So thanks to lots of detailed advice from friends, friends of friends, expat forums such as the Yahoo group, Americans in Panama, and the Facebook group, Tropical Cowboys and Cowgirls, I just did the mandatory exiting of Panama within 180 days to renew my visa.
I was warned that things can change quickly, and this proved to be so, though it all worked out well since I didn't stress out but just went along with the program, including lying to a Panamanian customs officer so I'd be allowed to reenter Panama.
The first change was at the Gran Terminal, the national bus terminal, located adjacent to Allbrook Mall, the largest in Central America. It's got a great food court, glitzy shops and puts most U.S. bus terminals to shame--even the Banos (bathrooms) are clean, though they do charge a quarter to enter.
My new friend Sonny Davis, told me the easiest way he discovered to do the crossing was to take a Frontera overnight express bus, which he told me leaves at 10:30pm and arrives at 5am.
The one catch is that you have to buy the ticket the day of your departure, so I spent 7 hours grazing the several food courts at Allbrook, people-watching (made more pleasant as about 8 beauty queens walked by at various times with sashes representing South Africa and other nations. They walked so fast, and had several people each with them, that I didn't get a good look at the sashes, but did get a very enjoyable good look at the girls themselves...they could have been anywhere from 17 to 21.
I was told when I got my ticket at 4pm that the express Frontera bus left at 11:15 and I should be there by 10:30. I thought of seeing one or two movies, but found out the only English language films at the Allbrook cinemas are not shown before 10pm, not even English subtitles before then.
Luckily, I got to the bus waiting room a bit before ten, as they suddenly switched busses and put us on a Tica bus, more modern and usually more expensive. If anyone showed up after 11, they were out of luck. Luckily the bus had a functioning bathroom as it did not make the stop in Santiago scheduled by Frontera.
We arrived at the border at about 6:20, perfect as the Panama customs windows don't open until 7am. I was told by everyone that I would have to fill out customs claims forms leaving and coming back into Panama, but that is no longer so, at least not today. But a new twist was that you had to go into a room and put your luggage (or backpack in my case) on a table to be searched before you could check out. The Costa Rican customs windows did require the claims paperwork but no search.
The only other potential hitch in a very smooth double crossing was on leaving Panama. The customs officer said that in order to go back into Panama, I needed a ticket showing I would be going back to the U.S. in the next 180 days. I did have a Tica ticket for January from Panama City to San Jose, Costa Rica, which everyone said would do the job.
This particular customs agent said that had changed. Here's where the lie came in, as I told him I had checked with Immigration in Panama City and they told me the bus ticket would all that was required. He bought it, though he also gave my new friend, Tony from Mexico, the same hard time, but relented when Tony told him that no one had told him that new rule before he arrived at the border. This almost immediate backtracking leads me to believe the custom agent may have been making it up as he went along.
I don't know if it was this one customs agent, or it was a one day rule, or an actual change in policy, but I definitely breathed a sigh of relief at not being stuck in Costa Rica. As it was, Tony and his lovely wife and I were finished with everything at about 8:15am. Sonny Davis had said I should then walk down to the bus stop and buy a ticket back to Panama for the 10:30am bus.
As we walked by an empty Frontera bus, however, the driver said he was leaving for Allbrook Mall at 8:30. Tony said we should go for it, though when we were the only three passengers as the bus pulled out, I did wonder if this was a ploy by a gang of bus bandits to kidnap expats and take them into the nearby mountains. More sighs of relief as several stops allowed more passengers to climb aboard. Back at Allbrook at 4:40, exactly 8 hours after the bus left the border, and I was home a half hour later. Going, the fare was $14.40 for the overnighter, coming back, $16.90 (though the ticket I bought for January was $41. one way on the more expensive Tica line).
I'll share this with my expat friends as it includes this new information which may or may not be true if they do the same round trip visa run.
Jerry
Check out the best prosperity blog online: http://MoneyloveBlog.com
Friday, July 26, 2013
Sunday, July 21, 2013
DO I THINK I'M SMART?
I was reflecting and pondering various things earlier today and I suddenly pictured myself being interviewed and someone asking me if I thought I was very smart, fairly smart, or not so smart at all. I realized that I really couldn't give an authentic answer to that question.
I think I am exceptionally brilliant in certain specific areas, and pretty dumb in others--and somewhere in-between in still other aspects of life. Three ways in which I think I am very smart:
1. I can write about almost anything at almost any time without ever having writer's block.
2. I can get up and speak to a large audience with no fear and go on spontaneously for hours at a time.
3. I can see the humor in almost anything, and can come up with a gag or quip or witticism on a moment's notice.
And here's where I am most brilliant: I have chosen to focus most of my life's activities on professions and careers that those attributes are best suited for. As a broadcast journalist, speaker, and author and comedy gagwriter and stand-up comedian, I have been able to tap into the things I am smartest at.
On the other hand.
1. I am a technological idiot. Really. The only thing that allows me to stumble forward in my computer and Internet activities is that I spent at least an hour a week for three years at The Apple Store in San Francisco, using the fantastic One-to-One $99 a year service, and sometimes asking the same dumb questions two or three times before I sort of figured it out.
2. I am really not good at business and marketing, and am always looking for other people with those talents so I can focus on my own talents at creating content.
3. I am still often clueless about women, who continuously mystify me. Remnants of my very shy teenage self remain. Despite this, I have been blessed to have had great friendships and relationships with amazing women who are beautiful inside and out--and even that sometimes mystifies me.
I think most of us are smarter and dumber than average in certain things, and the trick is to know which is which.
Jerry
Despite not being a "business person," I am often cited as one of the best prosperity teachers, mainly because I have studied the emotional arsenal needed to be successful and am able to teach a lot of this to others. You can check this out on my prosperity blog at:
http://MoneyloveBlog.com
I think I am exceptionally brilliant in certain specific areas, and pretty dumb in others--and somewhere in-between in still other aspects of life. Three ways in which I think I am very smart:
1. I can write about almost anything at almost any time without ever having writer's block.
2. I can get up and speak to a large audience with no fear and go on spontaneously for hours at a time.
3. I can see the humor in almost anything, and can come up with a gag or quip or witticism on a moment's notice.
And here's where I am most brilliant: I have chosen to focus most of my life's activities on professions and careers that those attributes are best suited for. As a broadcast journalist, speaker, and author and comedy gagwriter and stand-up comedian, I have been able to tap into the things I am smartest at.
On the other hand.
1. I am a technological idiot. Really. The only thing that allows me to stumble forward in my computer and Internet activities is that I spent at least an hour a week for three years at The Apple Store in San Francisco, using the fantastic One-to-One $99 a year service, and sometimes asking the same dumb questions two or three times before I sort of figured it out.
2. I am really not good at business and marketing, and am always looking for other people with those talents so I can focus on my own talents at creating content.
3. I am still often clueless about women, who continuously mystify me. Remnants of my very shy teenage self remain. Despite this, I have been blessed to have had great friendships and relationships with amazing women who are beautiful inside and out--and even that sometimes mystifies me.
I think most of us are smarter and dumber than average in certain things, and the trick is to know which is which.
Jerry
Despite not being a "business person," I am often cited as one of the best prosperity teachers, mainly because I have studied the emotional arsenal needed to be successful and am able to teach a lot of this to others. You can check this out on my prosperity blog at:
http://MoneyloveBlog.com
Sunday, July 7, 2013
BORING AS HELL
For me, I think the worst thing another person can say or even think about me is that I am boring. I, of course, believe I am endlessly fascinating--at least to me. I am certain, like most of us, that there are times I go on and on about something the person I am conversing with has no interest in whatsoever.
My dear late friend, Susannah Lippman, and I had a unique agreement. We gave each other permission to admit when the other was boring us. As a person not very interested in food, she sometimes even limited my expounding on my foodie experiences in various restaurants. "I am only going to listen to you talk about food for ten minutes, Jerry," she would say, shutting me off just as I was getting to the really delicious part. And I would do the same when she was spouting off about one of her enthusiasms that aroused less than passionate interest in me. "I love you dearly, Susannah, but if I hear one more word about UFOs or alien life forms among us, I will burst." As a result of this pact, we hardly ever found each other boring in forty years of friendship.
Perhaps the hardest thing in the world to tell another person is that they are boring you right now. I have told people they are stupid, annoying, deeply mired in poverty consciousness, politically misguided, and that I had no desire to date them--but I cannot recollect a time when I said to someone, "I have to go, you are boring me to death." Or, "Do you know you are boring as hell?"
Of course, this last doesn't really make any sense. I've always imagined that if there is such a place, heaven would be much more boring. All that harp music for a start. And, to be honest, most of the people I find most interesting, probably are hellhound.
Jerry
Some great and innovative ideas about prosperity at my other blog:
http://MoneyloveBlog.com
My dear late friend, Susannah Lippman, and I had a unique agreement. We gave each other permission to admit when the other was boring us. As a person not very interested in food, she sometimes even limited my expounding on my foodie experiences in various restaurants. "I am only going to listen to you talk about food for ten minutes, Jerry," she would say, shutting me off just as I was getting to the really delicious part. And I would do the same when she was spouting off about one of her enthusiasms that aroused less than passionate interest in me. "I love you dearly, Susannah, but if I hear one more word about UFOs or alien life forms among us, I will burst." As a result of this pact, we hardly ever found each other boring in forty years of friendship.
Perhaps the hardest thing in the world to tell another person is that they are boring you right now. I have told people they are stupid, annoying, deeply mired in poverty consciousness, politically misguided, and that I had no desire to date them--but I cannot recollect a time when I said to someone, "I have to go, you are boring me to death." Or, "Do you know you are boring as hell?"
Of course, this last doesn't really make any sense. I've always imagined that if there is such a place, heaven would be much more boring. All that harp music for a start. And, to be honest, most of the people I find most interesting, probably are hellhound.
Jerry
Some great and innovative ideas about prosperity at my other blog:
http://MoneyloveBlog.com
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
HOLDING ON TO WHAT'S HOLDING YOU BACK
In working with some coaching clients, I noticed that almost everyone has something they are holding onto in their consciousness that is holding them back from their own momentum and creative surge. In one case, it was the old family home that didn’t seem to be selling easily, in another it was a bitter and vengeful ex-wive, but the divorce had been twenty years earlier. In still another, it was $20,000 a friend owed my client and seemed unlikely to ever be able to pay back.
Wait a minute, I do remember an infatuation that had me tied up in confusion and indecision for about 18 months. Jessica went back to her old boyfriend, and I had been certain she was the ideal woman for me. I got really sappy about it, listening to every song I could find about misguided and unrequited love. My favorite was Michael Feinstein singing Irving Berlin’s Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket, which had certainly described what I had done with my emotions concerning Jessica.
http://Moneyloveblog.com
And, though it surprises me this realization came upon me so recently, I could not think of a single thing that ever prevented me from going on to my next stage in life. Or at least nothing that leaps out at me at the moment. So, I can assume that I am either pretty free of these encumbrances, or that mine are so deeply hidden that I haven’t been aware of them at a conscious level.
Here’s the thing. None of these events or assets or liabilities are worth losing sleep over, and they are certainly not worth allowing them to get in the way of our dreams and aspirations. Every moment spent remembering, worrying, stressing over something that has hold of us emotionally and won’t let go, is a moment not devoted to becoming who we are meant to be. After all, who’s in charge here?
It isn’t about these issues and objects not letting go, it’s about our having some inner compulsion to keep them around. Once we realize the damage they are doing to our path forward, like big tree stumps in the road of love and life, we will gather together whatever resources it takes to remove them, like dynamite (metaphorically speaking, of course).
It isn’t about these issues and objects not letting go, it’s about our having some inner compulsion to keep them around. Once we realize the damage they are doing to our path forward, like big tree stumps in the road of love and life, we will gather together whatever resources it takes to remove them, like dynamite (metaphorically speaking, of course).
Get rid ofthe old wife! Forgive the debt! Get on with your life!
Wait a minute, I do remember an infatuation that had me tied up in confusion and indecision for about 18 months. Jessica went back to her old boyfriend, and I had been certain she was the ideal woman for me. I got really sappy about it, listening to every song I could find about misguided and unrequited love. My favorite was Michael Feinstein singing Irving Berlin’s Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket, which had certainly described what I had done with my emotions concerning Jessica.
I don’t even remember how I let go of her, but most likely someone else showed up and I was awake enough to see a real live woman had advantages over a fantasy memory.
Jerry
Check out my prosperity blog, too.http://Moneyloveblog.com
Monday, May 27, 2013
DOING IT BACKWARDS
There is something many people do that loses them business and friends and even relationship partners. It becomes a bad habit, and the odd thing about it is that it is usually done with the best of intentions.
I'm referring to the fact that many people over-promise and under-deliver. This one single facet of doing business or relationships destroys people's reputations and credibility very quickly. It should be the other way around, which is why I suggest to anyone doing business of any kind that they give their customers and clients more than their money's worth.
It's understandable the when someone is insecure or desperate for business or wanting to be liked, he or she will over-promise. There is a strong desire in most of us to be liked or loved by others, and one way not to do it is to promise someone the moon and deliver a tiny meteorite instead. I notice that this is a big problem in Panama, where the locals always agree with whatever you are asking for, even if they know there is no way they can deliver it the way you want it, or when they promise to have it ready. But it's certainly true all over the world, and the U.S. is a place where you find it strongly evident in two industries, printing and contracting.
Very rarely is a contracting job finished when the contractor said it would be, and very rarely is a printing job delivered on time. I remember a printer in New Jersey who did a booming business because he had come up with a solution to this problem. If he knew with some certainty that your job would be ready on Tuesday, he'd promise it for Thursday. Everyone else in the printing business in those days did the opposite, promised it for Tuesday when they knew it was unlikely it would be ready before Thursday.
Of course, that printer was ahead of his time. Now many businesses have gotten in the cheap habit of promising something at the lowest common denominator of performance, so that they always exceed the promise.The New Jersey printer didn't just make a promise he knew he could keep, but he put just as much effort in doing the jobs in less time than other printers. His intention was to set a reasonable time for delivery, and then work hard to beat it. What you see a lot of today is businesses just lying so as to look good. So they eliminate one practice that hurt credibility and just substitute another.
Looking over your own life, would you say you usually are in the under-promise and over-deliver category, or the other way around?
If the latter, you might explore being honest and just saying you have no idea when it will be ready, but you will do your best to make it happen as soon as possible.
We all love getting more than we asked for, or getting it sooner than expected. Now living in a country definitely not known for high standards of customer service, particularly in restaurants, I sometimes yearn for a place where someone over-promises and under-delivers as opposed to one where people often don't promise at all, just nod and smile a lot, and hardly ever deliver what was requested by the time it was asked for.
In Panama, it does help to have the patience of a Zen monk, and that's just the way it is, by golly.
Jerry
To see an example of over-delivering, check out my free prosperity blog, with information many consider more valuable than the expensive prosperity programs offered all over the Internet. Not to mention the 39 page free Moneylove Manifesto you can download there.
http://MoneyloveBlog.com
I'm referring to the fact that many people over-promise and under-deliver. This one single facet of doing business or relationships destroys people's reputations and credibility very quickly. It should be the other way around, which is why I suggest to anyone doing business of any kind that they give their customers and clients more than their money's worth.
It's understandable the when someone is insecure or desperate for business or wanting to be liked, he or she will over-promise. There is a strong desire in most of us to be liked or loved by others, and one way not to do it is to promise someone the moon and deliver a tiny meteorite instead. I notice that this is a big problem in Panama, where the locals always agree with whatever you are asking for, even if they know there is no way they can deliver it the way you want it, or when they promise to have it ready. But it's certainly true all over the world, and the U.S. is a place where you find it strongly evident in two industries, printing and contracting.
Very rarely is a contracting job finished when the contractor said it would be, and very rarely is a printing job delivered on time. I remember a printer in New Jersey who did a booming business because he had come up with a solution to this problem. If he knew with some certainty that your job would be ready on Tuesday, he'd promise it for Thursday. Everyone else in the printing business in those days did the opposite, promised it for Tuesday when they knew it was unlikely it would be ready before Thursday.
Of course, that printer was ahead of his time. Now many businesses have gotten in the cheap habit of promising something at the lowest common denominator of performance, so that they always exceed the promise.The New Jersey printer didn't just make a promise he knew he could keep, but he put just as much effort in doing the jobs in less time than other printers. His intention was to set a reasonable time for delivery, and then work hard to beat it. What you see a lot of today is businesses just lying so as to look good. So they eliminate one practice that hurt credibility and just substitute another.
Looking over your own life, would you say you usually are in the under-promise and over-deliver category, or the other way around?
If the latter, you might explore being honest and just saying you have no idea when it will be ready, but you will do your best to make it happen as soon as possible.
We all love getting more than we asked for, or getting it sooner than expected. Now living in a country definitely not known for high standards of customer service, particularly in restaurants, I sometimes yearn for a place where someone over-promises and under-delivers as opposed to one where people often don't promise at all, just nod and smile a lot, and hardly ever deliver what was requested by the time it was asked for.
In Panama, it does help to have the patience of a Zen monk, and that's just the way it is, by golly.
Jerry
To see an example of over-delivering, check out my free prosperity blog, with information many consider more valuable than the expensive prosperity programs offered all over the Internet. Not to mention the 39 page free Moneylove Manifesto you can download there.
http://MoneyloveBlog.com
Saturday, May 18, 2013
THE SCANDAL BEHIND THE NON-SCANDAL
So the IRS is under fire for delaying action for tax exempt status requests from conservative groups, with Speaker of the House John Boehner claiming he doesn't just want resignations but wants to know "Who is going to jail?"
Now it does seem certain IRS employees did focus unfairly on right wing groups asking for tax exempt status, a list that grew exponentially after the Citizens United 2010 Supreme Court decision. But the whole issue is as phony as the Soviet military capacity was during the height of the cold war. Because the IRS shouldn't even be considering tax exempt status for any of these political organizations, liberal or conservative, under the original 501 (c) 4 law as written by Congress. That law states emphatically
that such tax exempt status be limited to:
“civic leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare.”
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell has been discussing the real scandal all week, and hardly anyone else seems to have noticed it, including Nancy Pelosi who today called for a new law to limit tax exempt status to non-political social welfare organizations. That law is already in place, it is the original wording of that section of the Tax Code.
Proving that the IRS has been guilty of doing stupid things for many years, back in 1959 some idiot there changed the wording to read "primarily" instead of "exclusively" for social welfare groups. This opened up the law to its fuzzy current status, where many IRS bureaucrats don't really know how to evaluate these tax exempt requests. No new law is needed, it only requires that the law as originally enacted be enforced. This would eliminate from tax exempt status any and all groups engaged in political activity at any and all times.
The lack of knowledge about this egregious change of wording by the IRS proves two big things. First, that a single word can mean a world of difference. Second, how really stupid most politicians are and how ill-informed, as we hear all the rants about how the IRS delayed consideration of tax exempt status for groups that never should have been considered for such status at all. And every such group, liberal or conservative, which now has this tax exempt status should have it revoked. It's the law and the U.S. is supposed to be a country of laws.
'Nuff said.
Jerry
Check out my prosperity blog at:
http://MoneyloveBlog.com
Now it does seem certain IRS employees did focus unfairly on right wing groups asking for tax exempt status, a list that grew exponentially after the Citizens United 2010 Supreme Court decision. But the whole issue is as phony as the Soviet military capacity was during the height of the cold war. Because the IRS shouldn't even be considering tax exempt status for any of these political organizations, liberal or conservative, under the original 501 (c) 4 law as written by Congress. That law states emphatically
that such tax exempt status be limited to:
“civic leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare.”
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell has been discussing the real scandal all week, and hardly anyone else seems to have noticed it, including Nancy Pelosi who today called for a new law to limit tax exempt status to non-political social welfare organizations. That law is already in place, it is the original wording of that section of the Tax Code.
Proving that the IRS has been guilty of doing stupid things for many years, back in 1959 some idiot there changed the wording to read "primarily" instead of "exclusively" for social welfare groups. This opened up the law to its fuzzy current status, where many IRS bureaucrats don't really know how to evaluate these tax exempt requests. No new law is needed, it only requires that the law as originally enacted be enforced. This would eliminate from tax exempt status any and all groups engaged in political activity at any and all times.
The lack of knowledge about this egregious change of wording by the IRS proves two big things. First, that a single word can mean a world of difference. Second, how really stupid most politicians are and how ill-informed, as we hear all the rants about how the IRS delayed consideration of tax exempt status for groups that never should have been considered for such status at all. And every such group, liberal or conservative, which now has this tax exempt status should have it revoked. It's the law and the U.S. is supposed to be a country of laws.
'Nuff said.
Jerry
Check out my prosperity blog at:
http://MoneyloveBlog.com
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
THE 2013 JOOP AWARDS
So what are these awards--the JOOP AWARDS? They are awarded to the five people in the media who I believe we should most treasure for their unique voice, honest take on events, reasoned perspective on major issues, and articulate, unpretentious communication skills. JOOP stands for Jerry's Opinion Only, People, and if I were stranded on a dessert island, these are the five I would want to still have access to so I could keep in touch with world events. And then there are the UNJOOP AWARDS, the five media personalities I believe we could most do without, and would all be better off if they were removed to a dessert island and no longer available to the rest of us.
These are not in any particular order of importance or preference.
THE JOOP RECIPIENTS:
1. David Brooks--perhaps the most rational Republican commentator out there. His NY Times columns are some of the few available that maintain the spirit of the old-fashioned newspaper columnist. And one of the only must-see TV events in the field of political discourse is his weekly debate with Mark Shields at the end of the Friday edition of PBS Newshour.
2. Andrea Mitchell--NBCs Chief Foreign Correspondent, is one of the hardest working reporters in network news. And she always checks her facts, a quality dramatically lacking in many of her colleagues. I've seen her work ethic firsthand when we were both at KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia (we even dated a few times), and she almost singlehandedly changed the presence of women in media from ditzy weather girls to respected journalists.
3. Andy Borowitz, our best political humorist, period. His columns for NewYorker.com are in the tradition of Mark Twain, Will Rogers, and Mort Sahl.
4. Peggy Noonan, another Republican voice of sense and sensibility. She's come a long, long way since being Ronald Reagan's primary speech writer. I don't always agree with her, but she always tells the truth, gets her facts straight, and leavens her commentary with humor and humanity. She also wrote one of the speeches considered among the ten best of the 20th Century, President Reagan's address to the nation after the Challenger shuttle explosion.
5. Andrew Sullivan, founder of the Daily Dish blog, and frequent guest on TV political talk shows. That rarity of rarities, a conservative gay Republican, he is always provocative, often at odds with his party, and just a refreshing presence on the media scene.
Wow, how about that for diversity? Three Republicans, two women, one gay man. Together, while on that dessert island, I think I would get a truly fair and balanced view of what was going on.
THE UNJOOP AWARDS:
These are the media stars I could most do without, who get their facts most wrong, and who never would have met the standards I had to live by when I was a broadcast journalist.
1. Ann Coulter, who is more of a media clown than a serious commentator, probably has done more damage than most of them, since in order to bring attention to herself, she makes the most outlandish provably wrong political statements. Some people must take her seriously, so that she has become a bestselling author instead of being laughed off the stage or publicly shunned. Her transgressions are too numerous to catalog here, but whenever she appears, you can be certain of one thing, at least one major lie will be told and retold.
2. Rush Limbaugh, America's right wing Windbag-and-OxyContin-Addict-In-Chief. The most notable thing about him is that you can listen to his show today and not be able to distinguish it from any show he did twenty-five years ago. The same prejudices against Democrats and women and minorities, the same lame jokes. If we ever think we have made intellectual progress as a nation, that view is quickly dispelled when we realize this guy has the number one radio talk show in the U.S.
3. Glenn Beck, the ultimate conspiracy theorist and Joseph Goebbels mini-me, his views are so outrageous that he has largely lost his influence. If political commentators were forced to undergo psychological evaluations, this man would be institutionalized rather than talking to anyone.
4. Laura Ingraham, another conservative blonde bimbo, though she seems more articulate and intelligent than Coulter.
5. John McLaughlin, host of The McLaughlin Group, which used to be on my must-see list, and was a favorite political talk show for over twenty years. But, sad to say, John is losing coherence week by week, and I wouldn't be surprised to see any announcement that he is suffering from Alzheimer's. His panel members try to ignore his many gaffes and prop him up, but he embarrasses them and himself by refusing to pack it in. The former Jesuit priest and Nixon speech writer could have left a couple of years ago at the top of his game.
There you go, and once again, remember these are Jerry's Opinion Only, People.
Jerry
Do check out my prosperity blog at: http://MoneyloveBlog.com
These are not in any particular order of importance or preference.
THE JOOP RECIPIENTS:
1. David Brooks--perhaps the most rational Republican commentator out there. His NY Times columns are some of the few available that maintain the spirit of the old-fashioned newspaper columnist. And one of the only must-see TV events in the field of political discourse is his weekly debate with Mark Shields at the end of the Friday edition of PBS Newshour.
2. Andrea Mitchell--NBCs Chief Foreign Correspondent, is one of the hardest working reporters in network news. And she always checks her facts, a quality dramatically lacking in many of her colleagues. I've seen her work ethic firsthand when we were both at KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia (we even dated a few times), and she almost singlehandedly changed the presence of women in media from ditzy weather girls to respected journalists.
3. Andy Borowitz, our best political humorist, period. His columns for NewYorker.com are in the tradition of Mark Twain, Will Rogers, and Mort Sahl.
4. Peggy Noonan, another Republican voice of sense and sensibility. She's come a long, long way since being Ronald Reagan's primary speech writer. I don't always agree with her, but she always tells the truth, gets her facts straight, and leavens her commentary with humor and humanity. She also wrote one of the speeches considered among the ten best of the 20th Century, President Reagan's address to the nation after the Challenger shuttle explosion.
5. Andrew Sullivan, founder of the Daily Dish blog, and frequent guest on TV political talk shows. That rarity of rarities, a conservative gay Republican, he is always provocative, often at odds with his party, and just a refreshing presence on the media scene.
Wow, how about that for diversity? Three Republicans, two women, one gay man. Together, while on that dessert island, I think I would get a truly fair and balanced view of what was going on.
THE UNJOOP AWARDS:
These are the media stars I could most do without, who get their facts most wrong, and who never would have met the standards I had to live by when I was a broadcast journalist.
1. Ann Coulter, who is more of a media clown than a serious commentator, probably has done more damage than most of them, since in order to bring attention to herself, she makes the most outlandish provably wrong political statements. Some people must take her seriously, so that she has become a bestselling author instead of being laughed off the stage or publicly shunned. Her transgressions are too numerous to catalog here, but whenever she appears, you can be certain of one thing, at least one major lie will be told and retold.
2. Rush Limbaugh, America's right wing Windbag-and-OxyContin-Addict-In-Chief. The most notable thing about him is that you can listen to his show today and not be able to distinguish it from any show he did twenty-five years ago. The same prejudices against Democrats and women and minorities, the same lame jokes. If we ever think we have made intellectual progress as a nation, that view is quickly dispelled when we realize this guy has the number one radio talk show in the U.S.
3. Glenn Beck, the ultimate conspiracy theorist and Joseph Goebbels mini-me, his views are so outrageous that he has largely lost his influence. If political commentators were forced to undergo psychological evaluations, this man would be institutionalized rather than talking to anyone.
4. Laura Ingraham, another conservative blonde bimbo, though she seems more articulate and intelligent than Coulter.
5. John McLaughlin, host of The McLaughlin Group, which used to be on my must-see list, and was a favorite political talk show for over twenty years. But, sad to say, John is losing coherence week by week, and I wouldn't be surprised to see any announcement that he is suffering from Alzheimer's. His panel members try to ignore his many gaffes and prop him up, but he embarrasses them and himself by refusing to pack it in. The former Jesuit priest and Nixon speech writer could have left a couple of years ago at the top of his game.
There you go, and once again, remember these are Jerry's Opinion Only, People.
Jerry
Do check out my prosperity blog at: http://MoneyloveBlog.com
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