Brent's Blog

The Skunk Works of News92fm

2011-10-30T00:02:00.001-05:00

“The Skunk Works” is an alias for the top-secret research and development headquarters of Lockheed Martin Aircraft. These are the guys who’ve come up with fabulous innovations like the U-2 Spy Plane, the SR-71 Blackbird, and the F-22 Raptor. I could tell you where the Skunk Works is…but then I’d have to shoot you.

The genesis of this highly-classified R&D division grew out of a request by the military in 1938 to develop what would become the amazing, twin-boomed P-38 Lightning. Much of the research that resulted in this 400-mph+ aircraft was done in secret, without a contract, because the engineers working on the fighter knew there was a better way to build an aircraft.

Official Lockheed-Martin Skunk Works logo

In the ‘40’s, Al Capp’s comic strip, “Lil’ Abner,” described the “Skonk Works” as a rundown factory on the out-skirts of Dogpatch that emitted the foulest of odors from the rendering of skunk carcasses and shoe soles into some unknown concoction, the fumes of which were toxic.

According to the entry in Wikipedia, “The original Lockheed facility…was located adjacent to a malodorous plastics factory. According to Ben Rich’s memoir, an engineer showed up to work one day wearing a Civil Defense gas mask as a gag. To comment on the smell and the secrecy the project entailed, another engineer, Irving Culver, referred to the facility as "Skonk Works".

“As the development was very secret, the employees were told to be careful even with how they answered phone calls. One day, when the Department of the Navy was trying to reach the Lockheed management for the P-80 project, the call was accidentally transferred to Culver’s desk. Culver answered the phone in his trademark fashion of the time, by picking up the phone and stating "Skonk Works, inside man Culver".

"What?" replied the voice at the other end.

"Skonk Works", Culver repeated. The name stuck.”

(I actually did this a few days ago. There's only one phone operating in our loan-out space, and it rang during a meeting. I picked up the phone and answered, "Skunk Works." The caller was pretty surprised...and a little disappointed that the person she was seeking was no longer employed or at that number.)

For the past few weeks, I have been working at an undisclosed location on a very exciting Radio project, which you now know will be Houston’s newest 24-hour all-news station, News92fm.

My colleagues and I have been bound by a legal, non-disclosure agreement to disavow any knowledge of this, if asked, and it’s been quite fun to dodge questions by answering, in a stern-faced manner, “I am under a legal NDA, and I cannot comment.”

The News92fm "Skunk Works"

We’ve called our little hideaway, The Skunk Works.

It has been neither foul nor dilapidated, and in fact the folks who work there for another, well-respected company have treated us quite well.

As we begin to emerge from our fox holes and bunkers and share our work with the rest of the world, we’ll also share some of the inside scenes as we’ve brought together some amazingly-talented and dedicated Journalists to create News92fm. And, as I am fond of saying, "we'll see you on the Radio!"

On Sleeping-In

2011-10-21T07:29:00.000-05:00

There are few things in life more delicious than waking in the morning without the aid of an electronic or mechanical device. You know...an alarm clock.

Since my "sabbatical" from a regular Radio show began in July, I've been wrestling to find just the right start- and end-point of restful sleep my body needs. At first I rebelled from the regimen of bedding down early so that I could greet the dawn before most people are even conscious. I stayed up late and caught episodes of "CSI" and "The Mentalist" on TV. A few times I became so adventurous as to watch the late news...and even dared to catch episodes of Letterman or Leno. Outrageous, me.

I found, however, that no matter how late I dared to stay up, my internal body clock would rouse me before the sun...or at least in time to hear the "hissing of summer lawns," as Joni Mitchell once elegantly described.

The myth that the older you get, the less sleep you need is exactly that: A myth. I still require fewer hours than my Bride, but can tell when the formula's off by an hour or two.

Given the day of the week, I am now being greeted by lights and sounds I haven't seen or heard since we moved into this house: Ducks scrounging for grubs by the pond, the neighbor's yappy dog complaining about the cold grass at their back door (that's the same idiot dog I sometimes fall asleep to, or am awakened by in the middle of the night, too!) and the aforementioned lawn maintenance events.

Just to watch the light stream through the eastward windows of the house is a treat.

I am relishing these simple pleasures of nestling deeper under the covers, my wife's leg slung over mine, and the soft whisper of our little dog's breathing pulsing near my ribs...because I know they're fleeting. The rhythm and regularity of a Radio schedule is in the not too distant future, and I'll be sharing more about that with you soon.

For now...time to hit the biological snooze button, because I couldn't reach the alarm clock if I wanted to.

Andy Rooney, Roseanne Barr, and Me

2011-10-02T20:08:00.002-05:00

Andy Rooney has been the reigning curmudgeon at CBS for the last 30-years. Tonight (10/2) he signed-off the show by having the last word. Guess that means CBS is in the market for a new curmudgeon.

I think I’d like that job.

I’m getting long enough in the tooth now that I find myself more and more irritated by the most minor examples of public stupidity.

Take Roseanne Barr, for example.

Take Roseanne Barr, please.

I never liked Roseanne’s stupid sitcom.

I thought it crudely-focused, poorly written, and always went for the cheap laughs.

I never liked Roseanne’s voice; it grated on my ears.

She proved beyond a shadow of a doubt she can’t sing a few years ago when she attempted to perform The National Anthem. Not only could she not carry the tune, she also had the additional poor taste to spit and grab her crotch after the “performance.”

It was just gross.

That pretty much did it for me for Roseanne Barr.

Now when her TV shows come on, I change the channel, and the quickest way to keep me from buying a product would be to have Roseanne Barr be the pitch man (she’s no lady.)

Now Roseanne has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt she’s a brainless buffoon by proposing “the guilty bankers” be allowed to pay back some of their largesse…or face beheading. She sets the threshold at $100-million, which is pretty convenient since Barr’s net worth this year is calculated at only $80-million.

I don’t know how she survives.

Here’s the thing about all these nattering-naybobs of public stupidity:

People like Roseanne don’t know the first thing about running the country, a business, or our lives. Roseanne has won plenty of awards for her acting…but remember, she’s playing a role, and those awards were bestowed for her prowess at being an imaginary person.

I live in the real world.

It’s funny, don’t you think, all these celebrities and politicians talking about sacrifice and all of the rest of us having to dig deeper and pay more and do our part…like pay higher taxes.

Warren Buffet’s real big on that, these days.

He thinks rich people should have to pay more because they make more. That doesn’t sound like too much of an incentive for anyone else to aspire to make a lot of money, if they’re just going to have to give more of it back to the IRS.

Hey, Warren: There’s no law against voluntarily writing a personal check to help out in covering the mountain of debt Congress has amassed in our names. But have you seen any of these blabber-mouths sit down and write the first check towards paying that balance down?

Warren Buffett hasn’t; Barak Hussein Obama hasn't; Roseanne Barr probably won’t either.

After all, she’s only worth $80-mil.
(Don't look at me: I don't have the dough.)

If that makes me a curmudgeon, so be it.

That’s the way I see it.

How We Do it in Texas

2011-09-30T18:49:00.002-05:00

Now that the smoke has cleared, and we have our wits about us, it is interesting to share stories of courage, perseverance, and accomplishment that are emerging from the Tri-county Wildfire in Montgomery, Grimes, and Waller Counties of Texas during Memorial week, 2011.

The following stories were sent to me through two trusted sources; one of those sources has a neighbor with an amazing sister named Kenna.

On Memorial Day, when Kenna saw the huge column of smoke over [their] homes, she left a birthday party at [a] neighbor’s house to meet with her friend Tara at the Baseball complex in Magnolia, Texas. Kenna called the owner of the complex and got permission to use the warehouse there as a staging area for donations for the fire fighting effort.

Kenna and Tara put a notice out on Facebook that they were going to be taking donations on their Facebook pages. That night, as they were setting up tables and organizing, KPRC-TV/News 2 Houston came by and saw the activity, investigated, and left with their phone numbers and a list of suggested donations.

The Facebook notice propagated faster than the fire.

By dawn they had 20 volunteers, bins, forklifts, and donations were pouring in. My source stopped by with [her] pitiful little bags of nasal wash and eye wash, and was amazed. There must have been 20 trucks in the lot, off-loading cases of water, pallets of Gatorade, and people [were] lined up out the door with sacks of beef jerky, baby wipes, underwear, socks,... you name it.

School buses and trailers from many counties around were there off-loading supplies, with students forming living chains to pass stuff into the bins for transport to the command center and staging areas. If the firefighters had requested it, it was there.

What do you give the guy out there fighting the fire that might engulf your home?

Anything he or she wants.

Including chewing tobacco and cigarettes.

Kenna moved on to the Unified Command Post at Magnolia West High school.

She looked at what the fire fighters needed, and she made calls and set it up.

Mattress Mac (from Houston’s Gallery Furniture) donated 150 beds.

Two class rooms [at the high school were] turned into barracks, kept quiet and dark for rest.

The CEO of HEB Grocery donated 2 semi-trailers full of supplies, and sent a mobile commercial kitchen at no charge to feed all the workers, but especially our firefighters, 3 hot meals a day.

(I personally happened to be driving along the Sam Houston Tollway, and noticed the semi-trucks and mobile kitchen enroute to the scene.) An impromptu commissary was set up, with anything the firefighters had requested available at no charge.

As exhausted firefighters (most of them from local VFDs with no training or experience battling wildfires) and workers came into the school after long hours of hard labor, dehydrated, hungry, covered with soot and ash, they got what they needed. They were directed through the commissary, where they [received] soap, eye wash and nasal spray, candy, clean socks and underwear, and then were sent off to the school locker rooms for a shower.

HEB then fed them a hot meal, and they got eight hours' sleep in a barracks, [followed by] another hot meal, another pass through the commissary for supplies to carry with them out to the lines--including gloves, safety glasses, dust masks and snacks...and back they went.

One of the imported crew from California came into Unified Command and asked where the FEMA Powerbars and water were. He was escorted to the commissary and started through the system.

He was flabbergasted.

He said FEMA never did it like this.

Kenna replied, "Well, this is the way we do it in Texas.”

Fire fighting equipment needed repair?

The auto shop at the High School ran 24/7 with local mechanics volunteering alongside the shop students and the firefighters, fixing the equipment.

Down one side of the school, the water tankers lined up at the fire hydrants and filled with water. Down the other side there was a steady parade of gasoline tankers filling trucks, dozers, cans, chain saws, and vehicles.

Mind you, all of this was set up by two Moms, Kenna and Tara, with a staff of 20 simple volunteers, most of them women who had sons, daughters, husbands, and friends on the fire lines.

Someone always knew someone who could get what they needed--beds, mechanics, food, space. Local people using local connections to mobilize local resources made this happen.

No government aid.

No Trained Expert.

At one point the fire was less than a mile from the school, and everyone but [the] hose volunteers were evacuated.

The fire was turned.

The Red Cross came in, looked at what they were doing, and quietly went away to set up a fire victim relief center elsewhere.

They said they couldn’t do it any better.

FEMA came in and told those volunteers and Kenna that they had to leave, “FEMA is here now.” Kenna told them she worked for the firefighters, not FEMA.

They were obnoxious, bossy, got in the way, and criticized everything.

The volunteers refused to back down and kept doing their job, and doing it well.

Next FEMA said the HEB supplies and kitchen had to go, that [it] was blatant commercialism.

Kenna said they stayed... and they stayed.

FEMA threw a wall-eyed fit about chewing tobacco and cigarettes being available in the commissary area. Kenna told them the firefighters had requested it, and it was staying.

It stayed.

FEMA got very nasty, and kept asking what organization these volunteers belonged to; all the volunteers told them, “Our community.” FEMA didn’t like that and demanded they make up a name for themselves. One Mom remarked, “They got me to my boiling point!” ...and suddenly the group was christened, “212 Degrees”.

FEMA’s contribution?

They came in the next day with red shirts embroidered with “212 Degrees,” insisting the volunteers had to be identified--never realizing it was a slap in their face:

Your tax dollars at work--labeling volunteers with useless shirts, and getting in the way.

The upshot?

A fire that the experts from California (for whom we are so grateful there are no words) said would take two to three weeks to get under control was 100% contained in eight days.

There were so much equipment and supplies donated, three container trucks were loaded with the excess to [provide enough to] set up a similar relief center for the fire fighters in Bastrop, Texas.

The local relief agencies have asked people to stop bringing in donations of clothing, food, household items, and pretty much everything else, because they only had sixty displaced households to care for, and there was enough to supply hundreds. Again, excess [was] to be shipped to Bastrop, where there were 1,500 displaced households. [Some] wished [they] could send Kenna, too, but she had to go back to her regular job.

Two things to keep in mind from this amazing saga: FEMA stands for “Federal Emergency MANAGEMENT Agency,” and the verb in that acronym is key: management.

FEMA answers to Congress, and so it can be inferred that FEMA’s real purpose is to manage public opinion of Congress’ response to disasters.

This is better grasped when you remember FEMA’s performance following Hurricanes Katrina and Ike (and recall how Houstonian’s responded to the need of displaced New Orleans storm refugees by opening up the Astrodome.) There are people still waiting for FEMA “relief” in our area from Hurricane Ike. Obviously, FEMA’s management of public perception of Congress is about as effective as their “management” of the aforementioned natural disasters.

The second thing to remember is to never underestimate the grit and determination of Texas’ Moms, and their friends and neighbors.That's how we do it in Texas!

Profiles in Success: Knapp Chevrolet

2011-09-21T12:42:00.001-05:00

How might your business survive if the Government were to dictate the terms? Some would argue we’re already at that point…but not long ago, a Houston-based auto dealer was facing the prospect of laying off workers and closing its doors because of government intervention in its industry.

Knapp Chevrolet is a family-owned and operated business that has operated at the corner of Houston and Washington Avenues since December, 1940. December 6^th, to be exact. Third-generation owner Bobby Knapp recalls how the euphoria of their new showroom opening literally evaporated overnight when America was pulled into WW-2 by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the next day. Not good for sales?

Knapp Chevrolet's first customer

The Knapp’s hunkered down, and worked even more diligently to provide service to Houston Chevrolet owners thru the war years. The Dealership blossomed.

Integrity and honesty were the keystones of the Knapp family’s business plan, underpinned by a strong work ethic and an unwavering faith. Houstonian's flocked to the dealership.

In 2009, General Motors filed for bankruptcy, and in the reorganization process, identified dealerships across the country that would be dropped from the GM franchise. Knapp Chevrolet was on the list for de-listing.

At stake was not just the livelihood of the Knapp family of over 80 mechanics, sales, and clerical staff in Houston, but other smaller dealerships across the country that were being similarly dropped by GM’s “rationalization” plan. The sad irony was GM’s decision to drop the Knapp dealership came after the closure of two Chevrolet “super-store” dealerships in the area, and would further diminish GM’s market share in the Houston area.
Mr. Knapp went to Washington to address Congress.

The combination of Bobby Knapp’s powerful, reasoned testimony, and an outpouring of grass-roots support swayed GM’s decision makers, and Knapp Chevrolet was “re-rewarded” its franchise.

Integrity and honesty have been the keystones of Knapp’s business philosophy.

Persistence pays, as well, as it turns out. And with a fourth-generation Knapp now working his way up through the business, future generations of Chevrolet owners will also be able to rely on the Knapp brand.

Is "Terrorist" the new "N-word?"

2011-08-01T18:17:00.001-05:00

Vice President Joe Biden is alleged to have dropped the “T-word” in describing American citizens aligned with Tea Party philosophies that are counter to the prevailing winds on Capitol Hill in the wake of the latest round of maneuvering in the debt-ceiling fracas.

Like many other things the Vice President says, this thought was not original--actually being uttered by Pennsylvania Democratic Representative Mike Doyle in a closed-door caucus session, according to Politico.com. Later, on the CBS Evening News, Mr. Biden denied having used the "t-word." (Of course--what else would he say when confronted on national TV?)


Flight-93 crash site, Shanksville, PA.

No, Congressman Doyle, and Mr. Vice President, terrorists are the ones that kill people for disagreeing with them—you know, like the ones that crashed that jet liner into a cornfield in your state ten years ago, next month.

Terrorists are the ones that shoot up US Army bases, like Ft. Hood, where the soldiers aren’t looking for an enemy to strike. Terrorists are the ones within our own population who, for religious reasons, are conscientious objectors to fighting and shooting Muslims in foreign lands, but have no such qualms about killing US troops on our home soil. Terrorists hang their victims from commercial cranes; terrorists hang women; terrorists hang 7-year old children.

A few years back it was really fashionable to drop the N-word if you were of the dark-skinned persuasion, but woe be unto the member of any other ethnicity to use the same slang term in a sentence. It was okay for rappers to include the N-word in the lyrics of their “music” as a badge of honor, but there was a double-standard for use of the pronoun by anyone else.
It was verboten.
It was ridiculous.

I think we’re seeing that double standard in play with the Vice President and his crony, Mike Doyle, who have painted patriots with the bloody brush of terrorism in describing their tenacious stand for traditional American principles of self-reliance, fair compensation for work well done, and abhorrence of taxation without representation.

They’ve also painted themselves into an uncomfortable corner, because at the end of the day, regardless of political persuasion, the American people are sick and tired of Republicans, Democrats, and the POTUS and VPOTUS behaving like little terrors in the school yard: There’s very little content to their commentary, and when thwarted the best response they can muster is name calling.

Boogity Boogity Culture

2011-07-25T10:47:00.001-05:00

One of the hottest viral videos making the rounds is a clip of the invocation offered prior to the NASCAR’s Nationwide Federated Auto Parts 300 by Pastor Joe Nelms of the Family Baptist Church, who channeled Ricky Bobby’s “boogity boogity boogity” between The Lords’ name and “amen.”

The “prayer,” if you want to call it that, is out there. I predict that you will soon find Nelm’s face pasted adjacent to dictionary definitions for “blasphemy” for daring to include everything from autoparts to racing fuel to his “smokin’ hot wife” in the alleged invocation. About all the delivery has invoked is a few nervous chuckles by some, and outrage by those who still take prayer seriously.

I’m mulling this over this morning as I sit down the hall from one of the most-public champions of culture retention in America today, Laura Ingraham, who’s been bold enough to stand up and say, no, it’s not cool to send texted photos of private parts as a new dating ritual; no, it’s not cool to demean women in song lyrics, even though the reigning awards-givers of the day have lauded Cee-Lo’s antics as “genius.” (How much genius does it take to inject an “f-bomb” into every other line of a song?)

Recently it was announced Charlie Sheen was being “rewarded” with another television show.
Why?
Here’s a guy that cannot string two thoughts together, walked out on his former employer in a totally-classless way, and who’s claim to fame is drug and alcohol fueled sex binges. His character on Two and a Half Men was not too far removed from reality, apparently, with each episode depicting a romp (or two) with a new woman each week. With that kind of trash being awarded for exellence, is it any wonder kids today are resorting to “sexting” as courting tactics?

There is a deeper problem in America than how we’re going to fund our debt, whether we’re gaining or losing jobs, and how the environment may or may not survive without carbon credits. It is a problem that more serious than who the next President may be. The country is in a battle for its collective soul, and the crumbling of our culture is a clue that the war is far from over.

If you thought the Baptist Preacher was entertaining with his “boogity boogity boogity” bump, you’re wrong. Frankly, were I a NASCAR driver, I’d have been a little leery of stepping onto the track for fear of being struck by lightning after that kind of a “prayer.” Fortunately, it probably never went higher than the top of the grandstand.

Dancing on the (Debt) Ceiling

2011-07-18T20:31:00.000-05:00

As of the end of June, the United States’ Public Debt was a whopping $14.46-trillion, representing about 98.6% of our total Gross Domestic Product last year. In other words, in 2010, every man, woman, child and corporate entity that produced and contributed to the output of American business generated about 1% more than what we owed to everyone else in the world.

A sobering statistic.

Today, the eggheads at Moody’s, which rates the US’ credit worthiness, made the stunning pronouncement that the best way to counter all the angst over holding firm or raising the federal debt ceiling would simply be to do away with the notion all together. Forget changing the rules and regs—just eliminate the rulebook altogether.

Yeah, that’s healthy.

Does eliminating the debt ceiling make it easier or more difficult to rate America’s credit worthiness? If we were to eliminate such constraints tomorrow, thus removing the Congressionally-arbitrary line in the economic sand, would the US government continue to spend like drunken sailors--or start spending like mindless zombies?

How could we tell the difference?

Did I just offend zombies?

Would Moody’s have an easier time rating our creditworthiness thus? Would it still not be apparent that we were indebted to a level near 100% of our ability to produce? A debt ratio is a debt ratio; every credit manager knows this—although there were many recently who chose to ignore this fundamental fact of fiscal life.

I’m wondering what Wall Street’s game really is, at this point. The ratings agencies are weary of the anxiety when the debt ceiling is reached, and government demand dictates more borrowing is needed. (There's a clue hidden in that pile.)

Of course, these are the same math mental giants that brought you the credit default swap debacle and the resulting credit implosion and economic malaise. Some of these Mensa’s are now running the US Treasury.

No wonder we’re in trouble.

There is one condition under which I would advocate for abolishing the debt ceiling—which really is an arbitrary, meaningless number—and that would be replacing it with a mandatory debt ratio. In essence, the Federal Government would be constrained from borrowing by the same tangible boundaries of which you and I are subject.

Want to borrow some money?

What’s your ability to pay it back?

Income to debt ratio is a good indicator of this for we private sector geese, and should be good for the government gander, too.

What’s that?

The government can print its own money?

Don’t confuse the issue with esoteric economic facts—that’s why we’re in this mess to begin with. Too much economic theory, not enough fiscal pragmatism.

Regardless of the metric we use to measure America’s credit worthiness, we’re nowhere near Gold-plated, Platinum-dipped, Triple-A status when we’ve borrowed 98.6% of what we made last year. Mull that, Moody’s.

Remember to Persevere for Dr. Craig Clanton (1958-2011)

2011-07-16T21:36:00.002-05:00

Dr. Craig Clanton (1958-2011)

After a courageous, three-year battle, my brother, Dr. Craig Clanton, succumbed to complications from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in May of this year. He was 53.

2010 Light the Night Walk Team

Last year, many of our friends and extended-family rallied in support of Craig and Carol and their family as he endeavored to persevere towards a cure. His example inspired 85 participants in the 2010 Light the Night Walk, raising over $10,000 for the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society.

This year Craig will not physically be with us, but he will be with us in spirit, walking in his honor as we Remember to Persevere towards a cure for blood cancers. The 2011 Light The Night Walk in Houston will be Saturday, October 1, at Discovery Green.

Won’t you please make plans to join us as we celebrate Craig’s life, remember his battle, and encourage others to persevere in the fight against cancer.

Please click on the link now to register!

iHate Apple

2011-07-09T12:49:00.000-05:00

I just spent the better part of my morning fighting with the iTunes store to get a simple gift card credit applied so my Bride could download some music.

Lest you think I am an old fart who knows nothing of the ways of digital music downloading, I’ve been doing it for years. Apple, however, has managed to make doing business with them more difficult than necessary, and I general eschew any dealings with them if possible.

First there’s the issue of all the interruptions while getting to the iTunes store. Do I have the most up-to-date version of iTunes? (yes) Is iTunes my default music media player? (no—and never will be) Is my password up-to-date? (yes)

Just get me to the freaking place I want to go on your site, iMorons!

Finding the iTunes Gift Card Redemption site is not as easy as apple pie.

It’s not “intuitive,” as a broadcast engineer with whom I once worked was fond of saying.

No, you have to hunt, search, click, re-search, hunt some more.

Ah—there it is...”below the fold” on my browser.

Hey, Apple, why don’t you apply some of that vast brain power at your disposal and SIMPLIFY your website? Put that stuff at the top of the page…

Then there’s the issue of which string of numbers to enter into the iTunes store to redeem the card. There are four on the back of the card. Which to use? Lucky for me, the instructions are printed right there on the back of the card for all to see. With an electron microscope.

During this colossal waste of my time, a friend called and asked what I was doing. We commiserated about the digital music landscape, and I shared my own simple, elegant solution that I’ve used for years.

CD’s.

You put one in the car player, and it instantly plays.

No time wasted downloading something that will eat up more of your day in the process than in the actual entertainment value received.

CD’s.

They might catch on, again.

In the mean time, iHate Apple.

50-kilocycles to the Right

2011-07-06T18:35:00.004-05:00

There will be a new voice on “The Voice of Texas,” AM700/KSEV beginning next week (July 11, 2011.) I will be the newest member of the team, with responsibilities including on-air hosting as well as providing Radio marketing solutions for sponsors of the myriad shows on the station.

In some ways, it’s a big step—back into the realm of the employed after being self-employed for over three years. In other ways, it’s business-as-usual, still providing a voice to befriend and inform Houston Radio listeners, while offering quality service for businesses seeking a voice on the Radio.

I promised you I’d keep you posted.

Now, let’s go have some fun together on the Radio!

Clemens vs Congress

2011-07-06T18:05:00.001-05:00

I am bemused to hear Roger Clemens will be going on trial for lying to Congress over controlled substances, when they've been lying to the American public for years over the substance of legislation they control.

Or just lying outright.

The most-obvious recent example of this is the embarrassing saga of NY Rep. Anthony Weiner—a ten day media romp in which he repeatedly prevaricated as to his prowess as a sexting lothario. And wasn’t it an American politician who made “hiking the Appalachian Trail” the newest euphemism for cheating on a spouse?

Never mind the fact that our Congressmen and women haven’t been able to get their collective acts together long enough to pass legislation on fiscal-stimulus. So how is it they can find time to rake Roger over the coals for physical-enhancement stimulus?

Maybe if Clemens’ trainer, Brian McNamee had injected the House members with a little extra octane, we wouldn’t be facing a Government shut-down in August. Perhaps, had the Senate been dosed with some exotic B-12 to goose their brain-function, we’d be closer to closing the gap between spending and revenues.

I wonder if the Congressional Inquisition will pay as close attention to Clemens’ testimony as they do to the nuances and details they present to We the People on a regular basis. Recently Sen. Dick Durban opined that the United States borrows from China most of the money it spends—to the rate of 40-cents on the dollar.

According to Fact-Check.org, China only holds 8% of the total US debt ticket—a mere $1.15 Trillion of the $14+ Trillion in outstanding obligations.

And the ratio is only 38-cents on the dollar.

Don’t you feel better now?

Here, take this pill…

Utah Gov. John Huntsman claimed this Spring that Social Security, Medicare, and interest payments on our collective debt would “consume every dollar of Federal revenue” within a decade. According to the Government Accounting Office, assuming all the current tax provisions are left in place, only 92-cents of each revenue dollar would be spent on interest and social entitlement expenses. Don’t spend the remaining 8-cents all in one place.

Lies or mis-statements?

Only your Congressional speechwriter knows for sure—or should. It’s just galling that instead of allowing the MLB to handle this tempest on the pitching mound, Congressional brain power, time and tax dollars are being squandered over the word of a sleazy athletic trainer vs a potential Baseball Hall of Famer at a time when the very people doing the questioning have bigger fish to fry.

Or should.

Summer Saturdays (some 'er not...)

2011-07-02T12:30:00.003-05:00

Houston is suffering through one of the worst heat-spells in recorded history; Texas is roasting through the Summer of 2011. I cannot believe I drove around in a Miata with no a/c for so many years (arguably, driving in at dark-thirty in the morning was not a challenge; being able to drive straight home in the heat for a cool shower and a change was the only way it was possible!)

A few years ago I began a routine of going to the gym regularly, and I've found that increasing my aerobic capacity has also enabled my body's natural evaporative cooling to work more efficiently. However, I still need something cool to chill down my engine--and replenish my energy--after a workout, and have discovered this simple concoction works best for me.

Note: If you are offended by the Reese's peanutbutter cup commercial ("...you got your chocolate on my peanutbutter..." etc.), stop here.
1. There are no such ingredients in this, if that's what you're looking for.
2. I think there is no finer combination of flavors for the palate on the planet.

I'm a big fan of the Magic Bullet personal blender.
I'm on my second one.
All of my smoothie and shakes are assembled in a Magic Bullet cup, so there's your reference space.
And now...the ingredients and their order of appearance and usage, for Brent's Famous Chocolate-Peanutbutter Blast:

Ingredients for Brent's Famous
Chocolate-Peanutbutter Blast

Start with a base of 3/4-cup of crushed ice.
1-scoop (36g) of protein powder--I prefer Gaspari Nutrition's Myfusion Protein Powder, conveniently flavored with peanutbutter and chocolate.

1-teaspoon of ground cinnamon powder

1-capfull (21g) of bee pollen--my preference is Walker's Bee Pollen pellets

Gently shake this mixture from side to side to settle the powders into the crushed ice. Add cold water until it just reaches the top of this mix.

Add 1-teaspoon of fat-free crunchy peanutbutter--I prefer Jif.
My mom was choosy.

Add crushed ice to just below the threads at the top of the Magic Bullet cup (who needs measuring cups, when you've got a standard of volume already here??) and add cold water to the top of the mix.

Finally, add 5 dark-chocolate covered Espresso beans (I get mine at World Market), and securely tighten the lid on the cup of the Magic Bullet cup. Invert, gently shake to even the mixture, and begin to blend for two to three minutes, or until the chunks stop meeting the blender blades with that crunchy thump. Allow the blender to run until the mixture is smoothly circulating in the cup; should be the consistency of a good, thick milkshake.

Special note: I call this my Chocolate-Peanutbutter Blast, but it should not be confused with the Blasts, Blizzards, and other sugar-and-fat-laced concoctions you can get at the local Dairy Queen: If you invert this with the lid off, have a mop close by!

The Last Telegraphers

2011-07-01T06:31:00.001-05:00

I have sometimes wondered what, should this day ever come, it would feel like to walk out of this studio for the last time. It feels like it did the last time—only it wasn’t this studio, precisely. People leave jobs every day; people move on all the time. The circle of life…

And to me it’s indescribable: In no other job that I know of can you sit in a tiny room, surrounded by glass and padding and talk out loud for hours. (Well, there is one other place like that…)

In no other occupation do you have the opportunity to touch so many lives at once on a regular basis. There are very few gigs that combine such exciting possibilities with such overwhelmingly profound responsibilities to those you touch on a daily, hourly basis.

I have tasted from this cup often; it is intoxicating nectar, this stuff called Radio. And the nectar is changing flavors, the liquid is growing murky, and in some places, it’s evaporating all together.

To you who have supported us over the past 37-months of this show’s evolution, I must give a heartfelt thank you. To the advertisers and sponsors who have literally put your money where our mouths are, words just are not enough. Your support has enabled us to greet the world each morning, examine the business of our lives in detail, and provide answers and solutions to life’s big and no-so-big challenges.

This business is changing.

And while we’re not completely done yet, there is handwriting on the wall: Station groups continue to morph and evolve as audience tastes shift and become more refined—more discerning. How you listen to what I do in this little room is the fundamental change that is reshaping this industry. Today we’re beamed on the AM band, we’re streamed on the internet, tagged, posted, tweeted and linked by strings of ones and zeros that boggle the brain.

Ten years from now, how will we come to you? Ten years from now, how will you find us—morning show hosts, liner-card reading DJ’s, and electronic newsmen and women? Ten years isn’t long…but it may be all it takes.

Radio is changing…and we must change with it to survive.

We are the last telegraphers.

You can catch me this weekend on The Automotive Reporter Radio Show with Harold Gunn, Sunday morning at 8am on AM 1560 The Game.

The End of Days (on CBS Radio)

2011-06-27T06:44:00.003-05:00

So this is the final week of The Talk650 Morning Show on CBS Radio’s KIKK-AM. This should not come as a surprise to you who have been listening to the show for a while…but if you did miss the announcement—here’s the deal:

CBS notified us at the beginning of the month the format on this station would be changing at the end of June. CBS did not tell us what that new format would be, however, and as we now enter the final, five days of our existence here, we still don’t have anything substantive to tell you about what you may or may not hear on this dial position next Monday, July 4.

It won’t be me.

For the past three weeks, we’ve received many messages of support and expressions of sadness that this show is leaving the station…and for that we are appreciative.

Out of fairness I should point out that CBS could have handled this much differently—they could have not said anything until this Friday. It could have been a total surprise. Instead, Brian Purdy, the General Manager here, allowed us the courtesy of a full month’s notice in order to prepare for the transition—to move the show elsewhere, to ease the change for our sponsors.

I have been at stations in which the management has come in after the show and simply said, “that was your last show.” In fact, the last place I worked, that was the case. The Radio business is not a kind business, and there are people who do not always have your best interests at heart. (I take some satisfaction in knowing that the previous outlet is no longer in business; love the karma.) So I appreciate Brian’s willingness to give us a gentleman’s heads-up about the change, prepare our advertisers, and allow time to wind things down.

As of this morning, there are still a couple of options in play and under negotiation for our change of address. I had hoped we could tell you sooner where we’re going, but sometimes things don’t work out like you’d prefer.

Sunrise from the 19th Floor,
CBS Radio/Houston

I may take some time off; it was somewhat comforting to think that next Monday, the alarm clock will not rouse me at a quarter to four for the first time in about 12-years. (I imagine that feeling will last for about a week, for I will be restless to get back behind a microphone on a station near you.)

I will miss the spectacular sunrises from the 19th floor of the CBS Radio Broadcasting Complex & Deli; there is a long list of things I will not miss.

Special thanks to Tim Nesmith, our long-suffering Producer, who has stood by us through thick and thin, made sure no one put anything in our water, and kept varmints out of the studio. He’s been a good sport and a real trouper. An honorable mention goes out to Ross Peters, our Account Executive here at CBS, who always believed in this project, always believed in the format on the station when no one else at CBS did…and apparently, they still do not.

Radio stations change, people move on, and life goes on.

I am sure our paths will cross again; for a big city, Houston is a small town. My thanks to you for your support and your patronage of our advertisers.

I hope to see you again, soon, on the Radio.

Afghanistan: Who Are We Kidding?

2011-06-23T10:15:00.000-05:00

Last night President Barak Obama told us “the tide of war is receding.” I don’t know what shore Mr. Obama is gazing from, but if anything, the tide is coming in, and Mr. Obama is playing in the sand…or has his head stuck in it.

There is no question US involvement in Afghanistan is un-sustainable at its present level. We cannot afford the $2-billion a day price tag this conflict costs you and I.

However, this president, who has no military experience, has chosen to ignore the best advice of his generals in drawing down American troop levels at a rate that should cause the Taliban to dance with glee.

By the way, despite the fact that the instant-information media-industry can tell you when the President sneezes before Mrs. Obama can say, ‘gesundheit,’ is it really a good idea to tell your enemy when you’re going to go away from a field of battle? All the Taliban has to do now is bide its time.

Here’s the reality check for all of us: World War II ended 66-years ago this year. There are still US troops in Japan and Germany, the countries we defeated. Who’s kidding whom in saying all of our troops will be leaving Afghanistan?

2011-06-13T17:27:00.000-05:00

So Barack Obama’s paid-lackeys, GE CEO Jeff Imelt (whose corporation payed NO income taxes last year) and American Express CEO Ken Chenault (whose corporation was the recipient of the 9th-largest share of TARP funding) penned a piece in today’s Wall Street Journal about their participation with 24-other corporate blue-bloods in the President’s Jobs and Competitiveness Council.

The stated goal of this august group is to come up with ways to accelerate job creation. They’ve been at it for 90-days, and have identified eight areas that need help, with designated teams to address them.

It’s a noble effort.

After all, who wouldn’t want to find a way to put more people to work, and slim down the lines at the unemployment office?

The Council is looking at sectors like construction, manufacturing, health care and tourism, and they’ve bandied-about the usual buzz-words expected from committees like this: skills and training, regulatory reform, and innovation.

(“Innovate?” We need a committee for this?? How about just someone with a toilet plunger to unclog what’s already in existence so that it works smoothly?!)

Don’t you just feel good already, knowing these captains of commerce are on the job, off the job, on Jobs? The problem is, they might just be working on the wrong problem.

According to economists at other financial institutions, like Wells Fargo and Merrill Lynch, the 7+% unemployment rate currently in vogue may be the new normal for years to come. It may well be that an Employment Rate of 92% is as good as it gets, given the educational and skill levels of the American workforce.

To be sure, upgrading the abilities of workers to perform jobs needing filled is important; and putting construction workers back on the job would be a boost in every local economy where they’re employed. But there are some more fundamental reasons why our economy—and employment—is ailing: When the Federal Government can coerce Lehman and GM into bankruptcy, and emasculate an entire regional economy by banning offshore drilling operations, who has left the temerity to challenge the powers that be? When businesses are reticent to hire new employees because the future obligation of providing healthcare or else is murky, who wants to risk it?

In addition to Manufacturing, construction and health care, the Blue Bloods are looking for ways to entice more tourists to travel to America. Frankly, it won’t happen so long as the TSA is allowed to commit statutory rape in our airports.

There’s THAT solution.

We don’t need blue ribbon panels to tell us how to fix things that aren’t organically broken: Manufacturing and construction will pick up when people begin to feel comfortable enough about the future to bank on it. Jobs will materialize when companies feel confident enough in the government to stay out of the way of businesses doing business.

And the first step the Administration might take would be to come clean with the American people about the economy—and how long it may be that we operate this way—instead of forming a committee made up of the reps of firms who’ve been feeding at the public trough all along.

All the News that's Fit to Spit...and then some

2011-06-02T20:22:00.000-05:00

A word about Newsletters…we publish one here for the Talk650 Morning Show. It goes out each week to close to 10,000 subscribers, best I can tell. That’s pretty impressive when you’re trying to get a message out…it’s a little embarrassing when the message doesn’t go out as intended…or in the case of this week’s newsletter, an un-intended message is sent.

On Wednesday's show we announced CBS Radio’s plans to change the format on this station, and I wrote an editorial which aired at the beginning of the day's episode.

As is the case with many live Radio shows, and in particular with me, I edit on the fly. Something I write the night before may sound/read brilliantly witty and wonderfully urbane under the dim light of my work desk…but upon second reflection, on the morning of the show, I may decide it to be tripe, garbage, and not worthy of my breath, much less your time.

However…Tuesday’s editorial, which was edited extensively by me on the fly, on the air…was grabbed en-total from my show script, and published un-edited in this week’s newsletter, warts and all. Very embarrassing.

So I find myself compelled to devote a few minutes to apologize to CBS Radio for the gaffe, and also to explain in further detail that there is a level of sincere appreciation to CBS Radio for allowing me the luxury of remaining on the air for the rest of the month. They didn’t have to do that.

In fact, as is usually the case in a Radio station format change, once the announcement is made, generally a day or so before execution of the switch, the air staff is summarily dismissed. We’re instead being given the grace period of 30-days to conclude our business with our sponsors and advertisers, and also the opportunity to thank you for your support and say our fare thee well’s.

I appreciate that.
Despite what was published in the newsletter.
In fact, the newsletter piece contains verbiage that I would not have uttered—did not say—upon deeper reflection.

So to my colleagues here at CBS Radio, I first apologize for the gaffe…and second, express my appreciation for the time to make this apology, and hopefully redeem my tarnished reputation between now and the end of the month.

Smart Choices

2011-05-26T16:15:00.002-05:00

Talk650 Morning Show Host Brent Clanton

I look at a lot of news stories in a 24-hour period. This morning we’re talking about the Midwest tornadoes and three consecutive days of tornadic activity, and the Joplin devastation is now being described as Hurricane Katrina without the water. An apt description.

Many of these stories will affect your life, either directly or indirectly--taxes, fuel costs, insurance, the weather, legislation for- or against- things- We have to deal with these things on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

And then you run across a story that just rocks you back on your heels—either because it is so far-fetched as to be comical (like the guy in New Zealand who fell onto a compressed air line, which punctured his backside and sent a jet of air at 100-psi into his body, inflating him like a balloon. You just can’t make up this stuff!)--or it defies rational thought, like the story about a school district in California that can’t figure out how to teach Johnny to read and do math, but they’re going to teach the kids about gender-bending in some species of fish…

Yeah, that’s a life-lesson elementary students need to learn.

You’ve got Oprah’s last show…

American Idol’s latest winner…

The man who shot Congresswoman Gabby Giffords deemed mentally unfit for trial…and why am I not surprised at that outcome?

Elizabeth Smart, aged 14-years

One story that continues to reverberate with me, however, is the Elizabeth Smart saga, which finally came to closure yesterday—although it would seem Ms. Smart already reached closure with her circumstances long ago, choosing to grow past them.

At the age of 14, Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped by itinerant street preacher, Brian David Mitchell, and for the next several months was held captive and sexually assaulted by the man on a daily basis. She was tethered to a cable strung between two trees, and forced to ingest drugs and alcohol.

At the age of 14.

You might expect that to sour one’s attitude on life.

You might expect an ordeal like that to make you just a little leery of other people.

You might never go to bed again without leaving a light on, and triple checking the locks and windows.

Elizabeth Smart's convicted kidnapper,
Brian David Mitchell

Elizabeth Smart looked Brian David Mitchell in the eye at his sentencing to two life terms without parole, and simply stated a pure and freeing truth:

“You will never affect me again.”

Boom.

You lose.

Elizabeth wins.

And with that simple admission, Elizabeth Smart chose to free herself from dwelling in the past, carrying around a burden, and letting her ordeal drag her down.

That’s not to say she might not have nightmares, that she’s never going to be the same again; I’m not minimizing the mental and physical trauma of Elizabeth Smart’s unspeakable treatment.

Elizabeth Smart, 2011

But she’s emerged from this ordeal as a woman of strength, articulate, and caring. She’s a music student at BYU, and she’s going to be working with other crime victims and missing childrens groups. She calls it a “beautiful, new chapter” opening in her life, as she turns the page past this terrible chapter.

Good for Elizabeth Smart.

She’s an inspiration.

She’s an example.

She’s a winner.

Burying Day

2011-05-07T10:15:00.003-05:00

It is Saturday morning in my brother’s house.
The morning we’ll bury my brother.

The sounds of this house are muted, yet distinct: Saturday morning cartoons are softly playing on a TV somewhere, entertaining young children with no concept of the day’s importance. A hairdryer is already whining as the grown-ups prepare for the rigors and customs of the day ahead.

The kitchen is filled with the aroma of coffee and pastries in quantities to feed the small army of family and friends that have descended upon this house like a hoard of well-meaning locusts.

A cool breeze is sweeping the front porch, stacked with portable tables and chairs for the after-event that will be staged here. Inside the house, we’re going through the motions of life, as we prepare to celebrate the life of a remarkable man.
Our hearts are heavy.

It’s interesting to observe how people deal with death and dying.
My brother would have been somewhat amused to observe this delicate ballet of personalities and idiosyncrasies in play. Each has busied himself with some perfunctory task to busy the hands and numb the mind while our spirits process what has happened.

Taking the trash to a dumpster…laying out on the counter rows of coffee mugs…or walking a circuit through the house with an infant…there's a lawn mower droning somewhere on the property in an exhibition of lawn maintenance grief therapy; all necessary things to do to distract from the sadness at hand.

We look at life and death in two-dimensions.
It’s an either-or-equation: you are either dead or alive, by most estimates. We lose sight of the fact that we actually continue to exist on a different plane, even if our physical bodies do not. The sadness we experienced upon the death of a loved one is because of our lack of perspective on the event.

While I am profoundly saddened at the death of my brother, I heartened by three articles of faith which have sustained me through this dark passage in my life: My brother passed quickly, and did not suffer long; he is living on another plane without pain or sadness; I will see him again. I cannot conceive of having to deal with death under any other conditions.

King David was criticized by his friends when, upon the death of the son he produced with Bathsheba, he got out of his bed and cleaned up to pick up living his life. He told his detractors, in effect, ‘my son is gone, and he cannot come to me; I will go to him.’ (2 Samuel 12:23).
David had the right perspective.

The 19^th Century evangelist, C. H. Spurgeon, wrote about this tug-of-war of wills between men and immortals, expressing it as an argument: Who are we to dispute against a Higher Power the way things work? Is our sadness an expression of our selfishness, or a lack of faith in outcomes? Would we rather that my brother remained with us, suffering in his cancer-ridden body, just so he could be near us?

I take immense comfort in knowing, on this morning of his final interment, that he is no longer suffering, he’s no longer restlessly pacing, no more does he raise up in the middle of the night expressing frustration over some unsolved problem toying with his brain.

The Lord Jesus prayed on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane that the Father would place his Disciples with Jesus in paradise, and not on this earth, full of its pain and problems. He said, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am.” (John 17:24).

When we wish for our loved ones to remain with us instead of making that transcendental trip to the next world, do we not put ourselves in direct opposition to the prayer of Jesus for His Disciples? Whether it’s a lack of faith in our final destination, or simple selfishness on our part, our perspective is shallow, one-dimensional.

This morning, as the low buzz of conversation rises and falls in the next room, a shower is hissing upstairs, and those stinking Saturday morning cartoons are still chattering in the distance, I am comforted to know that Jesus’ prayer has been answered for my brother.
He has gone to Him, and by faith I have let him go.

Dr. Craig Clanton
February 28, 1958 - May 3, 2011

The Way it Is

2011-04-29T21:51:00.003-05:00

Dr. Craig Clanton

Today I was told my younger brother is losing his battle with cancer.

He is dying.

It’s not supposed to happen this way.

My brother was always the most-athletic, most-fit, most-active of our four siblings.

I was the oldest, then Craig, followed by our sister, and our youngest brother, an arrival when I was 12-years old.

Dr. Craig Clanton
with sister-in-law
Darlene Clanton

Craig was the cheerleader, the hiker, the outdoorsman, the Boy Scout. Craig was among the first graduating class of the Texas A&M Medical School’s Country Doctor Program, and practiced medicine for the Scott & White Hospital System in Temple, Texas.

Doctors aren’t supposed to get sick, right?

Certainly, not catch cancer.

It’s not supposed to happen that way.

Earlier in the day, the entire family was summoned to a cluttered conference room sandwiched between corridors on the Oncology floor of the hospital. Once assembled, Craig’s team of Oncology physicians stood before us and said there was nothing they could do for him but to make him as comfortable as possible until he passed.

Three physicians, collaborating with other cancer care specialists from around the country, representing hundreds of man-years of experience…coming up empty.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men…etc.

It’s not supposed to happen this way.

Tonight I am sitting alone in the hospital room at the end of the hallway, with my dying brother lying in his bed. There are no beeps of telemetry monitoring his every twitch, no whooshing of oxygen feeding his nostrils; he’s tethered to an IV-drip and a catheter, sucking the last moments of life through a gaping mouth.

The room is peacefully silent, save for his breathing.

It’s not supposed to happen this way.

I always assumed Craig would be the one to officiate at the passing of our parents. In his clinical way he would calm us by telling us clearly and frankly their time was over. No guesswork, no minced words, because that’s the kind of guy he is.

I imagined I, as the oldest, would be the first of our generation to pass on next, and figured Craig would be there, too, holding my wife’s hand, and comforting her as I slipped over (I was the one who contracted cancer first, and beat it.) Telling everyone what to expect and when…and if you wanted to listen, why and how.

That’s the way he is.

Dr. Craig and Carol Clanton
(Special thanks to Justin and Mollie Beam for photo)

My parents are heartbroken; no parent should have to bury a child, especially after 53-years of productive life. My sister-in-law is distraught with the awesome responsibility of dealing with her pending widowhood; my nieces and nephews are coping as best they can, realizing their Dad’s not going to be there for all the usual milestones in their lives: births of grandchildren, two more weddings to produce, and a college graduation to attend.

He won’t be here for those.

It’s not supposed to happen this way.

Our family is grounded in faith and a hope that we will one day all be reunited again in bodies that will not wrinkle or fade, muscles that will not tire, hairlines that will not recede, and which cancer cannot invade. Our grandparents have been waiting patiently for us, and a few cousins who crossed over before us, too.

Dr. Craig Clanton with Grandson, Keller.
(Special thanks to Justin and Mollie Beam for photo)

As Craig makes his own transition, I am comforted to know that he will be welcomed by loved ones, and while he is missed by loved ones here, we have additional incentive to meet up with him in Heaven.

That’s how it’s supposed to happen.

Ode to The Tax Man

2011-04-18T19:38:00.000-05:00

You Know Who...

Tax Day is over, the filings are in,

unless you used Form 48-something

your return to extend.

I’m tired of exclusions, inclusions and math,

and questions insipid like,

how often I bathe.

The formulas for determining the taxes I owe

are little more than

a deep exercise in woe.

I already paid out the nose all last year,

and to review it all now

nearly brings me to tears.

Next Tax Season I’d like for the Tax Man to just

allow me to pay what I owe

based entirely on trust.

My small contribution, if missed, would not bust the bank,

for Congress is well along

in causing the economy to tank.

So thanks, Uncle Obama, next year I’m sending to you

My arm and my leg

with a social security number tattoo.

Houston's Obamanation

2011-04-12T21:05:00.000-05:00

Dear Mr. Obama:

You suck.

You have shown your true colors as little more than a feral political animal instead of a statesman with a cherishing sense of history, by allowing Houston, Texas to be passed over as the final destination of one of the remaining Shuttle Orbiters. History will judge you harshly for your myopia.

Certainly, Shuttle Atlantis should go to the Kennedy Space Center, debarkation point for every Orbiter that was ever hurled aloft. It was, after all, President John Kennedy who said America should go to the moon, not because it was easy, but because it was hard.

Absolutely, Shuttle Discovery should be enshrined in the Smithsonian Annex at Dulles Airport in Chantilly, VA., where millions may marvel at its massive grace.

Perhaps it is fiscally prudent to allow Shuttle Endeavor to remain in California after its final flight; after all, it’s expensive to fly those big 747’s all over the place, especially with a space shuttle strapped to its back.

By the way, Mr. President, what DOES it cost to fly Air Force One to and fro these days?

Sending the final Shuttle, the prototype Enterprise, to New York City, however, it just inexcusable, and frankly, sir, unacceptable.

NASA Shuttle Prototype Enterprise

By ignoring 50-years of space exploration history, you have dishonored the men and women at NASA who gave their talents, time, and in some cases their lives, for the America’s Manned Space Program:

Thanks to another Democrat brother, NASA’s headquarters was placed in Houston.

We named the place after him.

Less than a decade later, “Houston” was the first word spoken from the Moon.

Thanks to you, Houston’s not going to be the last destination of a Shuttle orbiter.

Not even the prototype.

So we’re naming this decision after you: an Obamanation.

Rhymes with abomination.

I am nominating this new word into the American Lexicon as defining “bone-headed decisions that defy all logic, reason, and common sensibilities, rendered to serve political interests, and to disrespect and disregard the will of the people.”

After your epic decision to ignore Houston’s myriad contributions to Space Exploration, the second thing to be defined as an “Obamanation” would be your Administration.

Wear it with pride; you earned it.

Free Stuff

2011-02-23T21:15:00.000-06:00

Radio people are notorious for getting free stuff. It’s ingrained in our DNA. It’s how the business used to work, until Alan Freed got busted for payola, the bankers grabbed the Radio stations, Enron imploded, and Sarbanes-Oxley wormed its way into the control room.

You would not believe what’s behind even the simplest of on-air giveaways. I predict the RTV course curriculum of the future will include a mandatory two-semesters of forensic accounting, just to be able to understand and execute Radio promotions.

Brent Clanton on the air at
KPEZ-FM, Austin, Texas c.1987

When I was a young pup in music Radio, we loved it when the Record guys would come to visit. It was rumored that some of the “gifts” they bestowed could not be found in any store (wink, wink), but were sure to please (nudge, nudge) in return for favoring an up-and-coming musical talent…or act, as the case may have been. “Musical talent” and “musical act” were mutually-exclusive terms back then, too.

One of the regular perks was to be allowed to “shop” in the prize closet, back in the day, acquiring a pretty decent music library of my own in the process.

I still have more CD’s than most Radio stations’ current playlists (a source of personal frustration, and the subject of another post at a later time.)

Radio people are still offered free stuff.

We get to see movies, shows, grand openings, and previews before anyone else.

Or we at least will get a row or two of seats roped-off so we don’t have to elbow with the masses for a place to sit.

I am still sent books by publishers, still receive coupons for meals at new restaurants, and have had brand new cars delivered to the parking garage for my use for days at a time.

Free.

The freebies always came with conditions, though; strings were attached:

You had to talk about (or with) the newest artist to hit the scene, whether their stuff was any good or not; prattle-on about the new restaurant that just slung 20-pounds of food into the Radio station’s kitchen; or make credible claims about why you’d buy that Merkur Turbo-sled tomorrow (if you weren’t still making payments on the ’76 Honda parked behind the transmitter shack.)

Tickets to performances were similarly conditioned: screenings on a school night (rough for morning show hosts) or matinee performances the only ones open to the Press. You could take a date, but the date had to be on a weeknight. Free albums and CD’s were shrink-wrapped from the factory, with virgin vinyl or polycarbonate discs…with holes drilled in the jewel cases, or slots carved into the record covers. There was always a catch; it was free, but it was marked.

A few years back I decided Free is not all it’s cracked up to be.

I got tired of the conditional ownership of the freebies, weary of wearing a wardrobe that was comprised of free shirts bearing the logos of bands, advertisers, or the station for which I was working that month. I also began to develop a sense of appreciation for the work that went into the creative, productive process, and began to view my taking of freebies as somewhat insulting to artists I genuinely respected and appreciated…for their talent, and not for what their PR pimp could give me for free.

I began to buy their products.

Actually spend money for a book, an album, a meal, a service.

And you know what—it felt good.

Cannot get this CD
out of my car player!

With that change of perspective, I discovered the freedom of really showing my appreciation to those I truly enjoyed by contributing to the livelihood of the musician, author, or craftsman. This renaissance of attitude also freed me to go places, do things, and participate in what I wanted, when I wanted…no strings attached.

I recently bought a copy of Esperanza Spalding’s latest CD after seeing her win a Grammy for “Best New Artist.” She beat out that Justin Beiber punk, and some other strong competition.

I was impressed.

I showed my respect for her talent by buying her CD.

And you know what—it felt good.

Go Team!

2010-12-08T22:35:00.000-06:00

I've often pondered the "Go..." phrase that's used in sports.

“Go, Tigers!”

“Go, Rockets!”

“Go, Astros!”

Frankly, the metaphor's meaning escapes me.

Go??

Go where?

Go how far?

Do you want them to come back?

Or just Go and stay?

While they're going, do they need to stop and pick something up on the way for you?

"Go Flyers..." unless you can't fly. Or the TSA stops you.

Would you still yell, "Go Flyers," knowing that it might involve an invasive x-ray scan of your body?

Would you still tell the Flyers to "Go" if you thought they'd be held up at the security check point? Should you instead say, "Go, Flyers, once you've passed security"?

If the Flyers are doing really well, why would you even want them to leave?

If they "Go," when would it be appropriate to return?

Perhaps the time to tell a team to "Go" is when they're losing.

Or their season really sucks.
Like "Go Texans."

Git.

Merry Stinking Christmas, ChaseBank

2010-12-06T10:51:00.000-06:00

The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram reports ChaseBank is telling a business banking customer to remove a Christmas tree he donated to the Chasebank Branch where he does business. Merry Stinking Christmas, Chasebank.

Apparently, some people were offended by the tree, according to an e-mail from JP Morgan Chase. How freaking ridiculous is this?

There are TWO Christmas trees in the lobby of the CBS Broadcasting Complex and Deli. According to “Advertising Age,” 91% of Americans celebrate Christmas this time of year. So we’re going to take down a tree in a bank for the other 9%?

That’s insane.
Get a grip, people.

You know what Chase’s official stance is? The Christmas tree supplied by the business man isn't a part of the decor supplied by the company to its bank branches. What, you might ask, does Chasebank supply its bank branches in the way of decorations? Why, they get “stickers that resemble Christmas lights,” according to the bank spokesperson, whom I know, and choose not to identify here for fear of embarrassing him because this is such a ludicrous issue.

Wait-wait--stickers that resemble Christmas lights. Sorry, Chase--if you cannot condone a Christmas tree, then what’s the rationale behind Christmas light decals??

What’s next on the agenda--are we going to remove “Christmas” from the calendar because it might offend too many people?
I am not a Chasebank customer, thank goodness. If you are, drop by your bank branch, and let them know what you think about this.

-------------------------------------------

This just in--Chase changed its mind about having a Christmas tree in its lobby, and has put one up at its own expense...because the original tree donor took his $3,000 Christmas tree elsewhere. Apparently, others are taking their business elsewhere, too.

Five-years Cancer-free

2010-12-05T20:17:00.000-06:00

Those are magical words to a cancer survivor.
I know.
I am one.

Five years ago today, a doctor carved out my cancerous prostate, sewed me back up with a couple of tubes hanging out for drainage, and sent me home a few days later.
My life was changed. I believe it was extended.

I remember the first week at home was a painful blur.
The second week, I went back on the air, broadcasting from a makeshift studio in the "solarium" of The Clanton Hacienda--what I euphemistically called my bedroom.

Brent Clanton behind the mic
at The Clanton Hacienda
December 2005

My Bride was the best nurse in the world, even when she slept through the shows I performed not 5-feet from the bed.
My convalescence was not textbook ordinary. I had several complications, a few "re-takes" in the surgical suite to repair some plumbing issues.

Would I do it the same way, all over again?
Given the same set of circumstances, probably so.

If it were to happen today, however, I think the outcome would be vastly different. Prostate cancer is one of the most treatable soft-tissue cancers around. The key is early detection, which in my case came about as the result of a simple blood test. I was 50-1/2 years old when diagnosed.
That's pretty young.

Doctors used to think you didn't have to really worry about checking for prostate cancer under the age of 50. Guess they're re-thinking that...and if you have a history of cancer in your family (like my son now does), the wisdom is earlier and earlier testing.

Men with my diagnosis today don't necessarily have to even face the kind of surgery I endured. The technology has moved so quickly within the past five years, that if you must have surgery, it's done laproscopically, for that least-invasive feeling when you awake. Or you can opt for other treatments that have been developed that do not require surgery.

The point here is, get checked, fellas.
Do the blood test.

Now for my next challenge--finding health insurance coverage, since I'm Five Years Cancer Free!

Thanksgiving Reminders

2010-11-27T09:38:00.002-06:00

They were huddled on the shoulder of the highway.
A man and a woman, next to their pick up truck, parked on the southbound side. The wind was blowing stiffly out of the south, and slate colored clouds were scutting across the November sky.
It was Thanksgiving morning.

The truck was a dull, dark green; not old, but no longer new.
The man was wearing a fresh pair of jeans, dark blue still, cinched against his slender frame by a shiny brown dress belt with scuffed cowboy boots, dusted to a faint shine. A plaid shirt was tucked in. He was dressed up, head bowed, hands clasped behind his back, on the side of the highway.

The woman was dressed in pink, and she was sitting on the ground, elbows on knees, face held in her hands, as if in prayer. That's when I noticed the cross.
That's what had drawn them to this particular spot, on this particular road, on this particular Thanksgiving morning.

A fresh mylar balloon danced in the breeze, and two vases of freshly cut flowers stood sentinel next to the wooden cross. The top and side bars of the cross were capped with a metal, five-point star inside the squared ends on the cross pieces.

A brass name plate noted the pertinent facts: "In Loving Memory of Samuel David Garza, Jr., 12-02-1973 to 3-21-2009. We love you. Dad, Mom & Jeremy."
Only 36-years old.
Not a kid, but a father with kids, and a sibling, and parents cursed by having to bury a child before his time.

In Texas, roadside crosses are legal, and apparently encouraged by the State as permanent behavioral reinforcements against traffic fatalities. For $300, the State of Texas will even erect a roadside memorial sign with the name of a lost loved one, as a reminder to drive safely.

For me on a blustery Thanksgiving morning, this scene was the only reminder anyone should need: A family still grieving over the loss of a son, father, brother, and friend. The image has haunted me all weekend. My foot involuntarily eased off the gas pedal as I whizzed past the melancholy moment, headed towards my own family reunion.
The tacit warning worked.

Movie Review: "Love and Other Drugs"

2010-11-24T16:53:00.002-06:00

If you're still thinking about Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal's performances four hours after you've seen this film, call your doctor. Or your Congressman. "Love and Other Drugs" is a much more complex movie than just the first chick-flick of the holiday season.

Is this the “Love Story” of the New Millenium? Jake and Anne might or might not be the Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neil for this generation, but the movie hits some pretty poignant nerve-endings, given the recent controversy over healthcare reform.

This film also takes some hard shots at the prescription drug industry, painting an unflattering picture of the excesses of the 90’s and the lifestyles of the drug reps. The most poignant moments are Anne Hathaway’s depictions of a Parkinson’s patient...and the lengths to which Jake Gyllenhaal's character will go to prove his commitment.

Perhaps the take away on this film is just that: What Commitment Means...and how some love stories do--and don’t--have happy endings. Come to think of it, I like this version of Love Story better than the McGraw-O’Neil pairing.

This one’s not Family-friendly--it’s R for nudity, language, and...um, debauchery.

Movie Review: "Burlesque"

2010-11-23T17:21:00.001-06:00

Dancing with the Stars meets Sing-off…

Your first impression of "Burlesque" may be that you've walked into a two-hour Christina Aguilera music video, and in the words of Abe Lincoln, "this is the sort of thing you’ll like, if you like this sort of thing.” If you like Aguilera, you’re going to be in heaven. “Burlesque” showcases the 29-year old's vocal and thespian abilities...and the girl’s got chops.

Think “Chicago” meets “Showgirls,” with more musicality and less skin. While the film might have been using Cher’s star power (does it really need to??) to sell tickets, it would tend to validate Aguilera as an equal in vocal power.

Dueling Diva's?

Perhaps, but if there is a Number One Hit to come out of this film, the prize goes to Cher for her “Yeah, I may be 64, but I can still belt out a tune” anthem: “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me…” I predict this one will be in hot rotation as early as Christmas...or when the corporate Radio stations finish their Christmas-only playlists, ad nauseum.

There are some clever twists and turns to the story line, and an interesting resolution to this treatment of the age-old story: "Let’s put on a show.” But how will we save the show house? You won’t believe the irony to solution to the problem in "Burlesque."

If it were up to me, I’d have cut the budget for props and stage craft—which would have kept the Burlesque Caberet from going into the red in the first place. But they didn't ask me.

Stanley Tucci nearly steals the show with his understated role, and there's a memorable scene with Aguilera and love-interest, Jack, played by Cam Gigandet, involving pajamas and a box of cookies which is wittily written and more than aptly acted.

"Burlesque" is rated PG-13 for adult situations and flashes of skin…but no more than you’d see at a high school football game or on the Texans sidelines. Go for the music...especially if the Texans continue their winning ways. (Did I say that out loud...?)

Why I am Not a Sports Fan

2010-11-22T05:57:00.000-06:00

To what ring of Dante’s Hell have the Houston Texans taken us?
Yesterday was the last Sunday afternoon I give up my nap to watch these losers...well, lose.

Last weekend it was a fluke flap straight out of a volleyball handbook that flipped the game in favor of the other team, literally with seconds left in the game.

Yesterday once again, the Texans managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of success by blowing a 4-point lead over the Jets in less than a New York minute.

The only squad on the Texans roster with a perfect season at this point is the Texans Cheerleaders. They weren’t even at the game yesterday.

Maybe they should have been, and left the boys at home in Houston.

Harry Potter Pilfered?

2010-11-18T06:57:00.000-06:00

The Wall Street Journal reports this morning 36 minutes of the new Harry Potter movie have been leaked online, causing an investigation by Warner Brothers. Both of them.

According to the story, "the watermarked footage was available for download on the BitTorrent file-sharing sites IsoHunt.com and PirateBay.com as late as Wednesday, despite Warner Brothers’ attempts to have the illegal downloads removed."

Arguably, Harry Potter is among the most successful film franchises in history, but there are those within the business who worry audiences won’t turn out for the final film's first installment after seeing the early minutes of the film. The WSJ article takes pains to note the film footage was not stolen from the premieres in London and New York.

That’s good, because as much as I like going to the movies...and as much as I appreciate the privilege of getting to see first-run films first, sometimes before anyone else...the process of getting into a theatre for a screening has almost become as onerous as getting on a commercial aircraft.

One theatre in particular in my town is especially aggressive about screening entrants to its screenings, going so far as to inspect women’s purses and running magnetic wands all over your body.

Inside the theatre, as with most businesses, you’d think the proprietors of these movie emporiums would want to lavish you with hospitality and warm feelings of welcome. Ha! Stern-faced “security” goons troll the aisles, looking for a tell-tale flash of LCD-blue in the semi-darkness, betraying the use of a (gasp) smart phone inside the theatre before the movie begins. And just before the film rolls, one of the more authoritarian phone-Nazis intones a final announcement that if they see your phone light up during the show, they’ll escort you from the theatre, “never to return.” Does that mean you’re off to the anti-piracy gulag, or just on the street until your date finishes watching the movie.

Let’s think about this. Most Cinemaphiles are extremely critical of the quality of the presentation--we have come to expect precise, digital sound and digital images that are more crisp and vivid than ever before. Plus, as influential members of the Media, some of us can see a movie nearly anytime we want--most times for free--and generally before anyone else. Who in their right mind would jeopardise that gravy-train by attempting to capture on a smartphone a video of a movie for reposting to PirateBay.com? And if we did, why would anyone want to watch a copy of such poor quality?

Dude, wait a week and you can catch a matinee in a theatre nearly all to yourself, and within 6-months, you can own a virgin, Blue Ray copy of any film, complete with bonus tracks about the special effects, making of the movie, and directors’ comments--usually for less than the price of your tab at the concession counter (that’s a subject for a whole other rant!)

So, for the same reasons you must now shed your shoes and belts, and subject yourself to invasive searches and patdowns because some fool tried to light up his sneakers or pack his pants with explosives...now some fool’s attempt to hijack Harry Potter’s next movie will likely make your next visit to the theatre slightly less (or more) titillating than the title you’re there to see!

Gnawing Through the Straps

2010-11-17T22:57:00.002-06:00

"Sometimes, it's just not worth the effort to gnaw through the leather straps."

--Emo Phillips

I’m driving in early this morning, listening to NPR, and I gotta tell you, it’s tough to get motivated some mornings. My son, the Sports Anchor, tweeted to me last night, he’s so over reporting on mediocrity. Can’t blame him, after Sunday’s botched game-ender by the Texans, and last night’s heartbreaker between the Rockets and the Bulls. It’s enough to turn you off of sports and drive you to a business talk station...which is probably why you listen to me now.

We all want to make sense of things.

We’re all working harder than we ever have, bringing home less than we need, and at the end of the day we stare across the dinner table at each other and wonder, what’s it all for?

You want examples?

Another Ways and Means Committee Chairman has been found guilty of ethics violations. Same song, sequential verse; the only difference is that this time it’s a Democrat; last time it was a Republican. Some things never change.

I scan the morning headlines, and I want to scream.

Some jerk towing company on Galveston Island ripped off a trucker’s trailer with a bull dozer on it, charged the driver $15,000 for the towing charge after four days of haggling, caused the shipper to miss the boat, literally, so now the trucker doesn’t get paid the $30,000 feight fee. What a mess.

Where’s the common sense?

Who charges $15,000 to tow a parked trailer with a ‘dozer on it?

I’m working with our HOA management company and they think that our neighborhood is just going to roll over and pay a higher fee next year because things are going up. Really?

When I question policies and contracts, I get the cold shoulder from the management company. I found an insurance policy for nearly half the cost of the existing one--which was jacked up because someone sold the previous HOA Board a Terrorist Policy three years ago, for which the agent received a handsome commission. Let's think about this: Terrorist Insurance for a neighborhood association?

Really??

Meanwhile, We in Texas, pay the highest homeowners insurance premiums in the country. Why is that? It’s because the fox is in the hen house up at the state legislature, and you’ve got the Insurance industry calling the shots on the rest of us.

Why can’t we fix that?

When do you get fed up, or mad enough, or broke enough, to tell your legislator to make it right??

I’m still torqued over this stupid, insipid, ridiculous--and I believe illegal--Transportation Safety Administration policy of groping passengers before they’ll let you on an airliner.

This morning I learn that, with unemployment flirting with with 10%, there is an undeniable bias against unemployed job applicants by hiring managers...because the applicants are unemployed.

Well, duh.

So, yeah, I'm a little irritated, to start of the day.

"Target" the Rescue Dog Euthanized

But the capper for me today is the story of “Target,” a rescue dog that saved the lives of American soldiers in Afghanistan, survived being shot by the Taliban, was brought to the US by his handlers, appeared on Oprah, and was living in Arizona... Target the Rescue Dog was euthanized over the weekend because of a freaking clerical error, and an owner who was either too stupid or too lazy to put a tag on the dog’s collar, or get a chip implanted.

I have a friend who's a plucky reporter on a local TV station, who has an adorable pooch the entire community loves. The dog decided to tour the neighborhood last week while the intrepid reporter was out of town...which caused untold pannick and angst, and generated a storm of Tweets, e-mails, and Facebook posts to rally a search party.

Happily, the prodigal pooch was found and returned, and they’re all living happliy ever after...but I was shocked to find that my friend hadn’t had a chip implanted in her dog. Yet.

She said, "the dog's always with me."

Uh-huh. Except when it's not.

There some things that are just beyond our control.

Sophie, Our Family Mascot, w/chip.

You and I cannot legislate morality, nor can we effectively protect ourselves from the stupidity of those around us; but we can sure prevent many of the problems that would cause us to question whether we should just leave the leather straps in place, by taking pre-emptive steps.

Like microchiping our pets. Or using tags.

Even the US government knows enough to put dog tags on people. For Target the Rescue Dog, there’s no second chance.

Is there for your family mascot?

Junk that's Worth Touching On

2010-11-16T10:00:00.000-06:00

There is a troubling dichotomy running rampant in our nation. While this is a national problem, it touches each of us locally--and in some ways, very personally.

Just a couple of weeks ago, you and most of our neighbors in Houston voted to turn off one of the more public examples of government intrusion into our lives. Passage of the proposition to kill 70 red-light cameras is cause for limited rejoicing, because it now leaves open the question of how to properly--and effectively--enforce traffic laws at intersections where drivers insist on running the lights.

It also leaves the Houston Police Department with an instant budget deficit of $10-million in a year in which tax revenues for local, county and state agencies are already thinly stretched. You can be sure that “fees” in other areas of public service will be “enhanced” to make up the difference.

The sum total of what it takes to run municipalities is what it is. And much like your own household budget, choices will be made on where to cut, what to drop, to balance reduced income with adjusted outgo.

At the same time, there is a hue and cry being raised louder and louder against those of you who insist upon operating your smart phone while you drive your car. I see it every day, coming and going, at 4:30am and 4:30pm, incredibly inattentive drivers on all sides of me, focused more on a touch screen telephone instead of the road ahead.

It scares the crap out of me.

I’ve been nearly creamed many, many times by drivers who are oblivious to me and others on the road, while they text, tap, or read their phones while they drive. (I still also see idiots reading the newspaper or books in traffic, driving at speed, with the pages propped on the wheel in front of them.) I was going to snap a picture of these morons with my own smart phone, until...

Frankly, I think that in this instance, with overwhelming statistics showing the incidence of distracted driving in fatal or horrifically damaging traffic accidents, it’s time for the government to step in and say “enough is enough.”

I support a ban for texting while driving.

Now--here’s where the real dichotomy is apparent: We the people are now being subjected to what I would charitably describe as government heavy-handedness towards our own citizenry at airports around the country...while our southern borders leak like a sieve. I just viewed a video recorded on Friday in an airport terminal in which a caucasian male was pulled aside for refusing to submit to a full-body scan, and commenting to the TSA worker that if the man “touched his junk” he’d have him arrested.

Earlier this week New Jersey lawmakers demanded that Congress review the TransportationSecurity Administration's new "enhanced" security screening of airline passengers involving either an X-ray scan, revealing a virtually nude image, or a full-body pat-down that touches private parts.

Even a former top TSA official has admitted to Fox News what many passengers already knew: The procedures are legally questionable.

Mo McGowan is the former fed head of TSA security operations, and is flummoxed to find a compromise between feretting out terrorists without unneccessarily pawing passengers. McGowan told FOX, "We're not dictating these events that are occurring. Events are happening across the world … driving us as a society to have to go to these measures."

So does this mean that the terrorists have won? Have people who wish to do us harm pushed our buttons to the point that they’ve effectively disrupted our way of life to that which is unrecognizable?

Meanwhile, illegals continue to pour across our southern borders. And there does not appear to be anything the Federal government is willing--or able--to do about it.

Part of the problem is the vastness of the border itself, stretching from Brownsville to San Diego. Which in someways mirrors the problem federal transportation safety wonks are facing--it’s vast: how to effectively find the needle in the haystack, or bomb in the luggage, or shank in the pocket, of people who’d like to go to glory at the expense of a downed airliner.

History has proven that you cannot do much to deter a determined enemy. You can prepare, you can plan, you can try to protect against.

But at some point you have to ask the question of what civil liberties are worth giving up...and if you give up enough, have you already lost the war?

God Bless Chile

2010-10-13T06:24:00.003-05:00

The Big Story this morning is one of hopes realized, patience rewarded, and courage personified.

After 70-days a half-mile below the surface of the earth, the first ten Chilean miners have been hoisted to the surface in a tiny escape pod, dubbed “Phoenix.”

The live feeds on the internet and TV have been mesmerizing. The joy that erupts on the surface as each entombed miner is released from the pod is palpable, even through the video screen. It is truly a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving, and not just in Chile.

The world needs a good story like this to take our minds off the dreariness and dread of soured economies, dashed retirement plans, and mud-slinging politicians. The world needs an antidote for the sadness and anxiety, and the Chileans have provided this much-needed diversion for media addicts.

So what happens after the 33rd Miner is retrieved, and the rescuers are all pulled safely back to the surface? Life will go on in Chile. Life will go on in the United States. Tomorrow we will awaken to the same drudgery of high unemployment, embarrassingly low interest rates, and a shallow pool of options with which to solve these problems.

The Chilean Miners’ rescue gives us all a glimpse of the kind of success that we can look forward to with patience, determination, focus and planning, whether it’s plucking 33 trapped miners from a hole in the ground a half-mile deep, or steering the national well-being back to acceptable levels from our own deep economic hole. Perhaps that's the best lesson for us all, from the mountainous country half a world away from the U.S.:
Steady and slow saves the day.

Gifts vs Freebies?

2010-10-07T06:27:00.003-05:00

Seth Godin’s Blog today looks at Generous gifts vs. free samples

He writes, "Free isn't always generous. Free can be a legitimate marketing strategy, an ultimately selfish way to increase sales. Once you spread your ideas (and free is the best way to do that), there are all sorts of ways to profit.

"But don't be confused. Free samples and free ideas and free bonuses are not necessarily generous acts.

"A generous gift comes with no transaction foreseen or anticipated. A gift is a gift, not the beginning of a transaction. When you see a Picasso painting at the Met, Picasso doesn't get anything (he's dead). Even his heirs don't get anything. His art is a gift to anyone who sees it.

"Giving gifts is a fairly alien endeavor. In most families, even the holidays are more about present exchange than the selfless act of actually giving a gift.

"The cool part, the punchline, is that giving a gift for no reason and with no transaction contemplated is actually incredibly powerful. It changes your approach to the market, it changes your relationship with the recipient and yes, it changes you."

Speaking of which...a sincere thank you is in order for the Service Team at Joe Myers Mazda where I have The Silver Bullet serviced and cared for.

They know my name there.

They covet my car.

Ellis McGowen is the Executive Service Consultant who is always wanting me to sell my car...to him.
Hey, Ellis, get your own drop-top.

You can probably get an employee discount!

I took The Silver Bullet in for an oil change, and a week later, as luck would have it, the check-engine light came on. Ordinarily, the check-engine light is a revenue generator for a dealership service department, because they want to charge you to run the computer scan diagnostic that tells you what the light means.

Joe Myers didn’t do that.
The last time it happened, they ran a scan, found no problem, reset the alarm, and sent me on my way--at no charge. This time, the check-engine light was for real, signaling a failing thermostat.

So we replaced it...and during the repairs, a tool or something hard, was dropped on the fender: Door ding where door dings don’t normally appear.

Ellis said, “no problem” (his favorite phrase), and told me he’d take care of it...and any other door dings I might have. (He really DOES want my car!)

Enter Steven Clifton, Dent Man of Houston, who in 45-minutes, corrected the fender, as well as a half-dozen other minor door dings on both sides of The Silver Bullet.
No charge.
That was my check-out price.

I could have taken The Silver Bullet anywhere for service--it’s been out of the factory warranty for months. I took it back to Joe Myers because Ellis takes care of me.
Generous gift...or savy customer service philosophy?

Doesn’t matter what you call it--it works for me.

Workin' at the Y'

2010-09-16T00:01:00.000-05:00

I have a bone to pick about a story published tonight (Thursday) in the online edition of the Houston Chronicle, taking a pot shot at the top executive of the YMCA of Greater Houston for being the highest paid CEO of any nonprofit human service organization in the country.

Even the headline is slanted, in my opinion: "YMCA Leader's Pay Tops Peers in U.S. ...Study: $700,000 is vastly more than income of other nonprofit execs"

Boy, doesn’t that just make your blood boil?

This guy’s earning $700k a year for running a Y (sarcasm).

That’s outrageous (more sarcasm).

Everybody knows the YMCA is a charity…it’s a non-profit…how can they pay a guy $700k a year to run it (sarcasm dripping onto the floor in pools)??

According to Chron.com, a compensation study by Charity Navigator examined the CEO salaries of 3,000 mid- to large-sized charities. They determined the median salary of top leaders was $147,273 in 2008, which, by the way, in the depths of a recession, reflects a 4.7% increase over the previous year.

What does that tell you, when the economy has sputtered along at less than 3% growth, the average non-profit CEO’s income went up nearly 5%?
Are you still as miffed?

And that’s the thing about median numbers: by definition, the number is in the middle of the pack. Certainly, there’s going to be SOMEONE earning top-dollar, just as there’s going to be some poor sap at the bottom of the heap.

There’s a very interesting passage on the first page of Charity Navigator’s report the Chronicle neglected to note in its story: “…these CEO’s are running multi-million dollar operations that endeavor to change the world. (underline emphasis is mine)

“Leading one of these charities requires an individual that possesses and understanding of the issues that are unique to the charity’s mission, as well as a high level of fundraising and management expertise.

“…it is important…to understand that since the average charity CEO [pay] runs roughly $150,000 a six-figure salary is not necessarily a sign of excessive pay for…a large sized charity.”

Clark Baker, who has led the Houston YMCA for eight years, earned $661,634 in 2008. The YMCA’s expenses that year were over $109-million.

Whoa.

Did that just hair-lip the governor?

The CEO of the Houston YMCA banked over $661-k?

So now the bleeding hearts are making hay about whether Baker is being paid too much to run a charity. One YMCA member quoted in the paper said Baker’s paycheck is an “obscene amount of money," …five times the median salary of men doing similar jobs at nonprofits.”

Well someplace, somewhere, some poor sap is making five-times less than the median salary. Where’s your bleeding heart concern for that sucker?

Our man Baker makes more than the CEOs of the YMCA of Greater New York and the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles. He also earns more than the CEO of the American Red Cross, the largest human services charity, with $3.4 billion in total expenses.

Whoopdedoo.

I am sick and tired of a disturbingly growing mentality that allows you to look at a report on median income and take pot shots at the guy on the right-end of the scale because he’s at the extreme end of the pay chart, and then say he’s making too much money.

How much is too much money?

Is $661K too much money to pay a guy who has run an organization with 36 facilities, more than 300 programs and serves more than 700,000 people each year?

According to the Chronicle’s biased headline, Baker’s making about a dollar-per-person served. Is that too much??

You may recall earlier this year a group of Republican senators in Congress questioned the nearly $1 million salary of the top leader of the Boys & Girls Club of America, and refused to approve $425 million in federal funding for the organization.

Not the Houston YMCA
Compensation Committee

"You make too much money.

"You need to be punished."

Is that the American way?

I say don’t blame Clark Baker.
Blame the Board of the Houston YMCA.
Their executive compensation committee is responsible for reviewing Baker’s performance and setting his pay each year.

Here’s another galling point—buried deep, deep, deeply in the story is the only counter-weight to the premise Baker’s making too much dough working for the Y: “Despite Baker's huge salary, the YMCA is doing well financially, according to the charity watchdog, which has given the local organization four stars — the highest financial performance rating - over the past eight years. Its fundraising expenses are low, and it has a good level of working capital…”

Sounds to me like Clark Baker is worth his salt, and earning every penny he makes, working at the Y.

Freedom isn't Free

2010-09-12T22:40:00.000-05:00

We just lived through a pretty somber weekend, marking the 9th anniversary of the cowardly attacks on civilized society by Islamic extremists.

Lauren's Garden, Market Square Park

If you were on hand for the dedication of the new Market Square Park garden in downtown Houston, you were moved by the significance of the dedication of Lauren’s Garden, named for Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas, who was among the passengers who perished on United Airlines Flight 93.

I am dismayed that this year’s commemoration of 9/11 was marred by politicizing the event, and the turmoil over a fringe group of equally-extreme zealots hell-bent on burning copies of the Koran in protest, and act equally as cowardly, and blatantly hypocritical of the tenets of Christianity and the American ideals upon which this country was founded.

Burning books is not what real Americans do.

In the midst of this mis-placed hypo-patriotism was a story that didn’t get much play, yet, ironically was reported on the same day most American’s respectfully mourned the loss of 2,996 innocents: A most-wanted drug trafficker from Texas, snagged by Mexican federales, decided to appeal to the United States system of justice, instead of facing judgment in Mexico.

He’s known as “La Barbie,” but he’s no doll, according to a Houston Chronicle story, responsible for some of the most heinous, bloody crimes in a turf war for control of the drug trade between Mexico and Texas.

Edgar Valdez Villareal was born in Laredo, and started his nefarious career selling pot in high school. With his Mexico drug connections, he rose through the ranks, beheading his enemies along the way.

Who says marijuana is a victimless-drug?

Now Villareal would rather take his chances in America’s justice system than be left to the justice for which Mexico has become infamous. According to his attorney in Houston, Kent Schaeffer, “La Barbie” wants the same kind of deals other drug thugs have gotten:

Plea bargains providing leniency in exchange for intel on his peers.

According to the Chronicle story, such cases rarely go to trial.

In America citizens are guaranteed a trial by our peers.

Perhaps that’s just the kind of justice Villareal deserves.

In Mexico.

Mexico = Columbia or Afghanistan?

2010-09-10T23:30:00.000-05:00

This week Secretary of State Hillary Clinton equated Mexico’s out of control drug-cartel epidemic to the violence of the ‘80s and ‘90s in Colombia.

The Mexican government didn’t like that much...

In fact, according to the BBC, no Senior US official has ever made such comparisons. Perhaps Hillary is equipped with cojones under those pants suits, after all.

President Barack Obama, ever the political animal, disputed Secretary Clinton’s comments in an interview with “La Opinion,” a Spanish-language newspaper, telling the paper, “Mexico is an ample and progressive democracy, with a growing economy and because of that you can’t compare what is happening to Mexico with what happened in Colombia 20 years ago.”

Actually, both politicians are correct in their assessments, although for the POTUS to sugar coat the Secretary of State’s words, and thereby attempt to dilute the truth, bespeaks his lack of understanding of what is happening along the U.S./Mexican border.

I’ll go one further with my view that what is happening in Northern Mexico in terms of drug trafficking, human trafficking, mayhem and violence appears to be a mini-Afghanistan right in our own back yard.

We ignore this at our peril.

Katrina Benefited the Rich??

2010-08-27T10:35:00.000-05:00

Opening line in today's "Daily Beast" story on the 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina:

"Like so many other storylines of Hurricane Katrina, the tale of New Orleans’ recovery diverges for affluent whites and low-income blacks. According to a story in today’s Washington Post, “For people who were well-off before the storm, they are more likely to be back in their homes, back in their jobs and to have access to good health care,” said one leading advocate. “For those who were poor or struggling to get by before the storm, the opposite is true.”

“Earlier this month, Louisiana's program to hand out grants to property owners whose holdings were damaged by the hurricane was found to discriminate against black homeowners.

“In Mississippi, low-income, uninsured homeowners were hurt by a decision to refuse rebuilding grants to property owners who suffered wind damage. And a recent survey found that African-Americans in New Orleans are more than twice as likely to believe they have not yet recovered from Katrina.

A few thoughts about this spin on an already sad story:

1.) Shut up. If you keep telling people they’re mistreated, have been taken advantage of, and are poor, then what else are they supposed to believe?

Was the response to Katrina anything anyone could be proud of?

No.

Were there heroes in that storm?

Yes.

Where's the balance?

2.) Typically, if you were poor before the storm--or any other calamity like a Cat-5 Hurricane, most likely you’re poor afterwards. Some who were rich became poor because of the storm. That’s why such natural disasters are called disasters.

To presume that Hurricane Katrina made the rich richer, or that the rich were less-affected by the storm than were the poor is ludicrous. Those who were well-off might have had the advantage of being able to afford insurance coverage better than those who could not afford insurance before the storm...but I don't recall the storm surge discriminating between the houses of the rich vs the poor.

Look at it this way--who lost more in the storm:

The poor who had little, or the rich who had much?

3.) I am sick and tired of the National Media making hay out of this story and continuing to perpetuate the ill-feelings, negative spin, and class-envy angles of the Hurricane Katrina.

Where’s the Ike coverage? Is Houston going to get as much play on the 3rd Anniversary of Hurricane Ike? I think not--because in Houston and Galveston and around Texas, we got our acts together and did what had to be done.

Some are still suffering from the ridiculous bureaucratic foot-dragging, which was similarly sloth-like after Katrina.

I heard a term that was allegedly being applied to Katrina Survivors still living in Houston--Katrician’s.

Where did that come from? I never heard “Katrician” before listening to the National media nerds.

Katrician’s?

Really??

Shame on the media for sensationalizing what was already a tragic story.

Shame on the media for focusing on the negative instead of the progress that has been achieved by these communities.

Shame on the media in general for sacrificing Balance on the altar of higher ratings and greater circulation numbers.

Seth Godin’s blog this morning contains an excellent coda to my thoughts on this topic:

He calls it a “Blizzard of Noise:”

"As the amount of inputs go up, as the number of people and ideas that clamor for attention continue to increase, we do what people always do: we rely on the familiar, the trusted and the personal.

The experience I have with you as a customer or a friend is far more important than a few random bits flying by on the screen. The incredible surplus of digital data means that human actions, generosity and sacrifice are more important than they ever were before."

(My underline for emphasis of this point.)

Those are the stories I want to hear, and the stories I want to tell you.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/katrina-recovery-benefited-the-rich/five-years-on/?cid=cs%3Aheadline2

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/08/the-blizzard-of-noise-and-the-good-news.html

On Defining Marriage

2010-08-10T17:56:00.000-05:00

I am marrying my niece this weekend.

Please let me clarify that for all of you who do not reside in Arkansas, or are not in the lineage of Jerry Lee Lewis: I will be officiating at the marriage of my sweet niece and a fine, young man who has smitten her heart. This will be a first for me…and for them.

Marriage has been in the news a lot lately, for all the wrong reasons by my judgment. A federal judge struck down a ban in the State of California against same-sex marriages—one of the few places on earth you’d expect that kind of thing to fly.

Don’t know about same-sex cousins.

There is a phrase in the wedding ceremony I’ll be performing, which is key to the understanding of the foundation of marriage—what it is, and what it is not—or should not—be: “…an institution by God structured, by Christ endorsed, by the Holy Spirit instructed, and declared by inspiration to be honorable in the sight of all men.”

You cannot use that phrase when attempting a same-sex marriage…which, by the way, is a bit of an oxymoron: Marriage, by definition a union, is impossible between same-sexes. Contemporary dictionaries already list as “obsolete” the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and that’s wrong.

The first recorded marriage was arranged: The man fell asleep and a woman was crafted from his spare parts. True story. In fact, the very word, “woman” means “taken out of man” in the Hebrew translations of the account in Genesis 2.

(If you refuse to believe the Bible account of The Creation, you really need not read any further; my beliefs are predicated upon a reading of all parts of that book, and my conviction that it is the inspired Word of God. Yes, the whole thing, not just the convenient parts.)

There is a phrase in the marriage ceremony that specifically addresses this: “Woman was never intended to be man’s slave, but his helper; nor was man intended to be woman’s oppressor, but her protector. Not from man’s head was she taken, lest she be his ruler, nor from his feet, lest she become his drudge.”

I am especially fond of this passage, “…from Man’s side was Woman taken, that she might be his equal; from near his heart that she might be loved by him; and from under his arm that he might protect and preserve her…”

That clod sitting this week in the bleachers near the Astro’s foul line (who ducked a foul ball which struck his girlfriend) would do well to ponder that point.

So would she.

These thoughts have been swirling in my head this week as I prepare for my first marriage ceremony…standing on the other side of the altar. My first wedding in front of the altar has withstood troubles and trials for the past 31-years.

Guess it’s going to stick.

Hope my niece’s first wedding is her last.

My Least-favorite Things

2010-07-17T19:17:00.003-05:00

I am a fairly handy person...when I'm in the mood. The older I get, the less receptive I seem to be to fixing things like leaking toilets or sticking doors. Some things are better left to younger, more patient people than I.
And, I admit it.

So here, for your contemplation, is a blatant rip-off of the Rogers and Hammerstein tune from "The Sound of Music," which came to me as I was squeezed into the space between the wall and the toilet base this afternoon...
oh, the humanity...

Ball-cocks and float valves, and strip-threaded wing-nuts;

Leaky old fittings, and flappers that won’t shut;

Water that’s running all night like a spring…

These are just some of my least-favorite things.

LED’s winking and alarms that are beeping;

Rattling Dryers, across the floor creeping;

Dishwashers smelling and spewing hot steam…

These are just some of my least-favorite things.

Garage doors that bind up, or down, when they’re closing;

Ice makers clatter and pop when you’re dozing;

Hot water heaters that burp, rumble and ring…

These are just some of my least-favorite things.

When the wall sparks,

When the fuse zings,

When I’m feeling mad…

I look for the number of my handy man…

And then I don’t feel so bad.

The Only Thing Constant is Change

2010-06-29T11:16:00.000-05:00

Shakepeare is said to have said that a rose by any other name would be just as sweet.

Does the same apply for Radio Stations?

On Thursday, July 1, CNN650RadioNews will metamorphose into its next iteration: Talk650–Powered by CBS Radio.

This news is so fresh, I don’t even have a logo image to show you here…yet. Stick around for the sound of something old, something new, something familiar, and something a little bit different.

Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse penned a phrase in a song in the musical, “Jeckyll and Hyde,” that rings true in life, business, and Radio: “The only thing constant is change.”

Indeed. See you on the Radio Thursday morning…as Talk650–powered by CBS Radio!

The Leader of the Band

2010-05-19T16:37:00.005-05:00

Dan Fogelberg's touching anthem to his father, "Leader of the Band," always brings a mist to my eyes when I hear it played. The song is a tribute to a man whose life was shaped by music, and who shaped the lives of others through music education.

I see my father, perched on a high stool, atop a band director's podium, when I listen to the lyrics--especially the passage about a man with a "thundering, velvet hand, [with a] gentle means of sculpting souls..." Unlike the person in the Fogelberg song, I understood the power of music early in life.

My father was the son of a carpenter, not too far-removed from a cabinet maker's trade. Unlike the Fogelberg character, Dad was--and is--good with tools, good with wood, and good with his hands. He's also a phenomenal musician, still giving private lessons at 81!

I wanted to follow in my father's footsteps and become a Band Director. There are early childhood memories of sitting at the front of the band's section in the grandstand at high school football games that I cherish today.

Never mind 76-trombones: There's just nothing like the sound of a 100+ players playing in the stands. The deep thump-thumb of the drum section passes through your body like a sonic tsunami, and the electricity of crashing cymbals thrills me to this day. I wanted to do THAT: lead the band, make the music, entertain the public.

Dad talked me out of it.
He could see the handwriting on the wall in the education business--not just music education, but teaching in-general. The gutting of classroom decorum, the political infighting of administrators, and the resulting effects on students was almost more than he could stomach. Even today...don't get him started...!
He told me I'd starve, and to do something else.
So I went into Radio.
And starved through the early years.

Radio has, however, enabled me to help music education in my own way. I've hosted Jazz shows, broken new artists, and I've been able to share with others the importance of music thru participation and appreciation. There's one such event of importance fast approaching: Thus Summer, the Texas Music Festival will convene for its 21st year at the University of Houston's Moores School of Music.

This is a heady place to practice one's musical craft, working with artists and conductors spanning all of Houston's professional music performance venues: The Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Ballet...a melding of ideas and musical idioms into a four week program of clinics and performances.

There's a little lagniappe on the program this year, too--which may enable me to realize one of my life-long dreams to be the leader of the band. On Saturday, June 26, the Texas Music Festival Orchestra will perform a program including Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn," and Ravel's "Bolero." (Why do I always envision Bo Derek in "10" when I hear that music? It's just wretched...)

The TMF Orchestra is also going to perform The Star Spangled Banner...under the baton of a Guest Conductor. I would like to be that Guest Conductor.
The Texas Music Festival is conducting an on-line poll through its Facebook page--okay, face it, it's a popularity contest. But they asked whether I'd be interested in participating/competing for the honor.
What do you think I said?

Please visit the site (contest participation only open to Facebook users, sorry!) and cast your vote.
For me.

Maybe I can get some pointers from my Dad on how to keep from embarrassing myself on the podium. (As someone recently pointed out, as they rooted for me in the poll, my best side will be facing the audience as we perform!)

Regardless, I remain a living legacy to the Leader of the Band.

Why Johnny Can't Do Math: Neither Can the Schools

2010-05-01T21:55:00.001-05:00

If you missed our interview on April 23rd with Bob Bowden, whose film, "The Cartel," just closed this weekend at the Angelika Theater, then you may not be as incensed as we are over a story recently in the Houston Chronicle (buried below the fold, on the front page of the combined Business/City & State section), about 11 Texas school districts seeking to continue giving a break to students who badly fail courses, despite a new law mandating truthful grading.

Education Commissioner Robert Scott (correctly) has interpreted the law to mean exactly what it says: What you see is what you got on your grade. You flunked the course, you get an F. You want to pass, take it again...and study harder.

The districts — most are in the Houston area — are suing to keep their policies that set minimum failing grades — typically a 50 — even if students deserved lower.

According to the story in The Chronicle this morning, the districts argue that the statute "applies only to class assignments, not to semester or six- or nine-week grades on report cards." However, the author of the bill, Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, says it was intended it to cover all types of grades.

Who's asking for a break to give a break to flunking students? The Fort Bend, Aldine, Klein, Alief, Anahuac and Clear Creek filed the lawsuit in November, with Humble, Deer Park, Eanes, Dickinson and Livingston joining later.

The hearing today is to seek a temporary injunction to keep from having their minimum grading policies--translated: raising the lowest common denominator--voided by the courts.

Why do school districts care about a minimum-grading policy? Why wouldn't a school district want a real grade reflected on a report card?? The M-G-P's are the schools' strategy to prevent dropouts because they give students a mathematical shot at passing a course — if they earn high enough marks in other grading periods. That's assuming they can pass the math course necessary to understanding this twist of logic.

Here's your word problem for the day: If a student who received a 30 in a course in the first six weeks managed to pass the next five grading periods with 75's, would he pass or fail? If you use real world math, the kid would fail the course with a 68. But if the school gave the student a 50, instead of a 30, the cumulative grade would be passing.

Does that make you feel better about the product high schools would churn out, knowing the failure rates are softer than they appear?

Here's how Alief School Board member Sarah Winkler explains the logic in The Chronicle'sstory: “We're not giving passing grades. A 50 is way below failing.”
True enough.
“All we're doing is giving them a grade that if they put forth significant effort they would be able to pass. What would be the point of a student making any effort if they cannot pass?,” she opines.

How about this, Sarah--under that logic, a kid can just fail to produce any work and receive a 50 for the course. Still failing--and failing to work at all.

I think we're going about this from the wrong end of the pipeline: How about rewarding kids with what they earn, not what you're comfortable in reflecting as the school district's ultimate failure to teach.

Diplomatic Stupidity

2010-04-08T15:34:00.005-05:00

Does "Diplomatic Immunity" cover stupidity?
A Qatari diplomat on a flight this week from D. C. to Denver decided to light up a smoke in an aircraft lavatory, and then joked to other passengers about trying to light his sneakers to cover the smell.

(Wonder if they were Lucky Strikes?)

As a result, this moron was joined by Federal Air-marshalls as his new seat-mates for the remainder of the flight, which was accompanied to the Denver airport by a couple of scrambled Air Force fighter jets.

The end result: Nothing’s going to happen this Arabian Mensa because he’s a Diplomat: he’s got immunity from prosecution.
No penalty.
No fine.

Oh, and other passengers on the plane were treated to searches to determine if this nucklehead had any “accomplices” on board, taking them up to five-hours to get off the plane and out of the airport. The authorities should have turned this jerky Qatari over to his travelling companions for an instant lesson in passenger diplomacy.

Meanwhile, our Mensa-in-Chief is wanting to remove terms like “Islamic radicalism” from the national security strategy outline in a policy-shift away from terrorism.

Question, Mr. President: just how and why would you want to shift National Security Policy away from terrorism??

I pose this question after the President's signing of an agreement this week to limit our weapons, and a statement promising to not use nukes against any of our enemies who don't also have 'em. What kind of warped quid pro quo is that? So much for walking softly and carrying a big stick; we're whittling our Big Stick into a toothpick, and going to have to walk softly so we can keep from getting into fights.

Here’s the thinking inside the beltway, as expressed by a National Security Staffer named Pradeep Ramamurthy: "Do you want to think about the U.S. as the nation that fights terrorism or the nation you want to do business with?"

Hey, Pradeep--do you want to have a nation left to do business with?

Here’s the fascinating part: To deliver that message, Mr. Obama's speechwriters have taken inspiration from former President Ronald Reagan. Irony, irony, better than macaroni.

Recall that while visiting communist China in 1984, the Reagonian talking points were on education, space exploration and scientific research. Mr. Reagan preached freedom and liberty—with no mentions of communism or democracy.

From this, Obamian Foreign Policy speechwriter, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, has deduced the Communists "didn't look up to the U.S. because we hated communism.”
No, Ben, it was because we stood for something, and they knew if they crossed us, Reagan wouldn't back down.

Can you say that about the Panderer-in-Chief now?

It’s fine to work on things far beyond the war on terrorism.

Ya gotta have a little vision, alright.

But we'd be well-served to remember that our enemies don't play by the same rules by which we'd like to think civilized wars are fought.

So long as evil men—and women—will stop at nothing to do harm to America, we would do well to not let our guard--or our weapons counts--down.

(All you foreign diplomats--especially of Middle Eastern extractions-- would do well to keep your Luckies in your luggage, and refrain from joking about shoe bombs while flying on American air carriers, too.
You people started this foolishness.)

Oh, that's not PC??
Tough.

Can we at least send a bill for the F-16's to the Qatar government?

Welcome to the Nanny State of America

2010-03-24T06:43:00.002-05:00

"We are Americans and we have a right to disagree with any administration."

--Hillary Rodham Clinton, former First Lady

Thanks, Mrs. Clinton; I do. Disagree.
Funny how each party’s words are baked, fried, skewered, and re-served for crow-eating sessions by the opposition.
I vehemently disagree with the direction this Administration is taking our country, particularly with this week’s signing of the healthcare overhaul many see has a keel-hauling of American society.

Welcome to The Nanny State of America, land of the un-free to chose, and home of the knaves who now must work not only to put food on the table, but also see a larger share of income “appropriated” so that others may suckle from the government teat.

Does the American Healthcare System need to be reformed? No.
There’s always room for improvement, but our level of medical technology is the envy of the rest of the world, perhaps with the exception of the tedious process of getting modalities and procedures approved for use here. The only reason people leave the US for healthcare is to save money, or access care not "approved" for use here.

Does the American system of Healthcare Insurance need fixing? Absolutely. Rancid with fraud, inefficiencies and opacity, insurance scams and draconian practices that stack the deck against patients and policy holders with legitimate claims, Healthcare Insurance and the medical delivery complex it feeds would by any other name be known as extortion and economic rape and pillage.
(Apologies to my English Comp teachers for that longish sentence; William Faulkner, however, is somewhere grinning ear-to-ear.)

There are two, parallel story lines playing out before our eyes.
The small story is how “fixing” healthcare insurance went badly wrong. The bigger story is how personal liberties and a fundament right—freedom of choice—has been lost, purportedly for the sake of another “right,” which has been falsely ascribed as the right to healthcare. I missed that constitutional amendment in my civics classes.

Do we have Americans in need of affordable healthcare? Yes.
Should we be giving up personal liberties so that a fraction of the population can wait in line with the rest of society for a check up? Nossir.

Did anyone in Washington give a moment’s thought as to how shifting much of the financial responsibility for administering this mess onto State budgets would impact regional economies? Apparently not.
In anticipation of a wave of newly-mandated forced-patients, healthcare provider corporation stocks and pharmaceutical company shares enjoyed a marginal pop on Wall Street.

Enjoy it while you can—because as the rolls of insured’s swell the liabilities of insurance providers past the revenues they’re able to earn under these new rules forcing coverage for all, this will soon be one nation, underfunded, with misery and illness for all.

Everything You Were Afraid You'd Learn About Healthcare Reform

2010-03-23T05:59:00.011-05:00

I'm surprised FB hasn't sustained a meltdown since the weekend's passage of the initial Healthcare Reform Bill, which now goes to the President's desk for signing.

But...

There's more to come in the companion Reconciliation Bill, which must still run the gauntlet of a contentious Congress before either can have the effect of The Law of The Land.

Jim Trippon with TaxCPAHouston.com has compiled a fairly cogent summary of the initial tax implications we'll all be confronting if ObamaCare indeed becomes Law:

The health-care bill that passed the House yesterday is funded in part by increases in Medicare and other taxes, and by a reduction in some tax breaks. Will you pay higher taxes as a result? Here's a rundown of the more-prominent changes for individual taxpayers:

• Change in healthcare Flex plans.
Employees will be able to set aside less, tax-free, in employer-provided healthcare flexible spending accounts (FSAs).

As of 2013, that limit will be $2,500 a year, instead of the $5,000 that many employers now allow. The $2,500 figure will be indexed annually for inflation. For someone in the 28-percent tax bracket, that amounts to the loss of a $700 tax break. And funds from the plans may no longer be used for over-the-counter medications, unless they're prescribed by a health-care professional.

• A higher Medicare payroll tax as of 2013.
This affects individuals with adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 or more, and couples filing jointly with AGI of $250,000 or more. The Medicare tax will rise by 0.9 percent over current rates of 1.45 for employees and 2.9 percent for the self-employed.

For a single person earning $300,000, for instance, that extra tax would translate to $900 a year. Incidentally, those applicable AGIs of $200,000 and $250,000 aren't indexed for inflation.
{Brent's note: Remember the problem with AMT? Same flaw here.}

• New tax on net investment income.
In the reconciliation act that now moves to the Senate, net investment income among those higher earners—including the self-employed and estates and trusts—would be taxed at 3.8 percent, starting in 2013. According to CCH Wolters Kluwer, a financial information publisher, that income includes interest, dividends, royalties, rents, and "gain from the sale of property, and income earned from a trade or business that is a passive activity."

Distributions from IRAs, qualified retirement plans—including pensions and certain retirement accounts such as IRAs and 403(b) plans—would be exempt from the additional tax. (We're still waiting to hear if 401(k) plans are included on that list; the tax expert we enlisted couldn't find it in the language of the bill.)

• Higher medical-expense deduction.
As of 2013, you can only deduct qualifying medical expenses that exceed 10 percent of your adjusted gross income, up from the current 7.5 percent. That 10 percent deduction floor remains the same for households subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax. Households in which at least one member turns 65 as of 2013 would be exempt from this change through 2016.

Individuals who don't want to buy health insurance will be required to pay penalties that start at $95 in 2014 and increase from there. While these penalties aren't called taxes, many who oppose them construe them as such, and indeed, it'll be up to the IRS to enforce collection of the fines.
{Brent note: If it walks and smells like a duck...}
Taxpayers indirectly pay for the various subsidies in the $940 billion plan.

On the other hand, households with incomes at or below four times the official poverty level are slated to receive tax credits for buying health insurance on their own. Those refundable credits are designed to ensure that those individuals and families don't spend more than a certain percentage of household income on premiums. The credits reduce households' liability for health coverage to between 2 percent and 9.5 percent of income, with those making the least paying the lowest percentage out of pocket.

{Brent's note: Way to incentivize upward mobility and aspiring to earn more.}

Jim Trippon appears every Tuesday morning from 7:00a-8:00a CDT on The CNN650 Morning Show. Listen on line at CNN650.com.

Additional Comments to this article have been posted on my Facebook page, search "Brent Clanton"

Alice in Wonderland = Nancy in Washington

2010-03-18T15:05:00.003-05:00

The Washington Examiner has a very thought-provoking piece looking at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s shocking analogy to describe the process of passing Obamacare. She was visiting with a group of “friendly” bloggers, so her guard was down a little, perhaps, when she told them, "once we kick through this door, there'll be more legislation to follow."

Really?

Kick through this door?

Whose doors are being kicked in?

Yesterday we noted that virtually every survey taken in recent months has shown majority opposition to Obamacare. Is it the door to public approval that's being kicked-in?

Is it now the attitude of Congress that when rational argument fails to persuade the majority, it should be jammed down our throats? By kicking-in our doors? What’s next—brown shirts in our neighborhoods? Is the passage of this monstrosity going to be accompanied by a second coming of Kristal Nacht? Or, as The Examiner observed, are we now watching the re-definition of American democracy using the Hugo Chavez manual on public persuasion?

You’ve got to be wondering at this point how hard House Speaker Pelosi and her thugs are willing to kick? The more we learn more about Obamacare, the more opposition grows.

Yesterday we mentioned Pollster Scott Rasmussen's latest survey, showing 53% opposed to Obamacare. That’s slightly over half—but the ratio has been solidly against this bill since November. Is Ms. Pelosi going to keep kicking, no matter how great the public opposition? What ever happened to representation of the public’s wishes in the halls of Congress??

Here is the scary part: If Nancy Pelosi's admission to friendly bloggers is proof that Obamacare is only the beginning--not the end of the liberal campaign to put bureaucrats between doctors and patients--then you must be asking yourself, what will Pelosi seek next in health care reform?

Is is not logical to assume that as government health care costs skyrocket, a price control system might not be far behind?

Remember how well price controls worked in the 70’s with gasoline prices? Instead of waiting in lines stretching around the block to fill your tank, imagine waiting in lines stretched around the doctors’ offices to get a prescription. And, if you’re on what ever’s left of Medicaid, once you get that coveted piece of paper, good luck in trying to find a place to fill it—Walgreens is already curtailing its acceptance of new Medicaid members at some of its stores.

Price controls always cause shortages, so the inevitable, next step will surely be rationed health care services. Voila: America has become the European epitome in healthcare. You might as well re-design the American flag with just one red star, upside down, and call us the U.S.S.A.

If you don’t think that’s where we’re headed, then explain the "Slaughter Solution" Pelosi is using in this door-kicking campaign. Simply put, by passing a health care reconciliation bill, the House would "deem" itself to have also passed the Senate version of Obamacare. Basically, voting on something without the formality of voting on it.

Why do you think Nance Pelosi likes this method of “leadership?” It's because there’s no accountability, and these spineless bastards we’ve elected to office don’t want to have to come home and face the music about voting for a law the majority doesn’t want.

Do they really think we’re that stupid, out here in “fly-over country?”

Political analyst Stuart Rothernberg, who is respected on both sides of the aisle, says in The Washington Post, "we've leapt to a totally different planet with this deeming. I feel like I've fallen through the rabbit hole: 'Oh, they are going to not pass the bill and just pretend they passed the bill.'"

Who needs Tim Burton’s bizarre version of “Alice in Wonderland,” when you’ve got Nancy Pelosi in Washington?

Beck Bites

2010-03-15T15:11:00.001-05:00

“Well, there he goes again.”

Former President Ronald Reagan, the underdog in the election against the incumbent in 1980, Jimmy Carter, uttered that now-famous phrase in response to a comment uttered by his opponent.

The phrase continues to provide traction, ironically to a man who has refuted Mr. Reagan’s description of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” as a “message of hope” in the 1984 elections. Radio potentate Glenn Beck is now on record as stating the Springsteen anthem is anti-American.

Well, there he goes again.

But, you decide for yourself.

Here are the lyrics of the song penned by Bruce Springsteen:

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
'Til you spend half your life just covering up

[chorus:]
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

I got in a little hometown jam
And so they put a rifle in my hands
Sent me off to Vietnam
To go and kill the yellow man

[chorus]

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"
I go down to see the V.A. man
He said "Son don't you understand"

[chorus]

I had a buddy at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone
He had a little girl in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years down the road
Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go

I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A.

I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A

Born in the U.S.A.

A question for Mr. Beck, and anyone else still with me this far: Since when is it “un-American” to be critical of how things are? If you’re reading closely the words of the song, they are a description of how life was in America for a young man returning from doing his duty in an un-popular war.

Another irony is that the same sense of discontent Springsteen captured in “U.S.A." is that which foments the demonstrations of Tea Baggers and free thinkers of today, some of whom ascribe to Beck’s other points of view.

Beck needs to hang on to his day job, and not venture off into the tall weeds of songwriting; the nuances are too subtle for him to fathom.

“Born in the U.S.A.” was written about how life was in those turbulent times.

Doubtless, Springsteen could easily pen another half-dozen stanzas from the fodder in the news this week alone.

If he did so, would that make him any less-patriotic—or just another troubadour singing about the times?