Thoughts, American Idol, Bachelor...Tax Cheats, Stephanie and Hollywood Week

If you thought SuperBowl 2009 was the greatest ever, you'll love our exclusive video of the action plus some vid of the great halftime show.

Also, tax dodgers and why we all should just refuse to pay our taxes, damn it!

Finally, Jonbenet case reopened? I've got an interesting hunch why.

Many more thoughts from The Wise I.

It was the last episode before going on to the home towns of the final contenders.

Jason, amidst tears and sobs, sent home what I thought was his best match.

And a rumor about the outcome of this year's show that will shock you.

It's the mid-winter fill time before the final top 15 start American Idol 09 anew.

Some video and pics you'll see nowhere else on the Internet. Plus my guesses as to who to keep a close eye on.

Finally, guest writer Michelle tells of her murdering cat and a stage mother’s travails.

Pic of the Day


 


Jason Sends Stephanie Home

Widow Stephanie Sent Home

I do think the insertion of 34 year old Stephanie was entirely scripted. Well the whole show is very scripted as I often assert but there’s just something weird about Stephanie and her inclusion in the top five finalists, indeed her inclusion as a contender for Bachelor Jason’s heart at all.

I just couldn’t get over the fact that Stephanie looked so much OLDER than Jason.

If I’ve got it right, Jason is 32 years old and Stephanie is allegedly 34 years of age. She looks as if she’s had a whole lot of Botox injections however. Which is not to say she’s not a very attractive woman but I wonder about her age and more, she looks more suited, in looks, behavior and temperament, for a man in his early 40’s.

There was also never any extended makeout session between Jason and Stephanie, never any passion, never any glimmer of unfulfilled youthful lust that one can see, with a close look, between Jason and Melissa, for example.

Stephanie always did this thing where she would softly kiss Jason’s forehead, his cheeks…like that. But there was never a point where Jason grabbed Stephanie and smothered her with a big tongue-probing kiss. Stephanie herself would often mention this lack of lust during a solo camera vignette.



I’d speculated in an earlier post that this meant either the scripting was to lead up to a sudden climax of lust, passion, love and romance between Jason or Stephanie or boom, either by script or for real, Jason just wasn’t all that into Stephanie, to borrow from the popular lingo of our day. Which proved to be the case as widow Stephanie did not get a rose on the episode aired on 2/2/09.

So this upcoming week we have Jason visiting the hometowns of the final four contenders for his heart.

Top Four:
Naomi
Molly
Melissa
Jillian

This is one of my favorite parts of this reality series as the family of one’s beloved speaks volumes about our futures with this potential mate so fashioned from these folk and surroundings, no?

It’s always fun to see the kooks and locate the stable.

There’s a rumor all about how this season with Jason, he formerly rejected by the also-rejected DeAnna, will end. It’s just a rumor, probably the work of an over-heated fan’s imagination. But I’ll throw it out there.

For DeAnna’s engagement with her snowboarder choice from last season’s Bachelorette, Jessie, has ended. I could have told her that kookie Jessie was but an aberration and not for females with dreams of picket fences and pretty children in their future.

So the rumor goes that DeAnna will return to this series, to the Jason who she rejected and left with a broken heart for a snowboarder for God’s sake. And Jason will reject his top four and go off into the sunset with DeAnna, as it was meant to be by the gods of romance.

I don’t believe it for a second. Brad Womack broke the mold with his walking off with NO choice of the many female offerings good enough for his fine self. A series like this that wants to succeed simply cannot lead the viewers on too often lest they lose viewership of those who are tired of being fooled.

We will be watching the visits to the home town of the top four and for now, my money’s on Melissa as Jason’s choice of a bride.

Which probably won’t happen either but that’s another story, another day.
======================

American Idol 2009-Hollywood Weird

The thing about this past week’s Hollywood Rounds (2/3 thru 2/5/09) is that they made no sense and were boring.

The pre-season visits to the various cities was at least amusing on some levels as there were the inevitable kooks, the losers who thought they could be winners, the crowds, the comraderie, the close-ups of the lives of promising contenders.

This Hollywood week was boring as all get out.

In fact I didn’t even tape the shows and got most of my information from AOL, HERE.

First it was a blatant attempt to treat the story of the contenders as some sort of reality show but it was a bust. Yes the contenders, some of whom went through to the next round and some of whom went home, were in the biggest reality contest of them all. It’s just that at this point in the American Idol the viewers have made few attachments to the many contenders.

In fact the only contender that I formed a sort of attachment to was a member of an all-girl band who left her comrades behind to seek the American Idol name. She got sent home during Hollywood week and here I thought she had a real shot at the title.







The rest of the show of the first of the Hollywood round consisted of boring, unbelievable melodramas of various players as they were wrestled with forming groups, practicing and the jealousy that this sort of endeavor will bring.

The so-called bikini girl played a big role in the past week’s melodramas and by me this one does not have a chance of winning the title.

So beyond a few pics I compiled above, that’s pretty much it for Hollywood, Round 1.



Super Bowl 2009



In fact I DID watch the Super Bowl 2009 clash between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburg Steelers.

I did not believe for a second that the Cardinals had a chance one at winning that thing but they played one hell of a game. In fact, the 2009 Super Bowl should go down in history as one of the most exciting of all Super Bowls. Heartbreaker for Arizona, though. That 100 yard touchdown return had me standing on kitchen chairs and screaming to the football gods. And I didn’t even have a dog in that race.

This Super Bowl did leave me pondering the oddity of an Arizona team named after a bird that does not live or nest anywhere near that state. In fact, I wrote a prize-winning fiction story about cardinals, HERE. This story is a whimsical thing, for sure, worth a real laugh. It also illustrates my perplexity about the Arizona Cardinals. I am to understand that the Arizona football team came from St. Louis, as one Freeper patiently explained to me.
Missouri is a place where the beautiful red cardinal DOES live and nest.

Carrying the puzzlement one step further, there are NO ravens in Baltimore either. There is, however, a logical connection for that particular name. If yon reader does not know the origin of the name of the Baltimore Raven football team, you just might be a recent graduate of Baltimore public schools.



Moving on, we do have some great video of this year’s Sooper Bowl, including some outstanding clips of the halftime show. Click in for a smile.



Solving the Stimulus Problem

There are those amongst us who think that the Democrats should pay their tax bills too, damn it!

Which is not to say that I don’t agree. The gubmint is going after my pitiful SS disability pay if it plus husband’s salary goes over $32,000. So damn right all those fat cats up in congress should have to pay their taxes but there is a silver lining.

Let’s have Obama keep appointing the lying, cheating Democrats to his cabinet posts and what with them all having to pay up, even if they DON’T get the job, boom, there you have, a fresh cash infusion into the economy with no need of that pork joke they pee on our feet and tell us it’s raining that it’s a “stimulus” package.

Many of us were born yesterday, most of whom voted for Obama. That so-called stimulus bill, heh, is naught but a way to raid the U.S. treasury to pay back all the big donors who helped The Messiah to get elected. But hey, he pees upon our feet and tells us it’s raining. Those of us who voted for the Messiah immediately go looking for an umbrella for the strange yellow rain.

Below, the winners of the annual Tax Turkey awards, ALL of whom are Democrats. Heh.

New York, NY: Brendan Pack, CEO of Tax Academy.com, a multimillion dollar company based in New York City and services over 100,000 companies, has announced today the annual Tax Turkey awards being given to government officials for their potential tax-related problems. The winner will receive a 14k gold "Tax Turkey" plaque. The top five are as follows:

Caroline Kennedy:
Quit her bid for Senate seat due to "personal" reasons, including "tax" problems. Sources cite that Kennedy ended her campaign for Hillary Clinton's vacant Senate seat due to "potentially embarrassing" situations with tax liabilities and employment with nanny. Ms. Kennedy's only tax issue on the public record appeared to be a $615 city tax lien that she settled in 1994, a minuscule amount for a multimillionaire.

Charles Rangel:
In 2008, the chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee was accused of failing to report $75,000 in rental income for a villa he owned at the Punta Cana Yacht Club, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Documents also released showed that Rep. Rangel paid no interest on a mortgage used to purchase the beach property. His attorney, Lanny Davis, claims these financial issues were unintentional, and Rep. Rangel wasn't previously aware of his failure to disclose the income because most of the mailings were sent to his wife. Republicans have called for the removal of the Congressman from the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the nation's tax laws, and an investigation has been implemented.

Tom Daschle:
President Obama's pick to head the Health and Human Services Department, Tom Daschle, recently filed amended tax returns to report $128,203 in unpaid taxes and $11,964 in interest for 2005-2007. His amended taxes reflect additional income for consulting work, the use of a car service, and reductions in charitable contribution deductions. Daschle has paid the IRS taxes and interest for this error, which has delayed his confirmation as Obama's appointed advisor.

Timothy Geithner:
President Obama's pick for Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, disclosed to Senators that he failed to report $34,000 in self-employment taxes from 2001-2004. Although his confirmation hearing was delayed, this tax mistake did not cost him his position as Treasury Secretary, which includes oversight of the IRS.

William Jefferson:
The Congressman was defeated in the 2008 election; however his controversy started a couple years prior to his loss. In 2006, the FBI raided Jefferson's home and claimed they found over $90,000 Jefferson took in bribes, some of the cash stashed away in the freezer. Rep. Jefferson was indicted on 16 charges of corruption by a federal grand jury and stripped of his membership on the House Ways and Mean's Committee, yet the controversy did not end. In June of 2008, his sister pleaded guilty to a Federal fraud scheme.

Excel Rant

I cut my teeth on Lotus 1-2-3 but now the mighty spreadsheet program Excel is the stuff of Accountants. I, with no sense of pride at the admission, use this program for everything from tracking the minutiae of my life to compiling my Blog and, on occasion, I use the program to actually do calculations.

During the years of my work I use to proclaim loudly and with a sense of might that my hands have, indeed, been blessed by God. For I could make a spreadsheet sing, I could make a spreadsheet, with the insertion of one property tax amount in the proper cell, calculate the pro ratio property tax assessment for every merchant in the shopping center, the ratio based on square footage and/or contract limitations. I could calculate payroll tax deposits by state and prove the result back to the original mainframe payroll program total.

What happens when you spend your career doing stuff like this is a tendency to eschew all programs more suited to certain tasks and use just Excel to do everything. At one point in my life I used to poke gentle fun at accountants who used to check their spelling in Excel and some would even draw pictures in the program.

Now I myself am the subject of my former mockery.

This is perhaps why I consider Excel one of the buggiest programs on the planet. It has, since I’ve been using it at home for all manner of things, crashed and burned on me more times than I care to mention.

The buggy stuff this program does amazes me. I’d like to get Bill Gates into a room and show him the most incredible bugs that his programmers managed to cram into one program and hey, how The Wise I has managed to find them ALL.

Sometimes the program will save all my recipes, all in memos on an Excel spreadsheet, natch, in place of my “main” spreadsheet, which is my lifeline to daily living. This sends me screaming with the pain of the damned because all doctors appointments and daily tasks are replaced, boom and with no warning, with recipes for strawberry pie.

At other times I will get something weird in a cell somewhere and the thing will freeze up my computer and slow down every function until I have to stop and meticulously copy every cell, row and column into a new spreadsheet until I find the culprit slowing everything down.

On an older computer I had, Excel would, with no rhyme or reason, suddenly save a file with some huge number name. Such as: “2738475689”. I don’t know why it did that and I lost quite a few files until I learned that this is what happened to those spreadsheets I was saving that suddenly disappeared for no earthly reason.

I do religiously back up all my Excel spreadsheets to a little portable file saving device now because I sometimes lose my entire life when this program does the weird.

I don’t have this sort of weirdness with any other program and hey, I’m glad I documented the craziness of Excel that makes no sense at all to me.

While I’m Complaining…

I didn’t move to the swamps of Delaware to suffer through winters as bad as winters in New England.

Ahem.

And while I’m at it, I never did like February all that much, considering the month’s only virtue being that it’s short.

For the winter of 2009 has been a real brrrrrrr and I’ve already written Al Gore about this global warming gone awry. I asked Al to send some of that warming my way.

Smokers Save the Children

Heh.

According to the Heritage foundation, twenty two million more of us will need to start smoking in order to fully fund the new SCHIP (State Children’s Healthcare Insurance Program) funds forced through by The Messiah.

Of course it’s a noble, noble thing folks, to provide healthcare insurance for children, although under the rules of this socialized boondoggle, those so-call “children” range up to thirty years of age!

This is really a backdoor way to socializing healthcare across this country, folks, and has been for many years. In fact, one of the big movers behind all this is none other than health insurance maven, Hillary Clinton.

So in April of this year smokers will have to pay an additional federal tax of .62 a pack for cigarettes, ostensibly, or so the lie goes, to add monies to finance the vaunted SCHIP program.

Problem is, with the total estimated smokers left in America (and folks, people do really stop smoking as the price per pack goes up) there are currently not enough smokers to fully fund the additional revenue being thrown at the SCHIP program.



The legislators who voted for this, they know this. They only do it because hey, everyone hates smokers, yes? For if ever a group was vilified into a despised enemy it is the pathetic smokers of this country. I just want to be around when the gubmint goes after those same holier-than-thou jerks who stood silent while the almighty lawmaker successfully made a group of our fellow citizens into the enemy. For next the gubmint will go after those who are too fat, then those who are ugly, then those with noses entirely too big and scarfing up too much of our precious air.

Then I shall laugh for the total lack of humanity and intelligence of those who didn’t see it coming. What’s the old saying? “They came after the Jews and I did nothing. They came after the Catholics and I did nothing. Then came after the Protestants and I did nothing. Then they came after me and there was no one left to do anything.” I paraphrase.

Beyond keeping second-hand smoke out of your face, property and belongings, what the hell does a smoker owe anybody on this planet? And don’t give me that bit about smokers causing high health care costs. Most smokers die way earlier than the dedicated jogger. Most of them have private health insurance.

It’s just a way for small, tiny people to point a self-righteous finger at someone else. In this case soon, I warn, it will be THEM.

Boo-freaking-hoo.

New Katrina Blog

I have documented the saga of Hurricane Katrina from the week after its impact on through to present day. I documented it on the main Blog but I have now exported all Katrina posts to a separate Blog HERE.

I began this endeavor for granddaughter Kaitlyn, for when the liberals change history for her future. For while the screaming hyenas declared the federal government guilty of failing to rescue hapless Louisiana citizens, the truth for those who bother to seek same, is that it was the LOCAL crooks (see William Jefferson under tax cheats above) who mislead those citizens, who left school buses submerged under water, who failed to warn the welfare recipients to get the hell out of town. I would also remind that Hurricane Katrina caused such havoc because of the failure of the levees to properly hold back the waters. Levees are the responsibility of who? THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Anyway, feel free to bookmark the site for folks, someday, what with The Messiah as President and everything, it will be the documentation of humble Bloggers like myself that will serve as counterpoint to the unionized liberal text books public school children will be forced to read.

It’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Dick Cheney Warns of Danger Because of Obama’s Policies

Soon being a conservative will be quite popular. For The Messiah has been messing up so bad what with ramming his liberal agenda (and of the Democrats as well, let’s be fair) down our throats and his true self being thus exposed, those who had the sense not to vote for this joker will be considered the wise ones.

No, I have no intention of showing respect for The Messiah Obama. I recall how the liberals treated George Bush. What goes around, lib friends, comes around.

So I like Dick Cheney and as I understand it, Dick Cheney cannot stand Chris Matthews.

What’s that I say? What’s Chris Matthews got to do with anything?

Well I recall with a smirk the day Chris “tingling leg” Matthews guested on the Today show and announced proudly that Dick Cheney would be going down. Soon, so mighty inside-the-beltway without a clue Matthews proclaimed, Cheney would be frog-marched to jail for his participation in the Valerie Plame scandal.

Heh.

I watched Hardball on 2/4/09 and Chris and a couple of other DC Beltway liberals without a clue made fun of Cheney and Cheney’s shot over the bow about Obama’s insistence on shutting down Guantanamo (something the American people don’t want but Obama’s campaign financiers certainly expect) Bay and now The Messiah is going to drop the charges against the leader of the bombing of the USS Cole!

What’s 17 dead American sailors after all?

Dick Cheney is right. I only hope we don’t realize it AFTER we lose an American city.

Chris Matthews is, as always, pathetic. He has no credibility anywhere and me and his mother are the only ones who watch his show.

New Jonbenet Ramsey Investigation

Click here to read my take on the COMPLETE story of Jonbenet Ramsey. I am, oddly, a sort of Blogging expert on the Jonbenet Ramsey story, not necessarily an honor but I have followed this case from the day it happened until today.

Last week it was announced that the investigation into the death of little Jonbenet would be returned to the local police department. That joke of a District Attorney in Boulder, you will recall, imported a child sex pervert from Thailand back into America.

I don’t know how much John Ramsey paid her to do that at taxpayer expense. You will recall it turned out to be a big nothing and now we have a pervert running loose but hey, money gets you stuff.



This same joke of a District Attorney also “exonerated” John and Patsy Ramsey for the death of their daughter, based on foreign DNA found on Jonbenet’s underpants.

Well hey, foreign DNA found at a crime scene would certainly EXPAND the list of suspects but since when does such a thing ELIMINATE suspects? John and Patsy Ramsey’s DNA was all over that crime scene and hey I understand that they live there. But to ELIMINATE them because some packer at the underpants factory left a skin cell in those underpants makes no sense.

Unless someone’s paying you money to go out and make a fool out of yourself.

I’m just sayin’.

I have a suspicion as to why the Jonbenet case is being turned back over to the police at this time. First let me point out that Patsy Ramsey killed Jonbenet. It was an accident and Patsy went to her death with that on her soul but I’m not going into it all again. Read the link. All of the investigators into that case think Patsy did it as well.

It’s Burke, Jonbenet’s brother. Little Burke Ramsey was in the home that morning that Jonbenet was found “missing” from her bed. Police investigators DID talk to Burke but John Ramsey had the kid so lawyered up that it was almost impossible to get anything out of the kid.

Murder has no statute of limitations. There’s no reason Burke Ramsey, who is now an adult and able to testify without permission from Daddy, can’t be called in for another round of questioning.

Thing is, perhaps it’s time to put this case to rest. Although I understand a lot of Boulder cops are furious about how they were sold down the river by those who should have been doing their job and protecting the public. But the real culprit is dead and likely is burning in hell.

Burke could be subject to charges if he lies and while John Ramsey should spend some time in jail for covering up that crime, Burke was an innocent child at the time.

And it’s not like they can put Patsy in jail or anything.

 


The Mother of the Star


My kitten killed me this morning.

Oh, it'll take awhile to take effect, but I know he did me in. I was getting ready for work, brushing my teeth, when Zeker wandered into the bathroom. He's almost six months old and quite the little man, and we've stopped noticing quite as much when he's around.

Well, I don't fasten my belt until I've got my badge to the work building secured to it, so I guess my belt was waving around in time
to my brushing.

Wham! Zeker leapt for the tempting target. I didn't even realize he was on his way up until I had a half-grown cat dangling from my belly button. Most of his claws ended up in fabric (or the belt), but two of
his claws punctured my peritoneum. The two puncture marks in my stomach still hurt, and I know it's a matter of time before I get peritonitis and die from it.

Mark my words! In a few months, when I'm gone, you'll remember it was Zeker who did it to me.

Seriously, he's growing really fast and becoming quite the attractive animal. Except for a few misdemeanors (like this morning), he's doing pretty well at being a house pet, too.

But on to the Mother of the Star.

It's been almost a week. Last Friday, work allowed us all off-site for a celebration of the great work we did in 2008. We had four hours at a
local fancy restaurant, where we enjoyed posh food, entertainment, raffles, and fun. (And speeches and so-so service, but what the hey?)
In the entertainment was a teenager, I think a local girl, who sings.
She's on cbs.com's My Grammy Moment as Victoria Matthews. She's very
good, although I don't care for her video on the site.

Friday night, she was introduced by her mom. (Victoria is eighteen.)
Mom gave us some history and encouraged us to vote for Victoria's
video. Then she stepped quietly to the sidelines, pushing - without
contact - her daughter into the lights of stardom.

While the rest of the almost two hundred coworkers watched Victoria
entertain us to a pre-recorded set of songs, I watched the Mother of
the Star. She stood on the outskirts of the crowd; close enough to see
her daughter well, but far enough to have a good view of the audience.
Her focus wavered between how her daughter was doing and what the
audience was doing; tunnel vision limited to only those things that
affected her daughter's performance.



Her gaze shifted lightning-fast to the audience when a couple people
got up and left to smoke outside. What Mom couldn't know was all the
other entertainment was in-house, provided by some extremely talented
employees, and going outside during those wasn't an option except to
the very brave - or foolish. Outside entertainment provided a perfect
place to break for that ciggy or cell phone call to the kids. But for
Mom, each one was a personal affront, a black mark on her Star's
career and she watched them go as if they'd signed her death warrant.

As I watched, I realized that of the two, Mom was working harder than
Star. Not only was she on audience duty, but Mom's lips moved to the
music, mouthing the words her daughter sang; she strained with each
high note and nodded to herself when it went just so; her tensed
stomach muscles allowed for only bare breathing as she yearned toward
her Star, her own, her flesh, singing to a rapt crowd.

I wondered if Mom was living the dream through contact, by proxy, or
if she was seeing herself on that stage, singing that song.

I've always thought the young celebrities have it rough; they don't
grow up the way we did and they often burn out or run into trouble. It
had never occurred to me, though, what a toll it takes on those around
them.


My Grammy Moment HERE


Michelle
winebird@winebird.com
The Desk Drawer writer's exercise list

A Brain Infection? A Medical Journey Surpassed by Few

A Medical Odyssey to a Quadruple Heart Bypass

To My Townhall Blog

My Twitter Page, I post all Blog posts there with the link

My Face Book Page

The President of the United States Goes After Radio Talk Show Host! How Desperate Is He?

Bachelor Jason swiftly moved the competition from nine to five during this past week's episode-1/26/09.

Four of the would-be Jason brides were obnoxious, so much so that Jason sent home one more than necessary.

Finally, why won't Stephanie kiss Jason? We've got the possible reason here.

With pics and video compilations you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.

The judges missed a dirty word the new Miss America uttered during her song in the talent competition. We have it, on tape!

Review of Fox's new "Lie to Me". Guy gets paid big bucks for doing what we all do every day in the course of our humble lives.

A pic of a genuine Jack Bauer lookalike and he's a member of my family.

Finally, my own fashion awards for the SAG awards.

All with pics and video you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.

American Idol 09 moves through New York, Jacksonville, Puerto Rico and Salt Lake City in this review of the pre-season tryouts.

We've got dancers and comedians and why are they trying out for American Idol?

With pics and video compilations you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.

Against all common sense, the President of the U.S. goes against a talk show host of all things! Rush Limbaugh fights back. Obama…he's got big problems with a stimulus package which stimulates nothing but the Democratic party big donors. We are not fooled.

Meanwhile the Republicans nominated a fine African-American to lead its party so watch the GOP move. Last week they voted en masse against that stimulus joke...now this.

And the REAL cause of that airplane wreck on the Potomac. We've got pics of the culprits.

Pic of the Day





The President Goes After a Talk Show Host

I love Rush Limbaugh, yes I do, and I would break sound barriers to hear his show each and every time a new one airs. But I certainly understand that he’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

In fact, when husband was in an upstate hospital over an hour’s drive away, and his mother and I drove the route every day for over a week, I didn’t even turn Rush on in deference to my mother-in-law, whose political views are far more moderate than Rush, or me for that matter.

Point is people like me listen to Rush and I daresay most of us don’t ram him down the throats of others. Rush Limbaugh is a private matter to me, an entertainer of politics, an expert on political discourse, a man of talent and the wonderful ability to get his point across via humor and words.

Hell I don’t even write about Rush all that much on this Blog.

I will never understand what the hell is with President Obama getting all in a snit over Rush. First the notion of the President of the United States attacking a private citizen totally unnerves me. What’s to keep him from going after this humble Blogger next?

I’d also suggest that what if, just saying, some nut got it into their head that Rush Limbaugh, this fellow who so enrages the Messiah, needs to be, ah, eliminated? What would such a scenario do to this Republic? The President attacks a pop culture figure who uses our constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech and boom, this same guy ends up dead.

I think it’s in really bad form for Obama to do this. Even Bill Clinton, who Rush excoriated every day, learned not to go after this talk radio nemesis. Obama is, I understand, new and fresh to the mighty office of the presidency but he needs to get some class and yield to this country’s mighty decorum that allows the opposition to have its say.

I’d say this even if Rush was a mighty liberal and a conservative President was going after him.

It’s just a plain bad idea.

Remember I said it here first.



Congrats to the House Republicans

Congressional Republicans love the tanning booth. They also have perfectly polished fingernails and head hairs that always stay in their appointed places. They adore the D.C. cocktail circuit and they love the glare of the cameras.

Sometimes, no often, they forget what their mission in life is. The GOP Lords in America’s House of Lords, AKA the Senate, are known world wide for this.

So that “stimulus” package the Democrats came up with became the laughing stock of the world. We had Nancy Pelosi getting money for condoms for her constituency, who don’t use the things at any rate. We had money for sod on the mall, money for Biden’s precious Amtrak, money for every boondoggle across the fruited plains and very little for any sort of stimulus please. The Dems must stop peeing upon our feet and telling us it’s raining.

Every one of the House Republicans, including my own RINO (Republican in Name Only) Mike Castle, voted against that joke on us peons out here in la-la land who carry this country on our backs whilst raising the soldiers and citizens of tomorrow.

Next week the Senate shall vote for this joke. Let us all pause and see if the GOP Lords in the Senate risk mussing their head hairs and vote against the thing.

Scuttlebutt has it that even famous “moderate” John McCain says he won’t vote for the thing.

President Obama said he wanted the pubs to stop listening to Rush Limbaugh and pass his stimulus package.

The pubs told Obama to stuff it. Obama doesn’t need the pubs to pass that thing. He just wants a couple of pubs to vote for it so that sometime in the future, when the damn thing doesn’t stimulate a thing much less the economy, liberals can go on the pundit talk shows and shrill that this pub or that pub voted for it too.

I’m proud of the GOP in the House for not voting for a joke that is naught but political payoff for those who helped Obama get elected.

Let’s see how the Lords in the Senate do.

Those Carter Years and the Liberal Lies About Them

I shall scream if I hear on more liar state that this is the worst economy since the depression.

It is not. The years when Jimmy Carter was President were the worst. I lived through them and they were hell. Today does not even compare.

Jimmy Carter post, with pics of how it REALLY was.

There were gas lines that took hours of time to sit in. We couldn’t put up Christmas lights. Unemployment was in the double digits. Interest rates were up in the high teens,; buying a house was almost impossible.

All this while Jimmy Carter gave self-righteous speeches about the “malaise” of the American people, a malaise that was HIS damn fault.

Oh, and Iran, yeah the same ones building nukes today, kidnapped a bunch of Americans at our American embassy in Iran and held them up until the day of Ronald Reagan’s inauguration. Nothing will give you malaise like knowing other rogue countries can, boom, take your citizens and thumb their nose at us for over a year while that loser of a President does nothing about it.

Heh. Once again the Dems think we were all born yesterday. They lie with no issue.

I don’t know how they sleep at night.

Congrats to Michael Steele

He’s personable, he speaks well, he was Leut-Governor of my birth state of Merryland. Congrats to Michael Steele, the new chairman of the Republican party.



Tax on Disability Pay

So I finally get through the grueling process of obtaining social security disability. The checks come in.

I get a notice that, by a calculation , I must figure out of my benefits are taxable.

Wait a minute!

I don’t think my money is going to make the taxable amount but half of SS benefits when added to my husband’s pay that exceed, get this $32,000 a year, are taxable!

Hold on.

The Secretary of the Treasury, he “forgets” to pay his taxes. Tom Daschle, former Senate Majority Leader who got booted out by his own constituents, he “forgets” to pay his taxes.

President Obama promises that anyone making under $250,000 will get a tax break. And here I have to pay taxes on my pitiful social security disability money the year I had open heart surgery and my husband had a brain infection?

Read my words again, folks. It ain’t right, it just ain’t right.

Finally, That Miracle on the Hudson Really Was Terrorism

Below, a pic of the culprits.



My Thoughts Blog

 


TOP FIVE AND IT GETS INTERESTING

Top Five:
Naomi
Molly
Stephanie
Melissa
Jillian

These pseudo-reality shows have to work at creating some drama and it’s often (mostly) scripted. In fact, I’m betting that in this particular series the bachelor fellow, or bachelorette, pretty much hones in on his or her choice soon after he or she meets them. The rest of the series is scripted to end up with a finale featuring this choice.

Which is not to say that the bachelor’s, or bachelorette’s, choice for their “wife” or “husband” will actually end up with either title. Actually, few of a bachelor or bachelorette’s choices result in a wedding of any kind.

Last season’s bachelorette, DeAnna Pappas, has announced already that she and her chosen love, Jessie the snowboarder, are no longer engaged.

I saw some sort of promo blurb by DeAnna. She said, to the effect, that she and Jessie are very different and while Jessie is a very nice fellow and she has deep affection for him, their lives will never meld. I paraphrase.

Well, duh. The whole purpose of the show was for DeAnna to figure out who the hell she would meld with. She should have asked me. I’d have told her that a guy who makes a living riding a snowboard is not a good choice.

DeAnna’s claim to fame was being thoroughly rejected by Brad Womack, that worm who led her on through a whole season of the Bachelor before finally deciding that NONE of the ladies as offered on the series, including DeAnna who was the only one left, met his exacting requirements.

DeAnna goes on through to an actual engagement before deciding what any fool from afar could see. Her choice, Jessie, was more of an intrigue than a more conventional gal like DeAnna would choose. Besides, I heard DeAnna has a show on Lifetime or some such. I wish her luck, why not?

So the Bachelor episode aired on 1/26/09 featured a most interesting “2 on 1” date featuring Bachelor Jason, widow Stephanie and Nikki. I’ve always considered Nikki the most beautiful of all the contenders for Jason’s heart this season. She seems to have some sort of personality problem, however, as she gets on a topic and drills the subject into the ground. After that, utter silence.

The Bachelor must send home one of his dates on these 2 on 1 dates. Thus during the entire “date”, one of the girls will get a rose. The other will get unceremoniously escorted to the awaiting limousine, never to return to the house with all the contenders again, not even to bid goodbye.

Jason sent Nikki home which was no surprise. Widow Stephanie has been
scripted big in this year’s series. Yon readers would deduce that she’s going to be a real player for Jason’s heart.





And yet, yon readers, why on earth has Stephanie not, as of this writing, kissed Jason with any passion? On one episode she gave him five kind of poetic, symbolic types of kisses, softly on each cheek, his forehead…like that. Her lips just brushed his during that weird makeout session. Stephanie did not kiss Jason on that 2 on 1 date but one must allow that two ladies, one guy, does not an atmosphere for passionate kisses make. However, Stephanie did say, during an on-camera vignette, that she “can’t wait till “the kiss”, whatever that means.

Is this scripted to kind of lead up to one big dramatic scene that will finally have Jason and Stephanie lock lips in a grand moment that would leave violins weeping and trumpets blaring? They do this kind of thing on TV shows and Lifetime movies. The viewer, usually females, much like myself and others who watch The Bachelor, know that the male and female protagonist really love each other. The drama is awaiting that magical moment when it will finally happen, when they both knew what us viewers knew right along.

Since this is a reality series hints must be dropped as to possible “good” or “bad” points for each contender. Megan first argued with Erica to give the viewer the idea that these two ladies have nasty streaks. Natalie gave hints that she was narcissistic so we would be of good cheer when Jason sent her packing. It’s been hinted on several occasions, by Jason himself in fact, that it could be that while Stephanie’s a good mother and most personable, perhaps there is lacking a passion between them. Jason’s not driven to “get it on” with Stephanie, in other words.

The episode aired 1.26.09 was supposed to end with only three contenders sent home. One would be, as is the drill, one of the ladies on the 2 on 1 date. Two would be denied roses during the rose ceremony. This would leave six ladies left to vie for Jason’s heart.

It was scripted for Jason to give out six roses, as the viewer would expect. Ostensibly he refused to give out six roses as one of the roses would have to be given to a contender for whom he had no intention of continuing any lasting relationship. Us viewers are to be impressed by Jason’s chivalry in refusing to lead on a lady who had no chance.

Myself suspects that this series might be dragging a bit slower and it needed the boost of a more rounded and hype-ready TOP FIVE to move it along.

Thus a scripted ending to the infamous rose ceremony and the elimination of one show. Just a hunch.

Below, a video montage of Jason’s REAL skill.



My Bachelor Blog

American Idol-Salt Lake, San Juan, Amongst Others-Pre-season Show Aired 1/27/,28,29/09

FreeRepublic’s ongoing American Idol thread

This past week, over three nights, the pre-season American Idol judges aired from four cities. They included Salt Lake, Jacksonville, New York and San Juan.

I have nothing major or note save a few. A young lady named Jasmine from Jacksonville sang one of my favorite songs “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, the Fergie version of the song. She reminded me of Jordin Sparks.

A divorced mom of a two year old from Salt Lake named Megan was pronounced, by no less than Simon Cowell, as his favorite audition so far. Thus we should watch out for her in the upcoming 2009 competition.




Below a video montage of some of the most promising from this past week’s American Idol auditions. Along with, of course, my commentary written in as required.



Below, a video montage of some of the worst of this past week. Along with, of course, my snarky comments written in as required.

-BAD

The Fish American Idol Blog

Fox’s ”Lie to Me”

Fox’s Site for this series, quote below.

Dr. Cal Leightman heads up a private agency contracted by the FBI, local police, law firms, corporations and private individuals when they've hit a roadblock on their searches for the truth. Joining him are the foremost experts in the field of behavioral psychology: DR. GILLIAN FOSTER is the doctor's professional partner and intellectual counterpart, a master of deception equally comfortable with lying and concealing her emotions; the other is Dr. Leightman's lead researcher WILL LOKER who says everything on his mind and seemingly lacks the ability to lie. RIA TORRES (Monica Raymund), the newest member of the team, uses her natural and uncanny ability to read body language to catch the clues that her professional partners miss.

Let me state right now that I did not watch the second episode in this new series. Let me state right now that while the premise of this series held an intriguing lure, I was disappointed at how very lame the story lines were. Let me state right now that this series will not be long for this world if something unique and different doesn’t happen with the storylines.





The biggest disappointment was my discovery upon my first eager watching that Dr. Leightman’s so-called stellar lie-detecting skills were nothing much more but stuff every one of us walking this planet do every damn day in the course of living our lives.

And those of us who have children, goodness, we make Dr. Leightman look like a piker.

So what was I expecting, if we can deal with this first? I don’t know, I thought maybe Leightman would have some special skill that none of us have, like a flash bolt shining across his face at the sound of lies. Instead, the camera will pan to close-ups of a special movement of the alleged liar’s hand, a zoom in on a raised eyebrow, a close up of a pursed lip. Well hell’s bells, anyone can do this.

Now I understand that reading of such physiological signs might be a skill and like everything else, practice makes perfect. Thus Dr. Leightman is likely better than us average joes save maybe those of us with children.

Kids, come on, they avert their eyes downward, they shuffle their feet, they give out all manner of physiological clues that they’re lying to us, their parents who have learned through the years that that tug of a cowlick means the little rascal really did have a friend over after school against house rules.

Dr. Leightman has merely, at least as the scripts currently air, learned to read these signals in adults that are not his children. With practice any one of us could do it. And that’s the let down.

The clues are just too obvious. I am not convinced that someone trying to lie would be clenching fists so ostentatiously. The camera goes out of the way to show the viewer the same clue that Dr. Leightman sees. And it’s either too damn obvious or not believable.

I have no idea what the other stars on this series do. One is a young fellow who allegedly can’t tell a lie. The other is a former TSA agent who is very good at noticing the same sorts of things as Dr. Leightman and his partner.

Which brings me to Dr. Leightman’s partner, Dr. Gillian Foster. She’s married, but even at the first episode broad hints were dropped that her husband was a liar, something you’d think a partner in a lie-detection firm would detect. Dr. Leightman covers up for the lies of Foster’s husband and so the viewer gets a hint that Leightman’s feelings for Foster might be more than business-like.

I suppose this quasi-romantic angle should pull in female viewers.

By me, neither male or female viewers are going to stick with this rather mediocre story line.

Below, a really lame scene from the first show that illustrates the obvious.

-LIE TO ME SCENE

My Family’s Jack Bauer Lookalike

Ever since he was a teenager my brother, Jimmy, has been told how much he looks like Kiefer Sutherland.

Below a pick of Kiefer, and alongside, a pic of my brother. His pic is one of those gag dress up things. And I had to take a picture of the picture so it’s a bit fuzzy. Still I find the resemblance astounding.



Miss America 2009

The winner of Miss America 2009 is Katie Stam, Miss Indiana. The top five are:

WINNER-Miss Indiana
1st runner-up-Miss Georgia
2nd runner-up-Miss Iowa
3rd runner-up-Miss New York
4th runner-up-Miss Florida

2008 MISS AMERICA REVIEW-worth a look



The Miss America pageants of late have changed greatly from the past. First, the contest is held in Las Vegas, the Planet Hollywood. This year’s hosts were Mario Lopez of “Pet Star” and Clinton Kelly of “What Not to Wear”. Both are of questionable sexuality, not that there’s anything wrong with that.

The Learning Channel featured a sort of reality type of series with all of this year’s contenders participating in various contests. Four of the top 15 were chosen on this TLC series. This event leads me to believe that at some point Miss America might be chosen by the audience much like the American Idol.



Even with the visual overhaul, the contest went fairly normal. Except for one factoid that astounded me. For Miss America, Katie Stam, sang a CHRISTIAN SONG for her talent entry. It was a most beautiful song and she even said the word “Christ”.



Goodness, a religious Miss America! AND, get this, not only did she sing about Christ the King, the woman had the audacity to state that public figures such as Miss America contenders and sports figures have a responsibility to behave properly for the young people that admire them. How about that?

Below, a couple of video montages, one which is a compilation of talent show entries adorned with my sometimes sarcastic commentary. The other had Miss America admonishing athletes and other public role models to mind their behavior.

I like this lady.





Screen Actor Guild 2009 Fashion Awards

Well it’s an award show time of year. As always, my fine fashion awards.



Fish TV Reviews

A Brain Infection? A Medical Journey Surpassed by Few

A Medical Odyssey to a Quadruple Heart Bypass

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