Wednesday, January 30, 2008

"THE WORLD IS RULED BY A KIND OF IMPISH PRIVILEGED MONKEY!!!"

The headline (above) is the hands down (partial) quote of the day and a glaring reminder as to what we've allowed ourselves to have been subjected to for more than the last seven years.

President "a kind of impish privileged monkey" Bush has been the guy who has presided over our current housing mess, millions of American citizens going broke because of credit card fraud and excess, 50+ millions of American citizens who don't have health insurance, all Americans being obligated to repay (with our taxes) the massive amount of money we owe to China, money needed to help finance this off the charts STUPID war that had no plan at the beginning, no end game, no end in sight and not one good reason for ever having BEGUN!!!

A war we got into and are still involved in because of outright lies, lies that have accomplished nothing except the deaths and ruination of lives of many of our youngest and brightest because of injuries that none of us can relate to. But a war that has made friends of the Bush administration rich! Friends of the Bush administration have also gotten rich (or is that richer) on the backs of American citizens who have been victimized by health insurance bosses, bank bosses and all business bosses who are allowed by the Bush administration to hire illegal immigrants at will, illegal immigrants who drink at the public trough, are responsible for overcrowding, often have the manners of savages, resist the English language like it's some kind of disease, send much of the money they earn here (llegally) to foreign countries and are the first to cry to the Los Angeles or New York Times about discrimination when American legal citizens have the audacity to say something like, "What the hell is going on here?!?"

Whew! I feel SO much better!!!

Oh...That partial quote of the day I referred to at the beginning of this blog? It was said by Oscar winning actress Julie Christie after she won the SAG Awards "ACTOR Award" for best female performance in the film, "Away From Her", Sunday night.

It's the first major award Christie has won in many years and she was responding to a question about that when she said, "It's been such an incredible time span. But who could have dreamt that we'd get to the point that the world is ruled by a kind of impish privileged monkey?"

Short Commentary: Amen, Sister!!!

I bring all this up because we'll soon be voting for one of two people to replace President "a kind of impish privileged monkey" Bush.

We all have run across, worked for or worked with people who are hard to replace, but that won't be case this time.

Or will it?

Yes, I know that Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul are still dreaming the good dream or trying to cause trouble for one of the main candidates, but for all intents and purposes, we are now down to four candidates. McCain and Romney on the Republican side and Clinton and Obama on the Democratic side.

One of those four will be better than President "a kind of impish privileged monkey" Bush?!?

Senator Joe Biden would have been better. Senator John Edwards would have been better. Shoot, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich might have been better, but he didn't run.

McCain? I told you why I wouldn't vote for him in my last blog!

Romney? C'mon! Does anyone know what he really stands for?

Clinton? Yeah, I like the first woman in history thing, but other than that? Do people believe she's entitled to this because of all the public and humiliating embarrassment she endured because of her husband? She's definitely entitled to something because of that, but is it the presidency?

Obama? The guy who has no experience? The guy who's gotten the endorsement of JFK's daughter and JFK's brother?

The guy who wants to be America's first black President?

No matter what American voters will tell a pollster publicly, when he or she is in the "booth", is he or she willing to really vote for a black man to be America's President?

Before I tell you where I stand on this, you need to be reminded that others might still decide to declare themselves to be a presidential candidate. Some say that Michael Bloomberg might do that. Maybe someone else. Condi? Highly unlikely, but one never knows.

Buuuut....Assuming that these four are it?!?....

Is someone who doesn't have a lot of "experience" compared to the other three who do have "experience" a bad deal in the big picture of things?

I mean, just exactly what has "experience" gotten us as a country these last too many years?

If you need a refresher course, read (again) my second and third paragraphs of this blog.

Many months ago, I wrote a blog that predicted the final two candidates would be Barack Obama and Fred Thompson. Thompson didn't have the fire in his belly that's necessary to see something like this through. Obama does.

I reserve the right to change my mind, but right now, unless something is revealed that we weren't aware of, I think America would be proud to have Barack Obama to be our next President of the United States.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF!!!

If you saw the SAG Awards this past Sunday night, you saw the Best (male) Actor award go to Daniel Day-Lewis for his performance in "There Will Be Blood". No argument here. I thought he was terrific in that film. I also loved the tribute he gave to Heath Ledger during his acceptance remarks.

The Best Film Award went to "No Country for Old Men". I saw that film yesterday. I hated the ending (same as most folks), but I thought the film was terrific. I mean, you cared about the characters in this film. Javier Bardem got the Best Supporting Actor award Sunday night and he's also an Oscar nominee. Bardem was terrific, but so was Josh Brolin. In a smaller role, Woody Harrelson delivered big time and in his usual understated way, Tommy Lee Jones was gooder than good. Right now, my choice for Best Film Oscar would be "No Country for Old Men". I plan to see another Oscar nominated film, "Michael Clayton" later this afternoon.

I saw two other films yesterday that won't be Oscar nominated films next year, but I enjoyed them.

I thought the new "Rambo" film was a lot of fun to watch. Especially when the big battle scenes near the end of the film took place. And no, Sly Stallone didn't look like he was too old for this role. In fact, he looked right at home and as "bad" (in a good way) as ever.

I also saw the new Diane Lane film, "Untraceable". Full disclosure. I've never met her, but (from a distance) I've had a crush on Diane Lane forever. She's in a film, I'm at the theater. If for some reason, I can't get to a theater, I rent the film on DVD.

The reviews for "Untraceable" have been mixed, so I was ready for anything. She plays an FBI agent who's trying to track down an internet genius sicko in a role that looks like a role Jodie Foster might play. Well, both Lane and Foster were child stars and this former child star delivers. Lane is long past being a child, but she's one of these people who you have to wonder if she'll somehow escape the aging thing, looks wise. Lane's looks do not get in the way of believing she's very capable of doing this FBI job and in fact, her looks (because of the way she's dressed, etc.) aren't an issue at all, but when you've got the genes she was blessed with....

Well, if you're Josh Brolin, you wake up every morning and say, "How DID I get so lucky?!?"

"Untraceable" is not a great film, but it's a terrific popcorn film that'll keep your attention from beginning to end. If you want to see a fun "cat and mouse" kind of film, I highly recommend "Untraceable".

THE NEXT BLOG???

I'm still involved with time consuming projects, I think the next one will address the problem of "Whatever happened to manners?", but when I do write the next one, you can always be assured that at least one of the subjects will have to do with something that makes me say, "Whaaaat?!?"

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

GAME ON!!! LET'S PICK A PRESIDENT!!!

Whaaat...? When you saw the first two words of the headline, did you think I was talking about the Super Bowl?!?

Okay! Assuming that Tom Brady is healthy (right now that's a big "if"), the prediction here is, Patriots 27, Giants 10. For you gamblers, that means I'm picking the Patriots to win and to cover the spread. If the Randy Moss story gets "legs" and or if Tom Brady can't play because of one of his legs, some reconsidering of this prediction might be necessary.

NOTHING TO RECONSIDER WHEN IT COMES TO JOHN McCAIN!!!

A whole lotta talkin' about John McCain these days. He's being touted as the Republican who can WIN the upcoming presidential election.

PUH-LEEZE!!! A John McCain presidency has the potential of exceeding what has been the disastrous presidency of the unqualified hack who snuck in the back door and proved his utter incompetence during two terms in office!

On the day of 9/11, President Bush was in a classroom talking to little kids when he was given the bad news. Witnesses describe President Bush as having a look akin to "a deer in the headlights".

Okay, to be fair, maybe all of us might have had that look initially if we were in his position, but after that, all President Bush did was talk tough and act stupidly. He abandoned the bin Laden mission for who knows what reason(s) and then got us into a war in Iraq that (as his father once famously said), "read my lips", WE HAD NO BUSINESS GOING INTO!!! NONE!!! NADA!!! SQUAT!!!

Back to McCain...

McCain sounds like a guy who wouldn't mind if we stayed in Iraq until 2018 or later!

Is that who we want to be our next president?

I'm all for our next Commander in Chief being a person who is prepared to defend our country against any enemies who do harm to us. I'm all for our next Commander in Chief being a person who will make a full scale effort toward the capture and or killing of Osama bin Laden.

But I don't want a Commander in Chief who isn't willing to defend himself when he's being attacked.

And that's my big problem with McCain. Before the first election that got us this President Bush, there was some campaigning going on in South Carolina that included an outrageous attack orchestrated by Karl Rove, one of the most vicious dung smearing operatives who has ever graced our landscape. This smiling assassin punk (Rove) was concerned that his candidate (Bush) might lose the nomination to McCain who was making a lot of noise with his "Straight Talk Express". So assassin punk Rove put a little story out there about McCain just before the voting began in South Carolina. It was about a black baby McCain had and it was intimated that it was child born as the result of an adulterous affair with one of them! Them, meaning a black woman. A black woman who wasn't his wife. It was a blatant attempt at stirring up racial prejudices and it appears to have worked!

McCain's response to that? Like someone much smarter than me once said, "The silence was deafening!"

And it cost McCain the South Carolina election and the eventual possible nomination to be our next president.

John McCain, a man who wants to be our next president, a job that would involve being the first defender if our country was being harmed, is a guy who didn't, when the chips were down, stand
up and defend HIMSELF!!!

All John McCain had to do was hold a press conference and say (in essence), "This CHILD that everyone seems to be concerned about? This child of MINE?!? This CHILD is an innocent and beautiful addition to our family that Cindy (his wife) and I ADOPTED from a foreign country so that this beautiful child would have an opportunity to have a BETTER LIFE!!! Are there any OTHER questons?!?"

That's what McCain should have done! Defend himself!!! He didn't! And we're supposed to believe he'd be willing to stand up and defend our country?!?

The fact that we even have to think about it tells me that John McCain has no business being President of the United States.

Karl Rove? He's damn lucky he's not in prison because of the Valerie Plame business.

HOW ABOUT THIS ECONOMY OF OURS?!?

If you listen to White House talk show sycophants like Rush and Hannity talk about the wonderful economy right up until the sounds of crashes all over the world and those two baloney merchants choking on the word, "Oops!", I call your attention to a blog I wrote several months ago telling you we were already in a recession. I'm not happy I was right about that, but you can look it up. All my blogs are available for viewing.

A POSSIBLE ECONOMIC SOLUTION?!?

Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee got a lot of attention when he first brought up his "Sales Tax" idea that would pretty much eliminate the I.R.S. as we now know it, if Huckabee's idea(s) were turned into law.

IT'S LONG PAST TIME TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDER A FLAT TAX!!!

I'm not an economist, so I'm not going to pretend to know how to do this, BUT....

I honestly believe that if the brightest and best (without a political agenda) economic minds put their heads together, they could and WOULD put together the "Mother of all" FAIR TAX proposals that would in fact give new definition to the words "Tax Fairness" for ALL of our citizens.

What a concept, huh? FAIR taxes? For EVERYONE?!?

It would be a FLAT TAX, baby! Pass it on!!!

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS!!!

Did any of your favorites get nominated? The only one of the nominated films that I've seen is, "There Will Be Blood" and I fell asleep for a minute or so in the middle of it. I thought that Daniel Day-Lewis was terrific, I thought the script was lacking and I thought the cinematography was in fact deserving of an Academy Award nomination and the film was nominated in that category.

With a Best Actor (as opposed to Supporting) nomination, George Clooney has now officially hit the "big time". I haven't seen "Michael Clayton", but friends of mine tell me it's terrific. The film was also nominated for Best Film.

I'm very disappointed that "American Gangster" didn't get more major nominations and I am major disappointed in the fact that Ben Foster didn't get a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in "3:10 To Yuma".

THE NEXT BLOG???

I'm still involved with time consuming projects, but when I do write the next one, you can always be assured that at least one of the subjects will have to do with something that makes me say, "Whaaaat?!?"

Thursday, January 10, 2008

JOHNNY GRANT, HOLLYWOOD'S MAYOR AND BIGGEST BOOSTER!!!

Johnny Grant died yesterday. He was 84. He appears to have died of natural causes in his penthouse suite of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where he lived.

Grant never married, had no children, but had a very active social life. Angie Dickenson was a long time friend and it's assumed that the two of them had a relationship neither of them ever talked about publicly. Shoot, you can't get Angie to talk about alleged (but believed) relationships she had with Frank Sinatra and JFK, among others.

Same deal with Grant. Except for the Sinatra and JFK parts.

For those of you reading this who don't live in Los Angeles, Johnny Grant was the little guy with the wide smile on a round face that you'd see on your television screen every time someone was getting a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

And Johnny was the guy who had the final say on who got a Star, though he'd often deny that. I know it was true, because I once went to Johnny to personally lobby for a Star for a very good and deserving friend of mine. That person got his Star.

After a successful career working as a game show host, sometime actor, long time radio and television host for Gene Autry's radio and television stations here in Los Angeles, Grant took over as Hollywood Walk of Fame Chairman in 1980. In 1987, he began producing the Hollywood Christmas Parade. Grant became "Honorary Mayor" of Hollywood in 1980, but those who saw him in action know that there was nothing "honorary" about it. Grant was a tireless supporter of a city that had pretty much been abandoned by the big stars and big studios and Grant is the biggest reason that Hollywood has experienced the continuing revitalization that goes on while I'm writing this sentence.

I first met Grant when I was working on (what would be) a 7-hour special about Gene Autry that would be aired across the country. It was suggested to me that I talk to Grant because he was a long time friend of Autry's. Because I'm not from here (Los Angeles) and hadn't been here long, I had no idea who Grant was and it was obvious to Johnny while I was doing the interview. Needless to say, I "learned" and we became friends.

How tight was Grant to Gene Autry? Tight enough to have a lifetime contract that was being paid to Grant until yesterday. How much was Grant being paid by the Autry estate until yesterday? I don't know and I never asked, but it was enough to allow him to live a very good life because he wasn't being paid a dime for his Hollywood work.

What a gentleman, accent on gentle. What a trouper. What a promoter. What a hustler. And all of it was good. Shoot, all of it was sweet with a capital "S"!!!

No one, but no one will be able to replace Johnny Grant in Hollywood. To continue the revitalization tradition, I would recommend someone like Robert Wagner (if he'd be interested) and my good friend, laradio.dot com publisher Don Barrett, thinks that Ryan Seacrest would be the guy who should be asked to be the permanent M.C. of the Star ceremonies.

The future regarding Honorary Mayors and the Walk of Fame ceremonies is yet to be determined.

But here's something we can all hope for as far as right now goes; Johnny Grant, R.I.P.

And here's a p.s. from me; You done good, bud!

OTHER STUFF:

Pious Phil needs to give it up. I'm referring to the overrated and self serving television "shrink", "Dr. Phil".

What a gasbag! The Britney Spears' family asked him to talk to her while she was in the hospital because Dr. Phil is supposed to be a therapist of some kind. So what does television's biggest gasback do after he speaks with Britney in the hospital? He goes on as many television shows he can to tell people that he, the gasbag in chief was asked by the family to give aid and comfort to Britney Spears.

Question: Doesn't Britney Spears have enough problems? I mean, she has an unemployed ex-husband who's trying to take her kids away so he can get more money....A mother who redefines the word "clueless"....Britney's newest boyfriend is trying to make money by selling partially naked photos of Britney to tabloids....And now the gasbag Dr. Phil is trying to use her name for his own self serving reasons?

Of course "gasbag" has a different take on this. He put on a phony "I'm outraged" rant by saying (in essence) that he's apologizing for nothing and that someone needs to step up and guide her to the medical help she desperately needs.

Uh...excuse me, Dr. Gasbag...Might not a "step up" have been what people should have expected from you?!?

AND OUR PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEES WILL BE....?!?

After Iowa and New Hamphshire, we now know, what?

Nothing, right? Will it be Obama, Clinton or someone else as the democratic nominee? Will it be Huckabee, McCain, or someone else as the republican nominee. And will either or both party's nominees end up being someone who hasn't become a candidate yet?!?

Hmmmm...

THE NEXT BLOG???

I'm still working on projects that are taking more time than I thought they would. But you will always know that when I do write the next one, at least one of the subjects will be about something that makes me say, "Whaaaat?!?"

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A new year is supposed to be a way for many of us to "clean the plate" and do some things differently.

Especially if they are things that aren't working.

Like...

RELIGION IN THE WHITE HOUSE!!!

I don't care if a presidential candidate believes in a God or doesn't believe in a God. I don't care if a presidential candidate is a Christian, a Jew, a Christ believing Mormon or an Atheist. It's none of my business.

What is my business is when I see world leaders making a "God" justification for what they do that affects millions or billions of people.

The terrorists that we're fighting are led by people who claim that their "God" (Allah) is the voice that (in essence) tells them that they're right when they fight us.

We have people in the White House who (in essence) say that their/our "God" tells us that we're right when we fight the Allah "God" people.

QUESTION: How many "Gods" are there? And who determines which "God" is right?!?

And if our leaders are basing decisions that affect the rest of Americans and maybe people in other parts of the world based on voices they're hearing that the rest of us aren't hearing, I want different leaders.

Here's something else. Some of our leaders claim to be "Born Again". It has a nice sound to it, but when you keep screwing up after you've been "Born Again", the question I have is, "Can you be 'Born AGAIN'?!?" The old, "third time's the charm" theory, right?

Here's a great quote from Gandhi who said, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."

I'm not suggesting that I totally agree with that, (I don't) but it is something to think about, isn't it?

Here's a term that has been used by people in the military for as long as I can remember; "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!" Think about that. Do most of us believe that the higher power so many people worship and pay homage to, condones the KILLING of people?!?

Here's something else that needs changing...

THE WAY THE I.R.S. DOES BUSINESS!!!

And yeah, maybe it's time to eliminate the I.R.S. Or to totally restructure they way they do business.

In the early 80's, I was doing a radio talk show on KMPC here in Los Angeles, a station that was then owned by legendary Cowboy actor, Gene Autry. This was the first of three different times that I worked for a man I loved and had the pleasure of writing, producing and narrating a 7-hour "Gene Autry Special" that was aired on many stations across the country.

For a number of weeks, I did a series of broadcasts with the great journalist Jack Anderson on KMPC and what we were advocating was a "flat tax" for all Americans. The more we talked about it, the more calls we got from listeners. This subject also prompted the only negative message I ever got from Gene Autry about anything I was doing on KMPC. The message I got was, "Scott? We don't need no talk about no flat tax on this radio station."

That's when I knew that a "flat tax" would be bad for the most privileged of us and good for the rest of us.

I bring this us up because of a tax proposal that presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has made. A 23% sales tax that would (in essence) eliminate the I.R.S. as we now know it. As well as darn near every deduction you can think of. In other words, Mike Huckabee's "flat tax", if you will. There's more to it than what I'm describing, but it's instructional to see who's doing most of the howling about this. Mike Huckabee's sales tax proposal is also a major reason he's gotten a big surge in the polls, too.

One particular group that has gone after Huckabee are the very rich folks who financed the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against John Kerry.

The money isn't coming from or being sanctioned by the Swift Boat Veterans who for reasons known only to themselves allowed these rich folks to use them like plow mules in the Kerry campaign.

FOLLOW THE MONEY!!!!

When I see that the elitists don't like Huckabee's tax idea, I know he's on to something. Something that would be good for most of us.

But Huckabee is another presidential candidate that I would love even more if he'd dial down the religion thing.

IT IS LONG PAST TIME TO RECONSIDER THE WISDOM OF THE LOTTERY AND ALL THIS EXPANSION OF INDIAN CASINOS!!!!!!!!

Again...This is a Happy New Year column and the topics are changes we should consider for this new year. "Resolutions", perhaps?

QUESTION: Who's the idiot who thought that having state lotteries was/is a GOOD idea?!? Who's the idiot who thought that Indian Casinos on darn near every corner was/is a GOOD idea?!?

Well, whoever it was, that person was/is WRONG!!!

I'm a gambler. I love to play poker. Card rooms are okay. They've been around a long time. I also love video poker. You used to have to go to Nevada or Atlantic City to play video poker. Or blackjack. Or craps. Or roulette, etc., etc.

And yeah, the idea of playing the lottery was cool! At first. But in the last few years I've begun to see what all this easy to get to gambling is doing! And has been doing to too many of us!

IT IS TOO EASY TO BECOME ADDICTED TO GAMBLING!!!!

And do you know what that addiction leads to. People going bankrupt, becoming homeless, becoming criminals in order to eat because of the money lost on gambling that is ENCOURAGED by our leaders who SANCTION this idocy!!!

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!

If we don't get about the business of dialing back the easy availability of gambling except where it used to be done exclusively (Nevada and Atlantic City), we the taxpayers are going to be the ones who will end up paying through the nose for problems caused by all this gambling. Just like we're going to be paying through the nose for helping to bail out this housing foreclosure mess and this stupid cash guzzling war!!!

WHEW!!!

I feel so much better!

Any thoughts or comments? Write to scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I answer all responses. If you send your response straight to the blog, I have no way of knowing how to respond to you.

We do need to make changes, gang!

Here's hoping that '08 will be great! For most of us instead of just a few of us!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

P.S. I'm still working on some projects, so I'm not ready to resume any kind of writing schedule, but when I write the next one, be assured that at least one of the subjects will be about something that makes me say, "Whaaaat?!?"