Holy Buck, Fatman!

I would gladly take hair brained yuppies living in my neighborhood rather than her.

That’s It, I’m handing in my resignation, giving up all my worldly possessions  and taking this job.

Why that is awesome. AAAND—y today’s exchange rate, I’ll be paid a helluva lot more $$, too!

It’s 1:30pm on a Tuesday afternoon and I am sitting in my Downtown DC office listening to my streaming public radio station, WYPR. Except there is something inherently wrong with the whole scene. Right now, I’m used to listening to the Marc Steiner show which allows me participation in discussion about issues that effect me directly as a resident of Baltimore City. As of Friday, February 1, 2008, there is no Marc Steiner show. Instead, I’m half listening to some bullshit broadcast out of New York City. What the fuck do I care about some stupid ass NY Giants ticker tape parade or Mardi Gras coverage out of New Orleans? Where is the community discussion regarding issues effecting Baltimore City and Maryland as a whole? WTF?!?!?!!?!?

Marc has read several of my e mail responses on the air regarding several issues of importance to me. When Gerry, the older guy who calls in every day to rant loudly, Marc listened and always politely told him when his time was up BUT–always gave him an audience. He wasn’t ever rude to his listeners even when they had an opposing viewpoint. His guests ranged from John Waters and Cal Ripken Jr. to Governors O’ Malley, Ehrlich, as well as various Congress Critters, Senators and State, City and County Legislators. (even Molly Ringwald which delighted my inner sixteen year old to no end) He always reminded his guests that each of them would have a chance to respond equally and discouraged ad hominem attacks and yelling. His special broadcast about the Vietnam war and the vets who fought were both touching and haunting.

I tuned in yesterday and thought, “Oh, must be a day off”. I didn’t it give much thought. Imagine my surprise when I caught the Today section of the Sun Paper on my way to DC this AM. HUH?!?!?!?!? While I enjoy the Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU, it’s not very informative regarding Baltimore/Maryland issues. Sheiliah Kast’s Maryland Morning is a fine show, but it doesn’t really allow for much audience participation. Today she spoke with Marc and Tony Brandon regarding the separation. Tony blames ratings as his number one reason to let Marc go.

I call total and utter bullshit.

Marc responded today on his blog. His decision to leave without taking the “hush money” is admirable. We are now witnessing the death of community radio and real community coverage of issues effecting all of us at a local level.

I haven’t listened to FM radio since clear channel invaded the airwaves changing how we are fed information. Local news is all owned by large conglomerates and only reports sensationalists news beside human interest fluff pieces that lend little or nothing to the efforts of local community leaders in their work to improve our lives. I can’t stand foolish morning shows on silly radio stations and crave intelligent discourse on issues either national or local. When JHU changed to WYPR, I made the switch permanent.

It’s insane to take away the only show that the local audience directly participated in and state that it had to do with ratings. Ratings? What are you measuring the ratings against? Tony Brandon’s letter to the listeners explaining the rash decision tells us that all other shows such as Fresh Air, The Diane Rehm show and a host of other NPR sydicates won’t be affected. Uh…But….what about local discussion?

It’s seems that some of Marc’s discussion topics were really making the corporate underwriters very unhappy. Feathers were ruffled some time back and this separation, as Marc details in his latest blog post, was a long time coming as they slowly removed him from decision making positions over time. Of course, I’m speculating, but what other conclusion can I arrive at? I’ve always maintained that control of the public will NOT be from the government, but from corporations that manipulate the flow of information to the people. They need us and will go to great lengths to ensure that we, the public, believe they are acting in OUR best interests. ha. riiiiiiiiiight.

Local Maryland/Baltimore discussion will have to reinvent itself in the last bastion of free expression: the internet. We see a ton of local blogs that highlight local issues, events and discussions happening around the city and the state. While some are personal anecdotes of dealing with crime, BG$E rate increases, Property taxes, The suckitude of the Orioles and various commentary on local events, we do have some informative community blogs that tackle straight news and announcements about town. We need more.

Don’t let the discussion on local issues die with a few rich assholes who claim they’re going to keep local discussion alive. At this point in time I can only assume that if they even allow the public a forum to discuss issues, it won’t be on topics that damage the reputation of the almighty corporation. Clean, nice fluff that appeals to more *ahem* dare I say it, conservative viewpoints will probably be showcased.

I was going to donate this year. I’m not any longer. As for listening at work, I’ll have to settle for Kojo. He might not deal with issues effecting my locality, but at least he prompts local discussion.

As outlined previously, I did have a great Christmas (aside from the crappy ass flights). However—those crappy ass flights have given way to a hazard people are faced with when stuck on airplane for more time then they wish. On Saturday, Mister Fatman brought home Rockband for the xbox thingy we own and we made merry with the neighbors. I had mentioned that i felt a cold coming on. Not to bad—just a stuffy nose.

The next day I was in bed. Headache, body aches—you name it. It was awful. Monday, New Years Eve—We had a party to attend.  I made it to midnight and then totally crashed. I was dead to the world.  The next day was a freaking joke. Mister Fatman and I were supposed to host a New Years Day Brunch. It turned out to be only Mister Fatman’s show. I was down for the count. Later on that evening, a quick reading of the thermometer told us that I had a fever of 104. yes, Folks—I was THAT sick.

Which leads me to today. Today—at 6pm est—is the first time I have felt good enough to get out of bed. That doesn’t mean that I feel 100%—I just feel good enough to get out of bed and type on my ‘puter.

Now I’m not typically a superstitious person, but being sick on the new year can’t be good.  Eh—Fuck that. I’m not superstitious. It is what is is. I got handed a bunch of lemons. I makin’ some lemonade. I may throw some Jack Daniels into it and make it the Lynchburg Variety.

This year was the first time that I have ever traveled during the holidays. I’ve heard about weather SNAFUS and other hellish experiences, but always laughed and said, “I’ll never be traveling…”

Well, we opted for the midwestern Xmas this year and traveled to see Mister Fatman’s family and friends. The stay was fantabulous as outlined in my previous post. The flights, however, sucked.

It started with our initial departure from Baltimore as the weather in our connecting city seemed to be throwing a wrench into just about everything. As luck would have it, our first leg of the flight was overbooked and they were looking for volunteers to bump. What the hell? We decided that an upgrade to first class and three free tickets to anywhere in the continental US was worth waiting for a morning flight. Flying first class was a real treat, too. A socialist could get used to that kind of Bourgeois treatment real quick.  Probably won’t happen again anytime soon.

So, fast forward to today. Our departure was scheduled for 6:29pm CEN. At about 1pm, I got an automated telephone call that told me our flight to Chicago was canceled. It seems United can’t get it’s shit together.

Well, fuck.

The customer service guy in India told me that I was pretty much SOL unless I was at the airport. Taking his kind advice, we hopped into the car, drove to the airport and stood in the mega line with other affected passengers.  The counter lady was awesome and actually got us on a flight through Denver instead of Chicago. Of course, Murphy’s Law would dictate that weather being the initial culprit of our holiday travel woes would now be shitting things up in Denver.  I firmly believe that shitty weather is following us.

That brings me to right now. I’m riding on some pay wireless (bastards) waiting for our delayed plane OUT of Denver to FLY US BACK TO DENVER! Yeah, stupid right? Southwest Airlines is still offering 298$ one way business class (when did cattle call airlines start offering assigned seating?) to BWI. That’s a whopping 800$ out of our pocket. Not really interested in paying that out right now. We will more then likely be taking our chances.

There is one valuable lesson we learned this trip: When you can Bump—-BUMP! Rack up as MANY freebies as humanly possible! Next year the Fatman Family will be going to San Francisco.

of Our xBox 360.  It died just as we were about to plug in Guitar Hero II. We are hopeful that the folks at Microsoft breathe new life into our green box of love soon.

*sniff*

You’re kidding, right?

Kidding……right?

TOTALLY KIDDING, RIGHT?  NO! YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING. STOP THIS ASSUALT ON MY WALLET, DAMMIT!

Grain and Corn prices are already out of control. And the Fed says Inflation is not a problem.

Riiight.

With the state of the country, it’s hard not to get teary eyed when you think about the what ifs when it comes to Al Gore, especially when the Bush Administration hands us another one of their massive blunders. Of course, when it was announced that Gore won the Nobel Prize for Peace, those “What if” thoughts creeped into our national conscience again.

Seriously, what would have been different? Gore would have been blocked at every attempt to get something done by the Republican congress. The right wing noise machine would have cried foul every time he addressed Global Climate change or suggested that we agree to the Kyoto Protocol. I remember the late 90’s when Clinton was blocked on doing anything because Repubs found out that he sometimes thought with his cock. (Uhhh..Cockblocked?–Hahaha. I crack myself up) I can’t help but think that Gore would have been stuck in that perpetual stalemate with a GOP congress as well.

Someone once gave me awesome advice about dealing with a very adversarial individual. She simply told me that if I were to just leave the situation alone, the person would just fuck up and lose everything anyway. How right she was. It happened just as she had predicted. Arrogance and self righteousness destroyed the person and it was better then constantly trying to change someone who simply thought they were right. You can’t argue with people who live in an alternate reality.

Perhaps things happen for a reason. Perhaps Gore was robbed of the Presidency for several reasons. Maybe we all needed to sit back and watch the GOP implode upon itself to see the real lunacy of the circus. Perhaps we really needed that wake up call in 2006 to gain a Dem controlled congress, despite the constant inability to get anything worth it done. It’s a start. Now if we can get the rest of America away from the Americanidoltopmodelawesomechefbachelor reality teevee, then we can get even more done.

Gore is working hard to focus attention to the importance of Global climate change. Someone needs to, right? His work is important because it seems that he is the only person anyone seems to listen to. The right, of course cannot stand that people are listening to him, so they just try to discredit him. Now it’s time to let them go batshit insane and watch as Gore emerges from each attack a graceful leader working towards real change on something he cares passionately about.

EVERYTHING causes cancer.

Every vice, that is. Now, researchers have shown that consumption of alcohol, any kind of alcohol, will increase a woman’s chance of developing Breast Cancer by nearly 10% if one alcoholic beverage is consumed every day.  If you drink that second glass of wine with your dinner (thinking you’re keeping that heart disease at bay), You’re putting yourself at an even increased risk for Breast Cancer.

Goddammit.

Why is it that every single vice is bad for you? Even in moderation? What.The.Fuck?

Yes, I have an increased risk of developing Breast Cancer because my mother is a survivor. Because of this, I am subjected to a yearly boob squish or MRI every year. I do not mind this; in understand that it is part of well check ups and early detection. So, if I want to decrease my risk even further, I must severely curtail  my favorite social past time? Fuck. FUCKITY FUCK FUCK FUCK!

When you see someone you love die of cancer,   a part of you doesn’t   want to go through that horror yourself.  So you take every precaution, change your habits and make sure to be vigilant on news surrounding potential research on the disease. It starts to get increasingly difficult to live this way all the time,(because, you know, Stress raises your risk of breast cancer, too!) so you often find yourself saying,  “Well, now that I have witnessed death, I know it’s inevitable, so screw it. Enjoy life!”

I can tell you that I fall into  living in the “Enjoy Life!” camp. I socialize at a corner bar. I have a few too many on the weekends sometimes. I drink a beer or two after work.  I LIKE TO DRINK BEER. and wine. And tequila. Not all in the same night, mind you. But, yes, those are my drinks of choice. Reading that having drinks  in moderation even, can raise your risk is like giving someone a shovel to start digging their own grave.

I’m sure my habits aren’t life threatening and with pervention, I’ll be fine.

What troubles me is the fact that this news could start a movement within insurance companies to raise premiums on women who might drink a cocktail on occasion. With the risk of developing breast cancer nearly 1 in 8 women, it would not surprise me in the least that insurance companies (both life & health) would use such data to cash in. Healthcare companies could potentially start to deny benefits to women with histories of alcoholism in their family citing a “risk”.  Could this happen? It’s not likely since drinking is somewhat socially acceptable. But, then again, when we look at history, we can see that one group of people were wildly successful in passing temperance legislation. I believe these are important questions   worth discussing, even if we come to the conclusion that it’s a bit tin foil hat like. I don’t trust the Insurance industry.

Either way, It’s Friday and I’ll be having a few drinks, despite what was recently published.  Bottoms up.