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(Gen. Zia - Tea and Kleenex - there's a message here)

When this interview was conducted on May 18, 1980, Afghanistan was under Soviet occupation a little over six months. There was also the matter of fifty American hostages in Tehran and the U.S. elections heating up. Zia headed up a military coup that overthrew the legitimate elected government of Ali Bhutto and after staging a rather dubious trial, executed him, much to the shock and horror of the rest of the world. Zia would later die in a helicopter crash, also of dubious circumstances.

I think it would be fair to say that the instability of the region has a long history and having Atomic weapons capabilities makes the stomach turn just a bit faster as a result.

General Zia managed to conduct a one-on-one with Walter Cronkite and offered a few insights that, in hindsight may seem prophetic.

Gen. Zia: “What I am trying to say is, The United States Of America must see the true priorities in this region. If this region has any strategic significance in the minds of the United States citizens, if this region has any significance to the ultimate interests of the United States of America and the free world, then I am afraid the question of hostages should not be viewed on the emotional plain. I very strongly recommend, Mister Cronkite, that we should view the situation in a much bigger perspective. It is a global problem in my opinion. The lives of fifty American nationals is as dear and as valuable to me as it is to any United States citizen. But I say there are much greater things at stake at the present moment, and we should take out the emotional aspects of an election year or of the human aspects of this, this cannot be ignored, I must agree. But I think there are much greater stakes involved in this issue than only the lives of fifty nationals.”

So in retrospect, listening to this interview now and knowing our current situation with Afghanistan and our relationship with Pakistan, it would seem the current problems with the Taliban in the region have been more or less a work-in-progress the last 25 or so years.

Nothing is ever as it seems and nothing ever happens instantly.

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(XTC - Taking the piss in stride)

Bouncing up to 1980 tonight. XTC and "Heaven Is Paved With Broken Glass" - B-side from the "Ball and Chain" 12". I always liked XTC and looked forward to anything new they released. It was always good because it was never predictable. But then, the late 70's through to the early 80's were like that -lots of unpredictable music was around. Not much of it on the radio (except early KROQ . . .emphasis on early!). The major labels were starting to lose their grip and small labels, sometimes self-pressed labels, came flying out of the woodwork.

There were a lot of possibilities and a lot of talent to go around.

And XTC fit in quite nicely.

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(William F. Buckley - so excited over the thought of a Reagan White House he called him "Mister President" a year before the election)

Early on in his campaign, then-candidate Reagan made an appearance on the Firing Line program, hosted by William F.Buckley on January 27, 1980. So taken back by the thought of a Reagan White House, Buckley kept referring to Reagan as "Mister President", asking questions that almost seemed like a coaching session for what would be the grueling campaign for an election that would take place some eleven months later.

Buckley fawned reverential, asking the most maleable of soft-ball questions, as if he didn't want to know if there were any chinks in the Reagan armor, didn't want the audience to feel there was any other candidate even worth mentioning - acting as though the Carter Presidency was already over - it was merely a waiting game until inauguration.

During the one hour session, Reagan gets into domestic policy with a couple of samples:

Reagan on Domestic Energy: “ Vast areas, known to contain minerals and possibly such sources as oil and natural gas are rapidly being taken over by the Federal government. They’re formerly federal lands but they’re now being withdrawn from any multiple use, and restricted to . . .as wilderness areas where the only people that can possibly use those public lands is that small segment of the public who maybe has the energy and the time to go backpacking and hike up to a hill and say ‘isn’t that beautiful’ but none of the rest of us will ever get to see it because they won’t allow you to put a road in.”

Reagan on Education: “I would like to dissolve the 10 billion dollar National Department of Education created by President Carter, and turn schools back to the local school districts, where we built the greatest public school system the world has ever seen. I think I could make a case in the decline of public education when federal aid became federal interference.”

He also makes no bones about his eagerness to do away with regulations citing, among others, the EPA as an evil agency, bent on destroying free enterprise.

All in all, it's a fascinating glimpse into the Candidate Reagan, with a certain amount of goodnatured bumbling tossed in for good measure.

And Buckley loved every syllable of it.

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(The Soft Boys - deceptively catchy)

Tonight it's The Soft Boys. Originally issued as part of an ep in 1980, just around the time they split and Robyn Hitchcock went solo - "Strange" didn't appear anywhere until 1993 when it was issued as part of a compilation ("Underwater Moonlight" disc 2) featuring singles and out-takes from their brief, but amazing career.

Hitchcock has always cited Syd Barrett (founding member of Pink Floyd) as an inspiration to his work. The inspiration is served well here. The first track on side one of this ep is Barrett's immortal "Vegetable Man", one of those odd instances where a song has achieved legend status by it's never being officially released, except on bootlegs. Strange, on the other hand, is one of the most compelling (albeit bizarre) pieces of music I've heard in years. I confess to having worn out my first copy of this EP, and spent months looking for a second copy.

If you're familiar with this song, you know what I'm talking about. If not . . .well just enjoy the ride.