Tag Archives: Good Guy of the Week

Issue #61 Spam; is the GOP trying to kill the competition?

Posted by Jim Smith on March 21, 2011 No comments

(3/20/2011)  This week, we start with SPAM.  Yeah, you all know about it, but this was just a triple coincidence for me .  On Saturday I heard about a decrease in spam. Later the same day I get a wave of identical spam and then I hear how the government is using the problem of  spam, among other things as an excuse to stick their noses into the Internet.  Watch out, they may want to “help” us with the Internet if we’re really NOT lucky.

Also, a comment on a discussion board gets me thinking that finally the Republican Party is being honest and apparently making it plain that they want to eliminate the Democratic Party and give us a possible one-party rule.  Be afraid…be very afraid!

Plus, this week’s Good Guy is a group that wants to get disabled people to run like they’ve never run before.

Microsoft fights spam How much e-mail is spam? Spamcop.net How to fight spam

Washington Times editorial; “Big Govt. in your browser Achilles International

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Issue #58 Why do we always fall for all these lies?

Posted by Jim Smith on February 27, 2011 No comments

(2/27/2011)  This week’s Journal is just a grab bag of lies and liars and a question.  How the hell do we always fall for liars in politics?  We aren’t THAT stupid, and we can remember things like the last few dozen times  politicians have handed us a bunch of BS and we STILL vote for them!  We’re smarter than that, right?  Well, yes and no.  Individually we’re not that dumb, but COLLECTIVELY we are a gang of morons apparently.

Plus:  This week’s Good Guy is a dentist from Tucson, AZ who just can’t say no.

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Issue #55 Egypt and blocking OUR Internet?

Posted by Jim Smith on February 6, 2011 No comments

(2/6/2011)  This week we take a look at the situation in Egypt.  Not so much the protests, but Mubarak himself.  For one thing, since he’s been sold as such a good buddy to the US, why is it he’s such a terrible dictator now, and why are all the pundits acting like they knew it all along but didn’t bother to tell US?

Also, where did all the money we gave Egypt go and why Mubarak is richer than Bill gates?  And what about their Military?  Do we cut them off from the US dole?

Also, Congress is trying to get a bill passed that would authorize the President to be able to cut off Internet connections to “critical infrastructure” in case of a cyber attack.  I’m sure there are plenty of people, in light of the actions in Egypt, who will see that as the reason for the bill.  But IF the bill is what they say it will be, that’s not really the reason.

Plus:  This week’s Good Guy of the Week is a truck driver turned lawyer who helps battered women in Vermont.

Links:  Washington Post on State of Emergency Mubarak’s Personalwealth

Wikipedia Hosni Mubarak

Internet “Kill Switch” legislation: Wired Washington Post

Good Guy Wynona  Ward  Have Justice Will Travel Direct TV Profile

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Issue 54 The (sad) State of the Union speech

Posted by Jim Smith on January 30, 2011 No comments

(1/30/2011)  This week we take a brief look at the President’s State of the Union address.  Not much going on there, if you ask me, and it sounded more like a pep rally where our head cheerleader gave us what is now becoming the standard “our best times are ahead of us“  speech.  Okay, we all know President Obama gives a good speech, but I for one want much more than that.  I don’t think this is a good time in our history to give us a soft-sell when it comes to the immediate problems we face and how vital it is to work on them NOW!

Also, we take a look at the newly released Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report.  This is HUGE embarrassment to this government and, predictably, Congress is acting like it doesn’t mean anything and we are just burying our heads right back in the sand like the report never existed…as usual.

Plus:  This week’s Good Guy is Joe McDonough, a resident of Wilmington, Delaware who channeled his grief over the loss of his Son Andrew to Leukemia into a foundation committed to helping other kids with the disease.

This weeks links: Text of 2011 State of the Union 2010 State of the Union Huffington Post analysis of 2011 SOTU speech

Politifact on the SOTU speech Lobbyists in the Obama Administration

Text of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report Huffington Post Article on the report

Delawareonline.com article on Joe McDonough the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation website

This week we feature the alternate version of our theme “Day Job” by Dave Latchaw.

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Issue 52 The Tucson Blame Game

Posted by Jim Smith on January 17, 2011 No comments

(1/17/11)  It’s a little over a week since Jared Loughner took his pistol to the supermarket, and people are still trying to assign blame for his actions.  They’re also using this tragedy to further a few agendas.

Almost immediately after the shootings, some pundits and “news” people were pointing their fingers at right wing rhetoric in general and Sarah Palin in particular.  It pains me greatly to say that’s unfair blame-laying but, despite the fact that few people will agree with this edition of the Journal, I will stick by my assessment.  While today’s political rhetoric is far too caustic, combative and relies too much on the manipulation of emotion, there are WAY too many pressures and sources of anger and frustration to point to mere words and/or images as the source of Jared Loughner’s insanity and what I’ve seen over the past week can only be described as political opportunism.

Plus:  This week’s Good Guy is a man who was killed in that horrible shootout.

Links related to the shooting:  The Guardian (UK) Wikipedia

Time Magazine CBS

This week’s Good Guy, Dorwan Stoddard:    KVOA.com WSJ

KGUN-ch9 ( Tucson)

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Issue 51 Promises broken and responsibilities ignored

Posted by Jim Smith on January 9, 2011 5 comments

(1/9/2011) We’re off to a great start with the new, Republican-controlled House of Representatives.  Unemployment is down…or is it.  I say this is a shell game and we keep picking the shell without the pea in it.  Also, the GOPP promised to cut 100 Billion from the budget in their first year, but it’s-my-grand old party and -I’ll-cry-if-I-want-to John Boehner says he can’t think of a single thing they will cut off the top of his head.  Well that’s just BS, and they’ve been SAYING what they will cut for a year now.

Also, it’s almost debt ceiling raising time, but the Republicans are saying they will oppose it.  yeah, right.

This week’s Good Guy is a sandhog who saved the lives of his fellow workers.

And here’s an extra (not on the podcast) about the Coffee Party I received in an e-mail today.

We must resolve to begin a new era of civic engagement working together as a people.

We would like to invite you to participate in the For the People Summit in Washington DC, Jan. 20-22, at the U.S. Capitol and at the Washington Plaza Hotel. Please watch our video invitation.  The purpose of the Summit is to unite Americans in addressing a cancer in our political system: the corrupting influence of money in politics. More info at: MovementForthePeople.org

The 2011 For the People Summit will bring some the nation’s most influential thinkers on this issue together with many of the most innovative netroots and grassroots organizers. Together, we will work to map out long-term and short-term strategies for a movement that transcends partisanship and affects all of us.

If you cannot come to Washington, it is equally important to participate in or organize events in your community. For more info, click here, or email us at: summit@coffeepartyusa.com or call us: (301) 259-1842.

Thank you for joining our call for a new era of civic engagement, united as We the People.

–Annabel, Sabina, David, Eric B, Barb, Eric W, Rebecca, Robert, Leah, Billy, Bill and the Coffee Party USA team

Visit us: http://coffeepartyusa.com

As always, thanks very much for listening.

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Issue 50 Republican promises for 2011

Posted by Jim Smith on January 3, 2011 No comments

(1/2/2011) It’s 2011 and the GOP is riding in like the new  Sheriff in town with a saddlebag full of promises for how they intend to save us all from the Democrats.  Or so they say.  But do you remember what those promises actually were, and did you really care WHAT they were when you went into the voting booth?

I say the Republicans, like like the Democrats do, said whatever it took to coax people into putting them in the majority with little to no intention of fulfilling those promises.  If you’re over 40, or if you study recent political history, you should realize this is business as usual to swindle the voted from people who are unhappy with thew “other” party and this big “change” (sound familiar?) will amount to the people losing ground once again.

his week’s Good Guy is a 19 year old waitress from Illinois who saved a choking victim at the restaurant where she worked.  Not a big story, but just a reminder that there are a lot of people out there who make big differences in even one other person’s life.

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Issue #47 Breaking the illusions about politicians

Posted by Jim Smith on December 6, 2010 No comments

(12/5/2010) Christmas is coming soon, and people are dropping off the unemployment rolls, but not in the way they would like.  The standoff over extending the Unemployment Insurance checks is still on, and there’s no end in sight.

Knowing, from years of observation, how politicians act, I don’t think the standoff will last much longer.  It’s all about illusion.

This week’s Good Guy:  Befitting the upcoming holiday, more links to charities.

Charities
Miriams Kitchen US Vets
Charity database indexes
Charitywatch Charity Vault
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Issue #46 The TSA and Terrorism and A Letter to McConnell

Posted by Jim Smith on December 6, 2010 No comments

(11/28/2010) This week we take a look at these aggressive security procedures by then Federal Transportation Security Administration that has so many people up in arms.  Since they’ve never caught a suspected terrorist, even when they had the OLD procedures in place, why are we bothering to escalate the process?

Also:  A lady on Gather.com writes an open letter to Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell.  She has also sent it to McConnell himself and she doesn’t mince words about how she feels in this very heartfelt missive from an American citizen.

Plus:  This week begins our second annual series of holiday Good Guy segments

Sandy Knauer’s letter to Mitch McConnell
Charities featured on the program
http://www.holiday-project.org/ http://soldiersangels.org/about-us.html
Not mentioned:
http://operationgive.c5host.com/ http://www.operationchristmastree.com/
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Issue #45 Earmarks, Tax Cuts and Karzai Wants us Out

Posted by Jim Smith on December 6, 2010 No comments

(11/22/2010)  This week we take a look at the big, and probably phony debate on the expiring tax cuts and the Earmark debate.  Also, Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan wants the US  to get out and stop “meddling” in his country.  We suspect there’s more than one reason for this.

Plus:  This week’s Good Guy is a whole different kind of animal.

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Issue #44 Veterans Day, fear in politics and Bush tax cuts

Posted by Jim Smith on December 5, 2010 No comments

(11/14/2010)  This issue is about the way fear is being used by the politicians to keep the heat for their actions off them by pitting Americans against Americans by selling the fear of the “other side” and how these people will destroy the country if they get elected.  And I think we should honor our vets the other 364 days of the year and not just on Veterans Day.

Also, I analyze the lie about the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.

Plus:  This week’s Good Guy is the St Joseph’s Center, a charity for homeless veterans.

Article on failure of tax cuts for the rich

The Joseph Center for homeless veterans List of Phobias

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Issue #43 Midterm election wrapup and a look ahead

Posted by Jim Smith on December 5, 2010 No comments

(11/7/2010)  This week, five days after the midterm elections we give a quick wrapup on the elections and my take on it, and a little look ahead to what I think we can expect from the new House majority and their “mandate” to do what the people want.

Also, this week’s Good Guy takes a look at two little-known, but worthy and somewhat unusual charities.

Thanks for listening and please tell your friends.

http://www.dogtagsforkids.org/ http://www.kiva.org/

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