A Nation at Risk: Our schools 25 years later.

Click here to listen to the broadcast of You Tell Me on Newstalk 600 KTBB, Friday, April 25, 2008. Let me share with you a quote. “If an unfriendly power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.” That line came from a report issued 25 years ago this week by the National Commission on Excellence in Education titled,...

When your health care gets grounded.

Click here to listen to the broadcast of You Tell Me on Newstalk 600 KTBB, Friday, Apr. 18, 2008. I have just returned from the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas. When I arrived Saturday afternoon and went to the convention center to get my badge and convention materials, one of the stories on the floor was the fact that exhibitors and exhibit materials that should have arrived days before were late on...

The good that comes from failure.

Click here to listen to the broadcast of You Tell Me on Newstalk 600 KTBB, Friday, April 11, 2008. A few weeks ago, I took my second grade daughter to school. When she got there, she realized that she had left her homework on the table just inside the entryway to our home. Her teacher is a consummate professional who is trying to prepare the kids in her class for the realities of adult life....

Rev. Jeremiah Wright should re-listen to Rev. Martin Luther King.

Author’s note: This piece makes little sense absent the audio clips that are a part of it. To get the entire meaning of this post, either click on the “Listen here” links when they appear in the text, or listen to the spoken broadcast of this post on Newstalk 600 KTBB as it aired on Friday, Apr. 4, 2008. The link to that broadcast is immediately below. Click here to listen to the broadcast of...

What Hillary & Barack can learn from David Patterson.

Listen to the broadcast of You Tell Me on Newstalk 600 KTBB in Tyler, Texas, Friday, Mar. 31, 2008. You gotta give it to the new governor of New York, David Patterson. He is apparently smarter than either of the two politicians from his party who wish to be elected president. David Patterson apparently spends sufficient time in the real world with the rest of us so as to be aware of the fact that...

Relief for high gas prices lies in high gas prices.

Listen to the broadcast of You Tell Me on Newstalk 600 KTBB, Friday, March 14, 2008. This radio station has a hard time going more than 15 minutes without running a story or saying something about the price of gasoline. That’s not without justification. The price is high, getting higher and one can’t help but notice. But if you’re old enough, I want you to remember the last time that gasoline prices constantly dominated the...

Don’t buy the politics of despair.

Listen to the broadcast of You Tell Me on Newstalk 600 KTBB, Friday Mar. 7, 2008 I covered the Obama rally in Ft. Worth a week ago last night. Among other things, he said this: “You know, everywhere I go I hear stories of struggle and stories of hardship.” He went on to describe people losing their jobs to overseas markets, people unable to pay their mortgages and buy medicine at the same time, old...

Michelle Obama’s America vs. mine.

Listen to the broadcast of You Tell Me on Newstalk 600 KTBB, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008 Here’s a quote that has been bugging me. “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country, because it feels like hope is making a comeback.” If you haven’t heard, the speaker was Michelle Obama to a campaign crowd in Wisconsin week before last. Well, Paul, give her a break. She didn’t really mean...

Let’s get real about alcohol in Tyler.

Listen to the broadcast of You Tell Me on Newstalk 600 KTBB, Friday, Feb. 22, 2008 Once again, alcohol will be on a ballot in Tyler. This time, as a result of a successful petition drive by those wishing to do away with the whole private club membership dance as a pre-requisite to having a drink with your dinner in a restaurant. The good news about alcohol sales in Texas is that the decisions are...

Obamacare is only a symptom.

Oh, look! Barack Obama is black.

Listen to the broadcast of You Tell Me on KTBB AM 600 Friday, Feb. 15, 2008. Barack Obama is well on his way to not only becoming the Democratic nominee for president, but, in my opinion, to becoming the President of the United States. Why I think he can beat John McCain is a topic for another session and believe me, we’ll get to that. But right now, let’s go ahead and deal with one...

Our nannies on the Tyler City Council

Listen to the broadcast of You Tell Me on Newstalk 600 KTBB, Friday, Feb. 8, 2008 On Wednesday of this week, the City of Tyler did what a large number of cities have already done in passing an ordinance that severely restricts smoking in restaurants and other public places. I have always been a little surprised that such an ordinance has been such a long time coming in Tyler. Dallas, Ft. Worth, Houston, Austin and...

Hail to the Provider in Chief

Listen to the broadcast of You Tell Me on Newstalk 600 KTBB, Friday, January 25, 2008 We’ve gotten so used to it in our politics that we almost don’t notice when it’s right under our noses. Every four years, politicians stand up and tell us what the government is going to do for us. Both parties are guilty. But what government can (read: should) do for you is much more a part of the rhetoric...