Remembering Roger Ebert a bit more, I think it’s safe to say that using pop culture to lampoon someone who was also hugely important to pop culture is the sincerest form of flattery…
…and I meant to get to this from Chris Hayes on Ebert last night, so here it is now…
…and former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich gives us some insight into the whole “chained CPI” thing (more here)…
…also, Rachel Maddow shows us the sickening practical behavior involved in Repug Party “governance” (don’t get freaked out by the prison thing at end – just a rather clumsy lead-in to the MSNBC program “Lockup”)…
RIP Roger Ebert – I may have mentioned at some point earlier that I read “Life Itself” last year, and while the book went on for about 50-75 pages longer than it should have (could probably have done without a couple of his remembrances, though the stuff with Russ Meyer was particularly good), it still was a very interesting look at someone who ended up as a towering media presence over the last 40 years or so (also liked some of the remembrances of Great Britain as well as media colleagues).
I honestly don’t recall anyone doing movie criticism on TV until he and Gene Siskel came along, but now everybody and his or her brother does it on the tube, to say nothing of radio, the Internet including social media, etc. Ebert was also brutally honest in the book about how he tried to use some radiation procedure he read about on the Internet to get rid of his cancer, but it ended up weakening the bone structure in his face so that any surgeries to repair the ravages of the disease were unsuccessful.
Through his work, he ended up enriching countless lives including (I believe) my own. He will definitely be missed, and Think Progress reminds us of his importance here (yes, the timing of what he said about Ryan Dunn was absolutely awful, but his analysis was substantively correct…John Fugelsang had what I thought was a nice remembrance here)…
…and John F. talks to Michael Tomasky here about how common-sense gun legislation is passing in some states, which, while beneficial, is a poor substitute for federal action…
…and here is a clip from “All In” with a bit of "in your face" commentary on Guantanamo (more like this on this subject in particular...the show is definitely interesting – I wish Chris Hayes luck with it)…
I would say that taking away immunity from prosecution by the gun makers is a good idea also (and I think this is something to add to the growing body of evidence that common-sense gun laws work)…
…and Chris Hayes tells us about the real victims of the “sequester” (great – so someone who has already served our country has to return to combat somehow to support himself; what county am I living in again?)…
Let’s see how many dog whistles Stuart Varney of Fix Noise manages to sound here…
1) Talking about pensioners who will probably “take a haircut” while showing a yacht in the background, making an almost farcical association (assuming the supposedly oh-so-generous benefits of Stockton public employees)
2) Talking about the supposed “moral obligation” of a contract (as if any Fix Noise cretin has even a passing familiarity with anything whatsoever to do with morality) and then, a second later, saying that said contract has to be torn up, or words to that effect
3) Talking about how inequitable it supposedly is for Stockton public employees to receive benefits based on their peak earnings (good luck trying to retire on that, not to mention anything less)
4) Talking about how younger workers supposedly are being cheated out of work because of said bennies due to long-time older employees
Wonderful job by Varney to shamelessly propagate wingnut talking points – I hope Roger Ailes awarded him with a milk bone (“only so much money to go around” for “the rabble,” as opposed to the “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch, huh?)…
…and isn’t this an interesting curiosity from a leading spokesman of a political party that used to be sane on the national level, and is actually going around the bend more and more on the state and local level; I probably would not have voted for John McCain in 2000, but I would have thought about it for a little while at least (hat tip to TRMS)…
…and they find themselves in that position because they continue to listen to numbskulls like this guy (definitely “low-hanging fruit” here…oh, and here is more on “Dr. Carson”)…
…and in light of the preceding video, this song comes immediately to mind :-).
I wish I had a nickel for every time I supported a Democrat, and they end up kicking me in the metaphorical teeth as noted here (still better than the Repugs, but at times like this, that’s like comparing two variations of pond scum - I supported the bailouts way back when because I thought stuff like this would accompany it along with real, honest-to-goodness underwater mortgage restructuring; I will NEVER make that mistake again)…
Update 4/2/13: Oh yeah, and there's this too.
Update 4/5/13: If the Repugs end up taking over all branches of our government again in 2016, it will be because of crap like this (h/t Atrios – if nothing else, it will give Hillary the platform to run as the “anti-Obama” Democrat).
…and I’m not sure if this song is aimed at them or me at this moment – April Fools indeed.
I think it’s important to 1) not let Repug U.S. House Rep Don Young off the hook for his most recent idiocy (part of a sickening pattern as Think Progress tells us here) and 2) point out that, while there may be Republicans out there who actually want to do the right thing by “undocumented” workers, what may prevail is legislation in service of a more corporatist vision sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that keeps undocumented workers under foot along with the rest of us (of course, the Teahadists could have another hissy fit and end up scuttling reform altogether in the House)…
…and on that subject, I should tell you that I’m honestly not the biggest fan in the world of Jim Carrey; I know the guy is kind of “in your face” as a media presence, and I haven’t even seen the “Funny or Die” video yet; I don’t have a burning desire to do so, even though I usually put up “Funny or Die” clips when I can…believe it or not, I’m also a bit sympathetic to Charlton Heston because the guy is no longer here to defend himself, and he also once marched with Dr. King a LOOOOONG time ago…however, I’m putting this up because of the truly hilarious reactions to Carrey’s latest stunt from Fix Noise (for Sean Inanity to paint Carrey as “rich” is beyond parody since Inanity must pull in at least $2 mil a year)…
Update: Actually, I'm starting to like Carrey more and more (here).
...shifting gears a bit, I should note that our military presence in Vietnam officially ended on this day 40 years ago, as Rachel Maddow reminds us…
We never can afford to forget who is waging class warfare for real in this country; it's the bunch who are winning (here)…
…and as long as I’m trying to raise the outrage level, I might as well present this…
…and while I’ll admit that I’m WAAAY past all of the “OMIGOD, THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS A MESS…HOW CAN IT EVER BE SAVED?” B.S., but that doesn’t mean that I don’t still enjoy a good laugh over it with Jon Stewart, as he provides here…
…and the Three Mile Island near-utter-disaster (though it was bad enough) took place 34 years ago today, giving rise to, among other things, this song.
This report from Lesley Stahl of “60 Minutes” about the Pussy Riot fiasco with Our Ol’ Buddy Vlad Putin (sure) was interesting...more power to these brave women, and anyone who supports them (video should play OK)…
…and I was sorry to hear about this – I wish her all the best.
I totally get that marriage equality is a human rights issue, but as far as straights are concerned, let’s not forget the following from here…
…and John Fugelsang had some good words on this issue (I thought) here…
…oh, and by the way, our global casino is still imploding; Billo thinks it’s due to those SHUTUP SHUTUP BAAAD SOCIALIST LIBERAL MEDIA BENGHAZI COVER UP!!! Democrats and their allies as part of the “global nanny state conspiracy”…what a maroon (here)…
…and I’m sure he was great tonight at the Academy of Music…hard to do the “night out” thing during the week due to family and job stuff, but that’s OK – next time (this is LOUD).
…and Vanessa Waltz is my hero(oine) of the day for this (and once again, Governor Bully drops the ball – wonder if Matt Katz of the Philadelphia Inquirer will try to “fluff” Christie over this one?)…
…and oh yeah, the Senate Democrats managed to produce a budget without GOP obstruction – barely – thus robbing Mikey the Beloved and his pals of a thoroughly tired talking point, at long last…
…and I’m sorry, I don’t give a damn about White House tours or this in light of what we learn in this video, hosted by Michael Eric Dyson…
As you watch this video (here), know that the Repugs have tried to repeal “Obama Care” 54 times (here)…
…and if you watch Fix Noise and take it seriously, as far as I’m concerned, you’re too stoo-pid for words (here, and here too)…
…changing the mood big time, Martin Bashir brings the outrage against Congress (the House in particular...big surprise I know) and the NRA (here) – much more like this (and this is pretty despicable too, and probably illegal)…
…and sometimes I honestly wonder If the utterly heartless swine responsible for this legislative travesty believe in the concepts named in the title of this song.
Yeah, I would say that Billo doesn’t have a prayer on this one (and he tells us that he went to Catholic elementary school, so he doesn’t have an excuse)…
…and from the sacred to the profane, I give you Lee Camp here (NSFW)…
…and this proves that Boehner, Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao and company want to gut entitlements but keep up their debt smokescreen anyway, and even a single-celled organism knows how stoo-pid Sean Inanity and Rand Paul are, and it also proves that the Repugs are all over the place with their valued “messaging” (I must tell you, though, that I’m sick of all of this hand-wringing over whether or not the Repugs will suddenly somehow become sane – they’re sinking; stand back and don’t lift a finger to help them)…
…and given this, I felt like hearing this song once more.
Nice to see some good old fashioned indignation from Rachel Maddow on behalf of our veterans (would be even better to see this on a bipartisan basis from our phony baloney politicians, instead of a tree-hugging liberal like Maddow and her pinko network, MSNBC – snark…yep, keep up that outrage over the cancelled White House tours and ignore everybody else, Repugs)…
I really hadn’t planned to say anything about this today given that I wanted to devote everything else to mark the grim anniversary of we-all-know-what (also noted here), but I have to given the fact that Harry Reid has said here that he won’t bring Dianne Feinstein’s renewal of the assault weapons ban up for a vote in the Senate.
To which I say, why the hell not?
We know Harry Reid can’t get any Repug votes. They’ve totally gone over as the comforters of the already-comfortable “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch. I don’t see how anyone can blame Reid for that.
But what I can (and I DO) blame him for is not making the effort to hold a vote to get these cretins on the record, establishing once and for all that these craven shills are totally at the disposal of their puppet masters dispensing their weapons of death and carnage. F*ck Senate protocol! (and yes, I really said that).
Michael Moore is on Piers Morgan as I type this, and one of the things he said is that at least the Repugs have the courage of their awful convictions. That’s more than I can ever say for Harry Reid and his admittedly good ones (this video reminds us what's at stake, in case we've somehow forgotten, notwithstanding our idiot politicians...and please spare me the whole "HE SAID 'FULLY AUTOMATIC' - BOY IS HE DUMB!" stuff...a semi-automatic will kill you just as dead, and that's all Adam Lanza needed to slaughter 20 school children and 6 adult teachers with 5 30-round clips in about five minutes)…
…and by the way, the spiritual godfather of this blog (something that would probably make him laugh if he cared enough) would have been 85 today (here) – the credo of his most famous character (I guess) is included in this clip…
…and as someone must (and Rachel Maddow is definitely someone up to the task), we are reminded indeed of what happened 10 years ago today (and those who plied their craft to foul ends in service of the war are noted here, including Mr. Suck-On-This…the Iraq stuff starts at about 11:10, but the rest of this, including Vietnam and Nixon – which I’d more or less heard before – is pretty darned interesting too...I didn't see the follow-up piece with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson)…
This is more attention than, truth be told, I feel like paying to NBA basketball, but I feel like I have to comment on the news that the career of Sixers marquee center Andrew Bynum has apparently ended, as noted here, before it ever began (the guy commenting in the video below turned out to be smarter than anyone in the Sixers’ supposed brain trust).
So the Sixers trade Andre Iguodala, former first-round pick Nik Vucevik plus some other guy, plus some other first-round picks (not sure, but I think they did) for a guy who won’t play a minute this season and probably not ever for this team.
You want to know part of the reason why this train wreck happened? Philly sports talk radio, that’s why, particularly WIP. Those morning nitwits made a career out of attacking Iguodala and could barely contain their glee when it was traded. Yes, it was unrealistic to expect Iguodala to lead that team the way another player with those same initials did previously. But is that Iguodala’s fault?
Hell, I didn’t think anything could be worse than the Charles Barkley trade for Jeff Ruland, Cliff Robinson and Roy Hinson, as well as giving up the Number One overall pick. But at least Ruland, Robinson and Hinson played.
And as long as I’m at it, the other professional sports team playing games that count right now deserve a dishonorable mention as well. If the people running the orange-and-black had any brains either, they’d be having the biggest fire sale in the world right now and try to stockpile draft picks in order to rebuild the team (to say nothing of cutting ticket prices).
That’s what the hated Rangers did about 5-6 years ago. And yes, they missed the playoffs a few times, but they’re contending now with a solid core, and we’ll see how far they go, though I’ll admit they’re still long shots (hell, the Islanders are ahead of the Flyers right now – that’s what they did too).
We’ll see what it will take for the “Stepford” sports fans in this city to stop forking over the dough to put asses in the seats and watch all this mess, assuming that ever happens of course…
…turning back to political stuff, I give you more nonsense in “The Breeding Ground for Bad Government,” as The Eternal Molly Ivins once called the “land of the yellow rose”…
…and 50 years ago today, a very important Supreme Court ruling was handed down, as noted here (I’ll plan to say more about this later – this was the basis for the terrific TV movie “Gideon’s Trumpet” starring Henry Fonda)…
…and I thought this was a nifty little retro tune.
Gee, I wonder if the CPAC crazies want to reconsider blowing off Governor Bully in light of this…
…I also should probably include this (and by the way, an utter pox on the Teahadist idiots who voted Ted Cruz to the United States Senate, another Republican from whom arrogance oozes out of every pore of his body)…
…and nothing like a good Friday rant (NSFW – from here)…
…and yes, this is wonky stuff, but it’s important as hell (and since when did “daughter of Breitbart” S.E. Cupp somehow emerge as a Beltway media star?)…
