This week at the Democratic National Convention, we saw tensions between an envious, experienced old-hand and a smug up-and-comer who now rules the roost simmer at the end of a long week. That's right, the respective hosts of MSNBC's Hardball and Countdown put aside their bickering for the sake of unity last night.
The Peacock organization's spunky liberal child has kept me enthralled with its political coverage this year. Why, you ask of this centrist? It's the talent pool, really. When the CBS Evening News and ABC's World News are off the air, no one sees those networks' fine reporters. However, when you own a 24-hour cable station, anything can happen in a big spot. Hey, Tommy B.! Not doin' anything? Here, come on camera, talk about uhh, the 1968 DNC! Bri Wi, charm us with a tale of a run-in with a PUMA. The place hasn't had mandatory watching like this since Seinfeld and Friends were riding high.
Then there's Snarky and Looney. I've now completely gotten over the departure of Chris Russo from WFAN because Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews are the new Mike and the Mad Dog of politics. Tie these two egomaniacs to a desk in Denver for twenty-six hours over four days and I hope you're not allergic to cats because the fur flies! But when the Anointed One gave his nomination speech, the Democrats weren't the only ones singing Kumbaya. These boys were complimenting each other back and forth on each other's analysis to the point where you thought this was a promo for a Brokeback Mountain Special Edition DVD. Fortunately, evidence of this has been spared from YouTube, so you'll have to take my word for it. I'm pretty sure that more often than not they detest each other, but boys and girls, this Must See TV continues at 5pm Monday in St. Paul. Granted that they both carry Senator Obama's water, however, it will be interesting to see the dynamic next week. But since Olbermann goes into spasms within twenty-five feet of a Republican, his general state of anger might be more directed at his guests than his yellow-haired (no, not blonde, yellow) co-host.
Speaking of the Red Team, America was spared the horror of a full 4% of the Senate running for the executive branch today. Senator McCain going with Sarah Palin gives us something new to look at, satirize, and spit out over the next two months. And to all those who criticize her for her lack of foreign policy ticket, look at the Democratic headliner. Subjected to a blind taste test, I don't think I have to guess whether most Americans would rather a president with no foreign policy experience, or a vice president with none.
I also like Governor Palin because she's mom-like. And moms know how to organize and run things!
My prayers and thoughts go out to the very funny Rob Bartlett this week. If you're familiar with his genius, then YOU CAN ACT LIKE A MAN and send good wishes his way at www.myspace.com/therobio.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Say Somethin' Funny, Mikey
Well, wow. My New York Metropolitans continue to dominate and "run roughshod over the National League" in exciting fashion. Two and a half games up on Philadelphia. But I'll keep my excitement to a dull roar until we actually, God forbid, clinch a postseason spot.
Speaking of my favorite sports team in the entire universe, the station on which their radio broadcasts are carried has suffered another dangerous blow. Sixteen months after Imus in the Morning was pulled from the WFAN airwaves, the also-crucial afternoon drive spot has lost its Mad Dog of Mike and the Mad Dog. Since the age of roughly twelve, the show has been my afternoon soundtrack, either while procrastinating on homework or, in recent years, driving home from school. It also seems that the Mets contract with your flagship station for New York sports is up next year. If the Mets go elsewhere, then Mark Chernoff, turn your transmitter off now.
For the record, Mike Francesa, as the remaining survivor of the team on WFAN, will now have a show known as "Francesa on the FAN." But as anyone who has heard the man speak would know, the correct enunciation of the show's title is: Francesuhh.........onnnnnnn the FAN."
As of the end of next week, I will be living in my big boy apartment in Astoria. While Manhattan was my original goal, both the low price tag of the neighborhood and its eternal charm kept me in my native borough. I don't think I'll be making a move without this guy.
I expect to be roused from a peaceful sleep early tomorrow morning by that magical text message from the Obama campaign stating who his Number Two will be. To paraphrase Dick Morris, if Senator Obama gives the nod to Tim Kaine, it will be a recent state senator picking a recent mayor of a city with a population of 200,000. I basically see tomorrow as Election Day. Ceteris paribus, if Hillary Clinton is his nominee, Obama wins. If not, hello Mr. President-elect McCain.
In watching the Olympics lately, and seeing Brian Williams proclaim during promos, "I'm in Beijing, but I'm from Jersey, and I'm 4 New York!" I've been reminded of this from 1992, with familiar figures Len Berman, a hairier Al Roker, Chuck Scarborough, and Sue "The F*** Are You Doing?!" Simmons.
Speaking of my favorite sports team in the entire universe, the station on which their radio broadcasts are carried has suffered another dangerous blow. Sixteen months after Imus in the Morning was pulled from the WFAN airwaves, the also-crucial afternoon drive spot has lost its Mad Dog of Mike and the Mad Dog. Since the age of roughly twelve, the show has been my afternoon soundtrack, either while procrastinating on homework or, in recent years, driving home from school. It also seems that the Mets contract with your flagship station for New York sports is up next year. If the Mets go elsewhere, then Mark Chernoff, turn your transmitter off now.
For the record, Mike Francesa, as the remaining survivor of the team on WFAN, will now have a show known as "Francesa on the FAN." But as anyone who has heard the man speak would know, the correct enunciation of the show's title is: Francesuhh.........onnnnnnn the FAN."
As of the end of next week, I will be living in my big boy apartment in Astoria. While Manhattan was my original goal, both the low price tag of the neighborhood and its eternal charm kept me in my native borough. I don't think I'll be making a move without this guy.
I expect to be roused from a peaceful sleep early tomorrow morning by that magical text message from the Obama campaign stating who his Number Two will be. To paraphrase Dick Morris, if Senator Obama gives the nod to Tim Kaine, it will be a recent state senator picking a recent mayor of a city with a population of 200,000. I basically see tomorrow as Election Day. Ceteris paribus, if Hillary Clinton is his nominee, Obama wins. If not, hello Mr. President-elect McCain.
In watching the Olympics lately, and seeing Brian Williams proclaim during promos, "I'm in Beijing, but I'm from Jersey, and I'm 4 New York!" I've been reminded of this from 1992, with familiar figures Len Berman, a hairier Al Roker, Chuck Scarborough, and Sue "The F*** Are You Doing?!" Simmons.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Done! Done! Done!
My academic career launched on September 9, 1990, in Mrs. Blaine's pre-kindergarten class. From there, I endured eighteen years of academic rigor until I retired from academia on August 1, 2008 after Dr. Estelami's Marketing of Financial Services MBA class. With a little help from AP classes in high school and a marvelous summer study abroad program in London, I managed to finish my bachelor's in seven semesters and my master's in an additional two. Mind you, I am not gloating at all. But reflecting on the whole journey begs the question, "What the heck kind of masochist am I, anyway?"
I now have fifty-one days of freedom until I begin working full-time. What's a boy to do? Well, first of all, there has been lying on my floor since June an untouched twenty pound box of CPA review materials. I also plan on finishing John McCain's second memoir Worth the Fighting For. Watching MSNBC until I'm blue in the face and can't hear the words "hardball" or "countdown" without turning violently ill is also an aspiration. I also have this little thing called a "gym membership" which has served me well so far, but I figure I should continue the habit of working out regularly before I'm stuck in an audit room for ten hours a day with Three Musketeers bars and Starbucks fat-accinos. Six weeks from tomorrow is the half-marathon in my native borough, at which I plan on finishing in a personal best 1:55.
Then there's this little thing called an "apartment" that has been breathing down my neck. The easy way out of this dilemma would be to stay at home, rent-free, which my parents would fully endorse and would be quite acceptable as they feed me quite full and are very good people to be around. However, the commute from midtown to my house during normal hours averages an hour, and on weekends when I'm carousing the town I can expect to crawl into bed at 4am if I leave a bar at 2. Also, not to invoke the "well if everyone else jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you" maxim, but it would be slightly strange to be the only one among my colleagues who still lives in his or her childhood home.
Let summer begin.
I now have fifty-one days of freedom until I begin working full-time. What's a boy to do? Well, first of all, there has been lying on my floor since June an untouched twenty pound box of CPA review materials. I also plan on finishing John McCain's second memoir Worth the Fighting For. Watching MSNBC until I'm blue in the face and can't hear the words "hardball" or "countdown" without turning violently ill is also an aspiration. I also have this little thing called a "gym membership" which has served me well so far, but I figure I should continue the habit of working out regularly before I'm stuck in an audit room for ten hours a day with Three Musketeers bars and Starbucks fat-accinos. Six weeks from tomorrow is the half-marathon in my native borough, at which I plan on finishing in a personal best 1:55.
Then there's this little thing called an "apartment" that has been breathing down my neck. The easy way out of this dilemma would be to stay at home, rent-free, which my parents would fully endorse and would be quite acceptable as they feed me quite full and are very good people to be around. However, the commute from midtown to my house during normal hours averages an hour, and on weekends when I'm carousing the town I can expect to crawl into bed at 4am if I leave a bar at 2. Also, not to invoke the "well if everyone else jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you" maxim, but it would be slightly strange to be the only one among my colleagues who still lives in his or her childhood home.
Let summer begin.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
On Aspirations
Sometimes, I wish I could lay this blog out like the Drudge Report. That would lead me to post a lot more. At 2pm on a typical day, you might see something like:
Thursday, July 10, 2008
But He Just May Be the Lunatic You're Looking For
Dear Christie Brinkley,
Now that your divorce from that dolt who didn't deserve your beauty and grace is final, give the people what we want and go back to your one true love: Billy Joel. What kind of "steam" were you blowing off with him over 4th of July anyway? The Piano Man deserves your loving back in his life, and no one likes his ditz of a new wife anyway. Methinks that if you're lonely for a man, he'll still say, "Take me as I am."
Now that your divorce from that dolt who didn't deserve your beauty and grace is final, give the people what we want and go back to your one true love: Billy Joel. What kind of "steam" were you blowing off with him over 4th of July anyway? The Piano Man deserves your loving back in his life, and no one likes his ditz of a new wife anyway. Methinks that if you're lonely for a man, he'll still say, "Take me as I am."
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Odds N Ends
So I have a brilliant idea that would pass muster with the vast majority of Americans. However, this means nothing because McCain Inc. and Obama-Mart (since these campaigns are essentially corporations) as well as pundits like those whose names begin with the letter "C" and end in "hris Matthews" would resoundingly reject my idea as though I were to ask them for the skin off their faces.
Simple as this: Obama versus McCain. Not David Axelrod versus Rick Davis. Not Wesley Clark versus Joe Lieberman. One of these men will be President. The next gasoline price milestone or the first global terror threat under a new administration will not send Americans demanding answers from these bloviators and cheerleaders. The American people need to know the guy in charge, not the guys and gals who know the guys that want to be in charge. FIRE THE REST OF THE BUMS.
From an objective standpoint, as someone who admires both candidates, they are both miles apart on policy, but were nominated by their parties for the same flippin' reason. Barack Obama and John McCain were each the most independent thinking, off-the-cuff, likable people from each of their respective parties. While I admire Hillary Clinton and while I think Mitt Romney is probably Senator McCain's best veep option, could you imagine a general election between these two focus-grouped, moldable, say-anything-to-win loonies? They would end up running so far and so fast to the center, because that's what you're supposed to do between June and November, that they'd probably cross paths and you'd hear Romney calling for the repeal of the Bush tax cuts and Clinton demanding an amendment to ban gay marriage.
Free-thinking Democrats and free-thinking Republicans produced the presumptive nominees, and now these voters are being betrayed. Stick a flag pin on Barack, even though he'll look like a sell-out to our base! Tell McCain to stop calling reporters jerks, no matter how affectionately he means it! The only way to let these candidates be who they are, how to act in the way they got to the big stage, is to get rid of all their handlers. So what if Obama's personality doesn't appeal to the Rust Belt Reagan Democrats? So what if McCain makes jokes about attacking other countries to the tune of Beach Boys songs? Fire their whole campaign staffs, save a few in charge of scheduling and travel. Get rid of campaign commercials - all they are is noise to those who don't care and regurgitation to those who already know what's going on. Let them spend money only on essentials and traveling the country to meet voters. Rather than obliquely responding to a campaign's surrogate, the only people who may speak for John McCain and Barack Obama are, yes, John McCain and Barack Obama. You might not get the same volume of minutiae on the cable shows (but, but, but, I wanna hear Lindsay Graham responding to Evan Bayh responding to Joe Lieberman responding to Wes Clark!), but you'll get an intelligent, sane campaign with people knowing about the issues more than they know about the Obama campaign's faux-presidential seal.
My Metsies made it five in a row tonight. I find it interesting and slightly puzzling that the weekend series against the Rockies, usually a pedestrian outing against a team in some other division, is picked up regionally by Fox on Saturday and nationally by ESPN on Sunday.
Brother Jesse: Don't sugar coat it, tell us how you really feel about your candidate. All of us in Hymietown really want to know.
Simple as this: Obama versus McCain. Not David Axelrod versus Rick Davis. Not Wesley Clark versus Joe Lieberman. One of these men will be President. The next gasoline price milestone or the first global terror threat under a new administration will not send Americans demanding answers from these bloviators and cheerleaders. The American people need to know the guy in charge, not the guys and gals who know the guys that want to be in charge. FIRE THE REST OF THE BUMS.
From an objective standpoint, as someone who admires both candidates, they are both miles apart on policy, but were nominated by their parties for the same flippin' reason. Barack Obama and John McCain were each the most independent thinking, off-the-cuff, likable people from each of their respective parties. While I admire Hillary Clinton and while I think Mitt Romney is probably Senator McCain's best veep option, could you imagine a general election between these two focus-grouped, moldable, say-anything-to-win loonies? They would end up running so far and so fast to the center, because that's what you're supposed to do between June and November, that they'd probably cross paths and you'd hear Romney calling for the repeal of the Bush tax cuts and Clinton demanding an amendment to ban gay marriage.
Free-thinking Democrats and free-thinking Republicans produced the presumptive nominees, and now these voters are being betrayed. Stick a flag pin on Barack, even though he'll look like a sell-out to our base! Tell McCain to stop calling reporters jerks, no matter how affectionately he means it! The only way to let these candidates be who they are, how to act in the way they got to the big stage, is to get rid of all their handlers. So what if Obama's personality doesn't appeal to the Rust Belt Reagan Democrats? So what if McCain makes jokes about attacking other countries to the tune of Beach Boys songs? Fire their whole campaign staffs, save a few in charge of scheduling and travel. Get rid of campaign commercials - all they are is noise to those who don't care and regurgitation to those who already know what's going on. Let them spend money only on essentials and traveling the country to meet voters. Rather than obliquely responding to a campaign's surrogate, the only people who may speak for John McCain and Barack Obama are, yes, John McCain and Barack Obama. You might not get the same volume of minutiae on the cable shows (but, but, but, I wanna hear Lindsay Graham responding to Evan Bayh responding to Joe Lieberman responding to Wes Clark!), but you'll get an intelligent, sane campaign with people knowing about the issues more than they know about the Obama campaign's faux-presidential seal.
My Metsies made it five in a row tonight. I find it interesting and slightly puzzling that the weekend series against the Rockies, usually a pedestrian outing against a team in some other division, is picked up regionally by Fox on Saturday and nationally by ESPN on Sunday.
Brother Jesse: Don't sugar coat it, tell us how you really feel about your candidate. All of us in Hymietown really want to know.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
And Stay Out
For those of you select few mouthbreeding morons who followed through on your promise to leave this great country in 2004 and are now threatening to return if Senator Obama is elected, just do the rest of us a favor and stay put.
This land doesn't need fair-weather citizens. Fair enough if you were one of the tens of millions of people that were outraged by the occurrence of Double Dubya, but that doesn't nearly constitute grounds for betraying your country. Your move was the maturity equivalent of storming out on your parents after years of love and care because they fell on hard times for a little while. How do you think they would feel if you returned once times were good again? Stay in Canada, England or Zimbabwe.
You see, one of the countless great things we have in this country is the frequent election. Although Bush was given a second chance, it quickly drowned in the floods of Katrina, got buried in the fallout from Harriet Miers and was bombed by the failings of the war in Iraq. Enter the midterm elections of November 2006, and the American people rightfully took the Congress away from him. He hasn't gotten what he's wanted as often since. See? If you waited two years, you would have watched a lame duck fall further into irrelevance right before your very eyes. Bottom line: You woulda lived.
I mentioned Zimbabwe earlier in this post with sarcasm. However, their sad truth of running an opposition candidate who the populace clearly wanted, then threatening voters to vote for Mugabe or die is something we have never seen in this country. THOSE could be considered grounds for abandoning ship.
This land doesn't need fair-weather citizens. Fair enough if you were one of the tens of millions of people that were outraged by the occurrence of Double Dubya, but that doesn't nearly constitute grounds for betraying your country. Your move was the maturity equivalent of storming out on your parents after years of love and care because they fell on hard times for a little while. How do you think they would feel if you returned once times were good again? Stay in Canada, England or Zimbabwe.
You see, one of the countless great things we have in this country is the frequent election. Although Bush was given a second chance, it quickly drowned in the floods of Katrina, got buried in the fallout from Harriet Miers and was bombed by the failings of the war in Iraq. Enter the midterm elections of November 2006, and the American people rightfully took the Congress away from him. He hasn't gotten what he's wanted as often since. See? If you waited two years, you would have watched a lame duck fall further into irrelevance right before your very eyes. Bottom line: You woulda lived.
I mentioned Zimbabwe earlier in this post with sarcasm. However, their sad truth of running an opposition candidate who the populace clearly wanted, then threatening voters to vote for Mugabe or die is something we have never seen in this country. THOSE could be considered grounds for abandoning ship.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
