My personal favorite was President George W. Bush’s interview on NatGeo. It was handled beautifully. We couldn’t hear the questions, but I’m going to safely assume National Geographic just asked him vague questions to allow him to tell us what he went through — his thoughts on 9/11 and the days after. It also gave gave Bush an opportunity to explain why he stayed with the kids that day in the classroom. He explained that as a leader he needed to show calm and strength during the crisis.

—–

Another great special aired on the Discovery Channel and covered the building of the new towers and the memorial. This special took us behind the scenes. The most significant part would be the tridents from the original building going into the new building. It just slipped right into place and one of the men said, “It wanted to be home.” We also learned that vehicles damaged on 9/11 have been inside a hangar at JFK for the past 10 years and they’ll finally see the sun again when unveiled at the memorial.

—–

The only special that caused a commotion with me was “Children of 9/11″ on NBC. Everyone knows NBC is completely on Obama’s side and a very liberal network. I question everything they do. One of the families they picked was a Muslim family and they made sure to mention how they had to move to Oklahoma in 2002 because of the rampant Islamophobia in New York. If this had been on any other channel it wouldn’t bother me so much, but I can’t help but think NBC did this to further a political agenda. I can’t help but think they took this family and exploited them. It really disgusts me they did this in a special “about the children” almost as if they knew people wouldn’t criticize them because no one would criticize a special “about the children.” Well, I am and I think they did this on purpose. If it wasn’t for that I’d consider this the best special of them all.

—–

The Biography Channel aired “How Pop Culture Saved The World.” This special was excellent because it showed how the whole entertainment industry handled 9/11 and how they coped with it themselves. It was a relief to see most of these liberal (except Patricia Heaton) put aside their politics and celebrate America. It was an excellent show of patriotism and the true American spirit: helping others out in a time of need. Robert DeNiro started the Tribeca Film Festival to bring people back to lower Manhattan. The concert “America Tribute to Heroes”  raised over $200 million for victims’ families and survivors. It was refreshing to see these celebrities embrace America and be so eager to help.

—–

The Smithsonian Channel’s “9/11: The Day That Changed The World” interviewed politicians and members of the Bush administration. This one let others besides George Bush tell their stories of 9/11, including Laura Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. Mr. Rumsfeld explained that when he got outside the Pentagon that day he saw paramedics were short handed and he immediately stepped in to help. Mrs. Bush talked about how she and President Bush kept calling each other to say I love you because neither knew what would happen next.

—–

Again, thank you Hollywood, for treating 9/11 with the respect it deserves. Thank you for ignoring the politics. Thank you for concentrating on the people of 9/11.

Thank you so much for doing this right.

Then he said, without missing a beat: “Thank you. Now watch this drive.”

What an idiot, right?

Eh. Not so much, I think.

See, this memory springs to mind (thanks to a Fox News producer), after hearing about our current President’s outing at Nancy’s, a waterfront restaurant in Oaks Bluff, Massachusetts.

As President Obama walked toward the entrance, a few reporters tried to ask him about Iraq. After ignoring them for a bit, he turned and said, “We’re buying shrimp guys… C’mon.”

And there you have it: one president who can play golf and talk terror – and one who needs his shrimp.

Look I get the point: it’s a vacation. And shrimp is delicious.

But it can’t be that hard to answer a simple question – especially one that’s kinda important. I mean, if that dim bulb George Bush could do it, I think Obama could too.

Granted, some say buying shrimp is harder than lining up a decent drive. Shrimp are small, slippery and they have those annoying shells on their tails. Frankly, I find them disgusting, and if I had my way, I’d imprison all of them in tiny shrimp jails.

You could say I am shrimpaphobic. And you’d be right.

Anyway, as Obama delicately sucks the meat out of a tiny crustacean, Vlad Putin harpoons a whale with a cross bow.

I know that says something…about something.

And if you disagree with me, you’re a racist homophobe who stole my underpants.

Tonight:

Andrew W.K!

Paul Mecurio!

Diana Falzone!

“Yeah, we water-boarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,” Bush said of the terrorist behind 9/11. “I’d do it again to save lives.”

Now, whether you agree with him or not, and whether you hate his guts or not – you gotta like that. No heavy lifting in that vocab: simple, straightforward, and honest. I miss that.

I mean, would you ever hear Obama say, “Yeah, we lied about the cost of health care, but I’d do it again, because I think it’s worth it.”

Or, “Yeah, I trashed the immigration bill in Arizona without reading it, but so what – I think it sucks. You should too.”

How about: “Sure, I threw Reverend Wright under the bus. Wouldn’t you?”

Or, “Okay, I smoke. So what. I’m President, you’re a low-level media hack with a potbelly and a wife who not-so-secretly wishes she was banging me. So there. You gotta light?”

See, I’d like to hear that. But I won’t. Instead, in the White House, we get Sir Paul McCartney – the least talented member of the Monkees – cracking wise about a President who saved millions of lives in Africa.

Here’s his joke:

“After the last eight years, it’s great to have a President who knows what a library is.”

Haha. Now if you remember, it was Sir Paul who said a fish’s life is the same as a human’s. Thankfully for Africa, Bush felt differently.

But Sir Paul feels Obama is doing a great job, because he’s well liked. He’s right: people who were scared of us once, aren’t so scared of us anymore. We traded in our stick for a back scratcher.

But look: I’d rather be hated in a safer world, than loved in a dangerous one. Perhaps Obama should call Bush for some advice, before he makes Carter look like Reagan by comparison.

And if you disagree with me, you’re Pete Best.  

Tonight: the legendary Glenn Danzig! comedian Jesse Joyce! the delightful Diana Falzone! FBN’s Chris Cotter!

Nashville is drowning and Hollywood is nowhere to be found. Country singer Julie Roberts has lost her home and yet Julia Roberts has yet to send help. Julie Roberts wrote my wife’s favorite country song  which goes, ”…men and mascara, always run…” Where are Brad Pitt and the rest of the Hollywood liberal elite who rightfully rushed into New Orleans now that culturally significant sites like The Grand Ole Opry and The Country Music Hall of Fame are under water?

When will Bono write a song?

The President has yet to tour Nashville and give comfort to the American families hit by this disaster. So where is that rude fellow Kanye West? Why isn’t he on television proclaiming that the current President hates country folks since he has taken no real action to help Nashville? Why doesn’t he step up to take the mic from Taylor Swift again and match her $500,000 donation to the relief efforts?

To anyone who dares look at the ugly underbelly of the situation the answer is obvious: racism! You see the majority of the folks who have been affected by the flooding in Nashville and the surrounding areas are white. I am sure they are also perceived to be redneck hicks who might be conservatives by the Hollywood elites.

There are some relief efforts underway.  On Thursday evening, May 6, a group of country stars had a telethon on a local channel featuring Vince Gill, who was directly affected by the flooding, Keith Urban, Alison Krauss, Naomi Judd, Darius Rucker, Phil Vassar, Steve Wariner, Buddy Jewell, Lonestar, Bo Bice and Lee Roy Parnell.

None of the major networks carried it live, of course. I guess white folks drowning in rivers and being ignored by Obama isn’t as newsworthy as the evil-doings of George Bush. Perhaps the Obama Administration is still researching some way to blame this on Bush before making a statement.

Hey, where is Ashley Judd? I thought she was a country kind of girl.

Here’s a link to Nashville station WKRN and a list of organizations helping with relief.

Of President Bush on the Iraq war he stated: “I am more patriotic than this president, who I consider a traitor of human and American principles.”

The Cambridge dictionary online defines “patriotic” as “showing love for your country and being proud of it.”

I don’t believe patriotism equates to calling ones President “a traitor of human and American principles.”  It is not up to Sean Penn or any of his Hollywood friends like Susan Sarandon, Charlie Sheen, and Tim Robbins to decide our President is a traitor.  Our system of government has a method to identify traitorous Presidents.  Over the course of President Bush’s eight years in office he was never identified as a traitor.  So how much truth is in Penn’s allegations?

Accusing the leader of one’s country to be a traitor without any factual proof could only be done by some kind of a (in the words of Bill O’Reilly)  “loon.”

“Loony” is defined as “silly or stupid.”  Certainly Mr. Penn fits that description.  To further prove my point what follows are some more examples of his loony bloviating. (Thanks to Bill O’Reilly for teaching me the definition of bloviate.)

In Oakland, California, at a town hall meeting in March of 2007, Penn directs more of his misbegotten rhetoric towards President Bush and the war in Iraq with this brainless rant:

“You and your smarmy pundits – and the smarmy pundits you have in your pocket – can take your war and shove it.  Let’s unite not only in stopping this war but in holding this administration accountable.”

Well Mr. Penn, I don’t hear you saying that to President Obama and he doesn’t seem to be “stopping this war.” Don’t you want to hold him “accountable?” I am sure if President Bush were still in office you would continue to badger him about the war.  So why do it to one President and not the other?

It would seem that Mr. Penn is infatuated with President Obama when he said:

“I sat on the edge of my bed with my wife, son and daughter, tears streaming down my face, as Barack Obama spoke for the first time as the president-elect of the United States of America.”

His infatuation doesn’t stop with Obama. We all know of the ongoing relationship he has with the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.  He has visited there a few times and has gone to Cuba to meet with Raul Castro.  In October 2009 he flew back to Cuba in hopes of meeting Fidel but apparently that did not happen.

I guess meeting with our adversaries makes one “patriotic.”  But when was the last time our Secretary of State under this administration and President Bush’s administration met with Saddam Hussein, Hugo Chavez, or Raul Castro?  On Penn’s visit to Iran his interpreter had to translate a prayer service where 6000 worshipers chanted “Death to America.” I don’t remember him criticizing that in any of his moronic ravings.

And of Hugo Chavez, Penn said, “It’s true, Chavez may not be a good man.  But he may well be a great one.”

According to an article on Foxnews.com in August of 2007 Chavez met with Penn privately and praised him as “brave” for promoting the impeachment of President Bush.  During this visit to Venezuela Penn applauded as Chavez gave a speech that included, “In the name of the peoples of the world, President Bush, withdraw the troops from Iraq. Enough already with so much genocide.”  Sure Penn agrees with Chavez here but accusing us of genocide should have sparked a criticism.

In an issue of “Talk” magazine Penn is quoted:

“I think that people like the Howard Sterns, the Bill O’Reilly’s and to a lesser degree the Bin Ladens of the world are making a horrible contribution [to society]. . . . I’d like to trade O’Reilly for Bin Laden. . . . This is not a man sitting on the toilet with a smile on his face. He’s a grumpy, self-loathing joke. There’s a long history of people who capitalize on the lowest common denominator of people’s impulses, Adolf Hitler being one of them. Not everybody wants to hit the wall in a violent rage and break their knuckles, so [O'Reilly] does it for them. He’ll get very rich and get his rocks off that he’s powerful. . . . These guys–Joe McCarthy, Bill O’Reilly–die like everyone else. And when they do, their legacy is one of damaging the spirit of good things, and they become rather broken, pathetic figures. And that is going to happen to him.”

Well the “nut” doesn’t fall far from the tree, according to an article titled “The hypocrisy of Sean Penn” by Mark Newgent of the Baltimore History Examiner, Sean Penn’s father was a supporter of Stalin, called Franklin Roosevelt a war monger, was on Hollywood’s blacklist of communists and refused to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee.

In March of 2007 Penn wrote “An Open Letter to the President…Four and a Half Years Later.” Despite all of his ranting about President Bush, full-page newspaper ads against the war and his visits to our adversaries, his praising of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, he said, “I don’t consider myself specifically political, you know?”

He accuses Congress of being incompetent and says they have “misused” their power “to become our country’s and our Constitution’s most devastating enemy.” Then he accuses his country of relishing “fear-based religion, corrupt government, and an entire white population living on stolen property that they murdered for and that is passed from generation to generation.”

How can one make sense of it all when he makes so many un-patriotic statements yet doesn’t consider himself “specifically political.  And he contends that Hugo Chavez is “a great man.”

Yet an article published in the Wall Street Journal online on February 25, 2010 reports:

“The Organization of American States, in a rare and forceful critique of a member state…issued a scathing report that accuses Venezuela’s government of human-rights abuses, political repression, and eroding the separation of powers among government branches in the oil-rich country.”  The report “offers a detailed analysis of shortcomings in areas including ‘political rights and ‘participation in public life,’ ‘independence and separation of public powers,’ and ‘freedom of thought and expression.’”

Should we expect to see Mr. Penn criticizing this article and defending his “friend” Hugo Chavez? Certainly Mr. Penn should now realize that the citizens of Venezuela do not have the privilege or the right to criticize their president or their own government.  And now Mr. Penn should ponder the fact that he would be in prison if he were a citizen of Venezuela and called Hugo Chavez a “traitor.”

In his own words, “These guys…die like everyone else. And when they do, their legacy is one of damaging the spirit of good things, and they become rather broken, pathetic figures. And that is going to happen to him.” Yes Sean this is your legacy too!

And in the words of Forrest Gump aka Tom Hanks, Penn may want to start using this sentence, “I am not a smart man”

Yep, it was an entertaining spectacle, with Stewart and O’Reilly both scoring legitimate points. However, I take issue with one thing Stewart said.

Sorry, I mean everything.

First, he made a big deal about Fox News laying off President Bush, while now it lays into Obama.This, friends, is nuttier than squirrel poop.

While Bush was president, he was trashed by a left wing posse who delighted in military defeat, for it meant their side was winning. To them, “dissent was patriotic,” even if it meant dead troops. Fox wasn’t ignoring Bush’s actions, it was reacting to that – what I would later call the “patriotic terrorist.” I witnessed a fully realized anti-American lynch mob, who would rather win an election than a war – and that made me more of a conservative than 9/11, my life at Berkeley, or all those head injuries combined.

Wanna see proof of my point? Ask yourself, where the feverish anti-war movement is, now that Obama is in power?

Lastly, Stewart’s got to stop whining about Fox News tilting to the right. The New York Times just ran a piece pointing out the dearth of conservatives in journalism, theater, therapy and academia. You’ve got a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate, a Democrat for a President, a liberal media, a leftwing Hollywood, a liberal art and music culture – you’ve got it all. And you’re mad Fox News isn’t playing ball? What happened to that whole “dissent is patriotic” crap? It seems Fox News only looks right, because everything else is left.

Anyway, I wish I could have said this to Stewart in person. But I’m not allowed near him. You send a tube sock full of bird seed and nude photos, and suddenly they think you’re a threat!

Tonight we’ve got:

-the lovely Jill Dobson

-the delightful Marc Lamont Hill

-the delicious Steven Crowder

-the dignified Father Jonathan

Dat is all!

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: State of the Union Address, President Obama, President Bush, Paul Krugman, United Nations, Himalayan Glaciers, Bob Woodward, New York Times, Roman Polanski, Childhood Obesity, and Coachella Music Festival.

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: President Obama, Scott Brown, McCain-Feingold, Air America, ObamaCare, Keith Olbermann, Martha Coakley, President Bush, Massachusetts, Obama’s Approval Rating, and John Edwards.

Here it is 2010 and I still don’t have a jet-pack or flying car. Those were the kind of things that I was led to believe would be here by now when I was a little kid. The real problem is that there isn’t one on the horizon either. You know what is in the near future for us? A remake of the Yugo or some other Euro-crap car that doesn’t burn up much dinosaur remains and tops out at a heart stopping 50 or 60 miles per hour.

It is that time of year for me to let my psychic self loose and gaze into the future. Yeah, I know I’m a little late but I promise not to predict anything that has already happened like a lot of your mainstream psychics tend to do. Last year Kevin Costner didn’t even have the decency to make a bad film, so I was o-fer-09. The only way for my psychic score to go is up!

My Predictions

In 2010 a well-known Hollywood film maker will produce a film that by most Midwestern standards would be called “porno.” It will be hailed as a great step towards artistic freedom and rated “R.”

In the coming year I will not be familiar with the work of anyone who wins a Grammy.

This year General Motors will introduce the “Volt” as the car of the future. It will sell slightly less units than Paris Hilton’s last CD.

Vince Vaughn will star in a movie as an over-confident bumbler with a heart of gold who  has a wife or girlfriend that is so far out of his league the movie will be classified in the science fiction genre.

It will be revealed that having a supply of “non-hybrid seeds to plant an acre of nutrient dense food” for your family will do you no good in an extreme crisis unless you also have a tractor, a fuel supply, a water supply, some knowledge of farming, several high powered rifles, lots of ammo, food to last you until harvest time and at least an acre of land to plant.

The price of gold will drop to $450 an ounce. Obama will place the blame on the Bush Administration.

The State of California will go out of business and divide into three smaller states, Upper California to the far north, South California from Orange County to the Mexican border and The People’s Republic of Central California which will go broke again in 2011.

The Chicago Cubs will win the National League pennant and during the World Series be bought by Warren Buffet who donates the team to Haiti.

A record cold spell holds the Midwest and Northeast in its grip for the entire month of February. Obama blames the Bush Administration for its failed weather policy.

Kathy Griffin hosts New Year’s Eve celebration on the new Hustler Channel and is again fired for being too crass. She blames the Bush Administration and the Patriot Act for the “chill wind” blowing through Hollywood.

An Islamic fundamentalist attempts to create a “man-made disaster” by placing a bomb up his backside. The device is detected after he dines at a White Castle before going to the airport. Janet Napolitano orders “inspections” of every passenger on all flights. This job is given to the IRS which is already highly skilled in this type of work.

Keith Olbermann challenges Rush Limbaugh to a charity boxing match but refuses to remove his glasses in the ring and then cries foul when Rush punches a guy wearing glasses.

During his campaign for the White House President Obama said, “We have seen Afghanistan worsen, deteriorate. We need more troops there. We need more resources there… I would send two to three additional brigades to Afghanistan.”

He promised to send another ten to fifteen thousand troops to help those already there. He also declared that the war in Afghanistan was the proper front in the war against terror. Now that he is Commander-in-Chief, his vision seems to be less clear.

The military commanders gave the President four troop deployment options earlier this week but he refused all four. Not for military reasons but because of some hooey about the corruption of the government in Kabul and their inability to run a fair election. Mr. President, if our support for governments was based on whether they are corrupt or not and could run a fair election, we would have pulled federal funding from Chicago years ago. The problem with pulling out of Afghanistan, or Chicago for that matter, is that they would fall into violent anarchy. We have already seen that happen in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Current thinking on what to do in Afghanistan is based on two faulty assumptions:

The first is that wars are clear and concise events with specific outcomes and easy to find exit points. When John McCain told us the truth about how long we might be in Iraq, we didn’t want to hear it. We have been in Japan and Germany for over sixty years and in the Philippines for much longer. I wonder if back during the Spanish- American War leftist were telling the President that the Philippines were tribal islands and would never be able to be organized into a stable democratic government?

The second faulty assumption is that if we walk away from Afghanistan, simply pull all of our troops out, the war it then over. How long would it be before the Taliban was running things again and Al Qaeda was using it as a base of operations?  We will be fighting the same people again in the future, perhaps armed with nuclear weapons from Iran or Pakistan. Our national attention span has shortened to Twitter-like dimensions while our enemies think in terms of centuries.

The real problem for President Obama is that is if he deploys more troops and commits to staying, Afghanistan is no longer Bush’s war but his. Not even a year into his term and he is already worried about his legacy rather than doing what is best for the country. He is worried that his presidency will get bogged down in the battle for liberty instead of being able to focus on strengthening ACORN and the SEIU.

The left doesn’t mind waging long, costly, and non-winnable wars, so long as they are they start them themselves. Look at the war on poverty and the war on drugs. Our cities are littered with the lives ruined by those wars. We have thrown enough money into those two rat holes to finance Iraq and Afghanistan for the next fifty years and toss in twenty years of free government health care to boot. Do we have an exit strategy from the Welfare State, Mr. President?