"...It's Not That Donald Is A Douche...It's That Douche Seems To Be The Gold Standard This Time Around..."

some succinct summaries from Sunday...and not just a little alliteration...



on "The Brady Bunch"s Susan Olsen posting loudly in favor of Trump

the comments generated by Susan's little burst of celebrity endorsement have been, as you might imagine, pretty passionate, petty, vicious, emotional, you name it….

and while it’s understandable that the kind of morons who knock others down to save fifty bucks on that flat screen on Black Friday would be in love with the king of morons, when basically educated, rational, seemingly intelligent everyday working moms like Susan Olsen see it the way SHE is seeing it, trust me when I tell you that this *** is getting real because this guy is dangerous…..BUT…..Paul Simon said it long ago…a man hears what he wants to hear….

that said,……..here’s the bottom line….this guy is doing NOTHING to inspire and EVERYTHING to incite….he is doing NOTHING to bring together the citizens of the United States as a once again powerful voice to lead the world and EVERYTHING to turn people against each other…..if you think for a single second that Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or even George W Bush has been the cause of the horribly wide divisions in the country, YOU AINT EVEN BEGUN TO SEE NOTHIN YET like what you will see if this asshat gets anywhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Ave….at this point, I’d do everything I could to see that he’s not even allowed to join a White House tour…THAT’S HOW seriously we need to keep him from getting anywhere near the Oval Office-----



on "the class of 2016" (or classlessness, as the case may be)

I want you to try and imagine this:

John F Kennedy…..Harry S. Truman….Dwight D Eisehhower….Abraham Lincoln…..Ronald Reagan….hell, even George W Bush…….

standing at a podium in front of thousands of people and visually making fun of somebody with a physical disability while being filmed doing it…
..
NOW try and imagine any one or all of those presidents telling a female reporter that the reason she is asking the questions she is asking is because she must surely be having her period……
is this what you want as the leader of your country? If the answer is yes, nothing else I say or you think really matters because you genuinely ARE a part of the problem……

DONALD TRUMP-----has two primary methods of expressing himself…annoyance mixed with some form of “we’re just gonna do it”…..and passing the buck in well all I DID was re tweet the original tweet….even as guy as determined to see Hillary go down in flames as Bill O Reilly on Fox News told Donald he needs to do a better job of presenting himself as a quality candidate and not some redneck bigot psycho demagogue in a necktie….MY words NOT O Reilly’s…..

if, after everything you have seen and heard so far, of the way that Donald Trump currently conducts himself and will conduct himself in the future and BET THE FARM, the longer he is supported the more arrogant he will get….because praise and applause to a narcissist are like heroin to a junkie, the more they get, the more they want and the more powerful they imagine themselves to be…..if after all of that, you STILL don’t believe OR CARE about the obvious lack of brain cells this guy is operating with….LET ME TELL YOU WHY YOU DON’T WANT THIS GUY ANYWHERE NEAR A PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION……

classic line from a classic Christmas movie….



new line from an already classic election campaign….SEP says that from here on out, every time Donald Trump opens his mouth, somewhere at least one more person decides to vote for Hillary….

AND….should Trump NOT get the Republican nomination, bet EVERY DOLLAR YOU CAN LAY YOUR HANDS ON that he WILL break his supposed promise, he will run as an independent and, sad to say, he WILL get enough votes to siphon off any chance of whoever GETS the GOP nomination to win….so…..ANY support of Trump,,,NOW or LATER and you are absolutely guaranteeing that Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the next President of the United States…..I feel confident that’s clear to the majority of Americans, even those who support Trump right now….but to the special group of people who support Trump and think pork rinds are a major food group, Ice Road Truckers should be on PBS and are happy to kick the crap out of any black guy who shows up at a Trump rally, let me make it easier for you to understand……if you go into ANY voting booth and push ANY button that says TRUMP on it….that button is connected to a machine that will vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton…..and if THAT is still confusing to you, email me and I’ll send you my colorful one page flyer with big block letters and pictures of Ronda Rousey mud wrestling with Danica Patrick to keep your attention…sorry..was I just rude? crude? arrogant? ignorant? tasteless, classless or just plain ol’ full of myself? well, I’m confused…because I’ve been operating under the assumption that those are the qualities you admire….I’ve got numbers to back me up on that….it’s called the poll asking who’s your favorite Republican candidate?…




on "none of the above" is being replaced with "the bottom of the barrel"
 
there’s a movie you probably haven’t seen because it was never a big hit….it’s called The Competition and it’s about a guy with a dream of becoming a concert pianist who has reached the age where he needs to make it or get a real job…his parents are delighted  when they find out he has decided to take a job as a high school music teacher….but just before he signs on the dotted line, he backs out to continue pursuing that dream….when a friend of his asks him why, he says “the problem with having something to fall back on….is that that’s what we do”…..

my career has been a little like that and, I’m sure, many of you have had similar experiences in your life….so I know you’ll understand when I share with you that, in an odd sort of way, this presidential election has a lot in common with that scenario…..

since the day I was old enough to comprehend such things, I’ve been aware of a dream….it’s poetically known as the American dream….life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness…a good education, a good paying and fulfilling career, a loving family, successful children and , like the gambler told us, the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.

sounds a little Hallmark Channel-ish, right? yeah, but who amongst us doesn’t secretly, if not right out loudly, still believe that kind of life and that kind of America possible?

apparently, and sadly, even tragically, the number of people who believe in that dream is getting smaller…and how do I know that? because once again, we’re faced with the opportunity to choose those who will, supposedly, “lead us” for the next four or eight years and, once again, we are faced with the choice of the least of the worst, the lesser of the evils, a clear and concise choice between the half baked and the half assed, the nasty and the nastier, the obvious liar and the outrageous liar…..
at this point in the circus, here are the two clowns out in front of the pack…..

a woman whose mere presence in the race so dramatically divides people that one side would, if given the opp, probably make her queen as opposed to president….and the other side would sleep like babies if something horrific were to happen to her……

 and a guy who, just a couple of years ago, would have been the punchline to a bad joke about running for President, not a bad joke actually running…  a guy who is asking for the opportunity to be the leader of all Americans and, still a year away from the election, has already managed to offend, insult, alienate and/or downright ridicule: the disabled, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, women, prisoners of war, any one of a half dozen religions AND anyone who dares to suggest that he is not God’s gift to this election and, for that matter, this life….
.
and of the remaining clowns in the clown car….more of the same and more of the old and too damn much of the same old same old….

I’ve said it every week now for weeks…and you’ll probably hear me say it for months to come….but it’s a question that needs asking every day of every week of every month between now and November of next year….a question that you deserve an answer to….

who is asking for your vote that inspires you?

not incites…..not intercedes….not entertains….not interferes…not interjects…
not the best of the worst, the lesser of the evils, the least offensive of the offensive…..
who inspires you?

as we’ve mentioned a couple of times in the past couple of weeks, Susan Olsen once played the TV character Cindy Brady…a nice little girl from a nice family on a nice street in a nice town in the United States of America…..a fictional and romanticized, admittedly, version of the American dream…but a version nevertheless….

forty years later, that same Susan Olsen has inadvertently summed up where we are , what we’ve become and, in some measure, what we’ve sunk to…

“……..Do I think Trump is the best guy? Hell no! And he might be a douche, but he is our only chance!
And do we really love him?
Not really, he’s kind of a dick.
But is he the only forward thinker who is running for office?
YOU BET HE IS!
He speaks for US
TRUMP for all his assholiness is the best candidate we have.
As crazy goofy insane as it seems…
I wish we had a better choice…
But he is our ONLY choice!
There I said it

you sure did, Cindy Brady…you sure did…..



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"...Feel Free To Stay As Long As WE Like..."

observations, opines and overt "where it's at"s from this past Sunday night's show


on what's it's about in ADDITION to what it's about...

Tuesday, I posted a cartoon…statue of liberty holding a stopsign and the caption read…sorry folks, country’s closed…those state governors out front shoulda told ya…a Facebook friend took exception and posted that this whole issue was NOT about compassion….I had this to offer him in reply...

it is, in fact, about compassion, it's just not ONLY about compassion...it's about a nation that wears it's history of righting the world's wrongs for two hundred plus years like and Olympic Gold Medal while giving instantly into fear, panic and hysteria generated by hundreds, if not thousands, of

sources of misinformation...it's about a nation that screams in outrage at the potential "outlawing" of their Christian values, while turning their backs on a group of people who represent a stunning opportunity to exhibit those very values for no other reason than the aforementioned fear, panic and hysteria...it's about state governors politically pandering to their constituents while trying to cloak that pandering in a red, white and blue cloth of courageousness (when, in fact, the real courage would be exhibited by standing up for the morality and risking pissing off the majority...if JFK were alive today to write Profiles In Courage, it would be a pamphlet, max)...it's about allowing the very fear that ISIS and its ilk are trying to grow in this country to actually take root via the aforementioned fear and panic...and it's about EVERY thing setting everyone off and/or at each other as irrefutable proof that we are not only hair trigger fearful and panicky but what soul saving sense of humor we once had is yet another casualty...even something as innocuous as a goofy cartoon that could, provided the stick came out of the ass long enough, be seen as a sardonic lament for all the craziness we're all having to deal with....



on lowering the river instead of raising the bridge...

I get that people are concerned about their safety and the safety of their loved ones…any person with any sensibility at all gets THAT….. and while I’ve still got enough of John, Paul, George and Ringo singing all we need is love in my head to feel regret about it and I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, that’s not the world we live in anymore…so the warm and welcome embrace of those who are trying to come to America to escape persecution in other nations has become,
inevitably, a stiff arm saying “easy now, there, tired, poor huddled mass yearning to be breathe free, park’s closed….statue of liberty out there should have told ya”.

and all week long, I’ve been hearing and reading people talking, shouting, yelling, in a ratio of about 50 to 1 near as I can figure, that Hell NO, we should slam the door, lock it, dead bolt it and make damn sure that the Syrian refugees are not allowed anywhere near the US or A…..

and like I said, I get it……here’s something else I get, too…

the nagging knowledge that a large part of the ISIS game plan is to instill fear, suspicion, panic and hysteria among the people in our neighborhoods, turning the people in our neighborhoods against one another, playing on our emotions, flipping our fear switches, turning us against not only refugees, but anyone that even begins to sound or look like they might be from the Middle East….filling us with terror….that’s why it’s called terrorism….and when they are able to do that, which they are currently able to do with great success, judging from the amount of fear and suspicion and panic and hysteria showing up in broadcasts and print and, most prolifically, social media, they are much much closer to achieving their ultimate goal….and I didn’t say they were winning because regardless of what old habits we are dealing with and the automatic almost instinctive way we tend to go there, there is nothing to win here…it’s not a game or a contest or a competition and we’re not going to get ANYWHERE until we get it into our thick noggins that this isn’t a damn Ravens game with guns and missiles instead of footballs…..and… “we wont come back till its over over there” might well up the red white and blue tears and make Charlie Daniels proud of you, but it’s as outdated as the pony express, the eight track tape and really, sincerely good customer service….

cause what ISIS is doing isn’t warfare…it’s nilhism…look it up and read about it….you need to know what it is….here’s the dictionary definition:  “ the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless…extreme skepticism maintaining that nothing in the world has a real existence”….why do you think ALLAHU AKBAR is the rallying cry for so many of these attacks?

…it translates, literally, as GOD IS GREATER…and that means, to them, greater than man…greater than woman….greater than Jesus or Buddah or even Kanye…greater than any earthly religion or earthly morality…and, yes, most assuredly, greater than you or anyone you love…….they’re not screaming Heil Hitler in tribute to one lone psychopathic wannabe king of the world or Banzai! which means long life! or long live the king, but the king, in this case, being the earthly king, or emperor, of Japan…they’re screaming out the name of their God and pretty much saying, open up the gates, God, I’m headed your way and, oh, I’m bringing a hundred or a thousand or a million with me….here’s this week’s offering: 159 infidels from Paris, France….

...they don’t want our land, they don’t want our freedoms, they don’t want our money, they don’t want our possessions, they don’t want anything from us… they WANT the apocalypse… they are, in living color and very real life, exactly like the aliens in the movie Independence Day who, when asked what they want, reply very simply…we want you to die…

okay…when your enemy wants you to die…and that’s ALL your enemy wants, then your choices of response are pretty much laid out for you…they consist of one….they have to be destroyed…them or us…..

at the same time, it’s critical to understand that this threat is NOT like the Nazis or the Japanese or the North Vietnamese…ISIS is a rip tide and the more we struggle against it in conventional ways, the wearier we will get and the more likely it is that we will be overcome….we have to play it smart…redneck bomb droppin’ is all very ass kickin but, here’s a thought….next time you’re got in a rip current, try ass kickin’ by itself and see what happens

can’t speak for you…wouldn’t want to do that…or I’d get myself a show on Fox News or MSNBC…..what I can do is offer you this….

I get it…..I know what we have to do…..

it’s not the what that’s going to make the difference as to how we come out on the other side, though….

It’s the how...





on turning your back...without turning off your mind...
 Selfish, scared, hysterical, entitled, spoiled, hypocritical bigotry contributes NOTHING ….not assistance, not comfort, not inspiration and MOST CERTAINLY, not victory…over ANYTHING….victory over this kind of evil will be found by thinking like the Americans that you think you are….the Americans that we used to be…the Americans we’re SUPPOSED TO BE---the Americans that when faced with seemingly impossible challenges, roll up sleeves, figure out how to rally able bodies and figure out HOW to get it done....like the GOOD guys….and not like leaders of the lynch mob who go around screaming we’re the GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD while at the same time offering up NOTHING but the very un-American qualities of hatred and prejudice and panic and hysteria...and stupidity.

we’re NOT the greatest country in the world anymore….but we sure used to be…and we can be again….and NOT because somebody wears a ball cap that says so while what comes out of his mouth is how we should crate up all the people we don’t trust or maybe we just don’t like, ship them back to where they came from and then slam and lock the door….or that people of another religion should be registered like sex offenders and carry ID cards or that places of worship should be monitored….

If you're that dead-set on not allowing refugees, as I’ve said…I get it

 BUT  at the very least, if you’re not willing to try and THINK of ways to help and not, at least, TRY to get past being hateful and prejudiced and panicked and hysterical and STUPID by  dealing with this challenge ONLY by turning your backs and hiding you and yours behind a dead bolted door behind a red, white and blue flag…then, how about this? at least give how to be part of the solution some thought…because…. it’s almost Christmas …the time of year we celebrate the story of a carpenter and his wife and their unborn child….a family…of refugees….. who once needed shelter.




on mongering and monsters and real life madness...

there's a particular episode of the TV series " The Twilight Zone" that focuses on fear and suspicion and prejudice and how those things can turn friends, even family, against each other---it's entitled The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street...more on that in a moment...

one of the primary goals of nihilistic terrorists is to instill fear and turn people against each other…evil is a mindset that feeds on fear…and you can’t defeat mindsets with fighter jets and battleships…you have to OUTSMART mindsets…which means you have to be smart and think smart and play it smart…we should turn OUR backs on the kind of message that some of the candidates are spewing, for example,  Donald Trump with his Muslim citizen registry, Ben Carson with his rabid dogs, Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush only Christian refugees should be allowed in…and forget about their obvious lack of humanity and pandering to the very worst in us,  it’s enough that NONE of those approaches is the smart move …they’re not smart…they’re not a savvy and strategic plan for some brilliant moves on a world chessboard…they’re  just fear mongering from the good guy side…. it actually makes it easier for those terrorists and not more difficult…I don’t think any of those people are bad guys and I’m not saying they’re on the side of the terrorists….but their approaches appeal ONLY because they make our challenges seem easy to fix…cage up the immigrants and send them home…blow the *** out of ISIS…make everyone say Merry Christmas...easy, right?  well actually, plain and simple is more like it…but plain and simple ain’t necessarily easy     what IS easy?.........it’s frighteningly easy to get too many people stirred up by playing to their insecurities and fears…vote

 for me because the terrorists are coming…vote for me or your new neighbors might be terrorists…vote for me or you’ll never be able to open your front door again…vote for me because the monsters are due on Maple street









on how to be of assistance while not being an asshat...

YOU WANNA HELP? stop the spread of misinformation--- Newsflash people, the attackers in Paris were not refugees, they were from Belgium. Do your homework. if you don’t KNOW for a unimpeachable fact that something is true and can provide rock solid evidence, then shut up

YOU WANNA HELP  stop the panic and fear that comes from hearing and believing information before you’ve proven it to be unimpeachably true…of the many “last things we really need right now” one of the main last things we really need right now is this fever pitch game of telegraph people get sucked into…if you don’t know for sure that something threatening is true, then calm down…stop yammering...listen more…seek correct information more…and, again, if you don’t KNOW for a fact that something is true ,then shut up

YOU WANNA HELP?  reject bigotry that’s disguised as patriotism…pretend that every time you open your mouth about refugees or terrorists or government or politicians, you’re being over heard by a five year old…and why, for any reason, would you want to send a five year old the conflicting messages of “in America, people are considered innocent until proven guilty” and and America is a wonderful land filled with amazing opportunities for people of all races, creeds and colors and religions and, then, in the same breath “we gotta round up all them dark skinned, bearded, kitchen towel wearin’ murderers, oh, along with all those olive skinned, Spanish yammering wet back mother f==== and send em back to where they belong….or, even better yet, let’s send em all to Hell…”  a flag pole or staff is meant to enable us to fly and display the Stars and Stripes…it’s not meant to be a club to beat people we don’t like or trust senseless….

 YOU WANNA HELP?...turn a deaf ear to those voices that have ONLY hatred for those we chose to lead us...
every generation has had plenty of voices hating the president………and you know what? this country has survived for over 250 years in SPITE of those haters not BECAUSE of them----and all social media does is provide a brighter and broader spotlight to shine on the kind of morons that have been with us since the first bunch of them that Adam and Eve came across after getting evicted---

YOU WANNA HELP?....reject and ignore Christians who use Jesus as an excuse, not an example
turning our backs on another when that other is in need is a personal choice…and its our prerogative in a world in which our God has given us free will…turning our backs on another when that other is in need, though, while standing under a huge banner that reads Christianity spoken here is one of the primary reasons that so many people, myself included, refuse to swallow the message when the message is so saturated with the taste of hypocrisy…..
protecting the lives of your loved ones is your first priority and that is as it should be…but, Christians, please direct me to the exact Scripture that tells us we should crunch bones and/or spirits as we trample over people in the panic to get ourselves and our loved ones inside so we can slam and lock the door…..which “Thou Shalt Not” is that one, exactly? I can’t recall…help me out




on Charlie and Caitlyn and courage...oh, my...

courage is NOT---coming forward to talk about contracting HIV after having , for years, lived a lifestyle of drugs and reckless sex and pure hedonism

courage IS---doing EVERYTHING possible to set an example for young people to avoid that lifestyle….

courage is NOT---trying to overcome the brain damage caused by a cheating on a Kardashian, getting tossed out, moving into a whorehouse and drinking, drugging and screwing yourself INTO brain damage for five straight days

courage IS---owning the infidelity and dealing with the consequences…in a healthy way

courage is NOT---dressing up like a woman, presenting oneself as a symbol of the fight against gender bias while actually trivializing that fight by cashing the six figure checks from a reality show and ridiculously babbling in public about the overwhelming challenge of wardrobe choice…

courage IS…BECOMING a woman if that’s where the struggle takes you and doing it in a way that inspires…not a way that exploits----

AND COURAGE IS NOT….laying out a huge portion of hatred and prejudice and fear and hysteria, wrapping it in an American flag and calling it “patriotism”

courage IS…finding some way to keep you and yours safe ALONG WITH lending a helping hand NOT INSTEAD of…




on putting the blame in ALL the places where blame belongs...

all this past week, the phone calls to Dan and Susan and Jared have been plentiful and the Facebook pages have been filled with folks all over Delmarva voicing their opposition to the idea of the possibility of Syrian refugees coming to Delaware…as with any situation where the public at large has a say, the comments have run the gamut from insightful to intolerant, reasonable to ridiculous and erudite…to embarrassing...the embarrassing contributions come from people who are clearly either uneducated or uninformed or bigoted or even just deep down frightened and letting that fear cause them the kind of panic and hysteria that makes people think and say stupid things….one of the reasonable points a lot of people have made is their resentment that suddenly, with little or no hesitation, our government has, literally, a billion plus dollars to spend on lodging and food and other resources for foreign refugees while here in our own country, people are homeless, children go to bed hungry every night and huge numbers of those who have served and sacrificed for America in the armed forces are homeless AND hungry AND in need of medical attention and there NEVER seems to be enough money to provide those basic human needs….it’s a really hard pill to swallow to be asked, or told, actually, that we are going to do all we can for non- Americans when we can’t even do the least we SHOULD do for Americans….

no one can say that’s not a fair point….and absolutely true….

and from Facebook to Twitter to news comment sections to over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house, there is an insane amount of blame being doled out…let me run you a quick list of places and or people that have been getting whomped good with the blame stick….

governors who are willing to allow refugees to enter their state, pretty much assuring that entire neighborhoods will be blown up or beheaded or both…or so its thought…or suspected…or  well, yeah, that’s what’ll happen, for sure…maybe---

politicians who have plenty of money to spend on foreigners but none to spend on our veterans and our civilian homeless—

Muslims, because if you believe most of what you read, it’s clear a lot of America believes that Muslims are all evil and need to be eliminated


ISIS because, well, that’s one undebatable one, isnt it” because they ARE evil and need to be eliminated

oh...and Barack Obama…because to those who just cant function without hating, he’s a Muslim, he’s the Anti Christ, he was on the grassy knoll in Dallas that day in 1963, he kidnapped the Lindbergh baby and, of course, he’s not really an American, what with being a Muslim from Kenya and all of that….oh, and as long as we’re honing our hating skills, let’s just stop dancing around it and call him what he is…black…..

okay, well, here’s one more that in fairness needs to be added to the list of those who should shoulder some of the blame…..

that would be us….

all of us….

and lemme tell you why….

we deserve some of the blame because:     it’s a scary time….and it’s natural and more than acceptable that we should want to think first about protecting our loved ones from any possible dangers….but, you know what? it’s ALWAYS a scary time in this country, in this world, in this LIFE…in one way or another, it’s always BEEN a scary time in the country, in this world, in this LIFE and not so long ago when it came to scary times and the possible dangers lurking within them, those of us who enjoy proudly calling ourselves Americans, when faced with the dangers and fears of those scary times rallied to deal with those challenges….without hesitation, threats to our families, threats to our nation brought us together, brought us closer, brought out the BEST in us, as a nation, as a people, a s individual human beings….

we deserve some of the blame because…the hatred, the bigotry, the panic, the irrational, the hysterical, the selfish…the list, sadly and embarrassingly, goes on….and it’s not just because we’re letting fear wash over us and change us from a strong, united citizenry determined to protect our loved ones while still holding true to our traditional American values into an angry, and at the same time, scared lynch mob, slamming doors in the faces of those who might honestly need our help and bitterly fighting amongst ourselves like two panicky people squabbling over the last piece of bread in a war torn kitchen….our first instinct used to be tearing the bread in two and sharing it….and it’s not just that this latest threat to our nation’s security is not only NOT bringing out the best in us, but , prove me wrong, and I bet ten bucks you can’t,  it’s bringing out the WORST in us instead….

and we deserve some of the blame because here’s what WILL and WONT happen in the coming days and weeks---

What WILL Happen is that angry, scared people by the millions will slam and lock THEIR doors and demand that both their state AND their nation slam and lock THOSE Doors

What WONT Happen is any concerted effort by those angry scared people to contribute in any way, shape or form to helping those in need in another way, or any way for that matter

What WILL happen is the Facebook profile pictures will pretty rapidly turn back to smiling human faces and/or adorable pet faces and those tri color “we stand with Paris” tint things will go into their Facebook photo archive along with “we stand with Ferguson” “we stand with Charlie Hebdo”  “we stand with Kim Davis” and on a September morning not so long ago “we stand with New York”… and all the many and varied places that we have stood and stand from time to time

What WONT Happen is our taking time out of our busy lives to organize and attend rallies by thousands, literally standing together and letting it be known that terror and fear and hatred are not only not acceptable in this country, they’re NOT going to be tolerated anymore in this country…..

What WILL happen is that we’ll bitch and piss and moan about what a lousy, even criminal, job our elected officials are doing

What WONT happen is a change in the rate at which this country re-elects incumbents   96%

What WILL happen is we will gather together with family and friends on Thursday to eat ourselves into unconsciousness, snooze peacefully in front of the 60 inch flat screen for at least two of four quarters of the game and line up for the ready set go of mob rule as Black Friday sales prove to be yet one MORE thing that brings out the WORST in us…

What WONT happen is lining up in front of the local or national Veterans Administration office, the local or national Department of Housing and Urban Development, our local congressman’s office or house or even the White House itself by the hundreds of thousands and letting it be dynamically, but peacefully, known that WE AINT GOIN NOWHERE until our veterans are housed and fed, that our homeless are sheltered and fed, that our elderly have the medicines and care they need….

these kinds of challenges used to bring out the best in us….

but if the BEST of us was in sight here, wouldn’t that mean we would stop all this vicious, nasty, even violent arguing about whether we should protect our families OR help the homeless and our veterans and our seniors OR help those from other countries trying to escape evil and find a new life in America and, instead, be rolling up sleeves and rallying in large groups, NOT to protest or incite but to find the way to protect our families AND help our homeless and our veterans and our seniors AND help those from other countries trying to escape evil and find a new life in America?
can’t speak for you…won’t speak for you…I can only speak for me: I’ve read and heard way too many people on way too many TV news shows and radio talk shows and social media posts saying NOTHING that sounds like “we’re Americans, let’s get this done” and way too many that say nothing more than “that’s THEIR problem….we can’t even take care of ourselves and our own who are in need….we’ve got no room for THEM or THEIR kind”….

and, like I said at the very beginning of the show tonight, I get it….but this kind of “America first” isn’t anything to be proud of…cause it’s just fear and hatred and selfishness and laziness and arrogance…..

too bad we can’t talk about THAT…and how we’ll re-elect 96% of the people doing that terrible, terrible job of leading us….. as we gather together with family and friends on Thursday to eat ourselves into unconsciousness, snooze peacefully in front of the 60 inch flat screen for at least two of four quarters of the game and line up for the ready set go of mob rule as Black Friday sales prove to be yet one MORE thing that brings out the WORST in us…

so while we’re shoveling out and piling up the blame…..let’s not forget to be fair and include ourselves……

cause liberty and justice and fairness?....why, that’s what America is all about---isn't it?



join the conversation...Sunday nights at 7 Eastern...

"...Larry, Ted and Ronda...Profound And, At The Same Time, Totally Not..."

 essay, hearsay and savvy say from this past weekend's show



 on country singer Larry Gatlin's short rant posted to Facebook---

 the knee jerk (or redneck depending on where you call home) reaction that Gatlin spouts here is understandable…only a fool wouldn’t be angry about what’s happened and what’s happening
that said, here’s my two cents right backatcha, there, Larry..and for that matter, the voices who whose guns are locked and loaded but whose brains still have the safety on---

of COURSE, the French president declared war on ISIS and, of course, ISIS’ attack is an act of war…a ten year old knows an act of war when they see one AND what ELSE can the president of the country just violently attacked say, but WE declare war

when it comes to the instant yammering in print and online of those who want to turn off watching either the Kardashians or Duck Dynasty long enough to start dropping bombs anywhere and everywhere?... talk is cheap and it’s easy to know exactly what to do when you’re not the person responsible for pushing the buttons or flipping the switches and the LAST thing ANY of us need is anybody else, OR ANYBODY, for that matter, using whatever public bullhorn they have available to them to rant and rave for no better purpose than to tell us what WE ALREADY KNOW….including yours truly…how about some SPECIFIC and PRACTICAL suggestions for taking ACTION? How about put your own obvious “right wing” bias on pause for a while and be a force to rally us ALL together to fight and destroy the real enemy?..... and ENOUGH already with the flag waving just to make yourself feel better? EVERYBODY with a reasonable bone in their body knows WHAT is happening and doesn’t need a once upon a time Nashville/Las Vegas lounge singer, among all the other spouters, to tell us all, AGAIN, what we already know….
.
and that goes for those who were screaming and yelling and posting about their hatred for Obama while the dead bodies in Paris were still warm…guess what? he’s NOT the enemy…Bush is NOT the enemy…Hillary is NOT the enemy…Trump is NOT the enemy…..Cruz is NOT the enemy….the enemy is ISIS….lemme spell it out for you  I S I S

while we’re at it, ENOUGH with the useless, petty and moronic name calling like “those idiots on the left”….there’s plenty of idiots to go round   comment posted on Gatlin’s video---“tell em bout it ---cant wait till isis and islam meets redneck and hillbilly resistance”

plenty of idiots on both sides and, guess what, Larry? there are plenty of people who might correctly be labeled as “left” who are as angry and determined as you are….but, here’s a little something for you consideration…….you want to declare war on ISIS?…knock yourself out…I’ll stand right beside you and I’ll sign your damn petition and I’ll go door to door to get others involved….oh…wait….just one thing, one little pesky detail….WHO exactly are we declaring war on? Where are they? What uniforms should we be looking for? Which easily recognized symbol should we look for on their uniforms and helmets and flags and tanks? A big red sun like the Japanese used in World War II?   a huge swastika that immediately alerts us that the Nazis are here?....oh…wait…..this ISIS bunch…they don’t play that way….they don’t play fair at all…they’re gutless and cowardly and pure evil…and they strike from the shadows and either run back into those shadows or blow themselves up because in their sick, black, evil brains allah akbar, baby….

bottom line...I’ve been saying for a while now that our arrogance was a danger….appreciate your checkin’ in and alerting us to the danger, there, Larry….now how about posting a video with something we can use?



on former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton's opinion that the war on ISIS has to be a "new" kind of war---

    all of those lips flapping about bombing ISIS out of existence, including the lips of that real estate mogul who’s got a frighteningly real shot at the GOP nomination for president who said, outloud, he would bomb the SHIT out of ISIS…all of those lips know from NOTHING about how this kind of enemy operates…they’re not gathered in a town like Hiroshima where we can conveniently drop some Made in the USA nukes on em…they're animals…predators…rodents…..who scurry and hide and lurk and scoot and….yes, there is a way to destroy them, we’re America, man…this country has always figured out how to win in the end…but this mindless, Ted Nugent fan club chant that opening up a can of good old fashioned US of A whup ass on em is gonna save the day is as useless as it is foolish…

    if the military had had its way in 1962, you very likely wouldn’t be listening to me right now because it’s very likely the world would have gotten blown up in a nuclear war…the GENERALS insisted that the only way to deal with the Russians and the missiles in Cuba was to “open up a good old fashioned can of US of A whup ass on em”….a cooler head, John Kennedy’s head, prevailed and strength and determination of a more sensible kind backed the Russians down….no small irony that that cooler head, by the way, got blown off just a year later, but let’s don’t do wing nut conspiracy theory tonight, we’ve got enough on our radar…

    the point is this: I agree that we need to go to war…but we need to go to war in a way that will win it…decisively, effectively and as quickly as humanly possible….and I agree with John Bolton….the next president will be facing that evil from moment one of day one of their term….we need a president who understands the difference between smart, cool, quick, effective and practical ways to destroy an evil….and just making a lot of useless noise flapping a flag and opening up a can…









on Ronda Rousey inadvertently teaching us why we need to change our way of thinking

Ronda Rousey---until last night she was the undefeated UFC bantamweight champion…her fights were almost the topic of comic monologues because they consisted of her coming out and with six or eight punches and couple of kicks, dropping her opponents, as the old saying goes, like a bag of wet cement

last night, in Melbourne, a fighter named Holly Holm took just one round and 59 seconds to drop Ronda Rousey like a bag of wet cement….

UFC fans, Ronda Rousey fans, are in shock today….how could that have HAPPENED? and maybe, at this moment, you’re thinking WOW SEP did you just totally whirl around and change subjects just now or what? we were talking about Paris and ISIS and terrorism…well, kids, here a thing…we still are….

If you’ve followed Ronda Rousey at all in the last few months, you’ve seen not only an American success story, but the perfect metaphor for America in the age of terrorism….ability, skill, spunk, moxy, talent, if you use talent as a word to describe somebody whose deal is literally kicking the crap out of somebody else…and a record of wins and losses that, up until last night, made her seem unbeatable….because she was unbeaten…but, almost inevitably, with a feeling of invincibility comes a confidence that, if not carefully controlled, becomes arrogance….the arrogance of believing that nobody can beat us…oops, sorry, beat her….the kind of arrogance that made her feel unbeatable, because she was unbeaten---until last night….last night Ronda Rousey got her ass kicked and was dropped like a bag of wet cement

in the year 2015, war, as it has been fought for centuries, doesn’t exist anymore….the kind of war necessary to triumph over evil requires a new way of thinking, a new way of strategizing…it’s not even CLOSE to good enough to just be the good guys anymore…because we’re not up against bad guys…we’re up against cold, calculating, methodical, certainly sociopathic and most definitely psychotic  forces of destruction---and while it’s all very patriotic to grab a flag to wave with one hand and a rifle with the other hand and tell those bastards “come on, ya’ll, bring it, we’re the US of A”, that approach, that attitude, that mindset is not only arrogant, it’s simply not all that bright…

we’re not facing the Japanese gun to gun, ship to ship, plane to plane…we’re not facing the Nazis, gun to gun ship to ship, plane to plane…we’re facing the Borg….who don’t care if they live or die…all that matters is the conquest…think for a second how the Second World War might have ended if EVERY SINGLE JAPANESE had been a kami kaze…the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have been nothing more to them than another day on the march to conquest….
the black souls that make up ISIS don’t care if they live or die…all that matters is the conquest….and it’s not only arrogant for us to believe that we can end that conquest with that good old fashioned can of American whup ass that we talked about in the last segment…it’s foolish…

Ronda Rousey went into that cage last night with, at least, a little of that inevitable arrogance that comes from feeling unbeatable---and she got her ass kicked…

France got their ass kicked this week…we got OUR ass kicked in September 14 years ago…the definition of insanity, Einstein told us, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time…it’s insanity to think we can stop evil with nothing more than anger, pride, confidence and, yes, arrogance….

old saying…desperate times call for desperate measures

updated saying….new times call for new measures

Larry Gatlin said it best in his little video rant….he just didn’t know that he was saying it for a different reason…wake up, America---




on the myth that is the "war" on Christmas

John Lennon once got in the soup for saying that the Beatles were more popular than Christ….forget that, technically, he was correct in the complete context of what he was asked and what was happening in those days but there was something else Lennon said about Christ I’ve always appreciated and no more so than THESE days with all the hostility and bitching and preaching going on about, and from, some who insist on calling themselves Christians….John said “actually, Jesus was cool…it was the disciples who effed everything up”….now fast forward fifty years, here we are in 2015 , leave the word Jesus in that sentence and just substitute “petty, self- righteous, holier than thou bigots who think there’s religious persecution to be found on a paper coffee cup” for the word disciples and John Lennon’s words ring as true today as ever…..

my understanding of Christianity as a concept, if not a belief system is that it is about living a life in the spirit of Jesus’s teachings, setting an example for others of a life lived along the lines of caring and compassion and concern for others and each other and doing one’s best to  find the humanity, the loving, caring, compassionate humanity in, if not every situation in every day, than in as many situations as humanly possible.

I’ve never seen or read anything of Jesus’ teachings that would lead me, for a second, to believe that Christianity was EVER meant to be the spiritual equivalent of a posh country club filled with snobs and bigots and pompous self-righteousness…looking down, if even bothering to look at all, on those who weren’t using every minute of their lives to work as hard as they can to be a MEMBER of the club….never occurred to me, for a nano-second, that Jesus, were He here to guide and advise, would want the ANNITY named after Him to be a fraternity or sorority that had no use for anyone who doesn’t know the secret handshake and who seem, by their words, attitudes and actions, to pity the poor fools who don’t have a chance of happiness in this life, or the next, if they’re not part of the membership roster….

and worst of all, or at least, to my way of thinking, worst of all at THIS time of the year? the snobbery and the bigotry and the self-righteousness and the holier than thou-ness that should, if not disappear, take a break and call a cease fire during a few weeks of peace on Earth and good will towards men, actually gets WORSE….and the hair trigger of hostility gets pulled by something as simple…and silly….as the decision to print up paper coffee cups that DON’T have snowflakes, pine trees and reindeer on them….and, by the way, snowflakes, pine trees and reindeer are NOWHERE TO BE FOUND in the manual on how to be a good Christian----

wow…war on Christmas? I don’t buy it….what I DO think possible is that a lot of people are beginning to realize that the America we live in is the America that I learned about in school when I was a kid…a melting pot of cultures and races and ancestries and, yes, religious beliefs….Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, yes, Muslim and, yes, Christian…and, while we’re at it, agnostic, atheist and a category the numbers crunchers refer to as “nothing in particular”…..people sometimes argue that I shouldn’t add those folks into the count, but, I think that having no specific earthly religion can reasonably be defined as having a religion of a more spiritual nature---as for me

I love Christmas…I think Christmas and all the trappings of  Christmas that go along with it are cool and fun and, for me, spiritually refreshing….from the tree to the lights to the ornaments to the nativity scenes to the music, both secular and non, to the hustle and bustle, to the childlike joy of waiting for a fat guy in a red suit to come zipping into town with some serious loot to the deeper spiritual joy of observing the birth of a child who lived a life of caring and compassion and concern for others and,  if you believe it, sacrificed that life so that others could be freed from the hopelessness of our human weaknesses and failings….

all of that said, I’m delighted to see paper cups decorated with snowflakes and pine trees and reindeer…but even if the coffee cup is only solid red with some green on it, I’m good…because nobody’s going to take my Christmas away from me by changing the print on some cups…or not putting a tree up in a mall…or keeping the nativity scene in that box in the garage that may, or may not, have the words Christmas written in Sharpie on it…the silliness of all this pettiness is that “war on Christmas” conjures up images of…well…war….and in a war, there is traditionally, a winner and a loser….and in a war, traditionally, one side remains and one side is destroyed….boycott whoever you like if it makes you feel like something that silly makes any difference….me? I’m good…you see…I know something a lot of people apparently don’t know…or have forgotten since they were kids….you can’t destroy Christmas because it’s indestructible….it’s not a place or a thing…and it can’t be gotten to….because it’s inside you…if you want it…it’s inside ME….and sometimes, even in months other than November and December---

-- war on Christmas?.....war is over…if you want it—



join the conversation---Sunday nights at 7---on Delaware 105.9FM News/Talk Radio

"...This Week's Show Was All American....That Is To Say Pretty Much Lacking In Common Sense..."

moments and musings from the November 8 show---


on parents being parents these days...or, as it turns out, not so much---

LET’S PUT THIS AS SIMPLY AS POSSIBLE:
Too many parents not only don’t know the first thing about parenting, too many parents are too lazy and/or stupid to bother trying to figure it out….

FIRST…. when, exactly, did the era of being “buddies” with our children begin….Bill Maher commented on his HBO show “Real Time this past week:  “…there needs to be a whole lot less “hey, buddy, are you ready to go?” and a whole lot more “get in the car”….

SECOND---Many parents have retreated from their roles and asked the government to step in. Our schools are not schools anymore, but foster homes. AND THAT’S BAD ENOUGH, BUT THE REAL FRUSTRATION FOR TEACHERS HAS TO BE THAT PARENTS EXPECT, EVEN DEMAND, TO HAVE IT BOTH WAYS….HERE, you take care of the kid and teach the kid values and respect for authority and respect for others, but WHOA if you even come CLOSE to upsetting my kid, I’m gonna have a lawyer on your ass faster than you can say…WE GOTTA GET RID OF ALL THE HULA DANCERS

on the truth, the whole truth and nothing we want to hear less than the truth---

here’s a fact that’s REALLY hanging us up…We still haven’t learned, as a nation or even as human beings, how to keep from throwing the baby out with the bath water…MEANING THIS…..saying that all black people are bad is both ridiculously and insultingly incorrect and racist…saying that black Americans are responsible for 50 percent of the murders in this country, and almost 40 percent of our rapes, robberies, and assaults, despite making up only 13 percent of the population is simply statistical fact…no more mean spirited than saying the Ravens have lost 6 and won only 2….but in our silly, misguided efforts to make omelets without breaking any eggs, we are either afraid to, or criticized for, pointing out the statistics so we can honestly deal with them…

although I know, and anyone who has ever heard me utter a word knows, that I am not a racially prejudiced man, I also know that saying eight times more crimes are committed by blacks than whites will have any number of people immediately accuse me of that very prejudice….and WHOOPS THERE IT IS….the real problem….because there can be NO resolution or solution when the response to “here’s a problem” is “I’m insulted that you pointed out that this is a problem”….see, that’s how it works in this country these days…we wave flags and Bibles and we scream about truth…..we just don’t want to hear truth…..and I’m not supposed to speak truth….well, ooops….cause I just did… 

on the "fight" over putting a privacy curtain in the girls locker room---

the stupidity in all of this ….is that those who immediately fire off their pissing and moaning pistols are trying to sell everyone, no, actually, strong arm everyone into learning to live with the notion that they shouldn’t be treated any differently than anyone else because they aren’t any different than anyone else….WHEN the plain fact of the matter is that they ARE different….and a large part of this “problem” is that the word “different” has some how diabolically mutated into a synonym for “mutant” or “freak” or “aberration”…..when, in fact, different still basically means nothing more, or less, than different---

the dictionary defines “different” as “not the same as another or each other, unlike in nature in form or quality; distinct, separate---

and this life, like it or not, is full of different….male is different than female, white is different than black, Mets are different than Royals, much to the delight of Kansas City fans, smart is different than stupid and silly is different than ridiculous….and I added those last four in primarily because they apply to the real issue hidden beneath all the silly, stupid, ridiculous issues piled on top of it….

why should any reasonable person on either side or in the middle of the gender section have a problem with privacy curtains when it comes to transgenders? I read a lot of history and I don’t recall ever coming across a great social movement in our history where women felt discriminated against because they weren’t allowed in the men’s locker room and/or showers….I don’t recall a single campaign by men to demand free access to the women’s locker room and/or showers..(although, admittedly, that one probably still gets considered from time to time because, let’s face it, men are pigs….which is another thing, come to think of it, which makes us all delightfully different)…..

the first, supposedly best argument  that gets shouted by those who want us all to be showering together is that not ALLOWING that showering together is a discrimination on a scale that matches the racial discrimination that birthed the historic civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 60’s …that’s crap…..again, invoking that pesky term “reasonable”  let me offer you that the color of skin was never a good reason to deny someone a seat at a lunch counter or to make them sit in the back of a bus or to prevent them from having the very same quality of education as anyone else….it was an unfair and unreasonable line to draw….

but life, this life that is filled with different, IS, in fact, also filled with lines….and the trick to it is NOT these absurd campaigns to erase all lines….it is to find the reasonable, common sense, common COURTESY way to DRAW the line in the first place….

 it’s not unreasonable to show another person, regardless of the color of their skin, the courtesy of not trying to prevent them from eating lunch, riding the bus or going to school like the rest of us do…(Oh, and by the  way, one of the ULTIMATE arrogances of this life is the term “different color skin”….to a black man, I’M the one with a different color skin)….

it’s also not unreasonable to put up a privacy curtain in a girls locker room so that the male who identifies as a female can use the facility while AT THE SAME TIME the actual females who don’t care to be displayed don’t have to be displayed….

there is, of course, the debate that goes on about allowing transgenders ANY access to obviously male or female facilities and, I gotta tell ya, I’m a simple guy who sees this in a simple way: you go in the room that matches your particular equipment….BUT while all this silliness is being sorted out, let’s make it easier on ourselves and just take the path of showing each other some common courtesy….

the path that heads us this way:   if you are a standard issue male or female who has a problem with the whole idea of transgender, meet halfway by grinning and bearing it and supporting the idea of curtains, etc, to allow for some wiggle room until it’s determined how much wiggle there will finally be in the room….

and if you’re a transgender or a zealous transgender advocate, meet halfway by not trying to shove your agenda into the face and/or down the throat of those who don’t wish to feel uncomfortable….NOT necessarily because they see you as a freak or a mutant or an aberration, but, simply because they feel uncomfortable when they are not given the courtesy of having their very simple and, these days, almost delightfully, charming, modesty respected….

the real beginnings of the solution to this societal dilemma will actually occur when standard issue males and females accept that things are never again going to be the way they used to be…but transgenders accept that it’s neither reasonable nor likely to ever expect to be seen as the same as everyone else…..

because you’re not a freak or a mutant or an aberration….but you are different….

like male is different than  female, black is different than white, smart is different than stupid and silly is different than ridiculous 



liar, liar, pants on fire...and poll numbers up, regardless---

when it comes to lying and liars in our poltical process, there’s a couple of things we need to remember…..

we live in a cold hard world and the cold hard fact is that people will often say whatever they need to say to get what they want or cover their ass…and sometimes spare others feelings….we lie every day…every one of us…wow that hair cut looks great on you….no, I didn’t eat the last brownie….yeah, I DID read that email, let me get back to you…..

bottom line is lies are life and life is lies….along with all the other zillions of things that life is….and in this upcoming election, the one who brings out the loudest cries of liar is the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination….

I’m not crazy about the idea of Hillary as president….but I’m too jaded to be bothered with something as silly as the fact that she lies….Lincoln lied, Roosevelt lied, Nixon lied, Reagan lied, BILL Clinton lied and this weekend there’s a big ol buzz about Ben Carson “exaggerating” his claim that he was offered a scholarship to West Point (for those following the plot, the term exaggerating is modern slang for lying)...yes. all God’s chillum be lyin at one time or another

---the only thing about Hillary Clinton becoming president that really and genuinely concerns me is a selfish concern…I’m rock bottom sick and tired of venomous and vitriolic hatred being the standard operating procedure in this country and electing Hillary is a no fail, without a doubt guarantee that we will have four or eight more years of that same attitude…..because too many people in this country who disagree these days don’t have a damn clue about how to do it without being vicious about it…they know NOTHING about informed dissent or loyal opposition….they probably don’t even know what the terms informed dissent and loyal opposition mean…all they know is ignorant, petty, stupid and absolutely useless hatred….and, even more exhausting and annoying, is that a lot of those haters probably wear a cross around their necks and have Jesus fish on the trunks of their cars…which to my way of thinking is like robbing a bank wearing a badge…now, I’m pretty sure that the country can deal with four or eight more years of character flaws….and, Lord knows, Hillary’s got em….just like Bill’s got em---and Barack’s got em….and I’ve got em….and YOU’ve got em….what I’m not so sure of anymore is to whether or not this country can deal with four or eight more years of the kind of hatred that acts like acid…eating away at the foundation of the republic itself…

Hillary gets mocked for hundreds of reasons, including the title of a book she wrote a while back “It Takes A Village”….forget the fact that, in fact, it actually DOES take a village (look up the saying and give it some thought)…..and forget, for a second, that Hillary has anything to do with the saying….for a second, just think of this….

any fool can clean UP a village….by burning it to the ground….and if there’s no flame around when you need one…there’s something else that burns things down pretty good….acid….


final thought, last sharings and a parting shot or two---
 
what I should have said to the nice lady who called last week and took me to task for making fun of Lacey Lafferty ….why we are willing to accept less than the very best instead of “whatever else” is available….when interviewing someone to fill a position, an employer is, of course, limited by whatever is available in the applicant pool…but we’re not talking about hiring a new secretary or stock clerk or fast food counter person……

we’re talking about someone who we expect to lead us, manage our affairs, spend OUR money…..maybe it’s time we start thinking about lowering the river instead of raising the bridge and rethink our whole notion of what constitutes leadership in this country in this day and age---

MEANWHILE----it’s ironic, and would be funny if it wasn’t so sad and not just a little stupid, that those who keep spewing the loudest about Barack Obama being a failure at everything he has done are those spewing the loudest that he’s going to come and take away all the guns and turn this country over to the Muslims…seems like it would take somebody pretty smart to organize and pull off all of that….so if you’re one of those worried about losing your guns and having your country stolen out from under you, you really don’t need to worry, after all…because Obama is a failure at everything he does….right?....must be right….because I heard it from YOU---

AND FINALLY---
watching and listening to the political talk shows on radio and TV and it occurred…both sides are equally guilty of the smirk…or the snark….for the smug….and NO ONE is really trying to ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING except the smirk or the snark or the smug---
“I know you are but what am I’ may be the kind of method that six year olds employ to deal with those things they find unacceptable…but it’s really a lousy way to inspire a nation---






join the conversation---Sunday nights at 7 Eastern...on Delaware 105.9 

"...The Term "Star Reporter" Used To Mean Something Entirely Different..."

some written observations gleaned from the spoken observations from the November 1 show---



about that GOP "debate"---

the problem with too many “media” people…and media is the 21^st century, high tech, rooty snooty word for “journalist” is that too many media people don’t know the first thing about journalism…in the 1950’s and 1960’s and even into the 1970’s,  print, radio and television journalists brought us information…free of slant, skew, perspective or prejudice…and WITH that information, we were not only ABLE to make up our minds about issues of the day, we had to USE our minds to make up our minds about issues of the day….yes, there were commentaries and editorials in print and on television then, just as there are now…but they were designated and announced as such and so you knew, going in, that you were getting a given announcer’s personal slant on something so you could take it or leave it….what happens all too often today and what happened in spades at this latest debate, is that these “media” people aren’t remotely interested in bringing information to you or me….what they’re interested in is grandstanding…showing off…asking the “gotcha” questions that these grandstanders hope will be THE gotcha question that will unearth some deep dark secret about 

a candidate…or get them to say something stupid---or controversial---the kind of comment that will have people talking about it at the coffee maker the next day….it’s 1% journalism and 99% show biz these days….and EVERBODY wants to be a star….personally, I blame three people…..Woodward and Bernstein, the two then young writers for the Washington Post who uncovered the covering up that Nixon did about the Watergate burglary in 1972 and really did start the domino’s falling until they literally ended the Nixon presidency and, in the process, made media superstars out of Woodward and Bernstein…from that time on, the goal of journalists started to shift from the time honored journalism fundamentals of who, what, where and when to the spotlight hogging antics of who’s doing what to whom and where and when did they and/or are they doing it to them?....and there is no longer any such thing as objective reporting of the news….and how do you tell if a news reporter or editor or anchor has an agenda? they’re talking…..oh and the other blame? Simon Cowell….because he created American Idol and convinced people that when it came to going from nobody to superstar in the blink of an eye, pretty much everybody and anybody had, at least, a pretty good shot at it….these days? almost invisibly thin line between singers who sing and reporters who zing…and the one thing they ALL have in common big time? the love of that limelight, baby….and IF, as happens rarely, they really aren’t interested in the fame or fortune, per se? then they see themselves as champion of the people, rooting out evil, fighting a never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way……..because, let’s face it, when it comes to working in news? why be bored to death simply doing a quality job of providing factual information that people can use when you can be one cool kick ass champion of those people? ….oh, and by the way, one last two cents worth of opinion…this guy John Harwood, the lead “moderator”?….don’t know him, don’t know his work but if I was asked to size him up based on what I saw Wednesday night? he’s a blowhard asshat who apparently sees himself as one of those champions of the people….Walter Cronkite…come back!......come back!

about Lacey Lafferty suing a political blogger for "slander"

I don’t have anything personal against or axe to grind with Lacey Lafferty….I have, in fact, had her as a phone guest on this show and found her to be interesting and what I took to be sincere in her desire to be of service to Delawareans….that said, in the year 2015 I would have a problem supporting any candidate who expresses themselves like Ms. Lafferty…if only because in the year 2015, I’m always looking to see where a candidate stands on what I believe to be a single issue of critical importance…education….promoting it, advocating for it and being a good and living 

example for it…and, picky as it might sound, I’m not inclined to be impressed with someone wanting to be one of only fifty people in the entire nation who hold the office of governor that don’t know, at the very least, how to use spell checker….the word is gubernaTORial….not gubernaTERial as Ms. Lafferty wrote and posted for all to see in her Facebook response….maybe readin, writin’, writhmatic and book LARNIN weren’t all that big a deal in 1915…..2015?  big deal……and given the choice, I’ll go with the candidate who shines as an example of higher education to the kids every time….even if they like to dance the hula  (Google Lafferty Hula Dancers and enjoy the video)

"...The Problem With Torches Is They're Really Hard To Put Out..."

some political POV in anticipation of the 2nd GOP debate....and a discussion of the "where we at now?" coming up on this Sunday night's show----




(click on the link)

http://politicsinplainenglishsep.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-only-thing-we-have-to-fearis-those.html

"...Politics, Pedestrians...and Pontificators...."

bits, pieces and pearls from this past Sunday's show---

"...if ever, oh, ever a wiz  there was, he or she has yet to reveal his or herself..."

First Democratic debate come and gone...

And from ten seconds after it ended, you couldn’t swing a dead cat and not hit an "expert" on who said what, what they meant and how voters feel out that and them.

Actually, these days, thanks to PETA and the SPCA and the ACLU and E-I-E-I-O, you can't even swing a dead cat.

I claim no expertise.

I do, though, have a little experience with this kind of thing

So, allow me to sum up the status of the presidential campaign, current as of the writing of this piece, some five days after the end of Dem Debate I.

Those who believed their candidate is the answer to every prayer they can pray….. still believes their candidate is the answer to every prayer they can pray.

Those who believe that all the other candidates are the anti-Christ and/or Muslims and/or both…. still believe that all the other candidates are the anti-Christ and/or Muslims and/or both

Those who haven't yet made up their mind were most likely watching "N.C.I.S." Tuesday night and waiting until, say, March of next year when the herd has thinned sufficiently to see the "actual" candidates as opposed to the Osmond family meets the Von Trapp family crowd of contenders currently taking part in the process and sucking the oxygen and air time out of the room.

As far as "expert" analysis, insight, cogent perspective and/or prescient pundit-ing as to where the American electorate stands at this point, I ignore CNN, FOX, MSNBC, any and all "commentators" associated with same, any and all online sages, any and all print media waxers politic and simply, for the time being, refer to the one political observer I have found, through the years, to have the most consistently, almost unfailingly, accurate take on the mindset of the American voter at any given time in the American electoral process...

Ray Bolger---





"...walk a mile in my shoes...but watch out for cars trying to run you down..."

Delaware is getting serious about pedestrian safety....


Governor Markell is announcing an executive order to increase pedestrian safety and walkability in The First State.

The action comes as the rate of pedestrian accidents and fatalities remains high so far in 2015.

Also, the Governor's office says the effort to examine pedestrian "infrastructure" - pathways, crosswalks and sidewalks - fits in with initiatives to make Delaware a more walkable and bikeable state.

The Advisory Council on Walkability and Pedestrian Awareness will include representatives from state agencies, local governments, citizens organizations and the non-profit sector.

OH YAY! another committee to spend tax dollars to study and consider and discuss and come up with the following no brainer conclusion….

COMMON SENSE ALERT…

 we are a personal motor vehicle driven ,personal  motor vehicle obsessed culture and solutions to the rising injury and death rates of pedestrians and bikers and these programs designed to solve the problem, whatever good intentions they include, rely heavily on ONE thing in very very short supply these days….common courtesy….and that includes paying attention while driving (texting, zipping in and out, etc)


MEANWHILE, ANOTHER THOUGHT ABOUT IT…Bike paths that require even the most COURTEOUS and SKILLED drivers to cross over in order to make a turn or get to or through an intersection is one of the top ten all time DUMBEST ideas…we ain’t Europe, baby….we are MURRica….and in MURRica , SHARE the road means spray painting it with the words I Got You Babe….



"..you are free to live your life as you see it...now...let us tell you how you should see it..."


FROM THE DELAWARE FAMILY POLICY COUNCIL Facebook page---

This is REALLY important and we need you to read it. It affects you if you profess Christ as your Savior and Lord. We also urge you to become a member of DFPC and come to our monthly member mtgs where we educate and equip you for what is ahead. We have strategy, we ignite courage and we stand together.

an ARTICLE BY BRYAN FISCHER on the American Family Association website

If you have ever wondered whether President Obama has an abiding hostility to people of Christian faith, wonder no more. He believes we are a threat to national security. If you are a sincerely devoted follower of Jesus Christ, your president believes you are a potential domestic terrorist

I do not exaggerate. In a gathering at George Washington University this week, Obama’s assistant attorney general for national security, John Carlin, revealed that the Department of Justice is creating a brand new position just to monitor us. The position, domestic terrorism counsel, will be created to combat the “real and present threat” of domestic terrorism. 

The real threat to our national security, according to our president and his minions, is coming from the Family Research Council and the American Family Association. 

The plain truth is that we at FRC and AFA don’t hate a living soul. We love homosexuals enough to tell them the truth about the physical and spiritual dangers of the homosexual lifestyle. We want something better for them than the darkness and disease associated with homosexual behavior. We want them to come out of that darkness into the light of the gospel of Christ. We are for the homosexual, and so we must be against the normalization and promotion of homosexuality.  

SEP comments--------I have, and I’m willing to bet you money I aint got, that YOU have friends, acquaintances, co workers, even FAMILY members who are gay and lead happy, productive, physically and spiritually healthy lives….

I’m also willing to double  down and bet you have heterosexual friends, family etc in the grip of darkness, disease, desperation, etc, etc

darkness and disease aren’t just something you get in the premium tier of being gay….they are an equal opportunity human afflication…and NO ONE and NO GROUP has an automatic or guaranteed immunity…

“…Do we disagree with the homosexual lobby about homosexuality? Of course. Do we hate them? Absolutely not. Do we advocate violence against them? Never have, never will. We are simply determined to tell the moral, spiritual, and physical truth about non-normative sexual behavior.  …”     WHOOPS THERE IT IS….the TRUTH about flawed human beings as seen by OTHER flawed human beings…

I always find myself automatically and instantly asking this question when I hear the TRUTH being told to me by a fellow flawed human being…..who died and made you the first and last word on what Jesus wants? Oh, wait, that’s right….it was Jesus who died

and I get that you think you’re doing me some kind of favor by pointing out the error of my way, but let me offer you this….

your Bible and the ability to read it DOESN’T MAKE YOU an expert and it doesn’t AUTHORIZE you to come at me as if I were a two year old who needs to have explained to me the dangers of crossing the street without looking both ways…

share with me…don’t lecture me….invite me to consider…don’t preach that I must surrender…because I promise if you try to make up my mind for me, you’re going to fail at your quest to recruit me…and God or Jesus aren’t going to be pleased that you’re not making your quota…..and its NOT because I figure I’m going to get a better deal with the devil….it’s because I’m going to talk benefits and responsibilities and hopes and dreams and sacrifices and loving one another with God myself….and eliminate the middle man….in this case, the middle man being YOU

I’m willing to bet the farm that you are one of those folks totally outraged by the Supreme Court “interpreting” the law for us…..but you don’t have any problem at all expecting me to accept you doing exactly the same thing for me…

if I feel moved or motivated or inspired to share an amazing book with you, I’m going to recommend, yes, even sometimes passionately, recommend that you open the book and read it….the difference between you and me? I’m not going to insist you read it, try to instill in you a fear of what will happen if you DON’T read it and then, after you actually read it, tell you what you just read really MEANS….

who died and made you the first and last word on what Jesus wants? Oh, wait, that’s right….it was Jesus who died

meanwhile, I’m not accepting ANYTHING as GOSPEL from you because I know who you are….a flawed human being…just like me

join the conversation--- Sunday night at 7 Eastern---talk radio redefined...