you can get it right here:
A big thank you to:
But why listen to me prattle on when you can enjoy the show!
Having tied Allen up and locked him in the radio station closet, please join substitute co-host Jeff Berkowitz and me on WRMN AM 1410 from 3 to4 p.m today. Of course Mr. Berkowtiz is the highly heralded host of Comcast’s ‘Public Affairs’ program. 
In addition to having the Heartland Institute’s Joe Bast on, we will discuss:
Of course, your calls are always welcome at 847-931-1410. You don’t wanna miss this one!
Dear Dr. Barshinger,
Though it pains me to have to take yet more time away from writing my book, I’m feeling an overwhelming urge respond to your recent “Letter from Dr. Jack Barshinger to the BPS101 Community” with my own missive.
And I’m gonna start it off with “What the bleep were you thinking?” Make no mistake, that sentiment applies to the student survey that started this firestorm, your inexplicable response to a teacher with a conscience, and your response to the ensuing parental outrage. 
Now, before you dismiss me just like you did to the bulk of D101 high school parents, students and teachers, please remember, in my eight years of op-ed efforts, I defended you and your district more than once, authored more than ten columns supporting teachers, and repeatedly championed school boards.
So with that in mind, please tell me exactly how D101 teacher John Dreyden “mischaracterized” the district’s intentions when reminding students about their Fifth Amendment rights?
Please tell me, how you would define basically forcing students to take a survey – one with their bleepin’ name pre-printed on it – that asks them to cop to a criminal act like drug use? If that ain’t self-incriminations than I don’t know what is.
With abominations like the Patriot Act and subpoenaing AP phone records, we need more John Dreydens, not less.
As to your assertion that, “At no time was student discipline discussed or contemplated as a response to disclosures made by our students, ” what’s the road to hell paved with?
How many high schools have been broken into or hacked? What’s your plan when the Batavia Police Department subpoenas one of ‘em? And even I know that teachers and staff talk in the lunchroom.
“Trust us!” you say? But why should Batavia parents put their faith in an administration that, after hammering residents on property taxes, outspent every other district at the 2012 School Leadership Conference in Chicago to the tune of 13 grand?
I certainly hope you enjoyed your $57 New York strip steak.
And then you actually had the temerity to believe that saying a vendor picked up that conference meal tab would make it better? I’m beginning to wonder if you can you even spell “conflict of interest.”
Yeah! We’ll trust you.
Your contention that “…we could’ve done a better job explaining our goals and a better job…with parents on these sensitive issues…” has to be the understatement to end all understatements. It would be far more accurate to say, “we couldn’t possibly have done a worse job of communicating our intentions and objectives.”
Look no further than the unabating weeklong fallout for all the evidence of that you need.
Then there’s this line, “District [staff] worked together for over a year to select a data-gathering instrument that could be used to determine what social or emotional issues our high school students are experiencing…”
Really? All that time and money and the best you all could come up with is a survey?
Do you really think that students doing drugs are going to be stupid enough to put in print? Do you really think students contemplating violence to themselves or others are going to simply let you in on it?
If was asked to I write down my “emotions” in high school, I’d probably still be locked up. But in the end, if you’re willing to ignore what my wife says, I turned out just fine.
Good Lord! If you and your staff really think this survey is some sort of panacea, then I will immediately start praying for all BHS students cause they’re gonna need it.
Call me crazy, but were I superintendent, I would’ve looked into how St. Charles D303 and Barrington D220 came to terms with their tragic spate of suicides. What those districts did was educate parents, students and teachers to see the signs and then set up a system where they could easily communicate with each other.
And the suicides virtually stopped.
D300 high school Principal Michael Bregy (now superintendent) even gave out his own cell phone number so students could text him. And they did! And he helped prevent a suicide!
A survey? Give me a bleepin’ break. That’s about as passive, lazy and unconstitional as it gets.
And lastly, In my multitude of columns defending school systems, I always stipulated that it was patently unfair for parents to expect our schools to raise their children. But your letter, Dr. Barshinger, clearly states that, not only are you willing to take on that responsibility, but you and your district can do a better job.
Good luck with that. Because you’re gonna need it!
But if you didn’t, don’t worry, you can get your political fix right here:
Former EPD Deputy Chief Bob Beeter
Of course Allen and are still arguing over whether Ronald Reagan was a liberal and Barack Obama is a conservative. But we all know the truth, don’t we!
Then, a Tea Partier even I can get behind, Carol Davis, joined the show to talk about how her group was targeted by the IRS. While what they did was certainly wrong, I still don’t think it’s much of a scandal.
We also covered the torrid tale of Elgin ex-Deputy Chief Bob Beeter who was just arrested for identity theft and official misconduct.
Enjoy the show!
Ask any reasonable columnist and they’ll tell you, there are editors and then there are editors. Like anything else in this imperfect world, you’ve got the good, the bad, and the ugly. And despite the lack of certainty this existence unmercifully thrusts upon us, I can say with certainty that Tim West was the good.
You see, editing an op-ed page ain’t a science, it’s an art borne of balance. Not only do the words have to fit the page, but you have to give all the devils their due while setting your own aside. Because if you let your own pride and prejudices get in the way, then you become part of the problem and not the solution.
And just when you think you’ve done it by pulling off the impossible (again) – along comes one of your bleepin’ know-it-all opinion columnists to tell you exactly where you went wrong.
And they’re always so gracious about it too!
The sad truth is, opinion columnists are the biggest pains in the ass on this planet and I should know because I was the king pain.
Oh did we fight! “You cut my column again.” “Why can’t I use ‘grow a pair’ – they say it on TV.” “I don’t want to rewrite the fifth graff, it’s fine the way it is.” “Whaddaya mean I’ve written about Chairman McConnaughay too much?” “Oh c’mon! that Tea Bagger joke was fricken’ hilarious!”
But in the end, we’d always find some sort of compromise. He knew I had something to say and I knew he ran all sorts of interference for me. We were like brothers who implicitly understood that all the silly fighting only made us stronger. When it was time to face the politicians and the public, we had each others backs.
We knew some things were far more important than either one of us.
I suppose one could say that editing an op-ed page is the art off pissing off the most people the least. Thankless, doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Now, add to that onerous burden having to endure regular surgeries while you’re doing your best to fight off a rather persistent cancer. There were some phone calls where I didn’t think Tim was going to make it through the day, but he always did.
And in this era of incessant whining, he never complained about it – not once.
In fact, if I didn’t pry it out of someone else, he never would’ve told me he had cancer. On rare occasion I could get him to talk about it, but he was always convinced that the latest surgery would do the trick and a cure was just around the corner.
I wish I could be that positive. 
Even when it became clear the cancer wasn’t going anywhere and he was toiling for a fading enterprise, Tim went to work every day, he did his job, and he persevered. And as hard as I tried, I still couldn’t slip anything past him.
But on May 14, the cancer finally accomplished something I never could, it got the best of Tim West. He peacefully passed away at Edward Hospital in Naperville.
Getting back to those too-rare certainties. I can, with certainty, say, I’m a better person for knowing Tim, a better writer for his unrelenting editorial persistence, and that I’ll miss him.
And here’s today’s show:
Thanks to Red Light Doctor Barnet Fagel for calling in and providing some fresh insights into exactly how the man stacks the red light camera deck against motorists. 
Then I went on to prove that Ronald Reagan was a liberal, the IRS scandal isn’t a scandal, and hypocritical Republicans are using Benghazi to promote their stilted revisionist agenda.
All in a days work, I suppose! Enjoy the show!
Please join Allen and myself on WRMN AM1410 from 3 to 4 p.m this and every Thursday as we do our damndest to unravel the most pressing issues of the day including, but not limited to: 
And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, forensic video expert Barnet Fagel, The Red Light Doctor, joins the show.
Of course, we always love your calls at 847-931-1410.
See you then!
