Mark McDonald WAMU 88.5's Page

NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE VIEWS OF WAMU OR AMERICAN UNIVERSITY.

Dear Loyal Customer,

Thank you for your letter complaining about our decision to increase the interest rate on your World Conqueror Gold Mastercard to 29.99%.

Our policy is to ignore complaints which we find inappropriately expressed, inordinately passionate, or pleading, but we are making an exception in your case because of your weirdly appealing British accent.

We note your explanation that you took ten days vacation a… Continue

Folks who are ancient enough still to be drooling over Paul Simon's epic album Graceland will remember one of its unfathomable but deliciously-sounding lines;

"Its all over the evening news - all about the fire in your life on the evening news." I've never had a clue what he was on about. But I know that when I came to America the Evening News really counted for something… Continue

When the manager of the Liverpool soccer team said in the 1960's that the sport was more than a matter of life and death, thankfully he was joking. These days, its hard to know if folks know the difference.

We do know that many professional sportsmen and women will sell their own mothers to win these days. Witness the baseball doping scandal, soccer's various betting scams, and the vast sums demanded by football players and boxers alike.

But even sadder is when a rare attempt at sportsmanship… Continue

Apparently Kim Jong il, North Korea's population-starving and mistress-loving "Dear Leader", is a big fan of Hollywood. His favorites, according to Wikipedia, are Rambo, Friday the 13th, Godzilla, and anything starring Elizabeth Taylor. And now the man who is scared of flying and goes everywhere by armored train is the envy of Hollywood, as well.

He's pioneered a whole new way of enticing big names to play guest star. How those horrid little entertainment shows (Entertainment Tonight, Extra) no… Continue

The BBC are being allowed back into Zimbabwe eight years after they were thrown out by the brutal Mugabe regime. CNN is also close to an agreement with the new government.

The awkward arrangement under which Morgan Tsvangirai became Prime Minister, albeit with Mugabe lurking behind his shoulder as "President", seems to be a sign that the country is turning its wounded face to the light.

For years, the BBC tried to film the rape of farms and property surreptitiously, smuggling in reporters on t… Continue