Don't miss Monday morning's appearance by activists who deplore the conditions for dogs at Krabloonik--on "Con Games with Michael Conniff" on KNFO 106.1 FM.
In comment #17, Wharf Rate weighs in during a white-hot thread about blogging, Aspen Post, and the state of "Con Games." "I have also revealed enough about myself for you to know where I am coming from," he blogs, "if you have paid attention. For instance, I have repeatedly blogged that I am a resident of Glenwood Springs and have no agenda that supportive Pitkin County, the City of Aspen, or any of its elective officials. I don't know what else to say to make my point--you just seem to have an uncanny ability to miss it. You think I am just criticizing you, the radio show and the blog haphazardly and for no particular reason. If that's what you really think that's just sad."
For the life of me I can’t understand why Michael Conniff keeps touting Barry Schochet as a Middle East expert, a title that Barry himself denies. This is a con of the highest degree, and I’m disappointed in Conniff for falling for it. His show endorses liberty and justice, yet he allows Barry Schochet to promote the opposite agenda. This is a great disservice to Congames listeners, who hope to glean a better understanding of today’s issues and events. But it’s a greater disservice to the Palestinian people who are suffering and dying because of lies like Barry Schochet uses to justify Israel’s oppression of millions of innocent civilians...
I have listened to your show since you went on during the afternoon hours a few years ago. I have always enjoyed your show because you engage your guests and your audience about the compelling events and issues of our time. I think you are great at your job because I and many other people look forward each morning to the topic you choose and your position regarding it. What caught my attention about your show in the beginning was how interesting it was to hear people debating politics on the radio. The second thing that struck me about your show was how fiercely intelligent you are and how formidable you are to debate. On the day that you decided to use the Eagle Valley name I gained an additional type of respect for you. That is, you actually lived up to the catch phrase of your show "With liberty and justice for all". You listened to the arguments of the callers and made a logical decision to use the correct name for a geographic area in your listening audience.
"There is hardly a single person we know who doesn't harbor some ill will against illegal immigration – be it just via general conversation or out-and-out actively campaigning for enforcement of present-day laws," Merilee Dunn said. "No one I talk with seems to feel any new regulations are needed in the least. Simply put, why should we allow Congress to waste precious time coming up with new laws that won't be enforced? The majority feels extreme pressure simply needs to be put on all politicians, via elections if need be, to see to it that laws already on the books are enforced to the maximum levels of the law."
Do you ever listen to the robot that gives the Colorado weather forecast on 107.9 FM? It goes something like this:
“Here is the weather forecast for the central mountains of Colorado, including the town of Aspen. Tonight, cold. Lows 0 to 10 below with wind chills reaching 20 below…”
Sometimes, when listening to this eerie vocal, I like to pretend that robots have taken over the world. I’m not talking about cute little R2D2 robots. The robots in my make-believe-world are Terminator type robots, standing ten feet tall with red eyes that can melt a hole through your torso with a laser before you can ask, “why?”
On Michael Conniff’s show today Barry Schochet regurgitated the popular myth that peace is not possible between Israel and the Palestinians because a majority of the Palestinians don’t want peace and want to take all of Israel for themselves. This myth of hatred has been perpetuated by the Israel propaganda machine for so long now that it is accepted as fact by a majority of Americans including Mr. Schochet, despite Conman’s touting him as the “resident expert.”
Apparently Barry didn’t bother to check the facts before blurting out this arrogant racist statement. But why should he, no one cares about the facts. The truth is, as Al Gore says; inconvenient. Claiming that the Palestinians are the obstacle to peace allows Israel to continue its illegal settlement of Palestinian land. “They hate us” is all Israel and American supporters of Israel need to justify the continued denial of the creation of a Palestinian homeland.
So here’s the betrayal: you might not be old enough to know this, but when CDs replaced LPs, we were told by the electronics industry that they were virtually indestructible—that they would last forever.
So what did we do? We bought all of our old favorite records in CD, and most of the time that worked out. (Though where, oh where, did John McLaughlin’s guitar solo go in “Inner Mounting Flame” by the Mahavishnu Orchestra? That one’s a crime against humanity.) Some audiophiles grumbled the loss of this or that in the re-telling, but most of us could not have told the difference if a stun gun was to our head. Most people eventually dumped their record collections.
Today’s Best-of Congames radio broadcast was devoted to religion—a call from a Lutheran listener who spoke as articulately on religion as ever I’ve heard a person speak, and I’ve heard many. (My apologies I do not remember his name, for he certainly merits recognition in this post.)
During the call, Michael asserted that to be a U.S. President, a candidate must declare a devotion to Jesus Christ. The conversation turned to the religious beliefs of the founding fathers, and then to the beliefs of Benjamin Franklin. The caller claimed Franklin was agnostic. Michael questioned this and said he’d have to consult Walter Isaacson’s Benjamin Franklin: An American Life.
“We all long for a world in which every child born has the chance to flourish. What are the choices we need to make which will move the world in that direction? We must consider those choices very carefully. Saving people is not the same thing as empowering people to save themselves. If we fail to see this distinction, then we may cause enormous chaos. There is nothing more powerful than putting our own house in order, stabilizing our population, lowering our consumption, planning for the welfare of our descendants, and setting an example of enlightened self government for the world.”
So why do I interrupt, in general, and why did I continually interrupt Yeh Ling-Ling in particular?
It wasn't actually anything she said but that she wouldn't stop saying it because she cares so much. It's been the same way almost every immigration Wednesday on "Con Games," with the people who care the most able to talk term papers about the minutae of the subject matter. My belief is that any number of them could have easily talked for the entire twenty minutes or so of the interview.
It's the same with politicians: they give speeches when you ask questions, and with them it's even worse, because their words are rehearsed and repeated until they turn into granite. They keep saying things over and over until those things become little more than words--or, if you prefer, sound bytes. The sonic equivalent of rigor mortis.
OK, other then the Conman's show, what other left wing radio show has had any success? Answer...none. Air America trying to recover from its recent declaration of bankruptcy stooped to a new low this week by accusing, ON AIR, of the "Right Wing" physically attacking a show host for their views.
"An Air America talk-show host who accused "the right wing hate machine" of being responsible for an alleged attack on an on-air colleague did a fast backpedal Tuesday, apologizing for "jumping to conclusions" about a now-debunked mugging report.
