Cantaloupe Calves

Is nothing what it seems any more? The Town Crier who so eloquently, if unintelligibly, yelled out that the Royal Baby had been born, is apparently fake. Okay, he is real, but he is not a real Town Crier for London or for the Royalty. His name is Tony Appleton and he does weddings, birthdays and bar mitzvahs. I don't know quite what he does at those events, maybe he just yells. He took it upon himself to announce the news and it certainly looked like he had a jolly good time doing it.

In another city in another country, Detroit could use a good Town Crier. You know, someone to yell at people to get going, get stuff done, take care of each other. Detroit is officially bankrupt and everyone is blaming the problems on the Unions. This is bad news for retirees who were counting on their "lavish" pensions that average $19,000.

On the show to tell Stephen about how Detroit is going to survive was Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press. He is optimistic. Stephen Colbert suggested everyone in Detroit get malaria so that Bill Gates would come in and save the town. You probably know that everyone is suggesting that the Detroit Institute of Arts sell off its treasures. Stephen Henderson is not a fan of that because, well all those things are treasures of Detroit.  Stephen Colbert  believes manufacturing is a thing of the past in Detroit. Stephen Henderson believes manufacturing is a thing of the future in Detroit.

Steve King (is everything tonight about Stephens and Stevens?) is fond of saying all sorts of things. Recently he claimed that young illegals weigh 130 pounds, have calves like cantaloupes and are hauling drugs across the desert.

He also recently compared immigrants to dogs, according to some people. Friend of the show and Univision anchor Jorge Ramos recently asked Steve King about his comments. No no no no. Jorge Ramos had it all wrong. Steve King was "celebrating" legal immigrants with his comments.

It's easy to understand. For example, Stephen called Steve King a tool. That is a compliment. A tool is a useful implement.No need for Steven King to be offended by that.

Senator Olympia Snowe was on the show as the guest. I think she was scheduled to be on earlier this year but things happened and she was not on until now. She is a rare creature, a moderate Republican. She brought diversity to the Republican party, i.e. political diversity. They both agreed that many moderate Republicans are in the closet. She has a book out, "Fighting For Common Ground - How We Can Fix the Stalemate In Congress."

Stephen handed her a challenge. "Getting something done. Sell me on it."

Whoa! Then Stephen threw some challenging stuff at her. John Boehner recently said that the job of Congress is not to pass laws, it's to repeal them. Mitch McConnell had as a goal making Barack Obama a one-term president. Neither man said anything about getting something done.

Stephen and Olympia Snowe disagreed further. She thinks the purpose of being in public office is to get something done. He thinks the purpose is of being in public office is to stay in public office.

(As if that isn't enough to disagree on, she doesn't think Stephen should have been able to have a Super PAC)

Even tougher question for her, considering how important it is to her to get something done - "Why did you leave the Senate?"

"Because the polarization wasn't going to diminish, and I wanted to take my fight outside of the Senate."

(Be sure to go to that link about Olympia Snowe. You can see a photo of the huge snowman built in her honor. Just scroll down the page a bit.)