Theater Director Peter Brook (left) and Gregory Mosher (right).

Posted by leboheme at 02:23 PM

Did you know that today is the anniversary of the assassination attempt on President Regan's life? Other interesting facts about March 30th are: in 1974 the Ramones played their first gig at CBGB's. The game show Jeopardy debuted in 1964. In 1867 Alaska was purchased for 7.2 million dollars by the Secretary of State William Seward(a New Yorker by birth), the media at the time called it Seward's Folly, but for 2 cents an acre I would say he had a keen eye for real estate! Some of those celebrating a birthday today: Eric Clapton- 60, Norah Jones, far from 60. Also artist Francisco Goya was born today in 1746. And Vincent Van Gogh was born in 1853, and incidentally Van Gogh's painting Sunflowers sold on this day in 1987 for $39.85 million. So the challenge for you the reader is to calculate what the cost of the painting is per square inch, or centimeter! Email us with your answer!

Posted by leboheme at 02:24 PM

Jets Sold to Pakistan!

We found this rather humorous photo at Low Culture

Posted by leboheme at 01:32 PM

Here are some of the emails we received concerning our segment on sexually explicit imagery in Hip Hop videos.

R&B has gotten out of control and we as a people - African Americans - need to take a stand and say what we are not willing to tolerate. I don't want to be viewed as a sex object or something that can be traded back and forth between men. I hope Essence is successful in getting folks to see how harmful these "innocent" lyrics can be. There are so many young girls out on our streets who immolate these people and truly believe that bling bling is something to strive for . . . the be all end all of life. They don't value education and have no sense of self respect.

Black artist are role models whether they want to be or not - they have to accept that fact. We need to hold them to a higher level and they need to understand that "making a living" should not include exploiting young women. You can be both positive and hip. We need to support positive R&B that does not promote negative images and ideas of "making it big".
T.W. in Brooklyn

The videos are on television because the audience is requesting them. The images in the video are not made-up. The images of half-naked women parading around and approaching men to ask for money are based on real-life experiences that happen all the time in the club. So, the problem of women debasing themselves is not addressed in this campaign. The music and the video are based on reality, they are not creating the reality. So, addressing the videos and music is really missing the point. The problem is the fact that some Black women feel their worth is based on soliciting attention from men and using that attention for their financial gain. How does she think she can address the real problem?
T.D.

If this is a typical campaign, then you will turn this project into
a "another reason to hate Black men" campaign.

If this is NOT a typical campaign, then you will show some
courage and launch a frontal attack on the role of whites
(who have the real power) in the hip hop industry-- the owners of
the largest distributors and radio stations --and how they have
forced this kind of hip-hop on the world while crushing or
practically banning positive rap and hip-hop.

Deal with the REAL power in hip-hop, or this will be just
another "hate Black men" campaign and Black men will
rightfully ignore you.

Also, your campaign seems to already contain its own
stereotypes: stop the nonsense that claims "all" black
men see Black women in a "certain way" (sexually).

Get rid of the stereotypes and spotlight the real power in
hip-hop and we will have your back. Come with the same old
stereotypes-- and we will close our ears to your movement.

It's that simple.
N.O.

Can we stop calling people like 50 Cent, Ozzy, Bionce, etc, etc.. "artists"?

Let's leave that title for people like Miles Davis, Picasso, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Mozart....you get the point.

Art should never be equated to albums sold.
M.D.

Posted by leboheme at 03:06 PM

We were flooded with emails after today's segment on men who choose to get vasectomies at an early age. Whereas most of the callers on the show had been critical of the guest, Vincent Cicaccio, and his decision to have a vasectomy at age 23, the emails leaned a bit more heavily on the side of sympathizing with Vincent. And many raised the question: If you change your mind, why not adopt? The segment was originally inspired by an article on Salon.com by Dana Hudepohl.

Vincent made a good decision. As a couple who made the same decision over 30 years ago we can testify to the fact that not being a parent does not reduce your life together as a couple. We have a great life together and are now retired at ages 57 & 60 without regrets. L. & G. W.

I am a 33-year old woman married to a 35-year old man. We have been wanting a vasectomy for years. We are both uninterested in having children, hormonal contraception reduces my sex drive to almost nothing, and non-hormonal birth control has a scary potential failure rate. And we have actually had a very difficult time getting a doctor to listen to us without asserting that we do not yet know what we want. D.F.

Posted by leboheme at 03:47 PM

After yesterday's interview with Wole Soyinka, a listener wrote in to tell us about a website where you can read the full text of Soyinka's series of lectures on fear, upon which his book is based.

Today's discussion of American and British humor provoked quite a few listener responses as well, with some arguing that Americans don't get irony and others saying that there is terrible television on both sides of the Atlantic. Tonight's premiere of the American version of "The Office" on NBC will surely add more grist to the mill. On Television Without Pity, you can vote on which British show you would like to see imported to the U.S. next.

Posted by leboheme at 04:57 PM

Today's call-in for Westsiders on the bids for the railyards generated many calls and emails. Here are a couple of email selections:

from an email in support of the Cablevision proposal:
The two bids on the table for the Rail yards both underline the need for further open and honest proposals for the site. Being pressured into an unrealistic timeline by the Olympic decision is unfair to the future of the west side, where the influence of which ever bid is accepted will be with us for decades to come. -- F.L.

. . . Isn't amazing that the MTA, Bloomberg, and Pataki have not at
least thanked Cable Vision for forcing the JETS to raise their BID?! And
they say they want the most value out of the property, . . . --W.

Tomorrow's show will feature an interview with stadium supporter Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY's 15th District-Upper Manhattan and Queens) and a round-up of the news on the competing bids with WNYC reporter Andrea Bernstein.

Posted by leboheme at 05:02 PM

Today's show touched on the Terri Schiavo case in two segments. The phones were lit up for the whole first hour with listeners wanting to put in their two cents and the email inbox filled up.

Why is the humanitarian concern for the suffering that MIGHT be experienced by Terry Schiavo's level of conciousness justified, yet the recent findings about the possible UN-humanitarian suffering of prisoners executed by lethal injection does not engender such? I would like to know how such seemingly contradictory positions might be justifed. -d.s.

I am concerned in light of the fact that we were, for example, told for many years that newborns felt no pain. Whoops--now we know they can. In medicine, in an area such as this, how do you assess what is dogma and what is really known about the persistent vegatative state? Research tends to start with assumptions based on existing dogma. -j.r.

Please see Media Matters Web site about dubious background of Dr.
Hammesfahr. Dr. William Hammesfahr, a Florida neurologist who claims that he can help Terri Schiavo, has promoted his treatment plan on Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club and has been cited by anti-abortion activist Randall Terry, a spokesman for Schiavo's parents, in newspaper articles. But questions have been raised about Hammesfahr, who was disciplined by the Florida Department of Health in 2003, and news outlets that have repeated Hammesfahr's claims have ignored those questions.-m.p.

Why not let the Federal government decide all of these situations on a case by case basis? Surely there can't be so many of these rare decisions that the Government could not investigate them all? -g.b.

Thanks to this case, I have downloaded a living will to complete, so that my family never has to wonder if I really meant it when I said I don't want to be kept alive this way. We all, in my family, since as long as I can remember, have been saying to eachother, "if it happens to me, just pull the plug, have me cremated, throw my ashes down the toilet and throw a party." But it's true, when the moment comes, maybe one of us will hesitate or waver. Get a living will and tell everyone about it!!!-c.j.

A woman wrote the editor in the Times today, with a point that I appreciated. George Bush received a memo a month before September 11, warning him of a noted terrorist's determination to attack the US within it's borders. That did not pull him from his ranch in Texas. But to satisfy his extremist political base with the Schiavo issue, he got on a plane and flew to Washington immediately to sign a hastily drawn together piece of legislation. -s.b.

What's missing from this entire discussion of the Schiavo case is that we wouldn't even be at this point if our culture weren't so terrified of having a discussion about death and dying. We are all so unprepared on a practical, legal, and spiritual level. Having had to agree to "turn off the machinery" on a beloved family member, I realize that this is a serious issue. Fortunately, in our case, we had all discussed this possibility before we got to that juncture and everyone was in complete agreement on what to do. The person, my father, was not kept alive and did not suffer needlessly. -j.m.

Actually, most of the "money" the husband got has gone to her medical care. And isn't Medicaid what's paying for it now? Interesting, in light of the administration's desire to strangle the Medicaid beast.-j.m.s.

Initially, hearing the Federal Court judge's decision to not go against the Fla. court's decision, I was happy to hear that there was sanity somewhere in the Federal System. In discussing it with my husband, we started to think about exactly what the implication is to have this now appealed and put possibly to the Supreme Court. We have decided that there is a faction in play here that wants this to go to the Supreme Court as a way to have a ruling, not so much for the comfort of Ms. Shiavo's parents, but rather for "right to life." With this administration, this is not a far fetched notion.-j.t.
It always seems very odd to me that people who espouse the right to choose are considered to be anti-life. I’ve never thought that abortion is or should be considered an appropriate form of birth control, but that being said, it should not be a situation over which I or any government has the final say. The same is true about the right to die. Perhaps removing a breathing or feeding tube from a human being lying in a vegetative state is considered to be anti-life, but I would always believe that family members, close friends or enlightened and humane healthcare professionals would help me make a final passage from what was once my life to that state beyond the now. (I’d add the ridiculous contradictions that surround the death penalty as part of these discussions, but certainly not here.) The Republicans need to reconsider what they are doing. As turned off as many of us are to the indecision of the Democrats on what they believe, always seemingly based on the latest polls, the others strike terror into our hearts. Where and when will they stop in their arrogant self-righteous positions? They won’t. And where is the leadership among the Democrats to start that process of reversal? Will the Democrat Party ever emerge from its own vegetative state? Let us hope so.-b.m.

Posted by leboheme at 04:32 PM

We followed through on our threat to help Ian Urbina of the New York Times document the myriad means of retaliating against life’s little annoyances. Today’s open phones ended up being more about anti-telemarketing tactics, but we got some ideas nonetheless. Here's a sampling of the email below, but based on this morning's call-in, our listeners certainly demonstrated their darker, more sadistic side.

Meanwhile, today’s New York 51 guest, Councilmember Tony Avella, claimed to be one of the coiners of the word "McMansion." We thought it worth pointing to the word’s true etymology.

When mailing back the blank blow-in cards from the magazine, remember
to tape each to a brick. They pay the postage.-JL

I initiated the phone company option of not accepting calls from blocked numbers - you have to unblock it before the call will get through to me. That was three years ago, yes, my friends still do call me, but I can't remember the last telemarketer call I got. Seems they're only happy if they're anonymous. Telling, eh?-DD

Whenever my four year old is around during such a call and the telemarketer asks to speak to the head of the household, or the person in charge I put my daughter on because she really is in charge around here…-A

I just heard your anticipated discussion on telemarketers and pulling pranks and what not, and I think I can give some interesting insight from the other end of the phone line- the telemarketers'. One of my first jobs was with a mortgage broker, telemarketing for "free credit based mortgage quotes." Let me first describe the sort of people who constitute the telemarketing work force. Basically there are two categories: anyone who doesn't fit the majority, 17 year-old kids working their first job before college is an uneducated prospective salesperson; neither of which having any sort of allegiance to the company. It is an incredibly tedious job, and 17 year old kids with nothing really to lose, besides their meager paychecks, are always looking for ways to entertain themselves.
The point is, when I telemarketed, my cohorts and I would make sure to keep track of the numbers of any and all individual who were particularly rude and obnoxious to us. We would completely ignore their requests to be put on the do not call list, and completely disregard their threats to contact the better business bureau (no allegiance to the company). We would call them again and again, just to rub them the wrong way and entertain ourselves. I know what we were doing was wrong, juvenile, insensitive, and flat-out annoying, but hey – if you want to get rid of telemarketers, I would suggest passive aggression. Maybe I have a soft spot in my heart for telemarketers, but now I feel I know how to handle it.
-DM

When I buy a magazine, the first thing I do is tear out all the adds that are both sided. I know it is foolish, but I feel a sense of empowerment.
-LG

I picked up the Times the day of the article and, guess what, a whole bunch of advertisements fell out of the paper! -TC

I probably shouldn't admit to having been harrassed by credit card people during a year when times were hard, but as I was paying interest on all that debt (which I paid back in full a few years later), I felt I had a right not to be harrassed by these people! So what I'd do was change my phone number associated with each card to the phone number of the credit card customer service. They delete your old number irrevocably and are stuck with theirs. They never bother you again, except through a collection service my snail mail. At least you don't have to listen to them!
-CJ

1. I'm on the fed and state do not call lists, but still get some calls I shouldn't. I usually engage the telemarketers and coax out them enough info to report them and then inform them that that's what I'm about to do. I sort of enjoy nailing telemarketers calling under false pretenses, such as sales pitches disguised as polls, etc.

Finally in desperation, we started accepting reservations. When folks started showing up at the motel expecting to have reservations but discovering they didn't, the motel folks suddenly got very cooperative and wee were able to work out a solution.
-EF

Having been acquainted with a couple of telemarketers, I know their lives can be difficult.
often they are struggling folks with few opportunities for better employment.
it is one thing to hang up on an unwanted call, or even to object politely, but to taunt and humiliate telemarketers as some of your callers seem to enjoy doing, strikes me as unkind at best.
not so nice for the fortunate to humiliate the less so.
-fb

Posted by leboheme at 03:40 PM

Today's open phones featured a caller who suggested the US was not a true democracy on account of its imperialist tendencies. Her call caused a flood of emails. Here are some responses.

I believe we are moving toward a less and less representative democracy, more of an oligarchic democracy with "big money" controlling the decisions of our political leaders. The move to eliminate the right to filibuster is a frightening example of how our guaranteed minority voice may be eliminated altogether.
-NB

I agree wholeheartedly with caller 'Leah' I also feel like an unwilling participant in the wrong-headed, arrogant and cruel actions of the Bush administration. The Republicans and Democrats only ensure that one or the other remains in power. How is that a democracy? It is a two-party dictatorship as they keep-out all others.
-G

Since when is it the job of the government of We the People of the United States to facilitate what is best for foreign sovereign nations. We should only fight wars when we have been attacked. The last war that had real popular support was WWII.
-AG

The reason I feel like government is out of touch is due to the fact that there is very little middle ground these days. Neither parties feel like they need to work together and if you're on the fence you're automatically wrong.
I feel very strongly that the only solution to fix our "democracy" is the introduction of a third and moderate party that the majority of America, myself included, can identify with and support.
-A (in Dayton, OH)

Are you not aware of the fact that poles have shown that most Americans believe that have very little influence on their movement? We have the potential for a republic but de facto it's like old Rome, the institutions remain the power residing with the people is gone unless there is a civil revolution in the way things are done
-J

The fact is, though, my issue was connected to Leah's assertion that we do not have a democracy here. I agree with her. All roads lead to Rome the expression goes. And one of the roads I am concerned about is the one leading to the impending incursion into our National Arctic Wildlife Preserve for oil. The move was appended to the National Budget in the usual sneaky way and approved though narrowly by the Senate. It has a bit further to be wrapped up but it looks like the Republicans have it in the bag. I hope as I say that that I'm wrong. This is one piece of evidence that shows that we have no democracy. The stolen votes that put these people, our administration, in place have shifted all power into the hands of a few miserable amoral men. No one can go against the Republicans. People of conscience are outnumbered. It's like playing Chinese checkers with fewer marbles.
-K

As a Ph.D. in U.S.-Latin American history, I would like to add that the United States has long been evolving into an empire that intervenes anywhere it pleases, especially Latin America. The U.S. has a long history of overthrowing even democratically elected leaders and yet partnering with thugs and terrorists such as Pakistan (who really did have WMD's and really did sell them to terrorists.)
While our own civil rights and liberties disappear, Bush is refining and expanding our "traditional" right to be world class bullies. If Bush really wanted to encourage independence and democracy in Iraq, why are we building fifteen "permanent" military bases there??? Better yet, why don't we hear more about this from the press and from Democrats and democrats.
-MG

Posted by leboheme at 04:06 PM

It may not be your typical New York Times front page story, but yesterday’s article on passive aggressive ways to deal with “life’s annoyances” quickly became the paper’s most emailed. They featured the coffee drinker who asks for “medium” when they want a starbucks’ “grande” and a magazine buyer who sends back the subscription cards unfilled to annoy the offenders. In fact, this man went a little further...

He began cutting up magazines, heavy bond paper, and small strips of sheet metal and stuffing them into the business reply envelopes that came with the junk packages.

And for anyone worried about the legitimacy of these anecdotal findings, the reporter added academic expertise with a professor who compared such tactics to the “feigned ignorance, foot-dragging and other techniques Malaysian peasants used to avoid cooperating with the arrival of new technology in the 1970's.”

It turns out the newspaper is planning a follow-up article and readers of Gothamist weighed in with their suggestions. Perhaps a BL call-in might follow…

(email us your gripe protests)

Posted by leboheme at 04:45 PM

Yesterday's Financial Times report (reg. required) that US Administration officials were seeking to "contain" Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez led us to discuss the issue on this morning's show. Types of email responses varied in their stances and we thought we'd publish a few of them here.

Please keep the responses coming.

Chavez, and Castro for that matter exist for a reason. Conditions for the vast populace were terrible before they came into power. Say what you will about their methods, but it is undeniable that they have made a difference in the daily existence of people who were once thought of as human garbage by their former leaders. In fact, a New Yorker profile on Chavez quoted the term that the wealthy use to describe Chavez- il' mono- the monkey! You can imagine what they think of his base, the dwellers in shanty towns that vote for him. It's easy to see why the rich are afraid of him- they can't imagine being led by a guy who didn't go the prep-schools they did and grow up in the gated mansions that most of the elite do.
-TK

I spent a bit of time in Caracas and Maracalbo last year, mainly among middle-class folks. All of the middle-class folks I spoke to were very anti-Chavez, for economic policies that have caused a fall in middle-class living standards. Yet, Chavez has deep support among the impoverished poor (as shown by his surviving a large effort to oust him via a referendum).
The U.S. seemingly has not done anything that would help Venezuela bridge the sharp--and old--chasm between the classes there; Chavez has been happy to invite Cuban doctors to provide medical services to the poor. What could the U.S. do--besides saber-rattling--that might bring Venezuela closer to the U.S. by helping the country address the diverse concerns of its populace?
-JH

Posted by leboheme at 03:34 PM

Today marks our show’s inaugural podcast. For now, we’ll be making available our pick of each show so you can listen wherever and whenever you want. We’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on this, so please let us know.

In the meantime, Listen to Adam Curry explain the concept on our show last year.

Posted by leboheme at 04:31 PM

City Council member Charles Barron came by the studio this morning to talk about his district as part of our New York 51 series. His district includes parts of East New York, Brownsville, East Flatbush and Canarsie. He had recently attended a rally against some of the goings-on at WQHT "Hot 97": the shootings involving Lil' Kim, 50 Cent and Game and the infamous "tsunami song."

Posted by leboheme at 04:43 PM

Here are some of the emails we received in response to Tom Fenton's visit to the studio:

I was struck by Mr. Fenton's remark that prior to the hostage crisis, network news was obsessed with shark attacks. I became a fan of Dan Rather when, during the summer of 2001, Dan Rather refused to cover the Chandra Levy story.
--D.J.

Fenton mentioned liberal bias in not getting true reporting from Cuba, but that's a fact with media liberals in general and why none of them covered the UN oil-for-food scandals, for example. They were too busy trying to find a Haliburton side of the news from Iraq.
--A.T.

check out "censored 2005" written by a California State University
i received my first one this year and it's great. they have been doing it for over 20 years... it is a briefing on their 25 top most underreported news stories
--N.G.

I am not usually a pessimist, but is it possible that there is no solution to the continued dumbing down of our electorate?
-- C.J.

What do you think of the state of news gathering and reporting today?

Frank Rich wrote a column on the subject last Sunday.

Posted by leboheme at 05:20 PM

SAT tutor Matt Bardin stopped by to talk about the New SAT exam, what makes it "new" and how to deal with the stress of taking the test. He has a book on the subject coming out the summer (with co-author Susan Fine) from Houghton Mifflin. Here's a selection from the introduction to the book, "Zen in the Art of the SAT: How to Think, Focus and Achieve Your Highest Score:"

How do you feel when you’re taking a test and get a question about something you don’t know? Your heart rate goes up. You might feel heat in your chest or your temples. If only you had read that chapter more carefully or memorized that formula – but now there’s nothing you can do. You make up some feeble nonsense in hopes of getting partial credit. Whether this happens to you all the time or almost never, it’s one of the worst feelings you can experience as a student.

It’s also something you can count on experiencing while taking the SAT. However, on the SAT, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It may even be a good thing.
In Japanese, the word for crisis (kiki) also means critical opportunity. That’s because every crisis can be a turning point. How you handle a crisis can make the difference between disaster and triumph.
At some point on the SAT, you may face a crisis – the anxiety caused by a question you initially think you can’t answer. How you handle this crisis will determine how well you do. (And how you manage anxiety more generally will determine how well you do in lots of different things throughout life.)

Do you see a connection between how you responded to tests in school and how you handle "kiki"s now? Email us.

Posted by leboheme at 05:05 PM

We carried President Bush's speech live during this morning's show. One of the guests who joined Brian to offer analysis of the speech was Jefferson Morley who writes a "World Opinion Roundup" column for washingtonpost.com. Some of the publications he follows are:

Der Spiegel
The Toronto Star
The Daily Star in Lebanon

Today was also Part 6 in our ongoing Social Security series: How does the president's plan affect those over 55? The guests came from two of the many squaring off in this debate.

Continue reading more about Social Security...

Some of the organizations involved in the Social Security debate:

The Cato Institute [note the url!]
AARP
For Our Grandchildren
the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare

One listener wrote in asking how to find one of the town hall meetings both Republicans and Democrats are conducting to talk about Social Security. You might try this search tool at MoveOn.org.

Posted by leboheme at 02:22 PM

Many listeners wrote in from far and wide with their own stories and theories about the Sunday Night Blues. Jared Sandberg, the Cubicle Culture columnist for the Wall Street Journal, stopped by to talk about his recent column on the phenomenon of Sunday Night depression in anticipation of the start of the work week.

He also joined us for our Labor Day show.

Many listeners wrote in with their own stories and theories about the Sunday Night Blues. Read a selection in the extended entry.

To tie in with the last segment, it is interesting to compare the
Sunday night phenomenon in Europe. As with most social problems of this
kind, the Europeans seem to do a much better job. Retaining some of its
traditional status in the Christian tradition, Sunday in Europe is a
day of rest -- stores are closed, streets are deserted. One tends to
spend Sundays with family or friends, sharing a leisurely afternoon
meal that usually ends (in France, at least) in a gentle, wine-induced
stupor which dispatches one off to bed early. All of this adds up to an
angst-free day of leisure, in preparation of another week of work. Of
course, knowing that your next vacation is no more than a few weeks
away, probably serves to soften the trauma of monday mornings.
--J. from Paris

Though in quite a different context, this absolutely brings to mind the Hitchcock quote: "There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it."
--E. in Manhattan

Isn't this discussion just a symptom of how work culture ethics have been eroded? In the many jobs I have had (since the age of ten) I have almost always looked forward to working. And I don´t understand how people can go thru a day of miserable work. Or maybe its because people ONLY work for the money. Instead of accepting work for what it is, a place that is a family extension.
--O. in Manhattan

Even unemployment doesn't assuage Sunday night blues! Weekends are the only time that friends are off of work too, so it's less obviously the difference in situations. Monday means that everyone except me will be going back to work, and for me it means the depressing resumption of the job hunt.
--G. in Brooklyn

I have a mantra that I would recite if I think of work on Sunday nites and also of which I remind my friends if they complain about work on Sundays and it is " Don't let your Monday spoil your Sunday!"
--L. in Brooklyn

writing about the, as I call it "the yellow school bus syndrome". for
years we have all been talking about this and experiencing it and i am
very happy that finally it is being talked about openly. I work at a
bar on Sunday days and have to say it is the most popular day of the
week. it is amazing how busy it is from the time i open at 2pm until
the end of my shift at 7pm. people are holding on dearly to the end of
their weekend and i have to say it is an incredibly fun time. i have
worked in this industry for years and have always had my weekend mid
week, but still have anxiety on sundays even though i do not always
have work on mondays. it is amazing how the yellow school bus syndrome
continues throughout ours lives.
-- another L. from Brooklyn

As a stay at home Mom with three young kids I spend the weekends of
coaching soccer games and going too many birthday parties, they go back
to school on Monday..............MONDAYS.....BRING THEM ON!!!!!!!!!
--L. in New York

When I was a high school teacher, the Sunday night blues were AWFUL. It was so bad, I would start to get depressed around 1 pm on Sunday afternoon.

Now that I have a more or less 9-5 job, I really don’t mind Sunday nights! Tell your listeners to be happy that all they have to face is a bunch of other adults. Facing the students and the grading and the parents and everything else was so much harder.
--L. in Atlanta

Posted by leboheme at 01:21 PM

Posted by leboheme at 03:43 PM

Today the Supreme Court heard arguments on a first ammendment case. At the heart of the case is whether or not a monument containing the Ten Commandments can be displayed on government property.

In a strange twist to the story many of these monuments were supplied by Cecil B. DeMille in an effort to promote his movie The Ten Commandments. In addition Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner , who played Moses and Rameses, attended many of the dedications of the monuments.

In our extended entry you can view three versions of the Commandments- Protestant, Catholic and Jewish.

Protestant

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.

King James Bible, issued by the American Bible Society.

Catholic

1. I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.

2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

3. Remember thou keep the Sabbath Day.

4. Honor thy Father and thy Mother.

5. Thou shalt not kill.

6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

7. Thou shalt not steal.

8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods.

Catholic Catechism by Peter Cardinal Gasparri, "published with Ecclesiastical approval" and bearing the imprimatur of Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Archbishop, New York. P. J. Kenedy & Sons, 1932.

Hebrew

1. I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

2. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; Thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; And showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments.

3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath in honour of the Lord thy God; on it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

5. Honour thy father and thy mother; in order that thy days may be prolonged upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Bloch Publishing Company, New York, 1922.

Posted by leboheme at 01:50 PM

Move over Barbie here comes Condi. Toy company Herobuilder has developed a
Condoleezza Rice doll. Do you think she comes with fashion accesories like stiletto boots? Other dolls available are Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean and George Bush.

Posted by leboheme at 02:03 PM

Posted by leboheme at 01:52 PM