Beach Blanket Blogging

I'm writing this blog post on my new Palm Treo while on a beach on the southern coast of Cape Cod. I am literally on a beach blanket. The water is nice and it's sunny, though with a stiff breeze.
It's not all blogging. I snorkled. To me snorkeling is the best part of beach going. Today I saw a huge spider crab and a striped bass over a foot long. I also flew kites with my nieces.
Obviously this post will be edited once I am back at my desktop.

This post is completely insignificant, but the point is that I CAN do it.

Carr Jumps Sinking Ship

The big news in Boston media has to be Howie Carr trying to end his contract with WRKO and defect to WTTK. Carr, is WRKO's afternoon drive time host and a Herald columnist. He's an influential figure in Boston politics and a strong right of center maverick in the bluer-than-blue Commonwealth. In a sense this dustup is not really surprising. When I met him at a function/signing for The Brothers Bulger, I asked him what was going on with WRKO. He shook his head at the station management.

First they hired Tom Finneran, the former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Carr loathes Finneran with a passion, calling him 'Tommy Taxes' and 'Felon Finneran.' Finneran reciprocated, while joking with Governor Deval Patrick, suggesting the proverbial one way trip for Carr. Their relationship has not improved since.

The other problem is that Carr is on in the afternoon drive time slot. But, starting this year WRKO broadcasts some Red Sox games, often preempting Carr's program. While conservative hsts (Limbaugh, Savage and Jerry Doyle) take up much of WRKO's airtime, schedule and lineup changes seem to indicate a management team uncomfortable with portwise personalities.

Today, and for much of this week, Carr has had guest hosts subbing in for him. Frankly they're not as adept a radio host as he is. Even if Carr can be lazy, going to a familiar routine of topics (immigration; 'hacks;' Kennedy bashing; bad beers of yore; and who on TV would you like to see naked), he is good with both banter and monologue. He is skilled with callers and guests.

Ironically, should Carr go to WTTK, he will occupy Don Imus's former timeslot. Carr's wife sued Imus for slander after Imus described an obscene scenario involving her and boxer Riddick Bowe. Imus was egged on by Mike Barnicle, another Carr foe whose disgrace and failings Carr enjoys repeating. One thing for sure. Carr can be cheerfully vindictive. He may very well get his ratings
revenge.

Tie Die?

          Time and tie wait for no man. The necktie's demise is something I have been observing for a while with some mixed emotions. The only occasions these days where I wear ties is when I appear in court or attending religious services or important family functions (Like the post Bar-Mitzvah parties). Growing up, I was an alienated youth at a school that had a sports jacket and necktie dress code. I have worn neckties to fruitless interviews and pointless job fairs. It will come as no surprise that I loathe wearing them. Of course, the fact that I have a thick neck (in proportion to my skull) did not help. They're uncomfortable and occasionally unwieldy. Sometimes, they can even be dangerous. Why do you think EMTs always loosen the ties immedeately?


          But the flip side is that, yes, men do look good in ties. Look at the photos of the days when ties were de rigeur even in situations that today are considered casual (a baseball game, for example). Turn on ESPN today and see the way folks are dressed now and it makes you wince. Don't get me wrong. Dress casual is great. But sometimes, even I am glad to wear the monkey suit and cloth noose.

Return of the Native

          I had, let's be blunt, abandoned this blog for a while. I had a new job and lost myself in it. (The fact that I had a brutal commute helped in that decision). But, for better or for worse, I am back.
          I've had some changes in my life, though at times, I feel as if I am stuck in amber, never making progress. Just like life, eh?
          Part of the reason I've not been talking or writing, lately. Politics has been depressing. The odious (Chavez, Mugabe, Ahmadinejad and Olberman) are ascendent. The Left's never ending assault on those with whom they disagree is bad enough. What is sickening is their Neville Chamberlain instincts, joining with forces that are antithetical to everything they claim to hold dear, just so they can defeat someone at the polls they would not want to invite to their cocktail parties.
          And Bush on the Congressional GOP pissed away many of his advantages too. Granted, much of it was not their fault. Katrina the incompetence of Democrat officials were recast as Republican malignancy. Of course they've had self inflicted wounds (pork and immigration).
          As for the War, if Bush did not invade Iraq, he'd still be assailed for actions real and imagined Afghanistan. Iraq is a necessary theater in the war against Islamic terror. And unlike the wars against nation states and their uniformed militaries, it won't be won with the speed of an advancing army. It's going to be long, slow and tedious. It means that we're going to have to return to territory reconquered. It means diplomacy and thoroughness. It means seemingly endless casualty lists and bombing against Iraqi civilians.
          Of course, defeat will mean a genuine, massive genocidal war will erupt in Iraq that will make these vicious little skirmishes pale in comparison.
          Well, nobody said it would be easy. Except for people trying to put words in Bush's mouth. But then that's part of the game.