinted that she might allow Sam Adams The Candidate to go on using his own name as his web address until the election, but not after that.

So far, I haven't gotten a letter demanding that I surrender http://www.samadams.org/ or http://www.samadamsbooks.blogspot.com/. I'm not sure whether Sam Adams The Rocky Mountain News Columnist, Sam Adams The Philadelphia City Paper Film Critic, Sam Adams The NFL Tackle, or Sam Adams The KEZI Sports Anchor have had any contact from Sam Adams The Beer, but I'm sure we're all waiting breathlessly.

Some people are calling for a boycott of Sam Adams The Beer, but since Sam Adams The Beer is demanding that Sam Adams The Candidate give them his web addresses, I would suggest he at least give them something.

How about the finger?