Quote of the Day: Sarah Palin Goes to India

February 28, 2011 — Ron Chusid

“Sarah Palin is going to a political conference in India next month. Palin said she’s loved India ever since she saw ‘Hoosiers.’” –Jimmy Fallon

(I had a similar item on Facebook & Twitter last week, linking to an article which reported difficulties Palin might have with foreign travel. I added that Palin’s biggest problem in going to India was that she thought she was going to see Pocahontas. There were many other comments, such as that she thought she was going for Thanksgiving dinner or that she wanted to visit their casinos.)

Posted in Humor and Satire, Sarah Palin, Television. Tags: , . No Comments »

Live Blogging The Oscars

February 27, 2011 — Ron Chusid

I’m primarily using Facebook (and am trying to remember to keep these posts open for everyone to read–I know I missed several). Some comments are also on Twitter–see the box on the left. I’ll also try to periodically update here, but there is far more on Facebook when the comments are included.

 

I’m really shocked that Buzz Lightyear didn’t show up to the Oscars to pick up the award.

Everybody get ready. If Social Network wins as best movie, everyone on Facebook is expected to go up on the stage.

What happens if Inception wins as best movie, and then everyone wakes up and finds the entire Academy Awards show is a dream?

The Social Network guys are asking “Is this really happening?” They must have confused their movie with Inception.

Inception beat King’s Speech and other movies for Sound Mixing. I agree that the sound in Inception was better than listening to stuttering.

I see Anne Hathaway got out of her tux. When is she going to put on her new Catwoman outfit?

Republicans disagree with Obama’s view on “As Time Goes By.” Their favorite song is “If You Could Turn Back Time”

At least one good thing about the Academy Awards compared to the Golden Globes. There’s no way Glee will win as best comedy tonight.

Yes it is wrong that not a single financial executive has gone to jail. It is also wrong that nobody who was involved with the two sequels to The Matrix has ever gone to jail.

Michael Moore on Twitter: Thank u Charles Ferguson 4 pointing out not a single Wall St crook has gone 2 jail! And to the audience for applauding!

Inception is winning so many awards that I now suspect that someone planted an idea in the minds of the voters.

A win for Social Network (film editing). Everyone on Facebook, start walking up to the stage.

Makes sense that best song came from Toy Story and not the guy cutting off his arm in 127 Hours.

It’s getting late. I might just look up the rest of the Oscar winners on Wikileaks.

As I feared, now that we are getting to bigger awards like Director, Inception’s run is ending and King’s Speech won. When they planted ideas in the minds of voters, those behind Inception should have taken it to another couple of levels.

Idea for shortening the Oscars: Only allow winners to make acceptance speeches which they can fit on their hands. (I can’t believe I’m taking an idea from Sarah Palin).

Natalie Portman’s dress is fine, but I wish she accepted the award wearing this:
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/2006/10/09/is-audrey-hepburn-campaigning-for-john-kerry/

Is Michelle Bachman going to put out a rebuttal to the Oscars later tonight?

Colin Firth wins as best actor. I wonder if he is still interested in playing a villain on Doctor Who. (He really did say he wants to do this–I hope Steven Moffat was listening).

On Facebook: Oh well, The Social Network didn’t win. We can all go home–no awards for us.

Biggest disappointment of the evening: Didn’t get to see Anne Hathaway in a Catwoman outfit. With all the clothing changes she had did during the night, she could have thrown it in.

Posted in Blogs & Social Media, Entertainment & Leisure. Tags: , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments »

SciFi Weekend: Fringe, Leonard Nimoy, V, The Cape, Matt Smith on Upcoming Season of Doctor Who, Nebula Award Nominees

February 27, 2011 — Ron Chusid

Fringe returned to the period shortly after Peter was brought over from the alternate universe–a period all involved now seem to have forgotten except for Walternate. Peter was so desperate to return home that he tied a weight to his leg and returned to the lake where he first came to our universe, believing he came from a world under that frozen water. Walter’s wife Elizabeth showed strength in saving Peter. Unfortunately she couldn’t handle the continued lies to Peter (which he apparently began to believe) and later began drinking.

The episode contained the first meeting between Peter and Olivia along with Olivia crossing over as a child. This left the clue for Walternate to figure out what happened to Peter. Olivia went to tell Walter about the abuse she suffered from her stepfather. She began by speaking to a Walter sitting behind a desk but this was actually Walternate, with Walter turning out to be behind her upon her return to our universe. While over there, Olivia left a picture she had drawn of herself and Peter.

The previews foreshadowed something which has already been reported–Leonard Nimoy returning to Fringe to reprise his role as William Bell. Nimoy again confirmed this story in a tweet on February 25: “Coming to Fringe. William’s bell rings soon. LLAP.” (Nimoy typically ends his tweets with LLAP: Live Long and Prosper.) While William Bell was shown to have died, this wouldn’t be the first time Nimoy has played a character who has been brought back to life. Will William Bell be revived on the Genesis Planet?

There’s already been talk that V is going to end the season with a cliffhanger. Executive producer Scott Rosenbaum has stated in an interview that this could include some deaths of regular characters:

The executive producer of V has revealed that several main characters will be killed off in the second season finale.

Scott Rosenbaum told TV Guide that two or “possibly even three” series regulars will not return to the ABC series if it is renewed for a third run.

He explained that the departure of certain actors was related to “what would be most devastating for the characters [he wanted] to continue”.

“People are going to be shocked,” added series star Laura Vandervoort. “When we read the script there was initially shock, then sadness. [It's like] seeing your son go off to college or [your] grandma passing.”

Rosenbaum confirmed that Elisabeth Mitchell (Erica Evans) and Morena Baccarin (Anna) will return to the series, leaving Vandervoort (Lisa), Scott Wolf (Chad), Logan Huffman (Tyler), Morris Chestnut (Ryan), Joel Gretsch (Father Jack) and Jane Badler (Diana) as potential candidates for the axe.

The Cape has even less of a chance than V of returning. The show did conclude a good two-part episode last week which was probably its best story to date. Summer Glau spent the episode unconscious but being promoted to imagine a drug-induced wedding scene. It is not clear if we can interpret her visions of Vince as confirming that Orwell loves him m or whether she just put a familiar face into her dream. In the same episode Vince has contact with Dana, but only as The Cape. I just cannot buy the contrived drama from Vince keeping his survival secret from his wife along with everyone else. The wedding also advanced the widely held assumption that Peter Fleming is Orwell’s father, and a mysterious door might reveal more about Orwell and her mother if they get this in before the shortened season ends.

Doctor Who Amy Pond Vincent and the Doctor

Den of Geek summarizes what Matt Smith has to say about the upcoming season of Doctor Who:

We’re around two months away from the return of Doctor Who to Saturday nights, and Matt Smith has been chatting to Radio 1 about just what we can expect.

Talking specifically about the character of River Song, Smith told the station, “What’s amazing about Steven [Moffat] is, he’s been plotting this since [River's] very first episode. It’s all connected. He’s had this sort of three-year plan and it’s all unfolding.”

Even more intriguingly, he’s offered a tease about the two-parter that’s going to kick the new series off, where we find out more about The Silence.

“I think The Silence is going to be the scariest Who monster in a long time, definitely since the Angels. I think Steven’s written a killer monster there,” said Smith.

Smith also confirmed that we’ve got a sizeable cliffhanger to look forward to at the end of the seventh episode, then the show will take its mid-series break. “I think the Doctor and Amy are really faced with some quite cataclysmic choices,” he said.

Tonight during the Academy Awards, Inception has the best chance for a genre movie to win an Oscar. Inception is one of the movies up against an episode of Doctor Who, Vincent and the Doctor, for a Nebula Award. Here’s the full list of nominees for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America will present the awards on May 11.

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

  • Despicable Me, Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud (directors), Ken Daurio & Cinco Paul (screenplay), Sergio Pablos (story) (Illumination Entertainment)
  • Doctor Who: ‘‘Vincent and the Doctor’’, Richard Curtis (writer), Jonny Campbell (director)
  • How to Train Your Dragon, Dean DeBlois & Chris Sanders (directors), William Davies, Dean DeBlois, & Chris Sanders (screenplay) (DreamWorks Animation)
  • Inception, Christopher Nolan (director), Christopher Nolan (screenplay) (Warner)
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Edgar Wright (director), Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright (screenplay) (Universal)
  • Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich (director), Michael Arndt (screenplay), John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, & Lee Unkrich (story) (Pixar/Disney)

Both of the excellent Thursday night genre comedies have now had recent guest appearances by LeVar Burton.  He appeared on Big Bang Theory this week following a recent appearance on Community. His appearance on Big Bang Theory was briefer than on Community, but provided the perfect ending for last week’s episode.

Posted in Science Fiction, Television. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments »

Quote of the Day

February 27, 2011 — Ron Chusid

“President Obama filled in as the coach of his daughter Sasha’s basketball team. Sasha evidently listened to her Dad, because all she did was drive straight down the center and piss everyone off.” –Conan O’Brien

Posted in Barack Obama, Humor and Satire, Television. Tags: , . No Comments »

Conservatives Want To Turn Back The Clock On Contraception And Reproductive Rights

February 27, 2011 — Ron Chusid

In 2010 we had an unusual election in which people voted against the party in power out of frustration about the economy. They did so ignoring what the Republicans support, along with their blame in actually causing the economic crisis. Some years it just isn’t good to be an incumbent. At least this is giving us a chance to demonstrate what the  right actually believes in. Hopefully enough voters are paying attention to conservative beliefs such as that expressed by Kathryn Lopez when she argues that Contraception is Not The solution.

Lopez denies that the right is engaging in a war on contraception, and then demonstrates how conservatives don’t want women to have easy access to contraception. Or as FireDogLake puts it, Republicans Are Not at War against Contraception! Just against Women Enjoying Sex!

The absurdity of Lopez’s title is quite apparent. Contraception is the solution for women who want to have sex without having children, regardless of their marital status. Access to contraception is also necessary if  you want to reduce the number of abortions.

On the other hand, contraception is not recognized as an acceptable solution to those on the right whose desire is to control the lives of others. Lopez wants “to turn back the clock — to a time when we valued love and marriage and didn’t expect, support and even encourage promiscuity.” Making contraception more difficult to obtain might discourage some acts of promiscuity, but the desire for sex is hardly a new development in human history. Besides, do we really want a government which decides whether it is okay to have sex? I certainly never noticed that role for government in the Constitution. Promiscuity will continue regardless of what the Republicans do, but if conservatives have their way the result will be turning back the clock to the day of coat-hanger abortions.


Posted in Social Issues. Tags: , . 2 Comments »

The Embarrassment of Presidential Sons

February 26, 2011 — Ron Chusid

The remainder of the season has been canceled and it is up in the air as to whether Two And A Half Men will return. Charlie Sheen is saying he will not return to the show even if production is resumed. ‘

Former President Jed Bartlet is now as embarrassed by his idiot son as former President George H. W. Bush is.

Posted in George Bush, Humor and Satire, Television. Tags: , , . No Comments »

Quote of the Day

February 26, 2011 — Ron Chusid

“New rule: Stop calling it Obamacare. It’s not like Obama will be the doctor for your next prostate exam. That’s just a common fantasy of Republican men.” –Bill Maher

Posted in Barack Obama, Health Care, Humor and Satire, Television. Tags: , , , . No Comments »

Another Area Where Ronald Reagan Differed From Today’s Conservatives

February 26, 2011 — Ron Chusid

On the anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday I pointed out areas where Reagan differs from current conservative orthodoxy. Think Progress points out another: support for union membership. Reagan referred to “one of the most elemental human rights — the right to belong to a free trade union” in his criticism of the Polish government.

Reagan’s protests against the shutting down of Solidarity by the Polish government, while a satellite of the Soviet Union,  are being applied by many liberal bloggers to the actions of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.  As with any analogy, are certain areas where the situations are similar and others where very different.

While some conservatives cite Reagan in their opposition to unions (and not entirely without justification), it should also be recalled that Ronald Reagan had served a president of a union affiliated with the AFL-CIO, the Screen Actors Guild.

 

Posted in Republicans, Ronald Reagan. Tags: , . 2 Comments »

Quote of the Day

February 25, 2011 — Ron Chusid

“Texas is reportedly going to give college students the right to carry guns on campus. So I guess that next semester, every college student in Texas is getting straight A’s.” –Conan O’Brien

Posted in Humor and Satire, Television. Tags: , . No Comments »

Obama’s Rebound Seen In Iowa Poll

February 25, 2011 — Ron Chusid

Barack Obama still has a lot of work to overcome the Republican victories in the spin war during the first two years of his presidency, but he appears to be on track towards rebuilding the coalition which elected him. This rebound is seen in the national polls and in several state polls, such as this recent poll out of Iowa:

President Barack Obama’s approval has rebounded some across political boundaries Iowa, according to The Des Moines Register’s new Iowa Poll, reflecting a national trend for the Democrat beginning to construct his re-election campaign plan.

Obama’s overall 48 percent approval is his highest in more than a year and his 47 percent disapproval is a few points better than in September. The glimmer comes as independent voters, who helped him carry the state in 2008 but had since dropped off, have warmed to him again over the past year…

In Iowa, Obama improved with political independents to 46 percent, up 4 points since September and 8 points since February.

He also made gains with Democrats and Republicans, but the gap between Democrats and Republicans who support him was 70 percentage points.

A national Gallup Poll taken the same week as the Iowa Poll showed 48 percent approved of Obama, and 43 percent disapproved.

Iowa’s numbers echo the national trend that has shown Obama improving since the 2010 elections, said Paul Harstad, a national Democratic pollster who advises Obama and has been a consultant to Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin.”They are consistent with national surveys, which show the president probably having bottomed out, and that he’s making modest progress in picking up support,” Harstad said.

Obama’s new approval rating in Iowa marks an uptick from 45 percent in September, and represents his first increase since taking office in 2009, when 68 percent of Iowans approved of the new president.

Posted in Barack Obama, Politics, Polls. Tags: , . 5 Comments »

Quote of the Day

February 24, 2011 — Ron Chusid

“People in Libya want Moammar Gadhafi to leave. The problem is, he’ll be replaced by his idiot son, Moammar W. Gadhafi.” –David Letterman

(Letterman has done numerous variation son this same joke, yet for some reason it continues to be funny).

Posted in George Bush, Humor and Satire, Television. Tags: , , . No Comments »

The Mandate Is Now Winning 3-2 In The Courts–But Remains A Bad Idea

February 23, 2011 — Ron Chusid

While rulings against the Affordable Care Act tend to get more publicity, a third judge has ruled that health care reform is constitutional. The latest case was heard in  the District of Columbia by a Clinton appointee. We now have three Democratic appointees ruling in favor of the law and two Republican appointees claiming it is unconstitutional. It remains to be seen how the Supreme Court will rule.

The ruling points out that to make one of the arguments against the law is to “ignore reality.” This could also be said for most conservative arguments on pretty much any topic these days.

While I believe the constitutional arguments against the individual mandate are nonsense, and that the mandate is not sufficient reason to oppose the necessary reforms in the act, it remains a mistake for Democrats to support the individual mandate. This is an old Republican idea which Democrats never should have adopted. There are other ways to handle the free rider problem.

The division here is often between the more traditional Democrats and those of us who vote Democratic primarily because we oppose the type of big government supported by Republicans which generally is more intrusive in the lives of individuals. Unlike conservatives, we also recognize that there are areas where government action is necessary when the market fails, such as with the individual insurance market.

The underlying problem here is that, while there are justifications for it, the individual mandate changes the perception of health care reform from something being done by government to assist those who desire assistance to something which is being imposed by big government. I know some on the left respond to arguments such as this by claiming it helps conservatives by using conservative frames. As I have argued many times before, they are wrong. Individual liberty has historically been the liberal position and liberals should both embrace this position and take it into consideration in the drafting of legislation. The old Republican position of using individual mandates to solve the free rider problem should be rejected in favor of alternative measures.

Many ideas have been proposed to handle the free rider problem to prevent people from waiting until they are sick to purchase health insurance if there are no restrictions on pre-existing conditions. We could have open enrollment periods like the voluntary Medicare Part D program, with those who purchasing outside of such open enrollment periods being subject to the old insurance company rules. There could also be higher premiums for those who sign up later, as is also done with Medicare Part D, to make up for the premiums not paid into the system when the individual was younger and healthier. There could be financial penalties, possibly enforced by the IRS, upon those who cost the government money by seeking health care coverage after failing to purchase insurance to compensate for this cost to society. Bankruptcy laws could be changed so that people who declined insurance cannot eliminate debts for health care. Changes such as this could limit the problems from the free rider problem, while eliminating the major reason why many on both the left and right have opposed the current plan.

Posted in Courts, Health Care. Tags: , . 2 Comments »

David Letterman’s “Top Ten Little-Known Facts About United States Presidents” & Other Presidents’ Day Jokes

February 23, 2011 — Ron Chusid

It’s a little late, but here’s some highlights from Presidents’ Day.

David Letterman’s “Top Ten Little-Known Facts About United States Presidents”

10. William Howard Taft was so fat, he’s considered our 27th and 28th presidents
9. Teddy Roosevelt answered the phone, ‘Hellosevelt?’
8. The K in James K. Polk stood for Kanye
7. Like the cartoon cat, James A. Garfield loved lasagna and hated Mondays
6. To conserve energy when possible, Jimmy Carter would travel via pogo stick
5. During one of his fireside chats, FDR accidentally burned down the map room
4. John Tyler was the only president to work his way up from the mailroom
3. Zachary Taylor’s vice president was a cocker spaniel named Angus
2. Our only unmarried president, James Buchanan was fond of posing as his own first lady
1. George W. Bush was not born in the United States

And some bonus Presidents’ Day jokes:

“Bill Clinton recently revealed that he only sent two e-mails while he was President. Then he added, “And it turns out those pills are just a scam.” –Jimmy Fallon

“Happy Presidents Day. This is a day when we celebrate history by getting great deals on mattresses.” –Craig Ferguson

“President Taft was so fat that before he was elected to the Oval Office it was square.” –Craig Ferguson

“I’m glad we have a day for the presidents, but shouldn’t we have a day for Congress when the Senate and the House can kick back and not worry about getting anything done? Oh, wait.” –Craig Ferguson

Posted in Bill Clinton, George Bush, Humor and Satire, Television. Tags: , , , . 1 Comment »

Quote of the Day

February 23, 2011 — Ron Chusid

“All across the Middle East in the streets, people are demanding democracy. It’s amazing. The only way in America you get people to get worked up like that is to threaten to give them health care.” –Bill Maher

Posted in Health Care, Humor and Satire, Television. Tags: , , . No Comments »

Redistribution of Wealth

February 22, 2011 — Ron Chusid

Mother Jones has a set of eight charts which show the tremendous increase in income inequality in this country. Years of Republican policies designed to redistribute the wealth towards the top one percent have worked. The richest ten percent of Americans control two-thirds of its wealth. When polled, most Americans greatly underestimate the degree of income inequality, and think there should be even less:

With all the talk about tax rates, the rich are now being taxed at lower rates than when Ronald Reagan was president. That would continue to be true even if the Bush tax cuts (a major cause of the current deficit) were repealed:

Check out the full post for more charts and links to their sources.

Posted in Economy, George Bush, Ronald Reagan. Tags: , . 18 Comments »
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