Archive for October 29th, 2010

Palin vs. Obama: Barack challenges Todd for "First Dude" title.

October 29, 2010

During Sarah’s GOP acceptance speech she introduced her husband Todd as the “First Dude”.

Now, John Stewart is trying to transfer that title to Barack Obama.

Let the battle begin …

In the Daily Show, Obama had a friendly host and an even friendlier crowd.

He was making this first-ever appearance by a president on the Daily Show as part of a long-shot effort to rekindle the spirit of ’08.

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“You don’t want to use that phrase, dude,” Stewart recommended (to President Obama).

Dude.

The indignity of a comedy show host calling the commander in chief “dude” pretty well captured the moment for Obama.

Washington Post, “On the Daily Show, Obama is the last laugh”, October 27, 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/27/AR2010102709035.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

So, on Monday, the Dem candidate for governor tells Obama to “stuff it” …  and, on Wednesday, John Stewart calls him “dude”.

I love this stuff.

Posted in Obama Administration | Leave a Comment »

What do Barack Obama and Rodney Dangerfield have in common?

October 29, 2010

According to Dangerfield and the President, they get no respect.

Charles Krauthammer sums it up nicely …

Obama Underappreciation Syndrome

Opening a whole new branch of cognitive science — liberal psychology — Obama has discovered a new principle: The fearful brain is hard-wired to act befuddled, i.e., vote Republican.

But of course. Here Obama has spent two years bestowing upon the peasantry the “New Foundation” of a more regulated, socially engineered and therefore more humane society, and they repay him with recalcitrance and outright opposition.

Here he gave them Obamacare, the stimulus, financial regulation and a shot at cap-and-trade — and the electorate remains not just unmoved but ungrateful.

Faced with this truly puzzling conundrum, Dr. Obama diagnoses a heretofore undiscovered psychological derangement: anxiety-induced Obama Underappreciation Syndrome, wherein an entire population is so addled by its economic anxieties as to be neurologically incapable of appreciating the “facts and science” undergirding Obamacare and the other blessings their president has bestowed upon them from on high.

I have a better explanation.

Better because it adheres to the ultimate scientific principle, Occam’s Razor, by which the preferred explanation for any phenomenon is the one with the most economy and simplicity.

And there is nothing simpler than the Gallup findings on the ideological inclinations of the American people. Conservative: 42 percent. Moderate: 35 percent. Liberal: 20 percent.

No fanciful new syndromes or other elaborate fictions are required to understand that if you try to impose a liberal agenda on such a demonstrably center-right country — a country that is 80 percent non-liberal — you get a massive backlash.

Washington Post, Obama Underappreciation Syndrome, October 22, 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/21/AR2010102104856.html

My early high school football coach Howie Weyer — who got 15 minutes of fame by refusing to hire smokers and fat people when he left football and went into business — used to drum in to us: respect is something you earn.

Hear that, Dude?

Posted in Obama Administration, ObamaCare | Leave a Comment »

Eliminating MediCare waste and fraud … so, how’s that going?

October 29, 2010

It has been about 6 months since ObamaCare was passed.

About half of the funding is supposed to come from MediCare, and Obama said not to worry — most of that would come from eliminating waste and fraud.

Except for the Andy Griffith ad, there’s been eery silence about progress cutting waste & fraud.

Hmmm … as I was wondering how they’re doing on that, the WSJ published the following:

Somewhere in the New York City area there is a family-practice doctor who, in 2008, pocketed more than $2 million from Medicare, the federal insurance program for the elderly.

That made her one of the best-paid family-medicine physicians in the Medicare system.

But more noteworthy than the sum is her pattern of billing, which strongly suggests abuse or even outright fraud, according to experts who have examined her records.

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Unfortunately, the Medicare database comes with a severe limitation.

While the services and earnings of hospitals and other institutional providers can be publicly identified, such information is kept strictly confidential for doctors and other individual providers.

The reason is that the American Medical Association, the doctors’ trade group, successfully sued the government more than three decades ago to keep secret how much money individual physicians receive from Medicare.

The AMA stands by its position and says little would be accomplished by publishing individual physician billing information.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704696304575538112856615900-lMyQjAxMTAwMDIwNjEyNDYyWj.html

Oh yeah … the AMA –which represents less than 20% of U.S. doctors — is on board for ObamaCare.

Hmmm, again.

 

Posted in Health & Nutrition | Leave a Comment »

Book ’em, Lord … Bye, bye Danno

October 29, 2010

Not a good year for fans of the  real Hawaii Five-O.

Right when I start to get over Kono being recast as a girl  in the new rip-off series … then BANG ! … the real Danno goes down for the count.

Ouch.

They say “natural” causes.

I’m betting cardiac arrest when he saw what they did to the classic series.

James MacArthur, Danno on Original ‘Hawaii Five-0,’ Dies, October 28, 2010

James MacArthur, who for 11 years played Det. Dan Williams (Danno of “Book ’em, Danno”) on the original “Hawaii Five-0” television series, had died. He was 72.

No cause of death was given other than “natural causes.” He was cast as Det. Dan Williams on “Hawaii Five-0” after a producer noticed his brilliant, one-take performance as a traveling preacher in the 1968 Clint Eastwood film “Hang ’em High.”

He played Danno for 11 years but left before the show’s final season in 1980, saying that the role no longer challenged or interested him.

http://www.thewrap.com/television/column-post/james-macarthur-danno-original-hawaii-five-0-dies-22064

My question: how could a guy stop being challenged playing Danno?

Go figure.

Thanks to Straz for feeding the lead.

Posted in Media | Leave a Comment »

Competition is Brewing Among Single-Serve Coffees

October 29, 2010

TakeAway: An advertising battle is breaking out in the single-serve coffee business as the holiday season nears.

The single-serve business—in which consumers pop “pods” or cartridges into household machines that brew individual cups of coffee, espresso and other java drinks—is gaining traction in the U.S. after becoming popular in Europe.

This is a highly competitive market with plenty of room to grow, but holiday spending is still expected to be fairly low due to the economy.

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Excerpted from the Wall Street Journal, “The Single-Serve Push” By Suzanne Vranica, October 14, 2010

Nestlé is just one of the companies that have either started or will start major ad pushes, geared toward the holidays.  Other players include Kraft, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Mars, Royal Philips Electronics and Sara Lee.

Currently, only about 7% of U.S. households have a single-serve coffee machine. About 60% of the coffee machines are sold during the holiday months, though companies make most of their profits selling the containers or “pods” that hold the coffee.

The onslaught of advertising comes as consumers remain cautious about spending. Single-cup coffee typically costs less than $1 a serving, but consumers have to spend between $100 and $400 on the machines. There are also upscale models that cost well above $500. Still, food companies and analysts say consumers may be more willing to make coffee at home rather than buying it from local cafes.

Edit by AMW

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Full Article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703673604575550191974954922.html?mod=WSJ_hps_editorsPicks_3

 

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Posted in Beverages - Soft Drinks | Leave a Comment »