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C’mon, Paul. It’s Christmas.

Click here to listen to the “You Tell Me” segment broadcast Friday, Dec. 21, 2007 on Newstalk 600 KTBB. I’m about to celebrate my 53rd Christmas. I have always celebrated it as a Christian. I will confess that Christmas over the years has been, emotionally speaking, a mixed bag for me. Many of the Christmases of my childhood flood back as some of the happiest times of my life. If ever a man knew how...

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Religious bigotry has no place in America

Beginning last week, as the headlines included coverage of Mitt Romney’s speech regarding his Mormonism, I received the following e-mail from a man named Frank. He said, “I will no longer be listening to your station between the hours of 8 and 11 AM. I was not aware that Glenn Beck was a Mormon.” Here is how I answered Frank. I waited 24 hours to answer your e-mail so that I would not overreact to...

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In 2008, it’s likely we’ll be voting on us.

It’s a bit less than a year to the 2008 presidential election. Anything can happen. As proof of that statement, anybody you asked on January 1, 2007 would have said that the Iraq war will be the dominant issue in November 2008. Ask that question today. Maybe not so much. At least for now, the success of the change of strategy in Iraq leading to the so-called “surge”has taken Iraq off the front page. I...

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What if the music on your FM radio goes away?

Pardon me for taking you backstage but I’m doing it for a reason. The radio industry and the record industry were born at the same time and nurtured in adjacent cribs. Being the siblings that they were, many decades ago, when both were in their concurrent adolescence, an accommodation was reached. Radio was in need of material to broadcast. The record companies needed to promote new artists and records. And so, the recording industry made...

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Hillary: All the Clinton baggage without the likeability.

Click here to listen to the “You Tell Me” segment broadcast on Newstalk 600 KTBB Friday, Nov. 9, 2007 This past week, for the first time, Hillary Clinton’s carefully controlled, highly scripted, enormously disciplined political mechanism hiccupped. At the Democratic presidential candidates debate in Philadelphia, Tim Russert asked her for her stand on the decision by New York governor Eliot Spitzer to issue driver licenses to illegal aliens. Here is what she said. Click here....

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Put the plastic away and raise your kids.

Click here to listen to the “You Tell Me” segment broadcast on Newstalk 600 KTBB Friday, Nov. 2, 2007 I have the good fortune to live in an affluent neighborhood. I also have the misfortune to live in an affluent neighborhood. I say misfortune because of the impact that affluence can have on some kids. I’ve already had one daughter go through middle and high school. I have another that will be in middle school...

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The Government Cannot Protect You from Mother Nature

Click here to listen to the You Tell Me broadcast segment on Newstalk 600 KTBB Friday, Oct. 26, 2007 Before I begin, I want to get this out of the way. I am not insensitive to the suffering of those in southern California who have lost their homes to raging wildfire. I cannot imagine losing everything that I have and I pray that I will never have such an experience. With that said, I am...

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Arrogance & Acquiesence

Click here to listen to the “You Tell Me” broadcast segment on Newstalk 600 KTBB, Friday Oct. 19, 2007 The school board in Portland, Maine has just made the decision to offer birth control pills to school girls in its district as young as 11 years old. And, guess what. Mom and dad don’t have to know.   How toweringly arrogant. How is it possible that parents of young girls don’t have the right to...

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If you like the Postal Service you’re going to love Hillary Care.

Listen to the introduction of this topic on Newstalk 600 KTBB Friday morning, October 12. You Tell Me segment, Friday October 12 I recently visited two Tyler post offices. The goal seemed simple. Get a Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope, affix the appropriate postage and drop the envelope in the collection box. Yes, it was Columbus Day and the post office was closed. But who cares? I didn’t need the services of a postal clerk....

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Es tiempo aprender inglés. (It’s time to learn English.)

Recently I was driving on south Broadway in front of Hogg Middle School in Tyler when I saw a series of yard signs on the campus announcing that progress reports were being issued. The signs appeared in the parkway in front of the school in a row, alternating between signs in English and signs in Spanish. Honest to goodness, if you’re in middle school in Tyler, Texas and you need a sign in Spanish to...

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I heard you.

I was the one who said, You Tell Me. And you did. Based on your thoughtful and, in many cases, passionate input, we are going to leave our talk lineup on KTBB unchanged. For now. I qualify it “for now” only because of our recognition that things change quickly. What’s working today could stall tomorrow. Something we don’t even know about today can be tomorrow’s hottest property. Most of all, however, I gained real strength...

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I sign the checks but it’s your radio station.

I do sign the checks. A seemingly endless stream of them. None of them will clear, however, if you don’t listen and, in so doing, create an audience that we can offer to advertisers. So in effect, the radio station is yours. And while we always know that, sometimes it’s brought foursquare to our attention. I happen to be a believer in local radio. As a talk radio manager and owner of over 30 years,...