They called him ‘Tweet Tweet.’
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(Video Link) Brent Spiner, the actor who played Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation, does a really good impersonation of Patrick Stewart, the actor who played Jean-Luc Picard. In fact, it was good enough to fool Stewart’s wife on the phone — at least for a while. Here’s a video of Spiner demonstrating this talent Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Neatorama Discovery Date : 20/08/2011 21:15 Number of articles : 2
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Vice President Joe Biden wrapped up a visit to China that offered him extensive face-time with the country’s expected future leader and delivered a strong message of US mutual interdependence with the world’s second-largest economy. (Aug. 21)
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A stunt pilot was killed in fiery crash during an air show on Saturday after his plane appeared unable to get out of a downward spiral and plummeted nose-first into the ground, witnesses and authorities said. (Aug. 21)
Continue reading …GOP Taps Nation’s Second Most Unpopular Governor, John Kasich for Weekly Address
August 21, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Ohio’s Gov. John Kasich isn’t quite the most unpopular governor in the United States. He’s number two right behind Florida’s Gov. Rick Scott . So who better to sound off this week about how to get our country back on track in the Republicans’s Weekly Address? This is the same governor who, according to polling back in May, would lose a do-over election with his former opponent Ted Strickland by 26 points . And as TPM reported as well, he’s another one of these Republican governors who for all of their bluster attacking federal spending, were also quietly accepting those dollars at the same time. Now that Kasich’s union busting law is going to be put up to a referendum this November, Kasich suddenly decided that he now wants to make a deal with the state’s public employee unions . To their credit, it appears the unions have said, no thanks — Kasich Opponents: Repeal Your Anti-Union Law — Then We’ll Talk . And what are his “solutions” for getting our economy back on track? The same as we’ve seen from all of these Republicans. More tax cuts, deregulation, privatizing everything, and apparently what he didn’t bother to mention during this weekly response, union busting. Kasich also said Republicans should be willing to compromise with Democrats, but not compromise on their “principles.” Which is generally Republican double-speak for we’ll compromise after you give us everything we want, maybe. Or maybe you give us everything we want and we still obstruct for the sake of obstructing. Which is something they seem to be particularly good at now that we’ve got the scary Kenyan usurper in the White House that they’ll never acknowledge had a right to be there in the first place. Transcript via the LA Times below the fold. Hello, I’m Ohio Governor John Kasich. This week, the president traveled through the Midwest. He didn’t stop in Ohio this time around, but if he had, I’d have told him the same story I’m about to share with you. When I entered office in January, Ohio was facing the largest budget shortfall in our history and an economy suffering from the same uncertainty that’s hurting small businesses across the country. My administration worked with members of the General Assembly to reduce our shortfall to zero, all the while cutting taxes for every Ohioan. How did we do it? Well in the past, our state, like many others, relied heavily on one-time federal ‘stimulus’ dollars to fill the budget gap and used tricks and gimmicks to do the rest. But over time, that approach created a massive shortfall, caused job creators to lose confidence in Ohio, and led to increased unemployment. We looked our problems square in the eye and we didn’t blink. With our budget, we’ve achieved real savings and made long-overdue reforms to provide better value to Ohioans without raising their taxes; to the contrary, we cut their taxes and eliminated the death tax, which was driving successful entrepreneurs out of Ohio. We’re privatizing economic development in my state by creating JobsOhio – it’s an innovative and new nonprofit organization run by successful business people and entrepreneurs, an entity that can move at the speed of business (not at the speed of statute) and bring businesses and jobs to Ohio, and give the Buckeye State the economic competitive advantage it needs. Of course, we have a long way still to go. These are difficult times for Ohio families, and despite our recent success, Ohio was in a very deep hole and we are digging our way out. We faced an unprecedented $8 billion deficit, and we were among the highest taxed states in the nation. We knew we had to get Ohioans working again, so raising taxes – that was not the answer, as even the president has said before. Because that would have made Ohio even less competitive. Instead, we chose to reform programs that politicians had shied away from touching for decades – programs like Medicaid and prisons – so we wouldn’t have to raise taxes and drive out more jobs. For all the good we’re trying to do here, our success in Ohio and in a number of other states will be thwarted if Washington continues its spending spree and its punitive taxes on success. You know, if we’ve learned anything from the federal ‘stimulus,’ it’s that government can’t tax, spend and regulate its way to prosperity. Government shouldn’t be making promises it can’t keep – especially when it’s more than $14.5 trillion in the hole. Make no mistake, our national debt represents a claim on yourOhio Republican Governor John Kasich 6-11 future hard-earned tax dollars. And if we don’t tackle it – and soon – it will tackle us, and erode our economy and our children’s future. So when I hear the president and his allies in Washington say we need more spending and higher taxes, it is a real cause for concern. As we’ve proven in Ohio, there is a better way. And Americans can learn from Ohio. We need to start thinking about what we can do to help our children have a great future. Reform the behemoth that is the federal government to create the space so that businesses can invest and create jobs. Let’s look at what has worked throughout history: government is not THE answer, but it can be part of the answer. Rather, it’s the ability to provide for a robust private sector where people want to invest and take risks – that’s what’s going to get this country moving again. Republicans in Congress get this, and they have offered these kinds of solutions that deserve the president’s consideration, if not his full support. You know, I’m also encouraged to see that Republicans fought to ensure that both houses of Congress will vote this fall on the Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. As a former chairman of the House Budget Committee, I can tell you there is no better way to control future spending and give our job creators long-term certainty than through a Balanced Budget Amendment. Fifteen years ago, a Balanced Budget Amendment came within one vote of passing Congress and going to the states for ratification. One of the votes to pass it in the House 15 years ago was mine. I can’t help but wonder how different things would be had we succeeded. Both parties should come together this fall to send a balanced budget amendment to us right here in our states. Divided government is no excuse for inaction. Sure, we had our fair share of gridlock back in the 1990s. Our differences may have been stark, but President Clinton and his team worked with us so that we could do what was best for the country. There’s just no substitute for leadership from the President of the United States. Where is it written that Washington can’t do it again? Where is it written that both parties can’t cut through the scar tissue and find consensus? Nowhere. It’s my hope President Obama will listen to the people and partner with Republicans to get our economy back to creating jobs and producing growth. And it’s just as important that Republicans not be stiff-necked about working across the aisle when important work must be done. It’s OK to compromise on policy, as long as you don’t compromise on your principles. The playbook we’re following here in Ohio is simple: To grow more, you have to tax less, spend less, and regulate less. If we can do it here in Ohio, Washington can – and should – do it also. Together, we can get it done. On behalf of all the people of the great state of Ohio, thank you for listening.
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I used to be the laziest, least ambitious person I knew. Well, lazy in terms of work. Career success, if you will. I had artistic ambition I guess, but being a working class Brit I believed it was better to never try, than to try, and run the risk of failing. Americans are brought up to believe they can be the president of the united states. British kids are told “don’t be stupid. It wont happen for you” I suppose I was cursed with some early success. I was smart. The smartest kid in my class. Then the smartest kid in the next class and so on. I actually used to pride myself on the fact that I didn’t have to even try to pass exams. This is my greatest regret. It’s a disgusting attitude and potentially a waste of a life. Writing and directing The Office was the first thing I ever tried my hardest at. The reward was revelatory. At 40. I was addicted. Not to success. I was addicted to trying my hardest. That’s the reward in itself. It’s what life’s about. The struggle. It’s the only way you can be proud. You can’t be proud of luck. Born clever? So what? What are you going to do with it. Your best I hope, and no less. I started late sure. But it really is never too late. But now I sieze the day. And I love that day much much more. I’m a workaholic. But as Winston Churchill said “If you find a job you really love, you’ll never work again” Well, I feel like I’m working, but that’s the bit i like. I’m not proud of earning a million times what a nurse earns. I can only be proud of working as hard. And even then I feel guilty about loving the hard work. My only hope is that nurses love their work too. Then I’m just paid too much. That’s another reason why I try my hardest now. It’s the least I can do. Sometimes I think I’m doing too much. (Sometimes critics think I’m doing too much.) But I can’t help it. I’m an addict. There, i said it. And I started so late, I don’t have enough time to do everything I need to do. This poem by Keats continues to become more and more poignant. When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain, Before high piled books, in charactry, Hold like rich garners the full-ripen’d grain; When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face, Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance; And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never have relish in the faery power Of unreflecting love; — then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink. So at the moment I’m very busy. And in the present economic climate, why would I ever complain about such a thing? I’ve also never understood why Brit’s complain constantly about rain, or cold, or wind, or snow, and then, on the first decent day of the year, they complain that it’s a bit hot. I don’t. I make hay. I’m making lots and lots of hay at the moment. Ha ha. Now I just have to sell it. So the next stage is press junkets and chat shows I guess. Not my favourite bit, but I consider it the “biz” part of showbiz. Not the “show” bit, ironically. I’m getting confused now. But my point is, I’ve written and directed a new show and now I’d like people to watch it. The same few questions always seem to come up in interviews about life’s too short. The first one is, not surprisingly, “What’s it about?” “Life’s Too Short” is a fake documentary about a showbiz dwarf who has agreed to let the cameras into his life to turn his fortunes around. Warwick Davis plays a twisted version of himself. He has a massive tax bill, he is going through a messy divorce and the phone has stopped ringing with job offers. It’s not a sitcom about being short at all. It’s a sitcom about a man with a small man complex. He is angry, arrogant, manipulative, selfish, and above all, fame hungry. It was a thrill for me returning to the fake doc format because I find realism quite addictive. But if “The Office” reflected those quaint docu-soaps of the 1990s that followed ordinary people in ordinary jobs getting their 15 minutes in the limelight, “Life’s Too Short” reflects the docs of today. Desperate, ruthless monsters living their lives like an open wound in search of another 15 minutes at any cost to dignity and decency. After I’ve answered this first question they’ve usually only digested the fact that it’s “about dwarves.” The second question is usually, “Are you worried that people will be offended?” I don’t know why anyone would ask that question? Is it because the central character is a dwarf? Or is it because they buy into this myth that I am a shock comedian? Anyway, I’ll answer the question. I always expect some people to be offended. I know I ruffle feathers but some people’s feathers need a little ruffling. And remember: just because someone is offended doesn’t mean they’re in the right. Some people are offended by multi-culturalism, homosexuality, abortion, atheism… what should we do? Ban all those things? You have the right to be offended, and I have the right to offend you. But no one has the right to never be offended. I never actively try to offend though. That’s churlish, pointless and frankly too easy. But I believe you should say what you mean. Be honest. No one should ever be offended by truth. That way you’ll never have to apologise. I hate it when a comedian says “Sorry for what I said.” You shouldn’t have said it. You shouldn’t say it if you didn’t mean it and you should never regret anything you meant to do. As a comedian I think my job isn’t just to make people laugh but also make them think. As a famous comedian I also want a strict door policy on my club. Not everyone will like what I say or find it funny. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. There are enough comedians who try to please everyone as it is. Good luck to them, but that’s not my game I’m afraid. This is not a democracy. No art form is. I love the creative process and I love being a complete dictator when it comes to my work. It’s my way or no way at all. I’m quite Darwinian about it. I do my thing and I survive or I don’t. The next question is nearly always, ”So where do you draw the line in your comedy?’ I’m not one of those people who think that comedy is your conscience taking a day off. My conscience never takes a day off and I can justify every thing I do. There’s no line to be drawn in comedy in the sense that there are things you should never joke about. There’s nothing that you should never joke about but it depends what that joke is. Comedy comes from a good or a bad place. The subject of a joke isn’t necessarily the target of the joke. You can make jokes about race without any race being the butt of the joke. Racism itself can be the butt for example. When dealing with a so-called taboo subject the angst and discomfort of the audience is what’s under the microscope. Our own preconceptions and prejudices are often what are being challenged. It comes back to honesty again. I don’t like racist jokes. But not because they are offensive. I don’t like them because they’re not funny. And they’re not funny because they’re not true. They are almost always based on a falsehood somewhere along the way, which ruins the gag for me. Comedy is an intellectual pursuit. Not a platform. Usually when someone says I crossed the line, they mean the line they drew, not me. After this slightly antagonist start they sigh and say what was it like directing Warwick Davis. The answer is always, “an absolute joy.” If he’s not the comedy sensation of next year I’ll eat Johnny Depp’s hat. He relinquishes himself. There’s nothing he can’t or wont do. He’s an amazing physical actor and he’s fearless. Unbreakable. I want to bring out the Warwick Davis toy. You can throw it around, drop it, insult it, knock it down and it bounces back. He’s also a remarkable man. Nothing has ever slowed him down or got in his way. The nicest, hardest working, thoughtful and trusting actor around. It’s like I could download thoughts into his head and they came out perfectly rendered. He is honestly an inspiration. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him complain once. Working with him reminded me of a poem by D.H. Lawrence: I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself. It fits perfectly. Except he’s not wild obviously. Or dead. And we didn’t actually freeze him. But you get the point. I’m very proud of him.
Continue reading …Dowd: Obama Didn’t Call Congress Back Because ‘It Would Have Screwed Up His Vacation and Upset Michelle’
August 21, 2011 No Comment
As NewsBusters has been reporting, the Obama-loving media have largely been gushing and fawning over the current White House resident taking a vacation on Martha's Vineyard as the economy appears to be heading into a double-dip recession. Giving an interesting insight into the President's decision to not call Congress back from its summer break to tackle the problems facing the nation was New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd who wrote Sunday: Americans are rattled and want action. They don’t know or care what Congress’s schedule is. They just see the president not doing anything. Cruising white Midwestern hamlets in his black bus, Obama tried to justify not calling lawmakers back to D.C. by saying they’d just continue to bicker. But what does he think they’ll do in September? The truth is, he doesn’t want them back in the capital any more than they want to be back. It would have screwed up his vacation and upset Michelle, who already feels trapped in the Washington bubble. If Clinton wanted to be president 25 hours a day and W. wanted to be president four hours a day, Obama wants to be president for about 14 hours a day. And that’s fine, as long as you don’t look like you’re phoning it in when the country is dialing 911. As the saying kind of goes, if you lose Maureen Dowd… Just imagine what her sense of despair will be if the double-dip does arrive, and unemployment begins edging even higher next year as the nation prepares to head to the polls. The question for many Americans that surveys show are well ahead of the media in their disappointment with this president is just how will his supporters in the press behave if economic conditions are indeed far worse when Election Day approaches. Will they continue to back a man with obviously failed policies simply because the alternative is a Republican? Unlike today, the economy was clearly on the rise in 1996 as was employment and the stock market. Journalists backing Bill Clinton weren't necessarily going against America's economic interest by doing so. This means that the last time we had a Democrat president seeking reelection with an economy trending down was 1980. At the time, despite his failed economic policies, media were clearly on Jimmy Carter's bandwagon to defeat the eventual winner, Ronald Reagan. Will it be the same this time, and America is about to once again watch the overwhelming majority of so-called journalists try to reelect a man that is clearly not up to the task of righting this sinking ship? Stay tuned.
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Torontowire says: Norway shooting survivors return to island – http://t.co/KRsJIJ7
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Excuse The Interruption(ETI) – Episode 5 Contractor411 says: Peyton Manning misses preseason – http://t.co/GBSO8tE
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Libyan rebels: Tripoli is two weeks away Libyan Rebels Face Counter-Attack From Gaddafi Forces LIBYAN REBELS: TRIPOLI TO BE LIBERATED CCTV News nousernamesgah says: RT @ shortformblog : VIDEO: On # Tripoli ‘s coast, Libyan rebels prepare for battle. http://t.co/9SMrh9y #libya src @ ceoDayna
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