Develops Charm and Charisma

First of all, I was so proud of Stephen. He was able to talk about the Emmys this past weekend without getting emotional. He even showed off his Emmys, although they are from previous years and not as special as a new one. But still, good for him for being a good sport about it.

In a segment some would call "It's math," Stephen showed graphs and statistics which were just great. Pie charts are my favorite, especially this time of year. Republicans have been talking about class warfare lately - you know, how the poor are ganging up on the rich and making life so difficult for the rich. I imagine that also means some of the rich will have to do without maids to change the bedding, just like the poor have to do without beds. But anyway, Stephen showed us the telling numbers.

In 1995, the effective tax rate for millionaires was at 30.4%. In 2009 it was 22.4%.

In 1995, unemployment rate was 5.6% and in 2009, when the taxes for the rich were lower, unemployment went up to 9.3%.

So, taxes high and unemployment low. But taxes low and unemployment high. Okay, now I have to figure out how keeping taxes low for millionaires will help the unemployed. It was a puzzler for Stephen too, so I might not be able to figure it out.

Michele Bachmann was featured in a very short video clip where she suggested that everyone pay income tax, even if they are very poor. She suggested a dollar. A Dollar? She's joking, right? Because a person who paid a dollar in income tax would probably cost at least $10 to keep track of. So that idea would cost the government money rather than bringing in any money. What is in the water she drinks?

Jeffrey Kluger was the guest tonight. His book, "The Sibling Effect - What the Bonds Among Brothers and Sisters Reveal About Us." It's about brothers and sisters. Stephen knows a lot about that subject as he is the youngest of 11 children. We found out that often the youngest, in order to compete in the family, develops Charm and Charisma.

"This is a very good book!" exclaimed Stephen. (Did I mention he was the youngest? Oh, yeah, I did.)

News of the World

There's more news tonight than usual. First of all, Karma Chameleon is coming to California! Californians are being warned to prepare for the worst, if you can believe that.The highways will be even more crowded than usual. People are being told to stock up on food so that they won't have to go out for groceries. And all of this is because Highway 405 is being shut down for a few hours, well 53 hours, for repair. Nearly all of the news outlets are reporting on this so called Karma Chameleon, so it must be huge.

But nothing can compare to, and nothing can overshadow the biggest story in today's News of the World. Stephen was nominated for more Emmys. How many awards can one man win for heaven's sake??? There is a lot of competition with many other great and popular shows also being nominated. Luckily, not Barry Manilow this year.You can find the entire Nominees List: Complete Official 2011 Primetime Emmy Nominations by going to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and clicking on the List there.

The categories that Stephen is nominated in are:

** Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series
** Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series
** Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series

I wonder if Best Friend for Six Months, Jimmy Fallon, will be voting for Stephen. They are best friends, so I kind of think Jimmy should support Stephen's quest for more Emmys.

Last bit of news tonight for the News of the World was Stephen's guest. Jose Vargas is a Pulitzer award winning journalist and an undocumented immigrant. His mother sent him from the Philippines to the United States when he was 12 years old to live with relatives. It wasn't until he was 16 years old and applying for a driver's license that he found out there was a bit of a problem. The woman behind the counter leaned over and whispered that his Green Card was fake and he should not come back. Yikes. What's a kid to do?

Anyway, there is a website that you can go to and learn more about Jose Vargas and other people in similar predicaments. It's called Define American and you can watch a short video there about Jose's story.

What would you do?

The Dilemma

The Dilemma:

Stephen Colbert is famous and has won many awards, most of which are because of his Truthiness. For example, he recently was awarded the coveted and first ever "Golden Tweet" which was bestowed upon him by Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter.

"In honor of oil-soaked birds, 'tweets' are now 'gurgles'."

He has won Emmys.

He has won the "Gutsiest Move" award.

He ran for president. He has appeared in Spider-Man comics.

He has been in movies (with almost top billing but not quite which I guess translates into bottom billing).

He has been on TV shows.

He has held a Rally with Jon Stewart to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.

All of these involved facts.

Here's where The Dilemma starts coming into play.

I have in past posts, (not to be confused with pissed pests past posts which will be a future post) compared or contrasted Stephen Colbert with Brad Rodu. Rodu has a blog about Tobacco Truth which of course, of course ... right?... involve facts. You remember Dr. Brad Rodu - University of Louisville, Endowed Chair of Tobacco Harm Reduction research, recommends that people stop using tobacco by starting to use tobacco in a different form such as cigarette substitutes, snus, chew, smokeless tobacco, vapor cigarettes, etc.

Now some might wonder if he is biased because his endowed chair is paid for by Tobacco companies. But he says he is not biased, so you know he isn't because he uses Truth in the title of his blog and he says that he has "no conflict of interest" due to Tobacco paying him. You can read about him at any number of his blogs and websites. He has them all linked together, like some sort of web. (Yikes... Brad Rodu - web. Stephen Colbert - Spider-Man! What a connection these two men have!)

Anyway, here's my point.
Dr. Brad Rodu, Endowed Chair has had his "smokers only" website since 2005. On it he says lots of stuff.

Dr. Stephen Colbert has had his nightly show since 2005.
Every night he tells the audience many things.
And, IMHO, Stephen Colbert is Endowed.
With many fine qualities.

Only one of them can win my Truthiness Award. Which one will it be?

The Dilemma continues.

the colbert breaking bad mad-temple grand-men glee-bert re-modern family port with jon stewart

Why such a long title? And why no capital letters? Well, I'm way too lazy to make capital letters when there are so many words in the title. And it's such a long title because that is what Stephen will call his show next year in hopes of winning an Emmy. I won't mention which News show on Comedy Central did win an Emmy. It is just too sad for Stephen to even think about. Some day, when the pain is not too intense, Stephen will be able to congratulate the winner of the Emmy.

Moving on.

We have all missed Stephen these past few days and it is great to have him back on the air. His studio was most likely enlarged while he was on vacation. He asked for a show of hands from his audience. I forget the question, but that's not important. What is important is how popular Stephen continues to be. There were about 57,000 people in his audience that agreed with him. That makes him an agreeable person. Interestingly enough, he also was the #1 search on Google today. That is an accomplishment. One might even think that would be enough to win him an Emmy!

Glenn Beck was mentioned on the show, but unfortunately, in a mocking tone. Glenn Beck said the geese that flew overhead at his rally by the Lincoln Memorial were a miracle sent by God. Or something similar.

Stephen mocked, yes mocked Glenn Beck by asking, "What are the odds of a flock of geese taking flight at the exact moment that tens of thousands of people start clapping their hands? And shortly thereafter, Geese Witherspoon visited the set and Stephen enjoyed the company of Grey Goose.

It is good to have him back where he belongs.

Carry Me Back to Old South Carolina

The news this summer coming from Stephen's beloved South Carolina has not been good. I'm pretty sure it would be even too over-the-top for an episode of Tek Jansen. Republican Congressman Joe Wilson shouting out to President Barack Obama, "You Lie" and Republican Governor Mark Sanford disappearing to Argentina to meet with his girlfriend while ignoring his family on Fathers Day needs some damage control. I think Stephen could and should either bump some sense into them or bump them out of power. That would be just the kind of selfless act of courage that could win him an Emmy next year.

Ironically, while Congressman Joe Wilson called out that President Obama was a liar about illegal immigrants and health care reform, in actuality, the President was absolutely correct. And, funny story, in 2003, (tip of the hat to Wikipedia) Wilson voted to authorize $250,000 annually for taxpayer money to reimburse hospitals for treating illegal immigrants. He flip-flopped his thinking on this issue in 2009.

Another funny story, apparently Joe Wilson favored a cover-up rather than speaking the truth about Strom Thurmond's daughter Essie Mae Washington-Williams. Wilson originally doubted the veracity of her claim, but then said that even if it was true, she should keep it secret. I guess he figured a cover-up was better than the truth, otherwise it would make Thurmond look bad.

Anyway, Stephen Colbert needs to take a few days off from the best show on TV ever, head down to South Carolina, and fix it. Just fix it.