That satellite radio commercial

Satellite radio is quite the nifty invention. Originally marketed to truckers, it has become a boon for a lot of people tired of conventional radio -- and often, an add-on or standard equipment on most new cars. The commercial-free music stations are great, but the other stations, like comedy, news and -- yes, sex information and talk -- have commercials. Some of them totally unsuited for young audiences.

I suppose this is a throwback to the trucker-oriented days, when the men and women who haul the loads that keep Canada and the United States rolling needed something to spice up their lives for when they came home to their spouses. But there is this one commercial that's been running in various forms for about a year now. And I almost cringe waiting for it. In fact, whenever friends I carpool with hear it, they laugh out loud and can even recite it verbatim along with me.

The ads are for a little "breakthrough" pill for male "enhancement" one that makes Mr. Happy not longer, but "thicker and wider." First it was one of the men who claimed to have invented it, learning from the "experience" he had with four female co-eds as roommates. Lately, it's one of the women involved in the project, who says, "All you women are nodding their heads -- thicker and wider is what we REALLY want."

And the line at the end --- "Order now, and we'll even throw in a FREE MEASURING DEVICE" -- to evaluate your "progress."

I'm not naming the product, although many of you know it by name either by hearing that commerical or by word of mouth. Note they never mention the price on the air.

But I finally looked it up, and they're charging $76 US (plus shipping and handling) for a 30 day supply. 76 bucks for something that supposedly works better than all those other "enhancement" products there? Hasn't anyone actually evaluated this?

Anyone remember something that was supposed to help arthritic pain, by "stimulating" it with a push button? It turns out that it was -- a barbeque starter. That's it, and a consumer advocate show proved it, by disconnecting the regular lighter and connecting it to this "miracle" device.

Another consideration: Like the ED drugs out there, one has to be concerned about the possibility of a "rise" (pardon the pun) in sexual assaults. Remember when the blue pill came out and a lot of women were reported being raped by their men who could finally get it up but the women didn't want to respond? Seems to me a woman could be seriously injured by a very thick -- um, Mr. Happy -- if they were forced to do something against their will, even more so than in a rape where no sex aids were used whatsoever.

Why aren't federal regulators actually checking this thing out, or the ingredients that are in it? Something tells me that this "male enhancement" product could be either a placebo or a big load of -- um, hot air. I don't know too much about women, but I'm sure that no matter what's out there, there's two things that remain true -- it takes a lot more to get in bed with someone than with charm and claims of prowess; two, it's not the size of what's down below or how to use it, but how one uses the most important sex organ of all, the one between the ears.

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And the winner is ... Horwath

Andrea Horwath did indeed win the Ontario ND leadership last night on the third ballot. Many in the media predicted in the last few days she was emerging as a dark horse and the second choice of many in the party. In the end, after Gilles Bisson crossed the floor to support her, it wasn't even close with Ms Horwath getting 60.4% of the vote.

In her acceptance speech, she drew on something that is so vital -- and precisely the point that the very pro-business Lee Iacocca wrote about over 25 years ago: It's great to have a service industry and a resource industry, but the strength of a developed economy is its manufacturing sector. Iacocca, who noted IBM's (then) three biggest non-defence contractors were the (then) "Big Three" said, "You can't have Silicon Valley without Detroit."

It's true now. We can't have Blackberries if we don't have steel and auto plants. As Horwath said, it's the salaries and wages in the industrial core that flows through to the rest of the economy, ensuring high wages for all and the ability of families to pay for post-secondary education for their children. She called herself a "union brat," which I think is sadly a dying breed.

And given the opening provided by the now vacant Ontario PC leadership, she has the ability to begin to pounce every day the legislature is in session, and in scrums when it is not.

Recall that having a leader in place for quite some time worked to the NDs advantage in 1990, when the PCs who had been leaderless for nearly three years after Larry Grossman (peace be upon him) embarrassingly lost his seat in a general election and the party had to be guardianed by Andy Brandt until a little known guy named Mike Harris came along just before David Peterson's stupid decision to call an election a year before it had to be. Harris was a fish out of water back then; which gave Bob Rae who had been relentless in the legislature a chance to topple Peterson, which he did in one of the biggest come from behind upsets in Canadian history. (Brandt didn't do too badly for himself: Rae, Harris and McGuinty -- guys from all three parties -- kept reappointing him as head of the once stuffy but now classy wine and liquor shop, the LCBO).

Many Ontarians still smart from what the NDs did during the early 1990s, particularly on raising tuition feeds, forcing unpaid days off for public service workers as well as breaking their promise to have public auto insurance -- and during a recession too. Such turmoil gave Mike Harris the opening he needed to sideswipe the Rae team and crush the Liberals.

Certainly Ontario's economy is more diversified than in other provinces, and this recession is different from past ones, but if Horwath can find the right balance between socially liberal policies with ones that encourage economic growth, she could prove to be a winner. I'm not saying she's going to be the next Tommy Douglas but I see that kind of optimism and verve in her and she's going to need that to go after Generation X (which I'm in) et sequens, where elections will be decided in the future.

I wish her luck.

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Ontario NDs choose new leader

Later tonight, the Ontario NDP will be choosing a new leader. While I am a Liberal federally, I consider myself to be an independent at the provincial level and generally choose the party I think can best move the province forward at election time. After five years, Dalton McGuinty has become a rather stagnant Premier and he reacts as if he was blindsided by the current recession -- like he wasn't expecting it to hit this hard. While that does not necessarily mean I would vote NDP come the fixed date election in 2011, it does mean that the Liberals aren't the only option.

Based on who the NDs choose today, they may convince me to look their way. There are four very good candidates -- all of whom are sitting in the legislature which avoids the problem John Tory had running the PCs from the gallery before he resigned yesterday after losing in a by-electon. Any one of them would be a good choice; but of the four, I'd like to see Andrea Horwath get it. Not just because she's from my hometown of Hamilton, although in a different district, but she's the kind of person Ontario needs right now -- a community activist who understands the real pain we're facing right now. She is also, based on what people of all parties have told me who have met her, a very approachable and likable person yet also someone who is not a pushover.

And of course, she's a woman. Even many men are pissed off with the way men have run this country into the ground.

Win or lose, she's put her foot forward. If Ontario elects the NDs next time out, she definitely will be on the front bench.

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God bless the rains down in Africa

It's been a couple of days, but I did have to make a comment about the International Criminal Court issuing an indictment against Omar al-Bashir, and his immediate reaction to kick out ten NGOs providing aid to the Darfur region. Not surprisingly, Bashir thinks the indictment is a joke and instead claimed this was an attempt to impose "colonialism" against Sudan. Hmmm, where have we heard that expression before? Oh yeah ... Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. I'll get to him in a moment.

It's worth remembering that the civil war in Darfur isn't Christians versus Muslims, but rival Muslim factions. But religion shouldn't be an issue, humanity is humanity and deliberately displacing nearly three million people is a war crime even if a single person has not been killed. Of course, hundreds of thousands have been murdered, raped and tortured. Since Sudan won't deal effectively with its own leadership, since the rule of law doesn't exist in Sudan, then the world must act. With any luck, Bashir will drop in on the Vatican, which doesn't recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC -- and he and Ratzinger will play a marathon game of Texas hold em while millions continue to starve.

Enough. The moment any plane he is on is over international waters, a military escort should intercept it and send him straight to the Hague where he belongs. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty in that forum. If he is truly innocent, he should turn himself in voluntarily.

As for Zimbabwe -- very interesting that Mugabe's main rival and now Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, was involved in a motor vehicle accident today where he was injured and his wife was killed after their car ran into a tractor trailer. Can anyone believe it was really an accident, despite the poor state of repair of roads in the country? This looks very suspicious, even though Mugabe paid Tsvangirai a visit in the hospital. You just don't spend years trying to knock someone down only to suddenly make him your PM like that without having an ulterior motive.

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How to write the cv of John Tory

John Tory is almost certainly going to quit today, as leader of the Ontario PC Party. A history of this man's remarkable career:

1. After graduating from the private University of Toronto Schools, a private high school connected to the U of T, hired by Rogers Communications. Moonlights as a journalist for CFTR (then a Top 40 station, now 680 News) while earning law degree from York University's Osgoode Hall.

2. After a stint in the last term of Bill Davis' "Big Blue Machine," is retained by Mulroney on acid rain issue, his work leads to new treaty with the US.

3. Runs Kim Campbell's disastrous 1993 election campaign, the brain behind infamous "funny face" ads that ridiculed Jean Chrétien for having Bell's palsy; knowing full well that many celebrities have suffered the affliction -- Pierce Brosnan, George Clooney, Jane Greer, Curtis LeMay, Gordon Lightfoot, Ralph Nader, Jim Ross -- and that it is not funny at all.

4. Returns to Rogers. Brain behind controversial "negative option billing" campaign that leads to record cancellations of subscriptions and a flock to satellite TV.

5. Runs the CFL. No comment.

6. Challenges David Miller for Toronto mayoralty. Finishes in a strong second place. Helps to pay debts of Miller and the far trailing third place finisher, Barbara Hall, as a good sport.

7. Becomes leader of Ontario Tories. Parachutes into safest possible seat, the one held by outgoing leader Ernie Eves, wins.

8. At general election of 2007, decides to pass up on rerunning in safe seat and runs in hotly contested seat in Toronto. Loses by 11%.

9. Runs party from gallery, until supposedly "safe" seat northeast of Peterborough opens up. Runs, loses by 900 seats.

If this was the resumé I was presented with for a job offer ... I'd tell Tory, okay, there's some good you did there, but you were an idiot in a lot of other respects; so get some humble pie and for a change work in the coke ovens or in a call centre, like REAL people do.

I think there should be a rule: Anyone who went to private school should not be allowed into politics, period. Ordinary people -- those of who went to real schools -- are a lot smarter, and would run the country and businesses better, if the tables were turned and it was the "old boys and girls" who had to work the factories from the shop floor and not the board rooms for a change.

Ta Ta, John. We hardly knew ye even though you've been in our faces for 30 years.

UPDATE (8:42 am, 1342 GMT): Earlier I said Mel Lastman ... of course, it was David Miller as a commenter pointed out.

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How low can it go before we get to Armageddon?

In an even greater sign of desperation, the two major central banks in Europe cut interest rates to historic lows. The Bank of England, serving the UK, cut its overnight rate to 0.5%, the lowest interest rate ever in the country, and announced it would print £75 billion of "new money" (or what they call "qualitative easing", whatever the hell that means!) -- while the European Central Bank cut the base rate in Euroland to 1.5%, the lowest since the creation of the Euro ten years ago, and pretty much announced similar measures to float money.

It's not they're really making new money -- that would severely devalue the currencies. Rather, it will be as has been in the case in the States an electronic swap of good money for the commercial banks' bad loans. But eventually, the interest rate is going to hit zero -- which means banks will loan money to each other for free. They don't like loaning money to each other even in the best of times. And car loans are still at 10%? Is something wrong here, people?

Most developed countries, including Canada, only print new money under the most extraordinary of circumstances and it is well known to be a risky strategy. Let it get out of hand -- well, we saw what happened in Zimbabwe, turning from the richest country in Africa to the poorest in just one generation.

Who knows where this might lead. Then again, everyone thought "the smartest guys in the room" were at Enron. I hope the central bankers are a lot smarter than that -- they are now collectively Atlas with the weight of the entire planet on their shoulders and the rate things are going we're going to have Armageddon without a single shot being fired in the infamous Israeli town.

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New York State finally relaxes 70s drug laws

As Stephen Harper moves to toughen Canada's drug laws (an overreaction and "one size fits all" approach to the very serious problem of street gangs, by bringing people far away from gang culture into the view of the criminal law), the State of New York which notorious for having some of the toughest laws in the United States (the so-called "Rockefeller Laws"), is moving to relax them. This is possible since the Democrats now control both houses in Albany, having broken the Republicans' long time strangehold on the Senate in last year's elections (in part to the demographic shift on Long Island).

In short, the laws currently require a prosecutor's permission before a judge can consider sending a first time offender into drug treatment -- now the lower house has said that discretion will go back to the judge where it properly belongs.

The bill has to be reconciled with a similar measure working its way through the state Senate, but when passed should help reduce the huge overcrowding that exists in the NYS prison system, and follows up on a 2004 measure that ended mandatory life sentences for most drug crimes. It also puts NYS more in line with other states who have come to realize that mandatory minimums are packing the prisons and bankrupting the criminal law system.

We of course have to deal with a firm hand with drug kingpins as well as those who for whom treatment is an impossibility. (Especially kingpins: Murder in the course of a drug transaction should carry a life sentence.) But the more we realize that drug use is a public health issue and not a crime issue, the better we'll be able to handle the problem. First and second time offenders, who have otherwise not committed any other crime while in possession or under the influence of drugs, should be in treatment and not in jail.

Harper would be well advised to learn from the American experience: Zero tolerance simply doesn't work.

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Federal Court to Harper: Stand up for death row inmates

The Harper government got another well deserved smack down today, when a federal court ruled that the Conservatives acted unfairly when they decided the foreign affairs department would no longer seek clemency for Ronald Allen Smith who is facing a death sentence for double murder in Montana -- even if he was convicted under accepted rules of "due process," which of course does not nor can it ever exist where capital punishment is a sentencing option in the first place.

As you may recall Harper announced back in 2007 that it would no longer offer such assistance where Canadians were on death row in "democratic" countries. The House of Commons overwhelmingly passed a non-binding resolution slamming the decision, one which overturned more than three decades of policy followed by Liberal and Progressive Conservative PMs.

Today's court decision does not excuse the actions of the prisoner in question, of course. Smith, on death row for 26 years, admits he did it -- hunting down two people with a sawed off shot gun.

Nor should it be seen as a license by Canadians to break American law at will.

Today's decision does say, however, that Canada made a decision to abide by certain human rights standards and it is bound to do so, no matter the religious or personal ethical views of the incumbent chief operating officer of the government. If Canada wants to end its obligations then it has to ask Parliament to withdraw from specific treaties or express reservations in certain aspects of them. It just can't do so by executive decision. More important, the government can't drop its attempts to seek clemency just because there's a change in the horse or the rider. And if we're not willing to stand up for our citizens even the most despicable of the lot in of all places the United States, then why should countries with less complimentary human rights records give our citizens fair treatment either?


One other thing: While I think Smith should get clemency -- if for no other reason than that he's actually spent more time on death row than most murderers do who haven't been condemned -- he should still spend the rest of his life in jail, and he shouldn't be allowed back into Canada to serve out his sentence, which under current rules would mean he automatically gets parole. This wasn't a crime of passion, it was killing two people in cold blood.

No one should applaud that. Let him rot away in Montana; we don't need scum like that here. Where there is no doubt whatsoever -- none at all, not even the slightest reasonable doubt -- murder one should carry life without parole. That should also apply to Canada.

UPDATE (9:19 pm, Thursday 0219 GMT): Thanks to Impolitical for her link to this post.

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Different ads for different folks?

During the 1990s, there was this one small cable company in the suburbs of Washington DC, maybe about 20,000 customers that had become the first to go 100% digital. It also adopted a very bold pricing strategy: Rather than paying so much for so many channels each month, it went to a pay per view for everything, that is à la carte -- even network programming. The idea was you'd pick ONE show to watch in a time slot, so as not to fall into the trap of channel surfing. For most, the monthly bill actually worked out to what it would have been prix fixe, especially for those who wanted to see just one or two movies on HBO rather than pay to get the channel for the whole month.

But the system went further. It recognized the demographics of each individual viewer and for local station breaks (other than the network commercials) it would feed content on that basis. So, for example, an executive might see a commercial advertising yacht sales or charter airline rentals. Someone towards the middle might see a commercial advertising the next cultural event at Wolf Trap. And for those with lower incomes, this week's specials at the discount supermarket chain.

Or if the same company was advertising to homes, the richer people might see an ad for an HDTV, the "little people" the video game of the week.

Now, there is going to be an adaptation of this in the NYC area, targeting about 500,000 homes with differentiated commercials, with a roll out to all 3.1 million by next year. There was a pilot project with about 100,000 homes last year with "targeted" and "untargeted" ads that seemed to indicate a far higher buy rate for premium services from those who were "targeted."

While people have the right to opt out and just get the "general" feed, this raises major invasion of privacy issues. The claim is they're going solely by demographics and personal information is double-blinded, but who's to stop someone from reverse engineering and getting personal data about someone -- and more importantly, what they are watching and / or ordering?

And don't be surprised if this comes to Canada soon -- the technology does exist since we already have on-demand programming. I don't mind customized ads, but I think I should have the right to opt in rather than being told I must opt out. To not give a choice is basically another version of negative option billing, which is wrong.

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More rot (2009-03-04 edition)

Three more Canadian soliders killed by a roadside bomb, this time northwest of Kandahar City. Dead are Warrant Officer Dennis Raymond Brown of the Lincoln and Welland Regiment; Corporal Dany Fortin of 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron, 3 Wing Bogotville; and Corporal Kenneth O'Quinn of 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Headquarters and Signals Squadron.

That brings the total of Canadians killed in the line of duty since 9/11 up to 114 -- 111 soldiers, 1 diplomat and 2 aid workers.

Is this what we're fighting for? To stop the flow of opium? Because if that is what is it, then we're clearly into a war we have no possible way of getting out of. And to think we in this mess until 2011 at the least? What did we ever get ourselves into? We were supposed to smoke out OBL and his cohorts -- in and out -- and not fight a civil war.

Oh, and notice pretty much everyone killed, besides the one diplomat, have been enlisted or NCOs members of the forces? Why can't the commissioned officers do some of the dirty work themselves?

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We're here, we're single, and we're not being listened to!

Nearly every week when I go to my Catholic parish, there is the constant invocation to "pray for vocations," that is, pray for people who are willing to become priests, sisters, brothers, and permanent deacons.

I've said this before, but I have to say it again: The way that is said -- pray for vocations -- apparently leaves no room whatsoever for the two other totally legitimate vocations that are available: Marriage and the single life. Married people get the shaft as it is, but it's us single people that really get shoved aside. I'm not the only single Catholic who feels that we're not treated as full members of the Church even though we've been baptized, taken communion, received the rite of confirmation.

Church dances and socials simply aren't enough. There has to be some kind of outreach to us singles to make us feel welcome. Right now, we still don't feel it. So the next time a priest asks us to "pray for vocations" maybe he should pray that us single people can find our place in our walk with Jesus. We're no less Catholic than someone who has taken a vow (real or imagined) of celibacy.

I'll "pray for vocations" when my church gives me six 40 oz. bottles of Jack Daniel's ™ as a going away present.

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We honour all veterans ... or none of them

There has been a bit of controversy lately in this part of the world -- and I suspect it's happening across Canada. This has to do with what privileges we should be giving those who qualify to get veteran's parking plates, specifically what rights they should have to park at parking meters. Some communities are saying yes to all veterans, some are saying not at all. Others, like Hamilton, are attempting to limit the program to vets of the Second World War and Korea.

While we should be honouring our men and women who served us, free parking seems like a less than honourable way to do so, considering the pathetic benefits many of them receive from Veterans' Affairs -- if they qualify for them at all.

Not only that, but how do we determine what war one fought in other than by age? Unlike many US states, where special plates specifically say what war one fought in (World War II, Vietnam, etc) the plates here simply say "Veteran" or "Ancien Combatant" with no specific reference to which war. Also, the plates in Ontario are available to anyone who can prove they fought for Canada or one of its allies, in war or in peace; not only that, the program is also extended veterans of the wartime the Merchant Marine, Mounties who have served in peacekeeping operations, Canadians who have served at least three years in the Canadian forces in regular or reserve duties and may STILL BE SERVING, or any Canadian who volunteered for the US or its allies in the Vietnamese conflict. (Maybe someone can enlighten me as to the rules in other provinces.)

If we're going to honour veterans we should honour all of them or none of them at all. To just pick and choose between those wars which were "right" and those which were "wrong," or alternately to just pick a war to stop the honours is discriminatory -- we honour those who fought in all wars even if we disagreed with some or all of them. We keep forgetting that the 1991 Gulf War, and the current Afghanistan engagement, did then or is now creating hundreds of veterans, many of whom have developed PTSD and will be on LTD for the rest of their lives. They deserve no less credit than those who fought in the Bulge or in Incheon.

And let's go beyond the parking thing -- and my position on this is, all veterans get to park for free at parking meters, not just some of them. It's time to pay veterans the benefits they deserve from federal coffers. They sacrificed a lot and to them we owe a huge debt of gratitude that goes beyond money, but they at the same time need dignity that goes beyond just a simple thank you.

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EU headed to membership crisis?

One could hardly say at this juncture that Europe is falling apart at the seams, but if this past weekend's "emergency" summit of the 27 EU leaders is any indication, there are some big issues to deal with and some huge personality egos to overcome. The leaders rejected a call from Hungary for a €180 billion aid package to assist the central and eastern members in the trade bloc -- but did agree that they should collectively put pressure on the IMF and World Bank to tap into its reserves to help out. Not that they haven't already extended billions.

There's also apprehension that the wealthier EU states are bailing out their own industries, for example France has extended to car companies in that country about €6 billion in lines of credit -- possibly a violation of trade rules which are supposed to give equal treatment to companies across the trade zone and not just in one country. The whole beggar thy neighbour scenario looms large. While the leaders are saying they're in this together, I'm beginning to wonder.

From where I view it across the pond, it's not just a case of those countries in Euroland versus those out -- after all, the UK, Sweden and Denmark are getting hammered by the recession too. It's also continued resentment that there are actually two classes of EU citizens right now. Sure, the passports throughout the EU are stamped "European Union" right at the top and technically one who is a citizen of any state has the right of travel in all the others. But the right of abode is another matter: Those who joined before 2004 can live anywhere in Europe. The countries that joined in or after 2004 have restricted residency employment rights until 2011, and for Bulgaria and Romania who joined most recently, 2013. It's a double edged sword: Those in Eastern states may want to get jobs in the West in these tough times, those in the West of course want to give employment to their own and are quite apprehensive about what will happen when the gates fully come down.

Also, it is inevitable that the remaining states out of Euroland will join, although perhaps not as soon as those countries initially thought. The efficiencies of a common currency are far too numerous to mention. But many of the poorer states will have to undergo even greater shock therapy than they are right now, and the three odd men -- the UK, Denmark and Sweden -- are probably going to resent even more bailing out their neighbours than they are right now with their own respective currencies; let alone what will happen when they do finally adopt the Euro and the shots are all called from Frankfurt. Even without a bailout, the currency will naturally devalue as some weaker members join in -- a target range of $1.10 to 1.15 isn't entirely out of the question compared to the roughly $1.27-1.35 range it is at now.

In the end, I think the EU will hold together; and contrary to what many televangelists prophesize, the UK will still very much be a part of the zone. But this recession will fundamentally alter what the zone has been until now, and there will be great pressure to brings things back to what the idea was in the first place -- the four freedoms of people, goods, services and capital with common rules and possibly open borders; but a much reduced bureaucracy and return of power back to individual states. More than now "subsidiarity" -- bringing decision making back to the closest level to the people -- is needed, and that went out of the window more than two decades ago. The EU is a remarkable success story, but getting back to basics may be the only way to preserve the union.

In short: Slash back the number of Eurocrats. Give the European Parliament real power, including the right to name its own Europe-wide President (rather than have one forced upon them by the PMs). Make the Union a real union, not the UFC. Again, I'm not a Euroskeptic but it's time to go back to basics. Keeping it short and simple will get rid of a lot of the red tape, which there is too much off even in the best of times; and a government of bureaucrats can be as potentially dangerous as that of an absolute monarch or president.

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Where's our f***ing bailout?

The Dow took another big hit today, dropping below the 7000 level for the first time in twelve years, after news the troubled insurance company AIG has had to be bailed out to the tune of another $30 billion and its loss for 2008 was $61.7 billion. It's already received $150 billion in taxpayer injections just to stay belly up.

Enough is enough. It's not the policyholders' fault that executives made bad business decisions, and the policyholders' policies are guaranteed to be taken over by other companies anyway in case of failure. It's time to pull the plug on this monster. When we the people get a bailout, then corporations can get theirs.

If you are looking for life insurance -- if you can still get it -- don't get a policy that forces you to share in the company's risk. Dave Chilton was right, get a non-participating policy if you can.

Meanwhile, oil dropped about $4 a barrel today. Don't expect to see the price of gas drop four cents per litre until -- June.

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Paul Harvey 1918-2009

Now we do know the rest of the story -- although it was never really quite completed.

It is very hard to imagine a world without Paul Harvey, a conservative voice but a nice and respectful one, not unlike the batch that has given us the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Gordon Liddy and so forth. In addition to his twice daily round-up of news and thoughts, including his daily "for what it's worth" weird news item; he would as well serve up "the rest of the story" -- anectodoes about real people or events with an unusal twist defying conventional wisdom.

He was also one of those on the right who actually took marriage seriously, unlike the hypocrites that dominate the timeslots devoted to so many televangelists. He and Lynne (who produced the show) were married 69 years before she died last May. How many wives has Limbaugh gone through? Whose boyfriend of the week Ann Coulter is on? My point exactly.

"The Rest of the story" will likely live on, probably through his son Paul Jr. who has written them, and hosted most of them as of late ... but it won't be the same without the big guy. This one, from a few years back, has to be my favourite:



Thanks, Paul.

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