Thursday, January 26, 2012

CHINESE workers taking jobs from Americans IN America?!? Another fun GOP debate! Gabrielle Giffords! Pat Sajak! OSCAR picks!!!

If you watched and or listened to President Obama's speech on Tuesday night, you heard him doing a lot of talking about giving tax incentives to American companies who have outsourced jobs to foreign countries if they bring the jobs back to America so our horrible unemployment situation can begin to get better.

In other words, President Obama was (in essence) saying what I say at the end of each blog; "AMERICA FIRST!!!!!"

I bring this up because it's only two days later and a long time friend of mine in St. Louis sent me a video from an ABC newscast in which Diane Sawyer was telling a story about three thousand (3,000) or so Chinese workers hired by Chinese firms who are doing construction related jobs in New York, Alaska and here in California. No, these Chinese workers aren't American citizens. And they've apparently been hired and brought here because they're (supposedly) willing to work for a whole lot less money than American workers would work for. In that news story we were told that the New York and Alaska bridges and roads work involves hundreds of millions of dollars. The California bridges and roads work (supposedly) involves seven point two BILLION dollars. Money that could have gone to American workers and money that would have been spent IN America.

Yes, I SAW Diane Sawyer saying these things on this video that was sent to me, but because not one word about this was spoken at the Republican debate tonight, I HAVE to believe there's MORE to this story or (I would think) that a whole lot of hell would be being raised about this.

Needless to say, I will be looking into this story and MARILYN? Thank you very much for sending me this video.

Speaking of Obama's speech.....

I honestly thought this was the best speech he's given since he was elected. He talked about a lot of serious stuff, but I think we will all agree that the highlight that night was seeing Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the wonderful way she was welcomed. For those of you with short memories, Ms. Giffords is the woman who was shot in the head by a lunatic and the fact that she's functional at all, is off the charts amazing. She looked (looks) great but she was there to say goodbye to everybody because she feels she needs more time to be completely healed. If you were watching this on television, I'm sure your reaction was the same as mine; Something got caught in your throat and a tear or two was shed.

TONIGHT'S REPUBLICAN DEBATE:

I've seen all the debates and (to me) they've all been entertaining. Tonight's debate was no exception. A lot of "in your face" stuff from Romney to Gingrich and vice versa. But because of those two getting after each other, the other two (Santorum and Paul) ended up looking very good and in one case, presidential tonight. No, I don't think either one of those guys will be our next president, but ONE of the other two guys would figure to be the nominee unless an "11th hour candidate" like Jeb Bush or Mitch Daniels throws THEIR hat in the ring. I bring this up because of how tonight's debate ended. All four of the candidates were asked to say why HE would be the BEST candidate to beat Barack Obama? That's something that all four of those guys should have been able to "hit out of the park", right? Ron Paul was the first to speak and he gave a good answer that included specifics. Romney, Gingrich and Santorum (to use another baseball term) "struck out!" I mean, they spoke words, but they said NOTHING!!! And the first thing I thought was, "No wonder the G.O.P. big boys and girls are seriously thinking about getting a NEW candidate!"

And by the way, the next scheduled debate will be in Mesa, Arizona on February 22.

How 'bout dem oil companies?!?

New profit numbers have been revealed. Best ever. I mean BEST EVER!!!!! And we continue to give these oil people humongous tax breaks because....???

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

You know who Pat Sajak is, right? And Vanna White? The hosts of "Wheel of Fortune"?

They've both been on that show for many years. I knew Vanna when every hound dog in L.A. was chasing after her and I knew Pat when he was a hound dog.

For whatever reason, Pat has decided to let everyone know that he and Vanna used to have quite a few drinks to the point of being drunk when they were taping "Wheel of Fortune" shows. Pat says they've been totally sober for many years (I'm guessing he changed his ways about the time he got married) but what possessed him to tell us this is puzzling to me. Doesn't this fall under the category of T.M.I., otherwise known as "Too Much Information?!?" But Pat, thanks much for giving me something to write about.

OSCAR NOMINATIONS:

Did your favorite film and favorite actors get nominated? You'll be able to find out if your favorites WON on the evening of February 26.

I'm about to tell you who I think will win and in a couple of cases I'll tell you who I WANTED to win.

Best film: "The Artist" will probably win, but I would have chosen one of five other films, including a film that wasn't nominated, "Bridesmaids".

Director: I'm picking Martin Scorsese ("Hugo") because the guy I wanted to win wasn't nominated. David Fincher, ("The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo")

Supporting Actress: I'm picking Octavia Spencer ("The Help") because the actress I wanted to win wasn't nominated. Evan Rachel Wood ("The Ides of March")

Supporting Actor: I'm picking Christopher Plummer ("Beginners") but the guy I wanted to win wasn't nominated. Albert Brooks ("Drive")

Lead Actress: Viola Davis ("The Help")

Lead Actor: George Clooney ("The Descendants")

OTHER CURRENT FILMS:

Because of my fractured right foot (it's healing), I haven't been able to see some new films the last few weeks. Bob Fox is a guy who used to own some radio stations here in the Los Angeles area. Because of some nice money he made when he sold the stations, he's been living the good life. He's also a reader of this blog and he watches a lot of films. A few days ago, Bob was kind enough to tell me what he and his family thought about some films I haven't had a chance to see so that I could tell you his very educated critical conclusions about six films you might be thinking about seeing. Five of these films were nominated for "Best Picture".

"War Horse": "Boring, my daughter went to sleep."

"The Descendants": "Excellent!"

"We Bought a Zoo": "A lot of fun!"

"Hugo": "A lot of fun!"

The two BEST films that Bob and his family saw? "The Artist" and "Midnight in Paris".

Bob Fox, thank you very much!

A FEW FILMS I SAW ON CABLE:

A 2003 film on HBO. "House of Sand and Fog". Wow, wow-wow, wow-WOW! This is a film that stars Jennifer Connelly, Ben Kingsley, Ron Eldard, Francis Fisher and two other fine supporting actors. Kingsley was nominated for an Oscar. This is a film about about "problems". Serious problems. And you won't be able to take your eyes off the screen. Without giving anything away, I can tell you that this film has a very unusual ending in the sense that five people that you will care about are all affected in a BAD way.

A new film starring Rob Lowe was shown on the Lifetime channel a few days ago and it's being repeated. "Drew Peterson: Untouchable". You've probably heard about that smooth talking police officer (Drew Peterson) who is now in jail because he allegedly has this bad habit of killing women he marries. Rob Lowe is excellent as the slimy killer and the next time you're in the mood for a good popcorn flick, this is a good film to see.

A 2010 film on Showtime. "Blue Valentine". It stars Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling. These are two very good actors, but to me, this is NOT a very good film. I was big time disappointed.

TELEVISION STUFF:

A lot of shows have been "taking a break", but I think most of them will resume showing new episodes beginning Sunday. Have you seen the previews CBS has been showing to tease you into watching a new episode of "The Good Wife" this coming Sunday? It looks like this will be an episode featuring "big trouble" for Alicia, who in case you didn't know, IS "The Good Wife".

Great episodes of "Southland" on TNT this past Tuesday and "Justified" on FX this past Tuesday.

The new Kiefer Sutherland show, "Touch" made it's debut Wednesday (last night), on FOX. Strange show. Because it's Sutherland, I will watch the next episode.

This coming Sunday, a new show will make it's debut on HBO. "Luck", starring Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte, Dennis Farina and Jill Hennessey. Michael Mann is the director and David Milch ("Deadwood") is the writer. On paper, there's no way this show can be anything but good, right?

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 can't respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Barring unforseen circumstances, late Thursday night, February 2 or very early Friday morning, February 3.

I hope that all of you have a great weekend and don't forget; AMERICA FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





Thursday, January 19, 2012

Will Jeb Bush be an 11th hour G.O.P. pick? Will Hillary be an 11th hour VP pick? Sarah Palin is angry and Paul McCartney is happy!!!

Hi Gang!

Seeing as how Tim Tebow won't be playing, do we care about the two NFL games this Sunday? For those who do care and would like to know what an expert thinks, the closest we can come to that is John Madden's XBox football games. They have been played and the results of those games were/are, Baltimore over New England, 24-7 and the 49ers over the Giants, 17-9.

I met John Madden in January of 1980 when he was here in Los Angeles getting ready for the Super Bowl game between the Steelers and Rams. He was one of the television announcers for that game and I was the halftime and postgame radio guy for that game. I have all the respect in the world for John Madden, but I respectfully disagree with the results his XBox game is predicting. I think that the winners this Sunday will be the Patriots and the Giants.

Before switching to some political stuff, I have a question for you; If you're not a subscriber, would you like to have this little blog delivered to your email inbox? For FREE? Everybody likes free stuff, right? Just below my 'About Me' Profile (which is to the right of this column), enter your email address in the box provided and click on 'Subscribe'. Then click on the confirmation link that will arrive in your email. It's as simple as that. Every time there's a new blog, it will be automatically delivered to you via email between 3 and 5 in the morning, Pacific Time. It is now 9:30 pm on Thursday, January 19. If you're a subscriber, you'll receive this on Friday (tomorrow) morning, January 20 between 3 and 5 in the morning. The blog will always be free and you'll never get spam, ads or anything else (from me) EXCEPT the new blog. We have a lot of subscribers and we'd be delighted to have you join us.

POLITICAL STUFF:

I've seen all the G.O.P. presidential debates and I think the last two debates, Monday the 16th and tonight's debate, have been the two best debates. If you watched tonight's debate on CNN, you know that the first question asked by the moderator was directed to Newt Gingrich. And after the question was asked, you could have heard a pin drop. While Gingrich was seething before he opened his mouth, I couldn't help but think of the old Country hit song, "The Fightin' Side of Me". The question had to do with what one of Newt's ex-wives told ABC about Newt saying to her (while they were still married) that he was having an affair and he wanted an "open marriage".

This was something that was on all the newscasts and like it or not, it was a legitimate question to ask because of the evangelical folks (voters) and their "religious views", views that have nothing to do with supporting people who are cheating on their spouses. Even if they're "honest" enough to admit it to their spouses while requesting permission to have "an open marriage". I don't know about you, but doesn't that sound a little like what many of us thought (think?) a lot of Mormons do or have done?

Just askin'.

After cooling off, Gingrich performed pretty well during the debate. In fact, all four of the remaining candidates performed well EXCEPT the guy so many people believe will end up being the Republican nominee. Mitt Romney had a tough time declaring when or if he will make his income tax returns available for all to see. No big deal? Actually, it kind of was. Because of the booing Romney got from the audience.

Is Romney hiding something? I don't know the answer to that question. But I DO know the answer to another question which is, "Will the eventual Republican presidential nominee be one of the four guys we saw tonight?" The answer is, probably, more than likely, etc., etc., but because so many Republican big shots think these are four WEAK candidates, two people are being schmoozed to the point where if either would agree to throw their hat in the ring, they're pretty much guaranteed to BE the nominee. One is Jeb Bush and I think I know who the other one is, but I need more verification.

And speaking of 11th hour (possible) decisions...

Would anyone REALLY be surprised if Hillary turns out to be Obama's running mate?

SARAH PALIN LETS US KNOW SHE CAN READ ANNND SHE'S ANGRY!!!

Uh, oh! Mama Grizzly? Angry?

We all remember the interview Sarah Palin had with Katie Couric, right? When Sarah couldn't think of anything that she was a reader of? Apparently, Mama Grizzly read a story in the new Newsweek and that made her mad or maybe she read the headline on the cover of the new Newsweek and THAT made her mad. When we're dealing with brainiacs (did I just now invent a word?) the likes of Mama Grizzly, one can be hard pressed to keep up with her. Or to understand her. Because between all of her "simple me" way of presenting herself, none of us have ever figured out why she really quit her job as Governor of Alaska. Karl Rove is a pretty savvy political guy, but even he recently said, "She has never made it clear about why she quit."

Okay. Back to Mama Grizzly being ticked off at Newsweek. Here's the headline on the cover of the January 23rd issue; "Why are Obama's critics so dumb?"

And who's the only big time public figure who responded to that headline and let it be known how angry she was/is?

I really don't have to write anything else about this, do I?

Just sayin'.

THE NEXT DEBATES:

Monday, January 23, 6 pm (Pacific Time) on NBC and Thursday, January 26 on CNN with the start time to be determined.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

Before getting to my thoughts about a few television shows, I'd like to tell you people here in the Los Angeles area and people who might be here from out of town on February 10th about a big event you might be interested in attending.

Paul McCartney has been named the 2012 MusiCares Person Of The Year. This event will take place on the evening of February 10 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This is a wonderful charity event that will feature a 5:30 pm cocktail reception and silent auction, a 7:30 pm gala dinner and a 9 pm concert and award presentation. Two nights later McCartney will be at the 54th annual GRAMMY Awards where he'll be singing two songs from his brand new CD. Annnd...Coldplay and Rihanna will perform live together for the first time.

But back to the MusiCares Person Of The Year event. If you'd like to attend, call MusiCares for ticket information at 310-392-3777. Who knows? You might meet Sir Paul. Parking? $12, no valet available, you'll be walking distance from the event and when you call MusiCares at 310-392-3777 for tickets, they'll tell you all you need to know about parking, etc.

And hey....If you want to also go to the GRAMMY show, ask those nice MusiCares people if they can tell you who to contact.

Golden Globes:

Did you see that show last Sunday? I did. Some people didn't like it much, but I laughed a few times and overall found the show to be especially entertaining in a few spots. Like....That cute song that Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy sung. In addition to being great actors, they're husband and wife. The Morgan Freeman tribute. Ricky Gervais until it seemed like he'd been neutered. George Clooney's acceptance speech after he was given the Best Actor award for his performance in "The Descendants". It is my view that Clooney's acceptance speech should be put into textbooks for all actors who ever get nominated for an award in case they're lucky enough to win.

TV Shows:

Because of my (still healing) fractured foot, I didn't see any new films this past week, but as usual, I did see some television shows and I have some observations and information about a couple of other things.

If you saw this past Sunday's episode of "The Good Wife", I think you'll be in agreement with me when I tell you that the worst thing that could ever happen to "The Good Wife" would be if the actress who plays the role of Kalinda ever decided to leave that show. DAMN, she's good! And sexy!

On Monday, did you see the 2-hour series opener of the new Fox show, "Alcatraz"? My initial reaction was, "Wow!", "Strange!" and I LOVED it! The stars in this show are the creepy Sam Neill, the cute and sexy Sarah Jones, the calm Robert Forster and the good looking JeffreyPierce who is one of many strange characters in this show. I think this is going to be a big hit, gang. Next Monday, it will be a 1-hour show and it will be on right after "House" on Fox.

A very good night for television this past Tuesday. "Glee" has been struggling, show-wise, but they had a very good episode on Fox. Another outstanding episode of "Parenthood" and two shows presented their first episodes of the season. "Justified", starring Timothy Olyphant along with a terrific cast of supporting players on the FX channel annnnd....Thanks to long time blog reader and political junkie Patrick Gallagher, I was talked into seeing the first episode of the new season of the TNT show, "Southland" , which stars a whole bunch of good actors. Loved it! Thanks Pat!

Wednesday night (last night) the 11th season of "American Idol" began. Two-hour show of which I saw only the first hour (it was good) because during "American Idol's" second hour, I watched a very good episode of "Harry's Law" on NBC. That show won't show another episode until their new night and time. Sunday, March 11, 8 pm, on NBC.

And that wonderful to watch "Revenge" featured another great episode on ABC. Twists and turns on top of twists and turns which resulted in all of us being pleasantly exhausted when the episode ended. We are told that two of our favorite villains will be returning soon and a big time veteran actor will be joining "Revenge" soon. William Devane, an actor who was outstanding all those years he starred on "Knott's Landing".

Were you a Kiefer Sutherland fan all those years he starred as Jack Bauer on "24"? I ask that question because Sutherland will be starring in a new series on Fox beginning next Wednesday, January 25. The show is called, "Touch". And sometime in April, Sutherland will begin shooting a film version of "24" that figures to be in our favorite theatre sometime next year.

QUESTIONS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net and I will respond to you, ASAP. And yes, I respond to everyone except people who are "anonymous". 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.

THE NEXT BLOG? Barring unforseen circumstances, the next blog will be written and posted late Thursday night, January 26 or early Friday morning, January 27.

Meanwhile, I hope the NFL teams you're rooting for are winners and don't forget...AMERICA FIRST!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

A Romney nomination might backfire Big Time! Eliminate the oil tax breaks! Let's deport CEO's who outsource! If it wasn't for bad luck...

Hi Gang! Are you ready for some FOOT-BALL!!! Do most of you care about any of these games except for the Denver at New England game that will be on CBS, Saturday evening at 5, Pacific Time? I mean, how about that Denver-Pittsburgh game last weekend? The "Jesus Guy", Tim Tebow was heroic again. After being terribly UN-heroic in his previous three games. Look, he's not the only one who has religious beliefs, right? I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of the people who read this blog have religious beliefs of one kind or another. Do you publicly remind people of that?

I didn't think so.

And ya know what? I tend to agree with that All-Pro defensive player for the Baltimore Ravens who, along with other NFL players that are saying they would like to see Tim Tebow dial down his multiple public declarations showing him to be "The religious guy". Do you see people doing that in their places of work? No, they don't. Unless they feel a need to do it in a private space.

Just sayin'.

As far as the game itself goes? I'm rooting for Tebow and the Broncos. If Denver beats New England and Baltimore beats Houston, that would mean that Denver would then play at Baltimore and the winner of that game would be going to the Super Bowl. But during that Denver-Baltimore game, the very good defensive player for Baltimore who has criticized Debow will/would be lined up close enough to Tebow for Tebow to see the fire in the eyes of the defensive player who would be trying very hard to knock Tebow to the ground.

THE REPUBLICAN DEBATES:

Three of them before next week's blog is written and posted.

This Saturday, January 14 at 5pm (Pacific Time) on FOX....Monday, January 16, 6pm (Pacific Time) on FOX....And Thursday, January 19, time to be determined, on CNN.

I've lost track of how many debates there have been so far, but these guys continue to put on a good show for us, don't they?

As this is being written, a few of the candidates are attacking Mitt Romney, the candidate who has gotten the most votes so far. Romney is looking more and more like the guy who will be running against Barack Obama. But is Romney the candidate who has the best chance of beating Obama?

I ask this question because this little blog has a lot of readers who are not afraid to share their opinions with me. Most of our readers who have spoken up are readers who don't want Barack Obama to serve a second term. And most of these readers who have spoken up are people who don't want Mitt Romney to be the Republican nominee. WHY? Most seem to feel that Romney is a money hungry empty suit who would enter the White House without any agenda except to see to it that his rich benefactors are taken care of and covered like a blanket.

Hey, that's what he was good at doing when he was working in that so-called "private sector" he keeps bragging about. Seriously folks, is there anything in Mitt Romney's record that leads you to believe that anything he says is something you can count on? I can think of one thing. If you're rich, he'll take care of you. But beyond THAT?!? Gang, Mitt Romney has proven over and over and over again that something he claims to believe in can change immediately. And that happens because? I think it's just in his DNA. It's like he sticks his finger outside, sees which the way the wind is blowing and just like that (for example) he's AGAINST abortion after telling everyone he was in favor of a woman's right to choose.

I'm not in FAVOR of abortion and frankly, I don't know anyone who is. But I do believe in a woman's right to choose.

I would have no problem if the rules regarding abortion were tightened to the point where contraception usage would be encouraged greatly for those women interested in having recreational sex. And having those women demanding that their sex partner(s) use contraception as well. Under a new law, If a woman having recreational sex gets pregnant, getting an abortion would be a legal problem for that woman.

But here's what else I would want in a new law about abortion. If a pregnant woman's life is in danger, she would be entitled to have an abortion, no questions asked.

If a woman has become pregnant after she was raped and she wants an abortion, she gets one, no questions asked.

If a woman has become pregnant because of incest (usually her father) and she wants an abortion, she gets one, no questions asked.

When I see these holier than thou candidates say "No abortion no matter what the circumstances are!", I demand to get an answer to any of these three questions; If she will probably die if she doesn't have an abortion, why are you insisting on her death?

If she's pregnant because of a rape, why should she have to carry the results and the reminder of that rape in her body for many months? The woman's mental health is big time in play unless she chooses for whatever reason to give birth to a child who's father is a rapist.

And if she's pregnant because of incest? Why should she be forced to carry THAT memory with her? Isn't the act itself MEMORY ENOUGH?!?

Just askin'.

GAS PRICES AND OUTSOURCING:

In case you hadn't noticed, our gas prices are rising again. And at a fast rate. Here's what one of the big reasons for the price hikes are. Thanks to national reporter Ron White, we're told that U.S refineries exported a record amount of refined fuels in 2011 to markets in South America, Central America and Europe.

We give oil companies great tax breaks. And I think that's stupid. What they did in 2011 (last year) is a glaring example of our stupidity. We give them huge tax breaks and they sell a big bunch of fuel to other countries while we Americans pay more and more and more? ENOUGH!!!! Time to (higher) tax those greedy bastards!!!

One of the big reasons we're in the middle of this economic mess is because of American CEO's, etc. who have made themselves a ton of money by outsourcing jobs to foreign countries. President Obama is trying to offer incentives to get this turned around. Here's an incentive that I think would work immediately if there's a legal way to make this happen. And the THIS I'm referring to is.....Any CEO who outsources American jobs gets outsourced his ownself. In other words, he or she gets deported.

Unfair? Harmful? I would answer that by saying, "How unfair and or harmful is it for Americans to lose their jobs because OTHER Americans are allowed to send those jobs to other countries while the American CEO's get billions of dollars of blood money that has been drained from the backs of (now) out of work Americans.

Hey, the current administration has shown future administrations how large numbers of illegal immigrants can be deported because (among other things) they're a drain on our economy. So are greedy bastard CEO's who do all the outsourcing. If those CEO's aren't talked into changing their greedy ways at the expense of American workers, let us shout the AMERICA FIRST mantra and deport these ungrateful so-called Americans. YO, CONGRESS!!!! Can you PLEASE make that HAPPEN?!?

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

Because of an unfortunate accident I had a few days ago, I didn't see any new films this past week. Yeah, I've had a little bad luck lately. Remember that old Country song that had the line, "If it weren't for BAD luck, I'd have NO luck at all"?!? Well, that's me, gang. I wanted to see a film that will apparently be nominated for an Oscar this year. "The Artist". While walking, I tripped over a step, had to do some serious body balancing to keep myself from falling head first, but after I was seen by my doctor, I was told that I had fractured my right foot. The good news? I'll have time to read a lot of things I've wanted to read for quite a while because I'm told I'll be inactive for at least 6 weeks.

This Sunday, Ricky Gervais will be hosting the Golden Globes again and a lot of people will be tuning in just to see what Ricky says. The show will be televised by NBC.

This past Sunday, "The Good Wife" came back with a bang. That show is soooo good!

It was also new season openers for "Californication" and "Shameless" on Showtime along with a new show, "House of Lies" which stars Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell along with some good supporting players. I'm a fan of Cheadle's, I think Kristen Bell is gorgeous and I'm looking forward to seeing every episode of all three of these shows.

Another great (Tuesday) episode of "Parenthood" on NBC, I enjoyed the new (Wednesday) episode of "Harry's Law" on NBC and another off the charts fun (Wednesday) episode of "Revenge", a good show that gets better and better and better.

Because I have the cable option of "On Demand", I plan to see tonight's episodes of "Person of Interest" on CBS and "The Firm" on NBC.

QUESTIONS 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 won't be able to respond to you. All "Anonymous" emails are ignored.

THE NEXT BLOG? Barring unforseen circumstances (like another accident), I'll begin writing a new blog after the Republican debate on CNN, Thursday evening, January 19.

I'll end this blog with the quote of the week: "I like being able to fire people!" If you don't know who said that, you haven't been paying attention.

I hope that all of you have a great rest of the week, the weekend, the holiday on Monday and that all the NFL teams you're rooting for are teams that become winning teams!

And don't forget...AMERICA FIRST!!!!!

Thursday, January 05, 2012

What Obama DID wrong, What the GOP candidates are DOING wrong, Two more debates this weekend and NO more debating if Tim Tebow fails again!!!

Happy New Year, everybody! Is 2012 feeling better for you than 2011 felt?

Me neither.

Did you have a nice holiday season?

Me too.

Because this is a "leap year" and if my math is correct, we have 361 more days of 2012.

Things HAVE to get better! DON'T they?

Before getting into some political stuff and at the end of this blog, more entertainment stuff than usual, I want to remind you about how easy it is to have every new blog sent to your email inbox for FREE! There's a subscription form just below my 'About Me' Profile to the right of this column. In the box provided, enter your email address and click on 'Subscribe'. Then, click on the confirmation link that will arrive in your email. Every time there's a new blog, it will automatically be delivered to you via email. It is now Thursday evening, January 5. Subscribers will receive this blog tomorrow morning, between 3 and 5, Pacific Time. This will always be FREE and you'll never get ads, spam, NOTHING, except the blog itself.

And by the way..... A big WELCOME to all you NEW subscribers! Yes, there hasn't BEEN a new blog for three weeks because I took a little vacation.

Big weekend coming up. A G.O.P. presidential debate on ABC, Saturday evening at 6, Pacific Time and another debate on NBC, Sunday MORNING at 9. There will also be four NFL playoff games. Games that will include the Pittsburgh-Denver game, Sunday afternoon on CBS.

Denver quarterback Tim Tebow has been a very interesting and inspirational story for the last couple of months. But for the last three weeks, Tebow's luck, good play and or "divine intervention" seem to have "left the building". I know a little about professional sports and you can take what I'm about to tell you, "to the bank". If Tim Tebow continues to play on Sunday the way he played the previous three weeks, the "Tim Tebow Story" will end up being another sad story about "Discovery".

Are you ready for a little political stuff?

Let's get busy.

WHAT OBAMA DID WRONG:

If you (like me) voted for a Democrat for the first time ever when you voted for Obama, you did it because he "dazzled you". What we've learned is something we should have known; Barack Obama has been a "O.J.T." president. O.J.T. as in, "On the job training". That's an okay way of doing things at "Jack in the Box", but as Commander in Chief of the United States?!? Maybe not so okay, huh?

Look, nobody with half a brain thinks this guy is an idiot. You might not like him because he's black or you think his wife spends too much money, but an idiot? No.

And let's face it. EVERYONE who gets elected president for the first time is a person who becomes a "O.J.T." president. No one but no one knows what that job is about until they get behind closed doors with a bunch of well meaning experts in all the areas he'll have to make decisions about.

I've heard all the grumbling about Obama since before he got elected and after he got elected. I agree with some of what's said and I disagree with some of what's said.

In my view, Obama's biggest mistake was a mistake he made almost immediately. All the time he spent on trying to get what is known as "Obamacare" passed, was noble in the sense that in the long run it's probably something that would be good for our country, but he stopped fighting for a couple of key things that should have been included and what we ended up with was/is NOT "As good as it gets".

Meanwhile, while spending more than a year or so on health care reform which in the final analysis wasn't as good as it could have and should have been, he completely ignored what he should have fighting for.

Ignored WHAT you might ask? JOBS! THE ECONOMY!

Look, I'm all for him getting us out of Iraq, I wish he'd get us out of Afghanistan and I'm very happy he was(behind closed doors) involved with the assassination of Osama bin Laden.

But health care reform? He should have focused totally on the jobs and the economy and made health care reform something to go after if he were to be elected to a second term.

Readers of this blog live all over the United States and in different parts of the world. I know that I will get emails and phone calls from Obama supporters who will tell me I'm wrong and my observations are unfair. And I will respectfully disagree. In my heart of hearts, I believe that if he had spent as much time on the economy and jobs as he did on health care reform, the Tea Party wouldn't have become as influential as they did and a bunch of Democrats in the House and Senate wouldn't have lost their jobs. And it would have been nice if Obama hadn't let lightweight Republicans push him around like we used to see bullies do in high school.

WHAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES ARE DOING WRONG:

Have you been watching the Republican debates? With one exception, I've seen every minute of every debate. As I mentioned earlier, there will be two debates this weekend. Saturday night at 6 (Pacific Time) on ABC and Sunday morning at 9 (Pacific Time) on NBC.

The candidates who will be debating are the candidates who are still candidates. Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman.

I think Jon Huntsman would be the candidate that would give Republicans the best chance at winning the election, but so far, Huntsman has not been able to resonate with the Republican "base".

Let's have a show of hands, folks. How many of you think that jobs and the economy are the two most important things we should be talking about?

I already told you that I think Obama's biggest mistake was to go in different directions other than jobs and the economy. I'm not saying he ignored those two subjects but I am saying he should have DEVOTED himself to those two subjects.

But ya know what? In these debates, every time that a question about the economy and or jobs is brought up by one of the moderators, the person being asked the question mumbles something about (what is virtually) nothing and then goes off on a rant about how if they're elected president, they'll get rid of Obamacare and or a rant about Obama "apologizing" to other other countries about America. There is no documented evidence of that load of horse manure ANYWHERE unless it's falsely positioned in one of those wack job places that Michele Bachmann must have been getting HER "information" from.

But because I don't believe in kicking someone while they're down, Ms. Bachmann, I apologize because the guy I'm specifically targeting is Mitt "flip-flop" Romney.

Every time this guy barks about his private sector experience and that HE's the guy who has gotten more jobs for Americans and he's the guy who can GET more jobs for Americans because of all the experience he has had, experience that's "foreign" to Barack Obama.....

Let me catch my breath, here.....

Under the category of "The devil's in the details!", any legitimate examination of Mitt Romney's private sector experience comes down to this; Mitt Romney is an expert at going to companies and making himself and the people above him, richer than what they were or he was before he showed up. Mitt Romney doesn't have a history of getting jobs for the middle class. Mitt Romney has a documented history of putting large numbers of the middle class "On the STREET!"

Okay....Near the end of the year, we will have a presidential election. Right now, all the candidates have dropped the ball regarding ideas about jobs and the economy. I think that the reason they've ducked and run from the subject when it's brought up is because they're basically clueless.

Now if referring to them as being "clueless" is considered to be too harsh by some of you readers, I would be happy to publicly apologize after any of them get on television and give us some solution specifics that they have in mind. But until then? I believe they're clueless. Except when it comes to benefitting themselves.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

Between the three weeks ago blog and this blog, I had the pleasure of seeing a few films and a few television shows that knocked my socks off. I doubt that I'll mention all of them, but I'll begin with three shows that had their season ending shows. "Boss" on STARZ ended well, "Homeland" on Showtime ended very well and "Dexter" on Showtime had a shocking ending. The cliff hanging episode showed Dexter's sister seeing him in the process of murdering a guy.

Because of the holidays, most shows were showing reruns and some shows are still doing that. A new episode of "Parenthood" was shown on NBC this past Tuesday and the episode was terrific on many levels. Gang, if you haven't seen that show, you are depriving yourself of some first class entertainment.

Same deal with "Revenge" which aired a new episode on Wednesday night. What is so cool about this show is that every time a character who is a bona fide "snake" gets arrested or gets killed, ANOTHER "snake" gets added to the cast.

I think we'll finally get a new episode of "The Good Wife" this coming Sunday.

Before I tell you about some films I saw, I'll tell you about some information that (tonight) was passed along to me by Nikki Finke who is the Founder and Editor in Chief of "Deadline Hollywood". She is reporting that Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow's new film about Navy SEAL Team 6's killing of Osama bin Laden is on track to be released on December 19 and that the very "On fire actress" (my term) Jessica Chastain has been added to what is described as an "ensemble cast".

I am now going to tell you about a few films I saw that are currently on the cable circuit. Then I'll tell you about two new films.

"The Company Men", a 2010 film that's on Showtime. It stars Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Tommy Lee Jones, Craig T. Nelson, Kevin Costner, Maria Bello and an outstanding performance by Rosemary Dewitt who plays Affleck's wife. This is a gut wrenching story about our lousy economy that shows people losing their jobs, the pride that's associated with that, suicides and how everyone but the richest of the rich are harmed by this economy. Gang, this is a VERY good film!

"Jolene", a 2008 film that's on TMC. I think this was Jessica Chastain's first film. She plays a woman who knows how to "play" men. She is aided by a great supporting cast that includes Dermot Melroney, Michael Vartan, Chazz Palminteri, Theresa Russell, Frances Fisher and Denise Richards. Good film and worth your time.

Speaking of current stars and their first films...."The Professional", a 1994 film that's on Encore. Jean Reno is "The Professional" and terrific supporting contributions are made by Gary Oldman, Danny Aiello and Oscar winning actress Natalie Portman who was 12 or 13 when she made this (her first) film. And she was flat out OUTSTANDING!!!

"F/X", a 1986 film that's on Encore. It stars Brian Dennehy and Bryan Brown with Jerry Orbach contributing a terrific supporting role. Speaking of Orbach, I recently watched a few episodes of "Law & Order" that were episodes that the late Orbach was starring in. That's when "Law & Order" was REALLY good, gang! "F/X" is a fun non-stop thrill ride.

Two NEW Films:

"Mission Impossible--Ghost Protocol" (otherwise known as "MI-4"). It stars Tom Cruise and the very beautiful Paula Patton. This film has already made more than 360 million dollars world-wide and the day I saw the film, people in the audience gave it a standing ovation when it ended. I liked the film a lot.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". This film stars Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara and is directed by David Fincher, the same guy who directed "The Social Network". Rooney Mara is in a very early scene of "The Social Network" and there's no way I would have recognized her from that role if someone hadn't told me. This is a very good film and they're already getting ready to shoot a sequel. Actually, two sequels. The Craig/Mara chemistry is terrific and I am very much looking forward to seeing those two being together again.

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, the next blog will be posted late Thursday night, January 12 or early Friday morning, January 13.

Meanwhile, I hope your favorite NFL teams win their games, I hope we all hear some "economy solution" ideas in the upcoming two Republican debates and I hope that we will all soon see some signs of "recovery" from this mess we're in.

And don't forget...AMERICA FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!