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Words and Phrases That Should Be Permanently Retired

Posted by Bob Siegel on Friday, August 28, 2009 2:05:34 AM

Words can be very powerful and the twisted definition of a word can be dangerous. Here is a list of words and phrases that I would like to see permanently retired from our discussions.

1) "I find this offensive."

Today's generation gets offended far too easily. Some would be offended if a leaf fell from a tree. Frankly, I do not care if words offend. I care more about whether words are true. Our forefathers knew that free speech would often offend. Why else would they need to be protected by our constitution? Certainly, there is no reason to purposely offend people as an end in itself. We should never go out of our way to be rude, neither should we act self-righteous or inappropriately judgmental as Christians. But when somebody is offended simply by a manger scene, or a cross around the neck, or an opposing political viewpoint, then we must face the fact that we live in very thin skinned times and stop worrying so much about what offends.

2) Tolerance

"You sound intolerant!" people cry, in an effort to quickly shut up their opponent and end all discussion. But the truth is, nobody, and I mean nobody tolerates everything. Do you tolerate slavery? Do you tolerate racism? Do you tolerate rape? Do you tolerate murder?  OK, then each topic should be discussed on its own moral merits. When homosexuality comes up (the true subject hiding behind the word "tolerance")  the question should not be whether or not we tolerate the practice but why we do or not not tolerate the practice.

More words and phrases that need to be retired can be found in tomorrow's blog.

Words And Phrases That Should Be Peranently Retired: Part Two


The Bob Siegel Show can be heard every Sunday at 3:00 PM and Saturdays at 11:00 PM (Pacific Time) on KCBQ 1170 on the dial or KCBQ.com to listen live over the internet.


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Things Are Even Worse Than I Thought, And Believe Me, I Thought They Were Pretty Bad

Posted by Bob Siegel on Thursday, August 27, 2009 4:21:42 PM

A few days ago I sent out a very detailed blog about how Obama plans to reintroduce the Fairness Doctrine without calling it the Fairness Doctrine. On my list of evidence was the appointment of Mark Lloyd as "Diversity Officer" of the FCC. Anyway, my original article is linked below but today I must share an important update because the situation is already far more precarious than we knew.

We now have on record, a speech from Mr. Lloyd praising the administration of dictator Hugo Chavez and showing solidarity with his decision to shut down all opposing media. My friends, many of you know me well. I am not into conspiracy theories and the info below is no such thing.  It is a nightmare but one in which we cannot awaken from. This is the man advising our president. There are many other dangerous advisers but let's deal with one at a time. The proof is linked below and you can hear it for yourself. On You Tube, just watch this clip from Glen Beck, where he plays the speech. Now stop right there: Before you call Glen Beck a nut case, please remember that he was called the same when he predicted our current economic crises a year before it hit. Listen to the man for yourself instead of passing along what others are saying about him. The White House has done everything possible to insult and minimize Beck but one thing they have not done: They have not disputed any of this news, because it is indisputable. Instead, Obama is hoping you'll be too stupid to notice what he is doing as his workers quickly demonize anyone who challenges them.

Please forward this entire blog to as many people as you can. Then they will have a complete package: My two articles about the Fairness Doctrine itself and Obama's disguised Fairness Doctrine (in case they have not been following this discussion), along with the video on Beck's show. Please...I implore you...Pass this on before it is two late:


Mark Lloyd video on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF2C235fD7o

My two Fairness Doctrine articles:

 Obama Says He's Against the Fairness Doctrine: (But Don't Relax Just Yet.)

Let Me Try Explaining it One More Time, While It's Still Legal to Explain It




The Bob Siegel Show can be heard every Sunday at 3:00 PM and Saturdays at 11:00 PM (Pacific Time) on KCBQ 1170 on the dial or KCBQ.com to listen live over the internet.





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When a Politician Dies, the Result is Often...Well, Politics.

Posted by Bob Siegel on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 11:45:50 AM

It is always sad when somebody dies of brain cancer and I feel bad for the Kennedys right now but a few related matters also concern me.

1) I do not look forward to hearing speech after speech about what a wonderful person Ted Kennedy was. I do not know him as a person. Privately, he may have been a great guy and hopefully he is resting in peace with God. I do know his record as one of the most liberal Senators in our history, one to quickly demonize anyone who opposed him. I will not "celebrate' such characteristics simply because the man is dead and I dread the non-stop testimonials we are about to be bombarded with. They were deserved when we mourned his brothers. They are not deserved this time. At a private funeral, where friends and family are remembering the real man behind the political mask? That is another matter altogether.

2) This probably means that for the next few days there will be absolutely no other news story covered by our "24 hour news networks."

3) I am waiting, just waiting, to see the Democrats politicize this. Watch for the following: "In honor of Ted Kennedy's distinguished record and generous heart, we call upon Republicans and Democrats both, to come together and pass health care legislation. This is what the American people truly want to see us do at a sad time like this."


Also by Bob Siegel:

 The Liberal Manifesto



The Bob Siegel Show can be heard every Sunday at 3:00 PM and Saturdays at 11:00 PM (Pacific Time) on KCBQ 1170 on the dial or KCBQ.com to listen live over the internet.



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Have A Nice Vacation: And I Mean That From the Bottom of My Heart!

Posted by Bob Siegel on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 12:58:57 PM

A lot of discussion is going on over President Obama's vacation to Martha's Vineyard.  Some are asking if it is right for him to take a break while our country is in such bad shape. Others defend him by saying that a stressful job like his deserves its rest.

For myself, I say let him take just as much vacation as he needs.........And remember, every day Obama enjoys at Martha's Vineyard is one more day he will not be in Washington running the country.


Also by Bob Siegel:

 The Liberal Manifesto



The Bob Siegel Show can be heard every Sunday at 3:00 PM and Saturdays at 11:00 PM (Pacific Time) on KCBQ 1170 on the dial or KCBQ.com to listen live over the internet.


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Who Are You To Judge?

Posted by Bob Siegel on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 12:53:11 PM

QUESTION: You Christians and Conservatives, who are you to judge Islam or homosexuality or abortion?  Who are you to decide what is right or wrong?

ANSWER: Who do we have to be?


Also by Bob Siegel:

 The Liberal Manifesto



The Bob Siegel Show can be heard every Sunday at 3:00 PM and Saturdays at 11:00 PM (Pacific Time) on KCBQ 1170 on the dial or KCBQ.com to listen live over the internet.

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Obama Says He's Against the Fairness Doctrine: (But Don't Relax Just Yet.)

Posted by Bob Siegel on Monday, August 24, 2009 3:27:18 PM

" Bob, I have heard that President Obama is against bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, (an old FCC regulation, which, if brought back, would mandate an hour of Liberal Talk Radio for every hour of Conservative Talk Radio). If so, shouldn't Conservatives stop talking about this dead issue? They sound so paranoid."

Despite Obama's comments, much of our current congress is all for this hideous doctrine. People like Nancy Pelosi, Richard Durban and John Kerry have all voiced enthusiastic support. A Republican bill that would outlaw its return, has met resistance and little chance of passing.

True, Obama says he is against the Fairness Doctrine, but let's face facts: Obama is an expert at saying one thing and doing the exact opposite.

Obama says he has no desire to take over banks.
Obama says he has no desire to take over the auto industry.
Obama says he has no desire to grow government.

I don't know how he makes these comments with a straight face, but he does.  Oh yes, and Obama does not call himself a Socialist:

"I'm not a Socialist. I believe we should take money from the rich and redistribute it. I believe we should have the power to tell banks what kinds of loans to give out and what to pay their CEO's. And I believe we have the right to tell car companies what kinds of smog free cars to make, but no, I am not a Socialist."

The only evidence that Obama is not a Socialist is that he chooses not to call himself one. That's it!  Even Newsweek finally printed a magazine cover with the headline: "We Are All Socialists Now."

So he also says he's against the Fairness Doctrine. Whew! What a relief! Here is how the distaste was officially worded in a statement from the Obama campaign in June of 2008:

"Senator Obama does not support re-imposing the Fairness Doctrine on broadcasters," said press secretary Michael Ortiz in an e-mail to B&C late Wednesday.  "He considers this debate to be a distraction from the conversation we should be having about opening up the airwaves and modern communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible."

"That is why Senator Obama supports media ownership caps, network neutrality, public broadcasting, as well as increasing minority ownership of broadcasting and print outlets."

Hmm...Media ownership caps, network neutrality, opening up the media to diverse viewpoints...It's already open to diverse viewpoints. But the conservative viewpoints have more listeners and Liberals are absolutely livid over this, despite the fact that PBS (paid for partly by our tax dollars) is all Liberal. It seems that whenever the government does get involved with broadcasting, it is Conservatives who are not treated with "fairness." The only way government can open radio up even more to diversity is to legally insist on more time for other viewpoints. Otherwise, what exactly do we mean by "open it up to more viewpoints"?

In any event, it sounds like a lot of control over the media to me. In fact, it doesn't sound much different than the Fairness Doctrine. But don't worry. It won't be the Fairness Doctrine because Obama won't call it the Fairness Doctrine.

The Federal Communications Commission also has a loosely defined rule called "localism," which requires stations to "serve the interests of their local communities in order to hold onto their broadcast licenses."

Obama, (who recently put in his own FCC chairman, (Julius Genachowski), now has a chance to define localism his own way. For a hint of his future definition, look to the past: On September 20, 2007, Obama submitted a pro-localism written statement to an FCC hearing at the Chicago headquarters of Rev. Jessie Jackson's Operation Push. This says something about his "localism enthusiasm."  One month later, Obama wrote a letter to Chairman Martin stating, "The commission has failed to further the goals of diversity in the media and promote localism."

But there's another Obama FCC appointment: Obama recently installed Mark Lloyd as "Chief Diversity Officer" at the Federal Communications Commission. Sweet!  He doesn't believe in the Fairness Doctrine. He just believes the FCC needs a Chief Diversity Officer.

Lloyd has a history as a Democrat activist. He is known for his creative strategies to censor conservative media under the guise of "local accountability." In 2007 he co-wrote a report calling for the restoration of local and national caps on the ownership of commercial radio stations and fines for commercial radio station owners if their stations didn't air enough "progressive" content. Such fines would be distributed to liberal competitors with lower ratings and only a handful of listeners.

In Lloyd's own words: "Our conclusion is that the gap between conservative and progressive talk radio is the result of multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system, particularly the complete breakdown of the public trustee concept of broadcast, the elimination of clear public interest requirements for broadcasting, and the relaxation of ownership rules."

In a blog post, LCCR (Leadership Conference of Civil Rights) sponsored by George Soros, hailed the appointment of Lloyd, saying he would "help the FCC to develop communications policy that will increase media diversity and address the needs of low-income people, women, minorities, people with disabilities."  The LCCR and Lloyd have managed to avoid terms like "Fairness Doctrine." but in point of fact that stand behind every inch of what that suppressive idea is all about.

"We call for ownership rules that we think will create greater local diversity of programming, news, and commentary. And we call for more localism by putting teeth into the licensing rules," he wrote in an article on CAP's website, titled Forget the Fairness Doctrine.

But wait!  There's more. The brief excerpt below is from The American Spectator (2-16-09)


Senior Fcc staff working for acting Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps held meetings last week with policy and legislative advisers to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman to discuss ways the committee can create openings for the FCC to put in place a form of the Fairness Doctrine" without actually calling it such.

Waxman is also interested, say sources, in looking at how the Internet is being used for content and free speech purposes. "It's all about diversity in media," says a House Energy staffer, familiar with the meetings. "Does one radio station or one station group control four of the five most powerful outlets in one community?  Do four stations in one region carry Rush Limbaugh, and nothing else during the same time slot?  Does one heavily trafficked Internet site present one side of an issue and not link to sites that present alternative views?  These are some of the questions the chairman is thinking about right now, and we are going to have an FCC that will finally have the people in place to answer them."


Meanwhile, it is not altogether impossible that Obama will switch gears and just call this thing a Fairness Doctrine anyway. When Chris Wallace interviewed David Axelrod (top adviser to President Obama) about the Fairness Doctrine, he dodged the question, saying it would be "worked out between Obama and the new FCC President."

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has also been asked about it twice, maneuvering around the questions like a man walking through a mine field.

Finally, if Congress passes a bill calling for the doctrine, Obama could always sign it, saying it was not his place to over ride Congress.

Remember also:

-The Obama campaign tried to shut down Milt Rosenburg's radio show highlighting Stanley Kurtz as he talked about Obama connections with self confessed terrorist, Bill Ayers.

-Within a week of his televised question from Joe the Plummer, poor Joe was audited by the IRS (Amazing coincidence).

-Obama has also gone out of his way to tell people they should stop listening to programs like Rush Limbaugh so that we can "come together in unity."

-And just a few days ago, Obama claimed it was a "Right-Wing Conspiracy" that is pillaging his health care proposals.  If he were to pay attention to the polls, he would have to literally accuse over half the country of such a conspiracy.

I'm sorry. There is nothing, absolutely nothing about this man which suggests to me that he embraces free speech.  But I'll grant you one thing: Chances are, the new Fairness Doctrine will not be called the Fairness Doctrine. Whoopty Fricken Doo!



Read more about why the Fairness Doctrine is anything but, by Bob Siegel:

 Let Me Try Explaining it One More Time, While It's Still Legal to Explain It




The Bob Siegel Show can be heard every Sunday at 3:00 PM and Saturdays at 11:00 PM (Pacific Time) on KCBQ 1170 on the dial or KCBQ.com to listen live over the internet.










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Are Today's Christians Guilty of Bearing False Witness?

Posted by Bob Siegel on Monday, August 24, 2009 11:15:19 AM

On this week's Bob Siegel Show: President Obama had a conference call with certain select clergy, telling them that due to the abundance of disinformation about his health care plan, many are guilty today of "bearing false witness."  This Biblical phrase was meant to invoke a reaction from those who would claim to serve Christ.

But is Obama, (the self professing Christian) a true Christian in the Biblical sense of the term? Is he really in a position to challenge us about what Jesus would do?

This and many other topics are discussed.

The program aired 8-23-09 and can now be downloaded off of my website: www.bobsiegel.net


Download now.

8-23-09: Do Christians Bear False Witness?


The Bob Siegel Show can be heard every Sunday at 3:00 PM and Saturdays at 11:00 PM (Pacific Time) on KCBQ 1170 on the dial or KCBQ.com to listen live over the internet.

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What Conservatives and Liberals Do Not Understand From Each Other

Posted by Bob Siegel on Saturday, August 22, 2009 2:20:44 AM

I guess we've all heard the news by now. A Scottish judge released a Libyan terrorist responsible for blowing up a Pan-American plane, killing some three-hundred people. The man had been sentenced for life. The reason his sentence was abruptly cut short?  The poor terrorist has colon cancer. He will soon die anyway.  And so, the overly zealous mercenary was returned to Libya, where he received a hero's welcome.

With few exceptions, the Left does not understand why Conservatives would not follow suit with compassion toward those who want to kill us. Meanwhile, Conservatives ponder the realization that most people so eager to offer mercy to criminals, are also Pro-Choice. They sleep well at nights, knowing that the compassion we bestow upon terrorists is never directed toward unborn babies.


Also by Bob Siegel

The Liberal Manifesto



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We Get the Hint, Obama.

Posted by Bob Siegel on Thursday, August 20, 2009 2:11:17 PM

President Obama held a conference call with certain select clergy. He pointed out the disinformation going around about his new health care bill. He warned the ministers not to be found guilty of "bearing false witness."

Get it?  Wink, wink. Nod, nod. You see, these are Bible believers and the Bible tells us never to bear false witness.

What a timely, appropriate message, from Obama the self professing Christian. Of course...

-Obama doesn't believe Jesus is the only way of salvation even though Jesus clearly taught that He was.
-Obama believes only parts of the Bible are inspired. Which parts? The parts that do not contradict his Leftist agenda, silly!
-The man who "led Obama to Christ" and pastored him for 20 years is a racist and an anti-Semite who gave Luis Farrakhan the Man of the Year Award.
-Obama voted against the Illinois Infant Protection Act, thus promoting, not abortion, but infanticide.  I don't think I'm going out on too much of a limb to say that this one isn't compatible with Christianity either.

President Obama, only God knows your heart, but according to your actions and your beliefs, when you profess to be a Christian, it is YOU who bear false witness, so maybe you aren't in a position to lecture clergy simply because they do not agree with your health care proposal.

A NOTE TO OBAMA SUPPORTERS: Please resist the temptation to defend Obama by pointing out something hypocritical about George Bush's Christianity. For one thing, Bush isn't president anymore. He only becomes a convenient way of changing the subject and ignoring the deeds of our current president. For another thing, these moral equivalency arguments that try to equate the killing of innocent babies with the killing of terrorists in Iraq, are also unbiblical to anyone who cares to honestly read the Bible.

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Play It Smart For Once

Posted by Bob Siegel on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 4:12:25 PM

SOME ADVICE TO THE FEW REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS: The Democrats are falling apart and Obama Care may go the way of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Please...I implore you, do not misuse your temporary momentum with something stupid like a bi-partisan health care bill. Just let this turkey completely die in time for Thanksgiving.  Forget trying to impress the New York Times by showing them what a "compassionate Conservative you are."  They will not be impressed. They will demonize you no matter what you do, so you may as well do what is right.

Besides, in the minds of Liberals, the only true definition of "bi-partisanship" is that Republicans do things the way Democrats want them done.

So think of this and try to remember why there are so few of you in Washington right now. Your fellow Conservatives felt betrayed. Do not betray them again or 2010 will not only see less Democrats, but brand new Republicans measuring the drapes in your office.


Also by Bob Siegel:

The Liberal Manifesto

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So Now Ronald McDonald Is a Slasher?

Posted by Bob Siegel on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 12:12:25 AM

PETA (People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is at it again. I am tempted to say that they have topped themselves but actually, that ship sailed long ago. Still, the latest stunt from the amiable advocates of anti-animal animosity warrants some discussion.

Now they are going after McDonald's Happy Meals. OK, not the most nutritious menu for kids or anyone else, but then the health of human beings is not the concern of PETA anyway. Now they are standing outside McDonald's with Unhappy Meals. These include pictures of Ronald McDonald with a knife, portraying the clown as some kind of psychopathic chicken/cow slasher and the possible brother of Freddie. Oh yes, and ketchup is pictured as blood. Cute, huh?

Look, I do have problems with some of the inhumane ways in which animals are slaughtered. But I also have a problem with cruelty to children. Do kids really need to have nightmares because their parents tried to buy them a Happy Meal? Aren't there one or two more important things going on in the world right now to channel our energy toward so that the children can be spared this utter nonsense?  Besides, PETA objects to animals being used as food, period. They spend time on talk shows highlighting the torture of animals in meat factories because they know that is the only way to build sympathy from an audience which, if assurances of humane treatment were offered, have no problem eating meat.

The real irony with PETA is not that they elevate animal life, but rather, lower the value of human life.  While this McDonald's episode demonstrates little concern for the emotional health of children, it is tame compared to PETA's former crusades: When Palestinian terrorists blow up people, PETA says nothing. But when those same terrorists blow up donkeys, they go nuts.  And let's not forget the golden nugget of them all, a plate of fried chicken featured next to a picture of Auswitch Concentration Camp with a caption reading, "The New Holocaust."   FLASH: Real Nazis and people with Nazi type philosophies are still poisoning our world. How can we educate a new generation into taking a stand when organizations like PETA are numbing us? Nothing will water down what the authentic Nazis did more than making all meat eaters into Nazis.

Since Happy Meals come with a prize, perhaps a moral compass should be added. That way, we can share at least part of the meal with our friends from PETA.


Also by Bob Siegel:

The Liberal Manifesto




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Can Unbelieving Directors Put Christian Themes in Films?

Posted by Bob Siegel on Monday, August 17, 2009 11:38:52 AM

On this week's Bob Siegel Show: Film critic, Mark Bubien believes that because we are all made in the image of God, oftentimes the arts reflect this, resulting in Christian themes, even from non-Christians.

Mark particularly finds such symbolism in Science Fiction. Some old classics are discussed along with reviews of three summer movies, Transformers, Up, and District 9.

This show originally broadcast on 8-16-09 and can now be downloaded off of my website: www.bobsiegel.net

Download now:

8-16-09: Christian Themes in Films



The Bob Siegel Show can be heard every Sunday from 3:00-4:00 PM Pacific Time and every Saturday at 11:00 PM Pacific Time on KCBQ 1170 on the dial or KCBQ.com to listen live over the internet.

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Even A Bad Disaster Movie Wouldn't Have Been So Implausible

Posted by Bob Siegel on Friday, August 14, 2009 1:01:23 PM

U.N. Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon is very concerned about Global Warming.  Sharing such passion by making a speech in Incheon, South Korea, his words sounded more dire than Cassandra of Troy:

"We have just four months. Four months to secure the future of our planet."

I found Charlton Heston in Soylent Green more convincing.

Still, if you're wondering about the Secretary General's sincerity, I remind you that this genius also blamed Muslim violence in Darfur on Global Warming. If not for the drying of the sub-Sahara, people would stop fighting over land. See the logic?

OK. Somebody has to pose an obvious question, so it might as well be me: Why isn't this man in a padded cell?  And who, instead, do we put in padded cells these days while we make a man like Ban-Ki-Moon U.N. Secretary General?


Also by Bob Siegel:

 The Liberal Manifesto
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The Day Those Big Phones Started Having Little Children

Posted by Bob Siegel on Thursday, August 13, 2009 5:51:56 PM

Lots of chatter is going on about Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who both answered and talked on her cell phone in the middle of a question from a Cancer stricken lady in the town hall audience.

Controversial as the whole town hall thing has been these past couple of weeks, I am willing to accept the possibility that Miss Lee answered her phone innocently without any intentions of deliberate sabotage. Don't get me wrong. Despite her intentions, the result was still rudeness. In fact, it was incredibly rude, but not any more so than the way most people handle their cell phones these days.

I have a cell phone myself, of course. It's a wonderful convenience and I can barely remember anymore what it was like without one. How nice to be able to follow friends on a road trip without worrying that your hot shot buddy is going to lose you so that he can brag about what good time he made.

Still, the cell phone is a double-edged sword.  In its own rite, I always considered the older land line phone to be an intrusive device anyway. Don't you enjoy standing in some store line for ten minutes. Then, when they are finally ready to take you, the phone rings and the call automatically trumps any customer who is there in the flesh.  Remember saying to yourself,  "Hey, I actually took the time to come down here. Why does some meatball get first priority over me just because he dialed a phone?"

Or you're in the middle of a heavy conversation with a friend and their phone rings. "I'm sorry," they tell you, "But I really need to take this call."

Or a bunch of people have gathered together to watch a video. The phone rings and instead of pretending you are viewing this movie in a theater the way the good Lord intended it to be seen, somebody feels obligated to grab the phone.

Once a friend of mine picked me up late for a ride to the airport. I almost missed my plane. Her excuse? "The phone just wouldn't stop ringing this morning." When I had the unmitigated gall to ask her why she bothered to answer the phone while running late, she said, "I feel guilty if I don't pick up the phone."  Quite a society we have become, conditioned to jump every time a bell rings.

And then, there are the solicitors who neither hear the word "no" nor offer the word "salesman."  Instead, they begin with, "Mr. Siegel, how do three weeks in London sound?"

Enter from stage left, THE CELL PHONE. Now our daily situations of life can be interrupted about a hundred times as much. They go off at the banks. They go off at restaurants. They go off in the middle of church. They go off in the middle of movie theaters. They go off in the middle of plays. When people pick them up, they do not talk, they shout. That's because we are used to the days when we spoke on a phone in the privacy of our home. We raised our voices to make sure we were heard on the other end and our hot wind was not rude because we were not in a public place.  Nothing more fun than waiting in a bank line behind somebody who is shouting into his phone. Sometimes the person is unaware of how loud he sounds. Other times, I suspect they enjoy feeling important as the rest of us witness the amorphous business deal being made right before our very eyes.

The latest fashion is the ear piece. Now it just looks like somebody talking to himself.  A couple of months ago, I walked into Taco Bell.  The lady at the cash register looked me in the eye and said, "May I take your order?" I started ordering. She raised her hand and said, "Not you sir." She was talking to a drive through customer through the wonder of ear pieces and her tone made me feel like quite the fool. Silly me. A lady behind a counter stares at my face, asks for an order, and like a complete idiot who doesn't know any better, I start ordering.

Once, while in a movie theater a cell phone rang from a guy sitting next to me. It was his wife. I should not have known that but I did because the little discussion with Lamby Pie was impossible to miss. "What do you want?" he said sounding quite irritated. "I'm at the movies."

I guess he must have felt she had some nerve calling him at such a time. Of course, he had the nerve to let his phone ring, pick it up and talk.  Sometimes people are surprised to discover that they are not the only ones in a theater. NEWS FLASH: Often, others are also in the room and some of them would actually like to be able to watch the movie.

A few years ago, I took my daughter to see My Fair Lady. As the overture started, a cell phone went off. For some reason I'll never understand this side of heaven, these huckleberrys are always sitting next to me.  At least this time, the joker seemed to be aware that there were others in the theater and that he ought not to be on his cell phone. Unfortunately, this burst of revelation did not encourage him to turn it off. He still took the call. "I can't talk long, because the show just started..."

Oh yes, and now the phones don't ring anymore. They play colorful little jingles. My favorite is the sequence of melody that repeats itself three times, each one louder than the last.  But that's only one of thousands to choose from. Nothing more fun than preaching a sermon and suddenly hearing Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach from the third row.

And so, let's not be too hard on Congresswoman Lee. After all, a Congresswoman is supposed to represent the people. Her rudeness and stupidity do that quite well.

POSTSCRIPT:  I kid you not: I am typing this article at Starbucks on my lap top.  Even as I write, a lady is conducting business over her cell phone and the rest of us are being treated with all the details.


Also by Bob Siegel:

 The Liberal Manifesto By Bob Siegel at 9:13 PM on 5/28/2009



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How Many Times Are They Going To Play That Same Wild Card?

Posted by Bob Siegel on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 6:09:57 PM

Once again, the Left, when unable to win in the arena of ideas, stoops to name calling.  No surprises to be sure, but one might have expected something better from our Speaker of the House. Last week, Nancy Pelosi dismissed the uncounted numbers of vocal protesters at Democrat town hall forums, by pointing out that such people bring swastikas to the meetings. Ah... that wild card of wild cards, the NAZI card. As a Jew whose own people were literally murdered by the real, honest to goodness NAZIS, I get awfully sick and tired of seeing people cry wolf.  It minimizes the true blood stained heritage of Hitler. Today's Liberal definition of a NAZI seems to be anyone who disagrees with Liberals.

For the record: After Pelosi made her comment, people looked long and hard over the abundance of video footage at recent town hall meetings to find out what she was talking about. At first they found nothing. Eventually, a picture surfaced of a woman holding a sign and this sign did indeed have a swastika. But there was a line drawn through the swastika, meaning that this woman was against NAZIS. Bottom portions of the sign indicated that she was calling Obama a NAZI. Since then, we have discovered other activists carrying pictures of Obama with a Hitler type moustache.

Now mind you, Pelosi fully realizes that 99.9 percent of the protesters did not carry such signs, but she is smart enough to know that the mainstream media will immediately seize upon whatever few kooks they can find, all the while dismissing the friendly, intelligent dissenters who characterize the main body of this reactionary movement.

But her disingenuosness goes even farther. By merely mentioning that people "came to the meeting with swastikas," Miss Pelosi was implying that these were NAZI sympathizers, not people worried that a movement similar to the NAZIS might soon spread throughout our country.

I do believe it is wrong and unfair to call Obama a NAZI or to compare him with Hitler. But such concern is a separate discussion. If Pelosi wanted to complain that Obama was being unjustly labeled, that would have been another matter altogether. It is true that Obama's view of infanticide and efforts to pit rich against poor remind us of very early NAZI ideas, but still, when we think of Nazism today, we envision death camps, gassings and ovens. It would be cruel and foolish to hold Obama up against those kinds of horrific deeds. Maybe it was only the early forms of Nazism that were on the minds of the protesters, but even so, funky signs do not advance any significant discussion. Volcanically charged NAZI symbols accomplish nothing and destroy credibility.

While we are on that subject, I encourage anyone reading this blog, to do a quick Google search and see how often the Left compared George Bush to Hitler the 8 years he was in office. Is it just me? I do not seem to recall Miss Pelosi urging her constituents to stop such inflammatory talk. But then, why should she? Such integrity would not have advanced her own political career and at the end of the day, that seems to be the only thing this disgraceful woman is all about.


Also by Bob Siegel:

 The Liberal Manifesto By Bob Siegel at 9:13 PM on 5/28/2009




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