One of my constant complaints.

I always understood that chain stores with lots of outlets could have lower prices because they purchase in volume. Apparently that's not true with Walgreens. Despite having more than 6,300 stores, their prices are shockingly higher than other chains having far fewer stores, even those considered to be expensive. In Miami the major supermarket chain is Publix, which has about 1,056 supermarkets in the South. Now Publix is not considered to be an inexpensive supermarket.  Yet every time I need to make a purchase and compare the cost at Walgreen's, the item is far cheaper at Publix. Today I needed to purchase a Sharpie pen. At Walgreen's a package of two was $3.99, at Publix the same package was $2.09. I consider $1.90 a major difference in price. And I frequently find equally appalling price differences. I doubt that I have many readers, but the ones I do have will save a lot of money if they stop purchasing anything at Walgreen's and go somewhere else—anywhere else.

"Humpty Dumpty had a great fall."

Today when John McCain was asked how he felt about Romney's premature attack on President Obama over the assault on the embassy in Libya,  McCain didn't answer the question. Instead he  began his own false and petulant attack on our president. The dotty 76-year-old McCain makes lots of such assaults, spews many ignorant statements, , and commits huge political mistakes like saddling us with the vacuous and despicable Sarah Palin. All this makes one wonder how someone who was once so respected and considered an American hero could turn into such a slime ball. Is he so bitter about losing the election that he is willing to join Romney in the deceitful vilification of an honorable president? Is he so unconcerned with his past reputation for decency and fairness that he is willing to throw it all away to defend an indefensible liar like Romney? Is he so spoiled by the wealth of his wife that he has totally been swallowed up in a philosophy of greed.  We've all been told how heroic McCain was and what he suffered during six years as a prisoner of war after his capture by the North Vietnamese in 1967. This man who was a symbol of courage seems to bear no relation to the cowardly and duplicitous John McCain who so intrudes into every news cycle today. This doesn't make me wonder what changed him from hero to coward, but wonder if he actually was ever that heroic in the first place.

It's not the economy, stupid.

They can deny it all they want, but when I see a Romney rally, I see a crowd of bigots and racists. I see sour pseudo-Americans who resent having an African American as president. I see unpatriotic and narrow-minded morons who applaud and cheer Mitt Romney not because he's smart or capable, but only because he's white. They're not thinking about the economy or foreign affairs or world events; they're thinking I want that black man out of office. With every angry comment about Obama, they cheer. With every snide and bitchy remark, they applaud or whistle or whoop. These are not true Americans, not patriots, not the Christians many claim to be, not even sincere Republicans: they're damaged goods, sanctimonious human seconds whose hatred have made them lose their ability to reason and weigh right and wrong. They are deaf to Romney's constant lies and blind to his insincere smiles and totally unaware of the problems he will heap upon them if he ever gets into office. They are trained attack dogs yelping and waiting for their next treat: Mitt's latest lie about President Obama.

Huh?

Their theme is,"Experience the power of being understood." And yet I don't understand any of their ads. How is this caddie a partner who understands his business? How is caddie a partner at all? And why is the caddie more knowledgeable than the professional golfer? I don't get it.

A sure winner.

Love this commercial. Perfectly cast. Wonderfully written. Great punch line. Gets the message across. It has everything that makes a great, funny commercial. The only problem with it is that it doesn't seem like an exaggeration at all.

Could have been a D-con commercial.

This is a very expensive commercial. I wonder what it means. And what it has to do with a Kia. It certainly doesn't tell me anything about the quality of the automobile. Also I've been told that some people don't like rats or anything resembling rats, even when they're well-outfitted.  I know I've seen these rodents before in other spots. They didn't make any sense then either. Let's see, what could it be? That the complete oddity of rapping-style rodents at an opera house in a past century is completely irrelevant, therefore memorable. Nah, that can't be it. I know! There is no logic. Some supposedly "cutting edge" agency thought it was a hot idea and talked their gullible client into spending a zillion dollars on the concept. That's the only possible explanation. Isn't it?

Paternal advice

I noticed the other day how often Paul Ryan trots out his father's unfortunate death when dad was only 55 and Paul was 16. Today, Ryan, is fond of quoting how his father oft said, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." I wondered where that expression came from. And it turns out it's an expression was created by one of two different persons who would not have much liking for Ryan. One of them was Leroy Eldridge Cleaver, writer and political activist who became the early leader of the Black Panther Party. The other possible creator of the expression is Charles Rosner, a renowned advertiser and marketer who wrote the line in 1967 as a recruitment slogan for the John Kennedy-inspired VISTA program. While Ryan is often a lying slimeball, it's nice to know his father got his inspirations from someone other than Ayn Rand.

Oh, those Mormon temples.

Mitt Romney lies about a lot of things. Important things like Obama's record for achievement, which is considerably greater than Romney would have you believe. Semi-important things like budget figures of which he seems to have no understanding. And insignificant things like whether he dyes his hair. He has said on several occasions that he doesn't (color his hair that is). But I put it to you that it would be the rare man whose hair stayed naturally dark while his temples retained just the right touch of grey month after month after month  This is usually only achieved by truly talented hairdressers. Such stylists are very costly and most people can't afford them. Romney, of course, can. Also, being expensive, one can assume that high-priced stylists are very very discreet and not about to reveal the beauty secrets of their famous clients. Anyway, despite his being deceitful, duplicitous, and generally despicable, I must admit that Romney is a nice-looking guy. And his hair always looks especially nice because I'm sure he feels, "I'm worth it".

Story of two transplants.

Lauren Shields of Stony Point, New York, was a heart transplant recipient at age 10. Rather than take for granted this gift of life, she fought so that others needing transplants would be more likely to receive them. A result of that fight is that in June 2012 an organ-donor bill named for Lauren was passed in the New York Legislature.  The new bill requires any anyone applying for a driver's license to check off whether the wish to be an organ donor or not, which experts feel will greatly boost the number of organ donors in the state.  That this benefit to so many waiting for heart transplants was effected by such a young girl is especially impressive when you consider another recent transplant. War criminal Dick Cheney at 71 was powerful enough to steal a heart that should have gone to a much younger person. Despite his power, he, unlike Lauren has done nothing to advance the cause of organ donations and remains as sour and negative as ever.

The disappearing rule.

From the day I began attending Boston's  Lucretia Crocker School in1948, we were taught that one does not say thuh, but rather thee, before a word beginning with a vowel. Therefore you asked for the thee apple and thuh cookie. This rule seemed to be in effect most of my life. But in the past twenty years or so I noticed it no longer seems to apply and I think that's a pity. Because when someone says they love the "thuh idea" or "thuh open road" it sounds dumb to me. It rings of Valley Girl diction. And who says it? Almost everyone today, including newscasters, actors and politicians. I noticed it just now when Joe Scarborough said "thuh action" when discussing sports. I think thee English language is getting thuh shaft these days.

Note: Webster's New World Dictionary and probably all others still indicate that one says thee before a  vowel.

Ally needs an ally.

It's hard to believe that Ally Bank which did those wonderful commercials about children being abused by a slick con man are doing these new commercials. It's just one lousy concept after another. This one certainly outdoes in sheer stupidity all of the previous ones which were pretty bad as well. If Ally has changed agencies, I advise them to run, don't walk, back to the previous mad men and beg them to take you back.

A lie beyond enormous.

This has got to be the most absurdly inaccurate statement ever uttered by a politician. This man is either brain dead of not the least bit embarrassed about telling the most shameful and transparent of lies. "He kept us safe." Has Jeb Bush never heard of 9-11? Is he not aware of how blindly Bush and his staff ignored the warning signs of imminent attack?  Does he think his idiotic brother kept safe all those young men and women who died in battle?  Does he think his brother kept safe all those soldiers who came home blind, maimed, mentally disturbed? Does he think his moronic brother kept safe all those sad soldiers who committed suicide?  Does he really believe that his yellow-bellied, ignorant, Vietnam-avoiding, cowardly brother is a man of "integrity, courage and honor." These comments from a man who possibly plans to be president someday are absolutely mind boggling in how false they are and how unashamedly delivered
by this arrogant liar.

Nissan didn't know when to stop.

This is a particularly ineffective commercial because the message is so unnecessary and unclear. When he is hired, I assume he is supposedly overdoing the handshake, in which case the hirer should look annoyed, but he doesn't. It appears more like they're members of the same cult or lodge. The overdoing the cologne isn't all that clear either. The gambling? So he puts down one chip instead of piles of them. So? And in the disgusting last vignette he doesn't pursue his truly repulsive kiss. What about it? I also hate that this actor seems to be the new standard on commercials: not all that attractive, fully or partially bearded, and a bit vapid. Surely they could have spent all this money telling us more about the Nissan Altima than its tires are easy to inflate.

Another Stupid GOP commercial.

Basically I think this commercial is Republican propaganda bullshit. Knowing how deceptive Republicans are this may not even be true. But let's assume that it is. Canada is a big country. Is she defaming the entire country because the services in her area would make her wait. So she came to America for diagnosis and treatment and as she says, "The American system was there for me". Are we supposed to think it was there for free or covered by her insurance. No. She probably would have had to pay about $500,000 or more for the operation she describes. Most people don't have that kind of money. And even assuming all of it is true, how does this translate to We must replace President Obama?"  It doesn't. It's a ridiculous non-sequitur of a commercial by greedy zealots who want to deny Americans much-needed affordable medical coverage.

Why bother with prescription drugs?

I tried to find one of the newer Cheerios ads with the absurd promise that this cereal lowers cholesterol, but I had to use this one from three years ago. If this sugary cereal has any effect on lowering cholesterol, it is negligible if not nonexistent. I miss the old days when there were watchdogs to prevent such blatant lies in advertising. It seems that today any product can promise anything without any interference from anyone. Shame on General Mills. There are two words that have helped manufacturers make millions of dishonest dollars and those words are "heart healthy".

Note: When the Cheerios box proclaimed that their little Os can lower cholesterol by 4% in 6 weeks. the FDA sent General Mills a warning indicating that such a claim is in violation of FDA policy and classifies Cheerios as an unapproved drug. Since General Mills is still pushing similar myths, I guess the FDA isn't feeling their Cheerios.

New blog recommendation.

As adorable as I am, I consider myself rather an amateur at blogging. I don't dig deep. I love just mouthing off. And I detest a lot of things that other people adore, like religion and sports. So if you want to read really intelligent blogs, I once again direct you to My Cats are Democrats and a new one which I just discovered today http://flyoversuperpac.org/blog/  On the other hand if you want to just hear some constant bitching, much of it justified, keep reading me as well.

What a spokesperson!

This Republican is such a doofus, all I have to do is tell you his cartoonish name and you can imagine how comically inept he is: Hogan Gidley. A former promoter of Rick Santorum, he was just on MSNBC telling us how bad women have it under the Obama presidency, but when questioned as to how they will be better off under Romney, he didn't have a single answer and could only do what Republicans are so good at: rolling their eyes. The Democrat's convention is going to be so much fun, if only to watch little twerps like Hogan squirm.

 A Gridley quote: "Conservatives can now see and believe they don't have to settle for Romney, the establishment's moderate candidate," said Hogan Gridley, a spokesman for Mr. Santorum.

Yeah! Another Republican decider.

Let us assume that McCain didn't run in the last election. That Romney was the nominee and that he won. Knowing what we know he would have allowed General Motors to go bankrupt. So right now we would have no General Motors, which means that thousands of people at auto plants and auto supply stores across the country would be out of work. So the unemployment picture would no doubt  be a whole lot worse because as has always been said, "As General Motors goes, so goes the nation." But of course that is only one of the many decisions this self-proclaimed business genius would have made. So we don't know where we would be today. Well, it's no too late for America to see what other fool decisions this arrogant snob would make. If we put him in office, we'll find out right quick.

"Hi. I'm Andrea and I shovel Mitt shit."

Are Republican women stupid or just pathological liars. I was just watching another one of those angry GOP harridans, another young woman angrily pushing the nutty party line and completely incapable of showing any expression of warmth or humanity.  Why are they so Ann Coulter-angry?  One can only wonder what their daddies did to them to make them so pissed at the world and at the same time so eager to cling to some worthless father-image politician like Mitt Romney. In this case the snarler was Andrea Saul, who insisted that Obama hasn't created a single job and repeated the lie about "you didn't build it" knowing full well the true intention of that statement. One can only imagine the unjustified hatred welling up in this misguided harpie to make her repeat lies she knows are lies and express so much excessive vitriol. I had never heard of this particular scold before, but apparently she is a well-known camp follower. Note the deranged brainwashed look.

What fun, watching things die!

There are a lot of commercials in which the main character is an angler, usually an old timer who has taught his grandson the joys of fishing. That joy is often threatened by arthritis, incontinence or some other malady that the pharmaceutical being pushed will prevent, (f it doesn't cause cancer, difficulty breathing, sudden heart attack, infections, reduced potency, nausea, headache, some eye problems, confusion, dizziness, short term memory, bleeding, diarrhea, and joint pain).Ergo: The joy of fishing can continue. I know it's supposed to be charming and familial, but the way I see it it's promoting the pleasure of going out and killing a living creature for fun who is very happy living his life until he is wrenched from the water and left to gasp for air until he suffocates. Yeah, that's a lot of fun and a great lesson to pass on to children. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know your argument. Do I eat fish?  Yes. And I'll continue to eat fish, just as I'll continue to be mystified as to why people who think they are civilized love killing living things even if they are only fish.

I am going on vacation soon to Washington, D.C.; Williamsburg, VA.; Baltimore, MD; and New York City. Being a theater fan, I assumed this vacation would be filled with theater opportunities. Wrong. I am amazed at how boring the theater scene is everywhere. True there are new plays you might like if you tried them, but who wants to risk it as $40 to $100 a seat. I have no interest in any Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. I adore Stephen Sondheim, but that last two star-studded revivals I paid $80 each for were poorly produced duds.You couldn't pay me to see Hairspray or Wicked or any of the Broadway musicals recently spun out of second-rate movies like—God help us—Catch Me if You Can. Anything with the name Disney attached could only be saccharine and vomitous. Everyone who has seen The Book of Mormon raves about it, but I am sure as Cole Porter wrote, "It would bore me terrifically, too."  Everyone endlessly revives popular crap like Joseph and his Stupid Coat and Cats.  Doesn't anyone revive Eugene O'Neil, Clifford Odets, William Inge,  or the musicals of Frank Loesser.  Their shows are worth $100. We have totally lost sight of good theater. The much-heralded August in Osage County is a weak soap opera. Who proclaimed it anything better. In New York Porgy and Bess is a possible, though I would feel like I betrayed George and Ira. And I am sure I would love Gore Vidal's The Best Man, which is a great play, but I've been fooled before. I don't ever expect to thrilled again as I was at the original The Sound of Music, Raisin in the Sun or even the more recent Ragtime, not based on what I see being shown. I love blogging. You can be as cranky as you like and nobody can stop you.

Bob comes to a bad ending.

This is a very good commercial until the home-owning couple appear.While there are any number of things they could have said about Bob, what the woman in fact said is poorly written and illogical. First of all she asks "Is that Bob from down the street again?" She certainly must have know that it was, so why ask? Then she illogically asks, "What's he up to?" when it's obvious what he's up to is drinking tea and leaping in their pool. This spot would have been much funnier and more memorable with any number of other lines. Here's just one. She: "Oh, dear. It's Bob, from down the street,  again. Maybe we should get a restraining order."

"Meow!"

There were a lot of shameful moments at the Republican convention. Christie's grandstanding, Ryan's lying, Ann's absurd scenario about the couple's poor beginnings, and, of course, the empty chair and Clint Eastwood's maniacal routine. But one of the most shameful moments was one of the most surprising. It was a comment from Mike Huckabee, who is a Christian minister and allegedly straight, In what he assumed was amusing, this is what he said to the crowded auditorium, "The only hitch in an otherwise perfect week was the awful noise coming from the hotel room next door to mine. Turns out it was Debbie Wasserman Schultz practicing her speech for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte next week. Bless her heart."  Can you believe that a minister delivered such a petty, bitchy, ungentlemanly and completely unmanly comment?  What could he have been thinking. It was not funny. It was not manly. It was not Christian. And it was not true. He was just being a petulant, immature attention-craving troll attacking a lovely person who has absolutely no connection to him and has done him no harm. Mike Huckabee is a boorish pig!

Note: Not wishing to out-petty Huckabee, we wanted to illustrate this post with the thinnest photo we could find of Huckabee. This is it.

L'amour. L'amour.

Pity these guys aren't gay (as far as we know) because never were two men so meant for each other. There's Paul, who lost his daddy when he was sixteen. Now he has found a Just for Men replacement: Mitt, who is older and able to guide the far-younger eaglet. And talk about compatible! They are both cold-hearted, both liars, both ambitious far beyond their talents. If they win, one can only imagine the embrace, the joy, the sense of mutual victory. And once they're in office, what comfort it will be for each of them to realize the other hasn't a clue on how to run a country. There's sure to be lots of giggling as they—like a couple of out-of-control tots left alone in a nursery—totally destroy the country.

Tidbit: Due to his father's death Ryan received survivor's benefits through Social Security until his 18th birthday, which were saved up in order to pay for his college education. Another example of his seemingly endless hypocrisy.