Mr. Magoo

Simply classic. From the 1960’s.  I’d forgotten how creative and funny the older cartoon were!  First the open -

Then – a show segment..

Tags: Mr. Magoo, Classic TV

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More Classic TV Commercials

Sometimes, the commercials are more memorable than the shows.  Here’s a fun collection. You’ll have to put up with some onscreen ads for the "for sale" version, but it’s worth it.

Tags: Classic TV, TV Commercials

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Coca Cola

If you’re looking for the "newsy" posts, just scroll down.  But, you’ll miss some fun stuff!  What a wonderful advertising campaign. I think it would still play today. Here’s the original, from the 1970’s -

And, amazingly, a remake, 20 years later, with the original singers. And their kids!

Tags: Classic TV, Coca Cola

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More Classic TV

The "real" posts begin a couple of slots down the page.  To get you going, a couple more classic TV clips – the opening sequences to some shows you may well have forgotten about! Ya gotta love the music!

Tags: Greatest American Hero, Hart to Hart, Classic TV

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Reminder

During the week, I try to post in a reverse order. Blogger generally puts the freshest post here at the top.  I pre-write everything over supper, then post them in reverse order, so there are actually a bunch of fresh posts as you scroll down the page, even onto the "older posts" page.  Just don’t stop with the top of the page!    You’ll miss the best posts!  To say "thanks" for spending some time around here, as promised, from WAAAY back in the 1950’s – It’s Howdy Doody Time!!!

Speaking of kids’ shows – Howdy Doody was from MY era.  From our son’s era – He Man, Master of the Universe. This was the big one that he watched and imitated, right down to the sword and slogan – you’ll remember it, when you hear it, right here..

Tags: Classic TV, Howdy Doody, He Man

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Afghanistan=Quagmire

We’ve made it to the mid-point, my friends.  And, quite a week it’s been. I’m enjoying a bunch of Jack Cafferty tonight on CNN (Countdown’s being DVR’d – Keith’s still recovering from surgery – Allison Stewart is good, but it’s just not the same).  I’ll try to snag some Cafferty Clips later. It’s good stuff. I’m sensing a regular slot for him to expand his snarky Situation Room commentaries. It’s just plain fun to watch him go off on people and topics.  Speaking of fun, I’m continuing to try to build some into this blog every once in a while.  After the regular posts went up last night, I had some time to play over in YouTube. If you’re my age (or older), you’ll appreciate a bit of television history – way back to the 60’s – with clips from Captain Kangaroo, an early promo for color TV’s (yes, my young friends, there was this thing called "black & white" TV way back when) – and the opening sequences to a bunch of shows as far back as the 1950’s. Enjoy. And share them.  I’ve watch that opening sequence to Captain Kangaroo several times now.  Whew.  Talk about childhood memories!  So simple – but most television WAS simple back then. But, the theme music!  I swear, I could taste oatmeal or Captain Crunch when I heard it!  Howdy Doody would be next on my list.

But, first, off to the serious stuff. For a while.  I have to credit the handful of reporters who really try to get to the real stories in the Middle East. Michael Ware at CNN is one of the best. Lara Logan at CBS has come up with some good stuff, too.  Case in point, yesterday’s report on how our tax dollars are being squandered and stolen in Afghanistan.

Lara Logan looks at “success” in Afghanistan

Thank the higher being of your choice for journalists like Lara Logan. While Katie Couric stays in the Green Zone and with heavily guarded escorts through a security-cleared market, Logan goes in and slogs through bio-hazardous waste and shows us exactly how much “success” our tax dollars have bought in Afghanistan.[...]

Tags: Michael Ware, Lara Logan, Corruption in Afghanistan

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Not Doing The Job

It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about President Bush or Congress.  The American people aren’t satisfied with the work being done. Not satisfied at all. The only good thing you can say is there’s nothing but upside potential for both Bush and Congress. You really can’t get much lower…

Bush, Congress at record low ratings: Reuters poll

President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress registered record-low approval ratings in a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday, and a new monthly index measuring the mood of Americans dipped slightly on deepening worries about the economy. Only 29 percent of Americans gave [...]

Tags: Reuters/Zogby Poll

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Violence Down, Hospitals Emptier

It all does make sense.  And, it IS a bit of good news from Iraq.  However, Kevin Drum asks the important questions over at Political Animal..

Fair and Balanced

….One of my longtime sparring partners insists that I post some good news about Iraq. Here it is: "The Baghdad hospitals are emptier. The Sunni Triangle remember the deadly Sunni Triangle? has been pacified to an amazing [...]

Tags: Baghdad Hospitals, Iraq War, Troop Surge

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Gun-Toting Teacher

Folks, we have a problem.  When teachers feel the need to arm themselves in school, we have a problem. Driving home last night, I heard a local radio talker explain why he wants the laws changed here to allow him to carry his pistol in a holster.  Anywhere. Anytime. I’m just seeing all kinds of problematic situations, once we start going down this road.  Or, have we already taken the first steps?

Teacher Files Suit Over Right To Bring Gun To School

MEDFORD, Ore. — Lawyers for the Medford, Ore. high school teacher who wants the right to bring her Glock-9mm pistol to school filed suit in Jackson County Circuit Court Tuesday, in a case that’s being closely watched by both gun rights groups and school boards nationwide. Like Medford, most of Oregon’s 198 school districts expressly prohibit [...]

Tags: Concealed Carry, Armed Teacher

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Maher Is Becoming Excellent

You’d never picture the long-time comic as being "political".  I do believe he’s found a real niche and he’s expanding beyond his own HBO show. Watch what happens when he and Wolf chat things up on CNN -

Bill Maher on The Situation Room: Cutting through the spin

Bill Maher, just as straightforward as ever, helps Wolf Blitzer cut through all of the spin about the war in Iraq, President Bush and Gen Petraeus’ “Enron Surge Report,” the reasons behind the Democratic majority’s failure thus far to bring about a change of direction in Iraq, and of course, Sen Larry [...]

Tags: Bill Maher, Wolf Blitzer, Situation Room

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Today’s Housing Crunch Report

Another day. Another round of depressing numbers.  This is spreading like wildfire and burning one heck of a lot of Americans.

Stuck

Some happy housing news. "Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) — As many as half of the 450,000 subprime borrowers whose mortgage payments increase in the next three months may lose their homes because they can’t sell, refinance or qualify for help from the U.S. government. “Short of the cavalry riding in over the hill, a lot of [...]

And, via Daily Kos, some possible help from Congress.  Possible…

Foreclosure Crisis

This is a couple of days old, but I missed it. Brad Miller has a good rundown on what hopefully might happen in Congress to hopefully ameliorate the foreclosure crisis somewhat [...]

Tags: Subprime Mortgage

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Foot-In-Mouth

Is nobody helping Fred Thompson figure out what to say and where to say it?  This ain’t the way to win friends and support in Florida..

Thompson considers drilling the Everglades

With 27 electoral votes and an evenly divided electorate, Florida is generally considered one of those states that presidential candidates are desperate to impress. On the other hand, Fred Thompson, for reasons that remain unclear, seems anxious to make a bad impression. It started in a couple of months ago, when Thompson alluded to Cuban refugees [...]

Let us continue:

Did Fred Thompson really just say that?

Here’s another item we can file under the “Not ready for prime-time department.” Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson just committed the single biggest faux-pas a candidate can make while in the state of Florida, outside of perhaps saying that insurance companies who default on hurricane insurance shouldn’t be held accountable: Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson [...]

Tags: Fred Thompson, Drilling the Everglades

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Tackiest of the Tacky

That’s Glenn Beck over on CNN Headline News. Tackiest of the tacky.   The guy never ceases to amaze me.  Maybe that’s why a few people still watch him…

Glenn Beck–Idiot Savant of Punditry Class

I have a theory on why Glenn Beck is on the air. With apologies to those who deal with very real disabilities, I suspect that the reason Beck has a national platform because he has the Republican version of Tourette’s. He has no filter for which he can keep himself from blurting [...]

Tags: Glenn Beck

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Back And Forth

Actually, this is what politics is all about – letting voices on both sides be heard.  However, I don’t see much substance in McCain’s stance…

Webb Slams McCain’s Opposition To His Pro-Troop Amendment: He ‘Needs To Read The Constitution’

The Senate is set to consider Sen. Jim Webb’s amendment “requiring that active-duty troops and units have at least equal time at home as the length of their previous tour overseas.” Under the current Pentagon policy, troops are deployed for 15 months, but receive just 12 months at home. Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), an [...]

More thoughts from Christy at FireDogLake -

Support The Webb Amendment

Here’s a gut check on behalf of our troops and their families: "…Kelly waits anxiously for each phone call from her husband. They come almost daily and trigger fears of the worst kind when they don’t. That often means that someone in his company has been injured or killed and the military has cut off phone [...]

And, the soap opera continues -

BREAKING: Warner, McCain To Propose Toothless, Watered-Down Version Of Webb Amendment

Speaking on the Senate floor this morning, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), an ardent opponent of a pro-troop measure to relieve the stress on the overstretched armed forces, announced he will propose a toothless, watered-down substitute to the Webb amendment. McCain said he and Sen. John Warner (R-VA) have teamed up to put together a “sense of [...]

Tags: Webb, McCain, Troop Deployment

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Today’s Big Vote

You could see it coming.  There just weren’t enough votes, nor enough spine.

Senate rejects habeas corpus

A year after lawmakers abandoned Americans principles on the rule of law and stripped detainees of their right to challenge their detentions in court, the Senate today turned back an effort to return some sanity to our rule of law. A bipartisan majority supported restoring habeas corpus, but Republican obstructionism wouldn’t allow a vote. "The Senate [...]

Tags: Habeas Corpus, Detainees

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Obama’s Tax Changes

Obama’s camp wants you to think this is a really big deal. I totally believe we need a top to bottom restructuring of the Tax Laws, but this just isn’t enough to warrant the adjectives…

Bold? Innovative?

Here’s Barack Obama’s "bold and innovative plan to reform America’s tax code": A new $500 income tax credit for everyone who works and pays payroll taxes. A new mortgage interest tax credit for homeowners who can’t currently take advantage [...]

Tags: Obama, Tax Code Changes

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War Talk

Here’s the big question – are statements like this one going to help or hurt Rudy’s campaign.  It seems to me, with 60% (or more) saying the Iraq War isn’t a good idea that same basic group isn’t going to be impressed with his tough talk about Iran.  Right?  Wrong?

Rudy goes nuclear on Iran

LONDON–In one of his toughest statements on Iran yet, Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani today vowed that if Iran goes nuclear the United and States and its allies would retaliate in a way would "set them back five years." Iran has become the hot topic for Giuliani on his trip to London to bask in the glow of Winston Churchill’s granddaughter and Baroness Margaret Thatcher. In response to a question at his [...]

Tags: Giuliana, Iran, Nuclear Weapons

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Blackwater Today

Blackwater appears to be quite well positioned to ignore Iraq’s demands that it get out.  Quite well, indeed.

Blackwater Well-Positioned to Stymie Official Inquiries, Regulation

Blackwater doesn’t just operate in a legal black hole in Iraq. The private-security firm has grown expert in protecting itself from oversight and regulation in Washington as well. Over at POGO, Nick [...]

Tags: Blackwater

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Expanding Spy Powers

No, it does NOT have to be extended and expanded.  Quite the opposite.

Bush calls for expansion of spy law

FORT MEADE, Md.-President Bush said Wednesday that a law hastily passed in August to temporarily give the government more power to eavesdrop without warrants on foreign terror suspects must be made permanent and expanded.. . The 30-year [...]

Tags: Spy Law, Protect America Act

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Today’s Must-Read Post

Absolutely on target.  From the Mahablog, a marvelous post about the differences between then and now.  "Then" – for the purposes of the blogger and a newspaper columnist, just happens to parallel my youth – the early 1950’s.  If your youth was different, adjust accordingly, but still read this one.

Losing Ground

The New York Times has dismantled the evil Times Select firewall (yay). It’s also given Paul Krugman a blog, called “The Conscience of a Liberal.” Here’s the first post. It begins: “I was born in 1953. Like the rest of my generation, I took the America I grew up in for granted – in fact, like [...]

Tags: New York Times, Paul Krugman, Taxes, Economy

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