"...You Have The Right To Remain Silent....Not To Remain Stupid...."

Watch this.

And then read the screamingly simple solution to the problem following the video.

Do U think you are good at texting while driving???
Posted by The 99 on Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Of all the solutions thus far suggested (hands free laws, stiffer fines, yada yada). ONE SOLUTION is practical, do-able...and guaranteed to end the problem.

Cell phones that DO NOT function while a car engine is running.

With ONE exception.

In the event of a genuine emergency, a cell phone may be sent a signal that will set off a ding ding ding, alerting the recipient that they need to return the call ASAP.

Other than that. the cell phone DOES NOT FUNCTION while a car engine is running.

ANY text, call, email, etc critical enough to require attention while one is driving is sufficiently critical to motivate the driver to pull of the road in a timely, but safe, manner.

We lived for almost two thousand years without being able to phone, text, talk, call, email, web surf, selfie, etc, while behind the wheel without the empire crumbling or the world coming to a screaming halt.

Chances are good that we can live the next two thousand without those options.

And, for those who have a hair trigger on their "it's my right" pistol.....

Your right to swing your fist ends where another's nose begins.

For that matter, the use of a cell phone is a convenience.

Not a right.

In a real emergency, should you absolutely need to get somebody's attention....

Fire a gun out the car window.

2nd Amendment's got you covered there.

"...Jello Shots...Handgun Shots....It's Just All Part Of The Contemporary College Experience...."

 Today's abject civics lesson comes courtesy of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.



DOVER, Del. (AP) — Three people were shot and injured Saturday night at a cookout on the Delaware State University campus, officials said, and authorities are searching for the shooter.

The shooting happened at about 8 p.m. at a university-sanctioned fraternity and sorority event, DSU spokesman Carlos Holmes said.

Three people were taken to Kent General Hospital in Dover with injuries that were not life-threatening, Holmes told The Associated Press.

DSU President Harry L. Williams said in a news release that the victims' names have not been released and it isn't clear whether they are Delaware State students.

No arrests had been made as of 2:30 a.m. EDT Sunday. Williams said students have been told to stay inside their dormitories. Non-students were asked to leave campus.

"The safety of our students continues to be paramount and our police will aggressively continue their investigation until an arrest or arrests are made in this shooting incident," Williams said. DSU campus police is leading the investigation, with help from the Dover Police Department, Delaware State Police and other agencies.

In early November, a student was shot at a residence hall near the campus in what authorities determined was an isolated act. Two people were charged.

Delaware State University is a historically black university that has more than 4,100 full- and part-time students.



Let's cut to the chase.

And let's not waste any time offering any point of view that might attempt to inject thought, reason, consideration or reflection into the conversation.

Let's stick with the tried and true.

Guns don't kill people.

People kill people.

As Americans, we have the right to have any damn gun any damn time we want it.

The Constitution of the United States of America, in particular, the 2nd Amendment, gives us that freedom.

Cue CNSY.

"find the cost of freedom / buried in the ground"

Or in stable condition at Kent General..

As the case may be.

"...So Far, None Of The Candidates Have Been Accused Of Being On The Grassy Knoll....Just Wait....The Campaign Is Young...."

coming up, in one form or another, on this week's show.....


Hillary's in.

Rubio's in.

Cruz and Paul still in.

Here's some food for thought.

Information is not necessarily knowledge.

Knowledge is not necessarily wisdom.

Wisdom is not necessarily expertise.

I'm not talking about them.

I'm talking about us.

Read.

Listen.

Think.

But, above all, verify.

If not, have another serving of that food for thought.

"...Tis The Season of A-Rod....And H-Rod...."

Ah, spring time.

And the beginning of that season filled with fastballs, curve balls, strike outs and home runs.

That's right.

The presidential campaign is pretty much up and running.

Today, Hillary Clinton announces.

Here's an "opening day" thought.

Baseball fans will share with you the old adage that "every team will win 54 games, every team will lose 54 games....and it's entirely about what they do with the remaining 54 games that determines how they do."

Given Hillary's status in the culture, it occurs that this simple formula applies, with a little tweak, as well.

Those who worship and adore her will vote for her come hell or high water.

Those who hate her will vote for her when hell freezes over.

It's those who neither love nor hate, those who are simply ready to hear what she has to offer who will determine how she does.

And, ultimately, how we do, too.

Play ball.

"...At This Rate, We'll Finally Get Past That Silly Gender Bias Business By, Oh, Say, 2106......"

as shared on this past Sunday's (4/5) show...

And the starship in search of intelligent life once again just cruises on by....

Sarah Thomas will become the NFL’s first permanent woman official, according to a person “familiar” with her hiring who spoke to USA Today. Thomas worked as a line judge during preseason games and the New Orleans Saints minicamp last year and will start her new job during the 2015 season. "If I am there permanently next year as a full-time official it would just be tremendous,'' Thomas told USA TODAY last June. "I've always said as far as breaking the gender barrier, you never set out to do that.''

The ostensibly remarkable thing here is the achievement......in fact, the remarkable thing here is that something that should have been the norm for a long, long time is considered remarkable.....progress, forward motion and all that, yada, yada....but what a commentary on how much of the "good ol boy" culture remains to evolve away.....Sarah would likely be the first to agree that she ain't Rosa Parks....nor should she be......gain of one yard......second and a long nine yet to go.....

"...The New American Math...The More We Multiply, The More We Divide....."

as shared on this past Sunday's (4/5) show....


Tom Cotton is a putz.

But, it's Easter, a time of reflection and compassion and celebration.

So, upon reflection, let's show a little compassion.

And offer that his being a putz isn't a blight upon us.

But, rather, a symptom of the blight upon us.

The actual disease is an atrophy of the essential veins and arteries that have, since the inception of America, sent the lifeblood of this nation flowing out from the heart of us to keep us healthy and growing and living and then back to that heart to nourish it and keep us healthy and growing and living.

Since 1776, and long before, actually, that lifeblood flowing in the bright, beautiful, colors of red, white and blue.

That atrophy has taken its toll, though.

And now that lifeblood no longer resembles the patriotic plasma that once pumped passionately through all of us, uniting us to do more and do better and do for each other and protecting us from the antibodies of foreign invasion and, sometimes, in fact, many times, even from ourselves and each other.

The lifeblood of America no longer flows red, white and blue.

It flows red.....or it flows blue.

And white?

Well, lately, Ferguson has taught us that we don't want to talk too much about white, lest we get each other's blood boiling.

Lincoln once eloquently offered that a house divided against itself cannot stand.

And for almost 250 years, this country has proven, time and time and time again, that even though differences confront us, issues challenge us, enemies dare us, problems surround us and solutions elude, even enrage, us, we have always kept eyes on the prize and steered clear of letting our individualities send us angrily storming off to one side or the other, angrily barricading ourselves in, stubbornly refusing to either come out or let anyone in, allowing a noisy, rambunctious, even rowdy family home deteriorate into a divided house.

Because the lifeblood of the family flowed red, white and blue.

Not just red.

Not just blue.

That a member of the United States Senate could take it upon himself to undermine the executive authority and responsibilities of the office of President of the United States and be supported in that disrespect by other members of the legislative branch.....

That a member of the United States Senate could offer that no matter how unfairly, unjustly and/or unequally homosexuals may be treated in this country, they are still the better for it, given that Iran hangs their gays....

That a sad, significant and, yes, scary, number of American citizens not only find nothing wrong with that behavior but, in fact, support, even endorse, it.......

Says more about the damage, and threat, to the American blood stream than any thousand news shows, talk shows, op ed pieces or essays written and shared on the air.....on an Easter night.

A night of reflection and compassion and celebration.

"...If I Knew You're Were Normal / I'da Baked A Cake / Baked A Cake / Baked A Cake..."

Following up on a topic from this past Sunday's (3/29) show.....

We were talking about the legislation passed in Indiana and, regardless of good intentions and their noted use as a paving material, the mess that has been made of it.

After the show, I realized that there was a very simple bottom line that I wished I had offered up during the program.

To paraphrase Dionne Warwick, though, that's what blogs are for.

Complexities and complications, mostly of our own making, admittedly, notwithstanding, the easiest illustration available of the "ludicrousity" of this "law" (yes, we know ludicrousity isn't really a word, but a law coated in this much dark humor merits a W.C. Fields-ish grammatical style) was that of the bakery that would refuse to bake and/or sell a cake to a gay couple because it would violate their (the bakery's) religious beliefs.

As I began rolling the available punchlines around in my head, searching for just the right combination of not too many / not too few words to bring that point around third and sprinting for home, Facebook friend, and hip shooter, actress Marsha Warfield to the rescue.

(NOTE: the following literal quote is rated "R", not suitable for people who are having a hard time with the common vocabulary of the 21st century)

"....How the fuck does cake "burden your religious beliefs?"

How?

It's fucking cake....."

Ladies and gentlemen, the insightful, albeit less than subtle, philosophical stylings of Marsha Warfield.

To which I have just three things to add.

First, somehow, as we Earthlings are wont to do, in all of this spewing and sputtering and indignation, generic, and self, righteous, we seem to have made an error in connective logic. Providing someone with a piece of pastry does not imply, indicate, mandate, support and/or endorse the beliefs, values, opinions, activities and/or lifestyles of the person or persons provided with said pastry.

Second, despite lingering superstitions and misconceptions, homosexuality is not contagious and cannot be contracted through accidental physical contact, say, for example, a heterosexual making unintended contact of any kind with a homosexual while handing said homosexual a cake box.

Third?

Yeah...what she said.

Oh...and not for nothin', but one piece of the Rubik's Cube of Christian Expression that I can't seem to lock into place.

Refusing to simply bake someone a cake.

Because they are homosexual.

Ergo, judged not worthy and/or deserving of and/or entitled to having a cake baked for them.

The key word there, of course, being "judged".

As in..."judge not...." and all that.

Hmmm.

If it walks like a judgement.

And quacks like a judgment.

Doesn't take a Rhodes scholar to connect the dots.

Anyone can do it.

Piece of cake.