Ever wonder what it would sound like if the 36th President of the United States was ordering some pants over the phone and instructed the tailor to leave about an extra inch in the crotch area so that the seam didn't ride up on his crack, and to leave about an extra inch in the rear going right up by his (and I'm quoting here) "bunghole"? Well, if this is the sort of Presidential history that you've been clamoring for, then you are in luck today! What we have here is audio from just that very sort of phone call that former President Lyndon B. Johnson made from the White House when he was in need of some new garments. I find it to be hilarious. What a guy. Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Presidential Tailoring
Ever wonder what it would sound like if the 36th President of the United States was ordering some pants over the phone and instructed the tailor to leave about an extra inch in the crotch area so that the seam didn't ride up on his crack, and to leave about an extra inch in the rear going right up by his (and I'm quoting here) "bunghole"? Well, if this is the sort of Presidential history that you've been clamoring for, then you are in luck today! What we have here is audio from just that very sort of phone call that former President Lyndon B. Johnson made from the White House when he was in need of some new garments. I find it to be hilarious. What a guy. Sunday, October 30, 2011
Smoking Is Legal
Apparently, some people are all up in arms (however that happens) about the smoking at the end of the Herman Cain ad that was published on the Internets. And I'll admit that I thought it was a little odd when I first saw it. But I hardly think that it's anything to get all worked up about. Others, however, did not feel the same way. According to an article over yonder at the Huffington Post,
a one Bob Schieffer was none too pleased with the weird smoking man at the end of Herm Cain's Internet missive. He inquired about it during his interview with Cain in a manner that was as if Cain had killed a live chicken in the ad. His tone was absolutely that of someone who was completely offended. The dude wasn't snorting a rail of coke. He just took a drag off of a cigarette, for cryin' out loud. Calm down, folks.Bob Schieffer, who sounds and looks like a little elf, actually said to Cain, "It sends the message that it's cool to smoke." How does it do that? Did you see the guy doing the actual smoking? It's not much to aspire to via smoking, I'll tell you that.
Let's go over Schieffers chastising of the smoking in Cain's ad. "Was it meant to be funny? Because let me tell you, it was not funny to me. I am a cancer survivor. I had cancer that was smoking related. I don't think that it serves the country well, and this is an editorial opinion here, to be showing someone smoking a cigarette. And you're the front runner now. And it seems to me that as front runner, you have a responsibility not to take that kind of a tone. I would suggest that as the front runner that you would want to raise the level of the campaign."
But here's where Bob Schieffer's age might be getting the best of him. He asks Cain if he's going to take the ad down, to which Cain replies, "It's on the Internet." Schieffer clearly doesn't get what that means because he follows up with, "Why don't you take it off the Internet?" Cain tells him, "It's impossible to do now." He's right about that. If you ever want something to last for eternity, put it on the Internet. That stuff is never going anywhere. That Schieffer would even ask that question makes me wonder about how much he knows about the Internet. He must be a 'series of tubes' guy.
Schieffer asked, "Have you ever thought of just saying to young people, 'Don't smoke. 400,000 people in America die every year from smoking related diseases'?" (How would that even work? "Hi. I'm Herman Cain. I'm running for President and smoking is bad for you. Please vote!) It's not an anti-smoking PSA, Bob! It's a...well...OK, I'm not sure exactly what it is. But it isn't about smoking! Get over it. Maybe he was just trying to be edgy. Personally, I think that he was just doing something to get more people talking about him and to get more name recognition for himself. It worked. He was on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer chastising him. Mission accomplished.
Look, I despise smoking. I find it absolutely disgusting. It will kill you and it could possibly kill those around you. It also makes you stink and makes me not want to be around you. (It also makes me not want to do anything else with you. Just sayin'.) There is nothing about smoking that is good or ok in moderation. We all know that. It's just all bad. That being said, it's freaking legal. It's as legal as can be. Yet there is nothing more ostracizing in parts of this country than smoking. I'd really like it if there could be some sort of consistency in this area. If it's going to be legal, then let's act like it's legal. But I digress.
And not that it matters what his campaign manager (or whatever that guy's role is) does or doesn't do, but I will hand it to them for at least acknowledging that people smoke. You know, President Barry smokes. Last I heard he had done pretty well with quitting, but you might not know that because they did such a good job covering up the fact that he smokes in the first place. Does Bob Schieffer ever get on President Barry's case for his smoking? Does Bob Schieffer ever tell President Barry what to say to the masses about smoking? I don't think that he does. But for some reason, he wants Herman Cain to run some sort of anti-smoking campaign. It's odd. (Well, not really. The media has been President Barry's bitch since before he was elected. It's a wonder that anything is reported accurately, given their complete adoration for the man.)
Cain told Schieffer "This wasn't intended to send any subliminal signal what so ever." Yeah, I don't know so much about that. It could send one subliminal signal. And that would be that he's just blowing smoke up everyone's ass. Or in their face. (I don't know how you browse the Internet, but from what I gather, either one of those could be correct.) I don't know if he's serious about being President or not, but he is serious about getting his name out there and amassing some recognition. You can't say that he hasn't accomplished that. He certainly has. And if he does end up being the nominee or the President, I have the feeling that we're going to be seeing a whole lot more smoke in a whole lot more commercials in the future.Thursday, August 18, 2011
The Simpsonization of the Candidates
Friday, June 17, 2011
What Was That?
I don't think that you need a fancy ad to announce that you're going to seek the nomination from your party. Just announce it, already. But wait. If you're going to just announce it already, have it make some freaking sense, would you? Take the ad from a one Jon Huntsman. If this thing makes any freaking sense to you, I'm ready to hear all about it because I am stumped. Seriously, watch this: (And if it doesn't load, click here and watch that.)
6 Days from Jon Huntsman Jr. on Vimeo.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Stop Meaningless Polling!
I don't ask much of you guys. In turn, I usually get about what I asked for. But I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a request. If you or anyone you know has any pull or sway at any news or media institution, could you please see what could be done about ceasing any talk of Presidential polling numbers this early in the game? Please. Because the numbers at this point are pointless. You can't ask people if Barack Obama is going to be re-elected when you don't even know who he is running against! Make it stop!
they just keep churning out poll numbers that are meaningless, only they do it as if they have meaning. It's not exactly like trying to tell non-addle-brained adults that the Easter bunny is real, but it's vaguely similar. The real difference in that fairly poor example is that the non-addle-brained adults can figure out that (SPOILER ALERT) the Easter bunny isn't real. In the case of the insignificant Presidential poll results, I'm afraid that people might actually be paying attention and thinking that it matters. Let me be clear: It does not matter. AT ALL.
I went back to January of 2008 and looked at the poll results for Presidential "candidates" at the time. According to the research done and compiled by American Research Group, as far as the Democratic candidates went, Hillary Clinton had a commanding lead over then-Senator Barry. They even had her at a fairly commanding lead over then-Senator Barry in December of 2007. Both of those results came at a time that was closer to the election that we are now! And the last time I checked, Hillary wasn't our President. (And the last time I checked, she was just getting over being bitter than she lost the nomination. I'm still not sure that she's over it.) And over on the Republican candidate front, in December of 2007, Rudy Giuliani was miles ahead of old man McCain. But by January of 2008, just one month later? Giuliani was nowhere to be found and it was a virtual toss up between old man McCain and pretty catcher's Mitt Romney. Monday, April 18, 2011
A Blast From The Past
So, holy shishkabob, I had a really busy day. Family birthday party, entertaining guests, you know how it goes. And what do I do to relax when it's finally, finally over? I mean, what did I do to relax after I got done watching a documentary about hot dog joints across America? That's right. I started perusing photos over yonder at The White House Museum online. It's a pretty cool site. Lots of pictures of the White House (as the title might lead you to believe). Some old, some new. It's just a nice leisurely walk through some history. And it's also where I ran across this photo. Behold!
I don't know what it is about this that I find so fascinating. Obviously the fact that it's in color has something to do with the fascination. He appears to be a rather unkempt fellow. Why didn't he comb his hair? His tie looks crooked as well. He also looks exhausted and/or like he could drop dead any minute. (Here's to hoping this wasn't taken before he trotted off to Ford's Theater.) I don't know what about it that makes me just think. Maybe it's because this guy that I know has his whole family in Washington, DC right now and they're touring all of the memorials and remembering how cool it is that we are a (technically) free country. I don't know what it is. I just think it's cool. And I really want a hot dog right now.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
It's Not The Same
I don't watch Fox & Friends. I don't have any intention of ever watching Fox & Friends. First of all, it's a misleading name. It's supposed to be some morning news show with a bunch of news holes discussing current events. And I suppose that is what it is. But the name makes it sound like it is going to be a kid's show. You know, with an animated fox and his friends from the forest (I envision a deer, a bear, several birds, possibly doves, and a talking frog) all having wacky adventures with a feel-good message at the end. Kind of like the After School Specials, only without all of the drugs and teen pregnancy.
she were a Spice Girl, she'd be Short Skirt Spice, as she the establishments at which she buys her apparel do not seem to carry items that go below her mid-thigh (on a conservative day). The other day, she was discussing whether or not President Barry show fire General McChrystal for some remarks that he made in a Rolling Stone interview (which didn't seem all that inflammatory to me, but I wasn't the one that the remarks were about). It was during that discussion that she felt the need to point out to people (who might not have been aware of this) that the President of the United States has to make very hard, very tough decisions. Really, Gretchen? Thanks for sharing. Oh, but she didn't stop there.
No, she made sure that we all understood just what being President was all about. So, according to the huffy folks over at The Huffington Post, she presented us with a comparison...to herself. That's right. She said that her job is just like being President of the United States. Now, I haven't seen President Barry sporting any mid-thigh skirts lately, but let's take a gander at her reasoning, shall we? She said, "It's just like our job...what's the role of an anchor during huge breaking news? You remember growing up? You'd tune to the television, and that one moment during the year, they would have to carry a story all along, It's the same thing as being the President of the United States."
carrying along a news story anything like being the leader of the most powerful nation in the world and trying to decide whether or not to fire the general who is in charge of the war in Afghanistan? I'm sure the connection is there and I'm just missing it by a little bit or something, right? WRONG! It's the most asinine comparison she ever could have come up with. And quite frankly, I don't have any faith that she could, in fact, carry a story all along. I'm actually rather skeptical as to whether or not she can carry her purse out to her car.
And I love how she says "You remember growing up?" Actually, I do remember growing up. It was fabulous. Nothing to worry about, especially the news! I certainly wasn't glued to the TV at 6am watching Fox & Friends. Is she also comparing herself to Walter Cronkite or Dan Rather or some other news fellow? She probably is. If she thinks that her job is just like the President's, then she probably also thinks that she does the same quality and caliber job as Walter Cronkite did. (Side note: Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather didn't do exactly what the President of the United States did either.) Wednesday, June 17, 2009
It's Now News, But It's All They've Got
I am aware that there is turmoil swirling about the planet at the moment, but you might want to (I can't believe I'm saying this) turn to Twitter or something equally as unthinkable if you're looking for news updates on just about anything. And when I say "news updates" I mean just that. Updates on the news. Hence the term! It was bad enough that CNN was leading with the story about how some people were caught off guard by the transition from analog TV signals to digital TV signals. And the story was not about what you'd expect it to be about and that would be that anyone who did NOT know that change over was occurring (even though it's been shouted to the general public for SEVEN years) is such a complete moron they really shouldn't even attempt to get themselves upright each day. That's what that story should have been about. But no, CNN went with the "they're unable to watch TV" with the general tone being that of general grief and sorrow. You know, the 'something horrible has just happened' voice/tone which gets used most often when something horrible has not happened. But the media is taking it to a whole new level now. 
You can read his article over yonder there at The Huffington Post. Whilst I was perusing it, I ran across the clip below from what Bronstein called "Living Large With the Top Dog" (and he wasn't referring to Bo). In the clip, President Barry is having a little sit down with Brian Williams from NBC. Let's just think about all of the things in an exclusive interview that a reporter/interviewer or Brian Williams could ask the President of the United States. The economy. Unemployment. Foreclosures. Oil prices. The environment. North Korea. Hurricane Katrina. (I just threw that one in there to get ya all good and steamy! I'm so sick of hearing about Katrina. It was four years ago! Pipe down and move on!!) And I didn't see the whole thing, so maybe he did cover some of those topics, but that's not shown in the clip. 
United States to be relaxed. But doing a bit that plugs the new host of The Tonight Show? Don't we have actors for that sort of thing? Borat? Carrot Top? Why would you agree to that if you are Brian Williams? You're supposed to be a reporter/journalist. Would you rather work for Entertainment Tonight or The Insider? Maybe next time Pat O'Brien ends up in rehab you can snag a guest hosting gig until he sobers up. What is wrong with you, sir?
out loud. WHAT?!But it didn't." Seriously. Is this an opening for a children's book?

"Well, maybe one more second to gloat.
Said Obama: "That was pretty impressive, wasn't it? I got the sucker." No wonder the press thinks he's so freaking great. HE thinks he's pretty great himself. It was a FLY! What? Do you want a cookie?! CNBC did. That fly is history." And so are we. Goodbye, sweet America. Goodbye.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
A Princely View of Things
Well, it's good to know that if Michael Jackson ever becomes sane again (or ever becomes black again) that there will be someone to take his place. Thank God for Prince to fill the void in the wacky pop singer's personal life category if we ever need one.Prince has always been an odd duck. He's this wispy
dude with little pipe cleaner arms that flail about like linguini when he's playing he guitar in a manner that is simply unbelievable. So don't get me wrong; I DIG Prince. He's one of the few little femmy guys who I think could totally kick somebody's ass if they picked a fight with him. I can't think of any others who could, can you? (Seriously, think about it. Clay Aiken? Toast. Ryan Seacrest? He'd curl up in a ball on the floor and sob for days. I think I made my point.) But he gave an interview with a one Tavis Smiley, who does a talk show on PBS.
No! No! No! That's GUY Smiley! I'm talking about Tavis Smiley.
That's better. So Tavis Smiley interviews Prince and the thing that obviously stands out at first about Prince is that the man is thin. Rail thin. We're talking Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie thin. His head is shaped like a Q-tip on top of a breadstick. And it seems to float on top of his neck, which is quite odd.
But if looks were the strangest thing about this interview, I wouldn't have much to go on. (Besides, in order for his looks to warrant being totally "strange" he'd have to look stranger than Michael Jackson, which is a pretty difficult feat for anyone to accomplish.) It's when Tavis asks him about the lyrics of a song "Dreamer" from Princes album LotusFlow3r that we get a glimpse inside of this guy's head.
According to an article in Rolling Stone, Prince tells him, "..when I saw the "State of the Black Union," Dick Gregory really moved me...I show it to everybody...especially white folks, because they need to hear that, so that they know more about all of us."
Then he contin
ued on with odyssey of oddness with, "He said something...about this phenomena of chem trails and when I was a kid, I used to see these trails in the sky all the time and I'd say, "Oh, that's cool - a jet just went over." And then you started to see a whole bunch of them and the next you know, everybody in your neighborhood was fighting and arguing and you didn't know why, okay? And you really didn't know why. I mean, everybody was fighting. So he started riffing about the chem trails...I was so moved that I had to write the song." Um, what?
Even if you've never heard the term 'chem trails', you likely know that
they are the white exhaust or 'smoke' that airplanes sometimes leave in the sky. Prince and Dick Gregory and a bunch of other softheads believe that the airplane exhaust is really a cover for the chemicals that the government is spreading over the land to control the people or something like that. They believe it's a big conspiracy. The Chem Trails Conspiracy. All rightee then. What else?
Well, as I looked through the transcript of the interview over there on PBS I found out that Prince is somewhat of a history buff when he revealed, "We're all indentured servants. When I found out there were eight presidents before George Washington, I wanted to smack somebody. I wanted to know why I was taught otherwise. Just tell me the whole story - I'll fill in the blanks. But don't tell me something that you think I'm supposed to know." Um, wait.
Eight presidents before George Washington? The George Washington who was the FIRST President? I find that unlikely. I find it even more unlikely that PRINCE would be the one informing me of this if it were true. After a quick check (God bless those Google boys) my suspicions were confirmed. Prince is nuts.
There were not eight presidents before George Washington. Prince is referring to the time when the Confederation Congress was running the show based on
the Articles of the Confederation. But it was the Constitution, NOT the Articles of Confederation, that created the position known as President of the United States. And I could elaborate more on this concept, but I'm supposed to be amusing, not boring! (Actually, I should just be able to say "Prince is nuts" and leave it at that after the sort of statement that he made, but for some reason, you have to explain WHY people are nuts. That used to be one of the great things about other people's nuttiness; there was no need for explanation. They were just crazy. But if you do need more explanation, the folks over there at Snopes.com have done a fabulous job of it.)
And to briefly touch on his claim of all of us being "indentured servants", he might want to check the definition of such again, as we're not. I understand that he's basically trying to imply that we're all "workin' for the man" or something like that, but indentured servitude is not how we're going about it. Following that however, Smiley said, "We're indentured servants and we've got a Black president now?" And that's when we learned that Prince doesn't vote. "Well, I don't vote. I don't have nothing to do with it. I got no dog in that race." Um, we weren't voting for dogs.
You know, people like that? I'm glad they don't vote. Really. That's fine with me. In fact, there are a lot of people who DO vote who I wish would not vote. Simply because they have no idea what they're voting FOR or AGAINST. The feel good voters! (Translation: Morons, that is correct.) When Smiley asked him why he didn't vote, he said, "Well, the reason why is because I'm one of Jehovah's witnesses and we've never voted. That's not to say that I don't think Barack Obama - President Obama - is a very smart individual and he seems like he means well. Prophecy is what we all have to go by now."
Oh, for hell's sake! Couldn't he have just said he was a Jehovah's Witness at the
beginning of the interview and saved us all the perplexing stares and Scooby head tilts?! If they had just put a disclaimer at the bottom of the screen that said "Tonight's guest is a Jehovah's Witness", THEN instead of saying, "What?!" when he's talking about eight other Presidents, we simply would have gone, "Aaahhh. OK." .
I'm just glad the wackiness will continue even after Michael Jackson doesn't continue. Though I have the feeling that after Michael's concerts in London in July, there might not be any need for a successor to the Throne of Wackiness. Those concerts might give us all something to talk about for a long, long time. But even if they don't, it's good to know we can just pull Prince out of the cupboard and wind him up and let him go! Hours of entertainment fun for the whole family!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Does Anyone in Washington Pay Their Effing Taxes?
It seems as if the politicians in Washington, DC have been divided into two camps. There's the We Pay Our Taxes Camp and the We're SO Much Better Than The Little People We're NOT Going To Pay Our Taxes And We're Going To Laugh At YOU For Paying Yours, Ya Chump Camp. OK, so the second camp has a rather lengthy moniker. How about it I just shorten it to "The Jackasses"? Does that work? It seems to. It stays.
nine questions about taxes a bit much. Let's whittle that down a bit, shall we? Here we go: "Have you paid all of your effing taxes? If not, we don't care why. We just won't hire you. Next!" What's wrong with that? That's pretty much all you need to know. If you want to know more, you can always ask the person about it. You don't have to hire them. You certainly don't have to let the entire country know that you want to hire them. Barry.
of the Treasury, who "...failed to pay a total $34,023 in taxes from 2001 to 2004" according to the Seattle Times (and everyone else). Here's the thing with this guy: he "...filed amended tax returns for 2001 and 2002 after Barack Obama nominated him. He did so for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 after an IRS audit in 2006. He did his own taxes in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005." So he's audited in 2006 and his taxes are in disarray and unpaid and then THREE years later when Barry taps him, he still owes money because he just continued to not pay! Please note the tax years in question were all years that the guy did his own taxes. His explanation? The tax code is complex. What?
Human Services. Turns out that a couple of days after his nomination, he revealed that he had "...just filed amended tax returns to reflect $128,203 in back taxes and $11,964 in interest" for years 2005-2007. What didn't he report? Oh, that would be the car service that a friend had given him, the estimated value of which was around $250,000 and Daschle estimates that it was 80% for personal use and about 20% for business use. WTF?!? 
for chief performance officer (whatever that is). She withdrew after being nominated when it came up that she hadn't paid payroll taxes for one of her household staff employees. What kind of a staff does she need you ask? Well, she needs two nannies and a personal assistant! Two nannies? Is she the OctoMom? No. She has a teenage son and teenage daughter and each one of them, apparently, has their own personal nanny! Nice. Oh, but get this: Her unpaid taxes caused the DC government to slap a lien on her house because she failed to make the quarterly payments for over a year and a half. And even after they slapped on the lien it still took her over five months to pay the bill. (Why do liens always get "slapped" on? They're never just "put", they're always "slapped". "Slapped" as if the people "putting" on the liens are....um, well...people who slap things! Yeah, that's it. Where was I?) That must be a lot of money that she owed right? Sure, if you consider $298 in unpaid taxes "a lot of money".
You penny pinching tax cheat. Your children have individual nannies and you're trying to get out of paying an extra $298?! Oh, well, of course there was the $48.69 in interest and $600 in penalties that accrued, but only after you didn't pay it!! What is wrong with you?! And did I mention that she used to be on the IRS Oversight Board? She did. What a weasel. A sneaky weasel. Next!Yes! There's more! We now have the husband of a one
Hilda Solis (Hilda? Pretty.) who was tapped for Secretary of Labor who finally coughed up $6,400 last week to settle liens placed on his business, some of which dated back to 1993! The Barry Camp says that she shouldn't be responsible for what her husband does. If she signed off on the tax forms that he filled out for them, then yes she should. And of course, the liens were for unpaid property taxes. (The business that her husband has is an auto repair shop. Interesting. She's about to be the Secretary of Labor and he's about to change my oil. Huh.)
xactly is Camp Obama doing with those 7 page application forms for everyone? I can't imagine that they would just nominate these people under the assumption that they are squeaky clean. I also can't imagine that they would just nominate these people and not do their own background check on them. It's pretty simple to see if someone has tax liens, owes back taxes, hasn't paid taxes, etc. But then again, after the AP broke the news of Killefer's issues, a member of Camp Barry asked the AP reporter how he found the lien. Apparently, they're going to need a few tips on how to conduct a more thorough and effective background check. I'm sure our national security will be much better than this! Much better! Sure. Oh, yeah. I feel safer already.
the people doing the vetting for President Barry. I realize that if you keep choosing from Camp Jackass that's what you can expect, which is why I say stop choosing from Camp Jackass! (I can't believe that Geithner made it through and is now the head money guy for the country. I hope he's taking the complexity of the tax code to heart and doing something to revise it and streamline it to make it less complex. Because if the head of the Federal Reserve thinks that it's "complex", imagine how difficult it is for people who do NOT have a background in economics and in tax codes. Those people are effed. And yes, the books in that picture would be the tax code! )

