A Bit of Rambling

I'm kind of at a loss what to write about today, so I thought I'd just ramble a bit.

Because I spend a good bit of time in the car, I listen to a lot of radio. I listen mainly to two stations: one that plays light rock/oldies and the other is a talk radio station. I sometimes supplement this with my own music CDs. I started listening to talk radio this summer for the first time, because I got tired of music all the time. The talk radio station is mainly local programming with a bit of national syndicated stuff thrown in, which I find amusing at times, with the mistakes and the folksy tone of it. Sometimes, it's almost like listening to a radio station from the past. There's a woman with uncertain diction and enunciation doing ad spots; in one ad for a plant nursery, she talks about "sprucin gup" your yard" and another about a retirement community where she urges seniors to start, "en-JOINGGG!" life". There's a local lawyer who does his own commercials who refers to the "Sosill security adminisKration"(social security administration). And they've got a new young man reading the news who dutifully reports on car "adsidents". That's right, ADSIDENTS. At first I thought I heard wrong, but he's said accident this way every time I've listened, which is a new one on me. It makes me wonder why his supervisor doesn't correct his pronunciation.

Lately, the light rock station is playing Christmas music 24/7, which I don't mind, but listening to the talk shows is a welcome respite when I'm about to OD on HoHoHo. There's a consumer show that talks about avoiding ripoffs and a show from the state capital about happenings around the state. There's also Neal Boortz, with whom I strongly disagree about sixty percent of the time, but for the other forty percent with which I agree, it's great to listen to -- especially when he demolishes the arguments of Christian fundamentalists who call to disagree with him. But this station devotes three and a half straight hours to sports talk each day, which bores the hell out of me, so it's back to HoHoHo, when that comes on. Sports are great to play, can be fun to watch, but analyzing them in minute detail is a sure cure for insomnia for me.

Yesterday, there was a funeral in my town for a soldier who died in Iraq. There were reports that Fred Phelps and his band of misfit fundamentalist wackos were going to show up to protest this young man's funeral, so the Patriot riders, a group of bikers sworn to protect the privacy of the families and preserve the dignity of such funerals were on hand to honor this fallen soldier. Local townspeople, interested in augmenting the bikers were also on hand, lined along the funeral procession route with supportive signs. Fortunately, none of Phelps' band of misanthropic misfits showed up and the funeral went off without a hitch.

For those who aren't familiar with Fred Phelps, he is a fundamentalist preacher who has made it his life's work to protest the funerals of all American soldiers killed in Iraq. Why, you might ask? Well, he is protesting the fact that the American military allows gay people to serve honorably in its ranks. Fortunately, however, his demented reasoning has caused Americans of all political beliefs to rally together against him. Phelps is doing more FOR the cause of gay rights than against it.

Thoughts?