BEYOND THE PALE-IN JR

Bristol Palin has the challenges of being the daughter of a public figure and being a single mother. She is going to do a speaking tour on these challenges. Although, her challenges are going to be somewhat more evolved or modified, or have kind of a different ambience take your pick. She is going to be getting a minimum of $30,000.00 per speaking engagement so she is going to have to give an update on the challenges of a single mother who makes $30,000.00 per speech has to raise a child. That’s different and we are sure there will be no underlying political message on behalf of her mother. It will be a sincere discussion of the real struggles of the young single mother who’s like really, really raking it in. Hey, Kudos, when her mother said “does you love your freedom”? I guess this system in America here with speaking engagements and unlimited fees gives you a lot of it.

PLAGIARIZING IN ADVANCE

We’ve now done it to the best. For some time now, going back in to roughly 2008 we’ve talked about the followers of Glen Beck the equivalent of Rush Limbaugh’s ditto heads and these are the Becker heads. It seemed so perfect a label, we’ve received favorable commentary on it, but last week it turns out that in keeping with our custom of plagiarizing in advance we did it to the best. We did it to the esteemed Steven Colbert. Yes, that’s right. On May 13, 2010 the Colbert Report in a lengthy discussion of Glen Beck, the host mentioned, we have decided to call them Becker Heads. You should have told us Steven, we wouldn’t have been doing this since 08, we would never not give you credit, you are the esteemed one; you are the oracle of obliviousness and you are what every play on words or words on play affectionato hopes to be. So, we apologize to you the best, The Colbert Report, for having plagiarized in advance your term “Becker Heads”, but listen to him and listen to his followers. Congrats again, we hope you will accept our apology.

WE PLAGIARIZE IN ADVANCE, ON VIETNAM ERA SERVICE THIS TIME

We’d like to talk to Larry Pressler, he was a Republican Senator from South Dakota and he was in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. He talks about the inherent unfairness of the draft (and it was unfair), and he talks about it every time one of the elite is mentioned in the media. CT AG Richard Blumenthal got five deferments and was in the Marine Reserves and Mr. Cheney got five deferments and was totally unapologetic, saying “I had more important things on my agenda”. Yes for every one of those folks, there was a “man instead” -a term we have used over the years in articles and on this website. Because there were draft quotas, and every town was required to send X amount of young men to that war in Asia and was going to fill their quota. Usually it was a poor person, often an African American, who went instead as Mr. Pressler, the former Republican Senator so rightly points out. For better or worse (and you can most certainly say more worse than better) you can say those were the politics and morays of the time. Oh, yes, John Ashcroft to our knowledge has the most Vietnam Era deferments; seven. Guess he knew his best security was staying in the homeland. So, let those who condemn Mr. Blumenthal, look at their own service or the service of relatives, spouses, friends, and let them look at their own voting record. Namely, if they voted for Mr. Cheney, and supported the appointment of Mr. Ashcroft, or personally had them or those who sent to Vietnam their man instead, then don’t say a word about Richard Blumenthal, because you are being as hypocritical now as you were then.

THE BARRON OF THE PLASTIC KINGDOM

John Shepherd-Barron was a Scotsman. In the 1960s he came up with the idea that he should be able to get his money even if the banks were closed and he created a machine which he could use a card to dispense money. Gee, you’re thinking; why didn’t he use an ATM? Because there weren’t any and that is what he invented. Yes, the crude form beginnings had some glitches, but it was refined and it is worth noting that in its original form a customer was not able to withdraw more than $14.00 in cash at a time. Now there is over 1.7 million ATMs around the world, you can draw great amounts of your own funds out, which seems only fair. We owe his wife one little debt of convenience; he suggested a six number pin and she said four would be fine and he went with that. We are a plastic kingdom and John Shepherd-Barron was the first Barron. He was born in India in 1925 to Scottish parents.

WE PLAGIARIZE IN ADVANCE, A G A I N

Several weeks ago we pointed out that Jay Leno due to his, well, lack of being funny was off of prime time and back to late night because he had gone GOP, so he was OPT. Several people had commented that they noticed that about Jay Leno. But this past weekend on Saturday Night Live News, when Tina Faye talked about her new “Sara Palin Network” and listed all sorts of unbelievable titles, she listed also the Jay Leno Show. This is an NBC parody on the NBC late night talk show host. People are starting to notice it. We have plagiarized them in advance, again.

THE LATEST LIZ FIZZ

Liz Cheney recently spoke at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference and she’s talking about how we treat the Afghanistan President Karzai, and that we don’t even refer to him as an ally. Of course, he did refer to the American troops as occupiers, and Liz said that she had worked on the Mid East and there was a saying in the Arab world that it is more dangerous to be America’s friend than to be America’s enemy. Of course this comes from when people like Liz Cheney did work in the Mid East. Also it should be pointed out that Afghanistan is not part of the Arab world but the facts never get in the way of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, or of Liz Cheney, just another Liz Fizz. Karzai, it should also be pointed out has recently considered joining the Taliban, and yet Liz Cheney is in support of him. So, we have to wonder when the Republicans have asked, whose side is President Obama on? We have always said the more important question is who’s side are the Republican’s on? On the side of the man who says American Troops are occupiers and he considered joining the Taliban. Could you picture if a Democrat had said that? That actually would be news that would be on Faux News.

PARTISAN COURT IN SESSIONS

With Justice Stevens retiring, the possible nominees on the short list are Judge Diane Wood (US Court of Appeals7th circuit), Elana Kagan (Solicitor General), Judge Merrick Garland (US Court of Appeals - DC Circuit) and Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano. All these are mainstream, highly qualified possible justices. So, is bipartisanship still in sessions? Well, it is when you talk to Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. He is the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee and when asked by David Gregory about these people that Mr. Sessions well knows, would any of them be a non starter? He gave the classic shadow answer, “we have to look deeply into their background”. Among other things, we have to make sure they pass Clarence Thomas’ criteria for having a large enough porn collection, I guess. But with this answer you know it’s going to be a fight, there is no way to unite the un-unite-able because partisanship is in Sessions.

J.O.P. STAYS G.O.P.

Very much in the news (especially in the comic news) is the good ole boys night out to watch the good looking young girls night in at the voyeurs club in Los Angeles. All the pundits nationally made fun of the Republicans since this “non family values adventure” was to be charged to the RNC, well almost all. The exception was Jay Leno, to whom we shall henceforth refer by the moniker J.O.P. – “Jay’s Off Primetime”. And when you hear his latest round of jokes you can figure out why. Here is how he framed the blame involving the young right wing conservative’s foray into nude lesbian foreplay; he refers to the incident and then he concluded “now that’s something that the Republicans and Democrats can agree on”. Only Mr. Leno could gear up his humor in such a faux neutral way to have his punch line poke fun of Democrats for the Republicans night out, no make that blight out. That’s why he’s now JOP as in “Jay’s off primetime”. P.S. David Letterman was the man and got it right pointing out that any party who could do so well at tying up health care and other important matters in congress would certainly be comfortable watching women be tied up.

NOT MUCH METTLE IN THAT THERE STEELE; UPDATE

Putting aside the 15-20 thousand or so that RNC chairman Michale Steele has spent on private jets and luxury suites, much more attention is being paid to the approximately $2000 that the RNC recently spent at a LA strip club. It seems the party of the good ole boys enjoyed watching good looking young girls engage in simulated acts of lesbian sex and bondage. What be wrong with this situation? The RNC said they are not sure which members were at the club, but guarantee this time Mr. Steele wasn’t there. The evening was paid for on the credit card of a noted young conservative Christian leader named Eric Brown. A lady was there from the Republican organization “Young Eagles” (also enjoying the show), and assured Mr. Brown he would be reimbursed by the RNC. Most interesting is the treatment of this by an often impaired and imbalanced news organization which had as their byline “Democrats and Republicans exchange accusations over LA strip club incident”. Cute, aint it? They managed to get Democrats in the headline of a totally Republican fiasco. What did the Democrats do wrong here, other than laughing to heartily at Mr. Steele’s embarrassment? But, that’s the problem with such biased coverage; it can get all fluxed up

IDAHO FEISTINESS, NO SMALL POTATOES

One of the states challenging the constitutionality of the health care law is Idaho and this is not an animal house moment, but the Governors name is C. L. “Butch” Otter. They have signed a law to sue the federal government for requiring people to get health insurance. Interestingly, Idaho has the fewest doctors per capita in the country, so maybe such an approach isn’t an “animal house” moment, but a “Mr. potato head” moment.

Religious Absolut, is 100 proof required?

Consider these felonies on the current news scene; a militant Christian organization called “Huratee” plans to create unrest by killing one police officer and killing many more at his funeral. Consider the case of Scott Broder convicted of the pre meditated murder of an abortion doctor who was sentenced this past week. His reasoning given in a rambling statement was that he got his inspiration from the scriptures. Just as current are the awful suicide bombings in Chechnya where dozens of people were murdered by 2 female Moslem suicide bombers who replicated that religion’s sad tradition of viewing murder as a solution. As we contemplate these religious fundamentalists we can’t help but think what a fundamentally more peaceful world this would be without such mindsets. Perhaps their religious leaders should focus more on the topic of respect for life vs. ritual and that the taking of life is the ultimate act of blasphemy.

WE WISH ALL A HAPPY PASSOVER AND SUMPTUOUS SEDERS

We appreciate your support, so we feel safe in leaving you with this thought; why is this blog different from all other blogs?

A CANTOR WHO SANG AT LEAST AN ACCURATE SONG

Eric Cantor, minority whip was asked on This Week; will this healthcare reform bill ruin the country as Representative John Boehner had said? He was asked this four times, and he of course didn’t answer the question. He said three times “it’s all about the fear”. And he truly has encapsulated the Republican approach toward politics, logic, ideology and healthcare, it’s all about the fear. Mr. Cantor, we salute the fact that while you may sing off key, your lyrics do make sense because no one can describe the thief (the thief of peace of mind) better than the one doing the stealing. As you said Mr. Cantor, it is all about the fear. Although, the 40 plus million people without healthcare, 40,000 of whom will die next year probably have a different kind of fear. And if this vote is going to ruin the Democrats and not ruin the country, because you are not willing to say it will, it sounds like you should be singing a happy song. And let us remind those of you in Faux Nation; Eric Cantor plays an important role in the Republican Party’s Jewish representation because with Eric Cantor as their elected representative, they are only nine short of a Minyan.

JUST ONE ARMENGEDDON AND YOU ARE FRIGHTENED

Representative John Boehner (R – Ohio), the House Republican Leader said that there were some “regrettable instances from the tea party group” through anti-gay epithets and in two cases spit on black members of the House of Representatives. Where could they have gotten so extreme? He said the American people don’t like the bipartisan process. And what can cause this? Maybe when he said that this healthcare reform bill would be Armageddon, that might have gotten a few people upset and work on the fear factor, because you know you are just one Armageddon away from having, well, a very bad week, or year, or eternity. And we also want to thank Mr. Boehner for emphasizing the importance of a complete sentence verses a complete truth. His complete sentence; The American healthcare system is the best in the world. The complete truth; If you can get it and if you can keep it and won’t be denied it.

STILL NOT MUCH METTLE IN THERE STEELE

Michael Steele, Republican National Committee Chairman as he decried the lack of bipartisanship on the Sunday morning talk shows, it was pointed out to him that the healthcare plan that President Obama supports is virtually identical to that of Richard Nixon and him calling it socialist is inflammatory and misleading, to say the least. His answer was; it’s not what the plan is, it’s what the American people feel. Meaning he’s proud of having so distorted what the actual plan is and coupled with Eric Cantor, on the same Sunday morning saying, it’s not about the plan it’s about the fear. You have the Republicans waving their own banner, labels and fear and by their account “only” 30,000 people die a year without healthcare, that’s only ten Twin Towers. Not much metal in their steel.