Eileen's Blog

As promised, I said this morning that I would go see whichever Oscar pick you selected for me and when the votes were counted, hanging chads and all, the Oscar went to.... "Ray". I called Moviefone and got the nearest theater to downtown. The theater was in Highland Park and the other cinema was in Buffalo Grove. Sorry. No car. The next highest bid was "Million Dollar Baby" and I will see "Sideways" later this weekend.

I know Ebert, Roeper and other film critics think "Baby" 's got back...but I really disliked it. I thought it was too long, the plot twist was predictable and the characters were not very well developed. By movie's end, I was ready to knock "Danger"'s lights out myself. I won't spoil it for you and give away the movie's ending, but let's just say I wasn't glad it was over, but I was happy the movie was. Two stars. I look forward to the Oscars being over so I can rent "Ray" on DVD.

PROGRAM NOTE: Don and Roma...as if they hadn't had enough time off in the fall...are going on vacation this coming week. (I'm kidding, guys!--But they are going on vacation)..so I'll be sitting in for them this week along with special guest-co-hosts, Art Wallace, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, ABC 7's Andy Shaw, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and our own Bill Cameron. I look forward to waking up with you this week and I'll see you tomorrow at Mancari's! --eileen

Hi guys. Thanks so much to Dr. Carolyn who called in while we were talking to David Gibbs, the attorney for Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. Dr. Carolyn offered, since she does a lot of work and research with patients like Terri, to become involved with the case and it sounds like Mr. Gibbs is going to take her up on the offer. I received a lot of email about the interview this morning...thank you for your feedback. One listener, Marilyn, wrote "I think you will be destined to be a saint if somehow your broadcast helps to stop this tragedy." I am praying that the judge in the case will protect Terri's right to live and I cannot understand, for the life of me, why Michael Schiavo is trying to stop her from having tests and scans done to improve his WIFE's condition. I've asked you for prayers for Tony Snow, please say one for the Schindlers and for Terri Schiavo if you think of it.

Don't forget, I will be at Mancari's of Orland Hills this Saturday from 2-4pm. That's at 8821 West 159th Street. I am so excited to meet you and if you would like to drop off a letter to send to PRIVATE ROB JACOBS, we will deliver those to him.

Thank you for listening. I really look forward to hearing your feedback and comments. -Eileen

Thanks for all of your emails in regards to Pfc. Rob Jacobs! The support for him was overwhelming and I am happy to forward all of your letters to him and his family. It was fantastic to talk to Rob's sister and father and get the inside details of the fight they have with NY's Board of Education. If you would like to write to Rob....you can do so at the following address:

Pfc. Rob Jacobs
c/o Christine Engallena
PO Box 1067
Jackson, NJ 08527

Many of you have asked how to get in touch with the teacher and the school that is responsible for sending the anti-war letters to a member of the military. I understand that they are out of school this week for Spring recess. We will be in touch with the school as soon as possible.

My personal feeling about this is one of sadness. I can only imagine how hurt and demoralized Rob Jacobs was to read those letters, accusing him of destroying holy shrines and killing innocent people. You know, I get a ton of letters myself. So many of them are so nice and encouraging and it really does make my day...and makes me feel like what I do matters. When I get mean, nasty, rude letters...those stick with me and they bring me down. At least I know at the end of the day, I can go home, sleep in my bed, hug my family, have a beer with friends to lift my spirits. To think about Private Jacobs having to sit, alone, looking at letters from children accusing him of war crimes, it makes me sick to my stomach. Should the teacher be fired? I think so. Either the teacher has a political agenda to let those letters go through unedited... (Don't give me that free speech nonsense...kids in school don't have any. They have a dress code, they can't talk back to their teachers or elders and their homework gets CORRECTED!)....so he either has an agenda or he's has no ability to make a judgement call. Either way, I'd worry about him as my child's teacher.

I have your letters to read on-air tomorrow on the subject. We are also working on another very special guest....different subject...for tomorrow morning. -Eileen Byrne

Happy President's Day! I'm happy to know that we have a president in office that is the same in private as he is in public. I am writing, of course, about the phone tapes that have surfaced between Doug Wead and George W. Bush from 1998. I've always noted that character is doing the right thing when you think no one is watching, or in this case, taping, you. The President discussed smoking pot, gays and...okay....poked a little fun at Al Gore. (Who hasn't?) But he is the same man and has the same values when he is speaking publicly to the country as he is to a "friend". If your pal was secretly taping your phone conversations, would you be embarrased by the things you've stated when you thought it was just between two friends? The President shouldn't be embarrassed by any of this and I'm glad to see that The White House isn't denying this. Doug Wead is the one with egg on his face...and all over his new book.

I spent the morning on Saturday at an apartment in Cabrini Green...I'll explain that coming up on WLS-AM. It was a very interesting experience...and in spite of all the dire warnings I got from staff members here...I'm glad I went.

TEACHERS VS. PARENTS..Great discussion this morning. Teachers complain that parents undermine their authority by challenging their assignments and get upset over their kids' grades--then go over their head to voice their issues with the principal or school board. Parents say teachers are overstepping their boundaries by telling them how to raise their children, preaching politics in the classroom and not being upfront about their kids' strengths and weaknesses. How to best resolve the issue: talking to each other and not at each other. Pay a compliment. Here's what NOT TO DO: Teacher: Your child Jessica is a busy-body and interferes with the other students and is not doing her required reading. A parent, hearing a barrage of criticism, will shut down and get defensive. Think about someone criticizing you like that. It's hard to hear. Here's a better way. Teacher: Jessica shows great initiative in the classroom and is eager to learn...not only focusing on her studies, but with some of the other students as well. This can be a little distracting to the other pupils..so she needs to work on that and concentrating on her own work. She also could use some extra coaching with her reading at home so if you could take an extra fifteen minutes a night to read with her, I think we'll really see a great difference in her grades. What do you think? As always, email me back at eileen.f.byrne@abc.com

Okay. Have you seen the latest photograph on defendthedefender.org? Looks like they are trying to shoot the messenger....me. You know, I could care less how they mutilate my picture...but to create a website that is ONE LETTER off from the legit site, defendthedefenderS.org and to post pictures of Ilario's beheading and put Ilario's mother through such pain and hardship, knowing what she's gone through already, it really is a travesty.

I also think these morons are writing all the nasty things on the site themselves.

We have put calls in to Durbin, Obama and Rep. Mark Kirk. Still waiting to hear. Thanks again. --Eileen

TOPIC ALERT FOR PRESIDENT'S DAY...MONDAY- 9-11AM ON 890 AM

I love getting the dirt on parents from those who know them the best...TEACHERS! The problem with the mid-morning shift is that when we're trying to talk to teachers, they're in school teaching the bratty kids of their even brattier parents.

Sooo...President's Day...you're off and I'm working. Perfect. The cover story of this week's Time magazine reads: "Pushy Dads, Hovering Moms. Parents who don't show up at all. Are kids paying the price? What Teachers HATE about parents!" If you are a teacher and want to get in on this and share your story, email me in advance at eileen.f.byrne@abc.com We'll talk about this this coming Monday morning.

Thanks for helping with this very worthy cause. We just spoke with Merry Pantano and got the inside story on the charges of murder against her son. To help with the legal defense fund of Marine 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, send donations to:

Defendthedefenders.org
DHCC PO BOX 20088
New York, NY 10017

We ask that you donate this way...as the paypal may be hacked. Thanks. We have been in touch with Charles Gittins, Pantano's attorney. We are also getting in touch with Mark Kirk and our Senators, Durbin and Obama. Thanks again.

Thanks everyone for joining us at the 2005 Chicago Auto Show yesterday. I had a blast! One listener, you know who you are, really cracked me up. He wrote on the back of his business card, two questions. The first I could have predicted: "Where's Jay?" The second, I did a double take-- "Did you really get layd in a cab?" What some folks will come up with! I mean, come on! Where do you get this stuff?

Let me address the first question...and the first question...ONLY. It really hit home today. Reading Feder's column in today's Chicago Sun Times kind of made it a reality: Jay's not coming back. He's got a great gig as a a morning host at a progressive (liberal, Air America!) radio station in Boulder, Colorado. I am happy for him. I know he'll do great there and I left him a message today stating that. But I'm a little sad. It was really fun doing the show with him. The things he could come up with sometimes....he got my blood going! I wish him the best.

We've got a bunch of things in the works for tomorrow and we're working on bringing you a very special guest. Also, I will be visiting a home in Cabrini Green based on a very interesting letter in today's Chicago Sun Times. Thanks for tuning in. ...........................

I just got off the phone with a friend and work associate who is beating cancer...and it reminds me to ask for your prayers for fellow WLS radio host and Fox News' Tony Snow. I just heard the news this morning that Tony has colon cancer. I have been praying for him and his family--little silent prayers when I think of him. I wrote in my first WLS blog about the power of prayer and the amazing difference it can make in recovery. If you think of him, say a prayer for his good health. Thanks.

Meet us today at the 2005 Chicago Auto Show! The good "Reverend," Cisco Cotto and I will be at the Hyundai booth this afternoon from 3-5pm to chat and talk topics and politics. I am really looking forward to it. You can find more information about the Auto Show on this website.

Tune in tomorrow morning from 9am-11am...a 280 pound woman featured in today's NY Times will join us to discuss her lawsuit against Southwest Airlines. She says she was asked to purchase a second seat because of her weight. We'll also talk about Maya Keyes coming out as a "liberal queer". If you're Daddy Alan, how do you handle your child coming out of the closet?

"CRAZY FOR /WARD CHURCHILL"

We had a whirlwind of a show today. The two hours goes so fast...between CEO Elizabeth Robert of Vermont Teddy Bear joining us to discuss the "CRAZY FOR YOU BEAR" and her decision to leave the board of Vermont's largest hospital and the debate over whether or not (nutty) Professor Churchill should be fired... the time really flies. I hope you enjoyed today's debates. Thanks for tuning in.

I was here pretty late in the afternoon yesterday when I saw the news that the chief executive officer of Vermont Teddy Bear, Elizabeth Robert, was going to resign from Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, VT. I immediately jumped on the story. The "Crazy for You Bear" was pretty old news--and not even being sold anymore by the company--but to hear that a CEO had resigned from a hospital board as a result of a TOY was newsworthy. The hospital will lose a major amount of funding as the result of Robert's departure, in addition to her unique expertise at running a very successful company. It's the hospital's loss and they have politically correct activists to thank for it.

If you suffer from depression or another form of mental illness, are you offended by the bear? Crazy For You Bear comes dressed in a strait jacket and carries commitment papers which say "Can't Eat, Can't Sleep, My Heart's Racing. Diagnosis--Crazy for You". A lot of our listeners today were outraged by this stuffed animal. Lisa, our RN was particularly incensed. I had to calm her down as she went off on a "crazy" rant. No offense, Lisa...don't sue! I believe that the bear pokes fun of us who can be a little crazy in love. I know I can be irrational. I know that I have trouble eating and sleeping and concentrating when I feel the full effects of love. If we can no longer tolerate a lovesick bear, what's next? Is the song "Crazy" by Patsy Cline or "Crazy for You" by Madonna offensive too? I know that many people I love and care for suffer from mental illness. I am no stranger to it in my own family. But I know that that bear...a toy...a creation of foam and fur and material does not insult them. The sad thing is that the Republican governor of Vermont, James Douglas, and other politicans and the advocates of the mentally ill are wasting time and resources discussing a toy instead of facing real problems that we face. And creating a controversy over a doll is not the way to resolve those issues. HEAR THAT Representative Luis Gutierrez?

Moving on to another "crazy" subject...the ravings of Professor Ward Churchill:

"I'm not backing up an inch. I owe no one an apology. I do not work for (Governor) Bill Owens. I do not work for the taxpayers of the state of Colorado. I work for you. "

Professor Churchill said that the other night at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he is a tenured professor. He previously said:

"As to those in the World Trade Center....Well, really. Let's get a grip here, shall we? True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break. They formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America's global finanacial empire- the "mighty engine of profit" to which the military dimension of US policy has always been enslaved--and they did so both willingly and knowingly...they were too busy braying, incessantly and self-importantly, into their cell phones, arranging power lunches and stock transactions, each of which translated, conveniently out of sight, mind and smelling distance, into the starved and rotting flesh of infants." (Churchill, Some People Push Back, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens, Sept. 2001)

A lot of you today called in to support Churchill's right to free speech. In the interview that I did today with a University of Colorado student, I wondered about the teachings within his classroom, which I think will get him booted out for incompetence. In addition, the fact that he teaches Native American studies and he may not be what he claims, 1/16th Cherokee, he could get fired for fraud. It's almost impossible to knock a tenured professor out because you don't agree with what he says. But if he is preaching death to America in his classroom, he could be fired for hate speech. I don't know how you could get fired for screeching death to Muslims and not for death to Americans. It's the blame America first mentality. We'll see how it pans out. The Board of Regents is now reviewing his teaching and other writings. Finally, the great thing about this debate is to get parents to become aware of who is teaching their children...and the amount of tuition they're paying...for what...the ravings of a madman?! Blaming my friends and their relatives for 9/11 and telling them they deserve to die?! What taxpayer should have to subsidize this kind of speech? Write back at eileen.f.byrne@abc.com

Thanks again for tuning in. Tomorrow....I was right about that Corey Feldman. We'll give you the scoop.

RESPOND TO TODAY'S GUEST: LOVE LETTERS FOR HOWARD

If you listened to today's show, you heard our interview with Howard Weyers, the CEO of Weyco, an insurance benefits administrator out of Okemos, Michigan join us on "The Eileen Byrne Show". Weyco is the company featured in today's Chicago Tribune, yesterday's NY Times, that has instituted a no-smoking-none-of-the-time-program. You smoke, even on your own time, you lose your job. Period.

I apologize that we didn't get a lot of calls in with Howard-- he called in to the show thirty minutes late, as his company meeting ran overtime. But if you would like to email me "love letters" to Howard... I will send them to him, personally, all bundled up together with a red ribbon, to the company in Michigan. So...if you are a smoker, would you quit working for him because you can't kick the habit...or if you are a non-smoker...would you be thrilled at the opportunity to work for him and not have to cover for hacking smokers who take ten million breaks a day to puff at the company entrance? I'm sorry smokers..but that's annoying. I'd rather you smoke in the office than walk in to work in a halo of your smoke. Email me your LOVE LETTERS TO HOWARD at eileen.f.byrne@abc.com

Thanks. I enjoyed the show today. Thanks also for the feedback on the new photo. After the bashing I took about the bra..it was a refreshing change!

TOPIC ALERT!

Are you a teacher who is fed up with parents who fight your classroom assignments? Are you a parent who thinks your school and/or teacher is too demanding...assigning too many projects or homework? We are working on a topic based on a very interesting article on the subject and we'd like to get your take on it. Email me at eileen.f.byrne@abc.com

I was watching the Superbowl with a group of friends yesterday and in addition to laughing at some of the advertisements...loved the Ameriquest ones with the man killing the cat and the dude on the phone saying, "You're getting robbed"...we were joking around about the American Idol promos. My friend Joe asked, "Does anyone watch this show anymore?" To which Jeff replied, more people watched American Idol than the State of the Union. I thought about it and said...well that's the beauty of freedom and what Iraqis have to look forward to. In a few years, no one will vote and they'll stay home to watch Iraqi Idol. The group laughed and we surmised that in their version, the losers...in addition to Simon... get stoned.

But seriously...the discussion made me think of what I encountered the previous weekend...going out to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center to witness the Iraqi elections and observe Iraqis and Iraqi-Americans voting and showing off their ink-stained fingers. I listened in awe to hear how some made round-trips twice (to register and vote) from Texas and Nebraska, how some of those voting had family members in Iraq who were very recently killed by terrorists and previously tortured by Saddam Hussein. They cried and they danced and applauded as voters continued to assemble and cast their ballots. I was proud of them and felt ashamed at the same time. How often do you vote? Just in the presidential elections? Maybe not even that often. Do you skip voting if it's raining or if there's a few inches of snow? Maybe you just forgot the last time or in the case of the mayoral elections, you didn't think your vote would make much difference? Would you vote if you knew that your ink-stained finger would endanger your life? Would you stand in line waiting for hours knowing that at any time you could be the target of a homicide bomber? I think I would...I don't have children and no one depends on me...except you my faithful listeners (kidding)...but if I had a husband (not likely) and children, I might rethink that decision. When I turned on the TV set Sunday morning to watch Fox News Sunday, I held my breath. Would the Iraqis chicken out the way a lot of Americans would? The answer is a resounding no. I felt both relieved and guilty. Maybe I fell into the Ted Kennedy/John Kerry/Jesse Jackson naysaying of maybe these elections: should wait/won't include enough Sunni Muslims/doesn't-matter-because-what-is-our-exit-strategy-the President-is-not telling-us-and-by-the-way-Donald-Rumsfeld-should-be-fired negativity. I asked voters at the convention center. They said the media was creating a lot of the naysaying and that if Sunni Muslims don't vote this time, they will have the opportunity in the next election.

I don't have a crystal ball...I don't know when the terrorists are going to realize that we are not going to give up until the job is done and that Americans are united on this, regardless of what some Democrat leaders might say. But as I enjoyed the Superbowl yesterday, as I enjoy my right to freedom of expression every morning on the radio and we discuss voting in 2000, 2004 and eventually new leadership in 2008, I certainly won't take it for granted after witnessing history last Sunday. And in a few years, Iraqis might just skip voting to watch their version of "Survivor"--although I doubt whatever they come up with can compare to their history.

PS...Off the subject, but why....if you write the word robbed or analyst...do the words get highlighted to take you to some bizarre porn site?