OZY Daily Dose

"What do YOU want?" The surly greeting was spit at me by a muscled Brazilian sitting on the edge of a mat, or a tatami, in a martial arts school that specialized in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). It was Ralph Gracie. I had recognized him from a multitude of his televised fights. "A schedule for your kids' classes." I got his tone, but like Sinatra had suggested, I kept the party polite. It wouldn't have worked well for me if I hadn't.

The cool thing about those who hit it late in life - after the age of reason, or let's say, 25 - is that they've usually lived enough life like normal folk to still be normal folk. In an earlier life as editor-in-chief of a men's fashion mag in Los Angeles, I found this to be the case when interviewing celebrities. Billy Bob Thornton talks to strangers in the street about their dentist brothers. Ed Bradley, the late 60 Minutes colossus, would hold forth on his love of, of all things, sweaters.

There was never a time when I didn't love guns. As tools of force projection, it was impossible to miss the fact that they provided a kind of punctuation that guaranteed you were heard. This I knew at the age of 4. Courtesy of George Reeves, the guy who played Superman on a TV show I watched religiously. Reeves as Superman was immune to the charm of guns, but he was SUPERman.

OZY’s next TV show, Third Rail with OZY, is launching on PBS this fall! To kick things off, we’re shelving the PC and launching debates. Nothing is off-limits, and we’ll go where most fear to tread. Each Wednesday, we’ll post a provocative question, with a focus on topics that might make it onto the show. Our Third Rail with OZY question this week delves into politics: Should you be able to withhold taxes for issues you disagree with? We want to hear what you have to say.

EUGENE, SIR: We’ve gotten into kind of a weird argument. I like oral sex, and have over the past year of my relationship with “Jeff.” But recently he’s started to hold my head, which started feeling weird to me, like power-weird. So I pushed his hands off this last time. And he put them back on. Then I pushed them off again, and next thing I know we’re both screaming at each other.

Last week we asked our audience, “Is it OK to have a racial preference in dating?” We received so many thoughtful — and feisty — answers. Here is a collection of perspectives, with some editing and condensing. Check back tomorrow for the next Third Rail With OZY question. Every Wednesday, we’re going to smartly debate hot topics in the lead-up to our next TV show, The Third Rail With OZY, launching on PBS this fall.

I was 86 pounds in high school. So in 7th grade, I was probably 65 or 70. Small. Wittle.But I grew up in the projects of Boston, so I was no stranger to mean kids and ass whippings on the playground. I went to elementary school in Roxbury, south of Southie. My earliest childhood memory is an attack I received out in the projects. A kid randomly grabbed a hypodermic needle off the ground and stabbed me in the back with it. My mother was outside and he attacked me right in front of her. I was 5 years old.

There's a certain ostentatious joy with going BIG.Hence, the Cadillac, Texas, bodybuilding. Showing out to show off. Which is fine, just fine. Until you're that fool trying to parallel park that four-wheeled barge, or trying to squeeze your 5-foot-long skateboard onto the commuter train. Then it's all Three Stooges slapstick and everyone who is being jammed up by your board hates you.

From the outside, the New Orleans Police Department looks like a dungeon. Gloomy. Depressing. But sauntering into the cinder block fortress and taking the elevator to the third floor, you will find yourself in the Special Events Section - better known by its stripper name, the Party Division.Officer William Johnson glances at my jargony forms - now "approved for handling" - and gives me a hearty thumbs-up.

EUGENE, SIR: I liked that last question you ran about the guy in the armed threesome, and while I am too smart to be naked in a room and not be the one holding the gun, I have a threesome problem. This couple swings. They invited me up one night and it was great. That’s not the problem. The husband likes to watch when me and his wife are going at it. That’s not a problem either. He’s started to jerk off when we’re playing. Which is also not a problem.