These are some of the tunes I’ll have for you this Sunday morning from 5-8AM on WBEE’s Oldies Show!!

Islands In The Stream (Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton), The Yellow Rose (Johnny Lee & Lane Brody), The Fightin’ Side Of Me (Merle Haggard), Fool Hearted Memory (George Strait), Cadillac Style (Sammy Kershaw), American Made (The Oak Ridge Boys), Big Bad John (Jimmy Dean), Danny’s Song (Anne Murray), Old Hippie (The Bellamy Brothers), Give A Little Love (The Judds), Luckenbach Texas (Waylon Jennings), Swingin’ (John Anderson), The End Of The World (Skeeter Davis), Smoky Mountain Rain (Ronnie Milsap), Better Man (Clint Black), Drivin’ My Life Away (Eddie Rabbitt), Rose Garden (Lynn Anderson), Ships That Don’t Come In (Joe Diffie), Meet Me In Montana (Dan Seals & Marie Osmond), Ring Of Fire (Johnny Cash), Two Dozen Roses (Shenandoah), Oh Lonesome Me (Don Gibson), Sink The Bismarck! (Johnny Horton), Statue Of A Fool (Ricky Van Shelton), Rhinestone Cowboy (Glen Campbell), Love Will Turn You Around (Kenny Rogers), You Lie (Reba McEntire), Rollin’ With The Flow (Charlie Rich), Angel Of The Morning (Juice Newton)

Oh boy. It’s time for the conventions!  The pomp and granduer of the American political system with all their pageantry, but very little actual substance or meaning … at least anymore, now that the nominations are already decided.  Zzzzzzz.

This week, the democrats will rally around their candidate, Sen. Barack Hussein Obama.  Next week, the republicans will do likewise with Sen. John Sidney McCain III.  I can’t help but wonder what the political landscape would now look like had Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had won the democratic nomination.  Or if she had been chosen to run along side Obama as his VP.  Hillary often advertised herself during the primary season as the only democratic candidate who can defeat John McCain.  It will be interesting to see if that turns out to have been a prophetic statement come this November.  Over the weekend I watched plenty of panel discussions about Obama’s choice of Sen. Joe Biden as Vice President.  All (that I saw) agreed that Hillary would have been the “home run”, but Biden is a “stand-up triple”.  Still, there are many Hillary supporters who feel disenfranchised.  As if they’ve been broken-up-with by the same person TWICE.  It will be interesting to see if the Hillary supporters will give in and vote for Obama, cross over and vote for McCain, or just sit this one out and stay at home on election day.  Personally, I have my own silly stand-up-comedy-kind-of theory.  I think Americans like their Presidents to have AMERICAN-sounding names.  George Bush, John Kennedy, Harry Truman, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, etc.  Barack Obama?  It just isn’t AMERICAN sounding.  Y’know?  Without even going into how the candiates differ on the issues, which one has more experience, and so forth, President McCain just sounds more AMERICAN.  Based solely on my theory, I don’t expect there to be a President Obama in the White House come January 20th.

As for Hillary … ahhh, what might have been.

I’ll admit I kinda liked Taylor Swift in the beginning.  Cute little thing.  Not pretty, but cute.  Writes all of her own songs.  Fine stage presence for a kid.  “Tim McGraw”, I figured, would be it for her.  One of those “kiddie” songs that slipped through the cracks.  Then came “Teardrops On My Guitar”, at which point I said to myself, “well, adult country music listeners won’t put up with this stuff for very long.”  Tanya Tucker she ain’t (Tanya, as you recall, sang VERY adult material at age 14, and became a superstar because of it).  So then what happens?  “Teardrops On My Guitar” became a hit.  So big of a hit, in fact, that she re-recorded it for Top 40 radio, and whaddya know?  It crossed over onto the pop charts and became a hit there too!  Then came another hit from her debut album.  Then another.  And another. 

Hearing Taylor Swift’s perils-of-puberty pablum is like hearing Lesley Gore all over again.  Remember? “He don’t know it but she cheats on him - with a boy like that it’s such a sin”, “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to”, “You don’t own me - I’m not just one of your many toys”, “My life is sunshine lollipops and rainbows - that’s how this refrain goes - so c’mon join in.”  To be put through a melodic and lyrical purgatory such as the one created by Lesley Gore ONCE during a lifetime should be enough to atone for whatever we did wrong to get it in the first place.  Perhaps not.  It appears that Taylor Swift is here to stay for awhile.  My only solace, I suppose, is that our Top-40 sister station down the hall, WPXY, now has to play her music too.  At least I’m not alone in having to listen to musical teenage anxieties … again. 

Comments are welcome.  I can’t possibly be the only one who feels that, since Taylor Swift has achieved both pop and Top 40 success now, she should pack her bags and move there … permanently.

On the front of the sports page in Sunday’s (8/3) D&C, there was an article about Mickey Weston witten by beat writer Jim Mandelero (Terry Clifford’s brother-in-law).  I remembered Weston from his days pitching for the Red Wings in 1989-90.  In 1990, he posted an 11-1 record with an ERA of 1.98.  In the article, he recalled the his days at Eastern Michigan University, and a meeting with the Campus Crusade for Christ ministry that sat in with the EMU baseball team one day.  It was a day that changed his life.  Like a lot of us, Weston never attended church regularly as a kid, and, like a lot of us, believed that BEING good and DOING good was all that would be needed to get into heaven.  He was told otherwise.  In the article, Weston goes on to say, “(They) sat down with me, opened the Bible, and explained that unless I embraced Jesus Christ as my savior, I wouldn’t go to heaven.  I’m a sinner.  I can’t save myself.”  Mickey Weston went on to pitch professionally, spending those two glorious years in Rochester, and reaching limited success for five seasons in the majors.  According to the acticle, Weston married his college sweetheart, raised four children, and is now the chaplain for the Chicago White Sox. 

I wonder how many of us mistakingly believe as Weston admitted he did, that simply being good and doing good deeds is the ticket to heaven?  If asked who goes to hell, how many of would respond “sinners”?  Just who IS a sinner?   Murderers, rapists, and other like criminals?  In Romans (chapter 3, verse 10) Paul says, ” … there is none righteous. No, not one.” He goes on to say later in chapter 3 (verse 23), ” … ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  Weston understood that Jesus is the ONLY way to true salvation, total and complete forgiveness for our sins, and to achieve the ultimate goal of walking the streets of heaven.  He responded to the invitation, and today lives a life of serenity that so many of us still hunger for.  Weston said in the article, ” … (in the winter of 1980 I had) great grades, a supportive family, and a promising career in baseball. But there was something missing. There was a void.”  Jesus filled that void for Weston, as he has for so many who simply need to ask Him. 

The Bible says

  there’s only one way to Heaven

Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” (John 14:6)

Good works cannot save you.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Trust Jesus Christ today! Here’s what you must do:

1. Admit you are a sinner.“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23)“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” (Romans 5:12)“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10)
2. Be willing to turn from sin (repent). Jesus said: “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:5)“And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:” (Acts 17:30)
3. Believe that Jesus Christ died for you, was buried, and rose from the dead.“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
4. Through prayer, invite Jesus into your life to become your personal Savior.“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:10)“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

©1984-2008 Chick Publications, Inc.

New York State was the first state in the nation to require that seat belts be used while a car is in motion.  Good idea!  We were the first state to ban cell-phone use while driving unless the driver is using it hands-free.  Another good idea!  Now New York has become the first state in the country to ban smoking in all public and private drug and alcohol recovery centers.  Well meaning idea on the surface, but in reality, pretty dumb.  Before I continue, I should qualify my comments by presenting some facts about myself.  I’ve been drug and alcohol free for 6,215 days and smoke free for 1,610 days (as of 7/27).   As you will note, there’s quite some time between the two.  According to the D&C’s article on the subject (Sunday, 7/27). an average of 18.2 percent of the public smokes, but 92 percent of the chemically dependent population smokes.  This according to Karen Carpenter-Palumbo, the commissoner of the New York Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services.  She says that “addicts are more likely to have long-term success if they quit smoking at the same time they enter treatment.”  Later in the article, Ann Hollander, VP of East House here in Rochester is quoted as saying, ” … research shows people who continue to smoke are more likely to relapse on other drugs, than people who don’t smoke.”  Robert Lebman, President and CEO of Huther-Doyle (an outpatient chemical dependency program in Rochester - where, according to the article, they hand out stress balls with the NYS smoker’s quit line on ‘em), says “I franky think the state went about it wrong and didn’t put enough time in preparation, but in the long run I think it’s a very positive move.”.  He goes on to agree that smoking is a relapse trigger.  Personally, I don’t think it is.  I know many fellow recovered alcoholics who would probably agree with me.  Further, the ingredients in cigarettes … although potentially lethal … are NOT mind and personality-altering substances, the latter of which is what brings many addicts to rehabs in the first place.  It is my opinion that New York State was way too premature on this one.  This restriction will end up driving many who seek treatment further away from getting it.  In closing, let me pose the following.  Ask anyone in Al-Anon (a support group for family members of addicts) about the smoking issue, and I would guess that many would agree that smoking cigarettes is a more of a non-issue compared to their loved one’s addiction to alcohol or chemicals.