What Wally Says to Me Every Morning

This Clip Is Better Than a Morning Cup of Coffee

(And if anybody can find an SCTV-related CH clip, please respond in the comments.)

Elephant Art

Snopes says this is not a hoax.

The elephant in this 8-minute video appears to be a better artist than I am.

Not that that's a hard thing.

For the Love of God

After we leave this earth, I hope we all can be remembered for when we were at our best, and not our worst.

So let's remember the late Chuck Heston for his passionate support of Civil Rights in 1960s, his Oscar-winning performance in Ben Hur and his pecs from Planet of the Apes.

Let's try to forget that unfortunate (and immensely unfair) scene from Bowling for Columbine. It's the scene where Michael Moore shows up at Heston's house, gets an interview with an old man in the early throes of Alzheimer's disease and then Heston, curiously playing with his fingers while his not-so-sharp mind wanders and rambles, blurts out some politically incorrect comments about race.

I didn't like what he said. But let's remember, for the love of God, the other stuff, OK?

The Power of "Just Words"

Some current politicians belittle eloquence as "just words."

Here's some video evidence to reject such cynicism.



Watch this too, and keep hope alive.

Fake Vintage Ads

I love Photoshop. More here.

What modern product would you like to see a fake vintage ad for? My answer is in the comments.

Quick Question

I wonder how many people use the new Centrum Cardio as a replacement for a gym membership? A gym membership isn't a bad idea either, though 45 minutes of cardio is slightly more difficult than popping a pill. And did I mention that gym membership?

I'm Serious

Is Lou Dobbs Out of His "Cotton-Picking" Mind?

In the below clip watch him regale America about how we don't have a race problem and how we really can talk about race as a society, and then watch him almost call Condi Rice a ... cotton-picker.

I wish I were kidding.

***

In honor of baseball's opening day yesterday, here are some statistics* to frighten Lou Dobbs.

* In 1965, 90 percent of major league players were born in the United States. Cuba, with 26 players, topped the 11 other places represented.

* In 2006, 72 percent of major league players were born in the United States. The Dominican Republic, with 146 players, topped the 20 other places represented.

I wonder if Lou thinks it'd be a good idea to erect a giant fence around Major League Baseball? Wouldn't Lou say that the likes of Rod Carew (Panama) and Albert the Great (Dominican Republic) stole/steal jobs from American boys?

Lou?

***

More Lou fun facts are available by clicking his name in the labels.

Middle Fingers: Stuck Up for Jay Leno

Why are people around the United States flipping Jay Leno the bird?

See the photos, watch the video, and get the story here.

God Awful

Two contestants on Big Brother chat about the game savvy of one of the other contestants, the pink-haired James with the mohawk:

Adam: Why is he so good?

Natalie: I don't know. God's got to give me the power to get rid of him. Have to. [Sips some wine.]

This is just me, but I don't think God watches Big Brother 9.

***

From Natalie's CBS bio:

Natalie is religious and takes her Bible everywhere. She's still very proud of her figure and loves to enter bikini contests.

I wonder if Jesus has ever helped her win a bikini contest?

***

Also from Natlie's bio:

She describes her perfect romantic partner as someone who is smart, healthy with big strong muscles and he should love football. He should also be adventurous and honest and love God and Jesus.

Here's wishing Natalie much luck in finding someone with pecs who loves Jesus as much as Natalie loves big strong Jesus-loving muscles.

Tommy Flanagan Alert

Everybody exaggerates sometimes. It's human nature. Everybody has a wee bit of Tommy Flanagan in him or her from time to time, whether it's a padded resume or the "not quite the truth" age people use on certain Internet "dating" sites.

So while I don't see the occasional exaggeration as a major deal, in politics or otherwise, it becomes a little more of a big deal IF the mistruth is, say, something on which you have based your entire presidential campaign: That you and only you have the experience to be president, and you say your opponent lacks this relevant experience.

With this in mind, experience this:



SIDENOTE: Sunday night before I went to bed, I scanned the news channels, and three of the stations were still talking about Rev. Wright, including playing sound bytes from his speech out of context. Didn't Obama already put this issue to rest? Apparently not, and this is worrisome. Here is the full speech in context. Decide for yourself, and keep hope alive.


Methinks the media have a wee bit o' Tommy Flanagan in them when in comes to their Rev. Wright coverage, and for me this is the far greater sin than exaggerating about being under bullet fire.

Oh the Humanity!

The below video is on several of my favorite blogs this morning.

It is absolutely horrifying.

19th Century Idea: Colonize U.S. Blacks Out of America. 21st Century Idea: Colonize U.S. Gays Out of America

Colonization was a movement that gained popularity in the 1830s to send black Americans to Africa. Abraham Lincoln was a supporter of this early in his career. In fact, he had considered a limited proposal in this regard as late as one day before he signed the Emancipation Proclamation. SOURCE Fascinating, huh?

If blogs existed back then, Dailykos and Americablog would have had a field day with that one. And don't get me started on the sad truth about how right-wing bloggers would have reacted to both the Emanicipation Proclamation and the attempts to colonize African-Americans back to Africa.

I bring all this up because of something I read on Towleroad this morning. A right winger is advocating his preference that gays be colonized outside the United States. Serious.

"I would much prefer to export homosexuals from the United States than to import them into the United States because we believe homosexuality is destructive to society," said Peter Sprigg of the "Family Research Council."

Sigh.

I also think stupidity is destructive to society, but I won't go so far as to advocate that Peter Sprigg and his ilk leave the country. That wouldn't be right.

I hope Sprigg realizes that Jesus died for his sins, all his sins, including his apparent sins of contempt, deceipt and stupidity.

Please turn the other cheek when you hear remarks like these. Happy Good Friday.

Everyone's a Little Bit Racist

Some people will never completely watch, read or listen to Barack Obama's extraordinary speech on race earlier this week. They won't make the time, or they may be a-feared of all the long sentences.

Take, for example, the editors at USA Today, who used six elipses to condense two break-out quotes (one on racial politics, the other on Obama's white grandmother) that appeared above the fold on its front page yesterday. I guess they think people are too stupid to want to have to read the full quotes? Or did they not want to devote the space? Both?

Well, for those people who lack attention spans, I suggest that they watch this musical version of Obama's speech.

OK, it's not really a musical version of his speech, but it does hit a few of the same notes.



Everyone's a little bit racist
Sometimes.
Doesn't mean we go
Around committing hate crimes.
Look around and you will find
No one's really color blind.
Maybe it's a fact
We all should face
Everyone makes judgments
Based on race.
SOURCE

I Heart Gene Kelly's Wife

The good Mrs. Kelly wrote a letter to the editor in today's New York Times. It is, perhaps, the finest combination of "sass" and "class" I've ever read in a letter to the editor anywhere. Enjoy, because this well-written denunciation of the worst-ever American president is (to borrow one of her well-chosen words) sheer "artistry":

Re “Soft Shoe in Hard Times” (column, March 16):

Surely it must have been a slip for Maureen Dowd to align the artistry of my late husband, Gene Kelly, with the president’s clumsy performances. To suggest that “George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly” represents not only an implausible transformation but a considerable slight. If Gene were in a grave, he would have turned over in it.

When Gene was compared to the grace and agility of Jack Dempsey, Wayne Gretzky and Willie Mays, he was delighted. But to be linked with a clunker — particularly one he would consider inept and demoralizing — would have sent him reeling.

Graduated with a degree in economics from Pitt, Gene was not only a gifted dancer, director and choreographer, he was also a most civilized man. He spoke multiple languages; wrote poetry; studied history; understood the projections of Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. He did the Sunday Times crossword in ink. Exceedingly articulate, Gene often conveyed more through movement than others manage with words.

Sadly, President Bush fails to communicate meaningfully with either. For George Bush to become Gene Kelly would require impossible leaps in creativity, erudition and humility.

Patricia Ward Kelly
Los Angeles, March 16, 2008

Obama's Speech on Race

What do YOU think?