Je Ne Sais Quoi

Stephen teased us with his review of the commercials that aired during the Big Game. He kept hinting at nuts which made all of us think he was talking about the Pistachio commercial that he was in. (No wonder he kept talking about football and the Big Game all last week!) But then we found out he was talking about the super controversial Coca Cola ad. It was really bad. Can you just imagine a commercial with different scenes of different people with different voices singing "America the Beautiful in different languages?" Granted the singers were on key and kept up the correct tempo and were quite lovely, but still, English has always been the only language spoken here since time began and it will always be that way. And Coca Cola has to honor that myth.

You can see it here, oops I mean see the Coca Cola ad here. Stephen also played part of the ad on the show last night until the pain in his head nearly ended the show right then and there. Stephen was warned by the folks over at Fox and by Rush Limbaugh, but still he watched and listened.

Everyone is upset by this. Allen West had this to say about it, " It started rather patriotically with the words of 'America the Beautiful.' Then the words went from English to languages I didn't recognize." Stephen noted that Allen West once was a Congressman from Florida and served in the army over in Afghanistan. Who could really expect him to recognize Spanish or Arabic?

Even Michael Leahy weighed in thusly: "The company used such an iconic song, one often sung in churches on the 4th of July that represents the old "E Pluribus Unum' view of how American society is integrated, to push multiculturalism down our throats.." You could look up the Latin phrase "E Pluribus Unum" at the Google machine. Or you could just take Stephen's word for it that it means, "Speaka da Engliss."

Stephen gave us just a little bit of history about the song, "America The Beautiful" when noting that the ad also showed a gay couple while the song was still playing in the background. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates who had a Boston marriage with her partner of 25 years, Katharine Coman.Who knew?

We can only hope that this controversy will show up in the presidential election of 2016 because, after all, Coca Cola is a carbonated beverage that many people enjoy in a tall glass with ice cubes. What could be more important for our leaders to talk about than this? Are you listening Fox News? Keep this issue in the headlines.

Back to the show. Hat/Finger or Tip/Wag or Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger. The Oakland Cheerleaders are suing the Oakland Raiders because they haven't been paid enough. Works out to about $5.00 per hour all things considered. More importantly in this segment, we got to see a photo of Stephen from his school days. And that's what really matters for me.

Pope Francis is on the cover of Rolling Stone and Stephen is somewhat upset and so used last night as a soapbox to show off his knowledge of all the other Popes.

Sadly, China's Jade Rabbit is perhaps going to fail. And the snowstorm has whipped up a lot of winter pollen and has made Stephen cry. Or something like that. The Jade Rabbit spoke to all of us and Stephen was profoundly moved by it.

Wonder of all wonders, we got to see the Stephen Colbert Wonderful Pistachios commercial. I'm assuming everyone watching got to see the ad. Sometimes ads play to a local market, but I think this one would have been aired for everyone to enjoy. And then there was an ad for the Lego Movie (starts Friday). You know what would be great? If Stephen could have some of the actors from that movie on as guests. That would be so "very" cool. (You may substitute another word for "very" if you would like.)

And again, back to the show. Stephen talked briefly about Harry Potter (a handsome young lad with dark hair and glasses) and the current thoughts of author J.K. Rowling. Stephen suggested  some new books that should be written to bring the relationships up to date.

Stephen's guest last night was Jennifer Senior. She has a new fun book out, "All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood." It seemed like it was going to be a short interview, but then it did go a bit longer. It was one of those strange interviews where the interviewee laughed somewhat and tried to get words in edgewise because the interviewer was kind of monopolizing the discussion. Interestingly enough Jennifer Senior did mention that it used to be that children were considered "staff." Now, parents are the staff. But think back to times when many people lived on farms. Children were expected to work on the farm at whatever tasks they could.

It was a short yet fast interview. Come back in twenty years to find out how well Jennifer Senior did on raising her own kid.

It's James, I Grew Up in Seattle

Net Neutrality. I'm not sure whether I'm for it or against it. I guess I'm kind of on the fence. Stephen had Tim Wu, author of "The Master Switch - The Rise and Fall of Information Empires," on to talk about it. And he claims to have coined the phrase Net Neutrality. As seems to happen over and over again, free speech is all about the money.

"The Banquet." Yes, it makes you look forward to a great meal, but over in China, "The Banquet" is basically a complete ripoff (paraphrase of what Stephen said) of The Colbert Report. Well, it's in Chinese, and it's about eggs, which is funny. But while you might think Stephen would be very upset, he is actually quite pleased. "Only the biggest hits get Chinese bootlegged!"

In order to try to gain the favor and adoration of the large audience in China, Stephen (again) fired Jay the Intern and brought out his new intern JaMes who seems to be Chinese. He offered to get coffee for Stephen, but Stephen asked for tea, by which he meant coffee. Poor Jay. He works so hard and all he ever gets is the short end of the deal.

Anyway, Stephen demanded that he be invited to be on the show "The Banquet." Who knows? It could happen.

Stephen's real guest, (not that Tim Wu is not real, but he was on in the first part of the show and so not so much the guest as just someone Stephen talked to), was Patricia A. Churchland. Her latest book is "Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain." Is it possible that we are not so much a product of our environment and upbringing, but rather the result of electrical and chemical stuff going on in our brains? To illustrate that possibility, she and Stephen had a wonderful discussion about different kinds of voles from which Stephen deduced that the Prairie Vole is a Christian. I'm not sure that's where Patricia A. Churchland was going with her book, but, hey Stephen is entitled to say what he wants since it is his show.

Do You Want Fries With That?

Stephen briefly mentioned the Irish Potato Famine in the first news story of tonight's show. He should have talked about it more. It's really important. The pathogen that caused the potato crops to fail has been identified. It's Phytophthora Infestans Herb-1 strain. Although the famine was 170 years ago, the research has potential for today's crops. That's good news. Also, if you aren't familiar with the Irish Potato Famine, you can get a good sense of what it meant over at Wikipedia's article about the Great Famine. I must admit, when I first heard about it when I was a young lass in school, about the potato crop being ruined in Ireland back then, I did not realize all the implications. I figured if there weren't potatoes, then eat something else. The problem with that is that for many of the people in Ireland at the time, potatoes was what they ate. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. That was it. So, if no potatoes, then no food at all. The Great Famine meant that a lot of people died. It also meant that a lot of people left Ireland for other places, including the United States. To this day, Ireland's population remains lower than what it was before the Famine. So, go to those links and read up a bit. If for no other reason than that those people are Stephen's people.

But, back to the show. I'm pretty sure Stephen should have gotten into the Guiness Book by his excellent reciting of a whole list of pills with long, complicated names. The pills are to help with such things as your heart and blood pressure. Luckily, Prescott Pharmaceuticals has a better product. It's the Vacsa-Towel. Just take it out of the jar, apply it to the front lawn, lay down in the treatment rectangle and soak up the sun's rays. You see, there's new research that shows the sun can help lower your blood pressure. Of course, then there's the problem of trying to choose between high blood pressure or skin cancer.

Jeff Duncan is trying to curb the Census Bureau. He thinks they are too snoopy. Of course on the other hand, we do rely on lots of information gathered by the Census Bureau. Stephen had some quotes for Jeff Duncan from May 1. "Right now the Census Bureau can ask citizens very invasive questions, and if they don't respond, the government shows up at their door and threatens them with a fine. Americans are fed up with these mandatory census surveys and they're asking us to stop the harassment." Also, "As a former small business owner, I recognize that some economic data gathering is beneficial. However, it should be voluntary, industry driven and not mandated by the government under penalty of law."

My take on it is that Jeff Duncan should read up a bit on the Census and what it means to this country. For example, some, but not all people get a longer form to fill out for the Census. Questions might seem ridiculous, for example how long it takes you to drive to work, But that information is used to help develop policies and plans for roads and transportation. Here's a link to the Census for Jeff Duncan and anyone else who wants to learn more. United States Census. You would be amazed at what you can learn. It's just one way we can plan for our future. If you want to know why all those questions are asked, go to this link and then click near the bottom of page to watch the video about "How Do We Know About Our Nation." It's short, only about five minutes. By the way, it was our Founding Fathers who came up with the idea of a Census every 10 years.

And really, really. Just take a minute and think. What good is it to know how many people are living in the United States if you don't have any other information about them? How many people are old or young? Should we build more nursing homes or should we build more schools? What state do people live in? You do know that is how we decide how many Congressional Representatives each state gets, right???

By the way, right now, as I am updating this post, there are 315,899,055 people in the United States. Remember that number for the quiz later on.

Harvard Rhodes Scholar Noah Feldman was on to talk with Stephen about his new book, " Cool War - The Future of Global Competition."

The United States and China have an interesting relationship. They are both a bit leery of the other but also need what the other country can provide. Stephen says China is Capitalist Curious. I think the Cool War is not actually all that cool.

Small Insignificant States

Stephen talked, just briefly tonight, about foreign policy, in that he talked about Herman Cain's insight into foreign policy. Of course we all know that Herman Cain doesn't know who the leader of Ubeki Beki Beki Beki Stan Stan is. I must admit, I do not know either. But I also want to acknowledge all my readers from Ubeki Beki Beki Beki Stan Stan and hope that they keep reading my blog because I think their county is very important.

In order for Herman Cain to know who the leader of Ubeki Beki Beki Beki Stan Stan is, he would have to be able to see into the present. There are already plenty of people who can see into the present. News people and journalists come to mind. Herman Cain has something else to offer, a rare talent. He can see into the past.

Said Herman Cain recently, "I do view China as a potential military threat. They've indicated that they are trying to develop nuclear capability."

Stephen pointed out that it was in 1964 that China did develop that capability. Proof that Herman Cain can see into the past! We need someone like him on the GOP ticket. Perhaps that is why he is doing so well in the polls.

Stephen's guest tonight was friend of the show Michael Pollan talking about his book, "Food Rules, An Eater's Manual." Even before Michael Pollan started to speak with Stephen, there was controversy. Stephen said Rule #1 was:

Do not eat the book.

But Michael Pollan said that Rule #1 was:

Food is a costly antidepressant.

So, which is it? Although I believe that the antidepressant rule is probably the actual first rule in the book, Stephen's rule is more logical. Stephen figured eating is easy, just put stuff into your mouth. Michale Pollan wants people to use a little bit more restraint and eat healthy foods.

And then something I did not expect. We witnessed a sad event. Stephen, unhappy that the audience seemed to be in agreement with Michael Pollan about the wisdom of taxing soda, actually told his audience to be quiet. But the vulgar and rude way he did it will never be forgotten. Or forgiven. Here are the actual words he said/shouted:

"No, you. You shut up!" This is terrible. Does he expect his followers will still chant "Stephen, Stephen, Stephen?"

Update: Everyone forgives Stephen for telling the audience to shut up. And everyone has already forgotten.