The Big Announcement : WORD's New Talk Show Host

Jerry Bowyer

Ok, I can finally tell you! Jerry Bowyer will join WORD as the new host of afternoon talk on 101.5 WORD FM. Jerry started his broadcast career as the host of "Cross-Town Perspectives" on WPIT FM. That station is now WORD FM.

Jerry formed The Allegheny Institute and hosts Pennsylvania Newsmakers, PA's premier public affairs television program, featuring the state's leading policy-makers. It airs across the state from the Ohio Border in Western Pennsylvania to the Western suburbs of Philadelphia. This year he launched "World View", a program that airs Sunday mornings on channel 40. He also writes for Crosswalk and several other publications as well as hosting his own blog and website.

I worked with Jerry for a short time years ago when we both worked for the same radio station and I am looking forward to once again teaming up with Jerry to bring an informative, exciting and challenging show to the airwaves. We are currently developing that program and hope to announce an official starting date soon.

I know you will enjoy Jerry's knowledge and style as we continue the journey. Please join me in welcoming to WORD FM Jerry Bowyer.

Evangelicals & Pope Benedict XVI

Timothy George dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University has written a piece in" Christianity Today" on five reasons why evangelical protestants, and orthodox believers of all persuasions, should be pleased at the election of Pope Benedict XVI.

His reasons being:

1. He takes truth seriously

2. His theology is Bible-focused.

3. His message is Christocentric

4. He is Augustinian in perspective.

5. He champions the culture of life.

It's worth a read by all believers. You will find it here.

ACT 73?

In the aftermath of the Act 72 votes, a nagging question lingers among policy-makers at the state Capitol: "What do we do now?"

In the past week, whatever was left of the conventional wisdom that school boards would dutifully fall into line evaporated in the heat of widespread opposition.A lopsided majority of the 501 boards chose not to participate in the program -- preventing homeowners in those districts from sharing in a projected $1 billion a year in property-tax cuts, but preserving the boards' authority to increase property taxes as high as they see fit.

Pennsylvania is the only state that does not restrict school boards' powers to tax or spend, according to the Education Commission of the States in Denver. And boards clearly signaled -- through their votes and public statements -- that they want to keep it that way.

The trouble is, property-tax relief was the main justification for legalizing as many as 61,000 slot machines, which are expected to begin generating that revenue as early as 2007.

Now, with next year's gubernatorial and legislative elections beckoning, the fact that only a minority of school districts will share in the money is a serious frustration for most Harrisburg politicians -- and especially for Gov. Ed Rendell, whose 2002 campaign was built around promises of legalizing slots to finance property tax cuts.

Several pending bills call for overriding the boards that opted out -- either by making Act 72 mandatory or by imposing a referendum requirement for unusually large property-tax increases. Others would let voters do the overriding in Act 72 referendums.

How soon the General Assembly may act -- if at all -- is impossible to predict. But with the slots money not expected to become available for at least two years, both sides agree there is plenty of time to debate what should be done.

Meanwhile, tax relief remains a long shot. Full Story

Bill Clinton : President of the World

During the last presidential election I made mention of the poosible "political trifecta" that could occur as a result of a Kerry victory. The scenario being, if John Kerry won, he could name Hillary Clinton as a Supreme Court Justice and Bill Clinton could end up head of the U.N. Stranger things have happened.

Kerry is already making rumblings about making another run and we are all guessing what Hillary will do but then there is Bill Clinton.

In 2001 Bill Clinton confided to an aide that he had decided on his dream job for the next chapter of his life: secretary general of the United Nations. His ambition, as the aide described it, was both breathtaking and entirely logical for a natural-born politician who had reached the top of the American political ladder: "president of the world." Could it ever happen. Could Bill Clinton end up in essence world president?

His recent appointment as the U.N. representative on tsunami relief is the highest-profile example of Clinton's travels and activities abroad. The extent to which the 42nd president has preserved influence even after leaving the White House will be far more obvious in September. That is when a large delegation of world leaders, U.S. politicians, business leaders and celebrities of various stripes will arrive in New York for the first Clinton Global Initiative. The event, as Clinton recently described it, is modeled after the famous annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Beneath the surface, there is a deep vein of politics in Clinton's international activities as ex-president. While he has mostly supported Bush on the Iraq war -- and says that all Democrats should be supporting full victory even if they first opposed the war -- almost every speech he has given in recent months has contained the same refrain, delivered in nearly identical language.

For all the new rapport in the Bush-Clinton relationship -- Bush throwing regular rhetorical bouquets to his predecessor and assigning him to visit tsunami-stricken areas -- the two presidents represent twin poles in a pointed ideological debate. In the United States, the debate over Bush's approach to the world and Clinton's -- between force and persuasion -- remains unsettled. But it seems apparent which approach is more winning abroad. While Bush has generated deep suspicion, especially in Western Europe, Clinton is highly popular.

Former German chancellor Helmut Kohl was asked about Clinton's dream of heading the United Nations, Kohl said: "I do not know if Bill wishes to go to the United Nations. If he wants, I would support him."

More

Worker from Doctors Without Borders Held

Sudanese officials are concerned about the exposure the aid group has given to the rape, murder and pillaging being done by militiamen in the south. The group has had had two workers arrested in the past few days, including the leader of the Sudan mission, Paul Foreman.
[Doctors Without Borders]