What I've Been Doing All Evening

I already wrote about my impulsive purchase of last week. Yesterday, I finally decided on the platform for my hugemungous new Mitsubishi HDTV. After weighing my options, and finding most furniture either very expensive, too wobbly or both. But I did find one, at Big Lots of all places (with a 20% off coupon too!). The style is sort of "early apartment," but it's rather minimalist, and will be dwarfed by the big teevee machine, so sturdiness was really most of what I was going for.

I started assembly at about 7:30. I moved everything to the edges of the living room, and unboxed all the pieces on the rug. There were lots of pieces. . .

I even used the instructions! 

 Things were coming along just fine. I had the (old) TV on for company, and by this time it was around 8:30.

Things started to move rather quickly. About this time, the instructions told me I'd need somebody to help me. Hah! Ouch! I knelt on the claw of the hammer. . .

 About now, I decided to eat some chicken, and watch whatever that new show after Community is. Married Friends? Maybe it was The Umpteenth Show Tried in This Time Slot? I dunno. But I was done eating so, back to work. This took about another half hour. . .

 I'm really coming along now! Let's flip this puppy over, and see what she looks like.

 

Okay, so it's dusty, and has all the A, B, C stickers on it, but I'm almost done! At this point, I took the hinges and doors into the TV room to watch 30 Rock.  Back in a flash, slapped those suckers on, a little Pledge, and voila!

Ain't she a beaut? Okay, that's a stretch, but it should do the trick. And hey, it's an AmeriWood! Seriously. Back to blogging soon. But I'll be dreaming of the imminent arrival of. . .

I suppose I should mention that I had a few parts left over. . .

Guess Who's Coming to CPAC?

Image from source, MetroWeekly

I love the headline to this piece. I don't love the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), though I do love writing about the insantity that comes out of there.  I don't love GOProud, the gay conservative group that is causing a ruckus at CPAC.  But I love the fact that they're causing a ruckus!

The members of GOProud sometimes will say that the "vast majority" of conservatives aren't anti-gay, that it's just a vocal minority who are homophobic.  I would contend that it is a bit larger than they imply, and that they aren't just vocal, they set the agenda, and sometimes are actually in office. GOProud represents a collection of people with arch-conservative views (or at least what conservatism has morphed into), who are also gay. Where the Log Cabin Republicans are gay conservatives, GOProuds are conservative gays. The size of the text there is on purpose. GOProud would comprimise on gay rights issues long before they'd consider (hell, they might not even consider) comprimising their conservative "ideals." 

Try as I might, I can't understand those ideals. When I watch Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity, listen to Rush Limbaugh or Mark Levin, read something by Ann Coulter or Michelle Malkin, or hear something by Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin, I don't disagree with them because they're might be anti-gay, or even because they're conservative. I think they're extremists.  I think they're bonkers and/or charlatans. But GOProud is solidly in line with all of the above. Anyway, enough ranting by me. The article excerpted below is an excellent introduction to what GOProud is about. See what you think.

[Excerpt]

Guess Who's Coming to CPAC?



GOProud has taken the conservative and LGBT movements by storm by being brash, loud and uncompromisingly conservative -- and just as uncompromisingly gay. . .
 
I disagree with that last part, but the article is good. Read more at: MetroWeekly

Victoria Jacson the Tea Party's Al Franken?

Image from source

Please. Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) has taken a lot of crap from conservatives, most undeserved or uninformed. My personal belief is that Franken's open rivalry with Bill O'Reilly is at the root of conservative hatred for the Senator, even if they don't realize that genesis. It just started the ball rolling. But whatever you think of Franken, a comparison of him to Victoria Jackson is just ludicrous. They were both on Saturday Night Live. It ends there.  Franken graduated with honors from Harvard. Jackson went to the school of Glenn Beck. 'Nuff said.

[Excerpt]

‘SNL’ Alum Victoria Jackson, The Tea Party’s Answer to Al Franken



This weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) provides right wing leaders like Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty an opportunity to flex their ideological muscle ahead of potential 2012 presidential campaigns, but the event’s not all lectures and politicking. There’s also entertainment, including a performance from ‘Saturday Night Live’ alum Victoria Jackson, who may very well be the Tea Party‘s answer to Sen. Al Franken. . .
 
Read more at: DeathAndTaxesMag.com

GOP Sex Scandal: Rep. Christopher Lee (R-NY) Goes Topless!

Image of Rep. Sexypants from source, AOL News

There are bigger fish than this low-on-the-totem-pole House Republican. But he baited and set the hook himself, and threw himself into the boat. I know little about him, other than if you were looking for a date on the internet, you could do worse (I'm just saying). The surprising thing here is that Lee resigned only hours after first denying (someone hacked my computer!) the event. I suppose he was having a hard time figuring out a story to go with his half-naked self portrait. Or maybe there was more to be discovered, and he just didn't want to go down that road.

Immediately, some conservatives started sputtering that of course he resigned, he's a Republican! Why, a Democrat wouldn't just stay in office, he'd be championed for it!  Well, before you guys get all high-horsey here, don't forget:

- Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), my Nevada Senator, currently fundraising for re-election.
- Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), caught soliciting hookers, received applause in the House chamber!
- Sen. Larry Craig (R-WY), served out his term after his wide stance was discovered in a restroom.

And many, many others. This is an activity performed by men of all political persuasions. The difference is, the right side of the aisle regularly claims a moral superiority, and wants to legislate other people's behavior.

[Excerpt]

New York Rep. Chris Lee Resigns Over Craigslist Dating Ad and Sexy Photo



What started last month with an anonymous woman's Craigslist dating search for men who don't "look like toads" ended Wednesday with the resignation of two-term Rep. Christopher Lee, R-N.Y., a married father who passed himself off as a divorced lobbyist when he sent her a topless muscle photo of himself. . .
 
Read more at: AOL News

More Detail on Keith Olbermann's New Gig at Current TV

I don't get Current TV on my cable system in Las Vegas. So, I'll either have to pester Cox Cable, or I'll have to watch online. Either way, I'm very curious to see how Keith Olbermann's new gig turns out.

[Excerpt]

Keith Olbermann to Host Major New Nightly Primetime News and Commentary Show on Current TV

Keith Olbermann, the acclaimed broadcaster and writer whose verbal pyrotechnics and moral passion have outraged, informed, and dazzled viewers of "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" for the past eight years, is bringing his slashing wit, analytical eye, and distinctive commentary to Current Media, the Emmyu00ae and Peabody Award-winning TV and digital media company that was founded in 2005 by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt and is now distributed in more than 75 million households around the world. The news was announced today in New York. . .

Read more at: CurrentTV

Iowa Republicans on FOX "News": Obama's a Muslim!

Yes, this is on FOX "News," is on Hannity, and features Republican pollster Frank Luntz, but still. This is just a paranoid, alternate reality. Right-wing world is a scary, scary place.

Bill Maher on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell

While I miss Countdown with Keith Olbermann, I have managed to reclaim an hour (well, 40 minutes with the DVR) out of most days. I no longer have "appointment viewing" on MSNBC until The Rachel Maddow Show. But I have to say, on those days when I have caught The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, I've enjoyed the program. Lawrence has improved dramatically since his first appearance as a Countdown substitute host. On Tuesday, I happened to catch the show, and was glad to see that the first guest was Bill Maher, who is a favorite of mine. It's always fun to watch Bill self-edit himself when he's not on HBO!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sarah Palin, CPAC, and The Gay

Image from FlyNews

CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference) always produces a few headlines. Sometimes, Ann Coulter will stun the world with her latest outrageous statement. Sometimes, it's something Dick Cheney said. But in the last two years, the big topic has been the gay. See, CPAC used to be the premiere right-wing event, until last year. Unhappy with the Log Cabin Republicans--a conservative gay group seen as too gay, and not conservative enough--a new group called GOProud was formed by little g, big c gay conservatives.  Were it not for the fact that these folks pair up in same-sex combinations, they'd be indistinguishible from your standard tea baggin', George Bush-lovin', send Obama back to Kenya right wingers.

Then GOProud showed up as a visible presence at CPAC last year. There was a big kerfuffle about that. This year, they wanted a place at the table again, but got a lot of blowback (heh). All of the organizations with "family" and "tradition" in their names backed out. Several high-profile names did too. And the discussion--if you can call it that--about the issue is toxic. The level of discourse is anachronistic, and nasty. Imagine a political movement insisting that black people must go back to riding in the back of the bus. It's like that.

GOProud could sort of be forgiven for believing that the culture wars were over, and that their homosexuality would be incidental to their conservatism.  Initially, the whole tea party movement seemed to have put social issues on the back burner. The whole gay issue--outside of the occasional blowup around same-sex marriage--seemed to have (ahem) flamed out. Suddenly though, it seems like it's 1950. Conservatives are allowed to say just about any offensive thing they want about gay people, and they're just expressing "their side." It's really, really strange. Where do these people live? I seriously never run into them in real life.

Anyway, Sarah Palin is one of the people whose schedule was just too danged busy to fit CPAC in gosh darn it. When pressed on the issue though, Palin--in one of her classic word salad spews--didn't spit on the gays. Though hard to decipher, her statement sorta sounded accepting of GOProud's presence at CPAC, if not an outright endorsement. Just one little problem. The people in right-wing world who are the most overtly homophobic are also Palin's most ardent supporters! Fun.

[Excerpt]

Does Sarah Palin Support Gay Rights?



Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, is still mum on her 2012 intentions, but her support of a gay conservative group's inclusion at the national Conservative Political Action Conference has led many to wonder whether she has tacked to the center on gay rights. . .
 
Read more at: Huffington Post

My Favorite Cartoon Ever: God and the Super Bowl

I'm an atheistically leaning agnostic. Read: I think religion is mostly hokum and wishful thinking. So, when I see Whitney Houston or Will.I.Am or some actor/musician/sports star raising their hand to "God", I'm usually spectacularly unimpressed. That being the case, this cartoon is right up my alley.

Source: Joe.My.God

Could Keith Olbermann be Moving to Al Gore's Current TV?

Image from source, Current TV

Interesting. This may not be true of course, but the move would be at once risky, and brilliant. Kind of like the merger of Huffington Post and AOL. Take one entity that really needs a boost, add a very popular ingredient, and. . .synergy? I've only caught CurrentTV in the rare online clip. I don't even know what cable channel it is on here in Las Vegas (I just checked, and though our channels number in the hundreds, it isn't in Cox Cable's lineup).

But Current is known to be a liberal, highbrow endeaver, spearheaded by Al Gore. Adding a known liberal hero like Keith Olbermann would instantly lend the channel a much higher profile. Surely, initial interest would be very high, drawing fans as well as detractors, at least for the first few days. If an Olbermann program was similar in tone, content and time slot, it would probably instantly become Current's highest rated show. Of course, that would be relative, given that their market penetration is--I'm assuming--quite a bit lower than even MSNBC, which isn't on as many basic cable packages as is CNN or FOX "News." So, my guess is, this is a big win for Current TV and a potential problem for Olbermann due to a much reduced exposure. After all, the most common insult from conservatives--who apparently confuse popularity with quality--is that "nobody" watched Countdown with Keith Olbermann. 

UPDATE: Looks like there's meat on this bone:  Keith Olbermann’s New Job: Current TV


[Excerpt]
 
Olbermann's New Job---on Current TV!?!?



Last month the cable news world was left flat-footed by the surprising announcement that Keith Olbermann was leaving the MSNBC airwaves. The controversial firebrand anchor and leading liberal pundit was seen by many as the programming tent-pole at MSNBC, but recent battles with management over internal rules seemed to leave the relationship is disrepair. Shortly after his departure, many cable news watchdogs wondered what his next step may be. It now appears that we’ll know the answer tomorrow morning according to a release from a PR Firm ostensibly hired by Olbermann (and his partners.). . .
 
Read more at: Current TV

Frivolity Break: Blondie/ABBA Mashup, Hanging on the Ring Ring

I think I would have called it "Ring Ring on the Telephone," But maybe they thought it was too obvious.  [Note: when you click this, you'll get a black screen. Just press "watch on YouTube." It works]



Found at: Kenneth in the (212)

Gilda Radner as Roseanne Roseannadana on Quitting Smoking

My biggest New Year's resolution was to quit smoking, and I'm still smoke free. It isn't always easy, but it really isn't as hard as all that either. Today, I had to do the math to see what "day" I'm on! That in itself is a victory. Anyway, this all reminded me of a post I did a couple of years ago. Here's the post in its entirety:

Original Post, Monday, December 22, 2008

I'm a smoker. There, I said it. I'm not the guy who goes outside three or four times a day at work to have a cigarette. I'm not the guy who has to have a smoke at breakfast, lunchtime or dinner. But I like to have a few smokes in the evening. I don't know why. It can't be an addiction, or I would do it all day long. But in the evening, I like to have a few smokes.


Oh, and when I'm drinking, or when I'm gambling. Then too. I know I should quit completely, I know that its bad for me. But I do it anyway. But I'm gonna quit. Completely. Honestly. I really will. Someday.  Did it!!!

Huffington Post Bought by AOL

I'm one of those weirdos who still uses AOL with frequency. Every day, in fact.  I use it at work, and I use it at home. A lot of the reason for that is that my personal email address and our work "base" address (other addresses are forwarded to it) are @aol.com. Having used those addresses since the mid-90s, I just never wanted to give them up. Plus, I quite like the AOL Desktop interface over any of the browsers out there.

Internet Explorer and Firefox have both gotten very good at what they do. But they can't replicate the way I work, a way I developed from using AOL for 16 years or so. Still, I know the (sometimes deserved, sometimes not) reputation AOL has. It used to be considered the internet with training wheels, and now it's just deemed obsolete. So I would have thought someone would have bought AOL before AOL bought somebody else. Apparently though, AOL is flush with cash, and wanted a big meaty content provider.

They found it in The Huffington Post. Arianna Huffington's baby grew into a media empire, and now they will be part of AOL, with Huffington in charge of content. It will be curious to see if HuffPo divests itself of its liberal image, or if AOL becomes LeftNet or something.  I used both quite a bit, so I'll be watching for sure.

[Excerpt]

AOL to buy The Huffington Post for $315 million




AOL Inc will buy Arianna Huffington's influential website for $315 million, looking to the high-profile liberal pundit to rescue it from the dustbin of Internet history. . .
 
Read more at: Reuters

Blast from the Past: More 70s & 80s Fast Food!

Last week in Blast from the Past, I featured several classic commercials of the best era to grow up in, the 70s and the 80s (I say that, because that's when I grew up, duh). There were so many good ones, I thought it deserved a sequel. I mean, I could  run a "Top 10 Best Super Bowl commercials ever!" but that's probably being done all over the internets.



1. Wendy's - "Step aside!" This one's funny, but my favorite one was the one with the drive-thru: "Park it!" I couldn't find that one.
2. Burger King - Yes, that's Sarah Michelle Gellar of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
3. Kentucky Fried Chicken - 11 herbs & spices? Finger lickin' good!
4. Wendy's - Yes, again. As I said last week, Wendy's had the best and funniest ads of the era, and no list complete without the classic Clara Peller "Where's the Beef?!?"
5. Snapp's (Rally's) - Seth Green (Also of Buffy) starred in this ad, and also unwittingly put "ca-ching!" into the lexicon.
6. Taco Bell - Put a smile on your face at Tac-a-tac-a-taco Bell! Yeah, this one didn't really catch on.

Okay, that's it for this week. Happy Monday, everyone!

Glee Chevy Commercial: See the USA in Your Chevrolet

This is pretty great.  And Chevy actually has the product these days to make it pay off. I'd drive any of 'em.

Who Writes Glenn Beck's Checks?

This is a quick little video from Cenk Uygur (The Young Turks, MSNBC) to point out that Glenn Beck--who loves to stir up fears about Sharia Law (and other things)--is himself drawing a paycheck from a company partly owned by Saudis. If they're as scary as Beck says they are, what's he doing working for them?

Christina Aguilera Botches the Star Spangled Banner

I don't know why, but I felt responsible for this one! While watching her sing (and thinking that she needs a better hairstyle to go with the classy dress), I thought to myself, "don't botch it!" And then she did. She recovered, but that one line was truly WTF?

My Favorite Super Bowl Commercial: Best Buy

Ozzy Osbourne, Justin Bieber and a lot of humor about new technology.

Impulsive Me (Or, Why PayPal Should Have a Breathalyzer)

Once a year or so, I get the itch for a big-ticket purchase. Sometimes, I go years without scratching it. In 2006 it was a big French-door refrigerator. In 2007, it was a range, microwave and dishwasher. In 2008 and 2009, I cooled my jets (though there was a new computer in there somewhere). In 2010, even in these economic times, I got a new car, but the old one was eleven years old, and I'd owned it for nine. So that was not particularly uncalled for.

As recently as mid-2010, I got some "found money" of about $650 that wasn't expected, and I really couldn't think of a thing I wanted, and I just put in in the bank. Well, it's spent now! On Friday night, after a night of food, drinks, games and more drinks at a friend's house, I came home and sloshed into my desk chair. When checking my email, I came upon a Google alert that I have set for a particular model of HDTV that I've had my eye on. See, our old HDTV (yes, they've been around long enough to be old) was purchased for $2000 or so in 2004. It still works, but not without quirks. The panel on the front doesn't work, so you have to use the remote at all times. The picture has lost much of its clarity and some of its brightness. There are bars burned in on the sides from 4:3 shows. And when the picture is filled with a light color, you can make out "MSNBC" burned in at the bottom!

Mitsubishi WD-60738, my new toy

Anyway, I've sort of been wishing for my TV to die, so that I could justify the purchase of another. But it keeps hanging in there! And then I got that email alert on Friday night. It wasn't the first. I've let several of them go by. But this time, it was exactly the set I wanted, it was about half the price the set goes for at RC Willey or Fry's, it was tax free, and had no shipping charge! If I'd waited for a sale here in town, I doubt I'd have gotten it even close to that price, I'd have had to pay tax, and would have had to figure out a way to get it home. Filled to the gills with red wine as I was, there was none of my usual pragmatism to worry about, so CLICK! Right on that PayPal button!

So, sometime in the next week or so, we'll be wheeling the old 55" Mitsubishi (all 4-foot by 4 1/2-foot by 2 foot of it) out to the garage, awaiting a friend who's going to use it for salvage. Then, I have to find a piece of furniture to set the new one on, since it doesn't have a base. Then, I have to figure out where to put the cable box, Blu-ray player, center speaker, right speaker, receiver and cd player. Oy. I always forget how much work new stuff is when I'm lusting over it! But the good news is, my total cost for the new set was about a third the price of the set it's replacing.

The Conservative Lineup for the 2012 Presidential Election

I love this. It is a graph by Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com, showing all of the (known) potential candidates for President on the Republican side of the aisle for 2012. The graph is divided in quadrants, with varying degrees of "insider" or "outsider" on one axis, and "conservative" or "moderate" on the other. Note where Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann fall on the scale. And also note the heavy quotient of whack-a-doodles and no-way-in-hell-they'd-ever-wins.

Source: Joe.My.God.