Monthly Archives: December 2007

And Like, Wasn’t The Cold War In Like, Antarctica?

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From The Washington Post:

“Appearing on National Public Radio’s light-hearted quiz show ‘Wait, Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me,’ which aired over the weekend, [White House Press Secretary Dana] Perino got into the spirit of things and told a story about herself that she had previously shared only in private: During a White House briefing, a reporter referred to the Cuban Missile Crisis—and she didn’t know what it was.”

Huh?

“‘I was panicked a bit because I really don’t know about . . . the Cuban Missile Crisis,’ said Perino, who at 35 was born about a decade after the 1962 U.S.-Soviet nuclear showdown.”

Yeah. That’s so not an excuse.

“‘It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I’m pretty sure.’”

A White House Secretary who doesn’t know what the Cuban Missile Crisis was should be fired, as should a White House who would hire such an individual, as should every teacher in every school district in which Perino came up. There is no reason not to be at least vaguely familiar. The average American certainly should be, but certainly the White House Press Secretary should be, should be considerably more literate and intellectually curious than the average American. I understand that Perino offered it as a cute little anecdote for an NPR game show, but it is further proof that the current president has more contempt and disrespect for the press than has any other.

A Mixed Day

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Yesterday was mixed. I managed to wrangle the vendor to help me finally fix the WYSIWYG editor so I don’t have to write EVERYTHING in HTML all the damned time anymore as I have been doing for months. That was good. I did figure out a better way to archive a certain section of our Web site. That was good. I did finally find the sweet spot in the office where I can put my XM Repeater to get flawless reception and am now listening to Supreme Court arguments on the SPAN while I werk. That was good.

Taking out the side view mirror in the parking garage was not so good. Ouch. Poor Esther.

1200 Nappy Headed Hos to Go

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I have lately altered my radio listening schedule, mainly to avoid the feast-or-famine phenomena I was experiencing. Try to listen to the full Stern show, followed by the Rachel Maddow Show, Countdown, and woman-and-a-doctor type programs, all in one day. Then try realizing that, for most of the weekend, you’re pretty much bored with nothing on the TV machine and no decent radio. Inspired by the practice I began to get me through the commute to Gonfalon Farm, I am now banking Stern shows for the weekend and taking Dr. Maddow on the train with me each morning. You can almost get through four Stern shows in a weekend while you’re doing your laundries and your cleaning and your cooking and your yardworks, and I often find myself uninspired to take on such chores unless my mind is occupied with spoken prattle.

The disadvantage is it does ruin somewhat the timeliness of the Stern show. For instance, this week I am certain Mr. Stern will be discussing the reemergence of the croc-faced cowboy, the nutsy honky himself, Don Imus. Howard was doing some major hating on the I-Man last week, especially regarding the stunning predictability of the move confirmed by his broadcast today: Imus has recruited a team of two African-Americans to join him in the studio. It is precisely the wrong move, condescending, patronizing, transparent, and still unbelievably missing the damned point. It is the radio personnel equivalent of “I have a lot of black friends,” but it will probably somehow save Imus’ skin, which I’m not so sure it’s clear why he’s so on fire about doing anyway.

Interestingly and somewhat ashamedly enough, it is Imus’ brand of radio that first got me listening to the radio to some extent. Imus apparently was at one point a jock at WGAR in Cleveland, home also of the fella Stern dubbed the “one-eyed cyclops,” John Lannigan. I notice this kernel of buckeye radio humor in Imus’ schtick, the Big Chuck and Little John element of it. My theory is that he took this obvious, blunt, and “wacky” sensibility with him to NYC, where he decided he had to put a mean bastard hat on it to make it funny. The result is not funny. Not at all.

Let me be clear. Don Imus is not funny. Don Imus never has been funny. And the real reason he ran into his trouble this year isn’t because he was mean, or racist, or mysogynist, though he was certainly all of those. He wasn’t funny, and that’s why he was chased off the radio there for a minute, and it’s why he’s patronizing the hell out of his listeners by casting black sidekicks while keeping the inflammatory McGuirk. You shouldn’t be listening to Don Imus. You should be listening to Howard A. Stern, the best and only and actually funny. Riiiiiight?