Ed. here. Walt needed a few days off to get into the Christmas spirit. Boy, did he get into it! Ma Nifkin's Jellied Gin is strong stuff! But he has recovered now, and will write thoughtful and clever thoughts about politics and religion as soon as there's anything worth writing about.
Meanwhile, `tis the season for saccharine-sweet Hallmark movies and other mind-numbing Christmas shows on the idiot's lantern. Today we bring you a Christmas classic, from the Saturday Night Live Season 24 Christmas show, which aired in 1998.*
In this skit, National Public Radio hosts Margaret Jo McCullin (Ana Gasteyer) and Terry Rialto (Molly Shannon) welcome baker Pete Schweddy (Alec Baldwin) to "The Delicious Dish" to discuss his famous holiday dessert: Schweddy balls.
* Can you believe that SNL actually called it a "Christmas show"? That was 27 years ago, when they were only leftish, not yet totally woke. Since then, this bit has been viewed on YouTube nearly 10.5 million times!
For the last couple of nights, I've been watching bits and pieces [There was hockey on the other channel. Ed.] of The American Revolution, the latest offering from revisionist historian cum film-maker Ken Burns. It's streaming (also avaible over the air) on PBS, the soi-disant Public Broadcasting System, which is like so-called National Public Radio (NPR), only with pictures.
The fact that this new series is on PBS should tell you what to expect, which is not exactly what they tell you in the introductory summary...
"Thirteen American colonies unite in rebellion, win an eight-year war to secure their independence, and establish a new form of government that would inspire democratic movements at home and around the globe. What begins as a political clash between colonists and the British government grows into a bloody struggle that will engage more than two dozen nations and forever change the world.'
...or in the official trailer.
Do you see any warning signs there? No? Let me give you one. The narrator chosen by Mr Burns is one Peter Coyote (born Peter Robert Cohon).an American actor, director, screenwriter, author... and political activist. In "The Theater of Protest", Mr Coyote explains his approach to effective, nonviolent protest, which he developed while teaching a class at Harvard. He emphasizes that protests are ceremonies, an invitation to a better world. He says protests should be led by wimmin, for "inclusivity", and that "monitors with whistles" stop violence. Get the idea?
Other commentators, who I'd never heard of but are presented as historians and writers, include a good DEI mix of Jewish women (one of whom seems to have a slight palsy), black men (including one with blonde dreadlocks), and other mild-mannered, instantly forgettable liberals academics. No Shelby Foote here!
I was not surprised, then, to learn that the American Revolution was not so much about freeing Great Britain's American colonies from the tyranny and taxation of King George III, as about partnering with IndiansNative Indigenous Americans and strong, independent wimmin to obtain justice for the oppressed Negro African-American slaves. As Johnny Carson would have said, "I did not know that!"
The series suffers, in comparison with Ken Burns' The Civil War, in not having photographs to work with, so the visuals are mostly oil paintings of the principal actors involved -- politicians, soldiers, statesmen and the like -- all "marble men".
We hear, occasionally, the words of common white people, taken from their letters, but we learn little about them. You'd almost think that the only common people of any consequence were the slaves who are quoted and talked about out of all proportion to the numbers of such people in America at the time. Even George Washington's black man-servant gets his 15 seconds of fame, plus a heroic image on his black self at Washington's side going into battle.
This is only a preliminary comment. If the rest of the series is like the first two episodes, I won't be writing about The American Revolution again. But I'm not going to say "Don't watch it." The accounts of the battles are pretty good, so you can just zap through the woke bullshit and still learn parts of the nantion's history that the too many Americans have forgotten.
Ed. here. "Where's Walt?", I hear you ask. He's recovering from a long weekend. In his absence, we'd like to share a post which appeared on the Babylon Bee -- your trusted source for Christian satire -- yesterday. We hasten to add that the image below comes from the PatriotPost.
Longtime Sesame Street resident Elmo decried the federal government's defunding of PBS as an "obvious Jewish conpsiracy." In a special edition of Elmo's World, the iconic red puppet unleashed a 40-minute tirade blaming the Jewish people for a laundry list of world issues.
"Elmo knows who's responsible! Hee-hee!" said Elmo, furiously banging his goldfish bowl. "Elmo knows who controls the flow of money! Oh, oh, look, everyone. Dorothy the goldfish has a question! Dorothy wants to know which members of Congress are controlled by AIPAC! Ha-ha-ha!"
The disturbing rant initially featured Elmo calling the PBS defunding a Jewish plot, but quickly descended into inculpating the Jewish people for all of history's wars. "Oh! Elmo wants to ask where the number six million really comes from for the Holocaust!" said Elmo.
"Hee-hee-hee. Elmo just asking questions! Oh, oh! Now that Elmo start asking questions about Holocaust, PBS loses its funding! Elmo thinks he knows how this works, hee-hee-hee!"
At publishing time, Elmo had reportedly flushed Dorothy down the toilet after becoming suspicious of her last name "Goldfish."
Comment from Ed.: The loonie left, DEI-obsessed creators of Sesame Street say poor widdle Elmo's account was hacked. Well, they would say that, wouldn't they. Defunding of PBS sounds like an excellent idea to us, the logical sequence to the long-overdue defunding of NPR. Winning!
For more excellent humour in a jugular vein, bookmark the Babylon Bee. Better yet, subscribe! Tell `em Walt sent ya.
Canada's state-owned broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (aka "Canadian Broadcorping Castration" -- look it up!) is so liberal, so politically correct, so Toronto-centric, so multiculti, that Canucks outside of Toronto have deserted its radio services in droves. Some believe that CBC's earnest programmes have better ratings when rebroadcast on PBR than they do at home.
Rumours of a "blacklash of the white flees" penetrated even the red walls of Fortress CBC in Toronto. In a rare fit of interest in what the Canadian public thinks, the limo liberals in the executive suites decided to commission a poll to find out what TROC really thinks about immigration, multiculturalism and "Canadian values and identity" -- this after pooh-poohing claims by Conservative leadership hopeful Kellie Leitch that these are issues which concern anyone other than a few rednecks in the wilds of Alberta.
Imagine the surprise and soiling of shorts in the CBC's John Street HQ when the poll conducted for them by the Angus Reid Institute confirmed that Canucks really do think differently from their "American cousins" when it comes to multiculturalism, immigration and values. But not in the way the CBC and its Liberal masters would like. Believe it or not, after half a century of having multiculturalism forced down their throats and up other orifices, Canadians are more likely than Americans to think minorities should assimilate. Here's the key finding.
To its credit, the CBC hasn't buried this story. It's the lead on the national radio news this morning and has a prominent position on the CBC News website, headlined "Canadians want minorities to do more to 'fit in'". Walt will let you read the complete poll results for yourself, but needs to draw attention to a pithy comment by Ujjal Dosangh, a Liberal former Premier of British Columbia and federal cabinet minister.
Mr Dosanjh has written and spoken extensively about the need to address concerns about equality, race and culture in the face of blind devotion to multiculturalism. He told the CBC that the poll shows Canada's political leadership needs to pay attention. "What you want is creative multiculturalism, generous multiculturalism," he said, "not unthinking or mindless multiculturalism where everything anybody brings to this country is acceptable."
"Diversity is great if we can begin to live with each other in equality, in understanding...but we also understand our collective obligations to building a better society. If we can't live together with each other properly and make concessions to each other, then this phrase that politicians use — that diversity is a strength — is nonsensical."
Further reading: "Multiculturalism: a failed experiment?", which I posted here six years (and a day) previously. Nice to see that others are starting to wake up and speak up!
There's a story on the AP mojo wire this morning from the wilds of eastern Indonesia. It's in that eastern part of the archipelago [How long have you been waiting to use that word? Ed.] that you would find the islands of Komodo, Padar and Rinca, home of the fabled and fearsome Komodo dragon.
Yes, folks, the Komodo dragon really does exist. And here's what one looks like.
Ugly brute, isn't it? How would you feel if one of those wandered into your workplace? Well, that's what happened at Komodo National Park, where one of the monster reptiles attacked two park rangers... in their office!
A KNP spokesthingy, Heru Rudiharto -- no hero he! -- said the 2-metre-long lizard bit the rangers badly enough that both had to be evacuated to a hospital on Bali.
This story reminded me of a classic sketch by the greatest radio comedians ever to be heard on US airwaves. I refer of course to Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding, known to legions of fans as "Bob and Ray".
The Bob and Ray Show began, more by accident than anything else, in 1946 on WHDH in Boston. It ran under various titles on national networks including NBC and NPR, until 1987. There was even a TV version, briefly, back in the golden (i.e. black-and-white) years. The TV version didn't do all that well, possibly because the spoofs were created for radio, and didn't depend at all on visuals for the gags.
It came as something of a surprise, then, when stage versions -- Bob and Ray: the Two and Only and A Night of Two Stars -- played for months to packed houses at Carnegie Hall and on the road. Walt was there, and remembers clearly hearing and watching them do one of their best radio sketches, "The Komodo Dragon expert". No video has found its way to YouTube, but here's the audio portion.
Hey... they're not making that stuff up. What the expert told you are the facts about Komodo dragons. If you'd like to know more about life in the land they come from -- eastern Indonesia -- you're in luck, because one of Walt's agents lives and works there. Click here to read her blog, "Life is a gift; live it!" Good words to remember, especially if a Komodo dragon wanders into your workplace.
Over the decades, I've seen a lot of the Excited States of America. I've had a pistol stuck in my face in Trout Creek MT. As Agent 17 can attest, I've even spent a weekend in Harlingen TX. I've been to three dogfights and a box social. But I have never...never...been to:
Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Museum in San Antonio TX
The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices in St. Paul MN
The American Museum of Sanitary Plumbing in Worcester MA, or
The American International Rattlesnake Museum in Albuquerque (turn left there...)
Cash Peters, however, has visited those oddball museums and many more. Deliberately.
For years, the British journalist trekked around Europe and the USA for the BBC and for a hilarious and popular NPR radio series, The Bad Taste Tours. Before switching off the mic, he embarked on one last low-budget jaunt around the country, and recorded his observations in Gullible's Travels (Globe Pequot Press, 2003). Here's a sample.
New Mexico is not like the rest of America. Perhaps the best way to describe it is "a dusty, primitive, flat, barren wilderness". Unfortunately, there's something about that phrase that doesn't look good on a license plate. So a few years back, the locals...said to hell with that, and dumped the dusty primitive, flat, barren wilderness angle in favor of something far better. What they came up with was a stroke of genius: The Land of Enchantment, which not only looks great on a license plate, but is also infinitely more attractive to visitors.
Gullible's Travels is the funniest book on the subject of tourism in the USA which I've read since Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent. Read it and start planning the itinerary for your next expedition into the world of the obscure and unusual. I'm going to start with the Ahlgrim Acres Funeral Parlor and Miniature Golf Course. Can you imagine...
Juan Williams, famous for composing the incidental music to Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark[Are you sure about that?! ed.]
OK, let's start again... Juan Williams, famous for being a senior news analyst on National Public Radio is now famous for being an ex-commentator. His contract was terminated (meaning he was fired) on Wednesday following his politically incorrect comments about Muslims on the Monday edition of "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News
In a statement released late Wednesday, NPR said Williams’ words were "were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR."
Gee Walt (I hear you asking), what did he say? Did he use the N-word or the R-word? Did he say anything about "jihad"? Sorry, no...
What Juan -- who is a vizmin, by the way -- said was, "When I get on a plane ... if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they’re identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried, I get nervous."
That makes him pretty much the same as Walt and millions of others. According to a study released by the Muslim West Facts Project earlier this year, 43 percent of Americans admit to feeling at least "a little" prejudice toward Muslims. No biggie, right?
But that's cutting too close to the bone for NPR, which is pretty close to the heart of what Sarah Palin calls the LSM -- the Lame Stream Media. As host Bill O'Reilly put it, "You [Williams] live in the liberal precincts; you actually work for NPR."
So Williams' termination was bound to follow his expression of his personal opinion, as surely as an explosion follows the lighting of a fuse. It's happened before. See "The Juan Williams treatment: five other ousted media personalities", from the Christian Science Monitor.
What happens next? Says the CSM (itself not exactly detached from the LSM): "The NPR Juan Williams affair may not be a real campaign issue, but it has given conservatives the chance to rail against government waste and liberal elitism, favored targets of tea party groups." Click here to read "NPR, Juan Williams: Did firing put network smack in tea party's crosshairs?" And stay tuned.
