Howard Monroe And The Morning Show

FRUSTRATIONS

Lots of stuff getting under my skin today....

Why do people keep asking if Hillary should quit? "Obama is ahead in the count and the polls as of now", they say. So Clinton should cash it in and go home. Maybe the Mountaineers should have stopped when they were behind 18 points in the Sweet 16? Hey--at that moment in time they were the losers. But they played the game to the end. They came from behind, tied the game and went to overtime. The "game" isn't over until the convention nominates a candidate. You play the game to the closing buzzer.

One bill. One stamp. That's all I needed. Went to the Post Office. Of course the stamps machines are no longer there (see rant in a previous post) so I qued up for a 10 minute wait winding through the rope maze until I came to the "Wait Here for Next Clerk" sign, handed over my single enevelope, dollar bill for a stamp, 15 seconds and I'm done. It's assinine. Ludicrous. I have always supported the US Postal Service but if they can't continue to provide simple services like a silly little stamp machine maybe their day really is over.

Wheeling officials have explained their plan for the 1100 block downtown over and over again. They want to buy the old buildings, tear them down, create an open green space with an eye to having a block of land ready for future development inquiries. It's not difficult to understand and it's not a secret. But people (and our newspaper) keep saying they don't understand the plan. What's so hard here?

Why do citizens keep saying "home rule" will raise taxes in Wheeling? Council and the administration passed a specific home rule application with three specific parts to it--and none of them have to do with taxes. OTHER cities have asked for home rule on taxes. Wheeling COULD have asked for home rule on taxes. But they didn't. It's been clearly defined from the first day of talk on the topic, but street talk continues with the claim the City is going to raise taxes. How do you defend against total ignorance?

My blood pressure is running high today.

Frustration.

Getting your AARP card doesn't seem so bad when you see that Jamie Lee Curtis has hers as well.

And the woman who has popped her top in more than a couple of movie scenes has done it again at the age of 50.

She did a recent photo shoot topless. This time, it's not as revealing when it's on the cover of AARP magazine, but it certainly goes to prove my long standing argument that many women just get better looking (and sexier) as they age. Even when I was a young pup, I never understood the fascination men have with the young bimbo. GIve me a smart, sexy, sophisticated, mature woman any time.

Curtis was nearly 15 years younger when she made True Lies with Arnold Schwarzeneger. Although she was never naked in the movie, there is one scene in that flick that even in 2008 is rated the most erotic strip tease in film history.  I certainly agree!

The guy next to me at the bar at the Alpha wants to know.

So does the lady at the checkout counter at the card shop when I was buying Easter cards.

Not surprisingly just about everyone at the Take Back America conference in DC last week wanted to talk about it.

"Who's going to get the nomination?" "Will Hillary pull this out?" "Can Obama really be the first black President?"

It's not just the talk of talk radio, it's the talk of the town.

And that's good for America.

I can't remember the last time politics was competing with the weather for topic-of-choice even with strangers.

So let's play this battle out. Howard Kurtz from the Washington Post has a good column pulling together a lot of media comments on the race.

I guess I can go ahead and take that vacation now.

The Democratic race is apparently over. As in history, finis, kaput.

Those of us who keep writing about it are said to be misguided, while the Clintonites staging their daily conference calls are just, I don't know, in denial.

That's the conclusion of some smart political writers: that the rest of us in the media are just pretending there's still a viable race.

Read the whole piece and see how many pundits are trying to call the race off.

Remember a primary is not part of our "constitutional" democratic republic. It's a function of a private group (the Democratic Party) following rules of their own making (which can be changed by their own hand by the way) looking to put the best candidate forward in the fall.

Nothing wrong with super delegates throwing their votes to the candidate they most believe in. That's part of the concept of super delegates---people committed to a "greater good" for the party. It may well be that Obama wins the delegate count and Hillary wins the popular vote (or not). But in a clearly well-divided party, the super delegates SHOULD exercise their own discretion as to the best candidate. At this stage of the race, it is NOT really a democratic process...it's a party process.

This is a truly historic year. An African-American and a woman battling for the Presidential nomination. Possibly a race that actually goes into the convention.

And political conversation dominating coffee shops and bars.

THAT'S good for Democracy.

He is risen!

The Son of God suffered the agony of the cross for us and then on this--the 3rd day--left behind an empty tomb .......

John 20

The Empty Tomb

1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"

3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"

   "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
      Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."

16Jesus said to her, "Mary."
      She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).

17Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "

18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Accept what you are and stop wishing you were something you used to be.

Good advice for all us as we get older and good advice for our area as well.

The yearly report--and subsequent hand wringing--on population loss is out today. Local counties are still dwindling in citizens. We are not what we used to be.

But what we are is pretty good. Let's focus on that.

The Ohio Valley has a great quality of life with excellent educational opportunities, great parks, numerous cultural opportunities. We have top rate medical facilities. Our small communities are pleasant, friendly places to live. Crime is low (despite the increasing concerns over drug-related violence). And even our tax base is stable while our tax burden is relatively low.

Our elected officials--in fact all of us--should focus on making this a better place for those who are here and not worry about bringing more people in. Work on providing better paying jobs for those who are here. Increase entertainment opportunities for those who are here. Make life easier for businesses who are already here.

I'm happy to be here in a small town. I don't feel any need to increase our population.

As they say in other areas of conversation: size isn't everything.

One of our recent guests was the guest of honor at a big party recently, according to  Politico.com

POOL REPORT: Jay Carney and Claire Shipman opened their home to a celebration for TIME Nation Editor Amy Sullivan's new book, "The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats Are Closing the God Gap." TIME Managing Editor Richard Stengel was also a host. Guests included Mike McCurry, Walter and Cathy Isaacson, Sally Quinn, Dana Bash, Howard Kurtz, Sam Feist, Chris Matthews and David Bohrman. Among many others, Sullivan thanked her fiance, The New Republic's Noam Scheiber.

From Amy's agenda-setting book: "National polls consistently show that two- thirds of Democratic voters attend worship services regularly. Yet the people who run the Democratic Party largely believe that the 'God gap' is an immutable law of the political universe.

Sullivan was on The Morning Show recently. She makes a point I have been hammering for a while--I talked about it at length a year ago when I was the "Take Back America" conference with a lot of Dems: the GOP has co-opted the issue of religion. As a committed Christian, I know that many of the issues the Democratic party put forth are supported by the teachings of Jesus. Yet most left-leaning candidates and office decline to put their faith into the mix as they debate these points. We have consistently run from putting our faith out front and ceded that side of the argument to the right wing radicals.

God is neither Democrat nor Republican. But BOTH believe in the Lord and should be proud to proclaim it. I hope Sullivan's book continues to get a lot of national attention.

You don't have to listen long to my show to know I'm a beer drinker.

But I may need to rethink that now.

I noticed this week at the Take Back America conference most of the people standing around the receptions were holding glasses of wine while I was sucking on the bottled brew. Apparently that was not just a coincidence.

CNN says a new study shows dems drink the vino and it's the GOP who guzzles beer.

Beer drinkers appear more likely to vote for Sen. John McCain in November, while those who enjoy wine say they’re more likely to vote Democratic in the fall. Among registered voters who prefer beer to wine, McCain has a 53 percent-46 percent edge over Sen. Hillary Clinton while McCain winds up in a virtual tie with Sen. Barack Obama among beer drinkers. In the head-to-head match-ups with McCain, Sens. Obama and Clinton each win a majority among registered voters who prefer wine to beer.

Kathleen Turner.

(sigh)

She is one of the great beauties, wonderful actresses, and apparently pleasant people that flit through my fantasies from time to time. From the steamy sex noir Body Heat to my personal fave, V.I. Warshinsky and even the full-figured animated Jessica Rabbit, I love to watch her work.

Tonight she was MC for the Take Back America gala dinner honoring Norman Lear (among others).

She may not quite cut the form she did as Mattie in Body Heat, but she is still a beauty to me....and oh that voice,,,,,that voice.....

I remember a review of her written I think in the '90s which said something like "in a world where all the actresses are girls, Kathleen Turner is clearly a woman". Yeah, baby.

And now my fantasy comes complete since she is here hosting a LIBERAL political dinner. Talent, beauty, the voice, and she's a LIBERAL!

I wish I could have seen her in the stage play of The Graduate (see the pix to the left and yes, she did the Mrs. Robinson scene nude) or in Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe (the picture above is from that show).

Kathleen Turner, Norman Lear, 2 thousand progressives gathered in a room. With booze and food.

Now THAT''s living the dream!

SOME LOCAL TID-BITS

Thanks to Wheeling Councilman Brent Bush who called The Morning Show today suggesting the local newspaper or others who continue to say they don't know what "the plan" is for downtown READ THIS BLOG.

My comments on the downtown plan have been pushed far down on the page (in fact you may have to go to the archives) but Bush says I have laid it out clearly. The "plan" is to clean up downtown Wheeling and prepare it for any possible future development. A Tuesday night public hearing could be interesting.
************************************************************

Kudos to Paul Harris and other parents of Mount DeChantal students. And a word of caution as well.

The parent group is going to attempt to open a new all-girls arts and science school similar to the soon- close-Mount. They have leased space in the Scottish Rite building on 14th Street (pix to the right). That's a grand old building that is largely unsused and I have worried for years what might become of it. A use such as this seems perfect. And keeping the Mount tradtition alive is a great things as well.

On the other hand, Harris implies they will pay teachers better than the Mount and charge less tuition than the Mount while they will not be taking boarding students. So they will have greater teaching expenses, less income, and fewer students. The Mount had to close for financial reasons. The current Mount building was expensive to heat and maintain, but I spent many days in the Scottish Rite in my youth as a member of the DeMolay and I can tell you that's a big, cold building, too. I just hope Harris and his team have put together a good business plan, because I really want this to succeed.
************************************************************
The West Virginia AARP has again asked me to moderate a day-long "Consumer University" at Oglebay Park. Last time I did so the theme was how to avoid being scammed---and it was an excellent event with great info. This time the topic will be health care. It's open to the public on April 9th. Be watching for additional details.
***********************************************************

Kandy Stroud coordinates the guest scheduling for all of the radio/TV hosts here at Take Back America. I've worked with Kandy for a lot of years going back to the days she was with the Democratic National Committee in the Clinton I era.