LEE RODGERS
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20120812.htm August 12 --

IS AMERICA READY FOR ADULT BEHAVIOR? ...
IS OUR FUTURE TO BE SEEN IN EUROPE'S PAST? ...
COLORS ON THE MAP: THEY CAN BE SEEN FOR-REAL

The Romney-Ryan ticket offers the nation a clear choice: Is the electorate finally prepared to behave in a financially responsible and grown-up way? I fear the answer, for the "gimme" mentality is so widely and deeply ingrained that it may perpetuate the worst presidency in history.

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It is important that Paul Ryan, like all vice-presidential candidates, remember rule #1 for that role. It is the same as the oft-quoted key principle in doctors' hippocratic oath: First, do no harm.

It's good that Wisconsin state law permits him to run simultaneously for re-election to his congressional seat. In a worst-case scenario -- a Romney loss -- he would be more important than ever as a voice in the House.

Essential Ryan quote: "We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. And this idea was founded on the principles of liberty, freedom, free enterprise, self-determination, and government by consent of the governed."

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I was talking with a friend -- American -- who was largely educated in Japan and especially in Germany.
     This person, knowledgeable about the history of both countries, suggested that anyone who wants to understand the current trend in the
U.S. would do well to study the history of Germany in the 1930's, focusing on the political machinations.
     Then tremble.

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... and more on that subject ...
Professor Walter Williams finds echoes of Nazi Germany stirring in the U.S. today ...
     "The unspeakable horrors of Nazism didn't happen overnight. They were simply the end result of a long evolution of ideas leading to consolidation of power in central government in the quest for "social justice." It was decent but misguided earlier generations of Germans -- who would have cringed at the thought of genocide -- who created the Trojan horse for Hitler's ascendancy. Today's Americans are similarly accepting the massive consolidation of power in Washington in the name of social justice.
     "If you don't believe it, just ask yourself: Which way are we headed tiny steps at a time -- toward greater liberty or toward more government control over our lives? Perhaps we think that we are better human beings than the German people who created the conditions that brought Hitler to power. I say, don't count on it."

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Liberal hypocrites are still tut-tutting over Mitt Romney's obviously true observation about culture being a major factor in a society's success or failure. Since the remark was made in Israel, it was correctly inferred that he was comparing Israel and the endlessly whining -- and failed -- hate-obsessed Palestinian Arabs.
     It brought memories of my own first visit to Israel.
     Perhaps you, too, remember as a small child observing that different countries on a world map or globe were colored differently.
     I was reminded of that the first time I saw Israeli and Arab lands side-by-side. Israel lush and green. The Arab side brown and dusty.
     There was obviously no difference in the soil, only in development by the inhabitants.
     It was true then, and it still is today. Arab peoples are still mostly willing prisoners of a culture that is inimical to human progress, however defined.

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One wonders if/when we'll have a presidential administration that gets over the self-deluding bull-bleep that we have "allies" in the Afghans and stop turning a blind eye to the ongoing slaughter of American troops by those very same "allies."

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Question for NASCAR fans:
     Is Danica Patrick extraordinarily unlucky ... or is she just not very good as a race driver?
     Never has so much hype been expended on a driver with so little result to justify it.

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A life in radio ...
     Scotty's girl and the big crash.
     It happened in St. Louis. I was hired as Operations Manager to revive a powerful but dead (in the ratings) radio station owned by the Pulitzer family whose name is on the Pulitzer Prize. As I've often mentioned, working for them was no prize.
     They got their money's worth from me. The ratings zoomed upward and so did advertising revenue.
     One of the elements in the rebuild was my hiring of a talented young man who had been working on-air at an east coast station. Scotty was single and led an active social life. Shortly after his arrival he hooked up with a voluptuous young woman who, as I recall, worked at the Playboy Club.
     She was not shy about displaying her abundant -- and unencumbered -- bosom, which precipitated a memorable on-air moment at our sister TV station, located in the same building.
     One evening shortly after 6PM she arrived to meet Scotty. Since it was after office hours, the big doors to the TV news studio were open. That studio was adjacent to the radio control room and studios. The evening news was being delivered by the usual team. It was the standard two-camera operation; one with a wide shot that encompassed everyone behind the semi-circular desk, the other used for closeups of the individuals in the cast.
     The cameras were side-by-side, about four feet apart. The cameramen had their backs to the open doors, but their curiosity was aroused when they saw the anchorman's eyes suddenly widen. Scotty's girlfriend was walking down the hall toward them before turning into the next-door radio studio. She was wearing a virtually transparent blouse ... no bra ... displaying twin wonders that would have made Marilyn Monroe look like an undernourished boy..
     The cameraman on the left turned to his right, turning the camera as he did so. The cameraman on the right turned to his left ... ditto. And the viewers were treated the sight of two television cameras crashing head-on into each other.
     Doubtless the ratings would have improved if they'd turned the full 180-degrees and shown why the news team had suddenly become so distracted.

This recollection was prompted by an e-mail from Scotty a few days ago after being out-of-touch for many years. He's living in Los Angeles and pursuing a career in movies. I never learned what happened to the girlfriend; I do wonder if she still defies gravity.

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Conan O'Brien --
     "The U.S. women's soccer team won the gold medal at the Olympics. I just want to say all of us in America are happy for the athletes and thrilled we don't have to watch soccer for four more years."

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Gene offers this one ...
     After a very busy day, a commuter settled down in her seat and closed her eyes as the train departed.
      As the train rolled out of the station, the guy sitting next to her pulled out his cell phone and started talking in a loud voice:  “Hi sweetheart it’s Eric, I’m on the train…..yes, I know it’s the six thirty and not the four thirty but I had a long meeting…..no, honey, not with that floozie from the accounts office, with the boss. No sweetheart, you’re the only one in my life…..yes, I’m sure, cross my heart” 
      Fifteen minutes later, he was still talking loudly, when the young woman sitting next to him, obviously angered by his continuous diatribe, yelled at the top of her voice:”Hey, Eric, turn off that stupid  phone and come back to bed!”
      Eric doesn’t use his cell phone in public any longer.
Lee Rodgers"...and now, if you'll excuse me..."
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