National Public Radio

There is talk about NPR - lots of it. It has become a favorite topic of commentators and bloggers. NPR has lately been tarnished by a series of missteps. It isn't perfect. What is? I say just leave it alone. It will learn and move on. No need for anyone else to meddle in its affairs, and, if the government funds it to a small degree, let it be. We certainly get our money's worth. Even the Timid Reporter could not do a better job, even if he is much less pretentious.

Covering up

From an NPR story: “The federal jury that found former Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson guilty Wednesday of 11 felonies, including bribery and racketeering, delivered its verdict four years and two days after FBI agents found $90,000 in his freezer. During the trial, prosecutors laid out five years' worth of deals in which Jefferson wanted payments from business people. The jurors saw a crisp FBI photo of the cash in his home freezer. They also saw a video of Jefferson collecting the money — the moment when the Democratic congressman reached into the trunk of an FBI informant's car and took a briefcase filled with the greenbacks. The informant, a businesswoman, wore a wire during the hand-off and at restaurant meals with Jefferson. She recorded incriminating conversations about business deals in Africa and the payments he expected. The defense case, by contrast, took a couple of hours and argued that Jefferson had been acting as a business consultant, not a member of Congress carrying out official acts.” There is a saying about working for two masters – it can’t be done. There is also a difference between discretion and dealing in cash – discretion is good, but cash is somehow always incriminating. Stay away from it. If you have nothing to cover up, then do everything out in the open. This topless woman knows this very well.

Language

There was some NPR show which reported that language had an impact on how a culture thinks and perceives things. They were comparing Spanish to German expressions. The focus of the report was on masculine versus feminine forms of nouns. It was discussed as though it were some major discovery. I could have told them that - in fact, I have. There is no way one can understand a culture well without speaking its language. That's not an NPR announcer on the left - that's my grandpa. He was a farmer - he understood animals. Animals don't speak. Animals don't even think.

Out of Afrika

NPR always has something to say about the troubles in Zimbabwe. It’s irritating. They just won’t leave it alone. Why is Afrika so dysfunctional? Does anyone know? Can’t someone do something to help this poor continent? There must be dozens of specialists in the State Department who make it their business to know as much about Afrika as their brains can hold, no? So, why don’t we have answers? Why no solutions? Who benefits from having Afrika remain a non-functioning continent? Is it anybody’s business to help the poor continent anyway? Certainly the Africans suffer from injustices right and left. They suffer from very poor health. That doesn’t help. Their life expectancy is the lowest on the planet. They suffer at the hands of dictatorial, unjust, and corrupt governments. That doesn’t help either. They fight each other in violent civil battles constantly. That’s not a positive thing. What to do? Throw money at it? Do they just need to learn to be just, to be fair, to share, to be honest, to be constructive, to be productive, and treat each other kindly? Would that do it? Can they even imagine a better world? Does anyone know? Hello?

Concertzender radio

To my eight readers: Good morning. If you have nothing better to do this Sunday, please send a short email to a public radio station in the Netherlands. It's called Concertzender and it is about to be shut down (despite its great success) unless people around the globe show their support. Here is the link to the station. http://www.concertzender.eu/index.php?language=en

If you just want to send the email of support, the email address is this: mening@ concertzender.nl

Thank you and have a pleasant afternoon.

Signed, the one and only Violinhunter

Vicente Fernandez on NPR

Well, I found out by accident that Vicente Fernandez had been made the subject of a piece on NPR. Why am I always finding things out by accident? It's not a bad thing. Almost all of the important scientific discoveries made in the last six thousand years have been by accident, too. There - I feel better already!!!