Joni Ernst and MAD TV's Stuart's Mom: Separated at Birth?

I have to give credit for the inspiration for this to The Stephanie Miller Show.

Many Republicans Think Climate Change is Real

It's always amazing to me when we see polls and punditry that debate the percentage of people who believe or disbelieve relatively empirical things, based on their political leanings. I mean, who cares how many of group X believe that the earth is round? It's round regardless. And when climate scientists nearly unanimously agree that there is a consensus that man-made climate change is a real thing, being a conservative* shouldn't matter in the equation to whether or not it is "real."

Anyway, to find that any significant percentage of conservatives are seeing the light is a pleasant surprise.

*Now, all of that said, I'd really like to know how being a climate change denier is "conservative" in nature in the first place. Conservative implies conservation, carefulness, caution, tapping the brakes, and being a tight-ass. Today's conservatives are seemingly about wastefulness, heedless of warnings if it hurts profits, full-speed-ahead/damn-the-consequences, and inventing a conspiracy theory amongst scientists while having no rational story for a motive. I don't see any relationship between the "conservative" brand, and the traditional definition of the word.

[Excerpt]

Despite Current Congress, Many Republicans Think Climate Change Is Real
 
In Washington, D.C., Rep. Chris Gibson could be considered an anomaly. Unlike 68 percent of his Republican colleagues in the 114th Congress, the congressman from New York does not publicly deny the science of human-caused climate change. In fact, Gibson is one of the small handful of congressmembers who publicly states that climate change is real. He’s even gone so far as to introduce a resolution that would “recognize the reality” of global warming’s dangers. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Blame it All on Obama (Another Rocky Mountain Mike Song Parody)

Well, it's Rocky Mountain Mike to the rescue again. Between all the bon voyageyness from friends--in other words, social obligations out the wazoo--and planning/packing/moving, blogging has necessarily been difficult. So, I was happy to hear this tune on The Stephanie Miller Show today, because I knew I'd have at least a little material for the blog!

To the tune of LaBamba by Ritchie Valens. For more the complete tunes, go here. And buy his album, Politically Incoherent on Amazon!
 

A Rocky Mountain Mike 2-Pack of Song Parodies

Sorry for the dearth of posts. The preparation for the move has my time divided, as well as my attention. But Rocky Mountain Mike has posted (or re-posted?) a couple of tunes, both Beach Boys-tinged. And if you like your political humor bi-partisan this will kind of cover the spectrum. So, enjoy! And I'll drop by the ol' blog when I can. . .

For more the complete tunes, go here. And buy his album, Politically Incoherent on Amazon!

 

Scott Walker Comment Might Save ObamaCare from The Supremes?

Oops. Image from source, Think Progress

Interesting theory. It would be icing on the cake if The Affordable Care Act was cemented by the offhand, callous comment of an extra-douchey conservative hero.

[Excerpt]

How A Stray Remark By A Republican Governor Could Save Obamacare From The Supreme Court
 
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) plan if the Supreme Court reinterprets Obamacare to take health care away from hundreds of thousands of his constituents is to “do nothing,” according to a local news report, even though he and his fellow Wisconsin Republicans have the power to save these individuals from that fate. This may not be a particularly surprising revelation, as Republican elected officials throughout the country have done little to conceal their disdain for the Affordable Care Act, yet Walker’s willingness to admit this fact could have the ironic result of saving Obamacare from the justices. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Captain Obvious: Chris Matthews Discovers Tea Party "Aren't That Far" from White Supremacist Groups

I've had a few issues with Chris Matthews of late, where his always vacillating political needle seemed lodged in libertarian/conservative land. But he still shows flashes of reasonableness, even if the topic is blindingly obvious. In this case, it's noticing the not-so-very-far-apartness of white supremacist groups and "Tea Party" conservatives. Um yeah, we noticed that.

[Excerpt]
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews: Tea Party Republicans ‘aren’t that far’ from white supremacist groups

MSNBC host Chris Matthews slammed Tea Party Republicans on Tuesday, likening them to white supremacist organizations like the one currently linked to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA).
 

Image from source, Raw Story

“How do you think Louie Gohmert feels toward David Duke?” Matthews askedHuffington Post reporter Sabrina Siddiqui. “How do we know? What do you think of [Ted] Yoho, and that crowd? These guys believe [President Barack Obama] was somehow an illegal immigrant from Africa because they can’t stand the fact that he’s an African-American president. Let’s be honest about it — they’re not that far from the crowd they refuse to associate with. . . .”

Read more at: Raw Story

The Gay Thing: Marriage Equality Comes to Florida

Usually, "Dateline: Florida" equals something very strange, very sad or just baffling. Florida is weird. But this time, it's a good story. Marriage equality is finally a thing in the Sunshine State! The state with Sushi the drag queen dropping from a giant high-heeled shoe every New Year's Day has finally dropped all pretense. Actually, they put up a rather ridiculous, pointless, expensive fight, slowing the process down everywhere they could. But they lost, as has been the case across the country

Image from source, MSN

In all, there are now 36 states (plus Washington DC) where same-sex couples can legally marry. We're getting very, very close to 3/4 of the country (and that's just counting 36/51). Population-wise, we're likely already there. The Supreme Court could decide this year to make it 100%. But in the mean time, a whole lot of gay Disney fans can now plan their weddings!

[Excerpt]

Same-sex marriages begin in 1 Florida county
 
Miami-Dade County became the first place in Florida to allow same-sex couples to marry on Monday, half a day before a gay-marriage ban that has been ruled unconstitutional is lifted in the rest of the state. . .

Read more at: MSN

Mike Huckabee Quits FOX "News" to Join 2016 GOP Presidential Race

Image from source, MSN

Though quitting FOX "News," and exploring a run for the GOP presidential nomination isn't quite a lateral move for Mike Huckabee, it's certainly merely a change of position within the same "company." Given the symbiotic relationship between FOX, right-wing talk radio, political celebrity (Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich), and actual elected office and the quest of it, it's just a matter of where the wheels line up. But, there are still a few rules left, and you can't run for president while remaining the host of a national show, so there you are.

This one doesn't trouble me like it would have years ago. I still find the Huckster terrifying on virtually any issue. And his ability to sound like a kindly grandfather, coating even homophobia with home-spun honey and brown sugar is genuinely worrisome. But he's had a show on FOX "News" for years. There are hours and hours of Huck spouting some pretty bizarre shit, and hosting some batshit crazy guests. If there isn't a wealth of disqualifying tape there for even the laziest opposition researcher to find, then what hope is there anyway? No, I'm not worried about a Mike Huckabee presidency. Because if it comes to that, we've got bigger problems. All of that said, the political humor possibilities with this one are endless.

[Excerpt]

Mike Huckabee Leaving Fox News; White House Run Next?

The former governor of Arkansas is calling it a career at Fox News Channel. The network said Mike Huckabee will announce his exit during Huckabee tonight at 8 PM ET. FNC reported the news during the 5 PM hour, and a spokesman said the split was amicable. Fox News said it will run specials in place of Huckabee’s political commentary show for the next few weeks and will be trying “a few new ideas” in its longtime weekend time slot. . .

Read more at: MSN

Blast from the Past: TV Shows, Gone Too Soon

Okay, back to blogging after an extended holiday break. Seemingly, the world kind of stopped there for a couple of weeks, didn't it? Or did we kind of just not pay much attention? Either way, we're still here, and mostly things are the same. Though I'm sure the new GOP-heavy Congress will give me plenty to blog about, even with my upcoming cross-country move.

In the meantime, one of the few Christmas gifts we indulged in this year (with our self-imposed hard candy Christmas) was season two of Better Off Ted, one of the funniest sitcoms to air in recent or even distant memory. It lasted a bare 26 episodes, and barely made a pop culture blip. But it was brilliantly funny, and much-loved by the small, core group of people who managed to discover it. Reading quotes from some episodes can make me laugh until I cry.

So, that show has prompted this edition of Blast from the Past. The topic is any program I can think of that was cancelled too abruptly, whether that means before it had finished a complete season, or if it made it a couple of years, but was unceremoniously yanked long before its time. In some cases, these will be theme song clips, in others (such as with Better Off Ted which had little in the way of an intro) either compilations, trailers, or other relevant pieces. Let's go!



1. Better Off Ted (2009-2010) - The fist, very off-color clip here isn't a blooper reel. It's an alternate set of scenes to a real episode, in which a memo glitch demands that employees of "Veridian Dynamics" must now insult each other. The broadcast version was tamer, but still one of the funniest episodes of episodic television I can recall.



2. Firefly (2002) - No list of this sort would be complete without this Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marvel's The Avengers) sci-fi gem. Given only a short half-season (and eventual movie spin-off), it never had a chance to become something great, so it's fortunate it was already so good.



3. Dollhouse (2009-2010) - Another show, like Better Off Ted that squeaked out two short seasong (and somehow managed the same number of episodes during the same set of seasons), and another short-lived Whedon show, Dollhouse was a personal favorite. It was morally muddy, occasionally humorous, often disturbing, and got better and better as it went. But it was so deep in its own (eventually hyper-accelerated) mythology, it may have been inaccessible to anyone but its most ardent fans. I was one. I was also happy to see a shout-out ("Did I fall asleep?" "For a little while.") on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., also a Whedon show.



4. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-2009) - The Terminator series was nothing short of fantastic in its first two films. The third was a major disappointment. But this series, set in an alternate timeline that picked up after Terminator 2: Judgment Day, followed the storyline that worked, and managed to do it on a weekly basis on a TV budget. It started with a bang, had a couple of lulls, and then came out blazing, with some truly great individual episodes and loads of promise. That FOX could manage to fumble a product with so much cachet when it was actually also quite good, remains a mystery.



5. Police Squad! (1982) - The Zucker-Abrahms-Zucker Airplane!-style humor evidenced in this very short-lived Leslie Nielsen-led sitcom, wasn't for everyone. It is quite incorrectly regarded as "stupid" humor, when in reality, many of the jokes would be missed by actually stupid people. It was an outlandish spoof of the very staid police procedurals of the 50s, 60s and 70s, and did so brilliantly. Fortunately, the brilliance was recognized, and the show was eventually spun off into a series of movies (with the third blatantly stealing many of the gags from the actual TV show).



6. Arrested Development (2003-2006, 2013) I almost didn't include this one, since it got a revival on Netflix in 2013. But it is an excellent case of a show "too good for TV," or at least for a broadcast network. It also joins Better Off Ted in this list with a "brilliant but cancelled" series that stars Portia De Rossi.

And that will do it for this week, kids. It's back to work for me, at least for the next few weeks. As my departure time approaches, things on the blog are going to start to get weird. Well, weirder. But I'll be here, remarking on as much of it as I can. Meanwhile, Happy Monday!