Sunshine and Seashells

Canada is dropping the penny. This is horrible. Will the USA follow suit and get rid of the Honest Abe penny as well as the Daniel Day Lewis penny? Americans for Common Cents (pennies.org) is on the job trying to make sure we keep our penny. Stephen highlighted a survey by Coinstar showing Americans still like the penny. And he also pointed out that the lobbying is done by people with ties to zinc which is what pennies are mostly made of. He may be right. Okay, I'll revise that since he is always right. He may have said things that I might or might not agree with. But you wouldn't expect the paper industry or the silver industry of the wood industry to go to bat for pennies. (Wood industry... bat...get it? hahaha)

In order to help us understand pennies better, Stephen showed us a cheap trick. It was definitely cheap since he used pennies. And it most certainly was a trick and I'm still trying to figure out how he did it without me seeing how he did it. Pay attention to what he said. Kids, don't try that anywhere!

But, no one is thinking of all the consequences. What about a gumball machine? (Stephen did address this issue, but he did not solve the problem.) What about all those grandparents giving pennies to the grandchildren? They get to feel generous and it helps the kiddies learn how to count. And you know, you just know, that prices will go up and not down. If something costs 96 cents, it won't go down to 95 cents, it will go up to a dollar, a whole dollar.

I am in favor of keeping the penny. If you don't want to keep the penny, fine. Just send all your pennies to me.

You may remember that there was an open seat in South Carolina for the Senate since Jim DeMint resigned. Stephen Colbert would have been a great choice for replacing him but that did not happen. In what could only happen because of a rift in the time space continuum, there is a Colbert running for office in the state of South Carolina. You see, Niki Haley appointed Representative Tim Scott to Jim DeMint's seat, leaving an vacancy for Tim Scott's Congressional seat in Charleston. And a certain person named Elizabeth Colbert Busch is running for Tim Scott's seat. "Holy Cow! My sister is running for Congress!!! Immediate reaction from the audience with shouts of Colbert! Colbert! Colbert!

Rumors are swirling through the media that she might get free TV time from Stephen. That rumor was immediately quashed. It doesn't matter that his sister is "intelligent, hard working, compassionate and dedicated to the people of South Carolina." Stephen will not be giving her free air time by mentioning those qualifications.

Besides, she's running as a Democrat. And there are so many, many Republicans (at least 16) running for that seat, including friend of the Appalachians, Mark Sanford. As a favor to all of those Republicans, Stephen gave excellent debate advice. On the chance that Elizabeth Colbert Busch wins, Stephen is pretty much telling her that she had better come on his show, The Colbert Report, and do an interview for "Better Know a District."

(Note: You may have realized that I have a link, well, a few links, to the website for Elizabeth Colbert Busch. There is a good reason for that. You should go to that website, click on the link that says "Meet Elizabeth" and then scroll down to the photo of "The Colbert Family." Do you remember that Stephen is the youngest child in his family.

In a break from tradition, Stephen had a short segment highlighting what his guest, Lawrence Wright, would be talking about. Probably his book, "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief." And of course, they will talk about the subject of the book - Scientology and the Church of Scientology.

The two men began talking about the book immediately. Stephen started talking "Scientologist jargon" to Lawrence Wright. There is supposedly a lot of physical abuse and a lot of involuntary confinement in Sea Org which is sort of the people at the top of Scientology, the clerical class. There is a lot of controversy about Scientology, or controversy as the British pronounce it.

Stephen asked for evidence of abuse and Lawrence told him of twelve people who say they have been beaten by David Miscavige and more than twenty witnesses.

In an interesting development, Stephen pointed out that L. Ron Hubbard didn't believe in paying taxes. He died, but by 1993, Scientology owed a billion dollars in back taxes and they didn't have that kind of money. So, they launched 2,400 lawsuits against the IRS and its agents. They were able to get recognition as a religion and they agreed to drop all the lawsuits against the IRS and individual agents.

Stephen brought up all the celebrities that are in Scientology. Of course probably one of the more famous celebrities is Tom Cruise.

For those of you who are feeling a bit hungry right now, you might want to do what Stephen did at the end of the show and enjoy a nice, delicious watermelon.

And in a segment I have never done before, here are all the titles for this post that I thought of using but didn't. Some episodes are just naturally more conducive to good titles, or at least a good amount of possibilities.

Penny For Your Thoughts
Kids, Don't Try This Anywhere
Know a Better District
Holy Cow! My Sister Is Running For Congress!
Free Air Time
Former Governor of the Appalachian Trail
Your Middle School Diary
What's In My Prompter
Yum Yum, Watermelon
Billion Year Contract
I Should Start a Cult