DAY DREAMING ON A SATURDAY MORNING.......

Odds and ends…..This morning’s Real Clear Politics poll shows Obama’s approval at 47.8% and disapproval of 47.1%.  That’s a 0.7 difference in his favor; not very good but why should it be?.....Here is a great idea that never made it to reality probably because no one has to parallel park anymore.

I remember having to parallel park for my driver’s test when I was 16 and I always took pride in being good at it.  A co-worker once told me they thought I could parallel park in a space smaller than a car.  It’s a lost art just like shifting the gears of “three on a tree.”

Does anyone remember one speed vacuum windshield wipers that stopped when you hit the gas?  How about the high beam headlight button on the floor or the old Chevys with the vacuum stick shift?  Anyone ever fixed a flat in an old time tube tire?  Do I dare mention two piece windshields?......In a recent column on the AZ Republic’s  Politics blog I mentioned how I don’t think a mayor is needed in the council-manager form of city government and I cited Phoenix mayor Greg Stanton as a good example.  He keeps reinforcing what I said about him a few weeks ago:  He is just a glorified ribbon cutter for new supermarkets. The city manager runs the show while Stanton lies during his campaign about removing the tax on food in Phoenix.  That’s right; a tax on FOOD during hard times!  Robert Robb said it all in a recent column in the Republic where he mentioned there were ways such as cutting out big raises to city employees which could have canceled the food tax.   However, Stanton seems more interested in endorsing a silly buyback of guns which is nothing but a political stunt.

Charles Barkley; he is never at a loss 

for words.

 Speaking of gun buybacks, it’s a drop in the bucket but Obama has to love it as it will be fewer guns for the feds to pick up when Obama decides to make all of us turn in our guns.  Politicians like Stanton and others are like followers of the Pied Piper that are being led into the river……I love the candid attitude of Charles Barkley and he showed it this week on a broadcast during the NCAA Basketball Tournament. 

Doug Gottlieb, an ex-player and a white guy, was on a panel including Barkley and three other black guys when Gottlieb joked that he was there “to bring diversity to the set; kind of the white man’s perspective.”   Wow! The liberal Twitter freaks went crazy blasting Gottlieb for his joking statement.  Barkley had the best reply of anyone to those no-life, over sensitive losers:   "I want to say something about Doug Gottlieb,” Barkley said. “He made a joke earlier tonight and people are going crazy. All those idiots on Twitter, which I would never ever do, all you people at home who have got no life and are talking bad about Doug Gottlieb, get a life. It’s over with. It’s no big deal.” 

Go Charles!  You can always count on Barkley to express his feelings and he is right on this one.

CRUISIN' AND PERUSIN' THE NEWS

Welcome to America:  I just read about a local guy who said that he recently applied for employment at a large home improvement chain.  I assume it has to be Lowe’s or Home Depot.

The guy has 25 years experience in the construction business and has dealt with the public the entire time.  Needless to say, he probably got the job, right?  Wrong, Kemo Sabe.

During the interview, he was asked if he was bi-lingual since the store was looking for someone to deal with foreign speaking customers.  Being an American, his answer was “No”.  He didn’t get the job or two others at similar companies.

What is the mystique that foreign countries seem to have over us these days?  It used to be that those who came here had to learn OUR language, not the other way around.  No wonder Rosetta  Stone runs so many TV commercials!

I’ve always like Senator Rob Portman of Ohio as a good conservative Republican.  However, with his 21 year old son’s recent admission that he is gay, Portman has suddenly gone into reverse and now supports gays.

It’s a head scratcher for sure but I have to agree with the following opinion from the “Daily Caller”:

But if the sole reason for Portman’s switch is that he discovered he has a gay son, well that makes me wonder how deeply he thought through the issue to begin with, because, honestly, it shouldn’t matter.  He could love his son and still oppose gay marriage. Or he could be childless and still support it. His familial circumstances ought to be irrelevant. Has he not heard of thought exercises like the “veil of ignorance” or the “moral spectator”? Progressives aren’t the only ones who should be skeptical of Portman’s reversal. This makes me wonder about his commitment to other issues. What if another family member had an unplanned pregnancy? Would he then change his position on abortion and the right to life?  

The latest Real Clear Politics poll shows that Obama’s approval rating is now only +0.6 above his disapproval rating.  A couple months ago he was at +10.1; that’s quite a drop to be sure. This means it’s about 50-50.  I can’t say he hasn’t earned it.

Jennifer Capriati is in trouble again

Most of us remember the much heralded teen tennis star from the 90s, Jennifer Capriati.  She was winning matches against highly ranked players at age 13 and seemed destined for immortality in tennis.  Unfortunately, she took a wrong turn along the way and has gotten in a few scrapes involving drugs plus other problems.

I remember when she was at her peak and even then she seemed to have an attitude unlike the bubbly and popular 1990s teen player Monica Seles.   Capriati had a drug bust a couple years later along with shoplifting charges and recently at age 36 is in more trouble on stalking and battery charges against her ex-boyfriend.

I guess The Beatles were right:  Money can’t buy you love.

Honors Night cancelled.  More liberal nonsense from a high school principal in Massachusetts who called off an Honors Night saying it could be “devastating to the students who worked hard, but fell short of the grades.”  

What a clueless jerk!  I have news for him:  Some kids are smarter or work harder than others and they deserve the recognition for their efforts.  He is applying the typical liberal mentality that everyone is equal and it’s important that no one’s feelings are hurt.  I feel sorry for his students when they arrive in the real world where having your poor feelings hurt can be a daily experience. 

Mel Blanc with Jack Benny - Classic Sy sketch.avi

AROUND THE ENTERTAINMENT HORN

Are you sick of all the liberal entertainment business phonies who follow Obama around like little puppies following their master?  Fortunately, not all of them are members of that category.

Let’s take a look at some conservative entertainers who have the brains to not fall for the Obama mystique as so many others have:

Rapper 50 Cent:  Yes, there is a Black rapper who is conservative.  He has even said:  “I actually like Bush.  In some ways I am the George W. Bush of hip hop.  Nobody likes me but I’m still gonna run it for the next four years.”

Other entertainers who support conservatism:  Adam Sandler, Phoenix native Alice Cooper, Bo Derek of “10” fame,  the smiling coach of the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick, tennis great Chris Evert, FOX News regular Dennis Miller, and many others. 

We bought our first television in 1950.  It was a 16” black and white “National” floor model and even with the antenna strapped to our chimney; the reception wasn’t very good; especially when planes flew overhead or when it was stormy.

Mel Blanc, (c.1959) 

None of those inconveniences bothered us as we had TV even if it did broadcast only from 5:00 p.m. until midnight.  It seemed so incomprehensible at the time that we could hear a show AND see it at the same time.  It was quite an entertainment center and it hastened the end of network radio by September 30, 1962 when the last radio network show, “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar” signed off for the last time.

 

I enjoy great quotes and radio and television sure supplied many of them over the years.  Mel Blanc (1908-1989) was the voice of Bugs Bunny and many other cartoon characters besides being a regular on the Jack Benny radio show which was great listening in the 1940s and 50s.

Mel was also known as the Los Angeles train station announcer on Benny’s show when he would call the boarding of the "Train leaving on Track 5 for Anaheim, Azusa and Cuuuu-ca-mon-gaaa!"  I don’t know of anyone who ever got tired of that bit in the 15 years Blanc did it from 1950-1965.

In the fall of 1970 “The Mary Tyler Moore” debuted on CBS starring Mary and Ed Asner as Lou Grant, her crusty boss in the newsroom of WJM-TV in Minneapolis. 

Mary played an ambitious newcomer.  Noticing that, cantankerous Lou says, “Mary!  You’ve got spunk!”  Taking that as a compliment, Mary says, “Really?  Thanks Mr. Grant.”  Lou quickly replies, “I hate spunk!”

Other great ones include one of my favorites said by Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden to Audrey Meadows on “The Honeymooners”:  “Baby, you’re the greatest!”

How about Dan Ackroyd’s line to Jane Curtin in the early days of “Saturday Night Live”:  “Jane, you ignorant slut!” or Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) on “Sanford and Son” as he grasps his chest “Elizabeth!  I’m comin’!"

Who could forget William Sanderson’s line from “Newhart” (1982-1990) as he introduced himself and his brothers: “I’m Larry; this is my brother Darryl and my other brother Darryl.”

The other day, I read an article lamenting the end of ten TV shows that have had long runs in recent years.  Television has gotten so bad lately that I didn’t know any of those shows.  I much prefer Turner Classic Movies and vintage TV.

NO BARRY, THE SKY ISN"T FALLING

I had to post this Benson cartoon from March 3rd since it isn’t often he draws anything that would be the least bit injurious to his liberal following.

This cartoon shows Obama’s lack of understanding the American public.  It’s a takeoff on the children’s Story Teller’s Book written in 1912 by Alice O’Grady.

It’s called “Chicken Licken” and I’m sure most of you have heard the story, especially in your youth. 

Chicken Licken has a pea fall from a vine hitting her on the tail and immediately thinks that the sky is falling and that she must immediately go tell the king.

As she runs off she encounters her friends Henny Penny, Ducky Lucky, Cocky Locky, and Turkey Lurkey who join in the mad scramble to tell the king that the sky is falling.

When they reach the woods, they meet Foxy Loxy and tell him they need directions to the king.  He says he knows the way as he smiles and lures them into his cavern.  He later emerges from the cavern but those foolish birds were never heard from again.

Fortunately for the guy in Benson’s cartoon who represents the enlightened public, he is ignoring the ever present warnings from Chicken Licken Obama about the sky falling.  After all, how many times must we hear his broken record pronouncements of another crisis if we don’t follow his rules? Now we shrug and yawn and go back to sleep in the comfort of our hammocks.

The latest Gallup Poll shows Obama’s approval rating at 47%; pretty poor considering his recent election.  Real Clear Politics shows his approval rating down to 5.9% after recently being almost 9.  The stock market doesn’t seem too frightened either.

First, it was the “fiscal cliff” early this year when the Republicans unfortunately caved and gave Obama his tax increase on the wealthy; an increase that wasn’t a heavy revenue producer but allowed him to feed his ego by claiming a win over a group he detests.

Then came the 2% increase to paychecks; an increase that many weren’t prepared for or happy about.  With the sequester, he wanted ANOTHER tax increase on those dreaded rich people.  The Republicans said “No!” so now the threats begin with the release of illegal immigrants for starters and who knows what other imagined catastrophe he will dream up next to try and fool the public.

Some may think that now that the sequester is in effect, that is the end of it.  Not so mes amis!  On March 27, the current continuing resolution that funds the government’s operations ends. Either a new resolution must be approved by the House and Senate, or a broader budget must be approved.  If Congress can’t reach a budget deal by March 27, all nonessential federal government operations stop. 

So when does this stop?  I’ve been breathing since a year after FDR won his fourth term in 1940 and I have never seen such a maelstrom of nonsense in the federal government.   Are we actually paying this guy money to screw up this country?

(Here is a good takeoff on the sequester from SNL, (4:25) courtesy of Middy)