We will call this opening segment "The Big Why?"
And it has nothing to do with why the FBI is nudging around in Dallas' business, or why Chan Ho Park has a problem on the mound or why the Dallas Cowboys quarterback position is being treated like a component in a bad TV set -- unplug one unit, plug in another and see if it works.
No, it has to do with nature.
We have a number of dogs at our house and only one of them likes to put her giant paws into the water dish and splash the contents out in a big puddle on the floor.
The dogs have a big water cooler-like thing that gurgles in the middle of the night and disturbs insomniacs. But year-old Annie, when you're not looking, likes to stand there on three legs and use one paw to splash water onto the floor.
She looks sort of like a bear trying to swat salmon out of an Alaskan river.
This is her picture after her arrest late Wednesday on charges of unauthorized splashing.
The charges were dropped. She negotiated an out-of-court settlement by, when I was typing, coming over and sitting next to me, then putting one soggy paw on my left leg and looking at me with her big brown eyes.
It may just be easier to tile the entire house walls and all and buy water wings for everybody.
THINGS YOU LEARN BY READING ABOUT RADIO: Larry Shannon, the former Fort Worth rock and roll disc jockey who has segued into a career as a businessman and consultant and -- well he wears lots of hats -- is publisher of RadioDailyNews and TalkRadioDailyNews. Know what you find out by reading www.radiodailynews.com/rdndaily.htm ? You read that Benjamin Dover's afternoon spot on KRLD-AM (1080) in Dallas is now filled by a returnee, long-ago KRLD personality Ernie Brown. Happened this week.
Radio is the true American Revolving Door. Heck, there's so much coming and going at most stations, there's almost no reason to even have doors.
POLITICS: Trust me, when it comes to politics, I'm against all of 'em (except the independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman, of course). So, I've been watching Howard Dean spew mean stuff. And I've heard assorted Republicans say catty things, too -- some in response to Mr. Dean. What I'm asking is, my fellow Americans, "Is this acrimony good for the country?" These guys are always talking about how it's important to focus on the issues -- doesn't seem to be happening right now, does it? I'm not sure the residents of the USA are going to be able to put up with this level of rancor from now until the next election. What is the matter with these people?
I was watching the final episode of Crossfire and one of the departing personalities pointed out how things had changed. He said they used to ask their guests questions and wait for the answer. Now, they ask a question and the guest just says whatever he came to say without regard to the question he'd been asked.
I guess this sums up the situation: No dialogue, just diatribe.
Here's a talking point: Shut up.
I don't know. Maybe I'm not getting enough sleep. I've been awake lately and thinking about that Klansman's trial in Mississippi -- talk about an ugly century of American racial history. Let me knock you over with this truth: There are mean people in the world and some of them are in America. It wouldn't bother me to see the whole Klan slapped into cells at Gitmo. Don’t even give ‘em clean sheets.
So I was driving along yesterday with Martha and KAAM (770 AM) plays Dion's version of "Abraham, Martin and John" -- surely a touching, touching song to anyone who lived through the 1960s in even the most low-level state of awareness. And it occurs to me that, while I love that song and it moves me, my favorite version is by Moms Mabley, the black comic -- she's been gone since the 1970s and her comedy was a little too racy for radio, but in recording that song you can hear her heart beat. She feels the losses. I haven’t heard it in years and I can’t find it on CD anywhere.
My mind has wandered. I guess. The point is, I got my fill of political acrimony in 2004 and I'm fed up with racism and mayhem and people setting bad examples with their mouths. It's time to give it a rest and nurture America. Besides, the Texas Legislature needs some quiet so it can work on the state's education crisis.
ANIMAL OBSERVATION: A cocker spaniel's system will reject egg shells. How do I know? At 4:05 a.m. Inky the Cocker Spaniel woke up the household by tossing egg shells. We took a poll and nobody in the house -- except for Inky -- knows how a 14-inch high dog got egg shells out of a 3-foot-tall trash can kept behind a pantry door. He may have had a cat as a confederate. Or -- and this is more likely -- he can levitate.
