The other day I broadcasted to the world via Twitter, Facebook, Google Wave, and Messenger Pigeon the important and life shattering news that I have decided to purchase a gun. The reasons for said gun purchase are quite irrelevant (unless of course your are my mom).

But the Facebook conversation that proceeded (below) inspired me to explain myself with a bit more detail.

Now I freely admit most of you will discredit me as a source on the topic of gun laws because I interpret the 2nd amendment to say that, "people of a state - whether militia or individual - should be allowed to own the same level of weaponry as the federal government."

Extreme, right? But let us remember the mindset of those who wrote the Constitution. Jefferson once said:

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

Now before you jump on me for being ignorant and throwing in all the accidental shooting statistics and other "vanilla, mothers running the world" arguments: stop. I have heard them. I know them. Hell, the President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence - arguably the largest gun-control lobby in the world - has been a long time family friend. I get it.

But here is what it really comes down to: Castle Rock v. Gonzales.

In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court decided in June of 2005 that we could not sue police departments for not protecting us in the event of violence committed against us, nor could we sue fire departments for not rescuing us. So the long and the short of it is: the Supreme Court says your safety is your responsibility and only your responsibility.

I don't think most Americans would argue with this per se. Most would acknowledge suing a police department after getting shot for not protecting you would be a ludicrous precedent. But for some reason we don't seem to make the logical conclusion that when in a dangerous situation, protection is our responsibility and should be taken seriously.

But let me be clear about this: Jesus doesn't give a damn about gun control (or taxes for that matter). When Christians call into the show and try to justify why "Jesus would be a republican," they always seem to lump in defending the right to bear arms as a "faith issue." It isn't.

And frankly, the only justification I could ever see against owning guns comes from the mouth of Jesus and that is "But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Although he eventually did tell the Disciples it was time to purchase a sword to defend themselves).

Thus the way I see it is that Jesus is neutral on whether or not I buy a gun, and the Supreme Court wants me to. So it's time to go gun shopping because that Ginsberg scares the crap out of me and I don't want to cross her.


Enjoy the Facebook conversation on the topic below

If there are two things I like in this world, it is 1.) skinny, blonds with no boobs, and 2.) being right. Rarely do these two collide in one glorious moment for me. But God Bless Carrie Prejean they did.

If you don't know by now, Carrie Prejean dropped her liable and slander case against the Miss USA Pageant because allegedly she was shown a tape of her that was acquired by TMZ performing "a graphic sex act by herself" that was "so graphic, even TMZ wouldn't post it."

Details have since surfaced that the solo act was recorded by her then boyfriend when she was a teenager. How TMZ got it, nobody seems to know.

As you may recall, I wrote about Carrie back in May saying that her situation illustrates why no one takes the "Pro-Family" movement seriously.

She makes one blanket statement about being against gay marriage in a beauty pageant, and all the sudden she is a champion for family values. But after the release of information about her boob-job, then underage sexy lingerie photos, then topless photos, and now a sex tape, many in the pro-family camp are now questioning their pick for <sarcasm>2009 Family-Values Champion of the Year Award</sarcasm>

But as pro-family organizations drop her faster than they can count their gay friends, my opinion of her hasn't changed. I was not in the camp that condemned her from the get go (even though I support gay marriage). Nor was I in the camp that lifted her up as a bastion of family values.

She was (and is) an attractive young woman, who got put on the spot with an unfair and divisive question, and she did the best she could to be honest with where she stood. What proceeded was not fair on many levels. She got judged harshly by the pro-gay lobby. She got elevated to a level of leadership she was not equipped for on the pro-family lobby. And all of her past transgressions were now viewed through her statement which is not only unfair, but also, not really relevant.

Now there are no sex tapes of me out there (so you can stop looking as I know you all are). But that makes me no worse or better than Carrie. And frankly, none of us are worse or better than Carrie. We all do stupid things we regret. We all make mistakes. Does that mean we should all be in leadership positions in lobbying groups? Absolutely not. But that does mean she should be treated with the same grace you would want to be treated with.

Will I read her book? Probably not. Would I put her on a board of directors? Probably not. Would I take her on a date? Probably. But none of these answers have anything to do with anything that has happened since the pageant.

This should serve as one more example of where we all can take a lesson in not being so quick to judge or elevate.

There are two things about me that I think most of you know: 1.) I have a bit of a lead foot, and 2.) I love NASCAR racing. And even though those might sound mutually inclusive, most of the people I know who actually like NASCAR give me the most amount of crap for my speeding.

Now, one could argue that going around and around at 200 mph, sometimes inches from each other, is pretty dangerous. But most NASCAR drivers would say most the time they feel pretty safe. But the one time you'll get them to complain about safety is restrictor plate racing.

Now stay with me...

The long and the short of it is in restrictor plate races, a device is put on a car to ensure that there is a limit to the maximum speed a car drives (in theory lowering the speed). The controversy is that these races become inherently more dangerous because while the speeds are slightly lower, the packs that are created due to everyone driving the exact same speed is harrowing. For example, at Talladegga, at times they are only 1 SECOND that separates all 43 cars (at 200 MPH!).

Now hopefully you are still with me...

What does this have to do with real life? I have been saying it for years: zones where enforced speed limits are in place are some of the scariest places on highways. What you get is everyone driving the exact same speed, and a build of cars. And really, speed isn't what kills you in an accident, running into something kills you.

But don't just take my word for it. Psychics proves my point as well. According to PhysicsCentral: "jerks" actually help reduce traffic jams because they add a variable that reduces bunching. It is true with pedestrians, it is true with cars, it is true with molecules.

Even the end of the article supports what I am saying. I insist that part of the reason I speed is because I am claustrophobic and I don't like to feel trapped. I am less likely to be tailgated when speeding. I am less likely to tailgate when speeding. And people are less likely to be to my right or left when speeding. Thus, I am not trapped, I am not claustrophobic, and I am less likely to run into someone or having someone run into me.

So my conclusion is that people should drive the speed they are comfortable with and leave the restrictor plate conditions to NASCAR (and apparently DoT Utah also, psuedo-supports this idea as well).

And next time you are with me in my car afraid for your life, all you need to say is thank you.

Simple physics. I always knew I liked you.

P.S. I am aware of the irony that physics would also support the idea that IF I hit something, increased speed would not be my friend. But that is an ironic double standard I am willing to live with.

What I am about to write should be viewed through the lens that I am a.) pro-life, and b.) support full equality for homosexuals and their relationships. I know most will find this an odd juxtaposition given the modern dialogue in politics, but you can read other posts as to why I feel this is right.

With that said, I think I found the the one thing that both of these often divisive groups can agree on: politicians really don't give a damn about either issue and are only feeding the division to get/stay elected.

Last week I was watching Barack Obama's Human Rights Campaign speech where he made the comment:

Now, I've said this before, I'll repeat it again -- it's not for me to tell you to be patient, any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African Americans petitioning for equal rights half a century ago. But I will say this: We have made progress and we will make more. And I think it's important to remember that there is not a single issue that my administration deals with on a daily basis that does not touch on the lives of the LGBT community.

He continues on, admitting he hasn't done much to help gay equality, and throws the gay community a bone about ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (which should be ended), and promises to move the ball forward and for them not to lose heart. They've got a friend in Barack Obama.

How similar this is to George W. Bush (or Bush Sr, or Reagan) who promised to be a friend to the "pro-life" community, but what real work did they do for it? Enacted Mexico City? Appointed a pro-life Supreme Court Justice? Please! Just small bones that makes it look like action is taking place, but not really doing anything about it.

Well here's the dirty little secret that nobody in Washington or the media or the average American public want to admit: as a whole, neither political party cares about either one of these issues.

Sure Barney Frank cares as an individual politician cares about gay equality. And sure, Randy Forbes individually cares about protecting the unborn. But individuals don't change anything in Washington.

I said it back in October of last year that I didn't mind voting for Barack Obama despite him being extremely pro-choice because I was sick of abortion being a "wedge" issue / single-issue vote the Republicans knew they could motivate their base around. An October later I am saying the same thing about the gay equality issue, and wondering how long it will take those to realize the Democrats are doing the same thing.

The Democrats are no more a friend to the gay equality issue than the Republicans are to the abortion issue. It is all about getting and maintaining power. That's it. And until we put term limits on Congress and/or vote Congress out as easily as we vote them in, nothing is going to change.

So here's the question I pose to both: when are we going to stop being single issue voters that vote the party line when the party line isn't doing jack squat about what they claim to believe in so boldly.

April 2005: Currently Facebook only supports 800 college campuses. President Bush was 4 months into his second term. Pope John Paul II had just been put to rest. Airbus's new Jumbo A380 takes it's very first flight. Carrie Underwood was just about to become a household name by winning American Idol. Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani had just hit the airwaves. Sahara and Fever Pitch had just been released into theatres. And The Office had just started it's first season.

It was also the last time I had a normal weekend.

Wow!

And just so we are clear. By normal weekend I mean: working Friday, taking both Saturday and Sunday off, and returning to work on Monday, with out leaving the city (Atlanta).

The last time I did that I was a senior in College. It was April 23/24, 2005 - and I can't for the life of me remember what I did. Probably because I didn't think it was anything special: it was the weekend.

Allen was up in Green Bay to watch a Packers game, so we took Sunday off. And although I was initially tempted to go up to Chicago, and then almost took a last minute trip to Orlando, I eventually decided to do nothing but stick around Atlanta for the first time since moving here over 4 years ago.

Now obviously I have taken vacation in that time period. And there have been a handful (say around 20) of other non-vacation, 2-day weekends - most of which were spent on quick trips outside of Atlanta. But none of those were a "normal" weekends as defined above.

I do have to admit this past weekend was a bit weird. Watched football all day long on my couch, only to get off the couch and go watch football on my Aunt and Uncle's couch. Watched 7-hours worth of Dexter after Blockbuster finally had Season 3 on DVD in stock. Went to a movie with some friends (Couple's Retreat: not as good as I thought it was going to be, but it did feature breathtaking views of the hotel I have wanted to stay at for years, and it did feature Kristen Bell...so...worth it.).

All and all a pretty normal weekend, only thus making it a completley abnormal weekend.

Here's to not having another 39,336 hours until the next one

P.S. For all of you who are sick of reading about my weekends. I promise, I am releasing a more serious blog later in the week. Thank you for your patience over the past 2 months due to the hectic schedule changes.

It was another busy week this week. Maybe not 84 hours like last week, but probably 75. Got major progress done on the new Allen Hunt Show website. Very productive. But with the production, I was also very tired and looking forward to a Saturday of doing absolutely nothing.

At 11:45pm on Friday night, my friend Glenn swings by the studio. As he was leaving he asked, "hey you want to join us for tomorrow's Alabama game at Ole Miss? Plane takes off at 9:00." I don't care what I am looking forward to, if it involves taking a private plane to a great day of tailgating and a live SEC football game, I am dropping the other plans.

So even though I desperately needed the rest, I traded it for a day full of fun.

So because I am lazy on blogging right now, here is a post in picture form (with commentary):

I am exhausted. I would be lying if I said I wasn't. It has been a hard month. 6 days a week. 14 hours a day. All just to keep my head above the water. Not ever feeling like I am making much progress.

I have sat down to write a column on many different topics, but nothing comes out. It is why my last post was 3 weeks ago (and actually I wrote that post a week before I posted it).

I had a 36-hour trip to Chicago that was fantastic and had some semi-profound thoughts from it, but even that has been difficult to write about. I am even having a hard time just staying up with the shows I DVR.

Speaking of which, this past "weekend" (Saturday) I hung out with a few friends, and caught up on my DVR. I was watching Dollhouse and then this caught my ear.


WHAT?!? Did I just hear what I thought I heard. Am I the only one who heard, "why do people get married in fuckin' stilettos?"

I Google-searched to see if anyone else noticed, and there were a few posts. But many still felt that couldn't possibly be the case. Then I checked the Closed Captioned version on Hulu.



What I loved is that I still swear she drops the F-bomb here. On a network show. In the 9pm slot on a Friday night.

Maybe the script called for "frickin'" but Eliza dropped fuckin' instead. I don't know. But I love the fact Fox uses the Closed Caption to try ad convince us we are hearing things :) I might try that the next time we have a caller drop the F-bomb and a station throws a fit (*cough* you know who you are).

Now I have one or two theories about what happened. As many said, Fox might just not have noticed and it slipped through. But I doubt that. I think it was done on purpose. It was done on purpose to figure out a.) whether or not anyone was watching, and b.) to figure out whether or not anyone cared.

I am not going to complain. I don't really think "swearing" should be outlawed by the FCC anyways. Extension of power by the government that they shouldn't have. But I did want to at least put my stake in the ground that I noticed.

So for now, this is about all I have energy for. Please excuse me for the superficiality of the post. But I at least thought it was interesting.

So what do you think? Am I so over worked that I am hearing things now?

I love all teams Chicago (except the insufferable Bears). Cubs of course are on the top of the list. But growing up I too loved the Chicago Bulls. I spent many a nights in front of the television watching WGN and the magic that was Michael Jordan. I had the shoes. I drank the Gatorade. I sang the song.

As life has proven time and time again, 19 years later and things are far more complicated.

Athletes have gone from psuedo-gods to people; many times really shitty people. Jordan is no exception. In fact, Jordan is probably - like all things Michael - the best example. The most recent example of course being, as Rick Reiley put it, his "tactless, egotistical and unbecoming" Hall of Fame acceptance speech.

It's sad really. In the same way I sometimes long for the faith I had when I was in my teens, making Jesus' words of child like faith all the more clear, I too wish I could approach the world as I did when 8 years old.

But alas that usually isn't an option. As Cardinal Thomas Wosley once said, "Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out."

Similarly, when I was 12 I hated John Stockton. Ok, really I hated Karl Malone. But my associated hatred of Stockton proves my point later. Both Malone and Stockton played for the Utah Jazz - at the time - an arch enemy of the Chicago Bulls.

On September 11, 2009, both Jordan and Stockton were admitted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. And while Jordan's speech was the worst 23 minutes you could imagine; John Stockton had 11 seconds of brilliance that unfortunately most will never hear.


Maybe it is because I have been super stressed. Maybe it is because I feel the burden to be the best at everything (unfortunately making me a lot more like Jordan than Stockton). Or maybe it is because in that moment I realized all those years I should have been rooting for Stockton, and not Micahel. But those simple words of humility and honesty brought a tear to my eye.

When I watched Stockton he wasn't the best on the Jazz - Karl Malone was. But that didn't stop him from having a phenomenal career and supporting his team. And years later, the joy and love he brought to that stage was evident beyond his words.

That's a message kids should hear. Most of us will never be the "Michael Jordan" in our fields. And that's ok. In fact, that is probably a good thing.

So while my 8-year old self was spent looking up to Michael Jordan, I know my 27-year old self will look up to John Stockton. What can I say. John, you finally went down as the best at something. I wanna be like Mike John.

I have a friend who - along with about 10-20 other people - started a bank 2 years ago. One afternoon I found myself in the office talking to him about what that venture looked like. Having been around startups my entire life, I have an understanding of starting a business. But a bank? That's a completley different story. So naturally I was quite curious.

The brief conversation included some points on banking regulation and the FDIC. I knew what the FDIC was before this conversation, but hadn't really given it much thought (probably like most Americans). Then we had the banking crisis of 2008 - exactly one year ago from today.

Anybody who had any kind of money at all quickly became familiar with the FDIC guarantee.

Amidst all the collapse in our economy - 401(k)s taking huge hits, hedge fund manager corruption, banking scandal after banking scandal, and finally a ridiculous, non-capitalistic, yet necessary bail out - the one thing that worked EXACTLY the way it should was the FDIC.

Most Americans had every confidence in the world that their money (assuming less than $250,000) was safe, protected and backed by the Federal Government. And you know what. It was. Even as IndyMac failed, and Washington Mutual and Wachovia and JP Morgan all collapsed, there wasn't chaos because the FDIC was there and functioning.

What does this have to do with healthcare?

This past weekend Allen pulled the comparison that we don't need the government running a healthcare company because what we would have is the United States Postal Service. And frankly, if you want something delivered guaranteed and to actually not be a drain on taxpayers, you and I both know UPS is the way to go. Rather, he focused on three things that should be changed.

1. Fat People - obesity killing healthcare costs
2. Old People - quoting that most healthcare costs are spent in the last couple months of life
3. Lawyers - Medical malpractice is a killer on doctor's insurance (which gets passed on to the patients) and also means tons of unnecessary tests (adding to the cost)

I think his analysis is fairly good. But it left me asking, ok, then what do you actually envision as the answer?

The answer to that question is the FDIC, only for healthcare.

We need regulation in healthcare.

The current situation right now is UPS only with two deepening caveats: with too little competition and a service we have to use.

The public option option is the USPS. It will surely go bankrupt, and ruin healthcare in the process.

The "FDIC" option is the route to go. Under it would include:

• Tort reform to curb malpractice costs.
• Regulation to allow for previous conditions to be covered.
• Allowing insurance companies to operate beyond state borders allowing for more competition but with minimal capital needs to start new operations.
• Holding insurance companies accountable to live up to what they promise to insure.
• A division to make sure the 10-20 million legitimately uninsured could be subsidized
• Requiring every citizen to have proof of health insurance (I know this isn't popular, but I am all for it).

But the actual insurance, and the hospitals, and the doctors, and the nurses are still all private companies. The regulation is there. The accountability is there. The improved healthcare for all would follow.

This week marked two things I can't believe are here already.

It seems like only yesterday tiny Jadyn was asleep on my chest 9 days after being born (lower left hand photo above). We spent her 1st birthday at the Lake (photo 2). Her 2nd birthday was more low key and spent it at the house (photo 3). I didn't make it for her 3rd birthday due to Asher's premature delivery in Hilton Head (picture 4) and the craziness that ensued in June and July. And I didn't make it today because of our M-F launch.

I was however very humored to see the following Facebook Status update from Andrea this morning.

ANDREA: it's your birthday sweetie!
JADE: it is?
ANDREA: yes, you are four now
JADE: I don't want to be four, I want to be three

Typical woman always lying about her age and wishing she were younger :)

As much as I love Jadyn and as important as she is in my life, her turning 4 wasn't the biggest thing that happened this week.

At 9:00:00 PM on Monday we launched our Monday-Friday presence into the talk radio universe. If I can't believe Jadyn is turning 4 because time has flown by, the M-F radio presence is the exact opposite. I can't believe this is finally here because sometimes it felt like it was never going to happen.

But ohh has it happened. The week has been incredibly busy and I am still trying to find my routine (and get the new website done). For the most part there have been few errors - actually surprisingly few to be honest. And I think once things settle down, this is going to be a lot of fun.

Opening night was a blast. We opened for sure with Charlottsville, VA, Saginaw, MI, and Warner Robbins, GA. The remaining of our 30 launch affiliates will come online within the next week or so.

Afterwards we (myself, Allen, Anita, and Phil) went out (at 12:15 am) and celebrated at Taco Mac. Got some drinks. Had some queso dip. And even though there were times I never thought that day would come, it finally did, and it was great!

Check out the photos from the first night and leave some comments if you'd like. Be sure to invite Allen and I to be your friends on Facebook as well. We'll be using that a lot more in the coming months.