"...How Can We Miss You When You Won't Go Away?..."

"...Up Next On Our Campaign Hit Parade...The Four Tops...And 'It's The Same Old Song'..."

one last thought from our May 17, 2015 show....

...At this writing, there are eight announced candidates for President in 2016…add to that the other 10 who have been often named as likely to run and what you have is 18 likely candidates for President of the United States…

…and what we already have, in spades, in this campaign with, as of today, 540 days yet to go, is a game of hardball…cheap shots, low blows, animosity, mudslinging, tearing down, shredding up, put downs, character assassination, pettiness…

…and that’s with 540 days to go…

…but here’s a thing…in one way or another, every campaign since year one in this country has had its share of all of those negative attributes….

…what’s different this time around, what’s missing from this campaign…..is excitement, enthusiasm, energy, optimism, inspiration, positivity, pride…. there’s not a single candidate that is creating the kind of buzz that Lincoln did in the 1860’s…

…or Franklin Roosevelt did in the Great Depression years…there’s no rock star crowds gathering to hear JFK talk about New Frontiers, there’s no old guard crowd rallying around a movie actor turned politician named Reagan, there’s no sense that a new generation is ready to give our problems a shot like there was when Bill Clinton ran in 1992…

…there’s not even the kind of fresh excitement that occurred seven years ago when the first black man to get that far got that far with his message of how all we had to do was hope hard enough and change would come…we hoped hard…and change did come…but that change hasn’t brought us any closer to solving our problems and it certainly hasn’t brought us any closer together…we are probably more divided and polarized as a country than we have ever been…

…and not a single candidate among those 18 has anything to offer us that we can be absolutely sure about with the exception of the fact that they are not one of the other 17 candidates...

…I can’t speak for you and I won’t presume to do that…but I will share with you that while I don’t believe I could ever be ashamed of being an American, I can, and frankly this time around am, embarrassed to be one..…

…because if what we’ve got to choose from 540 days from now represents the most exciting, most enthusiastic, most energetic, most optimistic, most positive, most proud, most interesting, most inspiring…if what is going to be on our ballots in 540 days is the best and the brightest of what this nation has to offer, regardless of  political party preference, then, we need to stop arguing with each other, stop settling for the lesser of the evils, and let the wanna be leaders of this nation know that we expect, no, that we demand, the best and the brightest…and not the least of the worst…

…every time I hear a candidate stand before a frenzied crowd and say “it’s time to take our country back!” I want to grab a microphone and say “back from who?” From those that we gave the country to when we elected them to lead us and they didn’t? So that we can elect a new group and watch them play the same game with our dreams and our hopes and our money and our lives or even worse, re-elect the same group so that they can continue to not do the job we expect and demand…and deserve? 

…As parents, we learn that our kids tend to live up, or down, to our expectations and demands. Turns out the same holds true for those we elect to represent our interests.

…Until we wise up and really hold the feet of those who want our votes to the fire of high expectations, we’re going to continue getting what we pay for…or, more to the point, vote for….my vote is available to the first candidate who can answer this one, and only one, question to my satisfaction….how will you inspire this nation to stop settling for less than actually BEING the best and the brightest?

"...Talk Radio For The Whole 'Family'..."

"...From Your Radio With Love...."

"...If Only Good And Evil Came Only In Black And White...."

Courage comes from unexpected places.

This week, it came from a jury room in Boston.

More than just a few people were surprised that the death penalty was the chosen punishment for Tsarnaev.

And, predictably, more than just a few people were distressed by that choice.

Jay Parini is one.

( Jay Parini, a poet and novelist, teaches at Middlebury College in Vermont. His newest book is "Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal," which is forthcoming in October. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.)

(CNN) As a Christian, I can't but feel horrified at the news that a federal jury has imposed the death penalty on Dzhokar Tsarnaev, the young man who (with his brother) was responsible for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. 

This punishment only continues the cycle of violence, and it will not bring peace. In fact, the execution of Tsarnaev will transform him into a martyr, and millions around the world will find fresh reasons to dislike the United States.

I have no sympathy for him. He killed and maimed innocent people, believing that this violence would somehow make up for the violence to Islamic people wrought by American bombs. But violence is never the right answer.

Capital punishment is murder by the state; it cannot be justified. It will do nothing to comfort anyone who suffered from the horror perpetrated by Tsarnaev. If we allow ourselves to get sucked into the violence that has been done to us, we in turn become that violence. 

Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount that "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" is the old way of doing business. He asked us to turn the other cheek. And he meant it -- although that is a very complex teaching that each Christian must interpret with prayerful alertness to the responsibilities and difficulties of nonviolent responses to violence.

It is not hard to argue that Tsarnaev's case has its roots in an earlier cycle of violence: The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that left nearly 3,000 dead in 2001. It is for many of us the worst day we can recall. 

I remember thinking to myself: there will be violence for decades now, and it will follow from this act. So it was not surprising when only a few years later we invaded Iraq, even though expert voices around the world warned that there was no real connection between Iraq and 9/11.

Over 100,000 civilians and security forces would die, bombed by Americans and their allies. These deaths, and countless injuries, would create a great deal of anger, as generations would remember the day that the Americans bombed their city in this "war of choice."

Of course, it was impossible to know the full extent of the terror that would follow, and that indeed ISIS would rush in to fill a vacuum created by wiping out Saddam's army. Violence follows violence.

From this, angry, distorted men, like the Tsarnaev brothers, drew justification for their unspeakable actions.

Cycles of violence are difficult, nearly impossible, to break.

The concept of "turning the other cheek" may sound meek and mild, almost a copout. But it's a powerful teaching that could lead to genuine, even radical, transformation. It invites us to struggle to find a way out of this cycle of victim and perpetrator. 

There is no reasonable argument in opposition to what Mr. Parini offers here.

Because reasonable people, in their heart of hearts and soul of souls, would certainly have to understand, if not accept, the perspective that he brings to the discussion.

If the Tsarnaev brothers acted in retribution for what they perceived to be unjust harm to others by maiming and killing others, then execution of the remaining brother can unarguably be described as retribution for what we perceive to be unjust harm to others.

And the wheel on the bus, like the cycle Parini describes, goes round and round.

All that can be reasonably offered is oppositional opinion.

And, perhaps, a splitting of a hair.

".... Capital punishment is murder by the state; it cannot be justified. It will do nothing to comfort anyone who suffered from the horror perpetrated by Tsarnaev....."

Hmm.

mur·der

ˈmərdər/

noun

noun: murder; plural noun: murders

1.

the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another


And there,  as Hamlet would offer us, lies the rub.

Tricky definition.

Because those same reasonable people who understand, if not accept, Mr. Parini's perspective might passionately counter that the maiming and killing of innocents, including children, simply for the purpose of inflicting pain and terror and harm are not the acts of a human being.

Thereby negating the accusation that to execute here is to murder.

That, perhaps, instead, the maiming and killing of innocents, including children, simply for the purpose of inflicting pain and terror and harm are, simply, at their core, nothing more, or less, than evil.

Deserving of extermination.

And who among us would lose a second's sleep knowing that we had participated in that extermination?

Not to mention the very real possibility that said extermination might even result in  a sense of....comfort.

That while we will probably never possess the opportunity, let alone the skills, to eradicate evil from the human experience, we will, from time to time, have the opportunity to exterminate its perpetrators.

One small step, as it were.

This past week, the jurors in Boston displayed a not easily accomplished courage.

Because while it might seem that they were faced with the decision of whether or not to allow a fellow human being to continue living, what they were actually faced with was a entirely different decision altogether.

Whether they were being confronted by a failed human being.

Or evil.

And the courage spoken of here is the courage it takes to take an extraordinary chance in this life, to even step up to the table when the possible repercussions are so extreme,  let alone place the bet and gamble that the chance was worth taking, that the determination was, and is, just.

We will not learn, in our own lifetimes, what judgement will await them for their decision.

Nor will they, for that matter.

That's a judgement that comes when this life is concluded.

In the meantime, whatever else did or did not happen in Boston this past week, twelve people took an extraordinary chance and gambled that what they were confronted with was not merely a failed human being.

But, in fact, evil.

And they put their morality, and perhaps even their immortality, on the line by putting the extermination process into motion.

With stakes that high, especially in light of those possible repercussions, that gamble was courageous.

"...Coming Up After The Break......Marilyn Mos.......What?......Oh.........Marilyn Manson...!"

One of these things seems not like the other.

One of these things seems not the same.

Not so much not the same, as it turns out.


The thing....

Fox is pulling the plug on "American Idol" at the end of next season. The music reality show that was once the most popular on U.S. television will return in January, but Fox announced on Monday that it will be a farewell season for the series. Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick, Jr. will return as the judges for the final season as will host Ryan Seacrest. 

The other thing...

(Opinion posted online by Greta Van Susteren)

The prosecutor in Baltimore MUST step aside! This is dangerously unfair to the police in Baltimore - she is trampling on their rights!
Prince held a concert in Baltimore this weekend and I am all for concerts in an effort to uplift people and heal wounds — we need that! But when the message dangerously tramples on Constitutional rights, that is where I draw the line.
Prince requested the crowd to wear gray…as a nod to Freddie Gray. The concert is fine - but telling them to wear gray? What’s wrong with that? Well, of course people feel horrible about Gray’s death (and we all should, someone died!) but the crowd is the potential jury pool for those police officers and encouraging all to wear this color in support does covertly impact (reinforce) peoples’ opinions before the trial.
Secondly, Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby getting up on stage with Prince was tone deaf at best, and at worse, contributing to the tainting of a potential jury pool. What was she thinking? Or was she? She should know her position and her responsibility


Any first year law student, regardless of their political stripe, would likely agree, at the very least, with the last graph in Greta's statement.

And although it's a reasonable assumption that the questions she poses are meant to be rhetorical, we think the literal answer isn't all that hard to calculate.

Ergo, connecting that first thing with the other thing.

As a by-product, if not result, of 15 years of American Idol, and, of course, all of its offspring, we are experiencing the behavior of a generation that feels no more uncomfortable, or out of place, on a performing stage than they do at a backyard pool party...or a family gathering...or a press conference lectern should their, say, duties as State's Attorney require said press conference.

 

Additionally, celebrity is not longer something necessarily attained or achieved, rather it is, far too often and far too undeservedly doled out, like flyers distributed on windshields in store parking lots.

And because celebrity and whatever stage happens to be associated with it at any given moment is so much an everyday part of this generation's mindset, it's unfortunate, but entirely likely, that Marilyn Mosby didn't give a second thought to climbing up on that stage to share a little limelight.

Not necessarily because she felt as if she deserved it.

More than likely because she simply didn't give it any thought at all.

You see, that's what young people do these days.

And, back to Greta's questions.                                                                           

Tone deaf?

Yup.

Possibly damaging to the process of assembling an impartial jury?

Bet the little red corvette, baby.

And should she, at least, be taken off the case and, at most, shown the door?

One would think.

But don't count on it.

Because making a major game change like that now will make an already mucky situation even more mucky.

Not to mention that Mosby will almost assuredly find such a move without justification.

At least in her own field of vision.

Because, you see, the spotlight has a way of both deafening and blinding one to those things that would ordinarily be as clear as the screams of a gravely injured prisoner in the back of a van.

And while it's both insane and incorrect to blame a TV show for what's going on in Baltimore right now, it's worth considering where this deafening and blinding originated.

Marilyn Mosby's generation obviously feels right at home on the stage.

Whether that's even close to the right place to be or not.

And that feeling of being right at  home on the stage began to seep its way into the youthful DNA fifteen years ago.

American Idol ends its fifteen year run next season.

And a television chapter comes to a close.

The barn door, on the other hand....well, it will never be closed tightly enough.....

...to fully contain all that light that got turned on fifteen years ago.

"...Not So Much Biting The Hand As, Say, A Little Nip And Nibble..."

been doing a little channel surfing/dial searching/perusing of various and sundry talk programs (including this one)

.....it occurs that almost all TV and/or radio news talk shows ("almost" allowing for those rare few that do, in fact, get it) are pointless and, in large measure, useless because:

...it takes considerable effort when doing a show like that to not, even inadvertently,  promote a particular agenda.....

....the simple law of psychological physics dictates that said agenda will almost always be self serving.....

....another term for self serving agenda promotion is "preaching to the choir".......

...and since almost all shows of this genre do, in fact, preach to their respective choirs, they serve little or no purpose other than filling time and/or space.....

we don't profess to having all the answers around here......but we like to think of that as a plus and not a minus......

because there's nothing ultimately less nourishing, let alone legitimate, than someone with all the answers.....

the goal around here isn't to get you to tune in because you can rest assured you'll think "that's absolutely right"....or "...that's absolutely wrong...".....necessarily...

the goal around here is to get you to tune in thinking "let's keep listening because I don't know if I'm going to agree  or not...."

news talk should be a whole lot more about "....let's hear what they're thinking...."

and whole lot less about "....I know....right?"









 

 

....

"...First, Spell It...Then, Sell It...."

sneak preview of what's coming up on this weekend's show...

 

.....perhaps one of the many reasons that zealots/hysterics and/or other passionate alarmists don't get more credit and/or respect is their inability to grasp the more elementary concepts, ie; grammar and/or spelling (unforgivable in a spell check world)......six times in the last ten days, I've seen warnings that the President of the United States is conspiring to declare Marshall Law......

Mr. Dillon is the Marshall.....
The law is Martial.....

...declarations of dogma that wouldn't win a third grade spelling bee are to cogent argument what water pistols are to shooting down brick walls....

 

SEP Nighttime....Sunday night at 7 on Delaware 105.9.........

"...Be Careful What You Ask (Vote) For...."

it was suggested to me again recently (facetiously, I assume) that I should run for President...

here's the thing...I...

....have never been a community organizer...
....think that positions and opinions I had before, say, five years ago would be fair game in any campaign...
...have never been accused of being a socialist, communist or fundamentalist (although, I plead mea culpa to being a satirist, humorist, pessimist and marital recidivist)...
...use all three of my names, associating me, therefore, according to a doorknob station owner/past employer, as a serial killer/potential assassin (you know...John Wilkes Booth, John Wayne Gacy, Mark David Chapman, Lee Harvey Oswald, William Howard Taft, John Quincy Adams, James Knox Polk, Martin Luther King, Mary Tyler Moore, Charles Nelson Reilly, Jennifer Love Hewitt, et al) ...
...agree with the philosophy that "when you talk, you are only repeating what you already know, but when you listen, you might learn something new.."...
...believe that government should be neither, necessarily, big OR small but should, in fact, be like salt...just enough to do the job but not so much as to defeat the purpose...
...think Jed Bartlet should be elected president and those running for real should just be given recurring roles on one NBC show or another...

...passionately believe that we are long overdue to have a woman in the Oval Office but my brain is all scrambled with overlapping images of Clinton and Jenner, with a little Chaz Bono thrown in, and I honestly don't know what to do here...
...am convinced that those who have chosen our leaders for the past, say, twenty years or so, have made a real f***up of it all and should be replaced, but, then, realize, oh, wait a second, it was us..uh oh...
...would instinctively govern with common sense, reason and zero tolerance for any thing less, pretty much guaranteeing that I would be maligned, sandbagged, impeached and/or assassinated before the first mid terms rolled around...
...expect I would feel perfectly comfortable around Bill Maher, Bill O'Reilly, Rachel Maddow, Sean Hannity, Chris Matthews, Megyn Kelly, Rush Limbaugh..and Ellen...which would pretty much drive 99% of Internet commenters crazy...
...have come to terms with McDreamy being dead...
...am still irritated that I can't figure out if Red is Lizzie's real father or what...
...prefer to continue writing, publishing and doing my broadcasts...so that those who disagree with and/or dislike me can just move on, log off or tune out and not have to land a gyro on my front lawn...
...think that an ability to lighten the f*** up will always get you farther in life than an ability to shoot the place up....

and...

...I believe that people believe in other people when those other people prove that they are worthy of being believed....and, believe it or not, then and only then......

obviously, I am totally unqualified to be President......

...three names notwithstanding...

"...First, Comes The Quake....Then, Comes The Tsunami..."

coming up on this weekend's show.......

•  the next question shouldn't be so much "what happens next to those cops" as it should be "what happens next to all of us..."
• racism doesn't have to show itself as hatred in order to be destructive...
• that special mama deserves better than experiencing that thing about "good deeds"
• one game you do not want your kids playing...period.
• how can we miss someone if we splash them on every morning?
• do-gooding is like opening the Fritos...once it starts, it doesn't stop.

AND...

• the question you REALLY need to ask every candidate who asks for your vote

 

                 Sunday night at 7...on






SNEAK PREVIEW of this week's ONE LAST THOUGHT...

what happened in Baltimore between the police and Freddie Gray is now in the hands of the legal
system and it will play out however it plays out…..what happened starting the day Freddie Gray was buried had nothing to do with the death of a black man at the hands of the police….it has everything to do with the ugly underbelly of the society that we sometimes smugly like to think has come so far and accomplished so much in terms of education and opportunity and, put simply, hope…the kind of hope that gets us out of bed in the morning with the sense that we will succeed at something that day or achieve something that day….in the absence of hope, there are bricks and blazes, the tools of the hopeless….the kind of hopelessness that manifests itself as despair, dejection, apathy and, every now and then, a perfect storm of anger, resentment and ignorance…ignorance caused by a lack of education and opportunity and hope…ignorance that breeds fear…fear that breeds hatred…and hatred that throws bricks through windows and sets fire to drug stores…..when someone asks for your vote next time, don’t let that candidate walk away from you until you get them to tell you how they are going to inspire, enlighten, educate and inject hope back into neighborhoods and people who don’t have any….if they have no answer for you…walk away from them…because they are of no use to us…..hope is a thing with feathers that perches in the soul…in the absence of hope, there are bricks and there are blazes……