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5/5/98 Dennis Prager woke up in Boston this morning where it was raining. Then he flew into LA where it was raining also. P is tired of LA's rain. His United flight arrived on time. P asked his callers to call United and ask how much it costs to fly to New York vs. Tokyo. P says it is much cheaper to fly to Tokyo. P says something has gone awry with deregulation. Why didn't Prager arrange for an interview with an economist who specializes in this area, instead of just tossing it to his audience, most of whom would not understand the intricacies of this. P recommended George Will column in the current Newsweek. George makes cogent case for capitol punishment.
George Will:
Too much of a good thing, said Mae West, is wonderful. But that is not true if the good thing is tolerance. Too much of that is both a cause and a consequence of a culture in which "judgmental" has become an epithet. Tolerance is a virtue only when it is difficult--when it involves keeping strong beliefs on a short leash. Tolerance that reflects the absence of strong beliefs is a symptom of a distinctively contemporary form of decadence--the comfortable disbelief in the propriety or importance of ever making emphatic judgments about behavior.
These thoughts are occasioned by the release last week of more entries from the journals of Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, who can savor the pleasures of writing as he lives the rest of his life in a prison cell not less commodious than his mountain shack. But why should the man who killed three and maimed 22 have the rest of his life?
Of one victim, prosecutors wrote: "The bomb so badly destroyed Gil Murray's body that his family"--Murray, 46, had two children--"was allowed only to see and touch his feet and legs, below the knees, as a final farewell." Kaczynski wrote that he had "no regret" about killing Murray, even though the target of that bomb was a different forestry official. He had 17 years of premeditated murder and attempted murder, 17 years of evading capture and honing his killing devices, incorporating razor blades and other slicing metal, for effects such as this one described by prosecutors: Luke:
Kozinski (who killed three and murdered 23) will live better in prison than he lived in Montana. Where is the punishment in giving him prison? Can this convicted murderer publish his views? Have a website? Solely because of Kozinski's brother, P does not mind not executing him. Kozinski kept a diary in code that the FBI was able to decode. K reveled in destruction. He was sadistic says P. Kozinski embodies the reason for capitol punishment. P says he has lost his anger over this issue. P says that opponents of capitol punishment must have different brains, wired differently.
Unabomber Sentenced to 4 Life Sentences
By DAVID JOHNSTON
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A federal judge Monday sentenced Theodore Kaczynski to four life sentences plus 30 years in prison at a hearing in which the widow of one of the confessed Unabomber's victims lashed out at him as a "diabolical, cunning, evil murderer."
In a breathless, anguished voice, Susan Mosser, the widow of Thomas Mosser, a public relations executive, recalled the blood and horror on Dec. 10, 1994, when a shattering blast blew nails and razor blades through her husband's body as he opened a package bomb at their home in North Caldwell, N.J. Luke:
Someone explained to Prager that the Asian economic crisis has reduced demand for trips to Tokyo, driving down price. Elementary supply and demand. MicroEconomics 101A. Caller said that 30% of banks in Asia may need to close. P: That is what happens when you loan money based on blood ties. Familism. P says that opposition to the death penalty (and racism) are two things he claims he does not understand. Next caller: Kozinski never had to meet his victims. It was an intellectual way of killing. No emotions. Prager has concluded that the good don't understand the bad, and the bad don't understand the good. P says he opposes capitol punishment when the deed is not premeditated. P noted that newspaper used to not call those convicted of crimes by the title Mr.. etc… Kosinski, says P, does not deserve to be called Mr. P says Kozinski's brother David is a moral hero for turning in his murderous brother. Anyone who thinks that family loyalty comes before preventing murder is scary.
In his second hour, Prager interviewed Iris Krasnow. P met her last summer at a speech in Washington DC. Iris wants to reunite mothers and feminists. Iris says there are a simple number of elements that bring happiness - family, and commitment to religion. Iris wrote "Surrendering to Motherhood." She formerly interviewed celebrities for UPI. Prager's advertisers include Books on Tape, Ralphs Supermarkets… and Home Savings of America.
Making your children your career ( Gannett News Service )
Iris Krasnow's new book will probably upset some of her career-minded, you-can-have-it-all female colleagues.
Krasnow once traveled the world for United Press International, doing what she calls ``the celebrity shuffle,'' profiling people such as Ted Kennedy, Billy Graham, Yoko Ono and Jordan's Queen Noor.
Cool job, good money, great perks.
Then she got a husband (Chuck), then a baby boy (Theo), then three more (Isaac, Jack and Zane). Then, she says in ``Surrendering to Motherhood: Losing Your Mind, Finding Your Soul'' (Miramax-Hyperion, $22.95), she realized ``having it all'' doesn't mean day care, a fulfilling career and quality time between 8 p.m. and night-night.
It means, the 42-year-old mother says, staying home with the kids.
``You have made a commitment,'' she says, not altogether kindly. ``If you can't be there, don't have them.
``Face it. Say, `I don't want to have children.' ''
Ouch. And a Happy Mother's Day to you, too, Iris.
Krasnow can afford to drop the daily grind of a career. Her teal GMC Suburban with two cellular phones indicates that. She's heard the criticism before, but doesn't buy it. She thinks any mother who truly wants to be near her children can find a way.
``I can't believe surrendering to motherhood is about money,'' she says. ``It's an ancient and primal yank of the heart.''
If Krasnow was busy when she was chasing celebrities from UPI's Washington bureau, she seems no less occupied by motherhood. She squeezes an interview with this reporter between kid-related chores in her waterfront Maryland town not far from Washington. (She prefers to keep the town anonymous for fear of readers tracking her down at home.) Luke:
Prager admired a famous female violinist who says she won't have children because she is committed to music. P says that those who want to have children, should raise them, instead of employing others to raise them. P says being a parent is bittersweet. He treasures that he still gets to hold the hand of his five-year Aaron when they cross the street. Soon Aaron will want to be independent. P flew his family with him to Boston this past weekend so that he would not be away from them for four days.
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Prager says there is no more important issue in America today than [fill in the blank] women staying home to raise their children. Prager says that the husband needs to tell his wife that you believe from the bottom of your heart that your wife's work with the kids is as important as your work that brings in the money. In his third hour, Prager interviewed prolific author Sir Martin Gilbert of Oxford and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Gilbert was optimistic that one day Israel and the Palestinians will be able to live with each other. Monday, May 4, 1998 Dennis began his show voicing his anger at a Maryland school for labeling a student a "drug trafficker" because she saved her friend's life by giving her an inhaler. The two girls both suffer from asthma. One of them had an attack on the school bus. The bus driver called 911 but the child was in desperate straits. So her friend gave her friend an inhaler that she carries with her. Her friend instantly recovered from what later was diagnosed as a life-threatening attack. Because the school has a "zero-tolerance" drug policy they officially placed in her file that she is a drug trafficker. This has the potential of getting her kicked off of school activities, harming her chances of getting into a good college, and possibly affecting after school job opportunities.
Dennis said that these "zero-tolerance" policies are destructive. They lead to six year old boys being labeled sexual harassers and children being expelled for giving friends cough drops. Dennis also recalled a child that was suspended for bringing a water gun to school (the water gun was 2 inches long) because of a zero tolerance for guns and a girl who was suspended because of a zero tolerance for drugs for giving her friend, who had her menstrual cycle, a Midol tablet. Almost all the callers were upset over this zero tolerance policy. One caller, a registered nurse, told Dennis that this girl probably saved her friend's life and that asthmatics carry bronchial inhalers. That if this girl gave this same inhaler to a friend who does not suffer from asthma, it would not hurt the friend at all. It is perfectly safe. Dennis said what the school is teaching is that if your friend is dying, don't do anything, don't get involved.
The last half of the show was devoted to, what Dennis described as, the danger involved in allowing children to watch unfiltered TV, even wholesome shows. Last week, many local Los Angeles TV stations cut into regular programming - including children's programming, such as cartoons - to bring a live telecast of a typical LA freeway chase (lots of police cars chasing one motorist at a high rate of speed on LA freeways). Unfortunately the end was atypical, in that the driver of the car, left his burning automobile and shot himself in the head, committing suicide. Dennis said that in his home his children do not watch TV live. They watch purchased video tapes. It is not uncommon for TV stations to break into all kinds of programming to bring freeway chases, bank hostage situations (such as the North Hollywood shoot-out), large demonstrations, and natural disasters. Too often these live spots can end in tragedy. Dennis said that he completely understands the need parents often have to get a little time to themselves so they allow their kids to watch TV. Dennis said that parents shouldn't feel confident just because their kids are watching wholesome programming that that is all they are seeing. One parent said that he worries that his child will be "out of it" if he doesn't watch all the shows kids know about today. Dennis told the caller that teaching your young child to be independent is a positive thing but that for absolute certain shows that the child wants to see, they can be videotaped in advanced to make sure it is truly suitable for young viewers.
In the first hour, Dennis began the show by reading excerpts from articles that published some of the entries Theodore Kaczynski wrote in his journal. Over a 17-year period Kaczynski brutally murdered 3 and maimed 22 with his mail bombs. From his reclusive shack in the backwoods of Montana, Kaczynski kept a journal of his attacks. Dennis said that although he does think the prosecutors did the right thing in not seeking the death penalty, because it was Kaczynski's brother who turned him in and undoubtedly saved countless lives, he does not understand opposition to the death penalty. Dennis said that on other areas of disagreement such as abortion or school vouchers, he does not accept the opposition's arguments but that he understands them. When it comes to opponents of capital punishment Dennis said that he actually doesn't understand them. Dennis made a powerful point to one caller when he stated that "the good do not understand the bad and the bad do not understand the good." One caller referred to the murderer as "Mr. Kaczynski." Dennis said that this is a new phenomenon. He said that people should offer the title "Mr." to those that deserve it. He asked the caller "did you ever hear Stalin referred to as "Mr. Stalin," Hitler as "Mr. Hitler," etc.?"
For the next two hours Dennis had two authors in studio. For the 1-2 o'clock hour Dennis interviewed Iris Krasnow author of Surrendering to Motherhood. It is about women realizing the value of taking care of their children and not feel that a profession outside of the home is more valuable and more esteemed. Ms. Krasnow held an important position with the news-service UPI, as a field reporter and her book discusses her decision to become a full-time mother and her life after that big decision.
For the 2 o'clock hour Dennis interviewed Sir Martin Gilbert, author of 50 books, including the just published, Israel: A History. This was a riveting show because Sir Martin, in addition to his insight on Israel, is an expert on the Holocaust and on Sir Winston Churchill (having written acclaimed books on both subjects). During this hour Sir Martin took calls on all three subjects.
ARTS & BOOKS: In the land of promises, promises One of the most dramatic stories of our time has been rendered as anodyne as a textbook, says Mordecai Richler ( The Daily Telegraph )
Israel: a History
by Martin Gilbert
Doubleday, pounds 25
AGAINST all odds, Israel, that rib torn from the body of Arabia, still sits there, intransigent and vulnerable to suicidal terrorists capable of striking anywhere.
Increasingly isolated, out of favour even with many Diaspora Jews who are now criticising it publicly, it is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a state this year, and any child in England or America unlucky enough to be bar mitzvah in 1998 will stagger under the weight of commemorative books, when they would probably prefer something about the Spice Girls.
One of the first off the mark is the industrious Martin Gilbert with his encyclopaedic Israel, a doorstop that includes all the bones of the story, but is deficient in the marrow. It manages the incredible feat of rendering textbook-anodyne one of the most dramatic stories of our time. Given its clear Zionist bias (and why not?), it is, for the most part, scrupulous in recording events wherein the Israelis did not exactly sign the skies with their honour, but, on other occasions, it skips lightly over embarrassments or avoids mentioning them.
In 1986, Sir Martin writes, Mordechai Vanunu, who blew the whistle on Israel's nuclear arsenal in Dimona, was "taken to Israel", but we are not told that he was, in fact, drugged and kidnapped. Albert Einstein, he writes, "had always shown sympathy for the Zionist ideal" . But, in a 1938 interview, Einstein said:
"I would much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state . . . my awareness of the essential nature of Judaism resists the idea of a Jewish state with borders, an army and a measure of temporal powers, no matter how modest. I'm afraid of the inner damage Judaism will suffer - especially from the development of a narrow nationalism within our own ranks."
In 619 dauntingly fact-filled pages, Sir Martin makes no mention of one of Israel's most threatening problems, that of the yordim, those citizens who have quit Israel since the state was founded. In 1990 the newspaper Ha-Aretz estimated that "those who go down" already numbered 500,000. Luke:
Prager asked Martin Gilbert why so much anti-Americanism in France. Envy said M.G. Jealousy. Gilbert said he hoped for Israeli leadership to minimize the hatred between the Orthodox and non-Orthodox. Gilbert worked on his story of the holocaust book from 1959-86. He had to stop many times because he became so depressed.
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