Grim Reaper Strikes Again For Real: Celebrity Deaths Up, TV Shows To Follow

This week saw the passing of many a famous person. Starting the death toll was Robert Shimmel, 60, who died a few weeks back in a car accident. A truly funny comic, he survived divorce, testicular cancer and the cancellation of his TV show before it ever aired. OUCH. I will always remember him for dissing J-Lo who he had worked with for years on the set of In Living Color where he was a writer and she a fly girl (I liked the hot Asian dancer best go figure). He approached her years later to say hi and she shooed him off like he was nobody. He fired back that she should get an MRI because she must be developing a tumor or Alzahemier's as they ate together every day for years. He went on to skewer her as an untalented hack diva. It was priceless. He will be missed. Joining him is Greg Geraldo, 44, who died a few days ago in New Brunswick New Jersey of an accident prescription overdose. He was one of the best comics working today, best known for his acid tongue lashes at the Comedy Central Roasts over the last few years. Remember the good ole days when famous people would die of drug overdoses involving cocaine or heroin. Now its all legal drugs. That should tell you something. Also dead as of today are film legends Tony Curtis and Gloria Stuart (Titanic Oscar Nominee), Tarintino's editor Sally Menke and director Arthur Penn. God speed to all.
On the ratings front, Wednesday brought another blood bath to new shows like The Whole Truth which will probably join Lone Star and soon to be cancelled Outlaw. The new awful Law and Order debuted last night to okay numbers staring show killer Skeet Ulrich, now on his fourth series in the past five years and primma donna Terrance Howard who assholed himself out of the Iron Man franchise. Great casting guys. I doubt this will last much longer than the equally awful Law and Order: Trial by Jury which lasted all of eight weeks. Fox's Hell's Kitchen continues to slide but still place second for the night, CW did well with ANTM and Hellcats, while CBS and ABC shows continue to shine, especially the funny Modern Family. NBC's Undercovers seems destined for the scrap heap.

Grim Reaper Strikes: Lone Star Axed

As predicted in an earlier post, the first show to hit the television graveyard is the critically loved but rating starved Lone Star axed after only two episodes. Fox is well known for killing many a show quickly that doesn't stand up to the ratings. Picked by many a critic as one of the year's best, it suffered from Burn Notice like ads (See SNL sketch to understand) that told you nothing about what the show was about. Added that the main character was an anti-hero con man and the writing was on the wall. Most of Monday continued to improve with only the low rated Chuck now on the bubble for its low ratings, although most of NBC's Monday lineup finished poorly including the interesting The Event. Sandwiched between the likable Chuck and the unwatchable Chase, I feel NBC will do some shuffling sooner than later, with Chase getting the axe soon. Newcomers Mike and Molly and Hawaii 5-0 are still pulling in good numbers and proving to be solid hits for CBS.
Tuesday saw ABC's critically panned No Ordinary Family with Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz staring as a dysfunctional family that gains super powers, did very well in it's slot of Tuesday's brutal eight o'clock hour, followed by two hours of nothing on every network. The show pulled in a respectable 3.7 opposite the Glee monster, stalwart NCIS and the dying The Biggest Loser. DWTS and Detroit 187 both pulled in modest numbers in a weak time slot. NBC, while getting big gains over last years fall debacle (Jay Leno Show anyone?), still put out a host of shows that are questionable at best and are suffering from it in some slots like Monday, Tuesday and Friday. ABC and FOX have fared much worse with most of their new programming tanking across the board. ABC's one bright spot was No Ordinary Family but struggle everywhere else with The Whole Truth on the bubble as well Detroit 187. Fox's new shows are proving to be wholly unwatchable with only Raising Hope doing average at best and its follow up sitcom Hope Running Wilde soon to be cancelled.
CBS continues to dominate with several of their new shows doing well and the CW gains more ground as their shows are suddenly competitive which does happen when you air utter wank versus them.

Visions of Things To Come

It is becoming increasingly apparent that our way of life is coming to an end. Whether it be by economic turmoil or war or environmental or all three is almost inevitable at this point. Why so pessimistic you ask? Because factors are starting to form that become dominoes. Once these dominoes start to fall, they cannot be stopped. For example, if one suicide bomber blows up a gas station in Philly what do you think the outcome would be? It certainly wouldn't be pretty as the world is set on explode right now. Muslims in this country would need to be set aside as their safety would be in dire straights. Please don't see this as racist as I personally have nothing wrong with individual people of any religion, its the religion itself I dislike, but I can separate that from the person as noted that I have several close friends who are Ultra Orthodox Jewish, Born Agains, Mormon and yes, even Muslim. And trust me I never throw their religion in their face. They know my views and we respectably agree to disagree. Which is what I wish the rest of world would do but no there are all sorts of radicalized religious nutbugs of which Muslims seem to hold the majority of. But much like the hindsight we now have over Japanese internment, we fail to see one of the major reasons why they were separated: safety. Japanese individuals would have been targets for retribution and, unlike Germans who were similarly prosecuted during the war, easier to spot. There may come a time soon when separation may have to be done for the good of the innocent as not every Muslim is a terrorist. Idiot America will probably see it another way. With the Republicans somehow surging in the polls (set up for another stolen election?) we can safely say that this country is going to be toast as NOTHING will get done for the next few years. And does any reasonable person out there think that now is a good idea to do nothing? With the Republican ideas, or lack there of, plus a gridlocked Congress, Paul Craig Roberts' vision of the future seems more and more likely. A former assistant secretary to the Treasury under Ronald Regan, Roberts has been writing about our failing system for the past decade and his views have been rather on the mark. I respect him for calling out BOTH parties, including the Republicans which he says has been hijacked by corporate America. So go ahead America and vote Republican if you don't like things like Clean water, clean air, a livable workplace, vacation, sick days, good wages, a safe neighborhood and any kind of freedom because that is almost certainly the first to go. Let's take a look at what Roberts say the coming decade may look like.

2017- Our financial crisis devastates the country. Police clans form to restore order. Republicans driven under Bush and even Obama have given the police unprecedented powers that now make them unaccountable and militarized. When society goes, these thugs will be the new rulers in town. Feel safe yet? As society breaks down, the police became the new warlords ala Somalia and control everything, giving the best they can to friends and family. The rest of us will be forced to do whatever we can to survive which will certainly deal with lots of forced prostitution as the new Law will demand it. Think it won't here? Think again because EVERY society that goes through this does just that. In Rwanda they still use rape squads today. Think about that same amount of power and know that it will happen here. How will the fall happen? That's easy because it's happening right now. In a bid of ultimate greed, corporations are downgrading their workforce by nickle and dimeing us to death. However that is exactly how society collapses because eventually, people cannot afford to buy your products and then your company loses more and more money. It's a never ending cycle that leads to bankruptcy. When this occurs, like Circuit City or Linens and Things as examples, taxes are not collected from these failing industries. With everyone out of work and corporations dying, the inevitable happens. The government is forced to print more money to offset the balance until hyperinflation occurs. The government responds by ending Social Security, Medicare and looting all pension funds nationwide. This helped for one year, but with nothing left to loot, hyperinflation returns, bankrupting the nation. Other papers such as one written by the Rockefeller Foundation paint a similar picture of 2010 to 2020 being dubbed the doom generation. With climate change destroying our ecosystem with monstrous natural disasters. terrorism running rampant and economic turmoil brought on by these fits of nature plus a declining economic model worldwide, the next decade will be do or die for most of us. The die part more likely than not. Sorry to be the Master Of Doom and Gloom again but things are getting dicey and we are trusting a bunch of idiots to help solve our problems. God help us all.

Tv Ratings Thursday and Friday: Ouch Again to The Newcomers

This weeks bloodbath brought about the highs of returning shows and the absolute death spiral of several others. The big winner on Thursday was the Big Bang Theory in its new Thursday time slot, crushing the competition such as Bones, Community, 30 Rock, and My Generation which was annihilated at 8. Reviews for the show were terrible and apparently everyone else thought so too. Newcomer $%^& My Dad Says did very well after Big Bang but having watched the first episode I can say I won't be coming back. It was a typical sitcom filled with a mindless laugh track and horrible writing. I kept thinking about the Supernatural episode Changing Channels where Sam and Dean are trapped in TV land. The sitcom they are on is horrible but even as a spoof still better than this nonsense. Badly acted and written, I was stunned to see James Barrows directing this crap. This show needs to die. 9 PM saw The Office and, somehow, Outsourced, do every well, easy beating the dying CSI whose ratings are plummeting (I stopped watching years ago), Fringe, and tied with Grey Anatomy which is still on somehow. 10 PM saw the death spiral of the Apprentice which I think will soon be pushed to Saturday's if these anemic ratings continue. ABC did all right with Private Practice, the Grey's spinoff. Both Vampire Diaries and Nikita did okay in their time slots, with Diaries actually up and Nikita flat (not a pun I swear. Yes she may not be ample bosomed but she's still really hot.) Even with CSI falling fast CBS still won 10 PM with the Psyche ripoff the Mentalist.
Friday saw more bad news for newcomers with NBC's Outlaw physically dying in front of our eyes. I tried to put it in Friday night but my TV threatened suicide if I did. Apparently so did everyone's else because it scored the lowest rating of the weak with 1.1. This may not see episode three. ABC went with reruns of their most popular shows, NBC ran Dateline and CW kicked butt with the last season of Smallville and the latest season of Supernatural. CW got their highest ratings in two years, which is good news because I love Supernatural. These anemic NBC ratings are certainly what helped get NBC chief Jeff Zucker fired. Just okaying the awful show Outlaw should have done that. CBS did okay with Medium at 8, CSI:NY at 9 and rocked the ratings with one of the only newcomers to do well this week, Tom Selleck's Blue Bloods which won at 10. The cancellation of the Ghost Whisperer at 8 seems to have been a mistake as Medium didn't hold the same audience which was too bad because it was a very good episode. Fox flatlined with an idiotic repeat of Human Target (I love this show but who shows repeats right now) and a new episode on the average The Good Guys which will be cancelled at any time now if these awful rating continue of a .6 and a .9. Seems that most of my picks for worst and best were dead on. First show to be cancelled will be a close tie between Outlaw and Lone Star. Lone Star has one more episode to show something before it gets yanked, Outlaw may not make it to next week. Let the carnage begin. On a side note SNL was up quite a bit from last year and this week's episode was a strong start with Amy Pohler hosting and Katy Perry the music act. Very funny and Perry looked amazing in the Bronx Beat sketch. Every red blooded male should find this clip on line. You won't be disappointed.

DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK: THE ALCOHOL LOBBY

We have yet another week where it was actually kind of hard to nail down who was the worst offender for screwing things up. Republicans and the tea party are almost always in the running every week, this week being no exception, and the Muslims of the world are also just shy of winning again for the continued effort to end the world. But a new contender just today came about easily winning douchebag of the week. Let's recap the runner ups. Again.

1) Republicans and the Tea Party- proving without a shadow of a doubt that the Republicans party is the party of no ideas, these losers paraded their dog and pony show out in front of the American people to talk about their Pledge to America, otherwise known as 1994's Contract With America. It's the same freaking thing. As a matter a fact, if you take tape from 94 and intercut it with this week's speech its a word for word revision. And none of what they stated in that happened. We didn't become fiscally responsible. We didn't help the economy. We lost more jobs than gained with it. It was in every sense of the word, a disaster. So what do Republicans want to do? The exact same crap. And I do mean exact. With the moronic tea party running the show, this country is headed down a rabbit hole that we are not going to come back from.

2)Muslims- Yes my distrust of religion, any religion, is well documented. But this week took another weird turn as Iran was attacked in cyberspace and the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians reached their inevitable conclusion. A new cybervirus has crippled Iran's nuclear program with a highly sophisticated Malware virus called Stuxnet, one that only could have come from a well funded source such as a government like Israel or the US. This would not be unexpected as this is exactly the kind of attack we should be doing. Peace talks have also basically ended between Abbas and Netanyahu after secret discussions between Abbas and Hamas (hey they rhyme) have been discovered, angering all outside parties. This will be the last peace talks, perhaps forever. Abbas wanted Netanyahu to recognize the same deal that Olmert offered a few years back. That deal was considered dead before arrival. If they wanted that deal, Abbas should have taken it when he had the chance. The deal will be significantly less, just because peace between the two have diminished since the building of the wall that has kept out all suicide bombers for the past three years. Containment has worked. Rockets fired are treated different as an act of war. Sooner or later this area is going to explode.

3) And the winner this week is the alcohol lobby who are giving large sums money to help defeat the proposition in California to legalize weed. Worse they are siding with the police union who don't want to lose the amount of power they are gong to. Subscribing to worthless fear tactics that aren't true, these two unholy bastards are trying to deceive the public before the vote. Legalization won't lead to stoned bus drivers, pilots or any other profession. And even if it does, statistics show pot doesn;t impair judgement like alcohol and in some cases makes safer drivers. It also won't lead to the loss of billions in dollars in federal funding. The loss of money is pure invention. Here's the weird part. Alcohol causes a huge statistical problem when it comes to drunk driving, aggression, crime, domestic and sexual assault and properly damage. On the other hand, weed is associated with less aggression, less chance of injury or health problems and a tiny fraction of car accidents, so nominal in fact that the feds don't even compile it. In California alone, alcohol costs taxpayers up to 38$ billion per year in social costs, 109,000 related injuries and 70,000 emergency room visits. In contrast, fewer than 200 users sought treatment for the more than 400,000 smokers in that state. Which statistic seems more dangerous to you? Yet the cops are all up arms about this. The right wing Heritage foundation has realised an idiotic paper on the legalization of pot which basically paints all pot users as terrorists and alcohol as a safe substance that will never ever cause any harm no matter how much you drink. It really said that. It is identical to the crap that came out of Portugal when they decriminalized all drugs. And what happened there? Nothing. What will happen here? The same. The end of war of drugs in a necessary especially considering how broke we are. Let's hope this proposition is not shot down come November.

Wednesday Ratings: Old Shows Soar/ New Shows Plummet

In a big I told you so moment, every show I listed in my Why God Why article of bad programming has missed the mark completely while old favorites like Survivor on a new night roared to life. CBS was the big winner with Survivor dominating the 8 PM slot, Modern Family running wild at 9, with CBS's Criminal Minds a solid second and SVU winning the ten o'clock slot. All the shows I like and watch did well. What didn't? Anything new. Shocker. JJ Abrams new show Undercover tanked at 8, and from the reviews I hear it's pretty much Alias lite. The Defenders did better than I thought with a 2.9 but let's see how it stacks up against the Law And Order spin off that debuts next week. ABC's new comedy Better Than You did okay with a 2.5 share and Cougar Town dropped hard with a 3.3, losing 2/3rds of the Modern Family audience. The fact the Jennifer Aniston was guest starring may mean that America has had it with her. It's too bad because she is very hot and talented but her star is fading fast with a rash of really horrible movies. Maybe you should be looking into either a new TV show or a movie you get naked in. Trust me nudity can save a career. But is it too little too late like Meg Ryan? She took off her clothes in a crap movie and the world went yawn so what. But then again Halle Berry got naked and won an Oscar. Pick better movies Jen. You can afford to be picky. The biggest loser however was not Cougar Town but a new ABC show The Whole Truth which debuted at an anemic 1.5. Two lawyer show competing against one another in the same time slot is suicide. In this case people would rather watch Defenders, another horrible show than The Whole Truth which does somehow looks worse despite the fact I like Maura Tierney and Ron Morrow more than Belushi and O'Connell. This show is on life support. It'll be gone in the next few weeks. Fox scored big with Hell's Kitchen which gained viewers as the night went on, finishing second for the coveted 18-49 viewership. CW was flat but steady with ANTM and Hellcats.
What show will be the first to be cancelled? It's a tight race between the Whole Truth and Lone Star. I;m putting my money on Lone Star just because Fox will cancel anything quickly with that kind of rating.

The Recesion is Over?

In yet another slap in the face to the American people, the government has come out and said the recession we are in actually ended in July of 09. That's great news to us. Prosperity has returned along with well paying jobs, free health care, lower taxes and money literally falling out of my ass. Oh wait a minute. None of that actually happened. As a matter of fact, we seem to be worse off than a year ago. Unemployment is still sky high, 22% at last look, no one is hiring except at the lowest levels of the food chain and more and more people are hating their jobs. For example, the job I was laid from twice has undergone another round of layoffs, getting rid of the managing editor who worked his butt off, several reporters (because who needs reporters when you run a newspaper) and several other "nonessential" personnel. My boss, before I left, was kicked out of her office and actually demoted to secretary as well as her usual duties to save money. This is the story of today. Companies will force you to do multiple jobs for no extra pay so that they can save money to cram into their pockets. Or, as in my case and several other people, we are laid off and younger, less experienced (ie cheaper) are hired instead. And what happens whenever this occurs? Quality goes down. Way down. Just ask Circuit City how that business strategy worked. Oh wait you can't. They went out of business, the same direction many a company is doing.
And with the idiot public screaming about big government they fail to see the big business is far far worse. Unless of course you don't like things like vacation time, sick days or adequate pay. These are things that unions got us. Unions that are spit on by most Republicans as Anti-American. Now big business is killing us and soon we'll all be slaves to minimal wage and horrid working conditions. Forget the middle class. It's gone. Now it's survival of the fittest. Some wall street wank the other day had the gaul to ask Obama why they were picking on him and his friends. BECAUSE YOU'RE DOUCHEBAGS WHO HAVE DESTROYED THIS COUNTRY THAT'S WHY YOU HACK. Coupled with the idiocy of the American people I have come to the conclusion that democracy is dead and we have killed it with our stupidity. Maybe some sort of democratic/dictatorship is what is necessary at this point because the method we have now is crap. How about you have to pass some sort of civics test to vote. Anyone who fails can then send their vote to a previously elected person whose sole job is to represent the people of a certain district who did not pass said test. His job is to vote in the best interest of the people he represents, not big business or big government. He cannot be a religious figure or political hack. He can own no stock in any company. No contributions from any source over 1000$ will be allowed. In this way maybe we can sort out the morons who are being manipulated by the dems or repubs. These people are too stupid to vote and should be disallowed less the future of our country is at risk. I know its a huge step but that's what is needed nodays. Don't believe me . Read any message board about any political topic and 2/3s of what is written in factual nonsense. It's amazing that in this day and age of information that somehow we are becoming a dumber people. Pick up a friggin' book people. Both parties need to go and a true overhaul of our system is needed. But that won't happen easily or possibly at all. If we fail, we all fail. I think that's exactly where we are headed. The Hindenburg Omen still has a few weeks left before we are in the clear. But with the stock market behaving oddly right now, I still fear for the worst.

The New Fall TV Season So Far: Hits and Misses

The new season is only two days old but as I've watched or read about most of the new shows out, I thought I'd give you a little background how things are doing. So far, the new shows I've watched have done well, and the ones I haven't have sucked moose puckey.
Monday was a good day for any new show that didn't rhyme with Bone Mar. NBC scored both with critics and ratings with their new serialized drama The Event with Jason Ritter, Blair Underwood and a host of other well known character actors. The pilot was well shot, skipping through time over the past year, to show Jason Ritter's character go from ordinary guy about to propose to his girlfriend on a cruise to psycho hijacking a plane. How did he get to this point? What happened to his girlfriend and her family? Why dies every president on TV lately have to be black or Hispanic, or both in this shows case? We get it. The show was very exciting, but then again so was Flashforward's first episode. Let's hope the momentum can be kept up for what could be the networks new Lost. Ratings were solid, but let's see how much it slides by next week.
Also up were two new CBS shows Mike and Molly and Hawaii 5-0. Both were solid in their debut ratings wise and while both have room for improvement, they delivered a good first episode. Mike and Molly was very cute in the way that having two overweight people meet and fall in love is somewhat new. Instead of being an established couple, the series will focus on their new relationship, as well as Mike's surly partner and Molly's odd mother and stoner sister. This could be a big (pardon the pun) hit. Hawaii 5-0 was at heart another police procedural at a time when there are way too many. However the scenery is great, especially the skinny but attractive Grace Park who they found several reasons to keep in her bikini or underwear, and Scott Caan is quite funny as Dano. Let's hope the plots improve because the first week's was weak. Still both did well in the ratings.
The big loser was Lone Star, Fox's new drama about a con man in Texas. It bombed bigger than anyone had expected with an anemic 1.4 rating for the night. This show is doomed doomed doomed. If you watch it, get your licks in now because in the next few weeks this one will be off the air. A second episode even seems unlikely. Experts predicted at least a 2.4, hampered by Fox's terrible promos and an iffy premise. Spider Man reboot director Marc Webb dirceted the pilot and was one of the show's producer. Can't say that makes anyone optimistic about the next spidey feature with this radically untested director.
Tuesday was Glee's night to shine as the number one show of the night followed by NCIS and the spin off NCIS:LA. ABC scored well with Dancing with The Stars and Fox floundered with more of its new shows (who keeps picking this crap at Fox), the two new sitcoms at 9 both underperformed, although not as badly as Lone Star the night before. ABC hit the rocks with ANOTHER police procedural Detroit 187 which is actually filmed in Detroit. Who wants to watch a burned out husk of a city? Nobody apparently as the ratings were a low 2.4 and huge drop off from DWTS. The worse news was the this show did worse than last year's premiere of the Forgotten (awesome title fools) which does not bode well for it's prospects. Opposite the cable hit Sons of Anarchy, this may not last this month. NBC did it's usual Biggest Loser/Parenthood block which help up to respectable numbers.
Wednesday brings back lots of old favorites and little new programming. It is the busiest night of the week for me with all four networks putting on good programming. Thanks for spreading it out guys. More on these stories as the week progresses.

All The Rumors Fit To Print

Alot of times I come across stories that cannot be verified. Some are reported then denied. Others require high level scientific background to understand. But I feel that showing what might be happening is every bit as important as understanding what is definitively happening. Just take into mind that none of what you are about to read may be factual.
Iran has reported, then denied, that they have captured seven, or five depending on the report, US soldiers from across border raid on Afghanistan. As nothing has been reported since, I doubt this story. If it was true Iran would still be crowing about it. The fact they deny it happened means it probably didn't. What is not in question is the sheer lack of offense that Israel has taken lately even after Hamas murdered four settlers outside of Hebron last week. Countries like Egypt and Saudia Arabia were stunned by Israel's lack of doing anything, a rarity for the usually shoot first ask questions later mindset they normally have. So troubled were they by the lack of response that Egyptian papers leaked information about the plot. When Egypt warned them that more attacks could be on the way, Israel shooed them off. Egypt is not happy about this as they depend on Israel to help keep extremists out of both countries, something that Israel seems reluctant to do right now. This almost certainly has everything to do with yet another failed peace treaty that has no hope of survival. Only when both sides are willing to make potentially life threatening decisions (as Sadat found out) will such a peace be possible.
It has also been reported that the Gulf Stream has begun to die possibly from overexposure to Corexit, the chemical being used to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf. One scientist this week says that the last ice age may have been on us as quickly as one year, which would mean my theory of temperature extremes would have been vindicated (so where's my Nobel Prize). My theory, using hard science as proof, shows that in every ice ago over that past few billion years has been preceded by a warming trend. The graphs show with little doubt that high temperatures eventually dilute the gulf stream which leads to rapid cooling. The movie the Day After Tomorrow showed a realistic portrayal of such a climate change, mind you it still wouldn't be as fast as it was in the movie. However, if it is possible that an ice age could occur in a year means millions would die of the cold in the the first few months. More than likely, billions would perish worldwide. Is it happening now? I really don't know. There are a lot of the world is ending people and only a few are worth listening to. This topic comes from a guy I nothing about and more than likely is just another Internet fruitcake. But it is an interesting topic and bears watching in the long run.
In a related story, corexit has been held responsible for untold sickness throughout the region. Rumors of whole towns coughing up blood and of families sickened by tainted water in their swimming pools are becoming more and more frequent. I cannot confirm or deny any of these stories but if it is true, we could be headed for an ecological disaster still unfolding. I am sure they are not cleaning up all the oil as too many people have surfaced and too many news crews have verified their storied. BP is doing cosmetic cleaning only. All the oil still is under the sand. Glenn Beck (I know I Know) reported that peope are being told not to dig in the sand in Florida without a permit. Consider the source before believing that one.
So what is real and what is not? I don't know. In today's world it's really hard to tell. But here I will do my best to filter out the lies like Obama is a socialistic Kenyan born Marxist. He isn't any of things. And if you believe it, your truth filter is broken.

The West Versus The Middle East: Why We Are Superior

Normally I wouldn't throw out terms like superior as the Middle East is host to any number of fine people, exquisite culture and fantastic foods every bit as good as the West. But something happened the other day that got me thinking what a huge difference in culture we actually have. As Pope Nazi was visiting England this week, a terror plot was uncovered that was set to kill him during a drive around. The alleged attackers were all Muslim street cleaners. Here is where its gets odd. Instead of beating us over the head day after day that Muslims tried to kill the pope, the whole story was quietly buried in the back pages of newspaper or the later part of any newscast. Plus any mention of the attackers being Muslim was specifically underplayed. How different would this have been in another country if say, six Israelis were arrested in an assassination plot against Mahmoud Amadinijad? They would have flipped out, non stop coverage of the story and countless protests by illiterate Muslims up in arms that Israel would do such a thing. In this country and abroad not one, NOT ONE, protest about this attempted attack. Everytime ANYTHING goes wrong, they riot in the streets. Oh no, someone drew Mohammad. Let's kill another infidel. Israel attacked Gaza. Let's stone a Jew. It's outrageous and shows a clear superiority unfortunately. If these rabid monkeys ever get a nuclear bomb it's going to be game over. And let's not overlook one other important factoid. What would have happened had they succeeded? That's easy. The world would have burned to a crisp. Don't believe me? Let's go back in time and watch how Gavic Princip helped murder over forty million people. Who in the hell is Gavic Princip you say? He was the assassin that killed Archduke Ferdinand that set the stage for both WW1 and WW2. His one act helped kill millions. Without Princip, both of those wars might never have started. If these Muslims had succeeded they would have gotten what they wanted. At least if what they wanted was the deaths of over a billion Muslims because that would have been the outcome. Christians worldwide would have declared war on any Muslim seen. Deaths in places like the US and Europe would be staggering and the Japanese Internment camp idea would have to surface because in no way would any Muslim be safe to walk the streets. It is this culture of death that some (not all by any means) Muslims have that may allow another Gavic Princip to be born all over again. Had the Pope been killed WW3 would be inevitable. It still may be with Iran hell bent on nuclear acquisition and the rest of the world, Israel included, seems unfazed by the whole thing.
In one other story, a few months back I wrote about tungsten cores gold bars that have surfaced world wide. Until recently I was unable to confirm the story but as it has gone global with a German and Russian newscast, there does seem to be some meat on this bone. Ron Paul has asked repeatedly, to deaf ears go figure, on an audit of the federal reserve as he has also heard the stories of our gold supply being non existent. He wants people to go into Fort Knox and verify the gold supply there. Hardly a stupid request but it is of course going nowhere. If this is true and it's beginning to look more and more likely that it is, gold will eventually fall hard and burst like every bubble out there is. Gold is at record highs and one does have to wonder how long that can sustain itself. If the gold in the world is far less than being sold, then the price could plummet as fake gold bars are found. Anyone with all their eggs in one basket could find themselves wiped out. I don't think its time yet to leave the gold market, but one should be concerned and in no way should all your money be tied up in just gold.

DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK: THE TEA PARTY

In a stunning upset in this week's primaries, Christine O'Donnell shocked the world by beating Republican Mike Castle who had been expected to win. This rise of the Tea Party is forcing Republicans everywhere to move further to the right, a move that will not win over any moderates, independents or disillusioned democrats. As a matter of fact, it is guaranteeing that the Senate will not fall to Republican rule and even the House is now up for grabs where as just a few weeks ago, the Republicans had it locked up. What gives? First off, both parties are seriously underestimating the level of anger in this country by voting for big business tax cuts and a serious lack of jobs that neither sides seems willing to address. More and more people are not only being laid off but their salaries and benefits are all being undercut, almost always to save the company a few bucks and not because it was entirely necessary. For example a Mott Apple Juice plant recently told their workers that their salaries were being cut by 1.50$ an hour and benefits being reduced to "match what local and similar companies nationwide are paying." So not only are we losing our jobs but we are making less and less everyday as a result. This has to stop. Sooner or later every company in this country is going to out price and underpay their employees to such a degree that no one will be able to afford their products. And then they go out of business. Mind you the CEO's will probably be just fine with their millions but everyone else, including many a white collar worker will be out on their ear with little chance of another job. This is the platform of the tea party. A overly conservative message of anti abortion and anti gay (two won't vote for you attitudes), are only red meat for the base. Everyone else thinks that's wrong, especially the anti gay message which is hurting the Republicans and the tea party big time.
Races that should have been won in places like California and especially Nevada where Harry Reid should have lost but the Tea Party picked nutcase Sharon Angle who is losing votes by the thousands every day by people who have woken up to her insane policies are being tallied higher and higher for the Dems. The tea party has already lost their way with an unstatianble message such as they want to cut spending but when asked what spending to cut you get a blank stare. Military and Social Security are off limits to these guys but you can't balance a budget without rectifying our two biggest problems. Retirement age has to be highered to 70, if you make more than am allotted amount you do not receive social security (yes that's socialism but tough it works). The military budget could be cut in half and we'd still be the most powerful country on earth. But these numnuts will hear none of it, thus the racist slurs being thrown at them because all the cuts they want to make would affect low income people (ie black and Hispanic) than if sensible cuts were made. The racism isn't overt but it is there regardless of all the crap you hear from them about not being a racist party. You are and get over it.
But douchebag of the week has to go to O'Donnell whose nutty policies have guaranteed a win for Democrats in the state of Delaware and dashing any chance the Republicans have to take the Senate, a fact brought up by Karl Rove this week that called the race finished. The most recent pol has O'Donnell trailing by 11 points and that gap is certain to get wider as more and more people are turned off by her way to the right messages. Way to go O'Donnell. You are indeed douchebag of the week.

Decrimilinization of Drugs in Portugal Eight Years After The Fact

In 2001, Portugal became the first country on the planet to decriminalize all drugs regardless of type. Personal drug use was treated as a health problem, not criminal, and as a result anyone caught with an illegal substance was sent to treatment centers not jail. Politicians in all their infinite wisdom howled that a drug scourge would descend on Portugal like a plague and their way of life would be subject to drug gangs, poverty, increased drug use and basically end of world scenarios. So what happened eight years later after such a drastic step was taken? Nothing. No apocalyptic destruction of Lisbon. No small children smoking crack in the doorways. As a matter of fact, drug use dropped by ten percent, which is exactly what every study shown would happen. Illegality attracts people to it like a moth to flame. Once the stigma of being dangerous is removed so is the attraction to it. Drug use among young adults showed the most dramatic turn around, showing that the scourge the idiot politicians expected never materialized. Anyone caught now with small amounts of drugs are taken to discouragement centers that talk to people into giving up their addictions and help find them treatment should they desire it. Unlike here where drug treatment centers are being filed up with marijuana users sent there by the courts. Nobody who smokes pot needs treatment. If you can't quit pot, there really is no hope for you and you should just shoot yourself and be done with it. Marijuana is not addictive no matter how many times some fool scientist repeats it. If you are so weak that pot is addictive, stay far far away from just about everything including alcohol, cigarettes and caffeine. The drug war in this country must end if for no other reason that we can't afford it anymore. It is doing zero good and the Portugal model had been a rousing success saving the country billions every year. Are we really so stupid a people that we can continue to waste billions on a project that has shown no results? Our country has seen a rise in drug use while the rest of Europe is going the other way. The US is the number one country on Earth for drug use. We also use harsher sentences than just about any country short of places like Iran or Saudi Arabia. Do we really want to lumped in with these morons? We are becoming a more and more religious society, a factor that will have serious repercussions in the years to come. Portugal was thought to become a drug vacation spot once drugs were decriminalized. Didn't happen. Drugs would become more prevalent. Didn't happen. As other European countries, ten in total, adopted these ideas, their drug use also went down. So if it's worked everywhere it's been implicated the why haven't we? Because the American people are perhaps the dumbest individuals on the planet, only being out moroned by those in the Middle East who riot every time accidentally someone says Mohammed's name wrong, we will never get anything done here. It has come to light that many states are going to raise insurance rates such as 20% in Connecticut. Only because of Obamacare is this number NOT being automatically foisted upon the people. Negotiations have to occur first before any rate hike which will keep costs down. How do I know? Because in this state of Massachusetts, that is exactly what has to occur and prices have been kept lower than the national average. So a big FU to all those morons out there clamoring about Obamcare's repeal. Do it and watch your prices soar. The Republicans are not your friends. They worship big business just like the democrats. Until both parties are out of power, along with the super stupid Tea Party, this country is screwed. Until we have politicians brave enough to fight for things like decriminalization we are all subject to whatever folly the politicians will descend upon us. Stay wise America.

Economic Doomsday Warnings From Top Officials

I have been called the prophet of Doom on occasion and I will admit to having been wrong once in while, mostly about war which I apparently still don't understand the reasoning behind. A recent example that has everyone as puzzled as I am is Iran's push toward nulcear acquisition with a big shrug and a whatever, even from Israel. The North Korean acquisition of nuclear weapons has totally destabilized the region, leading many to believe that countries like Japan and Taiwan will eventually get nukes. Proliferation will lead to an eventual war with these weapons. We've been lucky so far but don't mistake that luck for good policy. It isn't. Iran cannot be allowed to get nukes what ever the coast. If they do, the chance of an all out nuclear war will be sky high. Deterrent won't work with a culture of death.
But with economic news I am surprisingly accurate. I predicted the fall of three stock markets to the month, the decline of the housing market to almost the day and several other forecasts that those who listened made good money (such as investing in gold in 2003. Those that did more than tripled their investments by now). Famed economist Nouriel Rubini has said that the US has run of bullets, ie ideas, on how to fix the economy and is scrambling. Any hit to the economy could collapse it. Others like Boston U Professor Laurence Kolitikoff have said that a trade dispute with China could wreck the economy and lead to a Depression era run on banks. Recent polls show the more than 65% of the people believe that a new recession has started (the last one never really ended actually) and 65% think the US is a state of decline. I recently read that more and more rural counties are going to be turning their road ways into gravel. While traveling through rural Connecticut I came across these new gravel roads. They suck. If you like the idea of replacing your glass windows every few months due to projectile pebbles being flung at you every direction, then these new roads are all yours. And with all of this, the idiots who vote think that voting in new Republicans will solve anything are drinking the kool aid for all of us. Such a move will end in destruction, and as they are poised to put some of the worst politicians in American history into power we can all see the writing on the wall. New York Times Op-ed writer David Brooks wrote recently that the US is experiencing a simlilar decline that the British Empire did a 100 years ago. He writes that we are in the midst of another jobless recovery where wages have been stagnant for decades. We actually make less money in real, not inflated dollars, than if we lived in the 1970's. That's how little money we make. It's sickening. Nober Prize winner Paul Krugman voiced such concerns that if the Republicans get back into power and unleash the same destructive policies such as ones John Boener has espoused, the economy is screwed. He writes "fewer jobs and bigger deficits- a perfect combination." Even the IMF has voiced concerns for the fact that the only way we may get out of this is by printing trillions of dollars, leading to a Wiemar like inflationary spiral. The day of reckoning is coming soon and we are putting the same idiots back into power. God help us.

Machete: The Immigration Debate Goes Bloody

I am big fan of Robert Rodriguez. No so much his kid movies, which ironically Machete was in all of them, but his slam bang action films. His last movie Planet Terror was a fright fest of gore, zombies and the Crazy Babysitter Twins (don't ask). From that magnum opus was a fake trailer which starred Danny Trejo, the most grizzled man alive, as an ex Federale out to take out a Mexican drug lord and the US politicians backing him. When everyone was clamoring for this film to get made, especially Trejo, Rodriguez balked and filmed the greatest movie ever made. Well maybe not quite that good but damn close.
At 66, Trejo is still a commanding figure. Here he is a Mexican James Bond bedding Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba and Lindsay Lohan all in the same movie. My hero. Steven Segal makes his big screen return since 2002 as the drug lord that killed Machete's wife and child and he is great. I know I know I can't believe it either. As he plots his revenge he comes into contact with Michelle Rodriguez' She, an immigration freedom fighter, Jessica Alba as Sartana, an ICE agent and Lindsey Lohan as April a hot and horny execs daughter. Jeff Fahey plays the incestuous dad of April (Yuck) who has also set up Machete to take the fall for an attempted assassination against Robert De Nero's Senator to be. Machete of course kills everyone in sight with the help of his brother well played by Cheech Marin and is stymied by Don Johnson's piggish border agent.
The highlight of this film though is the extreme violence and the serious lack of clothes in the female leads. Only Rodriguez stays clothed as both Alba and Lohan get down to some discreet but awesome nude scenes. Machete is super cool, with only a handful of dialogue in the film for his character. This is good because here less is necessary. The line "Machete don't text," is classic.
There has been a lot hullabaloo about the immigration debate this film takes. Sure it's pro illegal immigration, a stand I don't support, but the characters are so cartoonish that you really can't take any of this film seriously. Every thing here is done tounge in cheek. So people like Alex Jones and the Drudge Report need to take it down a bit. There will be no race war from this film. What you will have is great time.

5 stars out 5

9/11 9 Years Later

As protests continue at the site of the mosque near ground zero and of Muslims pissed that a second rate preacher is contemplating, but not actually accomplishing, a burning of the Quran, we should look back at what got us here. There have been millions of notions over what happened and believer and skeptic alike are both furiously wrong over some topics. Guess work aside, let's examine the actual facts behind the case that really are not in dispute except by the most rabid of idiots.

1)Bin Laden confessed to the attack and still resides in Pakistan/ Iraq/Iran- This is one of the biggest lies to overcome. The FBI has Osama bin Laden on the ten most wanted but not for the attacks on 9/11. Why? No evidence to tie him ot the attacks. That is the OFFICIAL word of the FBI on that. The tape where he confessed shows a fat Osama bin Laden and the translation of what is being said at this meeting is dubious at best. The way the tape was actually found is also subject to questioning. Much like every thing else lately such as the Pan Am 103 bombing and Hezbollah proxy attacks, everything links back to Iran. On a news report today, the CIA said they had evidence that Osama was now living in Iran. Right. If you believe that I have a bridge to sell you. Chances are the guy's been dead for almost a decade. How do I know that? Every tape since 2002 of bin Laden has been a fake according to every expert on Earth. The only reason to fake such a thing is if you are trying to propagate a myth.

2) The planes that took off on interception routes for the hijacked planes should have gotten there much earlier. This is simple math. Knowing what I do about fighter pilots, the longest it would take to get scrambled and up in the air is twenty minutes, and that's on the severely long end of the graph. Average is less than ten. But if we take into account, divide the amount of miles by the air speed and we get 263 mph for a plane that can go 1800 mph. Why did these planes go so slow?

3) WTC 7 is still an anomaly as they keep saying that fire brought the building down which is an impossibility. Mo structure before or since has collapsed like the three WTC buildings. That in and of itself is a little odd. A few years ago a large cargo plane struck an Iranian five story building. The plane crumbled and the structure still stood. Yet buildings constructed to take such a hit by that exact plane fell. WTC 7, supposedly hit by debree, has yet to show any video evidence showing said damage. Yet it fell too, although in every film it looks intact and fire fighters at the time dispute a ravaging inferno inside. Larry Silverstein did say in a interview that he told the firefighters to "pull it." This has been claimed that he meant to pull out the firefighters but why say "it" instead of "them" then.

4) This one gives skeptics fits because they can't explain it, the statements are on tape, and the accuser is a cabinet member Norman Minetta. In his taped and sworn statement in front of Congress, Minetta verifies a stand down order by Dick Cheney as one of the hijacked planes approached Washington. Skeptics have done a real song and dance on this one but at the end of the day it is really hard to explain away. Plus how come when Payne Stewart's plane went off course, fighters pilots were there in less than fifteen minutes, but we let known hijacked planes bumble across the country for almost two hours. Bull.

5) Skeptics claim that because the planes transponders were turned off we couldn't track them. Having friends who have worked in aviation and NORAD in particular I can tell you with little doubt that EVERY plane is tracked in this country with or without transponders. Do you really think the Russians in an all out attack against us would be so nice as to use transponders so we could track tham? Hell no. It has come to light that the official story told by the military was false as confirmed by the heads of the 9/11 commission, Dean and Hamilton. The FAA report was the accurate one it turns out and still leaves a major gap as to why the military took so long to get planes in the air, a fact still not discussed today.

These are just a few of the questions still lingering. Others such as no planes hitting buildings (missiles, holograms), cell phones not used on hijacked flights, operation Northwoods, are all red herrings for the real truth. Keep digging and you will hit bottom eventually and the the truth will come out.

DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK: MUSLIMS

I know what you are thinking out there. How can I single out Muslims in a week where some nutbag preacher from the south is going to burn the Koran, the American populace has decided to back any Republican over the Democrats in November, and democrats have decided to say to hell with their base to gain absolutely nothing? Easy. Let me explain. First let's talk about this week's runner ups.

American people- How dumb a race are we when Republicans, who destroyed this country for eight years with disastrous policies, are set to gain back power. With the tea party candidates a royal mess, we are set to put the last few nails in the coffin with the election of people I wouldn't feel comfortable serving me burgers at McDonald's let alone run a country. Part of this blame though goes to the democrats who have single handled killed any chance of winning by doing NOTHING to save the economy. Mind you Republicans aren't going to be any better so I can only hope that the American people will wake up and realize BOTH parties are bad and not vote anymore in these rigged elections. I will never vote again. My vote no longer matters. Why waste my time. Incidental, the latest unemployment numbers stand at 22%if using pre-1980's figures, before the numbers were rigged to downgrade the real figures. Out country is dying and the best we can come up with let's put back in the republicans. Way to think outside the box America. We have become too dumb to survive.

Terry Jones- Southern baptist preacher Terry Jones has declared Saturday September 11th, international Koran burning day. Proving my point that Baptists are an evil religion (some sects preach that because they believe in Jesus Christ they can do anything they want and still go to heaven. One missionary told me I could kill anyone I wanted if I believe. I shudder to think what these nutbags are capable of). However as sad and disrespectable I find this, this is the right of being in this country that we are allowed to say and do reprehensible things as long as they stay within the law. And while burning books is illegal in the county he resides in (Which in and of itself should be illegal as if I want to burn books I should be allowed to according to my 1st Amendment rights), he has every right to do so. This country protects mindless idiots like this fool and we have to respect that. The best way to handle this is to ignore it.

Muslims- Too bad the rest of the world is incapable of rational thought and, in yet another PR disaster, Muslims from around the world have condemned this action and have threatened violence as a result. This is exactly why Terry Jones and others like him are burning the Koran. By this logic shouldn't we hold ALL Muslims responsible every time a suicide bomber strikes? Shouldn't we punish states like Iran and Saudi Arabia for stoning people for things like homosexuality and adultery? The fact that heads of states and tens of thousands are holding violent rallies and threatening mayhem for this rather minor slight show that the Muslim world will NEVER adapt to modern society. And that which cannot adapt will be destroyed. That isn't me being racist toward Muslims. It is a fact of life. It is the same danger being seen in the catholic church as attendance has dropped dramatically due to its reluctance to adapt to modern day principles like homosexuality and non celibate priests. But the Muslims have the own special brand of hate and for the first time since 9/11 is spilling over to everyday society. These stupid protest being held are adding fuel to the fire and the principles we hold dear in the US are anathema to those in the Muslim world. Sooner or later, the former most likely, there will be a war between civilizations, one in which the Muslim world will forever be silenced. I fear for that day. I have nothing against religion per say. But when used to foster violence as the Muslim faith has done all to well lately, we are headed for a game changer.

Signs of American Decline

Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that this country is heading the wrong direction, a new NBC poll showed that over 60% of the populace believes the country is in decline and headed the wrong way. This number does not just represent the angry but wholly illogical tea party but independents and democrats as well. Why you ask? Because people can see with their own eyes how bad things have gotten. Unless of course you work for the government and then everything is hunky dory. Steve Rattner, the administration's former car czar, was recently asked how to save ten of thousands of jobs in GM and Ford. His response was "Fuck the Unions." That's all well and good except that if it wasn't for unions there would be no middle class. One of the reasons work sucks so bad nowadays is that there are no unions. Unions fought for a livable wage, time off, health care and job protection we no longer have. Sure unions do on occasion screw up just as bad, particularly police unions that keep bad cops on the streets of teacher unions that refuse logical pay cuts to help struggling schools, but these are far from the norm. Every one of my friends in a union makes good money, a real middle class living. Everyone else, myself included, make wank, and get fired for any reason they can come up with (for me, I was making too much money and it was cheaper to fire me and hire someone to do the same job for less money ala Circuit City. We all know how well that went). A national union is the only thing that will save this country at this point. As people in our own government can't see that we as a people aren't making enough to get by, pay raises have to be implemented. The middle class is being squeezed out of existence here with only about a third of my friends well off and 90% of them work for the government, a union, or both. Those in the private sector get raped. So if Obama's administration can't figure out what's wrong with this country and people who work for him have the idea that by paying people less we can save this country, they are 100% wrong. And a dick. Studies show the rich are getting richer, the poor poorer, and the middle class disappearing. Which is exactly what I said would happen fifteen years ago with the passage of NAFTA. All of our jobs will go to cheaper countries. The only way we can compete is to lower our standard of living. Not for the rich mind you but everyone else.
There was also a story out the other day of a guy who was arrested for firing a AK-47to scare of a gang that had surrounded his house. WTF? Every man has a god given right to protect himself from anyone (government included). This arrest of a black man has racism all over it. I guarantee if I was on that jury no way would he see time. I'd try to give him a medal. Godspeed.
With the Republicans apparently going to capture the House and possibly the Senate, gridlock is going to hammer us like a rock come December. Hope all of you out there don't like things like your unemployment check (done by December for extensions), tax cuts (will expire without extensions) or paying the Alliterative Minimum Tax (never adjusted for inflation so it socks more and more people every year). Next year will see the biggest tax hike EVER, the crash of the stock market (which may happen this year and soon if the Hindenberg Omen comes true in the enxt 25 days), and the realization that we are living in a depression, a fact more and more economists are questioning due to fabricated numbers by the government on things like inflation and unemployment. Anybody voting for morons like Sharon Angle or Jan Brewer( her debate last week was embarrassing) should be shot. Mind you I have relatives in Arizona who are die hard Republicans so they enter that list too if they vote for that moron. Recently she made unfounded allegations about beheadings on the border and then refused to answer questions by reporters when asked. Brilliant. Once upon a time we had great female politicians like Elle Grasso and Ann Richards. Now we have retards like Palin and Buchannan. It'll be a long time before we have a female president with this lot unless the world really does end and Palin becomes our next prez with VP Glenn Beck. Oh the humanity.

Best/Worst of Fall 2010 TV

Network TV has been in a rut lately. Creatively stale, they have really blew it this time around with multiple cop/lawyer/doctor shows on, all interchangeable from one another. A few years back, TV was at its zenith. Shows like 24 and Lost were shaking up the norm. Sitcoms had returned with How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory and Community. Then it all went to hell. I don't know if all the people who chose these shows are no longer in the business, but the people they replaced them with had the common sense of a retarded monkey. At this year's advertising convention, where new shows are viewed for potential sponsors, one exec said, "enough with cop/doctor/lawyer shows. Pick a new profession." I couldn't agree more. So here are my picks for the five best and five worst new shows out there.

BEST SHOWS 2010

1) The Event- NBC Mondays 9 PM Sept 20th- Jason Ritter and Blair Underwood star in this conspiracy thriller in which Ritter's fiance's disappearance heralds some world wide calamity and to an attempted assasination of Underwood's President. The pilot starts strong but so did Flashforward which flatlined after the third episode. Hopefully, this one will have learned from ABC's mistakes. Shows promise.

2)Hawaii Five 0- CBS Mondays 10 PM Sept 20th- Alex O'Laughlin, Daniel Day Kim and uber hottie Grace Park tackle this remake of the famed 70's series with gusto. Scott Caan shines as Dano and Grace Park does another gender twist role in a part formally played by a man. Plus it's in Hawaii so the scenery will be smokin' (as will Grace Park in a bikini). Can't wait to sing to the theme song again. BA BA BA BA BAAAAAAA BAAAAA.

3)No Ordinary Family- ABC Tuesday 8 PM Sept 28th- Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz star in this technical remake of the Incredibles. The family gets in a plane crash and now they and their two kids all have super powers. The previews look funny and the pilot has gotten good reviews. The only question is whether the producer, known for schmaltz, can resist. I'm hoping he can.

4)Nikita CW Thursday 9PM Sept 9th- Another uber hottie Maggie Q stars in the fourth incarnation of La Femme Nikita, of which only the first one with Anne Pallaiud was any good. Now comes a new version in a role that Maggie Q has technically already played in Naked Weapon, a similar story from Hong Kong. The new Nikita looks awesome with lots of gunfights, kick butt action and Maggie Q in a bikini. Sure, she's built like a ten year old boy and not exactly my type, but she is Asian and I love Asian women. Can't wait for this.

5)Mike and Molly CBS Monday Sept 20th- Billy Gardell (Yes Dear, My Name is Earl) and Mellissa McCarthy star as an overweight married couple, a cop and a teacher, find love at an "overeater's anonymous" meeting. From the producers of Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, this could be, excuse the pun, a big hit.

And now the losers.

1)Chase- NBC Monday 10PM Sept 20th- Yet another generic cop show about the US Marshall Service. Just what TV didn't ask for. Has been billed as "Covert Affairs" without the charm. Or pacing. Or stars. Christ what a mess this looks like. It will be cancelled inside of six episodes.

2)The Defenders CBS Wednesday 10PM Sept 22nd- Yet another lawyer shows staring Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell. After way to many seasons of Life According To Jim and Jerry O'Connell's dismal track record on TV (his last three series Carpoolers, Do Not Disturb and Eastwick lasted about six episodes a piece) this one looks boring as hell. The cases are strictly boiler plate, which I thought killed Memphis Blues, and these two have zero chemistry together. Dead in weeks.

3)Body Of Proof- ABC Fridays (TBD)- Yet another doctor/cop show with Dana Delaney and Jeri Ryan. Delaney is a workaholic neursurgeon who has a car accident and can no longer operate. So she becomes a medical examiner who is always right except with her family and SSSSSSSNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEE. Sorry about that. Fell asleep while typing. Would rather chew on tin foil while shaving my head with a cheese grater (thanks Cheers) than watch this drivel.

4)Outlaw-NBC Wednesday Sept 15th- Yet another lawyer show (I swear just about every new show is doctor, lawyer or cop oriented) with Jimmy Smits as a Supreme Court Justice who steps down (like that would ever happen) to become a defense lawyer to help the needy. Preposterous. Trite. Craprastic. Reading the tagline, I threw up a little in my mouth. Was this really the best you could come up with?

5)The Whole Truth ABC Wednesday Sept 22nd-Holy Crap another lawyer show? Are you Freakin' kidding me? This one stars Maura Tierney and Rob Morrow where we get to see the legal proceedings from both sides of the table. The only thing I'll be watching is something else. And I have feeling, as it's on one of the most competitive nights for TV, that this and every other new Wednesday program is going to be short lived.

DOUCHEBAG OF THE WEEK :HURRICANE EARL

With little doubt, hurricane Earl was the big bad of this week, ruining Labor Day weekend for many a traveler. Thankfully not as bad as it could have been by luckily passing further off shore, Earl still did a number on the east coast this week. Hitting the Barrier Islands in North Carolina this week, tourists and residents were forced to flee the monster storm. Likewise in Nantucket and Cape Cod, though the latter was to a lesser degree. Residents of the Cape proved more resilient to leaving mainly because hurricanes hitting there are usually less severe tha predicted, almost certainly due to the cold water off the coast. Global warming or not, it's still pretty fricking cold year round in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the ocean.
While some will regard the fizzle of Earl a cynical attempt by news casts to pad their broadcasts, it is more to due with our aging weather system equipment that is becoming more and more outdated. Satellite systems are aging badly and need replacement, something we are having a great deal of difficulty due to economic problems and the loss of our space shuttle program. However, better forecasting due to advances in technology have increased out predictability of hurricanes from one day to three. The forecasts I saw were remarkably accurate from about that time period. There was always a chance for it move closer to the coast but those were always slim. True it helps gain ratings reporting a possible direct hit from a storm but it is also needs to be said that any storm could hit and people need to take steps should it. Better safe than sorry. What sucked though was the timing of this storm. Labor Day weekend? Really? While the physical damage was limited, the economic toll, one that I feel is actually worse, will be in the millions. These dollars will all be felt 100% by the locals trying to make money for the last weekend of a rather crappy summer under today's bad economic conditions, ones that are going to get worse I feel. So all the money they might have made on places like the Barrier Islands or Nantucket went up in smoke and most probably didn't even return after the storm had passed. Both places had mandatory evacuations and huge economic liabilities. So way to go Earl. You are indeed douchebag of the week.

Post Script: September 11th arrives soon. Beware of possible real or false flag attacks.

Was the MA Brown/Coakley Election Rigged?

As an expert on statistical analysis (four semesters in college plus several semesters of Boolean logic/algebra) I have studied many a spreadsheet about things like cancer research, environmental concerns and elections. There is little doubt that other than Obama's win for the presidency in 2008, every election has shown signs of tampering. The only thing that is clear is that you can't fix a landslide, at least not yet. When the country goes totally paperless in their voting booths though that may change. One of the best in studying this fact has been researcher Johnathan Simon, an expert on statistics and a leading front on the stolen elections we have been having since 2000. Now he's shed some light on the recent election in MA between Coakley and Brown. His findings? Coakley should have won. While the actual election results shave been sealed, the only reason being the state doesn't want this fraud found out, he has uncovered a statistical anomaly that cannot be explained. In every place where electronic voting machines weren't being used, Coakley won. In the other 97% Brown won a statistical majority. Why? Innocent explanations must be eliminated first. Were the three percent in Democrat majority areas, where Coakley was expected to win? No, the three percent actually tracked higher Republican voters than Democrats. Statistical fluke? No, chances are one in a million. As a matter of fact, when this occurrence happens in other states, the hand count mirrors the electronic votes. Except here and during the Presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. As EG&G and Diebold are both responisible for the voting equipment we use and Republican contributors, one has to question how accurate these things really are.
Worse, Democrats seem to be compliant in their own defeat. Coakley resigned with a quarter of the votes still being counted. Gore and, especially, Kerry gave up without too much of a fight. True Gore took it to the Supreme Court, where our President was appointed not voted in, but he still has ammo including the fact the Dick Cheney was not eligible for VP as he and Bush resided in the same state, a no no according to our Constitution. Cheney got away with that by moving to Wyoming but residency laws showed he was still officially a Texan. Did Gore try to use this info? No he did not. He slinked away like a beaten dog. And Kerry threw in the towel before the blood had even dried on the floor. One thing Kerry and Coakley both had were horribly run campaigns and I still wonder if these two may have just taken a dive for some nefarious reason. In CT, there was a deal between Republicans and Democrats that the the Republicans wouldn't run anybody good versus Dodd or Lieberman and the Democrats wouldn't run anybody good for Governor. Having watched and talked with insiders during Barbra Kennelly's horrific run for Governor I can vouch this as true. All this leaves the question, who's in charge? And why should we vote if it doesn't matter? One article I read today, advocated getting your guns, going down to the police station and shooting every cop there. I think this is a bad idea mind you but shows the mind set of an increasingly angry public. If our votes don't matter how long before this becomes a reality?

Survival Of The Dead: 6th Time Not the Charm

I love zombie movies. Last year's Zombieland was an excellent film on par with Shawn of the Dead and the Dawn of the Dead remake. And while I have loved all five of George A Romero's five previous films, this one came up a little short.
Almost a direct sequel to his last film, Diary of the Dead, we follow a band of renegade soldiers, briefly seen in the last movie, going to an island populated by Irish people off the coast of Delaware. Why two Irish families that hate each other would settle on the same small island is never explained. Were they friends once and had a falling out? And why Irish? The movie stars a bunch of no names except for character actor Kenneth Welsh, probably best known as Winston Earl from the TV show Twin Peaks. The plot in of itself seems non existent. Soldiers come to Craggy Island (Father Ted reference), battle against zombies and an evil Irish rancher, the end. Really? That was it.
All in all, this film was kind of weak. The acting was terrible, the story made up on the fly it seems, and the social commentary I have come to expect from these movies was basically mankind is evil. Could have read that on box of Cracker Jacks. Romero is much better than this and I am kind of surprised that more thought didn't go into it. Merely filming zombies eating people is not enough any more. Be clever and funny like Zombieland and Shawn, or scary violent like in the Dawn remake. Something more was needed than this mess. And why Irish people? Never made sense to me at all in this movie. I actually thought they were on a real Craggy island off the coast of Ireland. When they said it was off of Delaware I could only think: WTF?
There is some good gore and it does move quick with its hour and half running time, but I would only recommend this for those who want to say I have seen the whole series. For the rest, skip it. It's not worth your time.

2 stars out of 5