I Am A TV Junkie

Before HBO's Too Big To Fail This Monday Night, Watch This Great Behind the Scenes Feature

I caught this 20-minute behind the scenes feature on the upcoming HBO film of Andrew Ross Sorkin's book Too Big To Fail on air and thought I'd post it for those of you getting excited about this film's debut Monday night at 9.

Some amazing people attached including William Hurt as Hank Paulson (top of post) and Ed Asner doing a quite convincing Warren Buffet (image right).

What one of my favorite TV writers, Tim Goodman from THR, said:

Credit HBO for even tackling the subject, based on the best-selling book by New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin. No film studio would want to produce a complicated and ultimately depressing story about how greed nearly took down Wall Street and the entire economic infrastructure of first-world countries. Gordon Gekko is one thing, a cadre of people — real people — far worse than he is probably not going to be a popcorn movie.

But damned if "Fail" doesn't whittle down the whole sorry story into a mostly understandable and efficient movie that everybody should watch. And in a cast full of beautifully minimalist performances from superb actors, William Hurt gets to remind viewers who might have otherwise forgot just how great he can be.

Enjoy this feature, and make sure to watch the damn movie on Monday. It's after the jump.

Off-Topic: Another Take on Republican House Member Aaron Schock's Men's Fitness Cover

More from the makers of this mock cover, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, at this link. Schock's a pretty gay-unfriendly guy to have on the cover of American Media's most mass-market fitness pub for men, isn't he?

The original below.

Video -- @BronxZooCobra Takes Over RyanSeacrest.com & Then Returns Home

Oh, the little elves at Seacrest Web HQ have been working overtime!

(I just had a thought, how small do you have to be to be little elf for Seacrest? How do they take attendance, with a magnifying glass? Microscope?)

All the reptile-related pop music humor you can handle at RyanSeacrest.com.

Aren't there enough snakes in the music business?

A report on the return of the cobra to the Bronx Zoo from Today in a clip after the jumperoo. Good morning.

Video -- G4's Adam Sessler Says "Stop Being a Dick" to Bullies

Sessler, G4's game guru, gets it right. Thanks.

And hey you, gamer with the over-the-top smack talk, that means you, too. This gay-hating rhetoric thrown around in gaming circles has got to stop.

Video -- FunnyOrDie.com Takes on Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Thank you, Reno 911's Thomas Lennon (you look hot in leather and a 70s pornstache, you could be in a Joe Gage movie lookin' like that) who brought along his pals Sarah Silverman, Dave Holmes, John Cho and Alex Fernie.

Parody and satire, the only problem with it is we're raising a generation that isn't smart enough to understand either.

My List of Women on TV Who Should Be Sued For Emotional Distress Before the Kardashians

No doubt you've heard by now that a Pennsylvania inmate named D.J. Goodson (who by the way is not the same D.J. Goodson that has a Myspace page ... though I was amused that someone still does have a Myspace page) is suing the Kardashians for what he calls extreme emotional distress for having to watch them on the communal prison TV.

Harsh, huh? I mean, there are so many other people who are seen regularly on the tube that deserve to be sued before considering the three above and their various boyfriends, wackjob momagers, younger siblings who do age inappropriate photo shoots and of course former a Olympic champion, at least I think that's him (if you squint and think about Montreal it still looks like him).

So, I've taken it upon myself to start a list of those people. Play along. Please.

1. Nancy Grace

I don't even watch the channel and I see enough of her to know that she's more distressing, even more distressing than a round of "hey kim hey khlo hey court" on an endless audio loop.

And, not only is Grace the single most abrasive woman on television but she also invites other caustic people on her Headline News program to join her.

Now Nancy has a syndicated show. It didn't sell in San Diego so I've avoided the ads for it but I'm sure McHale and the gang at The Soup will be serving me hot steaming Grace until the show's hopeful demise.

All I know is that the image on the top left corner of the website has had some series photoshop done to it. She is certainly not that thin.

2. Suzi Barrett

You don't know her by name. She's the woman who used to get in the elevator with the 1-800-DENTIST guy. She annoys the fuck outta me.

Okay, I'm sure it was just the direction she was given by the director of the ad. The dialog didn't help, either. She actually made me like Fred Joyal and distract me from realizing that Fred isn't a dentist but an ad copywriter that just founded the service.

Now Suzi's on those Progressive Insurance ads with the group of employees in the office that have witty banter and all seem to tolerate each other despite being incredibly annoying archetypes, I know you've seen it.

She wrote for Current's infoMania for a while, she's a member of UCB/LA and I'm absolutely sure she has friends and her relatives think kindly of her. I'm trying to be nice.

3. Norah O'Donnell

Yes, the NBC News correspondent. I just don't like this woman. Don't you have that with some people, that there's just something, it might be her tone of voice or a way her face looks when she's talking into a mic, but she comes on the air and I just wanna throttle her.

Sorry, Norah. It's obviously nothing personal, I don't know you. You probably wouldn't like me, either. Why? I have very strong yet unsupported opinions, about you for example.

As much as I don't like Norah, however, Sarah Palin's fans like her even less, as you would know if you read Norah's Wikipedia page. They didn't like what they considered an ambush of a Palin supporter who she interviewed outside a book signing.

It wasn't of course, it was just O'Donnell doing her job.

Even with that my testicles pull up into my torso whenever Norah shows up on NBC.

Two more after the jumperoo.

Video (3 Clips) -- 2001: A Space Odyssey + LSD = Egyptian Theatre Freakout

This is a fine example of news being reported by the cloud, so to speak. Lotsa people with cameras on them means anyone can be a TV news reporter, at least on YouTube if nothing else, and from the comments I've read on the various clips posted their authors all rushed to the web to be first.

I have my own personal 2001 story, a family favorite in fact ...

In 1969 an eight-year-old Joe Bua (moi) put on his Navy pea coat and went with his family to what was at the time the Century Green Acres Theatre in Valley Stream, NY to see the big space epic from Kubrick. Had no idea who Kubrick was, of course, as I was eight years old.

Movie starts, young Joe freaks out. Space. It's ... so big ... vast ... I'm nothing compared to space, and especially in a dark theater with a flawless 70 mm print of the movie.

And the music ... loud, foreboding ... screaming inside ... too much to handle all at once.

So I picked up my coat, my Navy pea coat from the Army/Navy store that I begged my mom for instead of another parka (because I had seen hot Navy guys wearing them in stories of "shore leave" on the teevee) and I held the coat to my face and looked through a buttonhole at the screen so that it wouldn't be so overwhelming.

And that's how I watched most of the rest of the movie.

This guy had a completely different problem. Most everyone seems to agree this looks like a bad acid trip though one commenter at YouTube who claimed to be a row behind said it was something more violent, like meth, and that the guy struck a child in the crowd.

People, we have DVDs now and Netflix on demand and a gazillion cable channels. If you need to experience media while you're frakkin' wasted, stay at home.

Clips after the jump (I added a Hal clip from the movie, too, just for fun).

Clips from orchestra level (dark, shot with an iPhone, decent audio) and balcony level (much better visually).

Breaking From CNN: Shirley Sherrod On Refusing USDA Job Offer After Breitbart-Related Firing

You no doubt remember that Sherrod was booted from her job after rogue blogger Andrew Breitbart cut up a CSPAN clip to make her comments sound anti-white. Then everyone wents bonkers and on instruction from the White House Agri Sec'y Tom Vilsack canned her.

Then the whole clip was revealed and made everyone look like a horse's ass.

Now she's been offered two jobs at USDA but not the position from which she was fired, at least that's my understanding. And I completely understand why she wouldn't want to.

It's at this link. It's 15 minutes, pretty comprehensive. Take a look. She talks to CNN's Tony Harris.

Video -- On Jon Stewart's Index Card, Rupert Murdoch is a Terrorist

Watch it, click here for it.

If you don't get this, I can't help you, Jon can't help you, no one can help you.

Prop 8 Repeal -- Daily Show Coverage Hits It On The Head

See, I don't have to sit here and pound out my opinion of the decision and the ensuing tsuris because Jon and the Daily Show writers have done it for me.

And they skewer CNN's coverage while doing so, which is just a bonus, in my opinion. Let's just say Rick Sanchez isn't the most gay-aware anchor on the network.

(Then again, if you asked Anderson what Prop 8 was there's a chance he just might say, "I don't know what that means," which is his go-to line for anything he doesn't wanna talk about. There are now over 24,000 results from Google on that phrase and his name. Check it yourself here.)

Watch it, click this link for it. Stick with it for the Comic-Con reference, it's funny because it's (sometimes) true. Not everyone who shows up at the Con is a virgin, Jon. Especially the furries who schedule their play parties during the Con.

A Short Note on Chelsea's Wedding and the Associated Hubbub

The shorter version (because it's Sunday and I know you have to get to church Sunday School that tea dance at the Fire Island Pines): Why would I care what a hedge fund manager and her boyfriend, son of a disgraced congressman and his congressperson wife, do with their Saturday afternoon?

Something I love about America is that we have no royals. I hate the idea of royals, I hate the idea of royals being a tourist attraction, I hate the idea that someone by birthright is considered "better" than others.

Why do we spend any time or energy in the United States trying to replicate the royals thing? I dunno, but I don't like it.

Plus, she's a hedge fund manager, a HEDGE FUND MANAGER!

I hate the idea of hedge funds and their managers. I hate that only people with a load of cash can make decent money on their money in this economy (mostly because my money is making almost nothing thanks in part to the Fed lending money to corporations and other rich people for almost no interest).

(Yes, I said other rich people. Didn't you know? Corporations are people these days. I hate that, too.)

So you'll excuse me and others who can't get all jazzed about Chelsea and Marc's big day.

And one other thing, I don't think I'm alone in this. If no one had said anything on the news I don't think anyone would have cared a whit, short Vera Wang and the City of Rhinebeck, NY and the invited guests. This whole wedding thing has been shoved down our throats by news outlets who think that reading people's tweets on the air constitutes news (that's right, talkin' at you, Rick Sanchez ... and others).

With all the shit going down in this world right now I don't think we should spare any news time at all for the daughter of the former prez and the current Sec'y of State and her also privileged intended (now hubby).

An announcement in the NY Times Sunday Styles section would have been enough for me.

Then again, I guess it's better than having Rick Sanchez read tweets on the air.

Unless those tweets are mine.

Clip Bonanza -- @Maddow in Afghanistan: Talks to Matthews, Walks With Engel (and performs acts of brilliance)

First off, I want you to watch this clip from Hardball with Chris Matthews doing a very nice debriefing of Rachel about some policy issues and then getting to some human interest stuff about the trip itself, the task of newsgathering in a war zone Rachel's personal reactions to being in Kandahar and Kabul (and the differences between the effort in the two major Afghani cities.

Then, and most important here (and not just because it's the most chemistry-drenched relationship in the news business today), you must, MUST, watch Rachel walk the streets of these towns with NBC News' Richard Engel.

(Previous Maddow/Engel post at this link.)

And don't only watch these two clips (links in a bit) because at times it seems like the war correspondent version of Annie Hall and Alvy Singer walking through Kabul instead of the Upper West Side but because some great information is imparted and you really get to see what it's like there right now which is something we hardly ever get from the VERY FEW reports we see on the network evening newscasts.

Most important, in this clip (LINK) is some discussion of the big roccoco mansions that Afghan elites have built with US money (UGH!) and how those elites don't even live there having stored their families in other mideast countries during the fighting and are renting those mansions to foreign contractors for even more money.

And that's why Afghani elites don't want us to leave, they're making BANK!

That's not what I thought my tax dollars were supposed to be doing in Afghanistan, how 'bout you?

In this clip (LINK) Rachel and Richard walk through Chicken Street (business district) and shop for emeralds and the ugliest rug I've ever seen. And also talk a lot of policy. Seriously, watch both these clips, if not for the info at least so that you can say you saw it when the Maddow show wins a Pulitzer for this stuff next year.

Because I think they will.

The best reporting I have seen from Afghanistan, hands down, in ... forever. 

Funny, I can't remember the last time a Fox News personality reported live from Kabul. I guess they're too busy writing novels and blaming Obama for stuff Bush actually did.

Video -- FactCheck.Org on CA Governor: "Republican Meg Whitman is Making False Claims"

What? A corporate fat cat who once allegedly pushed an underling in a conference room so hard she had to pay out $200,000 in damages (additional link), with Goldman Sachs money allegedly stashed away in offshore havens for the wealthy lied about her opponent for California governor in a TV ad?

Really?

Well bend me over and ... oh, sorry, just lost my train of thought.

Meg (seen above with the only celebrity enough of a loser to hang with her) got slammed today by FactCheck.org for this ad (LINK) that's been running like oil out of a BP pipe in the Gulf thanks to Meg's millions and millions of expendable dollars.

And, she's still being iffy on debates. Tell Meg to agree to debates the way I do it, blog about it or tweet about it or join that Queen Meg Facebook group and while you're doing all that ask her why she never voted for 28 years.

I just wanna know why. Why, Meg? Why didn't you vote? We already know it "wasn't the right thing to do," we're not idiots, we vote!

But why?

And another thing, why did the guy who took over for you at eBay set about undoing all the things you did there if you were such a big deal? Because that's what this NY Times page says.

Video -- Supreme Ct. Nom Kagan, Team Edward or Team Jacob?

I know, the suspense is killing you.

The whole Twilight series has me thinking about hara kiri, however.

Get Elena Kagan's answer from this CNN clip (LINK).

Yes, I'm sometimes a hit count whore.

Video -- The BP Oil Spill Re-enacted by Cats in (Just Over) One Minute

Yes, Lindsay Lohan was actually part of the failed junk shot.

Fitting?

A great clip from Tremendous News that could have only been better with the addition of Matt Berry.

Video -- While BP Fouls the Earth, Watch This UCB Clip From Their "Spokesperson"

Just part of your daily infusion of BP-related comedic parody, because if you don't laugh you might end up crying.

Also, remember to keep following @BPGlobalPR (but not really them) at this link at Twitter.

Check it out from the Upright Citizens Brigade website, just click this link.

When @MichaelSheen Plays BP's Tony Hayward in the Movie of All This ...

And he will (I mean just look at them side by side, could anyone else?) I just know that the key to the role is getting this one line reading correct ... and you can watch that clip by clicking this link.

But not to worry, Michael, we still think that you are awfully scrummy, scrummier than Hayward but then the actors are always better looking than the people they're playing. And of course Sheen is fine actor, which I must add because I'm trying not to objectify men who also have talent.

Now if you're some reality show stooge with a six-pack you're fair game as far as I'm concerned but Michael Sheen and men of his caliber need to be respected ... while I'm objectifying them.

BTW, please click over to the Twitter account for @BPGlobalPR which isn't at all a BP Twitter account and follow them, some of the best satire on the whole affair you can find. And when you're sitting at home feeling powerless about the whole thing at least you can laugh a little.

Then stop buying their products, of course. And know that they don't just do oil and gas, in fact there's a BP solar farm ... oh, it's in Arizona.

Man, these people can't do anything right, can they.

Dear Today Show (who showed me Somalis with cut off hands during my breakfast)

Thanks, Today show, I wasn't interested in those waffles anyway.

Couldn't you just tell me about it? Or, maybe at least give me a moment of two of warning before you show me the stumps two young men who were accused of stealing in the lawless, goverment-less country and had their hands brutally chopped off?

What's a quick moment of warning between friends. Yes, I do consider us friends ... I've been visiting you since I was a very little boy, every morning without fail. Never CBS or ABC but you guys, the chime crew, the peacock people.

Maybe I've misconstrued our relationship? Shall I reassess? It would be easy for me to find something else to do in the morning.

Consider this a reminder that you are a show that people start watching before they've even finished their coffee.

Don't get me wrong, it's an important story that people need to hear, but maybe you give them a little warning first, or you air the piece later in the day, like during Nightly News. I'm sure Richard Engel wouldn't mind that.

So important, in fact, that I'm posting it here. Watch it by clicking this link.

But be warned, it's tough to see.

Also, I notice Donny Deutsch is back at Rockefeller Plaza. Not long after he was dumped from his week at MSNBC for the de facto claim that MSNBC talent (Olbermann) is angry and part of the problem with the political process.

Donny, that was just a dumb move for you and your producer. You deserved to be tossed out the building. Now that you're back (with Hoda on the fourth hour of this show subbing for KLG) try not to diss the people you work with on air.

It's unseemly.

In My Local Paper -- Shopflifting Couple on Dr. Phil Sent to Jail (and the judge has something for him, too)

San Diego Union-Tribune, this morning:

In retrospect, going on the “Dr. Phil” television show to talk about their shoplifting exploits did not — to paraphrase the good doctor — work very well for Matthew and Nora Eaton.

The San Marcos husband and wife, who went on the popular show and trumpeted their moneymaking scheme of shoplifting toys and reselling them on the Internet, were sentenced to prison yesterday by a federal judge.

And Dr. Phil McGraw didn’t get off too easy, either.

Okay. First, Dr. Phil getting off? Not something I wanna think about.

But, here's what the judge, the Hon. Irma Gonzalez, had to say at the Eaton's trial not just about the San Marcos couple but also McGraw.

Gonzalez had little sympathy for Matthew Eaton, calling his conduct in running the scheme over two years “despicable.”

But first she went off on McGraw, the TV psychologist who dispenses help on his syndicated show with such catchphrases as the sharp “Get real!” the disdainful “How’s that working for you?” and the unusual “Did you fall out of the dumb tree?”

“What a charlatan this man is,” the judge said during the hearing. “What a terrible, terrible man.”

Gonzalez was perturbed that McGraw holds himself out as a doctor wishing to help. But, the judge said to Matthew Eaton, “he obviously didn’t help you.”

Matthew Eaton’s lawyer said the couple went on the show seeking help for their chronic shoplifting problem. On the program, however, they came across as bragging about their exploits and not appearing particularly troubled.

Instead of helping them, producers egged them on to exaggerate their cases, said defense lawyer Leila Morgan. And the only help they got was free copies of McGraw’s books, she said.

Charlatan. Terrible. Not my words, this is a judge talking.

I mean, I agree with her, but I would have used more colorful language.

This Just In: "Our Advice is to Never Cook After Drinking - Please Prepare a Sandwich"

Good advice from our Welsh friends, via BBC News:

Firefighters have warned of the dangers of cooking after drinking - and suggested making a sandwich before going out or buying a takeaway.

It follows the rescue on Saturday of a man in Llanllechid, near Bangor, Gwynedd, from a fire that started when he fell asleep with the cooker on.

Even if you're not drinking like a Welshman (Craig Ferguson tells me they can put it away) picking up something at the drive-thru is just easier.

Just be careful of police staking out drive-thru windows around the time your local watering holes kick you out. And, obviously, drinking and driving is to be avoided as well as drinking and cooking.

G'day.

FunnyorDie.com Video -- Who's the Old Lady in the Bathtub? It's #HeidiMontag!

I get the joke, Heidi making a pitch for gov't regulation of credit cards (after she bought those 10 procedures on her plastic). But, Speidi has always supported Rethuglican causes in the past, and this is hardly a Rethuglican cause.

In fact the vast majority of those on the right object to any regulation of the banking or credit industries. Why? Because that's where their campaign money comes from.

Yes, also people on the left, but mostly the right.

Watch the clip here. Click over to the site set up by the proponents of the Consumer Financial Protection Act at this link.

Finally, the number in the image above is for you to call Richard Shelby and Chris Dodd, two senators key in this bill's passage, and also in the tub above. Call them.

Now.

And I'm sorry I made you look at the horrifying plastic surgery victim. I owe you one.

Austin, TX Plane Crash Coverage -- From YouTube, KXAN Austin, CNN, MSNBC

Breaking news with some disturbing details ... click over to HuffPo for more, video links below.

A YouTube playlist I just put together with local coverage, mobile phone video and some witness interviews (LINK)

CNN's Blitzer  interviews a guy who ran into burning building after the plane crash (LINK)

NBC News Pete Williams on the pilot, Joe Steck,  and the alleged suicide note posted on his website (LINK)

That note, which is much longer than a note and truthfully falls somewhere between screed and manifesto (LINK)

How the BBC is covering the story (LINK)

Super Bowl Related Email From Planned Parenthood -- Read It Here!

This morning in my inbox ...

Dear Joseph,

By now you've most likely heard all about it — the anti-choice group Focus on the Family is spending millions to run an ad during the Super Bowl featuring football player Tim Tebow and his mom talking about a deeply personal medical decision she made years ago. She decided to continue her pregnancy against medical advice, due to what had been diagnosed as a high-risk pregnancy.

People have been asking us at Planned Parenthood what we think about the ad and Mrs. Tebow's decision. It's simple. Planned Parenthood respects the right of every woman to make important medical decisions for herself.

Mrs. Tebow weighed medical and moral considerations and decided what was right for her. She made her choice in private, and without government interference. That's exactly what we want every woman to be able to do.

The truth is, the Tebows' experience is completely consistent with what Planned Parenthood doctors and nurses have learned from the millions of women they've served over nearly a century. Women take decisions about their health very seriously. They consider their doctors' advice, they talk with their loved ones and people they trust, including religious leaders, and they carefully weigh all considerations before making the best decision for themselves and their families.

That's the way it should be. And that should be our shared goal — on Super Bowl Sunday and every day. I hope you'll show your support for ensuring that every woman makes her own personal medical decisions by adding your name to a brief statement from Planned Parenthood.

Thank you for joining with us today.

Sincerely,


Cecile Richards, President

Planned Parenthood Federation of America

All that anyone's asking for is to be able to make the choice that's right for them, a choice that, btw, happens outside of the realm of other people's beliefs, because we are not a theocracy we are a democratic republic that recongnizes the right of people to have faith while at the same time ensuring that people who have a different faith or are non-believers are protected as well.

I just don't understand why that is so damned hard for some of our citizens to understand.

I'm talking to you, Scott Roeder.

Of course some, including Gloria Allred, have suggested the whole Mrs. Tebow story that is the basis for the ad is a fabrication, read more about that at RadarOnline.com.

But people who go to church and bring up God every chance they get wouldn't lie, would they?

Would they?

Haiti Relief Telethon Details, Friday Jan. 22 on Broadcast Nets, MTV Networks Channels, CNN

From the press release:

In response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti, MTV Networks is presenting "Hope for Haiti," a global telethon to air commercial-free across ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and 7:00 p.m. CT.  “Hope for Haiti ” will also be made available to MTV Networks International, CNN International and National Geographic channels worldwide.

Leading the charge for “Hope for Haiti ” will be George Clooney in Los Angeles , Wyclef Jean in New York City and CNN’s Anderson Cooper from Haiti .  The two-hour telethon will be broadcast from New York City and Los Angeles , and will feature musical performances and celebrity appearances to be announced prior to the event, as well as live news reports from CNN.  "Hope for Haiti " will be produced by Joel Gallen, Tenth Planet Productions, in collaboration with MTV Networks and George Clooney.

All proceeds will be split evenly among five relief organizations currently operating in Haiti : Oxfam America , Partners in Health, the Red Cross, UNICEF and Yele Haiti Foundation (www.yele.org -- text to give at 501501).  Facebook and MySpace have also signed on as official social media partners to help drive donations and tune-in to the telethon.

Of course, you can also click the link at the top of my second column to donate to Oxfam America's site directly.

Ladies & Gentlemen, For the First Time At This Blog, Sir Patrick Stewart (Let's Celebrate With Some Clips)

Well, not in person, obviously ... it's just a computer ... it's not magic.

CNN:

The 69-year-old Yorkshire, England, native tops the list of those receiving New Year's honors from Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, the Cabinet Office announced Thursday.

Stewart, well-known for playing Capt. Jean-Luc Picard on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," will receive a knighthood. It means he will now be known in Britain as "Sir Patrick."

So, here's some clips ...

ITN Story on yesterday's knighthood

Stewart on Extras with Gervais

Contemplating the letter "B" on Sesame Street

On the bridge of the Enterprise singing A ... You're Adorable for Gene Roddenberry on his birthday 

And finally ...

...Patrick speaking out about domestic violence in his own life for Amnesty International

Congratulations, Captain!

Face Off! MTV Guidos/Guidettes v. New Jersey Italian American Legislative Caucus

Did anyone even know there was a group called the New Jersey Italian American Legislative Caucus? I have to ask that because I've been going through a Google search of the group's name and every hit so far has to do with this particular story.

I've yet to see any mention of this group of state and local legislators in Jersey without a reference to the show.

Which of course leads me to ask, "Is this group trying to make political hay for itself on the backs of a bunch of 20-somethings on an MTV reality show?"

Because, New Jersey Italian American Legislative Caucus, it kind of looks exactly like that. And, the claim in the letter you sent to Viacom asking them to cancel the show that equates the show with a hate crime (really?), is a huge stretch.

A state senator from the Seaside Heights area, Joseph Vitale, and Richard Bilotti, the chairman of the New Jersey Italian and Italian American Heritage Commission have publicly stated in this document that "The bias-related acts displayed by employees of MTV Networks in the production and marketing of Jersey Shore by their nature, are confrontational, inflame tensions and promote social hostility. These acts are contrary to the spirit of New Jersey law and jeopardize the active and open pursuit of freedom and opportunity."

(Vickie Hyman at the Newark Star-Ledger has more.)

Oh, and the Star-Ledger intimates that people "like Pauly Delvecchio ... and his out-of-state ilk" are somehow culpable in a conspiratorial way in the caption that accompanies the short item just by virtue of not being Jersey residents.

Poor Pauly, poor Rhode Island, poor Guidos.

If these protesters can prove that before this show started shooting last summer that Seaside Heights had never seen a fist pumping or a hot tub filled with barely legals of both sexes polluting the water with hair product while exchanging saliva, I think they might have a case.

And good luck with that. No, seriously, good luck.

And, btw, hate crime legislation is very specific and very important and to "go there" shows contempt not only for the hate crimes laws that have been so hard to get on the books but the people those laws protect.

So there.

Is Glee's Sue Sylvester Ryan Murphy's Analogue For The Republican Party?

On my way through Southern Orange County today I was listening to Randi Rhodes on KTLK AM 1150 Progressive Talk, a station I can just hardly get in my new neighborhood in North San Diego County and she was talking about how last night in the middle of the night the Republicans in the Senate decided to attempt to filibuster the military spending bill so they could bring the legislative body to a standstill and thus hold up the health care bill.

(Yes, I have problems with that bill as it reads currently, a lot of problems, but that's neither here nor there for this discussion.)

Washington Post:

Part of that effort played out on the $626 billion spending bill for the Defense Department. If the filibuster on the defense bill succeeded, Democrats would have to scramble to find a way to fund the military operations because a stopgap funding measure expires at midnight Friday. Such an effort might have distracted from the health-care legislation for a day or two, disrupting the very tight time line on health care.

"I don't want health care," Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) said in explaining his support of a filibuster. He is a member of the Appropriations Committee, which crafted the Pentagon funding bill.

Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Richard C. Shelby (Ala.) and Christopher "Kit" Bond (Mo.) admitted they support the spending bill but acknowledged they were considering opposing it because of the health-care debate.

Democrats were furious. They believed they had a deal with Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.), the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, to support the bill, but by Thursday night Cochran was saying he was unsure how he would vote.

Cochran, even after getting all his earmarks, still voted against the appropriations bill, without which our soldiers literally wouldn't have gotten their next paychecks. Def. Sec'y Gates had to spank them in letter form entered into the public record it was so evil.

McCain tried to say it was the earmarks that he opposed. $44 million of those earmarks were expressly for Cochran's congressional district.

Republicans -- using your fighting men and women as pawns in their twisted desire to prevent you from getting affordable health care and to save all those campaign contributions they get from the insurance companies and Big Pharma.

Right Joe Lieberman (above left)? Douche.

Anyhow I started to think about Republicans and how what they do is obstruct and prevent and block discussion and an accurate dispersal of the facts and ignore science and invoke conspiracy theories as valid debate points.

I flashed on a face, the face here to the left, Glee's Sue Sylvester. How she is driven to make sure Mr. Shue fails and Glee Club dies so she can get the budget dollars back to her Cheerios cheer squad, which already gets so much cash in alumni donations it doesn't even matter.

And I thought about how Sue opposes anything that has to do with Glee, leaks their set list for Sectionals to the opposition, forces Figgins (above right) to follow every technicality when supervising Shue's kids but look the other way when Sue's cheer squad accepts free swag and even sold their Cedar Point tix on eBay and kept the cash!

She's consistently breaking the rules while breaking Glee's ass over a stack of mattresses of marginal quality that they didn't even ask for or technically accept ... she battles reasoned debate with name calling and vitriol, gets in Shue's face, uses intimidation and fear to control Figgins.

She's the Republican Party.

I knew I really hated Sue for a reason. Usually when someone I love as much as Jane Lynch plays a baddie I can find a way to like the character a bit. I can't with Sue, I just can't stand Sue Sylvester.

And now I know why.

Honestly, there was one moment so far in the series that I've liked Sue, and of course it's when she visits her developmentally disabled big sister Jane who lives in a care facility.

I found a different analogue there. Regarding the question of gay people coming out, the argument's always been (and I agree) that coming out is critical to mass acceptance because when straight people once biased against gay people in their own lives who get to know them most often find those biases fall away.

Sue accepted Becky Jackson onto the squad because she loves her sister with Down's Syndrome.

Dick Cheney doesn't take an ultra-conservative stand on same-sex marriage because he loves his daughter Mary and his granddaughter who has two mommies (just like Heather).

If you're out at work and you're a good person and a productive team player, the people you work with will consider the positive interaction with the gay person at work when considering supporting legislation like equal marriage rights for all.

And like that.

That Ryan Murphy, bringing us song AND a subtext. Thank you, Ryan. Looking forward to Idina's first episode, soon.

Video -- Olbermann's Right, Kill the Healthcare Bill; Link to My Daily Kos Diary Called "Screw You Pelosi"

Not health, not care, not reform. 

Watch it at this link.

Pelosi's office practically hung up on me to boot. The second I said I was a lifelong Democrat her office sent me to voicemail without even telling me that they were doing it.

The California-based Democratic Speaker of the House's office dissed a California Democrat. No one disses me without me hitting back.

Read my Daily Kos diary today at this link, which includes ...

Screw you Nancy Pelosi, I'm not going to support a healthcare bill that ends up being a giveaway to the insurance companies just so you and our ball-less President can say they got a bill passed.

I'm a lifelong Democrat and a 25 year resident of the State of California, and I refuse to be treated in this way by the President I voted for and a purported Democratic leader in the House who can't stand up to Congresspeople from her own party.

It's not just Lieberman, it's not just the insurance companies' astroturfing campaigns, it's the failed Democratic leadership in the House, in the Senate and in the White House that led to this debacle. This bill is now a giveaway to the insurance companies. We will be mandated to buy coverage and if not we'll be fined, labeled lawbreakers.

I have other options to get my healthcare, options that would actually allow me to get my healthcare for free. I never have gone that route, thinking other people needed that safety net more than I do. I'm now going to consider that over giving these insurance companies more of my money.

As Keith says, it's immoral and a betrayal to the people who elected Democrats overwhelmingly to the House and drove President Obama to a seven point victory in '08.

Your President has no balls. Sans Testicles. Lacks cojones.

He's shown himself to be an outright pussy and I'm done.

DONE!

Must-See Maddow & Daily Show Tonight -- Gay Reparative Therapist Cohen & Clemmons Clemency-Granting Gov. Huckabee

UPDATE: The Maddow interview with Richard Cohen, and further comment from yours truly is at this link.

(Gotta go with Maddow first today ... mostly because it's the lighter, less horrifying story of the two and I have to write a little before I can even think about the mass-murder of police officers. Of course, this Cohen guy might have a connection to the Uganda kill you if you're gay law, but this Clemmons guy in Washington State has already killed, so ... actually, neither is a good choice for the first post of the day. But I digress.)

You might remember purported ex-gay and former Unification Church member Richard Cohen (not Meredith Viera's husband, it's a common name) from the CNN segment a while back (LINK) where he claimed that he could cure "the gay" by cuddling with his clients and having them hit a pillow with a tennis racket while blaming their moms for screwing them up.

(Mom, if you're reading this, I have never blamed you for making me gay. I blame all the fabulous show tunes we listened to when I was a kid. I'm kidding, boys and girls.)

Rachel has Richard Cohen on the air tonight at 9 eastern for an interview, should be a doozy. Set your DVR or watch it live or I'll have it for you here tomorrow ... but do see this. Not only is Cohen actively engaged in a profession that has been deemed dangerous by the American Psychiatric Association but it seems his teachings have been connected to the attempt to make homosexuality a crime punishable by death in Uganda.

Rachel's preview of the interview from last night's show at this link. More from ExGayWatch.com at this link.

The Huckabee appearance on The Daily Show and what I expect him to ask the former Arkansas Governor after the jump.

Four Episodes In, Not Back Till March, But I Have a V Problem (and I don't mean vajayjay)

(I'll never have a vajayjay problem, as you know I'm not interested in such.)

But, I am having problems with ABC's reboot of V, and not just because Agent Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell) lives in a lovely little Craftsman-style home ... in the middle of Manhattan!

As if!

(C'mon, ABC, I know you're working in Vancouver and trying to make it look like NYC, but the house Erica and son Tyler live in would never ever ever exist in Manhattan, and if it did it would cost much more than an FBI field agent's salary could afford.)

My problem with V came to a boil this past week when it was revealed that the Visitors were messing with the flu shot inventory and unleashing this R6 substance that will do ... well, I'm not quite sure what.

I have to agree with the blog Show Me SciFi, where it says:

I knew there was a good reason why we didn’t get the H1N1 vaccine.

BUT THE WHAT THE FRAK? Does ABC have no ethics? Plant a story about the flu vaccine being a route for alien control? Really? Aren’t people scared enough about the Flu vaccine already?

Answer to that? This is the same company (Disney) that wouldn't release Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 because of what some say was pressure from the Bush administrations both in Washington and Tallahassee (Jeb) for fear of losing tax breaks on real estate in Orlando. Make up your own mind.

More after the jump.

Video -- Sarah Silverman Wants to Sell the Vatican to End World Hunger

I agree. That's some great real estate ... and the stuff inside is worth some serious coin.

Mouths fed, bodies clothed, roofs built ... it's a winner of an idea.

Plus, I betcha she could get Christopher Hitchens on board. Just earmark a few bucks for an open bar at the demolition ceremony and he'll be there.

I don't think she's kidding. I'm not. Why does the Pope wear Prada?

If you wanna read some hateful anti-Jewish comments, though, you can click to the YouTube page and read some really horrific stuff coming out of the mouths of Christians. Stupid Christians that can't spell, but Christians still. They suggest that Sarah sell Israel, as if she owns it. You know, because she's a Jew.

I don't even think Sarah's that observant a Jew, but that doesn't matter to these people, they have aliases and a YouTube account and they hate Jews. That's license to be a bigot in 2009.

Clip after the jump. Remember that my comments are moderated, btw. And Sarah's not suggesting that the Catholic Church be sold or destroyed or anything like that, she just thinks that one of the world's great religions should put their money where their faith is.

I think.

Video -- Olbermann's Full Hour on Healthcare Reform: Links and Clips and Keith's Pledge

I have to point out here that no one opposed to healthcare reform could p0ssibly do an entire hour on the subject without seriously compromising their position. Why? Because when you lie to support your argument, and the only way to defend one's objection to healthcare reform that includes a public option or even a single-payer system (which isn't even on the table, dammit) is to lie, the more you talk the more your house of cards falls in on itself.

Do you have 42-plus minutes to learn the facts about the healthcare reform debate? Click this link and watch Keith's entire hour on the topic.

After the jump, watch Keith's emotional, heartfelt pledge to show his support for American health reform by donating to the National Associations of Free Clinics to offer a free clinic every week in the capitol cities of the states of the six Democratic senators standing in the way of health reform in the Senate.

Who are those six senators?

• Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas)
  
• Mark Pryor (Arkansas)
  
• Ben Nelson (Nebraska)
• Mary Landrieu (Louisiana)
• Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader, Nevada)
  
• Max Baucus (Montana)

Those links will take you to their Senate websites.

I'll go one further than Keith ... if you live in one of those states and it was your US Senator that blocked healthcare reform, make sure he or she knows that you are actively searching for a primary challenger for their next election.

Yes, even the majority leader. He may be a keen backroom negotiator but I've had serious issues with his "leadership style" since he got the post.

And, details for MSNBC Countdown viewer participation will be forthcoming.

Clip after the jump.

2 Clips -- Breaking: Roman Polanski Arrested at Zurich Airport, Could Face Extradition

He was on his way to the Zurich Film Festival where he was to receive an award and a tribute to his career was to take place.

Festival homepage says:

The planned "A Tribute to ..." Award that was to be presented to film maker Roman Polanski tonight has been postponed to an indefinite future date. Roman Polanski, one of the greatest film directors of our time would have received an award for his life's achievement at the Zurich Film Festival. However, he was detained by the police upon his entry at Zurich Airport. His detention is linked to the demand by US-authorities to a warrant for his arrest in 1978.

The festival directors have received this news with great consternation and shock. They have decided that the "A Tribute to ... Roman Polanski" night will take place as planned.

NY Times:

Assuming Mr. Polanski does not waive his right to appeal, he can challenge both the arrest warrant and any eventual extradition order, Mr. (Guido) Balmer (spokesman for the Swiss Federal Justice Department) said, and appeal both issues in the Swiss federal penal court of justice. If he were to lose those appeals, he could then get a final hearing on both issues at the Federal Court of Justice.

It was 31 years ago when Polanski was convicted in abstentia of luring a 13-year-old girl back to the home of Jack Nicholson and engaging in sexual acts with her.

The events surrounding the arrest and trial of Polanski on these charges were detailed in the HBO documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. It one two primetime Emmys this month, for writing and direction.

Trailer and interview with director Marina Zenovich after the jump.

Funny or Die Video -- The Real Victims: Health Insurance Executives

Will Ferrell, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde, Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant, Masi Oka, Jordana Spiro, Linda Cardellini and Donald Faison didn't take a damn nickel for being in this very very important message.

Great news for all the people profiled on this page at SickForProfit.com, including Stephen J. Hemsley, Edward Hanway, Michael McCallister, Ronald A. Williams, Allen Wise and Angela Braly. You really need to click over there and see exactly what kind of money these people are making.

If they don't keep making money, who's gonna be able to buy all the pink unicorns for their kids? You don't think pink unicorns exist? You don't know people who make this kind of money.

After the jump. Unfortunately, I don't think a lot of people who have been whipped up by the fringe media are smart enough to understand parody. 

Is CNBC's Maria Bartiromo as Dumb as a Stump or Disingenuous?

I thought this would be an appropriate photo to use for this post, as it illustrates that in the United States in 2009 you don't need to be smart to succeed, you just have to be prettier than the other people that do your job (if you're on TV) and you have to be willing to shill for the core group that either directly or indirectly pays your salary.

In the case of CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, it's the companies that she reports on who she needs access to that fuels the direction of her reporting. In this case, insurance companies and the medical-industrial complex.

In an interview with NY Congressman Anthony Weiner, the strongest congressional voice in the healthcare debate, she asks him if Medicare, that single payer system run by the government that is a prime example of how it works well, is so good why isn't he on it.

Of course, the 44-year-old Weiner is not allowed, because of his age, to be on Medicare.

Apparently that isn't enough of a reason for Bartiromo, who scoffed at his response.

Moron. Shill. Ideologue. Take you're pick.

Watch it at HuffPo at this link. I would have you click over to CNBC, but interestingly of all the Maria clips they have posted there they don't have this one.

If VH1 and 51 Minds DID Vet Ryan Jenkins, Why Didn't They Find His Previous Mugshots?

I have to ask this because it seems that the press had no problem finding the front view and side view images that have been floating around the web of Jenkins from a previous booking, apparently north of the US border in Canada where the guy lives and is purported to be right now on the run from international authorities after his wife of a few days, Jasmine Fiore, was found dead without her teeth or fingertips intact stuffed into a suitcase and tossed into an apartment building's trash bin in my local area, just a few minutes from here in Buena Park, CA.

(And, btw, regarding the Buena Park P.D., why was it that I overheard the details of the teeth and fingertips hours before it was announced to the press because I just happened to overhear someone's conversation about the news that morning? The BPPD has some leakage that they need to sure up before another high profile case comes their way. If I knew, then a lot of people knew this detail about the murder before the info was made available to the press. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.)

It took moments, it seems, for the press to find the mugshots from a previous run-in with the law (Lisa de Moraes at the Washington Post):

Jenkins, who was known as the Smooth Operator on the VH1 reality series, also has a criminal record in his hometown of Calgary Canada, having been sentenced to 15 months probation in 2007 on an unspecified assault charge, the (Orange County Register) adds.

What does VH1 says about this?

From their statement of August 19:

Ryan Jenkins was a contestant on Megan Wants A Millionaire, an outside production, produced and owned by 51 Minds, that is licensed to VH1. The show completed production at the end of March. Given the unfortunate circumstances, VH1 has postponed any future airings. This is a tragic situation and our thoughts go out to the victim’s family.

51 Minds (click this link to see their slate of US shows) is an Endemol company, Endemol being an global media company that at least here in the US specializes in what US TV audiences consider cheesy reality formats and that I consider projects that specialize in displaying the worst that North America has to offer for your review and derision.

Like a guy who allegedly would pull out the teeth and cut off the fingers of a woman he quickly married and got annulled from who lives in Calgary, Alberta.

And Big Brother.

Both the cable network's and the producers' site have been scrubbed of almost all the content relating to this show and the upcoming I Love Money 3, of which this Jenkins guy was also a part.

I guess that was a spoiler, huh? Because if he wins the Megan show, does the guy go on to the Money show? I dunno why a guy who is a millionaire would go on a show where the object is to win money and debase himself on camera, but apparently he did and VH1 or 51 Minds has to eat the cost of that show, too.

I'm fine with that. It's as if they're being fined for not properly vetting the guy in the first place.

What the company told TMS, and more, after the jump.

Daily Show Uncensored-Uncut Video -- Betsy McCaughey Is a Bumbling Liar

She can't even find the pages where her supposed facts are. She makes wild assumptions and major leaps. She talks over Stewart, she shrugs, she uses ridiculous anecdotal evidence.

This is what you got, Republicans? This is who you listen to? Hey, Chuck Grassley, this is your health care reform guru? All these years in the Senate and this is the woman you take your cues from?

Watch the whole uncut, uncensored interview after the jump. Especially you, Sarah Palin.

Stewart: "I like you, I just don't know how your brain works."

She claims she's been reading legislation for years, but she's been lying about legislation for years, too. As we reported yesterday at this link.

Cue the recording of Yakkity Sax. She has that much credibility.

Please Excuse the Misleading, Lying, Manipulative Ads On This Homepage

Apparently Google AdSense is serving them up because I went kind of heavy on the healthcare reform posts today.

No, Obama isn't a Socialist. If he is then every Republican who voted for the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit is one as well.

And, all you people who use Medicare, I guess you're Socialists too.

Which is a hoot when you consider that all these crazy yeahoots taking their marching orders from Dick Armey and Freedomworks are all happy to accept Medicare and Social Security, which are both social programs.

These idiots use the words Socialist, Nazi, Communist and Marxist interchangeably because they have no idea what any of them mean. Because when they went to school (public school, another social program folks!) they weren't listening or they just didn't get it.

Know the difference, be a better person. Learn something.

I can't control the AdSense content, but I can dispute the ads and take their money at the same time.

Which is a winning formula for me.

Maddow Video -- Public Option: Online Pal Jane Hamsher on Democrats Getting a Spine

Jane is the founder of the blog Firedoglake.com, a site I don't visit enough. Fortunately I'm on her email list and from time to time she pops up on my TV, which is the perfect place to go if you wanna get the attention of your TV Junkie.

Rachel starts by recounting the weekend activity from top Democrats regarding pulling back from the public option and the outrage they heard via email and phone and blogs and social media that made them change their tune very quickly.

Though they don't quite admit that they're feeling the heat. Why is it that people in power, no matter what the party, think we're either not paying attention or are too stupid to see that they're, well ... pussying out?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is not one person in the Senate or House who calls themselves a Republican who wants to work to achieve a mutually acceptable solution.Their plan is to oppose everything, create gridlock and push the meme of a "Do Nothing Congress" in the 2010 races.

(If I'm wrong about that use the comments and tell me who they are and I'll prove you wrong. Because it's just that easy.)

We should have pushed through health care reform under the budget reconciliation rules which would have only required 51 votes in the Senate and it would have been done.

There are two parties in this country. The party of no (Republicans) and the party of no balls (Democrats). We need to fix that.

Clip after the jump.

Widget that you can use to find healthcare reform events in your community from Jane's blog below.

"Rev. Harry Jackson Lies on Camera" Video -- He Still Claims Healthcare Bill Includes Free Abortions

These people call themselves prominent African-Americans.

They aren't. They are fringe elements, and who knows why they're going this. Maybe they're getting money under the table from Dick Armey and Freedomworks, maybe they just don't know how to read or how to listen to the President who has made it ultimately clear that there is no funding for abortion in any version of the healthcare legislation being proposed.

I can't imagine why a leader of a Black church would not want his members getting better and less expensive access to health care.

BTW, Rev. Harry Jackson, the guy in question here is also virulently anti-gay. Read more about him at Joe. My. God. at this link.

More on Jackson from People for the America Way and the clip in question from the National Press Club after the jump.

BBC Tackles Lehman Bros. Collapse in New TV Movie Starring James Cromwell

This is the second time that Mother Beeb has taken on the financial collapse of September 2008 in this form. Previously Freefall, a dramatized examination of the mortgage collapse from a more general point of view ran on BBC Two in July and starred Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia) and Aiden Gillen (Queer as Folk, The Wire).

From the BBC Press Office:

James Cromwell (Six Feet Under, 24, W, LA Confidential), James Bolam (New Tricks), Ben Daniels (Law And Order: UK, The Passion), Michael Landes (Love Soup, Material Girl) and Corey Johnson (Spooks, United 93, The Bourne Ultimatum) will star in The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers, a BBC Drama Production for BBC Two.

A work of fiction inspired by the real events that took place on the weekend of 12 September 2008, The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers tells the story of what happened the weekend that Lehman's Bank went to the wall.

It's slated for Fall on BBC Two.

What I would love to know is who's playing Hank Paulson and how much will they get into the allegations that Paulson didn't save Lehman because as a long time head of rival Goldman Sachs he had an axe to grind with the company?

There's also been a great deal made in the press (and denials thereof) of a personal feud between Lehman's Dick Fuld and Paulson. It will be interesting to see if this is brought out in the film.

Cromwell is certainly the right body type to play Paulson, and suprisingly (to me, anyway) is only 6 years older than the former Treasury Secretary under George W. Bush. See the comparison in the images above right.

If anyone is going to play Fuld of those mentioned, based on looks it would be Bolam, a veteran of British television.

I do realize that most of you reading this (my US readers) won't get a chance to see this unless PBS brings it over. I would think the only chance of that would be to couple it with Freefall and run it one night in the Masterpiece Contemporary (new season hosted by David Tennant) timeslot. Though Freefall has a runtime of 89 minutes, this new project is slated for a 60-minute window on the BBC, which makes foreign sale a bit tricky.

Though I'm sure that it will be readily available to those who get their UK television by nefarious means. You know who you are.

Ben Daniels (Law and Order: UK) will also be featured, as well as Alex Jennings (The Queen) and my fellow Valley Stream Central High School alum Michael Brandon, who many of the sci fi fans who read this blog will remember from Doctor Who where he played General Sanchez in The Stolen Earth.

I think being an American in Britain has really paid of for Brandon as there's always a need for a very authentic US accent and attitude in BBC shows. We've seen him thus far on Who, on The Catherine Tate Show and lots of other projects for the British pubcaster.

And, I just saw the last half of a great Brandon film called FM on VH1 Classic two nights ago that was so cut to shreds that I feel the need this week to try to go out and find it on DVD. It was a great movie released the year I graduated from HS ('78) about the end of the album-oriented rock format and a station that was trying to hold out as the last bastion of no playlist rock 'n' roll. Great cast including Martin Mull and the fabulous Eileen Brennan.

UPDATED: Video -- Rachel Maddow Will NOT Be Intimidated By Shirley & Bannister, Dick Armey or Freedomworks

UPDATE: Rachel's first appearance on Meet the Press will be this Sunday in a discussion of the healthcare crisis, the pushback from the Republicans, the lies and the continuing crapfest of severly misinformed people and their screaming. She'll be joined by Armey, Tom Coburn (R-OK), Tom Daschle (former SD Senator) and host David Gregory. I predict she will wipe the floor with Armey, who, if you read below, just lost an income stream thanks to the intrepid reporting of the Maddow show staff. He'll be plenty angry, and it will probably take him off his game. I can't wait.

And you know why? Because she has the facts on her side.

If you want to know why there are misinformed seniors screaming about death panels, euthanasia and ... unicorns ... okay, not unicorns, but it might as well be ... at town hall meetings held by your members of Congress on healthcare reform, look no further than Dick Armey, who was forced to resign yesterday from the lobbying group DLA Piper after Maddow made the connection between what DLA Piper's clients were paying for and the not-so-coincidental activities of Freedomworks, a supposed Grassroots organization that Armey was also heading.

They call that astroturf in the political world. Supposed grassroots efforts that are actually being coordinated by corporate money through their lobbying efforts. Fake grassroots. Astroturf.

And there's much more, including a PR firm that specializes in extreme right wing groups called Shirley & Bannister that's now making threats against the Maddow show.

Rachel will not be intimidated by them, by Dick Armey or by Freedomworks, and says so in the first clip.

Rachel genuinely feels for the small group of seniors that have been hoodwinked by Freedomworks and the Rethuglican noise machine. Scaring older Americans is no way to be making a living and that's exactly what these groups doing.

And next to get the fear campaign foisted upon them by these groups are veterans. Rachel bats down that load of crap quickly with the help of Congressman and retired Navy Rear Admiral Joe Sestak, who will be running against Arlen Spector in the PA Democratic primary for US Senate.

It's the second clip after the jump.

Just So You Know, Whole Foods CEO Battles Needed Healthcare Reform

Just so you know, when you're shopping at Whole Foods, you're supporting the conservative movement's agenda to bankrupt you with high healthcare costs.

And no amount of organic produce is gonna stop you from getting hit by a drunk driver and spending all your savings on saving your life.

Wall Street Journal (no surprise):

Rather than increase government spending and control, we need to address the root causes of poor health. This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for his or her own health.

Unfortunately many of our health-care problems are self-inflicted: two-thirds of Americans are now overweight and one-third are obese. Most of the diseases that kill us and account for about 70% of all health-care spending—heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity—are mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal alcohol consumption and other healthy lifestyle choices.

I should have known this would enrage me when I saw he started the piece with a Margaret Thatcher quote.

You see, John Mackey doesn't want this healthcare reform to cut into his business of providing healthy foods.

The problem is he doesn't just provide healthy foods, there's plenty of beef in his meat cases to clog your arteries and your colon and more than enough sugar for everyone to win the adult diabetes race.

I might be able to understand his position if he were saving the world one heart attack at a time, but he's not. He's more than happy to sell you anything you need to ruin your health, and there's nothing in his store that will prevent you from falling off a ladder.

Go tell John what you think of all this at his CEO blog at the Whole Foods site at this link. Don't you love it when rich CEOs tell you what you need? Yeah, me neither.

And read this Salon piece on Mackey making anonymous comments on the Yahoo! Finance message boards about companies he has financial interest in at this link.

People who want to shop with conscientiously should consider your local farmers' market.

Healthcare Protest Conservative Scam Video -- Hey Heather Blish, D'ya Kiss Your Kids With That Lying Mouth?

Thank you Rachel, this is your hat tip for pointing me toward the clip from NBC 26 in Green Bay. And to you, Heather Blish, are a lying sack. Not only is she a Republican operative (which was obvious when she told the reporter she hasn't paid her party dues in two years -- I mean how many of us have that information at the ready for reporters) but she worked for the Congressman that Steve Kagan, their current Dem member of Congress beat.

Gotta wonder if she's not doing a little pro bono in order to get her job back, huh? Because if you look at her Linked-In page, you'll seen all her bonafides listed for your review.

Watch Rachel's clip and then click this link to watch the whole report from the station's Kristoffer Engbretson.

Then, if you'd like, Ms. Blish's Facebook account is still taking incoming messages, probably because she can't figure out how to change her privacy settings or maybe she just likes to be told where to go.

I did. Tell her where to go, that is.

Find her at this link.

Because when someone close to me dies because they can't get access to healthcare, I'm going to think of Heather Blish, and all the Heather Blishes out there.

Heather also claims to work for a company called Maelstrom Solutions which is at this link. Why not write to them and let them know what you think about an employee who engages in this kind of public lying and how you wouldn't ever hire a company that would employ her.

Maelstrom also runs a company called YourPatriot.com which looks like it wants to be the Republican equivalent to Act Blue. So apparently Blish works with the like-minded. You gotta wonder who else at Maelstrom/YourPatriot is in on the health care protest scam too.

I prefer Act Blue, at this link.

Two more things:

1) Hey, Heather, you kiss your kids with that lying mouth?

2) Local news reporters, this is how you cover a healthcare town hall meeting.

Clip after the jump.

Video -- Chris Matthews Challenges "Birther" (and felon) G. Gordon Liddy

Go, Tweety! Get after it!

Birther = One who does not believe Barack Obama is an American citizen and not just that, but that he's also pushing all this spending legislation through because he's afraid he'll be caught being not American and gets chucked out of office before it can happen.

And you, baldy, Watergate plumber, chief dickhead ... whatev, you got nothing.

But it's nice to see that even you, the elite of the Republican ideologues, a convicted Watergate conspirator, can be pulled down into the gutter with some of the least educated, stupidest people on the planet, the same people who believe Glenn Beck's every word and lap up Limbaugh's political jizz like it was the nectar of the gods.

Liddy: Old, angry, heading toward dementia, but still more than happy to make a buck off the stupidity and bigotry of the American people of the conservative movement. I'm holding my hand over a candle flame right now, just to get that thought of his assholery out of my head.

Clip after the jump.

CNN Video -- "The Wheelchair Story," Hat Tip to Randi Rhodes

You can always tell I've just been in the car when I mention Randi, it's because she's mentioned a story she saw "on the teevee" that she thinks I should see and this one is important for you to see, too, especially right now during this continuing debate over healthcare and the ridiculous charges from the conservative factions in this country that it will destroy your life as you know it.

(Because they love the status quo, it lines their campaign coffers. And not just them, you should be looking at the obstructionist Blue Dog Dems in the house as well. That's right, Mike Ross, Democrat from Arkansas, I'm calling you out!)

BTW, won't happen that way. When you wanna find out if a member of Congress is telling the truth on this issue, no matter what their party affiliation, just go look to see how much money they've taken historically from the insurance and medical lobby groups that fund their campaigns.

And look at where they made their fortunes that they spent themselves to get themselves elected. Remember former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN)? His family ran a hospital corporation and took that money and basically bought him a seat in the Senate.

Back to this particular story, however, this is a Drew Griffin (former KCBS Los Angeles) report on the rental of a wheelchair v. the purchase of one. This woman's Medicare coverage rents this wheelchair for her and a rate so outlandish that someone should be arrested for the crime. The medical supplier, Apria Healthcare, is ripping this country off and they're doing so with the help of lobbyists, money, and members of Congress who set the rates for durable medical equipment.

This is why the President wants to convene this MedPac group to go over issues exactly like this one and make the system more cost conscience. That doesn't mean telling you you can't pick your own doctor (most of you can't anyway, you pick from a list provided by your insurer) and it doesn't mean Auntie Em's hip replacement will, as Dick Morris said on Fox Noise with Bill-O, go to a younger illegal alien.

It means that companies like Apria and others won't get to scam the gov't out of our hard earned cash.

Now, go watch the clip. It's post-jump. And be happy Bill Frist isn't the Senate Majority Leader anymore, because he can't do as much harm outside the system.

Jay Leno Show Site Now Live, NBC Had Planned to Boost Premiere On the Back of a Corpse Until ...

... until apparently just now.

Above see detail from the now live site for Jay's new show. Click here for it.

Also note this from THR this morning (Roger Friedman's blog, formerly of FoxNews.com, the guy who got canned for reviewing the illegal download of Wolverine):

Plans for a TV special tied to the Aug. 29 memorial to Michael Jackson — which was supposed to be held at London’s O2 Arena — may be dead in the water, according to sources.

I’m told that NBC was ready to pay at least $10 million to broadcast the memorial as a special. But word now is that negotiations are at an impasse over price and because of all the perceived friction among the players in the Jackson estate.

NBC Universal declined comment.

Now wait just a minute ... for years Jackson was the butt of Leno's monologue jokes and NBC thought about boosting the numbers for his premiere by giving him Michael as a lead in?

Am I the only one who finds this revolting? Do they have no shame? Does Jay have no shame?

I betcha they'd still like to do it. They apparently don't see it the way I do. Probably didn't occur to them at all.

As you know I'm not much for either of these entertainers, but common courtesy would dictate ... well, honestly, common courtesy would dictate that we all leave these people alone and rebuff even the family's attempts to make money off this tragedy because, as Billy Bush from Access Hollywood said during the Octomom fury (and strangely not about this story, and I know it's because it's just too much of a ratings grabber to resist, huh Billy?), "It's gross."

I'm talkin' to you, Joe Jackson.

And, get this, just in from the same blog, different post (this one on how Sony has bought the AEG rehearsal footage from them and are fashioning a theatrical release out of it, 9/10ths of the money going to the Jackson estate):

I am told, as I reported earlier, that the hoped for Aug. 29 show in London seems to be dead. NBC wasn’t the only network not interested. And the reason? Joseph Jackson shopped his own special to the networks, which confused everything, sources say. “He didn’t even tell Janet that she was supposed to be part of it.”

Wow, what a lovely way for a man to behave in the wake of his son's death. A son, btw, that by all accounts he beat the shit outta.

Lovely.

Dear Pat Buchanan, A Special Post From Your TV Junkie

Dear Pat,

It must be hard for you to screw up the energy at your advanced age to be such a bigot.

I was just watching you on Maddow and I finally had to fast forward through the whole discussion because you disgust me.

Sotomayor's an affirmative action hire? YOU'VE never read anything of a legal nature that she's written? You don't even have a law degree, who are you to remark on this issue at all?

Rachel said it's been too long since you've been on the show. I say she's being very polite. She's a nice lady who's kind to the elderly.

And I'm sure that she handled you quite well, but after a week of having to hear Republican senators rake a Latina over the coals, I just couldn't bear you.

Oh, and about those things you said at the beginning of the AIDS crisis, like when you said that gays have "declared war upon nature, and now nature is extracting an awful retribution"?

Fuck you.

I will continue to ignore everything you have to say.

Sincerely Yours,
Your TV Junkie
Joe

P.S.  (to my readers, not Pat) -- Maddow has yet another interview with Jeff Sharlet ( author of The Family) today, it turns out that some elected official actually carried on a sexual affair outside of his marriage right there in the C Street house, which, interestingly is a registered Church in the District of Columbia. I expect lightning to strike someone at this point. If you haven't seen the newest, it's at this link.

Maddow Video -- More on Republican Philanderers Ensign, Sanford and Their Christian Cult

C'mon, folks, this is a cult. Doug Coe is a cult leader and this whole dogma scares the shit outta me.

Men who think God put them in political office? No accountability to their constituents, only to the members of the cult?

And, a new player in this story, Rep. Zach Wamp of Tennessee (image right). He lives at the C Street house and is an active participant in the cover up of both of these extra-marital affairs, and admits it.

If your member of Congress is a living at C Street or connected to The Family/The Fellowship, its apparent that his first loyalties are not to you, constituent, but to the members of the cult and its leader, Coe.

If I was in Nevada, South Carolina or Tennesee (and who knows who else is living in that house and participating in these shenanigans) I would be calling for their impeachment. It is obvious that their allegiances are not to the people who voted for him.

Rachel has author Jeff Sharlett, author of The Family, who infiltrated the group while on assignment for Harper's Magazine, back on the show for the third time in the last two weeks.

It'll scare you to pieces.

Click the Amazon icon below to buy Sharlett's book in paperback. Watch the clip after the jump.

Is Twitter Giving Personal Info to the Feds? Hey, Biz Stone, You Got Some Splainin' To Do!

I just saw this this morning in my inbox from the Nick Denton media empire, specifically my Gawker.com newsletter.

It's:

A source tells us that a loose-lipped Twitter staffer recently dished at a lunch that the company has allowed a federal agency to set up a tap to monitor a "firehose" of its data, including private details on users, presumably including private "direct messages," IP addresses and account information. The Feds — the NSA would seem the most logical agency —then analyze the data to mine for information they deem of interest.

Twitter, it is said, is one of only a handful of internet companies large enough for the Feds to bother setting up such monitoring.

Yet another reason not to tweet. Best reason?

IT'S A TIME SUCK, FRIENDS!

You'd get so much more done (for instance, I wrote 14 web posts yesterday on top of my other work) and really, isn't your Facebook status message enough?

You can tweet. I think it's "sheet."

Meaning shit. Which didn't rhyme.

In an update to the Gawker post, Stone has sent out an announcement saying it's not true:

"There is absolutely no element of truth to this allegation whatsoever."

It's gonna be up to you whether you want to believe him or not. Yes, San Francisco, home of the counterculture, is the place Twitter sets up show, and that might lead you to believe that this counterculture-type company wouldn't comply with the Feds.

Then again, that AT&T secret room that the Bush-era wiretapping started was on Folsom Street in SF. Room 641A is practically a neighbor of the South of Market leather bars.

Your subscribing to Ashton and Demi's tweets don't make them your friends. It makes them a media company that doesn't have to produce more than 140 characters at a time.