Doing Time with Ron Kuby Blog

Doing TIme: Wingnut Alert

Ron Kuby — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:03:47 -0500

The Supreme Court steps are the place to be today, as an odd amalgam of rightwing nuts assembles to await the Supreme Court's decision as to whether or not Obama is the president-elect. Huh?

Proposition 8: The Musical

Dan Pashman — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:43:50 -0500

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Today on DT: Obama sells out, Rendell says something dumb (and possibly sexist), and Ron learns about the Grammys

Dan Pashman — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:03:50 -0500

So far here's what we know about Barack Obama: He's appointed a mostly centrist cabinet, he's backed off promises to enact a windfall profits tax on oil companies and to get rid of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, and now it looks like the "residual" force he plans to leave in Iraq might no be so residual. At what point has he sold out?

Today we have a double dose of moronicity. White House spokesperson Dana Perino couldn't explain why Bush opposes the cluster bomb treaty. And PA Governor Ed Rendell made some comments about Homeland Security Secretary nominee Janet Napolitano that were not very nice. He basically said it was good that she was unmarried and had no kids, cause that way she could devote enough time to the new job. Turns out he didn't realize a mic was on. Doh! Of course what can we expect from a Philadelphia Eagles fan? (Sorry, my bias is showing here.)

And we'll play Kuby v. Kuby. At issue: How much money is too much money for a company to have to pay someone who sues them? The Supreme Court may decide just that as they discuss the case of the Oregon woman who won an $80 million judgement from Philip Morris.

Look Ma, A Twitter Stream!

Dan Pashman — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:23:34 -0500

It's official, Doing Time with Ron Kuby has boldly stepped into the digital age. Follow our Twitter stream at twitter.com/doingtime. What is Twitter? Basically it's a way for you to follow our show and meet other people who like our show all over the world. Yes it's true, Twitter was created expressly for our show. Login and tweet!

Today on DT: Fun with government stupidity, Obama breaks a promise, and we find out how much six months of life is worth

Dan Pashman — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:20:23 -0500

The new Capitol Visitors Center is open, and not a moment too soon for Harry Reid, who was tired of stinky tourists walking through the Capitol unwashed. Of course one man's tourist is another man's taxpayer, but we digress.

On
today's show well run through a bunch of interesting/amusing/disturbing
news relating to the Obama transition. Looks like he's ready to break another campaign promise, this time on a windfall profits tax for oil companies. Plus Hillary Clinton's appointment might be unconstitutional. But don't fret, politicians tend to be much better at opening loopholes than closing them. And Bill Clinton is eyeing some kind of role as a superambassador, likely to your daughters.

Finally, we'll ask you to tell us: How much is six months of life worth? More countries are considering
following Britain's lead, where they limit costly healthcare
expenditures when they may produce limited results. In other words, if
a medicine that will extend your life for six months costs $50,000, the
British government says it's not worth it. What do you say? Call us at
866-303-2270.

Today on DT...Bush to America: "Sorry about your country." Plus the myth of the Fairness Doctrine and Kuby v. Kuby.

Dan Pashman — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:48:21 -0500

President Bush has begun his series of exit interviews, and he's
sorry. He's not sorry about anything HE has done, he's just sorry that
somehow, through no fault of his own, the entire country turned into a
steaming turd while he was president. Today on the show Ron will tell
you what President Bush has in common with many of the people Ron has
defended over the years as an attorney.

Plus we'll talk about the
Fairness Doctrine. Conservatives are convinced liberals want to bring
it back, but it'll never happen. Why not? Because it's unconstitutional
for one, and because it's unnecessary for another. Ron explains
why.

And New York Giant Plaxico Burress is in big trouble
for carrying a gun without the correct permit, and for shooting the gun
into himself by accident. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says Burress should
get 3 1/2 years in jail, but Ron says typically a normal person would
only get about 6 months in this situation. Which sentence do you think
is more fair? We'll play Kuby v. Kuby, when Ron argues both sides and
asks you to play judge and jury. Call us at 866-303-2270.

Hey, It's December!

Chris Rosen — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:08:30 -0500

Here's a question we found ourself asking this morning as we woke up in our unheated apartment: how did it get to December already? Seriously. Can someone check the calendar?

Anyway! Now that it's December, we're free to listen to Christmas music (just so long as it's not that atrocious "Grandma Got Runover By a Reindeer" crap-tacular.) For your listening pleasure, here's the bestest Christmas song... ever!

Mumbai and Valley Stream, or Who Would Jesus Trample?

Ron Kuby — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:31:48 -0500

I understand why a group of Islamic fanatics would systematically plan and execute the slaughter of scores of totally innocent, unarmed, civilian people. Seen that before, right here in New York City. I get it. I mean, that's why we call them terrorists. That is what they do. That is why they are international outlaws, subject to arrest (if they're lucky), or death by gunfire (if they're not). I am horrified, but not mystified.

I am utterly baffled as to why 2000 potential shoppers, early on Friday morning, were so eager to buy discounted electronics at Wal-Mart for Christmas that they surged forward through the opening doors and trampled to death the young worker who opened them.

Nancy Skinner in for Ron today: Wednesday, November 26th.

Lauren Kirchner — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:38:26 -0500

Happy Thanksgiving, folks! Ron's out today pardoning-slash-slaughtering turkeys, so we are delighted to have as our guest host Nancy Skinner, radio-host-turned-politician who ran against President-elect Barack Obama in the Illinois U.S. Senate Democratic primary in 2004.

She's been a radio host since 1997 when she got a show on on WLS in Chicago, and has appeared frequently on CNN, MSNBC and the Fox News Channel. After her loss to Obama, Nancy returned to her home town of Royal Oak, Michigan and was the morning host on 1310 AM Detroit’s Progressive Talk for a year before challenging a 14-year incumbent, Republican Joe Knollenberg, for congress in 2006. She surprised many with a near upset, losing only 48 to 52%.

We've got tons to talk about today, and we want to hear from you, too! Leave a comment below or call in to 866-303-2270.

This Is Not My Beautiful House!

Chris Rosen — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:31:42 -0500

Since Ron is disappointed that the coffee machine isn't working, and potentially going to skip his daily (and awesome) blog post, we here at Doing Time thought you'd be interested in hearing what's on our minds!

While we've been nattering on about some guy in our office who feels the need to douse the bathroom with a suffocating amount of Lysol spray, we'll, for the moment, not bore you with those details.... Instead! Check out this ridiculous story from CBS News.

Open Thread: Today on Doing Time

Dan Pashman — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:26:52 -0500

Right here is where we tell you what's coming up on today's show,
but that daily blog post has been cut from the budget. Actually no, but
we're a bit behind schedule today, since every completely brilliant
guest idea we had fell through. But we will bring you another round of
Kuby v. Kuby regarding the story about parents arguing over whether it's wrong for kids to dress up as pilgirms and indians. Call us to take a side. Also, are you a cyberchondriac?
Well join the party! Call us with your ailments, and we'll give you
completely irresponsible medical information, straight from the
internet!

Well this is an open thread, so tell us what's on your
mind. Take a side on Kuby v. Kuby, list your medical ailments, or just
tell us what you had for lunch. We're here. So are you. Let's talk.

Today on DT: How many psychics does it take to fix the economy?

Dan Pashman — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:40:15 -0500

At this point it seems clear that nobody knows what will fix the economy. Conservative Bill Kristol admitted as much today. Obama introduced his economic team a few hours ago, and assured us that they would fix it, just as soon as they decide how. And in the absence of a coherent plan, the government continued to throw billions of dollars at the banks that helped get us into this mess. I wish I was a bank.

Of course when experts, politicians, and pundits all throw up their hands, there’s only one place to turn – psychics. Yes, more and more people are turning to psychics to work out their economic woes, so today we’ll interview one such forecaster. Hey, she couldn’t possibly be more wrong than this guy.

We’ll also talk to Brandon Boyer from the tech blog BoingBoing about Kevin Werbach, who’s helping to lead a review of the FCC for the Obama transition team. Turns out Werbach loves to play World of Warcraft. That may not be exciting to you, but it’s EXTREMELY exciting to nerds. We’ll find out why.

Doing Time: Psychic-otic

Ron Kuby — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:13:51 -0500

Ok, so last week we riffed on ABC for consulting a psychic about the economy, and rolling that into a feature for sweeps week. Who knew they were actually cutting edge?

Sunday's New York Times Styles Section has an in-depth feature on the booming business of psychics consulting Wall Street traders. And not just psychics--astrologers, tarot-card readers, palm readers and an odd miscellany of other future-predicting hucksters are doing great.

Today on DT: A look ahead to 2025, latest on the economy, and are liberals obligated to defend Eric Holder?

Dan Pashman — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:52:12 -0500

By now you've seen the video of Sarah Palin at the turkey farm,
where she went to pardon a turkey and ended up with turkeys being
slaughtered on camera right behind her. (If not, it's just below this
post.) But just because you've seen the video doesn't mean you've heard
it. Here at Doing Time we have special, highly sensitive microphones
that picked up some very shocking sound, and we'll play that on the
show today.

Plus a new intelligence report
looks ahead to 2025, and it ain't pretty. Apparently global warming
will help the Russians take over the Chinese mafia, and Americans will
be their slaves. Or something like that.

And yesterday a
blog commenter said that we shouldn't criticize Attorney General
nominee Eric Holder, because the right wing is already doing it. But it
is really up to the left to rally behind the troops, no matter what? Is
it up to Air America? What do you think? Call in at 866-303-2270.

About that Speeding Ticket...

Chris Rosen — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:45:21 -0500

We are totally, OMG-in-love with Failblog... And we'd like to credit them with finding this gem which had us tearing up in the control room yesterday afternoon. If you thought getting a speeding ticket was bad, wait until you see the end of this clip. Happy Friday!

Sarah Palin's Turkey-Slaughter Interview

Lauren Kirchner — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:05:37 -0500

Sarah Palin was interviewed by a local Alaska TV affiliate as she visited a turkey farm to pardon one lucky bird for Thanksgiving. While she babbles on about how unfair the media is on candidates running for office, the not-so-lucky birds behind her are slaughtered. Awkward! Vegans, avert your eyes....

Today on DT: eHarmony goes gay, hyperparenting, and Amanda Fortini on the year of "The Bitch and the Ditz"

Dan Pashman — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:15:55 -0500

Well eHarmony might not like it, but they're going to have to bend
over and take it. After fighting for years, the dating website finally agreed to offer same-sex matches.
But should they have to? Today on the show we'll play Kuby v. Kuby,
when Ron puts on his attorney's hat and argues BOTH sides of an issue,
then lets listeners act as judge and jury. Sure it seems like the right
thing to do, but should a private company be told how to run their
business? If they want to run a dating site for heterosexual couples,
should they have that right? Listen to Ron take both sides, then call
us to issue your judgement.

Also on today's show we'll talk to Amanda Fortini, whose piece in the current issue
of New York Magazine is entitled, "The Bitch and the Ditz: How the Year
of the Woman reinforced the two most pernicious sexist stereotypes and
actually set women back."

Plus
we'll talk about issues facing parents, including the issue of their
own overparenting. Chill out mom and dad, or you might be accused of hyperparenting. And here's another reason to relax -- Socializing online might not be as bad for kids as you'd think. A new study argues that it actually helps kids develop social and computer skills simultaneously.

And
the Clintonization of Obamaland -- Is Obama selling out his mantra of
"change," or is he just going for the best and most experienced people
out there?

Tell us what you think, call the show at 866-303-2270.

Welcome (Back) To the Jungle!

Chris Rosen — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:46:18 -0500

While Ron Kuby is sure to cover the vast array of important stories later today on his show--Iran has nukes! Obama keeps picking Clintonistas!--I'm more concerned with the return of Guns N' Roses. Hooray!

Guns N’ Roses' new album finally (finally!) (finally!!!!) comes out on Tuesday. They’ve (they being Axl) have set up a MySpace page…apparently unaware that only pedophiles still use MySpace (Facebook, hellooooo!). I can't imagine this album being any good, but who knows. It has been 17 years in the making. Speaking of, what were you doing when their last album came out 17 years ago? I was 13, so I was probably playing video games and looking at my GI Joes.

Today on Doing Time, Tuesday November 18th

Dan Pashman — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:51:32 -0500

Well it's official, we don't have to worry about terrorists anymore. The new number one on the list of things to be afraid of -- PIRATES. No, not the cute, cuddly ones from Disney World, not the dashing ones like Johnny Depp, but actual real pirates. Yesterday they hijacked a Saudi oil tanker and took it to their lair (yes, they have a lair). Other pirates hijacked a Hong Kong cargo ship. And a Danish ship had a near miss with some rapscallions.

So what's the deal with pirates? Exactly how do you hijack a Saudi oil tanker? And how big of a problem is this? We'll find out when we talk to Professor Peter Pham from James Madison University, an expert on pirates.

We'll also get the latest on the economy, where Henry Paulson and Barack Obama agree on at least one thing: Nobody knows what it'll take to fix the economy, so until we figure it out, we'll just keep trying different things and hoping for the best.

And as we head into the holiday air travel season, more bad news for all of us: United wants to charge people $25 to talk to a live person. It's just the latest insult in the increasingly degrading world of air travel. Everyone has an airline horror story -- We want to hear yours. Give us a call to discuss that or anything else on your mind, 866-303-2270.

Today on Doing Time, Monday, November 17, 2008

Lauren Kirchner — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:57:11 -0500

Welcome to the Broken Phones edition of Doing Time with Ron Kuby! Today on the show, professor Juan Cole will be on with us to explain the Iraq withdrawal agreement just announced today.

We'll be talking today a little more about the pros and cons of an auto industry bailout, Barack Obama's half-great/half-fluff appearance last night on "60 Minutes," pirates in Somalia hitting up a Saudi oil tanker, and the unfortunate recurrence of hate crimes against immigrants in a Long Island community.

Also today, Senator Kennedy returns to the Hill! He says he's looking forward to working with Barack Obama on some new healthcare legislation.

Want to see an awkward photo opp? Obama and McCain met today in Chicago.

Today on Doing Time with Ron Kuby, Friday, November 14, 2008

Lauren Kirchner — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:17:34 -0500

TGIF, yall! We’ll be talking today about the rumors circulating about possible roles for Hillary Clinton in President-elect Obama’s cabinet. How do you think she should be involved, if at all? Would it be better for her to stay on in the Senate and take on some kind of leadership role there? Call in! 866-303-2270.

Today we’ll talk to Robert Kuttner, economist and author of the new book Obama’s Challenge: America’s Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency. We want to ask him about the latest rumblings from the FDIC about how mortgage guidelines should be changed to help homeowners and prevent foreclosures.

A Roman Catholic priest in South Carolina has told parishioners that no Obama voters will be allowed communion until they repent! Wow. Where do we draw the line between religious belief and political action? Does this church have the right to turn people away for the way that they’ve voted in an election? I have a feeling Kuby has some opinions on this one.

Oh also? Unrelated…Kevin Spacey has just been named Chief of Staff to future-veep Joe Biden! (Well, kind of.)

All that today and more, plus movie reviews from Ken Turan of the LA Times, our listener mailbag, and your calls!

Today on Doing Time, Thursday, November 13, 2008

Lauren Kirchner — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:16:50 -0500

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is switching gears for the bailout, and we'll hear reactions today from Congress, Wall Street, and YOU.

Also, you may (not) be surprised to learn that gun sales are way up across the country in the past week, as gun stores peddle the lie that "Obama's taking yer guns" so as to boost sales before he takes office. Or maybe it's not about Obama, as one gun store owner quoted in this article suggests: maybe people are worried of "civil unrest" caused by economic chaos. Hmm, worried about the sinking dollar? Buy an AK-47.

Our guests today will be Sam Stein from the Huffington Post on Sarah Palin and why she just won't get off our TVs already...and Heidi Moore from the Wall Street Journal will be here to hopefully answer the question, how can Ron go about turning himself into a bank, thereby making himself eligible for some some of those bailout billions?

Finally today...slumping through a recession in blustery November when the sun goes down at 4:00 can be a DOWNER. What are you doing to lift your spirits? Cardiologists in one study say music is - literally - good for your heart. What songs do you play to pump up your mood and please your ticker? Call in and let us know...D.J. Chris is taking requests.

Today on Doing Time, Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Lauren Kirchner — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:56:46 -0500

New Yorkers on their way to work this morning were handed print copies of this, an impressive New York Times spoof complete with elaborate website, declaring the Iraq War over and columnist Thomas Friedman remorseful and retired. We'll talk a bit about who's behind it and who was fooled.

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson gave a press conference today
with some more details about the bailout, and hemmed and hawed about a lame-duck auto industry rescue package. He says the biggest priority should be on our credit crisis, so today we ask our callers...what's goin on with your credit crisis? What
are you doing to curb spending, if anything? And how important do you think it is that we save the Big 3 in Detroit?

We've got some great guests today, including Judy Woodruff from PBS and Tom Schaller, author of Whistling Past Dixie about the changing role of the South in national elections.

Also today, some fun audio of McCain with Leno, Palin with Lauer, and Bill O'Reilly and Laura Ingraham making fools of themselves. Yes, please!

Doing Time: Seriously Ugly

Ron Kuby — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:39:26 -0500

Having lost on every issue of concern to most Americans, the right wing is revving up the old familiar stand-by--the culture wars. The latest came on Tuesday, when "political analyst" (gee, am I one of those too?) Michael Barone (who is also a senior writer for U.S. News and World Report) announced to an academic meeting in Chicago that the media was hostile to Sarah Palin.

Today on Doing Time, Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Lauren Kirchner — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:54:38 -0500

It's Veterans' Day, and Bush came to NYC today to re-dedicate the U.S.S. Intrepid and say a few words, as well as giving long-overdue recognition to one WWII seaman in particular, Seymour Wittek, whose heroism in putting out a ship fire saved thousands of lives in 1943.

Today we'll be talking with Tori Lyon, Executive Director of the Jericho Project, a non-profit and non-partisan organization providing food and shelter to homeless veterans.

In other news, our economic future is still unclear...economist Jeff Madrick, author of The End of Affluence: The Causes and Consequences of America's Economic Dilemma will be here to talk a bit more about what an auto industry bailout would look like under an Obama administration.

Finally, we'll try to keep it a little light today, too, with some fun new Sarah Palin interview audio for all ya nice folks out there, yup, just some nice down home audio clips, darn tootin'!