Radio Folks Say the Darndest Things.

I listen to talk radio. I know to some, this means that I have no mind of my own, and I've given my cognitive function over to some broadcast Svengali. Au contriere, I use all the stuff I hear to help me make up my own mind and form my own opinions. I've come to trust my instincts for fact vs. jive, and I'm a very good editor of such. I get around for chatter, and I'll listen to anything; local stuff, nationally syndicated stuff, federally-subsidized stuff, and even Brits who play in the dirt. This morning on my way to and from the $1.85 donut/coffee bliss, I heard two things that sent me to the keyboard to log the following items:

Paul Harvey, in his classic admonishing tone, noted that several members of congress went against W's stated position, and passed a measure that would remove restrictions on stem cell research. As Harvey put it, "they have voted to sacrifice living stem cells for scientific research, presumably, because the public good requires it." Paraphrasing the reasoning of congress, he repeated "we will kill living stem cells because the public good requires it." Harvey then goes on to make mention that (so far) 1,645 members of the American military have died in the Iraqi theater, and on Memorial Day, ABC's "Nightline" will read all their names, and show all the pictures of "the humans who have died, presumably, because the public good requires it."

I fling this out there because I am of two minds on both stem cell research and all that is Iraq, and if nothing else, Harvey's interpretation of these two items is certainly food for thought, especially among those who strive for ideological consistency, which includes me.

The other item is a discussion by Ron and Mark sparked by Turner Classic Movies airing "North by Northwest" last night. Among the all the discussions about Hitchcock films is the inevitable topic of the Incredible Blonde Female Lead Actress. Ron pulled right from my gray-matter filing cabinet when he basically said a fully-clothed Eva Marie Saint is immeasurably sexier that a naked Paris Hilton. Of course, I post this because it's such a stroke to my own ego when people I find bright and credible basically say the same things I'm already thinking.

Yup, I took the day off: The Rome fire department will have to outsource my role until tomorrow, as there's fiddling to do. If I can swing the physical logistics here at Casa Octane, I may be live blogging the UEFA Champions League Final.