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The good doctor
I'm in a minority on this one among liberals, but I like Dr. Bill Wattenburg's show, broadcast late nights on KGO-AM (810) when I'm usually driving home from a concert. I've had passengers threaten to jump out of the car...but I love this stuff.
He gets me mad enough to stay awake, and I learn some science from him. I also think he's right about nuclear energy, especially in contrast to coal, which has caused more pollution on earth than anyone wants to admit.
But Saturday I was a bit shocked when he was debating water boarding and kept talking about prisoners "drownding." Hear it here, at the 10 p.m. hour.
I don't know. We all make mistakes, but Dr. Bill (real name Dr Willard H. (Bill) Wattenburg) is known as the world's smartest man, or some such nonsense, and he certainly likes to yell at people when they make a mistake.
So, I'm just sayin....DROWNDING ain't no word in English, good doctor. Common usage outside trailer parks is DROWNING.
OK. My two cents. This may be the only time I know something Dr. Bill didn't. Oh yeah. I also knew that GW was going to be a lousy president and John McCain was a loser too.
But you can't know it all, even if you say you do.
PS: As for water boarding, I say, if you support it, you should be willing to try it first. Think any of these hosts will sign up for that?
Comments
Always be wary of a *self-described* "smartest man in the world". He's like those Enron executives who were the smartest guys in the room.
It's always a good idea to call Dr. Bill up and bad-mouth nuclear power, or advocate saving trees or endangered animals. He gets so worked up with his yelling and profanity, it sounds like he's about to blow a gasket!
Cheap shot - sort of. I heard it also. But Dr. Bill was raised a self-educated country boy, to become a professor of physics and engineering at Berkeley. His English is usualy flawless.
Then another Bush-bash? I've yet to see press comments on "America's smartest president" Obama's visits to "57 states - just two more to go..." or his inability to recall the "Austrian word for ..." or his reference to "Cinco de quatro" on May 4th.
Give us a break. The column is stealth politics. Or, are these just awfully slow news days?
Dr.Bill is pretty smart He knows it's best to tread softly around Chu.
Dr. Bill is one of the smartest guys around.. I have heard a lot of smart people say it.. But I have never heard him 'self describe' himself as that..
Another cheap shot zelig..
Having listened to W. for years, he has never used profanity on the air either.. that was a lie as well. Are you a leftists by chance? Just an educated guess.
The usual vitriol Dr.Bill spews on the likes of the Sierra Club or Al Gore or Nancy Pelosi seems to be "missing in action" when it comes to the new energy secretary, Steven Chu. As usual, Dr.Bill avoids identifying and targeting any specific scientist, but instead reserves his vitriol for the non-scientist politician or civilian. When face with his scientific equal(or in this instance, his superior), our brave doctor loses his nerve. Infact, he becomes down-right cordial and deferential.
Dr.Bill has never backed away from pointing out the frauds no matter how high and mighty they may be.
True, it's still early, but it will be interesting to see if Dr.Bill steps up his criticism(even if a bit less venomously)when or if Chu fails to toe the nuclear line. Notice too, how those he deems as otherwise decent fellows(Arnold), are never evil leftist scoundrels or nincompoops but simply well-intentioned innocents being misled or duped or pressured by the all-powerful Sierra Club. Why is it that Al Gore or Nancy Pelosi aren't dupes of second-rate scientists?
Bernie Ward(former KGO host) was certainly wrong about a few things, but on this he may have hit the nail on the head: When the time to enlist for battle arrives, the chicken-hawk clings tightly to its' perch(just ask Mr.Oswalt of the California EPA). Is that clucking we hear doc? Or is it the knocking of chicken-hawk knees?
Oswalt? I thought he was dead or in prison or something for assasinating MLK.
Dr.Bill Wattenburg of KGO radio is running scared from the new Energy Secretary (Steven Chu). Billy, stop avoiding the elephant in the room.
Is cold fusion energy possible and if it's possible can it be used for power instead of nuclear energy?
Dr.Bill smart? Absolutely! Smart enough to stay clear of Steven Chu!
That's the BEST you can come up with? You are an imbecile.
Yup. That's the best I got.
Notice how Sue does'nt refute any of my assertions(1)that Steven Chu is not promoting nuclear energy(at least not very strongly) and (2)that Dr.Bill is not taking Chu to task for it(at least not with the usual vitriol he reserves for less formidable targets). But of course, name-calling is the common response for those who are confronted with annoying facts. Come on Suzie. Ask any KGO radio listener and they'll confirm my assertions(if they're honest). Dr.Bill is smart enough to know when he is over-matched. Chu's credentials have Bill a bit intimidated.
For those who think that Br Bill is afraid of Dr Chu or his credentials perhaps you should consider that Dr. Chu is in an inconspicuous position, especially considering the present state of politics, the all out blitz to take over health care and to pass "cap and trade"which is merely a scheme to enrich people who produce nothing ( speculators and lawyers). Dr, Chu has espoused nuclear power but he is fighting 30+ years of active aggression against nuclear power and has only been in his position for a few months. Now , if Dr. Bill Wattenburg thought Dr. Chu was flaking out or selling out he would eat him for lunch on his program just as he eats all wimpy leftists who can't think in coherent ways. He is scientist through and through, doesn't tolerate stupidity and is being fair and allowing Dr. Chu to use his considerable intelligence to establish a coherent, scientific energy policy.
Of course Dr.Bill does'nt think Chu is selling-out or flaking-out(as you put it). Chu is being true to his beliefs(which are much less nulcear energy dominated as Bill's). Dr. Bill bleeds nuclear energy(anyone who has listened to his KGO program knows this). Ninety-six percent of Bill's show is about the urgency and vital importance of nuclear energy above all other issues(the other four percent he spends on things like explaining the inner workings of 9-volt batteries to 11-year-olds. Anyone who has not realized the critcal and obvious importance of nuclear energy as the single most pressing issue facing America(and the world) is a nin-com-poop, as far as Bill is concerned. And all who have listened(even sparingly) to his program know Bill spares no vitriol for those who fail to see what is so very clear to him. But where's the big bad boisterous Bill now that Chu's in town? Cowering, I suspect. Or perhaps it's the old "don't speak ill of fellow Lawrence Livermore Labbies".
That question bears repeating: Where's the Big Bad Boisterous Bill now that Chu's in towm?
Everyone can make a mistake, I understand we won't accept mistakes from such a smart man. I do not agree with you about " he wants to scream..." He tries to correct people (at least he tries to make them believ his adeas) and when the callers are from some side that doesn't like this kind of radio programs, then it is normal that'll be some tension there.
i hear wattenberg attack people viviously on the the air and he is totally wrong. i would love to see him kicked off the air actually. one night a women called in about the dead areas of the ocean and he insulted her and denied there was such a thing. have you seen it ... if not then you're ignorant. you eco-feak ... i wish they would take his good idea of dropping food and water over disasters areas, and then toss him out of the plane as well! ;-)
Yes, but why is Dr. Bill suddenly mute about Steven Chu? It is clear that Chu is not advancing nuclear energy as Bill so strongly advises. Where's that brave, bold, boisterous Bill?
I used to admire Dr Bill when I was young.
But I think now he is more of a politician now than a scientist.
A scientist is supposed to be objective , and a true scientist can admit
they are wrong.
the Japanese Disasters too much for ya are they?
Im drownding in your ENVY!
still thing wattenberg is right about nuclear energy now that japan had a major accident.
i think wattenberg is a smart guy, i listen to his show for a few hours to get one good idea ... occasionally, but he is a jerk.
this is the problem with our industry, it's that they talk confident and bully people around, and it is only later when it is too late that people find out just how much they don't know.
japan has the smarted highest tech on the planet and the sorry systems they had in place to safeguard these reactors make my stomach turn.
the arrogance and contempt that wattenberg expresses to the people he thinks are so far beneath him is exactly the problem with nuclear energy ... and i support nuclear ... i just thing plants ought to be designed to shut down ... because none of these plants today can really shut down without just running in an idle mode that needs power, water and people around. that is not sufficient.
Wattenburg is a bully. I rarely listen, but when I do it's like a soap opera -- I mean, tune in any moment, any month or year and you'll hear the same thing. Nuclear energy good, environmentalists bad. If you disagree, you'll be mowed down. I did look at his page on the KGO website, where he has references to nuclear power that are worded as though for an 8-year-old. Last night he was a guest on another show and intimated that people who are concerned about the nuclear disaster in Japan are overlooking all those made homeless, injured, hungry and grieving from the earthquake and tsunami. A cheap shot. He talked about nuclear power - it's basically harmless! You can bathe in it, sprinkle it on your cereal, take it home and let your children play with it.... Okay, a slight exaggeration, but he underplayed what many, many others are saying about the potential for harm.
the people who complain about Bill shouldn't listen and try other talk shows. he is more interesting than the other liberals of san. fran.
Bill is obviously a smart guy...but he is afraid of talking about the biggest economic problem in california---the unfunded and absurd pensions promised to cops,firemen prison guards.
With that logic, you'd have to spend time in jail before you could send convicted felons there.
Thank you for the memories Dr. Bill.
I'll never forget your show when a CARB weenie phoned. http://killcarb.org/CARBweene.mp3
I hope you use some of that mountain of gold to start your own radio station, or rescue one from bankruptcy. Hire some of your former co-workers while you're at it! This would be a good time to finally kill CARB. Here in Canada, our local bureaucracy are falling all over themselves to emulate that crooked unelected cabal.
History teaches us that the first victim in war is always the truth. Future history will teach us that Cumulus will behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
LOL - Dr. Bill is a hick at heart ... he says "drownding". the great state of "warshington", "reminants" and other goof-ballisms. Maybe that is why he seems to have such a chip on his shoulder and be mad at the world despite life having been more than great to him. He is a smart guy, but that is not what I hold against him ... i do not like his show because he is a bully who twists the truth to suit his own ends for no real reason except to be an arrogant know it all and rub it in everyone's nose. Yes, he has done amazing things, and I respect and admire that, he lives life his own way and that is great, I just do not think he is at his best as a talk show host and I am glad there will finally be something else to listen to on weekend nights but ecofreak insults and ads for nuclear power. I would not have minded hearing either Rothman or Burns in that slot, or even Wattenburg if that old dog could learn how to refain from being such an old grump.
The "smartest man" sobriquet came from a well-publicized consulting job Dr Bill did in Alamo, IIRC. He figured out - ON THE AIR - why the water in Alamo homes was blue. KGO's advertising dubbed Dr Bill "the smartest man in the world." I never heard him say it. If Dr Bill wants to continue I radio, I hope to hear it.
But he is 74.
Drownding-drowning, tomato-tomahtoe, wash-warsh, wata-water, different regions have different pronunciations. It does not matter how it's pronounced as long as the receiver gets the message. And you have the nuts as a writer to use "ain't". You have no credibility.
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