Now this is funny but still makes a point. Ron Howard goes back to Mayberry and tries to figure out why Americans can’t seem to get behind change. Andy Griffith shows up to make the skit funny and to the point. But that’s not enough for Ron Howard. He goes back to those Happy Days, too, and chats with the Fonz about this election. Again, funny and to the point. I knew that there was a reason that I admire Ron Howard.
Wow– Senator John McCain stood up David Letterman. Was it so he could go back to Washington to help fix the economic crisis? Nope. He did it to be on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. Letterman simply rips McCain for most of the show. While he is at it, he runs over Sarah Palin also.
Ed McMahon the long time side-kick for the Tonight Show is trying to fight off foreclosure on his Beverly Hills home. McMahon is reportedly over $600,000 behind in his mortgage payments.
Who would prejudge a beautiful well dressed blonde? Well, I would for one. I try not to prejudge any one but it happens. Lara Logan is a beautiful woman who has been in Iraq for over 5 years. I just didn’t think that she would bring it. I thought she would sugar coat what’s going on. NOT!! In your face!! She doesn’t pull any punches. When was the last time that the American people has seen a dead American soldier. That was one of her rhetorical questions. Jon Stewart was blown away by her frankness.
Michelle Obama on the View. The thing that I truly like is that Michelle Obama can laugh at her situation. As Fox News goes on and on about her fist bump with Barack Obama (was it a terrorist pump). I think that she come off as real and genuine.
My mother watches The View. I work. I talk with my mother frequently and she told me about The View’s discussion on the morning after Hillary Clinton’s non-concession speech. This is a very good discussion.
Today’s worst persons in the world - Rudy Giuliani finished 3rd for answering a question about whether he is worried or not by, wait for it, invoking 9/11, again. Bill O’Reilly has trouble differing between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Fox Business Channel seems to be having trouble getting viewers. It is averaging 15,000 viewers in Primetime that’s not in one city but nationwide! Roger Ailes of Fox News announced at the launching of the Fox Business Channel that he wasn’t interested in anything short of a revolution. Oops no revolution here.
In college I recall being turned-off when studying Henry David Thoreau. While I, like all people, have many conflicting impulses, maybe my strongest impulse is against someone separating himself from the whole.
I feel this way despite a strong wariness of the will of the political majority, however it may be defined at any given moment, and despite the atomistic bent of my solid 1980’s Midwestern hardcore punk rock credentials.
Last week I watched an episode of Hawaii Five-O for the first time in many years. In this episode, top cop Steve McGarrett was asked to test some sort of telephone snooping device. McGarrett said into the phone, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.”
This spoke to me. I’d heard it before—But for whatever reason it resonated with me very much on this one particular afternoon. I knew the quote was from Thoreau’s Walden.
So today I bought a copy of Thoreau. We’ll see if he reaches me or if my Andrew Jackson “of the people” impulses exert too strong a pull.
So, with the latest in signing statements, the White House believes that it can look at your mail. This really should not be a surprise to anyone. The White House has been pushing the envelope for 2 years now. This was really the next step.
Errington C. Thompson, MD, is a surgeon, scholar, fulltime sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats...
