The Whiskey Rebellion Radio Show

The Whiskey Rebellion Radio 8/24/2010

2010-08-24T22:02:00.000-04:00

The Whiskey Rebellion returns tonight to talk about leaving Iraq, , more on this stupid mosque, the NY Bagel Tax and my thoughts on Strikeforce: Houston VS UFC 118.

Plus a special announcement!

Listen to internet radio with Mark Radulich on Blog Talk Radio

The Whiskey Rebellion Radio 8/3/2010

2010-08-03T22:42:00.000-04:00

Dieting the Medi Weight Loss Way, AZ 1070 and the Open Boarders Philosophy, the Mosque at Ground Zero and why we should not treat Muslims like they are too sensitive to take criticism.

Listen to internet radio with Mark Radulich on Blog Talk Radio

Jon Jones vs. Vladimir Matyushenko

2010-08-02T00:45:00.002-04:00

Not much to say about this fight other than it was very underwhelming.

Very disappointed in the Russian/Eastern European fighters as of late. First Fedor now Matyushenko can't get out of the first round.

The Whiskey Rebellion Radio 7/27/2010

2010-07-27T21:37:00.000-04:00

A summary of the most significant WikiLeaks documents from the war in Afghanistan - my thoughts, What's Wrong w/ Paul Ryan's Roadmap; Eating meat makes it harder for people to lose weight and Should obese children be put in foster care? PLUS How a bear stole a care and went for a joyride.

Listen to internet radio with Mark Radulich on Blog Talk Radio

Family Guy: Partial Terms of Endearment – Season 8 Episode 21

2010-07-22T20:19:00.000-04:00

The Whiskey Rebellion 7/20/2010

2010-07-20T21:32:00.001-04:00

My issues with Fox, MSNBC and cable news in general as evidenced by the Shirley Sherrod Scandal; Michael Savage is banned in Britain (why should we care?); US to give Pakistan 500 Million Aid Package/Welfare; and Little Tykes Car sends wrong message (so does lazy parenting)

Listen to internet radio with Mark Radulich on Blog Talk Radio

The Whiskey Rebellion 7/13/2010

2010-07-20T21:27:00.000-04:00

Should we close our bases across the globe? What I learned at Coney Island this weekend. Your calls!

Listen to internet radio with Mark Radulich on Blog Talk Radio

The Whiskey Rebellion 7/06/2010

2010-07-20T21:25:00.000-04:00

Lots of culture stuff to talk about. I'll have some thoughts about Twilight - Eclipse and I'll recap UFC 116 Lesnar VS Carwin. There's still lots to talk about regarding Afghanistan. We will look at the recent jobs report...it's not good. And of course every day is open line day so bring your questions and topics.

Listen to internet radio with Mark Radulich on Blog Talk Radio

The Whiskey Rebellion 6/29/2010

2010-07-20T21:21:00.000-04:00

MCdonalds being sued for giving toys to children, Gay blood donors banned from giving blood, Rays Stadium possilby leaving St Pete, Probably McChrystal/Patreus stuff with a little Afghanistan stuff for good measure and Why Batista in Strikeforce is a good thing.

Listen to internet radio with Mark Radulich on Blog Talk Radio

The Whiskey Rebellion 6/21/2010

2010-07-20T21:17:00.000-04:00

Whiskey Rebellion a day earlier because I will be at a concert movie. We will deal with the Feds Ceding a Large Part of Arizona To Mexican Criminals; the Seattle Officer Punching Out a Girl; Possibly more on Israel/Iran and my review of Toy Story + More Importantly, YOUR CALLS!!!!

Listen to internet radio with Mark Radulich on Blog Talk Radio

The Whiskey Rebellion 6/15/2010

2010-07-20T21:12:00.000-04:00

We'll be talking about the A-Team movie, possibly the AZ Senate law 1070, Conservative Economist Walter E Williams VS Reality, more on our impending economic disaster, and (file this under the enemy of my enemy is my friend) Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites. Call in and we'll tackle it all plus there's new music!

Listen to internet radio with Mark Radulich on Blog Talk Radio

The Whiskey Rebellion Podcast 6/8/10

2010-07-20T13:42:00.000-04:00

Our first broadcast.

Listen to internet radio with Mark Radulich on Blog Talk Radio

REV JOHN: On Journey and Huckabee...

2007-06-18T18:02:00.001-04:00

You know my thing aboot Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," right? This morning I was at Mike Huckabee's MySpace page, and noticed they had "Nothing Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship playing. So I posted the following comment:

"Gov. Huckabee, I'd love to vote for you, but you have got to do something about that Starship song. I don't think I can support a candidate who wants to make anything associated with the movie "Mannequin" part of his campaign.

Have you considered Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'?"

By lunchtime, they had the song playing when you visited the page, as well as the following blog post:

Now your's chance to suggest a song (or some songs) to be used here on Mike's official MySpace page. Right now, we have up "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. Post your comments here as to what you think would be a good tune that would represent the Official Huckabee for President MySpace Page!

There's even an article on Townhall.com called "Don't Stop Believin' in Journey."

America - it's just a small town girl living in a lonely world.

TODAY on PCLIVE!

2007-06-17T10:14:00.000-04:00

CLiCK HeRe To LiSTeN!!!

Mark is dreaming of a world where parents took care of their children, Iran was wiped off the map, and his family would leave him alone. Rev. John is dreaming aboot Jessica Alba. WAKE UP!!! It's time for the hottest show on the internet since (wait for it) 2006....PCLIVE!

And unless our mothers make us go to brunch with the family for Father's Day, here's what we're going to break off for ya...

Conservatism: Like the Message, Hate the Messengers

The 3rd Party: Bloomberg, Hagel, Gore, et al.

Plus, the specialist BUCGAW Report of all time! It's all THIS MORNING at 10:00 AM EST! If you'd like to join us (and if you don't, you hate poultry) all the info can be found at Blog Talk Radio.

Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/punkrockconservative

And hey look, Rev. John has a blog too:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

REV. JOHN: Random Thoughts for 6/15

2007-06-15T10:14:00.000-04:00

This Sunday on PCLIVE! we'll be looking at "Conservatism: Like the Message, Hate the Messengers" and "The 3rd Party: Bloomberg, Hagel, Gore, et al." If you're free Sunday morning, stop by and say hello.

It's funny, but if the media keeps hammering Mike Huckabee over evolution and keeps trying to create an issue where there isn't an issue, it'll probably actually help him gain traction with primary voters and raise money.

I wasn't much of a fan, but the last episode of The Sopranos was brilliant. More importantly, did you hear the song at the end? FUCKING JOURNEY, MAN!!! You know you heard that song and though of your friendly neighborhood eReverend. What do I keep telling you? America isn't aboot "democracy" or "freedom." It's all aboot Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'." Even Tony Soprano gets it.

Fantastic Four 2 is this weekend. I'm going into the movie with cautious optimism. The second movie is usually the best one - Spiderman 2 was my favourite, and X-Men 2 I thought was flawless. Unfortunately there's still trepidation, because lately going to see the comic book movies is kind of like being in an abusive relationship. You know it's going to hurt, and deep down you know better, but you keep going back anyway.

When you're sitting there in your silk upholstered chair talking to some rich folk that you know, I hope you won't see me in my ragged company because you know I could never be alone. Take me down little Susie, take me down. I know you think you're the queen of the underground. And you can send me dead flowers every morning, send me dead flowers by the mail, send me dead flowers to my wedding and I won't forget to put roses on your grave.

I wonder if people realize that when people ban Fox News from their movie premiere, or boycott their debate (after sticking your finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing), they only make Fox News stronger.

One of my associates had thought that that former Senator Bill Frist was going to get the Republican nomination in 2008, and it's beginning to look like he's right. The only difference is the role played by Bill Frist, formally played by Bill Frist, will now being played by former Senator Fred Thompson. Where Democrats fall in love with whoever tells them what they want to hear (Buck Fush), Republicans are apparently looking for the Manchurian Candidate. Before it was Frist, it was former Senator George Allen.

I've made all the Presidential candidates my friends on MySpace. I figure that, at least for the candidates who are fully utilizing it, I'd be able to keep up with what t hey have to say, where they're saying it, etc. And when there are 800 people running for President and national security is so important, I find it funny that someone hacked into Duncan Hunters MySpace page. I suppose there's a chance that he really has fifty free ringtones to offer me, but I doubt it.

Angelina Jolie is an idiot.

REV JOHN: Random Thoughts for 6/1

2007-06-01T07:24:00.000-04:00

So I'm reading "The Reagan Diaries," and the most interesting thing so far is his relationship with Tip O'Neil, who for those of you playing the home game was the former Speaker of the House and one of them Massachusetts Democrats the GOP love oh so much. They were political rivals and they had to play there role when the cameras were on. But when the cameras were off, you got a feel for the respect and admiration they would have for each other. I'm only up to July of 1981, and there's already been seven of eight entries aboot how "Tip" was over for dinner, or how they'd be hammering out a deal/compromise on whatever the issue of the day was. That's fascinating when you compare it to today's political landscape. I just can't picture George Bush chatting away with Nancy Pelosi on the phone, or Bill Clinton having Newt over to the Oval for a few drinks.

Rule #87: As long as you aren't looking at jail time, they aren't too young for you.

Apparently the GOP is turning the primaries into the Final Four. You have Fred Thompson vs. Mitt Romney in the "Real" Conservative bracket, and John McCain vs. Rudy Gulianni in the Moderate bracket. Thompson beats Romney (who probably flip flops back to being pro-abortion and pro gay marriage and tries to run as a Democrat). McCain probably squeeks by Rudy in overtime. Then in the finals, people realize that McCain and Thompson are the same person, except that Thompson changed his Immigration position when he decided to run for President. Plus he's the one with the southern accent, so he probably wins.

She's gone. I admit I was wrong, but I can't quit thinking about how good our love used to be. And the whiskey numbs the pain. In the morning, when I wake, I'll be hungover hanging on to a memory. So I'll order one more round. Lose the Coke and keep the Crown. Just drown my misery. And I blind myself with liquor and neon lights, alone and stoned out of my mind. If you think I'm flying high as a kite, you damn right.

Did you know that apple fritters from Starbucks have 0g of transfats per serving? That makes them mad healthy.

There should be an amendment to the Immigration Bill that says anyone who opposes any kind of reform needs to disclose who does their gardening.

You know what makes America totally rule school? It's the fact that no matter what we celebrate - the sacrifice of our brothers and sisters, telling England to go fuck themselves, the parents are out of town, etc. - we do it with beer and BBQ. That's what America is all aboot. It's not gay stuff like "democracy." It's all aboot the Bubba Burgers, the Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'." That's what America means to me. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

Politics, Pop Culture, and Pugilism...

2007-05-31T06:24:00.000-04:00

Welcome to your weekly dose of Politics, Pop Culture, and Pugilism. If you want the poultry, you have to wait TWO weeks. We're taking next week off so that Mark can celebrate his birthday and Rev. John....well, he'll probably just be passed out in the yard somewhere.

That doesn't mean we're not preparing for future shows, and this is where you come in. We've been tossing around a few topics, and wanted to know your thoughts on any of them.

Decleration of Independents: A Thrid Party?
Fred Thompson: Shit or Get off the Pot
What's Left for the Bush Administration to drop the ball on?
Hillary Clinton's entrence music...we've got ideas...
What's left to do when your enemies keep coming at you and you don't want to kill them?

We welcome the feedback. Now here are a few links...

POLITICS
Obama's HillaryCare
Russia Says New ICBM Can Beat Any System
Bush Takes On Opponents of Immigration Deal
U.S. Rejects EU-Asia Emissions Reduction
GINGRICH ASSAILS BUSH, ROVE FOR REPUBLICAN 'COLLAPSE'...
McCain to Rivals: Where's Your Immigration Plan?
Fred Thompson will run, advisers say
Thompson on the Run

POP CULTURE
Viewers Demand Imus
NJ starting agency to battle obesity...
Wendy's Manager Shot Over Chili Sauce
Laptops are crippling millions with back problems
Writer-Director (and Geek God) Judd Apatow Invites You Into His Mind
Country Music Hall of Fame Spotlights Big & Rich
'Donkey Kong' Record Holder Says New Flick Settles His Score

PUGILISM
FIGHTER SALARY BREAKDOWN FOR UFC 71
DANA WHITE: "WE'RE GOING TO HAVE THEM ALL"
As UFC rises, is boxing down for the count?
UFC 71 gives us yet another surprise
WEC to make televised debut on Versus this weekend
UFC Explodes in Popularity

RADULICH: Fact or Fiction

2007-05-30T11:19:00.000-04:00

Every week 411Mania offers a debate column called Fact or Fiction which features a statement that the writers respond to. In said writer's opinion, the statemen is either a fact or it is fiction and then they explain why. Occasionally I contribute to the debate. Here is my latest contribution)

1) The media is biased. Outlets are more concerned with picking and presenting news Their Way as opposed to being objective and impersonal.

Fact - and I'm not going to bother with liberal or conservative slants because that's pointless. It's more about the news being owned by corporations. Corporations have one goal, make money for their investors. The news makes money by being content in which to install expensive commercials. Period. Whether it's CNN or FOX, O'Reilly or Olberman, it doesn't matter so long as people are turning in long enough to be convinced to buy the car, drugs or whatever is being advertised. It's the same thing with print media and radio. These outlets may have a political slant but that's secondary to the belief that whatever content they've chosen is a money maker so that's what gets produced. It's liberal or conservative slant is more a of a reflection of the content producer himself and less of media bias as a whole. As long as the show makes money, that's all the bosses care about. As far as being objective and impersonal, years ago somebody figured out that to get Americans to turn into the news en masse, you had to put on shows that were attractive to mass audiences and not confusing or complex, thus car chases overtook intellectual presentations and analysis. This actually started with the vision of bodies being brought back from Vietnam but that's a story for another day.

2) There is a culture war in this country (note: this term was used before Bill O'Reilly made it recently popular, so don't say Fiction just cause you hate him).

Fact - of course there's a culture war. It's a war between those who don't want to be judged for any behavior and for those that believe restrictions on behavior is a good thing. People like to lay this conflict at the feet of solely the secular progressives because typically they are the ones who are for lowering standards of behavior and making arguments for normalization of all behavior, deviant or otherwise but the far right is just as bad. The far right doesn't want to be judged for its radical behavior either. The culture war goes beyond progressive vs conservative and is really a battle between the selfless and mature vs the selfish and immature. Selfish people care only about themselves to the exclusion of all else and they can be either liberal or conservative. Selfish people are the ones lowering the debate to the benefit of themselves without thinking about the consequences for others. Selfish people do all of this without wanting to be confronted because rationally they have no leg to stand on. That's the culture war in a nut shell and it's been going on since the necessity of having to tolerate your neighbor or family member was replaced by the well-meaning but utterly disastrous notion that the government is responsible for caring for individuals.

3) It really doesn't matter who we vote for, or if we vote at all. Politicans are pretty much all the same.

Fiction - some are smarter and more thoughtful than others. Some are dutiful while others simply seek a kingdom to call their own. Some politicians are guided by their personal ethics while others only act in defense of their own elite position. The system balances things out making some politicians less or more effective than others but ultimately if you don't see the difference between Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi and how they affect Washington differently then you are not really paying attention. Now, do all of these have personal foibles? Of course they do as they are human afterall. But that doesn't mean that all politicians are the same just because they are all fallible. Those are two different issues.

4) Having more than just 2 dominant political parties to choose from is one primary solution to our nation's plights.

Fact - If the Europeans do anything right, it's their electoral process. I like having lots of candidates to choose from with more than one decisive election to determine who should be the main leader. I think the run-off elections are a capital idea. I think people like Ralph Nader and Ron Paul should be viable options for American voters rather than having to choose between two lite brands or safe choices (John Kerry I'm looking in your direction). If the CT election of 2006 is any indication, Joe Lieberman shows us that in today's political culture, there is room for independants in the electoral process. Nowing, establing a viable third party than adequately threaten the big two will be a feat considering both are loathe to give up their dominance.

'08 Candidates Look for Boost From Ads

2007-05-29T06:45:00.001-04:00

By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Using humor, attitude and the occasional put-down, some presidential candidates are filling the airwaves with ads to stir activists and create an early, positive brand for their campaign.

Mitt Romney has assembled a narrative with nearly $4 million in ads this year that have helped propel him from near obscurity to the top of GOP public opinion polls in two early nominating states, Iowa and New Hampshire.

Democrat Bill Richardson, perhaps drawing confidence from Romney's experience, is buying significant advertising time in those states. He is running ads that spoof his second-tier status in the field despite a resume with extensive government experience. His poll numbers also have improved.

Those ads, as well as smaller buys of air time by...click here for more.

REV JOHN: Big & Rich and Memorial Day

2007-05-28T14:30:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd introduce everyone to Big & Rich this week. They're the ones who renewed my love of country music, but more importantly, their song "8th of November" is apropos to the holiday.

To our brothers and sisters who have seen combat and who are in combat, and to their family and friends, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your service and sacrifice to our county.

FISHER HOUSE - Supporting America's military in their time of need, we provide "a home away from home" that enables family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful time -- during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury. Learn more.

INTREPID FALLEN HEROES FUND - The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund is a leader in supporting the men and women of the Armed Forces and their families. Begun in 2000 under the auspices of the Intrepid Museum Foundation, and established as an independent not-for-profit organization in 2003, the Fund has provided close to $60 million in support for the families of military personnel lost in service to our nation, and for severely wounded military personnel and veterans. These efforts are funded entirely with donations from the public, and hundreds of thousands of individuals have contributed to the Fund. 100% of contributions raised by the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund go towards these programs; all administrative expenses are underwritten by the Fund’s Trustees. Learn More.

5/27: PCLIVE! The Recap...

2007-05-27T11:48:00.001-04:00

Sounds clips of today's show can be heard on our MySpace Page, or head over to BlogTalkRadio to download the full show.

We'll be off next week. See you on June 10th!

(Though we'll still be blogging, so don't forget to come back each day.)

Majority Favor Changing Immigration Laws, Poll Says

2007-05-25T07:43:00.000-04:00

Don't forget to tune in this Sunday when Taco Bell presents the 37th Annual PCLIVE! Memorial Day Viva La Raza Illegal Immigration Spectacular

Majority Favor Changing Immigration Laws, Poll Says
By JULIA PRESTON and MARJORIE CONNELLY

As opponents from the right and left challenge an immigration bill before Congress, there is broad support among Americans — Democrats, Republicans and independents alike — for the major provisions in the legislation, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

Taking a pragmatic view on a divisive issue, a large majority of Americans want to change the immigration laws to allow illegal immigrants to gain legal status and to create a new guest worker program to meet future labor demand, the poll found.

At the same time, Americans have mixed feelings about whether the recent wave of immigration has been beneficial to the country, the survey found, and they are sharply divided over how open the United States should be to future immigrants.

Half of all Americans say they are ready to transform the process for selecting new immigrants as proposed in the bill, giving priority to job skills and education levels over family ties to the United States, which have been the foundation of the immigration system for four decades.

Point by point, large majorities expressed support for measures contained in the legislation that has been under debate since Monday in the Senate. The nationwide telephone poll did not ask respondents about the immigration bill itself, but there were questions about its most significant provisions. It was conducted May 18 to 23 with 1,125 adults, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The bill, which is backed by President Bush and a bipartisan group of senators, would...click here for more.

REV. JOHN: Random Thoughts for 5/25

2007-05-25T07:00:00.001-04:00

Just so we're clear, I could give a damn what Rosie O'Donnell or Elizabeth Hasselback think about anything. And before he gets involved, Donald Trump's opinion don't matter none either.

A pal-o-mine today, in an effort to mock me for my appreciation of country music, stumbled up on a Zen-like question I'd like to hear everyone's opinion on: If you went back in time and saw yourself at seventeen years old, who would win in a fight? Could you take younger you, or would younger you whoop that ass? I'd kick my teenage ass. Younger me was really an out of shape lump of shit. Older me eats better, works out, and has taken a few kickboxing lessons. This is what we think aboot during the day instead of doing actual work.

To me, leadership is doing what you think is right even if it's not popular. That said, for a party that says it's looking for leadership, I find it funny that the talking heads all cry that John McCain's career is over everytime he so much as says "God Bless You" to a Democrat after they sneeze.

Baby if you've ever wonder if I still love you, then girl never wonder again. We can find our way out of this cloud we've been under if we fight for who we were back then. I'll make the first move and I'll say I'm sorry, and I'll take the blame for the things that I've done, because we'll both lose more than our pride if we don't take a stand. You don't act like my woman, and I sure don't feel like your man.

I caught Ozzy Osbourne performing his latest single on "Smackdown" last week. Am I the only who is old enough to remember a time when Ozzy Osbourne didn't suck? I'm talking way back to "No More Tears" and earlier. Now he's become a parody of himself along the lines of Christopher Walken. Walken doesn't even act anymore as much as he does an impersonation of Jay Mohr doing an impersonation of Christopher Walken.

I've decided that since Don Imus is off the air, or at the very least is taking the summer off to teach sick children how to be cowboys before he signs with satellite radio, I'm going to pick up where he left off and make it my responsibility to ~~force~~ introduce all my Yankee friends to country music. Personally, I can't understand how anyone could not like country music to begin with. All of the songs are either about drinking, love, or Jesus. Even if you hate Jesus, everyone has at least a moderate appreciation of the other two.

So my friend Ms. B sends me a text yesterday that went as follows: I am in the library by the computers and one kid said to the other kid..."im bout to take a picture of my dick and put it on there...." She was mortified because they were only thirteen. I thought it was funny that, out of all her friends, she though to text this to me because she knew I'd be amused by it (and would shout her out in my blog). Now she knows how I felt when I was at the store buying milk and bananas and the girl behind the counter was wearing them real shorty shorts, was rocking the baby-T (complete with bra strap hanging out)...and had braces. One of those things is not like the other, and so on.

5/23: News Portal Wednesday...

2007-05-23T06:57:00.000-04:00

We at PCLIVE! believe in what we call the Four P's: Politics, Pop Culture, Pugilism, and Poultry. On Wednesday, we'll be turning into a "portal site" to give you a few headlines we found interesting this week that full under one of those four important topics.

So here's the latest politics, pop culture, and pugilism news. If you want poultry...you need to tune in on Sunday for Taco Bell presents the 37th Annual PCLIVE! Memorial Day Viva La Raza Illegal Immagration Spectacular.

POLITICS

Immigration Deal Survives Early Test

McCain, Romney Talk Immigration in Texas

Democrats Drop Troop Pullout Dates From Iraq Bill

Congress seeks missing billions in Iraq

Richardson aiming for first tier

Bloomberg/Hagel or Hagel/Bloomberg?

POP CULTURE

Birth-Control Pill Halts Women's Periods

Valenti praises Imus in memoir

Four Women Fired for Gossiping

XM backlash over Opie and Anthony suspension

X-Gn'R Drummer Steven Adler to Surreal Life?

Jessica Alba: 'I love challenging authority'

Can 'Heroes' defeat sophomore slump?

The A-Team (2008)

PUGILISM

The New Main Event

The buzz is all Rampage-Liddell

UFC HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP STEPS UP TO HELP TROOPS

WANDERLEI SILVA UNSURE IF HE'LL FIGHT THIS YEAR

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua Signed by UFC, May Debut at UFC 72

UFC 71: Weigh-Ins and Fight Night Schedule

REV. JOHN: Introducing James Otto

2007-05-21T06:19:00.001-04:00

I've decided that since Don Imus is off the air, or at the very least is taking the summer off to teach sick children how to be cowboys before he signs with satellite radio, I'm going to pick up where he left off and make it my responsibility to ~~force~~ introduce all my friends to country music. Personally, I can't understand how anyone could not like country music to begin with. All of the songs are either about drinking, love, or Jesus. Even if you hate Jesus, everyone has at least a moderate appreciation of the other two, you know what I'm saying?

Anyway, today I'd like you to meet James Otto.

PCLIVE! The Recap for 5/20

2007-05-20T10:36:00.000-04:00

Sounds clips of today's show can be heard on our MySpace Page, or head over to BlogTalkRadio to download the full show.

As for next week, May 27th, I have but fifteen words for you...

Taco Bell presents the 37th Annual PCLIVE! Memorial Day Viva La Raza Illegal Immagration Spectacular

REV JOHN: Random Thoughts for 5/18

2007-05-18T07:03:00.000-04:00

Tuesday night I found myself drinking a beer, wearing camouflage shorts and a dirty wifebeater, flipping between the country music awards and the Republican presidential debate. And I said to myself, "Self, so this is what Jeff Foxworthy is always talking aboot." It would've been even funnier if the 42" Plasmatron 3000 was on top of a 60" TV that didn't work. I'm not really a Foxworthy fan, and Bill Engvall couldn't be less funny if he actually tried to be less funny. I am however a Larry the Cable Guy fan and Ron White is my favourite comedian period, so...I don't even know what my point was.

Random Fact That I Learned This Week Number One: Apparently for every thirty-five pounds a man loses, he gains an inch of penis. I don't know what the science behind it is, but my friend Patia told me so and she's, like, mad smart.

Speaking of the debate, we'll be discussing it in detail this Sunday, but let me just say that it was much better than the last one, all the guys I like had a good night, and it's aboot time we saw some action. Had this been Japanese Parliament, Rudy Giuliani would have run over and punched Ron Paul in the nuts, and that would have been awesome. When John McCain "clapped back" to Mitt Romney, you knew in his head he wanted to end by saying, "Bitch." If all these cats want to be my President, I want to see the fire in their eyes. Now lets see if the D's follow suit and stop kissing Hillary Clinton's ass.

When it comes crashing down and it hurts inside, you gotta take a stand. It don't help to hide. You hurt my friends and you hurt my pride. I gotta be a man. I can't let it slide. I am a real American. Fight for the rights of every man. I am a real American Fight for what's right. Fight for your life!

I watched the Mitt Romney interview on 60 Minutes. There's was a lot of ballyhoo about how Mike Wallace asked him if he ever had pre-marital sex, and like with most things, it got blown way out of proportion. He asked in jest, Romney laughed it off, and they moved on to other questions. It took up all of five seconds of a fifteen minute interview, yet it got portrayed as if Wallace was grilling him on his sex life and Romney was ready to storm off. People really need to get a sense of humour.

Relative to the media, I've checking out some of the "watchdog sites" for yucks (both liberal and conservative, because I actually do try and stay fair and balanced). And while I understand there is a lot of biased reporting (though I think we need to defer between news, "news," and the infotainment on the cable networks), there also seems to be a lot of "I don't like the way you worded that question, therefore you are biased against my ideology." I find it fascinating that someone like Tim Russert can be both biased against liberals AND biased against conservatives at the exact same time...and in some cases during the course of the same interview.

Random Fact That I Learned This Week Number Two: You womens wanna listen closely to this one. Apparently drinking scotch whiskey helps relieve menstrual cramps. I can't reveal who told me this, except to say that they are in fact the smartest person I know, and they were quoting a girlie doctor friend of theirs. Yeah, yesterday was a weird week.

Ron Paul in the Situation Room - May 16, 2006

2007-05-17T18:00:00.000-04:00

This is why I defend this man and if he makes it into the FL primary, I will vote for him (if Newt isn't running).

RADULICH: In Defense of Ron Paul

2007-05-16T19:26:00.000-04:00

In 2004, one of the criticisms of John Kerry that was bandied about was that he was too nuanced. In other words, his views of the world and governmental policy therein were as complex as the issues themselves and therefore not clear enough for a public that wants its leaders to speak to them in as plain English as possible. That’s a sad commentary on American political life but a reality nonetheless. The voting public seems to be more comfortable with either Captain America or Dr. Phil as president than someone versed in the issues and knowledgeable enough to that one cannot simply project a black-and-white view of things and expect to accomplish anything of value. Contrary to what many on the right seem to believe, the world is just not divided into simply good and bad.

I felt sorry for Kerry in that when he was being honest with himself and the public, the message got muddled in our sound byte happy media and he was made to look foolish when he in fact was thoughtful. But if the media and voters were mean toward Kerry for having more than a child’s view of complex issues, those same culprits have been downright cruel to poor old GOP presidential candidate Rep. (TX) Ron Paul.

Paul has been a hoot in the past two debates. He’s been brutally honest and he seems to be one of the few people running for the nomination that actually remembers the GOP platform. The Republican’s used to be about nothing more than restricted government intervention, low taxes and non-interventionist policies. In other words, Republican’s are supposed to believe in leaving people to their own device-win, lose or draw. In social work lingo it’s called “rugged individualism” and it means that you take care of yourself and the government will make sure you keep as much of what you make as you can. It is simple math really. Lower or lowest taxes means that the government is only minimally involved in your inalienable rights. This is why traditionally Republicans have been against social service programs and an interventionist foreign policy. Contrary to what the liberals would have you believe, it’s not because all Republican are old, white ogres who hate people, it’s because entitlement programs and foreign wars costs money and money costs people their freedom and privacy. Paul has been trying to remind people of this in the sparingly little time he’s had at the previous two debates.

In fact, at the Fox debate on 5/15/07, Paul made statements that got him eviscerated by the mind-numbingly oafish pundits as well as a jingoistic spanking from the most liberal of the contenders, Mayor Rudy Giuliani. You can hear Paul’s comments for yourself in the embedded video but the crux of what he said was that if you want to fix the economy you have to cut spending and the best places to cut are the monsters of bureaucratic inefficiency, the departments of Homeland Security, Education and Energy. He also said that the reason we were attacked on 9-11 is because we had been bombing Iraq for about 10 years prior and said attack was retaliatory in nature.

For this, Ron Paul has nearly usurped Hillary Clinton as the Right’s new boogeyman.

The problem is that if you actually took the time to think about, and read about what Paul was saying, he actually makes perfect sense and is telling the awful truth. In our sound-byte happy country, it sounds like he blaming the US for being attacked by Al Qaeda on 9-11. However, if given more time and the ability to set the record straight in an arena where the audience doesn’t have Attention Deficit Disorder, I’m sure he would say the following:

We were in fact bombing Iraq after the first Gulf War. That was part of the containment policy. As a matter of fact, part of the reason the liberals thought that Iraq didn’t have WMD’s is because of said containment policy. We were monitoring them night and day as well as enforcing no-fly zones in the South and over Kurdistan. We were based in Saudi Arabia both during the conflict as well as after the war had ended. This was one of Osama Bin Laden’s big demands of the United States. On top of wanting to convert or murder all infidels, he also wanted the US out of Saudi Arabia, or as he likes to call it, the holy land. Now this little wrinkle hardly gets any mention in the news what with all of the focus on the much more easier understand former issue but it was in fact a serious demand. The problem was that he didn’t have much of a right to make a demand. The Saudi Royal Family had us there by request and stayed in Saudi Arabia at their pleasure. In any case, the attacks by Al Qaeda in the 90’s and then 9-11 were partly his answer to our unwillingness to leave Saudi Arabia. This was Ron Paul’s point. Had Osama Bin Laden gotten his way and been allowed by the Saudi Royal Family to lead the Mujahudeen against Saddam Hussein in Kuwait as he did (with CIA help) against the Russians in Afghanistan, there probably wouldn’t be an Al Qaeda today. However, as history has shown us, that’s not what happened.

The other statement he’s being attacked on is his idea that we should cut the department of Homeland Security (and Education and Energy). Again, in sound-byte land that means he suggesting we do not defend ourselves or protect our national interests in time of war. While that assertion made for great television, it was also idiotic. In the land of attention spans, what Ron Paul was getting was that beyond the National Guard and other branches of the military, the job of safety and security is supposed to fall on state agencies and not some monstrous federal bureaucracy that is so convoluted it can’t function in a time of crises. His point was that you don’t keep people safe by creating more red tape; you do so by giving the state agencies all of the resources they need to get the job done. That doesn’t take more bureaucrats, that just takes good common sense and better budgeting.

It’s the same thing with Energy and Education. Instead of having the government control something that it does not understand and is woefully unqualified to govern, you should allow but to be provinces of state and private enterprise exclusively. It is the job of the governors of each state to manage their own affairs and getting the federal government involved only muddies up the waters. More to the point, you end up, as we have, throwing away billions in tax dollars are bureaucratic machines don’t function very well and don’t actually solve the problem.

Ron Paul’s problem is not that he was wrong, it’s that he was too right for an audience that doesn’t have time for long complicated answers.

PCLIVE! The 5/13 Recap...

2007-05-13T08:43:00.000-04:00

Sounds clips of today's show can be heard on our MySpace Page, or head over to BlogTalkRadio to download the full show.

As for next week...

SUNDAY, AUGUST 20TH!

Mark is the rootinest, tootinest, ideological hombre on the internet, with a PhD in Blogonomics (and he ain't no mamby, pamby either)...

Rev. John is a double fisted drinkin, crazy, son of a [bad word] who'll put the rhythm in your blues and have you screaming out for Jesus...

These two folks come together each an every Sunday morning for sixty minutes of a rompin' stompin' political and pop cultural good time. It's a piece of magic we like to call PCLIVE! And unless Hannity and Colmes finally profess their love to each other, here's what you can expect...

~~Erection~~Election 2008: A Declaration of Independents?
Disposable Culture: Why Owning Stuff isn't Cool Anymore
Something Else

Plus you can't expect to start your week without the BUCGAW REPORT! It's all at our new start time of 10:00 AM EST! If you'd like to join us (and if you don't, you hate the troops) all the info can be found at Blog Talk Radio.

Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/punkrockconservative

And hey look, Rev. John has a blog too:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

You are a full glass of GOD or RAGE AGAINST THE "ER"

2007-05-11T08:43:00.000-04:00

By Patia B.
Mamba Magazine

We are all full glasses of God.

I came to this conclusion at 6 am, when I woke up and felt that I had no other purpose in life than to stare at the glass of water that sits at my bedside. (Anyone who actually knows me knows that "cute" little throat scratching that I have in the middle of the night…thus making the water a vital part of my existence..and a vital comfort for everyone who is in earshot.)

ANYWAY…as I stared at the water I contemplated the irony of the "half empty/half full" phenomena. I couldn't decide whether I thought the glass was half empty or not. I couldn't decide why I couldn't decide….and suddenly as I looked around my room….contemplated my life (no job..in my parents house…losing my mind (literally and beautifully)… just sort of living…)

There is no glass…there is only God. So in essence we are all full glasses of GOD. Everything else is a misconception...

We are all...click here for more.

REV. JOHN: Random Thoughts for 5/10

2007-05-10T17:57:00.000-04:00

I have a friend who will fill me in on what everyone is talking aboot on the talk radio, and apparently everyone (at least on the right side of the dial) has realized that John McCain and Fred Thompson are essentially the same person (a conclusion we on PCLIVE! came to a few weeks ago). The only difference is that Thompson speaks with a southern accent. That must be why everyone thinks he's the most qualified.

People seem surprised that Spiderman 3 broke every opening weekend record when the movie was terrible. I'm not. It doesn't matter how bad the movie is, people were still going to see it just because it was opening weekend and the thing to do. It's like being a battered wife. You know it's going to hurt, yet we can't stop ourselves from going back (like we will and Spiderman 4 comes out in a few years).

I'm really tempted to get tickets for this year's Projekt Revolution tour. Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance and Taking Back Sunday are probably my three favourite bands to come out this decade (plus seeing TBS at Jones Beach would be cool). The rub is that I think my rock concerts days are behind me. I usually wind up feeling like a narc or a chaperone.

At this rate, I'll be heading for electric chairs. I'm only human with my cross to bear. When she described her underwear, I forgot all the rules my rabbi taught me in the old schul. You're too young to be this empty girl. I'll prepare you for a sick dark world. Know that you'll be my downfall, but I call, and I call, and I call...

I hate to admit it, but MSNBC's "Morning Joe" with Joe Scarborough and John Ridley may be a winner. Scarborough is a former Republican Congressman, the host of "Scarborough Country," and quite possibly the whitest guy on the network. Ridley is a screenwriter, a blogger for the "Huffington Post," and one of them black African Americans. I was laughing my ass off this morning, though if I find it funny I'm sure there's a ~~whiny pussy~~ "media" watchdog somewhere who is trying to see how many words ending with "-ist" and "-ism" they can squeeze into one blog post complaining aboot it.

I think I quit buying CD's. I definitely steal my share of music off of da' net, but if I really dig the artist I'd still by the CD. The rub is that I'll either rip in onto my laptop, or listen to it once and leave it on the floor of my car for a few months. Plus now that I have the FM transmitter for the ol' iPod, I don't even listen to the CD's anyways, so what's the point? I bought the new Travis album off of iTunes, and pre-ordered Bon Jovi and Linkin Park. As far as the transmitter goes, I know it doesn't get the best reception. The trick is turning the volume up loud enough where the music drowns out the static.

After the debate last Thursday night, I turned on Hannity and Colmes, because they had Newt Gingrich on and I figured the former speaker of the house would have a better insight then the debate spin room. Hannity wanted to make an issue out of John McCain saying that there were mistakes made in the war, which a) no shit and b) is something McCain's been saying for years, but I think the implication the host was making was that McCain's comments were "demoralizing our troops." So Hannity asked Newt to comment, at which point the former speaker strongly defended John McCain (almost in an "I want to be your V.P." way), agreed that mistakes were made, and even had a kind word for Joe Biden (which is a "D" if you didn't know). I sware, Sean Hannity looked like he wanted to cry.

Stop the Presses: Al Sharpton's a Hatemongering Hypocrite

2007-05-09T20:16:00.000-04:00

By John Ridley
The Huffington Post

File this one under the heading THINGS WE ALREADY KNOW, right next to "water is wet" and "sunshine is warm." Al Sharpton is a hypocrite. And a hatemongering one at that.

When we were last visited by - or rather forced to endure - Reverend Al, he was once again snatching up the scepter of media-anointed spokesman for All Things Black.

It was the heady days of the Affair Imus. The women of the Rutgers B-ball team had the kink of their hair and the level of their sexuality called into question by the I-Man. Al, as Al is wont to do, took it upon himself to act without invitation and speak for those who were perfectly capable of speaking for themselves (for those keeping score, that's hypocrisy number one).

Toward the tail end of that TV news cycle whipped storm, when it was pointed out to Al that a variation of Imus's rant could be heard with an exponent in heavy rotation within a certain variety of rap music, Al promised to go at the extreme ends of the music business with the same camera-whoring zeal with which he attacked Imus.

On the 12th it will have been a month since Imus was dropped by CBS.

Though I make a point of closely following the news, I was apparently otherwise occupied during the ten minutes Al was flogging his big Anti-misogyny in Music Campaign.

Or so I thought.

As it turns out, it was Al who was otherwise occupied. Rather than take on misogyny, the man who decried there was no place in the culture for hateful language...well, he went out and fresh-brewed some hate talk of his own.

During a debate held Monday at the New York Public Library with...(click here for more).

RADULICH: On Spiderman 3, Hollywood Politics And Gender Roles

2007-05-09T06:18:00.000-04:00

For months many fans of fantasy and/or comic books looked forward to the third installment of one of Marvel's most beloved and successful comic book movie adaptations Spiderman. What made this movie especially appealing to fans was the inclusion of one of Spiderman's most infamous villains-turned-icon in his own right, the dastardly fiend, Venom. With CGI effects evolving at leaps and bounds and based on the successful representation of previous characters from the comic book, we, as fans, assumed that Venom, in both look and character would be phenomenal and worth the price of admission alone. Couple that aspiration with the general appreciation for all of the characters and unresolved plotlines in the Spiderman movies and you should have had what would make for a stellar movie viewing experience.

However, as the old saying goes, the bigger they are, the harder they fall an in this case, expectations for the fantastic movie fell hard on comic book geeks from Tampa to NY. In short, nearly everyone I've spoken too after seeing Spiderman 3 thought it stunk. On the other hand both my wife and I enjoyed it and for her part, she's not even a fan of the movies or the comic book (I however am a huge fan and even bigger mark for Venom/the alien costume).

I think that this was much like the Hulk movie directed by Ang Lee in that it was a clear case of the director and writers making a compelling movie for the wrong audience. Fantasy fans (Sci-Fi, comic, D&D, etc.) don't particularly want to be bogged down in complex, sympathetic characters and plot lines. The fantasy experience should be fairly straightforward; bad guys are bad, good guys are good, bad guys threaten us, good guys save the day and win the girl. In the middle of all of this there should be lots of fighting, cool effects, and plenty of destruction.

Sam Raimi and company did not do this with Spiderman 3. In fact, one can safely say that Spiderman 3 was not really a fantasy picture, per se. This was a movie about relationships and forgiveness staring characters from the fantasy realm. All of the characters were complex people with multiple motivations, wants and desires capable of being both sympathetic as well as antagonistic. The best example of this that I can think of was the infamous kiss between Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn. Under normal circumstances, a woman in film that feels she has been slighted by her love and finds warmth and comfort in another mans arms does not invoke the reaction of the male audience members in the theater shouting, "Whore!" out loud. This kiss did in fact cause at least two instances of this from what my friends have told me.

Sure in films past a man might have thought that to himself but most would not have been moved to hysterics the way this scene did to it's male patrons. The reason is actually fairly simple. Again, under normal circumstances, it is accepted that a conflicted woman on film might have an on-screen indiscretion that leads to an unfortunate act of intimacy. In fact, this kiss was fairly innocuous considering some other movies portrayal of women and their capacity said indiscretions. But Mary Jane Watson is not a character in a movie that examines these types of issues that plague real people. She's simply Spiderman's love interest; an ornament to be worn by the hero as he fights bad guys and rights wrongs thus she's not entitled to perfectly human imperfections. By kissing Harry Osborne she betrayed the beloved hero and of course that can't be tolerated and thus she's labeled a "whore."

What I believe separates my wife and I from those who hated this film are issues that are actually two sides of the same coin. My wife had no fantasy expectations and was then free to enjoy a movie about people and their intertwining relationships. She even elbowed me when Mary Jane validated her belief that the man should always put his woman before himself or anybody else, even if you are Spiderman. While I can comic fans reacting harshly to such an assertion as it has to place in a boy's playground, the women in the audience thought it was perfectly natural for her to say that nor understood why it might just be a bit out of place in a fantasy movie. Fantasy is where boys can be unfettered in their imaginations so it breaks the rules to be told that you can be unchained save you keep yourself tied to your lady first.

I on the other hand did have fantasy expectations of the movie but once I realized where Raimi and company were going I let go of them and just accepted the movie for what it was and not what I wanted it to be. This is the eternal struggle between audience and Hollywood. Ego plays a part. Most professionals in Hollywood don't want to make the same old thing over and over again. With the amount of crap that gets made year after year this might sound funny but many in the movie industry consider themselves to be artists. Artists typically want to find some new frontier to explore or at the very least something fresh to share with an audience that is becoming jaded to movie magic. I'm not Sam Raimi but I can imagine what he might have been thinking when he and the writers put the Spiderman 3 script together. At the very least he was probably thinking that nobody wants to see the same old super hero action movie so let's do something different. Ang Lee I'm sure had the same thought and ran into the same problem with his albatross, the Hulk.

It's the same mentality that explains why people continue to cheer for Hulk Hogan despite the fact that these days he can't put on very good matches unless guys who can have 4 carry him star matches with broomsticks. We like our hero stories to be simple and easily defined-Black and white, not shades of gray. But when someone like Raimi or Lee goes off the reservation and overly complicates our beloved hero stories, people simply get pissed. We paid for a simple hero story and that's what we want. Now as I said earlier I enjoyed Spiderman 3 but that's only because I knew I wasn't watching a fantasy story anymore and thus I could enjoy it on a different level-the level the director intended for me to enjoy it on.

The last complaint I've heard about Spiderman 3 is yet another example of a fantasy coming to life and falling victim to the harsh politics of Hollywood. Now on this complaint I am sympathetic and I felt the same way as the rest of the detractors but since I understood, I got over it fairly quickly. The problem many had with this film is that both the heroes and villains could not keep their masks on to save their life. Every 30 seconds it seemed like the costumed characters needed to show of their familiar Hollywood faces. This is normal fare for Hollywood. Studios pay good money for name/face actors and their not going the throw it all out of the window because said faces need to be covered with masks (for the oh-so-important-to-the-fans character continuity). As much as it pained me to wait for two hours for Venom to show up and when he finally does he spends nearly the entire time out of mask, (don't even get me started on Spiderman's ever-decreasing lack of secret identity) the studios and producers don't give a rat's patoot about Venom or his fans. They do however care a lot about Topher Grace and the belief (by them) that it is not Venom that puts asses in seats but rather that 70's kid Topher Grace that brings them in a million score.

It's the Judge Dredd effect. You can't keep marketable faces covered up because then you'll lose value. Why pay for Sylvester Stallone, Topher Grace, Tobey McGuire, and James Franco when if they are just going to wear a mask you can get Tom, Dick and Harry Nobody for a considerably lower price. Not to mention with the aforementioned use of CGI, it's much cheaper to film mostly the natural faces of the young actors than it is to film the expensive masked heroes. Topher Grace costs less and is more marketable (in Hollywood theory) than is Venom. Once you understand and submit to this that it is reality, one can enjoy the movie for what it is instead of what you think it should be.

Gender roles and Hollywood politics may not have their place in the fantasy realm but the reality is that are here to stay. I think there can be room for both if given a chance and handled properly. Spiderman 3 might have been able to incorporate both elements without stinking (by the fans assessment) but the fans have to be willing to accept both first. At this juncture, until fantasy fans are willing to compromise and deal with reality, I think we are in for some long summers.

On the other hand, there's always Pirates 3 to look forward to.

HAMAS Mickey Mouse

2007-05-08T17:27:00.000-04:00

Iron Shiek Done Gone Crazy...

2007-05-08T00:00:00.000-04:00

RADULICH: I'm Not Dead Yet

2007-05-07T00:00:00.000-04:00

This is my first entry in the post-Progressive Conservatism era. You see, I was pretty much done with writing as I had no time or real interest in writing about the news anymore. However, the good Rev John suggested that instead of limiting myself to just the news, why don't I write whatever I want, of any length at all and we'd rename the blog PC Live, seeing as the show is the focus now anyway. So after two weeks of thinking about it and deciding to do it but not having the time or the inclination, I'm finally submitting my first entry of limitless possibilities and the thing that's most pressing on my mind is…

Who thinks Rage Against the Machine is still relevant? Honestly, the only people who still listen to them probably don't vote or read the news. Organizing for political power and influence through music made sense when there were few ways to tap into the burgeoning population of educated middle income white kids but that was also 40 years ago. Music is not, despite the mainstream media's insistence that it is, a relevant political tool. Fans of music, especially metal, don't care enough about politics to sway anyone in authority or have so little knowledge of the issues that they cause more harm than good. De La Rocha basically used violent words to incite a crowd that will beat each other up to the deafening cacophony of stereo hiss and sound checks.

The real story here just how lazy the press really is. Instead of doing research and trying to understand and break down complex issues, they collectively opt to take what amounts to basket weaving 101 in paying so much attention to pop culture and it's dubious relationship to politics.

I may not be dead yet as a writer but its stories like this that make me as least wish for a short coma.

Politics, Spiderman, and How to Kill a Wife...

2007-05-06T06:22:00.000-04:00

Our 5/6 show was the funnest one we've done in a while, but don't take our word for it...

Listen to highlights on our Myspace Page, or...

Listen to the entire show on Blog Talk Radio.

We're still working on next week. If you have any ideas on what we should talk aboot, let us know.

Imus hires attorney, will likely sue CBS

2007-05-03T07:51:00.000-04:00

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Former radio talk show host Don Imus has hired one of the country's top trial lawyers to sue CBS Radio following his dismissal last month for making racial and sexual on-air comments about members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

Attorney Martin Garbus told CNN Wednesday that he has agreed to represent Imus in a wrongful breach of contract suit against his former employer.

Garbus would not disclose when he was retained by Imus but said he plans to file an action against CBS in the near future. Calls made to Imus by CNN were not returned.

A CBS spokesman declined comment.

Imus had $40 million remaining on a multiyear contact that began in 2006 and included a clause that CBS wanted him to be "irreverent" and "controversial," according to CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who was shown part of the contract.

"Company (CBS Radio) acknowledges that Artist's (Imus') services to be rendered hereunder are of a unique, extraordinary, irreverent, intellectual, topical, controversial and personal character and that programs of the same general type and nature containing these components are desired by Company and are consistent with Company rules and policies."

Toobin said the legal issues in the Imus case are simple: "Did Imus breach his contract by saying what he did about the Rutgers basketball team?"

CBS dismissed Imus on April 12, eight days after he called the Rutgers players "nappy-headed 'hos" on his radio show, "Imus in the Morning."

"What stands out in the contract is he is supposed to be controversial and irreverent. That's what his statement about the Rutgers basketball team was," Toobin said.

"How is CBS going to argue that what he said was so controversial and so offensive that it isn't what they asked for in the contract?"

5/2: RandomThoughts w/ Rev. John

2007-05-02T06:05:00.000-04:00

I get up at an ungodly hour in the morning to go to the gym, and while I have the TV on I'll still catch some of the infomercials for "Girls Gone Wild." After years of watching these commercials with black bars over all the fun parts, I downloaded on to see what all of the ballyhoo was aboot. As far as I can tell it's nothing but a bunch of drunk girls, marginally attractive at best, licking on each other and touching themselves. And while there's nothing wrong with that (and dare I say, it should be encouraged), it's hardly worth $19.95.

I don't know what's worse - my friend calling to say how he's a slave to fast food commercials, or the fact that I knew he was going to Arby's for the 5 for $5.49 (which we re-titled the "Pick Five You Fat Fuck") because I saw the same commercial last night and was wondering if there was an Arby's in the area? He commented that he's been sliding off his diet. I say if you're ordering five things off of a fast food menu, there's no diet to speak of.

I'm all for calling public figures on hypocrisy when it comes to saving the Earth and global warming (along the "do as I say, not as I do" tip), but let's keep some perspective. There's a world of difference between G.Q. Smoothe or MC $tereoType using private airplanes for frivolous uses...and a PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN needing one to transport a staff of hundreds. All the douchebag radio shows are criticizing the Dem candidates because they didn't carpool to the debate. Imagine what they would be saying if Hillary Clinton missed it altogether because Jet Blue cancelled all flights out of JFK? And if even if it was "frivolous," that's not an excuse to leave all the lights on in the house or ask them to double bag your laundry detergent when it has a handle on it.

I'm still waiting for a good day. I think I've held this long enough. I think it's safe to tell you some things. It's not just what you say to people and it's not the way you look at me. It's the way you present yourself for all your worst critics to see. And it feels like I'm at an all-time low, slightly bruised and broken from our head on collision.

Why can't I believe in equality for women, yet still think that Hillary Clinton couldn't be anymore transparent if she were invisible? I watched the debates this week and when she bought up her and "Bill" going to Columbine you could almost hear her saying to herself, "Dramatic pause, try and look upset." If you want to call me biased, that's fine. I know when I appear on the Sunday morning shows, it won't be with a (D) next to my name. But at least with Barrack Obama or John Edwards I get the sense that they have a vision for America. With Hillary Clinton, I think she just wants to be President.

If there's one thing I miss aboot working in the mall, it's that first day in Spring where the weather is just warm enough for all the girls to decide it's time to take out the clothes that shows off the goods. It's like they have a hotline that tells them "Ok girls, it's sunny out. It's time for everyone to start showing off the goods." And oy vey, do they show off the goods! They hit the malls and the beaches in the shorty shorts and the tops that make you say, "huh huh...boobs." God bless America.

It amuses me when I hear all the D's running for President saying something to the effect of, if they new then what they no now, they wouldn't have voted for the war. The reason I find this funny is because all the Democrats I know (friends, family, etc.) to a person all seemed to know then what they still know now. And while I'm not one for arm-chair quarterbacking (especially when my brothers and sisters are out risking their lives and I'm just blogging in the basement), I find it curious that a general manager from Hooters seemed to have a better grasp of the world than a senator on the Armed Services Committee.

No Pants Day is THIS Friday. Spread the word.

2007-05-01T07:34:00.001-04:00

Post a bulletin telling everyone that No Pants Day is this Friday, May 4th.

No Pants Day is a day where everyone, be they students, respectable businessmen, or cherished community leaders, leave their pants behind. Usually this means wearing thick, appropriately modest boxer shorts, but bloomers, slips, briefs, and boxer-briefs all work as well.

http://www.nopantsday.com for more information

IFC supports women in the poultry sector

2007-04-27T07:39:00.000-04:00

Taken from WorldPoultry.net

The IFC Advisory Services for South Asia (the SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility - SEDF) and the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh have signed an agreement to provide support for women farmers and entrepreneurs in the poultry sector.

This project includes training workshops to enhance technical and business management skills, as well as sessions providing guidelines to help women entrepreneurs improve their businesses. The initiative will increase productivity and generate income for women in the sector.

"There is a lot of interest from women to invest in the poultry sector, but they lack the necessary skills. I hope that by delivering both technical and business management training, this project will address this issue and encourage women to set up poultry-related enterprises," said the president of the Women Entrepreneurs Association, Nasreen A. Mintoo.

"Our aim is to help women entrepreneurs develop the necessary skills to scale up and remain competitive in a commercially viable, sustainable way," said Deepak Adhikary, deputy general manager and head of IFC-SEDF Bangladesh.

Random Thoughts: by Rev. John

2007-04-25T06:46:00.001-04:00

I'm all for calling celebrities on hypocrisy when it comes to whatever the social issue du joir is, but am I the only one who heard Sheryl Crow say we should limit ourselves to "one square of toilet paper" and thought she was being sarcastic? Do people really think she means that seriously? Only use one square, "except for those instances where you need a second or third?" Two hundred and seventeen different people are running for President, each with their vision for America. My vision for America is one with a sense of humour, where we can put the politics aside once in a while just to simply say, "LOL!"

Matt Serra, or WORLD WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION Matt Serra, and Matt Hughes are going to be the two coaches on the upcoming season of "Ultimate Fighter: The Welterweights." We're all particularly looking forward to this because it's been decided that the Serra/Longo Competition team is going to be our "NY YANKEES" of MMA, and we all hate Matt Hughes and all the other Miletich guys.

I was at our local burger joint a few days ago, and there was this guy who was, as they say, "all up in the grill" of someone else. He wasn't wearing a shit, had a big gold chain, his ball cap turned sideways, and was trying oh so very hard to look tough. To prove how tough he is, he even punched his car. And I thought to myself, "Self, there's a guy who thinks he's cool." What's sad is that I'm sure there are people who think he is.

You're primitive and you're cynical to me. I chewed down on the bit and almost swallowed it. You sit all alone with your color TV. Your hair starts to glisten in spite of the fleas. We don't have to stay friends. Let's pretend to be enemies. Yeah, whatever makes you happy.

So to celebrate Earth Day last Sunday, MTV aired a very special episode of "Pimp My Ride," where they pimped a ride to make it more eco friendly. It was a nice thing to do, but I don't see how much of a difference it will make when they go right back to pimping rides to waste as much energy as they can possible squeeze into a Honda Civic. I find MTV saying we should "go green" to be particularly amusing. The two most basic things you can do to help the environment (and two things we should all be doing) is to cut back on excess and exercise self-restraint. If it wasn't for celebrating excess and people who show no self restraint whatsoever, MTV wouldn't have any programming.

First I quit cable news after the Imus ~~lynching~~ debacle was one media circus too many for me. Now I've decided to quit the Internet, after a pop stars stupid comment on toilet paper seemed to take precedence over a world leader dying and that pesky little war. I've decided I'm just going to watch the Sunday news show for an overview of what's going on in the world, and if there's anything I feel compelled to research further, I will. My favourite is ABC's This Week. George Stephanopoulos is a great interview, and despite who his past employer was, I find him to be fair in his questioning. Plus George Will is the man, and as long as this one tart whose name I can't think of isn't on, the roundtable is usually heavy on ideas and light on talking points. I'll go back to cable news once the ~~joint press conferences~~ debates start, just because those will be good for a few yucks

Do you know that feeling in the middle of the afternoon when you really want to take you pants off but can't until you get home, but you still have two hours to go and the day is really dragging, and all you can think of is, "Wow, I really wish I wasn't wearing pants right now?" I hate that.

Enough About You, Let’s Talk About BUCGAW

2007-03-25T13:53:00.001-04:00

It felt good to be back in the saddle again. I was a little overcome with trepidation before the show as I thought having taken a week off the good Rev and I would not sound so good but I’ll be damned, the show was a lot of fun. I’ve opted to go balls out with a new commenting style – less Brit Hume more Mark Radulich. In other words, though I am loathe admitting it, the only way a talk show of this stripe works is if I give more opinion and what’s in my heart than I do straight news analysis. So that means less research and more animated discussion on topics I have a solid grounding in. Having done that, I think it worked pretty well.

Even though I don’t have the expendable time like I used to, Rev John and I will still talk about the show throughout the week, hashing out what it is we want to say. However, to me the funniest and best part of the show came from a segment we didn’t confer about until about 30 seconds before the show started. The BUCGAW Report was to pretty damn entertaining this week and definitely removed some of the tension that the previous political discussion brought on. If you haven’t heard it yet, it’s worth the price of admission alone to hear Rev John and I riffing on prison show movies staring a cast of a 100 chickens.

Life Gets in the Way

2007-03-17T16:55:00.000-04:00

I have put off writing this entry for some time now but in reality, it's probably more than a year overdue. Since I started this blog, I have tried to conduct myself as something of an opinion writer in training and have treated this blog like it was a real job. I wrote like one would exercise not just because I liked the hobby of writing but also to make myself a better writer, again like someone trying to lose weight and get in shape. When one is single and without many dependents or responsibilities, one can easily delve into a hobby such as this without much thought as to what it's consequences might be because obviously, you are only dealing with yourself. However, once I decided to get married I now had another person and her needs to consider and one cannot be completely selfish and selfabsorbed if you want your marriage to work. Marriage takes a degree of sacrifice, and frankly so does just becoming an adult. This won't be the first time I've opted to put away a childish thing in order to focus on more pertinent issues in my life.

That being said, with a flailing interest in political opinion writing and a life that consumes more of my time away from the computer, it is with some regret and more hope for better things that I have decided to stop writing on a weekly basis. If my heart were still in this I might try to fit it in, in leiu of something else but frankly, until Iran or China actually attack the US or the '08 primaries start up, I can't get excited with what I'm seeing in the news today and that by itself is reason enough not to pursue weekly blogging to the exclusion of all else or the detriment of my life off of the computer. Not to mention the fact that my new job (as of 3/12) will not really permit me the luxury of cosying down with the computer for long enough that I can actually compose something of value.

I have just enough energy to continue with the radio show which you can still find here with my thoughts and occasionally, time permitting, I will still throw something up for giggles but that's about all I can muster.

Thanks for reading (all 12 of you a day).

Next on Progressive Conservatism Live...

2007-03-13T20:40:00.000-04:00

MARCH 18TH - Mark will be busy cleaning and doing his housework. Rev. John will just be drunk all weekend. Sadly, there will be no Progressive Conservatism Live this Sunday.

However we will return next week (March 25th) with a look at Mitt Romney and...we have no idea what else. That's where you come in. What topics would you like us to kibitz aboot on the show?

And if you miss us that badly, you can click here for all our archived shows.

Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ConfirmSubscribe&friendID=144579825

And hey look, Rev. John has a blog too:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

go to blogtalkradio.com

Gingrich Vs Cuomo, Mark Vs People Who Hate the BIG, John VS Hypocrites, and Bengali Cows VS Chickens

2007-03-11T17:33:00.000-04:00

It would have been nice if the Blog Talk Radio system had been working properly. I could finally see the buttons but one of them didn’t work and of course we got cut off again. Meh.

Outside of that, I thought the show went well. It seems like the hour just flies by now. I probably could have done an entire hour on just the economy and the BIG but obviously we had other stuff to get to.

I encourage those of you who write me about my column to call into the show and discuss your points further. I promise not to bite.

Lastly, though John’s already had a break, I need a weekend off. With the changing of jobs taking place and other personal matters I just need a moment to reconfigure my life and get things rolling again. So again, no show next week but when we come back, we should be refreshed and ready to rumble.

Monologue:

Why Our Emerging Robotic Nation Needs a Basic Income Guarantee

The Rise and Fall of a Basic Income Guarantee Bill in the United States Congress

US Economy Risks and Strategies 2007-2017 (V1.2)

Is this really the strong economy we are being lead to believe?

Gingrich Vs Cuomo

the "Lincoln at Cooper Union" dialogue series: Gingrich Vs Cuomo

The BUCGAW Report

Missing chicken mystery in Bengal solved

Narcissistic College Students

Narcissism and the End of Social Cohesion

Narcissism and the End of Social Cohesion

2007-03-07T20:24:00.000-05:00

I was at a training recently and one of the younger social workers in the room was talking to me about the need for more certified male mentors. This came from a discussion about how when case managers gather services for families, almost all of them end up requiring some form of therapy as well as respite/mentor services. The obvious reason being that there is typically no father present or the one that is around is not functional in the home. The picture we were describing is a rather common one: boys of all races and ages growing up with no positive male role models and in turn never being taught nor having the opportunity to develop appropriate coping skills for boys.

Though the conversation zigged and zagged from one topic to another, even to the extent that we were seriously discussing what has been the long term effects (if any) that the Million Man March had on getting black men to return to their families to raise the children they brought in to this world. That’s when someone at the table looked up from their lunch of chicken and rice and said rather profoundly, “You know, the men of this country may be pigs but the mothers out there aren’t much better and in some cases they are worse.”

This is absolutely true. Many drug-using mothers had abandoned an untold number of teenagers I treated when I worked in an inpatient drug rehabilitation facility when they were born or any number of years after. Others were not abandoned but they might have done better if they had been given up for adoption as their mothers continued to use drugs all throughout the child’s life and tended to bring in men who in more cases than I care to recount, molested them.

There are a multitude of reasons why young people use drugs, become unfit parents, take unnecessary risks and even commit serious crimes. These reasons range from socio-economic to psychological. However, if there is one common thread that links the awful behavior of a low – no income crack addicted mother to a drunken irresponsible high-income frat boy is the unfortunately common trait, narcissism.

“The terms "narcissism", "narcissistic" and "narcissist" are often used as pejoratives, denoting vanity, conceit, egotism or simple selfishness. Applied to a social group, it is sometimes used to denote elitism or an indifference to the plight of others,” according to Wikipedia.

You can follow the line of regression from the Post World War II era to where we are now by looking at a number of factors. After WWII we see in the US the rise of suburbs and a distinctly self-sufficient middle class. It’s never been uncommon for parents to want better for their children than they themselves one experienced but now not only can parents provide a better life for their children but also, one with less and less responsibility for others. In other words, where once families had to think about each other in order to survive, slowly but surely the roles of the younger family members in which they were the caretakers of older generation were replaced by the government (social security) as well other unintended consequences of modernity.

To put it in another way, from the end of WWII until now we’ve had the dubious convenience of not having to care for others because the government and lord knows what else would do it for us. As more money and opportunities unfolded for the happily progressing American family, so did the devil of selfishness grow, feeding on the steadily declining idea of community. No sooner were we as a country throwing overboard the social mores that had helped civilization grow out of the darkest corners of Africa, were we giving in to behavior dictated by the basest impulses in the human psyche. It didn’t happen overnight but this did happen. Sixty to seventy years ago, it was not typical for people to have children out of impulse and then not take care of them because their own needs were not being met. From a socio-anthropological point of view, we flipped as a people from one where the needs of others outweighed the needs of the one to the needs of the one are the only needs that exist (until one’s conscience kicks in).

There is no question that we’re more narcissistic as a society today than we ever have been. The real question is whether or not we’ve hit the point of no return. One has to wonder if the trend of the last 40 some odd years have gone past the point of being irreversible. Twenty years ago one could argue that so long as we walled up the poor areas of America and kept it’s malevolent influence away from the proverbial children, well then, frankly who’d care if the poor burned themselves into oblivion. However, 20 years since even then, when many thought we could sweep poverty and its subsequent generation of immoral behavior under the rug, we’ve seen the richest and most potentially successful amongst us give rise to the same, if not worse behavior run amok throughout the country.

You may have heard that, “A new comprehensive study suggests today's college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors.

Five psychologists who conducted the study worry the trend could be harmful to personal relationships and American society. The study suggests narcissists "are more likely to have romantic relationships that are short-lived, at risk for infidelity" and lack emotional warmth. The study also suggests narcissists are also more likely "to exhibit game-playing, dishonesty, and over-controlling and violent behaviors."

The study examined the responses of more than 16,000 college students nationwide who completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory between 1982 and 2006. The researchers say NPI scores have risen steadily since 1982.” (Source)

So even the data suggests that the most affluent amongst us are just as selfish and ego-integrity deficient (look it up folks) as the people mostly associated with the worst in human nature. My question is that if the rich Caucasian prom queen has just as much of a chance of tossing her baby in the dumpster as a the resident inner city minority crack whore, then where is this trend leading us as a society? In other words, if all the kids of the generation which is to be the caretaker of those of us whom are say, 40 or older, only care about themselves and can’t generate any decent or long lasting relationships with anybody on the planet, then how are we supposed to proceed as a society?

The simple math is this: we’ve abandoned, both literally and figuratively, 2 – 3 generations of children who, out of survival instinct, have learned to only fend for themselves and are not capable of caring for others thus there will be no stewards of the future left to take care of the country when the rest of us are gone.

As I asked the young lady at the training rhetorically but with a worried heart, “How does one undo 40 years of teaching people it’s OK to be selfish?”

The answer to that question may hold the key to this country’s future.

This Sunday on Progressive Conservatism LIVE!

2007-03-07T07:05:00.000-05:00

MARCH 11TH - Mark won't shut up about Newt Gingrich. Rev. John won't stut up about Randy Couture. What does that have to do with anything? Nothing at all. It's exactly what you've come to expect from the only BTR show that doesn't suck as bad as the others...Progressive Conservatism Live. And unless Newt wins the world title and Randy makes people think he might run for President just so he can collect a few sheckles on the lecture circuit, here's what you can look foward to:

We take a look at the Newt Gingrich/Mario Cuomo debate and what it (at least should) mean for America.
College kids are spoiled. That's news?
We give the U.S. Economy a swift kick in the nuts.

All this plus...you guessed it...the BUCGAW Report! It's all this Sunday at 12:30 PM EST. You can click here for all the necessary information.

Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/punkrockconservative

And hey look, Rev. John has a blog too:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

go to blogtalkradio.com

Having Fun with Global Warming, Welfare, Smokin’ Joe Biden, and Jesus

2007-03-04T13:54:00.000-05:00

Confession time kids…I’ve been a bit depressed lately for a variety of personal, professional and other reasons. Some of this depression was caused by the show itself and some affected the show but I’ve taken my own advice and things are better now. One of the changes I’ve made is my attitude with regards to the show as per my own professionalism versus how much fun it is. Right now, I think I have to have more fun with it than I might it if were my job. The reality is that it’s not my job. It’s not John’s job either and that’s the issue for me at hand. As I’ve said in previous posts, I love doing the show but I can’t stress myself out week after week trying to make what amounts to a garage band sound like the John Williams Symphony Orchestra recording Star Wars. So in the spirit of my newfound outlook on the show, the answer is yes, I had fun doing the show today. I talked openly and honestly about subjects I know very well and just gave my opinions in a natural way. I don’t have control over who listens or what they think, just what I believe is good for me and the show in that order.

Overall, I think having fun and not taking it too seriously will be good for the show in general. I’ve heard the serious shows on BTR and I’m not overly impressed or entertained. Maybe that’s what others will say about my show but I’m the one who gets up early on Sundays to do it (with Rev. John) and if I’m not enjoying it but it sounds professional then what’s the point?

Personally, I thought all the segments sounded pretty good even though we had some more tech difficulties yet again. That’s the way the cookie crumbles I suppose. Till next time folks…

Intro/Monologue

Matt Drudge v. Al Gore

“Smokin’ Joe Biden” in 1,000 Words or Less

Joe Biden For President

The BUCGAW Report

Teenage suicides in Japan linked to bird flu vaccine

Welfare Reform and You

On Welfare and the Alternatives

Conspiracy or Quack: James Cameron Finds Jesus’ Tomb

Jesus tomb found, says film-maker

On Welfare and the Alternatives

2007-02-28T19:18:00.000-05:00

Poor people in society are a fact of life. So long as there is scarcity in resources, the ability for the powerful to command armies, and the human element of competitiveness, there will be poor people. But the definition of poverty ranges across the world. For example, poverty in the Bronx, NY is practically middle class compared to say poverty in any number of African nations.

In America, if you cannot find work or are laid off from your job, the government will send you a check. It won’t be a lot, probably not a lot to live on but you won’t starve either. And speaking of starving, the government will also send you money to buy food, will house you if you are homeless, provide health insurance if you haven’t got any and will educate your children without asking you for a dollar.

None of the above are great solutions and anyone that has had experience with any of the above programs knows how woefully inadequate they are. The money the government sends you is not even close to enough to live on, the housing is usually substandard and in neighborhoods overwhelmed by crime, and the food/health programs are certified disasters, to say nothing of our public school systems in areas where there is also public housing.

Many conservatives will site some sort of moral failing as the reason why people are poor. These conservatives (many of whom are privileged) do not take into account systemic racism, misappropriations of government funds slated for development, industrial upheaval or just plain tragic bad luck. Many conservatives also seem to regard the welfare system as one in which people are paid to be slovenly or immoral and thus generations of this sort of behavior are encouraged thus expanding the welfare system.

They are not altogether wrong here but they are more wrong than right.

Welfare for a very long time was not means tested and in many cases it did encourage a breakdown of the family unit. If you worked at all but still couldn’t pay your bills you were taken off the welfare roles so many people who could not find suitable work just stayed on welfare. In addition, women could receive more money per child they had and if there was no father present, thus creating a cycle of single-mother families, irresponsible parenting and general neglect of children in the poorest of areas.

During the NEWT years of the Clinton administration, Congress and the president sought to reform welfare so that it would be means-tested and time limited thus forcing the cycle of degeneration to come to an end. However, a new article on the AP is reporting that, “The welfare state is bigger than ever despite a decade of policies designed to wean poor people from public aid. The number of families receiving cash benefits from welfare has plummeted since the government imposed time limits on the payments a decade ago. But other programs for the poor, including Medicaid, food stamps and disability benefits, are bursting with new enrollees.

The result, according to an Associated Press analysis: Nearly one in six people rely on some form of public assistance, a larger share than at any time since the government started measuring two decades ago.

Critics of the welfare overhaul say the numbers offer fresh evidence that few former recipients have become self-sufficient, even though millions have moved from welfare to work. They say the vast majority have been forced into low-paying jobs without benefits and few opportunities to advance.”

The implication by those who sought to reform welfare by placing an emphasis on work is that all work is good work. Whether you’re a cashier at Wal-Mart or the CEO of SLM Corp., it is theoretically all-equal in the eyes of the lord. Those of us living on planet earth know that this is simply conservative elitist balderdash. Manual labor or retail work may be respectable in lieu of not working or being a drug dealer but the reality is that besides earning a crap paycheck you’ll have also earned the title, “working poor.”

Ask anyone living in the North East or California if they can buy property or big-ticket items, decided markers of not living in poverty, on a retailers or Wal-Mart salary and when they are done laughing you’ll get a hearty “no” for your troubles. The standard of living today in America is prohibitively so expensive that most of my friends who had decent jobs in their 20’s still could not afford to live outside of their parent’s homes. Those that could simply didn’t want to as they didn’t have to want to choose between relative comfort with little privacy and say, a cave next to Osama Bin Laden.

Now that’s just us middle class folks – what about those closer to the poverty line that the article addresses? Once again, forcing people to work menial jobs with little pay also causes unintended and expensive consequences. These people, usually single women of white, black and Hispanic race, have to pay for daycare for their children since they are no longer afforded the luxury of being able to stay home and raise them. Daycare, let me tell you, is not all it’s cracked up to be with regard to both practical and safety matters or the child’s psychological development.

The fact of the matter is that making people work doesn’t always solve the problem of self-sustainability. Meeting ones own needs as well as your families is more complex than just receiving a paycheck. Inherent in the NEWT-Clintonian welfare reform bill is the belief that being a mom, with all of its subsequent duties is not worthy work. I dare any man reading this right now to tell their wife or their mother that what they do to keep the house running isn’t worth spit. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

…

Now don’t you feel sheepish? Getting back to conservative thought on this, if you want to decrease the size of government while making people self-sufficient and in doing so leaving the family unit intact, there is a rather simple solution that has been batted around since the Nixon administration.

The Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) is a government ensured guarantee that no one's income will fall below the level necessary to meet their most basic needs for any reason. As Bertrand Russell put it in 1918, "A certain small income, sufficient for necessities, should be secured for all, whether they work or not, and that a larger income should be given to those who are willing to engage in some work which the community recognizes as useful. On this basis we may build further." Thus, with BIG no one is destitute but everyone has the positive incentive to work. BIG is an efficient, effective, and equitable solution to poverty that promotes individual freedom and leaves the beneficial aspects of a market economy in place.

The term BIG is more specific than terms like income maintenance or income support, which refer to any kind of program designed to aid those with lower incomes. The Basic Income Guarantee differs from existing income maintenance programs in the United States and Canada in that it is both universal and has no work requirement. It is therefore, very simple and easy to administer. It helps the working poor, single parents, and the homeless, without placing anyone under the supervision of a caseworker…The Basic Income gives every citizen a check for the full basic income every month, and taxes his or her earned income, so that nearly everyone both pays taxes and receives a basic income. Those with low incomes receive more in basic income than they pay in taxes and those with relatively high income pay more than they receive. The Negative Income Tax pays the full benefit only to those with no private income and phases out the benefit as people earn more private income, but private income is not taxed until the negative income tax is fully phased out. Thus, the Negative Income Tax avoids giving people checks and asking them to send checks back, but the Basic Income gives people the assurance that their check will be there every month if they have a sudden loss of income. Despite their differences both of these plans guarantee some basic minimum level of income and ensure that people who make more money privately will be financial better off than those who make less, and therefore both are forms of BIG.

I believe in dismantling the entire welfare system, Medicaid/care included and replacing it with the above BIG. This is the conservative solution without making judgments or convoluting it with man-managed bureaucracies as this would be the domain of the US Treasury department.

For more on the BIG check out this link.

We will be discussing this issue and more on Sunday at 12:30 PM EST on Progressive Conservatism LIVE!

This Sunday on PCLIVE!

2007-02-27T06:33:00.000-05:00

MARCH 4TH - Mark is from Mars. Rev. John is from Uranus (huh huh...ur-anus). But all joking aside, they still get together once a week to hit you with the hottest program on the Internet. It's your pulse pounding, wrap our legs around your torso and "give it to you" sixty minutes of politics, pugilism, and poultry...Progressive Conservatism Live. And unless the President of Iran comes over to have tea with Mark and his wife, here's what those two citizen broadcasters run amuk plan on learning you on:

Presidential hopeful "Smokin'" Joe Biden in 1,000 words or less
The Welfare system...it stinks!
Why Conservatives need to shut up aboot Global Warming

go to blogtalkradio.com

Mike Huckabee in 1,000 Words or Less

2007-02-21T20:15:00.000-05:00

Outside of maybe 5 – 6 candidates running in this election, many of them are what you might call “also-ran’s” or unserious candidates. However, nobody knew who Howard Dean was either until he but the fear of God into John Kerry and Dick Gephardt back in 2003. So it is in the spirit of the fact that you never know who might just run away with an American election, that I bring you the …in a 1,000 words or less series.

They say that governors make better presidential candidates than those from either house of Congress, namely the Senate. In nearly all of last century’s modern presidential elections, two have gone directly from the Senate to the Presidency. In most cases the President-elect was either the previous terms sitting Vice President or the former Governor of one the 50 states.

A relatively popular sitting governor with name recognition and a relatively popular sitting Vice President who was a former senator in his own right contested the 2000 election. In the 2008 election, four of the strongest candidates are either current senators or former senators and the only other likely candidate was the mayor of the biggest city in the country.

This set-up has left many conservatives wondering, “Where is a good, strong, socially conservative governor to be found that can win this election for us and stand up for what we believe in?” The first candidate that comes to mind is Mitt Romney, but not only is he a Mormon but he’s also more liberal than his GOP namesake might allude to.

That my friends is why we should talk about former Arkansas Governor and 5 time author, Mike Huckabee. For those of you that vote mostly on issues of social concern such as abortion and gay marriage, Mike Huckabee may just be the man you are looking for.

On the subject of abortion, in an interview with Tim Russert Gov. Huckabee was challenged on his life long pro-life stance and had this to say when asked whether or not he’d ban abortion, “I would seek always to promote the view that life is precious and should be protected. Would I be able to singularly do that? Of course not. But I think it has to be won on, on a battlefield of one heart at a time rather than pieces of legislation at a time.”

Gov. Huckabee seems to be saying here that he wouldn’t necessarily, nor could he in actually, outright ban abortion, but he would try to set a moral imperative for Americans to follow that all life is precious and must be preserved. In accordance with that philosophy, Gov. Huckabee stated that just birthing a child does rise to the level of preserving and caring for it, but rather the child’s environment should also support the best life possible as well.

From that same interview, “As a pro-life person, as a governor, look at my record. Yes, did we pass pro-life legislation? We did. But we also did things that improved the environmental quality and the conservation issues that would affect a child’s air and water. We also made sure that he had a better education, that access to affordable health care would be better. So I think that real pro-life people need to be concerned about affordable housing, we need to be concerned about safe neighborhoods, access to a college education. That, for me, is what pro-life has to mean.” (Source)

The problem with presidential politics is that more time is spent on “gotcha!” type journalism and tactics and not enough time is spent on looking at the candidate’s actual record while in office.

For example, on the subject of education, an issue sure to pour sugar in the gas tank of any candidacy when you consider the abysmal state of our public education system, “As governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee has a proven and consistent track record as ardent advocate of the right for home school options. He led efforts in Arkansas resulting in enactment of some of the most friendly home school laws in the nation and appointed the first ever home schooling parent to a position on the State Board of Education. Mike's comments regarding education policy, and his actions, are clear. According to Mike Huckabee, "I believe the most effective way to improve education is through creating competition within the system and then providing parents the right to choose the educational format they feel best suited to their own thoughts for their children. I believe this is a choice ultimately best left to parents and not to government."

Under Mike's leadership, Arkansans saw an expansion of charter schools and watched as he pushed for and achieved tough education standards through measuring performance and significant accountability. He fought for and eventually signed into law language providing the state with authority to close completely failing public schools, a measure now implemented on several occasions. In those instances, this drastic step was undertaken in order to ensure students are not wasting their time and taxpayers are not wasting their money.”

On the subject of healthcare, in 2000, Huckabee led a campaign to funnel 100% of the state's tobacco settlement revenues into the state's health care system, rather than into the general fund. This resulted in the creation of a health insurance program for those who could not afford private health insurance but do not qualify for Medicaid. Huckabee has also been about the need to reform Medicaid.

While I happen to be a rather devout believer in evolution, there are those that cannot accept science, no matter what, and are perfectly fine allowing faith, and nothing more, to be the guiding principle of their life. Here again, Huckabee may be the choice for those that just cannot accept evolution nor those who support it.

According to the National Center for Science Education, Gov. Huckabee stated that, “I think schools also ought to be fair to all views. Because, frankly, Darwinism is not an established scientific fact. It is a theory of evolution, that’s why it’s called the theory of evolution. And I think that what I’d be concerned with is that it should be taught as one of the views that’s held by people. But it’s not the only view that’s held. And any time you teach one thing as that it’s the only thing, then I think that has a real problem to it…I think that the state ought to give students exposure to all points of view. And I would hope that that would be all points of view and not only evolution. I think that they also should be given exposure to the theories not only of evolution but to the basis of those who believe in creationism…I think it’s something kids ought to be exposed to. I do not necessarily buy into the traditional Darwinian theory, personally. But that does not mean that I’m afraid that somebody might find out what it is…”

Surely this will present problems for him in bluer, more evolution friendly states but one cannot deny that his view us unpopular with the red crowd below the Mason Dixon line.

Mike Huckabee will strike a chord with Southern Values voters as well as those concerned about healthcare. He will also most likely play on the fact that he ran a state and made some serious improvements as opposed to his competitors in the Senate. He may be the spoiler candidate in Red State primaries such as Iowa and South Carolina. That is Mike Huckabee; healthcare reformer, education advocate, pro-lifer, creationist – in 1,000 words or less.

7 Continents in 7 Minutes: Weapons Proliferation

2007-02-20T20:02:00.000-05:00

7 Continents in 7 Minutes:

I’ve just finished Bill Gertz’s 2004 work on weapons proliferation titled, “Treachery,” and one of the items that stood out most to me was not so much how we’re screwed by friends and foes alike across the world; but rather, that Algeria, oddly enough, had their own nuclear weapons program. That’s Algeria folks…in Africa…not Iran or N Korea or even Syria…Algeria…and what kills me about that is the fact that part of reason Algeria sought nuclear weapons was because they felt threatened by Libya. Does anybody else see the pattern here?

And with that here are your not-yet-ready-for-primetime-countries:

Asia

‘Pak agrees to give Saudis nuclear bomb’

PAKISTAN HAS agreed to provide Saudi Arabia nuclear weapons and missiles last month, according to an Israeli intelligence website debka.com.

The website stated that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and Saudi King Abdullah concluded an agreement with “seven secret clauses” on January 21, during his visit to Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan agreed to provide an atomic deterrent in the event of “a nuclear emergency”. The transfer of control would also occur in case Iran threatened the Persian Gulf Emirates, Egypt or Jordan.

According to intelligence sources, the agreement is impossible to confirm, however, it is a logical extension of a long-standing Saudi-Pakistan nuclear understanding. The goal: ensure a nuclear Iran does not dominate the Gulf.

Retired senior Indian officials believe the Saudis have financed Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme through shipments of cheap petrol since the 90s. In return, Pakistan was to provide a nuclear weapon on request. (More)

The arms race in the Middle East is on…but I think that was already readily apparent. The Saudi’s have a legitimate fear that Iran may become the bully on the block when, and I do mean when, it obtains nuclear weapons. That’s essentially been the whole problem since the end of the Cold War; that once the Soviet Union dissolved the rest of the world would be free of nasty entanglements like loyalty to a superpower, so that they could go about the business of developing weapons on their own and being able to defend themselves. Other than manufacturing, resource trading and lending, the only way to be a player in this world and challenge the United States is to have your cache of weapons of mass destruction. Despite warnings and good ideas written about by journalists like Bill Gertz, I do not believe that the US will ever be in a real position ever again to serious stop the proliferation of WMD’s. Much like the drug war, there will be some minor victories but in the grand scheme of things, the bulk of the illicit trading will not be stopped.

Africa

US offers arms to Chad, despite tensions

The United States and Chad have reached a military cooperation accord, which provides for the sale of some weapons and related equipment to the Chadian armed forces.

According to the Associated Press, the agreement is pending on the signature of a bilateral accord to exempt US citizens from being tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

According to the agreement – which the US has signed with more than 100 countries on pain of being cut off from receiving military aid – the government of Chad commits not to hand over potential US military staff or citizens involved in genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity who may be pursued by the ICC.

Chad – said the same source – had refused to sign this accord before.

However, N’Djamena softening on this issue coincides with an agreement with Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR) which was signed yesterday in Cannes in the context of the Franco-African summit to try to limit tensions in Darfur.

Meanwhile, even as the US has promised military aid to Chad, Matthew Conway, an official from UNHCR, quoted by BBC, said that in Chad there is the risk of a “new Rwanda”, recalling the 1994 genocide which caused at least half a million dead.

They say that proliferation of weapons only begets more proliferations of weapons. Thus it is so that in an area dirty with automatic weapons and child soldiers, the answer to solving this tragedy is not to IMPORT MORE WEAPONS. I’m a pro-American and as patriotic as the next man but you have to be intellectually honest here and say that this is reason we can’t get a handle on any kind of weapons proliferation. Sure nuclear bombs are much worse than machine guns but at the end of the day, it’s still very hyprocritical of this country to condemn others (including Israel) for selling illegal arms when we don’t seem to have an issue doing it ourselves. It smells less of peace efforts and more of fear of competition.

South America

Venezuela Wants Sub Fleet for Conflict with U.S.

Venezuela is spending $3 billion to build nine submarines, a fleet of undersea craft that would be the largest in the region -- and ready to be used against the U.S. in event of a conflict between the two countries.

The submarines will be the "diesel-electric variety," according to a communique issued by Vice Adm. Armband Laguna, quoted this month by Brazil's leading newspaper, O Estado de Sao Paulo.

They will weigh-in at approximately 1,750 metric tons apiece.

The navy is considering bids from Germany, France, and Russia, which is said to be the odds-on favorite, according to the Washington Times.

Venezuela, the Times wrote, could use a fleet of submarines to protect its interests in its exclusive economic zone, which in Caracas' view includes a large portion of the Caribbean Sea.

Protecting an area that large would require far more subs than the two over-30-years-old German U-Boats that the Venezuelan military now employs.

Moreover, the addition of the nine subs would give Venezuela the largest submarine fleet in Latin America, surpassing those of Peru, Brazil and Chile -- with six, five and four submarines, respectively.

Venezuela says it is beefing up its military capabilities -- including plans to develop an enlarged submarine fleet -- in preparation for what it called any "asymmetrical conflict" with the U.S.

The new submarine fleet is a small part of an arms buildup that the Times reports includes small arms, jet fighters and potentially air-defense missiles.

The buildup is being carried out in compliance with all international and regional nonproliferation treaties, Venezuela's ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Alvarez told the Times in a telephone interview.

Alvarez said that his government was contemplating the need to defend itself against the world's lone superpower, a nation with vastly greater military resources.

"We have simply been trying to upgrade our military equipment and maintain our defense while preserving balance in the hemisphere," Mr. Alvarez added. He also insisted that Venezuela's Latin American neighbors need not worry about the buildup.

According to the Times, Venezuela is reported to have already spent $3.4 billion on Russian arms, including assault rifles and fighter jets, and is said to be negotiating to buy a $290 million Russian air-defense system.

The Times noted that a Pentagon report estimated that Venezuela had spent about $4.3 billion on arms since 2005 alone, more than countries such as Iran, Pakistan and even China.(More)

The story is bigger than it may appear and it is certainly bigger than Chavez’ Venezuela. After decades of fighting against the Soviets to keep them out of our sphere of influence, we have begun to lose all that was gained by the break-up of the former Soviet Union. According to this article, “Moscow has been gradually restoring itself as a major regional presence throughout the western hemisphere. It is now on the verge of fully reviving its stake in the region’s political and commercial agendas, buying and selling a broad range of commodities and services ranging from frozen fish to military ordnance. The January visit of the chairman of the Russian Audit Chamber and President Vladimir Putin’s personal representative, Sergey Stepashin, to Nicaragua for the inauguration of President Daniel Ortega, is but the latest in a number of possibly important developments that have seen Russia returning to this hemisphere with masterly enthusiasm.”

If your pappy told you that the Cuban Missile Crisis was bad, well, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

North America

Cuba for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

The only way to achieve effective disarmament in the world is by eliminating all weapons of mass destruction with international cooperation, said Cuban ambassador to the United Nations Juan Antonio Fernandez as he addressed the UN Conference on Disarmament.

The Cuban diplomat considered it crucial to hold the Conference on Disarmament, which will run until next March 10, though he warned that its objectives will not be pursued without authentic political will and he referred to "some countries whose unyielding positions have hindered the attainment of such objectives in the past," Granma daily reported.

Cuba?s position in respect to nuclear weapons is in tune with the conclusions reached by the latest Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, held last September 2006 in Havana, and which were signed by 118 heads of state and government.

Fernandez recalled that during the Non-Aligned Summit, the heads of state and government referred to the UN Conference on Disarmament as "the only bargaining table for the disarmament issue and they called for the setting of an initial deadline for the total elimination of nuclear weapons."

The Cuban diplomat said that there are 33,000 nuclear weapons in the world, out of which 12,000 are ready to be used and that there is not an instrument to stop the production of this kind of weapons, however.

Good for Cuba! I mean really, it’s nice of them to lecture the world on nuclear proliferation while having one of the worst human rights records in the world. Not to mention their complicity and alliance with Iran and North Korea, the two biggest threats to a nuclear weapon free world going at this time. Hello Cuba, this is kettle calling, you’re black.

Europe

Czech leader in favor of U.S. missile defense system

In a statement reflecting the growing distrust between Moscow and the West, a top Russian general on Monday warned that Poland and the Czech Republic risk being targeted by Russian missiles if they agree to host U.S. missile defense bases.

The stark threat, by missile forces chief Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, was one of the most bellicose comments yet by Russian officials on the issue, which 10 days ago led President Vladimir Putin to warn of a "new Cold War" in a speech in Munich that shocked Western governments.

"If the governments of Poland and the Czech Republic take such a step ... the Strategic Missile Forces will be capable of targeting these facilities if a relevant decision is made," Solovtsov told reporters in Moscow, asserting the U.S. plan could upset strategic balance of power in the region.

Solovtsov spoke as Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and his Polish counterpart, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, both in Warsaw, suggested they were ready to move forward with a plan by Washington to put 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar site in the Czech Republic.

Topolanek said both countries will probably agree to the basic U.S. proposal, though they must still work out the details. "I think it is in our joint interest to negotiate this initiative and to build ... the missile defense," he said.

U.S. officials say that the 10 proposed interceptors - which they say are designed to stop a launch from the Middle East - are not aimed at Russia. Moscow, with its huge and sophisticated nuclear arsenal, could easily overwhelm such a small system simply by launching more than 10 missiles.

Putin has said he does not trust U.S. claims that the missile defense system was intended to counter threats from Iran. He has warned that Russia could take retaliatory action. (More)

Putin says he doesn’t trust the US? Putin?! This is the guy that has nearly single handedly rolled back democracy in Russia to Stalin era levels. Hello Putin, this is kettle, you’re Cuba.

Australia/Oceania

Lethal force counters the use of arms

THE Tonga Defence Services TDS has issued a public warning that they will use "lethal force (force causing death)" to apprehend anyone who uses weapons such as axes, knives and firearms to threaten the safety of the public.

A statement from the TDS on Friday, February 9 expressed their concern over the use of weapons in crimes in the Nuku'alofa area early this month.

In one incident on February 8 a group of men got into an argument at Fanga then a man left and returned with friends armed with bush knives to attack the others. Members of the TDS did not apprehend the leader of the armed group until February 9 after a chase along Hala Taufa'ahau.

In a second incident on the same day, at 10 pm, a man used a pistol to threaten some people in a home in Ma'ufanga. The police arrested the offender and a .22 pistol was later located by a Navy Patrol after searching for it in the area.

The TDS expressed its concern over what appeared to be an escalation of criminal activities, 84 days after the declaration of Emergency Powers on November 17, 2006, and it was informing the public that incidents involving weapons including axes and knives) is taken very seriously by the TDS.

"In such incidents that involve weapons, the TDS will search and track all people allegedly involved to be taken into custody. Searches for these people will not stop until those who were involved have been arrested.

"The seriousness of these incidents is that when weapons are involved, the use of lethal force (force causing death) will be used by members of the TDS to neutralize any threat to the safety of the public. In any such events, it is advisable not to resist arrest when carrying any sort of weapons or to offer violence to members of the TDS during these incidents," they stated

I wonder if Tonga has the same machete problem that many countries in Central Africa do? I like stories like this as they provide context for those of you that think our current police forces are too fascist and trigger-happy. Be thankful you don’t live in Tonga.

Antarctica

Huge lakes and rivers found under Antarctic ice

An amazing discovery has been made in the Antarctic. Researchers have found that under the compressed snow and ice lies a sort of water world -- a series of fast-moving lakes and rivers.

Glacial lakes have been found before in Antarctica, but what Dr. Helen Fricker of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California found is a system of fast-flowing rivers and reservoirs underneath the ice.

Scripps says it seems the rivers transport the majority of the water from the deep interior of the ice sheet out to the ice shelves, and ultimately to the ocean.

"It's a new process that we didn't know about before. So it just shows that there's more we need to know about Antarctica," Fricker explained to Canada AM.

Global warming didn't create the rivers and lakes; they lie more than half a kilometre under the surface -- too deep to be affected by temperature changes on the surface.

But understanding how they behave is important to understanding how climate change could affect the Antarctic, Fricker said.

"The importance of the discovery is that in a warming climate, we need to be able to predict what the ice sheets are going to do.

"The Antarctic ice sheet has 90 per cent of the world's fresh water and has potential to raise sea level by about 60 meters if it all melted. So if we can model it very accurately, we will know what's going to happen in the next 10, 100, 1,000 years time, and we can get some ideas of what the sea level rises will be."

To detect the subglacial lakes, Fricker and her colleagues used data from NASA's ICESat, which sends laser pulses from space to the Antarctic surface and back, providing images much the way sonar uses sound pulses.

Fricker's team of glaciologists detected dips in the surface of the glacier that moved as the hidden lakes drained and filled.

"We can actually see the surface going down in response to the water moving away and in other places we can see the surface going up in response to the water arriving," Scripps said.

"This is a whole process that we've identified that we didn't actually know, and it's not in any computer models of the ice sheet right now. "

Fricker is now hoping to take a team to the region to map out their findings.

"Hopefully this season we will be able to get down there and put GPS on the lakes and monitor them on a daily basis," she said.

…what? Was I supposed to find an article on Antarctica and WMD’s? Let’s be realistic here.

This SUNDAY on Progressive Conservatism LIVE!

2007-02-19T13:17:00.000-05:00

FEBRUARY 25TH - Mark is your political therapist and a pundit par excellence. Rev. John is...well, Rev. John is only there for yucks and because he has Mark blackmailed with photos involving circus clowns. Yet when they come together every Sunday afternoon, it's pure magic. The show that has all the little bloggers jealous...the hottest program on Blog Talk Radio today...the not ready for prime time political power hour we like to call Progressive Conservatism Live. And unless they get called to a parking garage by their anonymous source known only as "Donkey Punch," here's what they'll be droppin' their knowledge on:

Gov. Mike Huckabee in 1,000 words or less
Britney Spears vs. Nancy Pelosi in a Hair vs. Hair match (and guess who made the most headlines last weekend)
A look at UFC 67: The Uprising

That's right! It's politics, pugilism, and of course poultry...because you can never forget the BUCGAW Report! It's all this Sunday at 12:30 PM EST. You can click here for all the necessary information.

Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/punkrockconservative

And hey look, Rev. John has a blog too:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

go to blogtalkradio.com

7 Continents in 7 Minutes: Valentine's Day

2007-02-13T19:46:00.000-05:00

It’s Valentine's Day everyone and what better way to celebrate a holiday filled with love than to read really obscure news from the not-yet-ready-for-primetime-countries. Enjoy!

Asia

Valentine's Day becoming popular among youngsters

Valentine's Day or the 'Feast of Love' is celebrated all over the world including Kuwait. But it is not that visible in Kuwait and other Islamic countries due to its denouncement by many religious shaikhs. These shaikhs are against this celebration as they consider it a feast of non-Muslims, so Muslims should not imitate or join them in celebrations. Nevertheless Valentine's Day is celebrated in Kuwait by thousands of people, especially the younger generation. Many stores and shops are busy preparing for this celebration as well. The situation here though is much more tolerant than in other countries, like Saudi Arabia for instance.

In the KSA every year fatwas are issued by various religious shaikhs denouncing the Valentine's Day celebrations. They even ban the sale of red flowers and any gift items bearing hearts or symbolizing love. Several stores in and around Kuwait promote different sales promotions and offers for this occasion to cater to all tastes. Each age category necessitates special gift items in accordance to the age of the lovers. Teenagers seek cheaper gifts, suiting their budget, where mostly the choice is either a teddy bear or a red rose. Older people who can afford to buy more expensive gifts, such as jewellery or watches indulge in doing just that. Married couples buy useful household gifts, such as electronics that can be used at home.

Valentine's Day is considered a 'high season' where sales are concerned, for most gift shops, with red roses being the most widely sold gifts locally as well as internationally. "There are many occasions taking place yearlong, but Valentines Day is the best selling day in terms of sales for us. We prepare ourselves by stocking huge supplies of roses for this special day, especially the red roses. We even organize special wrapping designs adorned with hearts and mini teddy bears, as these are the most in demand," Rosy, a saleslady at a flower shop in Salmiya told the Kuwait Times. (More)

Princess Leia once said to Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin that the more they tighten their grips (on start systems) the more star systems will slip through their fingers. I think that neatly sums up the situation throughout the Middle East where Islamic religious figures seek to place a monopoly on religion and as such inspiring others to either abandon religion altogether or seek other spiritual guidance. This is why in “secular” communist China, there’s a large and growing Christian fellowship despite dictates from the central government that it should not be.

Also, this is not the first time I’ve seen people of other faiths and nationalities being attracted to events and holidays that are directly associated with other faiths, especially Christianity. People intrinsically want to be happy and many of the Christian holidays have been mostly boiled down to their most fun parts i.e. gift giving, decorating, cards, etc. It makes sense that the Kuwaiti people would want to celebrate Valentines Day as everyone likes to receive flowers and candy now and again.

Africa

Liberia: Debt Cancellation Overdue

Today Wednesday, Feb. 7th leading advocates for impoverished country debt cancellation will call on U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to "Have a Heart and Cancel Liberia's Debt." Advocates will deliver more than 10,000 Valentines with this message to Paulson, one week ahead of the Liberia Partners Forum, an international donors' conference in Washington. Advocates have also today released a report card assessing progress by the donor community in aiding Liberia's new president in her first year.

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, Africa's first female head of state, is working to overcome the devastation caused by two decades of dictatorship and a civil war. Much of Liberia's debts were incurred by the undemocratic regimes of dictators Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor between 1980 and 2003.

After one year in office, President Johnson-Sirleaf continues to face numerous challenges with 85% of the country's population unemployed and more than 75% of Liberians persisting on less than $1 per day. The country's massive debt burden severely restricts Liberia's capacity to combat poverty: the debt totals more than $3.5 billion. Liberia's annual budget is less than one fortieth of that amount, and interest continues to accumulate.

President George W. Bush recently named debt relief as our "best hope for lifting lives and eliminating poverty" in his State of the Union address. Debt relief campaigners are urging his administration to immediately and completely cancel Liberia's debt, rather than forcing the country to be tied up for years in the strings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank's debt relief program, which requires the country to pay off $1.5 billion in arrears, or interest and penalties accrued under the past brutal and undemocratic regimes of Samuel Doe and Charles Taylor, prior to obtaining partial debt relief or full cancellation.

The Institute for Policy Studies, Jubilee USA Network, Friends of the Earth, Africa Action, Center for Democratic Empowerment (Liberia), and International Labor Rights Fund among others have collected these Valentines as part of an effort to draw attention to Liberia's debt crisis. These groups have today jointly released a report card assessing the impact of the donor community, especially the U.S., in the areas of development aid, debt cancellation, investment in workers' rights, environmental sustainability, and HIV prevention and care.

It’s all in the marketing. Sure this could have been handled with some dignity and mutual understanding but that would have resulted (and apparently has resulted) in Liberia, as well as other hopelessly debt ridden countries, never having its debt cancelled and thus be doomed to endless poverty and possible overrun by nefarious operators in illicit trade. On a personal note, I feel Johnson-Sirleaf and am empathetic to her plight as I know all too well how being in massive debt can affect your life.

On a more serious note, this would be one of those times where if “White” America and “White” Europe would like to show how far they’ve come in establishing positive attitudes toward the Africans, this would qualify as proof in the pudding that they are serious in letting Africa build itself up to joining us in the 21st Century.

Not everybody celebrates Valentines Day, wait to read the next story…

South America

In Bolivian Andes, brawling still has a place

For hundreds of years, the Indians of Bolivia's high plains have trekked to this town in early February. They dance, drink chicha, the fermented beverage made here from rye, and then fight one another until blood stains the dirt alleyways.

The ritual, called Tinku, a word that means "encounter" in both Aymara and Quechua, was once widespread throughout the Andean world, predating the arrival of the conquistadors. Anthropologists say it now tenuously exists just in this isolated pocket of Bolivia, seven hours southeast of La Paz by bus on a washboard dirt road.

To the chagrin of Roman Catholic priests who would like to see Tinku fade into the past, political officials here want it to survive.

"Tinku is a sublime, beautiful act," said Wilson Aráoz, the mayor of Sacaca and a leading official in the Popular Indigenous Movement, a party that is part of the coalition supporting Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president.

Emboldened by Morales's efforts to strengthen Bolivia's indigenous cultures, Aráoz's party is one of several political organizations pushing to preserve endangered traditions like Tinku.

"There's a predisposition in all of us to do Tinku," Aráoz said in an interview. "I believe that denying that impulse is harmful."

No one disputes that Tinku can be harmful, at least physically. The fighting, though ritualized through music and dance, is far from organized, less like boxing and more like street brawling.

Not everyone takes part. Men of roughly equal size and age square off against each other on the streets surrounding the plaza, though sometimes women also enter the fray. Some of the men wear leather helmets and gloves. But the fighting can also be bare- knuckle.

In one fight at a dirt intersection, two men in their 50s punched and kicked each other for about 10 minutes, their faces bloodied as a crowd cheered them on. By the time exhaustion overwhelmed them, both were still conscious, though in a trancelike state.

Bystanders sometimes step in to break up contests that become too lopsided. Aside from bruised faces and limbs, deaths sometimes occur.

No one died at the Tinku here this year, but blood certainly flowed. (More)

I know plenty of men (and some women) who give a choice between celebrating Valentine’s Day the traditional way or celebrating Tinku, would most likely prefer Tinku. Given the recent upswing in popularity for MMA, I’m surprised that the good people of Bolivia haven’t tried to export this custom here. Actually, when you include the ritualistic dance and music, it reminds me a lot of moshing before Pearl Jam, MTV and meatheads with backwards white college hats completely ruined it for me…but I’m not bitter about that ::::sheds a single tear::::

Now I realize that this is supposed to lean toward the more obscure countries and Canada, though a bit weird, is not obscure. However, if you had seen the next story you too would have broken that rule just so you could share this with the world…

North America

Valentines going to the dogs and cats

The American Pet Product Manufacturers Association estimates more than nine million animal owners will buy something special for their four-legged friends this Valentine’s Day. Even more striking, however, is the fact the greeting card industry expects people’s pets to return the favor.

Bringing bizarre new meaning to “puppy love,” leading card companies are selling Valentines written from the perspective of adoring pets. A card “written” by a dog for its owner, for instance, says ‘Meow’ on the front, with the inside text reading: “Thought I’d say ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’ in a foreign language.”

Another, this one coming from a cat, declares: “I’m never too busy to show you how much I love you!”

Because animals have as much use for money as toilet paper, it’s expected that owners will purchase the cards on their pets’ behalf.

“We know that our pets obviously love us and we take care of them, so the idea is that they’re going to want to recognize us on Valentine’s Day,” says Jennifer Kinnon, brand-marketing manager for Hallmark Canada.

Card offerings of this sort started appearing in Hallmark stores in 2001 as a response to the evolving relationship between people and their pets. A positive reaction to Mother’s Day and Christmas cards inspired them to offer a Valentine’s Day card in 2003, and then a complete series of “from the dog” and “from the cat” cards in 2007.

Similar efforts are being made at American Greetings, parent company of Canada’s Carlton Cards, where 20 different “from the pet” cards are being sold this Valentine’s season.

The Greeting Card Association doesn’t track sales of Valentines written from a pet’s point of view. But Barbara Miller, a spokeswoman for the national trade organization, says they’ve noted a general increase in their popularity over the last five years.

A particularly memorable card from 2005 depicted a cat declaring: “Today, I thought about clawing you to pieces and feasting on the remains… But I didn’t. If that’s not love, what is?” (More)

I too have often thought of clawing up my loved ones and feasting on their remains…but enough about my life, the point here is that this is one of those “Pet Rock” phenomenon’s where its inherent silliness is superceded by the mere fact that as Westerners with disposable income and way too much time on our hands, we can indulge in fantasies like our pets know and/or care about human tokens of appreciation.

Why just the other day my wife and I threw both of our dogs a birthday party, complete with a 20 dollar birthday cake made for dogs (an oversized biscuit with icing on it that said, “Happy Birthday”). Do you think the dogs had any clue what was going? Of course not, all they knew is that instead of the usual dog food and table scraps they got for dinner, my wife made the fresh hamburgers for dinner and they got a snack that for once didn’t have some sort of doggy medicine in it. This nonsense was about us not them…and I think that sums up Valentines Day pretty well doesn’t it?

Europe

Church Opposes Valentines Day!

The Catholic Church decided to fight the consumer and hedonist philosophy of Valentine’s Day.

The “Glas Koncila”, a bulletin issued by the Church in Croatia, issued an article entitled “How to Enter a Church Marriage” in a bid to contest the consumerism of Valentine’s Day, Jutarnji list writes.

The Church is adamant in its convictions that young people should refrain from sexual relations before marriage.

“A person who is not capable of controlling their urges cannot be viewed as a mature person or is not capable of making life decisions”, Glas Koncila writes.

The Glas Koncila editor-in-chief, Ivan Miklenic, believes that young people in relationships often ‘use’ each other for sexual pleasure, which he holds is dual selfishness.

“People who cannot control their selfishness are not good candidates for wedlock”, Miklenic asserted.

It’s only a matter of time before Mirko Cro Cop is recruited to start kicking unmarried couples having sex, square in the mush. Remember what I said about the Islamists being too dictatorial with their religion thus driving their adherents away? Place that argument here.

And on a side note, I didn’t think I was going to find a good enough story in Europe but once again, I can always depend on the right combination of Google search queries to come up with comic gold.

Australia

No Valentines Day romance for many women

Valentine's Day is a time of romance, a chance for couples to smell the roses, for suitors to declare their undying love - and to say it with a gift.

That's what the marketers would like us to believe.

But according to a survey conducted by New Woman magazine, the majority of Australian women don't feel very romantic about Valentine's Day.

The survey of 2,000 women found that one in three dread it, while two-thirds admit to having spent February 14 alone without a romantic moment.

It also found that 41 per cent of those surveyed had pretended to forget Valentine's Day because their partner did not remember it.

Another half of the respondents thought it was tacky to be proposed to on the day, while two-thirds thought an anonymous gift or card was only suitable when you were in primary school.

NSW women were the biggest Valentine's Day cynics, with 33 per cent ignoring the day.

They were followed by Victorians (25 per cent), Queenslanders (17 per cent), South Australians (15 per cent) and West Australians (10 per cent).

Despite the ambivalence about the occasion, Valentine's Day can still be used to promote a message - and in the case of the Northern Territory, it's safe sex.

The NT government has pointed out that Valentine's Day is also National Condom Day and is encouraging Territory couples to remember that particular item at the height of their passion.

Not-for-profit health organization Marie Stopes International has gone further by encouraging men to have a vasectomy.

The procedure is safe, effective, and permanent, Marie Stopes Australian chief executive Suzanne Dvorak says, and something their partners will truly appreciate.

"A vasectomy is perhaps not as romantic as chocolate and roses, but not having to worry about contraception is a present many woman would appreciate," Ms Dvorak said.

Even more off-the-wall is a campaign to highlight the poor working conditions of Victorian cleaners.

The Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union is calling on workers to kiss a cleaner this Valentine's Day.

"Your cleaners need some love. Each night these forgotten workers slave away, unseen and unheard, keeping our offices clean and tidy," the union's state secretary Brian Daley said.

I think you can attribute a lot of this to misplaced romanticism and immaturity on the part of many ladies. The truth of the matter is that guys only participate in V-Day because it makes their significant other happy. The problem is that females seem to think that we’d have a reason to care about that holiday otherwise. Men will show appreciation when the muse strikes them and in many cases it will depend mostly on the behavior of said female. I think many of us resent the charade that February 14th presents and it comes out in a variety of passive-aggressive ways. By the same token, because women get disappointed that men don’t think exactly the way they do and feel the exact same way they do, the holiday for them has become a disappointment as well. Now some are shallow enough to take the gifts and be done with it but most women I believe want their men to share emotionally in the holiday as do and disappointment time after time that men just aren’t wired that way has resulted in the above statistics.

All I know is that radio show host after radio show host told me that a Vermont Teddy Bear would make my wife’s heart melt and as I found out yesterday, she’s not a big fan of stuffed animals, even the much ballyhooed VTB. Valentine’s Day…PHOOEY!

Antarctica

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

This Sunday on PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATISM LIVE!

2007-02-12T21:06:00.000-05:00

FEBRUARY 18TH - TUNE IN FOR A VERY SPECIAL PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATISM LIVE!

While Rev. John is on assignment, Mark is giving the listeners what they really want...an entire hour of MARK! And hot dog, does he have a show lined up for you.

First, Mark will welcome as his special guest critically acclaimed author of "The Rise of Christianity," and sociology scholar Rodney Stark. He will be here to discuss his two new books, "The Victory of Reason," and "Cities of God," as well as discussing how his scholarship fits into the debate between secularism and traditionalism in today's society.

Then he is also happy to welcome to the show 411Mania.com/Politics editor Jason Easley. They'll be talking about developments in the zone as well as the latest happenings in the news today.

It's all this Sunday at 12:30 PM EST. You can click here for all the necessary information.

Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/punkrockconservative

And hey look, Rev. John has a blog too:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

go to blogtalkradio.com

Musings on Iran, Giuliani and Rev John Takes Down Ethanol

2007-02-11T13:40:00.000-05:00

I really love doing this show as it provides many of my laughs for the week but whoo nelly, when I don't sleep enough, boy is it much harder to do correctly. My speech becomes a bit more muddled than normal due to being a bit foggy. Overall though the show went really well today and things are moving pretty smoothly.

The last bit with John and I came across better than I thought it would. We accidentally satired liberals are always telling people what they can't do instead of providing adequate solutions to said problems. And Pete's call was fantastic.

Next week's interview with Rodney Stark should be really good and will also present a different side of the show...a more serious and professional side I would say.

Monologue – Iran

Rumors of War

Official: Lawmakers See Iran Explosives

The Presidential Aspirations of Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani May Got What You Need

Bucgaw Report

Where’s the Feed

Return to the Valley of the Prostitot

Return to the Valley of the Prostitot

Girls Gone Bad

John VS Ethanol

House of Representatives passes biofuels bill

Tortilla price hike sparks protest

Rudy Giuliani May Got What You Need

2007-02-09T15:29:00.000-05:00

The story right now being bandied about by the mainstream media and the talk radio world is that the GOP has no front-runner for the 2008 Presidential election or that the front-runners are not exactly inspiring anyone. The three most prominent names right now are obviously John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani.

The reason these three contenders fail to ignite the imagination of their base is not because they aren’t competent leaders or even forces to be reckoned with in terms of security but rather that they fail to meet the social conservative litmus test of Republican base. They are not anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion or anti-gun control enough for many social conservative voters to trust and therefore many just aren’t excited enough to stand behind these while either Clinton or Obama make their way to the White House.

As I’ve said before, social voting in the age of world wide Islamic terrorism befuddles me. I suppose President Brownback could try and outlaw abortion but a world free of legally murdered babies doesn’t stop Mohammed from blowing himself up outside of your local Starbucks. President Huckabee could save the institution of marriage for the next thousand years by sending all homosexuals to France forever but that has nothing to do with Iran or North Korea and the likely possibility that they will facilitate one of many terrorist groups getting their hands on a nuclear device. Stopping stem-cell research doesn’t drop the bomb from being dropped on Israel or us for that matter so I fail to see how social vote should supercede security and foreign policy votes.

Let me explain it this way; You have what’s called Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs, which is a theory in psychology that Abraham Maslow proposed in 1943 that states as humans meet 'basic needs', they seek to satisfy successively 'higher needs' that occupy a set hierarchy. Maslow wrote that "the study of crippled, stunted, immature, and unhealthy specimens can yield only a cripple psychology and a cripple philosophy." In other words, if your most basic needs weren’t met, then your emotional, spiritual and psychological growth would be stunted or crippled.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is typically represented as a pyramid with the more primitive needs at the bottom and consisting of five levels: the four lower levels are grouped together as deficiency needs associated with physiological needs, while the top level is termed growth needs associated with psychological needs. While deficiency needs must be met, growth needs are continually shaping behavior. The basic concept is that the higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus once all the needs that are lower down in the pyramid are mainly or entirely satisfied. Growth forces create upward movement in the hierarchy, whereas regressive forces push prepotent needs further down the hierarchy.

As you can see from the pyramid shown above, the first two levels of need are physical survival needs such as water, food, sleep, warmth and exercise and safety and security needs. The other more ethereal needs don’t come into play until those two levels have been met.

Now let’s look at the candidate most likely to be beat Hillary Clinton should the Democrats opt to give her a run at the White House, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Aside from the fact that he’s the most like GOP candidate to actually win NY since probably the Reagan administration, Giuliani’s record stacks up pretty well against the first two levels Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

As Mayor of the largest city and arguably the most important city in America, Giuliani had to manage the city public works efficiently and make the city livable for its residents. According to his campaign website, “Rudy Giuliani cut more taxes than any Mayor in New York City history, reducing or eliminating 23 city taxes, saving individuals and businesses a cumulative $8 billion, while reducing New Yorkers’ tax burden by nearly 20%. By the end of Giuliani’s term in office, New Yorkers enjoyed their lowest tax burden in three decades, along with the creation of approximately 425,000 new private sector jobs… When Rudy Giuliani took office, 59% of New Yorkers said they would leave the city the next day if they could, according to a CNN/Time poll. Drawing upon the “Broken Windows” theory of policing, the City cracked down on quality of life crimes such as aggressive panhandling, graffiti, and drug dealing, transforming places like Times Square into safe destinations for theatergoers and sightseers. The City launched an aggressive initiative against drunk drivers, and implemented a ban on sex shops within 500 feet of residential neighborhoods, churches, and schools. In addition, Mayor Giuliani acquired 2,038 acres of new parkland – the most in more than 50 years.”

The former mayor also has a solid record on protecting children and increasing security in a city that once rivaled other big cities in rapes and murders. “Under Rudy Giuliani’s leadership as Mayor of the nation’s largest city, murders were cut from 1,946 in 1993 to 649 in 2001, while overall crime – including rapes, assaults, burglary and auto-thefts – fell by an average of 57%. According to the FBI, New York was transformed from the crime capital of the country into the Safest Large City in America, while becoming the global model for excellence in law enforcement. Rudy Giuliani believes that “Public safety is a fundamental civil right…when you reduce crime, you restore people’s freedom.”

Acting on his belief that “One of the most important responsibilities of government is to protect children from harm,” Mayor Giuliani worked to create the city’s first independent child welfare agency, reducing the foster care population by promoting a record number of adoptions, and doubling child support collections by cracking down on deadbeat dads, and implementing a program called HealthStat, which identified unenrolled children eligible for health insurance.”

Giuliani obviously will be strong on domestic law and order issues as well as quality of life issue but the big question will be whether or not he has the gumption to fight Islamic terrorism worldwide. If his speeches are to believed and his actions concerning an anti-Semitic Saudi and a very large check are any indication then I believe Giuliani will be the kind of terror warrior many of us thought Bush would become.

The world has become too small to be so caught up in social policy voting. No matter who you vote in, either very liberal or very conservative, the fact of the matter is that abortion will never be prohibited in our lifetime but the likelihood of Iran or China starting a nuclear war is and the smart people of this country should be thinking about what kind of leader they want to be in charge when that does happen. When your most basic needs are being threatened and your livelihood is under attack from foreign invaders, who do you think is going to protect you and fight the enemy, Giuliani or Hillary Clinton? At the end of the day, social votes aside, Giuliani has got what every American needs – the ability to lead and manage this nation while fighting the enemy abroad.

Return to the Valley of the Prostitot

2007-02-07T20:10:00.000-05:00

Newsweek has not only stolen my term for girls who emulate their favorite starlets by dressing sleazy, “prostitots,” but has also proved what I have said all along; It if weren’t for the fairer sex, gossip and human interest stories would be extinct.

The central thesis of the above Newsweek column is that the current crop of mainstream celebrity harlots has captured the attention of many a young girl and in turn said girls are wanting to dress like them, thus creating a nation of adolescent girls who should know nothing of sex looking like dime store hookers. And that my friend is the definition of a prostitot.

When BritneyLindseyParisNicole et al. muck about with drugs, alcohol, horny men and no knickers, it sends a message to those without the capacity for reason just yet that said behavior is fine. The very fact that the above beast suffers no known consequences affirms the fact that if Sally Littlefreckles decides to tramp it up in the local school yard with various and a sundry testosterone filled feral animals known as young boys, she too will believe in her heart of heart that neither she will suffer the sling and arrows of non-virtuous behavior. As many a mother who has stuffed her newborn infant in a trashcan on prom night will tell you, the consequences can be grave indeed.

This does go back to the age-old question of whether or not celebrities have an obligation to act in accordance with the expectations of their consumers and thus not hussy it up on Main Street USA on an ongoing basis. Charles Barkley used to say that he is not a role model, he’s just a basketball player. The fact is that he’s wrong. He is a role model whether he likes it or not by virtue of the fact that he wants as many people as possible, kids included, to buy tickets to his basketball games and purchase whatever swag he’s shilling for.

Let me explain it this way; if you opt to make films or albums for children then you are obliged to set a good example for those whom you are actively influencing on a daily basis, much to the chagrin of their parents. You see, as an entertainer, you are not in a passive role. You are aggressively seeking to change the thoughts and beliefs of consumers, specifically children whom are not equipped as adults are to make certain kinds of decisions, so that they will think and believe that your product is good and therefore worth plunking down their parents money for. That interaction makes BritneyLindseyParisNicole et al. obligated to not abuse said power and make the best impression possible. If that is too much to ask, then stop peddling your wares to minors and go do porn like the irresponsible brats you are.

I think the reason why this topic gets to me so much is that it is actually a microcosm of a much broader problem. BritneyLindseyParisNicole et al. are selfish and self-absorbed tarts that don’t give a lick about the consumers and are only concerned with finding the happiness, structure and consistency that eluded them in their childhood. This is a known quantity. However, they are not the mothers and fathers of the worlds children. They may have their own child and God help that little one but at the end of the day, each child’s parent is responsible for his/her discipline. The problem is that many of today’s parents actually very much resemble said beast in every painful detail save the millions of riches these bitches have pilfered from families far and wide. I’m asking the above floosies to model appropriate behavior for the kids of today and in many cases not even their parents can do that.

This is where the Newsweek article falls a bit short. It spends roughly 6 pages saying that celebrity tarts have a huge influence on the culture of today’s youth but that can be effectively counteracted with consistent and involved parenting. That’s fantastic for those that actually pay attention to their children aren’t threatened by them but what about the ones that don’t pay attention to them and are threatened by their existence. Many children are brought into this world unwanted, raised unwatched and live uncared about. That’s the reality of our surroundings. Newsweek is right when they say that children learn from their parents first but to paraphrase the great Bill Cosby, “yes but what if that parent is an asshole?”

As a social worker and a mandated reporter, I’ve been mortified by how little appropriate modeling goes on in the homes of this country. Many adults apparently believe that they don’t have an obligation to grow up when they have kids themselves and continue to behave in a manner unfitting possessed drunk. Many parents continue to use drugs despite having kids in the home; many continue to serial date and expose their children to dangerous and mean-spirited people (many of whom will molest said children when given the opportunity); many will curse and act a fool while never wanting to take responsibility for their own actions and then will wonder why their offspring will fail life at any time they experience even the slightest bump in the road.

So we have a quandary here in today’s cultural landscape. Obviously any person who has a child has to model appropriate behavior and any entertainer whose bread and butter is the same must also act accordingly. However, many don’t no matter what people like me say and the cycle of neglect and abuse just continues to perpetuate itself.

This is essentially the problem with cultural liberalism in a nutshell. When you’ve decided that there are to be no judgments on behavior, it leaves the door wide open for nuts of all stripes to run wild in the streets as there are no consequences, save the natural ones that occur too late. And because this is the information age, any such behavior is recorded and broadcasted for all the world to see because since their can be no judgments, there can also be no value in anything like say privacy.

Newsweek paints a nice picture of the landscape with data showing teen pregnancy, sex and drugs is down and many parents are paying enough attention to their girls so that the beast cannot cause too much harm. However, Newsweek doesn’t work where I work and doesn’t meet the people I meet on a daily basis. The picture is deceiving and the prostitots are multiplying.

7 Continents in 7 Minutes: Greetings & Salutations

2007-02-06T21:04:00.000-05:00

This was originally posted on 411Mania/Politics

Much to my wife’s eternal chagrin and lamentation, I have opted to fill in the Wednesday news column until such time as one of you fine readers decides to ~~get off your lazy ass and~~ write one for us.

Now many of the literary geniuses working here at 411 Politics cover domestic politics wall to wall 5 days a week and seldom do they ever miss a beat. However, there is a much bigger world out there Horatio and it too deserves some attention.

No, the 1 billionth article on Iraq or the millionth on Iran/China/North Korea etc, doesn’t count either. There are seven continents in this world with hundreds of countries all needing love and attention. That is what I want to do here on Wednesday; cover the international news from countries that don’t normally make the headlines that everyone else has neglected…like a poor child in the forgotten ghetto of time immortal.

But enough of all this shameless sentimentality, on with the news!

Asia/Middle East

Rice to Expand Melting Pot of Mongolia-US Relations

BILATERAL cooperation between Mongolia and USA will be expanded in 2007 by the signing of a compact agreement for the Millennium Challenge Account, according to a congratulatory letter by the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Mongolian Foreign Minister N. Enkhbold on January 25.

This year the two countries will mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. “On January 27, 1987, our two countries forged a relationship that continues to broaden and deepen. Our cooperation over the years has demonstrated that the physical distance that separates us is far less significant than the shared values and common interests that unite us,” Rice said.

“The comprehensive partnership between our two countries is strong and mutually beneficial. From the work of the Peace Corps and USAID to our Defense Department’s assistance on strengthening Mongolia’s peacekeeping capabilities, we seek to help Mongolia build on its democratic and economic successes of the past 20 years.

“The United States greatly appreciates Mongolia’s contribution to the coalition forces assisting the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan in their efforts to secure their freedom and rebuild their nations. We also appreciate Mongolia’s leadership in the Community of Demo-cracies and other international forums.”

I’ll bet most of you didn’t even know Mongolia was still a real country. I’ll also bet you didn’t know that Mongolia had contributed forces to both Iraq and Afghanistan (frankly, neither had I). It’s good to see the US engaged in some degree of international cooperation with regards to poverty relief. I know the US had some resistance to meeting the Millenium Challenge goals so this appears to be a small step in the right direction.

There was also a story about the Mongolians denying two Russian aircrafts access to their airspace on two recent separate occasions. Now I can’t say for sure but I’m wondering if these two stories aren’t more than a little related.

Africa

United States: Libya: Recent Developments Impacting Foreign Investment

With 39.1 billion barrels in proven reserves,1 Libya is the country with the ninth-largest proven oil reserves, and its oil industry remains the country’s biggest draw for foreign investors. Libya is a major producer of light crude oil, the kind favored by oil refineries because of its low wax content and ease of transportation and refining. For U.S. companies, the race to Libya started slowly, not only because of slower than anticipated developments politically, but also because of the head start that many European counterparts had before the U.S. fully normalized relations with the former pariah state. In fact, full normalization of relations did not occur until May 2006, when the United States announced its intention to restore full diplomatic relations by establishing an embassy in Tripoli and removing Libya from the State Department’s list of designated state sponsors of terrorism…One example of the great changes is Libya’s telecommunications industry, headed by one of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s sons, Mohammed Gaddafi. Libya skipped over landlines almost entirely and moved into the wireless and fiber-optic world…Libya’s real cash cow remains its oil industry, which accounts for 95 percent of its export revenues. The good news for potential investors in Libya is that recent developments in this sector will greatly improve the opportunities for profitable investments and successful operations in the country…The reduction in minimum start-up capital for foreign investors and the ability to borrow at least half of the capital from Libyan banks has had the obvious effect of encouraging more foreign investment in a country that has been closed to such investment from the United States for more than fifteen years. Because of the political and investment risks involved, Libya’s previous minimum capital investment hindered smaller investors from entering the marketplace. The reduction has spurred in- vestment in 2006, effectively breathing new life into the Libyan foreign investment sector…

I remember being in elementary school when the Libyans under Gaddafi were our mortal enemies and were even the terrorist du jour in the movie “Back to the Future.” Now it seems like since Gaddafi opted to dismantle his nuke program (thus resulting in the lifting of sanctions) and has lessened restrictions on foreign investment, they are seeing the benefits of an amiable relationship with the West. Now if this model is able to bear fruit in Libya, as has in China, India and a host of other places, the question will be whether or not this sort of success is able to lobby hostile countries like Iran to a more reasonable position with regards to foreign affairs. In other words, will the mullahs wake up and take the cash or will they continue with their desire to kill Jews?

South America

Canadian Gold Mine in Suriname Shuttered

The Canadian-owned Rosebel gold mine in Suriname has been temporarily shut down after striking workers allegedly flooded part of the plant, welded shut some gates and doors, and damaged 17 all-terrain vehicles, a company official said Thursday.

A number of workers began the strike one week ago at the mine, located about 60 miles south of the capital of Paramaribo, saying negotiations over a collective bargaining agreement were going too slow.

"We have no choice but to keep the plant shut for a couple of days. The damage is significant and things have to be restored first before production can start again," said Roy van Aerde, a spokesman for Rosebel Gold Mines NV.

The plant could remain closed for another week, van Aerde said.

The union said earlier this week that both sides had reached a deal to end the strike, but parent company IAMGold had said that was not the case.

During the strike, the union's board and more than 100 workers remained in the plant at the mine site.

"The damage was done during the first day of the strike. A group of workers were able to stop them from causing more damage," van Aerde said.

Thursday evening on Suriname Today talk show, union chairman Errol Snijders, a former Labor Minister, denied that union members damaged the equipment.

Unions are a necessary evil but they can also be a terrible pain in the ass and quite frankly, a bit spoiled. If it is true that the workers caused this much damage because the collective bargaining wasn’t going fast enough then quite frankly they should be jailed. Though it is also believable that the management made this up to make labor look like a bunch of animals. Either way, if you own gold, I’m sure it went up a pretty penny because of this incident.

North America

More evidence of drugs-for-guns trade between Jamaica and Haiti
Jamaican police have carried out a series of arrests and seizures of firearms that appear to confirm long-held suspicions of the existence of an extensive criminal network smuggling marijuana and guns between Jamaica and the nearby nation of Haiti.

On February 4th, following a shoot-out between Jamaican police and an unidentified man in Spanish Town in the central parish of St Catherine, a gun was recovered from the man who had been shot dead by the police. The weapon was found to have originated in Haiti and to have once belonged to a Haitian police officer. "The firearm was stolen from the Haitian police," said Jamaican police inspector, Steve Brown. "We suspect that it’s a part of the ongoing ’guns for drugs’ trade between Jamaica and Haiti, and again this raises concerns about the viable trade that is going on."

Jamaican police officials have sought the assistance of international policing organisation, Interpol, to try and locate the Haitian police officer to whom the gun was issued, and to determine how the gun got into the hands of local criminals…

As my foreign exchange student Fifi from Haiti would say, “It’s bad, these people are crazy.”

This is essentially why you can’t completely legalize drugs. I’m all for decriminalization of small amounts and moving to a prescription policy but as for total legalization, it can’t be done. Drugs are too much ingrained in criminal culture and thus to legalize it is to miss large swaths of opportunities to break up rings of terrorism, gun running and other assorted misdeeds.

And you think marijuana is harmless? HA!

Europe

Slot-machines And Concert Hall Spark Revolt In Riga Council

lmost half the members of Riga City Council called for the city's mayor to resign on Tuesday as disputes surrounding a planned concert hall and the city's many gambling halls boiled over.

Twenty-seven of Riga's 60 councillors signed a petition calling for the sacking of Mayor Aivars Aksenoks, who has led the city since 2004, according to city council spokesman Ugis Vidauskis. Twenty signatures would have been enough to launch the motion.

The rebels, members of one left-wing and three right-wing parties, had already accused Aksenoks of "lacking vision" and being "unable to work with his partners" in a letter published on the council's website.

Two weeks ago Aksenoks masterminded the rejection of a plan to build a concert hall on a wharf by the Daugava river, which flows through Riga. Supporters claimed that the hall would help revitalize the city, but opponents criticized its cost and location.

"We fully support the idea of a concert hall for Riga, but for the project to be acceptable, it should be located somewhere else," Aksenoks told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa before the vote.

Last week the council revoked licences issued to 11 gambling venues only eight months before. Aksenoks' foes have blamed him for the confusion, which is thought likely to lead to litigation.

"It's clear that there will be legal proceedings, but nobody can predict what the outcome will be," Vidauskis said.

The disputes over the concert hall and gambling halls reflect an ongoing debate on Riga's future. The city, which is famous for its art-nouveau buildings and its musical scene, aspires to become a major destination for tourists in search of high-class culture.

But since Latvia joined the EU in 2004, Riga has seen a dramatic growth in the number of its strip bars and gambling halls. More than 300 of the latter are currently operating, according to Vidauskis.

And the city council's perceived failure to limit the spread of such clubs has been criticized in the media, where it is argued that Riga is becoming a haven for sleaze, rather than cultural tourism.

However, the debate is also shaped by party politics. Riga council is dominated by right-wing party New Era (JL), which swept to power in the city on an anti-corruption platform in 2004.

Since then the party has fallen out with Latvia's three other main right-wing parties, whom it has accused of corruption. In national elections held last October, JL was beaten into third place by right- wing rivals, entering the parliamentary opposition.

Those same three right-wing parties instigated the move to oust JL's Aksenoks, and have reportedly already signed a new coalition deal which would leave JL in a weak and fragmented opposition.

A vote to decide on Aksenoks' fate is due within two weeks.

I know many readers hate the evangelical Right in this country but when was the last time James Dobson was able to shut down a casino? I love stories like this because it illustrates similars struggles going on in democracies across the world rather than the misguided belief that “we’re the worst country ever!”

I wonder how much a lap dance is in Riga?

Australia/Oceania

Commonwealth wants democracy for Fiji

THE head of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Don McKinnon, says his organisation is committed to ensuring Fiji returns to democratic rule.

Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth after the democratically-elected government of Laisenia Qarase was overthrown by the military on 5 December.

A report carried by Radio Australia says Mr McKinnon confirmed the Commonwealth is working closely with the Pacific Forum, the Eminent Persons Group and the Pacific foreign ministers to find a resolution.

"We want to ensure that the Fiji military realise that what they're doing now should not have happened," Mr McKinnon said.

"What they wanted could have been achieved through the normal democratic processes," he added.

Mr McKinnon said what Fiji has got to do now is put on the table a blueprint or a roadmap to get the country back to democracy.

WOW! You know, when someone speaks about tyranny in the world or despotism, one might think of N Korea or Saudi Arabia…but who the hell comes up with Fiji?

No go an impress your friends with that bit of trivia.

Antarctica

Disaster awaits in Antarctica

The grounding of a cruise ship in Antarctica has reignited fears that unstrengthened tourist ships will cause an "unthinkable disaster" in the pristine area.

The Nordkapp struck rocks as it entered the flooded caldera of Deception Island, near the Antarctic peninsula, on Tuesday.

It had to seek help from its sister ship, the Nordnorge, and a British navy ship, HMS Endurance.

Although none of the 294 passengers and 76 crew on board the Norwegian ship were injured and floating booms restricted the threat of polluting the environment, the incident has revived concerns about the risks associated with cruising the region.

This week, the Golden Princess – a ship roughly 10 times the size of the Nordkapp and the first megaliner to ply Antarctica's waters – will reach the peninsula from South America.

There are about 2600 passengers and 1000 crew on board. The 290m-long ship will include a visit to Deception Island during its 21-day excursion from Rio to Buenos Aires.
The ships' presence exemplifies the booming interest in tourism in Antarctica, with nearly 29,000 people due to visit the Ice by the end of this summer – more people than ever before – and bigger cruise ships travelling to the peninsula as a way of earning money during the off-season between northern summers.

Although the ships plying the New Zealand sector of Antarctica in the Ross Sea are either ice strengthened or full icebreakers, most ships cruising the peninsula have no extra strengthening.

The combination of unmodified ships and unknown hazards – such as the one that caused the Nordkapp to ground – are being touted as the makings of a disaster.

Dr Mike Richardson, head of a British delegation to an international Antarctic conference in Scotland last year, urged a ban on superliners and a cap on the size of ships because of what he described as the potential for an "unthinkable disaster" that could be worse than the Titanic or Exxon Valdez in terms of deaths and pollution.

Tourism on the Ice is principally self-regulated by the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO).

The Norway-based Hurtigruten Group, which operates the Nordkapp and Nordnorge, and California-based Princess Cruises, which operates the Golden Princess, are both IAATO members.

IAATO executive director Denise Landau said the organisation had set "the highest possible tourism operating standards in its effort to protect Antarctica".

But Trevor Hughes, the head of the Antarctic policy unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said there had been a growing belief among the nations with a stake in Antarctica that self-regulation by the industry was insufficient.

"Where we're coming from is that Antarctica is designated as a natural reserve devoted to peace and science. That establishes the fundamental values for human activities in Antarctica," he told an Antarctic conference in Christchurch in 2004.

"Having to provide search and rescue and that sort of thing impacts on national Antarctic programmes. There are a range of potential risks and one is always surprised by what can happen.

"We're very concerned about the potential for a maritime accident."

The environmental pollution aspect of this story is fascinating but the more important question is, “Why would anyone want to tour Antarctica?”

And now for the shameless plugs:

Listen to my radio show, it’s like kittens on skis…

Read the The Political Universe, it’s the cat’s pajamas.

Read Joe Rivett and then read him again because he’s one bad cat.

Read 411 Politics Fact or Fiction and show Ryan some love, he’s the meow.

Now before my wife gets home from school and wonders why nothing has been done around the house, I’m outta here…until tomorrow when were return to the valley of the prostitots…or Iran, whichever I feel like writing about.

This Sunday on PROGESSIVE CONSERVATISM LIVE!

2007-02-06T06:27:00.000-05:00

FEBRUARY 11TH - Mark is reading "The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success." Rev. John is reading...oh, who are we kidding? Rev. John ~~can't~~ doesn't read. It's all good on the most popular program on Blog Talk Radio today, and hour of magic we like to call Progressive Conservatism Live. And unless Mirko Cro Cop hits Rush Limbaugh with a high kick right to the mush, here's what they'll be spitin' a few verses on:

What's new with Iran?
The presidential aspirations of Barrack Obama and "Smokin'" Joe Biden.
Return to the Valley of the Prosti-tot.
Why the Ethenol lobby has done gone too far!

Plus the BUCGAW Report, and God only know what else! It's all this Sunday at 12:30 PM EST. You can click here for all the necessary information.

And make sure you tune in on FEBRUARY 18th for Mark's EXCLUSIVE interview with author RODNEY STARK ("The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success," "The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History.")

Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/punkrockconservative

And hey look, Rev. John has a blog too:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

go to blogtalkradio.com

Everybody Hates Rev. John and Other Issues of Interest

2007-02-04T15:22:00.001-05:00

No matter how many times I tell Fifi to keep the dogs quiet and the noise down, inevitably something will happen in the house and during the show there will be a ridiculous amount of distractions. The dryer went off not once but three times during the first half of the show. Fifi also had a visitor who came by to tell her that he would take her to church which of course sent the Pomeranian into a tizzy. It’s not the worse thing ever ie being recorded while I was on the toilet but it’s still pretty annoying. I’m just going to have to get my own private studio out of the house…

I thought the first half of the show had some interesting discussion points. Writing about a topic that I intend to talk about during the week helps prepare me to talk about it without relying solely on written words and statistics. After writing Garbage Heights I felt like I had a comfortable handle on the topic to talk about it passionately.

John did a great job of leading the discussion on the 2008 election. We both have different strengths both personally and with respect to the show and John’s is definitely the ability compartmentalize and analyze the domestic election politics. In this area he really carries the show and usually brings issues up that I would never have thought of.

The rest of the show was good too but in a very different way. Even though John apparently wasn’t paying attention to the BUCGAW Report, the breaking news bit at least lends an air of anything can happen during the show rather than it being too mechanical.

The sports talk evolved more into an interview because we really didn’t have much planned other than MEN LIKE SPORTS and to make fun of me. It was something different though because I never delve into sports, and different is good.

The last bit we thought was pretty funny. John’s a good sport and he handled the bit well. Tom was also surprisingly funny and added some funny one liners. I don’t know how well it translated to the listening audience but as we say, if we’re amused then it is good.

Here’s the breakdown:

Monologue

Draft Radulich

Garbage Heights

Toxic Sites In Queens Likely To Cause Serious Illnesses

Presidential Race 2008 (no relevant article)

The BUCGAW Report

Price of US eggs in Bahamas jumping

The Man Show Featuring Tom (no relevant article)

Everybody Hates John

"Hot" patients setting off radiation alarms

Pelosi reaches out to blogging community

Hillary's team has questions about Obama's Muslim background

Biden Unbound: Lays Into Clinton, Obama, Edwards

Town to immigrants: you can’t kill women

Garbage Heights

2007-02-01T00:16:00.000-05:00

When one decides to buy a house, there are many elements to consider and questions that must be asked. Is the house in good condition? How much is the asking price. Is it in a good school district? Is there a lot of crime in the surrounding area and so on?

One question that is often overlooked but is probably the most important is whether or not the house was built on or near a landfill – toxic waste dump – superfund site or any of the above.

Strange isn’t it? Why would anyone build a house near the site of garbage dumps? There is the obvious problem of how much they smell and can ruin the air quality of a neighborhood that should drive away potential residents. Less known however is how said sites are filled with carcinogens and are the likely culprit of wide swaths of cancer in homeowners throughout the United States.

I could have written this story at a number of different times throughout the history of industry and homeownership in the United States as it has been a problem that has plagued us for a very long time. As a matter of fact, this sort of thing was the impetus of the movie about a woman who pursued legal claims against the industry that caused residents in California to develop cancer. You may have seen it; I’m referring to Erin Brockovich.

Although that movie had a relatively happy ending, the problem is far from solved and as a matter fact, it continues to haunt us to this day. My wife, whom I’ve written about before, recently came across an article written in the Cleveland Scene about how her old neighborhoods of Garfield Heights and Valley View (both suburbs of Cleveland, OH) were split and made barely hospitable by a man made land fill, swimming in the mother of all cancer causing products, vinyl chloride, and a healthy dose of gaseous methane.

My wife states that she has had various immune deficiency and reproductive problems beginning at the tender age of 12 and the most likely cause of medical woes is the very place she grew up in. Even her puppy Pomeranian, aka (Austin) was diagnosed with rare lymphoma at the age of two. One might wonder which is a less humane way to live; in a violent neighborhood with the ever-looming threat of a stray or even targeted bullet aimed at your noodle or the more ominous and hidden danger of dying slowly of a dreaded but preventable disease because your backyard (unbeknownst to you) is a toxic dump unfit for humanity.

According to the author of the above piece, “In 1988, the U.S. EPA descended on Garfield Heights after explosive methane gas produced by the landfill crept into nearby apartments. Residents were hopeful the feds, considered real regulators, would be shocked to see the filth running into their backyards. But at a public meeting, the EPA's Joe Fredle offered the same line they'd always heard: "At present it is not an [imminent] danger to the public."”

Things did not get any better as the years went on. A modern day robber baron named Pete Boyas who was described in the article as, “a high-rolling excavator with a penchant for peach-colored leisure suits and patent-leather shoes,” had plans for much wickedness disguised as business sense in my wife’s old stomping grounds. Boyas is the man that built the dump that is partially responsible for my wife’s as well as others uphill battle with their own health and the possibly worse battle with the American medical system and insurance companies.

The dump however is not this man’s only legacy.

Boyas had partnered with developers Bart Wolstein and John McGill, who envisioned building a massive big-box complex on top of the dump, along the lines of Steelyard Commons. After Boyas died, the two developers bought the land for $13 million. Then Wolstein died, and McGill was left to handle the project himself.

In March 2005, with still no sufficient tests to see what toxins permeated the ground, the Ohio EPA granted McGill approval to start construction on the City View shopping center.

It wasn't until tens of millions of cubic feet of garbage had been dug up, countless steel pilings had been drilled down to bedrock, and foundations were being laid down, that the EPA decided it might be wise to conduct water tests -- five years after it approved the project.

Construction had been messier than expected. McGill set up tanks to pump out the orange funk draining from the cupcake-like mound, but he couldn't catch it all. The ooze was running off the site. The Ohio EPA turned up the heat on McGill by fining him, but it's hard to plug a million holes at once.

On November 8, 2005, EPA inspector Frank Zingales filled up jars with the red, bubbling muck. Co-worker Steve Tuckerman, who analyzed the results, was shocked.

The levels of toxins were "among the highest in my experience of more than 20 years of evaluating water quality," Tuckerman wrote in a memo. "They indicate grossly polluted conditions."

And, sure enough, tucked among the list of 10-syllable offenders was the monster of brain cancer, vinyl chloride.

The results by themselves are damning. But Molholt suspects the levels are even higher under the surface, because vinyl chloride quickly evaporates when exposed to air. He says the residents of Murray and Fosdick were likely exposed to even greater amounts from breathing noxious fumes all those years.

Just as scary was the fact that the neighborhood was still using well water while the dump was going full-swing. When the water started tasting funny, people would haul in jugs of tap water from outside the city, but they still showered, brushed their teeth, did laundry.

According to my wife and mother-in-law, on top of this toxic disaster lies a Wal-Mart and a Petco. In a strange way, that’s rather fitting, don’t you think?

In response to this article, my wife, in a episode of literary interest and vigor wrote this letter to the editor:

I was born and raised in Garfield Heights, my mother still lives on Hathaway Rd. in Valley View. I grew up next to the High school (now the middle school) in Garfield, on a hot day, the smell would be so horrible that you wanted to throw up. In the mid 90's we formed an environmental group in school and ventured down the hill behind Kmart and took pictures of the orange rivers and of various wastes seeping into our environment. My parents always knew, they just didn't think it would matter. My mother had thyroid cancer, I now have a thyroid disease and have been treated for fertility issues since I was 13. In 2000 we sold our house on Thraves, I now live in Tampa, FL. Since moving, I look back at the corruption and palm greasing back home in disgust. The governments in Cuyahoga County and much of the great lakes region cannot handle honesty and the changing infrastructure in America. We are an environmentally aware country, and until Garfield Heights realizes this, nobody will purchase a house in the city and the residents left will die out. Thank you for a wonderful and insightful story, hopefully there will be strides made on this issue. If you have any updates please contact me. My family is eager to help.

Ohio is not the only place in the United States that has this problem unfortunately. Last April (2006) many homeowners and their neighbors whom lived in DuPage County near Carol Stream, IL. filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against DuPage County Forest Preserve, and BFI Waste Systems of North America, owners and managers of the Mallard Lake landfill. That's because cancer-causing vinyl chloride had turned up in the Cannatas' well and more than 30 private wells in part of Wayne Township had tested positive for unsafe levels of vinyl chloride and a related chemical.

They claimed that the chemicals dumped at the site years ago had broken down into vinyl chloride, which had seeped into the groundwater, flowing into their wells and out of their faucets.

This story is more than just a personal interest issue or even a sad story about or degraded environment. In both of the above cases the EPA was complicit in exposes US citizens to conditions you would expect in the Third World. My wife and many others, as I said before, will never experience a life without pain not just because robber barons cheat us of our livelihoods (that’s par for the course) but also because those charged with our protection are greased to the point of being completely ineffectual. I’ve written this article to put you all on notice; no where you are living, what you are breathing and what you are drinking before you join my wife and millions of others in the waiting room of lost hope and dashed dreams.

This story and more will be discussed this Sunday at 12:30 PM on Progressive Conservatism Live!

This coming Sunday on PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATISM LIVE!

2007-01-31T08:59:00.000-05:00

FEBRUARY 4TH - Mark has the ~~liberal~~ mainstream media on high alert. Rev. John has the UFC in high definition. Somewhere in the middle of these two topics lies the most popular radio internet show in the history of Blog Talk Radio, a little hour of excitement we like to call Progressive Conservatism Live. And unless President Bush throws his pants at Nancy Pelosi, here's what we'll be discussing:

The ever changing 2008 Presidential landscape.
Super Fund sites - and what doesn't cause cancer these days?
The Super Bowl and other important man stuff (featuring. Mark's friend Tom in a return engagement)

Plus the BUCGAW Report, and a new feature we like to call "Everyone Hates Rev. John." Why does everyone hate Rev. John? Why do you hate Rev. John? Let us know! It's all this Sunday at 12:30 PM EST. You can click here for all the necessary information.

Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/punkrockconservative

And hey look, Rev. John has a blog too:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

go to blogtalkradio.com

2008 Presidential Roundtable

2007-01-30T06:31:00.001-05:00

(A look at the 2008 Election landscape, roundtable stylee.)

1. What are you looking for in the next President?
Mark: I'm looking for a president that will seriously tackle two policy issues: alt fuel/decreasing dependence on foreign oil & border security. I'm at a point where I realize that no president will ever be in a position to hit all of the issues that matter to me (like the war on drugs) but I think that if a president can push through one major policy change in 4 - 8 years, it's better than nothing. The next president has to be green but amicable to business as well. The problem with the folks from Green Peace and all of those other "radical" environmental groups is that they are far too hostile to business versus seeing the obvious and productive marriage between business and green activism. A president that can provide leadership in the merger of green policy with sound business practices is one worthy of my vote.

Then there's the border. This is very simple. BUILD A FENCE! That's all I care about at this point. Build a fence across the US-Mexico border and start deporting the illegals you find in this country. Besides that, as far as guest worker programs and all are concerned...I don't care. I'm not going to get my way, which would be that we stop encouraging people to break the law so I'll just settle for guarding the border as best we can instead of ignoring the borders. And for those that think my opinion here smacks of xenophobia, it's not about illegal immigrants so much as it is about security and terrorism.

Rev. John: Leadership. 'Nuff said. If accepted the fact that all candidates have a certain degree of bullshit to them (which we're partly responsible for), but what candidate wants to actually unite the country instead of just race towards 51% of the vote? If I disagree, what candidate is going to convince me their path is in the best interest of the country? We've gotten so divisive that without any recognizable leadership where a candidate stands on issues is irrelevant, because even if they're able to get anything done, the other party is just going to undo it in the next four to six years.

2. Is there anyone running right now who you think is a sure shot?
Mark: Well I think people will make the same mistake they made in 2004 and nominate the person they think can win the election rather than the person they want to win...his name is John McCain.

Rev. John: I don't think anyone is a sure shot. The way the system the country is now, if I were the Republican nominee and one of my liberal friends got the nod from the Democrats; we'd both start off with 45% of the vote no questions asked. I think the interesting thing to watch in 2008 is how the different states making their primaries earlier affect the nominating process. If California actually goes through with making their in early February, it could be come less about which GOP candidate can satisfy the southern base and more about which GOP has the best shot of putting California in play for the general election.

3. It's been said that Governors make better candidates than senators and/or congressman. Agree or disagree?
Mark: Governors are natural leaders versus Senators and Congressmen whom act on consensus. I think the job calls for the kind of boldness that Governorships foster rather than leadership by committee that is the lifeblood of the aforementioned Congressional leaders. In addition, Governors are trained executors highly bureaucratic estates like...well states and as such are better prepared to lead a highly complicated country, such as our, more so than Senators and such whom have no experience per se. While some may be former governors or mayors, I think it would be highly improbable that they would be able to shake the stink of Congress off of them.

Rev. John: Senators/Congressmen spend a lot of time talking about what they've done and how they've "worked" with the opposing party. Governors actually have a record to back it up. John McCain and Hillary Clinton can talk about their healthcare plans all they want...Mitt Romney has actually implemented one that has agreeable by the left, right, and center alike. I'm sure Newt Gingrich and Barrack Obama have great ideas about education. Bill Richardson has made actual improvements in the public school system for his state.

4. Out of all the "longshot" candidates, which one do you like the best?
Mark: Well we all know I have a special place in my heart for Dennis Kucinich but I think Governor Huckabee sounds like the most interesting choice.

Rev. John: Outside Anytime I've hard Mike Huckabee interviewed I've liked a lot of what he's had to say. There aren't many candidates who have a more impressive resume than Bill Richardson.

This issue and more will be discussed this Sunday at 12:30PM on Progressive Conservatism Live!

State of the Union Talk, The Fairness Doctrine and the Wild Sex Lives of Zoo Animals

2007-01-28T15:01:00.000-05:00

Now that the show is coming along nicely without technical glitches and we have a format that works for us, the next step is to work on promotion and advertising. Obviously we have the blog and the MySpace page but I’m also going to be spending time on message boards to promote the show as well. I am certain that eventually this show will catch on and we will be a big hit. In the meantime, I thought this was another fun show and I’m having a blast hosting it.

I probably could have done an entire hour on the State of the Union analysis and I bet so could my callers. It’s one of those topics that can write itself in the sense that there was no way I couldn’t talk about it. In a five segment show there’s always one that is a must have, which is fine with me. I’m sure as the year progresses there will always be one segment I have to talk about with regards to politics.

I was torn when it came to the Fairness Doctrine because I wanted to make it a Kucinich Watch but that would have required me make believe I actually liked the idea when I obviously don’t. I figured there will be time enough for funny Kucinich Watch segments once the debates and all get going.

I’m learning how to cut people off when they call in without being rude or allowing them to take over the show. That was hard for me at first but it’s getting better. I’ve also stopped prefacing everything and parsing my speech throughout the show.

The Wild Sex Lives of Zoo Animals could have been funnier. We definitely laughed at times but it was not as good as last week’s Bucgaw Report. That’s comedy though. Some things work really well and others need work. If nothing else, the bestiality stuff was at least educational.

Here are the links:

I. Monologue

Siren Song of the Lazy Parent

Ca. Lawmaker Seeks to Ban Spanking

CBS 5 Poll: Majority Oppose Calif. Spanking Ban

II. SOTU

2007 State of the Union: Team Coverage
III. The BUCGAW Report

Hundreds of chickens killed by toddler

IV. The Fairness Doctrine

Kucinich To Hold Fairness Doctrine Hearings

V. The Wild Sex Lives of Zoo Animals

Male panda gets too fat for sex, keepers say

Porn sparks panda baby boom in China

Variety.com - Reviews - Zoo

Agency calls for animal sex ban

Animal Welfare and Belgian Morality

Escaped chimp gets snack, cleans bathroom

Retired chimp has baby at Chimp Haven; paternity tests being done

Virgin Komodo Dragon Gives Birth

Russian zoo animals mate early in steamy winter heat

Mumbai zoo looking for a mate for rhino

Pet shop owner creates beer for dogs

VI. Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund

Kucinich To Hold Fairness Doctrine Hearings

2007-01-26T12:05:00.000-05:00

I've come to realize what cowards politicians can be. Many from both parties are so petrified of the media that they go to extremes to control the media whenever the opportunity presents itself. We all remember how the Bush people would conduct "Town Meetings" and fill said meetings with handpicked supporters so as to not present the image that the man was unsupported. They even went as far as to give attendees pre-approved questions to ask. It's episodes such as this that earned the administration such derisive labels as "fascist."

But the Democrats aren't much better, just a different shade dictator, namely communists. Hillary Clinton is infamous for trying to control the media around her and while her history of attempting to silence people around her has been well documented, the latest from the Hillary camp is that she won't do any talk radio interviews, including those hosts associated with Air America. Heck, even Pat Buchanan sat down with Randy Rhodes on her own show.

Speaking of talk radio, Congressman and Presidential also-ran Dennis Kucinich is talking about bringing back the Fairness Doctrine (see below). On paper all it says is that media establishments must present both sides of an issue at all times. While that may sound reasonable, there are at a minimum, two problems with this so-called Fairness Doctrine.

First there is the problem of what exactly constitutes "fair". Certainly the party in charge of the country thus charged with presiding over the Fairness Doctrine will have a rather subjective view of what in fact "fair" means.

If someone is saying that there should be abortion on demand at all times to any female that deigns to have one, then is the fair thing to do is to have someone opposite that person say there should never be abortion at all ever under any circumstances? What about a moderate point of view? What if my listeners/viewers don't care about the opposing point of view and want to hear only far ____wing commentary? The problem with the Fairness Doctrine is that is limits consumer choice by involving government in private enterprise.

This brings me to my second point, which is that it is simply not the governments place to dictate programming on privately owned media channels. All it can do is lay out laws governing what kind of programming can go where (public TV, cable TV, PPV, etc) or on the radio (as opposed to satellite radio) and that is all. Congress by law cannot tell MTV to get rid of Jackass because Maxine Waters thinks white men getting kicked in the nuts just isn't funny. At the very least, the proposed Fairness Doctrine is an over-reach and at most it is shades of the former Soviet Union and to be frank, the current Russia's attempts to tightly control the media in order to protect itself.

People should use the internet to voice their concerns about this to their congressman and fight against any legislation that retracts freedom speech and choice in the marketplace rather than quietly allow Congress to become the media.

Per his telegraph to a media reform conference last week, Ohio Democratic Representative and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has been named head of a new House Domestic Policy Subcommittee and he plans to hold hearings on media ownership with an eye toward a reintroduction of the fairness doctrine.

The doctrine, which was scrapped by the FCC in 1987 as unconstitutional, put an affirmative obligation on broadcasters to air both sides of controversial issues. It's absence is also credited with the rise of conservative talk radio.

Appearing on Lou Dobbs CNN program Kucinich said he planned to hold hearings on the doctrine. He said that since the doctrine was scrapped by the FCC, 50 media companies have shrunk to six. Kucinich, who voted against the war in Iraq and does not want to fund the administration's proposed troop increase, tied the absence of the doctrine and concentration of media to the launch of the war. "How in the world did we end up in this war in Iraq when one study said that only three news sources that opposed the war were able to get on the air out of 393. What does that say. Was there an uninhibited exchange of ideas." He did not identify the study.

"I think that this is an opportunity for America to revisit the issue of consolidation of the media," he told Dobbs. "And how it relates to whether the media is serving in the public interest."

This issue and more will be discussed this Sunday at 12:30PM on Progressive Conservatism Live!

Siren Song of the Lazy Parent (or, Smack My Kid Up)

2007-01-24T21:06:00.000-05:00

My parents used corporal punishment on me up until the age of 9 and according to my father; they stopped because I was afraid to come out of my room. The method in question ranged from spankings, to having my hair pulled, to being slapped, to being kicked once and even having a roast beef sandwich hurled at my head. One beating was so bad I ran away from mother straight into a glass door and shattered it, causing my right arm to bleed profusely.

That was roughly 20 years ago and the world was a bit different. These days if someone saw my father kick me in the behind for walking too far ahead of him at K-Mart, he’d most likely be arrested and I’d end up in foster care. At the very least, child protective services would be in our life until they deemed my parents fit for the job of caring for me.

Corporal punishment is a hotly debated topic in this country. Certainly many people now feel that it is never necessary to lay hands on a child and have found alternative methods of discipline that suit their fancy. Other folks think the aforementioned people are insane and believe that a limited amount of physical punishment is the only way to straighten a kid out. Caribbean women, at least those whom I’ve met during my time as a social worker, think that half of the reason why kids in America are so screwed up and disrespectful is because they don’t get enough good beatings.

From personal experience, both as a former child and a current social worker, I can tell you that physical discipline, in a vacuum, rarely works as well as those who use it think it does. The beating/spankings I received as a child only served to teach me how to absorb physical punishment and rarely did I change my behavior strictly because of the pain I was suffering. Approval, affection and consistency had a greater effect on my development than did the spankings. All the physical punishment did was turn me on to mosh pits and kickboxing.

Along side of that, I rarely come across a woman who is the victim of domestic abuse and as such permanently changes her behavior. That of course is the point; if it’s wrong to hit a woman for any number of reasons, shouldn’t it be wrong to treat children in the same manner, given the fact that the results would presumably be the same. None the less, folks still swear by their supposed right to whack their children and claim to their dying breath that nothing works quite as well.

Social services and local law makers have been struggling with this debate for many years now. Throughout the country the laws regarding corporal punishment change depending on the tenor of that locality. Some more conservative areas are more likely to tolerate spankings than your more liberal cities. In addition to that, whatever the political philosophy of said place might be, it comes up against the hard reality that there may not be enough child protective services investigators or empty beds available to accommodate overzealous monitoring of parents.

This hasn’t stopped Democratic Assemblywoman Sally Lieber of California from attempting to pass a law in which spanking, hitting and slapping a child under 4 years old would be a misdemeanor and offending adults could face up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Now the merits of this law are debatable. For one thing, enforcement of such a law or abuse of said law risk making it a complete joke or a tool to harass people. Not to mention that it strikes me a bit silly to equate spanking on the behind with real abuse such as burning a child or using weapons on them. One child I worked with in Brooklyn had her head caved in by her father. That is abuse by almost anyone’s measure and certainly a lot more harsh that an open handed pat on the behind. Yet a law like the one Lieber is proposing would make them one in the same. For those that oppose this law, stating the above would be reasonable.

However, lazy parents like Rush Limbaugh have been lamenting this proposal since last week and seem to be almost depressed that someone would dare tell him and other parents that they can’t hit their kids. First of all, you shouldn’t want to hit your kids and if you do, consider your own anger management issues before going anywhere near a child. It is one thing to think that attaching a bad behavior to pain is a proper method of teaching discipline, other wholly another issue of you are complaining that you should have the right to go around slapping your offspring willy nilly.

As per usual in the mainstream media, this story is a contrast in extremes. On the one hand you have this Lieber gal whose heart is in the right place as her aim appears to be to protect infants but probably isn’t being practical. On the other hand you have this army of lazy parents out there who are crying because they think this law means they can’t hit their kids when they damn well feel like it. The reality is that despite the best of intentions, no law will totally protect all children and it is better to educate parents than it is to punish and imprison them. By the same token, even if there is some value in corporal punishment, it should only used sparingly and only with the accompanying talk about right and wrong.

When right-wingers like Limbaugh whine about this subject they take the position that if you can’t punch a kid right in the mush you are inviting a “Lord of the Flies” type world in which the kids have taken over. It’s insulting to those of us whom have to patrol and treat real abuse and terrible parenting on a daily basis.

There is a better way to deal with children without disarming the parents through law or letting children be at the mercy of angry parents. Talking helps and consistency is the key. There are any numbers of ways to instill boundaries in children without abusing and that is something to be celebrated not denigrated Mr. Limbaugh.

This topic and more will be discussed on Sunday at 12:30 PM on the next episode of Progressive Conservatsim Live!

This weekend on Progressive Conservatism LIVE!

2007-01-24T18:30:00.000-05:00

JANUARY 28 - Mark is stocking up on canned goods before we're attacked by Iran. Rev. John is stocking up on cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon before the Super Bowl. While that sounds like important work, that doesn't mean they don't have time for the hottest hour on Blog Talk Radio. Beyond good, beyond evil...it's PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATISM LIVE! And unless Hillary Clinton yells at heckers at a comedy club, here's what they'll be talking aboot:

The State of the Union - "It Stinks!"
Dennis Kucinich and his "Fairness Doctrine"
Spanking and why Rush Limbaugh is a douchebag
The Wild Sex Lives of Zoo Animals

Plus the hottest segment on the airwaves today...THE BUCGAW REPORT! It's all this Sunday at 12:30 PM EST. You can click here for all the necessary information.

Find out what grinded Mark's gears this week:
http://blog.myspace.com/punkrockconservative

And if your curiosity happens to get the best of you:
http://blog.myspace.com/brodigan2016

go to blogtalkradio.com

2007 State of the Union: Team Coverage

2007-01-24T06:38:00.000-05:00

(Mark is participating in a round table discussion on the president's speech for 411mania.com's politics page, and this is his submission. Rev. John threw in his two cents as well)

1). Did you like the speech? Explain why you did or didn't.
Mark: I missed the first 20 minutes or so of the speech due to personal issues, not the least of which was flying in from Cleveland and not getting home until midnight, and I walked in about when he was talking about fuel economy. He hit some good green points and mentioned some of the better ideas for limiting our dependence on foreign oil. However, he still seems to be in love with the BIG fuel corporations and that couldn't have been more apparent than when he mentioned clean coal and nuclear power. But the question is whether or not I liked the speech and I'll say that I did because at least this time he explained the War on Terror in a way that made sense and actually used examples. He should have done that 4 years ago but beggars can't be choosers.

Rev. John: State of the Union's are rarely bad speeches, regardless of whom the President is and which glass of Kool Aid you prefer. They all basically say that the state of the union is good, and layout a bunch of ideas to improve it. Unless you're a douchebag like Rush Limbaugh or Keith Olbermann, they don't leave much to complain about. Last nights SOTU open a few doors to get things done, particularly with immigration, health care, and energy. Whether or not people go through those doors or not...that's a different story.

2). Do you think this speech was any different than his previous SOTU addresses? (If you didn't watch the previous addresses, you can substitute any other Bush speech that you have seen or heard).
Mark: Yes in the sense that as I said before he explained the War on Terror pretty well and hit all the relevant points that he's missed in years past. I don't know if it will matter as it is too little too late for most Americans but at least this year I can't complain that his explanation of the War of Terror was not fit for a kindergarten class. I also like that he mentioned the UN millennium poverty goals as I'm sure everyone except Bono had forgotten about them.

Rev. John: There were two big differences I noticed. Last year the underlying theme was how it was the remaining Democrats job to work with him. This year, the theme is that it's everyone's job to work together...which is good, because I'm all for the two parties working together and doing away with this red state/blue state jive. Also, last year he ended the speech with a paragraph catered to make the Christian base happy. This year, I didn't hear anything that catered to them (at least not that I heard). So James Dobson can stick that in his pipe and smoke it.

3). Of all of the points he touched on in this speech, which policy would you like to see him follow through on the most?
Mark: Obviously the fuel issues. It's pretty apparent that even BIG oil cannot ignore these fuel issues any longer. If he and others continue to pretend that there is no problem with a single fuel economy then his party will continue to lose power in Washington. Ultimately, it's up to folks like Boxer in the Senate to put forth serious energy legislation and Bush will go a long way in maintaining his integrity by signing said legislation instead of continuing to carry the water for BIG energy companies.

Rev. John: My favourite part of the speech was when the President acknowledged the NYC Subway Hero, but as far as issues go I'd like to see him (and Congress, since they're in this too) follow through doing something about energy or health care.

4). If you were to assign the President a letter grade on a scale of A-F for this address tonight, what would you give him and why?
Mark: I'd give him a B. He finally did what he needed to do with Iraq and he mentioned many of the not well known points of other foreign policy issues we are contending with and he did it without the two dimensional cartoonish language he usually employs. Not bad overall.

Rev. John: I guess a B. Like I said, SOTU's are rarely bad. He laid out a number of good ideas. It's just a question of if he or anyone else is going to act on any of them. I'll be honest, I have my doubts.

Update: Progressive Conservatism LIVE!

2007-01-22T17:50:00.000-05:00

(by Rev. John, "PCLIVE!" executive producer)

Our latest show is up here, at our MySpace page, as well as on the player to your right. We thought it was going to be a trainwreck having a third host (Mark's best friend Tom), but it actually turned into one of our best shows. This weeks BUCGAW Report was hysterical if I do say so myself.

Unfortunately, Mark just found out that his grandfather was rushed to the hospital. There really isn't much more information right now, but if you could please keep the Radulich family in your prayers this week, it would be greatly appreciated.

Boom.

New Orleans and Chocolate-Americans

2007-01-17T19:03:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Katrina was an unrequited disaster for the city of New Orleans and its inhabitants. As a natural disaster it ranked up there with the likes of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and the 1984 Walter Mondale Presidential campaign. Much like the Chicago fire, when it was all said and done, the city lay in ruins and it was unknown whether or not it would ever rise from its watery grave again. Some even asked if it was worth resurrecting at all.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina many of its residents left, possibly for good, and resettled in Houston, among other places. Though the lights are back on, the water dammed up and the strippers are riding poles once again (the mark of any great city), New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) is struggling against a myriad of issues to reclaim its citizenry. Many people whom have left for greener, if not at least dryer, pastures have not the will nor the resources nor the desire to return to a city, which once had the dubious honor of being one of the cities with the highest murder rate in the country.

There are some such as the good Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, whom are troubled by this trend and have made vigorous attempts to bring those exiled back…so long as they are black.

Along with the history, the cuisine, the music and the culture, one major element of NOLA that is always rearing its ugly head, more so now since Katrina, is the issue of race. NOLA is known as a “black” city and now that since the hurricane there are nearly as many whites as blacks and less blacks overall, the race baiters are in a tizzy.

According to an article in the Boston Globe, “New Orleans, one of the most culturally distinct African American cities, is struggling to regain its black character.

"We need the chocolate back in the vanilla!" housing activist Endesha Juakali shouted to a crowd last month to protest the demolition of public housing damaged by Katrina.
But there were only about 20 black people listening, just a fraction of the whites who came to support the cause.

New Orleans was 67 percent African American before Katrina and 28 percent white. Now, in a city with less than half the previous population, blacks account for 47 percent and whites 43 percent.

"It will never be the same in my lifetime, we already know that," said Juakali. "The forces that control the redevelopment are going to string this thing out for at least five years. And people can't wait that long."”

Lady get a grip. First of all I hate the reference to black and white people as “chocolate” and “vanilla.” The connotations are as insulting as they are ridiculous. People act as if blacks as a race are some monolith that can easily be labeled with something as silly as a type of food. I would like to think that the collective experience and history of black people is a bit more complex than candy.

But that’s not what I’m on about. Juakali is bitching because damaged public housing is being torn down (as it rightly should given the history and adverse effect of public housing) and this somehow poses a threat to the way of life for the black population of NOLA. The associate is obvious to me, that if you take away the government subsidy, you hurt black people. More to the point, by taking away the handout, you repel black people from moving back to NOLA.

This brings up an intriguing point about the “black character” of New Orleans. Just what does it mean to be black in the first place? Is the “black character” even the defining characteristic of NOLA in the first place?

To the latter I think not. NOLA has a rich history that draws from the French, the Spanish, the occult, as well as any number of other elements. Certainly black people made their mark on that city in the sense that the provided many cultural characteristics to it such as a jazz and zydeco music, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say that without black people, NOLA is struggling with its “character.”

I also get the sense that when folks like Juakali make remarks like “we need chocolate back in the vanilla,” she isn’t referring to the best in black culture. Unfortunately, there is a belief within the black community itself, as played out by the likes of Bill Cosby and Juan Williams versus Cornell West and number of black rap producers, that the character and image of black Americans is that of the rebel AKA the thug. To be black is to be an illiterate criminal or a baby factory and to be white is to be educated and employed. It’s the most idiotic debate going in this country and yet, judging by the reactions to anyone like Bill Cosby or Juan Williams who criticize this belief, it is one that is strongly clung to, no matter how illogical it sounds.

By that measure neither Barack Obama nor Cornell West are black enough to resemble the “character” of New Orleans. This brings me back to the point where I started. Assuming racist nuts Juakali are right and the character of NOLA is one of rampant crime and large doles of public assistance, why exactly would anyone want to purposely subject him or herself to that? In no other place in America does the Mayor advertise his city by announcing that if you move to his or her city, there’s a good chance you might get mugged, raped or murdered. Yet apparently Juakali, Nagin and company seem to think that such proclamations represent what NOLA and the “chocolate people” are all about.

The fact of the matter is that crime and public assistance do not represent black people. As a matter of fact, the population that mostly receives public assistance is not black people at all but rather, white women.

Just because many blacks have moved away and are not likely to come back does not mean the city is struggling with its “character.” Given the propensity for corruption in that city to begin with, even if it was struggling, that would probably be a good thing as it could with a dose of reform. New Orleans is however going through a rebirth and the fact that it might be lead by the middle class (of any color) rather than being defined by the poorest or most likely to commit a crime, is not something to be protested but welcomed.

This issue and more will be discussed this Sunday at 12:30 PM on Progressive Conservatism Live!

Genetically Modified Chickens Lay Cancer Drugs

2007-01-16T09:17:00.000-05:00

New Review: Sweet Deception

2007-01-15T14:43:00.000-05:00

For probably all of my adult life or at least since college, I have been enamored with green tea. I drank generous amounts bottled ice teas any time I ventured into a convenience store. Arizona was my brand because they were the ones offering a veritable cornucopia of iced tea products from the sweet and well-known fruit teas (my favorite was peach) to the more exotic teas that I had never heard of such as black tea. When I tried their green tea, I was hooked. Later on as I jumped on the no-carb bandwagon and became searching for zero calorie drinks, they satisfied this junkies cravings with what would become my lifeblood for many years to come, diet green tea.

Each bottle of diet green had a peculiar label on it that I never paid much attention to. The tag read in large friendly letters, “Made with Splenda.” I figured with the FDA around it really didn’t matter what the heck Splenda was, I felt confident that if it was in my diet green tea, then it had to be good. Around this time I noticed copious amounts of the individual sweetener packets in my mothers kitchen where the sugar and the Sweet N Low used to be. My mother and all of the other yenta’s that frequented our abode would rave about the wonders of Splenda over any number of pastries or bagels. My mother to this day sings its praises as a dietary wonder product.

What fools we have been! According to osteopathic physician and surgeon, Dr. Joseph Mercola and Naturopathic Medical Doctor Kendra Degen Pearsall, authors of the new book, “Sweet Deception: Why Splenda, NutraSweet, and the FDA May Be Hazardous to Your Health,” Splenda is about as safe as ingesting DDT (no, not Jake Roberts wrestling finisher, the poisonous pesticide). As a matter of fact, Splenda and DDT are chemically speaking, remarkably similar according to the above authors. When I think about the gallons and gallons of diet green tea and other beverages containing Splenda I have consumed, I get a little more than queasy.

The good doctors have written a book that blows the lid on the real affects and history of sugar abuse, artificial sweeteners and just how corrupted the Food and Drug Administration have become. Because “Sweet Deception” is a comprehensive review of the sugar industry as well as a critique of the FDA, it is an indispensable tool for those who are trying in the face of insurmountable odds to better their health and maintain a healthy diet. At the very least, it provides good source material for people to check out and compare their diet against. After all, if you don’t know what’s in the food you are eating, then you can’t combat against it.

The first chapter deals exclusively with sugar. Sugar has a storied life and is partially responsible for some of the more negative aspects of human history such as environmental degradation of the Everglades and slavery in the Colonial Era. But beyond being a dubious resource it is also a major factor in our collective health. Sugar in it’s most basic definition is that with which something becomes sweet. Sweet is a signal to our brains that whatever we are consuming is good and won’t poison us, as opposed to something that tastes sour or bitter. Sugar also satisfies our appetites more quickly than say another type of element like salt. Mercola and Pearsall explain in great detail what an appropriate amount of sugar intake should be and what happens when we overdose on sugar (like we currently are). In addition, the authors cover all of the additives in foods that are either derived from sugar or are meant to replace sugar such as High Fructose Corn Syrup. HFCS is almost all of the drinks we consume as well as other products and as other authors such as Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) have tried to warn the reading populace, is absolutely no good for you.

The next few chapters deal with the rise of artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame (which is in another one of the drinks I have made a part of my daily routine) and sucralose aka Splenda. Mercola and Pearsall explain the context of what gave rise to the artificial sweetener industry as well as what chemicals play a role in creating said products. What the authors reveal in these chapters is both horrifying and maddening all in the same verse. Not only are the artificial sweeteners mostly cancerous, but they also had the tacit approval of the federal government.

If the book were only about sugar and artificial sweeteners then it would have only been about 100 pages long. However, where health and diet is concerned, what you eat is only part of the conversation. As I stated at the onset of this review, I, like many of my fellow consumers, assumed that if the product made it to the shelves in my local supermarket, then it must be safe for me to place on the menu. However, Mercola and Pearsall explain in the next several chapters that the FDA is just as subject to lobby money and corruption and as another institution run by man.

Basically, what the authors show us is that on paper every food product needs to be demonstrated as safe before the FDA will approve. So the BIG corporations pay their own team of scientists to perform studies and tests and then their bosses either bury or scuttle the evidence, thus watering down or completely changing the stated outcomes of said study. When this information is presented to the FDA, it looks as if it was a perfectly good study and thus gets its approval to wait on the shelves for its chance to give us all cancer. Donald Rumsfeld makes an appearance in this section of the book. Not only is he responsible for the failed military post-war strategy in Iraq but also he’s also responsible for bringing us NutraSweet, which causes brain tumors and cancer.

I am not the health nut that reading this book might make you think I am. My diet leaves much to be desired but where I can get information I try to and this book really opened up my eyes to what exactly I have been doing to myself by drinking products containing Splenda as well as other artificial sweeteners. If you value your health and are interested in making significant changes to your diet or even if you are just sick of going to doctors, you should read, “Sweet Deception,” by Dr. Joseph Mercola and Dr. Kendra Degen Pearsall.

We will be covering this book more in-depth this week on the radio show.

Electric Cars, Bush's Speech and The Rev.

2007-01-14T16:14:00.000-05:00

The show keeps getting better and better. We changed the intro music and I think it really fits our attitude and how the show works better than REM. It took a long time to settle on a format and a general theme but it’s rolling along nicely now and I don’t get very nervous before the show anymore. The biggest thing to announce about this show is that I had two callers and an IM’er who were not my family. Not my dad, my father-in-law or my uncle nor even any of my friends or my wife. Two complete strangers called in to talk about the war in Iraq. I think it’s funny that PC Live has about 5 segments in it covering politics, the environment and other assorted pieces of news and the thing that tends to provoke people to call me is the Iraq war. But I’m not complaining, at least they called. I hope that more will call next week though I don’t think we’ll be talking about Iraq again.

Here’s the rundown of the show:

Monologue: Electric cars

EV World

GM bids to reclaim its green crown with new electric concept

Exxon cuts ties to global warming skeptics

President Bush’s Troop Surge Speech (no relevant article)

The BUCGAW Report

Super Chicken to the rescue

Obama and Cocaine

Running on Policy, Not the Past

Kucinich Watch/Rev. John on Rev. Sharpton

US legislator fears Bush preparing to attack Iran

Rev. Sharpton Hints Toward 2008 Presidential Run

Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran

2007-01-14T00:43:00.000-05:00

Well this may be what many on the right have been waiting for. I know a certain segment of the population wanted Iran to be bombed before they developed a bomb but they didn't want the US to be the one to do it. Israel is the obvious substitute and one of the few countries capable of such a feat. However, I'm not sure how serious to take a Times UK article as they screw up stories pretty often. We'll have to wait and see.

ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons.
Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear “bunker-busters”, according to several Israeli military sources.

The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb.

Under the plans, conventional laser-guided bombs would open “tunnels” into the targets. “Mini-nukes” would then immediately be fired into a plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout.

“As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished,” said one of the sources.

The plans, disclosed to The Sunday Times last week, have been prompted in part by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad’s assessment that Iran is on the verge of producing enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons within two years.

Israeli military commanders believe conventional strikes may no longer be enough to annihilate increasingly well-defended enrichment facilities. Several have been built beneath at least 70ft of concrete and rock. However, the nuclear-tipped bunker-busters would be used only if a conventional attack was ruled out and if the United States declined to intervene, senior sources said.

Israeli and American officials have met several times to consider military action. Military analysts said the disclosure of the plans could be intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt enrichment, cajole America into action or soften up world opinion in advance of an Israeli attack.

Some analysts warned that Iranian retaliation for such a strike could range from disruption of oil supplies to the West to terrorist attacks against Jewish targets around the world.

Israel has identified three prime targets south of Tehran which are believed to be involved in Iran’s nuclear programme:

Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges are being installed for uranium enrichment

A uranium conversion facility near Isfahan where, according to a statement by an Iranian vice-president last week, 250 tons of gas for the enrichment process have been stored in tunnels

A heavy water reactor at Arak, which may in future produce enough plutonium for a bomb

Israeli officials believe that destroying all three sites would delay Iran’s nuclear programme indefinitely and prevent them from having to live in fear of a “second Holocaust”.

The Israeli government has warned repeatedly that it will never allow nuclear weapons to be made in Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has declared that “Israel must be wiped off the map."

My Thoughts on the President's Troop Surge Speech

2007-01-10T21:54:00.000-05:00

(I am participating in a round table discussion on the president's speech for 411mania.com's politics page. This is my submission)

1). What did you think of the speech?

I thought it was a fine speech. He seemed to make sense, his speech had substance that is to say a plan with benchmarks and a trigger for departure. Frankly, my wife said it best when she, who is a dyed in wool Democrat and no fan of this man, said "He had me at 'It's my fault.'" I'm sure that will be tomorrow's headline and somewhere in LA Bill Maher is running around without his pants on.

2). What did you like or dislike about it?

I liked that the request for a troop increase has a stated purpose and will be working with the Iraqi troops. I like even more that they will finally be allowed to do their job instead of allowing Muqtadr Al Sadr to hide in a Mosque ostensibly making our forces look like chumps. If Malaki keeps his word and allows the Iraqi army as well as the US troops to kill the enemy and damn political correctness, we may actually see the desired outcome of a self-sufficient Iraq.

I also liked that he was honest about this not being a total cure for Iraq's violence issues. He has properly and effectively addressed the babies and the idiots who if he had not specifically said that the violence will not be totally quelled, would have eventually cried that this plan didn't work because somebody set off another IED. I think Bush made it pretty clear that this plan is about allowing the Iraq Central Government to firmly establish control of the capital and not about solving centuries of sectarian violence.

My one major gripe is that he did not effectively address the Iran issue. However, not only am I used to that but I think Dick Morris said it best on O'Reilly right before the speech that he cannot talk about Iran right now to the American public. He'll only confuse people. Sad but true.

3). Do you think that the changes suggested by President Bush will work in either or both the short and long term?

Again, if Malaki and the Generals allow the troops to kill the enemy whereever they may be, even in a Mosque, then yes, I think this is a good plan. In addition, if Malaki does not step up and do right be his people, he knows that this is the last dance before America just gives Iraq over to Iran, effectively becoming, Kurdistan and Greater Iran. The realist in me thinks that the Iraqi's will live up to the reputation of their brethren in the Middle East and foul this up to a fare-thee-well but as a mandated reporter and a social worker I gotta have faith, as the song says.

Running on Policy, Not the Past

2007-01-08T23:36:00.000-05:00

It is often said that nobody who wants to be president should be. While that may be true, more often than not the man (or quite possibly soon woman) who inevitably becomes president wants the job pretty badly. This person wants the job so much that they will endure months of intense scrutiny and borderline harassment in order to obtain said position of authority.

The media seldom stops at the nominee as well. They will also delve deep and criticize members of the candidate’s family, namely spouse, children and probably parents. It’s not pretty in the slightest. Throughout a presidential campaign, especially in recent years, the media has been more apt to report on a candidate’s peccadilloes rather than their policies. This may be because sex and violence sells and thus they are responding to the publics demand for shoddy journalism or it just might plain laziness on the part of the reporter. My guess is that it’s a little from column A, and a little from column B.

However, there should come a point where a man can leave his past behind, let his professional record speak for itself and not have the media dredging up skeletons buried decades ago. The worst case I can recall was the 2004 Presidential election between Bush and Kerry. All it seemed the media wanted to talk about was Vietnam and whether or not George W. Bush had dodged the draft.

Abortion?

Stem Cell Research?

Trade and the Economy?

Oil and Energy?

Nope. We’re going to have an entire presidential race consumed by a 40 year old war. Now it didn’t help that Kerry ran on the fact that he had fought in Vietnam and the Bush people opted to battle him on that front rather than, I don’t know, analyze his Senate record and question him accordingly (and since this isn’t a third grade student council election, calling him a “flip-flopper” doesn’t count).

It was bad back then and it appears to not be getting any better this time around, over one full year before the next presidential election takes place.

You may have read either directly in his own memoir, Dreams of My Father or the recent news articles that Jr. Illinois Senator Barack (the jerk conservatives call him Hussein) Obama wrote about trying cocaine in high school and using pot after he finished law school. Never mind this mans record in Illinois or his stated policy views, now all people want to talk about is whether or not this is going to matter in voting publics eyes with regards to his White House bid next year. Seeing as drug use was not an issue in his 2004 Illinois Senate race, either in the primary or general election I don’t see why it would matter but that hasn’t stopped the conservative jerks (after having finally gotten over finding out that the mans middle name is Hussein) from babbling on about this issue ad nauseum.

Obama isn’t alone here. The media is also obsessed with Giuliani’s divorces, Newt’s sexual harassment issues, Romney’s religion and any number of other picture postcards.

As much as I don’t like Bill Maher, he summed it up best when he said something to the effect of if you are not a screw up in your 20’s then you don’t deserve to be president today. In other words, there isn’t a person among us who didn’t have an “interesting” youth and thus their questionable past should not bar them from serving in the White House if their public service record is well within the expected parameters of a political leader.

However, if you are one of those people who think that every politician should have the constitution, history and integrity of Jesus Christ himself, then I suggest you write in “Robot” as your candidate of choice because no human being will ever live up to that expectations. Another suggestion would be that you grow up and get real when dealing with politics.

Frankly I’m disgusted with the way the media handles elections. I hardly ever hear a policy debate bandied about and then people wonder why our institutions are so corrupt. If the media is too busy starting catfights with elected officials instead of doing any actual reporting, why should any institution run by man not fall to corruption?

Unfortunately, because the Republicans have painted themselves into a corner with regards to the drug war, I expect that they’ll have to say something about Obama’s admitted drug use. I’m sure it’ll be some token anger and coy sound bites so as to be consistent with their claim that even collegiate drug experimentation is a doomsayer and worth the full weight of federal prosecution, not to mention billions in tax payer dollars to fight a never-ending prohibition war that makes Iraq look like a paintball game. They’ll say their piece for consistencies sake and then quickly forget about before somebody reminds them that the President is a recovered drunk and Rush Limbaugh needed treatment for OxyContin addiction.

But real journalists are not shackled by policy consistency nor are they slaves to public records. They should be reporting the news and contrary to public opinion, telling me that somebody in public life did drugs in the 70’s is not news. It is a waste of my time and an insult to my intelligence.

You can be assured that I’ll be covering this topic more in depth on my Radio Show this Sunday at 12:30 PM.

In the meantime, do yourself and this country a favor, do not ask whether or not Obama’s admitted past drug use will be an issue in the upcoming election, and ask what his issues are in the upcoming presidential election. Stop allowing the media to put these people in a position where they spend the entire campaign running on their past instead of telling us what they will do with our future.

First Show of the New Year...and Damn Near Perfect

2007-01-07T13:47:00.000-05:00

the new show should play automatically, if not click the headline and play it off of the site

Huzzah for no technical difficulties today. Apparently the problem with previous shows has been that I’ve been calling in too early and messing up the automated system such that it begins recording me well before the scheduled start time. I simply called in at about 5 minutes before hand and everything worked like gangbusters.

I really felt that rant on Nancy Pelosi needed to be said. I think that anyone who uses their grandchildren to promote themselves needs to be taken now a notch. She’s not fooling me and hopefully she’s not fooling any of you. The whole scene with her and her grandchildren on stage to me represents the commodifying of children in America. It was inappropriate and uncalled for.

I thought the best segment we did was the bit about gay sheep. Generally speaking anytime John and I start laughing it’s a sign that the bit was funny.

We also had a really good call from someone that isn’t my family. Now we just need a few more of those and we’re in business.

Tune in next Sunday at 12:30 PM for more political insight and chicken noises.

Monologue Nancy Pelosi (no relevant article)

Why evangelicals are ruining the GOP

Looking For Mr. Right

The Bucgaw Report

Chicken-fat fuel factory to open soon

Housewives and Breast Cancer

Study: Housework Helps Reduce Cancer Risk

Gay sheep

'Sheep have a right to be gay'

Progressive Conservatism Radio: New Year's Eve Special

2006-12-31T14:00:00.000-05:00

This is the best show we’ve done yet. All of the songs and sounds worked the way they were supposed to. Changing the volume made a huge difference. Aside from having little to no technical difficulties, I can always tell when it’s a good show when the topics flow from one to the other and it feels like we’re both having a great time. We also finally had a caller (my uncle) who was able to contribute to the show instead of derail it, which was a nice change of pace.

I was very serious about next year when I said that the effort I was putting into my blog and reviewing books would be better placed in making the radio show as good as could be. I will continue to write but the main thrust of efforts will be in the show, at least for the near future.

Have a safe New Years Eve and be sure to tune in next Sunday for the first of show of 2007 which is sure to be chock full of interesting news and chicken noises.

Monologue: Update on Somalia/Economic News

Somali PM's hometown victory only first step

Housing, energy key to economic outlook

Euro increasingly gaining global currency

Iran 'facing disaster' over collapsing fuel exports

Kids and Drugs

Teens turn to cough syrup to get high, feds say

Bucgaw Report

FDA seeks public comment on cloned food safety

PC College

The Dirty Dozen: America’s Most Bizarre and Politically Correct College Courses

Good Riddance: Video of Saddam Hussein Being Executed

2006-12-30T15:56:00.000-05:00

Housework cuts breast cancer risk

2006-12-29T09:14:00.000-05:00

As the man once said, this is one of those blog posts that blogs itself. Now some may think I'm about to go into a rant against wives here, my wife even. No, not today. To me this story speaks to a greater issue, feminism. You see, we have all of these pseudo-intellectual women who have gone way past the idea that women should have the right to work and earn a fair wage and have been demanding that society forget all of the inherent differences between men and women completely. At one point they were so successful at this tact that it took Time Magazine to write an article affirming that, yes Josephine, there are in fact distinct differences between men and women...whoda thunk it?

So going back to our good friends, the intellectual collegiate feminists (man haters), here we have a group of people saying that if a woman does any housework, any at all, she is supporting a patriarchal society in which women are second class citizens to men. Now we live in a world where outside of cooking (maybe) nobody wants to clean up around the house...and I mean nobody. Men don't want to vaccuum or do the laundry because mommy used to do it and they haven't figured out yet (unless they've served in the military) that the washing machine won't kill them. Women don't want to do it because they're depressed. Many don't really want to work but have been taught that a meaningful life is one where she does work despite the inner desire to (perish the thought) be a housewife.

It also doesn't help that we've been taught that housework and childcare aren't real jobs when in fact they are probably the most important job of all.

Logic and common sense won't undo the damage that Marxist inspired feminism has wrought against the last few generations of women but maybe science will. I hope this story gets lots of coverage and women begin to spend less time at the gym and more time helping clean the house.

BTW, if I may be so bold...since I've gotten married, I've done quite a bit of housework myself. I do the laundry, sweep the floors, vaccuum, take out the trash and recyclables and occassionally clean the garage. Every other weekend I also mow the lawn and if I get to it, pull weeds. I don't know about cancer but I will say that when I'm engaged in housework, I don't need to hit the treadmill as there is plenty of exercise inherent in the work I'm doing. As a matter of fact, any weight I've lost since the wedding has been because of that and eating less and not because of anything else (though I'm sure playing rugby helps). My point is that though this article focuses on women and cancer, doing housework can also help men stay reasonably fit as well.

Women who exercise by doing the housework can reduce their risk of breast cancer, a study suggests.
The research on more than 200,000 women from nine European countries found doing household chores was far more cancer protective than playing sport.

Dusting, mopping and vacuuming was also better than having a physical job.

The women in the Cancer Research UK-funded study spent an average of 16 to 17 hours a week cooking, cleaning and doing the washing.

Experts have long known that physical exercise can reduce the risk of breast cancer, probably through hormonal and metabolic changes.

But it has been less clear how much and what types of exercise are necessary for this risk reduction.

And much of past work has examined the link between exercise and breast cancer in post-menopausal women only.

The latest study looked at both pre- and post-menopausal women and a range of activities, including work, leisure and housework.

All forms of physical activity combined reduced the breast cancer risk in post-menopausal women, but had no obvious effect in pre-menopausal women.

Chores protected

Out of all of the activities, only housework significantly reduced the risk of both pre- and post-menopausal women getting the disease.

Housework cut breast cancer risk by 30% among the pre-menopausal women and 20% among the post-menopausal women.

The women were studied over an average of 6.4 years, during which time there were 3,423 cases of breast cancer.

The international authors said their results suggested that moderate forms of physical activity, such as housework, may be more important than less frequent but more intense recreational physical activity in reducing breast cancer risk.

Dr Lesley Walker of Cancer Research UK said: "We already know that women who keep a healthy weight are less likely to develop breast cancer.

"This study suggests that being physically active may also help reduce the risk and that something as simple and cheap as doing the housework can help."

He recommend that men and women take regular exercise and maintain a healthy body weight to help prevent cancer.

The research is published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention.

A Very Progressive Conservatism Chistmas (Late Edition)

2006-12-28T09:46:00.000-05:00

The holidays are quite good at messing up a man's schedule. We did the show the afternoon of Christmas Eve and as soon as it was over I had other things to do to get ready for a Christmas roadtrip with my family and I couldn't post the show notes right away. But here it is now, better late than never.

The show went well. John and I have a good flow and we can catch each other going to long with segments so we don't go overboard with any one subject. The beauty of cell phone text messages is that we can send each other production notes while the show is going full blast.

The first half of the show always seems to go by too quickly with the monologue, theme musics (which finally worked more or less properly) and the first 1 or 2 serious bits. I usually start to panic at about 1:00 PM because we still have lots of show to do and we're running out of time to do it. That's what happened with the Liquid Coal bit and somewhat with Ahmadinejad and the Miss USA twitter. We go really long in the beginning and then I have to give the bums rush to later segments. Though I figure it this way, I can introduce the information to people and if they want to learn more, they can look it up just as I did.

Lastly, some of the feedback I got was that it sounds like I'm insulting my audience when I say nobody cares about Iran. Here's the thing, I realize that many average people who pay attention to the news do in fact know about Iran...but that pales in comaparison to the MSM who happens to take the lions share of attention in the news business. When I say nobody, I mean them and the average American who isn't paying attention to the news at all. People listening to my show probably to do know and should not take offense because I didn't mean you per se. By the by, if you think I'm bad, you should listen to Michael Savage on the radio who screams at his audience on a daily basis.

The other issue is the song I played at the end. My wife questioned what news reports about MLK and Vietnam had to do with Iraq and some others asked me if I knew that Silent Night by Simon and Garfunkle was a protest song. The answer to the latter is yes. As for the relevance, I explained before I played the song that I felt it represented how the media is marring the job the soldiers are doing in Iraq and for me the song was symbolic of that. I wanted to pay tribute to the troops while expressing my distaste for their treatment by the media. Maybe it didn't come off that way but that was my intention.

Here the links from the show:

Time's person of the year
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1570707,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/personoftheyear/2006/people/

BUCGAW REPORT
A faulty gene responsible for causing inherited blindness in chickens could hold the key to understanding not only blindness but also heart disease, diabetes...
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=59198
http://www.moneyweb.co.za/blogs/community_blog/527416.htm

Liquid Coal
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061217/bs_nm/coal_fuel_dc_1
http://energy.seekingalpha.com/article/22719
http://www.liquidcoal.com

Deuchbag of the Week
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/ELLISON_QURAN?SITE=MABOC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-12-20-18-36-29

Iran vs. Miss Universe
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3342489,00.html
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/20/061220094102.ixs3bo81.html
http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah3204.shtml
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/20/earlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main2284784.shtml

Kucinichwatch
http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2006/12/15/cq_2044.html

(sorry, don't have time this week to link properly)

Recycle Guys and holiday waste

2006-12-23T03:12:00.000-05:00

Ahmadineajd: Iran now nuclear power (oh great)

2006-12-20T12:10:00.000-05:00

I don't know what's more disappointing, the fact that it has come to this or the fact that I've been trying to stay on top of this story for the last 2 years and when it finally happens that they have nuclear fuel, I get scooped by friggin Drudge.

Look, I don't have time to get into a whole big thing on this now as I'm sure that the MSM will cover this in totum, or as in totum as they are capable (see when North Korea exploded a nuclear device).

My thought on this are the following:

1) The government more than likely knew before the story got out that this was about to happen, which prompted them to build of forces in the Persian Gulf.

2) They have every intention of going through the bombing campaign of Iranian nuclear sites in the new year. The UN draft sanctions are too little too late.

3) When Iran is attacked, Venezuela will commence with diverting the oil they sell to us to China, which will result in our economy going into a depression.

4) The only other option is that we'll do nothing, Hezbollah (that's a terrorist organization Mr. Reyes) will explode a nuclear device in Tel Aviv and Iran will declare plausable deniability.

Folks, it's not looking good out there. Remember, a day or so ago Ahamadinejad made an ominous declaration that the US, UK and Israel would disappear. The next thing we know they have nuclear fuel. Now I'm not in the intelligence community or anything but I think it's pretty obvious what this means.

Iran is now a "nuclear power," its President, Mahmoud Ahamdinejad, delcared Wednesday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.

During a speech delivered in the Western Iranian province of Javanroud, Ahmadinejad said: " The Islamic Republic of Iran is now a nuclear power, thanks to the hard work of the Iranian people and authorities."

The announcement of Iran as a "nuclear power" is bound to significantly escalate tensions between the West and Iran, and marks a dramatic stage in the Islamic Republic's nuclear campaign.

In recent days, the US military has begun to build up forces around the Gulf, in what is being seen as as a warning to Iran.

Ahmadinejad was also reported to have announced that "Iranian young scientists reached the zenith of science and technology and gained access to the nuclear fuel cycle without the help of big powers."

The Iranian president began the speech by saying that "the powerful Iranian nation resists bullying powers and will defend its rights, including the right to pursue peaceful nuclear technology," the IRNA said.

In a clear rejection of all diplomatic attempts to prevent Iran from going nuclear, Ahmadinejad added in his speech that "the Iranian nation will continue in its nuclear path powerfully and will celebrate a nuclear victory soon."

The IRNA said Ahmadinejad was in Javanroud for a three-day tour along with members of his cabinet.

Even in the Future Nothing Works

2006-12-18T21:42:00.000-05:00

This was a frustrating past few days. The Sunday show had to be postponed because the Blog Talk Radio network went down; my wife kept me up all night with Christmas stuff and so by the time we got to Monday night I was half tired, not to mention that seconds before we went live, the music we uploaded disappeared temporarily. I know in showbiz you are supposed to go with the flow, which I tried to do bit wow, am I annoyed.

On top of which, the show has about a 10 minute delay at the beginning where I was testing the sounds and didn’t think I was on the air, but apparently I was. As near as I can tell, the network started recording me before my scheduled time, which not only includes the sound test but also me going to the bathroom – color me embarassed. If you listen to the show, bare with it, for a while, eventually things go right.

Despite all of the technical difficulties the music did play and the show did go on. Overall it was a good show. Last week’s numbers hit an all time high and according to the Host Liason of Blog Talk Radio, I’m one of the more listened to shows, so things are looking pretty good and hopefully, even on a different night, the numbers will continue to be high.

Here are the segments:

monologue

Toys for Tots and a Moral Dillemma

Somalia Vs Ethiopia

Somalia: 200 Government-Deserted Soldiers Unite With Islamists

America Hates Kids

4-Year-Old Accused of Sexual Harassment

Sex innuendo under the tree, over the punch bowl Younger girls, more focused on fashion, drawn to Barbie, Bratz dolls

chicken

USDA reports decline in broiler eggs

Reyes

Reporter's Questions About Islam Put Intelligence Chair on the Spot

Incidentally, through the entire sound test, the music worked just fine and had I known I was being recorded, I would have started the show with that knowledge.

An Avid Book Readers Lament and Christmas Suggestions

2006-12-18T01:22:00.000-05:00

As you might know if you are familiar with my writing, I am an ardent reader with an appetite for knowledge that rivals the average sumo wrestler at an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet. After 9/11 I got rid of my video game system and started buying books about terrorism and the Middle East, not to mention many of the political pundit-type books available at the time.

As time went on, I shifted my reading habits from strictly political and related to the War on Terror to all manner of topics including but not limited to business books, environmental/health, energy, sociological, technological and a whole host of everything non-fiction in between.

Though I graduated from Fordham University in 2004 with a MA in social work, I’ve since (up until I got married and time for intellectual pursuits became a fleeting temptress) I’ve even spent a period of months, usually over the summer, concentrating on specific subjects I decided to teach myself such as the complete history of Christianity and the history of post-Communist Revolution Russia.

Along the way I’ve come across some fabulous writers whom I’ve become a big fan of such as Jared Diamond, Rodney Stark, Edwin Black and Charles Pellegrino. Usually after I read a book by any of the above authors I run around to everyone I know and tell them about said book. I typically gush with swooning girlie delight about how great these books are and how much I’ve learned from them.

That’s how I got started reviewing books for a quasi-living. I would read a book a week and it was nothing to bang out a review for each book and publish it where I could. For a while there I was even getting paid for it. However, after this summer my new life as a married man caught up with me and the pace at which I read books slowed down to maybe a book every other week if not more. The reviews for said books suffered as well, especially since I started doing the radio show.

Occasionally I’ll still get sent a book by publishing house or author and then I’m compelled to read and review that book, putting off whatever reading I was doing just for the sheer joy of it. All of this led me to decide that instead of shirking said reviews or trying to write a ton of them before the end of the year, I would simply just give a number of short reviews for the last few books I’ve read.

A View from the Cheap Seats: Advice and Opinions on Life's Little Issues...from a Kid by Ryan Latimer

I was considerably remiss by not reviewing this book when it was originally sent to me a few months ago. In and of itself, its existence is a remarkable feat. It is advice book written by fellow 411 columnist and self-proclaimed “kid” Ryan Latimer. I’ll give this young man credit, he’s done one thing in his short life that I’ve yet to do by 30 and that is write his own book. That alone should inspire people to read it. It is not every day a youngling from Battle Creek Michigan bucks the system and does something so completely unorthodox as write an advice books.

It’s an interesting dynamic because in this day and age, the 18 – 35 age bracket is the most sought after market yet nobody gives a damn what any of said people actually think or say (unless you follow the blogs). As someone right in the middle of that market, Ryan is keenly in touch and able to speak sophisticatedly to said demographic. Latimer covers politics, health and eating, mental health, deleterious media influences, and a host of other issues relevant to my generation and those younger than us. Latimer speaks in a familiar voice that is both wise as it is familiar.

If you are looking for that special something in the bookstore for your loved one but Dr. Phil is not exactly your bag, I would highly recommend, “A View From Cheap Seats” by Ryan Latimer.

The Battle for Azeroth: Adventure, Alliance, and Addiction in the World of Warcraft Edited by Bill Fawcett

This is yet another neglected title given to me to review by 411Mania. I actually really liked this title a lot. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book I reviewed from this series, “The Psychology of the Simpsons” and though I don’t play World of Warcraft, I do know people who do and I was more than a mite curious as to what all the fuss was about.

My first introduction to the world of on-line role-playing games was when I asked a friend of mine innocently enough, “I’ve played Civilization and I really liked it, do you think I would enjoy EverQuest as well?” He answered, “Dear God no! Don’t do it. You’re already too addicted to video games…there’s a reason they call it EverCrack!”

That’s the essence of “The Battle for Azeroth.” It is an all encompassing guide, complete with the history of multi-player on-line role playing games, to explain why people play this thing, how they get addicted, what are the in’s and out’s of the WOW subculture and just what kind of dork plays this game in the first place.

Just like the other books in the BenBella series, it’s an anthology of different essays, written in a myriad of styles that tackle varying subjects. That’s the first section. The second section is strictly a player’s guide. I was much more interested in the first section but if you are an avid player, I would imagine that the second section would be indispensable.

I’ve already gone and forwarded a copy of this book to one of my friends who is both a psychology major as well as a gamer and of WOW. I would heartily suggest buying this for your favorite role-playing geek, if you can get them off the computer for any great length of time.

Shopportunity!: How to Be a Retail Revolutionary by Kate Newlin

I spoke about this book briefly on my radio show. I found this gem in the business and marketing section of my local chain bookstore. I was a bit leery when I picked it up at first but my wife standing right behind me and had demanded that I buy a book from some place other than the Current Events or Politics section. “Shopportunity!” is a unique idea in that it focuses solely on the value of the shopping experience itself.

Newlin put into words something I had been feeling for quite some time but never really knew just what it was I was feeling. As I stated on my talk show, when I was on the hunt for certain kinds of comic books or record albums, there was an inherent joy or thrill of the hunt as I took road trips to select stores in order to purchase my desired plunder. This was opposed to the complete lack of joy or thrills from finding the same items at any BestBuy or Tower Record’s or whatever chain store happened to be within a 20-mile radius of my house. Newlin examines just how normal both of these feelings are and the shopping experience has devolved into simply a race to the bottom in both prices and service.

Now gentlemen, maybe you have that special someone who loves to shop and more to the point, that special someone also likes to read. Other than a diamond bought with blood money and the life of a faceless African, the perfect gift for your honey bunny is simply “Shopportunity!” by Kate Newlin.

Internal Combustion: How Corporations And Governments Addicted the World to Oil and Derailed the Alternatives by Edwin Black

This is probably in my top ten for the year. It’s a featured book in my Progressive Conservatism University On-Line Store and it is one that I bought and read almost immediately instead of shoving in my to-be-read drawer like I normally do. Edwin Black attracted me to his work with his stellar non-fiction piece about eugenics in America, “War Against the Weak.” However, this is his most ambitious and timely work to date.

There are at least a million books about oil and why we should not be so dependant on it. What makes this one stand out is it strictly about how American corporations and their cronies in government scuttled the electric car 100 years ago and purposely stuck us with oil dependency (thank you Rockefeller). It’s the most comprehensive and informative book on the subject of oil addiction and the automobile industry to date. Black spells out very plainly that we could have had the electric car at the turn of the 20th century, even before the advent of the internal combustion engine. He shows the reader how we lost it through a series of unfortunate and sometime ludicrous events. Much like the documentary about how we lost the modern electric car in the 90’s, consumer stupidity was as much to blame as corporate shortsightedness. Government was the lackey here.

Black ends the book with a chapter on hydrogen cars that adds to the list of people advising against dependence on this red herring technology. Black, a journalist by trade, is in the tank for electric and explains in vivid detail why he is an advocate for reclaiming this highly usable technology.

For your conspiracy theorist, anti-Republican, or just automotive history buff, this Christmas, give him or her the gift of knowledge, buy them one of the best books on the market today, “Internal Combustion,” by Edwin Black.

…and finally

High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health by Elizabeth Grossman

After I read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” I ran around announcing that there was corn in everything a la Abe “Grandpa” Simpson from the Simpsons. Unfortunately for those around me, after reading “High Tech Trash” I’ve added a number of toxins found in the electronics my wife and I use on a daily basis to go on shouting about. Oh you have no idea what cancer causing elements are lurking around you. It really is true what they say, life itself does cause cancer.

“High Tech Trash” not only covers how electronics are disposed of, which causes pollutants that can cause a variety of diseases, not the least of which are autoimmune disorders that have made my wife’s life darn near unlivable, but it also covers how these high tech goodies (cell phones, computers, TV’s) are created in the first place. No matter which end you are investigating, both are high contributors to pollution and disease.

Grossman spends much of the book outlining what is and can be done to recycle your used high tech goods without causing minor 3 Mile Islands everywhere man has a presence. It’s not at all a panty-wearing, tree hugging, liberal corporate hate-on book. In fact, Grossman names businesses as the solution, should they see the profit in it, to eliminating the billions of metric tons of trash we’re piling up exponentially year after year.

For those that are techies as well as nature lovers, or even those just concerned with their health, I would advise you to put “High Tech Trash” under their Christmas tree.

Well that just about wraps up this survey of books I’ve read since October. Hopefully next year I’ll get back into the swing of book reviewing.

Some titles I have on deck or I am reading now are, “Where God Was Born,” by Bruce Feiler, “The Victory of Reason” by Rodney Stark, “The Long Tail,” by Chris Anderson, “The First Human,” by Ann Gibbons, “Sweet Deception,” by Dr. Joseph Mercola, “Social Intelligence,” by Daniel Goleman, “State of Denial,” by Bob Woodward, “The Looming Tower,” by Lawrence Wright, “The Emperors of Chocolate,” by Joel Glenn Brenner, “Chindia,” Edited by Pete Engardio, and finally “Fish on Friday,” by Brian Fagan.

Technical Difficulties

2006-12-17T13:12:00.000-05:00

Todays broadcast of Progressive conservatism will be postponed until Monday December 18th at 7:30 PM due to circumstances beyond our control. Apparently they were upgrading their network and the whole thing went down like a drunken cheerleader on the local high school quarterback after a winning football game. These things happen I guess.

Tune in tomorrow night to hear about the brewing war between Somalia and Ethiopia, why America hates kids, why the Congressional Intelligence Committee is not living up to its name and of course the Bucgaw Report!

All of this plus we will reveal whom were are officially endorsing for President in 2008 (until the primaries are over).

And now for something completely different:

Saudis may back Iraq Sunnis if U.S. exits

2006-12-13T09:53:00.000-05:00

Somebody wake up Congressman Reyes, this may be important!

It would appear that there is something of a cold war brewing between the Saudi's and Iran. From my vantage it appears that the Saudi's are no longer willing to sit idly by while Iran becomes Soviet Union-light and takes control of the region. All is not as peaceful and monolithic in Muslim-land as we once thought.

This is yet another in a series of stories where the Saudi's have looked passed Iraq and have seen a challenger to their leadership of the region, and they don't like it. If Iran gets nukes, they want nukes. If Iran is going to muck about in Iraq, then the Saudi's do as well. And now, while the Iranian's are saying that they'd be willing to stop stoking civil war if we left, the Saudi's are saying that they will stoke civil war even hotter if we leave.

Quite the pickle eh Congressman Reyes?

This may work to the west's advantage. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all of that. What we've wanted for a dog's age is for the Saudi's to stop funding terrorism around the world and work toward promoting tolerance of the Judeo-Christian West. If we can successfully employ the Saudi's in our war of words against Iran, we may also succeed in employing them further in an effort to halt the promulgation of Islamic terrorism. We're a ways off from that now but with time and strategic diplomacy, we may be able to split the difference in Muslims to our advantage.

Did you get all of that Congressman Reyes? We want to work with the Saudi's agaist Iran...Iran...the country between Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan...in the Middle East...where the oil is! Oh forget it, somebody call Charlie Rangel, at least he's paying attention.

Saudi Arabia has warned Washington it might provide financial aid to Iraqi Sunnis in any fighting against Shiites if the U.S. pulls its troops out of Iraq, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia, a majority Sunni country, has promised U.S. officials that it would not intervene to assist Iraq's Sunni insurgency, according to the report, which cited anonymous American and Arab diplomatic sources.

But that promise might not hold if U.S. troops leave Iraq, the newspaper said. The Bush administration has repeatedly said there are no plans for the immediate pullout of U.S. troops.

The Times reported that Saudi King Abdullah sent the warning to Vice President Dick Cheney two weeks ago during the vice president's visit to Riyadh. The message also emphasized the kingdom's displeasure with proposed talks between the U.S. government and Iran.

In Saudi Arabia, an official flatly denied the report. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to the media.

The AP reported last week that private citizens in Saudi Arabia are funneling money to Sunni insurgents in Iraq, often through either charitable donations or carried by trucks carrying pilgrims and their luggage between the two countries.

Iran _ a majority Shiite country _ is believed to be providing military and financial support to Shiite elements. The recently released Iraq Study Group report suggested the Bush administration engage Iran and neighboring Syria in talks aimed at applying pressure on Iraqi Shiites to keep what some analysts are calling a civil war from spiraling into a regional conflict.

Saudi Arabia has expressed concern that once U.S. troops leave Iraq that the controlling Shiite majority could massacre the Sunni minority, believed to comprise a large faction of the deadly insurgency that has claimed thousands of Iraqi civilian and U.S. military lives.

Saudi Arabia's fears seemed to have been exacerbated by growing discussions in Washington aimed at accelerating the timeframe for bringing troops home.