Don't go away mad...

I guess I should have been listening to Dr. Laura. It might have been fun to hear her say the N-word 11 times on nationally syndicated radio and then try to apologize for it.

Maybe Dave Ramsey will be back on middays again on 1190 KEX AM, now that Dr. Laura says she won't renew her contract. (Read her blog post here and read her apology here.)

Now I can carry a financial adviser clipped to my belt

Portland, Ore., radio station KEX, 1190 AM, has been promoting a smart phone application for iheartradio lately, and they finally convinced me to use it more. I had downloaded the app for my phone, but had not really used it, until today.

It was not the commercials for the app itself that led me to use it. It was the fact that KEX moved its Dave Ramsey Show broadcasts from midday to the 7 p.m. time slot. The station recently swapped time slots for Ramsey's show and Dr. Laura's show, moving Dr. Laura to evenings and Ramsey to midday.

That's when I started listening to Ramsey's show. I could usually catch at least part of the show during my lunch break. It was good reinforcement to my efforts to get out of debt and helped me formulate the strategy I am going to use to do that.

But today KEX, switched the show lineups again, to put Dr. Laura on at noon and Ramsey back in the evening.

I don't listen to the radio in the evening, so I was not happy with the change. I don't want listen to Dr. Laura's show.

So while looking for a way to get my Ramsey fix today I started trying to find out if any other radio stations on iheartradio.com broadcast his show live. It took a little searching, and trial and error, but I did find one. So, if you are looking for an iheartradio station that carries the Ramsey Show live, the one I found was WTKG 1230 AM, out of Grand Rapids, Mich. I've added that one to my favorites.

I also learned that KEX wasn't actually broadcasting Ramsey live, even it it's midday slot. The show airs live from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pacific time, so KEX had to be delaying the broadcast an hour. Now, I can actually listen to it live, either from Ramsey's own website, or on my smart phone. I can still get my audio reinforcement when it works best for me.

So, KEX, I may still listen to you in the morning on my way to work, but you have likely lost me for the midday lunch hour and that will mean the car radio will be on another station when I hop in the car for the drive home.

Paris Hilton: The real crime of lack of punishment

Everywhere I turned today was the "big story" about Paris Hilton being released from jail in Southern California. I don't get the fascination with her. She's not even the pretty one of the Hilton sisters. She's actually a bit freakish looking.

But I guess people like a freak show.

Now the Superior Court judge who tossed Hilton into jail is making noise about contempt of court for the L.A. County Sheriff for letting her out?

People are bitching (and here and here, etc.) thinking Hilton is getting special treatment because she's a celebrity. Maybe people should take a look at jail and prison crowding conditions around the country, not just in L.A. or California, and find out just how hard it is, not just to get thrown in jail, but to be kept their once you are in there in in places like Denver.

Hilton was on probation for reckless driving then later got stopped for driving under the influence. She was tossed in jail then for violating probation. But if people looked, really looked, at their local justice systems they would find that jails are letting people out all the time because they have so many people sentenced or waiting for trial they have to let some people out just in order to keep the really hard core people accused of murders and rapes and the most violent of crimes locked up. And you'd be shocked to learn some of the crimes people have been accused or convicted of that still get let out.

Hilton isn't getting special attention from anyone but the media and the celebrity obsessed public who have turned pop culture icons famous for merely being famous into American royalty and made the pathetic reality of "reality" TV something to not only waste their time watching, but dreaming of being "reality" stars themselves for who they date or marry or share a house with or compete in games on an island with or each eat bugs with.

Paris Hilton needs a life outside the public eye and house arrest would be a fine place to start. But it's all the other idiots under self-imposed house arrest in front of their TVs and computers who make moron's like her popular. We are the ones who are in the biggest need of finding something much more important to care about. Like, maybe, how ineffective it is for society to say "lock criminals up and throw away the key" then turn a blind eye to what's happening in jails and prisons. That is unless a celebrity gets tossed into one.

I was tempted to say that people should get a life, but it's more than that. People need to get involved with their communities and care about more than just frivolous celebrity crap. Oh, but that might cause someone to think a little too much made some tough decisions about things.

Oops, got to go. Reruns of "Frasier" are about to start.

What's the news?

Why is the murder of attorney Daniel Horowitz's wife in the Bay Area of California getting so much media attention?

Any murder is tragic. I'm not unsympathetic to the victim's friends and family. But why doesn't the media work so hard to get at the story when someone poor or black or Latino is killed?

My theory is the media are following this story on the chance that the high-profile attorney gets arrested on this one.

Are viewers and readers really paying attention to this story? If so, why? Is it more interesting because the attorney has been on TV and obviously is wealthy?

I'm sorry, but I'm more interested in the weather.

News
Crime reporting
Media

All is quiet

My hosts have gone to bed for the night. My daughter is still awake, but she's in her room. So, I'm the only one left stirring in the house. Not much to do, but watch a little TV and get on a computer for a few minutes.

Portland really is a long ways from Palm Springs in so many ways. Once upon a time, Portland seems like a foreign land from the small town where I grew up. Portland still seems like a foreign land, but for a different reason now. While I still consider Oregon "home" when talking to family and friends, it is apparent that I'm used to a different place, a different pace and a more diverse environment. Portland certainly has more to offer than the small town in this state, but it no longer seems like such a utopia, as it may have once to me more naive mind. Even the Oregonian newspaper, once a publication that I dreamed of working for, now seems a little more like just another newspaper. And the TV news here may be a little more polished, but I'm losing track of all the spelling errors I've seen in the captions and on-screen info graphics they put up.

I don't think it is the place that has changed, it is my perspective that has changed. I hope that is for the better.