So, looks like Jon Stewart won’t have Rick Sanchez to kick around anymore. You have to wonder how a teevee personality who presumably understands that when you appear on a radio show, people might actually hear what you’re saying (even if it’s only on Sirius) can be so stupid. Then again, this is the guy that was voluntarily tasered, so maybe it isn’t that odd after all. Oh well, farewell Rick, and we look forward to seeing you turn up on Fox. They hate Jon Stewart too, so you should fit right in.
Mira Sorvino “feels compelled” to fight human trafficking, saying it’s “the worst kind of human depravity that you can imagine.” I dunno, Mira. I’m not saying it isn’t, but as far as human depravity goes, there’s a lot of competition for the #1 spot.
But, wherever human trafficking (which, frankly, as a term seems little better to me that “human resources.” I think the world all began to go to hell when we stopped being persons – as in personnel – and started being the equivalent of the utility bill – an unfortunately unavoidable expense that should be kept to a minimum if it can’t be eradicated entirely) falls on the human depravity scale, I’ll listen to Mira because she was great in Mighty Aphrodite (which was a great movie – and not just because the boxer dude wanted to quit boxing and be an onion farmer in Wampsville, which, yes indeed, is not only a real place, but of course isn’t very far from me, and was, in fact, the place where a lot of kids took their road tests when I was 16’ish, because it was rural and presumably much less likely to hit anything in) and I liked her old man in Law and Order.
I’m just now watching last night’s Real Time with Bill Maher, and thank goodness that Andrew Breitbart wasn’t on this week. I don’t mind a conservative point of view, but a loudmouth schmuck who will do nothing but blather and filibuster adds nothing to the conversation and only serves to piss me off.
Not that this week’s panel wasn’t flawed. First off, there was Joe Klein who is, well, to put it mildly, an asshole. Then there was Arianna Huffington, who’s OK, I guess, but I’m getting a little tired of her and her Gabor sister accent. That’s unfair, I know, but, hey, what can I say. She’s also starting to look (especially her profile) like a caricature of herself drawn by Matt Groening. Cornell West was on, though, and I like him (even though he looks like he just got done filming an episode of the ‘Wild Wild West’ – kinda like the half-brother of Artemus Gordon that everybody kept a secret).
God, I wish Joe Klein would just STFU.
Big day today, which you might not have heard about because nobody seems to give a shit about it, but there’s a big, big rally or demonstration or whatever it is the kids are calling it these days for Single Payer Health Care. Hundreds of thousands (or maybe just hundreds) of people are expected. I know what you’re thinking, “hey, don’t we already have single payer health care? Or something?” And the answer to that is no. No we don’t. Maybe if Rahm Emanuel had left the White House sooner (or President Obama hadn’t chosen him to be Chief of Staff in the first place), we would. Or maybe Obama would have at least made a half-assed attempt to get it.
But he didn’t and we don’t. So, people with a lot more ambition than I have are still out there trying to get it. Most of them are old people who saw the Civil Rights movement and the anti-war movement during the Vietnam era, and actually think that marching or demonstrating or whatever it is they’re calling it these days will accomplish something. Good for them. I have my doubts, mostly because the government and the media are bought and paid for by the people who most stand to profit by the status quo, and because most of the people in this country are idiots.
And we no longer have Rick Sanchez to stand up for us anymore.
According to U.S. Internal Revenue Service data, 2,840 households reporting at least $1 million in income on their tax returns that year also collected a total of $18.6 million in jobless aid. They included 806 taxpayers with incomes over $2 million and 17 with incomes in excess of $10 million. In all, multimillionaires reported receiving $5.2 million in jobless benefits.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-01/almost-3-000-millionaires-claimed-jobless-benefits-in-2008-irs-data-show.html
This should cheer the Rethugs and reassure them that at least some of that unemployment money is going to the right people.
Gail Collins tries to decide which state election is the most appalling.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/opinion/02collins.html?_r=1&hp
I know how important my ramblings about the physics instructor are to you so I’ll continue. I asked him yesterday why his lectures are so out-of-sync with the homework, and his reply was that there was over 4,000 years of physics and only a short period of time to teach it. And I’m thinking to myself, “You haven’t taught shit the entire time I’ve been in class.” Maybe three equations were thrown on the dry-erase board and one example from each chapter. We covered two chapters, mind you. I guess when you teach physics bullshit can dribble out your mouth and pool up on your shirt that’s protruding three feet from your enlarged gut, and everyone will think it’s perfectly cool. So homework is due Monday for sections we haven’t even talked about in class. I swear, if I ever become a teacher I’ll be fucking awesome at it– while not being a dick, though I may have an enlarged gut, you never know. He says physicists are the most laziest people in the world, and from what I’ve seen I can’t argue any differently.