How to increase your enjoyment when listening to talk radio

Buzz and I spent the Easter holiday in the Great Smoky Mountains hiking the trails on cloud free days and camping under the star filled nights.  While on our way down to the wilderness of the Tennessee and North Carolina mountains, we tried out some satellite radio in the VW Micro-bus. I picked up a 3 month free subscription for winning the annual WNBA trivia contest from ESPN Magazine.

Since we had a twelve hour drive, each way, we were subjected to hour after hour of conservative talk radio.  It was quite a change from our three year experiment in Haight-Ashbury.
Apparently there are a number of things you should know before diving off the right side of the cliff.  The terminology, the accepted “truths,” the revisionist view of history, and even the jokes are all part of the clubhouse known as conservative talk radio, and your familiarity with all of this will add to your listening enjoyment.

With this in mind, we decided that, as a public service to our readers, we should put together a primer for those of you who are not familiar with the genre and would like to give it a try. 

Ronald Reagan is an infallible deity

Probably the number one rule or truism of conservative talk radio is that Ronald Reagan was the ideal President.  Just the mention of his name is an inspiration to all.  As President he did no wrong, and to speak ill of him, even the slightest criticism is blasphemy.

Reagan single handily won the Cold War by a Peace through Strength strategy.  Mikhail Gorbechev was just a product of Reagan’s tough stance on global communism.  The policies of glasnost and perestroika had very little to due with the fall of the USSR and communism, and if they did, they were only reactions to the strong military build up and tough talk of Reagan.

Even though Reagan only really paid lip service to balanced budgets and all the social conservative issues of the day, this reality is forgotten amongst all the rhetoric.

Reagan can be used as a justification for any conservative position of today.  If he were alive today, he would be in lock step with every conservative position of 2012

Barack Obama is a socialist

Socialism is basically defined as an economic theory or system in which the means of production, distribution, and exchange are owned by the community collectively, usually through the state. It is characterized by production for use rather than profit, by equality of individual wealth, by the absence of competitive economic activity, and, usually, by government determination of investment, prices, and production levels.

Ask any practicing socialist if Barack Obama is a socialist, and they will answer with an emphatic “no.”  Ask any conservative radio talker, and they will answer just as emphatically “yes.”

The talkers’ rationale is that any attempt to regulate the economy or business is socialism.  Unless capitalism is allowed to act without any government regulation, it is not capitalism.

The New Deal was an abject failure - World War II pulled us out of the Great Depression

Despite the fact that World War II was objectively a massive government work project, all the government deficit spending is over looked.  When the government creates millions of jobs by pouring massive amounts of money into the defense industry, that is not socialism.  However, if the government pours massive amounts of money into any domestic project, such as infrastructure improvement projects, that is socialism.

Free enterprise and pure capitalism is the answer to all our economic woes.

This narrative is gospel on talk radio.  If the government and unions would just get out of the way, we would have full employment and everyone would be happy.  The capitalists will automatically do what is “right.” 

All government is bad

All government projects are a waste of money.  All government regulation is just designed to get in the way of entrepreneurs. Any thing government can do, private enterprise can do better.

The post office should be a privately run enterprise.  Social Security should be voluntary.  Public schools cater to the lowest common denominator and exist just to indoctrinate students to liberal ideas and give union teachers a job.

The only caveat to this is that the Department of Defense is absolutely necessary, and the more money you throw at it the better.

Liberals are stupid and hate America

The “liberal” is to be examined and figuratively dissected like a specimen in a zoo.  Liberals have been brainwashed by the Main Stream Media (alternatively referred to as the Lame Stream Media, the Liberal Media, or the Drive-By Media.)  If they could only learn the “true facts,” they would all be conservatives.

“The liberal” is incapable of objective thought.  They are governed totally by emotion.  Conservatives are only swayed by objective, black and white truths. There is no gray.

All liberals are atheists and hate America.  Their efforts to make things better are just attempts to destroy the American way of life with their secular humanism.

Everything “Jimmy Carter” is bad

It is an undisputed truth that Jimmy Carter and his Presidency were absolute failures.  Carter equals failure.  Just as Reagan represents everything that is good, Carter is the epitome of bad.

There is no gray - everything is black and white

This maxim runs hand in hand with the belief that every complex problem can be solved with a simple conservative solution. 

If the economy is in a cyclical downturn, the solution is simply cutting taxes and government regulation.  Crime can be eliminated by locking up all the criminals for long, long periods of time.  Everyone who collects any type of government assistance (with the exception of large corporations) is just pure lazy.  If you eliminate government programs, you will eliminate lazy people.

The Second Amendment is all important and absolute

All gun regulation flies in the face of the Second Amendment.  There is no such thing as reasonable gun regulation. Every American has an unalienable right to own any type of gun ever made and as many guns as they want.

If guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have guns.

There are probably more rules, but these should be enough to increase your listening enjoyment.

Romney files for an extension: WTF?

Does Mitt Romney even realize that he's running for President? On Friday, his campaign announced that Mittens would be filing an extension for his 2011 taxes. There's nothing wrong with filing an extension, but for a guy who has be dogged by tax questions for his massive income, why prolong the issue?

George Romney released 12 years of returns in his 1968 Presidential run

Romney's father, the late George Romney was one of the first major Presidential candidates to voluntarily release his income tax returns back in the 1968 Republican Presidential campaign. He famously released 12 years of tax returns and started a modern tradition of the Presidential candidate tax return release.

Mitt Romney released 2 years of returns in January

Romney's GOP opponents made an issue out of Romney's reluctance to release his tax returns back in January. After pressure from his opponents and some embarrassing and awkward debate answers on the release of tax returns, Romney relented and released his tax returns from the 2010 and 2009 tax years.

Romney's release was enlightening, not from the fact that he makes gobs and gobs of money, but that his effective tax rate was in the 14 to 15 percent range. It also raised questions, because unlike his dad's release of 12 years of tax returns, Mittens only released 2 years.

It also showed overseas investments with accounts in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. While absolutely legal, such accounts fed the narrative that Romney can't relate to the average American voter who probably couldn't point to the Cayman Islands on a map, but knows that the Cayman Islands are where "rich people" hide their money.

Romney's filing of a tax extension furthers Romney's problems.

You would think that for a seasoned Presidential candidate like Romney, he would have known that April 15th was tax day and that he should have his return spit shined for the media and the American voter. Buzz will be contacting the Romney campaign and volunteering the services of his UNIVAC 3000 for Romney's tax preparation.

Two problems arise out of the extension filing.

First of all, the filing of an extension kicks the can down the road and closer to the general election. If Romney had filed a full return on time, his tax return would be news now and would share the spotlight with President Barack Obama's tax return.

So when Romney does file his tax return, it's another news story closer to the election when more people are paying attention. He also doesn't benefit from the cover of the President releasing his return at the same time.

Secondly, it doesn't help the Romney narrative that he is this consummate businessman who can be the country's CEO. It's not like the Obama regime changed the tax date to surprise and embarrass Romney. For a guy who prides himself on dotting the Is and crossing the Ts, not filing his taxes on time sort flies in the face of that narrative.

Norton and Buzz return from the West Coast

 

Our great project to to revitalize the Sixties in Bay area has come to a disappointing end.  Buzz and I had hoped to recapture the flavor, mood, and ambiance of the 1960s in Haight-Ashbury, but armed with our vintage RCA record player, Buzz's bongos, our tie-dyed wardrobe, and our earth sandals, we suffered some serious setbacks.

The area has changed significantly, and the anti-Vietnam war sentiment just doesn't translate well in anti-War-on-Terror sentiment.  The fact that there is no longer a military draft seems to be a major factor.  The youths of today don't end up in a foreign land unless they volunteer.

So Buzz and I packed up all of our Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane LPs and the Univac 3000 into the micobus and headed back to NEPA.

We will be back covering the political scene and the WNBA once Buzz gets a new transmission and a good set of used tires for the microbus.  The cross country trip has taken a toll on the micobus.

Haggerty Elected Chairman of Home Rule Commission

Mayor Jim Haggerty of Kingston (pictured to the left) has been elected chairman of the Luzerne County Home Rule Commission at the commission's inaugural meeting held Wednesday evening at Wyoming Seminary. Veronica Ciaruffoli was elected Vice Chairperson, and Rick Morelli was elected Treasurer.

Haggerty is the three term mayor of the Municipality of Kingston and a practicing attorney. Kingston has operated under a home rule charter since 1976.

The commission is charged with the following:

"The government study commission shall study the form of government of the municipality to compare it with other available forms under the laws of this Commonwealth and determine whether or not in its judgment the government could be strengthened or made more clearly responsible or accountable to the people or whether its operation could become more economical or efficient under a changed form of government."

Furthermore:

"The government study commission shall report its findings and recommendations to the citizens of the municipality within nine months from the date of its election except that it shall be permitted an additional nine months if it elects to prepare and submit a proposed home rule charter and an additional two months if it chooses to elect its municipal council by districts."

The commission also appointed a budget committee comprised of the elected officers to approach the county for money to fulfill its mandate of studying the county government.

The commission plans to meet every Wednesday at 7:00 pm at the Stettler Learning Resources Center, Sprague Avenue, Kingston.

Public or Private

We want a comprehensive study done of Luzerne County government, and that will not happen if every meeting, every hearing, and every proceeding is open to the public. The study commission needs to meet in private (at certain times) in order to find out what works and what doesn't work in county government.

The debate on whether to have private meetings became very public when commission member Walter Griffith released e-mail correspondence between other commission members and him. Mark Guydish of the Times Leader got into the fray and fell down on the side of "all public, all the time."

Griffith, Guydish, and others are just plain wrong on this issue on political and legal terms.

We had OVC legal correspondent, Bruce Haller research the issue for us. Here are some of his findings.

"Home Rule" is governed by Pennsylvania Statutes, particularly Title 53, Chapter 29. With regards to meetings, Section 2920 states:

"The government study commission shall hold one or more public hearings, may hold private hearings and sponsor public forums and generally shall provide for the widest possible public information and discussion respecting the purposes and progress of its work."

The reason for private hearings is quite obvious, and we believe is why the commonwealth allows a commission to meet in private. It is analogous to the concept behind whistle blower statutes.

How can we expect to get an honest and unbiased account of the workings of county government if every interview of current county employees is subject to the scrutiny of the witness's fellow employees, the general public, and his or her boss?

Let's take the following example. The commission is looking into the inner workings of the clerk of courts office. Does anyone truly believe that a current employee is going to tell the commission at a public hearing that many of his fellow employees' jobs are unnecessary or that the office of prothonotary and clerk of courts should be combined, resulting in the layoff of half the staffs? It aint gonna happen.

If the commission decides to hold all public hearings, they will not get the honest look at county government, which the public wants and so desperately needs.

Griffith, Guydish, and others believe the Pennsylvania "Sunshine Act" applies to the home rule commission. Bruce also looked into this issue.

The Sunshine Act only applies to "agencies." The agency definition in the Sunshine Act does not include home rule commissions. Bruce also reviewed the dozen or so "home rule" cases which have made it to the courts of the commonwealth. None provided any guidance, either way, on whether home rule commissions are governed by the Sunshine Act.

When we look further into the Sunshine Act, we see that agencies may meet in private to discuss certain issues. Personnel matters, collective bargaining matters, the purchase or lease of property, ongoing litigation, and matters involving lawful privilege are the exceptions to the public meeting standard.

It is not conceivable that the commission would ever fall into one of these exceptions. If is also nonsensical to believe that the home rule laws written by the commonwealth would provide a private meeting option if the Sunshine Act prohibited such meetings.

Face it, the Sunshine Act does not apply and thankfully so.

We would end our discussion with that, but Guydish and Griffith make us continue.

After pontificating about the need of a "no exceptions" rule to public meetings of the home rule commission, Guydish wrote:

"Commission members can call each other outside of meetings, they can exchange documents, thoughts and ideas when they are not together. "

This raises another issue, besides the fact that Guydish believes closed door meetings among a few members to hammer out the details and make the real decisions is fine, as long as they meet as a "committee of the whole" at a later date and run through the motions.

The issue is that committee member Griffith has already decided that everything the commission does is public, including e-mail messages between commission members. He has already provided e-mails concerning the "public/private meetings" debate to the Times Leader and other media outlets.

We strongly believe that most of the meetings of the commission should be held in the public, but we also strongly believe that the commission should and must, within its own discretion, meeting in private when necessary.

Another Day, Another Federal Subpoena

OVC has confirmed that Judge Mike Toole's tip staff, Thomas Marino has been served with a federal subpoena with regards to the ongoing corruption scandal in Luzerne County. An independent source familiar with the Wilkes-Barre jurist has corroborated the Times Leader story which appeared online today.

OVC wrote a few months ago that rumors were abound that Toole had come under suspicion from his days as a solicitor to the Wilkes-Barre Area School District. Two members of the Wilkes-Barre school board have resigned, including board president Jim Height. Brian Dunn has also resigned.

Height pled guilty last month to federal corruption charges, and Dunn has been charged federally, also.

More to come in the future.

Paperwork Prevents People From Seeking Public Office

Every so often we read a letter to the editor which strikes our fancy. Today was such a day when we read Democratic Kingston Council candidate Curt Piazza's letter to the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader.

Piazza ran unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination to face incumbent Mayor Jim Haggerty (pictured to the left) in November. Piazza was defeated by Stephen Radzinski 494 to 402 in the May 19th primary.

Piazza wrote a letter to the editor, which appeared today in the Times Leader. He wrote it in response to the Times Leader's assertion that Piazza secured his council nomination the "easy way." The Times Leader was referring to the fact that Piazza was only one of two candidates on the ballot for four open council seats. Incumbents Republican council members Mike Jacobs and Sandy Kase won write-in nods on the Democratic side as well as winning Republican nominations.

Piazza took issue with this. He wrote:

"First there’s the paperwork: You have to follow the directions to the letter to fill out your nominating petitions. Then you have to trek out into the bitter cold to ask your fellow citizens and party members to sign your petitions. (This requires exactness too). Sometimes you have to put up with disgruntled residents slamming the door in your face.

Then you have to get your paperwork notarized and pay those fees. Then you submit your paperwork to the Election Bureau, hoping it will be approved. Then you have to submit a copy of the Statement of Financial Interests to your municipality.

All this takes a lot of time, patience and legwork; it’s not for the faint-hearted."

There are some interesting points to Piazza's writing. Piazza's biggest hurdle seems to be the "paperwork." In any borough in Pennsylvania such as Kingston, in order to appear on the primary ballot, one must get ten signatures from registered voters in his or her political party (actually nine, because you can sign your own petition.)

We are also curious why Piazza would have to "trek out into the bitter cold," since according to voter registration records, Piazza is residence is in a public housing building which encompasses at least fifty units. Records also show that many more than nine registered Democrats reside in that same building.

Be that as it may, if you have trouble finding nine registered voters of your party to sign a nomination petition (Jeddo Borough may be the exception,) you probably shouldn't be running for office.

Piazza's second bone of contention is the "statement of financial interest." The statement is a one page form which must be submitted by all candidates with your nomination petition. The form requires one to list their name, address, the office sought, occupation, real estate interests, direct sources of income, creditors, and interests in any business entities. The dollar amounts are not required.

Hardly a arduous task, ... or is it. Maybe Piazza has a point.

Piazza's opponent, and Democratic nominee Radzinski for mayor seemed to have a little trouble with this simple requirement. In a mistake which could have taken him off the ballot, if timely challenged by a Kingston Democrat such as Piazza , Radzinski filed his Statement of Financial Interest one week after the deadline. This is a fatal error which requires removal from the primary ballot. No such challenge was filed against Radzinski.

Being mayor of a town of 13,000 residents requires the preparation, reviewing, and filing of a lot of "paperwork." We wonder how overwhelmed Piazza would have been if he had won in May and then in the Fall. We also hope that candidate Radzinski is a little more careful and attentive if he ever becomes Mayor Radzinski.