John McCain's essay on The Pledge followed by the famous Red Skelton presentation. Enjoy and Happy Birthday to all Americans everywhere.

'The Pledge of Allegiance'
- by Senator John McCain

'As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.

This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.

One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian.

Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama. He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School. Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.

As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.

Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.

Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.

One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.

That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.

The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room.

As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.

So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world. You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country.'

'I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.'


Red Skelton's Pledge.

Happy July 4th to one and all.

Ciao.......Moe

There's nothing like summer......

--- With the Celtics’ season becoming a distant memory and the Patriots training camp not yet here our attention ic now fixed squarely on the Red Sox.

My only solution for the Sox is hoping the Patriots get started and soon. What a sorry lot they seem to be at the moment.

Mid Season Report Card for the Boston Red Sox:

Pitching: With the exception of some highlight films – ugh.

Fielding: Can we find a shortstop who can catch and throw a ball?

Hitting: They’ll never be charged with assault and battery on a baseball.

Red Sox Needs: A catcher with younger legs and a younger bat, a 1st baseman who doesn’t complain and moan about every strike call against him, left fielder who actually likes to play in the field and hustles once and a while, starting pitching which can last more than five innings (Jon Lester and Josh Beckett the notable exceptions), starting pitchers who can keep the ball in the yard, relief pitchers who can keep the ball in the yard, help in the bullpen for our closer, and an injection of a little anger in the manager when his players fail to live up to the promise of multimillionaires who don’t run out grounders, sleep in the field and complain about everything.

Add to that the frustration of having talented players suspended because one yahoo centerfielder decided to act like a moron and attack the mound because they got hit in the kiester with a pitch.

Watching the Red Sox this year is no longer fun. Actually it’s painful.

The only thing really professional about the team’s first half season performance is the payroll. Some of the younger players are making the greatest contributions. Without Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia playing every day, this team would be moribund.

Something tells me the duck boat parade may not take place this fall in Boston.

Well, at least the video camera baloney infecting the coverage of the Patriots this year won’t be there and we can delight in the magic of Tom Brady all season long.

When will the Pats’ season kickoff?

2 --- The resident Mensa scholar of the US Senate is it’s leader Democrat of Nevada, former pugilist (who may have had too many shots to the kisser during his time) Garry Reid. Here’s what he has to say about the energy crisis we are facing:

The Dr. No of the drill-nothing Congress tried to deflect the issue of rising gas prices Monday by telling Fox Business News that there are costs we should worry about besides those stemming from Democratic inaction. Our guilt is supposed to replace our anger. You may find this diffucult to believe but I heard him say it:

"Coal makes us sick, oil makes us sick, it's global warming, it's ruining our country, it's ruining our world, we've got to stop using fossil fuel . . . ."

Reid says he wants us to use alternative energy such as wind and solar. But if it's going to take another 10 years, as Reid claims, to bring ANWR, offshore oil and shale into the mix, wind and solar are going to take even longer. Even if we tripled our current output from wind, solar and geothermal, they'd produce just 2.2% of our current energy needs.

The Democrats like to play the game of saying we need things like wind power and the like. Of course there is no place in the United States where that is going to happen with private investment. Even the projects opposed by blow-hards Ted Kennedy and John Kerry (their hot air could heat thousands of homes next winter) in the waters off Cape Cod would require lots of tax dollars to make them a go and a very long time. It is sort of the electricity equivalent to methanol made from corn. It all sounds good but is on empty as a resource which is making a difference.

The problem with both wind and solar, other than getting the power from where it is generated to where it is needed, is its intermittency. The electricity generated must be used immediately. It cannot be saved for that proverbial rainy day.

The problem with wind and solar, other than getting the power from where it is generated to where it is needed, is its intermittency. The electricity generated must be used immediately. It cannot be saved for that proverbial rainy day. No we don’t have a battery the size of the Blue Hills stashed away somewhere which can store fresh watts and volts.

Nuclear power is exactly the kind of nonpolluting energy source that can handle both our growing energy needs and unexpected demand. It has its own issues with waste, but such waste can be safely stored and even reprocessed to make new fuel. It's a renewable resource that doesn't pollute the earth or our lungs.

Dou you think the deep thinkers who run the senate like Reid, Kennedy and Kerry have the intellectual depth or honesty to support nuclear energy? Think again;
they’re too busy pandering to the whackos of the far left who espouse we all freeze or starve to death next winter as a means of population control. Most lower income people will have to choose between food and fuel. I guess Hobson (of Hobson’s Choice) was a liberal Democrat.

Just one more thing; Senator Barrack Obama opposes nuclear energy expansion and actually favors a continued increase in the cost of energy. Why? I dunno, it is so stupid is t is beyond reason.

3 --- When I was a boy growing up in the 1950s the Olympic Games were an important item. We didn’t have the TV coverage we gave today but the sense of the amateur athletes pitted their skills against one another. The USA was the target because we were big and strong.

Somewhere along the line the sense the Olympics ideal about amateur athletes competing for the sake of competition vanished. They gave their all and pursued the gold for its own sake while the movers and shakers of the Olympics discovered lots of money could be made with them.

For the competitor the gold was the goal. For others it was more gold for them.

Today the Olympics are not about the competitor. It is all politics and money for the networks.

Count mo out when it comes to the China Olympics. The dictatorship had stifled opposition, the networks have played along with the Communist dictators and we are kissing up to the monsters that treat their people like dogs.

President Bush intends to attend. That does it for me and Bush. I think I would vote for John Kerry if we could have a 2004 do-over.

I know, I know. Kerry would be at the Olympics as well. At least he would be there with his pals and Bill Clinton’s patrons. I suspect Bush has forgiven and forgotten the millions of dollars the Chicoms pumped into the Clinton and Gore campaigns. Have we forgotten Chinagate?

Tomorrow is Independence Day. We’ll publish something appropriate for the day.

All the best to all for the 4th.

Ciao…….Moe

See you this afternoon on WPRO

1 --- Guess who is running for governor in 2010? If you guessed Christy Mihos move to the front of the class.

Oopsie. Nope, Christy has merely set up a web site where he will keep a watchful eye on the current misfit serving as governor.

Maybe we can persuade him to do it though.

2 --- While you dig deep for the next fill up at the local gas station, two conservation groups have asked the federal government to impose new restrictions on oil and gas development in the West to protect the greater sage grouse, a popular game bird on the decline.

Scientists contend sage grouse breeding areas are suffering in the face of accelerating oil and gas exploration in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Utah and other Western states.West Nile virus, drought and residential development also have taken a toll on the bird, which is being considered for the endangered species list.

That’s just great.

3 --- Our doogooders in the legislature has just bumped the cigarette tax a buck a pack. All the liberal fascists will applaud the hike as a good means of imposing their anti-smoking zealotry on all those peon smokers.

4 --- The weather is beautiful today, temperatures temperate and dry. No muggies in sight.

Now to mess it up for you- What will you do next winter.

How will you handle fuel prices two, three, four, maybe five times what they were just a few years ago?

A tank full of oil was $200 to 250 just a few years ago. That same fill-up will be well over a thousand dollars next fall.

Any suggestions on what we can do to vastly lower our fuel usage?

A reader of Issues of the Day submitted the following:

A lot of folks can't understand how we came to have an oil shortage here in our country.
~~~
Well, there's a very simple answer.
~~~
Nobody bothered to check the oil
~~~
We just didn't know we were getting low.

~~~
The reason for that is purely geographical .
~~~
Our OIL is located in
~~~
ALASKA
~~~
California
~~~
Coastal Florida
~~~
Coastal Louisiana
~~~
Kansas
~~~
Oklahoma
~~~
Pennsylvania
and
Texas
~~~
Our
DIPSTICKS
are located in
Washington , DC !!!

Any Questions ???
NO? I didn't Think So.

5 --- Bet you would have never guessed this one! No matter your politics. Our thanks to a listener for pointing the following out to us.

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal on Cindy McCain, John's wife.

All I ever saw was this attractive woman standing beside him. I was surprised how talented and involved with world problems she is. This is a summary of the article.

She graduated from Southern Cal and was a special-needs
teacher.

After her Dad died she became involved with his beer distributing firm and is now the chairwoman. Sales have doubled since she has taken over from her father.

They have a marriage prenuptial agreement, her assets remain separate. She is involved around the world clearing land mines - travels to these countries on a detonation team and serves on their board.

They have a 19 year old serving in Iraq, another son in the Naval Academy, a daughter recently graduated from Columbia University, an adopted daughter in high school, and a son who is the finance guy at the beer firm.

She raised their kids in Phoenix, Arizona rather than Washington DC. He commuted.

In 1991, Mrs. McCain came across a girl in an orphanage in Bangladesh. Mother Teresa implored Mrs. McCain to take the baby with severe cleft palate. She did so without first telling her husband.

The couple adopted the girl who has had a dozen operations to repair her cleft palate and other medical problems.

They have a Family Foundation for children's causes.

She's active with 'Halo Trust' - to clear land mines, provide water and food in war ravaged and developing countries.

She will join a n overseas mission of 'Operation Smile', a charity for corrective surgery on children's faces.

She has had two back surgeries and became addicted to pain killers. She talks openly about it which she says is part of the recovery process.

I'm surprised the media is so quiet about her attributes. She sounds more capable than Hillary or Obama. We would really get two for the price of one: A person with business and international experience.

John did work for the firm for awhile when he left the Navy. She, however, has the real business experience.

Now we all know a little more about that pretty blond standing near John McCain from time to time.

Now you know Cindy McCain.

See you today at two on AM-630 WPRO.

Ciao…….Moe

Hot - muggy - wonderful

1 --- Do you recall the confiscation of private property from one private citizen for the benefit of another sanctioned by the Supreme Court? It was called the Kelo vs. New London, Connecticut case. Land was forcibly taken from some private citizens and given to others under the guise of the public good; a move which was said would give the city of New London increased tax revenue.
Most reasonable people saw the act as nothing more than robbery of one person’s property for the benefit of another. The so-called liberals on the court went along with the theft of the property in the name of the public good.

Those sanctimonious creeps who did that included the four who voted against your gun rights protected by the second amendment of the constitution.

The property has been confiscated. The taxpayers have been made to toady up and pay for the property. Unfortunately for them they got screwed by their government as well.

Three years after winning the right to take the property of Susette Kelo and her neighbors, there hasn't been any public benefit in any form from the land that city officials took. In fact, the city doesn't even know what to do with the land now that officials' handpicked developer couldn't muster the financing necessary to build anything.

Before Kelo citizens across the country came under attack by their own elected local officials who, like those in

The elected officials in New London, had visions of more tax revenue to spend, wound up with nothing to show for stealing the land of the original the property owners. Most often these situations go unnoticed because most citizens chose not to fight city hall and quietly submit to government demands. They throw in the towel because they can’t afford the hassle or legal fees to defend their own property rights. Kelo, however, turned the spotlight on these government takings.

As a result of Kelo many states have effectively banned the use of eminent domain for private development. Something tells me Rhode Island and Massachusetts have yet to consider their citizens important enough to shield them from such extreme government behavior.

2 --- I’ve never thought of Tom Brokaw as a conservative, certainly not during his years as the anchor for NBC News’ evening news casts. So when he was named to “hold the fort” while the network sought out a permanent replacement for the late Tim Russert no one expected him to come in with brass knuckles and simply keep the seat warm for the permanent host.

Anyone who thought that was dead wrong. If you have any doubts ask governor muscles of California hue Arney Schwarzenegger Kennedy. He was a guest of Brokaw this morning and I suspect he may wish he had slept in yesterday rather than face the tough questions he got.

As reported in the LA Times, The Juice (not to be confused with OJ) was hit right smack in the chops with some tough questions concerning how he has handled California government spending: "When you ran for governor in 2003, you ran as a fiscal conservative who would change the system, who would bring business-like techniques," Brokaw said. "Now, you are facing a $15-billion deficit here in California. Unemployment is running at about 6.8%; you've got the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression. If you were the CEO of a public company, the board would probably say, 'It is time to go.' "

Old Arnie, who will never be confused with a Mensa candidate, handled that one with all the adroitness of a kid caught with his hand in the candy jar: He asked Brokaw, "Are you always this positive?"

The former weight lifter tried to weasel his way out of a sticky situation. "That doesn't mean when you are doing a good job the economy doesn't go down eventually," he said. "What goes up must come down. We see that nationwide. We see that other states are struggling. The country is struggling. People are struggling, and I think we see that all over the world."

Harrumph!
Brokaw wouldn’t be deterred from his quest for an answer: “Before you came in, Governor, you said the spending was out of control, your rate of increase in spending is about the same as your predecessor, Gov. Gray Davis. It has grown at about, what, 34% since you took office."

Teddy Kennedy’s brother-in–law was beginning to sound like Patrick Kennedy talking to cops after he was caught flouting our driving laws: “You've been around long enough to know that the numbers are misleading. We have paid off a lot of debt. . . . I am very proud that we paid off a lot of debt and that we got the economy going again."

Good job, Governator, good job. Your approval ratings age going down fast and, before long, you’ll have the approval ratings of George Bush.

3 --- Somehow I’ve come to pity John Kerry. Yes, really!

First he got his butt whipped in 2004 with the help of those who couldn’t stand him when he served on fast boats in Vietnam. Those were the last really fast things in his life.

He returned to civilian life only to knife his fellow Vietnam Vets in the back calling them baby killers and war criminals. He associated with people who lied thought heir teeth about their activities in “Nam”.

He managed to marry a very rich woman and live the life he thinks he’s entitled to. She figured him out and dumped him. For a while he was the only homeless member of the US Senate living from his car for a few days until a supporter gave him an apartment in Boston until he was able to latch on to another millionaires.

The world’s largest Flipper outside Sea World he finagled the Democrat nomination only to get his lunch eaten in the 2004 general election.

If all that was not bad enough he now is being attacked from his left by some Democrat who thinks Kerry is too conservative for Massachusetts. Add to that he has The senator's 2003 vote authorizing President Bush to launch military action against Iraq.

Ed O'Reilly said he was so incensed by Kerry's vote that he gave up his law practice to devote himself full-time to ousting the Democratic 2004 presidential nominee from office.

If he gets by O’Reilly, Kerry will get to face someone with a distinguished military record of his own. Jeff Beatty is a former Army Delta Force Officer who has collected the necessary signatures to be on the general election ballot as a Republican.

After his experience in Delta Force, Beatty was a part the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team and the CIA Counter-Terrorism Office, giving him the unique distinction of belonging to the United States’ three elite anti-terrorist organizations.

His resume identifies Beatty as someone who has served his country for many years and in many ways, many of them dangerous:
-Meritorious Service Medal (as Delta Force Assault Troop Commander)
-Purple Heart (Grenada Rescue)
-Combat Infantry Badge (Grenada Rescue)
-Army Commendation Medal with "V" (Valor) (Grenada Rescue)
-Ranger Tab (Company Commander of Ranger Class)
Parachutist Badge
-Army Aviator (Distinguished Honor Graduate - #1 in Flight School)
-Army ROTC Rutgers College - Distinguished Graduate (top 5% in the country)

After leaving government, Jeff founded TotalSecurity.US an anti-terrorism consulting firm that has helped protect U.S. citizens here in Massachusetts and across our country.

If Kerry survives the expected rough and tumble primary he’ll have a “tiger by the tail” Beatty.

I wonder, if/when Kerry bites the dust in November, he and his wife will remain as residents of posh Louisburg Square in Boston. If he moves, will his wife pay the City of Boston to move the hydrant she found unsightly back to where it will provide fire safety for the neighborhood? (The City of Boston moved it because she found it unsightly.)

Senator, please don’t print up too much more stationary with your name on it. It will be a waste.

4 --- The modern version of a true vagabond. Former General Wesley Clark, who was a Republican at one time, supported Hillary in the primary, is now positioning himself to be Barrack Obama’s running mate. Obama’s Achilles heel is his lack of military or foreign experience. Clark would fill that void nicely. He is smooth and glib and has already taken to attacking John McCain’s military credentials.

John McCain has said he will not enter into a personal battle with Obama. Well, he may need to change some of that thinking since he will be savaged more than poor hapless John Kerry.

Barrack is likely the least qualified presidential candidate in the history of the USA. He needs to take the focus off him and place it on John McCain.

McCain only forgets this man’s history at his peril. Obama is the product of the most corrupt political battleground in the country. Tammany Hall and Curley are nothing compared to the minefields of Cook County.

Billy Bulger would be small peanuts in the Chicago scheme of things and Whitey some sort of legend instead of the filthy criminal he is.

Note to Senator McCain: Get ready for the dirtiest fight of your life. Some of the characters who will come after you may make some of your jailers seem like molly coddlers by comparison. And keep one more thing in mind, even people you view as allies may well be enemies.

As the Godfather told his son: “Keep your friends close to you and your enemies closer.” We don’t want you to be a Julius Caesar.

5 --- The political success of Barrack Obama, according to a Boston Herald article, is it may cause a re-visitation to our affirmative action laws.

The American people have in the least made Obama a leading candidate for president. Making the case for affirmative action will be progressively more difficult as time goes on.

Most people will vote for or not vote for Barrack Obama not because of the color of his skin but rather for the character and leadership qualities as compared to his opponent, John McCain.

When push comes to shove questions like how would he deal with the economy, what would he do about taxation, how will he handle the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, who will be better qualified to keep us safe from terrorism, who will better deal with the energy crisis, etc? The color of his skin will be very low on the list in judging his potential as President of the United States.

6 --- When I first read this I chuckled. The more I thought about it the more it seems a logical extension to laws concerning marriages. Unless the law can make it clear that marriage is to be limited to heterosexual or homosexual couples, this could become a wild ride in our courts. If the California Court of Appeals becomes involved hang on, we’re on a roller coaster:

(A scene at City Hall in San Francisco)

'Next.'

'Good morning. We want to apply for a marriage license.'

'Names?'

'Tim and Jim Jones.'

'Jones? Are you related? I see a resemblance.'

'Yes, we're brothers.'
'Brothers? You can't get married.'

'Why not? Aren't you giving marriage licenses to same gender couples?'

'Yes, thousands. But we haven't had any siblings. That's incest!'

'Incest?' No, we are not gay.'

'Not gay? Then why do you want to get married?'

'For the financial benefits, of course. And we do love each other. Besides, we don't have any other prospects.'

'But we're issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples who've been denied equal protection under the law. If you are not gay, you can get married to a woman.'

'Wait a minute. A gay man has the same right to marry a woman as I have. But just because I'm straight doesn't mean I want to marry a woman. I want to marry Jim.'

'And I want to marry Tim, Are you going to discriminate against us just because we are not gay?'

'All right, all right. I'll give you your license. Next.'

'Hi. We are here to get married.'

'Names?'

'John Smith, Jane James, Robert Green, and June Johnson.'

'Who wants to marry whom?'

'We all want to marry each other.'

'But there are four of you!'

'That's right. You see, we're all bisexual. I love Jane and Robert, Jane loves me and June, June loves Robert and Jane, and Robert loves June and me. All of us getting married together is the only way that we can express our sexual preferences in a marital relationship.'

'But we've only been granting licenses to gay and lesbian couples.'

'So you're discriminating against bisexuals!'

'No, it's just that, well, the traditional idea of marriage is that it's just for couples.'

'Since when are you standing on tradition?'

'Well, I mean, you have to draw the line somewhere.'

'Who says? There's no logical reason to limit marriage to couples. The more the better. Besides, we demand our rights! The mayor says the constitution guarantees equal protection under the law. Give us a marriage license!'

'All right, all right. Next.'

'Hello, I'd like a marriage license.'

'In what names?'

'David Deets.'

'And the other man?'

'That's all. I want to marry myself.'

'Marry yourself? What do you mean?'

'Well, my psychiatrist says I have a dual personality, so I want to marry the two together. Maybe I can file a joint income-tax return.'

'That does it! I quit!! You people are making a mockery of marriage!!'


A spoof? Yes. Out of the question? Not necessarily.


Ciao…….Moe

See you this afternoon on WPRO

Today’s the day.

In February, when I signed off WRKO for the last time I was unsure what I would do with the rest of my life. I must admit my mind was spinning off in different directions and to say I was totally confused by the time I reached home after my last show would be putting it mildly. A producer had been sent in to inform me I was done. I learned from him shortly after 6 AM.

I was inundated with emails and phone calls for a number of days. I had no answer for anyone because I was given no reason for the termination.

The only contact was a phone call from the program director the next day. He was looking for cover from the calls, emails and bad press he was receiving. He had passed off the responsibility for dismissing me on to a producer rather than simply give me a phone call after the show. It turned out the producer he had sent to do his work was a young man I was close to since his dad had passed away. The message he carried literally took a greater toll on him than me.

WRKO has been on the decline since the station was purchased by a Philadelphia company which had done a good job of increasing the value of the company’s stock and had gone through an enormous expansion. Its stock today is one tenth of what it had been just a few years ago.

The essence of talk radio has been lost on Entercom, and my wife and I had discussed the possibility of my leaving after it was obvious the once great talk station would never return to its previous stature under this ownership.

The company paid a king’s ransom to bring in the Red Sox and, along with the parent company was wallowing in red ink.

The success of talk radio has been lost on this bunch. To put it in the simplest terms, talk radio is a populist medium, most successful in blue collar circles, for example, Middle America. In Boston listeners are far more likely to read the Boston Herald than the Boston Globe. Channel 2 and talk radio don’t share the same audience. Talk listeners are more likely to be shared with country and western or oldies stations. Talk listeners are far more likely to be church going than not, tend to be more populist/conservative in their politics and have some closely held religious beliefs: Programers who take that into consideration are quite successful, those that don’t fail.

A good example of that is public radio’s attempts at talk. If you want a blueprint for failure to get listeners check them out.

In the words of one of the icons of talk radio, Mel Miller, our mission is not to educate but to entertain. We are in the business of advertising and we need listeners in order to have advertisers.

One of the most descriptive lines of what talk radio is were uttered by one of the best and most successful talk hosts in the country, Gene Burns (now with KGO in San Francisco) who points out he “is a generalist in a world of specialists”. Those of us who have had successful ratings fall into that category. Gene is not an expert on anything, ditto for the late great Jerry Williams, New York’s Bob Grant, former Providence icons Sherm Strickhauser and Steve Cass. The list is a mile long and all of those who succeeded had one trait in common, they were not experts on anything, of course they could talk (express themselves in an easily understood way), could listen well, and generally agree and disagree in a manner which was both clear and non abrasive (most of the time).

In the words of Mel Miller, the first question when selecting a topic for discussion should always be, “WHO CARES”? Pretty simple and successful stuff.

This afternoon I will return to the microphone for the first time since departing WRKO. I will fill in for Dan York from 2-6 on Providence’s WPRO. I served in the RI market at WHJJ from the early 1980s through the mid 1990s. I thoroughly enjoyed my years in Providence. The last couple of years here though were very painful. The banking crisis became the central focus of talk radio. It is a dark spot in the history of Rhode Island since tens of thousands were hurt, some crushed by the crisis brought on by politicians and crooks who fleeced depositors of millions of dollars of their hard earned cash. Credit Unions are the traditional bankers of blue collar people. I purchased my first car with a credit union loan; my first savings account was in a credit union, etc.

In essence credit union depositors large and small tended to be talk radio listeners.

I encountered the shut down of the banks the day after the governor closed the banks. My family and I were staying at a resort in New Hampshire for the holidays. We were checking out when a woman from Rhode Island learned her account had been frozen in her credit union and she had no access to her money. She couldn’t pay her bill at checkout. The look of anguish on her face is something which haunts me even today. She and her husband along with her children were on their first vacation in years. They had built a small business on blood, sweat, and tears. They were on the cusp of being very successful. Then this happened.

Little did I know the depth of emotions which would follow after the governor closed the banks. He had no choice but few realized how serious the problem was at the time.

Over time we realized thousands had been destroyed financially. We not only heard the tales of woe on air, I took calls before and after the program (I was on noon to three) and patiently listened to stories of people hurt very much by the crisis.

A friend of mine became the perfect metaphor for the crisis. This occurred about six months into the closing of the banks. He brought his Sunday Journal home and sat down to read what was up. There on the front page was yet one more story outlining how thousands had been hurt by the crisis and how this all came about. He told me he threw the paper across the room. He couldn’t stand to read or listen about the crisis any longer.

Those of us in talk radio who did a very good job of keeping the proper focus on the problem were faced with a dilemma. There were many for whom the discussions were cathartic. There were many more who, like my friend, could not stand to hear any more.

We had a problem in that our sense of responsibility compelled us to stay with the issue. Yet at the same time people were tuning out because they couldn’t stand it any longer either. We were damned if we stayed with the issue and damned if we didn’t. Literally we became one more victim of the crisis.

The banking crisis consumed the administration of then governor Bruce Sundlun. It also probably cost him his job. It cost me mine. We were both in a lose/lose situation. The old damned if we do, damned if we don’t option.

I have no regrets for having made the banking crisis the primary theme of most of my programming at the time. To do any less would have been a sin.

When I go on air today on WPRO, one of the topics will not be the banking crisis. I think we have all moved on from there thanks to the courage of Sundlun. He took hits politically but never flinched.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court decision on the right to bear arms could take some of our attention. Is culture to blame for gun violence or the availability of guns? The death penalty certainly comes to mind concerning some of the egregious murder trials recently in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The Indeglia and Entwistle cases are classic examples of a lack of justice in their sentences.

How to deal with illegal aliens is rapidly becoming an issue politicians and we will no longer be able to ignore.

Yup, talk radio will be exciting, as always.

See you at two on AM 630, WPRO.

Ciao…….Moe

“I don’t like government, it’s just that simple.” – Lyn Nofziger

1 --- Do you recall the story of a lost Amazon tribe being “found”? It was a hoax.
It was reported that a photographer had found a lost tribe of warriors near the Brazilian-Peruvian border. The photog and friends were trying to halt logging in that part of the Amazon and thought their tomfoolery would somehow turn the tide against the loggers.

The erroneous story was carried by most of the “mainstream media”. Interestingly few have corrected the false story.

What’s that line, “all the news that’s fit” to what?

2 --- What do you if you’re in congress and you’re faced with an operation which has improperly spent $400 million since 2005? Simple, you take the president’s recommendation and increase it by $90 million and roll it in to a $7.1 Billion package.

Only the congress could do that. That’s like you cheating on your taxes and having the IRS give you a bonus for your efforts.

3 -- Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Monday we may be in a position to draw down in Iraq and move the troops to Afghanistan.

Mullen said that there has been increased violence in Afghanistan because there are not enough troops there. The Taliban has begun to adopt tactics similar to those previously used by the insurgents in Iraq.

On the subject of Afghanistan, wouldn’t it be great if we can find and kill Osama?

4 --- An attempt by environmental groups to stop the federal government from waiving environmental and other regulations during construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border was turned down by the Supreme Court on Monday.

The high court rejected a plea from Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club, who challenged a provision of a 2005 law that gives the U.S. Department of Homeland Security the authority, was rebuffed by the decision. The government may now bypass environmental and other laws obstructing completion of the border fence.

The controversy began after Homeland chief Michael Chertoff invoked the REAL ID Act while issuing more than 30 waivers for the planned barrier along the Mexican border across nearly 500 miles in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

Doing anything else would be the modern equivalent of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

5 --- Why does Israel bother to enter into cease fire agreements with Palestinians? I love the Israeli spirit but I question their judgment in entering such agreements. Why? Because the Palestinians cannot be trusted, that simple.

Just six days into an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants launched two Kassam rockets at Israel on Tuesday. Have they ever kept their word in these situations.

6 --- The pregnancy rate at Gloucester High School increased four fold this year. Then we heard there was a pact by a number of early teens to get pregnant together. Now that is being denied by school officials and some of the young expectant mothers.

Whatever we hear, the bottom line is a doubling of pregnancy rates over one year.
I’d be curious to know how the rate compares to other school systems and demographic groups.

No one catches pregnancy. Babies are made, they don’t just happen.

7 --- Barrack Obama is faced with a big decision. Bill Clinton has offered his support in the election, “if asked”. Why would he not want to have Clinton standing behind him?

8 --- This from Newt Gingrich’s Winning the Future:

Through our polling at American Solutions we have long known that a whopping 81 percent of Americans support developing more domestic energy, including oil and coal. And this 81 percent majority is made up of 85 percent of the Republicans, 83 percent of the independents and 76 percent of the Democrats surveyed.

Now we have even more data showing widespread support for increasing domestic energy production.

Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia is circulating a petition challenging his House colleagues to pledge to ''vote to increase U.S. oil production to lower gas prices for Americans.'' So far 178 congressmen have signed on. Why is there only one Democrat on the list? Simple, it is not yet viewed as politically important.

The slogan for the next year should be drill here, drill now, pay less.

9 --- Guilty as sin! That’s the verdict of the jury which heard the evidence of how that pitiful excuse for a human being, Neil Entwistle, did indeed murder his wife and daughter in cold blood.

Cases like this make me feel embarrassed to say I am from Massachusetts because we won’t grant him the justice he gave his wife and innocent baby. Please pardon the language, the son-of-a-bitch should hang on tenter hooks over a low charcoal fire until he’s ready to meet Satan. Anything less is an injustice.

10 --- If I was a Democrat who gave us Deval Patrick as governor of Massachusetts I’d slit my wrists. He is the worst governor in my lifetime, far worse than even the reprehensible Jane Swift.

Under the governor’s plan the children of illegal aliens would receive “in state” tuition. That means the scarce resources paid by state citizens and legal aliens who reside there would be used for those who have no right to be here in the first place. If they are here illegally they should be sent home, not placed in the college seats of our students, at our expense.

If a private employer hired them they could be arrested, fined and under the latest regulations could be jailed as well. What is it Patrick and other radical liberals don’t understand about that? He wouldn’t answer that question during the campaign; now he crams it down the throats of all of us.

Other plans Patrick has in store for us include longer school days, intensive summer school classes and a new low-cost leasing program to allow lower-income families to bring home computers. I wonder who will have the state concession for the added thousands of computers?

Our best hope is if we’re stuck with the other Chicvago fast talker Barrack Obama is elected president our consolation prize will be he takes Patrick with him.

11 --- With a record of 49-32 the Red Sox have completed the first half of the season with a .600 winning percentage. Not bad when you consider the injuries (and suspensions) they’ve needed to deal with. This puts them on a pace to win 98. If they’re just a smidgen better in the second half they’ll have a hundred wins for the regular season.

Ciao…….Moe

“I don’t like government, it’s just that simple.” – Lyn Nofziger

1 --- Early in my life I was of the opinion most members of congress were a cut above the rest of us in terms of basic intelligence and knowledge or the world.

I’ve learned that is not the case. William Buckley once suggested we may be better represented if we simply chose our congressmen the way we pick jurors for trials. Certainly if the method of selecting those who would make decisions of life and death or at least incarceration versus freedom, then it may be a good way of having a national legislature which is truly representative.

Very low on the food chain are congress people like Maxine Waters, Patrick Kennedy, John Olver, and many more too numerous to mention.

We could apply the same principles to the state legislatures and local councils. The process could be as random as the jury selection process.

So here is what I propose:

The national House of Representatives be chosen on the basis of the current apportionment based on the states’ population. 435 are enough so that shouldn’t change.

The various states could chose to select its representatives at large or by representative district (the Constitution says nothing regarding how they are selected, only that each state would be representative according to population).

Foe example, the district representing the people in the Berkshire could be represented by someone from Provincetown if the people of the Berkshires so chose. All the Massachusetts representatives could hail from Belchertown if we chose that.

Does anyone have the illusion that the House of Representatives is representative of us? How about the state house?

We could easily make representative service mandatory in the same manner in which we chose jurors and draft people into the military.

The expenses of those selected should be covered and their salary should reflect what they paid taxes on. Whatever they earned in their regular occupation should suffice, whatever that amount was.

For those selected to serve in Washington, hotel type facilities could be used to offer housing to members of the house and whatever reasonable facilities such as gymnasiums, barber shops, restaurants, etc. should be available so our representatives can focus on their task, legislation. Sessions should alternate between three month sessions and six month sessions. Budgets should be two years.

Terms in office should be limited to two, two year terms, at the option of the representative. A professional staff should be available to guide our representatives so they may function doing what we sent them to Washington for in the first place.

The whole matter should be about “representative” government. I don’t think the house is at all representative. Ditto for our state legislatures.

2 --- The Supreme Court just refused to hear an appeal by Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club. The groups sought to challenge a 2005 law that Secretary Michael Chertoff invoked on the grounds that it violated the constitutional separation of powers principles.

In 2005 Congress gave Chertoff the power to waive environmental and other laws to build fences and other border barriers in an effort to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States.

Chertoff waived regulations for the planned fence along the Mexican border. In April, he issued waivers for various projects across nearly 500 miles in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

The fence will go up and illegals will find it more difficult to enter the USA illegally.

Hip-hip hooray.

3 --- Montgomery County in Maryland is one of the wealthier and liberal areas of the country. A suburb of Washington, D.C. the county is the home of tens of thousands of bureaucrats and government employees. You can picture it being a huge Cambridge, Massachusetts. Everything liberal gets its start there.

It is one of the most affluent counties in the U.S., and has the highest percentage (29.2%) of residents over 25 years old that hold an advanced degree.

Montgomery County is also a major business and research center. It is the center for biotechnology in the Mid-Atlantic region. Montgomery County is the third largest biotechnology cluster in the nation, holding the principal cluster and companies of large corporate size in the state.

With that as a backdrop it is amazing to note they are having difficulty keeping their school busses running due to the cost of gasoline. Those costs have more than doubled in four years, from $3.6 million in fiscal 2005 to a projected $7.9 million for fiscal 2009.

Each penny in gasoline (in their case mostly diesel) price increase costs the school district about $33,000 per year.

Currently, elementary school students walk up to a mile, middle school students 1.5 miles and high school students two miles. Every million dollars in fuel costs about 16-1/2 teachers’ positions.

The options for the school system are limited. The bottom line is they must contain costs. The question is how?

Ø Lay off teachers and other workers in the system.
Ø Extend the distance from home to school qualifying students for taking the school bus.
Ø Raise taxes to cover the higher costs.

The options are limited and volatile. What if gasoline costs continue to rise. $5 or $6 per gallon is not out of the question. One dollar incease would amount to another $3.3 million on top of the current costs. A $2 jump pegs it to $6.6 increase over whe inflated costs faced by the district.

We paid attention to the Montgomery County situation because many school districts in Massachusetts and Rhode Island are, likely, facing the same options.

Come to think of it, public transportation, bus and train are faced with the same cost problems. In the case of busses and trains is they were already hand to mouth in operating costs.
Is it time to open up more areas for exploration and ANWR?

4 --- My favorite US Senator, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is at it again. He is submitting a bill calling for lawmakers specifying which enumerated power in the Constitution they are relying on for that particular legislation.

In other words, congressmen would need to establish ther constitutionality of a bill when the bill is submitted.

What a novel idea, that laws should pass constitutional muster before it is passed.

5 --- Just a closing thought ~ how much will drilling for more oli play in the coming election?

SMILE TIME

Bubbles and Barbie, two blonde sisters, had promised their Uncle, who had been a seafaring gentleman, all his life, to bury him at sea when he died.

Of course, in due time, he did pass away; and the two blondes kept their promise.

They set off from New London, Connecticut with their uncle all stitched up in a burial bag and loaded onto their rowboat.

After a while Bubbles said, “Do you think we're out far enough, Barbie?

”Barbie slipped over the side; and finding the water only knee deep said, “Nope, not yet, Bubbles.”

So they rowed a little farther.... Again Bubbles asked Barbie, “Do you think were out far enough now?”

Once again Barbie slipped over the side and almost immediately said, “No, this will never do, the water is only up to my chest.”

So on they rowed and rowed and rowed; and finally Barbie slipped over the side and disappeared.

Quite a bit of time went by and poor Bubbles was really getting worried, when suddenly Barbie broke the surface.

Gasping for breath she said, “OK, it's finally deep enough. Hand me the shovel.”

Ciao…….Moe