Don McNay on Joe Elliott Show

Don McNay on the Joe Elliott Show

I will be on the Joe Elliott show on Thursday at 9 p.m. Joe has a tremendous show on WHAS-AM in Louisville. It is 840 on the AM dial and can be picked up around the United States. you can also listen on the internet at http://www.whas.com/main.html

Anniversary of Ollie McNay's Death

Anniversary of Ollie McNay's Death

Thursday, 29 March 2007

Monday, April 2 marks the first anniversary of my mother, Ollie McNay’s death. The death of my mother and sister in the same year has been one of the toughest challenges my family ever faced. We are moving forward and doing well. Through mom and Theresa’s death, I have been able to re-connect to several childhood friends and it has been great to have them in my life again. I am enclosing some articles that give you a better idea of who she was. I particularly enjoyed the second column about a collector for MBNA bank who claimed to talk to her a couple of months after she died. I wish he really could have talked to mom. For several reasons. http://www.donmcnay.com/content/view/61/9/ http://www.donmcnay.com/content/view/34/9/ http://www.donmcnay.com/content/view/40/9/ http://www.donmcnay.com/content/view/63/9/ I made a very tough decision to list mom’s house for sale. My nephew, Nick McNay, oversaw an extensive renovation project and did an amazing job. I am enclosing a link to the various pictures. For those of you who saw the house before the renovation, it is an entirely different world. http://www.sibcycline.com/viewlisting.asp?mls=341402&b=NKY&p=RESI&s=SFRD&m=1&sender=SearchResults llie and Theresa McNay Scholarship Fund Thursday, 29 March 2007 My sister, Theresa, and I made the decision at mom’s death to create the Ollie McNay Nursing Scholarship at Eastern Kentucky University. The scholarship is designated for a nursing student who is a single parent at Eastern Kentucky University. Ideally the student will be from Kenton County or Northern Kentucky. When Theresa died in October, we changed the name of the scholarship to the Ollie and Theresa McNay Nursing Scholarship. Theresa was not a nurse but a single parent like my mom. It seemed appropriate. The fund needed $10,000 to be endowed. It made the $10,000 goal, primarily from people who read my newspaper column online. Most of the contributions were in the $25 to $50 range. I am truly grateful for the outpouring of support. It meant a lot to me and my family at a very difficult time. Now of course, I am asking you to give again. I would appreciate any contribution you can make. You can send donations to: Ollie and Theresa McNay Nursing Scholarship, EKU Foundation, Eastern Kentucky University, CPO 19A, 521 Lancaster Ave, Richmond, KY 40475 Eastern Kentucky University allows you to make donations via credit card. Since mom was apparently speaking to credit card company representatives well after her death, it may be the appropriate way to go. If you donate online, please designate the Ollie and Theresa McNay Scholarship in the right corner. https://lv0.net/Form/EKUDevelOffice/EKUAFS

Howard Kurtz, Ken Kurtz & The Future of News

Ken Kurtz, Howard Kurtz and the Future of News

“I'll be a virgin for you and lay my body down
cause I know more tricks than a rodeo clown"

-Julie Brown (from the movie Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful)

Last Sunday was my first exposure to an obnoxious jerk named Glenn Beck. I’ve managed to live 48 years without ever hearing, reading or seeing any of Mr. Beck’s work as a “commentator,” but he recently showed up on one of my favorite television programs, CNN’s Reliable Sources, hosted by Howard Kurtz.

During the interview, Beck said he was not a journalist but more like a “rodeo clown.”

Reliable Sources examines the media and does it well. Beck questioned about some of his outlandish statements. It was also a chance for the network to showcase Beck, who appears on CNN Headline News, an affiliate of CNN.

Kurtz did a decent job questioning Beck, but the segment was an waste of time. Beck was treated too much like a serious journalist and not enough like a self-described “rodeo clown”.

I watch Reliable Sources to learn about journalism. If I want to watch rodeo clowns, I’ll watch the rodeo.

It made me wonder if another Kurtz, Ken Kurtz, would have booked a guest like Beck.

The Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame is naming Ken Kurtz as a member next month. It is an overdue honor for one of Kentucky’s best newsmen.

Ken was the long-time news director at WKYT television in Lexington. Although he has “retired” from journalism for several years, someone forgot to tell Ken. He is still one of the best newshounds in Kentucky and a man who has the inside scoop. His enthusiasm for news-gathering and for life is contagious.

He is a nice guy, but I suspect he was a demanding boss. He frequently sends me criticisms of my column as well as ideas for improvement.

Yet even when expressing disagreement, he is still tolerant of others’ viewpoints and is never personal or mean.

That is what separates him from the Glenn Beck’s of the world. To grab attention, Beck pushes the envelope on how obnoxious he can be.

Being outrageous is a quicker path to fame and glory than serious journalism. Anne Coulter is making more money than the people who win Pulitzer prizes. Beck probably is too.

I wonder if the Ken Kurtz news model can survive.

Ken’s broadcasts were first in the ratings and usually by a wide margin. He built his broadcasts on local talent, hard news and pleasant on-camera personalities. If you meet the reporters that Ken hired, like Barbara Bailey or Bill Bryant, they are just as nice off air as they appear on air. They are also serious journalists.

I’ve never heard Barb and Bill refer to themselves as rodeo clowns.

A Ken Kurtz news broadcast was a newscast, not an opinion show.

A true television newscast is getting hard to find. CNN Headline News used to be my first choice, but I quit watching it when they started featuring “commentators” like Beck and Nancy Grace.

For the sake of ratings, many stations forgo political coverage and focus on sex, blood and drugs. Because it works, that trend will increase in the future.

I frequently watch WYMT’s newscasts from Hazard on my computer. You can tell that Neil Middleton, the news director, was trained by Ken Kurtz. Neil’s broadcasts have friendly, home-grown reporters who do serious news. There may be a day when Middleton sends his angelic news anchor Danielle Morgan (daughter of a Leslie County preacher) to pose as an undercover street hooker, but it hasn’t happened yet.

I hope it never does.

I know that being edgy sells. My most outrageous columns are the ones people remember, and they are also the ones that get tons of hate mail.

I don’t write to get ratings; I write because I am mad and want politicians to do something.

There is a line between true outrage and being a rodeo clown. I don’t want rodeo clowns in the news business.

I don’t think Howard Kurtz does either. He ought to bring the other Kurtz on his show.

Instead of learning how to be an obnoxious jerk like Beck, we could learn how to be a Hall-of-Famer.

The news business would be better off all around.

Don McNay is Chairman of McNay Settlement Group, where we hope Glenn Beck never comes to visit. You can write to him at don@donmcnay.com or read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com. His award-winning column is syndicated on the CNHI News Service, and he is on the Board of Directors for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

Behind the Column

Ken Kurtz. If there is a picture of Ken Kurtz anywhere in the public domain I was unable to find it.

Glenn Beck. If you want to learn about Glenn Beck, you will have to do it on your own. I am not going to help the "rodeo clown" promote himself.

You can find pictures of Glen Kleine. My former journalism professor at Eastern Kentucky University will go into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame on April 10th along with Ken Kurtz and others.

Dr. Kleine and Dr. Libby Fraas taught me what I know about journalism. If you don't like something I write, please copy them on the complaint.

Reliable Sources is one of the best shows on television. It is one of the reasons I worship my Tivo. I rarely catch the show live.

I've wanted to use a Julie Brown song for a long time. I'm glad this opportunity came up. Brown was a star of early MTV and one of the comic geniuses of the 1980's. Medusa: Dare to the Truthful is a dead-on parody of Madonna's movie, Truth or Dare.

Brown also co starred with Geena Davis in the movie, Earth Girls Are Easy. Brown sang the classic song, Because I'm a Blond, I don't have to think.

Don McNay

Author & Syndicated Columnist

Don McNay is an award winning syndicated columnist and author who views life with a rock and roll attitude.

He is the author of The Unbridled World of Ernie Fletcher.

McNay writes a weekly business and social commentary column and a bi-weekly column that focuses on Kentucky politics. All columns intertwine commentary with lyrics from popular songs.

Don's columns appear in the Richmond (Kentucky) Register and syndicated to over 200 cities through the CNHI News Service. He has also written for Trial Magazine, National Underwriter, Claims Magazine, Probe, Trial Diplomacy Journal and numerous business and legal publications.

McNay is one of the world's most successful structured settlement consultants for injury victims and lottery winners.

He has been named to the Million Dollar Round Table for 22 consecutive years and to the Top of the Million Dollar Round Table eight times. He has spoken to over 100 legal and financial groups around the United States, Canada and Bermuda. He holds several professional designations and was a director of the National Structured Settlement Trade Association from 1998 to 2001.

McNay has appeared on numerous television and talk radio programs and is a frequent guest on Kentucky Educational Television's Comment on Kentucky.

McNay has Master's degrees from Vanderbilt University and the American College in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University and was inducted into the EKU Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 1998.

Don has been featured in Forbes Magazine, The Lexington Herald Leader, The Courier Journal, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Registered Representative Magazine and Financial Planning Magazine.

Don McNay

don@donmcnay.com

P.O. Box 747, Richmond, Ky. 40476-0747

Anna Nicole and Dying Rich

Anna Nicole and Dying Rich

“Get Rich or Die Trying”

-50 Cent

I just watched the movie, Get Rich or Die Trying. The main character was a fascinating study of someone who viewed money and status as the key to happiness.

Being rich doesn’t make you happy. Ask anyone who knew Anna Nicole Smith if you need more elaboration.

The saddest are those who get rich through lottery, inheritance or some other one time money, and then blow it.

They had a chance but couldn’t make it work.

It’s been said that 90% of people who receive a lump sum of money will run through it all in five years or less. After 24 years of doing financial counseling for lottery winners and injured people, I am sure that that figure is correct.

It overwhelms most people to receive a large lump sum of money. They make mistakes and let people take advantage of them.

Some people view the wasted lives of lottery winners as proof that money is evil.

Money isn’t evil. Even quick money is not evil. Money allows us to feed our families and live a high-quality lifestyle. It is the exchange system we use to translate work product into rewards.

Get rich or die is not a motto to many people; it is a lifestyle. Like sex, drugs and rock- and-roll, money can become an obsession.

Just watching people with money, like Anna Nicole or Paris Hilton, has become important to some people.

It is said that money is the root of all evil. A television minister named Reverend Ike said that the lack of money is the root of all evil.

I say that the lack of respect for money is really the root of all evil.

I’ve dealt with over 2,000 people have come into instant money either through a settlement or a lottery. The people that set financial limits and goals live happily. Those without limits often end up making a fool out of themselves.

The unhappy people did not have respect for the money. Money is like fire or a dangerous substance. You have to understand that it can do for good and evil.

If, after receiving a lump sum of money, you take 50 of your closest “friends” to the Super Bowl, you don’t have respect for the money. If you go into a strip joint with $600,000 in cash, like Powerball winner Jack Whitaker did, you don’t have respect for the money.

Most people have friends within 15% of their own income class. When someone wealthy has friends who are poor, it is hard for them to do the same things socially.

Some big spenders think that money can buy them love, friends or happiness.

What kind of person would want “love” from someone who wants them only for their money?

It would be a lot cheaper and productive to dump the “friend” and spend the money on a good therapist.

There is not a law against being stupid. When a 60-year-old lottery winner suddenly gets an 18-year-old lover, the lover is not with them for their looks.

I really don’t understand the inner mind of people who leech. They are certainly out there. Look at the big “posse” that lottery winners have.

How much self-respect can a person like that have? I wonder how people get up in the morning knowing that they are going to suck money from someone who trusts them?

People who earn money learn to respect its power. You don’t see many self-made millionaires doing the stupid things that lottery winners are known for.

Go to a self-made person and see if they are paying people to be their friends. It does not happen. The self-made person has sweat and stress invested in the creation of money.

They view their money with proper respect.

Three has been too much media coverage of Anna Nicole. She did not earn her wealth or make the world a better place. Her big accomplishment was inheriting money.

She managed to be rich and die trying.

Don McNay is Chairman of McNay Settlement Group where we want our client to get rich and live through the experience. You can write to him at don@donmcnay.com or read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com. His award winning column is syndicated on the CNHI News Service.

Obits from Northern Kentucky

OBITS FROM NORTHERN KENTUCKY

I wanted to note the passing of two Northern Kentuckian who had an impact on my life.

Jack Kinsella

Jack owned the West Side Café in Newport which was a hotbed of working class political activism.

Jack was a great friend of my father and I worked in a deli across from the West Side all during high school. The years in Newport had a tremendous impact on how I view the world and my writings 30 years later reflects it.

Jack was one of the nicest human beings I have ever met. He was the ultimate soft touch for someone down on their luck and there were a lot of people down on their luck on the West Side of Newport.

In the 1970’s Newport High School had the second highest dropout rate in the country and the city was the true definition of economic depression. As the great KET documentary, Where the River Bends, notes, the city has come a long way since then.

I have not seen Jack since my father’s funeral in 1993 but know that he never gave up his affinity for the hard working people who came into his café.

Another part of me was formed during that time period. The food at the West Side was incredible and I gained a bunch of weight.

Here is a link to a Cincinnati Enquirer profile of Jack: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070316/NEWS0104/703160372/1060/NEWS01

Hilda Robinson

I never met Ms. Robinson but she had an tremendous impact on Kentucky through her son, William T. (Bill) Robinson III, who is a powerhouse on the Kentucky legal, business and political scene.

Her grandson, William T. (Tay) Robinson IV, is a structured settlement consultant who started his career with McNay Settlement Group and we remain good friends. Tay’s father in law, Ed Currin, is a funeral director who did a wonderful job with my mother and sister’s funerals last year.

Enclosed is an obituary and profile from the Kentucky Post: http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070316/NEWS03/703160367/-1/all

Unbridled Walk Home

Unbridled Walk Home

“These boots are made for walking. That’s just what they’ll do. One of these days these boots are going to walk all over you.”

-Nancy Sinatra

I wrote The Unbridled World of Ernie Fletcher. Although the book is somewhat critical of Kentucky’s governor, the last chapter says he will get re-elected.

I need to rewrite that chapter. He is not going to make it.

It is difficult to beat an incumbent Kentucky Governor. Due to the incumbent’s ability to raise money and command the media spotlight, it is seemingly impossible for him/her to lose.

Ernie Fletcher is proving me wrong.

In the past, I’ve stuck to my re-election prediction in numerous media appearances. In spite of his indictments, pardons, noodling, and having spent tax dollars on his dog, I’ve clung to the idea that Fletcher would walk into a second term.

Then I saw his television commercial.

If you have not seen it, you need to. The producers spent a lot of money but accomplish absolutely nothing.

Expect to make Fletcher a laughingstock.

It shows a child walking past playground bullies and then later growing up to become Governor Ernie Fletcher

Who is this commercial trying to appeal to? People who got beaten up by playground bullies?

I was beaten up by playground bullies in the second grade. How did I solve it? I had a growth spurt. In the third grade, I was the biggest guy in my class. No one wanted to mess with me then.

If Governor Fletcher had had an emotional growth spurt at any time during his administration, no one would have messed with him. He could have walked into re-election with nominal opposition.

Instead, seven or eight serious candidates are running against him.

When the hiring scandal came along, he needed to stop self-pitying and take responsibility. When problems arose within his administration, he needed to suck it up and show leadership.

When you are over 50 and have been a doctor, preacher, fighter pilot and governor, it is time to grow up and get over it. Criticism comes with the job.

Fletcher has never been able to get over that aspect of being in the public eye. He must be the most thinned-skinned person to ever hold office. I have never been crazy about his whining in the free media, but I am stunned that his campaign blew contributions on commercials that stroke Fletcher’s ego without even trying to pick up new voters.

People were anticipating the ad and expecting Fletcher to rise in the polls. It won’t happen. I’d be amazed to see any poll that shows that the advertisement worked. If it does, I am going to start crying in public and asking people to send me money.

Moreover, there are factual flaws in the commercial. It shows Fletcher walking from his office to the Governor’s mansion. In reality, Fletcher doesn’t walk: he takes a limo ride for the 500 FEET between the Governor’s office and the Governor’s mansion.

They don’t even have him walking from his actual office. They have him coming from the Supreme Court two floors above his. Being in the neighborhood was close enough.

The commercial shows Fletcher’s disconnection with reality. People in Kentucky have real problems and need real leadership. Fletcher has been in a position to provide it and has failed.

Harry Truman said, “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

He didn’t say wallow in self pity and make commercials about it.

I don’t know who will beat Governor Fletcher. Someone will. His opponents have yet to captivate the public’s attention, but Fletcher is so self-consumed that I can’t see how he would make it.

I have a vested interest in Ernie. He helped me sell a lot of books. He is my answer to Dan Quayle. It’s hard to find politicians who spend $5000 for a secret office door and

whose airplane caused panic in the nation’s capitol. You can’t make stuff like that up.

I planned on writing a Fletcher sequel, but I am now writing about lottery winners instead. I know they will be around next year.

Fletcher is obsessed with walking all over his critics. Unless things change quickly, he is going to take a long walk himself.

Ex-governors don’t get to ride in the limo.

Don McNay is the author of the Unbridled World of Ernie Fletcher. You can write to him at don@donmcnay.com or read what he has written at www.donmcnay.com. His award-winning column is syndicated on the CNHI News Service.

Credit Score Insanity

Credit Score Insanity

I hope that it's only amnesia

Believe me, I'm sick but not insane

Pousette-Dart Band

People often ask me personal finance questions. The most common is how to improve their credit history score.

If you need to improve your credit score, it means you have lousy credit. Before trying to fix the score, people need to ask themselves how their credit got so bad to begin with.

Some would be better off not having access to credit at all. They can’t handle it.

I’m not talking about people who got behind because of medical bills, life emergencies, or unemployment. Those are people with a good credit history who had something bad happen to them. They deserve a second chance.

Almost anyone who went through Hurricane Katrina has a lousy credit score. Many lost everything. Borrowing money could help them get their lives back together.

I’m focused on the other category: people who spend beyond their means or spend money on stupid stuff.

I don’t want those people to have access to credit; if they do, they will get in trouble again.

They need to figure out how they got in trouble the first time.

They need to look at themselves and understand some basic principles about finance.

I tell people to spend less, pay for things in cash, start budgeting and write down all of their expenditures.

Many need to learn the difference between needs and wants. People need food, clothing and shelter. They don't need the latest IPod or videogame.

Yet often times when it comes to those extravagancies, they never really want the item that badly in the first place. Rather, they feel as though they need it to keep up appearances.

People often get into trouble trying to keep up with friends and neighbors who also make stupid spending decisions.

Once that spirals starts, it rarely stops. Those who are caught up in it spend all of their lives trying to keep ahead of creditors.

And they think that getting more credit is their answer.

My advice rarely goes anywhere. Particularly with those out to impress their buddies.

It reminds me of a scene in the movie Saturday Night Fever where Tony’s boss tells him to think about the future. Tony says, “**** the future.” The boss responds, “if you say **** the future, the future will **** you.”

Few would draw philosophical insights from a film like Saturday Night Fever. Yet Tony’s remark is a good example of the kind of attitude people have when they come to me for credit score help. They blow their money every weekend and have no long-range plan.

Gamblers have a term for people with that type of financial outlook: suckers. They call the money that these people spend “sucker money”.

There are a lot of suckers out there. Likewise, there are a lot of people who want to take advantage of them.

If you have a lousy credit rating, there are a host of the sub-prime lenders, high-interest credit card issuers, check cashing companies and payday lenders dying to get their hands on you. They will give you more debt and more bills to pay.

A cottage industry has developed among companies claiming they can improve people’s credit scores.

I’ve never seen these companies achieve any real success. They prey on suckers looking for quick and easy solutions. Since the companies charge a hefty fee for their services, they get debtors even further into debt.

There are two simple ways to improve your credit score. One is to pay your bills on time. The other is to not have as many debts. If you don’t have many creditors, it is easy to handle what debt you have.

I give that advice often. I then watch people’s eyes glaze over.

If I were to turn evil and offer them an easy credit fix or a payday loan, I’d become a billionaire.

It is not easy to get people to take a hard look at themselves. Addiction to credit is like addiction to anything else: people usually won’t get help until they bottom out.

When people with poor credit get themselves together, they often get amnesia about what got them in trouble. They make the same mistakes over and over.

That is not amnesia; that is insanity.

Don McNay is Chairman of McNay Settlement Group, where we help people make sane financial decisions. You can write to him don@donmcnay.com or read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com. His award-winning column is syndicated on the CNHI News Service and via RRP International. He is on the Board of Directors for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.