Thursday, August 30, 2012

It's Just So Sad: Part Two. The Clint Eastwood Edition *UPDATED*

Two blog posts in one night!

Aren't you lucky?

Tonight, at the Republican National Convention, Clint Eastwood talked to an imaginary friend in an empty chair.

He stammered and stuttered like your elderly uncle who doesn't even know that he is at the family, Thanksgiving get-together.

The crowed cheered.

Because, really, like the family at Thanksgiving, what else could they do but play along with his delusion.?

It's just so sad!

                                                   From "The Simpsons." Who knows how long ago? Prescient.

The Media





In spite of what most conservatives will tell you, The Media is not liberal.

Sure, there are a lot of liberals working in The Media. There are even a few socially liberal CEOs running The Media.

But The Media is wholly owned by a handful of giant, multi-national corporations. Those corporations benefit from conservative policies. Republican administrations are far more inclined to hand out tax breaks and other financial considerations to those corporations.

Because of that fact, The Media leans conservative. And not always by choice.

Back during the 2004 presidential campaign, Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone was asked if he supported the reelection of George W. Bush. His response was eye opening.

(I am paraphrasing here. I do not have the actual quote next to me. But, I remember it, vividly.)

"I am opposed to nearly every policy of the Bush administration. But, because I am the CEO of a corporation, I am legally obligated to support which ever administration will better benefit our shareholders. Therefore, I am bound to support Bush's reelection."

It's true. If a CEO does anything to negatively affect the bottom line profits of his company, he will not just piss off his shareholders. He can be prosecuted in federal court. Regardless of his personal beliefs. 

Ain't that some shit?

And, there is another thing.

When it comes to political campaigns, The Media has some serious skin in the game.

The Media works very hard to keep up the appearance of a close race, especially during presidential campaigns. Because campaign advertising is a huge cash cow for The Media. Millions (or rather billions, this year) of advertising dollars are poured into the media by both sides. A one sided race means fewer profits for The Media.

So, The Blog hears you asking, "Why, Uncle PC, are you bringing this up right now?"

Well, my bloglitts, something weird happened today.

The Media, as with one mind, called bullshit on Paul Ryan's fact free convention speech.

For example, watch as Scott Pelley, of the aforementioned Viacom owned CBS News, goes all Cronkite on Ryan's ass about Ryan's claim that Obama was the reason that Standard & Poor downgraded the United States' credit rating.

Just more proof of the "liberal media," you say?

So what do you say about this opinion piece on the Fox News web site?

Holy shit! The Blog hates directing traffic to Fox News' site. But, there it is.

Of course, the Fox News network won't report it.

You know that it has to be bad when The Media goes against business as usual and calls out a major candidate. When the lies are this egregious, The Media would just look stupid if they didn't.

The Blog will be interested to see how The Media covers Mittens' speech. Mostly just short on substance. But, Willard continued his practice of conflating the accomplishments of Bain & Co. with the slash and burn, corporate raiding of Bain Capital.

And, why does The Blog keep referring to the media as "The Media?"

Because The Media is bigger than God, and signs The Blog's paycheck.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

It's Just So Sad





Wonkette at wonkette.com (The Blog's future fantasy second wife) posted some batshittery from SNL has-been Victoria Jackson.

I so wanted to make fun of Miss Jackson here.

But, I can't, because it is just so sad.

Author Stephen King (not to be mistaken for Congressional asswipe Rep. Steve "Joseph McCarthy was a pussy" King of Iowa) once said that, "Calling 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' the worst movie ever made is like making fun of a retarded child." The politically incorrect use of the term "retarded child" notwithstanding, Big Steve is right. And it describes, perfectly, how these clips make me feel.

The Blog feels a bit guilty for even sharing this here. God, it's just so wrong.

Maybe I can balance my karma by making this plea....


Dear Hollywood,

Please, please, please give Victoria Jackson a job.!

Please help this poor, sad woman. Get her off the streets and help her regain her self-respect. Thank you.

Sincerely,

The Premature Curmudgeon

Monday, August 27, 2012

Delusions





 Okay. A real post tonight. But, not the one that The Blog has been promising. We'll get to the subject of the GOP's presidential pattern soon. But tonight, something else is on The PC's mind.

Today, my colleagues and I met a young woman who, it seems, has built an entirely fictional world in her mind. She has lied to her family and others about so many things for so long that she appears to believe the lies herself. She has become so deeply delusional that, even in the face of solid proof, she refuses (or has become incapable) of acknowledging the truth.

Simultaneously fascinating and deeply tragic.

Today is officially (if not actually) the first day of the Republican National Convention.

So, what does one have to do with the other?

Well, like this young lady, the Republican party, it's candidates, pundits and loyalists have been lying and hearing the lies for so long that they are no longer capable of recognizing the truth, even when it is shown to them.

The Republican National Convention's chosen theme, "We Built This," is the perfect example of GOP delusion.

On July 13th during a campaign appearance in Virginia, President Obama gave a speech which contained the following paragraph...


"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet."

You can see the video and and read a transcript of the complete speech, as well as some examples of the right-wing's distortions, here.


Not surprisingly, the right-wing noise machine jumped on the phrase, "If you've got a business, you didn't build that."

Never mind that the phrase was taken completely out of context. Never mind that Willard Romney himself, during a speech on July 17th, acknowledged the true context of Obama's statement. And even agreed with it.

The Republican Party has become so committed to their lie that they chose it as the central theme for their convention.

And nobody in the party, including Romney, seems to have a problem with that.

Of course, the irony deficient GOP also seem oblivious to the fact that their convention is taking place in a venue that was built, primarily, with tax dollars. Perfectly illustrating the President's point.

Delusion.

There are other examples...

Mittens has accused Obama of removing the work provisions from Welfare when, in fact, Obama did the very opposite. And, oh yeah, the waiver offered to state's discretion are exactly the same waiver Romney, himself, asked for, when he was governor of Massachusetts.

And, in spite of the thorough debunking of Romney's claim, he continues to run ads based on the lie.

Republicans don't question it.

Delusion.

For years, VP pick Paul Ryan waxed ecstatic over the philosophies of Ayn Rand, even bragging that he requires his staffers to read her works.

Today, forgetting (like so many righties do) that YouTube exists, Ryan now claims that he finds Rand's ideas repugnant.

Republicans don't question it.

Delusion.

The Tea Party claims that they are "taxed enough already" while federal income taxes are at a 60 year low.

Delusion.

Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly claim to be just plain folks like you and me, while raking in tens of millions of dollars a year.

The "Ditto Heads" do not dispute it.

Delusion.

The gun manufacturing lobby and their apologists claim that your 2nd Amendment rights are in peril. And, any minute now, Hillary Clinton is going to sign a U.N. agreement to take away your guns.

Delusion.

                                                                  And Birthers.


                                                                       Enough said.

Delusion. Delusion. Delusion.

The list goes on and on, but frankly, I'm on the verge of boring myself.

Look. Politicians and pundits traditionally stretch the truth and take opponent's statements out of context. It's nothing new.

The Blog regularly concedes to his Republican friends that he will acknowledge that Sarah Palin never said that she "could see Russia from my house," (although the comment that Tina Fey was satirizing was almost as ludicrous.) if they will admit that Al Gore never claimed to have invented the internet.

But, today's GOP has taken it far beyond truth stretching.

Flat out lying is the modus operandi of today's Republican party.

And Republicans are okay with that.

The Blog hates the phrase "They have drunk the Kool Aid," for two reasons.

One, the phrase is insensitive to the families and friends of the victims of the Jonestown massacre.

Two, the statement suggests that the person using it has no actual argument of substance.

But, really.




                                                  If the giant, smiling pitcher fits....

The only explanation that The Blog can come up with to explain Republican supporters is...

Like the young lady that I met today, they are tragically delusional.


Sunday, August 26, 2012

Another Delay...

Here's the deal.

If you have been following this blog for any length of time, you know that Mrs. Blog is a school teacher. If you know that, then you also know that Mrs. Blog is virtually computer illiterate.

Tomorrow is the first day of school.

Therefore, The Blog is spending the evening doing all of Mrs. Blog's computer related chores for tomorrow's class. So, The Blog will have to delay his promised post about the pattern of the GOP's presidential picks one more day.

Bear with me.

Recalculating....

OMG! The news is coming down so fast that The Blog is having trouble keeping up!

The Republican National Convention has been postponed by, at least, one day due to Hurricane Isaac. Much like the RNC of 2008. Deja Vu all over again. One would think that they would have learned by now.

Mittens got a little bit "birther" yesterday. WTF?

As my GPS would say, "Recalculating...."





In the meantime... RIP Neil Armstrong. My Ohio homey! A true American hero!

With any luck, The Blog will be back up to speed tomorrow night.

Fingers crossed!

Friday, August 24, 2012

The Blog is Exhausted

The Blog had a long day today and is beat.

We will resume last night's discussion tomorrow night.

See you then!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Catching Up: Part One

Back to blogging a bit more regularly. Things may still be sporadic for the next few days, but I am working on getting back up to speed.

But, oh, where to start?

How about the announcement that Paul Ryan is the Republican VP candidate?

Yeah, that will do.

For the second presidential campaign cycle in a row, a VP candidate has been chosen for the apparent purpose of making us forget who the presidential candidate actually is.

Remember 2008? Caribou Barbie Tina Fey Sarah Palin was chosen to run with... uhm... shit... who was her running mate, again?

Oh yeah! Former "maverick" John McCain.

The minute that the half term governor of Alaska was anointed, people stopped talking about McCain and fixated on Palin.

Remember when Palin began referring to the ticket as the "Palin/McCain" campaign?

Based on the current state of the media and punditry, the Republican ticket for 2012 is the "Ryan/Whatshisname" campaign.

This is no accident. The right-wing hates Romney more than the left wing does. They felt the same way about McCain in 2008. In '08, the RNC and William Kristol decreed that the right-wing pin-up girl should run with the bland and not altogether reliable Grampy McCain. In 2012, the same folks chose right-wing pin-up boy Paul Ryan to draw attention away from Mitt-Flop Romney.



Yes, it's Photoshopped. What's your point?


                                                                                 Not Photoshopped. 
                                                    The actual pecs and abs that Fox "News"pundits are gay for.

Something of a pattern has emerged in the GOP's presidential choices over the last few decades.

How does the Ryan/Romney ticket figure into that pattern?

Tune in tomorrow!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Checking In

The Blog has been busy for the last week or so with real world shit.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

In the process, The Blog has collected all sorts of blog worthy material and hopes to put it to good use here in the next few days.

Until then, here is a brief summary of the things that have occurred while The Blog has been... um... not blogging.

Airline non-service and a pizza mogul's truth telling on the subject of profits for shareholders over customer service.

Religion and political ideology over science and fact.

And, the apparent de-evolution of American culture.

The Blog feels a little sick to his stomach just thinking about all of this.

A Pepto and bourbon cocktail should put him right and ready to blog tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Romney's VP Pick. HA HA HA HA!






 The Blog has nothing more to say, at the moment.

I'll be back when I catch my breath!


Wednesday, August 8, 2012

A Couple of Days Off





 The Blog's three months of unemployment leisure are over.

The first week or so of a television season's production are always long and exhausting. So, posting will be sporadic for a while.

I will check in this weekend.

You should, too!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Two Quick Updates on Yesterday's News

Yesterday, The Blog made a mistake common among so many "journalists."

He jumped to the conclusion that the armed, ignorant asshole who shot up a Sikh temple in Wisconsin yesterday morning didn't know the difference between Sikhs and Muslims.

We now know that the armed, ignorant asshole just didn't care.

                                                        Who knew that "White Supremacist" is a music genre?


And, the first photo from the Mars rover "Curiosity" is here. 

                                                                  "Marvin is ANGRY! Very angry indeed!" 

Monday, August 6, 2012

A Couple of Thoughts About the News From Today

So, some asshole too ignorant to know the difference between Sikhs and Muslims, but still gets to have access to guns, shoots up a Sikh temple this morning. (Not that this would be any less outrageous if he had actually shot up a mosque.)

Looking forward to hearing what the right-wing bloviators on the radio have to say tomorrow. Should we do a shot every time someone suggests that things would have gone better if there had been more guns in the temple?


The rover "Curiosity" has landed on Mars to look for evidence of Martian life.

The Blog imagines this headline...

CURIOSITY LANDS ON MARTIAN CAT PERSON CAUSING INTERPLANETARY INCIDENT


Sunday, August 5, 2012

Willard's Endorsements

In the last 48 hours or so, Republican presidential candidate Willard "Mittens" Romney has scored two coveted endorsements.

                                           This guy. Who is in no way a Hollywood elitist of any kind.

Clint Eastwood. Actor. Celebrity. Pretend tough guy. Channeling Hollywood elitist, pretend tough guy, noted doll collector Marion Morrison, aka...

                                                                            This guy.



                                                                       And this woman.

Entrepreneur, author, and porn star.

Or, as she has often been billed...

"Queen of the Porn Stars."

For those of you who are out of that loop, (Come on! The Blog knows that you're lying. You know who she is!) this is Jenna Jameson. Quite possibly the most monetarily successful porn star in the history of porn stars.

Jenna made news yesterday when she endorsed Willard, while sitting in the VIP room of a strip club, sipping champagne...


                                                                       Here is the quote.

In fairness, Jenna's comments represent the attitude of most wealthy Republicans. So, It isn't really surprising. 

The Blog remembers, as if it was yesterday, hearing African-American radio and newspaper pundit Larry Elder...


...back in 2000, saying, "George W. Bush stands for almost nothing that I believe in. But, he is going to lower my taxes. So I have to support him."

Elder has spent all of his time and energy since then, rationalizing that position.

Full disclosure....

The Blog is proud of the fact that many people in the porn industry (in front of and behind the cameras) are dear friends.

The Blog Jr. has a collection of teddy bears, each one named after the porn star that gave each of them to him, in celebration of his birth.

In fact, The Blog knew Jenna when she was a fresh faced 19 year old, just off the bus from the mid-west.




                                                                 When she looked like this.


You see, your Uncle PC made a pretty good living for the first decade or so of his career working in the porn industry. He honed his skills and made a decent living in the process.

The Blog knows that Jenna is a bit too young to remember when the Republican, Reagan administration's "Meese Commission" waged a full out war on the porn industry.

Like it or hate it, porn is the very model of "free market capitalism."

So, what do the fake cowboy and the real porn star have in common?

They are both filthy rich. Thanks to the middle class folks who pour a great deal of their income into watching their films. 





 
So, why would a porn star endorse a candidate who has made shutting down the porn industry, an industry that creates thousands of American jobs,  a platform in his campaign? 



That's easy!



Like so many other wealthy Republicans, Jenna subscribes to the "I got mine, so screw you." philosophy. She has that in common with Clint Eastwood and Larry Elder.







Saturday, August 4, 2012

Kevin Smith, Jon Peters and Superman






This story is, like, Kevin Smith's  "Freebird!" It's awesome!

Take 20 minutes to watch and listen. I'll be here when you are done. 

Let me tell you about my encounter with the "Superman Reborn" script.

The Blog met with actress P.A. at Jon Peter's compound, not 48 hours after her husband T.L. beat the crap out of her. Jon was letting her hide out from T.L after the attack.

The PC met Jon. He greeted me by rubbing my bald head and proclaiming that, I, like P. A. had a "giant, superstar head."

I was like, "Okay. This is fucking weird, But, hey! It's fucking Jon Peters. The executive producer of fucking, Batman! So, okay."

I was then left alone in a bedroom to cool my heels for a couple of hours.

And there, on a table, next to a telephone "hot list" that included Barbara Streisand and Tim Burton, was a folder containing the script for "Superman Reborn."

I took advantage of my high school speed reading classes and perused the script.

Seriously, the worst fucking piece of shit that I have ever read.

And yes, it featured a giant, fucking, spider.



The giant spider that did, as Kevin tells us, finally show up in the Peters produced "Wild, Wild, West."



Thank the gods of cinema, this Superman movie never got produced. Thanks to the genius Kevin Smith for walking away from it.

In spite of that the Superman movie that finally got made, pretty much sucked.

The Blog has much higher hopes for the Christopher Nolan produced "Man of Steel."



Comic book nerd fingers crossed.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

No Real Post Tonight

The PC is exhausted after dealing with the blowback from last night's post...

The Blog will leave you with this thought.


Pictures That Make The Blog Want To Go Vegan (Or, At Least, Stick With KFC)




See all of these people lining up to support their favorite fast food provider?

Are they lining up to support a movement to feed the hungry? (Besides their own hungry fat asses")

No.

They are lining up to support a multi-billion dollar corporation that maintains a policy of bigotry and hate and donates millions to far right politicians and hate groups, donating more than $3 million between 2003 and 2009 to "Christian" organizations with well-known anti-gay agendas, among them the Marriage & Family Foundation and the Family Research Council.

Unless you have been living in the basement of a KFC for the last few weeks, you know that Dan Cathy, president of junk food purveyor and sanctimonious arbiter of Biblical morality, Chick-fil-A recently doubled down on the company's anti-gay policies. In the process, he also managed to disparage a large majority of the American public, the very people who line up to purchase his deep fried chicken and waffle fries. Cathy has called his very customers a "generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about."

And, oh yes, he "pray(s) for God's mercy," on his "arrogant" customers.

Seriously?




In fairness to Dan Cathy, he is merely parroting the philosophy of his dad, Chick-fil-A founder, CEO, and sanctimonious douchebag, S. Truett Cathy, who the not even remotely liberal Forbes magazine once described as a "cult leader."



Presidential race failure Mike Huckabee, in an attempt to remain relevant, declared August 1st, 2012 "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" and a disturbing number of pseudo-Christians came out in droves, all over the country. Waving signs and devouring deep fried goodness, smothered in hate sauce.

Let me be clear....

Chick-fil-A and it's corporate leaders have every right to hold any position that they want. And, to support any odious hate group that they choose.

And, I and all of my liberal and gay and lesbian brothers and sisters have every right to take our business elsewhere.

Not tolerating intolerance is not a double negative.



And, by the way...

Are you a righty who thinks that liberals should not boycott businesses that we do not agree with?

Then let me remind you of your hypocritical reaction to the position taken, recently, by J.C. Penny.



Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Some Thoughts About The Olympics






Here is how many shits The Blog gives about the Olympics...

< zero.

Okay. Maybe that is a bit of hyperbolic exaggeration.

Much like Season 128 (or so) of "Survivor" or the latest round of "Big Brother," or the current presidential campaign, The Blog wishes that he couldn't care less.

But, as usual, he has been sucked in.

So, here goes...

First, What is up with the London Olympics graphics?

It took The Blog a couple of days to realize that this mess represented the year 2012.



Is this really a 2012 logo? Or is it a terrorist's rendering of the blueprints of London's banks?

And then there is this....



Did the London Olympic committee actually pay someone, probably, a million dollars, to design a logo with masking tape?

These two designs prompt The Blog to beg future Olympic committees to commission someone with some talent, like "Banksy," to design the next Olympic logos.

The opening ceremonies were an over produced, over the top tribute to "British Exceptionalism" that, mostly, served to remind Americans about what annoying assholes we are when we go on about "American Exceptionalism."

But, really, for sheer stage craft and production value, the ceremony made everything on Broadway from "Wicked" to "The Lion King" look like community theater.

Big good sport, sense of humor (or humour) points for Her Royal Majesty The Queen's "James Bond" bit!



And a big thumbs up for the great big "fuck you" to Briton's current "conservative" government that wants to dismantle their incredibly popular health care system.

An army of Mary Poppinses vanquishing Lord Voldemort and other English lit villains. Too cool!




And, no celebration of U.K. pop culture would be "compleat" without Mr. Bean!



And, oh yeah, there are some sports involved.

While The Blog suspects that the main demographic for the women's gymnastics competition is creepy old men who lost interest in the Olsen twins the minute that they turned 18, The Blog also admits that these young women defy physics in ways that Chinese movie stunt people depend on harnesses, bungee cords and CGI to pull off.

Synchronized diving?

Holy shit!

Two people, moving at exactly the same time, in exactly the same way, while plummeting from three story heights, while wearing Speedos.

That is The Blogs definition of insanity!

And finally...

Thanks to one of The Blogs favorite bloggers, Emmy winning TV writer, sports commentator and, well, blogger Ken Levine, for saying what all of us straight males are thinking...




The reason that we prefer Summer Olympics over Winter Olympics...

Women's Beach Volleyball.