Towers and Views

• Last week Friday, while I was driving into Chicago, I was listening to CNN on satellite radio (how did I ever live without XM radio?). They were interviewing the sister of one of the men that was arrested for the Sears Tower conspiracy. First, seriously where do they find these people? This poor woman furthered the cause of every stereotype possibly given of her particular background. That is about as politically correct as I can say it. And it was obvious the woman was trying so hard. I really wanted to beat Lou Dobbs over the head. Until I reached the place on the Kennedy Expressway, where you come up over a slight rise and there is the Hancock Tower and the Sears Tower. I imagined what the skyline would look like without the Sears Tower and I found myself getting really angry inside. I have been coming to Chicago every weekend for almost two years. This has become my adopted city. The thought of something happening here and worse something happening to the people of Chicago had me twisted in a knot. All of the compassion I had for this woman drained out of me at the sight of this tower that most Saturday mornings before 9 AM I can't see the top of as it tickles the clouds. Suddenly I just wanted this woman's brother to pay for even considering for a second doing one thing to my city. Even tonight as I drove in, seeing the Tower had the same effect on me.

• I found another thing Leeners and I disagree on. I like Star Jones. I find her to be well spoken, intelligent, and real. What happened with Barbara Walters and ABC still has me a bit perplexed. If they said she could handle it any way she wanted, why did they have such a fit about her just telling the truth? She took the most courageous path. She admitted to the world that she was fired. She could have made up a story like they seemed to want her to, but she chose to tell the truth, which wasn't pretty. I was fired once. And never in a million years would I have gone back in there for two months after being told I was fired to work every day like everything was fine. For two months, they made her come in and do what they wanted like everything was just fine. But the moment she releases the information that she "felt like she was fired." which "HELLO, ABC - you fired her!, they all run for the hills and say no you can't come back now, you have made it too uncomfortable for us. They made themselves look like they were a bad dog that was running away with his tail between his legs. And the one in my opinion that came out looking the worst in this was Barbara. When she got on the next day and made her speech, in that "I want to help America understand my pain" tone of voice, that I'm sorry came off as nothing but condescending and said that Star chose another path than the dignified one we gave her, I really wanted to vomit. I have a feeling that Star will come out of his smelling like a rose. Every time I have ever known someone to be wrongfully terminated, it turns out to be a inflection point in their life and something amazing happens. As for Rosie joining the View, I think that is laughable. She had a show of her own which I watched for a long time, until she became so harsh with her guests that I couldn't stomach anymore. I think the banter at the beginning of the View will see its last days while Rosie is on the show because unless you agree with her, she just gets nasty. The point of the show at the beginning was to bring people from different viewpoints and perspectives together now everyone involved at the table appears to be from the entertainment industry. I might be from Iowa but I am no hick. And I am nine months away from earning myself a masters degree from a top rated school, but there is no one in the entertainment industry that I honestly think could express my view. The view has only one view now...and its looking through some rosie colored glasses.