Bill Kassel's Blog

Free Expression

June 5, 2021 By Bill Kassel Leave a Comment

THE FIRST AMENDMENT IS
AN INCREASING CONCERN

I’m pleased to announce that “Free Expression,” my radio show / podcast, is prepped to move from a monthly to a weekly schedule beginning the first weekend in July.

The premiere episode on this new timetable will be aired by Good Shepherd Catholic Radio at 9:00 p.m. Saturday, July 3. It will be rebroadcast at 9:00 p.m. Sunday, July 4. Those will be my broadcast slots each week.

While the GSCR coverage area is limited to south-central Michigan (FM 93.3 or AM 1510), “Free Expression” can be accessed online anytime from anywhere in the world at:

https://goodshepherdcatholicradio.org/radio-show/free-expression/

…where you’ll also find an archive of all past episodes.

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Laughing Amid the Gloom

May 9, 2021 By Bill Kassel 10 Comments

AMERICANS’ SENSE OF HUMOR
HASN’T FAILED US YET

I’ve been woefully deficient in keeping up this blog lately.

Most of my recent activities have focused on building a library of recorded interviews, in anticipation of my radio show going weekly. And I can say there’s some good stuff on the horizon.

Nevertheless, I beg your forgiveness and implore your patience.

Despite my distraction, history goes on. And it’s interesting to observe how attitudes have congealed around the Biden Administration and our march toward national destruction.

Polls taken in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election suggested that most Republicans, and as much as a third of Democrats, suspected that cheating had taken place. By now, with hard evidence emerging from the Maricopa County, Arizona audit and other investigations ongoing around the country, confidence in the integrity of the vote count is slipping rapidly.

Add to that our other accumulating woes — Chinese threats, renewed violence in the Middle East, accelerating inflation, growing unemployment, endless COVID lockdowns, the border crisis, etc. — and you can feel gloom pressing hard on daily life.

But Americans are nothing if not resilient. The tendency toward finding humor (so visible a feature of our national character) has been on display in a steady stream of memes and graphics circulating online. The not-too-subtle Batman homage at the top of this column is one example. Here are a few others to brighten your day…

My Skeptical Friend — II

April 5, 2021 By Bill Kassel 8 Comments

Remembering Once Again

March 31, 2021 By Bill Kassel Leave a Comment

MY SONG ABOUT
THE LAST SUPPER

The first of my original song lyrics I posted after starting this blog focused on a key event of the Easter Triduum: the Last Supper. (I have reposted it in years since.)

The song was bit of conjecture about what one of the apostles (perhaps John?) might have thought looking back from a few years after. I wrote it as an Easter meditation piece, and have performed it many times at Holy Thursday services.

Give the lyrics a read, and have a blessed Easter…

The Bottom Line

March 15, 2021 By Bill Kassel 5 Comments

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS
OUR MOST BASIC LIBERTY

My last post — about the Dr. Seuss controversy — stirred considerable interest. Quite a few people followed my link, from Facebook in particular, and then shared their thoughts (some of which I included under that post).

An air of absurdity has gathered around this situation, compounded by criticisms of Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, the Muppets, Mr. Potato Head, and other characters once considered kid-friendly and downright lovable.

For the most part, reader comments reflect a general skepticism about the assertion that stories and drawings enjoyed by children for generations should now be considered offensive.

The meme above, currently circulating on social media, captures an irony to which I alluded when I compared the Dr. Seuss objections with protests of a raunchy ’80s TV show, “Married…with Children.”

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If I Ran the Zoo

March 6, 2021 By Bill Kassel 14 Comments

CONTROVERSY OVER DR. SEUSS
CALLS FOR BALANCE, PROPORTION

In this day when pop culture has embraced a rainbow of gender identities and sexual tastes, it’s hard to believe that there was once a time when people were shocked at salacious remarks and indiscreet behavior on television.

Does anyone remember Terry Rakolta (an in-law of Mitt Romney), who mounted a national boycott against the raunchy 1980s sitcom, “Married…with Children”?

In that bygone era, anyone disturbed by broadcast smut — no matter how deeply offended they might be — was met with the dismissive remark…

“Well, you don’t have to watch it, you know. Just change the channel!”

And if they objected…

“But this stuff is so pervasive on TV, children can’t help stumbling onto it.”

…the standard rejoinder was…

“It’s up to you to monitor what your children see. Besides, kids aren’t as impressionable as all that. They won’t be destroyed by an off-color joke or a little glimpse of tushie.”

…which inevitably led to the elevated pronouncement…

“One person’s moral values shouldn’t impinge upon someone else’s artistic freedom.”

Ah…such an innocent time that was.

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Two Versions

February 11, 2021 By Bill Kassel 5 Comments

CONTRASTING VIEWS
OF THE 2020 ELECTION

We have recently been treated to two very different accounts of the Trump-Biden clash…

The first is a 6,000-plus-word essay in TIME Magazine titled “The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign that Saved the 2020 Election.”

The second is “Absolute Proof,” a two-hour video documentary exploring the indications of electoral fraud, produced by entrepreneur and Trump supporter Mike Lindell.

These two versions of our great political trauma could not possibly be more different.

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Focusing on Freedom

February 3, 2021 By Bill Kassel 4 Comments

MY BLOG & RADIO SHOW NOW
HAVE A SPECIAL EMPHASIS

It’s been fascinating to watch Leftists move from championing free speech back in the ’60s, to their self-anointing as gatekeepers of acceptable opinion. The consequence of this evolution, of course, has been marginalizing views that don’t comport fully with Progressivist theories and politics.

People who seek a variety of opinions to ponder in making up their own minds have to work at finding information sources that aren’t all in leftward lockstep. Much to their surprise, a lot of these folks have discovered that Catholic Radio is one such source.

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Thank You, Mr. President

January 17, 2021 By Bill Kassel 7 Comments

WE MUST ACKNOWLEDGE
A REMARKABLE FIGURE

Who knows if the future holds any sort of political role for Donald Trump? Hell, at this point, we can’t know if our nation will continue as an electoral republic.

Once the 22nd Amendment is repealed, and President Kamala Harris hands the White House over to Barack Obama, we may have a president-for-life. Or even a king.

At that point it may fall to The Donald to head up a United States Government in Exile.

In any event, we should acknowledge the Trump years as a unique episode in American history.

As I’ve said before on this blog, I wouldn’t have pegged a playboy real estate tycoon and reality TV star for the singularly gifted politician he has proven to be.

Yeah, yeah — I know Trump personifies the old expression, “his own worst enemy.” The maddening tweets that so confound his journalistic adversaries have often served to alienate potential supporters and undermine his own best efforts.

But what The Donald has accomplished during four years when the entire governmental, media, and corporate power structures were aligned against him — and most of the Republican Party as well — cannot be seen as anything but dazzling.

That he was brought down by deception is a national tragedy.

A Medal for My Book

August 8, 2019 By Bill Kassel 2 Comments

MY NOVEL ABOUT JESUS’ FAMILY
RECOGNIZED BY INDIE BOOK AWARDS

I’m honored to receive the medal shown at left for MY BROTHER’S KEEPER.

It indicates that my novel about the family of Jesus was listed as a finalist in the Religious Fiction competition held by the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the largest not-for-profit awards program for independent authors and publishers.

Please let me express my sincerest thanks to the judges — many of whom are distinguished figures in the publishing industry — for their acknowledgment of my book’s unconventional retelling of the Christian story.

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