Monday’s laundry.

What a weekend. Lurched into it with book club Friday, at which I had .2 glasses of wine too many, enough to require me to air many opinions about George Clooney in an outside voice. (I say so many things in my outside voice. It’s one thing about myself I really wish I could change.) It so happened many other members of the club had been drinking wine as well, perhaps not as enthusiastically as me, and many had opinions on Clooney, too. We shared and shared, and then I looked at the sole male member of the club, who did not appear to be having fun.

Sorry about that, Mike.

The book was Ann Patchett’s “State of Wonder.” Liked it very much. It had nothing to do with George Clooney. If you’ve been to a book club, you know how this can happen. Unless you have one of those non-drinking book clubs, in which case I ask: Why bother?

By the way, I’m changing the On the Nightstand book to this. I’ve finished the book, but I’m tired of looking at the Odor Eaters over there on the sidebar. Laziness, thy name is Nance.

Then, Saturday, off to the Black Keys at the Joe. I haven’t been to an arena show in years. I can’t say it’s my favorite venue, but there’s something about a sold-out crowd rising a considerable distance to the ceiling, all on their feet and dancing to “Lonely Boy,” that carries a jolt of energy. It was a good show. Two guys on a great big stage, making a shitload of noise — that’s entertainment.

And after another mild tease, the cold weather returned, although it’ll be yielding in a few days. The Tigers are playing in Florida, and spring is in the air. Here’s hoping we get a proper one, and that winter doesn’t pay us back for not being quite so tough this year by staying a little longer.

So, bloggage? Sure…

For a man who has literally made a fortune off of death, Mitch Albom remains ever-surprised by it:

Davy Jones died.

I didn’t think that was possible.

No comment.

Thirty years since John Belushi was found dead of a speedball overdose? Yep. Michael Heaton weighs in with a personal remembrance that’s worth your time (and with a lesson for journalists):

…I had to ask Aykroyd one question: Of all the media in the world — the print folks, the TV people who had been hounding him for an interview since Belushi’s death — why did he choose me, a lowly, unknown freelancer for People magazine?

“You were the only one who called,” he said.

I have no sexy memory like this, but my takeaway from the Belushi death was the reaction to “Wired,” Bob Woodward’s tone-deaf, yet exhaustive, account of his brief life. His Hollywood friends were astonished and appalled that the book wasn’t a wet kiss for their pal the comic genius, but a straightforward story of what happens when you get too much money too fast, and the wet kisses are all applied to your ass. Judy Belushi actually gave an interview admitting she thought she was talking to the character played by Robert Redford in “All the President’s Men.” An early lesson that maybe the people upon whom money and power is bestowed aren’t as smart as they pretend to be.

Until I read Roy’s short piece about it, I had no idea this was happening — the Kochs trying to buy the Cato Institute. This is what I get for trying to pay less attention to politics. I won’t be making that mistake again. Too funny.

Posted at 12:24 am in Current events, Popculch |
 

71 responses to “Monday’s laundry.”

  1. Dexter said on March 5, 2012 at 1:15 am

    John Belushi left us shortly after John Lennon was murdered. Along with Joe Strummer, who died way too young in the 1990’s from a faulty heart, I miss all three to this day. At least they made it past 27 years of age. That normally glorious age is a death trap for entertainers.

    Come on Spring. I am ready to put some miles on my two wheelers that I pedal.

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  2. Linda said on March 5, 2012 at 7:00 am

    Yeah, Dexter, we in NW Ohio are all waiting for spring, now that we have the 3″ snowfall that nobody predicted.

    Re: the Cato dustup: Hee. It’s like a matchup between (insert your own 2 most hated sports teams). You just root for injuries. But the Koch’s push for total domination is not far out at all. Don’t free marketers believe that whoever has the most money deserves to win? If so, the other Catoites should just roll over and show their bellies, as is appropriate behavior for the outbought and conquered.

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  3. Malvolio said on March 5, 2012 at 7:10 am

    Linda. The Heat and the Lakers. I root for an earthquake.

    It’s very difficult to imagine more ill-matched author and subject than Woodward and Belushi. Broomstick up ass and samurai sword.

    Today is also the anniversary of the plane crash that killed Patsy Cline in 1963.

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  4. coozledad said on March 5, 2012 at 7:30 am

    Hopefully some enterprising wine merchant is etching “This wine belong to Bonaparte, n’est ce pas?” on a case of old champagne bottles filled with piss, exclusively for the victor of the Cato-Koch beatdown.
    My money is on the ineducable vulgarians.

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  5. brian stouder said on March 5, 2012 at 7:57 am

    Ronnie Montrose, RIP

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  6. beb said on March 5, 2012 at 8:01 am

    It used to be that Richard Mellon Scarife (sp?) was the Evil Genius behind conservative politics. Now it would seem that the Koch Bros, or at least Charles Koch is determined to shit his name all over the place.

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  7. Julie Robinson said on March 5, 2012 at 8:11 am

    Ann Patchett’s writing is worshipful. I re-read Bel Canto and it was as fresh as the first time, with more layers to be found. I also loved a book by an author I didn’t know–The Fault in our Stars, by John Green. Bonus: his website is hysterically funny.

    Isn’t Mitch a little late? I thought we all processed Davy Jones’ death in about 12 hours, then moved forward with our lives.

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  8. basset said on March 5, 2012 at 8:12 am

    Ronnie Montrose… master of the chainsaw guitar, the intro to “Bad Motor Scooter” being the best example, who could still show up on a Van Morrison album and make it work.

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  9. Peter said on March 5, 2012 at 8:47 am

    Oh my, did you see the picture of David Crane on that New Yorker article? I don’t think he’s had a bowel movement for at least three years. And he’s the good guy in this saga? Ayeeee!

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  10. Kim said on March 5, 2012 at 9:22 am

    On State of Wonder – I wanted to love it because Patchett wrote it and it’s about a place I have always been drawn to. However, I had just read River of Doubt (crazy good nonfiction about Theodore Roosevelt’s trip into the Amazon jungle by boat, Candice Millard 2005) and I swear there were way too many similarities for me to ignore. Anybody else get the same feeling?

    Good to know the boys can fill a stadium; we’re going to see them later this month.

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  11. Dave said on March 5, 2012 at 9:27 am

    Our oldest child was born March 2, 1982, so there was a period of about a week that we paid no attention to the news. I still remember my shock at picking up the papers and leafing through them, to learn that John Belushi had died.

    Mitch Albom, do you really think he remembers girls all over his neighborhood screaming in delight at receiving responses to their fan letters to Davy Jones? The only fan letter I ever recall anyone in school writing was when we were in elementary school and a girl in my class wrote to The Cisco Kid, Renaldo Duncan. I just learned Renaldo Duncan was Romanian, I had no idea.

    This is also the day my father-in-law passed away in 1979, at only 55.

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  12. Malvolio said on March 5, 2012 at 9:42 am

    Peter: Crane has those toilets that don’t work, like Rand Paul.

    I thought State of Wonder was excellent. The onlly better South American jungle book I’ve ever read is Peter Matthiesson’s astounding At Play in the Fields of the Lord, which was also made into a good movie, with Tom Berenger and John Lithgow, Kathy Bates, Aidan Quinn. Probably Darryl Hannah’s last good movie, aside from Kill Bill. Oh and Tom Waits. Best rain forest movie: Emerald Forest, no doubt.

    As great as Ronnie Montrose is on Tupelo Honey, I guess just about makes up for foisting Sammy Hagar on the world (though that’s almost inexcusable).

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  13. Julie Robinson said on March 5, 2012 at 10:01 am

    Kim, I haven’t read River of Doubt, but I might have to now.

    Our nephew reported a 4.3 earthquake in San Fransisco this morning. It’s since been cut to 4. He said it was a rolling quake and different from those in Hawaii, where he lives. In his words, those are back-and-forth-jolty.

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  14. Joe K said on March 5, 2012 at 10:38 am

    Ronnie,
    Get on your bad motor scooter and ride.
    Pilot Joe

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  15. Bitter Scribe said on March 5, 2012 at 10:41 am

    Regarding Dan Aykroyd: I was mildly shocked a year or so ago when I saw him doing TV commercials for a local liquor store chain. Does he need work that badly?

    Someone will have to convince me that Mitch Albom and Bob Greene are not the same person.

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  16. Dexter said on March 5, 2012 at 11:00 am

    How can two earthquakes be reported, then, oops!—it was only one, sorry about that. These are scientists, right?

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  17. Judybusy said on March 5, 2012 at 11:04 am

    I have also been a Patchett fan for years; Bel Canto remains one of my favorite books. However, I couldn’t finish State of Wonder. The main character just seemed too dumb on so many levels and I tired of her lackluster approach to the task at hand. I also read an interview in which Patchett commented she hated the Amazon when she traveled to research the book. The interview is also by Elizabeth Gilbert, whom I despise as a self-indulgent nitwit and with whom Patchett is very good friends. Not fair to pile that on, I know, but it’s such an incredible privilege to go there, I’d keep my dislike of it under my hat. Really? Mud and insects upset you? It was a mere ten days. Butch up.

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  18. Jeff Borden said on March 5, 2012 at 11:46 am

    Bitter Scribe,

    Dan Aykroyd has created his own brand of high-end vodka and is traveling around the nation touting it, so perhaps that is what you saw? If not, wow. I’d think given his long and mostly successful career, he’d be on easy street.

    Are there any members of the NN.C family who regularly listen to Limbaugh? After his anemic non-apology –which did not prevent Pro Flowers and Carbonite from bolting– I wonder what he’ll say on his radio show, but refuse to spend even a nanonsecond listening.

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  19. Sherri said on March 5, 2012 at 11:51 am

    I haven’t read State of Wonder, but I second the recommendation for River of Doubt.

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  20. Deborah said on March 5, 2012 at 11:58 am

    The last comment on the previous thread from Mark H, had an interesting link to an article from the Daily Beast by a woman who asks why liberals aren’t disgusted by misogynistic statements that liberals like Bill Maher, Matt Tabai and Chris Matthews etc have made about women (women like Michelle Malkin, Sarah Palin, even Hilary Clinton). The short answer is many of us are disgusted by misogyny, when we hear it or see it anywhere. But I’ll be honest it is so rampant everywhere it often just rolls off as “there they go again”. Rush just went way, way, way over the bounds of decency this time and that’s the difference. At least that’s the way I see it.

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  21. Bitter Scribe said on March 5, 2012 at 12:05 pm

    Jeff Borden–Those commercials were for something like Binny’s Bargain Beverages. I don’t have the name exactly right, but the production values were about what you’d expect for a low-end local chain store. One commercial consisted almost entirely of outtakes, which were actually kind of funny, except that you could tell Aykroyd didn’t really give a damn.

    The “what about so-and-so?” response is the lamest, most tiresome defense of outrageous behavior. Not that misogyny is ever justified or excusable, but I would point out that Sandra Fluke is a private citizen without the resources to defend herself enjoyed by women like Palin and Malkin.

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  22. Joe K said on March 5, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    Deborah,
    Where was the media outrage or the outrage here at n.n. when Ed Shultz on msnbc called Laura Engrham a rightwing slut. True he was suspended, but I heard virtually nothing here or in the media compared to what happened with Rush which by the way I disagree he should have said. Although I do agree with his argument. Some here call Rush, very vile names because you disagree with him, yet get your undies in a knot when he does the same.
    Pilot Joe

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  23. Malvolio said on March 5, 2012 at 12:19 pm

    Eric Cantor is supposed to be the GOPer go-to intellectual. So check this argument against the contraception mandate. Stunning stupidity.

    Criticizing women doesn’t comprise misogyny. If I say Michelle Malkin is a deceitful and dishonest twit, that is not misogynistic. It has nothing whatever to do with her gender. The illogic being applied here is the same stretch by which defenders of the Israeli apharteid government claim that criticizing the state of Israel is tantamount to anti-semitism. If I say Ann Coulter is a rude and vulgar jerk with no redeeming social value to any of the vitriol she spews, that is decidedly not a misogynistic statement. There is no enmity towardeither of those women because thay are women, it’s because the hold vile and vituperative political opinions. If I say I think $Palin is stupid, I’d be willing to bet that is provable fact, and it has nothing to do with her gender. Besides, these three choose public spectacle as a means of spewing their hateful bile. I’m entitled to express any opinion I please regarding public figures. Limbaugh’s comments about Ms. Fluke were slanderous in esse, clearly knowingly untrue and injurious, and she is in no way a public figure under slander and libel laws in the USA. And for damn sure, I’ve never said anything about Limbo I wouldn’t say straight to his porcine, spit-flecked jowls. I think the rightwingers need to look up misogynistic.

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  24. Peter said on March 5, 2012 at 12:23 pm

    Bitter, I would go one further about Ms. Fluke – other than a potential line item on her resume, as far as I know she will have no personal gain from appearing before Congress. Madames Palin and Malkin say and do a lot of things that get criticized, but they do it for financial or personal gain. Bottom line, they do it for the bottom line. And if you believe that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, they even benefit from negative exposure. How else do you explain Ann Coulter?

    By calling out Ms. Fluke by name, Rush has gone way over the line. He could have yapped about the hearing to his heart’s content, he could have said his same statements without naming names and it would have been reprehensible but tolerated. But calling her out by name and heaping on the vitriol is just inexcusable. Like Mr. Welch said almost 60 years ago – “have you at long last no sense of decency?”

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  25. coozledad said on March 5, 2012 at 12:44 pm

    Joe K.: Schultz was speaking metaphorically, as in, “Scott Walker is a hosebag for the Koch brothers, who has demonstrated he’ll take it in whatever orifice they choose, on the phone, on the radio, on cable, and if they spring for it, an Imax feature on 300 screens.” meaning, he’ll do anything for money.
    Schultz should not have used such a metaphor when discussing a woman. This is one of the treacherous areas of English it pays to learn, and I’ve been justly kicked in the nuts for not learning it soon enough. English is a difficult, protean language, akin to learning currently unspoken ancient Chinese Nestorian dialects for some motherfuckers, apparently.

    Rush was calling Fluke a slut, and demanding to see a movie. There is no similarity. None.
    Rush doesn’t understand that birth control is not a one-off like the illegal Viagra he was taking to the Dominican Republic to bonk poverty-stricken children.

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  26. Jeff Borden said on March 5, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    Joe K.,

    The kind of language used by El Rushbo and Ed Schultz has no place in public discourse, but I will add one caveat. The Georgetown student was not a celebrity. Limbaugh has said horrible, vile, ugly things about a wide range of prominent women, particularly Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, but you know what? They chose the lives they lead and know that attracting spitballs from morons is all part of the game. Ditto for performers, athletes and others who ply their trade in the spotlight. They know the score.

    Sandra Fluke was a private citizen expressing a viewpoint at the invitation of Democrats in the House. Her testimony wasn’t even about sex. She discussed a friend who lost an ovary to cysts because she could not afford the birth control pills that would have helped control the cyst. So what does Limbaugh do? For three fucking days? Accuse her of being a whore, a slut, a sleeparound who ought to post sex videos online if she’s going to use contraceptives.

    One last thing and I hate to have to say this, but when Limbaugh acts like a douche bag, it will get a lot more attention than when Schultz acts like a douch bag because he has a vastly larger audience and wields enormous power over the GOP. How much influence does Schultz wield?

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  27. beb said on March 5, 2012 at 12:55 pm

    Joe, there was little politcal outrage when Ed Schultz called Laura Ingram a “slut” because he was suspended almost immediately, thereby short-circuiting any further outrage. The woman writer MarkH linked to is not, as mark suggests, a liberal. She works for Fox News and writes for Murdock owned publications like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. Chris Matthews misogynism has been noted in the past but none of the quotes Ms Powers offered were sexually demeaning in the way Limbaugh calling a woman a “slut would be. Bill Mahar is a comedian and not responsible towards any Democratic Party line. And saying that Michelle Bachman is crazy is much more of a neutral observation than a character assassination that calling her a “slut” would be. In fact on the whole liberal attacks on conservative woman have been on their political beliefs and not on how much sex they have and declarations that they “owe” porno videos.

    I read where Ohio’s governor wants to skip federal disaster relief for the weekend’s tornado damage. What a charming fellow.

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  28. Little Bird said on March 5, 2012 at 12:56 pm

    I was once challenged by a friend to watch Rush’s show for three episodes. This was following my critcizing him and the friend defending him (we have long since lost contact). I made it all of three minutes. I wish I could get those three minutes back.

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  29. Jeff Borden said on March 5, 2012 at 1:06 pm

    I spent two decades covering media in one way or another. You simply cannot deny the amazing success of Limbaugh. In the mid-1980s, when he was really cranking it, some restaurants set aside “Rush rooms,” where diners could listen to his rantings and ravings while they swalled their cheeseburgers and fries.

    His ratings are down these days, as are those of some of fellow travelers such as Sean Hannity, but he still rules the roost in ratings and income. Like Little Bird, I simply cannot listen to him –if I want to hear empty pomposity and arrogance I’ll listen to Styx– but Lord, there are plenty of others who see the world through his viewpoint and that is scary as hell.

    This episode will recede. Some, maybe all, of the advertisers eventually will return. But no one should underestimate the power of the narrative the gasbag unleashed with his attacks on the Georgetown student. Losing seven national advertisers and being forced to issue even a mealy-mouthed mea culpa is no small thing in his universe.

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  30. Malvolio said on March 5, 2012 at 1:11 pm

    This shit is getting out of hand:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/02/wilmington-city-council-sperm-egg-personhood_n_1316924.html

    You go Sparky!!!

    Pot, meet Kettle.

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  31. Sue said on March 5, 2012 at 1:12 pm

    Jeff Borden – nine.
    http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/03/05/437777/aol-drops-limbaugh/
    edit: but you’re right on advertisers coming back. Note the use of the word “suspend” for Tax Resolution Services.

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  32. coozledad said on March 5, 2012 at 1:13 pm

    Cantor’s right. This has been a hard “fart primary” and nobody’s going to come out of it smelling like they haven’t been subsisting on a diet of broccoli and pork & beans:
    http://gawker.com/5890491/this-has-been-one-hard-fart-primary-according-to-rep-eric-cantor

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  33. LAMary said on March 5, 2012 at 1:19 pm

    I’ve stopped watching Bill Maher, in fact I stopped watching him a long time ago. I think he’s a jerk. Same goes for Chris Matthews. The interesting stuff he says doesn’t outweigh the crap. I liked the way Jon Stewart took him down many notches when he went on the Daily Show to flog some instabook he wrote.

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  34. Malvolio said on March 5, 2012 at 1:25 pm

    Interesting comment on Tusho Limb audience size:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/rush-limbaugh-ratings_b_1320144.html?ref=daily-brief?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=030512&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry&utm_term=Daily%20Brief

    Cantor means there are bacon strips on everybody’s utrou, I guess.

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  35. Deborah said on March 5, 2012 at 1:50 pm

    Coincidence that I mentioned this guy up thread in my comment, but I just saw Chris Mattthews on Michigan Ave as I was walking home for lunch. I recognized him from the back by his fake blond hair and as I passed I heard him asking for directions of one of the doormen at the InterContinental hotel and recognized his voice. When I got beyond him and looked back sure enough, it was him. I will say I never thought of him as being a liberal, but the person who wrote the article that I was referring to above seems to think he is.

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  36. MarkH said on March 5, 2012 at 1:53 pm

    Jeff Borden @26 (and others)- nicely put and points well-taken vis-a-vis public figures. And to answer your question @18, here’s a summary from mediaite complete with an audio link, if any of you are so disposed.

    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/rush-limbaugh-explains-his-apology-to-sandra-fluke-the-apology-was-heartfelt/

    beb – Fox has lots of liberals who do battle with the conservative ranks. Just because Powers is a contributor there shouldn’t mislead you. I’ve seen her toe the line pretty well against O’Reilly, Hannity and others. And I disagree with your parsing to defend those Powers pointed out in her article. Name calling is name calling and is unbecoming in what is supposed to be reasonable public discourse. Rush stepped off the cliff last week for sure, but the discussion is ongoing because it was Rush.

    Bitter Scribe, excellent point @21 and the “what about so-and-so” comes from both sides.

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  37. JWfromNJ said on March 5, 2012 at 2:01 pm

    I think the most detestable part of Rush’s comments (and the most telling) was his suggestion that women who receive contraceptives through this measure should be required to post video of their sexual encounters on the internet. That’s where I question the lack of outrage from women of all political beliefs.
    And you just know Rush would be one of the first ones to park his ass in front of his computer with his, uhhh, mouse in hand.

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  38. Jakash said on March 5, 2012 at 2:04 pm

    Bitter Scribe and Jeff B.,
    I have no inside info re the Dan Aykroyd commercials, but Binny’s Beverage Depot is a big operation, started in 1947 with 28 stores, including the former Sam’s, which is a giant beer/wine/liquor emporium on Goose Island. It’s not a corner liquor store.
    Jeff is right about Mr. Aykroyd hawking his own vodka brand, and he is involved with wineries as well. I recall Binny’s running newspaper ads about his appearance at one of their stores to autograph bottles, etc., whenever that was. I didn’t see the commercial and don’t know why he did it, though. I’m always a little disappointed when I see or hear a still-viable celebrity involved in the ad game, (why, even Clint Eastwood and his Super Bowl commercial), but heaven knows there are plenty of them making commercials for reasons other than that they “need” the money.

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  39. Connie said on March 5, 2012 at 2:09 pm

    I liked this on mediaite:
    Don Imus On Rush Limbaugh: ‘He’s A Fat, Gutless, Pill-Popping Loser’

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  40. Malvolio said on March 5, 2012 at 2:25 pm

    People that steal city buses. We recently had a naked guy that jumped into a fire truck naked and went joyriding. Sadly, he struck and killed a pedestrian. What comes over people that do stuff like this. A few years ago, a 13 yo girl in cuffs in the back of a sherrif’s deputy’s cruiser somehow made into the driver’s seat and took off with the car. Wrecked about a mile later. That deputy was a laughing stock for a long time.

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  41. DellaDash said on March 5, 2012 at 2:39 pm

    Limbaugh sure does like his listeners to be shaken, not stirred…and he’s a genius at furthering his agenda with every crocodile-apology he makes.

    Looks like Fluke has chosen the right profession. Her responses have been measured, articulate…as effective as any media pro with full entourage.

    LAMary – I’m with you about Bill Maher. Caught a routine of his about something (can’t even remember what) that was so unsavory and unfunny, I’ve been totally turned off (to him) ever since.

    Celebs doin commercials – a friend pointed out several car commercials that aired during the Oscars with Jeff Bridges doing the voice overs. What’s up with that?

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  42. Bitter Scribe said on March 5, 2012 at 2:42 pm

    Jakash–I’m actually a little relieved to hear that. Makes me think Aykroyd isn’t as desperate as I feared.

    I lost what little respect I had for Chris Matthews when I found out he was taking huge speaking fees from some advocacy group. It had something to do with high finance, or some other newsworthy aspect of modern life about which a journalist should be objective.

    As for Bill Mahler, his show is (was?) called “Politically Incorrect.” I’ve always thought that someone who brags about not being “politically correct” is a flaming a-hole, and Maher has done nothing to disabuse me of that opinion.

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  43. Malvolio said on March 5, 2012 at 3:04 pm

    My problem with Bill Maher is that he is so smarmy and self-congratulatorily smug, he almost makes Dennis Miller seem like he isn’t an ahole. Man, that’s hard to do. Also, Maher, as has Miller, has shifted his politics quite deliberately over the last 20 years or so. Miller used to be a flaming liberal, while Maher was the classic situational Libertarian, i.e. a GOPer that likes to smoke pot and patronize prostitutes. Seems Mahers conversion to the Progressive side coincided with getting into Ariana’s drawers. I don’t know what Dennis Miller’s explanation would be, but I’d advise him to plead brain damage.

    Between residuals from Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters, I think Dan Aykroyd is pretty well off. Personally, I always thought his greedy, sleazy businessman vs. righteious consumer protection lawyer bits on SNL were excellent. He was very deserving of the Best Supporting Oscar as Boolie in Miss Daisy, and he was superb as the mortician dad in My Girl. I thought Spies Like Us was very funny. And there is an incredibly strange movie called Nothing but Trouble that he wrote and starred in that is hilarious in a sort of perverse fashion. Aykroyd also had writing and production credits on many of his movies.

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  44. coozledad said on March 5, 2012 at 3:18 pm

    Until the police are able to limit the number of officers who’ve shot themselves and others while fucking around with service revolvers, they sure as fuck don’t need these:
    http://gizmodo.com/5890507/police-drone-crashes-into-police

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  45. Sherri said on March 5, 2012 at 3:23 pm

    What’s the difference between Rush and all those other guys who said misogynistic things? Rush is misogynistic all the time. Really, “feminazi”? He’s been saying that so long and so often that you may not hear the misogyny any more, but while it’s not personal, it’s obviously demeaning.

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  46. Dorothy said on March 5, 2012 at 4:07 pm

    I wonder how much shit Rush’s wife gives him about the crap he says when he goes home after work?

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  47. MaryRC said on March 5, 2012 at 4:13 pm

    Sherri, I think too that Rush has been saying these misogynist things for so long that he has lost all sense of perspective. He no longer knows when to stop because no-one has ever made him stop before.

    I really think that Rush would have gotten away with it this time too, if he had just stopped after the first day of name-calling. It wasn’t until he doubled down and got more and more offensive that his sponsors and prominent Republicans started to find him too toxic to be associated with. But he was having too much fun, I guess.

    I do agree with the general disdain expressed here for Bill Maher’s and Ed Schulz’s misogynist slurs against Sarah Palin and Laura Ingraham. Much as I dislike both of these women, these are names that you just don’t use because their only intent is to degrade and demean. I don’t watch Maher for that reason.

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  48. MaryRC said on March 5, 2012 at 4:20 pm

    Dorothy, I’m sure there’s a clause in the Limbaughs’ pre-nup that covers that.

    “Article I: The party of the second part waives the right to give the party of the first part any lip with regards to his on-air comments, choice of medication or recreational trips to the Dominican Republic.”

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  49. Dexter said on March 5, 2012 at 4:46 pm

    malvolio , you have a good understanding of Maher. He’s a pretentious snob who would back any administration who bombed Iran…he showed his true colors right after Shock and Awe with his sickening support of WBush43 and his flag waving then.

    Dan Akroyd was on a book tour recently. I think he was in Toledo or Ann Arbor or somewhere else near… anyway, I saw a photo some local photog snapped and published…I think it was in The Toledo Blade, showing a well-dressed, jovial, outgoing Dan Akroyd signing books with a flair. He truly looked great in that snappy suit and tie.

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  50. DellaDash said on March 5, 2012 at 5:01 pm

    Patchett is in fine form with ‘State of Wonder’. ‘Bel Canto’ is still the favorite, while her non-fiction ‘Truth and Beauty’ still lingers vividly on my mind.

    Anybody else here ever dip into ‘Wizard of the Upper Amazon’? I was so into it back in the day when my infatuation with Carlos Castaneda’s Don Juan reigned. If anyone, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had stash of bottled ayahuasca in a cellar somewhere, Malvolio.

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  51. Jakash said on March 5, 2012 at 5:13 pm

    Regarding Maher and Miller, I think the latter claimed that his evolution to the dark side was prompted by 9/11 and the nation’s need to kick some ass and ramp up the security measures after that. How he witnessed the Iraq debacle and didn’t have second thoughts, I don’t know, because I’ve rarely paid attention to him since his HBO show went away.

    Maher is certainly an a-hole, evidenced by both the things he says and the reports of anybody I’ve ever heard speak about coming in contact with him. That being said, he has had enough sense to see what’s been going on, and he (along with his writers) occasionally offers some pretty effective commentary about it. I imagine he used to be an economic conservative due to his wealth, and certainly a libertarian on the weed issue, but I at least give him credit that his evolution to the left has coincided with the Republican Party going completely off the rails.

    With all due respect, Dexter, a lot of people supported the Iraq War at first, based on what we were all told. Unlike many, many others, Maher managed to change his mind as time went on, I think. I don’t know what he’s had to say about Iran, though.

    Certainly nobody should be making the kinds of sexist statements attributed to Maher, Matthews and others. But I agree with the several comments above which make the point that comparing ridicule of Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates and TV personalities, in whatever form, with the vile slander of a previously unknown citizen does not seem proportionate.

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  52. Jakash said on March 5, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    For all the Bel Canto fans, here’s a video of Ann Patchett and Renee Fleming talking about a new opera which has been commissioned by Lyric Opera of Chicago, based on that book.

    http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2012/02/28/lyric-opera-chicago-commissions-bel-canto

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  53. moe99 said on March 5, 2012 at 5:57 pm

    Joe K: Sorry I’m late to respond but your comparison of Rush Limbaugh’s constant misogynistic venom with any liberals statements is wildly off the mark. Ed Kilgore at washington monthly sets out why:

    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_03/the_sos_your_old_man_defense_c035822.php

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  54. alex said on March 5, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    I always thought Dennis Miller was an opportunist who hitched his star to the wrong movement. He was at his best in the old days with his heady jokes and clever wordplay and it evidently hadn’t occurred to him that an anti-intellectual audience wouldn’t find him funny.

    Maher I haven’t watched in about eight years so I don’t really know what he’s up to these days. I rather liked him when he was on network television and thought it was unfair that his show was taken from him because he made a perfectly honest and candid observation about the 9/11 terrorists. Dubya kept referring to them as cowards and Maher pointed out that it takes moxie, not cowardice, to hijack a plane and crash it into a building. For that remark—which is far more benign than anything you’d hear on Rush Limbaugh’s show on any given day—he was shown the door.

    I was rather appalled at a survey on one of my local newspapers’ web sites asking whether Limbaugh had apologized sufficiently. Far and away a majority said yes he had. I thought it was rather funny today that he felt the need to insist that his apology was “heartfelt” the way Fox News insists that its shit is fair and balanced. The substance of his apology is absolute B.S. and reiterates the misinformation that he was promulgating in the first place. Not that the right-wingers seem to care, obviously.

    Anyway, I haven’t paid much attention to Maher in recent years and have no idea what his crimes against women are. He strikes me as much more shrill and angry than he used to be.

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  55. Joe K said on March 5, 2012 at 6:34 pm

    Moe,
    I really didn’t expect anyone on here to agree or even think about it, thats just the way they role. I do like to stir things up a bit its fun to sit back and laugh at the responses.
    Prayers your way, I sincerely hope you are feeling better and are on the road to recovery.
    Pilot Joe

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  56. moe99 said on March 5, 2012 at 8:41 pm

    John Cole does the math on Limbaugh’s attacks so we don’t have to. 53 times in 3 days he called Sandra Fluke a slut or worse.

    http://balloon-juice.com/2012/03/05/heres-another-lie/

    There’s no apology sufficient for that sort of excrement.

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  57. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 5, 2012 at 8:44 pm

    Y’all have me thinking “It’s Suntory time.” Over and over.

    (n.b. http://www.9timezones.com/suntory.htm)

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  58. alex said on March 5, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    Twelve count ’em twelve. The hard-ass lard-ass might finally be getting the retirement party he so richly deserves.

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  59. Jolene said on March 5, 2012 at 9:18 pm

    Here’s David Frum, whose comments on Breitbart were posted here last week, on why the “so’s your old man” argument doesn’t buy you much w/ regard to Limbaugh: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/05/opinion/frum-rush-limbaugh-fairness/index.html

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  60. Jolene said on March 5, 2012 at 9:38 pm

    A couple of stations have now dropped the Limbaugh show: http://www.mediaite.com/online/report-first-radio-station-drops-the-rush-limbaugh-show/

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  61. Dexter said on March 5, 2012 at 10:04 pm

    A special guest takes his daughter to see a Bruce concert in New Jersey.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGJpu5AiYoE&feature=related

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  62. Deborah said on March 5, 2012 at 10:20 pm

    Jeff (tmmo), what is your point about Suntory time? Just curious. I read the link.

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  63. brian stouder said on March 5, 2012 at 10:28 pm

    Well, Uncle Rush is the Head Flying Monkey of the Rightwing Airwaves, and he’s just doing what the flying monkeys do (ie – attack innocent young ladies, and their little dogs, too, for the sport of it)

    What is most interesting, to me, is the ‘response’ (such as it is) from the national Republican political figures. They should be publicly expressing unrestrained anger at the guy, if for no other reason, because that EIB SoB has knocked their whole national agenda “off message”.

    The GOP wanted to whack Obama for “waging war on religion” with this Rx debate, and they had a little traction about three weeks ago (which seems more like 47 years ago) – and el-Rushbo blew that narrative all to hell.

    Now, whenever the public contemplates the debate about prescription drug coverage, the brightly blinking message from the right has nothing to do with the First Amendment of the US Constitution (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” etc), and is instead summed up in the crude words and harsh invective that the Lip Flapper in Chief spewed for three days. (maybe he tied the wrong half of his brain behind his back)

    By launching a verbal assault and conducting a broadcast-bullying campaign against a bright young woman with whom he has no coherent argument, Limbaugh did more to re-elect President Obama than David Plouffe has done all year. Behold – the spectacular silence wafting from the national Republican party.

    Or, to put this another way, if it wasn’t for the possibility that Israel might decide to cause world-wide upheaval (and not least – economic and political upheaval in the United States) and unleash a missile barrage on Iran one fine day between now and November, I’d say that President Obama is about as unbeatable right now as Eisenhower was in 1956.

    ‘Course, if we wake up one morning to breaking news from the Middle East, then Romney-the-nominee becomes our 45th president

    (if you think about it, Netanyahu has a very powerful hand, right now)

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  64. Sherri said on March 5, 2012 at 10:38 pm

    The closest analogy to Limbaugh’s attack on Fluke was Imus’ calling the Rugters womens’ basketball team a bunch of “nappy headed hoes” a few years back, and Imus paid pretty dearly for that. It’s the tremendous asymmetry of the situation: big media figures picking on college students. Imus is pretty unimpressed with Limbaugh’s non-apology, too; Imus at least had the guts to meet personally with the Rutgers players and apologize.

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  65. Deborah said on March 5, 2012 at 10:38 pm

    Brian, I have been having a little back and forth with my right wing sister about how Rush has changed the narrative from religious freedom to contraception for sluts. She is not happy. *grinning*.

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  66. Jolene said on March 5, 2012 at 11:27 pm

    In a piece for tomorrow’s WaPo, Paul Farhi explains the deal that station owners have w/ the company that distributes Limbaugh’s show. For them, it’s a relatively good deal, so we may not see many more stations dropping the show.

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  67. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 5, 2012 at 11:35 pm

    Deborah, the back and forth on Dan Ackroyd made me think of it — in “Lost in Translation,” Murray is playing an Eastwood-esque star who’s not got much career left in the US, but is brought to Japan, where he’s still big, to film an ad for Suntory whiskey. His director doesn’t speak English, and the translator either doesn’t know too terribly much, or cultural assumptions tie up her translations so thoroughly they stop breathing. But he keeps trying, because his wife wants to recarpet the whole house, and money is tight.

    “It’s Suntory time.” (Good movie, especially for the ending.)

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  68. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 5, 2012 at 11:40 pm

    It’s also quite interesting to listen to Stephen Colbert’s audience — they’re deeply confused as to when, and how much, it’s actually OK to laugh at. Stephen, meanwhile, is playing up the persona to near- (dare I say it?) Rush-like dimensions. In persona-heft, not avoirdupois-heft.

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  69. Crazycatlady said on March 6, 2012 at 12:41 am

    I blame the father of ‘Scorched Earth’ Politics- Lee Atwater. He was the first out and out bloodletter of the Republican Party. He made it fashionable for Repubs to be OPENLY underhanded, cruel, dastardly and despicable. Well done, sir. And here’s to hoping you continue to Roast In Hell.

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  70. Brandon said on March 6, 2012 at 3:48 am

    @Jolene. My hometown radio station, KPUA, was the first station in the country to drop Rush. Who says Hilo isn’t ahead of the curve?

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  71. alex said on March 6, 2012 at 8:18 am

    Brian, even if Netanyahu nukes Iran, I doubt that the Republicans have much of a shot at the White House, or Congress for that matter. In fact, the GOP rank and file are overconfident because el Rushbo et al. have overpromised on the fiction that Obama is the worst president ever, and the same gullible saps who think they’re going to sprout wings and halos instead of mold and miasma are thinking wishfully in this case as well.

    In fact, I’d say that Netanyahu knows damn well that acting unilaterally will likely change Israel’s cozy relationship with the U.S. for the worse. When Obama says he doesn’t bluff, it’s probably to cast aspersions at Israel every bit as much as it is to reassure them and the world that Iran isn’t going to get away with anything.

    Iran is just puffing its chest up for show like Iraq did. So is Israel.

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