It‘s funny how things work out. Last week we were talking about Cumulus Radio firing Jim Cates. This week he’s teamed up with CJ Online. You gotta admit it. Jim’s a cool old guy. Oops, I mean I’m an old guy. I mean damn, I’m impressed.
Hey, do you remember me telling you about reclaiming my basement last year. It started out as my office when we first bought the house. That didn’t last long. Over the next few years at one time or another it became my daughter’s room, my son’s room, my other son’s room. It was home to one of my wife’s friend’s for a while. Then it was my daughter’s room again. Then my son’s room again. Ha, they just thought they knew everything.
Finally, it was my turn again. I drug in all my old stuff from the garage that had been boxed up for years. I even had a couple old book cases I made in high school. I drug in box after box of priceless treasures. I finally had a place to show off my eagle and beer can collections. I set up my stereo and dug out my old albums. I found most of my belt buckle and bumper sticker collection. I have a cigar box full of old pens that don’t work. And another one full of old Zippos and pocket knives. By the time I got through everything I had come across a couple hundred old pictures and have been trying to get them all put into photo albums. Well, I’m not actually trying all that hard. But I have set up a table on the other side of the room just in case the mood hits me. My brother hooked me up with a really cool desk so I’d have a place for my computer and stuff like that. Yeah, I like it just the way it is.
I put strict rules in place concerning, who, what, why, when, and how someone could enter my domain. The rules applied equally to everyone. Okay, I had to give a little when my grandson asked where he was supposed to work on his leggos. I brought in another small table from the shed and set him up with his own work space. That worked fine until my grand daughter came to me with her sad, puppy dog eyes and asked why she didn’t have a place to color. Okay, we’ll figure that out too. But the rest of you, forget it. It’s not going to happen. Got it? Good!
Yeah right. Last Christmas my wife decided we needed a ping-pong table. And where do you suppose she wanted to put it? Yep, right smack dab in the middle of my basement. I explained there was no way it was going to happen. No way! Nope. It’s not gonna happen. I reminded her it was my basement and I’ll be the one who decides what goes into it. I was still explaining that part as I was putting the stupid thing together too.
Everything’s different now. Instead of listening to talk radio while I’m writing, I’m forced to listen to things like my kids having a good time. I have to listen to my grand daughter laughing as she’s chasing a run away ball. I listen to them arguing about the score. You hit the net! Did not. You’re a cheater! There are high-fives, thumbs-up signals. I’ve even seen a couple of single finger salutes. Yeah, everything’s different now. It’s better. It’s funny how things work out.
You can contact Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Thank You Jim
Okay, it’s been nine days now and we’ve all had a chance to cool down. Good thing too. If I’d tried to write this column last Wednesday after hearing about Cumulus Radio firing Jim Cates, I probably would have said something stupid like, hey Spike Santee and Cumulus Radio, how about you kissing my butt! I probably would have called them names like scum sucking pigs or something like that. Good thing I didn’t go there, huh.
I’ve had a couple of interesting phone calls this week about a certain local politician deciding that “local talk radio” was out of control in Topeka and needed to be reigned in. Surely that couldn’t happen here. Well it sure as hell did. From what I’ve been told, Cumulus wanted Jim to discontinue his open lines policy. It wasn’t necessarily Jim they were trying to shut up. It was us. Unless we wanted to talk about something positive, they didn’t want to hear it anymore. They didn’t want us talking about the helicopter anymore. Looks like we weren’t supposed to question anything going on at city hall. They didn’t want us talking about our county commissioners. I’m sure it really got to them when someone had the nerve to disagree with the Governor or the Attorney General. Wow, maybe I was part of the problem.
I guess it doesn’t really matter, does it? Jim’s gone and nothing I say here is going to change that. So instead of wasting a lot of time ranting and raving about it I’m just going to say thank you Jim. Thank you for all the help, encouragement, and support you’ve given me over the last couple of years in getting this column off the ground.
Thank you for introducing me to your friends. People like Marge and Ralph. Man I loved those two. I had the honor of meeting Marge at one of your remotes a while back. Very classy lady. Marge, there were a lot of times I had no idea what you were talking about but your calls always made my day.
I’m going to miss Vince, ol’ Bill and Jake. I’m going to miss the words of wit from Gene the liberal. And hearing from Cheryl the cabbie, another very cool lady. What would a day be without Myron plugging his web-site. Does anyone know why Dave Menely just stopped calling in? I always put a lot of stock in what he had to say. I’m going to miss Don from Wamego and Dee From Maple Hill. I’ll miss hearing you and Steve from Silver Lake going toe to toe. Then there’s John Clooney. Man, that guy can talk. I had the privilege of meeting John last Friday. John, I’m very glad to know you.
I’m going to throw out a special thanks to three people I’ve met through your show and have a great deal of respect for, Kim Borchers, Thomas Lessman, and Paul Degener for spreading the word about the rally in front of Cumulus last week and I’d like to thank everyone who showed up for it. Maybe we didn’t change their minds but they sure as hell knew we were there.
Jim, I don’t know what your plans for the future are but I think you ought to consider writing your own column and it just so happens that I know the editor of a really cool local newspaper that might be willing to give you a shot. Let me know, I’ll see what I can do.
And Jim, just so you know. There were many, many days that as a result of listening to your show my day was just a little bit brighter. Thank you for everything.
Oh yeah, Spike Santee and Cumulus Radio. Calling you guys scum sucking pigs probably would’ve been out of line but you can still kiss my butt.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
I’ve had a couple of interesting phone calls this week about a certain local politician deciding that “local talk radio” was out of control in Topeka and needed to be reigned in. Surely that couldn’t happen here. Well it sure as hell did. From what I’ve been told, Cumulus wanted Jim to discontinue his open lines policy. It wasn’t necessarily Jim they were trying to shut up. It was us. Unless we wanted to talk about something positive, they didn’t want to hear it anymore. They didn’t want us talking about the helicopter anymore. Looks like we weren’t supposed to question anything going on at city hall. They didn’t want us talking about our county commissioners. I’m sure it really got to them when someone had the nerve to disagree with the Governor or the Attorney General. Wow, maybe I was part of the problem.
I guess it doesn’t really matter, does it? Jim’s gone and nothing I say here is going to change that. So instead of wasting a lot of time ranting and raving about it I’m just going to say thank you Jim. Thank you for all the help, encouragement, and support you’ve given me over the last couple of years in getting this column off the ground.
Thank you for introducing me to your friends. People like Marge and Ralph. Man I loved those two. I had the honor of meeting Marge at one of your remotes a while back. Very classy lady. Marge, there were a lot of times I had no idea what you were talking about but your calls always made my day.
I’m going to miss Vince, ol’ Bill and Jake. I’m going to miss the words of wit from Gene the liberal. And hearing from Cheryl the cabbie, another very cool lady. What would a day be without Myron plugging his web-site. Does anyone know why Dave Menely just stopped calling in? I always put a lot of stock in what he had to say. I’m going to miss Don from Wamego and Dee From Maple Hill. I’ll miss hearing you and Steve from Silver Lake going toe to toe. Then there’s John Clooney. Man, that guy can talk. I had the privilege of meeting John last Friday. John, I’m very glad to know you.
I’m going to throw out a special thanks to three people I’ve met through your show and have a great deal of respect for, Kim Borchers, Thomas Lessman, and Paul Degener for spreading the word about the rally in front of Cumulus last week and I’d like to thank everyone who showed up for it. Maybe we didn’t change their minds but they sure as hell knew we were there.
Jim, I don’t know what your plans for the future are but I think you ought to consider writing your own column and it just so happens that I know the editor of a really cool local newspaper that might be willing to give you a shot. Let me know, I’ll see what I can do.
And Jim, just so you know. There were many, many days that as a result of listening to your show my day was just a little bit brighter. Thank you for everything.
Oh yeah, Spike Santee and Cumulus Radio. Calling you guys scum sucking pigs probably would’ve been out of line but you can still kiss my butt.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Great Road Trip
Hey, thanks for stopping by today. Pull up a chair and sit down, I’ve got a story to tell you about a trip my wife and I made earlier this week. It was a trip that started in the present, went into the past, and on the last leg of our journey we were propelled into the future.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t that dramatic. Still a pretty cool though. We left Topeka early Sunday morning headed to Greensburg. Because of my job, I’ve been able to go through there probably 10 or 12 times since last years tornado. But this was the first time my wife’s had the chance to see how much our little home town has changed since we left there almost 19 years ago.
We spent about an hour just driving around town. We found the places we used to live. For a while we rented a house across the street from the Big Well. The only thing left is the sidewalk, the basement, and that big old tree in the back yard. The house was gone. So was the house next door, and the one next to it. And the one across the street is gone too. In fact, it was all gone.
They’re rebuilding though. I’d guess that so far they’ve built a couple hundred houses or so. The school is up and running. Churches are rebuilding. They’re going to be the “greenest” city in the world I guess. I’ve poked a lot of fun at the ’Greenies.” And I’m really tired of everything “green.” But you know what? I’m not convinced it’s really such a bad thing. How about naming it something else though? How about just calling it “energy efficient?” But hey, if calling it green helps Greensburg rebuild their town, go for it.
We left Greensburg to meet up with our friends, Eric and Ronni, who because of the tornado now live in Haviland. Eric took my wife and I back down to devils corral. My wife wanted to see the initials we carved in the rocks I told you about a few weeks ago. We headed southeast from there across the Anchor-D, Longhorn Ranch, toward Belvidere. We stopped by the old abandoned school house I’ve talked about. It was built sometime in the 1880’s, and I have no idea how long ago it was abandoned, but it’s such a cool place. Like most country schools, this one consisted of one classroom. And like classrooms even today it had a blackboard on each end of the room. There’s no more chalk or erasers, the blackboards themselves are both long gone, but both frames are completely intact and in pretty good shape. If you stood there long enough you could almost make out a young kid named Johnny writing something over and over again.
We had to leave before we got Johnny into more trouble with his teacher so we headed towards the big hill behind Belvidere. From the top of this hill you can see for miles and miles. On a clear night you can see the lights from Medicine Lodge, Pratt, Greensburg, and even Dodge City. I remember one night after consuming 25 or 30 beers I even saw Denver. We spent a little time there just looking and remembering some of the earlier trips we’ve taken to that same spot. But it was time to go. We headed back to Eric and Ronni’s place for supper, then headed out for Pratt for the night.
We left Pratt the next morning intending to head northwest toward Larned because we both wanted to visit “Fort Larned” but we hadn’t decided on any particular route to take and decided to see if we could make the entire 60 mile trip using only county roads. So off we went. Most of the roads were paved and in pretty good shape. Others weren’t. It took us a little more than 2 hours to make the trip but was well worth the effort. We got to see things we’d have never seen from the highway. Things like 20 or 30 pheasants, 2 snakes, it seemed like we had hawks watching us the whole way. Outside one town we saw 6 or 7 buzzards eating something. We saw several roads that had had water over them in the last few days. We passed a lot of small, family farms long the way. If someone was outside they were quick to smile and wave. A lot of these farms had an American flag flying in the front yards. We saw a crew setting up a rig to drill for oil.
We finally got to Fort Larned and yes, it was everything we’d hoped it would be. But time was running short and we had to get going. It was time to hurry up. Time to head toward Ellsworth so we could catch I-70 and hurry on home.
We had just reached I-70 when I realized we’d been propelled into the future. There’s a wind farm along I-70 a little west of Salina. These windmills are the real thing too. They’re huge and there must be a couple hundred of them. If you get the chance, you ought to drive out there to see them for yourself. Very cool.
Looks like the Governor has decided we don’t need any more coal-fired power plants in Kansas and that our future is blowing in the wind. Governor, I just hope you’re right.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
Okay, maybe it wasn’t that dramatic. Still a pretty cool though. We left Topeka early Sunday morning headed to Greensburg. Because of my job, I’ve been able to go through there probably 10 or 12 times since last years tornado. But this was the first time my wife’s had the chance to see how much our little home town has changed since we left there almost 19 years ago.
We spent about an hour just driving around town. We found the places we used to live. For a while we rented a house across the street from the Big Well. The only thing left is the sidewalk, the basement, and that big old tree in the back yard. The house was gone. So was the house next door, and the one next to it. And the one across the street is gone too. In fact, it was all gone.
They’re rebuilding though. I’d guess that so far they’ve built a couple hundred houses or so. The school is up and running. Churches are rebuilding. They’re going to be the “greenest” city in the world I guess. I’ve poked a lot of fun at the ’Greenies.” And I’m really tired of everything “green.” But you know what? I’m not convinced it’s really such a bad thing. How about naming it something else though? How about just calling it “energy efficient?” But hey, if calling it green helps Greensburg rebuild their town, go for it.
We left Greensburg to meet up with our friends, Eric and Ronni, who because of the tornado now live in Haviland. Eric took my wife and I back down to devils corral. My wife wanted to see the initials we carved in the rocks I told you about a few weeks ago. We headed southeast from there across the Anchor-D, Longhorn Ranch, toward Belvidere. We stopped by the old abandoned school house I’ve talked about. It was built sometime in the 1880’s, and I have no idea how long ago it was abandoned, but it’s such a cool place. Like most country schools, this one consisted of one classroom. And like classrooms even today it had a blackboard on each end of the room. There’s no more chalk or erasers, the blackboards themselves are both long gone, but both frames are completely intact and in pretty good shape. If you stood there long enough you could almost make out a young kid named Johnny writing something over and over again.
We had to leave before we got Johnny into more trouble with his teacher so we headed towards the big hill behind Belvidere. From the top of this hill you can see for miles and miles. On a clear night you can see the lights from Medicine Lodge, Pratt, Greensburg, and even Dodge City. I remember one night after consuming 25 or 30 beers I even saw Denver. We spent a little time there just looking and remembering some of the earlier trips we’ve taken to that same spot. But it was time to go. We headed back to Eric and Ronni’s place for supper, then headed out for Pratt for the night.
We left Pratt the next morning intending to head northwest toward Larned because we both wanted to visit “Fort Larned” but we hadn’t decided on any particular route to take and decided to see if we could make the entire 60 mile trip using only county roads. So off we went. Most of the roads were paved and in pretty good shape. Others weren’t. It took us a little more than 2 hours to make the trip but was well worth the effort. We got to see things we’d have never seen from the highway. Things like 20 or 30 pheasants, 2 snakes, it seemed like we had hawks watching us the whole way. Outside one town we saw 6 or 7 buzzards eating something. We saw several roads that had had water over them in the last few days. We passed a lot of small, family farms long the way. If someone was outside they were quick to smile and wave. A lot of these farms had an American flag flying in the front yards. We saw a crew setting up a rig to drill for oil.
We finally got to Fort Larned and yes, it was everything we’d hoped it would be. But time was running short and we had to get going. It was time to hurry up. Time to head toward Ellsworth so we could catch I-70 and hurry on home.
We had just reached I-70 when I realized we’d been propelled into the future. There’s a wind farm along I-70 a little west of Salina. These windmills are the real thing too. They’re huge and there must be a couple hundred of them. If you get the chance, you ought to drive out there to see them for yourself. Very cool.
Looks like the Governor has decided we don’t need any more coal-fired power plants in Kansas and that our future is blowing in the wind. Governor, I just hope you’re right.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Lisa Montgomery and Phill Kline
Because of recent rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, it’s full speed ahead with the Death Penalty again. Good! I mean that’s what these people deserve for what they’ve done, right?
How do you guys feel about the death penalty? Do you believe, like I do, that someone like Lisa Montgomery deserved the death sentence she was given? If you remember, she was the woman from Melvern who traveled to Missouri to kill a young woman named Bobby Jo Stinnet so she could steal the child the young woman was carrying.
Some will argue that Lisa Montgomery was emotionally unstable and shouldn’t be held responsible for her actions. They’ll argue that we as a society, don’t have the right to condemn anyone to death. And that two wrongs don’t make a right. You know, that kind of stuff.
Personally, I believe Lisa Montgomery got what she had coming. Do I believe justice was served? Maybe, maybe not. It’s hard to say. No, putting her to death won’t bring Bobbi Jo back. It won’t restore any of the damage she’s inflicted upon the lives of so many people. So what’s the point? I don’t know, maybe it’s revenge we‘re after.
Call it justice, call it revenge, call it whatever you want. Lisa Montgomery was given the sentence she had coming. But what about someone who’s been wrongly accused, convicted, and sentenced to die. What about those guys? What do you do if you put the wrong person to death? Do you just say oops, sorry about that? How do you make it right?
Think it can’t happen? Think again. I’m not sure of the exact number, I think it’s somewhere around 130 people, who, because of DNA testing have been exonerated of the crimes they were condemned to die for. How do you make that right?
You can’t. How many more people are there out there sitting on death row waiting for the day to come when they pay the ultimate penalty for a crime they didn’t commit?
If Lisa Montgomery does indeed pay for her crimes with her life, so be it. But until the day comes when we can remove all doubt about someone’s guilt, I think we need to put a halt to the death penalty in the United States. But that’s just my opinion.
I realize most of you reading this column today are well aware of my pro-life beliefs. And maybe some of you are tired of me going on about it so I won’t dwell on the subject today. But because Phill Kline has been in the news so much lately I do have a few comments I’d like to make. Why are there so many people out there today who’ll seemingly go to any length to make sure the laws concerning late-term abortions in Kansas are ignored. Why?
Some of you act like Phill Kline is the devil himself. You’ve called him every name in the book. You yell that he’s on a personal crusade and should be silenced. You’ve fallen for the patient privacy excuse Tiller and Planned-Parenthood have used to obstruct his investigation. You cry that he’s trying to change the law. You accuse him of violating the separation of church and state principals of the law. You scream that his investigation of the abortion clinics is unconstitutional.
Here’s the way I see it. Phill Kline doesn’t need to change the laws. Late-term abortions have been outlawed in the State of Kansas, the only exception to this law is if an abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother, period. Tiller boasts of performing more late-term abortions than anyone in the Western Hemisphere, somewhere around 2,800 from the way I hear it. Do you really believe these are all on the up and up? No, you don’t believe it. But you don’t care either.
Mr. Kline, I don’t know how you keep going. But I do want you to know there are some of us out here who support you in your efforts. Keep up the good work.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
How do you guys feel about the death penalty? Do you believe, like I do, that someone like Lisa Montgomery deserved the death sentence she was given? If you remember, she was the woman from Melvern who traveled to Missouri to kill a young woman named Bobby Jo Stinnet so she could steal the child the young woman was carrying.
Some will argue that Lisa Montgomery was emotionally unstable and shouldn’t be held responsible for her actions. They’ll argue that we as a society, don’t have the right to condemn anyone to death. And that two wrongs don’t make a right. You know, that kind of stuff.
Personally, I believe Lisa Montgomery got what she had coming. Do I believe justice was served? Maybe, maybe not. It’s hard to say. No, putting her to death won’t bring Bobbi Jo back. It won’t restore any of the damage she’s inflicted upon the lives of so many people. So what’s the point? I don’t know, maybe it’s revenge we‘re after.
Call it justice, call it revenge, call it whatever you want. Lisa Montgomery was given the sentence she had coming. But what about someone who’s been wrongly accused, convicted, and sentenced to die. What about those guys? What do you do if you put the wrong person to death? Do you just say oops, sorry about that? How do you make it right?
Think it can’t happen? Think again. I’m not sure of the exact number, I think it’s somewhere around 130 people, who, because of DNA testing have been exonerated of the crimes they were condemned to die for. How do you make that right?
You can’t. How many more people are there out there sitting on death row waiting for the day to come when they pay the ultimate penalty for a crime they didn’t commit?
If Lisa Montgomery does indeed pay for her crimes with her life, so be it. But until the day comes when we can remove all doubt about someone’s guilt, I think we need to put a halt to the death penalty in the United States. But that’s just my opinion.
I realize most of you reading this column today are well aware of my pro-life beliefs. And maybe some of you are tired of me going on about it so I won’t dwell on the subject today. But because Phill Kline has been in the news so much lately I do have a few comments I’d like to make. Why are there so many people out there today who’ll seemingly go to any length to make sure the laws concerning late-term abortions in Kansas are ignored. Why?
Some of you act like Phill Kline is the devil himself. You’ve called him every name in the book. You yell that he’s on a personal crusade and should be silenced. You’ve fallen for the patient privacy excuse Tiller and Planned-Parenthood have used to obstruct his investigation. You cry that he’s trying to change the law. You accuse him of violating the separation of church and state principals of the law. You scream that his investigation of the abortion clinics is unconstitutional.
Here’s the way I see it. Phill Kline doesn’t need to change the laws. Late-term abortions have been outlawed in the State of Kansas, the only exception to this law is if an abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother, period. Tiller boasts of performing more late-term abortions than anyone in the Western Hemisphere, somewhere around 2,800 from the way I hear it. Do you really believe these are all on the up and up? No, you don’t believe it. But you don’t care either.
Mr. Kline, I don’t know how you keep going. But I do want you to know there are some of us out here who support you in your efforts. Keep up the good work.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
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