Nobody 721

Sunday, December 2, 2007
Nobody # 721

Nobody Asked Me But:

As a nation, who are we? We are less progressive than most of Europe and more religious. Perhaps we are just younger. I hope that is it.<<<

I am starting CANO (Committee Against Newspapers Obscenity), and I need help. Now!

When a family newspaper like the LA Times can actually use the words “alcohol-free wine” in a positive context, the good people of the world must raise their voices in protest. Even free speech has its limits.<<<

Here are my answers to last week’s questions.

Suppose that right now, you could be at your favorite vacation spot reading your favorite book, listening to your favorite CD and eating your favorite food. What would your choices be in each if these categories? I am going to change the question slightly and make it my favorite (local) food.

Here are my answers:

Place – The Chatham Bar Inn (pictures) by the Atlantic shore on Cape Cod.

Book – For fiction, I would re-read James Clavell’s “Shogun.”

Book – For non-fiction I would choose Hendrik Hertzberg’s “Observations and Arguments 1966 – 2004.”

CD – Simon And Garfinkle’s Concert In Central Park. But I would also try to sneak in Bruce Springsteen’s We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions Album.

Local Food – A fresh berry sundae from Sundae School. (picture)

If you could take a ride on anything in the world, what would you most want to ride?

I think that it would be total kicks to take a bobsled ride on an Olympic Run.<<<

Here’s Hugh’s answer to this question: If I could ride anything it would be the space shuttle into orbit (and back)!<<<

Two quotes of the week past:

“Stories and novels are entertainments that help us cope with the intense pressures mortality brings.” - Walter Mosley

"The entire American economy is based on the rich buying things they don't need and the rest of us buying things we can't afford.” Steve Lopez, in his LA Times column.<<<

DOWN: Fox News. Like its (semi)-fictional counterpart in Richard North Patterson’s current novel “The Race,” Rupert M’s “fair and unbiased” network is working hard to insure that Rudy Giuliani becomes the Republican candidate for president.

I have a big quarrel with their choice and a bigger quarrel with advocacy news. Fox refuses to separate their news department from their editorial counterpart.<<<

Way far down: John McCain. Last week I wrote about bringing humility, courtesy and respect into the race for the presidency. McCain either failed to read Nobody 720 or he ignored that part. A woman at a South Carolina Republican rally asked the Senator – “How do we beat that bitch?”

McCain’s reply – “Good question.”

A better question is – “No guts, John?”<<<

DOWN: Rudy. Giuliani for lying ----again!

I am sure that none of you remember the old radio program “To Tell The Truth.” A panel had to guess who was lying from among several participants.

With Rudy G., it is not who but when.

Here is Rudy as mayor of New York: “We recognize the reality,” which led him to issue Executive Order # 124. This order protected undocumented immigrants from being reported when they used city services.”

At the signing the mayor said, “If you come here and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you’re one of the people who we want in this city.”

Here is Rudy, the candidate for the Republican nomination for president - "If you elect a Democrat, they're just going to open the borders, and more illegals are going to come in."

So I ask the same question that they asked on TTTT – “Will the real (Rudy Giuliani) please stand up?”<<<

Cautionary question: Can the Republican candidate jingo the illegal immigrant issue into an upset victory in next year’s presidential election? Or are the anti-illegals mostly Red State people?<<<

From Elizabeth:

I heard an interesting bit on CNN yesterday about a new movie coming out – “The Golden Compass.” Apparently some Christian/Catholic groups are encouraging a boycott of the film, which comes out in about 2 weeks, since they say it promotes atheism. We saw the previews on Friday and it looked pretty good. It stars Nicole Kidman and is based on a trilogy series by an English author. The following is this excerpt from the people boycotting it: "The movie will serve to tempt children into reading the books," Catholic League spokeswoman Kiera McCaffrey said from the group's New York headquarters. "It's sugarcoated atheism - just in time for Christmas."

Isn't that funny? Now I want to see it even more.<<<

My reply:

Hi Elizabeth,

I, too, have seen a trailer and it looks quite good. But, like the Catholics, I am worried. We can't allow movies that encourage our kids to read. Nor ones that make them think. What is Hollywood coming to? Anyway, we will both see it and compare notes.

Or we could go Christmas and put on a show. Ryan and Emily are into performing, so they could pretend that they do not want to see it, and we could drag them in against their will. Just think, our names in the paper – and probably on the Catholic "get" list as well.

Love, Dad

From the NY Times – “Republican Party officials are aggressively recruiting wealthy candidates who can spend large sums of their own money to finance their Congressional races, party officials say.”

JT: An inside source tells me that the rationale they use is:

Our policies helped you get rich, or richer, and it is time to give something back.

But I will give them credit for having a catchy campaign slogan – Rich, Run and Rule.<<<

She said, he said - see chart.

Great movie lines – “Singing In The Rain:”

Remember, in this greatest of all musicals, it is supposed to be the beginning of “talkies,” and silent star Lina Lamont, (Jean Hagen) has a small brain and a screechy voice. When she learns about a plot to have Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) do a voice-over she screams: “Why, I make more money than, than Calvin Coolidge! Put together!"

From Alan Greenspan’s autobiography:

Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton were “by far the smartest presidents I’ve ever worked with.”

On responding to a Clinton aide who accused Nixon being anti-Semitic – “You don’t understand. He wasn’t exclusively anti-Semitic. He was anti-Semitic, anti-Italian, anti-antic-Greek, anti-Slovak. I don’t know anybody towards whom he was pro. He hated everybody.”

On Gerald Ford being the only truly “normal” president he has known – “I have been pushing for years for an amendment that says that anyone willing to do what is required to become president is hereby barred from taking that office. And I am only half joking.”<<<

Come on! Let’s get serious here. Are you ready for a president named Freddie? I’M NOT.

So let’s agree right now not to elect Fred Thompson, because Freddie is his birth name.<<<

More on names from Hendrik Hertzbeg’s column in this week’s New Yorker:

Most of the candidates are running on shortened versions of their birth names – Mike, Mitt, Rudy Ron, Jon, Chris, Bill. This is especially different for Republicans who have had only one man run for President under a shortened name – Bob Dole in 1992.

Hertzbeg points out that had we been shortened-name-happy throughout our history we would have ended up with these “silly-sounding Presidents:”

Tommy Jefferson
Jemmy Madison
Chet Arthur
Billy McKinley
Lyss Grant Bill
“Big Lub” Taft
Woody Wilson
Herb Hoover
Frank Roosevelt

But at least, as he points out, “we were spared Harold S. Truman.”<<<

UP: The Bruins for moving into the number 1 spot in the ESPN/Coaches basketball poll. And for Alfred Aboya who has donned his supermask and is playing with a broken bone beneath his left eye.
THE UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE WEEK

A brawl turned deadly in Valencia last week and a young man jumped into his car, ran over his victim, got out, stabbed him, and then got into his car and ran over him again.

Here is what Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Dan Rosendberg said about the killing:

"Based on what I've heard so far it appears the individuals involved don't have criminal records. They're kids who made some poor decisions that ultimately resulted in someone's death."

Poor decisions?<<<

This just in: “The Onion” reports that its Center For Figuring Out The Really Obvious has discovered that a definitive causal relationship exists between drug and alcohol use and teen sex.<<<

From “Text Messages From The Press Box,” Jerry Crowe’s column in the LA Times:

“Happy belated birthday to Vin Scully, who turned 80 Thursday. As the saying goes, ‘The older the fiddle, the sweeter the tune.’"<<<

Here are your participation questions for this week:

If like milk or the newspaper, you could have anything you like delivered to your doorstep every morning, what particular item would you want it to be?

In your opinion, what is the most significant event that has occurred in world history over the last thousand years? (Define significant any way you wish)<<<