Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Sexually Repressed Muslim Men! What ISN'T In The U.S Constitution! "Fed up" Commentary From a Reader! Are Anne & James the right Oscar Choices?!?

Sexually repressed Muslim men? What the hell are you talking about, Scott?

And I'm glad you asked.

Lara Logan. You've heard of her, right? Former model. She's so good looking that we know about two American guys who got into a fight over her while she was on assignment for CBS in a war zone some years ago. This is a woman who has a lot of confidence. Some might say that at one time she was "cocky". Especially when she told her CBS bosses that she wanted to become as famous as Mike Wallace.

Lara Logan was recently on assignment in Egypt when all hell broke loose. She was suddenly surrounded by Muslim men who groped her, repeatedly pinched her which (we're told) resulted in multiple bruises, ripped her clothes off, sexually assaulted her and she was able to escape because of help from Muslim women and soldiers. The last we heard, she was in a hospital.

Some of the immediate reaction was sickening. A couple of American talk show hosts suggested "she deserved it" because of her beauty and her recklessness associated with wanting a dangerous assignment like the Egypt mess. Some fans of those American talk show hosts repeated those sickening comments in blog postings.

And then we began to hear from some Egyptians about what happened to Lara Logan. They told us that because of religious or state law there, we should understand how something like this can happen. Sexual relations outside of marriage is forbidden. So we should have sympathy (or understanding) of the "frustrations" these men walk around with. Muslim men, who as a rule, don't get married until they're in their 30's or later. We're also told that Ms. Logan was never in danger of being killed and everyone should, in essence, forget about it. And apparently the Egyptian people have forgotten about it because no one (that we know of) has been arrested for what happened to Lara Logan.

I doubt that any of us can possibly imagine what Lara Logan was feeling while she was being sexually harassed by a gang of what must have seemed like savages to her.

I wasn't there, but I'm inclined to go along with that description. Savages. Muslim savages.

In that part of the world, women have next to no rights at all. Women in those Muslim nations are dominated by their men and for that matter, ALL men.

Just another reason why religion and government should be separate. Or sepa-rated, if you will.

Sexually repressed Muslim men. One of the many things in that part of the world that we can't relate to. They also don't seem to like us much. If at all. But we give them billions and billions of dollars of FOREIGN AID?!?

WHY?!?

Do we think that by giving them (or any other country) all this money, that they are going to CHANGE the way they do things? And we've BEEN giving all these Muslim and other foreign countries billions and billions of dollars for HOW MANY YEARS?!?

Yo, Mr. President! Yo, House and Senate members! People in other countries aren't going to change the way they do things until THEY are ready to change. It won't be because we WANT them to change.

Here's another newsflash for our president and members of the House and Senate. There's been a lot of talk lately about the U.S. Constitution. Especially by Tea Party people.

NOWHERE in the U.S. Constitution does it say that we will, are supposed to, are mandated to, etc., be the WORLD'S POLICEMAN and or, the WORLD'S PIGGY BANK!!!

Gang, our economy is not only IN the toilet, it's at the BOTTOM of the toilet! A very small percentage....I mean VERY SMALL percentage of Americans have pretty much all of this country's money.

It is time! It is long PAST time to concentrate our resources on YOU, ME and most of the rest of the USA!!! No more of our money should go to ANY country until we get OUR country straightened out.

Riots in these Muslim countries because only a few people have all the money? Why is this happening? Because those people are scared. Look around you. Are you noticing a lot of scared people HERE? Look in the mirror. Is THAT person scared?

I'm not exaggerating when I say we're getting closer and closer to the time when people might be doing the Howard Beale thing. You know what that is, right? "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!!!"

And if (like in the film, "Network") a whole lot of people begin to yell that phrase, over and over again, don't you think that could lead to riots HERE?!?

And speaking of the current condition of our economy.....

Bill Mouzis is a decorated WWII veteran. When our country needed some help, he didn't blink. He showed up, put on his Navy uniform and performed off the charts honorably. Back in the days that we had the military draft, some very famous people who preach the patriotism thing, did everything they could think of to AVOID that kind of service for our country. People like Dick Cheney, Bill Clinton and Rush Limbaugh. PREACHING reasons for going to war is easy. Putting on the uniform is a whole different deal.

In addition to being a decorated WWII veteran, Bill Mouzis is also a Los Angeles radio producer/engineer legend. Ask anyone who ever worked at 93/KHJ (boss radio) here and also KMPC. I had the pleasure of working at KMPC when Bill was there.

Bill Mouzis sent me a commentary about our current economy. I would like to share it with you.

And it starts....NOW!!!

I wonder if I would be classified a Socialist if I suggested that President Obama roll back and freeze prices on gasoline, food and other commodities needed by all of us to exist in an economy tilted toward business enterprise and inflationary price gouging. Federal, state and local government employee retirement/salary levels must particularly be reduced because they are completely out of whack with the private sector. Even Nixon ordered wage and price controls, gave us the EPA and tried to do something about healthcare.

Not to be forgotten is that we in the retirement community have not received a S.S. Cola now for two straight years as prices continue to rise. It appears the elderly and veterans of our wars are the only ones carrying the burden of reducing a large deficit initiated by squandering politicians, greedy financial institutions, and unions holding the tax-paying public hostage to obscene demands for government employees who are grossly overpaid with wages and benefits that are above that of the public sector for the same type of work.

What is happening today makes no sense whatsoever. How can so much money in our economy be siphoned off for the good of the banks, the corporations and Wall Street. Their middle and top level employees continue to receive obscene salaries and bonuses while others are merely seeking a job, trying to save their homes and feed their families. The needy have simply been left holding the bag in having to compete against illegal immigrants willing to work for sub-standard wages.

Some semblance of balance must be restored if we are ever to return to a healthy robust economy and a work ethic that was once the envy of the world. Rolling back and freezing prices and government wages, and prosecuting ALL employers hiring illegal immigrants would appear to be the appropriate way to start down this road. To cap it off, all offspring born in the USA of illegal immigrants must also be classified as such.

Harsh times call for harsh action.

Bill Mouzis.

Thanks for sending me your thoughts, Brother Bill.

One more thing about our economy. The Los Angeles area in which I live, the cheapest gasoline is $3.68 a gallon and climbing daily.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

Actress Lindsay Lohan. A week or so ago, she showed up in court wearing a sexy white skirt. Today, she showed up in court wearing a low cut blouse. Appropriate dress for a hot private club or Vegas, but in front of a judge, a judge who might soon be considering serious jail time for you? Or not? In case you hadn't heard, this very young actress, an actress who seems to be ageing rapidly, finds herself facing possible jail time for theft of a necklace and or for a parole violation.

"American Idol": There was a lot of criticism about last season's "A.I." on Fox. Simon Cowell left the show because he will be the top guy on a new show on Fox. Two other judges were given parting gifts and shown their way to the exit. Jennifer Lopez was hired as one of the new judges and Steven Tyler was hired as the other new judge.

The new "American Idol" has been on Fox for (I think) the last 3 weeks or so. In tonight's episode that took place in Las Vegas, contestants were singing to qualify to be in the final "24". Part 2 of this "qualification" business will be shown tomorrow and then next week, all the performances will be done here in Los Angeles.

If you haven't seen this NEW "American Idol", you are missing a major breath of fresh air. Lopez and Tyler are off the charts terrific and what they're doing seems to have rubbed off on Randy Jackson who has been there since day one. The way the contestants were coached tonight was very different from the way coaching was done in previous years and this new way is a better way.

At the end of tonight's show, we saw a little (sad) drama involving Jennifer Lopez and hopefully this was/is nothing serious.

But I'm being dead serious when I say to those of you who thought "A.I" had gotten old???

"American Idol" is BACK! And maybe better than ever!

THE OSCARS:

This Sunday, those of us who care (and I do), will sit in front of our televisions and watch the whole red-carpet thing and then when the show begins, we will see two young actors who will be the hosts of the Oscars. Anne Hathaway and James Franco. Neither of these actors are considered to be comedians and they will be the first to confirm that. But I think these two actors will be terrific as hosts. Franco is a Lead Actor nominee for "127 Hours" and in my view, I believe that Hathaway should have gotten a Lead Actress nomination for her outstanding work in "Love and other Drugs".

A couple of weeks ago I wrote my preferences (not predictions) for all the major Oscar categories. In addition to Hathaway not getting nominated, I feel that Mila Kunis deserved a Supporting Actress nomination for her work in "Black Swan". Do you know who Andrew Garfield is? He had a big role in "The Social Network" (he wasn't nominated) and he will soon be the new "Spiderman". I mention Garfield because I believe he deserved a Lead Actor nomination for "Never Let Me Go" and I also believe that "Never Let Me Go" deserved a Best Picture nomination.

QUESTIONS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbc.global.net and I will respond as quickly as possible. Please don't write to the blog because there's no way for me to know your email address and that means I won't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Barring something unexpected, the next blog will be posted late Wednesday night, March 2 or early Thursday morning, March 3.

I hope you enjoy the Oscars show and that all of your favorites win.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

A New Fox News Poll Shows How Well Potential GOP Candidates Would Do Against President Obama If The 2012 Election Was Held Now!!!

Fox News. Sarah Palin works there. She talks to no media person who will ask her questions that might confuse her. Like, "What do you read?". Therefore, she pretty much talks mostly to Fox's Sean Hannity who treats her gently and who some say, "coaches her".

Fox News. Where you often see people like Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee and pretty much all the other well known potential GOP presidential candidates. Yes, including Sarah Palin.

Fox News. No mystery about which side of the political aisle they're on. The Republican side.

Same deal with MSNBC. No mystery about which side of the political aisle they're on. The Democrat side.

Fox News. They have millions more viewers than MSNBC and CNN combined. The audience Fox News has is an audience that buys into what the folks at Fox preach to them. Obama is negative this, negative that, he's a Socialist, he kind of seems like a Muslim, but we at Fox will never say that (of course), etc., etc.

So when Fox News comes out with a new poll showing how the well known potential GOP presidential candidates would do against President Obama if the 2012 election were held now, it would be a "slam dunk" to assume that this poll would show that several of the GOP candidates would beat Obama and in some cases, quite handily.

WELLLLL....Surprise, surprise!!! Your assumption would be wrong.

According to the new Fox News poll, President Obama would beat ANY of the well known potential GOP candidates. The two candidates who would do best against President Obama are Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. They would lose by "only" 8 points.

Sarah Palin? According to the new Fox News poll, Sarah Palin would lose by more than 20 points.

And now you know why the Republican Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie is getting as much attention as he's getting from big Republican leaders. Christie says he has absolutely no interest in running against Obama in 2012 because Christie feels he still has a lot to learn while being Governor.

One more thing about polls. While this new Fox News poll is interesting, polls can change rapidly. And in some cases, often. But I can honestly say I never expected to see or hear about a Fox News poll that says what their latest poll says. Does that mean maybe (at least at times) they are "fair and balanced"?

And As Long As We're Talking About Republican Leaders...

John Boehner. You know who he is, right? The orange faced Speaker of the House who many think is a Dean Martin wannabe?

He was on NBC's "Meet the Press" this past Sunday when the subject of Republican voters who don't believe that President Obama is a Christian and or a person who was born in our country. Boehner's response was to say, "I believe the president is a citizen. I believe the president is a Christian. I'll take him at his word." Okay, but because he's the Republican Speaker of the House, shouldn't he tell Republican voters what he thinks about those issues? Boehner responded to that question by saying, "It's not my job to tell the American people what to think. The American people have the right to think what they want to think."

Okayyyy....And thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Do we all remember John Edwards? The choir boy looking Senator who was a presidential candidate? The same John Edwards who continually denied rumors about cheating on his wife and fathering a child with the woman he denied having adulterous relations with?

People pretty much ignored that story until the National Enquirer got involved. The same National Enquirer that had a lot to do with the O.J. Simpson case. The National Enquirer ended up getting proof on the lies John Edwards (and others) told, Edwards' political future is "toast" and there's a chance that Edwards might one day face jail time because of "campaign contributions" that were allegedly used to keep his mistress quiet.

Ah, yes. The National Enquirer. Let's go back to Speaker of the House, John Boehner for a second. We told you what he said on "Meet the Press" about it not being his job to tell the American people what to think. Well, Mr. Speaker, The National Enquirer is now giving the American people reasons to think about YOU! A couple of weeks ago, The National Enquirer showed pictures and seemed to imply that John Boehner might be having interesting get together time with people who aren't his wife.

Once upon a time, The National Enquirer was a supermarket tabloid that people read for entertainment and a tabloid that no one took seriously.

Ask O.J. Simpson if he feels that way. Ask John Edwards if he feels that way. Speaker of the House, John Boehner? Time will tell, huh?

She's Not A Real Leader Except In Her Mind, Buuuut...

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, I'VE got my eyes on YOU! No, nothing about being with the wrong people, but maybe being influenced by people you should distance yourself from. I need one more credible source before going public with this story.

QUICK HITS:

How 'bout dem gas prices, huh? Here, in the part of Los Angeles I live in, the cheapest gasoline is $3.55 a gallon and climbing. As are food prices. And cable television prices and telephone prices, etc., etc. while most of us are having to accept pay cuts if we're lucky to even have a job!

Am I the only one who wonders why former ESPN television star Dan Patrick has been using Charlie Sheen on his morning radio show the last few days? If you have heard Sheen on these shows with Patrick, you can't help but be embarrassed. Charlie Sheen is in total denial about how sick he is and Dan Patrick has been taking advantage of what is a "freak show". I think I might understand why Patrick is doing this. I don't know what the ratings are on other radio stations Patrick is on, but here in Los Angeles, Patrick is on a station that has a hard time getting a "1" share. For those of you who know nothing about ratings, that's "1" out of a possible "100". As a rule, a "1" or "2" or "3" or "4" share used to get you fired, but expectations are a lot lower these days and if Dan Patrick can help his station here in Los Angeles get a "1.5" share with the help of the pathetic Charlie Sheen, Patrick will probably be regarded as a hero by the bosses of that radio station.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

Last night I saw a film on HBO that I hadn't seen since it was released in 1993. "Indecent Proposal" which starred Robert Redford, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, Seymour Cassell and Oliver Platt. This is a film about a very rich man (Redford) who wants to buy a night with Moore who is married to the character played by Harrelson for a million dollars. Now if that's all you know about this film, I would understand if you decided to take a "pass". It's obviously on the HBO circuit right now and if you get HBO, and you see that "Indecent Proposal" is on the schedule, check it out. And you can thank me later.

A couple of nights ago I saw (for the first time) a 2009 film on Encore. "The Taking of Pelham 123". Denzel Washington and John Travolta lead the way with terrific supporting performances from John Turturro and James Gandolfini. Non stop action and I liked it a lot.

On television, I continue to love "House", "The Chicago Code", "Harry's Law" just gets better and better, as does that Showtime triple header of "Shameless", "Californication" and "Episodes", "Glee" is still must see TV, but I gotta say/write something special about CBS's Tuesday night super show which is, "The Good Wife". I've said it before and I'll say it again; This is the best show on television and that's saying something because folks, there's a lot of good television for us to watch these days.

Okay, "The Good Wife". Last night's show was the most packed with good stuff hour of television I might have ever seen. Actually, because of commercials, it was probably a little more than 40 minutes of television, but who's counting? Tom Hanks' wife, Rita Wilson had a nice role. All the regulars (that were shown) were terrific, but they're always terrific. The writing on this show is soooo good that any actor would love to participate in a show like this. One of the regulars is an investigator known as "Kalinda". She's beautiful, smart, very sexy and hard to pin down because you don't know if she favors men, women or both. She had a scene in last night's show with a beautiful and very sexy actress named Jill Flint who was playing the role of an FBI agent. While they were having dinner, we were watching one of the sexiest scenes we've ever seen on regular television. But right after that, the Kalinda character had a scene with a guy investigator and the sexual tension in that scene was off the charts hot even though she ended up whackin' the guy with a baseball bat.

"The Good Wife". Tuesday nights on CBS.

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will respond to you ASAP. Don't write to the blog because there's no way for me to know your email address and I won't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? As long as something unexpected doesn't come up, late Wednesday night, February 23 or early Thursday morning, February 24.

I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT REST OF THE WEEK!!!

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

What Do Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean "Little Lord Fauntleroy" Hannity and Mark Levin Have In Common? Ronald Reagan and Sarah Palin?

Let me answer that second question in the headline first. Absolutely nothing!

The first question in the headline? What do Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean "Little Lord Fauntleroy" Hannity and Mark Levin have in common? Their radio ratings are falling and in Beck's case they are dramatically falling. All four of these guys have been dropped by several radio stations and it looks like the dropping will be continuing. Why?!? Well, a big part of the problem seems to be that they're saying the same things everyday. Especially Hannity. Beck says different things, things that more often than not are loony, loonier and looniest! Mark Levin, yells a lot with a voice that sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard. Rush Limbaugh is the only true entertainer of the four, but even some of his most loyal listeners are finally reading between the lines of some of his so-called "satire" comments. But their biggest problem might be that all four of them don't have many listeners who are under the age of 65.

Back to Palin and Reagan. After a while, if you're paying attention, you just have to wonder if Sarah Palin ever reads anything unless it's praise or criticism. To help celebrate what would have been Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday, Palin said some things that made people like columnist Steve Lopez and me ask, "Does Palin read?" I mean, she obviously doesn't know about Reagan's raising of taxes when he was governor of California and when he was president that the deficit went way up. Columnist George Skelton, a guy who knew Reagan well, points
out that Reagan raised California's top tax rate from 7% to 11% and that corporation taxes nearly doubled. As president, Ronald Reagan did cut taxes his first year, but after that, he jacked 'em up. George Steffes is another guy Skelton knew and knows. Steffes was a legislative liason for Reagan and he told Skelton, "When Reagan was facing the same kind of budget deficit that they are today, he knew what anybody with half a brain knows: You can't balance a budget without new revenue."

Soooo....Our big question this week is, "Does Sarah Palin have half a brain?"

QUICK HITS:

Donald Rumsfeld has written a new book. "Known and Unknown". He blames a lot of people for lots of things, but one thing, as a former veteran, I will always know in my heart of hearts. When all the dust has settled, he was no better a Secretary of Defense than Robert McNamara was. In fact, Rumsfeld was probably a lot worse!

Our political leaders like to tell other countries how they should be conducting some of their business. Why do we do that? Is it because we give so many of these countries billions upon billions of dollars that we describe as "Foreign Aid"? While our country (especially now) goes to hell, economically?

Isn't it long past time for us to stop paying dictators and other politicians what appears to be "protection money" of some kind? If a country is run by thugs who seem to be doing unpleasant things to their citizens, why should that be any business of OURS?!?

Egypt? They have problems? Let THEM find a way to solve those problems? Good ol' Uncle Sam? Uncle Sam needs to get busy and figure out how to solve OUR problems!

Am I the only one who's sick of all the excuses that are given regarding illegal immigrants? A recent editorial in the L.A. Times (they seem to love illegal immigrants) stated (among other things) that illegal immigrants who carry forged driver's licenses and or use fraudulent Social Security numbers are people who are committing only "minor offenses". A reader responded to that editorial in the L.A. Times and here is that response:

"Are illegal immigrants 'carrying a forged driver's license or using a fraudulent Social Security number' committing only 'minor offenses' as the editorial claims? Isn't using a forged license even worse than driving without a license, since it enables further fraudulent activity? Doesn't widespread use of fraudulent Social Security numbers undermine the entire system? Is tolerating these offenses 'effectively enforcing immigration laws'?

And isn't hiring drug and human smugglers to enter the country illegally a serious offense? How can taking this route be considered an auspicious first step on the 'path to citizenship'?

Why isn't the existing 'path to citizenship', followed faithfully by LEGAL immigrants, good enough for the undocumented?"

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Super Bowl Leftovers:

First of all, when the score was 21-3, I said to myself, "This is the worst Super Bowl I've EVER seen!"

But it got better, didn't it? A lot better!

I loved the opening that Michael Douglas did.

Christina Aguilera's "flub" when she sang the National Anthem? Hey, stuff happens. Those who chose to make a big deal out of this are people who desperately need to "get a life".

Despite the unfortunate technical difficulties, I LOVED what the Black Eyed Peas gave us in the Super Bowl halftime show. My feet were tapping, tapping and tapping some more.

My favorite Super Bowl commercials were, in no particular order:

The "House" takeoff on long ago Mean Joe Greene's coke commercial with the very grateful kid, but in this case, House's cane was involved with the kid.

The cast of "Glee" singing the Chevy commercial.

The Bridgestone Tire commercial that showed a guy saving a beaver and later, the beaver returns the favor by saving the same guy.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

The very sexy, beautiful and fine actress Olivia Wilde is 26 and she's been married to a Prince for 8 years. A few days ago, she said the marriage is over and this is a lady who will have lots of guys pursuing her. Meanwhile, the people at the television show "House" are hoping that she will soon return to their show because she's been busy making films. And speaking of "House", Monday's "House" was especially good. With special guest stars Candice Bergen, Paula Marshall and an extraordinary performance from Olivia Wilde's replacement, Amber Tamblyn, this was absolutely "Must-See TV".

"House" was followed by a brand new show, "The Chicago Code" which stars Jennifer Beals, Jason Clarke, Delroy Lindo and Matt Lauria. This show has "hit" written all over it.

And it was nice to see Brittany Snow get turned loose a little bit on "Harry's Law". That show is another big hit for David E. Kelley.

I plan to watch two shows tonight besides "American Idol". Matthew Perry's new show, "Mr. Sunshine" and the first show of Timothy Olyphant's 2nd season of, "Justified".

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will respond to you ASAP. Don't write to the blog because there's no way for me to know your email address so that means I wouldn't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Barring something coming up that wasn't anticipated, a new blog will be posted late Wednesday night, February 16 or early Thursday morning, February 17.

IF YOU GET A CHANCE, PLEASE CHECK OUT MY ONCE A WEEK FRIDAY FUN APPEARANCE ON CRN. 4-5pm, Pacific Time, 6-7pm, Central Time and 7-8pm, Eastern Time. It's the fastest hour on radio and it's hosted by CRN owner, Mike Horn along with me and whoever else shows up. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll almost "die" while we're having fun talking about things you and your friends are talking about and laughing about things that you didn't see coming. The reason those instances ARE funny, is because WE didn't see them coming, either. This show is repeated throughout the weekend and you can hear it by clicking on www.CRNTalk.com

I hope that you and yours have a GREAT weekend!!!



Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Egypt, Donald Trump, Ricky Gervais, Rupert Murdoch, "A wish to live forever", Oscar thoughts, Super Bowl thoughts ANNND what two divas have in common!

How's THAT for a "headline"?

Dave Acocks, a resident of Illinois, is one of our long time readers and he's also a contributor. Our first two items are going to be things that were sent to me by Dave. The first one is an opinion of Dave's that I like a lot and the second one is a fable about a wish granting fairy who meets up with a very clever "wisher".

Here's Dave's opinion: "I think all members of Congress, men and women, should wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers so we could identify their corporate sponsors!!!"

Ba-da-bing! I see a lot of head nodding, folks! Good idea, huh?

Here's the fable that Dave sent to me, a fable that's titled, "A wish to live forever".

I met a Fairy today who said she would grant me one wish. "I want to live forever", I said. "Sorry", said the Fairy, "I'm not ALLOWED to grant wishes like THAT!"

After thinking for a few seconds, I said, "Okay, then. I want to DIE after Congress gets their heads out of their ASSES!"

"You crafty bastard", said the Fairy.

Thank you, Dave Acocks from Illinois!

EGYPT!!!

That's the big story in the news right now. But if you're honest, I'm guessing that most of you and your friends are talking more about the Super Bowl, your declining paychecks, the Super Bowl, this crazy weather we've been having, the Super Bowl and....Pretty much anything else but Egypt, right?

As you long time readers know, I have a few readers in Egypt and I've told you about a couple of emails I've received from them. I haven't received an email from them ever since the stuff hit the fan over there because I'm sure they're concentrating on surviving right now.

I'm not going to pretend to be some kind know it all regarding what is happening there, why it's happening there and why it is we're supposed to believe this is something Americans should care about.

But I will hit you with a couple of observations to consider.

Egypt. Another one of the Middle East countries that's being run by a dictator and a country that we give (at least) $1.5 billion to every year. And we give them this money because....???

Is it because we think that one day they're going to "change" and be more like US, The United States of America?!?

I agree with Maureen Dowd, the New York Times columnist who (today) said/wrote that President George W. Bush had his heart in the right place when he was talking a lot about wanting freedom for countries in that part of the world because deep down inside, Bush believes everyone wants freedom.

That was very much "top of mind" for President Bush when he ordered the attack on Iraq. Go in there, find and destroy those WMD's, find Saddam Hussein, have a trial, hang his sorry ass, have new "elections", the new Iraq regime will result in freedom for all of their citizens and everyone will live happily ever after while another country in the Middle East will see all the good things that happened in Iraq and they will want to have those good things for their country as well.

POP!!!

The "pop" above represents the "dream bubble" that has burst.

Many, if not most of our troops have left Iraq. All these good things about water, sewage, health things, freedom (as we know it), etc., etc.???

Let me put it this way; It was a nice dream. We now know they have new torture prisons in Iraq. Are people rioting in the streets over that? No. It's a different culture, folks. It's one thing for President Bush to want Iraq to be a "version" of us. But it ain't gonna have a ghost of a chance at happening until the PEOPLE, the people in Iraq, decide THEY want this kind of change.

But here's why I think that you and our politicians should be very concerned about what's happening in Egypt. And it ain't for the same reasons our politicians and talk show babblers, babblers who mostly talk to hear their heads roar claim the "reasons" are!

Did you notice what the number one thing the thousands on top of thousands of protesters were yelling about? I did. They were yelling about the few people in Egypt who seem to have all the money and therefore all the privileges while the rest of the population can barely survive and for the most part, are ignored by the "leaders" of Egypt.

Does that sound familiar, folks? We, as Americans aren't there YET, but am I the ONLY one who thinks we're getting dangerously CLOSE to being there?

Just askin'.

QUICK HITS...

Donald Trump says he's thinking about running for President. As a Republican.

President George W. Bush's daughter, Barbara, has endorsed gay marriage. Barbara's mother, Laura, also endorses gay marriage. President Bush does not. Am I the only one who thinks that if Laura and Barbara begin having a conversation about gay marriage inside the Bush family home, that President Bush suddenly has an urge to go outside and chop some wood?

According to a report from the Pew Hispanic Center, 11.2 million illegal immigrants were here in 2010. We are supposed to be happy with that number because it represents no change from 2009 and the number peaked at 12 million in 2007.

Personally, I think the numbers are higher than those presented by the Pew (or is that, P.U.?)
Hispanic Center. But whatever the numbers, the Pew Hispanic Center must know where these illegals are and my question is if they/we know where they are, why aren't we sending the ICE people to pick 'em up and get 'em deported?

Do you know who Rupert Murdoch is? Among other things, he's the owner of Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and probably half the world. Anyway, in a conversation with a journalist yesterday, Murdoch was reminded that Keith Olbermann worked for Murdoch a number of years ago and he was asked if he was possibly thinking about Olbermann working for him (Murdoch) again on maybe, Fox News? Murdoch's answers were "No!" because he doesn't believe in firing a guy twice, he expressed the belief that Olbermann is "A nut!" and Murdoch also said that when Olbermann worked for Fox before, he was "Impossible to work with!"

Word puzzle: If I say, "Victimization", put your hand over your eyes and name two famous females who seem to be guilty of hiding behind that word.

Give up?

Dr. Laura and Governor Palin.

Think about it, folks.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

"American Idol". Because of the new judges who are fun, fun, fun and the overall new vibe, I think this is going to be a great season for "A.I.". I can't say enough good things about Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler who seem to have rubbed off on Randy Jackson in a good-good way.

Have you had a chance to watch "Harry's Law", Monday nights on NBC? Ratings wise, it's doing very well and I highly recommend it.

Meanwhile, "The Good Wife", Tuesday nights on CBS continues to (in my view) be the best show on television. If you're not watching Showtime on Sunday nights, you're missing a fun trifecta. Showtime's Sunday night tripleheader of "Shameless" (that show is sooo good!), "Californication" (still a fun show) and "Episodes", a show that stars the guy who played Joey on "Friends" is the surprise of the bunch. Those three are MUST-see shows!

Speaking of tripleheaders....Monday, I saw three films. Two Oscar contenders and a good popcorn film, "The Mechanic". It's a remake of a film that starred Charles Bronson almost 40 years ago.

Both of the Oscar nominated films that I saw were films I thought I wouldn't like. "Black Swan" was the first one.

WOW! Natalie Portman is going to be tough to beat in the lead actress category, gang. And the movie itself is definitely a "contender". There are several other people in this film besides Portman who add to the greatness of "Black Swan" and the best of that group was the "villain", played deliciously by Mila Kunis.

The other Oscar contender I saw was, "The King's Speech". This is a true story about something that happened in England. For me, this film was slow to get going (if you know what I mean), but once it got going, it was easy to see why this film has received 12 nominations. Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter are all very deserving of their Oscar nominations and so is Tom Hooper who directed this film.

MY Oscar picks:

Director: David Fincher, "The Social Network"

Supporting Actor: Geoffrey Rush, "The King's Speech"

Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit"

Lead Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, "The Social Network"

Lead Actress: Natalie Portman, "Black Swan"

Best Picture: "The Social Network"

The actor in me makes the picks you see above. I would not be at all disappointed if "The Fighter" won for Best Picture, if Colin Firth won for Lead Actor, if Annette Bening won for Lead Actress, if Jeremy Renner won for Supporting Actor, if Amy Adams or Melissa Leo won for Supporting Actress and Darren Aronofsky won for Director.

SUPER BOWL:

I like the Steelers over the Packers, 24-17.

THIS FRIDAY:

My weekly hour of fun on CRN will be heard live, Friday, 4pm Pacific Time, 6pm Central Time and 7pm Eastern Time. The show will be repeated throughout the weekend. It's the fastest hour on radio and it's hosted by CRN owner, Mike Horn, me, football handicapper Jimmy Mac and whoever else decides to show up. You'll hear us talking about many of the things you and your friends are talking about along with lots of laughs and surprises. To hear us, click on www.CRNTalk.com and ENJOY!!!

QUESTIONS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I'll respond to you as quickly as possible. Please don't write to the blog because there's no way for me to know your email address which means I wouldn't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Barring something unexpected, next Wednesday night, February 9 or early Thursday morning, February 10.

ENJOY THE GAME (and the commercials) EVERYONE!!!