Archive for February, 2010
Saturday Open Thread: February 20th, 2010
What’s on your minds this Saturday?
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We finally saw the Michael Jackson “This Is It” documentary, since Redbox had it for $1. You know what we think: meh.
Panda is obsessed with Michael Jackson and is still wearing black to honor his memory, like Michael’s sister Janet is doing (while LaToya has decided to just keep being crazy), and insists he’ll keep it up as long as she will. No word if he’ll also learn all the moves to Rhythm Nation or start doing scenes from Good Times, too. You never know with Panda.
The rest of us groove to some of Jackson’s older stuff if it comes on in bars. Don’t Stop ‘Till You Get Enough and Billie Jean will always be awesome and it is not Halloween without repeats of Thriller.
Thriller, in fact, is to Halloween what It’s A Wonderful Life is to Christmas…it would not be the same without it.
But, honestly, that comeback concert of his in London was going to be a disaster. Speaking of Thriller, Jackson absolutely ruined it with the new take he did for this show. Instead of the genuinely creepy, he went with comic, European zombies, a giant black widow spider, and other cheap parlor trick ghosts flying around on strings. It was cheesy and cheap, despite costing millions, probably. Nowhere near as good as the original Thriller.
The rest of the show was in the same vein. Tons of the 90s-2000s weird “Heal the World” Michael, but thankfully not much of any kids running around. Which would have been creepier than any zombies or ghouls.
We won’t rehash the Great Michael Jackson Debate we’ve had with Panda on many occasions regarding the child molestation charges (we think he did it, Panda thinks he’s innocent), but we’ll say that so long after his death, we’re at a place where we feel really sorry for Jackson for some things, but think he belonged if not in jail, then in a psychiatric center or other hospital. He needed a lot of help, but was so rich and famous he had power enough to keep all help at bay…even help from the authorities.
We hope he’s at peace now.
We don’t think this comeback tour would have been the huge success he wanted. We don’t know what all the fuss was about the production. We certainly don’t see how Panda could have sat through it 6 times in theaters (with three of those being in a row, ON THE SAME DAY). But, there are things we could watch all day and love so much that other people don’t understand, and we get that.
Did you ever see “This Is It”? If so, what think you?
Class vs. Crass: A History of First Ladies
H/t Chrissy the Hyphenated
Frances Cleveland didn’t even want to waste taxpayer money for a lavish event on HER OWN WEDDING DAY.
Michelle Obama thinks it’s appropriate, during a time of economic depression, to burn through millions of dollars for a Broadway theater “date night”.
Class vs. crass indeed.
HillBuzz on Andrea Shea King Radio Show Tonight
Just a reminder we’ll be on The Andrea Shea King Radio Show tonight at 9pm EST and 8pm CST, so tune in if you can.
Here’s the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/askshow/2010/02/20/the-andrea-shea-king-show
Use this as an open thread for the show, and be sure to login to the program’s chat room and live chat with other listeners.
Andrea Shea King has a great listenership, so we’re sure you’ll have an interesting time interacting with her regular listeners. It’s one of the only radio programs we ever listen to, so we’re excited to be on again.
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H/t Andrea Shea King’s promo for tonight:
It’s a repeat performance, an encore. A return engagement! And we’re delighted to have Kevin from Hillbuzz rejoin us, in the spotlight, center stage, this evening for our Friday night soiree on The Andrea Shea King Show.
This evening’s repertoire? We’ll talk about Tiger Wood’s statement. Was it a PR stunt? Was it the best strategy he could have taken? Would other approaches have been better?
And how does that tie into Obama, the media darling, the media’s creation?
The Clinton machine is reportedly gearing up with James Carville at the helm to destroy the Tea Party Movement. What does Hillbuzz, supporters of Hillary, think of the ploy? Will it work? Can it work?
Sen. Evan Bayh’s bye-bye. What does he know that the average American might only suspect?
The Olympic coverage… some are saying it “sucks”. NBC’s decision to show the competitions in taped delay has a lot of people pretty ticked off.
All that, plus the “What’s Sheaking Chatroom” and your calls. BYOB. We’ll have the set-ups. After all, it’s Friday, and we’re kickin’ back with Hillbuzz. Is there anything better? Buzz on over…
THE ANDREA SHEA KING SHOW
9 PM ET
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/askshow/2010/02/20/the-andrea-shea-king-show
Just how filthy is the Obama White House?
This is so utterly shameful, we almost don’t know what to say.
We have never seen the White House so filthy and in such a state of disrepair. Why is there garbage piled up just outside the Palm Room like this?
We know the current First Lady demands lavish weekly cocktail parties, where she can karaoke to performances by Stevie Wonder, stuffed into one of her upholstery fabric frocks, thinking she’s Beyonce, behaving like a spoiled, greedy child playing dress-up.
We know the current President treats America’s enemies with the utmost respect, and bows happily before Muslim royals and Emperors of countries that waged war upon the US. So, it’s no surprise he’d treat a peaceful, benevolent ally of the United States, and all democracies, such as the Dalai Llama with such disrespect.
Forcing this man to leave via the garbage chute, like he was livestock, an actual llama, is mortifying.
Which door do William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Oprah, Bertha Lewis (ACORN), and the head of the SEIU use when they come and go from the White House?
If anyone deserves to be thrown out with the garbage, it’s these people. NOT the Dalai Llama.
Actually, if we’re talking about who REALLY deserves to be thrown out of the White House like garbage, we’d need to start with the two people responsible for the condition of the people’s house currently.
Shameful.
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UPDATE: This is almost as bad as what Dr. Utopia’s supporters did to the National Mall on Inauguration Day. Remember?
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UPDATE:
Looking at all the trash piled up outside the White House, like it was Milan during a seasonal Italian garbage union strike, we couldn’t help thinking about Michelle Obama’s wardrobe.
That giant white garbage bag, little blue garbage bags, and brown garbage bag behind the Dalai Llama are prettier than some of the outfits that woman has actually worn.
White = can be the majority of a dress for her, and be prettier fabric than Jason Wu used for her inaugural gown (for which he sewed together old coffee filters)
Blue = The blue bags or things can be the shoulder pads, Joan Crawford style, to draw attention away from her rump and tummy
Brown = The brown garbage bag can be made into a little hat, with a pumpkin style top. Inside, there could be all manner of treasures from which to make her jewelry. Coffee cups. Pencils. Paperclips. Soda cans.
Everything much nicer than what she pays $10,000-20,000 per “outfit” for.
Wouldn’t it be fun to photoshop Mrs. Utopia wearing all this garbage?
Instead of garbage, we could say it was Bergdorf’s delivering her latest “outfit” for whatever lavish party she’s throwing next, with the thermostat set to 79 degrees in winter.
Tim Pawlenty is an unfunny ass
About as funny and relevant as he is good looking.
Tim Pawlenty has provided reason #4,502 why he will never be president: he is an unfunny ass.
How long ago was Tiger Woods’ run-in with his wife and the golf club she smacked him silly with? Thanksgiving? And Pawlenty’s at CPAC making jokes about it in FEBRUARY?
Domestic violence isn’t funny, ever. While we are no fans of the overexposed media darling that is Tiger Woods, we think someone of Pawlenty’s stature could have found a better joke to make than to say, after talking randomly about Woods’ wife Elin, “We should take a page out of her playbook and take a 9-iron and smash the window out of big government.”
What window?
Where is “big government” at, and how big is the window there?
That just makes no sense.
It’s not funny, it’s as stale as leftover Thanksgiving turkey by now, and it’s so typical of what we expect from Captain Cucumber and Mayonnaise.
We really and truly do not like Tim Pawlenty. We will never vote for this man. We don’t even want him to be Vice President.
Note in the article how the MSM is pushing hard for this man to be the GOP 2012 nominee, saying he is a “strong contender” for the nomination.
The MSM wants Dr. Utopia to win a second term. Therefore, the people the MSM pushes for the GOP nomination are the men they know Dr. Utopia can wipe the floor with.
Enter Tim Pawlenty.
And his terrible, assy, unfunny jokes.
There are just too many Republicans on the national stage like him, and they do a major disservice to the party, without realizing it. THIS is exactly what the Left lampoons when they say, rightly in Pawlenty’s case, that Republicans are out of touch, nerdy, uncool, and laughable.
While being “cool” shouldn’t be a defining characteristic of a candidate, per se, let’s be real. Is Tim Pawlenty going to light fires in the hearts of millions nationwide and convince them to give up their time and money to do everything it takes to put him in the White House?
<< CRICKETS >>
We won’t be voting for Dr. Utopia in 2012, no matter what. And we will be doing everything we can to make sure he does not get a second term. But we don’t see ourselves able to travel across the country campaigning for an unfunny ass like Pawlenty. We will be anti-Utopia, but can never be pro Captain Cucumber Mayonnaise.
Republicans should be very careful about listening to the MSM and putting forward yet another boring, unfunny, laughable, stereotype like this.
Question: Can you judge a man by the company he keeps?
On Tuesday, the lot of us went out for Mardi Gras here in Boystown, and ended up at Sidetracks where they had a big production of dancers and costumes and green, purple, and gold fun. Mardi Gras here in Chicago is not that big of a deal, but for a Tuesday more people than usual were out, and Sidetracks made the night fun, as usual. They had a guy dressed up as the King of Mardi Gras, with several caped retainers. He’d pull some “random” guy from the crowd, and his assistants then fluttered around him with their capes, until the guy was stripped and then revealed dressed in a little Mardi Gras costume with elaborate headdress. So, the guys weren’t “random” so much as planted, like in a magician’s show, but the costumes were awesome and once “dressed” for Mardi Gras, the guys took positions around the bar dancing the rest of the night.
Panda was in all his glory, with a giant Mardi Gras crown on, making everyone call him “Your Majesty”. He’d wear that crown every day if he could. Probably does at home. The rest of us had purple tees or green dress shirts on, trying to be Mardi Gras themed without looking like strippers or random guys with crowns on, who are in no way Southern.
Robby noticed a guy staring at Sebastian from across the room, and all of us braced for the “nationality expert” thing to start, because that’s usually what happens when someone in a group starts staring from across the room. They stare, then they talk amongst themselves, then they head over and ask Sebastian “what nationality are you?”, because, in Chicago, his dark hair fascinates these random idiots, apparently. Robby, farm boy blond, never gets this. Joaquin, clearly Hispanic, doesn’t get it either. Panda, Gaysian, is often asked “why are you wearing a costume?”, but that’s about it.
When the random guy walked over, we were all surprised when Sebastian asked him a question first, which is unusual. “Are you friends with John Robert?”, he asked, and the guy said that he was, looking back at the group he came from. It’s then that we noticed a tall, lanky d-bag none of us like because he was a jackass to a friend of ours, Mikey, who has a disability.
About two years ago, we were all at Sidetracks for Showtunes night and hanging out with some guys from the Gay Men’s Chorus, as well as a nice kid named Mikey who is some degree of special needs. Its not Down’s Syndrome, and we’ve never wanted to ask what exactly it is, but Mikey’s a slow learner with a great big heart who is always kind to everyone, but socially awkward. We think he’s one of the bravest people we know to climb willingly into the viper pit of Boystown — where, if you are not gym-toned, built, cover shot ready, and loaded, you’ll face constant criticism and ridicule.
Mikey doesn’t care what people think or say about him, and just goes out to have a good time, never making trouble for anyone.
Well, one Monday night, this jackass John Robert was out with a bunch of his friends, and started making fun of Mikey, aping his movements, mimicking his distinctive laugh, and generally acting like a third grader making fun of someone with special needs. Once Sebastian heard him use the “r-word”, that was it. It was on.
Bast walked right up to him and asked if he had a problem, and of course the coward pretended he didn’t know what Bast was talking about. Bast told him that we could hear every word he was saying, that Mikey had every right to be there and have a good time without being made fun of, and that Bast knows the owners, who are great guys, and would happy to go find one of them, tell them what John Robert was doing, and get them tossed out for making fun of someone with special needs.
It got tense for a minute, but it was clear Bast wouldn’t back down, and John Robert said a few nasty things Bast’s way, before he and his little troupe moved on to a different part of the bar. We never saw any of them in Sidetracks again…until Mardi Gras.
Bast got punched in the face for standing up for Trig Palin during the 2008 election, and he would have taken a punch to stand up for Mikey too. Clearly, he does not forget the jackasses who pick on people with special needs.
So, he spotted John Robert in the crowd before any of us, which isn’t all that hard since John Robert is, essentially, a drunk, poorly-behaved giraffe. When his friend came over to talk to Sebastian, he gave the guy the chance to say he didn’t know John Robert. But, when he confirmed he was part of that group, Bast said, “I’m sorry, I don’t care to know anyone who is friends with John Robert. So, no thank you, please don’t bother me.”
The guy was stunned, because he’s the sort who isn’t used to being rejected in a bar, at least not before he’s even delivered a pickup line (or asked someone what his nationality is). The guy started to say something about not really knowing John Robert, but Bast didn’t want to deal with it and started to walk away. The guy grabbed Bast’s arm, and Panda caught sight of what was up and bleated, “Oh Mary, now it’s ON”. Because Panda is always like throwing gasoline on a fire in any situation.
But, Bast just very politely removed the guy’s hand from his arm, and told him once more than he did not want to meet any friend of John Robert’s. He said, “John Robert is a d-bag, I don’t like the things he does, and I don’t want to know anyone who is friends with him. I believe a man is judged by the company he keeps, and if John Robert is your friend, I do not want to know you. I don’t work in this bar. I am a customer. I do not have to speak to you if I don’t want to. Leave me alone, have a nice Mardi Gras”.
With that, Bast broke free and went into another part of the bar to get a drink.
We watched the guy slink back to his group, where he clearly told John Robert what happened. The jackass, of course, laughed, and traded evil eyes with Panda, who, of course, is always raring to give the stink eye to someone deserving.
After things cooled off, and Bast came back, Panda asked him why he wouldn’t talk to that guy, just because he is friends with John Robert.
That prompted a big discussion amongst us that carried through the rest of Mardi Gras, about who we choose to spend our time with.
Panda says he’ll talk to just about anyone, and doesn’t care if they were a jackass in the past. If someone starts something with him today, he’ll finish it, and tomorrow everyone starts fresh with a blank slate. That’s Panda.
The rest of us, it seems, are different. Past isn’t predictor, necessarily, but it’s precedent. We all forgive people for being drunk, because this is Boystown, and if you didn’t cut guys a break for having too much to drink and acting stupid, you’d never talk to anyone. But, the rest of us draw the line with cruelty and making fun of people who’ve done nothing to deserve it.
If you make fun of a nice guy we know, just because he’s different, and he’s never done anything to you, then you’re a jackass like John Robert and we don’t want to know you.
Mardi Gras proved to us this rule extends to the people who choose to be friends with the likes of John Robert as well. Which is interesting to us.
“Look, I’m here having a good time with my friends. It’s a great night. We just had Mardi Gras pizza at Pie Hole. The bar is all decorated and they’re playing zydecko music and it kind of reminds me of Oz in New Orleans a little. I’m having fun, and the last thing I want is to be hit on by a friend of the d-bag who made fun of Mikey. So, I was not having any of that garbage tonight, and I stopped it before it happened. Life is too damn short for me to have to deal with any more jackasses than absolutely necessary,” was Sebastian’s take on things.
Panda kept trying to argue John Robert’s side, saying “maybe he didn’t think anyone could hear him”, to which Bast repeated, “But I did hear them, and remember I said something about it, and those guys are just bad news and my point is I didn’t go over and start anything with them, that guy walked up to me and I just told him I didn’t want to talk to him. Period.”
The whole episode makes us think about the current president and all of his unsavory connections, all of the terrible people he’s spent his life hanging around. William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. Tony Rezko. David Axelrod. Jeremiah Wright. His wife Michelle. All those Marxist friends in college.
We think you can judge people based off the company they keep. Who a person chooses to surround himself with does matter.
You should still be polite to everyone, and you shouldn’t go looking for trouble in life (much to Panda’s clear disappointment), but if you think trouble’s coming your way in the form of someone who hangs around guys that are bad news, we think it’s a smart move to nip things in the bud before trouble visits you.
Sebastian didn’t want to get to know someone who chooses to spend a night out with the comedy stylings of John Robert — knowing it would be a waste of time talking to him, since ultimately things would lead to a rehash of the Mikey incident and why John Robert is a jackass.
Spare us.
But, we wonder what you think.
Do you judge people by the friends they choose to be around, by the company they keep?
Do you think a look at the associations a person has is a good indicator of that person’s character?
Would you have talked to a friend of John Robert’s, knowing the history?
The 2010 Obama, the best Government Motors can do
Have you gotten this in your in-box yet?
The New GM (Government Motors)
Proudly Introduces
The 2010 Obama
This car runs on hot air, bull-shit and broken promises.
It has three wheels that speed the vehicle through tight left turns.
It comes complete with two teleprompters programmed to help the occupants talk their way
out of any violations.
The transparent canopy reveals the plastic smiles still on the
faces of all the happy owners.
Comes in S, M, L, XL and 2XL (pictured)
It won’t get you to work, but hey, there aren’t any jobs anyway!
H/t new email circulating around
Friday Open Thread: February 19th, 2010
What’s on your minds this Friday?
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Have you ever seen the movie “Gotcha!” with Anthony Edwards from the 80s (when he had a thick head of blond hair)?
It’s on Hulu now, and we mention it because we wonder if people in college still play the game “Assassination”, which was either inspired by the movie or is the reason Gotcha! was made. When we were in college, “Assassination” was played at several colleges we and friends went to, usually in a frat or on a residence hall floor, organized by the RA. Everyone got a squirt gun and picked a name out of a jar. The rule was simple: you had to squirt the target you selected somewhere on campus, though people were safe on the residence floor and inside actual classes. Everywhere else was fair game. Once you took down your target, you assumed that person’s assassination name, until there was just one player left standing.
Everyone who got squirted had to add their name to a little graveyard poster by the elevator on the floor.
It was the most frustrating and on-edge any of us have ever been, constantly looking in bushes and over our shoulders for weeks, until someone finally appeared to squirt us. In one instance, it happened while just walking from the library and a random girl we had never seen just walked right up to us and squirted us in the chest and a friend we were walking with almost hit her with her books, thinking it was a random nut. ”It’s okay Damy, she’s just assassinating me, thank God,” he said, relieved because it meant he was out of the game and could finally relax. Damy had no clue what was up, and hit her with a book anyway. ”She got your shirt all wet, and she was ugly, so that will teach her”.
We’ve always had some pretty awesome female friends, who like hitting people, apparently.
If you haven’t seen the movie, it’s worth watching on Hulu. Especially while Hulu is still free.
They also have Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II in case you want to make it a double feature.
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Oh, and speaking of Hulu, they also have a documentary on the Weather Underground, which details the crimes of Dr. Utopia’s good pals William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn (people who have babysat the current first daughters). We haven’t watched the documentary, and don’t think we can stomach it, but if anyone has seen it, please chime in.
Watching anything on these people is like watching the Naked Gun movies (also on Hulu) and seeing OJ all over the place. No thanks.
Though, at least OJ is in prison…finally…and not being invited to the White House.
Illinois Senate Race Mystery: Who is Sean Conlon and what connection does he have to Alexi Giannoulias?
Sean Conlon is a 41 year old real estate mogul here in Chicago, who founded Sussex & Reilly Real Estate.
Tonight, someone told us there’s an “interesting connection” between Conlon and Alexi Giannoulias. “It’s worth checking out and looking into”.
We’d never heard of Conlon before tonight, but Giannoulias has a great many “interesting connections”.
What can we find linking the two, and what have they gotten up to together?
Are they possibly basketball buddies, the way the current president and Giannoulias were basketball buddies?
Who is Sean Conlon and what connection does he have to Alexi Giannoulias, and possibly to the mob’s bank, Broadway Bank?
Democrats are dead wrong about the next large-scale terrorist attack on US soil
It seems Democrats, reaching as high as the White House, believe a large-scale terrorist attack on US soil will do for the current president’s approval ratings what the 9/11 attacks did for George W. Bush (where his approval rocketed to 90% as Americans rallied around the flag, came together, and gave Bush their undivided support, regardless of how they felt about the man on 9/10/01).
When the next large-scale attack on the US happens, on Dr. Utopia’s watch, Democrats seem to think he will, like Bush, benefit from this event politically.
Perhaps that’s why Democrats like Janet Napolitano think “the system works” so well, when it allows Muslims to come within seconds of downing civilian aircraft. The only way the “system works” is if the system’s allowing these sorts of things to happen, for whatever reason. Maybe it’s the Leftists’ PC police who think the “system works” because Muslims aren’t being profiled, and are thus allowed to come so close to murdering hundreds. Maybe it’s the White House itself that thinks the “system works”, because Rahm Emanuel has plans in place to take full advantage, politically, of the next terrorist attack. For Emanuel to put his plans in place, he just needs an attack to happen. Either through incompetence or gross neglect of their duties, Democrats seem to be doing everything possible to leave this country open to a catastrophic attack.
But, we think they are dead wrong about the response the American people will deliver to the next Muslim assault on America.
9/11 was a shock to the system. Nothing like that ever happened before. Pearl Harbor, the closest example of anything even remotely similar, happened so far away from the mainland. 9/11 happened in NEW YORK. On our East Coast. Too, too close to home for many people.
They were shocked. They couldn’t believe it happened. Their worlds changed.
In that shock, they were more malleable than they will ever be again. President Bush rose to the challenge of the moment, stood strong, and became the leader we needed at that moment in time. So, Americans supported him, like never before.
We don’t believe this will be the case again, and it’s not only because we don’t think Dr. Utopia has it in him to lead this nation the way Bush did. Utopia will not head to the ruins with a bullhorn and vow to strike back. He will dither and wither, and professorially list all the many reasons why Islam is the Religion of Peace and America is the Great Satan deserving of whatever attack we received. Bush proved what he was made of on 9/11, and it was good stuff. Dr. Utopia will prove what he’s made of some day too, and we bet it’s not going to be much good for anyone…least of all Democrats.
We think a large-scale terrorist attack on US soil on Dr. Utopia’s watch will deliver an unprecedented backlash against this White House, the MSM, and the Democrat Party…the likes of which all three of them might not be able to recover from. If Bush’s approval rose 40 points after 9/11, Utopia’s will drop 40 points when his administration fails to prevent what so many can clearly see is coming.
Muslims have been actively targeting the US with renewed vigor in recent months. Something’s up. We think the airline attacks are misdirection. The poisoning scheme at Ft. Jackson that’s been revealed, and the attack at Ft. Hood before that, seem to be the REAL direction Muslims are taking: they are going to kill a large number of US troops at a base somewhere stateside, hitting the American military where it should be safest and least vulnerable.
We believe their intent is to paint the US military as paper tigers abroad…to embolden Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq to fight harder against US troops…since if these men and women can so easily be taken out on US bases, just imagine how vulnerable they really are when out in the field.
That’s what we think these attacks on US bases stateside are leading up to…since the number one goal of terrorists isn’t the destruction of a particular place, but the PR value that act will give them in Gaza, with Hamas, Hezbollah, and all the many smiles the act will birth on all the royal faces in Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Utopia is a deliberately weak US president. He cares more about apologizing for US exceptionalism than he does defending US interests.
Bush was a cowboy with a take no prisoners approach to life that many people didn’t much appreciate before 9/11 (and we, ourselves, didn’t appreciate at all until he was out of office).
Like Bush before him, a massive terrorist attack on the US will wake Americans up to the image they have already formed of the president: in Bush’s case, his cowboy bearing and take no prisoners Don’t Mess With Texas bravado was just what people wanted and needed when we were hit.
We believe Americans will have the EXACT opposite reaction to Dr. Utopia in the wake of an attack on his watch.
Millions will realize just how deep the consequences of Election 2008 really run.
If Democrats think the system is working so well, and are possibly looking forward to approval bumps they think they can get when something unspeakable happens, we think they’re dead wrong and in for the surprise of their lives when America firmly, and perhaps permanently, turns against them once and for all.
