Posted on 08/07/2003 6:11:53 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
Seven columns for the price of one: Like just about everyone in the media, I was stunned by Arnold Schwarzenegger's announcement Wednesday evening that he WILL be a candidate for governor of California after all. I really thought that if Ah-nold was going to become "The Running Man," he wouldn't have done it via a taped appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Kudos to Leno for getting the scoop, but why didn't Arnold opt for a live announcement and press conference with wall-to-wall coverage, held at a more deadline-friendly hour in a more serious venue?
But now I have a question for all the conservatives, in California and across the nation, who believe Schwarzenegger will make a fine candidate: If you think this actor's views should be taken seriously, then you must agree that the opinions of Sean Penn, George Clooney, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon should be heard and respected as well, right? Because if your answer is "no," that would mean you want to hear only from those Hollywood figures whose opinions agree with yours--which sounds rather un-American to me.
***
Just hours after Kobe Bryant was arraigned Wednesday on charges of sexually assaulting a teenage girl, Fox broadcast a taped version of last Saturday's Teen Choice Awards, with former Laker Girl Paula Abdul presenting the trophy and Kobe's wife flashing a $4 million ring and Huggy Bear's old hat. In a calculated and cynical move, Kobe wore a T-shirt bearing Muhammad Ali's image and an oversized cross, and mangled a Birmingham jail quote from Martin Luther King. The crowd squealed its approval, giving Bryant the loudest and longest ovation of the night. Because, you know, he's a martyr.
So even as Fox News was rehashing the arraignment on Wednesday evening, the Fox Network was broadcasting a Kobe moment that made it seem like the whole Colorado nightmare never happened. Put a picture-in-picture moment like that in a screenplay and you'll be rewritten out of Hollywood.
Card those Olsen sisters!
Another strange note regarding the Teen Choice Awards: USA Today noted that actress Tara Reid is trying to tone down her party image, but "the evening's host, David Spade, didn't help matters by warning Reid during the show to steer clear of the mock cocktail bar erected on the stage."
I don't really care about Tara Reid's attempts to sweeten her image--I just hope she consents to do "Body Shots II" some day--but does anybody else find it odd that there'd be a "mock cocktail bar on the stage" at something called the Teen Choice Awards? Hello!
***
Memo to the editorial cartoonists of the world: I love the creativity you show in your work, but the next time a celebrity dies and you're thinking about doing a drawing of God or St. Peter greeting the celeb at the gates of heaven, hmmm, maybe not. It's been done about a million times by now. (Not to mention the fact that some of these famous folks hardly led ticket-to-heaven lives.)
Thanks for your consideration.
***
I'm trying to decide which car commercial is more annoying--the one that uses Journey's "Anyway You Want It" or the one that goes with Bachman Turner Overdrive's "Let It Ride," two songs that are the monster-rock equivalent of Freddy Krueger's fingernails scraping a giant chalkboard.
Ah, let's just call it a tie. In hell.
Hold on, I'm flushing.
My columns about people who wield their cell phones as tools of obnoxious behavior continue to yield observations from readers, including some who have noticed an increasing number of restroom patrons who gab on their phones even as they do their business.
I've seen that too. Walk into the men's room in any casino in Las Vegas and you're almost certain to encounter a guy who looks like a bit player on "The Sopranos," standing at the urinal with the cell phone cupped on his shoulder as he says, "Yeah, Vinnie, it's Jimmy, I'm at the place now. So are we going to meet those broads at the bar or go straight to the strip club? What? Hold on a second, I gotta flush...."
Just something to keep in mind the next time someone says, "Your battery is dead? That's OK, you can use my phone."
***
News item: With a $50,000 bid in a charity auction, NBC sports honcho Dick Ebersol gets to learn who Carly Simon was singing about in her 1972 hit, "You're So Vain"--but he has to sign a confidentiality agreement promising to keep the secret forever. Over the years, the candidates mentioned most often have been Warren Beatty, Mick Jagger and Simon's ex-husband James Taylor--but this column has learned exclusively that Simon was actually writing about the late Fred Gwynne, best known as Herman on "The Munsters." Who knew?
Kidding. Actually, it was Archie Andrews, lead singer of the Archies, best known for "Sugar, Sugar." It's going to kill Ebersol that he can't reveal this to anyone!
mailto:rroeper@suntimes.com
Why doesn't it surprise me that a liberal still doesn't understand that Penn, Clooney, Robbins, Sarandon and Sheen were losers in the marketplace of ideas they were discussing. They were heard and resoundingly dismissed, in fact rejected. Californians have the same opportunity to hear Schwarzenegger and decide how his ideas will be received.
The fact that Schwarzenegger would be considered right-wing in California is not surprising either.
If you think this actor's views should be taken seriously, then you must agree that the opinions of Sean Penn, George Clooney, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon should be heard and respected as well, right?I do take them seriously. They articulated their viewpoints entirely without humor, irony etc. This is why I both despise and dismiss them. Next stupid question?
Yeah, we have our share, but none of these can beat the disgrace and the dishonor that came out of Arkansas, or Janet Reno, who hails out of Florida. These two make people like Feinstein look politically tame.
In any event, you just keep watching, while we in California unseat the biggest, leftist socialist governor in the nation, one that wanted to run for President of the United States. Now he'll only be running to the airport, to run back home to NY where he came from. Enjoy the show.
Yeah, well that certainly isn't isolated to Cal.
Look no further than Little Rock.
Rank | State | Area (km2) | Population (106) | GDP (1012 US$) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | United States | 9,629,091 | 284.796,887 | 9.820,7 | |||||
2 | China | 9,596,960 | 1,273.111,290 | 4.5 | |||||
3 | Japan | 377,835 | 126.771,662 | 3.15 | |||||
4 | India | 3,287,590 | 1,029.991,145 | 2.2 | |||||
5 | Germany | 356,973 | 83.029,536 | 1.936 | |||||
6 | France | 547,030 | 59.551,227 | 1.448 | |||||
7 | U.K. | 244,820 | 59.647,790 | 1.36 | |||||
8 | California | 411,049 | 34.501,130 | 1.344,623 | |||||
9 | Italy | 301,230 | 57.679,825 | 1.273 | |||||
10 | Brazil | 8,511,965 | 174.468,575 | 1.13 | |||||
11 | Russia | 17,075,200 | 145.470,197 | 1.12 | |||||
12 | Mexico | 1,972,550 | 101.879,171 | 0.915 | |||||
13 | New York | 127,190 | 19.011,378 | 0.799,202 | |||||
14 | Canada | 9,976,140 | 31.592,805 | 0.774,7 | |||||
15 | South Korea | 98,480 | 47.904,370 | 0.764,6 | |||||
16 | Texas | 691,030 | 21.325,018 | 0.742,274 | |||||
17 | Spain | 504,782 | 40.037,995 | 0.720,8 | |||||
18 | Indonesia | 1,919,440 | 228.437,870 | 0.654 |
There's one major difference, though. France gets about 75% of its power needs from nuclear power plants. Too bad California will have to buy most of its power from neighboring states, at inflated prices. Just wait until summer, and power shortages and brownouts start happening, again.
Squeal lahk a pig, boy...
Squeal lahk a baboon, boy...
Yeah boy, just think, when summer gets here we're gunna have power shortages.... Snort....
:O
BTW: New York (especially Manhattan) is FILLED with ex-Californians. Then again, Cali is filled with ex-New Yorkers I understand (Dick Riordan, Bob Dornan, Michael Eisner, etc.).
Oh, and on the power situation, you really need to read more ...
The power crunch could come as early as August 2006 and lead to blackouts in August 2007 if the state endures successive abnormally hot summers, according to a California Energy Commission forecast.Even a normal summer would force the state and utilities to turn to spot market imports, with their high prices, by August 2007, the commission warns.
The commission says California's dysfunctional power market must be repaired by 2005 or the state will face dire consequences. (Note: it takes a minimum of 2 years to license a power generation facility in California)
The last rolling blackout in the state was May 8, 2001. Since then, the state's power fortunes have improved significantly. By August, new power plants will have added 7,916 megawatts to the power supply, enough to serve about 5.9 million homes.
Meanwhile, conservation, more energy-efficient homes and the stagnant economy have all reduced demand. And a wet April has boosted the amount of water available for hydroelectric power this year.
But because California imports so much power -- from 3,000 to 5,000 megawatts -- from out of state, it is more vulnerable than most regions ``to the whims of Mother Nature,'' said Gary Ackerman, executive director of the Western Power Trading Forum.
``California cannot make it through the summer without importing power,'' Ackerman said.
A sustained heat wave across the Western United States could force other states to withhold their excess power, meaning less might be available for California -- just as millions of residents are flicking on their air conditioners.
I would love for all of those listed would throw their hats in the ring. It doesn't mean I should respect their views; it means they should risk putting their views to the ultimate test, like Arnold is doing.
Just temporarily huh? Hehehe
I do understand that the mid west and back east have many more power failures than California though. All nasty weather related.....
Squeal like a baboon boy!
Yes, we all here on the East coast wish we had it as good as ya'll on the West coast for power generation and transmission grid reliability - ROTFLMAO.
Tell ya what, when I'm back in NY in 2005, I'll remind you how California didn't get their act together in time to avoid the upcoming energy crisis in the summer of 2006.
Sorry to disappoint you. Hehehe
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