Jay Kersting's Blog

WOW!

All I can say is WOW!!

WOW!  The more and more important stuff that goes on in this world, the more trivial bullshit gets focused on by the media and by people themselves.  I see one big problem up and still growing.....but the rest of the country is focused elsewhere.

Let's go back to the Garden Implement and how it was put in jail, released from jail, sent back to jail.....and finally hit the streets a couple of weeks later.  WOW!!  This is important?  This means something?

The Apple iPhone is the most revolutionary item to hit the world since the wheel!  Don't believe it?  Read all about it in damn near every magazine, newspaper, television newscast and website.  I asked the question about it on my show for a couple of days.  No one HERE cared.  Gives me some hope for this part of the world.

But what can I expect.  When the majority of people are focused on so-called "reality" television shows for their primary entertainment, I would think more would be concerned.  The fact that SOMEONE labeled this CRAP, let me call it what it really is, CRAP as reality.  Folks, get REAL.  It is staged.  True, it is unscripted, but it is staged, yes it is unrehearsed, but staged nonetheless.  Therefore, IT IS NOT REAL!!!!

American I-DULL.  That is worth watching for the folks with less singing ability and getting a good laugh at how clueless people are.  Sort of like watching "COPS" for the drunks to stumble, fall and hurt themselves.  Yes, it is cruel.  BUT DAMN is that fun.

Dancing with the HasBeens.  Who came up with this crap?  John Ratzenberger has a entertaining and informative show on the Discovery Channel.  I don't want to see Cliff Clavens moves on the floor.  Why does ANYONE else?

Deal or No Deal.  OK, I get the suspense.  The coinflip before the Super Bowl has suspense too.  Coming next season..."How Many Fingers" 

Worse yet, ESPN, the Travel Channel and OTHERS carry different versions of poker on TV too.  I enjoy a good card game.  I just don't enjoy watching others play cards.  Maybe some folks watch poker for the latest fashion tips. 

"Survivor" how about proving some real survival to me.  Next season, Survivor - Antartica....followed by Survivor - Nepal and then Survivor - Greenland and Survivor - Siberia!!  Warm weather crap, really, who cares anymore.  Besides, THE WHOLE THING IS STAGED!!!  The guy eating grubs on National Geographic Channel is more about surviving.

"Bachelor" and "Bachelorette" - DAMN!!  Hours of phony men and women who are so damned attractive they need TV to get love.  And they are so stupid too.  "I know that I have known him for just 37 seconds, but I can just feel the connection."  Connection?  I think your childhood snack of lead paint chips have led to a cranial short circuit.  If ABC would PROMISE to have all contestants STERILIZED, I would feel better about this show being on the air.  The thought of these pretty dullards and their offspring inheriting this world is, to offer a major understatement, disturbing.

Good programs like Law & Order: Criminal Intent are being moved to Satellite/Cable networks to make room for this crap.

Meanwhile, Bill Clinton's former Chief of Staff wants to muzzle talk radio.  So do Hillary Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein and Richard Durbin.  Most folks don't see the problem.  Few care to think about it.  Fewer yet see this as the start toward what has happened recently in other parts of the world.  Or what happened in history.

In order to muzzle talk radio, this group of liberal zealots wants to bring back a failed policy called the "fairness doctrine" which offers "equal time" to opposing viewpoints.  This ONLY applies to radio.  Not to newspapers, because they bury "letters to the editor" three sections and eight pages deep.  Not to TV, because they are not worried about TV.  They are already on "their" side for the most part. 

But NO, they want to have the right to force MY employer to give someone who disagrees with me on each and every issue time to give their views.  Despite the fact that ANYONE can come on my show, during my show and offer a differing viewpoint any time that the show clock allows DOES NOT MATTER.  It is not good enough for them.

This is why I can honestly say, on this single issue, I HATE the views of these zealots.  Why?  Because I could lose my job.

If my employer has to offer FREE time to someone everytime I bring up a topic, they cannot afford to allow me to be on the air.  Unemployment, here I come.

So, all I am asking is this.  Some news is depressing, I get that.  But don't bury yourself in this other crap and miss out on something truly important.  You may not care a bit about talk radio, but know that you have a whole group of politicians out there who want to muzzle talk radio because we disagree with them.  Many people have jobs depending on this being stopped.  Not just the wealthy national guys, but small town guys like me.  And a lot of us.

Please become informed on issues that CAN be imporant to you.  And, I'm sorry, no one is really going to lose a job if you don't know about Sanjaya's latest hairstyle when chatting around the proverbial watercooler.  But if the "Friends of Bill C." do get their way, many of us just might. 

Issues - concerns of significant importance than can have a real and lasting effect on your life.

Pop Culture - things of distraction that keep you from issues

Don't get me wrong, Pop Culture can be fun.  But in 2007, it seems that is all anyone cares about.  That, my friends, is very, very, very, and don't misunderstand me, VERY dangerous.

Posted by Jay Kersting at 01:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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Call me a cynic.  If you know me, you know it is true.  And a lot of it wraps around this phrase. 

"Let us know if there is anything we can do."

I learned a lot about that phrase back in 1988.  In fact, it was November 1988.  Specifically, it was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  I was in college at Central Missouri State University and one of my friends just lost his mother to cancer.  Bill Mackay's dad had passed away while he was still in high school and now he had lost his mother.  I hadn't known Bill long, but we were fairly close during the time I was in Warrensburg.

Bill kept hearing from people that phrase.  "Let us know if there is anything we can do."  Unlike a lot of people, Bill was fed up.  It has finally gotten to him.  He had just lost his only remaining parent.  He was mourning.  Now he was also angry.  So, when he heard the phrase again, he told that person what he needed.  You said you'd help, prove it.....not those words exactly, but that was essentially his intent.

Bill was met with a dumbfounded look.  The person did what Bill had asked......only after trying to back track from the "polite" statement.  Bill was calling their bluff.  The offer was made.  Now follow up.  That is all Bill asked, right?

Bill knew and I quickly learned that often times people say what they THINK they should say and they don't really mean it.  It is SUPPOSEDLY being polite.  In reality, it is what I avoided getting on my adidas when we went horseback riding on Sunday.

I am not saying that a single event at age eighteen turned me in to a cynic.  I think I was pretty much headed down that path already.  Several events leading up to and that followed that cold November evening in Kansas City have added to it. 

Some people that I know and love have also learned this characteristic.  And I do believe that cynicism is a learned characteristic.  Overall, not being a cynic probably makes you a better person.  But it also opens you up to disappointment.

There are few in my life that I can absolutely, positively, depend on.  They include my parents, my siblings and my immediate family.  Several friends also fall into that category.  Most people I know, unfortunately, do not.  Hey, it happens.

When my brother Topher needed help to load a truckload and van load of stuff for he and Shaby back in January, it was without question that I would help.  I actually offered to help them move in Chattanooga, but they really needed more help getting the stuff in Memphis.  Shorter drive by a couple of hours, so I wasn't complaining.  Without question, they returned the favor by helping Kathy get out of our house and then again out of my parents garage before heading here.  This was not, I don't think a Quid Pro Quo, it was family.

My brother Dan has never asked me to help him move, but I hope he knows that I would do what ever I can to help when that time might arise.  He drove two and a half hours to help empty our moving truck, eat some pizza, then drive two and a half hours back.  If there is a Quid Pro Quo here, I will deliver.  But again, I think this was family.

Dad not only drove the bouncy, bouncy, BOUNCY truck for ten hours full of our stuff that was kept at his house for six weeks or longer, but he loaded and unloaded it as well.  Mom not only loaded the truck, but drove Alex here after his Washington, DC, trip with Kathy's car full of stuff.  She ALSO had to endure my family under her roof for six weeks with our stuff jammed in her garage.  I owe them a BUNCH....and, in a way, look forward to helping them move.  But not the move itself so much.  This might be a Quid Pro Quo deal.....not for just the move, but pretty much for 37 years of EVERYTHING!!  But seriously, this is probably a case of family.

I did not go back to Knoxville to load my own stuff.  Everyone talked me out of it because it was, as I was told repeatedly, not worth the expense in fuel for the little amount of time that I would have to help. 

Dan Reilly, one of those good friends that I mentioned, helped get our stuff out of our house and into my parents house...as well as helping to load up and tie down are stuff, is one guy that I wished I could have helped more.  (I hope he does recall that I did offer several times.)  I am very thankful that he could lend a hand.  Funny that I guy who grew up near me in Wisconsin, that I met while at CMSU, ended up in Knoxville.  (Maybe he can get to the midwest again.....and I can return the favor by helping he and Renee unload their trucks.)  I would do anything I could, within my ability for Dan.  I may not have seen him for several years, but when we did get reaquainted it was not about old times.  We picked up where we left off.  (Dan - if you read this let me know when you head near here.)

Several others were asked for their help....because they had said something to the effect of, "Let us know if there is anything we can do."  When they were told what they could do, they apparently responded like Bill's friend.  Except for the lack of follow through.

A cynic like me was not really surprised.  Trusting people, like Kathy, always will be. 

I know that she is the better person.  Hell, EVERYONE knows that.  But even a cynic like me, doesn't like seeing her get hurt.  Even though I expected EXACTLY that to happen.  I don't think I said, "I told you so."  I do know that I told her to make other plans.

I have returned to the old sales motto, "Under promise and OVER deliver."  Safer that way.  Fewer people are disappointed and fewer more are hurt by my actions. 

I often find that I tell people, "If I could have helped and you didn't ask me........."  Sort of letting folks know that I will tell you if I can or cannot step up.  Hey, it is safer that way.  And I think the blanket statement, as well as the track record of helping when asked and volunteering when needed, leads to some sincerity.

Even from a cynic.

Posted by Jay Kersting at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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So, here are somethings I have noticed now that the family is back together.

Alex is getting funnier everyday.  And it scares the HELL out of me.  I fear he may seek a career in the entertainment industry.  Maybe even, gasp, radio.

Ben is more outgoing than when I left Knoxville. He still seems to prefer the company of adults over children, but I think even that is changing a little bit.  WHICH is a huge step for him.

Kathy and I have communications problems.  This was made very clear in the unpacking process.  Because I was not in Knoxville for the move OUT, I often had to ask Kathy where something was.  She would respond in an irritated fashion.  Finally, I explained to her, I am not asking to be a smart ass (a reasonable assumption to most anyone who knows me) but I am asking because I did not box things up, so I honestly have no idea where to look.  How she packed things made perfect sense 95 percent of the time, but I just did not know where to start.  The other five percent were those times that made sense from a space saving perspective.  Again, I wasn't there, so I honestly didn't know.

That problem was solved by Kathy coming up with a standard answer when I asked the question.  Instead of telling me she didn't know, Kathy now tells me, "It's in a box."  The problem now is.....she is becoming the smart ass.

Coming soon...more comments on the world outside of 3729 Oxford Road, Jefferson City, MO 65109.

Posted by Jay Kersting at 03:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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It seems that everything has finally come together for the Kersting family.  Now we just need to finish unpacking.

On May 24th, we closed on the house here in Jefferson City.  On Sunday, June 3rd, Kathy and Ben arrived with my dad and most of our stuff.  On Wedndesday, June 6th, Alex arrive with my mom and a little more of our stuff.

We are ALL together again.  Kathy started her new job (with the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce) on Monday, June 11th.  Things are going well with my job still.

The house is great and I think the good things are going to continue.

More later on.  E-mail please.  Especially those who have promised to do so and haven't.  (no names to be mentioned here, you know who you are)  NOW that things are settled here, sort of, I will get to returning any unanswered e-mails of the last few weeks.

Thanks for your understanding of the craziness here.  Keep in touch!!

Posted by Jay Kersting at 02:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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