Martian Pol Makes Massive Misstep.

I haven't written about Florida's Martian governor lately. Maybe because he's become so insignificant and will soon be replaced by Charlie Crist. But Rick Scott's latest misstep was so funny, I have to mention it. It seems he went to a senior center in Boca Raton, confident that he could amass horror stories about Obamacare. Yet all but one resident expressed their satisfaction with the new health care law. So poor bullet- and empty-head Rick had to leave with his already hidden reptilian Martian tail even more between his legs. It won't be long now before he heads up to Cape Canaveral asking if he can hitch a ride home if there is another mission to Mars.

A long lost love.

Forty years ago I bought a coffee maker at Lord & Taylor. It made the best coffee I ever had. There was never a bad brew. I used that coffee maker for 25 years until it completely wore out. And I have never been able to find it again. I've checked stores, antique dealers, catalogs, and I never saw it. Until today. While checking styles of coffee pots, there it was. Now I have to find it. If you have any clues on where I might do that, please let me know.

The sad state of the news.

In the news today were comments by Glenn Beck suggesting Hillary Clinton is a lesbian and joking that she came out last year. Of course this is just another complete fabrication by Beck, which begs the question: Does the news now report anything that anyone says?  Instead of investigating stories are they just going to allow nuts like Beck to promote their personal propaganda? Thus if Limbaugh comes out today and hints that John Kerry is actually a serial killer, will HuffPost and all the other media accept that as news?  Will Diane Sawyer open tonight's program with the teaser, "Is John Kerry a serial killer?" In recent years the media have become not only lazy, but completely gullible and irresponsible. When they consider crackpots like Beck, Palin, and Ted Nugent legitimate news sources, one wonders just how informed we're going to be in the future.

Not biting wit.

So many friends have told me that I should have watched The Sopranos, that it was really terrific. I did watch it for a while and it was terrific. And so was The Borgias and The Tudors and Deadwood and Spartacus and The Game of Thrones. But they all have a flaw that prevents me from watching them.  And that flaw is that each of these shows basically offers an intelligent script, historical setting and excellent production values. That's so you can feel you're watching something worthwhile when you've really tuned in for the sex and violence. Hardly an episodes goes by without lots of graphic sexuality and sadistic savagery. When I decided to give Game of Thrones another chance last week, what I saw when I tuned in was a sickening slaughter and over-the-top villainy. Who needs it? One could argue that Boardwalk Empire is guilty of that same ruse, and that's somewhat true. But it, at least, leans to the side of superior story telling. So, I'll listen patiently when friends tell me how fabulous last night's episode of such and such was, knowing I was happy to avoid all the bloodshed.

Note: Sorry, you can call it creative writing all you like, but a scene in which Daenerys eats a horses heart is just plain sickening nonsense, not to mention all these made-up names sound absurd.

It begins.

You might as well get used to the idea: There are going to be lots of reports about shootings in Georgia now that guns are allowed just about everywhere and lots of crackers are dying to use them. Today's slaughter happened at 5:44 am, at the FedEx facility in Kennesaw, which is about 30 miles northwest of Atlanta as the bullet flies. Of course the gunman, who favored the Rambo style of attack, is dead.  His outfit was the popular black and camouflage, but we're certain to see more imaginative ensembles and approaches with the increasing itchiness of those Georgian fingers. What we probably won't see are many outcomes like today where nobody died. But give it time. The only good news out of the "guns everywhere" law is that Georgians will have more job security. Nobody would dare fire anyone now.

dumb

What a moronic commercial. I find it hard to believe that Smirnoff was willing to spend all the money necessary to produce this incredibly weak concept. Even absurd ideas have to have some basis in logic, which this doesn't. This girl would have to be mentally ill. Is that the ideal Smirnoff customer? I try to imagine what would have happened if I had presented this commercial for this client during my days as an agency copywriter. I think I might have been encouraged to choose another field.

Maw emits more moronic malarkey.

Poor Rafael Cruz. As soon as he heard that John Kerry said that Israel was in danger of being an apatheid state he rushed right out to kiss Israel's ass. What a slimy little toadie this Canuck is. Does he really think that a brilliant man like John Kerry should step down because he used an expression that seems perfectly accurate to some and offensive to others? If we had everyone in power step down when they offended some group, we would not have anybody to run our country, and Rafael would have been out of a job long, long ago based on all the incredibly idiotic things he says, like asking for John Kerry to step down.

Toxic Rice.

I congratulate the 50-plus Rutgers University students who are staging a sit-in to protest the school's idiotic decision to invite Condoleeza Rice to speak at the university's commencement. How can the Board of Governors possibly invite a war criminal to speak and pay this co-conspirator of George Bush's $35,000? You would think a university would have a strong sense of what is appropriate. One can only assume there are Republicans on the board who don't mind that Rice helped promote a false war in which thousands of young Americans were killed. I only hope this sit-in gets major news coverage since so-far Rice has gotten away with murder.

"Please God, just save our family."

Is there anything more illogical than religion?  If you believe God exists and is all powerful, you must believe that he creates these violent tornadoes and hurricanes. So why ask someone who rained catastrophe down on you to save you from that catastrophe?  And when you ask God to save your family, does that mean you don't mind him killing other families as long as you're safe?  And then if he saves you, are you really grateful or are you pissed that he destroyed your town, your house, your school, your neighbors?  And don't you think it's a little weird that he totally demolished the church that you built in honor of him? In short, when you're sitting in the rubble on Sunday morning, surrounded by devastation and those neighbors who managed to survive the Act-of-God disaster, don't you ever wonder what the hell you're so grateful for?

Ooops. One too many,

That's the only thing I like about drunks. They have many unguarded moments that they wouldn't have in times of sobriety. Seeing John Boehner ridicule the guys back home was really hilarious.

The flirtatious and winsome Rafael.

Most liberals will recall that when Barack Obama was elected, many Republicans, for some reason, liked to refer to him as Barry or Hussein. They did this with the same spiteful glee that they brought up the subject of his birth certificate. Many of them have given up on this indulgence, but many still refuse to use his correct name. With that in mind, I would like to remind everyone that while Ted Cruz (shown here in one of his unguarded coquettish poses) seems to be doing everything possible to make himself seem like your basic Texan, and can be seen Tedding all over the place, his maw curved in a big insincere smile—keep in mind that his first name is Rafael. Not that there's anything wrong with that, at least not in the liberal world. But in the world of Republicans, an ambitious and racist politician might prefer to be known as Ted rather than as the oh-so-ethnic Rafael.

Yuck!

Mitch McConnell has said, "I'm the only Republican running this year that every crazy liberal in the country has heard of." Yes, we've heard of you because you've been mouthing off from day one of Obama's administration that you wanted to make sure he was a one-term president. This was, of course, even before you know what kind of president he would be, which was incredibly unpatriotic of you. So, yes, we've heard your whining, your lying and your wishing for the defeat of a man a thousand times better than you. Then you said your opponent would be proclaiming she is a new face, but "a new face for what?" Mitch it doesn't matter for what. We have never liked your terrapin features, your jowls, your watery dead eyes, or anything about your nasty, negative countenance, so any face would be a relief. The only time I want to see your face is on a news report delivering a concession speech. 

No caption needed.

You had to say that?

I'm not a prude, but I consider myself to be a refined adult with a sense of what is appropriate. And, to my mind, constant swearing for every occasion is not appropriate. We now live in a world where a stand-up comic feels he cannot make a living unless his act has all the most common swears and incredibly vulgar descriptions and epithets. Sad. I'll often be in a restaurant and hear a woman at the next table, who looks perfectly refined using profanities and obscenities I would probably only use in the heat of a violent confrontation. Just now I watched a video on HuffPost about understanding cats. It was light and amusing and informative. But in one segment it showed a cat waving its paws and underneath was the caption, "What the fuck are you doing?" What did the contributor  feel that was needed? It isn't amusing. It's crude, strident, not in keeping with the rest of the feature, and, I suspect, angry—very, very angry.

This is how Cruz sees Obama.

Ted Cruz is obsessed with President Obama. That's the only possible explanation for his paranoid vision of Obama as an all-powerful, omniscient, "jackbooted dictator" out to destroy America and crush this fearful Canadian under his foot. That's the only possible diagnosis for Cruz's wildly repressed sexual fantasies, his outrageous lies, his constant proclaiming the peace-loving and caring Obama as a person of unbridled ambition and unlimited power. Cruz's fantasies and anger grow stronger ever day, the lies increase in imaginative imagery, the superhuman endowments he credits to Obama intensify. The poor maw-mouthed Canuck is crazy as a loon and even suffers the ultimate delusion that he could be president of the United States. What greater proof does anyone need to consider the Baker Act?

The screwball from Schenectady.

Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President and CEO of the National Rifle Association is finally correct about something.  He says he sees "a lot of haters out there". By "out there", I'm guessing he means America. And like I say he's right. There are lot of haters out there.  Parents who hate the idea that their helpless children might be shot to death as school. Police who hate the thought that they might be outgunned when they're trying to protect their communities. Poor people who hate living in fear because so many gang members in their neighborhoods have guns.  Law-abiding citizens who hate knowing that so many paranoid, aggressive, and trigger-happy people are carrying revolvers, rifles, assault guns, and all manner of firearms concealed or not.  And of course millions of people who hate the idea that a creep like LaPierre has any control at all on how safe they are allowed to feel in their daily lives.

Note: Apparently the only place Wayne Pierre didn't want to carry a gun was into military service. So the coward didn't bother to serve.

"Hmmm. I wonder if this ploy will work."

Poor Rand Paul. He's trying a new strategy that may not work. He's smart enough to see that Republicans are alienating most of America with their anti-women, anti-gay, anti-poor, anti-middle class rhetoric. But he's not smart enough to know how transparent his pretending to be middle-of-the-road is.  Recently this arrogant Senator from Kentucky alienated some of his socially conservative cronies by sounding ambivalent on the issue of abortion. To make it worse it was during an interview with David Axelrod. I'm sure Randy thinks this will make a lot of voters think he's a reasonable right winger. And I'm sure he'll try to sound reasonable on other issues. But underneath I think he's just as cold and pro-wealthy as as all his party pals, including such ice queens as Paul Ryan.

Not all crackers are crackpots.

There's a real plus side to Mississippi's anti-gay law. It forces all the homophobes and bigots into the sunlight. They can sanctimoniously refuse service to persons whom they feel are violating their asinine biblical laws, and those persons can go to other more liberal merchants bearing the above sign. Ergo: fair minded people make profits; narrow minded people get to ring up "no sale" and feel incredibly pious with every non-purchase. We all know that not everybody in Mississippi is a bigot, just the lawmakers and the crazy fundamentalists who add their own interpretations to the bible. Unfortunately everybody is going to feel the pinch as more and more tourists will be crossing The Magnolia State off their "places to visit" list. And, of course, they can't go to Georgia without worrying about being shot by gun-toting crackers who can now bring firearms just about everywhere. Hmmm,  pretty soon the entire Crazy South will be off limits.

A charming moment.

How stupid and transparent can these Republicans be? They are making a huge fuss because Obama bowed to a robot. It was amusing. Bowing in Japan is a sign of respect. Obama meant it to be whimsical and it was. But Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh and all the other naive racist Republican assholes accuse the president of being weak, not because they believe that, but because they are so stupid they think they can make hay out of a bow. In American we shake hands. In other countries they bow. If these Foxites weren't so unsophisticated they would know that. But being angry and ignorant rubes, they don't.

Chilling possibilitie.

There are some news stories that just puzzle me. For instance scientists have said they are not terribly concerned about the iceberg that just broke off of an Antarctic glacier. But why not? This iceberg is not the size of the one that sank the Titanic. No, it's a bit bigger. In fact it's six times bigger than the island of Manhattan, not Nantucket, Manhattan. So if you picture yourself walking from the Battery uptown to Harlem and beyond—a very long walk— you'll have some idea of how big this iceberg (that they are not terribly concerned about) really is. Right now it's floating in the open sea. But what happens if it drifts north to warmer climates and begins to melt? Is it still not a cause for concern? Probably not. After all it's only 255 square miles of ice that's a third of a mile thick. How dangerous could that be?

So much in common.

It's so nice when two people share the same ideals and philosophies.  How moving it is when you see two men who are so alike, so in tune, so simpatico. I don't think you could find a better example of this kind of brotherhood than Cliven Bundy and Sean Hannity.I don't think Sean has found anyone he admires this much since George Zimmerman.

A fully foolish fashion.

It's truly amazing today how lazy, gullible, and easily manipulated the media is. A good example is the hats of Pharrell Williams. They're big, ugly and incredibly dopey.  But since Williams has decided to wear them to get some attention, the media is only too happy to fall in line and make a big deal out this absurd millinery. I'm sure if another singer decided to wear a horseshoe around his or her neck, the entertainment mediums would give it full and fascinated coverage.

Massive iceberg fails to impress GOP.

Who are the most dangerous people in out society today? I would say the Republicans who don't believe in global warning and thus plan to do nothing about it. Especially annoying today when an iceberg six times the size of Manhattan broke off of an Antarctic glacier and floated out to sea. Let's see now, what don't the Republicans believe in? Global warming. Equal rights for women. Birth control. Gay rights. Evolution. Gun control. Raising the minimum wage. And voters' rights. Hmmm. One can only imagine what America would be like with these priggish, repressive dictators in power. Let us hope that all Americans, and especially those who think they are Republicans come to their senses before the next election... or the next mammoth iceberg.

Great American scam artists.

Franklin Graham says that gays can go to heaven if they repent. Now isn't that special. The gay community has just been given a dispensation by one of America's leading grifters. I don't believe in God, but if there were one he would certainly condemn Graham, his dead-forever father, and all his ilk to a special section of hell reserved for hypocrites and charlatans. What a creep this guy is and how lucky for him that the world is filled with so many desperate and gullible people who make it possible to line his pockets, indulge him with luxury, and help him avoid ever having to do a honest day's work.
He's admired at the moment, but like Aimee Semple McPherson he will eventually just be a historical footnote along with other American con men and women.

America's blood red state.

Now that one can bring a gun to practically any venue in Georgia, I will be curious to see if this insane law has any effect on the state's tourism. I will also more closely watch the news to hear of any reports of Georgians or tourists being shot to death in bars, at schools in churches or just on the streets of Atlanta, Macon, Augusta, Andersonville, Berlin, Hiram or any other gun-toting city in the Peach State, including such aptly named cities as Riddlesville and Arcade. Of course the city should see a lot of new revenue in traffic tickets as motorists traveling north or south speed their way through this trigger happy haven of pistol-packing Southerners eager to kill someone in the guise of self-protection. This new law is sure to bring a lot of changes and one of them should be revising the state's motto, as "Wisdom, Justice, Moderation" no longer applies and actually never did.

Shhhhh.

Judging from this commercial and many others, I am guessing lots of people love to be screamed at. I'm not one of them. I find this spot beyond irritating and have to change the channel or push "mute" the second it comes on, which is frequently. It's not just the screaming I object to with spots like this, but the accompanying hysteria. Apparently e-trading deserves this insane level of enthusiasm, as do soda pop, cookies, mints, car rentals and just about every other mundane product.

Sorry, Huffy, wrong word.

HuffPost, which has been plummeting downhill lately, tries to pad it's content with all manner of dippy guessing games. The latest was challenging its reading to guess who cute kids turned into. However, the headline shown with the above photo was"Guess who this smiley stud turned into?" Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think a child should be referred to as a stud. See what I mean about downhill? The kid, by the way, was James Franco, who as an adult certainly is a stud.

Devious Darrell Defeated.

Poor master criminal Lex Luther, the most villainous villain of the D.C. comics. All of his devious plots to destroy Superman (Obama) are doomed to fail. Most recently his snarling insistence that the Dems had the IRS target his vile cronies. Now it has been proven that they were just as diligent in going after liberals. Curses, foiled again. If this keeps up Lex might have to go back to stealing cars and burning buildings.

A letter from under a rock.

Awaiting your urgent reply,

Mrs Elizabeth Woods

mrselizabethwooods@gmail.com

What Ms. Woods is awaiting my reply on is my agreeing to accept the 14 million dollars she is leaving me because she has heard I am such a good Christian, and since her doctor has told her she only has a short time to live, it's important that I contact her immediately. This is the return address of one of the most naive grifter letters I have ever received. The sad thing is that some gullible fool will be stupid enough to fall for this scam and probably turn over their hard-earned money when they hear the second part of this despicable con. 

Hmmm.

Repulsive, Repugnant, 
Reprehensible, 
Reprobate, Repressive, 
Repellent, Reptilian

Isn't it interesting how many negative words start with Rep?

Not a chance.

This Tuesday big broadcasters will fight for the right to keep charging you enormous cable fees to watch tv. At the same time a company called Aero whose services make tv viewing far less costly and complicated will insist on their right to do so. Now given the choice of helping the American people or keeping huge profits flowing into the pockets of greedy corporations who do you think the Republican heavy and increasingly irrelevant Supreme Court will favor?

Coward.

On this Sunday's "Meet the Press" New York Times columnist David Brooks suggested that President Obama has a "manhood problem" when it comes to foreign policy in the Middle East.  Translated that means that Brooks was calling Obama a coward, but, being a coward himself, he didn't have the courage to say it outright, so in his snide and slimy manner he did what most Republicans do—use a slightly obfuscated synonymous phrase instead of an honest statement. Brooks himself has changed philosophies several times during his career and—unlike Obama—couldn't keep a marriage together, so he, in short, knows all about having a manhood problem not just in the Middle East but everywhere. 

A Peter Pan pan.

I just watched the Milwaukee Ballet's production of Peter Pan on PBS, with choreography by Michael Pink and music by Philip Feeney. It was fabulous except for two things: the choreography by Michael Pink and the music by Philip Feeney. The choreography was a cornball collection of all the standard steps, including the hornpipe,  from every amateur theatrical with a hint of a seagoing theme.  It was not only cliched, but illogical. One embarrassingly bad segment had pirates dancing with Indian maidens who didn't look the least bit displeased about being held captive. The strident music was endlessly repetitive and glass-cuttingly sharp—imitation Stravinsky without any of the quality. Like most productions of Peter Pan, the flying was the most exciting aspect and was handled beautifully. Basically all the dancers were enormously talented. I thought there might be some redemption once the Darling children returned home, but that scene was one of the most insipid with the choreography bordering on a family kick line.  Anyway that was my take, but I have to accept that I am alone in my total dislike of this production since apparently (and amazingly) all the reviews have been glowing and the audiences have been giving standing ovations. If you catch this PBS special and can figure out how to respond to my blog, please tell me what I am missing.

Tacky promo. Tacky show.

As a fan of true crime shows, I have been amazed to discover that almost no law enforcement officer anywhere in the United States nor the people they are hired to protect knows the difference between lay and lie. Almost without exception the cop who discovers the body, the detective who seeks out the killer, and every friend and relative will tell you, "they found the victim laying in a pool of blood." This comes as no revelation to me as I have accepted that most people today, even those with college degrees, have no command of the English language. What did surprise me however was the narration on a new TV series called Secret Lives of Stepford Wives. I would expect that the writer on a TV series would have some knowledge of proper usage, so I was kind of shocked when the narrator reported that "when she came in, she found her husband laying on the sofa." On the other hand the series, which seems to find the murder of husbands humorous, is so tacky and so badly done I don't know why I would expect anything better.

Why do we do it?

Here's a grammar rule I've never been sure of (other than ending a sentence with a preposition, which I just did). Does one use the word "why" after "reason"? There doesn't seem to be any need for it, and yet everyone uses it.  For instance the visual above could just as easily read, "Forget all the reasons it won't work and believe the one reason it will." It even sounds better. Are we a nation that has been wasting millions of "whys" every year?  I say starting now we all stop using "why" after "reason" and if we don't, I'd like to know the reason why.

What I think Cantor says behind closed doors.

"Goddamnit, we Republicans are not going to rest until we've managed to get rid of Obamacare and make sure that all those people who now have health plans are left completely helpless in the face of new of preexisting diseases. What do were care if women die of breast cancer, if children go without doctors' visits. They shouldn't be poor in the first place. It's their own damn fault. The Democrats think they've won. Well they haven't.  There is no way that this uppity president is going to get the better of us."

How not to sell hotel rooms.

I find this commercial offensive on many levels. That's not even counting that I was tired of William Shatner about 12 campaigns ago. Since Kaley Cuoco (why did she ever take this job) is 29 years old,
it's kind of creepy to have her father following her around. Then the message is if a guy is sleazy, he should be put to death, thus his being thrown out the window. The pool was probably decided at the last minute when the ad agency realized they couldn't actually kill someone. Finally the entire spot is so sick and over the top that the message about Priceline is pretty much lost. A sure sign of a weak agency these days are commercials that depend on violence or persons lying or betraying their family of friends. Or an idea obviously borrowed from another source, in this case Braveheart.

Marilyn and the First Lady of Song.

A person I greatly admire is one of the most heralded and maligned figures of the 20th Century: Marilyn Monroe. Though she was a great actress, many people say she couldn't act. Though she was extremely intelligent , many people say she was a dumb blonde.Though she had very high standards of morality, many people called her cheap. Lots of liars say they had sex with her. Those who knew and loved her have helped us to see what an extraordinary and unselfish person Marilyn Monroe was. This week in the news there was one more story that shows just how remarkable. The following is a quote from the great Ella Fitzgerald who, being African American,was not permitted to perform in one of L.A.'s most popular nightclubs, the Mocambo.

"I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt...she personally called the owner of the Mocambo and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front row table every night. She told him—and it was true, due to Marilyn's superstar status, that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard. After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again. She was an unusual woman—a little ahead of her times. And she didn't know it."

Time saver.

I see they are making a sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire (or is it a series?). Either way, it doesn't matter.. What does matter is that I owe a lot to the film Mrs. Doubtfire and Robin Williams' performance. Why? Because it has saved me lots and lots of time. How? Because if anyone tells me that they loved Mrs. Doubtfire, I will know instantly that that person and I have absolutely nothing in common.

Great then. Great now.

Kim Novak has recently come out publicly in a letter revealing how hurtful were the remarks made about her appearance at the Academy Awards, notably by Donald Trump, the glass house of all glass houses. She said that the cruel jabs amounted to bullying which they did. "It really did throw me into a tailspin and it hit me hard," Novak, 81, said in a telephone interview Thursday, after she released her letter. I find this whole thing offensive for many reasons. For one, Kim is an icon whose beauty will always be remembered and revered. Two, did people expect her to look the same at 81?  Kim still looks great to me. Three, as Alice said whilst in Wonderland, "Don't you know it's rude to make personal remarks." KIm Novak was gorgeous then and she's gorgeous now because she's Kim Novak.

The useless funds of fat man.

Money. Money. Money. Rush Limbaugh has lots of money. Millions and millions. But what good does it do him? It doesn't seem to help him lose weight. He's already had a heart attack. I suppose if worse comes to worse he can always buy an illegal heart like Cheney's. It does buy him drugs, but that's only going to make his life worse.  Maybe he's generous with his three ex-wives, but I doubt it. He doesn't have any children to leave it to. Maybe like Leona Helmsley, he'll leave it to his pet. Being a Republican I doubt that he donates to charities where his money will be used up by all those "lazy users." Ironically with all his cash, he and also the Koch brothers could do wonderful things in the world, and be admired and beloved and honored. Yet they re much more interested in spreading dissension and hatred and being the objects of scorn and ridicule. That's very interesting, don't you think?

Thanks for the invitation, but....

I don't see the joy of eating out. So many of my friends are always eager to try the newest restaurant and seem to enjoy the experience. Not I. To me dining in a restaurant is a series of difficulties to cope with. One, will it be wildly overpriced. Two, will they play loud contemporary music, which I detest. Three, will it be so loud that one can't engage in pleasant conversation without shouting and constantly saying, "What?"  All three of these problems are generally the rule. Add to that the the food is almost never as wonderful as you were told it would be and servers in fancy restaurants are generally not much better than those at Denny's or the International House of Pancakes, and often a good deal worse because they think they are. Naturally I have dined at times where everything was perfect, the food, the music or lack thereof, the entire experience. But these events were few and far between. Maybe the fact that I don't drink has something to do with my lack of enthusiasm for dining out. I would guess that after several glasses of wine, or a couple of cocktails, the food tastes much better, any tidbit of conversation seems trenchant, money is no object, and one hardly hears the endlessly repetitive beat of the screaming background music.

All pets should be as happy as Asta.

There are certain people like me who are very bothered when they watch a film in which a pet or other domesticated animal, or any animal for that matter, suffers or dies. Sometimes one must deal with it if the film is worth the pain, like Straw Dogs. Other times it is absolutely unnecessary to kill a pet, and doing so seems like an act of sadism like many of the films on the Lifetime Network and several episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. As much as I know I would like most of the new film The Grand Budapest Hotel, I will not see it because they killed a cat for their idea of comic value. The sitcom Yes, Dear featured a cat killed on their first episode. I never watched it again. Anyway, that's me and lots of other animal lovers, which is why someone wisely came up with a new website that warns us when there is animal abuse in a film and tells you the circumstances.  The site is listed below and I encourage anyone who is offended by arbitrary animal abuse and deaths to make use of it.
http://doesthedogdie.com/

Keep in mind that when Republicans say, "Obamacare doesn't work." what they're really saying is, "I don't want it to work." which means, of course, they would like to see 7 million Americans without health care if they can have the satisfaction of damaging the goals of America's first black president. 

News coverage in dire jeopardy.

This is how stupid and illogical the news media has become. As you may know last week a contestant on Wheel of Fortune lost a lot of money because he mispronounced Achilles. Well the lazy media,
in this case Huffington Post, in search of another equally easy story thought they found it in Jeopardy. They headlined their story :"Jeopardy" Contestant Makes the Most Embarrassing Move Ever. Here's how they came up with that: The answer to final Jeopardy was the peace symbol, and the contestant was wearing a peace symbol. But the question was, "Meant to evoke a person with arms outstretched and pointed downward, it was designed in 1958 by Gerald Holtom." So you see there's nothing embarrassing about not guessing the answer. No contestant did, nor did I. (Did HuffPost think the symbol worn by the contestant was a talisman that would reveal the answer to her? ) So chalk this up as another non-story in the world of increasingly stupid news coverage.

A great misfortune.

Wheel of Fortune is a long-running, relatively simple TV quiz show. I don't watch it because it's too trite and the constant clapping at the revelation of every letter drives me mad. I do, however, usually change channels in time for the final puzzle. And while it's fun to see if one can guess the answer, it is also very unpleasant as it is one of the sickest moments on television. Sick because if the person does not get the puzzle, he or she of course loses the prize, which averages about $30,000 but can be as much as a million. What I find sick is that they have to reveal to them what they lost. Why? This revelation and their failure can only haunt them long after they leave the program, especially if they nearly guessed the puzzle correctly. This seems weirdly sadistic to me and completely unnecessary.

A wig or a woman?

I saw something today I thought was, at the very least, suspicious. I called the non-emergency number of the Miami Police Department. The dispatcher I got was so dense that I could not make her understand the situation, and being unable to, she hung up on me. Since I was at Starbucks I asked a policeman customer his opinion. He was obviously not impressed nor interested and acted as if my concern was totally unfounded. Let's see what you think. It is 6am. I am sitting at a bus bench waiting for the 24 Limited to Coral Gables. It is not completely light out. I suddenly notice a dark car going by and oddly, there is long blonde lustrous hair hanging below the front passenger door. The car passes. What could that have been? A wig caught in the closing door? Possibly. But unlikely. A woman lying curled up on the floor of the front seat? Also possible. But if the door were closed on her hair and she were conscious, she would notice. I see these as the only two possibilities. Obviously there is no way to locate the car without the license number. But I am still surprised that the Miami Police would be so dismissive of these facts. I didn't the license number, but then, again, they didn't even ask.

Note: If you saw a car like the one above passing you within six feet of where you were sitting and there was lustrous blonde hair hanging from the bottom of the front passenger door, wouldn't you wonder why?

Wrongly defending the right.

George Will, he of the helmet-hair style, Clairol #343 Conservative Blonde, recently accused Democrats of suffering from a form of Tourette's syndrome that causes them to shout "racist" or "racism" in response to any argument. I wonder if he is basing that on the fact that every leading Republican seems to hate President Obama and Attorney General Holder far in excess of anything they either man has ever done. So what could it be?  What do these two men have in common?  Ah, yes. Sorry Georgie. But it's not Tourette's, it's observation and evidence. We have never been exposed to so much racism by supposed fair-minded leaders of our country. The sad thing is that George Will knows it's true, but having to protect his long-time stand as a conservative and his own false reputation for fairness he's not going to show his true colors nor apparently anyone else's.

Guess what the GOP forgot?

It's very distressing to see how the Republicans are trying to suppress the vote. They are busy trying to pass laws that require more stringent voted i.d. They say it is to prevent voter fraud, a crime so rare as to be almost non-existent. We know their goal. To keep as many low-income Democrats away from the polls as possible because they are rightly afraid of losing the next election. But there's one thing I don't think they took into account. And that is the enormous number of poor and middle-class voters who erroneously believe that they are Republicans. These people will have just as much trouble at the polls as the Democrats who are under attack. I think party leaders would be astonished at how many people who are philosophically and economically Democrats at heart foolishly believe they are Republicans because that's what they've been told. And believing it, they vote for the GOP and against their own best interests.  My sister was one of them. She swore she was a Republican while she collected food stamps, had assisted housing, and depended on many of the most liberal programs in her community. There are millions like her and if the Republican party is successful in their voter suppression plans, these people will be just as affected as Democrats.

A bitch in black.

This is the only woman I can think of who is more despicable than Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann. Her name is Brooke Alexander a attractive blonde with a soul as black as crude oil.  She's detestable because she couldn't care less how much damage is done by fracking, how often water supplies are contaminated, how many people develop cancer. She's just another greedy, callous harridan. Like any demon she takes the guise of a normal, sensible person, better to spread her poisonous message of destroying America to make her richer. Evil.

Please keep up that heart ravaging rage.

The things you learn on Wikipedia. Who knew that Rush Limbaugh was married four times. Not only couldn't three of the women stand to live with him, but he couldn't have been very potent in the sack since none of them produced a child. Considering how homophobic Rush is, it's interesting to learn that he hired Elton John to sing at his last wedding reception and paid him $1 million dollars. Of course Rush denies that figure. The other delightful piece of information is that Rush, in addition to his hospital visits for drug problems, was admitted to a hospital in Hawaii in 2010 for a heart problem. I so look forward to Rush's demise and reports of his wife Kathryn Rogers spending Rush's many, many  millions at all the fashionable shops in Palm Beach, hopefully with a slender and handsome toy boy.

Have you tried Phillips?

Even if you're a Republican and you like this Joe McCarthy clone; even if you hate people as much as he does; even if his narcissism and arrogance didn't annoy you; even if you were foolish enough to elect this turncoat Canadian to the presidency of the United States; could you really stand to look at this constipated face for four years?