12/18-TROUBLESOME! GERMANY TODAY IS NOT THE WARTIME GERMANY. NEITHER IS JAPAN. THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT OF TODAY, HOWEVER, HAS COMMITTED SOME OF THE MOST SHOCKING VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN HISTORY OR MEMORY.

The New York talk show Barry was producing before he got his own show had excellent relations with the Castro government of Cuba right after Castro’s takeover in 1959.  It was the “Tex and Jinx Show” and they repeatedly interviewed Castro’s chosen “President” of Cuba, Manuel Urrutia, and openly raised money for the Castro movement.  For Castro’s first ten days he was the most popular man, not just in Cuba, but in America., too. Then the firing squads began to work overtime in shifts and America’s mood changed.  Barry was sent to try to reach some of his top contacts within the Castro regime to stop the shooting after ten-minute trials, or no trials at all.  The one Barry reached and made the pitch to was Raul Castro.  Barry tells that story including Raul Castro’s remarkable reaction this evening.

12/17-CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN WHY AMERICA’S FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT IS SO FASCINATED WITH SLAVE-MASTERS?

Maybe foreign policy IS rocket science, after all.  Even conservatives are walking around asking, “Did America’s policy of an embargo on Cuba change anything over the past fifty years?  Lost in the clouds of complexity is the simple answer that the embargo provided America with LEVERAGE.  If Cuba moves toward democracy and human rights, the living will be easier.  Today Obama gave that away in return for nothing.  At least Esau in the Bible got a bowl of pottage in return for his birthright.  Obama’s “swap” didn’t give America a tablespoon-ful of rice and beans.  Nor a teaspoon-ful!  Barry now announces HIS new policy.  Always write down Obama’s biggest foreign policy blunders in soft pencil with a good eraser.  He keeps making bigger ones!

12/16- JUST REMEMBER THIS ATTACK BEFORE SINGING “KUMBAYA” AND AFTER THE YOUNG PREACHER TELLS YOU, “WE’RE ALL ALIKE!”

They hate “education”, especially for girls.  So they gather arms and launch an attack on a school that takes the lives of 141 students between the ages of 10 and 18.  What should decent people in decent countries like the USA do about it?  Sara and Barry give it their best, along with warnings that nobody’s best stands much chance of being good enough!

J

12/15-TOO MUCH CIVILIZATION BREEDS OVERCONFIDENCE. “I LEFT MY HANDGUN AT HOME. I HOPE YOU HAVE YOURS.” THIS IS OUR FUTURE, IF WE HAVE ONE!

There’s a “little” reaction to the hostage calamity in Syndey, Australia; We need more awareness and precautions against the “Lone Wolf” assassin-terrorist.  There’s also a “big” reaction; the family gun should be as non-controversial as the family refrigerator.  Change the laws, change the customs, change the culture until the personal hand-gun for self-defense expands to the level of “Don’t leave home without it!”  Sara and Barry discuss the two approaches.

12/12-PRACTICE SAFE DINING. ALWAYS USE CONDIMENTS!

Enough earth-shaking news coverage for a while.  Let’s go now to a topic that couldn’t even rearrange a few grains of sand on a placid beach.  Sara and Barry just received a gift package of Omaha Steaks.  Barry would like to know if the epicurean sender of that gift would resent Barry using ketchup when he enjoys it.  One school says it’s bordering on the profane to sully a platter of gourmet beef with any condiment.  Barry’s school says your own mouth is the Supreme Court of whether or not condiments are appropriate, and Barry says his mouth is pro-condiment, by a score of nine to nothing.  Your mind will likely not change because of anything you hear, but you’ll surely end the day with more reason to feel like you already do.

12/11- CHILDREN SLOWLY GET OVER THEIR FEAR OF THE DARK. WHEN WILL AMERICAN GROWN-UPS GET OVER THEIR FEAR OF HAULING OFF AND WISHING EACH OTHER A “MERRY CHRISTMAS” INSTEAD OF “HAPPY HOLIDAYS”. (THAT QUESTION POSED BY A JEWISH CELEBRANT.

DR. ROBERT RODRIGUEZ has had a joyous and open “double-life” for years, alternating between the role of serious history professor to performing on-stage with the “Christmas Revels” portraying Christmas and how it’s celebrated from the Balkans to Ireland, Scandinavia to Old England.  While Congress debates whether or not we’ll have a government after midnight, Dr. Rodriguez visits with Sara and Barry to review and revere the rather more permanent tenure of Christmas.