Here is a letter from a listener, with my response below. If you have any agreements, disagreements, comments or questions, please email me at cspangle@newstalk1430.com. I’d love to have an argument with you.

Chris,

Thank you for the great work you do and your commentary on the show. I am sure you have your hands full and a guy writing in to semi challenge you on something is the last thing you need. I promise this isn’t Larry.

This morning you mentioned and I apologize for not having the text on this. I believe you were asked if we pulled out of the Middle East or Iraq that “they”, radical Islam would stop hating us. Your answer was yes.

The United States has been hated by this group for our support of Israel. Additionally they don’t like us, as you correctly stated, because of our involvement in their world. However, as long as we support and recognize Israel, as I feel we should, radical Islam will continue to target us even if we removed ourselves 100% from any Arab country. I do agree with you that foreign policy present and past has stirred the pot, could it be or have done better, hind sight is always 20/20.

Unfortunately it is difficult to rationalize with those that are irrational.

Thank you again for the work you do, you make my commute from Greenwood to Carmel enjoyable every morning.

Best Wishes,

Brent

My Response:

Brent,

While I was once firmly for the war, I have changed my views on our foreign policy. I don’t believe that we should have invaded Iraq. We invaded a sovereign for nothing. It was clearly not a war for oil, as the left said. Some Libertarian-minded thinkers see this as an imperialistic war. Other than debt and the loss of our service men and women, what have we really gained? We didn’t get new lands to tax. We aren’t directly in control of their government. They have no resources to trade at the moment. (Oil production can’t really be counted yet.)

This was a sovereign nation not invading another for its land or bounty, but for security. The Bush doctrine is essentially that if we go in to Iraq and confront al Qaeda directly, their “soldiers” will rush to Iraq to fight us there. That is precisely what has happened.

But what the right, and the Bush Administration, seem to think is that the Islamic Radicals will run out of men to send in to fight. There are a billion Muslim men to fight. The Germans ran out of men, and had to invade other countries to supply the army ranks. The terrorists can always recruit more men to fight. And the more involved we become in Middle Eastern affairs, the angrier the populations in those countries become.

They never hated us because of our freedom. They probably don’t hate us because of our culture. They DEFINITELY hate us because we meddle in their governments for our own purposes. And now their hatred is deeper because we are killing their countrymen, their brothers, their sisters, their fathers, and their friends. Yes, our support of Israel puts us on their radar screens, but it is not the reason for 9/11. Bin Laden is angry that we have military bases in Saudi Arabia, the home of Mecca and Medina. He believes our presence in his holy land profane.

The more countries we invade, the worse the terror threat will become. The answer is not more militarism in the Middle East, it is less. They will not stop hating us if we leave the Middle East. It is not a cure-all. But it would stop the inflammation. Radical Islam and terrorism is not a disease America can cure. It will now be with us always. Unfortunately, the more we try to treat this disease, the more aggressive the disease will become.

Thanks for listening,

Chris

Check out a list of books I am reading, have read, or find interesting to read in the future. I hope you see some things that peak your own interests.

http://readers.livingsocial.com/people/1690467131

http://timothyjmaguire.com/wordpress/

You’d think Scott McClellan was at Hitler’s birthday party over the weekend. The cries of, “I don’t know this man!” are coming from every Conservative corner. You’d think Scotty clicked his heels, raised his hand, and yelled, “Heil!”

A caller this morning said that this book should never have been able to be written. I then commented that maybe it should be burned! A joke of course, but meant to finish that line of thinking. Every book should be able to be written. It is up to the reader and book buyer to decide whether or not they will read or buy it.

A listener wrote me, and said that I as rude and disrespectful to the caller when I said that throw-away line. Was I wrong? Please comment. I don’t think I was.

Books shouldn’t be written. Lines that expose dangerous thinking should not be spoken. Pundits who disagree should lose their radio and television shows. Dissent should be silenced. This is un-American, and there is nothing wrong with pointing that out.

Onward:

-Bill O’Reilly had it right tonight: McClellan said Bush mishandled Katrina. Right. Bush used propoganda to sell the Iraq war. Right… Scooter and Turd Blossom conspired over the Valerie Plame case. Forgive me if I am bored. No big story here.

- Here are the story lines in the McClellan story:

On the left - The biggest liar in the administration after Bush, Rove and Cheney was McClellan. Now he is a great truth teller.

On the right - This is not the faithful soldier we knew, so it has to be that the publisher wrote it. They found McClellan, seduced him with 30 pieces of silver, and he put his name on it.

Either way, this is a dangerous man that should not be listened to.

I take the O’Reilly approach. There is not much of a story here.

Can be seen here:

http://www.chris-spangle.com/photos/

I am going to stream video of me producing Abdul’s show during most mornings. Some days I may not feel like it, a.k.a. Rush style, lol. You’ll get to hear some off-air conversations and other stuff. If you go to my actual stickam page, you can get clearer video that way. Let me know what you think!

http://www.stickam.com/chrisspangle

Peggy Noonan on the dying GOP: http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html

They are also - Hill leaders, lobbyists, party speakers - successful, well-connected, busy and rich. They never guessed, back in ‘86, how government would pay off! They didn’t know they’d stay! They came to make a difference and wound up with their butts in the butter. But affluence detaches, and in time skews thinking. It gives you the illusion you’re safe, and that everyone else is. A party can lose its gut this way.
Many are ambivalent, deep inside, about the decisions made the past seven years in the White House. But they’ve publicly supported it so long they think they . . . support it. They get confused. Late at night they toss and turn in the antique mahogany sleigh bed in the carpeted house in McLean and try to remember what it is they really do think, and what those thoughts imply.
And those are the bright ones. The rest are in Perpetual 1980: We have the country, the troops will rally in the fall.
“This was a real wakeup call for us,” someone named Robert M. Duncan, who is chairman of the Republican National Committee, told the New York Times. This was after Mississippi. “We can’t let the Democrats take our issues.” And those issues would be? “We can’t let them pretend to be conservatives,” he continued. Why not? Republicans pretend to be conservative every day.

Here are some cool sites to check out:

http://www.indy500.com/ The live streaming video on the front page is awesome, and the audio is good too!

http://www.joost.com/03600cn This is an incredible website. Download the program, and you get hundreds of free shows. The IRL Channel and the Indy 500 channel are MUSTS if you are a 500 fan.

http://www.indycar.com/ The series website with great features.

http://www.tracksideonline.com/ There is no better website or news outlet covering the IRL.

http://www.trackforum.com/forums/index.php? This is where you can find TONS of racing gossip.

http://racefanradio.com/ A fanastic radio website for racing.

Some of you may or may not know, but I have the privilege to work at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I help gather driver quotes, and edit and post the audio on their website.

Last week sucked. The three days they ran, I was barely out there due to election stuff. Then the two days I could spend some time out there, it rained! Luckily, I was finally able the enjoy the Speedway and the 500 on Saturday. This week is not looker that great though.

I believe that a career should just be an examination of boyhood dreams. My love of radio began in May, listening to Bob and Tom, Donald Davidson, Dave the King Wilson, and the entire WIBC crew on the way home from Pratices, Qualifications, and the Race. As a kid, I idolized Donald and Tom Carnegie. My main career goals have been to replace either of them. (Damn you, Tom Calabro!)

So I will do my best to write quick updates live from the Media Center!

Tow Trucks are the only thing practicing here at the Motor Speedway. The heavy air is preventing cars from practicing. The track is essentially dry, but it is a fine mist. The drivers, the media, the crews, the track officials, the yellow shirts, the PA staff, etc… are all getting stir crazy. There has been so much time to sit, that the media has written all they can without action. The crews and drivers have gone over all the data they can without actually testing something.

Typically, the teams and everyone involved are ok with a day off for rain. It gives a chance for everyone to tie up loose ends and rest. But so far, we’ve only had two or three practice days out of 7 scheduled (including qualifying days.) I’ll have to ask Donald Davidson what the record for rain days is, but we may be on our way.

By this time last year, I was full pink with sunburn. Almost everyday was perfect, except rain day.

Maybe we will get some practice in today. But probably none today or tomorrow. Friday and the weekend don’t look great either.

With so many new teams and so little practice, look for a lot of lapping and wrecks on race day.

What a waste of time: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR2008050802999_pf.html

This is really sad. I guess racisim is still pretty prevalent in Indiana: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051203014.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR