monday615

Back in Dallas I used to run around with the band Pantera all the time. This one girl, Kelli, was always running around with them as well. In fact, she worked for drummer, Vinnie Paul, so she was always around. Eventually she and I started dating. One night we were all hanging out and she couldn't stop talking about South park. At the time I'd never even seen an episode of it, and she invited me back to her house to watch about 18 hours of it. Anyway, we get back to her place and she went to put on some shorts. She walks out and all I see is some big tattoo on her ankle. I mean it was HUGE. It was one of the biggest tattoos I'd ever seen. I asked about it and she went into full detail. She wasn't even finished adding to it; she wanted it bigger!! I went on a few dates with her and wound up dating one of her friends that DIDN'T have tattoos. It wasn't that she was a bad person, in fact she was awesome. She was really down to Earth and sweet, but I could never get that tattoo out of my mind. After that I dated a lot of different women during my single days and lot of them had tattoos. There was a difference in the women with and the women without tattoos though, which I didn't mind, but I couldn't imagine taking a girl with a Pantera, flamed tattoo on her leg to see my mother. There's something about it. I think MOST men feel the same way. Maybe I'm just weird and you're pissed that I said it. Men will go out with women that have tattoos, but most of us wouldn't marry you. Does that sting? If so, don't go getting tattoos women. If you have them, keep them hidden and get a really good job! Reel him in.

“I resolved many years ago that it was my obligation to break the cycle — that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father to my girls,” added Obama, whose daughters, Sasha and Malia, and his wife, Michelle, watched from the audience.

Obama’s appearance at the Apostolic Church of God was his first address to a church since he ended his membership at Trinity United Church of Christ, where he had worshipped for 20 years, following inflammatory remarks there by his former longtime pastor and others.

Obama frequently emphasized the importance of God in his life and ended the speech by asking the congregation to “Pray for me. Pray for Michelle.”

Obama often speaks about the importance of parental involvement. In Washington, he sponsored legislation to get more child support money to children by offering a tax credit for fathers who pay support, more efficient collection and penalties for fathers who don’t meet their obligations.

The issue adds to his family values credentials and lets voters see him delivering a stern message to black voters.

“We can’t simply write these problems off to past injustices,” Obama said Sunday. “Those injustices are real. There’s a reason our families are in disrepair … but we can’t keep using that as an excuse.”

Obama urged black parents to demand the best from themselves and their children.

He compared it to his own presidential campaign and early comments from black voters who said they liked him but didn’t think a black man could ever be elected president. He said they were admitting defeat before the competition had even begun.

“That was when I wasn’t black enough. Now I’m too black,” he said in a joking aside.

He said parents who proudly tell him their child gets great grades, all B’s, should encourage them even more.

“All B’s? Is that the highest grade?” Obama said. “It’s great that you can get a B, but you can get a better grade. It’s great that you’ve got a job, but you can get a better job.”

Go back and read the first sentence:

Barack Obama celebrated Father’s Day by calling on black fathers, who he said are “missing from too many lives and too many homes,” to become active in raising their children.

I feel that is the problem with Obama. It had to become a black thing - again. He has been exclusionary before and has spoken to 'his people' more than once. I see these things and I go back to Rev. Wright and his many detrimental comments to his "congregation"; his comments about how the black people are still opressed, etc. I keep putting these things together, and it disturbs me that so many people still want to follow this bigot, Obama. The more I see of him the less and less I like him. I'm not a huge McCain fan either, but if I had to vote right now, I'd vote Republican, and if you truly knew me, you'd know how huge that is. I can't STAND the current Republicans. I can't STAND them, but they are the lesser of the two evils, only by the skin of teeth, but still.

Obama went to that Church, from what I understand, for two decades. He was there all the time. He never EVER had a problem with what was discussed or preached about until someone pulled that famous diatribe and got caught. How soon we forget. I cannot forget something like that. Racism is something I cannot stand, yet he preaches it every Sunday, and has people like Obama that buy into that crap. People always talk about how smooth Obama speaks and how likable he is. You know, many people say that about many mass murderers. I have a book that weighs about 18 tons about every single mass murderer there has ever been, and one of the common denominators they have is how nice they are to be around, so I don't give any creedence to social skills alone to determine how a candidate is.

In my estimation, we're fu**ed either way. One of these damn guys needs to be talking about solutions for the gas prices and the ever fading economy. Sure, the War is very important, but right now we have other things we want to hear about here domestically. The main thing to me outside the war is the illegal immigration problems in America, but that isn't even on anyone's radar.

I, like Obama, grew up without a father. I know what that's like, but I don't let that define me nor do I look back upon my earlier life and think I really missed out on much. My mother left because he was an awful drunk who beat her. What would you have done? At least she left him and didn't stay around the entire time letting her beat her ass everynight. So we got beyond that. I looked past that many times during my childhood, and as I got older I came to understand her decision. I would never look back and think that that somehow prevented me from being all I could be. Could it have been better? Would it have been great to have had a great dad there who showed me man stuff? Sure, but I found my way and adapted to what I had to adapt to. Life throws things at you, and what you do, how you react, and how you deal emotionally with it makes you more solid. What's kind of funny to me is that people say, "You know he overcame obstacles like that and look where he is now..." - WHAT OBSTACLES, LIFE? Every single person breathing right this second has had obstacles, and probably obstacles that were much more difficult to overcome than just not having a father around.

My son is four, and I hope everyday that I am doing things right. I hope I'm teaching him enough. I hope I spend enough time with him. I hope he looks up to me. I hope he never does some of the things I've done. I hope I give him strength. I hope like HELL he keeps his uncanny sense of humor and laughs all the time during the rest of his life. I hope I hope I hope. I hope when he's 14 that he still will let me be DAD. I think about his future much more than mine, which I never thought was even possible.

Sorry, I got off on a tangent! I see something shiny and I just go go go .

I get asked a lot about satellite radio and I always give my honest answer about it eventhough traditionally I'm a terrestrial radio lover. I adore the medium! I have Sirius in the truck and when I get in it, I turn it on. Christy NEVER listens to it, eventhough there are several Country music channels she could choose from. I listen to everything from Fox News Channel live to Stern to the Blue Collar Comedy channel to E!...I mean there are a bazzilion things to choose from. With the merger, you'll even be able to order your channels al la carte. Imagine! Plus there will be a 3 year pricing freeze, so that price will never go up! PLUS you'll be able to hear even MORE and MORE programming. I'm excited about it as a consumer.

So what about as a radio host?

I really don't know what to think. Judging from the numbers that sat radio has right now, it really hasn't made that big of a dent in traditional radio listenership. Its slowly growing, and with the merger approval, I would think it will entice more and more people to switch over. That coupled with how many car manufacturers are putting them into new cars, the numbers mathematically HAVE to go up. When I listen to talk on satellite radio, I never get the feeling that a host is having to be on a certain side of an issue. When I listen to terrestrial radio, I always feel like I'm listening to a host do a show for his program director so he can keep his job. I did it many many many days, and I know what that sounds like. There is for SURE a difference in the two sounds. Don't get me wrong, I am not talking about the freedom to say "shit"! Who cares? There are commercials, but far fewer. Hell, listening to Stern when he was on regular radio was so painful due to 13 minute commercial breaks. On his sat radio show there are about 4 or 5 and that is about every 35 minutes or so.

On a basic level, when you talk about branding something new, a lot of times it begins with a younger audience and consumer. I don't think that's possible anymore with terrestrial radio. Young people's passion for regular radio is at an all time low due to so many other avenues for entertainment and music. Also, young people like gadgets. How many times have you seen a 17 year old walking around with a radio and headphones lately? You have not, period. Radio is free, yes, but when you are offered so much more for that such little cost, free would have to be damn good to be faithful to it. And when I say "DAMN GOOD", I aint talking about your average everyday AM station that plays 18 minutes of commercials and bogs everything down with weather, intros, promos, news, traffic, PSA's and boring endorsements!Know what I mean?

I think terrestrial radio is stuck. I think its stuck in the same mode its been stuck in for over 20 years. It seems like so many things evolve around radio. By virtue, it gets made fun of. I cringe when I think about how its limits have rarely been pushed. The creativity that's available for it is infinite but is never realized and certainly never executed! Satellite radio began with "CREATIVITY" in mind knowing that the money would come eventually. Radio wants the money and hasn't even thought about creativity in about 15 years! If someone could start a company from grass roots and promote it as a CREATIVE-THINKING company, it would outperform a lot of radio comapnies per capita in a few years because it would be so refreshing that advertisers would flock to it. RE-READ THAT SENTENCE. I think it could happen, but the likliehood of someone having the financial backing to withstand a few years of hard hits is dim. RANDY MICHAELS: DO IT!

When I get into the truck and turn on Sirius, I know I'll hear something I didn't expect. When I get into the truck and turn on KTRS here in St. Louis, I know I will hear the same old jokes, the same old boring baseball play by play and the same old fu**ing topics that have been discussed about 80% of the time they are on the air. I know I'll hear new imaging and a fresh opinion when I turn on Sirius. When I turn on KMOX here in St. Louis, I know I will hear a slanted view that goes in line with the radio station itself because of "BRANDING". When I turn on a music channel on Sirius, I know I won't hear the same song every 15 minutes with 10 minutes of commercials. When I turn on Z 107.7 in St. Louis, I know I'll hear Curt Copeland try to be funny, then the traffic, then the weather, then the commercials, and THEN the same old song over and over and over again.

It isn't hard to be different and compelling these days in radio. All it takes is EFFORT, but in this day and time, companies just want to spend less money and make more of it, PERIOD. Radio companies are not in the business to satisfy their audiences anymore. One local example of a radio station that got it right, and then I'll get off my box. THE POINT here in St. Louis lost Howard when he went to Sirius. They followed the company mold and went with it to no avail. It sucked. Finally, the PD cut a promo and just asked what the audience wanted in morning drive. They answered "MUSIC". He put on a normal DJ in the morning playing songs. I BLASTED THE MOVE. After hearing that I got on the website and ripped that decision. Upon the ratings coming out, it turned out that it was a great decision. Why? Because he LISTENED to his audience! He made no bones about it. They wanted music? He gave it to them and it worked. I think audiences are looking for something new, and that doesn't mean it has to be something like giving away a million dollars. I think it has to be something like being different in a sea of cookie cutters, and I think people will respect that.