And now for my American friends and readers: 

I have an unhealthy fixation upon American politics. It fascinates me. The spectacle of it. And besides which, there's a wealth of engaging and entertaining political talk radio down south of the border.

A few years past, there was a radio show called "Morning Sedition", which I listened to each and every weekday morning when I got home from work. It was a three hour block of my daily life which brought me profound pleasure and joy, not least of all because it was hosted by stand-up comedian Marc Maron. He has this sort of furious, desperate earnestness which I find pleasing on such a personal level that I cannot fully articulate fully without gesticulating about with my hands and shouting excitedly.

Well. He's got a new show.

it's available in audio or video, and when it's not live, it continuously streams reruns of recent material. I suggest that those of you who have an interest in American politics and those funny jew comedians, go have a look.

The show co-stars Sam Seder, who is also great, and though he is less completely hillarious to me, he is, it must be said, more informed and more informative. More professional, you know? A good anchor to the whirling tornado of wit and rage which is Marc Maron.

I had a f rustrating night last night. 

While at work, I frequently listen to KGO on the radio - a San Fransisco-based AM radio station - and during their 10:00 to 1:00 slot there's a sort of rotating cast of hosts. This week, the slot is occupied by the extremely partisan Clinton-supporter Christine Craft. 

I have taken exception to her approach to the Clinton/Obama race for some time now; I have likened listening to her speak on the topic of Obama to "wandering, lost, through a cornfield comprised entirely of strawmen". Last night, I sort of reached a boiling point. As anyone who has the stomach and inclination to watch the news knows, Clinton eked out a single-digit 9% victory over Obama in the Pennsylvania primary. Not a statistically significant victory; she's basically reduced his lead from 180-odd candidates to 170-odd candidates. His lead is more secure now than it was before, in that she has very little opportunity to make up that difference in the few primaries that remain. 

But that's all secondary to my point. Christine Craft immediately came on the air at 10:00 PM and started talking about how Clinton won a "double digit" victory over Obama. The facts don't bear her up here, and what's more, I seemed to recall her having yesterday said that if she didn't win by double digits, the race was essentially over and done with. I could be wrong, and I'll be checking the audio archives in just a minute or so, but regardless, the fact remained that Clinton did not win by "double digits", unless - as I would later say - one counts the first decimal place. To say she did is not only dishonest but manipulative, since it gives the impression that her candidate accomplished more than she did. And so I e-mailed her with a link to a news story which pointed this out. What followed was a conversation which tested my patience to the limit...


And at the end, I'm forced to wonder if she even knew what the hell we were talking about. All I wanted - and I think this should be clear, reading these e-mails - is for her to stop lying over the air and claiming that Clinton won by "double digits". Somehow this woman just couldn't seem to grasp that. I pride myself on being a fairly erudite individual; a good and clear communicator. I have grown so used to Ms. Craft distorting the truth over the air that I went through the night listening to her continue to triumphantly crow about "double digits" with increasing frustration and contempt, shouting "liar!" at the radio. I wonder, though... is it possible that Christine is so dense that she literally just didn't know what the hell was going on? 

Bah. I need to learn to just change the channel.

One of my favourite radio show hosts, Ray Taliaferro, was having one of his periodic poetry nights last night, and it struck me as an amusing idea to e-mail him my instant classic poem which I wrote some years back; the epic Ode to Nothing in Particular. To my supreme enjoyment, he read it on the air.

This had me giggling for some time afterwards. 

For those interested in hearing more of the show, check out the links for the 1:00 AM - 5:00 AM hours here : http://bayradio.com/kgo_archives/ any time from Monday to Friday.

Here's something of interest, particularly those down south of the border, down United States way:

http://www.airamerica.com/freethoughtradio/

It seems there's a new national atheist radio show airing on the Air America radio network, on Saturday afternoons. I haven't heard it yet, and I won't have a chance to this saturday, since I'll be busy with some pressing responsibilities, but I'll be giving it a listen next weekend if I can get a web stream of it. 

Anyone listened to this? Anyone know anything about it?  

Last night, Ray Taliaferro, outspoken agnostic, bombastic shit-disturber, liberal and San Francisco-area talk show host, spent his entire four hour radio show talking about Christian Terrorists. 

Christian terrorists, you ask? Why, yes! The point he was making is essentially this: Osama bin Laden and company are always referred to as 'Muslim Terrorists', because their religious identity is wrapped up with their unprovoked acts of agression against their political enemies. George W. Bush and company are just as guilty of wrapping up their religious identity in their unprovoked acts of agression against their political enemies (such as, for example, Iraq). See, for example, Bush claiming that his god told him to invade Iraq. 

If this is the case, then Bush and company ought to be referred to as 'Christian Terrorists', so as to put their actions in the proper perspective compared to their stated enemies. 

Needless to say, he got some really FUN callers last night, between 1:00 AM and 5:00 AM. 

The entire show can be listened-to, one hour at a time, here here here and here. Get 'em quick, though; they'll get over-written at 1:00 AM, so if you're interested in listening to them later, you might want to download them now for later perusal. 

Ray is always a lot of fun, but never more so when he's baiting and annoying the religious types. 

If you want to save them for later listening, use these links: 

http://abcrad.vo.llnwd.net/o1/kgo/kgo-01.mp3
http://abcrad.vo.llnwd.net/o1/kgo/kgo-02.mp3
http://abcrad.vo.llnwd.net/o1/kgo/kgo-03.mp3
http://abcrad.vo.llnwd.net/o1/kgo/kgo-04.mp3

x-posted to atheism here.