The New Road

so you just go ahead and throw the baby out with the bathwater.. I still will watch (and read) cause I like Anderson Cooper.

And I've learned to take everything I hear with a grain of salt.

I think it will be interesting to see if he's accepted by the CNN crowd. Obviously, CNN thought he was mainstream enough to put him on during primetime.

I don't know if they're just trying to get us right-wing wackos to watch their network, or if they really think Beck will appeal to their audience.

He (Beck) has told the radio audience (yep-that's me!) to be sure to watch the first episode, because it may be the only one!

I suppose you are going to tell me that his five minute conversation with an acknowledged torturer, where he thanked him for he efforts, was just a joke?

I remember hearing that interview. I think the guy's name was Mitch. No, I didn't get that it was supposed to be funny.

Just wait until you hear about his "incinerator therapy" program for child molesters. You're gonna love him. Um . . . probably not.

Yeah, no. Strangely I don't approve of torture and genocide the way you do.

By the way, you are out of sync with your own psycho-babbel. In the L.A. Times this morning Glen said that his death threats, calling the 9/11 survivors scumbags, calling Cindy Sheehan a whore, etc. were all just satire and humor.

As you say, you didn't think so at the time. But it appears you were wrong.

I'll have to read the article to see if he said the torture interview with Mitch was satire. I don't think it was.

Usually he adds humor to a dark situation to lighten it, but there are definitely points he stands by.

By the way, you are misquoting him. He said Cindy Sheehan was a "tragedy whore". And he said a small percentage of the 9/11 families and Katrina victims were scumbags who were ruining it for the majority. The ones who expected handouts and compensation when Americans were giving and giving and giving - people who lacked appreciation and just demanded compensation. They were the ungrateful people who made you think twice about pulling your wallet out to help. Of course, that's my interpretation. I don't have the monologue in front of me.

I'll go read the article now.

Nope. Looks like you were wrong. There is not a single quote in there of Glenn Beck writing off his controversial quotes to satire and humor. He stands by them if you listen to the show. Here are some exerpts of the LA Times article, though.

"He has a style [on his radio show] that is given to lengthy monologue and anecdotes, and oftentimes that type of style, if you pluck one line or another out of it, is subject to misrepresentation," Jautz said.

Beck said comments he had made satirically had been taken out of context, describing his style as the kind of "harsh comedy" employed on the Fox television show "The Simpsons." He called himself a conservative but not a partisan, noting that he once voted for Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

"I'm a guy who has opinions, who is a conservative, but I am not a guy who believes you should listen to me and guide your life by what I say," the 41-year-old talk show host said. "I do say controversial things, but I don't believe I'm a hate-filled guy."

I'm not an apologist for him. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says. However, I am a listener, and feel more qualified to interpret what he says and where he stands, than you, a person who does not listen to him.

Unlike Ann Coulter, though, Glenn Beck does consider himself a satirist. You made a good point about Ann. She's mean. And serious. Thanks for pointing that out.

I think you just don't approve of people judging behavior. You don't want people to draw moral lines or make observations based on their personal beliefs. Especially if they don't agree with yours.

Huh?

You: "said comments he had made satirically"

Me: "said that his death threats, calling the 9/11 survivors scumbags, calling Cindy Sheehan a whore, etc. were all just satire and humor."

Me: "Cindy Sheehan a whore"

You: "Sheehan was a "tragedy whore""

I listen to excerpts of his show, which is enough. A person doesn't have to listen to every speech that Hitler gave to know he was a Nazi.

"MITCH": Well, with simple masking tape or duct tape, you dilate the eyes, and they you use halogen lamps, and a person is placed in a rigid position where they cannot move. Their eyes are opened and the halogen lamps, you know, they're producing 40,000 watts. It's intense. And that breaks them down. High-pressure water -- I mean, you've heard the term "drinking from a fire hose." I wouldn't do that. That generally wouldn't extract what you want, and usually would drown somebody quickly. But you can use high-water pressure into one ear, and when that first ear drum is broken with, you know, 14 or 15 hundred pounds of water pressure going in, the don't -- they will talk before that second ear drum is broken.

...

BECK: Mitch, I've got to tell you I appreciate your service. I don't know your circumstances at all. I, you know, I have to assume that, because we wear the white hats that we're not doing this at the drop of a hat.

...

"MITCH": No. I made them wish they were dead. You know, when you have -- like I was saying the, the best -- my most successful use of any technique was high-pressure air. You just think of a small [high] velocity hose with 1,200 PSI [pounds per square inch] of air coming through it. I don't know if you've ever heard a hose with that much pressure go off, but once -- your ears immediately bleed. One ear blown completely out, and you don't have to do the other one.

...

BECK: Good for you. Good for -- I mean, good for you. Is it because you did it for the country?

Wow, that's funny. Really funny. Tell me the one about the high pressure water on the ear drum again. I'm rolling it's so funny.

Yeah, Jacqueline, it was a choice between Saturday Night Live and CNN for sure. This guy is just hilarious.

Interesting judgment comment you had there. You are right. I don't care about judgmentalism. I don't care about the judgement of a bunch of fascist like Beck or Limbaugh, or people who espouse their viewpoint. Their judgments are as ignorant as they are arrogant.

Take the Schiavo case. Limbaugh and Hannity say that Michael Schiavo is a murderer and surprise, surprise, you show up saying that Michael Schiavo is a murderer. And if that isn't bad enough, even when you are proven wrong, with the facts and autopsy showing that Michael is innocent, you still won't relent. You are closed minded, and unwilling to change in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. So why would you make a good judge? And why should I care about your judgments?

The fact of the matter is that you say whatever the little radio box says. If the box says Michael Schiavo is murderer, then that is what you say. If the box says that all war protesters are traitors, then you get on here and call me a traitor. Friendship be damned, the little radio box says Jack is a traitor so you come on here and say I'm a traitor.

Doesn't the bible say, "Do unto others as you would have done unto you?" Of course it does. If you were in Michael Schiavo's shoes do you think you would want to be called a murderer, or be given the benefit of the doubt? If you were in my shoes do you think you would want to be called a traitor? You give more credence to the voice on the radio then you give to teachings in the bible.

You called yourself a traitor and, based on the definition, I could not disagree. If I were in your shoes I wouldn't be behaving like a traitor. Well, maybe I would. I don't know how your shoes feel.

There's a homeless guy who rotates a shift at one of the intersections on my way to work. One day he was holding a sign that said, "If I was sitting where you are - I would help". And I thought, "If you were sitting where I am, you would be on your way to work."

Choices. That's what life is.

I'm not saying all of mine are right, but I will own them. Right or wrong, they're mine and I accept responsibility for them.

The radio introduced me to the information of the Schaivo case in 2003 and I researched from there. I believe the family is more credible than the husband. I still believe that. I still believe there was fould play the night Terri collapsed. Unless the emergency workers who were present that night come forward and speak, which they have not done, it will never be solved. I don't belive she could have been rehabilitated. I accept that. But there has been no evidence presented proving Michael Schiavo wasn't involved in her collapse.

As for Glenn Beck - don't listen if you don't want to. But taking him out of context, misquoting him and judging him (and anyone who would hire him) as "shit" isn't fair. The snippits I've heard of Howard Stern are incredibly offensive to me. I just accept that I don't get it and a lot of other people do. Are they all shit? I don't know. Not my call. Too broad of a judgement.

I'm not going to argue the Schiavo case with you. Suffice to say that in this country people are innocent until proven guilty. You are wrong on this, and you will not admit it.

As to Glen Beck, I've taken nothing 'out of context'. The segments that I listened to are break to break. The full enchilada. I love how people on the right shower the country's airwaves in hate speech then when they are called on it answer with 'out of context' and 'satire' like cowards. If their ideas are so good why not shout them from the rooftops. Why not teach your kids to torture, Jacqueline. If it's such a good idea for 'Mitch' shouldn't it be a good career opportunity for your kids?

Now, on to the 'in your shoes' stuff. Jacqueline, the exercise of picturing yourself in someone else's shoes is about empathy and compassion. It's not another opportunity for you to pass judgment. Though you seem to never lack for an opportunity to do that.

If the 'in their shoes' exercise was just a way for you to figure out how to turn their life into your life, it would be a pretty stupid exercise.