cannabisnews.com: Babs Takes Her Radio Show to Sin-Filled Amsterdam





Babs Takes Her Radio Show to Sin-Filled Amsterdam
Posted by FoM on April 12, 2000 at 12:55:14 PT
By Brian Lambert, Media Columnist
Source: Pioneer Planet
Have you noticed how Southern California has lost its luster as the embodiment of everything permissive and sinful?Today, if your point is that the world has gone to hell, and that sex, drugs and every immoral act have become accepted practice, you don't make reference to Los Angeles or Hollywood anymore. No. 
The single most permissive, sinful, degraded place on the planet has become -- Amsterdam, Netherlands.Which explains almost everything about why Barbara Carlson of KSTP-AM (1500) is broadcasting live from Amsterdam this morning (5 a.m.-8 a.m. and maybe longer if things are rolling well), and every morning this week, through Thursday.Babs called late last week all excited about the trip. ``We're going to get into some very hot, provocative stuff,'' she promised.While every employee spends a good chunk of company time scheming to get the boss to send them off to someplace exotic (personally, I'm working on that big satellite TV revolution story in Furudu), Babs insists there are bona fide social issues to be embraced and debated across the pond.Personally, I cringe at the thought of Babs' ``boys'' -- Tom Goodrich, Dan Terhaar, Mark O'Connell and Brad Lane -- running amok in Amsterdam's notorious Red Light District. But Babs insists she and her posse are there for business.``It's because of Jesse,'' she says, referring to our esteemed governor, a noted supporter of legalized prostitution, soft drugs and various lifestyles abhorrent to AM 1500's core audience.``He doesn't say much about it now that he's governor, but it was all there in his Playboy interview. The drug war has been a disaster. A good case can be made for legalizing prostitution. So we're going there to see how it actually works in a country that has allowed all this for many years now.''``Barbara came to me with this idea about four months ago,'' says her boss, program director Todd Fisher. ``I asked her if this was just another of her frivolous ideas and she said, `No, I'm serious about this and I'm going to fight for it.'``So, she and the guys came up with a very thoughtful plan for the week. We worked it out with Northwest (Airlines), who were very helpful, and it's a go. The idea is we're going to take a close look at a society living under the conditions the governor says should exist here.''Twin Cities listeners, and by that I mean the Twin Cities' most conservative listeners (AM-1500's core audience), can expect to hear interviews with working prostitutes, most of whom we suspect are not morally opposed to prostitution.Ditto, there will likely be Amsterdam interviewees on the subject of the ready availability of marijuana and hashish, gay and lesbian marriages and various forms of parapsychology. (If the same crowd that listens to Laura Schlessinger, Rush Limbaugh, Joe Soucheray and Jason Lewis actually gets a load of all this, somebody back here in the Twin Cities should expect a run on defibrillators.)We had to ask Fisher if he had issued any direct admonitions. Such as, ``No smoking dope on the air.''``No,'' Fisher said. ``But we did have a lot of discussions about that. What it comes down to is a question of personal lifestyles. Our people aren't part of that lifestyle here, and we don't expect them to make it a part of their lifestyle there.``So, no. I don't think you're going to hear anyone rolling up a doobie on the air.''Still, since the point of the trip is to get a realistic feel of Amsterdam's wide-open, permissive society, it's possible someone among Babs and the Boys might -- might -- actually purchase a little legal sin. As a journalistic exercise, you understand. In order to report, authoritatively.All of which conjures a scene weeks later in Hubbard Broadcasting's most executive suite, as President Stanley S. Hubbard, a well-known nonpermissive, reviews expense reports from this Dutch junket . . .(Beep of the intercom). ``Uh, Todd, this is Stanley -- Hubbard -- senior. Would you care to explain how and why I paid for six French ticklers, three ounces of Afghani hashish, 14 Thai sticks and something called a `Five-Star Premiere Session' at Gerta's House of Earthly Delights?'' Media writer Brian Lambert can be reached at: blambert pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-5424.WHAT: Barbara Carlson, live from AmsterdamWHERE: KSTP-AM, 1500WHEN: Daily 5-8 a.m.; Today-ThursdayPublished: Tuesday, April 11, 2000 © 2000 PioneerPlanet / St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press
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Comment #4 posted by firefly on April 13, 2000 at 12:56:59 PT:
Amsterdam!!
 The fools who know Amsterdam as a only a haven of sin would be quite surprised with the Ryks museum, or the open friendly nature of the Dutch people. Also, Cannabis is as much a part of their culture as it is ours but those of us who embrace our heritage are persecuted for our action. Wake up America!!! 
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Comment #3 posted by fivepounder on April 12, 2000 at 20:41:05 PT
Amsterdam's the place
Amsterdam, the way it should be.  The best part about Amsterdam is that no one really cares. Whichever 'so-called ' vice you decide to partake in over there, no one raises an eyebrow. Its just no big deal. Its great. Its civilized, its tolerent and its not punative like the powers to be are making this country.
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Comment #2 posted by Freedom on April 12, 2000 at 18:57:55 PT
Sodom and Gomorrah.
A society that tolerates prostitution and soft drug use...A society that also has one of the lowest heroin abuse rates, and does not have women being victimized within the black market model of prostitution. And, has lower soft drug usage rates than America across the board.Is it not utterly silly to suggest any American city is less sinful, that there is less prostitution and soft drug use than in Amsterdam? Besides, I have always been baffled by the fact a woman is free to give her body away to any stranger she chooses at a nightclub, but if she charges for the service, she is suddenly fodder for the criminal system.Shall we jail all who engage in premarital sex? Dr. Laura-types surely consider it sinful, and would we not wish to send the proper message, and discourage sin?It would appear to me the sin is the use of the law to protect people from themselves, which is counter-productive. People are hurt more by soft drugs and prostitution in the U.S., than in Holland. Three cheers for Barbara, and tolerance. Amsterdam makes the U.S. look like public policy neanderthals.
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Comment #1 posted by Dankhank on April 12, 2000 at 18:51:55 PT:
Amsterdam
Don't lets kid ourselves shall we?The boys will be "loose for a while, no doubt ...With the many "coffeeshops" spotted around the city, including quite a few in the red light district they will be able to induldge in a couple of interesting activities all in the same block.I hope, though, that they will avail themselves of some of the cultural and historical sites in that fair city.The Hash Museum would be a good place to start ... :-)
Hemp n Stuff
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