"American Idol" finished their season with a BANG!!! Is Rush Limbaugh's future that of a bed pan salesman? And the failure of Bush's tax cuts!

I am beginning this blog almost an hour and a half after "American Idol" presented their season finale. I've been on the phone talking with friends of mine about that show. "Spectacular" doesn't begin to describe it.

I don't think I've ever begun a blog with a story having to do with "entertainment", but I'm making an exception here. Fear not, loyal readers. We're gonna have plenty of political stuff that you're used to reading about.

The 10th season of "American Idol" ended tonight. Before this season began, a lot of people thought this would be the final season for "American Idol" because of the loss of Simon Cowell and an audience that was shrinking.

It was Cowell's idea to leave because of a new show that he'll be putting on Fox. Upon reflection, it appears that Cowell's departure was good for "American Idol" because in fact, after the first few weeks, he wasn't missed at all. I was very much in favor of getting Jennifer Lopez on board before she was hired, but quite frankly, I didn't think Steven Tyler would be a "fit" for this show at all. And I was dead wrong. These two new judges along with what was arguably the best group of singers "Idol" has ever had, led this season's American Idol to be the best season in the show's history. And tonight's season finale put a capper on this great season. The final two contestants were 16-year old Lauren Alaina who had the privilege of singing on stage with Carrie Underwood tonight and 17-year old Scotty McCreery, who had the privilege of singing on stage with Tim McGraw. Scotty McCreery ended up being the guy who got the most votes, so he's the new "American Idol", but you had to love the respect and good feelings both of those contestants had for each other and you can't help but believe that those two will be friends forever. If not (possibly) lovers sometime in the future.

Also on stage tonight were a parade of some of the biggest and well known singers in the world. And they all turned in terrific performances. But it was the last performer who "stole the show". Steven Tyler, who began his performance by playing a piano and then while standing, hit high notes that people were shocked that a person in their 60's could do what he did. But do it he did and somewhere, people are still cheering his performance. I mean, you talk about "Rockin' the HOUSE!" Bravo, Steven Tyler and all the other performers on what was truly a magical night.

We'll have more "entertainment" stuff at the end of this blog, but now,
THE SERIOUS STUFF:

A lot of things to cover and picking what should be first is next to impossible, sooo....In no particular order, here goes...

"The Rapture": Harold Camping, the 89-year old religious zealot who started all this, now says the earth will be obliterated on October 21. Why didn't this happen on May 21, the day he said it would happen? The righteous preacher says he got the math screwed up. He also says that 200 million Christians will be taken to Heaven before this catastrophe strikes our planet on October 21. Short Commentary: And we thought the religious whack jobs were mostly in Muslim countries?!?

But the "Rapture" might have affected three radio whack jobs who preach "Us against them" fear nonsense.

I'm referring (specifically) to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark (or is it Marc?) Levin. New radio ratings show that Rush has lost 33% of his audience while Hannity and Levin have lost 28% of their audiences. These are numbers that to me, have been slow in coming. The "Angry White Guy" act is an act that got "old" quite some time ago, but ratings services have been historically slow to pick up on what is happening whether it's higher or lower ratings. The key things for advertisers, unless they're supportive of the "fear mongering" act, is if the host they're supporting is able to "sell" their products. Some experts seem to feel that Rush's best product to sell would be/is, bed pans.

Over the top tax breaks for oil companies:

Polls show that the vast majority of Americans think that outrageous tax breaks given to oil companies should end because of the obscene amount of money they make from Americans who don't get kissed by these oil companies, but they (we) most definitely get screwed by these oil companies. When this was recently brought up by the Senate, bought and paid for U.S. Senators said, in essence, "Let's let our oil company 'friends' KEEP all their tax breaks because they will continue to fill OUR pockets while continuing to EMPTY the sucker citizen's pockets!"

And those "sucker citizens" are? That would be you and me, folks.

SPEAKING OF TAX BREAKS:

The Bush tax cuts for the rich? We are told over and over again by people who should know better that these tax cuts are important for us because those Bush tax cuts for the rich will benefit all of us.

REALLY?!?

Let's examine that argument for a second. If the Bush tax cuts for the rich are so beneficial for the rest of us, why did our country collapse during the Bush Administration?

I know that Bush tax cuts for the rich believers don't want to hear this, but as the late sportscaster Jim Healy used to say, "I don't make 'em up, pally!"

But President Obama is money-stupid, too:

As those of us who pay attention know, the idea of "economic stimulus package" money began with the Bush folks just before he left office. These "economic stimulus packages" continued with the Obama administration. Again....For those of you who are paying attention, we have now learned that a whole lot of "stimulus money" was given to thousands of government contractors and nonprofit organizations. It turns out that way too many of these outfits owed millions in back taxes. One example is an engineering firm that got a $100,000 stimulus contract, but it's recently been learned that the firm owed $6 million in taxes.

Yo, President Obama! You gotta get your act together regarding this "stimulus money". There is absolutely no excuse for this!

One more money item:

We're giving more billion dollar handouts to Egypt? I don't know about you, but hearing this makes me want to PUKE!!!

We're giving billions upon billions to foreign countries (while we're going broke) because of the excuse, "It's in our best interests"?!?

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again....Until we get OUR house in order, we absolutely HAVE to stop giving away money or anything else to ANYONE else until we get AMERICA "fixed"!!!

Sarah Palin:

In a recent conversation with Greta Van Susterin on Fox, Sarah Palin said (Sarah speaks only to Fox people), that she has "Fire in my belly for 2012", but is wary of "scrutiny". And that "scrutiny" would be what, "Mama Grizzly"? Like maybe why you really quit your job as Governor of Alaska? Meanwhile, we learn that Ms. Palin might have purchased a new home in Arizona where she might decide to launch a campaign to become a U.S. Senator from that state. But we're also hearing that a new film about her that was produced and directed by a fan of hers may soon be released for the purpose of showing (in essence) why she is presidential material.

Sarah Palin, a presidential candidate? God, I hope so, because she would be great blog material.

Oh...Did you hear about the huge story about Fox News that was printed in the latest New York Magazine? Most of the story was about Roger Ailes, the long time big boss of Fox News and a guy who fancies himself as being a Republican "King Maker". The magazine states that while he was a big admirer of Sarah Palin when he hired her, after seeing her "in action", he now thinks "she's an idiot". A spokesman for Fox News says Ailes didn't say that. Overall, this New York Magazine (long) story is a story very much worth reading. I mean, Fox News likes to say, "Fair and balanced". Well, this story about Fox News IS "fair and balanced". In fact, it's so "fair and balanced", the only thing Fox News is challenging is Ailes' statement (or not) regarding Palin (in his view) as being "an idiot".

And speaking of things idiotic:

Are haters of Obama still referring to him fist bumping people as being a "terrorist fist bump"? I bring this up because that characterization is mentioned in the New York Magazine story about Fox News. I would think that the only people who could possibly think that would be Rush Limbaugh's bed pan people, but in case there are others, "fist bumps" are given to each other by all American people of all ages and races. I say this because I see it being done all the time.

I will lead into our "entertainment stuff" with this final observation about President Obama. Do you remember what one of his campaign promises was, a campaign promise that was recently accomplished? It was, dear reader, the promise to get Osama bin Laden. And if I recall correctly, I don't think he said anything about Osama bin Laden having to end up being alive.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

At the beginning of this blog, I wrote about American Idol's great season finale. Other season finale's that I liked a lot include the "Glee" finale, the "Chicago Code" season and (sadly for me) series finale, the "House" season finale which also featured the last time we will see Lisa Edelstein on "House". She played the role of House's boss for all seven years of the show and why she's leaving, isn't clear. Do you remember the first time you saw this fine actress? I do. When she was playing a hooker that Rob Lowe's character on "The West Wing" liked.

I enjoyed the final episode of "Law & Order-Los Angeles" and I also enjoyed the season finale of "Law & Order-Special Victims Unit". We knew ahead of time that this would be the final episode of "Law & Order-LA", but we did NOT know ahead of time, that the season finale of "Law & Order-SVU" would be Christopher Meloni's final appearance on that show. He, along with Mariska Hargitay have been the two main characters since that show came on the air. There have been no reasons given for Meloni's departure.

I would also like to tell you about a couple of films I saw recently...

The 1992 film, "Jennifer Eight" which is currently running on the TMC circuit. This is a terrific high stakes drama that stars Andy Garcia, Uma Thurman, John Malkovich, Kathy Baker and an outstanding supporting cast. I saw it in '92, I'm glad I saw it again and if you get a chance to see it on TMC, I highly recommend it.

The other film I saw is a new film that is currently on the HBO circuit. "Cinema Verite", a docudrama about the first reality show that was ever aired. It stars Diane Lane, Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini in a film I was actually reluctant to watch. For some reason, I thought I wouldn't like it. Boy, was I wrong. I believe that Lane, Robbins and Gandolfini should all get Emmy nominations and quite frankly, I think all three should be Emmy winners for their performances in this made for television film. Check it out!

Couple of final thoughts:

Memorial Day is Monday, May 30. Please pause and think good thoughts for our veterans.

This coming Friday, I plan to make another appearance with CRN owner Mike Horn and CRN program director Paul Stern for another no holds barred and fun radio experience. There will be lots of laughs along with an occasional serious subject on what to me is the fastest hour on radio. 4-5 pm, here in Los Angeles, 6-7 pm Central and 7-8 pm Eastern. The show will be repeated throughout the weekend. If you'd like to listen (and we hope you do), click onto www.CRNTalk.com

And our heartfelt thanks to legendary radio writer, Claude Hall who gave us a nice "shout-out" in his must read Sunday column that can be found at Radio Daily News. For many years, Claude Hall was Billboard Magazine's radio writer and everyone in radio used to read that column.

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will write back to you ASAP. Please don't write to the blog, because there's no way for me to know your email address which means I wouldn't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Hopefully, next Wednesday night, June 1. If there's an unavoidable delay, I'll write a short blog on or about June 1 explaining what's happening.

Meanwhile, I hope that all of you have a great rest of the week and a terrific weekend.
I am beginning this blog almost an hour and a half after "American Idol" presented their season finale. I've been on the phone talking with friends of mine about that show. "Spectacular" doesn't begin to describe it.

I don't think I've ever begun a blog with a story having to do with "entertainment", but I'm making an exception here. Fear not, loyal readers. We're gonna have plenty of political stuff that you're used to reading about.

The 10th season of "American Idol" ended tonight. Before this season began, a lot of people thought this would be the final season for "American Idol" because of the loss of Simon Cowell and an audience that was shrinking.

It was Cowell's idea to leave because of a new show that he'll be putting on Fox. Upon reflection, it appears that Cowell's departure was good for "American Idol" because in fact, after the first few weeks, he wasn't missed at all. I was very much in favor of getting Jennifer Lopez on board before she was hired, but quite frankly, I didn't think Steven Tyler would be a "fit" for this show at all. And I was dead wrong. These two new judges along with what was arguably the best group of singers "Idol" has ever had, led this season's American Idol to be the best season in the show's history. And tonight's season finale put a capper on this great season. The final two contestants were 16-year old Lauren Alaina who had the privilege of singing on stage with Carrie Underwood tonight and 17-year old Scotty McCreery, who had the privilege of singing on stage with Tim McGraw. Scotty McCreery ended up being the guy who got the most votes, so he's the new "American Idol", but you had to love the respect and good feelings both of those contestants had for each other and you can't help but believe that those two will be friends forever. If not (possibly) lovers sometime in the future.

Also on stage tonight were a parade of some of the biggest and well known singers in the world. And they all turned in terrific performances. But it was the last performer who "stole the show". Steven Tyler, who began his performance by playing a piano and then while standing, hit high notes that people were shocked that a person in their 60's could do what he did. But do it he did and somewhere, people are still cheering his performance. I mean, you talk about "Rockin' the HOUSE!" Bravo, Steven Tyler and all the other performers on what was truly a magical night.

We'll have more "entertainment" stuff at the end of this blog, but now,
THE SERIOUS STUFF:

A lot of things to cover and picking what should be first is next to impossible, sooo....In no particular order, here goes...

"The Rapture": Harold Camping, the 89-year old religious zealot who started all this, now says the earth will be obliterated on October 21. Why didn't this happen on May 21, the day he said it would happen? The righteous preacher says he got the math screwed up. He also says that 200 million Christians will be taken to Heaven before this catastrophe strikes our planet on October 21. Short Commentary: And we thought the religious whack jobs were mostly in Muslim countries?!?

But the "Rapture" might have affected three radio whack jobs who preach "Us against them" fear nonsense.

I'm referring (specifically) to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark (or is it Marc?) Levin. New radio ratings show that Rush has lost 33% of his audience while Hannity and Levin have lost 28% of their audiences. These are numbers that to me, have been slow in coming. The "Angry White Guy" act is an act that got "old" quite some time ago, but ratings services have been historically slow to pick up on what is happening whether it's higher or lower ratings. The key things for advertisers, unless they're supportive of the "fear mongering" act, is if the host they're supporting is able to "sell" their products. Some experts seem to feel that Rush's best product to sell would be/is, bed pans.

Over the top tax breaks for oil companies:

Polls show that the vast majority of Americans think that outrageous tax breaks given to oil companies should end because of the obscene amount of money they make from Americans who don't get kissed by these oil companies, but they (we) most definitely get screwed by these oil companies. When this was recently brought up by the Senate, bought and paid for U.S. Senators said, in essence, "Let's let our oil company 'friends' KEEP all their tax breaks because they will continue to fill OUR pockets while continuing to EMPTY the sucker citizen's pockets!"

And those "sucker citizens" are? That would be you and me, folks.

SPEAKING OF TAX BREAKS:

The Bush tax cuts for the rich? We are told over and over again by people who should know better that these tax cuts are important for us because those Bush tax cuts for the rich will benefit all of us.

REALLY?!?

Let's examine that argument for a second. If the Bush tax cuts for the rich are so beneficial for the rest of us, why did our country collapse during the Bush Administration?

I know that Bush tax cuts for the rich believers don't want to hear this, but as the late sportscaster Jim Healy used to say, "I don't make 'em up, pally!"

But President Obama is money-stupid, too:

As those of us who pay attention know, the idea of "economic stimulus package" money began with the Bush folks just before he left office. These "economic stimulus packages" continued with the Obama administration. Again....For those of you who are paying attention, we have now learned that a whole lot of "stimulus money" was given to thousands of government contractors and nonprofit organizations. It turns out that way too many of these outfits owed millions in back taxes. One example is an engineering firm that got a $100,000 stimulus contract, but it's recently been learned that the firm owed $6 million in taxes.

Yo, President Obama! You gotta get your act together regarding this "stimulus money". There is absolutely no excuse for this!

One more money item:

We're giving more billion dollar handouts to Egypt? I don't know about you, but hearing this makes me want to PUKE!!!

We're giving billions upon billions to foreign countries (while we're going broke) because of the excuse, "It's in our best interests"?!?

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again....Until we get OUR house in order, we absolutely HAVE to stop giving away money or anything else to ANYONE else until we get AMERICA "fixed"!!!

Sarah Palin:

In a recent conversation with Greta Van Susterin on Fox, Sarah Palin said (Sarah speaks only to Fox people), that she has "Fire in my belly for 2012", but is wary of "scrutiny". And that "scrutiny" would be what, "Mama Grizzly"? Like maybe why you really quit your job as Governor of Alaska? Meanwhile, we learn that Ms. Palin might have purchased a new home in Arizona where she might decide to launch a campaign to become a U.S. Senator from that state. But we're also hearing that a new film about her that was produced and directed by a fan of hers may soon be released for the purpose of showing (in essence) why she is presidential material.

Sarah Palin, a presidential candidate? God, I hope so, because she would be great blog material.

Oh...Did you hear about the huge story about Fox News that was printed in the latest New York Magazine? Most of the story was about Roger Ailes, the long time big boss of Fox News and a guy who fancies himself as being a Republican "King Maker". The magazine states that while he was a big admirer of Sarah Palin when he hired her, after seeing her "in action", he now thinks "she's an idiot". A spokesman for Fox News says Ailes didn't say that. Overall, this New York Magazine (long) story is a story very much worth reading. I mean, Fox News likes to say, "Fair and balanced". Well, this story about Fox News IS "fair and balanced". In fact, it's so "fair and balanced", the only thing Fox News is challenging is Ailes' statement (or not) regarding Palin (in his view) as being "an idiot".

And speaking of things idiotic:

Are haters of Obama still referring to him fist bumping people as being a "terrorist fist bump"? I bring this up because that characterization is mentioned in the New York Magazine story about Fox News. I would think that the only people who could possibly think that would be Rush Limbaugh's bed pan people, but in case there are others, "fist bumps" are given to each other by all American people of all ages and races. I say this because I see it being done all the time.

I will lead into our "entertainment stuff" with this final observation about President Obama. Do you remember what one of his campaign promises was, a campaign promise that was recently accomplished? It was, dear reader, the promise to get Osama bin Laden. And if I recall correctly, I don't think he said anything about Osama bin Laden having to end up being alive.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

At the beginning of this blog, I wrote about American Idol's great season finale. Other season finale's that I liked a lot include the "Glee" finale, the "Chicago Code" season and (sadly for me) series finale, the "House" season finale which also featured the last time we will see Lisa Edelstein on "House". She played the role of House's boss for all seven years of the show and why she's leaving, isn't clear. Do you remember the first time you saw this fine actress? I do. When she was playing a hooker that Rob Lowe's character on "The West Wing" liked.

I enjoyed the final episode of "Law & Order-Los Angeles" and I also enjoyed the season finale of "Law & Order-Special Victims Unit". We knew ahead of time that this would be the final episode of "Law & Order-LA", but we did NOT know ahead of time, that the season finale of "Law & Order-SVU" would be Christopher Meloni's final appearance on that show. He, along with Mariska Hargitay have been the two main characters since that show came on the air. There have been no reasons given for Meloni's departure.

I would also like to tell you about a couple of films I saw recently...

The 1992 film, "Jennifer Eight" which is currently running on the TMC circuit. This is a terrific high stakes drama that stars Andy Garcia, Uma Thurman, John Malkovich, Kathy Baker and an outstanding supporting cast. I saw it in '92, I'm glad I saw it again and if you get a chance to see it on TMC, I highly recommend it.

The other film I saw is a new film that is currently on the HBO circuit. "Cinema Verite", a docudrama about the first reality show that was ever aired. It stars Diane Lane, Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini in a film I was actually reluctant to watch. For some reason, I thought I wouldn't like it. Boy, was I wrong. I believe that Lane, Robbins and Gandolfini should all get Emmy nominations and quite frankly, I think all three should be Emmy winners for their performances in this made for television film. Check it out!

Couple of final thoughts:

Memorial Day is Monday, May 30. Please pause and think good thoughts for our veterans.

This coming Friday, I plan to make another appearance with CRN owner Mike Horn and CRN program director Paul Stern for another no holds barred and fun radio experience. There will be lots of laughs along with an occasional serious subject on what to me is the fastest hour on radio. 4-5 pm, here in Los Angeles, 6-7 pm Central and 7-8 pm Eastern. The show will be repeated throughout the weekend. If you'd like to listen (and we hope you do), click onto www.CRNTalk.com

And our heartfelt thanks to legendary radio writer, Claude Hall who gave us a nice "shout-out" in his must read Sunday column that can be found at Radio Daily News. For many years, Claude Hall was Billboard Magazine's radio writer and everyone in radio used to read that column.

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will write back to you ASAP. Please don't write to the blog, because there's no way for me to know your email address which means I wouldn't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Hopefully, next Wednesday night, June 1. If there's an unavoidable delay, I'll write a short blog on or about June 1 explaining what's happening.

Meanwhile, I hope that all of you have a great rest of the week and a terrific weekend.

I am beginning this blog almost an hour and a half after "American Idol" presented their season finale. I've been on the phone talking with friends of mine about that show. "Spectacular" doesn't begin to describe it.

I don't think I've ever begun a blog with a story having to do with "entertainment", but I'm making an exception here. Fear not, loyal readers. We're gonna have plenty of political stuff that you're used to reading about.

The 10th season of "American Idol" ended tonight. Before this season began, a lot of people thought this would be the final season for "American Idol" because of the loss of Simon Cowell and an audience that was shrinking.

It was Cowell's idea to leave because of a new show that he'll be putting on Fox. Upon reflection, it appears that Cowell's departure was good for "American Idol" because in fact, after the first few weeks, he wasn't missed at all. I was very much in favor of getting Jennifer Lopez on board before she was hired, but quite frankly, I didn't think Steven Tyler would be a "fit" for this show at all. And I was dead wrong. These two new judges along with what was arguably the best group of singers "Idol" has ever had, led this season's American Idol to be the best season in the show's history. And tonight's season finale put a capper on this great season. The final two contestants were 16-year old Lauren Alaina who had the privilege of singing on stage with Carrie Underwood tonight and 17-year old Scotty McCreery, who had the privilege of singing on stage with Tim McGraw. Scotty McCreery ended up being the guy who got the most votes, so he's the new "American Idol", but you had to love the respect and good feelings both of those contestants had for each other and you can't help but believe that those two will be friends forever. If not (possibly) lovers sometime in the future.

Also on stage tonight were a parade of some of the biggest and well known singers in the world. And they all turned in terrific performances. But it was the last performer who "stole the show". Steven Tyler, who began his performance by playing a piano and then while standing, hit high notes that people were shocked that a person in their 60's could do what he did. But do it he did and somewhere, people are still cheering his performance. I mean, you talk about "Rockin' the HOUSE!" Bravo, Steven Tyler and all the other performers on what was truly a magical night.

We'll have more "entertainment" stuff at the end of this blog, but now,
THE SERIOUS STUFF:

A lot of things to cover and picking what should be first is next to impossible, sooo....In no particular order, here goes...

"The Rapture": Harold Camping, the 89-year old religious zealot who started all this, now says the earth will be obliterated on October 21. Why didn't this happen on May 21, the day he said it would happen? The righteous preacher says he got the math screwed up. He also says that 200 million Christians will be taken to Heaven before this catastrophe strikes our planet on October 21. Short Commentary: And we thought the religious whack jobs were mostly in Muslim countries?!?

But the "Rapture" might have affected three radio whack jobs who preach "Us against them" fear nonsense.

I'm referring (specifically) to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark (or is it Marc?) Levin. New radio ratings show that Rush has lost 33% of his audience while Hannity and Levin have lost 28% of their audiences. These are numbers that to me, have been slow in coming. The "Angry White Guy" act is an act that got "old" quite some time ago, but ratings services have been historically slow to pick up on what is happening whether it's higher or lower ratings. The key things for advertisers, unless they're supportive of the "fear mongering" act, is if the host they're supporting is able to "sell" their products. Some experts seem to feel that Rush's best product to sell would be/is, bed pans.

Over the top tax breaks for oil companies:

Polls show that the vast majority of Americans think that outrageous tax breaks given to oil companies should end because of the obscene amount of money they make from Americans who don't get kissed by these oil companies, but they (we) most definitely get screwed by these oil companies. When this was recently brought up by the Senate, bought and paid for U.S. Senators said, in essence, "Let's let our oil company 'friends' KEEP all their tax breaks because they will continue to fill OUR pockets while continuing to EMPTY the sucker citizen's pockets!"

And those "sucker citizens" are? That would be you and me, folks.

SPEAKING OF TAX BREAKS:

The Bush tax cuts for the rich? We are told over and over again by people who should know better that these tax cuts are important for us because those Bush tax cuts for the rich will benefit all of us.

REALLY?!?

Let's examine that argument for a second. If the Bush tax cuts for the rich are so beneficial for the rest of us, why did our country collapse during the Bush Administration?

I know that Bush tax cuts for the rich believers don't want to hear this, but as the late sportscaster Jim Healy used to say, "I don't make 'em up, pally!"

But President Obama is money-stupid, too:

As those of us who pay attention know, the idea of "economic stimulus package" money began with the Bush folks just before he left office. These "economic stimulus packages" continued with the Obama administration. Again....For those of you who are paying attention, we have now learned that a whole lot of "stimulus money" was given to thousands of government contractors and nonprofit organizations. It turns out that way too many of these outfits owed millions in back taxes. One example is an engineering firm that got a $100,000 stimulus contract, but it's recently been learned that the firm owed $6 million in taxes.

Yo, President Obama! You gotta get your act together regarding this "stimulus money". There is absolutely no excuse for this!

One more money item:

We're giving more billion dollar handouts to Egypt? I don't know about you, but hearing this makes me want to PUKE!!!

We're giving billions upon billions to foreign countries (while we're going broke) because of the excuse, "It's in our best interests"?!?

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again....Until we get OUR house in order, we absolutely HAVE to stop giving away money or anything else to ANYONE else until we get AMERICA "fixed"!!!

Sarah Palin:

In a recent conversation with Greta Van Susterin on Fox, Sarah Palin said (Sarah speaks only to Fox people), that she has "Fire in my belly for 2012", but is wary of "scrutiny". And that "scrutiny" would be what, "Mama Grizzly"? Like maybe why you really quit your job as Governor of Alaska? Meanwhile, we learn that Ms. Palin might have purchased a new home in Arizona where she might decide to launch a campaign to become a U.S. Senator from that state. But we're also hearing that a new film about her that was produced and directed by a fan of hers may soon be released for the purpose of showing (in essence) why she is presidential material.

Sarah Palin, a presidential candidate? God, I hope so, because she would be great blog material.

Oh...Did you hear about the huge story about Fox News that was printed in the latest New York Magazine? Most of the story was about Roger Ailes, the long time big boss of Fox News and a guy who fancies himself as being a Republican "King Maker". The magazine states that while he was a big admirer of Sarah Palin when he hired her, after seeing her "in action", he now thinks "she's an idiot". A spokesman for Fox News says Ailes didn't say that. Overall, this New York Magazine (long) story is a story very much worth reading. I mean, Fox News likes to say, "Fair and balanced". Well, this story about Fox News IS "fair and balanced". In fact, it's so "fair and balanced", the only thing Fox News is challenging is Ailes' statement (or not) regarding Palin (in his view) as being "an idiot".

And speaking of things idiotic:

Are haters of Obama still referring to him fist bumping people as being a "terrorist fist bump"? I bring this up because that characterization is mentioned in the New York Magazine story about Fox News. I would think that the only people who could possibly think that would be Rush Limbaugh's bed pan people, but in case there are others, "fist bumps" are given to each other by all American people of all ages and races. I say this because I see it being done all the time.

I will lead into our "entertainment stuff" with this final observation about President Obama. Do you remember what one of his campaign promises was, a campaign promise that was recently accomplished? It was, dear reader, the promise to get Osama bin Laden. And if I recall correctly, I don't think he said anything about Osama bin Laden having to end up being alive.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

At the beginning of this blog, I wrote about American Idol's great season finale. Other season finale's that I liked a lot include the "Glee" finale, the "Chicago Code" season and (sadly for me) series finale, the "House" season finale which also featured the last time we will see Lisa Edelstein on "House". She played the role of House's boss for all seven years of the show and why she's leaving, isn't clear. Do you remember the first time you saw this fine actress? I do. When she was playing a hooker that Rob Lowe's character on "The West Wing" liked.

I enjoyed the final episode of "Law & Order-Los Angeles" and I also enjoyed the season finale of "Law & Order-Special Victims Unit". We knew ahead of time that this would be the final episode of "Law & Order-LA", but we did NOT know ahead of time, that the season finale of "Law & Order-SVU" would be Christopher Meloni's final appearance on that show. He, along with Mariska Hargitay have been the two main characters since that show came on the air. There have been no reasons given for Meloni's departure.

I would also like to tell you about a couple of films I saw recently...

The 1992 film, "Jennifer Eight" which is currently running on the TMC circuit. This is a terrific high stakes drama that stars Andy Garcia, Uma Thurman, John Malkovich, Kathy Baker and an outstanding supporting cast. I saw it in '92, I'm glad I saw it again and if you get a chance to see it on TMC, I highly recommend it.

The other film I saw is a new film that is currently on the HBO circuit. "Cinema Verite", a docudrama about the first reality show that was ever aired. It stars Diane Lane, Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini in a film I was actually reluctant to watch. For some reason, I thought I wouldn't like it. Boy, was I wrong. I believe that Lane, Robbins and Gandolfini should all get Emmy nominations and quite frankly, I think all three should be Emmy winners for their performances in this made for television film. Check it out!

Couple of final thoughts:

Memorial Day is Monday, May 30. Please pause and think good thoughts for our veterans.

This coming Friday, I plan to make another appearance with CRN owner Mike Horn and CRN program director Paul Stern for another no holds barred and fun radio experience. There will be lots of laughs along with an occasional serious subject on what to me is the fastest hour on radio. 4-5 pm, here in Los Angeles, 6-7 pm Central and 7-8 pm Eastern. The show will be repeated throughout the weekend. If you'd like to listen (and we hope you do), click onto www.CRNTalk.com

And our heartfelt thanks to legendary radio writer, Claude Hall who gave us a nice "shout-out" in his must read Sunday column that can be found at Radio Daily News. For many years, Claude Hall was Billboard Magazine's radio writer and everyone in radio used to read that column.

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will write back to you ASAP. Please don't write to the blog, because there's no way for me to know your email address which means I wouldn't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Hopefully, next Wednesday night, June 1. If there's an unavoidable delay, I'll write a short blog on or about June 1 explaining what's happening.

Meanwhile, I hope that all of you have a great rest of the week and a terrific weekend.
I am beginning this blog almost an hour and a half after "American Idol" presented their season finale. I've been on the phone talking with friends of mine about that show. "Spectacular" doesn't begin to describe it.

I don't think I've ever begun a blog with a story having to do with "entertainment", but I'm making an exception here. Fear not, loyal readers. We're gonna have plenty of political stuff that you're used to reading about.

The 10th season of "American Idol" ended tonight. Before this season began, a lot of people thought this would be the final season for "American Idol" because of the loss of Simon Cowell and an audience that was shrinking.

It was Cowell's idea to leave because of a new show that he'll be putting on Fox. Upon reflection, it appears that Cowell's departure was good for "American Idol" because in fact, after the first few weeks, he wasn't missed at all. I was very much in favor of getting Jennifer Lopez on board before she was hired, but quite frankly, I didn't think Steven Tyler would be a "fit" for this show at all. And I was dead wrong. These two new judges along with what was arguably the best group of singers "Idol" has ever had, led this season's American Idol to be the best season in the show's history. And tonight's season finale put a capper on this great season. The final two contestants were 16-year old Lauren Alaina who had the privilege of singing on stage with Carrie Underwood tonight and 17-year old Scotty McCreery, who had the privilege of singing on stage with Tim McGraw. Scotty McCreery ended up being the guy who got the most votes, so he's the new "American Idol", but you had to love the respect and good feelings both of those contestants had for each other and you can't help but believe that those two will be friends forever. If not (possibly) lovers sometime in the future.

Also on stage tonight were a parade of some of the biggest and well known singers in the world. And they all turned in terrific performances. But it was the last performer who "stole the show". Steven Tyler, who began his performance by playing a piano and then while standing, hit high notes that people were shocked that a person in their 60's could do what he did. But do it he did and somewhere, people are still cheering his performance. I mean, you talk about "Rockin' the HOUSE!" Bravo, Steven Tyler and all the other performers on what was truly a magical night.

We'll have more "entertainment" stuff at the end of this blog, but now,
THE SERIOUS STUFF:

A lot of things to cover and picking what should be first is next to impossible, sooo....In no particular order, here goes...

"The Rapture": Harold Camping, the 89-year old religious zealot who started all this, now says the earth will be obliterated on October 21. Why didn't this happen on May 21, the day he said it would happen? The righteous preacher says he got the math screwed up. He also says that 200 million Christians will be taken to Heaven before this catastrophe strikes our planet on October 21. Short Commentary: And we thought the religious whack jobs were mostly in Muslim countries?!?

But the "Rapture" might have affected three radio whack jobs who preach "Us against them" fear nonsense.

I'm referring (specifically) to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark (or is it Marc?) Levin. New radio ratings show that Rush has lost 33% of his audience while Hannity and Levin have lost 28% of their audiences. These are numbers that to me, have been slow in coming. The "Angry White Guy" act is an act that got "old" quite some time ago, but ratings services have been historically slow to pick up on what is happening whether it's higher or lower ratings. The key things for advertisers, unless they're supportive of the "fear mongering" act, is if the host they're supporting is able to "sell" their products. Some experts seem to feel that Rush's best product to sell would be/is, bed pans.

Over the top tax breaks for oil companies:

Polls show that the vast majority of Americans think that outrageous tax breaks given to oil companies should end because of the obscene amount of money they make from Americans who don't get kissed by these oil companies, but they (we) most definitely get screwed by these oil companies. When this was recently brought up by the Senate, bought and paid for U.S. Senators said, in essence, "Let's let our oil company 'friends' KEEP all their tax breaks because they will continue to fill OUR pockets while continuing to EMPTY the sucker citizen's pockets!"

And those "sucker citizens" are? That would be you and me, folks.

SPEAKING OF TAX BREAKS:

The Bush tax cuts for the rich? We are told over and over again by people who should know better that these tax cuts are important for us because those Bush tax cuts for the rich will benefit all of us.

REALLY?!?

Let's examine that argument for a second. If the Bush tax cuts for the rich are so beneficial for the rest of us, why did our country collapse during the Bush Administration?

I know that Bush tax cuts for the rich believers don't want to hear this, but as the late sportscaster Jim Healy used to say, "I don't make 'em up, pally!"

But President Obama is money-stupid, too:

As those of us who pay attention know, the idea of "economic stimulus package" money began with the Bush folks just before he left office. These "economic stimulus packages" continued with the Obama administration. Again....For those of you who are paying attention, we have now learned that a whole lot of "stimulus money" was given to thousands of government contractors and nonprofit organizations. It turns out that way too many of these outfits owed millions in back taxes. One example is an engineering firm that got a $100,000 stimulus contract, but it's recently been learned that the firm owed $6 million in taxes.

Yo, President Obama! You gotta get your act together regarding this "stimulus money". There is absolutely no excuse for this!

One more money item:

We're giving more billion dollar handouts to Egypt? I don't know about you, but hearing this makes me want to PUKE!!!

We're giving billions upon billions to foreign countries (while we're going broke) because of the excuse, "It's in our best interests"?!?

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again....Until we get OUR house in order, we absolutely HAVE to stop giving away money or anything else to ANYONE else until we get AMERICA "fixed"!!!

Sarah Palin:

In a recent conversation with Greta Van Susterin on Fox, Sarah Palin said (Sarah speaks only to Fox people), that she has "Fire in my belly for 2012", but is wary of "scrutiny". And that "scrutiny" would be what, "Mama Grizzly"? Like maybe why you really quit your job as Governor of Alaska? Meanwhile, we learn that Ms. Palin might have purchased a new home in Arizona where she might decide to launch a campaign to become a U.S. Senator from that state. But we're also hearing that a new film about her that was produced and directed by a fan of hers may soon be released for the purpose of showing (in essence) why she is presidential material.

Sarah Palin, a presidential candidate? God, I hope so, because she would be great blog material.

Oh...Did you hear about the huge story about Fox News that was printed in the latest New York Magazine? Most of the story was about Roger Ailes, the long time big boss of Fox News and a guy who fancies himself as being a Republican "King Maker". The magazine states that while he was a big admirer of Sarah Palin when he hired her, after seeing her "in action", he now thinks "she's an idiot". A spokesman for Fox News says Ailes didn't say that. Overall, this New York Magazine (long) story is a story very much worth reading. I mean, Fox News likes to say, "Fair and balanced". Well, this story about Fox News IS "fair and balanced". In fact, it's so "fair and balanced", the only thing Fox News is challenging is Ailes' statement (or not) regarding Palin (in his view) as being "an idiot".

And speaking of things idiotic:

Are haters of Obama still referring to him fist bumping people as being a "terrorist fist bump"? I bring this up because that characterization is mentioned in the New York Magazine story about Fox News. I would think that the only people who could possibly think that would be Rush Limbaugh's bed pan people, but in case there are others, "fist bumps" are given to each other by all American people of all ages and races. I say this because I see it being done all the time.

I will lead into our "entertainment stuff" with this final observation about President Obama. Do you remember what one of his campaign promises was, a campaign promise that was recently accomplished? It was, dear reader, the promise to get Osama bin Laden. And if I recall correctly, I don't think he said anything about Osama bin Laden having to end up being alive.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

At the beginning of this blog, I wrote about American Idol's great season finale. Other season finale's that I liked a lot include the "Glee" finale, the "Chicago Code" season and (sadly for me) series finale, the "House" season finale which also featured the last time we will see Lisa Edelstein on "House". She played the role of House's boss for all seven years of the show and why she's leaving, isn't clear. Do you remember the first time you saw this fine actress? I do. When she was playing a hooker that Rob Lowe's character on "The West Wing" liked.

I enjoyed the final episode of "Law & Order-Los Angeles" and I also enjoyed the season finale of "Law & Order-Special Victims Unit". We knew ahead of time that this would be the final episode of "Law & Order-LA", but we did NOT know ahead of time, that the season finale of "Law & Order-SVU" would be Christopher Meloni's final appearance on that show. He, along with Mariska Hargitay have been the two main characters since that show came on the air. There have been no reasons given for Meloni's departure.

I would also like to tell you about a couple of films I saw recently...

The 1992 film, "Jennifer Eight" which is currently running on the TMC circuit. This is a terrific high stakes drama that stars Andy Garcia, Uma Thurman, John Malkovich, Kathy Baker and an outstanding supporting cast. I saw it in '92, I'm glad I saw it again and if you get a chance to see it on TMC, I highly recommend it.

The other film I saw is a new film that is currently on the HBO circuit. "Cinema Verite", a docudrama about the first reality show that was ever aired. It stars Diane Lane, Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini in a film I was actually reluctant to watch. For some reason, I thought I wouldn't like it. Boy, was I wrong. I believe that Lane, Robbins and Gandolfini should all get Emmy nominations and quite frankly, I think all three should be Emmy winners for their performances in this made for television film. Check it out!

Couple of final thoughts:

Memorial Day is Monday, May 30. Please pause and think good thoughts for our veterans.

This coming Friday, I plan to make another appearance with CRN owner Mike Horn and CRN program director Paul Stern for another no holds barred and fun radio experience. There will be lots of laughs along with an occasional serious subject on what to me is the fastest hour on radio. 4-5 pm, here in Los Angeles, 6-7 pm Central and 7-8 pm Eastern. The show will be repeated throughout the weekend. If you'd like to listen (and we hope you do), click onto www.CRNTalk.com

And our heartfelt thanks to legendary radio writer, Claude Hall who gave us a nice "shout-out" in his must read Sunday column that can be found at Radio Daily News. For many years, Claude Hall was Billboard Magazine's radio writer and everyone in radio used to read that column.

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will write back to you ASAP. Please don't write to the blog, because there's no way for me to know your email address which means I wouldn't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Hopefully, next Wednesday night, June 1. If there's an unavoidable delay, I'll write a short blog on or about June 1 explaining what's happening.

Meanwhile, I hope that all of you have a great rest of the week and a terrific weekend.
I am beginning this blog almost an hour and a half after "American Idol" presented their season finale. I've been on the phone talking with friends of mine about that show. "Spectacular" doesn't begin to describe it.

I don't think I've ever begun a blog with a story having to do with "entertainment", but I'm making an exception here. Fear not, loyal readers. We're gonna have plenty of political stuff that you're used to reading about.

The 10th season of "American Idol" ended tonight. Before this season began, a lot of people thought this would be the final season for "American Idol" because of the loss of Simon Cowell and an audience that was shrinking.

It was Cowell's idea to leave because of a new show that he'll be putting on Fox. Upon reflection, it appears that Cowell's departure was good for "American Idol" because in fact, after the first few weeks, he wasn't missed at all. I was very much in favor of getting Jennifer Lopez on board before she was hired, but quite frankly, I didn't think Steven Tyler would be a "fit" for this show at all. And I was dead wrong. These two new judges along with what was arguably the best group of singers "Idol" has ever had, led this season's American Idol to be the best season in the show's history. And tonight's season finale put a capper on this great season. The final two contestants were 16-year old Lauren Alaina who had the privilege of singing on stage with Carrie Underwood tonight and 17-year old Scotty McCreery, who had the privilege of singing on stage with Tim McGraw. Scotty McCreery ended up being the guy who got the most votes, so he's the new "American Idol", but you had to love the respect and good feelings both of those contestants had for each other and you can't help but believe that those two will be friends forever. If not (possibly) lovers sometime in the future.

Also on stage tonight were a parade of some of the biggest and well known singers in the world. And they all turned in terrific performances. But it was the last performer who "stole the show". Steven Tyler, who began his performance by playing a piano and then while standing, hit high notes that people were shocked that a person in their 60's could do what he did. But do it he did and somewhere, people are still cheering his performance. I mean, you talk about "Rockin' the HOUSE!" Bravo, Steven Tyler and all the other performers on what was truly a magical night.

We'll have more "entertainment" stuff at the end of this blog, but now,
THE SERIOUS STUFF:

A lot of things to cover and picking what should be first is next to impossible, sooo....In no particular order, here goes...

"The Rapture": Harold Camping, the 89-year old religious zealot who started all this, now says the earth will be obliterated on October 21. Why didn't this happen on May 21, the day he said it would happen? The righteous preacher says he got the math screwed up. He also says that 200 million Christians will be taken to Heaven before this catastrophe strikes our planet on October 21. Short Commentary: And we thought the religious whack jobs were mostly in Muslim countries?!?

But the "Rapture" might have affected three radio whack jobs who preach "Us against them" fear nonsense.

I'm referring (specifically) to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark (or is it Marc?) Levin. New radio ratings show that Rush has lost 33% of his audience while Hannity and Levin have lost 28% of their audiences. These are numbers that to me, have been slow in coming. The "Angry White Guy" act is an act that got "old" quite some time ago, but ratings services have been historically slow to pick up on what is happening whether it's higher or lower ratings. The key things for advertisers, unless they're supportive of the "fear mongering" act, is if the host they're supporting is able to "sell" their products. Some experts seem to feel that Rush's best product to sell would be/is, bed pans.

Over the top tax breaks for oil companies:

Polls show that the vast majority of Americans think that outrageous tax breaks given to oil companies should end because of the obscene amount of money they make from Americans who don't get kissed by these oil companies, but they (we) most definitely get screwed by these oil companies. When this was recently brought up by the Senate, bought and paid for U.S. Senators said, in essence, "Let's let our oil company 'friends' KEEP all their tax breaks because they will continue to fill OUR pockets while continuing to EMPTY the sucker citizen's pockets!"

And those "sucker citizens" are? That would be you and me, folks.

SPEAKING OF TAX BREAKS:

The Bush tax cuts for the rich? We are told over and over again by people who should know better that these tax cuts are important for us because those Bush tax cuts for the rich will benefit all of us.

REALLY?!?

Let's examine that argument for a second. If the Bush tax cuts for the rich are so beneficial for the rest of us, why did our country collapse during the Bush Administration?

I know that Bush tax cuts for the rich believers don't want to hear this, but as the late sportscaster Jim Healy used to say, "I don't make 'em up, pally!"

But President Obama is money-stupid, too:

As those of us who pay attention know, the idea of "economic stimulus package" money began with the Bush folks just before he left office. These "economic stimulus packages" continued with the Obama administration. Again....For those of you who are paying attention, we have now learned that a whole lot of "stimulus money" was given to thousands of government contractors and nonprofit organizations. It turns out that way too many of these outfits owed millions in back taxes. One example is an engineering firm that got a $100,000 stimulus contract, but it's recently been learned that the firm owed $6 million in taxes.

Yo, President Obama! You gotta get your act together regarding this "stimulus money". There is absolutely no excuse for this!

One more money item:

We're giving more billion dollar handouts to Egypt? I don't know about you, but hearing this makes me want to PUKE!!!

We're giving billions upon billions to foreign countries (while we're going broke) because of the excuse, "It's in our best interests"?!?

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again....Until we get OUR house in order, we absolutely HAVE to stop giving away money or anything else to ANYONE else until we get AMERICA "fixed"!!!

Sarah Palin:

In a recent conversation with Greta Van Susterin on Fox, Sarah Palin said (Sarah speaks only to Fox people), that she has "Fire in my belly for 2012", but is wary of "scrutiny". And that "scrutiny" would be what, "Mama Grizzly"? Like maybe why you really quit your job as Governor of Alaska? Meanwhile, we learn that Ms. Palin might have purchased a new home in Arizona where she might decide to launch a campaign to become a U.S. Senator from that state. But we're also hearing that a new film about her that was produced and directed by a fan of hers may soon be released for the purpose of showing (in essence) why she is presidential material.

Sarah Palin, a presidential candidate? God, I hope so, because she would be great blog material.

Oh...Did you hear about the huge story about Fox News that was printed in the latest New York Magazine? Most of the story was about Roger Ailes, the long time big boss of Fox News and a guy who fancies himself as being a Republican "King Maker". The magazine states that while he was a big admirer of Sarah Palin when he hired her, after seeing her "in action", he now thinks "she's an idiot". A spokesman for Fox News says Ailes didn't say that. Overall, this New York Magazine (long) story is a story very much worth reading. I mean, Fox News likes to say, "Fair and balanced". Well, this story about Fox News IS "fair and balanced". In fact, it's so "fair and balanced", the only thing Fox News is challenging is Ailes' statement (or not) regarding Palin (in his view) as being "an idiot".

And speaking of things idiotic:

Are haters of Obama still referring to him fist bumping people as being a "terrorist fist bump"? I bring this up because that characterization is mentioned in the New York Magazine story about Fox News. I would think that the only people who could possibly think that would be Rush Limbaugh's bed pan people, but in case there are others, "fist bumps" are given to each other by all American people of all ages and races. I say this because I see it being done all the time.

I will lead into our "entertainment stuff" with this final observation about President Obama. Do you remember what one of his campaign promises was, a campaign promise that was recently accomplished? It was, dear reader, the promise to get Osama bin Laden. And if I recall correctly, I don't think he said anything about Osama bin Laden having to end up being alive.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

At the beginning of this blog, I wrote about American Idol's great season finale. Other season finale's that I liked a lot include the "Glee" finale, the "Chicago Code" season and (sadly for me) series finale, the "House" season finale which also featured the last time we will see Lisa Edelstein on "House". She played the role of House's boss for all seven years of the show and why she's leaving, isn't clear. Do you remember the first time you saw this fine actress? I do. When she was playing a hooker that Rob Lowe's character on "The West Wing" liked.

I enjoyed the final episode of "Law & Order-Los Angeles" and I also enjoyed the season finale of "Law & Order-Special Victims Unit". We knew ahead of time that this would be the final episode of "Law & Order-LA", but we did NOT know ahead of time, that the season finale of "Law & Order-SVU" would be Christopher Meloni's final appearance on that show. He, along with Mariska Hargitay have been the two main characters since that show came on the air. There have been no reasons given for Meloni's departure.

I would also like to tell you about a couple of films I saw recently...

The 1992 film, "Jennifer Eight" which is currently running on the TMC circuit. This is a terrific high stakes drama that stars Andy Garcia, Uma Thurman, John Malkovich, Kathy Baker and an outstanding supporting cast. I saw it in '92, I'm glad I saw it again and if you get a chance to see it on TMC, I highly recommend it.

The other film I saw is a new film that is currently on the HBO circuit. "Cinema Verite", a docudrama about the first reality show that was ever aired. It stars Diane Lane, Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini in a film I was actually reluctant to watch. For some reason, I thought I wouldn't like it. Boy, was I wrong. I believe that Lane, Robbins and Gandolfini should all get Emmy nominations and quite frankly, I think all three should be Emmy winners for their performances in this made for television film. Check it out!

Couple of final thoughts:

Memorial Day is Monday, May 30. Please pause and think good thoughts for our veterans.

This coming Friday, I plan to make another appearance with CRN owner Mike Horn and CRN program director Paul Stern for another no holds barred and fun radio experience. There will be lots of laughs along with an occasional serious subject on what to me is the fastest hour on radio. 4-5 pm, here in Los Angeles, 6-7 pm Central and 7-8 pm Eastern. The show will be repeated throughout the weekend. If you'd like to listen (and we hope you do), click onto www.CRNTalk.com

And our heartfelt thanks to legendary radio writer, Claude Hall who gave us a nice "shout-out" in his must read Sunday column that can be found at Radio Daily News. For many years, Claude Hall was Billboard Magazine's radio writer and everyone in radio used to read that column.

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will write back to you ASAP. Please don't write to the blog, because there's no way for me to know your email address which means I wouldn't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Hopefully, next Wednesday night, June 1. If there's an unavoidable delay, I'll write a short blog on or about June 1 explaining what's happening.

Meanwhile, I hope that all of you have a great rest of the week and a terrific weekend.
I am beginning this blog almost an hour and a half after "American Idol" presented their season finale. I've been on the phone talking with friends of mine about that show. "Spectacular" doesn't begin to describe it.

I don't think I've ever begun a blog with a story having to do with "entertainment", but I'm making an exception here. Fear not, loyal readers. We're gonna have plenty of political stuff that you're used to reading about.

The 10th season of "American Idol" ended tonight. Before this season began, a lot of people thought this would be the final season for "American Idol" because of the loss of Simon Cowell and an audience that was shrinking.

It was Cowell's idea to leave because of a new show that he'll be putting on Fox. Upon reflection, it appears that Cowell's departure was good for "American Idol" because in fact, after the first few weeks, he wasn't missed at all. I was very much in favor of getting Jennifer Lopez on board before she was hired, but quite frankly, I didn't think Steven Tyler would be a "fit" for this show at all. And I was dead wrong. These two new judges along with what was arguably the best group of singers "Idol" has ever had, led this season's American Idol to be the best season in the show's history. And tonight's season finale put a capper on this great season. The final two contestants were 16-year old Lauren Alaina who had the privilege of singing on stage with Carrie Underwood tonight and 17-year old Scotty McCreery, who had the privilege of singing on stage with Tim McGraw. Scotty McCreery ended up being the guy who got the most votes, so he's the new "American Idol", but you had to love the respect and good feelings both of those contestants had for each other and you can't help but believe that those two will be friends forever. If not (possibly) lovers sometime in the future.

Also on stage tonight were a parade of some of the biggest and well known singers in the world. And they all turned in terrific performances. But it was the last performer who "stole the show". Steven Tyler, who began his performance by playing a piano and then while standing, hit high notes that people were shocked that a person in their 60's could do what he did. But do it he did and somewhere, people are still cheering his performance. I mean, you talk about "Rockin' the HOUSE!" Bravo, Steven Tyler and all the other performers on what was truly a magical night.

We'll have more "entertainment" stuff at the end of this blog, but now,
THE SERIOUS STUFF:

A lot of things to cover and picking what should be first is next to impossible, sooo....In no particular order, here goes...

"The Rapture": Harold Camping, the 89-year old religious zealot who started all this, now says the earth will be obliterated on October 21. Why didn't this happen on May 21, the day he said it would happen? The righteous preacher says he got the math screwed up. He also says that 200 million Christians will be taken to Heaven before this catastrophe strikes our planet on October 21. Short Commentary: And we thought the religious whack jobs were mostly in Muslim countries?!?

But the "Rapture" might have affected three radio whack jobs who preach "Us against them" fear nonsense.

I'm referring (specifically) to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark (or is it Marc?) Levin. New radio ratings show that Rush has lost 33% of his audience while Hannity and Levin have lost 28% of their audiences. These are numbers that to me, have been slow in coming. The "Angry White Guy" act is an act that got "old" quite some time ago, but ratings services have been historically slow to pick up on what is happening whether it's higher or lower ratings. The key things for advertisers, unless they're supportive of the "fear mongering" act, is if the host they're supporting is able to "sell" their products. Some experts seem to feel that Rush's best product to sell would be/is, bed pans.

Over the top tax breaks for oil companies:

Polls show that the vast majority of Americans think that outrageous tax breaks given to oil companies should end because of the obscene amount of money they make from Americans who don't get kissed by these oil companies, but they (we) most definitely get screwed by these oil companies. When this was recently brought up by the Senate, bought and paid for U.S. Senators said, in essence, "Let's let our oil company 'friends' KEEP all their tax breaks because they will continue to fill OUR pockets while continuing to EMPTY the sucker citizen's pockets!"

And those "sucker citizens" are? That would be you and me, folks.

SPEAKING OF TAX BREAKS:

The Bush tax cuts for the rich? We are told over and over again by people who should know better that these tax cuts are important for us because those Bush tax cuts for the rich will benefit all of us.

REALLY?!?

Let's examine that argument for a second. If the Bush tax cuts for the rich are so beneficial for the rest of us, why did our country collapse during the Bush Administration?

I know that Bush tax cuts for the rich believers don't want to hear this, but as the late sportscaster Jim Healy used to say, "I don't make 'em up, pally!"

But President Obama is money-stupid, too:

As those of us who pay attention know, the idea of "economic stimulus package" money began with the Bush folks just before he left office. These "economic stimulus packages" continued with the Obama administration. Again....For those of you who are paying attention, we have now learned that a whole lot of "stimulus money" was given to thousands of government contractors and nonprofit organizations. It turns out that way too many of these outfits owed millions in back taxes. One example is an engineering firm that got a $100,000 stimulus contract, but it's recently been learned that the firm owed $6 million in taxes.

Yo, President Obama! You gotta get your act together regarding this "stimulus money". There is absolutely no excuse for this!

One more money item:

We're giving more billion dollar handouts to Egypt? I don't know about you, but hearing this makes me want to PUKE!!!

We're giving billions upon billions to foreign countries (while we're going broke) because of the excuse, "It's in our best interests"?!?

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again....Until we get OUR house in order, we absolutely HAVE to stop giving away money or anything else to ANYONE else until we get AMERICA "fixed"!!!

Sarah Palin:

In a recent conversation with Greta Van Susterin on Fox, Sarah Palin said (Sarah speaks only to Fox people), that she has "Fire in my belly for 2012", but is wary of "scrutiny". And that "scrutiny" would be what, "Mama Grizzly"? Like maybe why you really quit your job as Governor of Alaska? Meanwhile, we learn that Ms. Palin might have purchased a new home in Arizona where she might decide to launch a campaign to become a U.S. Senator from that state. But we're also hearing that a new film about her that was produced and directed by a fan of hers may soon be released for the purpose of showing (in essence) why she is presidential material.

Sarah Palin, a presidential candidate? God, I hope so, because she would be great blog material.

Oh...Did you hear about the huge story about Fox News that was printed in the latest New York Magazine? Most of the story was about Roger Ailes, the long time big boss of Fox News and a guy who fancies himself as being a Republican "King Maker". The magazine states that while he was a big admirer of Sarah Palin when he hired her, after seeing her "in action", he now thinks "she's an idiot". A spokesman for Fox News says Ailes didn't say that. Overall, this New York Magazine (long) story is a story very much worth reading. I mean, Fox News likes to say, "Fair and balanced". Well, this story about Fox News IS "fair and balanced". In fact, it's so "fair and balanced", the only thing Fox News is challenging is Ailes' statement (or not) regarding Palin (in his view) as being "an idiot".

And speaking of things idiotic:

Are haters of Obama still referring to him fist bumping people as being a "terrorist fist bump"? I bring this up because that characterization is mentioned in the New York Magazine story about Fox News. I would think that the only people who could possibly think that would be Rush Limbaugh's bed pan people, but in case there are others, "fist bumps" are given to each other by all American people of all ages and races. I say this because I see it being done all the time.

I will lead into our "entertainment stuff" with this final observation about President Obama. Do you remember what one of his campaign promises was, a campaign promise that was recently accomplished? It was, dear reader, the promise to get Osama bin Laden. And if I recall correctly, I don't think he said anything about Osama bin Laden having to end up being alive.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

At the beginning of this blog, I wrote about American Idol's great season finale. Other season finale's that I liked a lot include the "Glee" finale, the "Chicago Code" season and (sadly for me) series finale, the "House" season finale which also featured the last time we will see Lisa Edelstein on "House". She played the role of House's boss for all seven years of the show and why she's leaving, isn't clear. Do you remember the first time you saw this fine actress? I do. When she was playing a hooker that Rob Lowe's character on "The West Wing" liked.

I enjoyed the final episode of "Law & Order-Los Angeles" and I also enjoyed the season finale of "Law & Order-Special Victims Unit". We knew ahead of time that this would be the final episode of "Law & Order-LA", but we did NOT know ahead of time, that the season finale of "Law & Order-SVU" would be Christopher Meloni's final appearance on that show. He, along with Mariska Hargitay have been the two main characters since that show came on the air. There have been no reasons given for Meloni's departure.

I would also like to tell you about a couple of films I saw recently...

The 1992 film, "Jennifer Eight" which is currently running on the TMC circuit. This is a terrific high stakes drama that stars Andy Garcia, Uma Thurman, John Malkovich, Kathy Baker and an outstanding supporting cast. I saw it in '92, I'm glad I saw it again and if you get a chance to see it on TMC, I highly recommend it.

The other film I saw is a new film that is currently on the HBO circuit. "Cinema Verite", a docudrama about the first reality show that was ever aired. It stars Diane Lane, Tim Robbins and James Gandolfini in a film I was actually reluctant to watch. For some reason, I thought I wouldn't like it. Boy, was I wrong. I believe that Lane, Robbins and Gandolfini should all get Emmy nominations and quite frankly, I think all three should be Emmy winners for their performances in this made for television film. Check it out!

Couple of final thoughts:

Memorial Day is Monday, May 30. Please pause and think good thoughts for our veterans.

This coming Friday, I plan to make another appearance with CRN owner Mike Horn and CRN program director Paul Stern for another no holds barred and fun radio experience. There will be lots of laughs along with an occasional serious subject on what to me is the fastest hour on radio. 4-5 pm, here in Los Angeles, 6-7 pm Central and 7-8 pm Eastern. The show will be repeated throughout the weekend. If you'd like to listen (and we hope you do), click onto www.CRNTalk.com

And our heartfelt thanks to legendary radio writer, Claude Hall who gave us a nice "shout-out" in his must read Sunday column that can be found at Radio Daily News. For many years, Claude Hall was Billboard Magazine's radio writer and everyone in radio used to read that column.

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will write back to you ASAP. Please don't write to the blog, because there's no way for me to know your email address which means I wouldn't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Hopefully, next Wednesday night, June 1. If there's an unavoidable delay, I'll write a short blog on or about June 1 explaining what's happening.

Meanwhile, I hope that all of you have a great rest of the week and a terrific weekend.