Rush Limbaugh And The Birth of Participatory Radio

Watching a WTTW show on Eric and Cathy, it hit me just what the real change in Radio has been.

Think of it this way: In the seventies and eighties, would you have heard music on the radio, maybe some wild stuff on the morning shows, but little in audience response, and almost nothing in appearances from the musical stars. Think of it: Would Bad Company (never mind Led Zeppelin) have shown up at the Rock Station you listened to? Highly Unlikely, that was the level of separation between star musician and DJ. DJs communicated with their fans through requests and contests, but the fans rarely talked outside of that. WTRX had a talk-show in the evening (back when it was Adult Contemporary) in the seventies and early eighties, but that ended when the station went all Heavy-Metal in the mid-eighties.

That change started with Rush Limbaugh. Never mind that you had a conservative voice broadcasting nationwide in the middle of the day (after all, Sunday Mornings had Christian Church shows all over it); what made the show big was the fact that he took (well-screened) calls from a nationwide peanut gallery (aka Dittoheads). Thus, not only did you have a leading conservative voice on the radio talking about his beliefs, but you had thousands of conservative voices making cameos on that show, adding their assent, developing points, making distinctions and generally adding to the shared beliefs of the movement.

Participatory radio, in other words.

Sports radio would take that concept further, allowing for discussions that ranged from blindingly local (Junior High gymnastics sex scandals in the making) to national (Steroids and the Home Run Chase of 1998). Eventually, music radio (in part thanks to one of the few positive effects of Napster and P2P) started bringing in bands to play in the studio, hosting bands in intimate settings (complete with DJs working overtime) and even having working vacations where DJs mixed it up (pun not intended) with a group of fans who came for the priviledge.

None of this was seen in 1985. Back then, you listened to radio either for news or for music, and that was it. Minnesota Public Radio had a variety show that was beginning to go national, but that was as much a throwback as anything else. Otherwise, chances to talk on the radio were small and limited, and no one saw the need for change, outside of a few AM stations noticing their audience growing smaller and older.

Now there's a national dialog going on at various levels, over numerous subjects, over the airwaves. Plus the fans are actually closer to their stars than before, talking with them and spending real time in intimate settings. And guess what: these are the stations which are big, or getting big.

Things have changed.

If You Pay Off Your Credit Card Debts, You're Paying Off The Debts of Osama Ben Ladin

Pay too much and you could raise the alarm

I'm not sure what's more worrysome about this: That this happened in a blue state (Rhode Island), or that one could see the Government (in the form of Homeland Security, or the War On Blacks -- er, I mean Drugs) confiscate the money for their sake, making sure the payers stay deeply in debt?

I suppose I could see why the government would do this: If someone were to spend lots of money then suddenly pay them all off, someone would want to make sure it's all your money and you got it legally. Still, it looks like the Government has sold itself out to the Creditor companies.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. If you can stay away from the credit cards DO SO; otherwise every attempt to pay off your debt will be rebuffed and possibly lead to felony charges!

(No I don't like this. At All.)

Three Deaths This Past Year...

First a friend of mine, unexpectedly but from a known cause.
Second, someone from the past, from a long-term debilitative disease.
And now, someone with a cancer that spread too far to be fought.

A thought that comes into my mind:

Is the brain the last thing needed to hold onto life? Does being bright indeed hurry death when it appears near?

I'm sure you've heard about the apocryphal story about the Russian trapped inside a freezer car for the night, writing letters to mark the hours before he died. When he was found in the morning, he body was found stiff -- and the freezer care was 55 degrees farenheight, slightly WARMER than the surrounding air. Turned out the motor was broken and the comrade inside was warming things up, only he thought he was freezing to death so he did.

Now, consider this contrast:

• Terry Schivo, with a shrunken brain, probably blind and unable to recover from what happened, lives fifteen years with the only addendum being a feeding tube.
  
• The lady with cancer goes through one bout of chemo, decides to accept her death, AND DIES THE NEXT DAY!

Maybe the religious radical right understands something: Don't Think, Just Live and you'll live a full life, loaded with love and heart. Think too much, and you'll kill yourself before you can even raise your hand to do the actual deed.

A bit much, I admit, and adding in the Terri Schivo angle unhinges things a bit more. However, I do remember reading this person's entries in a journal that she was already ready to die and wanted it to be peaceful.

Everyone else figured she had six months to a year before she died. Even I, ever the pessimist, figured two weeks to two months (with the latter more likely). Who would have thought that two DAYS would have been wildly optimistic?

And outside of the idea of an assisted suicide (always possible but not likely, especially since she was still in the hospital), I can't help but think that she died because she was ready for it and probably set her mind to it. In short, she created her own death.

New Age bullshit? Maybe, but then our minds have been shown to control our bodies even down to a molecular level. So maybe we're not talking bullshit, but truth here.

Megabus Starts Serving Chicago

The Megabus USA Site

Today Megabus added in their two cents to the competition between Amtrak and Greyhound, adding eight runs between Chicago and Milwaukee and three runs between Chicago and its other destinations (Saint Louis, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland and Indianapolis, with Indy buses going further to Columbus (2) and Cincinnatti (1).).

What ought to be interesting is to see how much of their schedule Megabus is able to keep. The Greyhound schedule has varying times for their trip between Chicago and Milwaukee, based (I'm guessing) from eighty years of experience and a keen eye as to how the day's traffic affects bus service. Megabus is expecting a strict 1:45 for each of its trips; we'll see how long that lasts.

Devils, No Matter The Color -- Alas...

Blue Devils Made Them Do It
(you will need to register to read)

Probably one of the better items I've read of what's been happening to the universities over the past twenty years, at the very least, and probably for much longer.

It starts off with a look at the rape charges aimed at Duke LaCrosse Atheletes and the aftermath. The, the surprise that the players came from the northeast, followed by a look at the development of the university, the image and how it's kept up, and the costs of such an image. Next comes words on how the Universities in the United States, once places where the elite, the elite-wannabees and those who wished to know more than their immediate life (remember, Michigan State University was established to educate FARMERS, many other universities were established to educate teachers) could share a higher culture with each other and bring it to the surrounding peoples, are now massive boarding houses for our excess unemployed youth, with sports the symbol of its existence.

Naturally the conservatives (of all stripes) latch onto Charlotte Simmons and its mix of pseudo-intellectual gay-write (yes!), but more to the point, we make the men act up and the girls won't need to worry about unremitting debauchering. But then, that wouldn't be interesting, would it? No need for an unrepentable devil (someone that can be gleefully consigned to hell), no need to do anything about the culture around you (other than withdraw) and no need to worry about how you'll be impacted. Besides, ask many conservatives (again, of all stripes) the right questions and you'll uncover that they believe your average Chinese is more truely American than your average American -- they just disagree on which Americans need to have their rights revoked.

And the universities become more and more cesspools.

Again, wonderful Benign Neglect in action. And this time, I'm talking about present tense.

Da Vinci Code Not Guilty of Infringement!

"Da Vinci Code Declared Not Guilty of Copyright Infringement"

Thank God!

I could understand if "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" were advertised as a fictional book. But even then, I'd be leary of the lawsuit brought up, as there are very few "new" plot twists, plots or ideas. Much of creativity isn't "what's new" but "how do you tell it?"

But here's a guy who tried to state that "nonfiction" was stolen for fiction. Never mind whether "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" if fact or (as I believe) fiction, the idea of nonfiction barring itself from fiction is criminal in and of itself. Imagine writing total fiction without any ripple of fact to base itself on.

Oh yeah, it's already happened...

CBS News Starts Official Meltdown

A Katie Couric Fansite, hopefully updated by the time YOU read it.

So now it's Katie Couric as anchorwoman of CBS news evening edition. Katie Couric, hostess of the Today Show.

Not saying she's a fluff person (she does deal with some heavy subjects), but what the heck is she doing going to anchor CBS News? I understand her angle (wanting to earn more, get higher visibility, etc.), but CBS News? The newscast of Walter Cronkite? The news that singlehandedly stopped both Joseph McCarthy and the Vietnam War, let me remind you.

Sadly, that CBS News had died. What was an independent 60 Minutes willing to take on advertisers has essentially become a shill for disconnected, half-baked stories with no understanding of what's going on and puff pieces that gloss over anything with a hint of controversy. The Main news show, once home to "Uncle Walter," became the focus of a bizarre story involving faked papers and a news story that wasn't listened to when it aired four years before. And now, with no one to adequately fill in the footsteps of Dan Rather (although, to be honest, anyone would have been an IMPROVEMENT) CBS turns and poaches someone from NBC.

Neocons, rejoice: CBS News, long the flagship liberal of the Big 3 Networks, is beginning its final collapse. FAUX NEWS: Prepare to attack your next target.

Polygamy vs Moderation

Truth Bearer dot org -- Polygamy as "Biblical"

So this is where "Freedom defined is freedom Denied" is leading us? As the corporatistas strive to divest themselves of any and all responsibilities towards keeping society running (removal of laws that require corporations to act responsibly), their individualist tools (too often liberals who wish for individual freedom from any and all responsibility for one's actions, less often conservatives warping their understading so as to grant themselves surreptitious forgiveness for their sins) seek out ways to expand personal actions permitted.

So now, having opened (and tolerated) divorce for thirty years and helped foster (some willingly, some not) the ability of women to earn their own keep without a wedding ring to identify them as accepted by society, we now have the development of a s0-called polygamy movement. One that's obvious for the rich, but with its Religious Arms, both Xian and not.

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Sure, monogamy is the newer historical reality. However, the wisdom of the people usually leads to monogamy at least for the majority of the population. Those people who think themselves rich and powerful enough to have multiple wives are few and far between, and more often than not have brought trouble and strife to their surroundings by their selfishness.

Reason Magazine makes a congent arguement on why polygamy is frowned upon today based on simple social dynamics. In it, they focus on the men who would be left behind by the polygamy movement in their rush to satisfy rich (and powerful) men's wish for more than one wife. What's really intriguing is how a small proportion of men (10%, according to the article) could mess up a bunch of lives, all the while living WELL within the dictates of Muslim law (four wives, max, and only a very few of those doing the polygamy thing).

Of course, what they don't get into is why the women would put up with sharing a man.

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Simply put, when you see a taken man, you see a man who has something. That guy has proven himself, the evidence of which is the woman on his arm (or nearby, who comes when he calls her name). If she could remove the other woman with said man, a smart woman would choose the taken man over the untaken man.

Now, presently there'd be few women willing to share the man, and any woman willing to share a man will likely figure a way to milk said man for as much as possible. But...if it turns out the wife of said man were willing to share him with the other woman, how many would join in the agreement?

Now, few would and they would probably be Fundamentalist Mormon Women (yes, they exist. Polygamy separates them from their mainline, monogamist bretheren) unable to see a world outside their villages. But imagine if, in twenty years, the idea of every third night with a man who'd be able to spoil you materially and let you work (or not) according to your wishes or whims was a better choice than all the attentions of a man who had to yet to be able to earn his full keep and whose future earnings didn't look that good. Would your average woman be willing to put her support behind such a lesser man, knowing that that lesser man may be a failure and that a man with two wives and enough to spend spoiling a third is hitting on her? And those who take the lesser man, would they wonder about life with the other guy?

That's the thing: Once Polygamy gets legalized and slides past that "Ewww, who'd want to share?" reaction, you're going to get female selection towards those men with a wife (or even more). And that means more men stuck without wives. Not the abusive, of course -- they'd probably be among those with multiple wives -- but the more conscientious men trying to make it, who need a helpmeet to make it and won't be able to do so.

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And that's where patriarchy becomes, instead, gang rule. Few polygamous societies are democracies, for the wealth descrepancies that allow for one man to have multiple wives either call for constant war (to cull the excess men) or a police state (to criminalize and separate the unworthy men from the rest of society). Either way, any form of "equal rights" or "social contract" (I'll talk more about the latter concept at some point) would go by the wayside as those with multiple wives take measures to protect their investment from the men looking to prove themselves by whatever way they can.

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Maybe this is where things stop going further to the extreme and start moderating. After all, there's only so far things can go before the social fabric starts falling apart.

And maybe from here, they moderate on all fronts. After all, you can't have high morals with dropping wages and the accompanying hopelessness in the poorer areas.

Congratulations Florida On Your NCAA Basketball Championship

Florida Defeats UCLA, 73-57

After a near-miss six years ago against Michigan State, Florida finally reaches the peak of the NCAA basketball world, to give its football championships some other-sports companions.

I just ask one thing: act like you've been there before. Leave your campus and neighborhood neat. Let at least ONE *$^%^%* university have enough pride in itself to keep things neat.

The Dan Ryan Reconstruction Project Begins...

And so today the Dan Ryan has half the lanes it usually has had.

Reconstruction is supposed to make better pavement for the next 40 or so years, and an extra lane besides. However, over the next two summers, we're going to have to deal with overcrowded streets that are able to handle all the local traffic but now have to handle hundreds of thousands of extra vehicles.

You think the Dan Ryan was bad during rush hour, wait until you deal with Stoney Island with its lights and sections that go under railroads that shrink from four to two lanes each way. They should have invested in some reconstruction of those instead of trying to "refit" lights to work better. Plus those projects would improve things when the Dan Ryan is again finished.

It's gonna be an other six months before things are anywhere near normal, then we're going to get back to the troubles again. At least they're trying to do something.

And trying to do things as adults (but then we're talking about roads here. Something the powers that be in the United States considers important -- unlike mass transit...).