5-5-11 - Rosie's Doc Series and Further Discussions about OBL

In case you missed it...

ROSIE'S TRIP TO LA, AIRPORT SCREENINGS AND RUSSELL BRAND
Rosie started today's broadcast discussing her trip to Los Angeles where she was filmed a documentary special that will air immediately following Becoming Chaz on OWN.  Becoming Chaz premieres May 10th at 8pm EST!  Rosie said the documentary is really interesting and she hopes everyone will watch it.  And Chaz will be on the Oprah Show Monday the 9th!
But Rosie said "mommy's old" and she was very tired from all the traveling!   Rosie said her girlfriend Tracy has lost a lot of weight and has gone from a size 10 to a size 0!  She's been stressed lately and that's how Tracy deals with stress.  With much humor Rosie said she WISHED that's how she dealt with stress.  Rosie said Tracy refuses to buy new clothing and continues to wear the same pants.  She had her pants held up with a belt that she had to take off during screening and her pants fell down as she was screened!  On the way there Tracy got patted down and on the way home Rosie got patted down.  Both opted out of the high-tech screening machine.  Rosie was originally told she HAD to go through the machine until she said the words "opt out."  Rosie was embarrassed being "felt up" by a TSA agent but she said the agent seemed just as embarrassed. 
Rosie took a call from a listener who said the TSA found explosive residue on her 10 year-old son's clothes!  And they fingerprinted him!  The caller said she was happy we got Osama bin Laden (or OBL for the rest of this blog) because he started all this.   Rosie told a story of her son Blake having to go through the same rigorous screening when he was only two years old.  Rosie had to keep telling the screeners that he couldn't understand them so he couldn't follow their directions because he was very speech delayed.

Rosie took a call from a listener who "opted out" of the body scanner when he was at the airport.  He said got so "felt up" he felt like he should have had a post-coital cigarette afterward!   He's also dieted since Rosie Radio said they were going to start a diet and said he's now lost 43 pounds!

Rosie took a final call from a listener who said we shouldn't blame the TSA because they're just doing their jobs.  She said we should blame OBL for the intense screening at airports. 
While Rosie was in the airport lounge and reading My Booky Wook, Russell Brand walked in!  Rosie said she's been obsessing over him recently and what an amazing talent he is.  Rosie said she went up to him and said she is very old and wasn't familiar with him until recently but she wanted to tell him that he's fantastic.  Russell said he had just missed his flight and her comments made it all worth it! He's doing Rock of Ages in Miami for two months and she told him about her house there.  Rosie offered to let him stay at her house and they've emailed and now they're friends!  Rosie asked what the chances are that they would just run into each other?!  She said it seems "meant to be" in some weird way.  She absolutely raved about his timing in this video she posted on her Twitter feed.

MARIAH CAREY'S TWINS, BEAUTIFUL BABIES AND BRENDAN HAS A BOY!
Rosie said her publicist Cindi Berger is also the publicist of Mariah Carey. Mariah grew up in the town next to where Rosie grew up and she used to see her at the bus stop when she would take Pat Maravel's daughter to the bus stop!  So, Rosie has known Mariah since she was very young.  Rosie asked Cindi, whom she has known for 20 years, what Mariah's babies names were and Cindi wouldn't tell her!  Cindi blamed Twitter for the reason!  She said all publicists HATE Twitter and that she wouldn't tell Rosie the names because she was worried she'd tweet them to the world, lol.  The staff talked about how beautiful the babies will be.  

Rosie said about 9 months after she adopted Parker she got a call from the agency asking her if she would like to adopt again because they were having difficulty placing a baby.  Parker was very young at the time and she wasn't ready to have another baby but she asked the agency why they were having difficulty.  The agency told her the mother was "sort of unappealing."  Because the birth mother was ugly, no one wanted the baby.  Rosie saw a picture of the mother and said was she unappealing?  Yes, but if she hadn't been poor and had been taken care of, she might have looked completely different.  But for that reason, it was hard to place the child. 

And Rosie announced that Brendan (Rosie Radio's former Co-Executive Producer) had a baby named Owen!!!!!  CONGRATULATIONS, BRENDAN!!!
DISCUSSING THE CELEBRATIONS OVER OSAMA BIN LADEN'S DEATH
Rosie said various people have been receiving crap for questioning whether we should be celebrating the death of OBL.  Rosie follows Marianne Williamson on Twitter who questioned the celebrations and then was forced to take the post down because she got so much flack over it.  She then gave a one hour speech that was "fascinating" in Rosie's opinion.  Also, Rashard Mendenhall who plays for the Steelers posted a response on Twitter and then received a lot of heat for it.  He posted, "What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how many people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side." He also tweeted, "I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style."  The Pittsburgh Steelers organization then put out a statement saying they don't agree with him and that they're thankful OBL has been caught.  Rosie said the question is if you're able to hold two thoughts at once. She said can you can be happy he's no longer allowed to walk the Earth and also question the validity of whether it's the best way for humans to react to a death.  Rosie said it doesn't mean you are unpatriotic to question it.  She then read his blog about the controversy for the listening audience which you can read HERE.  Rosie thought the blog was so eloquent.  Rosie asked why it is un-American if you don't support people cheering in front of the White House over a man's death.  

Rosie said last night, Piers Morgan had a fascinating show on this very topic.  And he asked the question if an assassination on foreign soil is legal.  Rosie said that very question made people on Twitter go crazy!  Rosie said why should we not question whether it is legal?  She said no one is saying OBL was a good guy and everyone is in agreement he was a very bad person.  But can't we question whether it's legal or not?  Pete said according to the Geneva convention it IS legal because OBL was declared an enemy combatant.  And Rosie said we never want to become what we loathe and just because other people are capable of criminal acts doesn't mean we should be.  Bobby said he understands it a little.  He said we're at war with OBL.  He said he's not rejoicing in the streets but he understands why it had to happen.  Rosie said she understands why it had to happen too. 
Rosie took a call from a listener who is Muslim and raised in the United States.   When the news broke about OBL, she felt relieved but also sad that a human life has been lost.  She didn't have the celebratory feeling and that made her question her own patriotism because she wasn't as glad as everyone else was about his death.  She thought she had better keep her feelings to herself and was afraid to share them with anyone.  Rosie understood her point of view.  She said everyone loathed what OBL did and she remembers other nations celebrating after 9/11.  She said those celebrations broke the heart of everyone in this nation.  Rosie hoped we would be better than them.  Rosie said OBL should have been caught and she thanks God for our military.  Rosie has met military members and has tremendous compassion and respect for them. 
Rosie took a call from a listener who argued with her husband over this exact issue.  She said she doesn't feel sorry for OBL but she feels sorry we celebrated because we're better than that.  Rosie said she didn't feel sorry for OBL either but as Americans, it's counterproductive for us to behave that way. Rosie said it's possible to hold two opposing thoughts in your head at once.  She said you can be glad that the evil is gone but also think you can't kill evil with a bullet without creating more evil. 
Rosie took a call from a listener who didn't like Mendenhall's statement questioning how the towers fell.  It bothered her that he would question or doubt that it was a terrorist act.  Rosie asked the caller how many towers fell on 9/11.  The caller said two.  Rosie told the caller the answer is three and she told her about building 7.  Rosie said building 7 fell at free-fall speed into its own footprint and it wasn't hit by a plane.  And she said the BBC announced tower 7 fell 30 minutes before it actually fell.  Rosie said there are many people that question why the buildings fell the way they did and told the caller to look into http://rememberbuilding7.org/ to get a better understanding about what Mendenhall was trying to say.
Shoshana said for Mendenhall to say "we've only heard one side" implies he defends him and that we don't know OBL's side.  As if there would be a valid reason for him to do what he did.  Rosie said it's an American ideal, that when someone is accused of a crime you get to hear their side.  Rosie asked her if you're allowed in the United States to have an opinion that is not with the norm.  Shoshana said everyone is allowed to be upset with him about it and say what they want to say about his death.  But Rosie said if you disagree with the majority you are ostracized and your patriotism is questioned. 

Rosie took a call from a listener who was very upset that Rosie would compare the cheering over 3,000 innocent people dying to the cheering over a non-innocent man being caught and killed.  She said the two are not the same thing and it makes her nuts when Rosie implies that they are.  But to Rosie, the images of the cheering did remind her of that.  And Bobby said rejoicing over killing your enemy is what is the same, in the comparison.  The caller said the crowd's celebration was over finally achieving our objective.  Rosie and Bobby said they could see her point.   

One caller's son had a party in his 4th grade class because OBL was killed and she said it made her very uncomfortable.  Rosie understood.  She said her youngest three didn't really have a reaction but her oldest one said he was sorry he'd never get a shot at OBL now that he's been caught.
Rosie took a call from a listener who was a huge fan but disagreed with her.  He understood why the crowd cheered.  He said they weren't happy a person was killed  but they were happy that a person that wanted to harm  Americans was now gone.  The caller said OBL admitted to his crime and even talked about why he did it.  The caller said it is so annoying that for 10 years this man eluded capture and if he were still alive he would have still been planning more crimes against humanity.  This caller grew up in the Middle East and reminded Rosie that OBL killed many Muslims too.  Rosie said she doesn't begrudge the people celebrating, she was just concerned what it looks like to the world.  She said she was concerned it would create more anti-American sentiment.  The caller said he knows from experience that no matter what we do, some people in the Mideast will always hate us. 

One caller thought the U.S. was very wise in its attack against OBL.  He was glad we didn't bomb the whole compound but chose to go in and get the people we were after.  He said we took a big risk and we're allowed to be happy about it.  Rosie said no one is saying Americans aren't allowed to be happy but she said the public display of happiness might be used to perpetuate the cycle of negativity between the US and the Mideast. 

Rosie took another call from a listener who was  torn.  She had friends who died in 9/11 and has just recently had a baby.  She doesn't want the pictures of OBL released because she doesn't ever want her child to see them.  Rosie agreed and said she was glad the administration chose not to release the pictures. 

Rosie took a call from a listener who questions  the government in general and said she won't believe OBL is gone until she sees the photos.  She said she hasn't trusted the government since the Vietnam war.  The caller said she hopes it's true that OBL is dead but doesn't think she'll ever be fully convinced.

Rosie took a call from a listener who was upset at Rosie comparing Americans celebrating OBL being killed to those that celebrated the deaths of 3,000 innocent Americans.  She said one group was happy about innocent people dying and OBL was an enemy of the world.  Rosie said she in no way is saying the deaths are equal.  She said if propaganda is going to be used to fuel anti-American sentiment the images of the celebrations will only incite the negativity.  The caller said the anti-American sentiment exists whether there is celebration or not.  Rosie agreed but said you don't fight the darkness with darkness, you fight it with light.  And she said it doesn't mean she's in favor with OBL but she does think people can have differing opinions without being ostracized or demonized. 

One caller told Rosie we ARE THE GOVERNMENT and we must keep on questioning our government always.  She said we all have that right.  When the caller received the news she was happy and then it occurred to her that she was celebrating the death of a human being.  She said she hoped she would never do that again but said she celebrated that the evil was gone.  The caller said OBL was anti-human being and didn't align himself with the religion he said he represented.  And as far as the picture of OBL?  She said it makes no difference because those who will choose to do harm, will do harm with  or without the picture's release.  

Lastly, Rosie read the Dali Lama's response to OBL's death which almost seems to condone the death. He said, "In the case of bin Laden, his action was of course destructive and the September 11 events killed thousands of people…so his action must be brought to justice."  She said a lot of people may find that statement surprising. 


AMERICAN IDOL
The staff then briefly discussed last night's American Idol.  Pete thinks Haley will go home and Rosie and Bobby think Jacob will be the next to go.  Bobby thought Jacob was very off-pitch and sang a song that was way too high for him.  They played Haley singing House of a Rising Sun.  Rosie said she thought it was "kick ass."  It's worth listening to.  LISTEN

Loves it!  She's my favorite!

Rosie said she thought James did great last night and he broke her heart.  And they all thought Scotty did well too.  Deirdre thought Scotty did well but thinks he'll be the next to go. 

Rosie closed the show saying peace is possible because they discussed a very heated issue and no one yelled or screamed.  :)  She said, "See you tomorrow" and signed off.

and that's what you missed -kw