Friday, December 13, 2013

SKIMMING THE NEWS, WINCHELL STYLE

Comical headline of the week ending December 6:  “U. S. Unemployment Hits 5 Year Low.”  Obama’s poll numbers are tanking and he just won the Politifact “Lie of the year” award for his infamous “If you like your health plan, you can keep it” comment so why not try to cheer us up with phony employment numbers.  Seasonal part time jobs, hiring of the navigators for Obamacare, and returning workers laid off because of the government shutdown are skewing these numbers to give a false sense of improvement.  Also, 762,000 more people have given up looking for work so they are not counted as unemployed and 41% of the 818,000 new workers were hired by the government.  For the week just ended 68,000 more individuals applied for unemployment benefits, the largest increase in more than a year…..Pro football is already to the point where the next safety rule will probably include the players wearing skirts.  They have basically eliminated kickoff runbacks and tackling has been restricted.  Baseball is joining the same mentality as there is a new rule being considered for 2015 where a runner trying to score can’t barrel into the catcher at home plate.  Pro athletes make millions; if they are afraid of injury risks that come with the job they should try another line of work…..In a February, 2013 survey of 1,000 employed and retired Americans aged 50-70 with $100,000 or more in investable assets, 90% said they had experienced a “retirement derailer” which was a specific circumstance that seriously impacted their retirement plans or reduced their retirement saving (Source:  Ameriprise Financial).  The derailers included taking Social Security too soon, having a career or job loss, having to spend a lot on home repairs, and my favorite:  not getting an anticipated inheritance…..Too bad Hugo Chavez died too soon to see more bowing and scraping by Obama to a foreign despot.  I imagine Raul and Fidel had a good laugh over O’s schmoozing incident in South Africa.  Once again it is proven that common sense can’t be taught; you either have it or you don’t….. As long as we are discussing BO, I’m sure you remember his 2012 declaration that if he “had a son he would look like Trayvon.”   He got the FBI involved and also said of Martin’s parents that “They are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and get to the bottom of exactly what happened.”  Fast forward to the present and listen to the comments by BO concerning the “knockout games” being performed mostly by black youth gangs who sucker punch white strangers just for the fun of it.  Go ahead, BO, tell us your opinion of those atrocities.......go on……Uh, hello?……(I hear crickets).  Why am I not surprised?.....I don’t know about anyone else but I just don’t get the new Sprint TV ads with James Earl Jones and Malcolm McDowell.  If you know what their point is please leave me a comment explaining what point these two great actors are making.  Thanks!  
James Earl Jones and Malcolm McDowell:  What
are these guys talking about?

17 comments:

Unknown said...

Went back to the old format? Right ... Middy and Mike, so CJ can talk to them! Why Jimmy, that's just so thoughtful of you!

CJinPhoenix said...

Is that what happened, Jim? Did you simply change back to the old format? I was beginning to wonder if you had been vaporized like in 1984.

Jim McAllister said...

Rick and CJ,

While looking at both formats, I decided that the old one was probably better for us. It's easier to read and since a lot of the stuff we talk about is local, it just makes more sense.

Plus, I don't like the wide margins on Google+ with the blogs appearing as a strip down the middle.

Thanks for the notes. Hopefully I will dream up something to post within the next few days.

Stevebuzzardo said...

Jim,

Happy New Year!

I'm glad you are back to this format too.

Mike said...

Jim, glad you went back to the old format. Happy New Year to you and Barb and all those that post on your site.

Jim McAllister said...

Thanks, Steve and Mike.

Google+ was OK but not as good as the Blogger site for my purposes.

Most of the posts weren't that exciting to read so I didn't see the point. Plus, as mentioned above, the format wasn't as nice with that strip down the middle.

Happy New Year to all you guys! I hope I don't fall asleep before midnight.

Unknown said...

Happy New Year! Glad to see all your friends back, Jimmy.

midnightsstaff said...

midnightsstaff said...

.."Oh.. if you want to listen to that album you need to use the DuckDuckGo search engine, Google is a two faced censorqueen"..

8:57 PM (a month ago)

Google (a Stasi tool) is no friend of a free minded person.
...same is true today, tomorrow and forever I guess..

well, the good news is midnightsstaff along with his off center, out of the mainstream observations has not been vaporized, just in "the hole" I guess.

CJ Phoenix said...

"you gotta keep the devil way down in the hole"

Love Tom Waits.

Happy New Year, you all!

midnightsstaff said...

Happy New Year to all, and nice to once again see the ray of sunshine Cj always provides once again gracing Jim's blog..

..A special wish of good luck for Rick who is certainly going to need every break he can get trying to keep too many women satisfied...
Meanwhile the clock is ticking..

..anyone have any predictions?.. ah.. maybe that's not a good idea this year eh?- BTW- I batted about .o6 on last year's "guesses"..

Dinner's on me tonight at "Skully's catch of the Day",
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5S5QZ5G1NQ

(I recommend the special of the day).

..Once again, anyone who listens to me deserves what they get.

Unknown said...

I have a ton of work to do, Middy. If a chick wants to visit, that's cool, but I have a lot of work to do in the studio. Namaste.

Jimmy, looks like the band is getting back together, so to speak. Blog looks nice. Good job! Namaste.

CJinPhoenix said...

Did you think I was talking about you personally, Middy? Naw, that was just a little snipet of a song by Tom Waits that now, thanks to you, I will have running in the background probably for days. The Blind Boys of Alabama arrangement, that is. I love Tom Waits but he rarely ever sings what can be called catchy tunes.

And, for the record, I don't believe I have ever been accused of lighting up a room with my presence...Probably why I have lived so long too. Because, god knows, I have been known to attract some psychos. But my great-grandma did used to tell me that I have a mischievious sparkle in my eyes.

midnightsstaff said...

Hey that's nice, I caught a little of the BBoA when the great stylist Ben Harper was touring with them.. never heard that tune tho..they are a great group.
Harper is from my neck of the woods- San Berdooo- (just the other side of the tracks).

The hole hasn't actually killed anyone lately; besides sometimes a little time out is good to put things back in perspective eh?

..at least that's what mom and Mrs. Marple, my second grade teacher thought.

Well I certainly don't want to take the air out of the room by hogging the space but I'm feeling downright giddy for the prospects of this year seeing how one day is already in the bag with nothing really bad happening-only 364 to go!
.. the sky didn't fall in Colorado as predicted, Barry is finally getting some well deserved R&R away from the old ball and chain finding some time to do some male bonding and get in some quality hot tub time.

Best of all Congress is not in session nor in Washington where the worship of King Bribery is a way of life so damage to our nation is temporarily been put on hold.. yep, things couldn't be brighter.

I'm thinking the US has a real shot in the Olympics next month in my favorite event, curling- yes the irritating tribute to Royal International Athletics is just a few weeks away; the US will probably place pretty high- probably a shot at the Gold in the new lesbian pairs freestyle or as some call it, "the free for all event" as well..
Lucky viewers might even catch a glimpse of Miley or some other better than the rest of us in the audience.
I can't wait.

Yep, the future looks bright if Putin can only eliminate terrorists from spoiling the party.
It's got a lot better chance of success than the next Summer Olympics scheduled to open at the site of an ongoing runaway nuclear disaster..

So in my world, all in all today was a good start.

CJinPhoenix said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbEstJ98TcM

midnightsstaff said...

I'll see your Merle Haggard and raise you a Bobby Bare..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXoez_ffhRc

wish I could remember who sang about "wish I could be 40 again".. thought it might be Don Williams but am drawing a blank.
p.s. nobody sings about Detroit anymore.

Jim McAllister said...

Wow! 15 comments and I haven't even written a new blog yet in the old context. It's like the good old days on AZ Central.

Maybe William Faulkner was right: "The past isn't dead; it's not even past."

midnightsstaff said...

I thought he said "the south will rise again"- must be another Faulkner I'm thinking of, Jack or Art or something..

Well a Palestinian diplomat blew himself up at the embassy somewhere in Europe today.. they couldn't even get past lunch without some drama.

and now.. back to Rick live at location "Enchanted below Zero" Missouri.... better bring the dogs in tonight..haha..