| 5/5/98
By Luke Ford
Dennis Prager woke up in Boston this morning where it was raining.
Then he flew into LA where it was raining also. P is tired of LA's
rain.
His United flight arrived on time.
P asked his callers to call United and ask how much it costs to
fly to New York vs. Tokyo. P says it is much cheaper to fly to Tokyo.
P says something has gone awry with deregulation.
Why didn't Prager arrange for an interview with an economist who
specializes in this area, instead of just tossing it to his audience,
most of whom would not understand the intricacies of this.
P recommended George Will column in the current Newsweek. George
makes cogent case for capitol punishment.
George Will:
Too much of a good thing, said Mae West, is wonderful. But that
is not true if the good thing is tolerance. Too much of that is
both a cause and a consequence of a culture in which "judgmental"
has become an epithet. Tolerance is a virtue only when it is difficult--when
it involves keeping strong beliefs on a short leash. Tolerance that
reflects the absence of strong beliefs is a symptom of a distinctively
contemporary form of decadence--the comfortable disbelief in the
propriety or importance of ever making emphatic judgments about
behavior.
These thoughts are occasioned by the release last week of more
entries from the journals of Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber,
who can savor the pleasures of writing as he lives the rest of his
life in a prison cell not less commodious than his mountain shack.
But why should the man who killed three and maimed 22 have the rest
of his life?
Of one victim, prosecutors wrote: "The bomb so badly destroyed
Gil Murray's body that his family"--Murray, 46, had two children--"was
allowed only to see and touch his feet and legs, below the knees,
as a final farewell." Kaczynski wrote that he had "no regret" about
killing Murray, even though the target of that bomb was a different
forestry official. He had 17 years of premeditated murder and attempted
murder, 17 years of evading capture and honing his killing devices,
incorporating razor blades and other slicing metal, for effects
such as this one described by prosecutors:
Luke:
Kozinski (who killed three and murdered 23) will live better in
prison than he lived in Montana. Where is the punishment in giving
him prison? Can this convicted murderer publish his views? Have
a website?
Solely because of Kozinski's brother, P does not mind not executing
him.
Kozinski kept a diary in code that the FBI was able to decode.
K reveled in destruction. He was sadistic says P.
Kozinski embodies the reason for capitol punishment. P says he
has lost his anger over this issue. P says that opponents of capitol
punishment must have different brains, wired differently.
Unabomber Sentenced to 4 Life Sentences
By DAVID JOHNSTON
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A federal judge Monday sentenced Theodore
Kaczynski to four life sentences plus 30 years in prison at a hearing
in which the widow of one of the confessed Unabomber's victims lashed
out at him as a "diabolical, cunning, evil murderer."
In a breathless, anguished voice, Susan Mosser, the widow of Thomas
Mosser, a public relations executive, recalled the blood and horror
on Dec. 10, 1994, when a shattering blast blew nails and razor blades
through her husband's body as he opened a package bomb at their
home in North Caldwell, N.J.
Luke:
Someone explained to Prager that the Asian economic crisis has
reduced demand for trips to Tokyo, driving down price. Elementary
supply and demand. MicroEconomics 101A.
Caller said that 30% of banks in Asia may need to close.
P: That is what happens when you loan money based on blood ties.
Familism.
P says that opposition to the death penalty (and racism) are two
things he claims he does not understand.
Next caller: Kozinski never had to meet his victims. It was an
intellectual way of killing. No emotions.
Prager has concluded that the good don't understand the bad, and
the bad don't understand the good.
P says he opposes capitol punishment when the deed is not premeditated.
P noted that newspaper used to not call those convicted of crimes
by the title Mr.. etc… Kosinski, says P, does not deserve to
be called Mr.
P says Kozinski's brother David is a moral hero for turning in
his murderous brother. Anyone who thinks that family loyalty comes
before preventing murder is scary.
In his second hour, Prager interviewed Iris Krasnow. P met her
last summer at a speech in Washington DC. Iris wants to reunite
mothers and feminists. Iris says there are a simple number of elements
that bring happiness - family, and commitment to religion.
Iris wrote "Surrendering to Motherhood."
She formerly interviewed celebrities for UPI.
Prager's advertisers include Books on Tape, Ralphs Supermarkets…
and Home Savings of America.
Making your children your career
( Gannett News Service )
Iris Krasnow's new book will probably upset some of her career-minded,
you-can-have-it-all female colleagues.
Krasnow once traveled the world for United Press International,
doing what she calls ``the celebrity shuffle,'' profiling people
such as Ted Kennedy, Billy Graham, Yoko Ono and Jordan's Queen Noor.
Cool job, good money, great perks.
Then she got a husband (Chuck), then a baby boy (Theo), then three
more (Isaac, Jack and Zane). Then, she says in ``Surrendering to
Motherhood: Losing Your Mind, Finding Your Soul'' (Miramax-Hyperion,
$22.95), she realized ``having it all'' doesn't mean day care, a
fulfilling career and quality time between 8 p.m. and night-night.
It means, the 42-year-old mother says, staying home with the kids.
``You have made a commitment,'' she says, not altogether kindly.
``If you can't be there, don't have them.
``Face it. Say, `I don't want to have children.' ''
Ouch. And a Happy Mother's Day to you, too, Iris.
Krasnow can afford to drop the daily grind of a career. Her teal
GMC Suburban with two cellular phones indicates that. She's heard
the criticism before, but doesn't buy it. She thinks any mother
who truly wants to be near her children can find a way.
``I can't believe surrendering to motherhood is about money,''
she says. ``It's an ancient and primal yank of the heart.''
If Krasnow was busy when she was chasing celebrities from UPI's
Washington bureau, she seems no less occupied by motherhood. She
squeezes an interview with this reporter between kid-related chores
in her waterfront Maryland town not far from Washington. (She prefers
to keep the town anonymous for fear of readers tracking her down
at home.)
Luke:
Prager admired a famous female violinist who says she won't have
children because she is committed to music. P says that those who
want to have children, should raise them, instead of employing others
to raise them.
P says being a parent is bittersweet. He treasures that he still
gets to hold the hand of his five-year Aaron when they cross the
street. Soon Aaron will want to be independent.
P flew his family with him to Boston this past weekend so that
he would not be away from them for four days.
Put the nightlife back into your lovelife… Herbal tablet…Strinex
1-800-503-2985
Prager says there is no more important issue in America today
than [fill in the blank] women staying home to raise their children.
Prager says that the husband needs to tell his wife that you believe
from the bottom of your heart that your wife's work with the kids
is as important as your work that brings in the money.
In his third hour, Prager interviewed prolific author Sir Martin
Gilbert of Oxford and Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Gilbert was optimistic that one day Israel and the Palestinians
will be able to live with each other.
From
Prager's Web Site:
Monday, May 4, 1998
Dennis began his show voicing his anger at a Maryland school for
labeling a student a "drug trafficker" because she saved her friend's
life by giving her an inhaler. The two girls both suffer from asthma.
One of them had an attack on the school bus. The bus driver called
911 but the child was in desperate straits. So her friend gave her
friend an inhaler that she carries with her. Her friend instantly
recovered from what later was diagnosed as a life-threatening attack.
Because the school has a "zero-tolerance" drug policy they officially
placed in her file that she is a drug trafficker. This has the potential
of getting her kicked off of school activities, harming her chances
of getting into a good college, and possibly affecting after school
job opportunities.
Dennis said that these "zero-tolerance" policies are destructive.
They lead to six year old boys being labeled sexual harassers and
children being expelled for giving friends cough drops. Dennis also
recalled a child that was suspended for bringing a water gun to
school (the water gun was 2 inches long) because of a zero tolerance
for guns and a girl who was suspended because of a zero tolerance
for drugs for giving her friend, who had her menstrual cycle, a
Midol tablet. Almost all the callers were upset over this zero tolerance
policy. One caller, a registered nurse, told Dennis that this girl
probably saved her friend's life and that asthmatics carry bronchial
inhalers. That if this girl gave this same inhaler to a friend who
does not suffer from asthma, it would not hurt the friend at all.
It is perfectly safe. Dennis said what the school is teaching is
that if your friend is dying, don't do anything, don't get involved.
The last half of the show was devoted to, what Dennis described
as, the danger involved in allowing children to watch unfiltered
TV, even wholesome shows. Last week, many local Los Angeles TV stations
cut into regular programming - including children's programming,
such as cartoons - to bring a live telecast of a typical LA freeway
chase (lots of police cars chasing one motorist at a high rate of
speed on LA freeways). Unfortunately the end was atypical, in that
the driver of the car, left his burning automobile and shot himself
in the head, committing suicide. Dennis said that in his home his
children do not watch TV live. They watch purchased video tapes.
It is not uncommon for TV stations to break into all kinds of programming
to bring freeway chases, bank hostage situations (such as the North
Hollywood shoot-out), large demonstrations, and natural disasters.
Too often these live spots can end in tragedy. Dennis said that
he completely understands the need parents often have to get a little
time to themselves so they allow their kids to watch TV. Dennis
said that parents shouldn't feel confident just because their kids
are watching wholesome programming that that is all they are seeing.
One parent said that he worries that his child will be "out of it"
if he doesn't watch all the shows kids know about today. Dennis
told the caller that teaching your young child to be independent
is a positive thing but that for absolute certain shows that the
child wants to see, they can be videotaped in advanced to make sure
it is truly suitable for young viewers.
In the first hour, Dennis began the show by reading excerpts from
articles that published some of the entries Theodore Kaczynski wrote
in his journal. Over a 17-year period Kaczynski brutally murdered
3 and maimed 22 with his mail bombs. From his reclusive shack in
the backwoods of Montana, Kaczynski kept a journal of his attacks.
Dennis said that although he does think the prosecutors did the
right thing in not seeking the death penalty, because it was Kaczynski's
brother who turned him in and undoubtedly saved countless lives,
he does not understand opposition to the death penalty. Dennis said
that on other areas of disagreement such as abortion or school vouchers,
he does not accept the opposition's arguments but that he understands
them. When it comes to opponents of capital punishment Dennis said
that he actually doesn't understand them. Dennis made a powerful
point to one caller when he stated that "the good do not understand
the bad and the bad do not understand the good." One caller referred
to the murderer as "Mr. Kaczynski." Dennis said that this is a new
phenomenon. He said that people should offer the title "Mr." to
those that deserve it. He asked the caller "did you ever hear Stalin
referred to as "Mr. Stalin," Hitler as "Mr. Hitler," etc.?"
For the next two hours Dennis had two authors in studio. For the
1-2 o'clock hour Dennis interviewed Iris Krasnow author of Surrendering
to Motherhood. It is about women realizing the value of taking care
of their children and not feel that a profession outside of the
home is more valuable and more esteemed. Ms. Krasnow held an important
position with the news-service UPI, as a field reporter and her
book discusses her decision to become a full-time mother and her
life after that big decision.
For the 2 o'clock hour Dennis interviewed Sir Martin Gilbert,
author of 50 books, including the just published, Israel: A History.
This was a riveting show because Sir Martin, in addition to his
insight on Israel, is an expert on the Holocaust and on Sir Winston
Churchill (having written acclaimed books on both subjects). During
this hour Sir Martin took calls on all three subjects.
ARTS & BOOKS: In the land of promises, promises One of the
most dramatic stories of our time has been rendered as anodyne as
a textbook, says Mordecai Richler
( The Daily Telegraph )
Israel: a History
by Martin Gilbert
Doubleday, pounds 25
AGAINST all odds, Israel, that rib torn from the body of Arabia,
still sits there, intransigent and vulnerable to suicidal terrorists
capable of striking anywhere.
Increasingly isolated, out of favour even with many Diaspora Jews
who are now criticising it publicly, it is celebrating its 50th
anniversary as a state this year, and any child in England or America
unlucky enough to be bar mitzvah in 1998 will stagger under the
weight of commemorative books, when they would probably prefer something
about the Spice Girls.
One of the first off the mark is the industrious Martin Gilbert
with his encyclopaedic Israel, a doorstop that includes all the
bones of the story, but is deficient in the marrow. It manages the
incredible feat of rendering textbook-anodyne one of the most dramatic
stories of our time. Given its clear Zionist bias (and why not?),
it is, for the most part, scrupulous in recording events wherein
the Israelis did not exactly sign the skies with their honour, but,
on other occasions, it skips lightly over embarrassments or avoids
mentioning them.
In 1986, Sir Martin writes, Mordechai Vanunu, who blew the whistle
on Israel's nuclear arsenal in Dimona, was "taken to Israel", but
we are not told that he was, in fact, drugged and kidnapped. Albert
Einstein, he writes, "had always shown sympathy for the Zionist
ideal" . But, in a 1938 interview, Einstein said:
"I would much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on
the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish
state . . . my awareness of the essential nature of Judaism resists
the idea of a Jewish state with borders, an army and a measure of
temporal powers, no matter how modest. I'm afraid of the inner damage
Judaism will suffer - especially from the development of a narrow
nationalism within our own ranks."
In 619 dauntingly fact-filled pages, Sir Martin makes no mention
of one of Israel's most threatening problems, that of the yordim,
those citizens who have quit Israel since the state was founded.
In 1990 the newspaper Ha-Aretz estimated that "those who go down"
already numbered 500,000.
Luke:
Prager asked Martin Gilbert why so much anti-Americanism in France.
Envy said M.G. Jealousy.
Gilbert said he hoped for Israeli leadership to minimize the hatred
between the Orthodox and non-Orthodox.
Gilbert worked on his story of the holocaust book from 1959-86.
He had to stop many times because he became so depressed.
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