Cheers to 30 years
Thirty years ago tonight, at 9:30pm, 8:30 central, NBC aired the first episode of a TV show called "Cheers." Two hundred and seventy four episodes followed over 11 years, 40 million TV sets were tuned in to the final episode in 1993, and Aaron Moeller talked about his obsession with the show that spring in his "Senior Spotlight" profile in the Bobcat section of the South Benton Star-Press. Her is that piece in its entirely, published for the first time in almost two decades. The author is unknown.
"How's it going Mr. Peterson?" is one of Aaron Moeller's favorite phrases.
Aaron is a die-hard Cheers fan. He's been watching the show for 11 years, since Sept. 30, 1982. Not only has he seen all of the Cheers episodes, but also has over 200 recorded on VHS cassettes.
Aaron commented, "It's a great release from the stress of school. It has a constant theme and isn't too tough to figure out. The best thing about it is the witticism. When I watch the Emmy's, I root for Cheers like a sports team."
Also, Aaron and his family visited the Cheers bar during a summer vacation in Boston, Mass. He also purchased the Cheers board game. "I don't play it that often anymore because it's too easy. I already know all the answers.
"My biggest thrill with the show however, was when I wrote NBC Productions of Los Angeles a letter of praise, telling them which shows and which parts of shows I liked the best. They sent me back a letter of appreciation and an autographed picture of the cast, which I framed immediately."
Aaron is the son of Tom Moeller of Newhall and the late Joyce Moeller.
Superblogger Ken Levine was a writer and producer on "Cheers."
He blogged today about that very first night the show aired.
Mitt Romney thinks golfers are great athletes
Today in Ohio, 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate and 2014 runner-up contestant on "Dancing With the Stars" Mitt Romney told a crowded room that Jack Nicklaus was the greatest athlete of the 20th Century. Nicklaus, coincidentally, was standing next to Romney when he did this.
As
Deadspin's Drew Magary points out, the 72-year-old golfer did finish 9th in ESPN's "SportsCentury" countdown of the greatest athletes of the last 100 years back in 1999. In apparent agreement, Deadspin's popular commenter "Raysism" set about discrediting the eight men who finished above Nicklaus on that list, and in doing, provides us with our
Quote of the day:
"Michael Jordan: Probably the worst baseball player ever.
Babe Ruth: Was so bad at pitching, they buried him in right field.
Muhammad Ali: Anti-American Muslim.
Jim Brown: Anti-American race baiter. Wore funny hat.
Wayne Gretzky: Un-American.
Jesse Owens: Proudly held Nazi gold.
Jim Thorpe: Native American, and thus not an American.
Willie Mays: Turned his back on his team."
The labor beat
How many news reporters are assigned full-time to labor issues
in this entire country? A couple? Maybe? It's no wonder that the media is arriving so late to so many of these stories over the two years, and covering them inadequately, like the transcendent protests of public employees in Wisconsin, the Chicago teachers strike-- with its potential to impact teachers' salaries and employment benefits coast to coast, and even the NFL's lockout of union referees, a high profile labor dispute if ever there was one. Every major U.S. newspaper publishes a full-scale "business" section, daily, with management officials as the targeted consumer, and we have television channels devoted to "business news" 24-hours-a-day, but we get virtually no stories for or about working people in the traditional media. That's what happens when you have six multinational corporations
controlling 90% of media.
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Good for President Obama for not meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations. The neocons are angling for that war on Iran again over their nuclear program. Obama said all the right things to Steve Kroft last week when asked about the pressure Netanyahu is applying to Washington, "When it comes to our national security decisions, any pressure I feel is simply to do what's right for the American people. And I'm going to block out any noise that's out there." Billionaire political donor Sheldon Adelson may wind up spending as much as $170 million in this presidential race with the ultimate goal of having the United States attack Iran. That's some expensive noise.
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Major League Baseball has removed Melky Cabrera from eligibility in this year's batting race in the National League-- at his urging. The San Francisco Giants outfielder currently serving a 50 game suspension for violating the league's policy on the use of performance enhancing drugs begged out of the race he was about a week and half away from winning in absentia because he had registered enough plate appearances to qualify prior to his suspension. No doubt that Cabrera's motivations in bowing out are fueled as much by his desire not to be blacklisted from future employment in the league as they are his conscience.
But here's the thing. The batting title is not a subjective award, like the MVP or being elected to the Hall of Fame. It's an end of the season reality. Either somebody with enough plate appearances to qualify tops Cabrera's .346 average or he doesn't. Why Bud Selig (pictured below testifying before Congress) thinks he can change the rules in midseason is a mystery. Stupid, stupid.
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Last night on the Late Show, Steve Martin brought along
video of the moment he found out that David Letterman had been chosen to receive the Kennedy Center Honor.
The NFL's failing experiment
Roger Goodell and his scab referees are wreaking havoc in the National Football League, damaging credibility, putting players at greater risk for injury, and unintentionally striking a more powerful, visible blow on behalf of the global labor movement than a hundred Labor Day marches.
Sunday night’s Baltimore/New England game, nationally televised on NBC, witnessed almost minute-by-minute missteps by the scab officials, each boner seeming to reverse the momentum of the game and highlighting the wide and growing disparity between the professional officials and the pretenders. Following a controversial winning field goal in the game's closing seconds, Patriots coach Bill Belichick angrily grabbed a scab’s arm, and earlier in the evening, Ravens fans certainly set the world record for the longest “Bull-Shit” chant ever heard on national TV, clocking in at well over a minute.
During the Dallas/Tampa game, an official threw his hat into the middle of the end zone to signify a penalty, and the Cowboys’ receiver Kevin Ogletree, targeted by his quarterback, tripped over it and briefly fell to his knees, possibly causing his team a touchdown. In the Tennessee/Detroit game, a helmet-to-helmet hit caused a 27(?) yard penalty due to a mismarking of the foul, and in the Minnesota/San Francisco game, an official tried to call a blocking-in-the-back penalty on the 49ers—when they were the kicking team. Raiders receiver Darius Heyward Bey was hospitalized with an injured neck after another vicious helmet-on-helmet hit. No penalty was called on the play.
Game-by-game, the performance of the scabs, both in arbiting disputes on the field and in policing unsportsmanlike conduct, has been so generally awful that network broadcasters, normally faithful suck-ups to the league office, have been forced to maintain an almost-constant on-air dialogue about the ineptitude and lack of game control by the fill-ins. The two analysts covering the St. Louis/Chicago game couldn’t help but remark on the unprofessional officiating they were watching. The head referee ridiculously and disrespectfully called a penalty against “St. Looey” at one point, and when the extracurricular hitting got too rough at another time, they flashed some earlier-in-the-week comments by a Rams defensive back suggesting that he loves the replacement refs because he can get away with more misconduct. The previous weekend, the Rams beat the Kikes (interchangeable Washington team nickname) on an offensive drive that should have never been after the Rams head coach was improperly allowed to challenge a penalty, and in Week One, the Rams
lost a game when the Lions were awarded an extra play. I guess Commissioner Goodell expects those two games to just even out.
Reliably Republican Al Michaels, the all-but-official voice of the NFL establishment, couldn’t even ignore the madness during the Ravens/Patriots game he was calling. The veteran play-by-play man who opened the 2010 football season by mocking Minnesota and New Orleans players on the air for making a joint gesture of labor solidarity on the field had to admit last night that officials had lost control of the game in the fourth quarter as the Patriots were driving down the field trying to add to a two point lead, even while he added the wildly inaccurate disclaimer to this opinion that “nobody is blaming” the replacement officials.
Actually, yes they are. Many people are blaming them—at least those that recognize how blacklegs like these are used as a weapon of management to prolong a labor strike. Simply stated, the longer the scabs continue to be on the field,
sniffing jock straps, and refusing to drop their chins to the ground and cower away from the field like the snakes they are, the longer this embarrassing and physically dangerous misadventure will continue.
And what a motley group they are too, these scabs. One had to be dismissed by Goodell after photos were discovered of him on his Facebook page wearing New Orleans Saints clothing. It turns out he’s a loyal fan of the team and the photos were taken while he was tailgating at a preseason game
this year. Another scab that’s still on the job today was formerly on the payroll of the Seattle Seahawks, and another is a professional poker player so… yeah, no potential complications there.
Several wiseacres away from the game (and now Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes too, via Twitter) have joked that the incompetent replacement officials must be castaways from Foot Locker, the chain store shoe seller famous for having their employees dress in referee zebra stripes. But that’s a slanderous comparison. Selling shoes is honest work. Strikebreaking isn’t.
A scab is a scab is a scab.
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Though they’ve been generally supportive in their language, it’s unfortunate to see NFL players still on the job while their co-workers are on strike. The reason they are is because their union negotiated a separate Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the league. This is also why the union I belong to, the International Workers of the World (IWW), opposes these individual agreements on principle. Workers should all belong to the
same union, regardless of craft, skill level, or even political borders. This strike would have been over before the Hall of Fame Game if the game officials had the leverage of the players, the stadium staff, broadcast workers, etc. on their side.
And of course, that 'et cetera' I just used is an enormous 'et cetera.' Now we’re getting into that philosophical area where everybody is in the same union, owning the business collectively, and we don’t need owners at all. Individual owners are the only useless ingredient, as the non-profit, community-owned Green Bay Packers have proven. I venture to guess that if the owners for every one of the 31 other NFL teams had gone AWOL during the first three weeks of the new season, nobody on the field, in the stands, or watching at home would have noticed they were missing.
The child of privilege
Mitt Romney is a clod. It's increasingly obvious that he was raised a spoiled scion and grew to become an adult that has little understanding of the real world. If the man didn't now have five children and look like the guy on every package of men's dress socks, I'm not sure how he wouldn't still be accurately perceived as this same spoiled child.
What tips off his lack of proper recognition for the nation's economic hierarchy, among the many ridiculous comments in that video recording, is his claim that he "inherited nothing" in his life. Even though he was born the son of a millionaire, he says his only privilege was being "born in America." On "30 Rock," Alec Baldwin plays lines like this for laughs.
Also indicted by Romney's comments this week has been the establishment news media. Remember how Romney was cast as the "adult" in the Republican race throughout the winter and spring? Well, he was never that, and now it's obvious
to everyone that Ron Paul was the only one in the company.
But a corporate CEO with a nice tan and a head of hair slathered in gel is going to be treated seriously by television news people who admire the successful performance of "gravitas." An aged outlander that calls out crony capitalists and questions U.S. military policy, not so much.
Secret fundraiser footage
Think Mitt Romney doesn't pay enough in taxes? Well,
the feeling is mutual. And he also thinks you're pretty much a loser. Mother Jones has the secretly-recorded audio of what the candidate says when he's palling around with other guys in his tax bracket.
Yet just because the recording was done without the approval of the candidate and his team, I'm not convinced that it provides that all-too-rare glimpse into his true feelings. I'm not sure Romney knows
himself what he believes and what he doesn't.
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Are you better off now than you were four years ago? What an intentionally-loaded, but actually very interesting question when posed to citizens of a dying empire.
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Rick Santorum says what he's thinking even when he knows the tape is rolling. He announced last week that
he's giving up on the political support of smart people.
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I gotta see that new P.T. Anderson film inspired by L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. I predict it will be my favorite movie of the year-- and I have a really good record of predicting what my favorite movie of the year will be before I've seen it.
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Before their Monday Night Football game tonight, ESPN had a montage of all the personal fouls and cheap shots taken by players in NFL games yesterday. They are the direct result of having incompetent scab officials (a redundancy), with no authority and no discipline, on the field. And it's bad enough that they're lousing up the fairness of the games themselves.
Again, the words of one of America's legendary authors, Jack London:
"After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with which he made a scab.
A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue.
Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles.
When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out.
No man (or woman) has a right to scab so long as there is a pool of water to drown his carcass in, or a rope long enough to hang his body with.
Judas was a gentleman compared with a scab. For betraying his master, he had character enough to hang himself. A scab has not.
Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.
Judas sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver.
Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of a commission in the British army.
The scab sells his birthright, country, his wife, his children and his fellowmen for an unfulfilled promise from his employer.
Esau was a traitor to himself; Judas was a traitor to his God; Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country.
A scab is a traitor to his God, his country, his family and his class."
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A sign held up by a bald-headed kid at a Phillies' game last Thursday night: "If I can beat cancer, you can beat the Astros."
Young Philadelphia sports fans, same as the old. The Astros won 6 to 4.
American embassies burn throughout the Middle East
An inflammatory film is not to blame for the riots against U.S. embassies in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen, and the murder of four U.S. diplomats. Islamic extremism is to blame. Don't look now, but the terrorists are winning again.
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The job of a foreign diplomat is to represent and protect the interests of his or her sending state, and to promote information and friendly relations. That’s why Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be using our diplomats as spies. The Secretary of State should have been fired posthaste when her crime was uncovered by the WikiLeaks release of U.S. diplomatic cables.
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It’s amazing how anti-American many of these political factions turned out to be in these nation-states where CIA-backed autocrats were recently deposed. United States Foreign and Military Policy: Putting Islamic Fundamentalists in Power in Middle Eastern Countries Since 1979!
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The following ad appeared on Craigslist in San Francisco September 7th, under the Missed Connections section of the Personals. It's a thing of beauty...
I, was wearing purple polka-dotted crotchless panties, yellow fuzzy tap dancing shoes and rainbow knee-high socks with swirly peace signs. On my tits, I had disco pasties. I have sicc multi-colored dreads.
You, had a green goatee, and no pants. A cow patterned blazer, No shirt. Sicc tatts.
I saw you hula'n on the multi-colored flying dragon art-car as I was riding my TIGHT cruzer thru da sicc playa dust.
We made eye-contact and never saw each again! Hope the universe brings us together. Namaste.
P.s. my name is Raven.
p.p.s we saw each other at burning man.
"And more people keep pouring into the area..."
A union on the march, I love it.
Give 'em hell, Chicago teachers! Republicrat Mayor Emmanuel doesn't get more of
your time on the job without paying you more, and he doesn't get to eliminate jobs over falling test scores when the schools themselves are getting financially starved. What a lovely thing to see union members in the street, and their fellow citizens, parents, and staff, and students falling in at their side. No more budget cuts at our schools while the rich get taxed a century-low rates!
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I took in the Renaissance Fair in Des Moines on Sunday. And wow, I say. That was about ten times larger than what I thought it would be. There's a whole thing going on with that deal there, and I've been completely unaware of it. Lots to see, and do, and eat, and drink. Creativity abounds. I really allowed myself to enjoy it once I gave up the ghost on finding Ye Olde NFL Network airing in the food tents.
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Wow, I say also to the Washington Nationals following through with their Stephen Strasburg pitch limit. Strasburg is 15-6 for the 86-54 Nationals, who haven't won anything ever, even when they were the Expos for four decades, but perfectly healthy, the pitcher has been shut down for the year because of the number of pitches he's thrown. Unbelievable.
The right decision? Of course it isn't. It borders on the fraudulent, but that's for Nationals fans to decide. I'm just glad he's not on my team. It's kind of funny to think of Chris Carpenter as a contrast. Carpenter is a two-time World Series champion with a 9-2 career post-season record, and a guy who has twice missed a year and a half to arm surgery (2002-2003 and 2007-2008). Think he would trade either championship for either medical procedure? Just as Strasburg is departing the pennant race, the 37-year-old Carpenter is about to be activated and re-enter another one, despite having had "season-ending" thoracic nerve surgery on July 3rd. I guess some guys like pitching and some guys don't.
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There's a final in Saturday in the annual college football game I care about only if my team wins. I care.
Ask the DNC
One of President Obama's major legacies when he leaves office will be having left his successor with the right to assassinate anybody he or she chooses. This next President of the United States will be able to murder anyone, whether foreign or American, without the burden of judicial review. Indeed, the target does not need to have even been charged with a crime. Do Democratic lawmakers and talking heads believe Mitt Romney is ready to be handed the presidential kill list? A camera crew in Charlotte last week sought out a collection of the furry little rodents and
asked the question. Only Bill Press gets the answer correct.
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These Romney hypotheticals are only that. The presidential race is effectively over. The Democrats just had to avoid a major misstep. The tax cheat unpatriot, Mitt Romney, unpopular even with conservatives, and having received no statistical bump following the Republican National Commercial, is now about to be swallowed whole by the vanquisher of Osama bin Laden. The Republican super-PACs have pulled out of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Romney is campaigning in eight states that tally 100 electoral votes between them. Obama has a lock already on 201 of the 270 electoral votes he needs to commence George W. Bush's fourth term, and if we add the three states listed above, that puts him at 247. He would only need to add Florida, or Ohio plus a small state, or... hell, just look at
the map.
Point is, the race was really over before it started. Romney will soon get to return home to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and San Diego, to his car elevators, and to his conscience. Don't expect to hear this unfortunate news from the national media, though. The election cycle feeds the ratings, which fuel the stock price. The television networks and their affiliates are the prime beneficiaries of all the money spent and the eyeballs lent to the story. Two more months of "campaign" coverage promises 24-hour-a-day debate on the cable networks, "Saturday Night Live" specials in prime time, and campaign expenditures funneled towards media companies now with no Constitutional upper limit.
Your time is precious though. Spend it on what matters.
Whitewashing and incoherence
Deadspin's Drew Magary, writing for GQ, spent Saturday at State College, Pennsylvania.
Here's what he found.
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While we're on the topic of shielding criminals, tolerating abuse, and whitewashing over crimes, Barack Obama, the Graham Spanier of the United States government,
has granted final immunity to CIA torturers and murderers under George Bush. It's loathsome how the oligarchy covers its crimes, and if, as a voter, you still see a difference between Democrats and Republicans, I give up. You deserve to be lied to.
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Clint Eastwood's speech at the Republican National Commercial was fascinating as hell. The man is seemingly so hyper-aware of his iconic status in this country, and so confident in his own opinions about the world, that he actually seemed indifferent to the fact that Mitt Romney's policy positions and public statements are diametrically opposed to what he was promoting.
The wars have escalated (and multiplied) under a Democratic administration and Guantanamo Bay is America's death camp, but Mitt Romney's criticisms of Obama have been that the current president hasn't gone far enough in his actions as commander in chief. I wish we lived in Eastwood's world where there's debate about crimes by the United States government. And it goes further-- Eastwood actually had Republican delegates cheering by calling the Bush/Cheney(/Obama) war in Afghanistan a mistake, linking it quite accurately, as he did, to the Soviet Union's war and occupation of the same country in the 1980s. Good god, their wild applause just how much Republicans truly love Hollywood actors.
Eastwood's incoherence on Thursday night only in respect to sizing up Mitt Romney and the Republicans was wonderful, probably unintentional performance art, and it befit the gathering of boobs he was addressing in which the answers being offered up are so far off the mark that even the questions are wrong. I hope Ron Paul got as big a kick out of the speech as I did.
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Are you like me-- did you race to download the song "Crystal Blue Persuasion" by Tommy James and the Shondells after Sunday night's season finale of "Breaking Bad"? That tune has such a sensational, unique sound.
