Category: General Information

Amanda Knox

For what it’s worth, I am a bit shocked at the verdict today. I have studied the case, talked  to Amanda’s parents, friends and family, and lawyers and investigators who have followed the case. I also talked about it on the air, and wish I was still there to do so now.  I know Italian law is different, but I believe her to be innocent and, maybe, she is only guilty of the crime of being an American. May God bless and keep her family, and provide her the strength and courage she will need in the coming days and years. And, may He also provide them the resources they will need to appeal and find justice.

Kirby Update

First thank all of you for the kind and supportive messages. I miss you all more than I could ever explain. I am working on a few things, a couple of possible jobs on radio. I continue to teach and will be blogging here, so I will stay in touch with the issues of the day. Thank you all for the suggestions that I run for office, but before I do tha,t I would need to find a good divorce lawyer, at least according to the Boss.

Eastside Republican Club dinner/auction Dec 5th

I wanted to invite you all to the ERC dinner/auction on December 5th. It will be a great event and I am the MC. For further info and tickets, go to www.eastsiderepublicanclub.org Come on out and have a great time.

UPDATE – FISHER HAS DEDICATED A PHONE LINE JUST FOR COMMENTS RELATED TO MY DEPARTURE. 206-404-3010. FEEL FREE TO CALL.

First, let me thank all of you for the tremendous outpouring of support, friendship and love. It is overwhelming and humbling, and was totally unexpected. You all will never know what it means to me and my family. And, a special thanks to Dan and Laura Kiel. They are people of principle, and, if you need a mortgage, now more than ever, go see them.

Secondly, let me say that I wish that management had kept this a private matter, between them and me, where it should be. It is a personnel matter and should not be in the public arena. But, I will defend myself, and since they opened the door, here is my side of the story.

Money, management says, is one of the reasons for my departure. Really? Well, first, I was paid very well, probably too well. But my salary was not the result of long tortuous negotiations, or ridiculous demands and tantrums by me. Three years ago, Dennis Kelly, then Program Director, asked me one day what it would take to keep me at KVI. He said they wanted me to end my career there, to retire there, and wanted to do what it would take to keep me. I, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, said that I wanted more than John Carlson made ( this was before his exile to KOMO ). I had no idea what that was, we had never talked about it, but about a week later, I received an unbelievable offer from Dennis, about a 50% increase. After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I called my agent and said sign before they change their mind. I would have stayed for no increase, but, they offerred.

Secondly, early this year, I received a memo from management about our contractual annual step increases. I would guess there are about six of us at Fisher radio with contracts that allow for an annual increase. We were asked by Jim Clayton if we would consider not accepting them due to the poor financial condition of the company. I immediately said of course, I don’t need it as badly as Fisher does. Jim came to the studio with the proper paperwork to revise my contract and said thanks, my move was appreciated.

Thirdly, approximately four months ago, I sent an email to Mr Clayton with some ideas on taking advantage of the political situation in 2010 to benefit the station. In that memo, I told him that I was willing to take a cut in salary, because I understood the financial situation that Fisher was in. I never received a reply to the email. Several times in person I reiterated to both Jim and Dennis that I was more than willing to take a cut in salary, and when my pay was mentioned as part of our high overhead, I reminded them that my pay was the result of a generous offer made by management three years ago, that I would have been a fool to say ‘ That’s too high ‘, that I would have taken much less.

Now, ratings. I had a meeting after the show on Friday, November 6, with Travis Box, our Program Director. The new ratings had just come out and that was the main topic. Here is what I was told:
1.) Our ratings had been improving and climbing steadily over the past six to nine months.
2.) We were ahead of Glenn Beck, our competition, in the 35-64 age demo
3.) We were behind in the 25-54 age demo.
4.) We were the highest-rated daypart on the station, consistently outperforming the rest of the shows on the station.
5.) An expected upward tick in Beck’s ratings due to his appearance here in September did not occur

Mind you, Glenn has a national TV show, several best-selling books and lots of promotion money. We had nothing, zero, zip, nada to help us promote the show. And, if management was concerned about the ratings, at no time did they ask to meet with us on specific ideas or recommendations on how to improve them. We were told that we would rename the show ‘Kirby and Company’ which really didn’t help our ratings. When we came up with ideas, we were consistently told we had no money for promotion.

Let me say that the real losers in this are the many charities and good causes we helped, like the Boy Scouts, Operation Support Our Troops, Union Gospel Mission and Toys for Tots. And then, causes like the Medal of Honor Memorial at the University of Washington, which I doubt would even exist without the KVI audience.

There is more to say, but I think I have said enough. If management had kept this a matter between us, where it belonged, I would have said nothing. But, 700 emails on Friday, the loss of a significant advertiser, a steady volume of phone calls, I’m sure they were caught off-guard and had to say something. I understand some even suggested that all these calls were part of a GOP conspiracy and did not reflect real KVI listeners. I know better. They should.

May God bless you and may He bless the United States of America.

Stay tuned here for an update on my current situation.

I will be updating you soon. Stay tuned.

Kirby’s Korner

Welcome to Kirby’s Korner, my new blog on my new website, kirbytalk.com. I’m excited to have the ability to reach more people on more topics than my time on the air gives me. I hope it proves entertaining, educational and fun.

The fight over how much government control of our medical system there will be continues and so far the good guys appear to be gaining the upper hand. The Blue Dogs continue to resist pressure for quick passage, and the more the public learns of the plan, the lower their support of the Democratic plan(s) goes, and the lower the support of the President. We cannot let up and must increase our pressure; letters, emails, calls to talk shows, especially those in favor of government control, going to town hall meetings during the Congressional recess, educating ourselves about the issues, all are important ingredients in the recipe for victory. Let us strike a stake deep in the heart of the beast. This is a fight we can win.

The situation in Honduras seems to have settled down. The renegade president Zelaya tried to force a confrontation on the border this weekend and called for his thousands of supporters to meet him there as he crossed from Nicaragua and rode their wave of support back to power. The only problem is that dozens showed up and the protest died a natural death from lack of interest. Apparently he is not as popular as both he and President Obama thought. Hopefully, he will just fade away and the rule of law will win one in Central America.

IRS has come out with their 2007 tax data, the last year they have full information on, since 2008 filers have until October to file if they got an extension. It shows that the top 1% of taxpayers in America pay a total of 40% of the total federal income taxes. Read that again – the top 1% pays 40%. The bottom 95% pays 40% and the bottom 50% pays less than 4%. How much more of a tax burden can we put on ‘the rich’ before they say enough, and either move or stop producing? The economic ignorance among the Left and particularly our President is overwhelming. There also is a moral question here, the same moral question that prompted Lincoln to oppose slavery – a individual has the right to the fruits of their own labor. If that is true, then how much can government take before it becomes too much? I would suggest that we are past that point. And another question arises – if those in the bottom 50% pay so little, and in some cases nothing, when it comes to the Federal income tax, what stake do they have in reforming tax policy? Just a few questions that need answers.

New thoughts and news – it is being reported by ABC that Professor Gates and Sgt Crowley are actually related – both have Irish blood that can be traced back to the 4th Century. Australian geologist Ian Plimer says global warming is the ‘new religion of First World elites’. He reports that we have had polar ice for only 20% of the earth’s geologic age and that species extinction is part of the natural order. He is also a virulent anti-creationist, so the lefties can’t pin that one on him.

Two recent minor yet telling signs of where the sympathies of this Administration are. Since 2006, the American mission in Havana has had an electronic billboard on the side of it’s building which displays pro-democracy messages. The Cuban government, a brutal dictatorship if I must remind you, has tried to block them, even posting police officers outside to hurry people along and not let them linger to read them. The Obama administration has yanked the cord, and no more messages will be displayed. And, today, they yanked the visas of four Honduran diplomats, putting pressure on the legal and legitimite government of Honduras to compromise with the deposed President Zelaya. He had failed over the weekend, as noted above, to stir any support for a comeback, and would fade away if ignored, but the Obamaites jump right in and support the bad guy. Whose side are they really on? In this case, not the side of rule of law and liberty.

Having a few problems figuring out how to post – my most recent post is actually the third paragraph above on taxes.

Cash for Clunkers has turned out to be a success according to the Administration, since it ran out of money within a week. What did these economic illiterates think would happen, passing out free money to buy new cars with, given the economy and the pent up demand for cars??? And is it really a success when we take other people’s money, through taxes, to subsidize people to buy cars? Or, increase the debt, which our kids will pay, to do this? The American people acted as any coherent economist would tell you they would – they took the money. And, the resulting chaos gives you an idea of what our health care system will look like if they ever get their hands on it. These incompetents can’t even run a billion dollar giveaway, God forbid they get their hands on 16% of the economy.

One other note. This program will effectively, ultimately raise the price of used cars, as they are destroying the clunkers that are turned in, reducing the available supply. Who is most likely to buy old clunkers as cars? Think about it. Just one more way government shows their concern for the poor and low income.

Did you hear about the latest solar power boondoggle? In Kittitas County the worlds largest solar plant is being planned. Last month, the estimated cost was ‘north of’ $100 million. Now ( are you sitting down?? ), the estimated cost is $525-$700 million. That’s just not north, that’s in lunar orbit. According to Todd Myers, of the Washington Policy Council, that is five times the cost of wind power and other renewables to generate similar quantities of energy. They say it will creat ‘ hundreds ‘ of jobs. As Todd points out, if it creates 500 jobs, that $1 million + per job. Junk economics, junk science, junk idea.

If you want to see where Obama is taking us, look at California. If you want to see where responsible Republican/conservative rule can take us, look at Texas. Compare the two, and there is no question which is a superior way of governing. See Ross Douthat’s column, Monday’s NYT, Blue-State Blues.