What the I.R.S. says the 400 wealthiest Americans REALLY pay! Governor Christie and the GOP's "Purity Test"! Brutal Health Care Insurance Rates!

But first.....

FREE E-MAIL SUBSCRIPTION!!!

You long time readers know that I have never asked for money. And I never will. I've had opportunities to get advertising dollars, but in exchange, I would have to give up total editorial control and that will NEVER happen!

Okay...Here's how you can get this humble little blog delivered directly to your e-mail inbox for FREE!

Just use the convenient new subscription form, just below my "About Me" Profile which is to the right of this column. Just enter your e-mail address in the box provided and click on 'Subscribe'. Then click on the confirmation link that will arrive in your e-mail and you are good to go. Every time there is a new blog, it will automatically be delivered to you via e-mail. No ads, no spam...EVER!

New blogs should appear in your e-mail between 3-5 A.M., Pacific Time.

And now, we begin THIS blog!!!

In our last blog, we told you that some influential Republicans are of the opinion that none of the current presidential candidates can beat President Obama in the next election. And that's why they've been trying to talk New Jersey Governor Chris Christie into being a candidate. So far, Christie is saying what he's been saying all along; "NO!", but these influential Republicans are still trying to talk him into it and they're letting him know that he'll have plenty of money for his campaign if he will please say, "YES!"

Buuuuut....Under the category of "Be careful for what you wish for", Newsweek Magazine's Howard Kurtz points out (in essence) that one can't help but wonder about the GOP's stringent "Purity Test". And in case you're wondering WHY in the last debates all the candidates said nothing when the gay American soldier in Afghanistan was booed for asking a question, that was because the current candidates were showing allegiance TO the "Purity Test". Same deal in the previous debates when the crowd yelled "YES!" to the idea of a sick 30-year old who doesn't have health insurance being left to die.

What does the Republican "Purity Test" have to with Governor Christie if he decides to become a candidate?

Wellll....Among other things, Christie has been quoted as saying "Climate change is real" and "Human activity plays a role in those changes." Annnd....That he was/is "Tired of dealing with the crazies" and that "This Sharia law business is crap!"

Ooops! That's definitely not "Purity Test" talk, Governor Christie. But for the record, I agree with him about "climate change/global warming" and I most definitely agree with him on Sharia law being nothing we need to be concerned about because there's no way in hell that would ever have any "traction" in America. And people who try to make the weak-minded among us BELIEVE Sharia law is something we should be worried about are those "CRAZIES" that Governor Christie is referring to.

Back to that gay combat soldier in Afghanistan being booed and we (the television audience) not hearing one dissenting word from ANY of these gutless and phony "We love the troops" Republican presidential candidates!?! Another example of the GOP's "Purity Test", folks. Sudden thought. I don't know about you, but in these most difficult times for Americans, I'd like to hear some "OUT of the Purity box/test thinking." Wouldn't YOU? And by the way, didn't a German leader in the 30's and early 40's have that "purity thing" going, too?

Just askin'.

Oh...In case you didn't know, the next Republican debates will be Tuesday, October 11 and we're told it will be a One-subject debate(s). The condition our economy is in and what these candidates, if elected, plan to do to FIX our economy.

And ya know what? I kinda think that raising or not raising taxes for the richest of our citizens will be a part of those debates. And if the candidates stay true to their "Stringent Purity Test" they will all say that they wouldn't raise the taxes of the richest among us because they are "job creators, etc." and besides, they pay enough taxes already.

Truth alert, truth alert, truth alert:

According to the 2008 adjusted gross income numbers the IRS says that average tax rates paid by those of us making $500,000 to $1 million was 24%. Those making $1 million and up, 23%. The 400 wealthiest Americans? 18%

My thanks to Time Magazine for getting those numbers.

I don't know about the rest of you, but the last big money job I had wasn't a million dollar job, but it was pretty darn good (money wise) and I know the percentage I paid was more than 18%, more than 23% and more than 24%.

ONE MORE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE RUMOR:

In addition to all the talk about Governor Christie possibly deciding to become a Republican candidate, there is also this whispering that's been going on about Hillary Clinton ending up being the Democrat candidate for the presidency. Anything's possible, folks.

HEALTH CARE INSURANCE:

Have you noticed the way the Health Care Insurance bandits have been jacking up rates? I mean, when I first started hearing about this latest "greed move" of theirs, my first thought was, "Who do these people think they ARE?!? OIL Barons?!?" Brutal, brutal, brutal, folks. And what they're doing is cheaper for us than what Obama Care would be?

Just askin'.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

Does it get more entertaining than those Wild Card baseball games Wednesday night? Which teams will end up in the World Series? Yankees, Rangers, Tigers or Tampa Bay in the American League? Phillies, Brewers, D-Backs or Cardinals in the National League? On paper, you'd think it would be the Yankees against the Phillies, but they don't play these games on paper. Highly unlikely, but would it really surprise anyone if Tampa Bay ended up playing the Cardinals in the World Series? I think the two most dangerous teams are the Rangers and the D-Backs.

Bye-bye, Andy Rooney. Have you heard about this? He will end his 33-years run on "60 Minutes" this Sunday.

And welcome back, Kiefer Sutherland. Yep, the Jack Bauer guy of "24" fame on Fox, will return to Fox next Spring in a new series called, "Touch". His co-star will be Danny Glover.

Have you noticed how many films that Rashida Jones has been in lately? Am I the only guy who thinks that in addition to being a very good actor she's also HOT?!?

One new film to tell you about. "Moneyball", starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Robin Wright and the great Philip Seymour Hoffman. This is not just a baseball film, folks. It IS a very entertaining film-film, if you will. I liked it a lot. And I think Brad Pitt will get some Best Actor Oscar votes, but will he get enough of them to be in the top-five that he would have to be to get nominated? We'll know in a few months.

On the television side of things, Sunday night football is killing a lot of good shows ratings wise. Shows like "Desperate Houswives", "CSI-Miami", "The Good Wife" and the brand new "Pan Am".

I watched "The Good Wife" and loved it. And I think ABC's new show, "Pan Am" has the potential to become a very good show.

Have you seen the new NBC show, "Prime Suspect", Thursday nights. Maria Bello is terrific as a police detective and her boss is played by the very good film actor, Aiden Quinn. Yes, I know that Ms. Bello is known as a film actor as well. I've seen their first two episodes and this show has "big hit" written all over it.

As does ABC's new Wednesday night show, "Revenge", starring the very eye pleasing and fine actress, Emily VanCamp.

Another great, great 3rd episode of "Parenthood" on Tuesday night as well as the 2nd episode of "Glee" that night.

Another good night for the new "Two and a Half Men" without Charlie Sheen and for "Harry's Law" with Kathy Bates and the great Jean Smart playing adversaries. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Smart and playing a small role in a film she was the star of several years ago. Nice lady, great talent, good looker.

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will respond to you ASAP. Don't write to the blog because there's no way for me to know your email address which means I wouldn't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Barring unforseen circumstances like film auditions, etc., I'm figuring late night next Thursday, October 6 or early morning next Friday, October 7.

Meanwhile, I hope that you and yours have a terrific weekend.

AMERICA FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THEY'RE ONLY MARGINALLY WORSE THAN McCAIN AND BUSH!!!

The statement in the above headline is a quote from "The Weekly Standard" which is arguably the most influential and important conservative publication in America. After last night's Republican Debates in Orlando, Florida there were some late night and early morning conversations involving Weekly Standard and Wall Street folks and they were/are in agreement that as of now, none of these people could beat President Obama. And that's why they're putting big pressure on New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie to change his mind and become THE candidate that in their minds CAN beat President Obama. Some big money Republican donors think so as well and now Christie, after saying over and over again that he would NOT be a candidate is now saying he will tell top Republican donors what his plans are in a few days.

I'm now reminded of an old saying; "Money talks and bullshit walks!" Republican BIG money is talkin' now and as my long time friend Don King would say, "Only in America!"

So.....What's gonna happen NOW?!? I don't pretend to know the answer to that question, but here's what I DO know. Unless one of the current nine candidates suddenly impresses these behind the scenes power brokers, all the money will go to Christie if he says, "YES!". But what happens if he ends up saying, "NO!"?
Good question.

Would the money guys then go after Sarah Palin? I doubt it because I think they're too smart for that. There are quite a few reasons for them to whacha call "hesitate" when it comes Ms. Palin, but because I'm sure they've read the recent things that I've read, like what the National Enquirer is reporting.....

Now before you laugh, here's a couple of things you need to keep in mind. There was a time when most folks didn't believe much of anything the Enquirer wrote until....They were the first to print a whole bunch of correct information about the O.J. trial. Those disclosures were followed by other accurate disclosures up to and including them being the first to have the (former presidential candidate) John Edwards' scandalous story, a story that might end up being the reason John Edwards could end up in prison.

What does any of this have to do with Sarah Palin? The Enquirer is saying that her husband is making serious noises about "divorce" because of things in the new book about her that he either believes and or other things that he knows are true and he's tired of being made to look like a fool.

Yes, that's speculation on my part.

But what I'm about to write now, isn't speculation. Sarah Palin on the campaign trail constantly having to hear questions about things in the new book, things that have allegedly been said by her husband, the big question about why she REALLY quit her job as Governor of Alaska, etc. on top of etc.

You catch my drift, here?

Would you put up YOUR money to help finance a campaign that would be full of the "BAGGAGE" she would be carrying?

Just askin'.

Whew!

Hey, it's a Friday night, I, like you, am looking forward to a fun weekend, so I think the rest of this blog will be short items.

And let's if I can really make THAT happen!!!

QUICK HITS:

Is it possible that President Obama is a "Closet Republican"? I mean, some of the decisions he's made...
Think about it.

Deficit, deficit, deficit. The so-called Republican and Conservative Democrat geniuses bark about cutting this, cutting that, cutting some more of this, more of that, etc., BUUUUUT....there's something most of them NEVER talk about when it comes to discussing expenditures that have REALLY jacked up our deficit. These two (will they ever END) idiotic wars that our genius leaders never set aside a DIME in real money for. Yes, I'm talking about YOU, President Bush! Yes, I'm talking about YOU, President Obama!

You wanna cut the deficit? I mean, REALLY cut the deficit? BRING THE TROOPS HOME!!!!!

AMERICA FIRST!!!!!

Am I the only one who is hearing the quiet whispering being done by scared and frustrated Americans who are fed up to HERE with the economic condition our condition is in and what they're whispering about are "Revolution Thoughts"?!?

Pay attention, American leaders or so-called leaders. Most of America is sick and tired of all the outsourcing our so-called leaders let happen....All the talk about illegal immigrants being able to get money for stuff that Americans CAN'T get....Yeah, you so-called leaders have gotten some things done, but all of a sudden, American citizens who have been asleep, are now waking up and they see that so MANY of the things that our so-called leaders have gotten done are things that seem to have benefitted only ONE class of Americans. The "CONNECTED" class!!! A lot of people out there. Mad as hell and don't want to take it anymore.

You better wake up, so-called leaders. Because the rest of America IS waking up.

AMERICA FIRST! And not just a SMALL part of America!

Mad as hell.....

Oh....Did you see the story about one of our big shot Admirals saying that Pakistan government people were responsible for substantial recent deaths of Americans? Man, I've been yelling about those Pakistan pirates not being real allies of ours for YEARS! They screw us, screw us and screw us some more while we have continued to give them billions of dollars. You think our deficit might go down a little if we stopped doing that. How about all this money we give to other countries who don't (really) love us or even LIKE us!

AMERICA FIRST!!!


ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

Well, what I'm going to write as my lead entertainment story isn't entertaining, but it does fit into my entertainment section because it's about something that's related to radio. In this case, it's Los Angeles radio because this is where I live and have had an address for almost 33-years.

Most of you listen to the radio sometimes, right? But not as much as you used to, right?

I used to be a radio guy. For a lot of years. I played what used to be known as Top-40 music, later what was known as M.O.R. music, followed by what was known as Urban music and then I became a talk show guy. General information talk and sports talk. Hell of a ride. And in between that, I had a fun ride being a TV general information talk guy and a nightly sports anchor.

Something called "Consolidation" was forced upon us (Thank you, Bill Clinton) and things changed. Dramatically. And not for the better!

A little more than 20-years ago, a lover of Los Angeles radio wrote the first of what would be several books about the history of radio in Los Angeles and the people who helped MAKE that history. Said "lover" was a guy named Don Barrett. A guy who had just finished a many years run being the P.R. star for the three biggest motion picture companies in the world.

A little more than 15-years ago, Don Barrett began writing a column about people he would describe as being a L.A.R.P. Which stood/stands for, Los Angeles Radio People (or person).

I mean you talk about a labor of love. At times, I'm sure he felt like he had invented a 24-hours a day job for himself. He was the owner, publisher and janitor for something that became a daily must-read that was called, LARadio.com.

At the beginning, his 5-days a week (sometimes 7-days a week) columns were available to anyone and everyone for free. He had no other source of income, so a few years later, he charged a small fee. I was a subscriber from day one.

This was during a time when a lot of LARP's were experiencing the fallout from this new thing called "consolidation". And the experience for many, wasn't pleasant.

Don Barrett, who is also a licensed therapist found himself giving free over the phone therapy to LARP's who had become depressed because of what was happening to radio in general.

Did he write about any of that in his columns? Absolutely not. In fact, what made Don Barrett's column so popular was all the POSITIVE news regarding LARP's. When he thought something being done at the management level was in some way HARMFUL to LARP's, there was a good chance he would write something about that and then listen to an offended management person chew him out on the phone for (in some cases) an hour or more.

I could go on and on with stories about Don Barrett and his love for LARP's, radio in general and his reluctance to challenge people who he knew were using passwords belonging to someone else instead of paying a yearly fee of less than $40.

And it was because of the stealing resulting in not enough income to continue, that Don Barrett published his FINAL LARadio.com column today, September 23, the first day of Fall (Autumn).

I wrote a commentary about this that Don Barrett published this past Wednesday. That commentary was different than this commentary, but one thing I wrote I will now write again; "We're really gonna miss this guy!"


NEW TV SHOWS, ONE NEW FILM, ONE (not so) OLD FILM:

"Hereafter", a Clint Eastwood directed film that came out last year and is currently on the cable circuit. Heavy film about life and death starring Matt Damon, Bryce Dallas Howard and Jay Mohr who delivered the best performance I've ever seen him deliver. I liked the film.

A film that's showing in your favorite Cineplex now is "Drive", starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks. I think Brooks might get an Oscar nomination because the bad guy role he played in this film is not what we expect from Albert Brooks. The riveting few spoken words and long pauses by Gosling and Mulligan were off the charts terrific. I liked this film a lot.

Great ratings for the new "Two and a Half Men". It'll be interesting to see if the big ratings continue for that show.

Lousy ratings for the new "The Playboy Club", but I liked it.

"New Girl", starring Zooey Deschanel looks like a big hit. I liked it a lot and it got good ratings.

Simon Cowell's "The X-Factor" got disappointing ratings for a Simon Cowell show, but let's see what happens down the road. I saw (only) the first hour on Wednesday and some of it was good, some not so good.

Emily VanCamp's new show, "Revenge", Wednesday night's at 10 on ABC has the potential to be a BIG hit! I liked it a lot.

"The Good Wife" shows it's premiere (for this season) episode at a new day and time. This Sunday at 9 on CBS.

And "Boardwalk Empire" returns to HBO this Sunday night at 9 and reruns of that episode will be shown all week long.

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will repond to you ASAP. Don't write to the blog because there's no way for me to know your email address so I won't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Barring something unexpected, Thursday the 29th or Friday the 30th. Meanwhile, I hope that all of you have a terrific weekend.

A Slight Delay!!!

Hi Everybody!

Because of a couple of show business obligations, the new blog, scheduled for late last night or early this morning has been delayed. A new posting will be made sometime this weekend. That could be later today (the first day of Autumn) or tomorrow.

Subjects to be covered will include:

Thursday night's Republican Debates.

Mistakes that were made by the candidates and the hosts.

The number one deficit problem that Republicans and most Democrats refuse to talk about.

The latest on Sarah Palin's will she or won't she, "teasing tour".

Is President Obama a "Closet Republican"?

Revolution whispers by scared and frustrated Americans who are fed up to HERE with the economic condition our condition is in.

A local story (here in Los Angeles) about today's ending of Don Barrett's 5-days a week LARadio.com publication after 15+years of offering hope for an industry that's in more trouble than they admit to being in.

Annnnd some thoughts about some of the new television shows that aired this past week.

Thanks for your patience and I hope that all of you have a nice weekend.

Most sincerely,

Scott "The Jammer with the Hammer" St. James

Life & Death! The Republican Debates! In the new book about Sarah Palin, we learn what she reads! The proposed "Honor" for President Obama!

Do you ever have one of those days when you find yourself thinking about stuff that you ordinarily wouldn't be thinking about?

While doing my daily 3-5 miles walk today, instead of wondering if I should be bold and hit on the pretty woman in front of me with the shortest of shorts and a halter top that would ordinarily make me walk faster, I suddenly thought about death. And what happens when THAT happens?!?

We really don't know, do we? Yeah, yeah, yeah...If we were brought up in a religious family (and I was), we were told that a place called Heaven awaits us and we live through that experience forever. In other words, we're never really dead-dead.

Do YOU believe that? Do you sometimes wish someone could/would come back from Heaven and (in essence) assure us of what it is we can look forward to. Hell, I'd be just as happy if a guy or gal could/would come back from HELL and tell us what those eternal living conditions are like. And that's assuming we really do have an eternal life situation of some kind that won't be good if we've been bad, but will be good if we've been good!

I know. We're supposed to have "faith" that that's our destiny once the coroner takes control of our body. But while remembering Peggy Lee and the song, "Is that all there is?" wouldn't it be a darn shame if our life on earth is INDEED "All there is"?!?

Just askin'.

Yeah, I know. I should have hit on the sexy babe with the short shorts and halter top and put a "halt" to those serious thoughts I was having this morning.

BUT SPEAKING OF "LIFE & DEATH"...

Were you watching the second Republican Debates show when Governor Perry was talking about all the people who have been executed while Perry has been governor and a lot of the people in the audience cheered?

For the record, I'm not against the death penalty. And I definitely have no sympathy for people who have committed heinous crimes. In fact, I want people who have committed heinous crimes to suffer and I think getting the death penalty gives them an easy way out. But if they're sentenced to "Life without parole", that, to me, is a "suffering" penalty and I want those kinds of criminals to suffer.

Let's go back to all those people in the audience who cheered when the large number of executed people were mentioned. Did you have any thoughts about that cheering?

I did.

And my thoughts were...about what the television ratings would be if executions were televised. I know. The executions would have to be on cable because terrestrial stations (ABC, CBS, etc.) would "take the high road" and choose to not televise executions, but they would continue to air shows like "Desperate Housewives in Montana" and "The Kardashians".

Back to what kind of ratings televised executions would get? At least triple the ratings any Super Bowl would get. How do I know that? Watching the Republican Debates have taught me well. And because I've watched every minute of the three Republican Debates so far, I've learned something else. All eight of the candidates have made a lot of noise about our bad jobs situation and they should be making noise about that subject. But they should also be offering solutions. In the three Republican Debates so far, not one solution has been proposed. Oh, there's been a lot of bragging from current and former governors about how a lot of jobs were added to their states', but not one word from any of these people has been uttered about how they would get the millions of jobs that Americans need.

Don't get me wrong. President Obama hasn't done any better than these candidates have.

I have an idea about how we could get lots of jobs for Americans, but I'm afraid that politicians of all stripes are too scared to try what I would propose because they don't want to upset the corporations who give them millions of dollars for their campaign war chests.

I would tell every one of these American corporations who have outsourced millions of jobs to foreign countries that effective immediately, these corporations will be taxed out of business here unless they return those jobs to Americans IN America!!!

I can't help but wonder if I've missed something. While I wasn't looking or listening, did the words, "America First" become obscene words? They aren't to ME!

One other solution I would propose would be to get legislation passed to make it a federal crime for any lobbyist who tries to have a conversation with anyone in the White House or anyone in the Halls of Congress.

Am I proposing unheard of and very EXTREME solution-proposals?

YOU BET YOUR SWEET ASS I AM!

And correct me if I'm wrong, but with multi millions of Americans out of work and the multi millions of Americans who are classified as "poor", isn't it long past time for SOMEONE in the White House or the Halls of Congress to come up with extreme proposals which lead to extreme legislation?!?

AMERICA FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Speaking of leadership that we desperately need, I received an idea for an "honor" that should be given to President Obama from a long time friend of mine.

My friend's name is Ron Rice. He probably agrees with (maybe) 5% of what I write in these blogs but that doesn't stop my friend from telling me what pisses him off, etc.

Ron Rice lives in a mansion in Ormond Beach, Florida which is walking distance to the Atlantic Ocean. I know that because whenever I was there, I used to do my jogging on that beach.

He was able to buy his mansion because he is the guy who invented Hawaiian Tropic which (in case you didn't know) is a world famous suntan lotion. Before the lousy economy Bush years put us into a ditch, Ron Rice saw the economic "writing on the wall" and he sold Hawaiian Tropic. Another example of the rich getting richer, folks. At the moment, he's a little "retired" while letting all the pretty women who show up know he can still "deliver" (he used to be known as the "Hugh Hefner of Daytona Beach") and he still has lots of money.

Many years ago, I was interested in writing and producing a film about Ron, his beauty pageants and his lifestyle. His vision was a little different than my vision so it never happened, but during the 80's and early 90's, trust me when I tell you that no one had more fun that I did when I showed up at a Ron Rice party and or pageant.

Okay...Back to the "honor" idea for President Obama that Ron sent me and here it is, word for word;

Where, oh where...to put Obama's picture.

George Washington, our nation's first president and leader of the American Revolution!

Abe Lincoln, honorable leader who pulled our nation through its darkest time!

Alexander Hamilton, Founding Father, first Secretary of the Treasury and leader of the Constitutional Convention!

Andrew Jackson, "Old Hickory" fought the British in New Orleans!

Ulysses Grant, Union Army General, led the North through the Civil War!

Ben Franklin, genius inventor, political theorist and leading author of the Constitution.

All of the above mentioned patriots have their pictures on our currency. No other pictures of patriots will be placed on our currency.

The Good news is that finally, we have someone to put on the Food Stamp!!!

Obama's policies have put more people on welfare than any president before him, so this placement is most appropriate. Unlike the Nobel Peace Prize, for which he did nothing, this is an "Honor" he richly deserves.

Thank you, Ron Rice.

AND AS LONG AS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HIGH PROFILE POLITICIANS...

You've probably heard about the new Sarah Palin book that'll be in all the book stores in the next day or so. I'm not going to mention the "juicy stuff" that's in the book, but in the spirit of "fairness", I want to clear up something for Ms. Palin regarding a question she had trouble with when she did that long ago interview with Katie Couric. You might recall that Ms. Palin's excuse for the trouble she had was because she claimed that Couric had hit her with a "Gotcha!" question. And that question was, "What do you read?"

Wellll....Thanks to this new book, I'm happy to tell you that we now know that Ms. Palin reads "People Magazine". And don't we all?!? Another example of that "common sense" stuff that Ms. Palin preaches to us.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

The first "entertainment" item I want to mention is the 3rd Republican Debates show that took place in Tampa, Florida a few days ago and were hosted by CNN's Wolf Blitzer. I thought that Wolf Blitzer was a terrific host because he made sure that all the candidates got a chance to make contributions and it's a darn shame that Wolf Blitzer won't be the host for all of the remaining Republican Debates shows. And I refer to these debates as "shows" because they're entertaining as well as being informational.

If you've been a fan of HBO's "Entourage" for the last seven years, you know that their series ending show was aired on Sunday night and it's being shown all week on HBO. In my view, this was an off the charts WONDERFUL episode to say "good-bye" on. Good-bye until they make the movie and I can already hardly wait for THAT!

The new television season is getting underway now. The show that I think is the best show on television is "The Good Wife" and that show has been moved from Tuesday night at 10 to Sunday night at 9 on CBS. And that means I can now watch my second favorite show on television which is "Parenthood" on at 10 Tuesday nights on NBC. They had their new season opener this past Tuesday and it was terrific. They have an all star cast that's being presided over by an all star producer-director. A guy named Ron Howard.

There are a lot of new shows that will be on television this season, but an old show, with a new lead actor, is a show that a lot of people will check out on Monday night, the 19th when "Two and a Half Men" starring Ashton Kutcher will be shown. Also on the 19th will be the new show, "The Playboy Club" on NBC, starring Amber Heard.

On Wednesday, the 21st, two new shows will have my attention. "Revenge", starring Emily VanCamp and Madeleine Stowe on ABC and "The X Factor", starring Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul on Fox. By the way, Emily VanCamp was a terrific cast member on the recently cancelled show, "Brothers & Sisters".

On Thursday, the 22nd, the new "Charlie's Angels" will make it's debut on ABC. I don't think any three women can replace the three women that made that show a monster hit many years ago, but these three will try; Rachel Taylor, Annie Ilonzeh and Derek Jeter's ex-girlfriend, Minka Kelly.

Also on Thursday, the 22nd, the 4th Republican Debates will be shown on (I think) Fox.

ONE NEW FILM TO TELL YOU ABOUT:

"Contagion". I saw it a couple of days ago. All star cast and a film that kept me riveted from beginning to end. This is a film about a contagious disease that causes a lot of trouble and yesterday, a bunch of scientists said that what this film describes is something that could actually happen.

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will respond to you ASAP. Don't write to the blog because there's no way for me to know your email address which means I wouldn't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Seeing as how the next Republican Debates will be next Thursday, unless something unexpected comes up, I'll probably write a new blog that will be posted on Thursday night the 22nd or early Friday morning the 23rd, which will be the first day of Autumn.

Meanwhile, I hope that all of you have a very nice weekend.

AMERICA FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Republican Debates, The Speech, Religion & Politics and The Very Unpopular Congress!!!

First of all, as a lot of you readers know, I wrote a short blog a few days ago to promote the blog I'm about to write tonight. I never know what's going to strike a nerve, but one of the things I wrote in that short blog resulted in a lot of very well thought out comments from you folks. I responded to all of you and in future blogs, I might mention some of the points you made.

Right now I have the Republican debates fresh on my mind.

President Obama's speech.

The 9/11 anniversary threat.

The U.S. Postal Service on the verge of going broke.

And another high profile presidential candidate who felt it necessary to allow himself to be "grilled, interrogated, rubber-hosed, etc." by religious leaders for five evening hours and then five hours the following morning about what his "beliefs" are and if his "beliefs" match their "beliefs".

Okay, I made up the "rubber-hosed" part, but...

What the hell is going on, folks? We have some never elected to anything lobbyist who has the power to force members of Congress to sign a pledge that states they'll never vote for a tax increase of any kind for anything and now we have hot shot radical religious leaders demanding that presidential candidates need to prove to them (the radical religious leaders) that the candidate(s) can "pass" their "religious TESTS?!?"

The most recent presidential candidate I'm referring to is Governor Rick Perry. This took place August 26 and 27 and among the radical religious leaders doing the questioning were, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, American Values president Gary Bauer and former Focus on the Family big boss, James Dobson.

Hmmmm....Separation of Church and State? Can you imagine the Holy Hell that would have been raised if a bunch of Catholic Bishops and or Cardinals had demanded that JFK submit to religious interrogations. First of all, JFK was a certified war hero and one is inclined to think he would have kicked those leaders out of his office if they had made a demand like that. I'm sure it would have been a gentle kick, but a kick it most assuredly would have been.

At this point, let me be very clear about something. I have no problem with God being on our money, people believing in God and hoping they'll be accepted into Heaven, saying the word "Christmas", going to churches, etc., etc. If people get comfort from believing a huge higher power is looking out for them, no one but no one should ever interfere with that.

Someone much smarter than me told me that stating your opinions about religion and politics is dangerous because more often than not, it will cost you friendships and or jobs even though the employer would never admit that.

As a (mostly) political writer, I'm going to write political opinions because that's one of the reasons people like you read my musings. While recognizing my bringing up the subject of religion in any kind of negative way can cause people to get big time pissed off at me, I feel it necessary to take a deep breath and challenge anything religion-related when it has to do with going against the "Separation of Church and State".

And there are at least two Republican presidential candidates who seem to think that Church and State should be embraced, policy wise. Uh, huh. You mean like what most Muslim countries do?

THE REPUBLICAN DEBATES:

Did you watch them? I did. Governor Rick Perry has run for office, what? 10 times? 11 times? Did you know that he has never LOST an election! To underestimate a guy like that is to do so at your peril. He took some "hits" on Wednesday night, but he delivered some, too. To me, Governor Perry seems like a guy you'd like to have helping you if you were outnumbered in a bar fight.

After the debates had ended, most of the pundits thought that Perry and Governor Romney had shined the most. A number of people think that Michele Bachmann's performance was weak and the same could be said for all the other candidates. I'm not a Michele Bachmann fan, but I'm not ready to write her off yet. There's one other Republican candidate who certainly has the smarts and the experience to make him a very serious candidate, but he's going to probably have to "go for broke" in the next Republican debate. I'm referring to Governor Jon Huntsman.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SPEECH:

As most of you know, the NFL's season opener was played tonight. With that in mind while also being mindful of the fact that President Obama hasn't shown serious passion about anything recently, he's been spending a lot of time giving in to Republicans who have been acting like Obama is their bitch-boy and he (Obama) hasn't been FIGHTING for ANYTHING..... Anyway, I couldn't help but think of that (late) Dallas Cowboys quarterback who went on to become (arguably) the most popular character ever on Monday Night Football and words that he would sing when things had gotten hopeless for one of the teams that was playing that night. Remember? "Turn out the Liiii-GHTS, the par-ty's OVER!"

Before President Obama delivered his speech, I was convinced that my headline for this blog was going to be those words that Dandy Don used to sing because of all the "negatives" I mentioned at the beginning of this subject.

In fact, I was also thinking it might be time for leaders of the Democrat party to try to talk Hillary Clinton into challenging President Obama for the 2012 nomination.

When President Obama's 32-minute speech ended, I found myself thinking what I would later hear Lou Dobbs say which was, "I think this was the best speech Obama has ever given!"

And yeah, as much as it might hurt people who hate this guy, the fact is, he wasn't "bitch-boy" today. I heard one of the pundits say that a lot of Democrat leaders are probably wishing that Obama showed this kind of passion a number of months ago. True, but if he continues to show this kind of passion and if what he said about his proposals being paid for can't be challenged, he then goes from being "Dead Man Walking" to very serious candidate for re-election status. On the other hand, if he wasn't being truthful about his new idea policies being (already) paid for, a future blog headline will be Dandy Don's words.

Oh....Did you know that as bad as President Obama's poll numbers are that the poll numbers for Congress are worse? A LOT worse!

TWO OTHER THINGS WE NEED TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT:

Have you heard about this 9/11 anniversary threat? Serious, serious business, folks! Police and Homeland Security officials have descriptions of who two of the alleged bad guys are and by the time you read this, they will hopefully have been captured or killed.

Have you heard about the U.S. Postal Service problems? A 10-billion dollar net loss this fiscal year that could result in 120,000 workers having to be laid off, no more mail deliveries on Saturdays and thousands of local post offices being closed.

Sudden thought: Won't it be nice when we have some GOOD news again?!?

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

Eddie Murphy? The next Oscar host? Apparently so and we're also led to believe that Billy Crystal will have a major role as well.

Are you a Conan O'Brien fan? His ratings on TBS are down 60% since last autumn.

Films that are currently on the cable circuit I want to call your attention to:

"Maid in Manhattan", 2002 film that's on Encore. Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and outstanding supporting players. I liked it in 2002 and I liked it again.

"Unstoppable", 2010 film that's on HBO. Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson and some good supporting players. Good popcorn flick.

"Color of Night", 1994 film that's on TMC. Bruce Willis, a very sexy Jane March and the always entertaining Leslie Ann Warren. This film isn't for everybody, but I liked it a lot.

"Country Strong", 2010 film that's on STARZ. Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw and good supporting players in a film that to me was okay, but not terrific.

Three films that are still in your favorite Cineplex.

"Cowboys and Aliens". I don't consider this to be a great film, but you won't fall asleep. Lots of action and good performances from Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde and a very good supporting cast. The Olivia Wilde role is bigger than I thought it would be and she played the role very well.

"Your Idiot Brother". Paul Rudd plays the "Idiot Brother" and he's so good at it, I wanted him to "back off" at times, but I guess if someone really is an idiot, "backing off" isn't in their genes. The women in the film are all good, Rudd is good, but the movie itself, to me, was just so-so.

"Columbiana". Zoe Saldana ROCKS in this film. This is not a great film, but it is a very entertaining film and the reason it's entertaining is because of Ms. Saldana, an actress who was also very entertaining as a "blue creature" in the film, "Avitar".

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I will respond to you ASAP. If you write to the blog, there's no way for me to know your email address so I won't be able to respond to you. I respond to everyone except "Anonymous" writers. Those folks are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? I'm figuring Thursday, September 15 or Friday, September 16 unless something unexpected comes up.

Meanwhile, I hope that all of you have a very nice weekend, please think good thoughts for the 9/11 victims and let's also think good thoughts for law enforcement folks who are trying to track down those terrorists who have let it be known they'd like to cause us a little trouble this coming Sunday.

The Next Full Blog Will Be Written And Posted, Thursday Night, September 8th!!!

Hi Gang,

First of all, I hope you all have a Happy Labor Day weekend.

The next full blog will be next Thursday evening, September 8.

I'm holding off on writing a new one until I have watched the Republican debates on September 7 and President Obama's "jobs speech" on September 8.

Other things that will be covered are....

What exactly are the Republican plans to get us more jobs if a Republican ends up being our next President of the United States? So far, as of today, September 3, the main contenders seem to be talking mostly about religious related stuff.

When will Sarah Palin stop dancing? I mean, if she's going to really be a presidential candidate instead of the dancing tease she seems to enjoy being, why are we paying any attention to her? Yes, I know she's charismatic, but....

When will we see President Obama fight for something he believes in instead of letting radical Republicans who seem to have NO ideas regarding ways to fix our jobs problems, push him around like you might do to your baby brother, Buuuut... They have lots of ideas about religion, protecting the "advantaged" while savaging the "disadvantaged" and coming up with new and creative ways to say, "NO!" to our president and to show no respect at all to the OFFICE of our president.

Just askin'.

In addition to the above subjects, we'll also address Big Oil getting away with murder with their latest budget bustiing hikes in gasoline prices which do nothing but make the vast majority of us suffer tremendously, but WE CONTINUE TO GIVE THOSE GREEDY BASTARDS UN-BLEEPING BELIEVABLE TAX BREAKS?!?

WHY?!?

Again...Just askin'.

Yes, we'll also lighten up with our last topic on Thursday night when we tell you about some new and old films we've recently seen along with other entertainment related news.

Be strong, gang!

Scott "The Jammer with the Hammer" St. James