Super Consideration

Halloween is a year away again, but Stephen did give us a preview of what his costume for next year will be. I can hardly wait.

Of course, that's not as important as politics and the economy which now involves Occupy Wall Street folks. Stephen traveled, incognito, to one of the encampments inhabited by these occupiers and was able to snag two to take up to his scenic penthouse to try to discern what they wanted and when they wanted it.

It was a cordial discussion if not particularly effective at solving anything. Stephen wanted to be a cult leader but was blocked and fingered down. Ah, but Stephen point-of-ordered it and then put it up for super consideration. He says it passed and then he gave it an executive run-through and went around any concerns. In spite of all this, rarely did he get fingers in the air.

A cult leader can do what ever he wants. Moving on, Stephen gave a Tip of the Hat to Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin. Although still cameras and video cameras are banned in the State Capitol at Madison, (thank heavens), it's just fine to carry a concealed weapon into the Capitol.

Stephen's guest tonight was author Neil MacGregor. His book, "A History of the World in 100 Objects" sounds good. I especially appreciate the great grammar in the title. But, the two of them only talked about three of them. (Two people, three objects.) How can we judge a book when only 3% of it is revealed? Perhaps the discussion was limited due to the feisty audience that Stephen had tonight. I do wish the cameras would have been turned around so that we could see just who it was that seemed to challenge what Stephen was saying. Stephen always speaks the truth so there should have been no complaints.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween. Here's my photo of a bunch of apples dressed up as pumpkins!

If you have nothing better to do today, I have a few ideas. Go look at Google for today's Google Doodle. You can read a little bit about how it was accomplished at the Los Angeles Times. (Watch for a cameo appearance by Pegman and other celebrities when you click on the Google Doodle.)

Next, Friends of the Show Ben and Jerry have a fun little interactive Halloween theme at their website. You can spend a lot of time mousing around there. It seems quite kid-friendly, too. You can even find some safety tips from the Red Cross if you click on the right link. Check out all the "entries" at the Flavor Graveyard. Let's hope Americone Dream never ends up there.

567-248-4400

Rachel called this morning. Well, it was a recorded message, not actually Rachel on the phone. I think I remember that she said Credit Card Services or maybe it was some other name such as Card Member Services. It was urgent about my credit card account. She could lower my credit card interest. I should press "9" now. This is my final chance.

This was (of course) yet another in a long string of "final calls".

Two interesting things. First was what the Caller ID showed! It actually said PHONE SCAM. It would be interesting to know how that happened. Maybe there are so many complaints about that phone number that the technology is now able to show Phone Scam on my Caller ID. Cool.

Other thing is I Googled "Credit Card Services" and found this article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about Rachel and Credit Card Services. The article is from 2009 but information is interesting. One note, if you do read the comments after the article in the Star Tribune, be wary. Anyone can post something and send you to their website which could be a bad idea. So read the article, take the comments with a grain of salt and don't answer if "Rachel" calls.

O! Say Can You See

Stephen talked about the protests and occupiers today. And an injury. We wish Scott Olsen well and hope for a full recovery.

Next was the NBA and two commercials from the Colbert Super PAC that were quite interesting. Apparently everyone is named Mark Cuban.

Toby Keith has a new album, Clancy's Tavern out now. Toby is a good, ... no, he's a Great friend of the show. He also is on tour, a true American heartland tour with the next stops being Edinburgh, Manchester, London, Amsterdam, Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Helsinki, Basel, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, and Berlin. Oh, Stephen had fun with that, but really, isn't everywhere actually the heartland? If your heart is there, it sure is!

So yes of course a performance by Toby Keith and then a commercial. And you know how after the commercials there are only a few seconds of the show left where Stephen says, "Good Night," or something similar? Well not tonight. Tonight was the Best Ever Performance of The Star Spangled Banner by Stephen Colbert and Toby Keith. It is well worth going over to Colbert Nation to watch the full episode and to listen to them sing. They got all the words right and they hit all the notes.

Most people can sing the lyrics to our National Anthem, but it's usually not so easy to just say them or write them. Try it now and see how well you do. Okay, now go on over to Wikipedia and look at the lyrics to all the verses for The Star Spangled Banner and read up a bit on the history of this song.

But for sure listen to the golden voices of Stephen and Toby. Awe-inspiring. Enthusiastic support from the audience also. Well done, sirs.

Note: You may also want to read what I wrote about the Star-Spangled Banner back in February of this year.

I Told You So

Stephen talked about immigration last night. It seems that Alabama is now tough on immigration. And it seems that the produce in Alabama is rotting in the fields because there's no one to pick it. And those two things are related. Who would have thought?

Well, Stephen, that's who. He was himself a farm worker for one day. Anyone can sign up to do the work.

So what is needed to keep those fruits and vegetables coming to a grocery store near you? Here's what Representative Jeremy Oden (R-AL) (not to be confused with a bald Dwight Schrute) has to say about the problem (NPR October 24, 2011):

"Look, we need a federal program, a migrant program that we can apply in our state and get these skilled laborers to stay and help these people out."

So, Alabama has a tough law on immigrants and all the skilled laborers have left Alabama, but they want a way for skilled laborers to stay there and work. Sounds like they have a bit of a problem.

Stephen did testify to Congress about this. "Most soil is at ground level."

On last night's show, we also learned about Jesus-Ween, where people are supposed to dress in white and hand out Bibles instead of candy on Halloween. The interview guest was Taylor Branch who has a new book out, "The Cartel," which is actually about NCAA.

Stephen also used his time on the show to urge us to (not) buy these two books by staff members:

Sad Monsters by Frank Lesser
Bad for the Jews by Scott Sherman

You have a choice of books you can buy, or you could just as easily buy all three.

877-897-9953

Troy called. I was excited at first thinking it was Troy from Community, but no, it was a professional fundraiser that called me. Typically with these types of calls, the person talks quite fast and this was no exception. I think he was going to send out some pledge forms and I should mail that back with a donation.

I always say "No" to phone solicitations like this because I get too many requests for donations anyway. There are plenty of local places I can donate to. There are plenty of well-known places I can donate to. And think about it. If you don't like getting these calls but you agree to donate, I guarantee you will get even more calls.

Details. It was to help out animals. That's good. But there were red flags, you know, things that seemed kind of hinky.

I asked for a website and he rattled the URL off but then said they don't take donations on the website. That seemed strange. Most charities, organizations, foundations, etc. are anxious to get funds in whatever way people are willing to donate. Perhaps he was just looking out for himself (a professional fundraiser) rather than the organization he was hired to get money for. Most likely he gets a commission and if the donation comes via the website, well no commission for him. And yet, there were plenty of "Donate Now" opportunities at the website he gave me, so yes they do actually accept donations at the website. I don't think he had the truthiness I would have expected from a good solid charity.

I did look at the website and that seemed a little hinky too. It seemed quite new based on the copyright date - 2011 - and some pages were "Coming Soon." I also found at least one instance of what seemed to be a note to the webmaster that should have been removed before that page went up live on their website.

They supposedly help animals and yet I could not find any place that I could tell them about animals that needed help. There's no details. I could not find their address listed on the website. I could not find them when I Googled them. (I did find similar sounding names, hmmm.)

Lots of photos but probably photos that you could get off the internet or purchase from those kind of services that provide generic photos for your website.

As I mentioned, their name is very, very similar to lots of other groups that showed up on Google. After the small amount of information on the phone, plus looking over their website, I realized that I still didn't know anything about them. Who are they? Not a single person's name. No board members. No staff members. Where are they? There's a map that shows where they are, but that could be a mailbox store or someone's apartment or office. Why no address where I could mail a check?

So, I'm not even going to give them publicity by saying what the name of the group is. Just the phone number. 877-897-9953. If they call you, beware. I do not give them the Colbert Bump.

Try these instead. There's a list over at Charity Navigator of many Animal Charities. You can look through the list, check the scores and websites of the groups and donate there. Or donate to your local animal charity.

Hot Coffee

Stephen did talk about Herman Cain's smoking ad tonight. Or should it be called Herman Cain's smiling ad? Well, whatever it's called, Stephen did give it some free air time. We got to see just how breezy the studio is, if you were paying close attention, that is. And we got to see how cool Stephen is. Of course, I'm sure he was just acting.

Even though Herman Cain constantly boasts about what a great businessman he is, his ads aren't as good as the ones that Stephen made for Cain 2012. But there is something quite disturbing about Herman Cain's ad. It's the music. In the background we hear "I Am America." Does that sound familiar? Think now....

I... Am... America. Yep. A certain book by that same title, "I Am America." Why doesn't Stephen have Herman Cain on the show to ask about this slap in the face? Oh, that's why. Herman Cain has chickened out twice so far. Well, yet another invitation was extended to Cain and if he does come on for the Colbert Bump, there will be a Smiling Contest. Oh, yes! And Stephen will win just like he did tonight when he gave us a preview.

But on to the Beverage Portion of the show. Hot Coffee. It refers to a documentary feature film about the woman who spilled hot coffee on herself and sued. You've heard of it (unless you live under a rock). And we keep hearing that's why we need tort reform.

Go watch the show to find out the real truth about, not tort reform but tort deform. Susan Saladoff was on the show tonight and discussed tort reform, hot coffee, and the 7th Amendment. Frivolous lawsuits are not a major problem, she says. The woman who sued was not trying to get rich. She only wanted the medical bills paid.

Anyway, the film won a whole bunch of awards. You probably should watch the film or at least watch the show over at Colbert Nation if you didn't catch it on TV.

Waiting to Exhale

Ooh, I just saw Cain's new ad on TV. On a news show of course. I sometimes think that's half the exposure that political ads get. Probably makes the candidates happy when that happens.

Anyway, it's of a guy smoking and then a close-up of Cain smiling. The smoker is Mark Block. He is one of Herman Cain's top people in the presidential campaign and previously worked for Americans for Prosperity (think Koch Brothers). He also had a bit of trouble in Wisconsin some years back with allegations of election law violations. But all that is smoke under the bridge now.

What caught my attention in the ad of Mark Block smoking is the lack of any smoke. If you see the ad, watch closely. He doesn't exhale. That's right. Smoking but no smoke. (Well, just a tiny bit, but mostly he tries to keep it in until ad is done.) I have noticed that same thing years ago in magazine ads for cigarettes. They show people holding lit cigarettes, but usually no smoke.

So now I wonder if Stephen will talk about this tonight. Typically I never seem to predict what he will talk about so mostly I just watch The Colbert Report and hope that once in a while I will talk about a story before he gets to it.

What is a Focus Group?

And what does it have to do with a "Chopper Pad?"

First off, a Focus Group. Those are the people that sit in the large room on chairs in rows in front of the one-way mirror. Is that the right term? No problem, I'll look it up in Wikipedia where all things are true. What? "A one-way mirror, also known as a two-way mirror, one-way glass, or two-way glass..." That could confuse some people. How can all those things refer to the same thing? Oh, never mind.

The important thing is that all those people sit there and answer questions that Dr. Luntz asks while Stephen sits behind the one-way/two-way mirror/glass and eats popcorn and drinks pop. From all the answers from all the people in the Focus Group, three things emerge.

1. Corporations are human.
2. Corporations are people - Will they be Chinese people or American people?
3. People are corporations.

Good, this will help Stephen and Dr. Luntz make a commercial for the Colbert SuperPAC that shows that Corporations are people. Of course, they should have the same rights as all people, the right to free speech, the right to bear arms and the right to get married, not gay married, but married. At least that is what Stephen wants Dr. Luntz to know.

Perhaps this would be a good time for me to inform people (and corporations too, I guess) that Dr. Luntz seems to sometimes be exasperated with Stephen. Maybe that's too strong of a word, but still, he must be getting paid well enough that it makes it worth his while. Maybe it's just that Stephen is a conservative and Dr. Luntz doesn't share his values. It's hard to figure.

Stephen had a presidential contender on his show tonight. And I don't mean that he interviewed himself. It was Jon Huntsman, former governor of the state of Utah. It was a short interview, as most of the interviews tend to be, but they covered a lot of ground. Jon Huntsman has worked for Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43 and Obama. He speaks Mandarin Chinese, which is good considering he was Obama's Ambassador to China. I'm not sure if the speaking of Mandarin Chinese came first or if being Ambassador was first, but the one helps make the other possible and vice versa.

Tonight I really wished that I knew Mandarin Chinese. Jon Huntsman said a sentence or two in Mandarin Chinese. Since Stephen does not speak Mandarin Chinese, Jon Huntsman repeated it in English. He was looking for Stephen to possibly be his vice presidential running mate. Hey, if it was good enough for Sarah Palin, it certainly should be just fine for Stephen Colbert. But there's always that chance that it was just a joke and the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that Stephen probably does not have a good chance of being a vice presidential candidate this coming election.

Well, when all was said and done, Stephen said something that surprised me. Even after informing us that Huntsman is considered by some to be a moderate, Stephen was ready to give him the Colbert Bump. Huntsman has been polling at 2%, but Stephen promised to get him all the way up to whole milk.

* Chopper Pad is an endearing name Stephen used to refer to Dr. Luntz.

Pinheads and Patriots

Just one more thing about Bill O'Reilly's book "Pinheads and Patriots." I have been thinking about his arrangement for copies of the book to be mailed to the folks serving in Operation Enduring Freedom.

It seems a little bit, yes I'll say it, conceited to do so. It's kind of like those comedy sketches where some famous guy goes to a soup kitchen and hands out 8x10 glossy photos of himself.

Can you really imagine any soldier over in Afghanistan getting a package and in it is that book. "Oh wow! Just what I've always wanted - a book by some guy telling me what patriotism means." If you send a "gift" to someone, it should be something they want and need, not something that boasts about you or glorifies you.

Yeah, I'm thinking Food or Soap would have been a way better choice.

Food or Soap

So, I've been thinking about Thursday's show. Of course Coldplay was on and so if you didn't watch The Colbert Report then, go watch it online, you know, at Colbert Nation. If you did watch, you learned that since Coldplay has 7 Grammys and Stephen has 1 Grammy, they each have an average of 4 Grammys. Way to go Stephen Colbert!

Then there was the Tip of the Hat Wag of the Finger. You decide which was the tip and which the hat. It seems that Tea Party Nation, a For Profit grass roots group, emailed all 30,000 of its members asking them to take the following pledge:

"I, an American small business owner, part of the class that produces the vast majority of real, wealth producing jobs in the country, hereby resolve that I will not hire a single person until this war against business and my country is stopped."
October 18, 2011

Well, isn't that special? It kind of reminds me of the logic of that bumper sticker you often see around town: The beatings will continue until morale improves.

Yeah, wait - no, that doesn't make sense. If you choose to stagnate your own business, well, that's kind of stupid, isn't it? How can you expect anything to improve? Oh, maybe that's the plan. Run everything into the ground and then point to it and say look how bad it is.

Stephen expressed it best when he said, "Something must be done. That something ... nothing."

And then Bill O'Reilly, Papa Bear as he is known, has a new book out, "Pinheads and Patriots." I don't know much about football teams and at first I mistakenly thought it was a sports book. But never mind about that. It seems there's a deal to send his book over to the troops serving in Afghanistan. And it seems like some got burned. And someone posted a photo of it with this comment:

"Some jerk sent us two boxes of this awful book instead of anything soldiers at a remote outpost in Afghanistan might need, like, say food or soap."

Well, there you go. The very people who are over fighting for our Constitutional Right to Free Speech practiced that very same Free Speech over in Afghanistan. Yea for those brave Patriots saying what they think. Bill O'Reilly must be very proud of them.

866-498-7690

I had to ask twice for her to repeat who she was calling for. Finally she slowed down so I could catch it. Kids Wish Network. Just a short introductory statement and then she asked if I knew any sick kids. When I told her no, she then asked if she could mail something out for me to read and then make a donation. I told her no.

(Cold calls like that are troublesome. Is she really who she says she is? Is it a legitimate organization? How well do they do what they say they are going to do? And would she then ask for lots of information about that sick kid???)

So, she said thanks and hung up. I checked online and found this about Kids Wish Network over at Charity Navigator. Their overall score is 38.30 and they have 1 out of 4 stars. I like Charity Navigator. At the bottom of the screen they list similar charities. I found that there are three Make-A-Wish groups with scores of 61.10, 67.90 and 58.51. So that seems like a better place to send a donation.

Program Expenses for Make-A-Wish of Missouri, for example, are about three fourths of the money. That's making wise use of people's donations. At Kids Wish, it's only around the halfway mark. Half of the money Kids Wish brings in goes to pay for fundraising. So if you were to send Kids Wish Network $10, you would be paying $5 out of your donation for them to call you at home.

I also looked at Make-A-Wish website here and saw that on their front page under Fraud Alert, they let you know that they do not participate in telemarketing. That's way cool.

Judge for yourself. But now at least you know who is calling when Caller ID lists 866-498-7690.

And just to be totally fair, if you look at Charity Navigator enough times, you may get a pop up dialog box asking if you want to donate just a tiny bit to help them help us all in sorting through all the charities asking for your money.

Bears and Broccoli

We all know that Stephen has a love/hate relationship with bears. We know about bears driving cars and bears hanging out in the beer cooler, and now we find out that up in Ketchikan, Alaska,a tiny bear cub will walk right into the grocery store and head for the Produce Section, obviously in search of broccoli.

I'm reluctant to even speak of this in case it scares Stephen, but he is so knowledgeable that he probably already knows about it. Don't worry, Stephen, it was just a tiny bear, so cute, so cuddly, so just stay calm.

Speaking of produce, and considering that Halloween is coming up, here's a clip about good old Produce Pete with Steve Carell when he was on the Daily Show in 2003.

I Was There and He Wasn't

Stephen had two interesting people on tonight.

The first was Carol Browner, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and former head of the E.P.A. (Environmental Protection Agency). She was there to try to set Stephen straight on the need for clean air and clean water and thus the E.P.A. I'm sure you've all heard about problems with pollution. I also am quite sure that you partake of breathing of the air and drinking of the water and so can appreciate having standards so that it stays that way.

Stephen also had clips of Rush Limbaugh talking on the radio, but that is not the same as having him on the show. Rush talked about how great the LRA - Lords of Resistance Army is in Uganda. It seems at first he was praising them and then, once he found out about the accusations against them of nasty stuff such as murder and abduction, Limbaugh sort of back pedaled and said he would do some more research about the LRA.

Then another real person on the show. Ali H. Soufan, former Special Agent for the FBI and counter-terrorism operator. He has a new book out: "The Black Banners - The inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda." He has done some remarkable things, mostly by being smart and talking to suspects. Amazing how well that can work. He was able to get really good information that helped us a lot in the fight against terrorism. Go watch the show over at Colbert Nation if you didn't see it tonight.

Find out who Ali Soufan was talking about when he said, "I was there and he wasn't."

Nothing Up My Sleeve

Stephen started the show by demonstrating his creative genius for finding answers. Then he endorsed Herman Cain, or was he joking?

I'll explain. Herman Cain recently said that as president he would build a 20 foot high fence along the Mexican border and he would electrify it. (Most likely he is trying to have a better fence than what Michele Bachmann has planned.) Ah, but then he explained he was joking. No wait, then he said it might be a good idea and he hasn't really given up on that idea. So, depending on whether you like his ideas or not, he is joking or else he's not joking. This is true, I'm not joking about it.

And then in what can only be called some sort of horrifying Halloween scare tactic, Stephen told us that there's talk of limiting potatoes in school lunches. He explained, in great detail, why this would be bad, especially for young middle school boys who have only Tater Tots to sustain them, not just nutritionally but also emotionally.

In other food related news, we learned that Yum oops I mean Yum! Brands is applying for inclusion in the Food Stamp program. Currently, food stamps are only supposed to be used to buy food at grocery stores and not at fast food restaurants. Stephen weighed in on the issue and most likely he will weigh more after he weighed in on the issue. (Okay. He ate some food from Taco Bell. It's a joke. Or if you don't think it's funny, then it's not a joke.)

Stephen explained that Yum! includes Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silver's and Pizza Hut. But it sort of does and sort of doesn't. You see, in January they put a "For Sale" sign on Long John Silver's and also A&W. And in September they announced that they had agreements to sell them, so right now it's a little bit confusing as to which restaurants are included at Yum!.

My feeling is that the food stamps should continue to be used at grocery stores only. If you let these fast food restaurants accept food stamps, then what would be next? Would all restaurants start accepting food stamps? Letting fast food restaurants accept food stamps for payment is just opening up a can of worms. Yikes, would that be the next thing that people could buy with food stamps?

Stephen's guest was Steven Pinker talking about his book, "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined." He had some statistics which he shared with us. Statistics are always good. Prehistoric tribes killed each other at a rate of about 15%, but today, it's much less than a percentage point. Back in the Middle Ages, you were about 35% more likely to be murdered than you are today! To sum up and tie it all together, Stephen shared with Steven a nice example of irony.

The most exciting part of the show was at the very end. Yes, I know that is usually the saddest because the show is almost over, but there's a good reason. Stephen announced that "Tonight is the 6th year anniversary of The Colbert Report. Hard to believe because it was actually last night."

Whew, I thought I had it wrong on yesterday's post, but it actually was October 17.

Here's the part where you go to Colbert Nation for a great opportunity. Look for the link to Colbert Photo Show for Auction. Click on that for more information. You can bid on photos from The Colbert Report and help out Donors Choose.

And finally, you are probably wondering if Stephen unveiled his newest portrait of himself. And you are probably wondering if he has anything up his sleeve. Well, yes he did and yes he does!

World Population

It dawned on me today that what John McCain said (see previous post) about Federal Regulations and the billions and billions of jobs could also be viewed in relation to the world population. The world population is also billions and billions, but actually only a little bit less than seven billion people. So his claim that those regulations are costing the USA billions and billions of jobs just doesn't hold water. (I bet somewhere there are regulations that dictate how strong water towers need to be so that they don't leak on nearby houses and flood the homes of citizens!)

I just wanted to provide this update so that my millions and millions of readers would have a little bit more information in order to judge the statement by a person who is making thousands and thousands of decisions daily in the United States Senate.

Banana Boat Song

I wondered if Stephen would mention it and yes he did. Tonight is the 6th Anniversary of The Colbert Show. What ever did we do before October 17, 2005?

Stephen highlighted some news stories tonight:

Senator John McCain (AZ) said that Federal Regulations are costing us billions and billions of jobs. Stephen pointed out, as only he can, that what McCain said is not possible. Even if McCain only meant one billion jobs, that would still come out to approximately three jobs per person.

Population of USA: 312,400,000
One billion jobs: 1,000,000,000

Where is McCain getting those numbers? My gosh, we would need almost 700,000,000 more people just to take care of that first group of one billion jobs.

Representative Ritch Workman, a Republican from Florida, is doing his best to get jobs for Americans. Although he thinks it is offensive to do so, he wants dwarf tossing to be legal in Florida so that dwarfs can be tossed and thus (I guess) earn a living. Stephen highlighted many other job opportunities that could be available. I don't see why we can't have Representative Tossing too. Maybe it would take two people to do the tossing, but heck, Rep. Ritch Workman wouldn't have to hold any fundraisers other than being the guest of honor for Representative Tossing.

The Sport Report

Colbert Super PAC had an ad. You'll have to go watch it over at Colbert Nation if you want to know what it was about.

Harry Belafonte was Stephen's guest tonight and what a delightful interview it was. Stephen and Harry Belafonte even sang a bit of Jamaica Farewell. Belafonte is best known for singing the Banana Boat Song. For something a little bit more fun and lively, watch him singing Matilda.

Oh, yeah, and they also talked about Belafonte's book, "My Song: A Memoir," by Harry Belafonte and Michael Shnayerson.

914-224-8950

I'll get lots of calls in a short time period and then no calls for weeks and weeks. I was actually home for this one and yes it was a recording. What, huh???? Final notice as it relates to my credit card interest? Press 1 now? As it relates to financial stimulus? Or did she say federal stimulus?

It doesn't matter. Such tactics are really tacky and I wonder if it's even permissible for them to be calling like that. Of course I'm on the Do Not Call List, but obviously they don't pay any attention to that.

Anyway, same old same old. Don't answer if they call and if you do answer, ignore them. Hang up.

321-800-9999

On my Caller ID and this on my answering machine:

"... to as little as 6.9%.

Eligibility expires shortly so consider this your final notice.

Press 3 to discontinue getting these calls.

Press 1 to talk to a live operator and lower your interest rate."

Final notice? They must mean my final notice until the next time they call.

I'm pretty sure you are not going to want to have anything to do with them. And as always, if too good to be true, don't fall for it. And don't give out any information such as Social Security Number, bank information, etc., to someone who calls you out of the blue.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Nothing related to weather. Nope, this is about the South Korean recording artist Jung Ji-Hoon, or Rain as he is known. Rain has enlisted in the South Korean Army! Read about it here at Huffington Post. If you watch The Colbert Report, you know that Stephen has an ongoing feud with Rain, although I suspect it is all in fun and not a real feud.

I wonder if Stephen is aware of Rain's enlistment in the South Korean Army. We won't know this week since Stephen is out of the office. I can't imagine he won't say something about it when he gets back next week. Stay tuned.

Autumn Leaves

Since Stephen is off for the week, I can choose to write about anything. Sometimes it all kind of falls into place.

Today at bing.com is a lovely autumn scene with animation. You can watch the leaves falling. So peaceful.

And something else that is so peaceful is the song "Autumn Leaves" made famous by Roger Williams. You may have read in the news recently that Roger Williams died on October 8 of pancreatic cancer. Roger Williams was known as "pianist to the presidents" because he played at functions and gatherings of nine different presidents.

Look at the falling leaves at bing and then listen to Roger Williams playing "Autumn Leaves." Take just a little time for yourself and relax a while.

Update: Another day, another photo posted at bing, so, remember to use the arrows in bottom right corner of photo to get back to a previous day so that you can see the Autumn Leaves. If a lot of time has passed since October 11, then search the archives to see the Autumn Leaves. You're Welcome!

Colbert Bump for Black Star

If you missed last Thursday's show, Stephen did say he was going to be off for a week, so that means repeats this week. Already Black Star is on again, so if you missed it the first time around, you can quickly turn on your TV and watch it now.

Governor Tinkerbell

You probably know her as Governor Sarah Palin. Or, since she did not finish out her full term as Governor, perhaps it would be spelled Governo. As you may know she was running around the country while others were running for president. She had that big bus and kept showing up where other candidates had debates or announcements. But to make a long story not quite as long,

Governo Palin was recently on the radio with Mark Levin. Here's what he had to say:

"I've just received a statement from Governor Palin ... this is breaking news and she writes, 'After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. Thank you again for all your support. God bless America, Sarah Palin.' Governor Sarah Palin, how are you my friend?"

And Sarah Palin replies, "How are you , great one? I'm feeling just fine."

What a disappointment, especially for the people who replied to this letter by sending cash:

"Someone must save our nation from this road to European Socialism. Do you think it should be Governor Palin? If so, you can send your best one-time gift to SarahPAC today to ... show her that we support her if she decides to run."

Yes, disappointed, and yet, it never suggests that she would run. It never says the money would be used for getting out her message to the masses. It says a one-time gift, so it's kind of like she is having a birthday party and wants you to come and bring a present, but forget the part about going to a party and just send the presents.

Stephen apologized to Ham Rove and had a nice tribute to Steve Jobs. Any time that Stephen would beg for an iPhone or iPad, he would always get what he wanted. The guest tonight was Jason Amerine, Lieutenant Colonel, Special Forces. He was one of the first to go into Afghanistan 10 years ago.

It would be worth your time to go over to Colbert Nation and watch the show there to see the apology, the tribute and the interview.

More Cowbell

In shocking news (and I admit, I got this news from friend of the show, Jon Stewart) Sarah Palin is not, I repeat, not going to run for President. Did anyone see this coming? I mean, I know she was going to let us know by the end of September what her plans were and of course up in Alaska, the days sometimes get frozen and stick together. But, not running? She's been studying so much and has learned lots about people and places and things - you know, nouns and such.

Wow. Well anyway, her fellow Republican, Herman Cain, or as she likes to call him, Herb Cain, made a big mistake. He was on The View recently and said he believes homosexuality is a choice. Joy Behar challenged him on that and he clarified with, "You show me the science that says it's not (a choice) and I could be persuaded."

Well, Stephen caught him in that faux pas. A Republican acknowledging the existence of Science???? Big mistake.

And it did not go unnoticed. Read what the Log Cabin Republicans had to say about Herman Cain's comment.


Tonight's guest was actually tonight's guests. Black Star, or should I say, Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey, showed up to chat with Stephen and perform. They even brought classy warrior accessories for Stephen to wear, which he did and might I add, he looked marvelous! They performed world exclusive, "Fix Up." They also discussed with Stephen the difference between corporate rap and underground rap. Mostly they said there isn't a middleman. Stephen disagreed, claiming to be the actual middleman.

But anyway, Stephen promised The Colbert Bump for Black Star and I'm quite sure they got it.

You've Done It All

After starting out talking about non-perennial candidate Chris Christie and telling us about the latest hi jinks from Hank Williams, Jr. when he (Hank Williams, Jr.) was interviewed on Fox and Friends, Stephen treated us to his interview with actor, musician and author John Lithgow. It would be hard to find someone who watches TV or goes to movies and who has not seen John Lithgow at some time in the past. Surely you have seen "3rd Rock From the Sun" (not to be confused with "30 Rock)."

(Funny story here. I once heard a lady ask why they called it 3rd Rock. She had no clue. Duh - Earth!!!!!)

John Lithgow's latest book, "Drama An Actor's Education", is a memoir. He also has written other books such as "I'm a Manatee," "Marsupial Sue" and "I Got Two Dogs." Those last three are actually aimed at a much younger audience.

Stephen used his own acting skills to convince John Lithgow that he had actually read the book "Drama An Actor's Education". It didn't work. Lithgow was not fooled and called Stephen out, "Clearly you haven't read the book."

When asked by Stephen about acting and what sucked him in, Lithgow replied, "Applause!" Well that is something that Stephen understands.

Milky Way

Greetings everyone. I am currently writing to you from my office in the Milky Way. That's right, I have an office in the Milky Way. And what a surprise when I looked at Bing.com today! The photo of the day is actually what I assume to be time lapse video. There's a really gorgeous, colorful, serene video of the Milky Way as seen from Mount Teide, Tenerife, Canary Islands in Spain.

You may remember that Stephen has talked about Bing before. Bing typically has a neat photo every day, better than my photos, if you can imagine that. You can look at previous photos by clicking the back arrow at bottom right of Bing screen. So, if you are reading this and it is a few days after October 4, use the back arrow. If it's a long time after October 4, then you might be out of luck. However, if you use back arrow until you run out of chances, then look at bottom of screen for "Miss a homepage photo? See an archive of past images."

Also, you can read past posts here about Bing (remembering that if too much time has gone by, you may have to do some searching to find, for example, Groundhogs). You can read about Ba Da Bing, or Happy Groundhog Day, or Hiybbprqag at my previous posts.

If you want to see the Milky Way in colorful animation, visit Bing today and consider visiting the actual Milky Way. You won't be disappointed. I think it's a wonderful place to live and you probably will too.

A Bear Shifts in the Woods

Yes, tonight there were lots of people helping out in front of the camera. Herman Cain was featured at least twice, but only for a second teach time. Jeffrey Toobin was on to help Stephen understand the workings of the Supreme Court. It's that time of the year when they are in session again. One of the cases they will be deciding is the so-called ObamaCare. Jeffrey Toobin predicts it will be either 4-5 or 5-4 vote.

And yes he had guest Dr. Jerome Groopman, Professor at Harvard Medical School. He has written the book, "Your Medical Mind." Professor Groopman was there to talk about Medicine. "Medicine is not "black and white" he said. As an example he talked about mammograms. Stephen was speechless for a while, but then he explained, saying he got caught once.

At what age should a person begin having mammograms?Ask four different medical experts and you will get four different answers. People need to be more involved in making their own medical decisions. And Dr. Groopman did say that he thinks there should be universal coverage in this country.

But the most important thing Stephen talked about tonight, and the most disturbing thing, was bears. That's right. Bears! You can't turn on the TV without hearing news story after news story about bears. From bears drinking vodka in the Ukraine to bears in people's back yards raiding the bird feeders, to bears climbing in cars and driving them until they crash, bears are all around us.

However, there is a sinister turn of events. Remember the Terminator? He would look through the phone book to find and hunt down everyone with the same name. Well, it turns out that the bear in the back yard in Connecticut was at the home of Rich Colbert. It doesn't take very long going through the alphabet to get from Rich to Stephen.

So, if a bear asks you, (insert photo of Jimmy Fallon here) this is Stephen Colbert!