“The List”

“The List”

By

Mike Scinto

Are you on “The List”? If you are, you know it by now. If you’re not, you’ll likely be wondering why after reading this. But it is open to additions (and deletions). I’m talking about the Scinto Family Christmas card list.

I’m sure there’s a master list somewhere but all I have is in bits and pieces on this laptop, or that desktop. Some of it is on my external hard drive and some is simply in Kathy’s old handwritten address book.

I’m not even privy to the origins of the list or the criteria for staying on, or being banished from, the list. So, at best, these are guesses since my sole role is creating the annual newsletter/update, printing off the labels and taking them to the post office.

I believe the very first parchment with names of the fortunate ones was penned following our wedding nearly 35 years ago. But that original list is hidden better than the Holy Grail. It somehow comes together (most years anyway) and sneaks into my database.

Once you’re on it, it’s tantamount to a lifetime appointment. I’m sure divorce, prison or death can mean an exit for you. In some cases there seems to be a two year rule; If you don’t reciprocate with a card for 24 months you’re thrown under the bus for good………or until you prove yourself worthy again; that is to the “Keeper of the List”.

I know I saw names on there this year that we haven’t heard from in a couple of decades. When I sheepishly ask her about them, I get “the stare” and go back to printing labels.

Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just delivering the message for Kathy (unofficially). I’m almost afraid to suggest it but if you’d like to make the list, you might discretely ask her. But don’t push it! Be good, try not to cross her this year and you may just have something special in your mailbox about ten months from now……..then again, you may not!

Issue #3 a Real Roll of the Dice for Scinto

By Mike Scinto

I need some help. I don’t say that very often, but I’m saying it now. I need your input to help me decide how to vote on Issue 3 in the upcoming election. Oh, I understand the issue. I just don’t know which side I favor. I’m riding the proverbial fence until it’s, well, quite painful!

In case you’ve been in a monastery or biosphere and don’t know about issue 3, it’s a proposed Constitutional Amendment (to the Ohio Constitution) that would open the state up to legalized casino gambling specifically in 4 key locations – Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus, and Cincinnati

I believe gambling, if it’s for financial gain, is for fools. I would just as soon use my cash to start one of my autumn bonfires as use it to feed the craps tables, slot machines or roulette wheels. It would serve a more useful purpose that way; for my wallet anyway.

I also believe that a good number of patrons frequenting casinos are folks who should not be there. They may be on government assistance, have a gambling addiction or are bordering on both of those areas. My compassionate side asks if we want to feed those desires and needs. Is that how we want to “fix” our economy, through the misguided greed of those less fortunate?

The Conservative/Libertarian in me, who wants an individual to be free to make his or her own choices without government edicts, says if that’s what you want to do with your money, it’s not my problem!

The parent/good neighbor in me acknowledges that, as contradictory as it might sound, I don’t want prostitution (another vice)to be legalized and a brothel to open up in the vacant property down the block. It just isn’t right. So we do allow our morals to dictate behaviors………at least I allow them to affect MY judgment.

I don’t believe the 34,000 new jobs propaganda, the claims that jobs will ONLY be filled by unseemly characters from out of state, or that the money generated will repair our sagging economy. I think there are grains of truth on both sides of the issue. I still remember when Governor Jack Gilligan told us that the Ohio Lottery would assure a solid monetary foundation for our schools in Ohio. What happened to that promise? But Buckeyes bought it hook, line and sinker.

I absolutely believe gambling attracts unsavory characters, is a major enticement to those trying to find an easy way out of life’s financial woes and can be a crippling noose around the necks of those who (depending on whether or not you buy the addiction angle) can’t stay away from it. It did, after all, destroy the lives and dreams of many players including two famous area legends; Pete Rose and Art Schlichter, the Ohio State quarterback who had such great potential until gambling took its hold on him. I also acknowledge that some of us, including this writer, might like spending a Friday night having some fun at a local casino.

It really is a conundrum for me. I would love to hear your input. Drop me a line and share your views on this one before I have to go into the voting booth. While I don’t let others’ opinions control my decisions, I do weigh those views. My contact information, as always, is listed at the end of this column. I look forward to hearing from you.

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Mike Scinto has served as a radio talk show host for three decades. He can be heard on the syndicated “The Mike Gallagher Show” and seen as a contributor on the Fox News Channel. You can reach Mike by phone at 937-506-4288, via his blog at http://mikescinto.blogspot.com/ or by email at mikescintoshow@gmail.com.

Please Deposit $.50 for Your Next 3 Minutes

by Mike Scinto

It doesn’t take much to get my inquisitive mind wandering. This past weekend, it was my cell phone. It wasn’t charged as I was about to make a run into town, so I had to leave it behind. We live in the township and the trip back and forth (including stops) could have taken as much as an hour. What was I going to do? My communication with the outside world was gone! I felt like one of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 on “Lost”.

My first thought was to look in the garage for my old Midland 40 channel CB radio from the 1970s. That baby got me out of more than a few tight situations. I found it but couldn’t bring myself to dislocate the poor insects that had taken up residence in there. They looked like they were preparing for winter. So I suppose this journey had to be made sans radio or phone. Could I make it?

I did. And I’m here to tell about it. That little bout of insecurity likely takes place in homes like ours, and yours, almost daily. And that made me ask the question about how things in our lives have changed; and was it really for the better?

You see, I reminded myself that not so long ago, if you weren’t anchored to a wall in your house by a twisted up wire that seemed to get shorter with time, you couldn’t be on the phone at all. And if you were planning to call Uncle Billy in Missouri, you’d better have deep pockets to cover the long distance charges.

If your phone service was down, you could always run to the nearby corner gas station or shopping center and use one of the myriad of pay phones you’d practically trip over. In my recent panic I did a visual search of the territory I covered, in case of an emergency; not a phone booth to be seen ANYWHERE! All I saw were the empty shells where that link with the outside world used to reside, awaiting our dimes and quarters; and perhaps Clark Kent’s quick change into Superman. I guess he has to use the back seat of his car now.

I don’t know about you but I feel absolutely naked when I am out in the real world without my phone. And try to get a teen to part with theirs. This is not one of those “I remember when gas used to be a nickel a gallon” stories from the turn of the last century. This has happened in the blink of an eye. The technology is growing so fast it’s really hard to keep up.

My wife and I just recently joined the iphone crowd. I’m not bragging. They had to get me there kicking and screaming until I realized how amazing this little thing can be. My wife is a systems engineer, and has been for three decades. Our phones, besides calling Uncle Billy for free, can do calculations it used to take an entire room of her mainframes to handle. It’s a phone, a road map, a computer, an alarm clock, a trip planner, an egg timer, a phone book, a Day-Timer and a gaming device. It fits in my shirt pocket!

Our problems today don’t revolve around that anchored landline. No, the problem today is watching out for the other drivers texting while behind the wheel going 80 MPH. Then there are the drivers who used to be easily distracted by a carload of passengers yakking away, now doing the same thing into their handheld devices. And what about the choice of restaurant, not being based on the menu but on whether the establishment offers free Wi-Fi?

So the $64,000 question is; are we better off with these little gadgets that connect us with the world? My answer is that we probably are, as long as we don’t become even more dependent on them than our old landline phones had to be to that wall mount.

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Mike Scinto has served as a radio talk show host for three decades. He can be heard on the syndicated “The Mike Gallagher Show” and seen as a contributor on the Fox News Channel. You can reach Mike by phone at 937-506-4288, via his blog at http://mikescinto.blogspot.com/ or by email at mikescintoshow@gmail.com.

Ambassador Alan Keyes on the Legitimacy of “President” Obama and more

It was my sincere honor, and pleasure to dine with Ambassador Keyes in 2000. He is genuine, direct and usually right. I found this commentary on Barack Obama posted and wanted to share it with all of you.

Censorship is Alive and Well in the Gem City

As our President’s stimulus package continues to drag the stock market down to decades-old positions and millions are becoming statistics as companies brace for the new tax burdens they will be facing, Yours Truly joined the ranks of those suffering under the Obama-Reid-Pelosi regime. What I am about to relate, I assure you, is NOT sour grapes…….but you take from it what you will.

I was told yesterday, almost ten years to the day after moving my radio talk show to the black-oriented Liberal WDAO radio, that the show needed to go in a different direction. What I believe, based on many signals, is that it meant it needed to go in the Obama direction. And that Kool-Aid didn’t wash down well with me at all.

Posted here is the sign that I stared at since the inauguration. It says that Obama must be referred to as President Barack Obama. And if a caller slipped through and just said “Obama”, or if I said “Obama Administration” I was called on the carpet. These weren’t negative references either, but commonly accepted terminology for all administrations. This was quite obviously a term of my employment.

My thoughts may have become all-too-apparent in my facial expressions as I wondered why, during the previous eight years, I didn’t see a similar memo when callers referred to George W. Bush as a war monger, drunk, moron or other tasteless terms. They called Bush everything BUT “President George W. Bush”.

And even though I tried my best to walk that thin line, I had several confrontations with the owner about my lack of support for the stimulus package. It came to the point that he suggested we just not talk about the economic plans at all if it meant dissension.

Heck, here I am, a white conservative talk show host on a liberal black radio station and for about two months prior to the most historic election battle in our nation’s history, we couldn’t’ talk about the Presidential race at all! We couldn’t mention Obama or McCain…….period! And we heard about it if we let a caller slip through and mention one of their names or the race itself. Is that what a talk radio show is supposed to be like? I must have missed that page in the manual.

Look, Jim Johnson (WDAO Owner and General Manger) is my friend and has been for 30 plus years. He can be a very nice man and has a good technology skill………..he can build a radio studio from scratch. I just question his motivation in handling this censorship issue the way he did. Look, it’s not a crime, or even a character flaw. It just means he could be shortchanging himself and the people of this community, both black and white.

Censorship on the public airwaves is bad enough. Being less than honest about your reasons for that censorship is even worse. I can only assume that WDAO has already gotten its marching orders from the Obama camp to begin the elimination of conservatives from the air before the “Fairness” Doctrine can kick in. At the very least I feel very comfortable that I have maintained my integrity throughout this situation.

WDAO was the only station left in the market offering a local balanced (until recently) channel for the community to speak out. I can only hope the other fine radio stations (some of which I have been affiliated with over the decades) decide to assume that role. And I encourage you to suggest that to them with a very loud voice. Or we may only hear what station owners, like my former employer, DECIDE we can hear!

Now in his 33^rd year Mike Scinto has served as a radio talk show host. Call Mike at 937-506-4288. Email him at mike@themikescintoshow.com. And visit Mike Scinto at http://www.facebook.com or http://www.youtube.com/scintoonfilm.

The Dayton Dragons Section 105 Way Over The Hill Gang

Poor Mike strained his back trying to uproot a dandelion, and we're told by Rae, whined about it. But this is our tribute to him as we're all hunched over to commiserate with Mikey.