Franken Splean: Hunter S. Thompson- Omnibus (1978)

Source:Franken Splean- Author Hunter S. Thompson, talking to BBC's Omnibus in 1978.

"BBC program Omnibus features Nigel Finch's 50-minute 1978 documentary of Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman, with cameos by John Dean, Brian Doyle & Bill Murray, Ray Romano, & probably other known entities I missed.

Factual gaff HST was a member of the Hell's Angels cited early on does not detract from the other curiosities of this time capsule, titled "Fear And Loathing In Gonzovision" at the beginning and "Fear And Loathing On The Road To Hollywood With Dr. Hunter S. Thompson And Ralph Steadman" at the end.

Deutschland, if you still can't watch it, tis a sad day indeed. But you've been crapped on since circa 1918, haven't you? I replaced Dylan (worldwide blocking) with Shatner at the end to avoid the strike, but UMG bots are relentless."

From Franken Splean

If I was growing up, or an adult in the 1960s and 1970s, I might consider if I had access to, going through that decade on one big alcohol and illegal narcotics high. The problem with that is I probably wouldn't have survived it and lived to blog about those experiences today. Which might have only been a problem for myself. But the 1970s especially, was a very depressing decade. As I mentioned last week about 1979, without Hollywood, America would have been a country of Fins. A very depressed country all in search of a tall bridge to jump off hoping we wouldn't hit water as we jumped off. The problem with that is that there would have been lines of millions of Americans, not waiting for gas, but to all jump off the same bridge. Even escaping reality has its limits to it like taking the trip to escape reality and what it does to your body.

I think making a film, or book, (how about both and devote your whole life to the project) about George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign, (speaking of marijuana highs) would have been entertaining and depressing enough. We didn't need Dennis Kucinich, a former U.S. Representative and two-time presidential candidate who lost his House seat to another Democrat, because we had George McGovern. Whose 1972 presidential campaign made it appear that he wasn't running for President of the United States. But Planet Utopia, where there's no poverty, no discrimination, no hate and no anything else that good people tend to see as bad. And what also made Senator McGovern's campaign strange, was that I don't think the man even drank. Let alone smoked marijuana, or any other illegal narcotics. He was just out there, I mean out there as a sober man. Here's a guy who lost a presidential election to a criminal. You can't even beat a criminal in a presidential election, you're pretty pathetic.

I think covering Jimmy Carter would have been interesting enough. Here's a guy who was also a politician and yet he also seemed like a human being as well. Who didn't try to convince people he was perfect, or cover up obvious mistakes and took actual responsibility for himself and people who worked for him. Speaking of Planet Utopia, imagine a country where politicians actually seemed like real people and not robots, or puppets. Where you have someone standing behind the politician telling them what to say when a reporter has the balls to ask the politician a real question that puts the politician on the spot. I'm not here blaming politicians, because they get elected and reelected and reelected and reelected, until they die, or people sober up and decide to vote them out, by voters who are us and everyday people.  But Jimmy Carter, actually seemed like a real American, just a hell of a lot smarter.

Sometimes I wish I was born 20-25 years later and not born during the middle of one of the recession's from the 1970s. Because then I would have gotten to grow up, or have been part of the civil rights movement and perhaps even the hippie movement. I think it would have been great to live during 1968, just to see if I could have survived that year. But then someone slaps me in the face and I wake up and think to myself, "what are you fucking crazy!" Coming up during that time period would have been hell I think. Sure! It would have been fun, especially if I didn't get drafted to Vietnam and didn't have a way to get to Canada. But a lot of that time period would have been so depressing for me. I mean, I got through 1979, 2001, 2009-10. I think that is enough trauma for one person who hasn't turned 40 yet. (Knock on wood) But its a great time to write and blog about.

You can also see this post at The Daily Journal, on Blogger.

ABC: 20/20-Connie Chung: Interviewing Barbara Eden in 2003

Source:ABC News- Connie Chung, interviewing Hollywood Babydoll Barbara Eden. 

" Barbara Eden 20/20. This aired in 2003."

From ABC: 20/20

I swear that Barbara Eden, Kim Novak, Raquel Welch and Jaclyn Smith, must all have the same workout plan and use the same facial cream, or something. I mean you look at Barbara when she was 50, 60, 70 and now which practically impossible for me to believe and harder to believe that she turned 60 and 70 and now 80 years old, she looks the same and not day older in any of those photos. It's as if the Barbie doll was invented for Barbara Eden.

I Dream of Jeannie, is of course what Barbara Eden is known for, but she's more than that. She's an ageless goddess and perhaps the cutest entertainer from her generation who even at 81 still comes off as a baby-faced adorable Hollywood Goddess. An 81 year old woman who is still gorgeous and baby-faced adorable.

When Barbara was in her early and mid thirties in the 1960s on I Dream of Jeannie, she had a tendency to come as a kid and even little girl. Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, had similar issues when they were working. But she made that work for her, because she's so adorably funny as well and sexy and gorgeous.

I think the Tony Nelson character on that show must at times must of felt that Jeannie was like having a daughter and big kid in the house even though Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden are only three years apart in real-life. On the show Jeannie is a couple thousand years older than U.S. Air Force Major Tony Nelson. But of course you wouldn't know that by looking at Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden on that show. Because in years she could probably pass as Hagman's daughter.

Despite the realness and realism of I Dream of Jeannie, with a Persian Jeannie with blonde hair and light complexion, who is a couple thousand years old and speaks perfect English and lives in bottle, (ha, ha) we are not talking about a great show. The show is simply not believable and looks like a sci-fi comedy, or Star Trek comes to Planet Earth.

But Jeannie, because she was freakin adorable and funny and was such an expert at getting into trouble and so overprotective of her Master Major Tony Nelson and with how funny Larry Hagman and Bill Daily were on that show, it worked.

And because of the success of that show it probably meant that Barbara Eden (or Baby Barbie as I like to call her) would never have to worry about working again. And its a show that has been in syndication for what what 45-50 years now. And she's made a great career for herself. 

You can also see this post at The New Democrat, on Blogger.

You can also see this post at Real Life Journal, on Blogger.

Real Time With Bill Maher: 'Bernie Sets The Record Straight on Democratic Socialism'

Source:Real Time With Bill Maher- U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders: Democratic Socialist, Socialist Republic of Vermont .

"Bill Maher and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) discuss his Presidential campaign and what "socialism" really means." 

From Real Time With Bill Maher

Every time I hear someone interview Senator Bernie Sanders and someone asks him what does he mean by socialist and socialism, I end up feeling like I’m one of his campaign spokesmen. Because he never fully answers that question and I end up explaining what he means by socialist and socialism just based on positions he takes in his campaign and his speeches.

Democratic Socialist, Bernie Sanders. Marxists, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Mao, Joe Stalin and people like that. A Democratic Socialist, just wants to tax most of your money away from you and use government to take care of you.

A Marxist, won’t ever let you see your own money. Because in a Marxist state you don’t own anything and you’ll probably be poor anyway, unless you have a sweet gig with the central government. And then they might use some of the state revenue to see to it that you don’t have to starve, or something.

Any politician who tells you that they have free government programs for you, ask them if they know of any great ski resorts in San Diego and hows the snow there. You might want to ask them if they also have a great deal on a 1978 Ford Pinto, or do they have any New Hampshire palm trees that they want to sell.

All these new government programs that Bernie is talking about all come with a cost. What’s the clue there? They are government programs! Anyone who pays taxes in America knows that government is not free. And you could raise taxes on the wealthy by fifty-percent if you want to. (Some people are screaming why not!) And watch people in Canada and Mexico get rich because of all the new money that is now being invested in those counties in order to avoid 60-70% tax rates in capitalist America.

So of course the middle class are going to have to pay for their free college, free childcare, free health insurance, free health care, free food, free housing, whatever else the Senator wants to give away for free. Because those things won’t be free for anyone whose receiving them. He’ll have to increase payroll taxes and income taxes on perhaps everybody to pay for them.

Even when government pays for services through borrowing and asking for a check from the King of Saudi Arabia, or the Prime Minister of Japan, taxpayers have to pay for that as well. In the form of interest on the national debt and higher interest rates.

You want government services, you have to pay for them unless you’re too poor to pay taxes. Which most of the country isn’t . If Senator Sanders is going to become President Sanders, he’s going to have to convince millions of Americans, especially Americans who aren’t Democratic Socialists that they should want to pay for these new services.

The weakness of the Sanders Campaign, is that they’re promising a lot of Christmas gifts (even in October) without telling people who they will be charged for their own gifts.

Imagine receiving a Christmas gift from your brother and he tells you: “Joe, I’m glad you enjoy your new book, but that’s going to be twenty bucks. I don’t have the money to pay for it myself.” I would probably hit my brother with the book, or throw the book at him. (Pun intended)

So what Bernie should be doing is saying: “Look at these other countries and the services that they provide for their people. And how they pay for them. That is what I want to do here.” While also explaining to people that those services are paid for through payroll taxes, income taxes and sales taxes. I don’t agree with that approach, but at least he would be straight with the hundreds of millions of American taxpayers that he wants to represent as their president. 

You can also see this post at The Daily Journal, on Blogger.

NFL Films: 1987 Minnesota Vikings- Making a Move

Source:NFL Films- Joey Browner and Anthony Carter from the Minnesota Vikings.

"The late Pat Summerall hosts a look at the Minnesota Vikings 1987 season. Probably not the best Vikings team ever but they had some exciting playoff wins and a heartbreaking final loss to the Redskins in the NFC Championship game. I don't own the rights to this NFL films does"

From NFL Films

1987 was a big season for the Minnesota Vikings for several reasons. Their first playoff appearance since 1982 and they were stuck in mediocrity from 1983-86 with 7-9 and 8-8 records. Actually their 1987 8-7 record wasn’t much better, but they did finally get back to the NFC Playoffs. 1987 was also the Vikings first trip back to the NFC Championship since their last Super Bowl team which was 1976. The Vikings became winners again in 1987 and won a couple playoff games and one play away from getting back to the Super Bowl. The 87 Vikings, were good, but certainly not great. Perhaps could’ve won a few more games. But this is a team that got hot in the playoffs after struggling just to get there and came together at the right time.

If you look at the good Vikings teams from the 1970s on offense, they were very similar to the Vikings of the 1980s. A finesse possession passing pass first team that ran the ball off of their passing game and ran the ball by committee. But also threw the ball to several different receivers. Instead of having one or two great receivers they had several good receivers that they could throw the ball to. Anthony Carter, was a great big play receiver and you team him a Chris Carter, Jerry Rice, Art Monk, or another great possession go to receiver on the other side and he would’ve had a great career, because he never would have been double teamed. But he never had that great receiver on the other side that the quarterback could always go to. So the 87 Vikings instead spread the ball around to several different people. Like TE Steve Jordan and halfback Darin Nelson.

The 87 Vikings defense, again very similar to the Purple People Eaters of the 1970s. Not a big blitz team, because they didn’t have to. They could attack the quarterback with just their front four. With defensive end Chris Dolman, who should be in the Hall of Fame, defensive tackle Keith Millard, who was a Pro Bowler for them, defensive tackle Henry Thomas, who perhaps should be in the Hall of Fame as well. Defensive end Doug Martin, was a solid pass rusher for them. And when you can get to the quarterback with your defensive line, it allows for you to drop your linebackers and defensive backs back into coverage and knock passes down, break up big plays, attack receivers with big hits and pick off passes. Which the Vikings were good at with their coverage.

When you have an 8-7 team that barely makes the playoffs and you upset two teams on the road just to get to the conference championship, you by definition are not a great team. But a team that struggled through the season and then got hot in the playoffs. Which is what the 87 Minnesota Vikings were, but they had very good talent on both sides of the ball. That came together at the time and almost beat the eventual Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins in the NFC Championship. And then you look at where the Vikings were the previous four seasons before the 87 season where they would just miss the playoffs and finish 8-8, or 7-9, the Vikings did have a great year in 87, became winners again and very close to even getting back to the Super Bowl.

You can also see this post on WordPress.

Dennis Miller Live: Christopher Hitchens (1999)

Source:Bitcoin Faucets- Christopher Hitchens & Dennis Miller: Who's funnier?

"Christopher Hitchens on Dennis Miller Live - 1999"

From Bitcoin Faucets

Chris Hitchens, doing a great impersonation of Ayn Rand on Dennis Miller. And I believe he wasn’t a fan of her, but what he’s saying is that you always go off the best evidence available and that you should always do your own thinking. Hum, what part of that do I disagree with? Nothing! 

When you come from parents who aren’t religious at all, you tend to believe in little things like reason and evidence, instead of religion. Which is a  big story in my family. When you have a mother who at best is an Agnostic and your father is a flaming Atheist (perhaps to the left of both Richard Dawkins and Bill Maher combined) whose totally against religion whether it comes from the East or West. 

Always trust yourself and the real evidence in front of you. And if you can’t do that, then you’re probably not very bright, or you have self-confidence issues. And perhaps you need someone to babysit you and do your thinking for you.

As far as Bill Clinton, Billy Jeff (as I call Bill Clinton) was Chris Hitchens biggest target in the 1990s. Hitchens, was a self-described Democratic Socialist and essentially believed that everyone had the right to live off of the welfare state and not have to work for themselves. 

Clinton, being a Center-Left New Democrat, believed that physically and mentally able people on Welfare should work. And that government could help them improve themselves so they can get themselves a good job. But at the end of the day people who could and needed income to survive were going to work for it, unless they could get someone else to pay their bills for them voluntarily. 

Clinton transformed the Democratic Party from more of a social democratic, big government party from the 1970s and 1980, to a positive government party. That wanted to use government to improve people’s lives, but not run them for them.

As far as what they’re talking about with Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski: hey, today’s closeted Socialists, I mean Progressives (no, I mean closeted Socialists) always say that America should be more like France. Well, they got that with Bill Clinton. Not sure you be elected President of the French Republic without at least one sex scandal in your background. You would be looked down upon as being too conservative and responsible or something. 

Clinton had a phonebook of sex scandals in his career and his popularity only went up as a result. He served six terms as Governor of Arkansas and then two terms as President of the United States. You could at the very least argue that the second job was a promotion. I don’t think you go that far in life (and I’m not talking about flying from Little Rock to Washington) with the jobs he had without being popular. So Billy Jeff’s sex scandals only seemed to help him. 

You can also see this post on WordPress. 

You can also see this post at The Daily Post, on Blogger.

ESPN: An Audience With Muhammad Ali- From 1974

Source: ESPN- The Greatest Performer of All-Time?

Source: ESPN: An Audience With Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali, perhaps at his most popular and highest peak professionally in 1974. Now seemed more as a mainstream figure and perhaps less as a rebel, or some Black Power figure or something. He's not the most recognizable and most popular athlete in the world forty-years ago and today just because African-Americans, Native-Africans and Muslims regardless of race, or ethnicity love him. He became more of a mainstream figure in the mid 1970s as more Americans especially got to know him, but he moderated as well and said less derogatory things about Caucasians and the establishment. And more people got to see how intelligent and the great comedic wit and acting ability that he had as well.

Muhammad, was certainly a member of the TV Generation and was perfect for it and came up during the perfect time for him. That is why he's so famous, because he came up when network TV was so crucial and dominant and had the perfect personality for it. Someone who was very bright and knew exactly what he was talking about, but also someone who was very funny and entertaining and people simply loved him and still do for it. This is in late 1974 and he Muhammad fought Joe Frazier for the third and final time about a year later. And you hear Ali talking about Frazier, because that is the fight people wanted to see again. And Smokin Joe wanted another shot at Ali and regain the World Heavyweight Championship. And Ali probably wanted to beat Joe Frazier again.

Muhammad Ali as a politician? I hate to do this as a great of an athlete and in many ways as a man he was, I could see him as the Donald Trump of the 1970s or 80s had he not come down from Parkinson's. As he said himself as a non-politician he was free to say whatever he feels and believes and even the truth. You can't do that as a politician and expect to be reelected. You have to be more careful and target what you say and how you say it. One of the reasons why Donald Trump has never been elected to anything is because he's unelectable. He's done the best Mitt Romney impersonation you'll ever see by being multiple choice on so many key issues. Muhammad was always better off being free and out of elected office and being exactly who he was. Not feeling the need to have to please people.

Saturday Night Live: 'Democratic Debate Cold Open'

Source:Saturday Night Live- Senator Bernie Sanders ( played by Larry David ) and Secretary Hillary Clinton ( played by Kate McKinnon ) 

"Hillary Clinton (Kate McKinnon), Bernie Sanders (Larry David), Jim Webb (Alec Baldwin), Lincoln Chafee (Kyle Mooney) and Martin O'Malley (Taran Killam) face off at the Democratic presidential debate, hosted by CNN's Anderson Cooper (Jon Rudnitsky)."

From Saturday Night Live

Larry David, of course was funny, but his performance up there looked more like he was impersonating himself, or Jerry Seinfeld, then Senator Bernie Sanders. The whole: "What's the deal with this or that." Classic Seinfeld, but not Bernie.

But David did have Bernie's physical mannerism's down and he has the right hairline and physical stature and about the right age to play Bernie Sanders. The Democratic Socialist Senator from the Socialist Republic of Vermont. Not a Marylander making fun of Vermont, but that is what Vermonters actually call their state. They pay their taxes with huge smiles on their faces that could cure depression in Finland and always complain about their taxes being too low and government being too small.

Too bad Bernie Sanders first name is not David. Because then he could say: "It's David versus Goliath in this presidential campaign. He being David vs the Goliath's being the billionaires in the country. If the Sanders Campaign ever goes South for the winter, (ha, ha) Bernie might want to consider changing is first name from Bernie to David. And change their campaign theme too: "David vs The Goliath's."

It is obvious why Republicans are hammering Hillary Clinton so much with toy hammers and paper nails, because they know they probably can't beat her right now. Unless the Christian-Right and Tea Party allows for them to nominate someone who hasn't spent time in a mental institution, as a patient and nominates someone real who can appeal to people outside of the Far-Right and even Center-Right of the country. Who knows who they are. Meaning someone other than Michele Bachmann, or Mitt Romney. Meaning John Kasich, or Marco Rubio.

So the GOP wants Bernie to do well. But how far would they take that? I mean do they really want to be seen supporting someone who is not only a Democratic Socialist, but a self-described Democratic Socialist? I mean how far would they go for that? Would they run national campaigns calling for government-run health care and health insurance? Government-run and financed college financing? Would they say the rich are under taxed? The Federal Government is too small? The states and localities have too much power?

How far would the Republican Party go to support a Democratic Socialist to try to defeat the Center-Left Democrat who has the best shot of being the next President of the United States. So of course the GOP wants Bernie Sanders to look good in these debates and Hillary to look bad. But how much do they want that.