Olbermann's Special Comment On "Unsupportable" Health Care Reform Bill

This should (but won't) end the "MSNBC is 'in the tank' for Obama" meme by "FOX Fans." President Obama's actions and inactions on the health care reform bill (among other things) isn't just torquing off "far left" liberals and progressives, it's losing him The Rachel Maddow Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Here is Olbermann's Special Comment outlining his extreme displeasure with the health care reform bill as it currently exists in the Senate. It also has harsh words for the President himself. Now, I know that FOX "News" luminaries like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly will claim that they spoke out against President George W. Bush, they never did anything like this. Mr. Obama, it is really, really time for an Aaron Sorkin moment.

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

Why Liberals Are Turning on Obama

In my last post, I shared my idea of how to resurrect the yes we can Barack Obama from the current, will conservatives like me if I concede everything to them? Obama. The won't, by the way. But if you want a more in depth dissection of just what has the liberals so irked, here's a great article for you.

[Excerpt]

Liberals: Why didn't Obama fight?



More than anything else in Barack Obama’s presidency so far, health reform has exposed a get-a-deal-at-any-cost side of Obama that infuriates his party’s progressives.

And as Democrats tried to salvage health reform Tuesday, some liberals could barely hide their sense of betrayal that the White House and congressional Democrats have been willing to cut deals and water down what they consider the ideal vision of reform. . .

Read more at: Politico

My Idea: Fire Rahm Emmanuel, Hire Aaron Sorkin!

Image from source, Wikipedia

In his never-ending quest to be liked by everybody, President Barack Obama is instead turning both conservatives (who have been lock-stepping against him since day one) and liberals against him. Conservatives will oppose Obama no matter what he does, which should be clear to the man by now. Liberals are pissed because Obama just won't show enough oomph, won't fight for what he promised, and is too willing to compromise away liberal ideals in his futile attempt to get some sort of nominal "bipartisanship." It just ain't gonna happen.

Given that this is only Obama's first year of his first term, the damage isn't undoable. But it will be if something doesn't happen fast. My idea? Fire White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel--the man many progressives cite for some of the bizarre actions of the White House--and replace him with Aaron Sorkin. Yes, the creator and writer of The West Wing and the popular movie, An American President. I know he had a little "issue" with some illicit drugs (mushrooms and the like), but if he can write a speech like this for Obama? Holy smoke. That is what we need as a country, a Sorkin moment. At least hire the guy for some kick-ass speeches.

Now, I'm not talking specifically about the content of "President Shepherd"'s speech, more of the tone and tenor of it, the forcefulness. Even I thought the bit about guns was over the top. But if Obama returned to the tone of his campaign, if he figgin' laid down the law, said he was scrapping the current bill, demanding one that is "Medicare for everyone," through reconciliation. . .and demanded no less. Well, then we'd really have something.

Dick Armey Picks on Rachel "Maddox"

Do politicians forget that we have things called DVRs and YouTube, devices that record for posterity what happened in the past? I've gotta wonder, because it seems every other day or so, some elected official (or a washed up former one) gets busted for either contradicting something they said like three weeks ago, or just flat-out lying. Here is Dick Armey, pretending not to remember Rachel Maddow's name, and then totally misrepresenting what Maddow said when they were on Meet the Press together.

Gotta love Rachel's attitude about the whole thing, and her willingness to play his complete diatribe. Of course she got to rub his nose in it.

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

Family Guy's Star Wars Sequel, Something Something Something Darkside

I can't wait!

ABBA to Be Inducted to Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Joo can dance! Joo can yi-ive! Who cares if they (allegedly) sang in phonetic English, I loved and still love ABBA. I never get tired of their music, and their sound was so unique, it only pegs as "70s" if you were there. Before we get to the excerpted article, here are a few of my favorite ABBA songs, not the typical ones, but great songs just the same.




And for the hell of it, here are the two big US solo hits by Agnetha and Frida, Can't Shake Loose and I Know There's Something Going on.



[Excerpt]

ABBA, Stooges to Join Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gave a big "Thank You For The Music" to ABBA on Tuesday, announcing that the Swedish pop group would be among its 2010 inductees.

British rock band Genesis, reggae superstar Jimmy Cliff, rockers The Stooges, and The Hollies are also among the legends who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a ceremony on March 15 in New York. . .

Read more at: ABC News

Washington D.C. Approves Same-Sex Marriage

Don't get all excited at the headline, it's just for D.C., not the whole country. Still, it's a nice victory, after the lose-one/kinda win-one in New York state and Washington state. This seesaw keeps going up and down, and the kind hearted oh-so-Christian National Organization for Marriage (or NAMBLA NOM) is vowing to once again put this on the ballot, and yank away already acknowledged rights. Which is just about as un-American as you can get, in my opinion.

[Excerpt]

D.C. Council approves same-sex marriage bill
Economic impact could reach $22 million in 3 years; foes try to sway Congress, courts

The District was on the verge Tuesday of becoming the sixth place in the country to legalize same-sex marriage after the council gave final approval to its bill allowing the unions. . .

Read more (with video) at: The Washington Post

Bush Era "Lost" Emails Recovered

Uh-oh. The Dick and Liz Cheney Sunday morning political yack-fest tag-team is going to go into heavy damage control for this one! I'll bet you the spin will be that the recovery of the Bush Era emails is cover for President Obama's declining approval rating, and the ongoing health care reform battle. Whattaya bet?

[Excerpt]

Obama Administration Will Restore Missing Bush White House Emails

The White House has announced a settlement in a lawsuit filed by two good-government groups concerning emails that went missing over a two-and-a-half year period during the Bush administration. . .

Read more at: TPM Muckraker

Frivolity Break: America's Tiniest Apartment?

The Other Half and I live in a 1,500+ sq. ft. house, modest some might say. And I'll be honest, though it is plenty big enough for two people and a portly puddy tat, I do sometimes long for a larger space. But I'll never think of this place as "small" again, after seeing this New Yorker's pad.

My most recent apartment before moving here in 1999 was about 750 square feet. And that was the smallest one I ever had, by far. It was a palace by comparison. Check this out.

Lieberman: For Expanded Medicare Before He Was Against It

Lieberman is of course not the only politician to openly contradict himself again and again. He just seems to do it a lot.

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

Quickie Post #3: 9 Year Olds Describe the Decade

I'm exceptionally busy with my various projects, which is why the blog has been a little thin the last few days. Still, I'd like to keep the blog current, so I'm just going to post a couple of quickies, with not much commentary. I usually like to add my own spin, often with a lengthy (windy) dissertation. Tonight though, just some cut and paste jobs (with attribution, of course).

The decade according to 9-year-olds

The decade according to 9-year-olds from allison louie-garcia on Vimeo.

Found at: AmericaBlog

Quickie Post #2: Seinfeld: George Tells the Truth

I'm exceptionally busy with my various projects, which is why the blog has been a little thin the last few days. Still, I'd like to keep the blog current, so I'm just going to post a couple of quickies, with not much commentary. I usually like to add my own spin, often with a lengthy (windy) dissertation. Tonight though, just some cut and paste jobs (with attribution, of course).

This clip from an episode of Seinfeld that happens to be on right now, reminded me very much of a fight I had with my brother on a very different subject. I'm George in this case, though the fight wasn't this funny.

Quickie Post #1: Dumbest Criminals of 2009

Image from source, Huffington Post

I'm exceptionally busy with my various projects, which is why the blog has been a little thin the last few days. Still, I'd like to keep the blog current, so I'm just going to post a couple of quickies, with not much commentary. I usually like to add my own spin, often with a lengthy (windy) dissertation. Tonight though, just some cut and paste jobs (with attribution, of course).

[Excerpt]

Motorized Bar Stools, Porn-Loving Cats, And More: The Stupidest Criminals Of 2009 (PHOTOS)

So many end of year lists celebrate the best of country: Amazing movies, musicians, gadgets, etc. But what of the stupid and morally reprehensible? Don't they deserve an end of year list too? We think so. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Featured Site: This is Photobomb

Happy Monday, everybody. I don't know about you, but I had a freakin' busy weekend. Not on the blog, but on personal projects, such as making our yearly Christmas card, and a family photo DVD/CD project for the fam. Ugh. Pooped. And no clue where to look for some bloggy goodness.

Until, by chance, I found this site. The "photo bomb" is a relatively recent, and difficult to explain meme. Basically, it is any photo with something more interesting going on in the background than in the foreground. Sometimes it is deliberate, with a jokester making a weird face. Sometimes it is accidental, with an animal or some random event going on behind the photo's main subjects. But it is almost always funny. And that is what I need right now, some funny. You?

Source: This Is Photobomb

The 2000s: Decade From Hell or Best Decade Ever?

Everyone making decade's end lists (including the excerpted article below) are obliged to point out that the decade doesn't actually end until December 31, 2010. Which doesn't seem so weird this year, the 2000s still feeling pretty recent to most adults, and the fact that 10 isn't pronounced teen. But when you get to decades with actual names (Roaring '20s, Fabulous '50s, Swingin' '70s), it just seems stupid to count, say, 1980 as the last year of the 70s. It was, yes, yes we know. We just don't care.

But we have bigger things to worry about than rehashing the same argument we had 10 years ago for Y2K ('member that?). We've got an economy still in the crapper, unemployment off the charts, two (three?) wars, and a political chasm between right and left. We Americans have notoriously short memories, so it is these later things we'll remember about the 2000s, at least for a while. Oh no, we'll "never forget" 9/11, but it would do us well to remember that it did happen in this past decade, and that the previous administration only "kept us safe" for part of their 8-year reign of error.

I'll be honest though, I thought I'd be writing a slightly different column this year. Don't get me wrong, I never thought that Barack Obama winning the Presidency would fix everything. Economic turmoil rarely is fixed that quickly. And while I still support the President, it is through jaded, green colored lenses. For all of the slurs thrown at Obama (from day one, remember. . .no honeymoon allowed), he's pretty far from as liberal or progressive as I'd like him to be. I don't want him to use his all-Democratic government as a bludgeon like the conservatives of recent times did. But I'd sure as hell like to see him use it. Many of the ills of the 2001-2008 calendars have still not been corrected, and may never be addressed. And that may be the legacy of the decade. Well, that and whatever has been put in motion by it.

[Excerpt]

From Google to Gaga, a decade of miracle, wonder

A spate of stories and online postings heralding the end of the aughts -- "Worst decade ever," proclaims Time, "Goodbye (at last) to the Decade from Hell" -- has me in a retrospective mood.

To say that the years 2000 through 2009 have been an eventful 10 years is to state the obvious. But still. The rolling over of two digits on the odometer of years invites us to look back and consider all that's changed in our lives since we last argued about when new decades begin (pedants are quick to point out that it's technically not until Jan. 1 of years ending in 1, so we have another 12 months to prepare to look back on the first decade of the new millennium). . .

Read more at: Chicago Tribune

William Shatner vs. Sarah Palin (Tonight Show)

Oh, why not. . .

Holiday Cheer? The Christmas Shoes. Worst. Song. Ever!

One of the first blog posts I'd ever read was about the perennially overplayed Worst. Song. Ever. It inspired me to write my own post about this dreadful song, but you can't beat the original. So here, once again, is The Annotated Christmas Shoes.

[Post as it appeared last year]

Today, one of my co-workers started listening to the all Christmas songs, all the time station. It's a little early for me, but he's a Christmas fiend, and can't get enough. He was thoughtful enough to bar me from his office during the first playing--this year, at least--of The Christmas Shoes by NewSong. They should be called BadSong. Maybe CloyingSong. It is easily the worst song of all time, Christmas-themed or not.

One year ago today, I posted my first piece on this piece of dreck. And given the coincidence, I figure it's time for another go-round. So, I bring you. . .

ORIGINAL POST:


Image from source, BPryde Machine

Years ago, before I even understood what a blog was, I stumbled upon a site called Diary of a Blood Ray. It was a blog that centered around a young man, his love life, and his huge interest in musical theater. But the reason I found his site was a search I ran on Google for a music review of the NewSong holiday ditty, "The Christmas Shoes."

Every year, this song litters the airwaves, sometimes played hourly on "all Christmas, all the time" stations. It's hideous. It's badly written, cloyingly sung, and makes this grinch's heart grow many sizes smaller, whenever I hear it. As I reported a while back, I don't go in for the sap. And this song is flowing with rivers of sap.

But I digress, back to Blood Ray. He wrote a blog post called "The Annotated Christmas Shoes," which is one of the funniest, best dissections of bad verse I've ever read. I laughed till I cried, and actually got hiccups the first time I read it. Hilarious, and right down the line exactly how I felt about the song.

Blood Ray has a new name for his blog now, The BPrydeMachine. And thank Jeebus the old post is still there. If you just love The Christmas Shoes, this post will make your blood boil. If you're like me, you'll need some tissues and a hiccup cure, because you will laugh your ass off.

[Excerpt]

The Annotated "Christmas Shoes"

. . .For the next five minutes or so, I sat stupefied. While I expected some worthless tripe to poison my airwaves, I didn't expect a steaming pile of dog sh**, horribly written, and badly executed to make my ears burn. It was like this song was written in some alternate universe Brill Building, completely calculated to make one’s eyes moist and one's heart feel all warm, a modern classic to remind us "what Christmas is all about." Feh. . .

And then he goes into a line-by-line dissection:

It was almost Christmas time, there I stood in another line

What is "almost Christmas time"? July? Christmas sh** starts hitting the shelves in the summer, and by time Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is a one-day break from the runaway train that is Christmas, so as a listener, I’m already confused as to when this song takes place. I'm gonna go with Arbor Day.

Trying to buy that last gift or two, not really in a Christmas mood

Well, if it's only Arbor Day and he's on his last gift or two, he's doing pretty goddamn well (I've still only bought one gift at this point). . .

To excerpt any more than that wouldn't be fair to the author, but I'm telling you, it gets better and better, funnier and funnier the further you read. I hope to write my own dissection of these crappy lyrics, because I had a few ideas of my own on it, even before I read Blood Ray's take. Stay tuned [Mission accomplished. See link above!].

Read the whole post at: BPryde Machine

Jon Stewart Calls Glenn Beck Out on Gold Conflict

Conflicts of interest don't seem to bother conservatives much. Perhaps they don't cause the other side much stress either, but it's more fun to call out the outsized-egoed, particularly Glenn Beck.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Beck - Not So Mellow Gold
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

America Online Rebranded as "Aol."

The last several days, AOL has been asking me to try out their new "welcome screen" every time I sign on. Waitaminute. . .I still use America Online? Yes, yes I do. For a liberal, I can be strangely attracted to sameness, and while I don't fear change, I am initially resistant to it. And I've developed work and play habits on the computer that are comfortable. So, AOL stays.

It turns out that a lot of people haven't stayed however, and AOL needs to spruce the joint up to try and attract and keep users. So I guess it's out with the triangle/circle logo. Which makes sense, since it grew out of the ollld "A" logo that had sort of an "OL" inside it. It looks like now, the new branding is "Aol period." Which is a little weird. Actually, the very name AOL has always been weird. Shouldn't have been "AO?" And now the "ol" part is lower-cased and punctuated. And used on a variety of backgrounds, it looks like.

Anyway, I always find rebranding efforts interesting. Not sure if this is a win or not, but it does show that AOL has some sort of interest in staying relevant and interesting. Who knew?

[Excerpt]

AOL Unveils New Brand, New Logos

AOL unveiled a "new brand identity" Sunday night. Instead of AOL, it's "Aol." -- period included. There are also six new logos -- from a goldfish to a paint swirl. A spokesperson says more are coming. . . (Click through to see the logos)

Read more at: The Business Insider

Holiday Cheer: Pat Benatar's Christmas in America

I'm going to try to put together a few new Holiday Cheer posts over the next couple of weeks. But I put up quite a few last year, and as you know, this "Christmas Special" stuff is perennial. And were you reading this blog a year ago? I thought not. So, without further ado. . .

[Original Post]



Holiday Cheer: Pat Benatar Christmas in America

The criminally underrated Pat Benatar happens to have a fantastic Christmas song. She's at the top of my favorite singers list. And this song should even please the right-wingers! I think the overt patriotism is due to its production right after 9/11.

Oh, and that dude with Pat is her husband and producer, Neil Geraldo. They've been married forever, and in recent years he seems to always get equal billing. Whatever, it's great stuff. Enjoy.