I've found what is arguably the second-scariest segment ever to appear on 'Sesame Street'!
I've always wanted to rank 'Sesame Street' skits based on how scary they are, and while the "D for Dart" cartoon is the one that sent me screaming and running out of the living room more than any other skit, it has stiff competition. For instance, the "Banjo Bert" segment has to rank very high - and believe me, I would be floored to find that one on YouTube!
I think the one that ranks second behind "D for Dart" is a lengthy live-action clip from 1975 about milk:
This clip is cited by countless others as the one that frightened them to no end. It was often considered a thrill like a haunted house or riding down Dayton Pike at night in the '70s.
The yodel produced by the hard-working farmer with big sideburns at the beginning is scary enough even if it wasn't a sign of what was to come. When the music gets faster as the guy runs out to the milk truck, one is reminded of a terrifying emergency like a bowl full of soggy cereal being spilled all over a kitchen floor.
The man in this clip is truly a textbook example of a life on the edge!
Notice also near the beginning of this segment that a dog is sniffing a cow's ass.
What type of music is that anyway? Others have described it as a jazz score, but the vocals and the low notes with the organ-like instrument remind me more of the softer new wave from the early MTV years.
Mill-mill is good for you!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Milk, milk, milk... ('Sesame Street' Wednesday)
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
"Experts" whine about Obama tax plan, shrug off corporate tax cheats
Is this story one from the Department of Hypocrisy Department or what?
Presidential frontrunner Barack Obama has announced part of his tax plan: If you're a senior citizen who makes less than $50,000 a year, you'll pay no income tax. But that's not the hypocritical part of this story.
His tax plan is workable, and it sounds fair to me. But not to the Washington intelligentsia (to use the term loosely).
They call it a subsidy to seniors. Um, what??? How is poor and middle-income seniors not having to pay income tax a subsidy? If seniors were getting so many subsidies, they'd be able to retire instead of having to keep working at the age that their parents retired.
And if they're not still working, they're probably on a fixed income. So how is that an advantage? It isn't.
Meanwhile, however, the self-styled "experts" completely laugh off the near-total immunity that corporations have from taxes.
The Government Accountability Office (Congress's investigative arm) says that most American corporations haven't paid one penny in federal income taxes since at least 1998. Not a cent. Nor do most foreign corporations that do business in America.
According to the GAO's report, two-thirds of American corporations paid no income taxes between 1998 and 2005.
So while the stink tanks complain about poor and middle-income senior citizens getting a tax break, I guess it's fine with them if corporations that rake in billions a year have gotten an even larger tax break for a decade.
I guess they believe in Leona Helmsley's dictum that "only the little people pay taxes."
(Source: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080811/D92GAVIO0.html;
http://www.newsnet5.com/money/17165868/detail.html)
Disaster Daniels wants to protect teachers who beat kids
If a school principal or teacher paddled your child without permission, what's the obvious course of action? Most parents would sue 'em to court.
But in Indiana, right-wing Gov. Mitch Daniels wants to give legal immunity to school personnel who practice excessive discipline of any sort.
Republican Daniels - being the crackpot he is - said lawsuits over school discipline are "legal harassment." He's even asked the Indiana Attorney General to assist school employees who find themselves sued.
As further proof America no longer has a two-party system, the campaign of Daniels's Democratic opponent Jill Long Thompson signed on to Daniels's worthless idea. (I've yet to hear who the Green candidate is.)
A school board member in northwestern Indiana's Portage Township grumbled that teachers avoid corporal punishment because of lawsuits, and he praised Daniels's proposal.
During a year in which over 100 American school employees have been convicted of sexually abusing students and in which hundreds more are in trouble for physical abuse and making students soil their pants, do we really need this?
Instead of giving school faculty immunity, why not fire bad teachers and keep the good ones? Maybe it's because that would make too much sense, and Disaster Daniels isn't known for doing anything that makes sense.
(Source: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080812/NEWS05/808120386;
http://www.post-trib.com/news/1102809,daniels.article)
Bush may gut Endangered Species Act
Is the Decider consciously trying to top his own kill-and-destroy record, or is the liar on autopilot now?
For 35 years, the Endangered Species Act has encompassed federal agencies. As long as I've been alive, government scientists have always reviewed federally authorized projects to protect threatened species.
But now the Bush regime wants to gut this law by letting federal agencies decide for themselves if their actions will harm endangered animals and plants - with no independent reviews by scientists.
Science never was the ruling regime's strong suit, and the regime's excuse for this change makes this even more obvious. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the change is needed to keep the Endangered Species Act from being used to regulate climate change gases.
Um, Dirk? That's exactly why the change isn't needed. Early this year, the polar bear became the first species officially declared threatened by global warming. If climate change threatens species, then why shouldn't there be some regulation on agencies emitting gases that cause this phenomenon?
If the regime gets its way, federal agencies won't even be allowed to assess emissions from their own projects.
How utterly revolting and greedy can the Bush regime get? Much of this change was designed to appease powerful developers who were mad at projects they support being delayed.
Maybe the states need to step in and require the scientists' reviews to continue.
(Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080811/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/bush_endangered_species)
Monday, August 11, 2008
GOP lines up behind legislator who assaulted wife
Olson is thoroughly nuts.
Mark Olson was thought to be finished once he was convicted of assaulting his wife mercilessly - during a trial in which he blamed his wife for the abuse. GOP leaders had pledged to ask Olson to resign if he was convicted - but they broke this promise. (Of course.)
Now the Republicans are all lining up behind the disgraced Olson in his bid for a Minnesota Senate seat! They've never met a spouse abuser they didn't like, I guess.
Meanwhile, the Republican endorsement for Olson's House seat has gone to...Mary Kiffmeyer (Conservative Fool Of The Day 8/18/06). Kiffmeyer is the right-wing former Minnesota Secretary of State who did not believe in separation of church and state, illegally tried to suppress Native American voting, and (when faced with the prospect of a Republican congressman not qualifying for the ballot) stupidly said that the state's ballot laws only applied to third parties and independents.
Man, the Minnesota Republicans must be a total joke! Just lately, they've made up lies about poor people abusing the state's assistance program, and now they've endorsed someone convicted of domestic assault.
(Source: http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/26423509.html)
McCain speech plagiarized Wikipedia
I mean, everyone knows damn well that if Obama had been caught doing the same thing, his campaign would be over.
Much of a speech McCain delivered about the crisis in the Republic of Georgia was copied from the Wikipedia article about that country - much of it almost word-for-word.
Fer instance...
Wikipedia said that Georgia is "one of the first countries in the world to adopt Christianity as an official religion."
McCain said that it's "one of the world's first nations to adopt Christianity as an official religion."
Wikipedia said, "After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia had a brief period of independence as a Democratic Republic (1918-1921), which was terminated by the Red Army invasion of Georgia. Georgia became part of the Soviet Union in 1922 and regained its independence in 1991. Early post-Soviet years was marked by a civil unrest and economic crisis."
McCain said, "After a brief period of independence following the Russian revolution, the Red Army forced Georgia to join the Soviet Union in 1922. As the Soviet Union crumbled at the end of the Cold War, Georgia regained its independence in 1991, but its early years were marked by instability, corruption, and economic crises."
Wikipedia is free to use, but its terms of use do require proper attribution.
McCain hires speechwriters who are so lazy that they just copy Wikipedia?
Maybe when McAin't gives a speech about bubble gum and calls it "bubble poo", people will take notice that he's just ripping off Wikipedia.
This proves that if McCain gets elected, he's going to surround himself with intellectually lazy clods who just rip off other people's work.
(Source: http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/politicalinsider/2008/08/did-mccain-plagarize-his-speec.html)
System drops ball following our protests
When crime is evident, we as taxpayers have a right to expect the system to investigate - and prosecute if the need arises.
But when it comes to the teen torture industry, the system has been dropping the ball too damn much. It has for decades.
Take our July 11 protest against this racket, for instance. You know, the one in which the Harangue stole our sign. Recently I learned that authorities are refusing to charge the Harangue for theft after she stole the sign. It is unknown why - for the theft (which of course was not very professional behavior) was caught on video.
But we should be less concerned about a sign on thin paper that took only a half-hour to make than we should be about apparent misdeeds that would be far more serious. For instance, look at what happened during our July 14 rally. Near the end of the event, a car taking detainees to their host homes pulled out of the facility. A young person in the car pressed a piece of paper saying "HELP ME" against the window, where we could see it.
This is a clear indication that something very serious is going on that shouldn't be. If so, it would have to be either at the facility itself or one of the host homes authorized by the program. We got the car's license plate number, and we called the police. We were told that an alert was put out all over the Tri-State for the car.
I'm fully aware that there's a stock program response to cries for help like this. Almost without fail, facilities accuse the kid of lying. They will call the kid a liar right to their face, no matter how truthful the kid is being. No real investigation is made. And the young person is likely to be punished severely and docked a few levels. It was like this in 1990, and it's probably worse now.
Based on this, it's not surprising when facilities drop the ball - but what about the system?
In Ohio, all roads lead to ODADAS - the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services. If a facility is billed as a drug rehab - which the one that we protest is - ODADAS is supposed to make sure the program meets state standards.
Well, I already knew that this particular center had 38 deficiencies at an inspection not long ago, but ODADAS allowed it to stay in business anyway. And now it turns out ODADAS thinks there's absolutely nothing wrong with the July 14 incident.
For starts, ODADAS claims the police alert was only for Clermont County, not the entire Tri-State. This means that either the police dropped the ball or ODADAS is lying. Based on ODADAS's overall dishonesty, it could very well be the latter.
How full of shit is ODADAS? It also claimed that "there has been nothing to substantiate" that the program "has violated ODADAS standards."
Oh yeah? What about those 38 deficiencies?
It's safe to say ODADAS is corrupt. When "treatment" centers that have so many serious deficiencies don't even get shut down, and when ODADAS lies to cover up for them, it's clear ODADAS is corrupt.
What? Corruption in a government agency? You gotta be kidding me!
(Source: http://www.isaccorp.org/kidshelpingkids.asp)
Another welfare fraud hoax
According to so-called "compassionate" conservatives, anyone who deservingly receives government benefits is committing welfare fraud.
I know this is bullshit, but in the past 15 years, this lie has become so entrenched in American social lore that it's hard to dislodge it. Whether you get disability benefits or if you're an impoverished, struggling child, the conservative wrath will fall on you with the fullest force.
I'm all for going after real welfare fraudsters. And I'm against corporate welfare and handouts to the rich (programs conservatives have long supported). But the portrayal of poor welfare recipients as being generally fraudulent was a hoax spread largely by talk radio, right-wing politicians, and the Internet (when the 'Net first became popular). However, this hoax encouraged "soak the poor" policies like Congress's failed welfare "reform" law of 1996.
Even after America's poorest families and disabled workers have been hopelessly left in the lurch, conservatives can't stop kicking them when they're down. And the media is always eager to lap up this demagoguery and spread misleading headlines.
For instance, a biased headline in a Minnesota paper about the latest story reads, "GOP shows it's so." So if the Republicans say something, that makes it true? Investigating the story, it turns out it isn't so.
Minnesota issues welfare in the form of benefit cards. In the past year, about $500,000,000 in transactions were made using these cards. I'm guessing that would be only about $500 all year per recipient - or under $10 a week.
While a poor Minnesotan spends only $10 a week in benefits, the Republicans cry that every recipient is ear-deep in fraud. They cite statistics showing that $10,000,000 of the $500,000,000 that recipients spent was in other states. For instance, they spent over $2,000,000 in both Wisconsin and North Dakota, which are immediately adjacent to Minnesota.
Republican lawmakers' conclusion? "THEY'RE VACATIONING ON THE TAXPAYERS' DIME!!!" they cry. Um, no. This $10,000,000 is only 2% of the total $500,000,000 spent. Most of this accounts for the 2% of Minnesotans who shop in, say, Fargo or La Crosse because these cities have the nearest stores to their homes.
It's exactly like how I go to Cincinnati all the time. Was I "vacationing" in Cincinnati when I did work for the Department of the Interior there? (To give you an idea of how many people commute, 48% of employed residents of one of the biggest counties in Minnesota work in the county that contains Fargo, North Dakota.)
Further, if a transaction appears to be out-of-state, it doesn't mean the buyer went out of state. Online orders count with the state where the seller is located. If you're in Minnesota, and you order a product from a seller in Hawaii, the purchase counts under Hawaii.
So shut your mouths, conservos. Quit judging what you know nothing about.
I have not one iota of sympathy for right-wing lawmakers who were born into wealth, make hefty salaries (paid by state taxpayers) to do their jobs all wrong, and then complain about the poor having it too easy. Not one fucking iota.
In sum, the latest alleged crisis of welfare "fraud" is yet another Republican hoax designed to whip up another frenzy of classism just for political gain.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Programmies lie about protesters
Hmm, where do I start with this story?
You may be aware that on 9 occasions since last November, I've participated in roadside demonstrations against an abusive teen "treatment" facility near Milford, Ohio, just outside Cincinnati. I was invited to these protests by organizers, because I was interested in this cause following my own experiences with another gulag.
Concentration camps like this must be shut down. They simply must be. There's no indication that the abuse found in facilities like this has been eliminated - especially judging by our most recent protest, during which a youngster being transported from the facility pressed a handmade sign saying "HELP ME" against the car window.
I'm going by what I or other protesters saw firsthand. Programmies can deny it all they want, but facts are facts.
But now, the facility is lying outright about the protesters!
The facility's website has added a section called "Our Critics", in which it tries to discredit us. You know we've done a good job of calling attention to their tyranny when they go through the trouble to make a page just for us.
Their missive tells folks that "you may come upon negative information from a small group of people" who accuse the center of "inappropriate and abusive treatment programs." The piece is clearly referring to our protests. The article claims that "none of these people" are "graduates or parents of graduates" of the program.
That is an absolute, utter lie.
I was not a detainee in that program - but some other participants in our protests were. That is a fact. So what the program said is an out-and-out lie. And they know it.
The piece further declares, "Our attempts to have a dialogue with these people have not been successful." Say what? We're the ones who've tried having dialogue with them. And they have done nothing but behave irrationally in return. The facility's director stealing one of our signs and making false police reports against us is not what I call dialogue.
The piece further declares that "some have suggested" that the facility sue us. Which means they've almost certainly considered suing us. For what, I don't know. Then again, a lawsuit wouldn't be that surprising, because other confinement centers have filed SLAPP suits against other dissenters.
The rest of the program's "Our Critics" tirade is typical misleading industry propaganda.
Maybe they've decided against suing because they didn't want to have to explain themselves. Why do people come from all over the eastern half of the country to protest this center unless there's a damn good reason?
Please, folks: Weigh both sides of the issue. Our side has gathered people from several states (most of whom never knew each other before) to use legitimate, peaceful methods to protest against this cult. The other side steals signs, cries to the police, fires off illogical rants about "critics", encourages parents to yell ready-made responses to us from their cars, and places bags or eyeless hoods over kids' heads.
(More info: http://www.isaccorp.org/kidshelpingkids.asp)
Arkansas town under martial law
If you think you can be outside on your own property (or the property that you rent) without going to jail, you'd be right - if you live in a free country.
But in BushAmerica, you're not so lucky.
The city of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, has imposed what amounts to martial law on a mile-wide section of town. (Helena and West Helena merged in 2006.) It's like a strictly enforced curfew that applies to every person, of any age, at any time of day, for any reason.
If you so much as step out of your house, even if you don't leave your own yard, you go straight to jail.
This is another example of how when all you have is a hammer, the whole big, nasty world and everything in it looks like a nail. Every problem - whether real or perceived - is confronted with a sledgehammer "fix" that penalizes the innocent.
The ACLU has correctly issued a letter calling the martial law unconstitutional. And residents are furious at the new curfew. One called the situation a "jail" in which "you can't go to the store without being harassed by police."
Martial law is what America has come to these days?
(Source: http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=26fb4396-0109-40ed-aec7-48924ac4cd26)
Music legend Isaac Hayes dies
Another loss in the music world occurred today: Musician and songwriter Isaac Hayes died at the age of 65 after collapsing at his Memphis home.
Hayes was probably best known for his "Theme From Shaft", which won Academy and Grammy awards. (The song featured the "wokka wokka" sound that characterizes what's often called 'Electric Company' music. It is called this because the sound was prominent in funky music beds featured on the '70s educational show.) Hayes also did the voice of the school cook on 'South Park', made commercials for Tennessee tourism, and received recognition for humanitarian work.
(Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBIT_ISAAC_HAYES?SITE=KYLOU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)
Akron schools fall to Far Right (sigh)
Because the so-called public school system of Akron, Ohio, doesn't believe in the Constitution, it too has fallen to the pressures to implement mandatory uniforms - in this case, from kindergarten through 8th grade.
Of course, some clothing stores in the area support it, because the policy lets them sell uniforms in addition to normal clothes. The uniform ensembles cost about $100. Pretty much everyone else is against it, as usual.
But everybody is so browbeaten that they just go right along with it.
Another fine city is now in ruins.
(Source: http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/26466269.html)
Racist vandalizes Democratic signs
Vile racists have been trying to overrun the town of Viroqua, Wisconsin, lately.
Last month, some beezweezer vandalized an Obama campaign sign outside the local Democratic headquarters. Last week, a right-wing fool did the same thing again, by painting a racial slur on such a sign.
Gee, I bet that'll really help the GOP cause - not! This shows you what a disgrace the conservative camp has become.
(Source: http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=8809065)
Nowhere to hide from Bush repression
There really is nowhere to hide anymore, is there?
The Patriot Act is a pile of shit, for sure, but when the states start mimicking it, you've got real problems. And that's what happened in Oregon when it began punishing allergy sufferers in the name of the failed War on Drugs.
So what're the Bushbots to do? Export their tyranny, of course.
They've pressured Mexico into passing the same law as Oregon - and now the state of Washington may follow suit, this time at the hands of the DLC thought police.
In the meantime, "demon" pseudoephedrine is being removed from cold and allergy medicine throughout the U.S. and being replaced with crap that doesn't even work - all to appease the purveyors of the Patriot Act and the War on Drugs (which is a price support for violent gangs).
This is yet more prima facie evidence that the virus of Bushism needs to be vanquished wherever it is to be found - to keep it from spreading elsewhere.
List of things the Taliban hates
While we're on the subject of people being judged by those who misuse the Bible to attack them, here's a list of things that the programmies threatened eternal damnation for when I was a teenager:
• music videos ("I'll show you the memo that says, 'No, no, no!'")
• Dungeons & Dragons
• sweatpants
• Motley Crue
• 'American Gladiators'
• 'The Simpsons'
• whispering
I know there's more, but this is enough to acquaint you with the programmies' control freak ways.
I guess after almost 20 years, they've moved from "the industry" to the media and the wingnutosphere.
That said, I think it would be nifty if some of us put up a website - even a blog - listing the many passions that supposedly damned us victims of the teen torture racket to the fiery pits of the level 1 (or lower) that awaits us in the afterlife.
The Judgment Hour
I don't claim to be an adherent of any religion these days, and I haven't been to a weekly church service since the Reagan years. But I'm not any worse of a Christian than the so-called Christians who continue to judge John Edwards.
For the record, I never said he was right to engage in an extramarital affair. But I don't judge him after the fact. About other aspects of the story, the media is lying outright.
As for the right-wing whack-a-doos who judge John Edwards, well, um - didn't they read the Bible that they thump at everyone else?
Luke 6:37 says, "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."
Isn't that enough for you, judgies? Maybe if that verse is too long, try Matthew 7:1: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged."
It's in the Bible, geniuses. Dominionists like using the Bible to claim they have a "right" to beat their kids (and other people's kids) - but they ignore everything the Good Book actually says. I guess it's because they're illiterate and they don't really know what it says.
Maybe we need to buy the judgies some Hooked on Phonics tapes.
I surely wish there were words in the English language sufficient to express my scorn for those who would judge someone based on a private matter that he had long ago put behind him. Again, I never said Edwards was right to have an affair. But the judgies judged, and did not forgive.
Imagine what it's like for the Edwards family to see the media lining up against them over a years-old incident just for political gain.
If Obama wins, I'm inclined to help launch a nationwide effort to draft John Edwards as Attorney General. Because of his courage in admitting the affair, I admire Edwards more now than I did before this story, and I certainly think he can find a place in a national administration.
Edwards may have been wrong about some things before - and I'm a Green, while he's a Democrat. But, by golly, I will defend him from judgmental hypocrites and liars.
What hath deregulation brung?
Yesterday I was doing an important chore at the home of a family member who has…cable TV! Of course, I haven't had cable since I went out on my own when I was 19 - but that was before the failed Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Whooooo, man! I thunk cable was bad before '96, but now that I've had probably the best look at post-1996 cable that I've had so far, I long for my younger days! But the problems aren't limited to cable.
First off, several of the most appealing channels on our cable system were out of service all day yesterday. (Yes, these were ones my family member had paid for.) No surprise, as our cable system is the great-grandsprog of the reviled Storer Cable.
The content of the channels we could get was just as heart-wrenching. For one thing, at least 3 of the local over-the-air stations were showing infomercials in the middle of the day. Strikingly, so were several of the major cable channels.
People pay $50 a month to watch infomercials now?
So I put the TV on the so-called "news" channels. What do you think they were talking about? Bush just got caught with his shit-encrusted Huggies down around his ankles ordering the CIA to forge a letter as an excuse for the war - but suffice it to say, there wasn't a word about that. The "news" channels instead dwelt on the John Edwards affair that ended in 2006.
Incidentally, this was also the top news story on the phone company's high-speed ISP's website - even though the story itself was from the day before.
See what I mean about the other side living in the past? They can't get over grade school squabbles from 25 years ago, so I guess we shouldn't expect them to get over a respected statesman's extramarital affair from 2 years ago. (Does anyone else find it suspicious that the Edwards story was released by most of the media just after the latest Bush scandal broke?)
The glut of infomercials was made possible by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which deregulated the industry. This illegal law likely also contributed to the cable outage, because cable companies are now more likely to be monopolies, so they have no incentive to provide reliable service. (Before 1996, a significant percentage of American communities had cable competition.)
This monopoly culture has also contributed to the biased news coverage that plagues the media today.
My party - the Green Party - explicitly endorses repeal of the '96 telcom law in its platform. I also believe we need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, a concept that served America well for decades.
TV has the potential to educate and inform, but instead bandwidth gets wasted on infomercials and one-sided "news" coverage. It's time to bring the medium back out of the vast wasteland it's become.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
School district may get Tasers
Welcome to BushAmerica - the land of Tasered tots.
The school district's security director boasts of his desire to see Tasers in schools - but parents are outraged (as they should be). Still, the director remains undeterred. He said of the Tasers, "I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it." Which means what?
If I was a betting dude, I'd wager that the first time a Taser is used in the Uniontown schools, the district finds itself the defendant in a lawsuit.
The Conservative Fool Of The Day is…Steve Miller!
Miller's latest rant is titled "Barack Obama is not legally a US natural-born citizen." In this absurd tirade, Miller claims the Democratic standard-bearer is not a natural-born citizen because the law at the time of his birth said that one is not a citizen if one parent wasn't a citizen and if the other parent was a citizen who did not live in the U.S. for 5 years after the age of 16.
One problem with that, Steve. If you're born in the U.S. - as Obama was - you're a citizen regardless of whether your parents were citizens. Duh, Steve! (The only exception is if you are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction - an exception that applies to the offspring of dignitaries who have diplomatic immunity.)
Miller stupidly declares, "Presidential office requires the person elected to be a natural-born United States citizen if the child was not born to two US citizen parents." Um, Steve? It requires you to be a natural-born citizen regardless of who you were born to. But since Obama is a natural-born citizen, that point is moot.
Steve Miller really is the Joker!
Hey! Is that Bubble Yum bubble gum?! Down into the fiery pits of level 1 with you!
Remember the bubble gum wars of the late '70s? It was a bit like the soup wars of the current decade, in that the battles were fought fiercely in TV ads.
Bubble Yum's commersh mascot was the Flavor Fiend - who appeared to be Cookie Monster's orange-haired cousin. YouTube once featured another commercial that contained the ol' Fiend, but apparently it got removed because of the feewinghurt induced by people (and puppets) bubbling. So now the only usable Flavor Fiend appearance on YouPube seems to be this 1977 ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b56tfNiAiI
"Hey! Is that Bubble Yum bubble gum?!" the Flavor Fiend loudly asks. This inquiry appears to have influenced a common saying from when I was in high school years later. This saying was delivered in a drill sergeant voice and referenced the level system that characterized teen "treatment" facilities: "Hey! Is that Bazooka you're chewin'?! Down into the fiery pits of level 1 with you!"
I always thought the bubble gum commercials of the time were amusing in that a person always made a big spectacle of squeezing the piece of gum to demonstrate how soft it was.
I also wonder how they got the puppet to bubble.
Another observation: Early in the commersh, when the pack of gum is being passed along, notice that they're holding the book they're reading upside-down.
I guess the Flavor Fiend learned to read upside-down and now gets everything backwards. So maybe now he's a media exec who follows tabloid scandals while ignoring important stories like Bush forging the Iraq letter as an excuse to start a war.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Open thread time!
I figure you're entitled to see the "Just think..." banner at least once a year, and that I'm also entitled to a day off at such an interval, but anyway...
Tonight I'm going to the Bellevue Vets Carnival, and tomorrow I have to spend most of the day working on a family chore I promised to do. So I probably won't be able to do many entries here until Sunday. I may be able to do a few entries from a family member's house, but that's not a guarantee.
So just think! You might get a whole day without having to hear about any new conservative foibles! Isn't that refreshing?
In light of that news, consider this an open thread.
A double standard?
Much noise is generated about this blog's alleged focus on conservative or Republican scandals while ignoring liberal or Democratic scandals.
Oh, there's a double standard all right, but it ain't from me. I noticed back in 1988 that the media hyped Democratic scandals and ignored GOP ones. At the time, I was a 15-year-old kid, and I could see it already.
So why would I pay more attention to conservative scandals than liberal ones?
Sigh. I know I've explained this before, so let me do it again: It ain't "the liberals" who are so holier-than-thou. The conservatives are.
It is generally the conservatives who waste time writing useless legislation dictating how people live their lives, especially regarding sex and personal relationships. So if they have a sex scandal, I'm likely to report it. "The liberals" typically ain't the ones who try passing useless laws. Thus, I'm just as likely to ignore similar travails on the liberal side.
People have personal problems. It might not be anything criminal, but it's a fact of life. It doesn't make one a hypocrite unless they tried dictating to everyone else how to live. That's what hypocrisy means. Is the original offense any worse than the public hypocrisy that might surround it?
No progressive ever called me a druggie or told me I was going to hell for listening to the "wrong" music. But conservatives have. Thus, if someone on the liberal side has personal issues, I have no reason to make an issue of it. If someone on the conservative side does the same thing, I sure as hell do, because conservatives sermonized about the "sins" of others.
Is that a double standard? No - at least not for its own sake. You can't criticize someone for hypocrisy when they have no hypocrisy to criticize. When someone rants about others' alleged immorality, you have to hold them to a stronger standard than someone who does not.
A lot of folks don't get that. But it makes perfect sense.
Of course, this makes the media's double standard that lets Republicans off the hook much more vexing.
Washington Times lies about Bush record
Yesterday, in an editorial praising Bush, the Times lied outright about his miserable record.
The piece claimed Bush had approval ratings between 80 and 90% throughout his first term. That is a lie. His approval ratings were shaky when he took office and were so again 4 years later. And even those figures were filtered through the polling machine that always inflates public support for right-wing causes and individuals.
The article went on to claim that the Decider had reduced unemployment to record-low levels. That too is an outright lie. The lowest the unemployment rate has ever gotten during Bush's reign is still higher than it was immediately before he seized power. (You have to remember that doesn't even count underemployment. Just think if it did.)
And when in the fuckola did Bush "reform Medicare"? I sure as shit don't remember that. He may have ruined it, but I sure don't remember him reforming it.
Just setting the record straight, folks. Let's close the floodgates of the Timesies' lie before the rest of the media amplifies it.
If anyone doubts that the media sometimes lies outright to defend the ruling party, this ought to lay those doubts to rest.
(Source: http://mediamatters.org/items/200808070011)
NFL sends tailgaters to sidelines
Just days after the National Football League trotted out its idiotic new "code of conduct" for fans inside the stadium, it's now implementing a new rule for those outside the stadium as well. The NFL has decreed that folks won't be allowed to tailgate outside the arena unless they have a ticket to the game.
Under this ukase, security must scour the parking lot and kick out anyone who doesn't have a ticket. The NFL has ruled that this shall be done at every venue that hosts an NFL team.
Why the hell should you need a ticket if you're not even inside the stadium? This is exactly like the NFL making people who watch the game at home shut off the TV if they don't have a ticket. (The greed-driven blackout rules are so stringent that they might as well.)
The NFL's excuse is that this will prevent fans from causing trouble. They fail to explain how. I think the reason for the rule is to keep people from having a good time.
The NFL's determination to take the fun out of football dates back at least to 1989 when it implemented the "Ickey Woods rule." Under this rule - prompted by Woods's hilarious dance in the end zone - players are prohibited from "excessive" celebratory performances.
There's some people who just don't like it when others have a good time. The NFL is driven by the same mentality that's led to crackdowns at festivals.
With the NFL's expanding no-fun policies, anyone who attends a game almost expects a gulag to break out.
(Source: http://www.kypost.com/content/wcposhared/story.aspx?content_id=42a41c97-5193-406c-aa13-5a3ec37257ae)
Tennessee GOP congressman loses primary
But yesterday he lost the Republican primary for another term - making him the first incumbent U.S. House member from the Volunteer State to lose a primary since 1966.
Wow, that David Davis must have really been pathetic! For a district that's had a Republican congressperson since 1881, at least it's good that a GOP primary can be competitive enough to fire an incumbent. (Not like most other Republicans would be much better.)
(Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j_21CQEmVXaRLlqpw6n7eqnKIyNwD92DTD200)
GOP lawmaker indicted for sexual assault
Now Muschany, 42, has been indicted for a felony charge of deviate sexual assault for allegedly having sex with a girl who was only 14.
If he's convicted, Muschany may face a fine of up to $5,000 and up to 7 years in prison.
What is it with the Republican Party that's drawn so many weirdoes lately?
(Source: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/3D590F8A376046948625749D0070B9D8?OpenDocument)
Anthrax suspect a member of conservative group
It turns out Bruce Ivins - the suspect in the deadly 2001 anthrax terrorist attacks who committed suicide last week - was a member of Rev. Donald Wildmon's American Family Association, a Religious Right hate group that supports censoring media materials that fail to reflect its values.
Ivins donated heavily to the AFA, especially after the organization defended a Baptist school in Greendale, Wisconsin, that was under investigation over its use of corporal punishment. Investigators think a return address used on the anthrax envelopes may be a reference to that school.
Ivins's letters to the editor of his own local paper espouse very conservative politics, which investigators believe are related to the anthrax mailings to several Democratic senators.
Keep in mind though that Bruce Ivins was an anthrax suspect - not a convict. But if it can be ascertained that he did indeed send anthrax through the mail, the media is going to look awfully stupid for denying what was obvious all along - namely that the series of attacks were right-wing domestic terrorism. I could see that from day one. Instead, the media chose to blame everyone except right-wing domestic terrorists. This is exactly like how the media scapegoated environmentalists for the arson of a new subdivision in Maryland (which turned out to be the work of a white supremacist gang) or how it scapegoated antiwar activists for the Times Square bombing.
Why should I have concluded that the anthrax mailings were right-wing domestic terrorism, while the media was wrong to jump to its conclusions about this and other incidents? It's simple: For one, America's Far Right had a strong track record of lethal terrorism. This is the strain that produced Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, and Eric Rudolph. (If you doubt that the Unabomber was right-wing, his manifesto was strongly critical of the Left.) For another, why would anyone but the American right wing target so many Democratic senators?
I go by evidence and past performance. The other side goes by innuendo and scapegoating. If I'm wrong, I'll admit it. When the pop-up media is wrong, it never corrects itself.
I think the media has some explaining to do.
(Source: http://www.leadertelegram.com/story-news.asp?id=BHDSS6M9EoM)
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Newtzi threatens government shutdown
Yes, I'm talking about former House Speaker Newt Gingrich - the creep who defined Bushism before it became Bushism. Even though he's out of public office, he still doesn't know when to shut up.
Newtzi was responsible for the oft-mocked government shutdowns of the mid-'90s, which resulted from his own shitty coping skills. Now he's urging the Republicans to do it again - this time to force a congressional vote on offshore oil drilling. (He thinks people aren't going to blame the Republicans for the artificially high gas costs, even though the GOP caused a vast majority of the problem.)
The Newter says that if the Democrats don't go along with the GOP's notion of trying to drill its way out of the gas crisis (instead of focusing on conservation and alternative fuels), the Republicans ought to make sure the government shuts down past September.
Please, Newty. Go for it. I would love to see the results of the next election if the Republicans try that. People aren't in the mood for a repeat of the kookish grandstanding of the '90s.
(Source: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/7/135143/7871/282/564163)
Obama heckler's press credentials were real!
This story sounds like it's straight out of News of the Weird!
On Tuesday, some loudmouth bearing press credentials heckled Obama at an event in Ohio by demanding that he recite the Pledge of Allegiance. (This despite the fact that, to my knowledge, Bush never recited the Pledge at his events.) At the end of the event, the man refused to give his name to reporters in the press pen and ranted like a maniac.
Everyone assumed the man's press credentials were fake. Articles about the incident even reported they were phony. After all, why would a real reporter jeopardize the credibility of the news organization he works for by behaving in such an irrational manner? And why would any news outlet put its reputation on the line by allowing such behavior?
But now it turns out the press credentials carried by the man were real. Real, real, real, Bert! The man is a freelance photographer on assignment for Bloomberg News.
Well, he was. But not anymore, thanks to his little tantrum.
How unprofessional can the media be for its credentialed photographers to heckle candidates with moronic ravings?
(Source: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/7/12584/47553/313/564132)
EU approves airline merger
Yet another smudge on the European Union's sordid record that almost makes it sound like Bush appointees are running the show.
The EU announced today that it's approved the merger between Delta and Northwest Airlines - leaving approval by U.S. regulators the only hurdle to the merger. (Gee, I wonder what the U.S. regulators will do?)
This approval seems to leave EU's member nations out of luck if they opposed the merger.
The EU claimed that the deal "would not significantly impede effective competition" in the airline industry in Europe. But that's not true. Some routes between America and Europe are currently served by both Northwest and Delta - so there would be less competition.
But hey, monopolies and corporate power are what the European Union is all about.
If the merger is approved, there will also be fewer choices for air travel within the U.S. - and even higher fares.
(Source: http://www.europeanvoice.com/Article/61985.aspx)
Posts
