As we celebrated the beginning of spring last March 21, 2006 I wrote a column called “Where Do You Get Your News?”. It told of a Sunday night in March when I was watching Grey’s Anatomy in its old timeslot and a teaser came on for the 11 o’clock news announcing the death of local news legend Bill Beutel.. This past Sunday night, I was getting ready to watch the Sunday night Eyewitness News when just moments before airtime, the studio caught fire (off the air) knocking the station off and canceling the evening newscast. Oh well, I thought, what could possibly be going on on a Sunday Night of a holiday weekend?
Little did I know…
As I meandered around the house unpacking yet another box, Trophy Wife plopped down on our computer and started chatting on MSN Messenger using my id. While chatting with my buddy Craig, he got word of a news bulletin, and I was able to find out last weekends big news story in a rather unusual fashion,…. Through an online chat.. Here is the transcript….
Craig says:
OH NO!!!!!!
Craig says:
NATE!!!
Nate says:
what?
Craig says:
NATE!!!
Craig says:
GET NATE!!!!
Craig says:
Charles Nelson Reilly, Tony-Winning Comic Actor, Dies at 76
Craig says:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/theater/28reilly.html
Nate says:
get the heck outta here!
Craig says:
he died friday!
And that is how I got my news that fateful Sunday night. Today we present a multimedia extravaganza… a salute to Charles Nelson Reilly!
Chuck had been mentioned in several prior columns, including this past January 11th when a Charles Nelson Reilly t-shirt was the punch line to an otherwise true story of a man leaving a gay bar near my old Roselle house who showed an interest in getting to know ol’ Nate a little better.
Since I have been a Match Game fan from the days I was a little pisher, I thought today’s column would be a multimedia salute to Chuck. I used to love watching him bicker with Brett Somers, they were like a wacky aunt and uncle. As a kid I was totally oblivious to his gayness... heck I was decoyed when he would appear on Tattletales with one of his female acting friends.
We begin the salute with a radio interview I did with Gene Rayburn back in 1990 where he spoke very highly of the contributions Chuck made to that legendary game show. This originally appeared on the blog on January 19, 2006...
Here is a clip of Chuck on Match Game when Charles helped a woman set a new record as the show’s biggest winner.
Here is a clip where Chuck misbehaved and was sent down to the lower tier!
Here is Chuck on a 1972 episode of Ive Got a Secret in the pre-Match Game era.. Check out the other game show legends on this episode…not to mention a very very young and very very hot Price is Right model Janice Pennington!
Special thanks to Mr. Match Game for providing those 3 clips to You Tube!
And finally in his later years, Chuck did a one man show called The Life of Reilly. It was made into a movie last year that has been shown periodically around the country and will be released on dvd later this year. Like Tony Randall, Chuck was the kind of guy who didn’t want to be known for just his TV work… Chuck was an acting teacher and also was involved in many successful theatrical productions. In this trailer for his movie, he has a very interesting way of talking about breaking out of that TV persona…. We have a no obscenity rule on this blog.. But due to the context of this clip I will make a rare exception. This is not safe for work, and watch out for the salty language!
In conclusion - here is the quote posted by Pumpstradamus, a take on the traditional Jewish exchange with a mourner...
z"l C.N.R., ha'makom yenachem et'chem b'toch sha'ar avalay broadway v'matchgame.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
TV Quarterly Report Part I - Jacks and Noahs
Well folks it seems like we missed our last TV 1st quarter report with all the hullaballoo involving my big move… However now that the TV season has officially concluded with the crowning of the new American Idol and the stunning conclusion to Lost.. Its time to look back. By the way we will have the Baseball quarterly report within a wk or so for those of you who have been waiting for that.. But this past week’s TV season finales were so stunning.. I had to rearrange the columns a little bit.
TV really has changed.. mostly due to the original shows being cranked out by the cable networks combined with the popularity of the reality shows and serialized programs. The old days of network seasons running from September to May are as out of date as the small TV Guide Fall Preview magazine. Now, networks realize that they have to shoe - horn the shorter seasons of the popular shows so in reality the season really seems to start in January when American Idol and 24 get underway. Why start in September…. You have the baseball playoffs and The World Series.. Then you have a few sweeps wks in November before the holiday season starts… it seems that TV really is a vast wasteland till January! HBO schedules its popular shows like The Sopranos whenever they damn well please, and now based on the fact that AI, the most popular show runs on its own schedule.. the networks have followed suit. Jack Shepherd’s bizarre airport reunion with Kate that served as the finale to the 3rd season of Lost will not continue until next January.
Today I am going to float yet another one of my bizarre Lost theories. . Just remember.. I have had some on the money predictions in this column… especially the recent one that the family of the late St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock would sue the bar where he got drunk prior to his fatal crash. What I didn’t predict is that they would sue the driver of the disabled car whose life was saved when the intoxicated Hancock smashed into a tow truck that was helping the driver. I sympathize with the Hancock family over their loss, but grief has overtaken the brain cells and common sense cells. The Hancocks are suing Justin Tolar saying that he didn’t properly maintain his car which caused him to stall out on the side of the road! Of course if Hancock’s car had not been blocked by the tow truck he would have smacked right into Tolar. Had Hancock survived and went on trial for Tolar’s death, would his lawyers defense be that it’s Tolar’s fault because he didn’t maintain his car?? Hancock’s blood alcohol level was double the legal amount.. he was on a cell phone.. and wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and now Tolar has to dig into his pockets to pay a lawyer to defend himself against Hancock’s high powered lawyer! And if he doesn’t have the money to fight the lawsuit.. they could win a judgment against him and put a lien on his house! Unbelievable!
LOST/ DÉJÀ VU TIE IN Lets address the Lost finale first… and toss in my own rogue theory. I am a really big fan of Jerry Bruckheimer… This is the man who has brought us The Amazing Race, the CSIs and every other one hour non serialized show on CBS.. One of these days on CSI Miami David Caruso will prepare to say an over acted dramatic line and will reach in his pocket for his sunglasses… only to find out that they aren’t there. I can just see him fumbling around for them while not being able to spit out his brilliant line that tosses the show to the opening theme song. “Mr. Wolfe, my glasses appear to be….. Missing….”
Anyway, last summer Bruckheimer produced the movie Déjà Vu which brings up some interesting questions about what really went down on Lost. While all the internet bulletin boards say that the flashbacks were flash forwards… I have another idea.. In Déjà Vu, the main character Doug Karlin hooks up with the FBI to go back in time to prevent terrorists from blowing up a boat. However, at the end of the movie it occurs to the viewer that Karlin kept going back in time until he got it right,… so what we saw in the movie Déjà Vu was not really the first time he was on this mission… (He kept leaving clues for himself for the next time around.. Go see the movie if this is confusing!)
Well.. What happens if Lost is the same idea? Karlin was on a mission and had to keep going back till he got it right… maybe Jack was on a mission to go to the island until he “got it right”. Do you really think ABC would allow the show to become a tale of the Losties post island after a similar concept flopped so badly on “The Nine”? My theory is the flashback was not a flash forward…. and Jack is on a mission on that island until he gets it right. Therefore he crashed on the island knowing all along that he had something he had to do.. And Kate knew him and is in on it.. I know there is an issue with the very modern cell phone he was using in the flash back/forward… . Just remember that cell phones produced in Asia and Europe are much more advanced than the ones sold here, and a lot of people here like to import their cell phones.. I read the Washington Post Tech column - some of these phones of the future are so advanced they can core a apple! Another thing to keep in mind that all of the plane crash survivors on the island are basically unhappy people. Hurley feels cursed after he won the lottery.. The pregnant Korean woman cheated on her husband.. Rose has cancer.. Locke can’t walk.. Etc. There could be something to the theory that they are happier in their little island society. Maybe they were all on a field trip for Tsuris Anonymous.
There are 3 characters who make me wonder about this scenario… Jack, Kate, and Juliet… Lets say he would have gotten off with Juliet as was the original deal, before Locke blew up the boat. Would he have wanted to come back for the rest of them? Yet here he is back in the real world with Kate and he feels that he has some unfinished business. And Kate is always eager to go back and rescue people… now she’s happy to be back home? Unless of course they were rescued and USA time doesn’t correspond with Island time and they are at a point where Jack’s dad is alive and Kate has not been arrested for murder!
The question in my mind is who is to say that the first 3 seasons are not his “return mission”? And if there is an agenda…. maybe it behooves Kate and Jack to act like they don’t know each other… Of course, the whole agenda wouldn't involve rescuing the Losties.. They weren’t stranded there before their own plane crash. . (And Jack actually makes a comment about surviving another plane crash and not caring about the other passengers.. Hmmm) Maybe something else is on the island that he came back for.. And now is the time for him to leave with “it“….. Its unlikely it’s the others… since Jack kicked some major Ben ass… Or.. Maybe there was someone else somewhere in that crazy island? Or Survivors of Dharma? Or maybe it’s a time travel thing where he can save the people that Ben murdered. Hey, it worked on Heroes where Hiro went to the future to figure out how to change the past.. Why can’t Lost use it too?
To paraphrase eBay…. What is “it” that Jack needs to bring back? And it looks like he found “it” since he is very eager to get the heck outta there. Could “it” be Juliet? They’re both brilliant doctors…plus Elizabeth Mitchell is hotter than a pistol!! (While youre renting Deja vu.. Pick up the movie Gia)… He had a little smoochie kiss w/ her but moments later did tell Kate that he loves her. Maybe his mission is to bring her back because she holds the key to some amazing medical breakthrough in the real world that the others recruited her to do for them? She did pull off some incredible scientific feats prior to her departure to Lost Island.
SPEAKING OF JACK.. It looks like Jack Bauer and his compatriots at 24 are getting the shark jumping gear ready. They haven’t jumped it just yet.. But they are on the beach getting their flippers ready.. That is of course unless they can turn things around with a “new concept” we are being promised for 2008. Maybe they will have hot babes holding 24 suitcase bombs and each week Jack Bauer asks another one to “open the case”. One highlight was Powers Boothe rendition of Noah Daniels.. The craziest vice president since Dick Cheney. His overacting was actually getting enjoyable and the way his lovely blonde assistant totally cheated on him with a spy when he thought they were in love actually led to the creation of a fascinating new character. This after they wasted the talents of the Logans and Aaron Pierce from last season in one exciting episode that had zero follow up. I’m giving 24 a free pass for this season.. But things better pick up next year. After all, how long can I go on watching 24 live and Heroes on NBC.com on Tuesday might? And those of us who do that, have to be social outcasts every Tuesday to avoid any watercooler Heroes chat.
SPEAKING OF NOAH - So the horned rim glasses guy in Heroes is named Noah, eh… Wow.. I Just loved that finale.. Although I did get a bit distracted when I saw that both the cheerleader and Ali Larter were finally in a scene together. Va va voom!! “Save The Cheerleader Save the World” became quite relevant at the end of the season when it became obvious that the earlier episode that kept her away from the power hungry brain eating Sylar prevented him from acquiring her talent of being un-killable. You gotta give the producers credit.. They took an incredibly preposterous idea and turned it into a wildly entertaining television show.. I mean this episode featured home nurse Peter Petrelli finding out that his patient from the first episode knew all along about Petrelli’s role in the upcoming explosion? And he has the ability to communicate with time traveling Peter Petrelli and regular time Peter Petrelli at the same time. And at the end, ol Nate turns out to be a good man… Brilliant! Now we gotta find out if Sylar survives… I think Zachary Quinto already clinched his Emmy. And who is the boogie man that the little cutie pie/human lojack was speaking of? And what is the true identity of the character who can change her/his appearance at will? My only complaint is they didn’t do too much with that nice Jewish Girl Hannah Gitelman aka Wireless who was in and out in one episode. Heroes is currently the best show on TV.. Even better than 24... The Heroes finale has less watercooler talk than Lost.. But definitely a fantastic season!
Coming Soon: In Part II, we will talk about other new shows that caught my fancy this season, and a look ahead at the new TV season.
Now time for the clip of the week.... and our salute to the retiring game show legend Bob Barker. Today we present the first segment of the episode that started it all... keep an eye out for the first item up for bids, and what the legal rights holders did to the episode to make Bob happy!
Speaking of game show legends.. I just heard as I was posting this that my old pal Charles Nelson Reilly has passed away. Here's a pic of Chuck to look at before you watch Bob!
TV really has changed.. mostly due to the original shows being cranked out by the cable networks combined with the popularity of the reality shows and serialized programs. The old days of network seasons running from September to May are as out of date as the small TV Guide Fall Preview magazine. Now, networks realize that they have to shoe - horn the shorter seasons of the popular shows so in reality the season really seems to start in January when American Idol and 24 get underway. Why start in September…. You have the baseball playoffs and The World Series.. Then you have a few sweeps wks in November before the holiday season starts… it seems that TV really is a vast wasteland till January! HBO schedules its popular shows like The Sopranos whenever they damn well please, and now based on the fact that AI, the most popular show runs on its own schedule.. the networks have followed suit. Jack Shepherd’s bizarre airport reunion with Kate that served as the finale to the 3rd season of Lost will not continue until next January.
Today I am going to float yet another one of my bizarre Lost theories. . Just remember.. I have had some on the money predictions in this column… especially the recent one that the family of the late St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock would sue the bar where he got drunk prior to his fatal crash. What I didn’t predict is that they would sue the driver of the disabled car whose life was saved when the intoxicated Hancock smashed into a tow truck that was helping the driver. I sympathize with the Hancock family over their loss, but grief has overtaken the brain cells and common sense cells. The Hancocks are suing Justin Tolar saying that he didn’t properly maintain his car which caused him to stall out on the side of the road! Of course if Hancock’s car had not been blocked by the tow truck he would have smacked right into Tolar. Had Hancock survived and went on trial for Tolar’s death, would his lawyers defense be that it’s Tolar’s fault because he didn’t maintain his car?? Hancock’s blood alcohol level was double the legal amount.. he was on a cell phone.. and wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and now Tolar has to dig into his pockets to pay a lawyer to defend himself against Hancock’s high powered lawyer! And if he doesn’t have the money to fight the lawsuit.. they could win a judgment against him and put a lien on his house! Unbelievable!
LOST/ DÉJÀ VU TIE IN Lets address the Lost finale first… and toss in my own rogue theory. I am a really big fan of Jerry Bruckheimer… This is the man who has brought us The Amazing Race, the CSIs and every other one hour non serialized show on CBS.. One of these days on CSI Miami David Caruso will prepare to say an over acted dramatic line and will reach in his pocket for his sunglasses… only to find out that they aren’t there. I can just see him fumbling around for them while not being able to spit out his brilliant line that tosses the show to the opening theme song. “Mr. Wolfe, my glasses appear to be….. Missing….”
Anyway, last summer Bruckheimer produced the movie Déjà Vu which brings up some interesting questions about what really went down on Lost. While all the internet bulletin boards say that the flashbacks were flash forwards… I have another idea.. In Déjà Vu, the main character Doug Karlin hooks up with the FBI to go back in time to prevent terrorists from blowing up a boat. However, at the end of the movie it occurs to the viewer that Karlin kept going back in time until he got it right,… so what we saw in the movie Déjà Vu was not really the first time he was on this mission… (He kept leaving clues for himself for the next time around.. Go see the movie if this is confusing!)
Well.. What happens if Lost is the same idea? Karlin was on a mission and had to keep going back till he got it right… maybe Jack was on a mission to go to the island until he “got it right”. Do you really think ABC would allow the show to become a tale of the Losties post island after a similar concept flopped so badly on “The Nine”? My theory is the flashback was not a flash forward…. and Jack is on a mission on that island until he gets it right. Therefore he crashed on the island knowing all along that he had something he had to do.. And Kate knew him and is in on it.. I know there is an issue with the very modern cell phone he was using in the flash back/forward… . Just remember that cell phones produced in Asia and Europe are much more advanced than the ones sold here, and a lot of people here like to import their cell phones.. I read the Washington Post Tech column - some of these phones of the future are so advanced they can core a apple! Another thing to keep in mind that all of the plane crash survivors on the island are basically unhappy people. Hurley feels cursed after he won the lottery.. The pregnant Korean woman cheated on her husband.. Rose has cancer.. Locke can’t walk.. Etc. There could be something to the theory that they are happier in their little island society. Maybe they were all on a field trip for Tsuris Anonymous.
There are 3 characters who make me wonder about this scenario… Jack, Kate, and Juliet… Lets say he would have gotten off with Juliet as was the original deal, before Locke blew up the boat. Would he have wanted to come back for the rest of them? Yet here he is back in the real world with Kate and he feels that he has some unfinished business. And Kate is always eager to go back and rescue people… now she’s happy to be back home? Unless of course they were rescued and USA time doesn’t correspond with Island time and they are at a point where Jack’s dad is alive and Kate has not been arrested for murder!
The question in my mind is who is to say that the first 3 seasons are not his “return mission”? And if there is an agenda…. maybe it behooves Kate and Jack to act like they don’t know each other… Of course, the whole agenda wouldn't involve rescuing the Losties.. They weren’t stranded there before their own plane crash. . (And Jack actually makes a comment about surviving another plane crash and not caring about the other passengers.. Hmmm) Maybe something else is on the island that he came back for.. And now is the time for him to leave with “it“….. Its unlikely it’s the others… since Jack kicked some major Ben ass… Or.. Maybe there was someone else somewhere in that crazy island? Or Survivors of Dharma? Or maybe it’s a time travel thing where he can save the people that Ben murdered. Hey, it worked on Heroes where Hiro went to the future to figure out how to change the past.. Why can’t Lost use it too?
To paraphrase eBay…. What is “it” that Jack needs to bring back? And it looks like he found “it” since he is very eager to get the heck outta there. Could “it” be Juliet? They’re both brilliant doctors…plus Elizabeth Mitchell is hotter than a pistol!! (While youre renting Deja vu.. Pick up the movie Gia)… He had a little smoochie kiss w/ her but moments later did tell Kate that he loves her. Maybe his mission is to bring her back because she holds the key to some amazing medical breakthrough in the real world that the others recruited her to do for them? She did pull off some incredible scientific feats prior to her departure to Lost Island.
SPEAKING OF JACK.. It looks like Jack Bauer and his compatriots at 24 are getting the shark jumping gear ready. They haven’t jumped it just yet.. But they are on the beach getting their flippers ready.. That is of course unless they can turn things around with a “new concept” we are being promised for 2008. Maybe they will have hot babes holding 24 suitcase bombs and each week Jack Bauer asks another one to “open the case”. One highlight was Powers Boothe rendition of Noah Daniels.. The craziest vice president since Dick Cheney. His overacting was actually getting enjoyable and the way his lovely blonde assistant totally cheated on him with a spy when he thought they were in love actually led to the creation of a fascinating new character. This after they wasted the talents of the Logans and Aaron Pierce from last season in one exciting episode that had zero follow up. I’m giving 24 a free pass for this season.. But things better pick up next year. After all, how long can I go on watching 24 live and Heroes on NBC.com on Tuesday might? And those of us who do that, have to be social outcasts every Tuesday to avoid any watercooler Heroes chat.
SPEAKING OF NOAH - So the horned rim glasses guy in Heroes is named Noah, eh… Wow.. I Just loved that finale.. Although I did get a bit distracted when I saw that both the cheerleader and Ali Larter were finally in a scene together. Va va voom!! “Save The Cheerleader Save the World” became quite relevant at the end of the season when it became obvious that the earlier episode that kept her away from the power hungry brain eating Sylar prevented him from acquiring her talent of being un-killable. You gotta give the producers credit.. They took an incredibly preposterous idea and turned it into a wildly entertaining television show.. I mean this episode featured home nurse Peter Petrelli finding out that his patient from the first episode knew all along about Petrelli’s role in the upcoming explosion? And he has the ability to communicate with time traveling Peter Petrelli and regular time Peter Petrelli at the same time. And at the end, ol Nate turns out to be a good man… Brilliant! Now we gotta find out if Sylar survives… I think Zachary Quinto already clinched his Emmy. And who is the boogie man that the little cutie pie/human lojack was speaking of? And what is the true identity of the character who can change her/his appearance at will? My only complaint is they didn’t do too much with that nice Jewish Girl Hannah Gitelman aka Wireless who was in and out in one episode. Heroes is currently the best show on TV.. Even better than 24... The Heroes finale has less watercooler talk than Lost.. But definitely a fantastic season!
Coming Soon: In Part II, we will talk about other new shows that caught my fancy this season, and a look ahead at the new TV season.
Now time for the clip of the week.... and our salute to the retiring game show legend Bob Barker. Today we present the first segment of the episode that started it all... keep an eye out for the first item up for bids, and what the legal rights holders did to the episode to make Bob happy!
Speaking of game show legends.. I just heard as I was posting this that my old pal Charles Nelson Reilly has passed away. Here's a pic of Chuck to look at before you watch Bob!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
The Misadventures of Getting a Hotel Room for 20 Dollars Less
Greetings folks from Sharon Massachusetts where today’s column is originating from….… Trophy Wife and I arrived here very late the other night to attend a Bar Mitzvah on Saturday Morning. If you ever go to Sharon be careful about the deceptively cheap Econo Lodge. We left Edison Friday night and hit the highway at Old Post Road and Route 1.… and even though the web said it would take 4:20, 5 hours later we arrived at the Econo Lodge in Sharon, MA which is at the intersection of Old Post Road… and Route 1! We arrived at 2am.. and I had told them we would be arriving late in the evening. .. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by the man behind the desk who was wearing an eye patch that reminded me of a cross between Moshe Dayan and Mikahel from Lost.
By the way check out the archives from May 2006 about my Lost theories, and you will see how I nailed it on how the whole Dharma/Others relationship parallels the Settlers/American Indians.. although with with a very different ending. It was cool to see how Ben was born - I fully expected his dad to take the newborn and toss him across the highway like a football just like the actor’s other persona - Napoleon Dynamite’s Uncle Rico… “They shoulda put me in… we would have been state champs!” And speaking of dynamite.. Danielle who seems to be a regular pro with TNT,…. Is she also little Annie in the Ben flashbacks? Or maybe the little girl who can track things on Heroes? And is Linderman (Malcolm McDowell) who cured Mrs. Peterelli’s paralysis responsible for Locke’s ability to walk?
And the hour before Lost last Wednesday, while the rest of the universe was watching American Idol… I, along with probably only Mandy Patinkin’s family watched Criminal Minds on CBS. What a disturbing story.. An obsessive cop from Kansas City contacts the FBI when he notices prostitutes and vagrants seemingly disappearing off the streets. It turns out nobody cares about these poor nebbishy people who as it turns out have all been abducted by a wacko. That same day Opie and Anthony had a homeless guy on who talked about wanting to have sex with Condoleeza Rice and now in this post Imus PC era... everybody is blasting O and A for that show, and now they are suspended from their satellite broadcast for a month! The truth is the streets of America are filled with mentally ill homeless people whose crazy utterances are a sign that they have a lot of problems. Why exactly is this O and A’s fault that this one guy’s comment is quite representative of the mental illness that permeates people living on the street… and that we have turned our backs on these people?
So back to Patch at The Econo Lodge.. At first he couldn’t find our reservation.. As the clock ticked closer to 2;30 in the morning…after about several minutes of fumbling around he found my name and gave us a computerized key. Usually motor lodges have parking spots right in front of the room.. But this one didn’t;.. We parked in front of a different building and proceeded to shlep out stuff up a flight of stairs knowing that services at the synagogue were going to start approximately 6 and a half hours later and all we wanted to do was hit the sack and sleep.
At the door, Trophy Wife scanned the key and the little green light went on allowing us to open the door.. Which we did.. Only to realize that the chain was up! Being it was so late and we were so tired I thought I was seeing things.. We looked at the room number and saw it matched the number 420 on the key envelope. Too stunned to believe what I had just seen, I grabbed the key card and swiped it a second time. Again... the chain was blocking us.. “Uh Nate.. “ said Trophy Wife.. “I believe somebody is already in our room”… “How can that be?” I proclaimed loud enough to wake a person up and noticed the room was filled with somebody’s stuff.. Yet that somebody who was in the room very silent.. Asleep… dead… or possibly crouched behind the door with a gun.
As we walked back to the hotel desk Trophy Wife asked if we could just spring an extra few bucks and go to the Holiday Inn across the road… However since this hotel was sold out.. I was sure the much nicer and very tempting Holiday Inn was sold out too and I just didn’t have the energy to shlep stuff back to the car and across the street. We decided to give Patch one more chance hoping he just made a late night boo boo.
Back to Patch we went.. And I could swear he winked at my wife. I explained the dilemma and he was quite stunned.. OK he said.. We have 2 no shows.. So I’ll give you the key to one of those rooms.. As he was getting the key cards ready I asked him the 64,000 dollar question of how this possibly could have happened.. never realizing his answer sealed his fate. “Oh you see” Patch replied…”sometimes after we clean the room we THINK the people check out of the room.. But then they come back later in the day to spend another night here”.
Huh? Obviously I wasn’t thinking clearly because that should have set off the warning sirens.. And hopefully it will for anyone who wanders here after they google Econolodge in Sharon MA… Too tired to even think straight we trudged back up the stairs to room number 2. Trophy was begging me to just forget it and go to the Holiday Inn and if I had thought about the ludicrous logic of a motel not knowing who is staying in which room I would have bolted momentarily.. Especially since anyone could come into our room if we didn’t leave the chain up. We arrived at room no, 2 with our stuff… swiped the key card and…. Nothing,…. Did it again.. Nothing. It was almost like a buzzer went off like when 4 people overbid on The Price is Right. Again we checked to see that the room and key card matched.. And it did..
So it was off to the Holiday Inn… where we had a very short sleep after we finally got into our room after 3 oclock in the morning… and after all this craziness I didn’t fall asleep until 4:20. I did go back to the EconoLodge at around 245, and in the nicest possibly way told Norman Bates Jr. that he failed his test and I would not be staying at his establishment, He was nice about it and apologized profusely but all I wanted was a reassurance that my credit card wouldn’t be billed.. I stupidly billed it on a credit/debit card and so far no charges are there! If they try to charge me.. I’m posting links to today’s column on every hotel review/Massachusetts tourism website!
Hours later we attended the bar mitzvah. The kid did a nice job, and the neat thing about going to services across the country is its like a Broadway Musical.. They always sing the same songs except for services for Reform and the ultra ultra Orthodox who don’t sing the same tunes. At this service, it was the same comforting familiar songs… including the usual tune for the last song of the service.. Adon Olam. As they got to the last line of the song… I bolted out of my chair with joyful enthusiasm that services had concluded at the manageable hour of 11:15... But before I could do my traditional end of service Porky Pig Ibbidy Ibbidy Ibbidy…. Th Th That’s All Folks!…. there was silence… everybody but me was still seated… and then I realized that the Rabbi was about to make his speech… Oops…
Interestingly enough, at the buffet line I introduced myself to a woman in line in front of me who I had heard lives in Edison. The woman mentioned something about belonging to the same national women’s organization that Trophy Wife is very involved in. As I mentioned to this woman that my wife belongs to that group, she saw out of the corner of my eye that Trophy Wife had just gotten on line. With sheer jubilation she yelled out to a familiar face.. my wife..… “Trophy Trophy! How are you?” A hearing impaired gentleman in line looked at me, as I sneakily cut in front of the Edison woman's reunion, and asked me “Kosher?”… “No” I replied.. “She said Trophy…. Not traify!”
I really liked the synagogue and one of the highlights of the Rabbi’s speech was when he started talking about Marshall McLuhan! As soon as he mentioned M Mc.. (not to be confused with Malcolm McDowell or Melanie McGuire) I looked to my left and looked to my right in sheer terror and noticed with amazement how gutsy this Rabbi was to quote and analyze the writings of Marshall McLuhan… without any concern of who might rise from the woodwork to rebut his views on Marshall McLuhan. If you saw the movie Annie Hall. (it aired this Wed on TMC opposite Criminal Minds and The Price is Right Prime Time Adios Bob Barker Special) Woody Allen is in line at a movie theater and a know it all in line tries to impress his movie date by analyzing something Marshall McLuhan had said. Just then from out of the woodwork, stepped out - Marshall McLuhan right into the movie line… and he goes right up to the know it all and starts to berate the poor shlub in front of his chickie by telling him he knows nothing about Marshall McLuhan! (A hearing impaired gentleman in line asked.. "Mr. Jew Fan?" "No" replied a moviegoer "He said McLuhan!"
The Rabbi bravely continued with his Marshall McLuhan comments despite the historical potential repercussions.. But thankfully…. nobody said anything.. You could hear crickets the room was so silent….. And as I scanned the room it occurred to me that if Marshall McLuhan happened to be in Sharon, MA at that very moment… he was not at that synagogue!!
Perhaps he was still sleeping at a room at the Econo Lodge?
Now time for the Clip of the Week.. This week we begin our salute to game show legend Bob Barker who is retiring next month after a 50 year career. Here is a goofball who has an obsession with …..the number 420! Reread the column and yours truly may have peppered a few here too!
And PS - Mr. McLuhan died on Dec, 31, 1980.
By the way check out the archives from May 2006 about my Lost theories, and you will see how I nailed it on how the whole Dharma/Others relationship parallels the Settlers/American Indians.. although with with a very different ending. It was cool to see how Ben was born - I fully expected his dad to take the newborn and toss him across the highway like a football just like the actor’s other persona - Napoleon Dynamite’s Uncle Rico… “They shoulda put me in… we would have been state champs!” And speaking of dynamite.. Danielle who seems to be a regular pro with TNT,…. Is she also little Annie in the Ben flashbacks? Or maybe the little girl who can track things on Heroes? And is Linderman (Malcolm McDowell) who cured Mrs. Peterelli’s paralysis responsible for Locke’s ability to walk?
And the hour before Lost last Wednesday, while the rest of the universe was watching American Idol… I, along with probably only Mandy Patinkin’s family watched Criminal Minds on CBS. What a disturbing story.. An obsessive cop from Kansas City contacts the FBI when he notices prostitutes and vagrants seemingly disappearing off the streets. It turns out nobody cares about these poor nebbishy people who as it turns out have all been abducted by a wacko. That same day Opie and Anthony had a homeless guy on who talked about wanting to have sex with Condoleeza Rice and now in this post Imus PC era... everybody is blasting O and A for that show, and now they are suspended from their satellite broadcast for a month! The truth is the streets of America are filled with mentally ill homeless people whose crazy utterances are a sign that they have a lot of problems. Why exactly is this O and A’s fault that this one guy’s comment is quite representative of the mental illness that permeates people living on the street… and that we have turned our backs on these people?
So back to Patch at The Econo Lodge.. At first he couldn’t find our reservation.. As the clock ticked closer to 2;30 in the morning…after about several minutes of fumbling around he found my name and gave us a computerized key. Usually motor lodges have parking spots right in front of the room.. But this one didn’t;.. We parked in front of a different building and proceeded to shlep out stuff up a flight of stairs knowing that services at the synagogue were going to start approximately 6 and a half hours later and all we wanted to do was hit the sack and sleep.
At the door, Trophy Wife scanned the key and the little green light went on allowing us to open the door.. Which we did.. Only to realize that the chain was up! Being it was so late and we were so tired I thought I was seeing things.. We looked at the room number and saw it matched the number 420 on the key envelope. Too stunned to believe what I had just seen, I grabbed the key card and swiped it a second time. Again... the chain was blocking us.. “Uh Nate.. “ said Trophy Wife.. “I believe somebody is already in our room”… “How can that be?” I proclaimed loud enough to wake a person up and noticed the room was filled with somebody’s stuff.. Yet that somebody who was in the room very silent.. Asleep… dead… or possibly crouched behind the door with a gun.
As we walked back to the hotel desk Trophy Wife asked if we could just spring an extra few bucks and go to the Holiday Inn across the road… However since this hotel was sold out.. I was sure the much nicer and very tempting Holiday Inn was sold out too and I just didn’t have the energy to shlep stuff back to the car and across the street. We decided to give Patch one more chance hoping he just made a late night boo boo.
Back to Patch we went.. And I could swear he winked at my wife. I explained the dilemma and he was quite stunned.. OK he said.. We have 2 no shows.. So I’ll give you the key to one of those rooms.. As he was getting the key cards ready I asked him the 64,000 dollar question of how this possibly could have happened.. never realizing his answer sealed his fate. “Oh you see” Patch replied…”sometimes after we clean the room we THINK the people check out of the room.. But then they come back later in the day to spend another night here”.
Huh? Obviously I wasn’t thinking clearly because that should have set off the warning sirens.. And hopefully it will for anyone who wanders here after they google Econolodge in Sharon MA… Too tired to even think straight we trudged back up the stairs to room number 2. Trophy was begging me to just forget it and go to the Holiday Inn and if I had thought about the ludicrous logic of a motel not knowing who is staying in which room I would have bolted momentarily.. Especially since anyone could come into our room if we didn’t leave the chain up. We arrived at room no, 2 with our stuff… swiped the key card and…. Nothing,…. Did it again.. Nothing. It was almost like a buzzer went off like when 4 people overbid on The Price is Right. Again we checked to see that the room and key card matched.. And it did..
So it was off to the Holiday Inn… where we had a very short sleep after we finally got into our room after 3 oclock in the morning… and after all this craziness I didn’t fall asleep until 4:20. I did go back to the EconoLodge at around 245, and in the nicest possibly way told Norman Bates Jr. that he failed his test and I would not be staying at his establishment, He was nice about it and apologized profusely but all I wanted was a reassurance that my credit card wouldn’t be billed.. I stupidly billed it on a credit/debit card and so far no charges are there! If they try to charge me.. I’m posting links to today’s column on every hotel review/Massachusetts tourism website!
Hours later we attended the bar mitzvah. The kid did a nice job, and the neat thing about going to services across the country is its like a Broadway Musical.. They always sing the same songs except for services for Reform and the ultra ultra Orthodox who don’t sing the same tunes. At this service, it was the same comforting familiar songs… including the usual tune for the last song of the service.. Adon Olam. As they got to the last line of the song… I bolted out of my chair with joyful enthusiasm that services had concluded at the manageable hour of 11:15... But before I could do my traditional end of service Porky Pig Ibbidy Ibbidy Ibbidy…. Th Th That’s All Folks!…. there was silence… everybody but me was still seated… and then I realized that the Rabbi was about to make his speech… Oops…
Interestingly enough, at the buffet line I introduced myself to a woman in line in front of me who I had heard lives in Edison. The woman mentioned something about belonging to the same national women’s organization that Trophy Wife is very involved in. As I mentioned to this woman that my wife belongs to that group, she saw out of the corner of my eye that Trophy Wife had just gotten on line. With sheer jubilation she yelled out to a familiar face.. my wife..… “Trophy Trophy! How are you?” A hearing impaired gentleman in line looked at me, as I sneakily cut in front of the Edison woman's reunion, and asked me “Kosher?”… “No” I replied.. “She said Trophy…. Not traify!”
I really liked the synagogue and one of the highlights of the Rabbi’s speech was when he started talking about Marshall McLuhan! As soon as he mentioned M Mc.. (not to be confused with Malcolm McDowell or Melanie McGuire) I looked to my left and looked to my right in sheer terror and noticed with amazement how gutsy this Rabbi was to quote and analyze the writings of Marshall McLuhan… without any concern of who might rise from the woodwork to rebut his views on Marshall McLuhan. If you saw the movie Annie Hall. (it aired this Wed on TMC opposite Criminal Minds and The Price is Right Prime Time Adios Bob Barker Special) Woody Allen is in line at a movie theater and a know it all in line tries to impress his movie date by analyzing something Marshall McLuhan had said. Just then from out of the woodwork, stepped out - Marshall McLuhan right into the movie line… and he goes right up to the know it all and starts to berate the poor shlub in front of his chickie by telling him he knows nothing about Marshall McLuhan! (A hearing impaired gentleman in line asked.. "Mr. Jew Fan?" "No" replied a moviegoer "He said McLuhan!"
The Rabbi bravely continued with his Marshall McLuhan comments despite the historical potential repercussions.. But thankfully…. nobody said anything.. You could hear crickets the room was so silent….. And as I scanned the room it occurred to me that if Marshall McLuhan happened to be in Sharon, MA at that very moment… he was not at that synagogue!!
Perhaps he was still sleeping at a room at the Econo Lodge?
Now time for the Clip of the Week.. This week we begin our salute to game show legend Bob Barker who is retiring next month after a 50 year career. Here is a goofball who has an obsession with …..the number 420! Reread the column and yours truly may have peppered a few here too!
And PS - Mr. McLuhan died on Dec, 31, 1980.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Accountability - Our 100th Column!
Welcome to our 100th column… and the first one written entirely at our new house.. The prior 2 columns… The Home Sweet Home… and the Ballad of Melanie McGuire which were posted after we moved had actually been written in advance..
This past month we learned thanks to sacrificial lamb Don Imus that the word “ho” is unacceptable. As a result, both Santa Claus and The Jolly Green Giant are now forbidden to say “ho ho ho”, and as part of the ban, Don Ho promptly dropped dead.
I learned a lot about accountability some years back during a period where I was unemployed. During that time, I had more time on my hands to take care of stuff and it amazed me how often people screwed things up, yet were able to keep their jobs. I guess I still see that nowadays, but I just brush it off. But in today’s column, I would like to explore the theme of being held accountable for one’s actions.
HIRO BEING A HERO ON HEROES - We’ll start with a light topic - Weren’t the producers of Heroes irresponsible last week with the episode where time traveler Hiro is told to go back and change history to prevent a massive bomb from exploding in New York City. Hiro traveled to the future and ran into himself there …aka Future Hiro…. Future Hiro reminded Past Hiro that he must go back to “Save the Cheerleader Save The World”. Apparently keeping the cheerleader away from the power sucking Sylar will prevent the apocalypse. By the way the actor who plays Sylar and Josh Holloway who plays Sawyer on Lost are going to have an interesting battle for this year’s Best Actor Emmy.
But... isn’t Future Hiro giving advice that breaks the cardinal rule of Time Travel? The so called butterfly effect means that time travelers who go back in time cannot even alter a teeny butterfly because the net result could change “the future“, and since the future has already happened it would drastically change stuff that already happened. It's very interesting how the writers created this New York City 5 years after a horrific explosion... the show premiered 5 years after 9/11. And the President's speech where the explosion went off, made the viewer note the resemblance to Ground Zero at The World Trade Center. Of course moments into the speech, The President utilized his power of flying and zipped right out of there, leaving the press gasping in shock. Can you imagne if George W. just flew right out of an appearance?
Even though Past Hiro may be able to change history… doesn’t that blatantly break the rules? And isn’t NBC setting a bad example for the young ‘uns by advocating an action that breaks a major rule of Time Travel?
THE DEATH OF JOSH HANCOCK - The Cardinals pitcher was killed in a car crash last week when his car slammed into a tow truck that had parked behind a disabled vehicle that need a tow. Now we hear that Mr. Hancock was drunk and talking on his cell phone at the time of the crash. If the tow truck had not parked there, Hancock would have slammed into the disabled vehicle (a small car from what I hear) and had he survived would possibly be facing murder charges. It has also been revealed that he had been drinking that evening at a bar owned by a Cardinal broadcaster, yet it now appears in this crazy world we live in that the bar could be sued by Hancock's survivors.
THE GUIDING LIGHT - I see that former Party of 5 Actress Neve Campbell married British actor John Light this weekend. Speaking of 5 and Light, that is how many years in prison disgraced former NJ Rabbi Peter Light will get in Prison for looting his synagogue's discretionary fund. So instead of performing a wedding this weekend (Where Trophy Wife was a bridesmaid), Mr. Light was dodging Bubba while using his soap on a rope.
The discretionary fund is set up for the less fortunate and is paid for by the generous donations made be temple members. The people at that temple had donated a lot of money...Light took most of the money and used it to pay for his little slut that he had on the side. And some interesting info surfaced at Friday's sentencing. Light had been confronted by Temple members that they were concerned with accounting irregularities.. so what did the shmuck do? He promptly drained all the remaining money and wired it to his own account. At his sentencing he gave the old sob story that he wishes he could return the money but his money is tied up because his wife is divorcing him. What a guy - he cheats on his wife with some whore, and then blames the wife that he can't repay the 86,000 that he stole. And, up to sentencing Mr. Light (I will not call him Rabbi - he like the imprisoned sex molester Mr. Lanner have lost the respect accorded with that title) had been working as a car salesman, thus lowering even further the reputation of that industry!
AL SHARPTON/DON IMUS REVISITED - Right before the recent announcement of a potential CBS lawsuit by Don Imus, I was watching… brace yourselves… The Fox News Channel, when Hannity and Colmes were interviewing former Imus producer Bernard McGuirk. He had a few choice words to say about Al Sharpton.. Which raises the interesting question… why isn’t Al Sharpton ever held accountable for his actions? And why are fellow Democrats who are running for office embracing a man who McGuirk calls “a terrorist’? He spends slow news periods conducting witch hunts for people he perceives as racists. I don’t know if between now and Election Day that I can get that image out of my mind of Barrack Obama participating in some kind of Sharpton sponsored forum… even taking note of Sharpton’s blackberry which rang during Obama's speech….. This lifelong Democrat will also have a hard time forgetting the image of my other fellow Democrats who have embraced the man McGuirk calls “a terrorist”.
First of all the blackberry call was not from anyone donating money to a Sharpton fundraiser for sick kids. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Sharpton is not known for his charitable donations. Don Imus was in the middle of a fundraiser for kids with cancer when Sharpton terrorized CBS Radio into firing him. And Imus who lowered himself to Sharpton’s level and appeared on some pathetic radio show that he hosts, clearly pointed out in his defense against racist accusations (as I mentioned in the comments section a few weeks ago) that he attempted to raise money for sick black children after he noticed an unusually large number of them had been stricken with sickle cell anemia. And when he attempted to raise money for the cause, and reached out to the Black Journalists Association, they did absolutely nothing to cooperate with his attempts to raise funds. A representative from that group claimed on that Sharpton show that they had been raising “awareness” of this disease for many years.. But the bottom line is Dollars raised.. And nothing they have done for fundraising compares to Imus.. A good analogy would be to compare ad revenue for Imus’s show vs. ad revenue for The Sharpton show that thankfully doesn’t pollute our local airwaves.
Lets get it straight.. I don’t believe that hating a person for his race makes any sense. Its kind of silly.. If youre going to dislike a person… hate them for their actions. The other idea to get straight.. Just like there is white racism against blacks.. there is black racism against whites. And black racists like Al Sharpton are no better than white racists.
Sharpton is a white hating anti semite….Just to review his sordid past which he responds to with his patented blank stare when responsible TV interviewers bring it up… He falsely accused a man of raping Tawana Brawley and ruined his career, even though it was later discovered that Brawley was a liar. Sharpton is not a real man.. Because a real man admits when he is wrong. If CBS loses an Imus suit, they will pay him. Sharpton was sued for libel by this poor man whose career was ruined by the Sharpton mid 80s witch hunt. Sharpton now owes him a ton of money and y’know what.. He hasn’t paid a penny. He started a riot in Crown Heights after a car accident killed a young black child… and as a result a young innocent man named Yankel Rosenbaum was brutally murdered by a mob that was started by Sharpton. And he complained about businessmen who were “white interlopers” who were working in Harlem. That “white interlopers protest” led to a fire at that store that killed seven people.
Sharpton wants to go after people who hurt the black community by attacking an old man radio host who the Rutgers women had never heard of. Why doesn’t Sharpton go after the drug dealers who hang outside the playgrounds of inner city school systems targeting young black children to use and/or resell the brain destroying products that make them rich and get them nice sports cars that young children drool over? Isnt that a bigger problem than people using words? I see he is protesting against rappers who use racist terms such as the “n” word.. Yet interestingly enough, white people don’t use that term in public… except for the extreme white supremacists… and nobody takes them seriously anyway. Where in the mainstream world do you hear those offensive words such as the “n” word? In rap songs…. And yet its been ok for those musicians to use a set of terms.. but forbidden to be used by anyone else.
Isn’t it time for Sharpton to be held accountable for his past and his hypocrisies?. Isiah Washington called his Greys Anatomy co star a faggot. His punishment is he must do public service announcements for a gay organization. Why does Washington keep his job and not Imus? And why doesn’t Sharpton protest ABC and terrorize them into firing Washington? If the shoe was on the other foot and the gay actor had called Washington by a black slur, Sharpton would have been shooting off his big mouth, Maybe we should hold them accountable by boycotting Grey’s Anatomy’s advertisers until Washington is fired, and boycotting Sharpton’s few advertisers until he starts protesting against Mr. Washington.
I wonder if Imus could turn back time and do it again… would he do the show and leave out that nappy headed ho comment? Of course it would break the cardinal rule of time travel… although I’m sure Governor Corzine would appreciate it, since he was en route to The Imus Rutgers Summit when he was critically injured in that car crash…
Now time for the Clip of the Week…
In honor of our 100th column… here is a clip from the old Radio archives. This comes from The Sussex County Fair in the early 90s when I went to Polish Night and heard the popular song.. 100 years, 100 years. Maybe they could change the word to 100 Columns??
Bonus Clip of The Week… Tom Poston died the other day at 85. Here is a clip from the short lived 2005 NBC show Committed where he played a clown who lived in Marnie’s closet. In this scene.. The series finale... Marnie realizes that thanks to the Clown’s wisdom that her boyfriend Nate is THE ONE! Who comes up with these characters names? Clown??
This past month we learned thanks to sacrificial lamb Don Imus that the word “ho” is unacceptable. As a result, both Santa Claus and The Jolly Green Giant are now forbidden to say “ho ho ho”, and as part of the ban, Don Ho promptly dropped dead.
I learned a lot about accountability some years back during a period where I was unemployed. During that time, I had more time on my hands to take care of stuff and it amazed me how often people screwed things up, yet were able to keep their jobs. I guess I still see that nowadays, but I just brush it off. But in today’s column, I would like to explore the theme of being held accountable for one’s actions.
HIRO BEING A HERO ON HEROES - We’ll start with a light topic - Weren’t the producers of Heroes irresponsible last week with the episode where time traveler Hiro is told to go back and change history to prevent a massive bomb from exploding in New York City. Hiro traveled to the future and ran into himself there …aka Future Hiro…. Future Hiro reminded Past Hiro that he must go back to “Save the Cheerleader Save The World”. Apparently keeping the cheerleader away from the power sucking Sylar will prevent the apocalypse. By the way the actor who plays Sylar and Josh Holloway who plays Sawyer on Lost are going to have an interesting battle for this year’s Best Actor Emmy.
But... isn’t Future Hiro giving advice that breaks the cardinal rule of Time Travel? The so called butterfly effect means that time travelers who go back in time cannot even alter a teeny butterfly because the net result could change “the future“, and since the future has already happened it would drastically change stuff that already happened. It's very interesting how the writers created this New York City 5 years after a horrific explosion... the show premiered 5 years after 9/11. And the President's speech where the explosion went off, made the viewer note the resemblance to Ground Zero at The World Trade Center. Of course moments into the speech, The President utilized his power of flying and zipped right out of there, leaving the press gasping in shock. Can you imagne if George W. just flew right out of an appearance?
Even though Past Hiro may be able to change history… doesn’t that blatantly break the rules? And isn’t NBC setting a bad example for the young ‘uns by advocating an action that breaks a major rule of Time Travel?
THE DEATH OF JOSH HANCOCK - The Cardinals pitcher was killed in a car crash last week when his car slammed into a tow truck that had parked behind a disabled vehicle that need a tow. Now we hear that Mr. Hancock was drunk and talking on his cell phone at the time of the crash. If the tow truck had not parked there, Hancock would have slammed into the disabled vehicle (a small car from what I hear) and had he survived would possibly be facing murder charges. It has also been revealed that he had been drinking that evening at a bar owned by a Cardinal broadcaster, yet it now appears in this crazy world we live in that the bar could be sued by Hancock's survivors.
THE GUIDING LIGHT - I see that former Party of 5 Actress Neve Campbell married British actor John Light this weekend. Speaking of 5 and Light, that is how many years in prison disgraced former NJ Rabbi Peter Light will get in Prison for looting his synagogue's discretionary fund. So instead of performing a wedding this weekend (Where Trophy Wife was a bridesmaid), Mr. Light was dodging Bubba while using his soap on a rope.
The discretionary fund is set up for the less fortunate and is paid for by the generous donations made be temple members. The people at that temple had donated a lot of money...Light took most of the money and used it to pay for his little slut that he had on the side. And some interesting info surfaced at Friday's sentencing. Light had been confronted by Temple members that they were concerned with accounting irregularities.. so what did the shmuck do? He promptly drained all the remaining money and wired it to his own account. At his sentencing he gave the old sob story that he wishes he could return the money but his money is tied up because his wife is divorcing him. What a guy - he cheats on his wife with some whore, and then blames the wife that he can't repay the 86,000 that he stole. And, up to sentencing Mr. Light (I will not call him Rabbi - he like the imprisoned sex molester Mr. Lanner have lost the respect accorded with that title) had been working as a car salesman, thus lowering even further the reputation of that industry!
AL SHARPTON/DON IMUS REVISITED - Right before the recent announcement of a potential CBS lawsuit by Don Imus, I was watching… brace yourselves… The Fox News Channel, when Hannity and Colmes were interviewing former Imus producer Bernard McGuirk. He had a few choice words to say about Al Sharpton.. Which raises the interesting question… why isn’t Al Sharpton ever held accountable for his actions? And why are fellow Democrats who are running for office embracing a man who McGuirk calls “a terrorist’? He spends slow news periods conducting witch hunts for people he perceives as racists. I don’t know if between now and Election Day that I can get that image out of my mind of Barrack Obama participating in some kind of Sharpton sponsored forum… even taking note of Sharpton’s blackberry which rang during Obama's speech….. This lifelong Democrat will also have a hard time forgetting the image of my other fellow Democrats who have embraced the man McGuirk calls “a terrorist”.
First of all the blackberry call was not from anyone donating money to a Sharpton fundraiser for sick kids. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Sharpton is not known for his charitable donations. Don Imus was in the middle of a fundraiser for kids with cancer when Sharpton terrorized CBS Radio into firing him. And Imus who lowered himself to Sharpton’s level and appeared on some pathetic radio show that he hosts, clearly pointed out in his defense against racist accusations (as I mentioned in the comments section a few weeks ago) that he attempted to raise money for sick black children after he noticed an unusually large number of them had been stricken with sickle cell anemia. And when he attempted to raise money for the cause, and reached out to the Black Journalists Association, they did absolutely nothing to cooperate with his attempts to raise funds. A representative from that group claimed on that Sharpton show that they had been raising “awareness” of this disease for many years.. But the bottom line is Dollars raised.. And nothing they have done for fundraising compares to Imus.. A good analogy would be to compare ad revenue for Imus’s show vs. ad revenue for The Sharpton show that thankfully doesn’t pollute our local airwaves.
Lets get it straight.. I don’t believe that hating a person for his race makes any sense. Its kind of silly.. If youre going to dislike a person… hate them for their actions. The other idea to get straight.. Just like there is white racism against blacks.. there is black racism against whites. And black racists like Al Sharpton are no better than white racists.
Sharpton is a white hating anti semite….Just to review his sordid past which he responds to with his patented blank stare when responsible TV interviewers bring it up… He falsely accused a man of raping Tawana Brawley and ruined his career, even though it was later discovered that Brawley was a liar. Sharpton is not a real man.. Because a real man admits when he is wrong. If CBS loses an Imus suit, they will pay him. Sharpton was sued for libel by this poor man whose career was ruined by the Sharpton mid 80s witch hunt. Sharpton now owes him a ton of money and y’know what.. He hasn’t paid a penny. He started a riot in Crown Heights after a car accident killed a young black child… and as a result a young innocent man named Yankel Rosenbaum was brutally murdered by a mob that was started by Sharpton. And he complained about businessmen who were “white interlopers” who were working in Harlem. That “white interlopers protest” led to a fire at that store that killed seven people.
Sharpton wants to go after people who hurt the black community by attacking an old man radio host who the Rutgers women had never heard of. Why doesn’t Sharpton go after the drug dealers who hang outside the playgrounds of inner city school systems targeting young black children to use and/or resell the brain destroying products that make them rich and get them nice sports cars that young children drool over? Isnt that a bigger problem than people using words? I see he is protesting against rappers who use racist terms such as the “n” word.. Yet interestingly enough, white people don’t use that term in public… except for the extreme white supremacists… and nobody takes them seriously anyway. Where in the mainstream world do you hear those offensive words such as the “n” word? In rap songs…. And yet its been ok for those musicians to use a set of terms.. but forbidden to be used by anyone else.
Isn’t it time for Sharpton to be held accountable for his past and his hypocrisies?. Isiah Washington called his Greys Anatomy co star a faggot. His punishment is he must do public service announcements for a gay organization. Why does Washington keep his job and not Imus? And why doesn’t Sharpton protest ABC and terrorize them into firing Washington? If the shoe was on the other foot and the gay actor had called Washington by a black slur, Sharpton would have been shooting off his big mouth, Maybe we should hold them accountable by boycotting Grey’s Anatomy’s advertisers until Washington is fired, and boycotting Sharpton’s few advertisers until he starts protesting against Mr. Washington.
I wonder if Imus could turn back time and do it again… would he do the show and leave out that nappy headed ho comment? Of course it would break the cardinal rule of time travel… although I’m sure Governor Corzine would appreciate it, since he was en route to The Imus Rutgers Summit when he was critically injured in that car crash…
Now time for the Clip of the Week…
In honor of our 100th column… here is a clip from the old Radio archives. This comes from The Sussex County Fair in the early 90s when I went to Polish Night and heard the popular song.. 100 years, 100 years. Maybe they could change the word to 100 Columns??
Bonus Clip of The Week… Tom Poston died the other day at 85. Here is a clip from the short lived 2005 NBC show Committed where he played a clown who lived in Marnie’s closet. In this scene.. The series finale... Marnie realizes that thanks to the Clown’s wisdom that her boyfriend Nate is THE ONE! Who comes up with these characters names? Clown??
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