Sí, Se Puede

Sometimes I spend so much time researching the topics that Stephen covers on the show that I lose track of the time. I have been learning more about the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) and also Cesar Chavez.

Over 7 Million Americans have signed up for Private Health Coverage. (At this point, Stephen took time to give a shout-out to Karl Rove and his life partner, Boardie.) Good news, yes, but now there will be 7 million people in the waiting room when Stephen goes to the doctor.

And I got distracted again reading something about Karl Rove by Wayne Madsen. It's from a few year's back so I won't put the link here. You can Google those two names if you want to read about it.

Stephen also talked about Unionized Football. Most interesting to me was what he said about Northwestern University. He noted that Northwestern University graduates some quality people with excellent educations. He has a bit of history there, considering he went there and he spoke there.

Stephen's guest was John Malkovich. He is an Executive Producer for the movie "Cesar Chavez - History is Made One Step at a Time" and also has a part in the movie. Cesar Chavez was born in Yuma, Arizona. You may know Arizona as the state where Senator John McCain, who was born in Panama Canal Zone, lives.

Stephen had many questions for John Malkovich about Cesar Chavez. Other than the answers to the fashion questions, I would sum up his answers in one word - Fairness. So, go see the movie and enjoy that lettuce in your dinner salad and the grapes in your fruit salad tonight while you are eating supper.

They ended the interview by talking about the stylish Technobohemian clothes that John Malkovich was wearing. I looked at the SS 2014 collection and there's a lot of neat stuff there. Nice drawings on that scarf, too.

Fernwood Tonight

Stephen has been on "Spring Break" and so I also partook of a bit of a break. Looking back I think I may have spent too much time on the Internet. Let me explain. Back on March 12 when Maria Schriver was the guest, Stephen talked a bit about President Obama being interviewed on Between Two Ferns by Zach Galifianakis.

The problem is, and this is not that much of a problem, Stephen called it Between Two Fernwood Tonights. Stephen was obviously confusing Between Two Ferns and Fernwood Tonight. It's an easy mistake to make. But by doing so, he took some of the attention away from the whole point of the interview on Funny or Die's Between Two Ferns which was to spotlight the Affordable Care Act. You should go to HealthCare.gov to find out about the ACA or Obamacare as most people like to call it. Stephen made a point of not mentioning healthcare.gov. Repeatedly.

So that's that. But now the fallout. Many people have complained about the president making this web video with Zach Galifianakis. There is a good reason for the complaints and it was Bill O'Reilly who brought it into the ball park. "Abe Lincoln would not have done it." That's right, Friend of the Show and boyhood chum of Abraham Lincoln knows that Abe would never have made a web video that had comedic undertones.

Here's how I can be sure that he is right. I have spent much of the time since Stephen aired that video clip (of Papa Bear) looking online for any evidence of any videos that Abraham Lincoln might have done back when he was president. I could not find a single one. Not one. Oh, there were some look-alikes doing videos but none that could be confirmed as being the true Abe. So, Bill O'Reilly was right. Abe Lincoln would not have done it. Part of me wishes I wouldn't have spent so much time on the Internet. But I learned one other thing. There are plenty of cute kitten videos on the web.

In an unrelated segment. Stephen talked (after his microphone was turned back on) about the health situation in Nicaragua. But there didn't seem to be much factual content so Stephen just skimmed over that part.

Maria Shriver was on the show and although she was talking about serious stuff, it was still a very upbeat interview. Take a look. Lots of good information.

Average American Joe, Domestic Beer, and NASCARs

Stephen talked about the Oscars and about Matthew McConaughey's best hero of many times, but I figure if you are interested in the Oscars, you watched it over and over. And if not, then you don't need Stephen to tell you about it. (No offense Stephen and now Stephen says none taken.)

So, then, on to something that not many people are aware of - The Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare. You may remember Rep Rep (that's short for Republican Representative) Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington talking about ObamaCare when she gave the GOP response to the SOTU.

A woman, going by the name of  "Bette in Spokane" lamented the fact that she had to pay nearly $700 more per month for health care. Stephen point out, as did this article in The Spokesman-Review about Bette in Spokane, revealed the reason. She wouldn't go on the Obama website, choosing instead the wise decision to just go without health care. (No way that can turn out badly.)

Turns out there's lots more  stories out there about horror stories that don't hold up when scrutinized. (I know, I know, some of you out there don't care all that much for facts, but just read on.) The Los Angeles Times had an article, "Maybe there are no genuine Obamacare horror stories."

Here's the part now for those of you who don't like facts. Stephen showed an ad by Americans for Prosperity that showed sad people unhappy with Obamacare. Problem is, those people in the ad.... they are all paid actors. So said Reverend Al Sharpton on msnbc. Stephen made a comment about Rev. Al's journalistic credentials, but really, aren't Stephen and the Rev about equal as far as journalistic degrees.

As a treat to people who want to hear from salt of the earth type of people to get their facts, Chuck Dupree of Louisiana, a hard-working fisherman, was on the show to talk about Obamacare. Chuck confirmed to Stephen that he was not an actor and he couldn't lie about that because it's the law. We heard all about his hard life and health problems and the problems caused by The Affordable Care... The Affordable Care... Stephen hollered "Act" and Chuck hollered back that he was trying to. After Chuck Dupree's son and his understudy son came on, I started to wonder about the veracity of this whole account by this fisherman.

His final words were about state run insurance exchanges.

Stephen did a wonderful segment about Sports Illustrated models. He talked about Barbie and had a short interview with Mrs., let's call her Mrs. Spud. It was okay, but it was just talk. I think it would be so much better if he had Barbie on for actual interview. He's able to get supermodels on his show, this should be a no-brainer.

Stephen's guest, Caitlin Flanagan, was there to drink beer and talk about fraternities with Stephen. It was an interesting interview, but here's an idea. Just go read her article in The Atlantic about fraternities and you will get an even better idea of what the interview merely touched on.

Stephen reminded us at the end of the show to go see a play which featured Patrick Stewart in it.

Buckle Deductible

Stephen talked about other people talking about ObamaCare, or the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Congressional Budget Office issued a report that says fewer people will work because they don't have to in order to get health insurance. That immediately got turned into "job killer" by all the talking heads. Here's a bit of an explanation about it over at Slate.

I also would mention that Stephen had nice bumper stickers on the show. What really impressed me the most, though, was that apparently you can get a license plate in California with no identifying numbers or letters on it. I don't know how you would tell it apart from any other license plate, but it sure would be easy to keep it clean and shiny.

The best part of the segment about Obama Care (Affordable Care Act) (ACA) was when Stephen talked about Pilgrims and the "Buckle Deductible." He said it well. Now it's your turn to say it. Repeat after me. Buckle Deductible. Buckle Deductible. Buckle Deductible. Buckle Deductible.

Everyone loves watching rich people on TV. We got treated to clips of Tom Perkins talking about how great it is to be rich. We also got to see a little bit of Mort Zuckerman talking about how it would also be nice if poor people had a little bit of money. I think it would be great to have to two men meet and discuss that topic. Maybe sometime in the future Stephen can do that on his show.

Stephen had Lake Street Dive on last night. There's four of them in the band. I like the photo over at their website for Bad Self Portraits. Yes they sang and yes there's a bonus song over at Colbert Nation.

Pope on a Rope

Yet again ObamaCare is in the news. To some extent I wonder if that might be because on any given day at least one person is sick and needs health care. Some days there are probably more than one person who is sick or a person who needs surgery or probably some woman having a baby. Did you know that historically women have had to pay higher insurance premiums than men? It's true.

Some people think the system should stay that way with women paying more. The reasoning is that women have a long list of benefits that they get which includes maternity services, contraceptive devices, birth control pills and doctor and dentist visits for children. Somewhere in the back of my mind I keep thinking that it takes two to tango and I don't know why I'm thinking of that now. Oh, well.

We even saw a video clip from Fox that showed the overuse of medicine by women. Gretchen Carlson has Lyme Disease and Brian Kilmeade doesn't. See? No wonder people (men) are unhappy about paying the same as women. Have you ever heard of a man getting Lyme disease? I didn't think so.

The Fox Doc (Dr. Samadi) even explained it on Fox. Men have a prostate. Women have all those other body parts - the breast, the ovaries, and the uterus. Stephen figures he should be able to get a Pap smear if he has to pay the same amount as women. That just makes sense.

Stephen gave a shout-out to all the celebrities over at Fox and then gave some pre-interview attention to his guest - David Folkenflik. It seems that many Fox staffers went online, using many different aliases (as many as 100 for one person) in order to make comments that were very positive to Fox stories and news. (News and stories... whatever.)

This is the type of behavior that is likely to start other types of hooliganism and Stephen highlighted just such an example. Seems that one of his writers, who shall remain unnamed here even though Stephen outed him, designed an algorithm which is hilarious. It reminds me of Mad Libs.

@RealHumanPraise

How it works is like this: Positive movie reviews from Rotten Tomatoes have Fox people's names substituted in the review and it makes for hilarious fun. Just the kind of thing the kids will love on those long car trips. Even as I speak, it's up to 5,973 Tweets and 30,687 Followers and that in about just one week!

Here's just one example:

"All references to prophecy and the Antichrist aside, Shepard Smith Reporting achieves its horror the old fashioned way. #PraiseFOX."

Ah, fun and games. I just love it. But anyway, the guest last night, David Folkenflik, wrote a new book that seem so connected to everything Stephen talked about on the first part of the show. "Murdoch's World - The Last of the Old Media Empires." (Strangely enough, some of the commenters at that link aren't very kind when writing about the book about Murdoch. Could it be these are just aliases? I'm just saying.)

Stephen started off the interview taking David Folkenflik to task. "Are you jealous of Rupert Murdoch? Is it because he works for a successful business and you work for a non-profit?"
-------------------
In the Foot-in-Mouth segment of the show, David Folkenflik said this in response to Stephen's question. "This is about a guy who I think is, in many ways, the most influential media figure in the English speaking world."

"Excuse me," said Stephen with a blink, blink, blink, and then a smirk to his adoring audience. He acknowledged the applause from the audience and then said, "Go ahead."

Talk about a faux pas!
-------------------
David Folkenflik went on to tell Stephen about the absolute power of Rupert Murdoch. That prompted Stephen to ask why he would want to cross Murdoch with the things he put in the book.

Stephen took time out to read another of the tweets that praised Fox News. "Elizabeth Hasselbeck brilliantly portrays Michelle Malkin as someone with absolutely no sense of her own monstrosity."

Next we learned about all the phones hacked by Murdoch's staff. David Folkenflik didn't do that to get material for his book, he did it the old fashioned way, by interviewing people. Stephen pointed out that if he would have hacked Murdoch's phone, he would have gotten more information and he would have therefore been a better reporter. You can't argue with logic. Also one thing you can't argue with is that if you "tip" people, like Murdoch's journalists did, you can really find out hordes of information. Of course, some people think you shouldn't be giving large "tips" to law enforcement or politicians.

Stephen ended the show on a happy note, imagining what an expensive spa treatment over in England would feel like. Background: that was another of the "tips" given out to local authorities, law enforcement, etc. (Think Scotland Yard.)


And now @RealHumanPraise is up to 5,999 Tweets and 31,737 Followers.

Pumpkin Patch

Well, Stephen started out last night complaining/rejoicing about the Affordable Care Act website. It has some glitches. He revealed that the company in charge of making the website, CGI (Conseillers En Gestion Et Informatique) is from Montreal, Canada. Okay, if he is aware of a problem with them, why did he not ask Win and Will Butler to pull some strings up in Montreal? The two Canadians were on his show on Monday. Surely they know someone back in Montreal that knows someone that could just fix it.

To show how easy/hard it is to sign up, there was a special segment about signing up for ObamaCare. It was called, "Stephen Colbert's I Tried To Sign Up For ObamaCare." To do so, he moseyed on over to The Foodbank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties and met with the Executive Director, Carlos Rodriguez who is neither a doctor nor a chef.

Stephen presented various scenarios that would impede his ability to sign up for ObamaCare. Luckily, a Navigator, Debbie Palacios, was available to help him. This was good, because we were able to see what types of information would be needed and what would not be needed. We learned that no exams are given when you sign up. We learned that Stephen had many misconceptions about the whole process of filling in his application. He also seemed to be on the defensive quite a bit. But he did put on his exam gloves and worked through the process. He was reluctant to tell her his birthday. Apparently he is sensitive about his age. Also, not happy that she would not be getting him a present. Anyway, rather than give out that information, he had her guess how old he was. Debbie correctly guessed 30 years old.

There were questions about whether or not Stephen had stopped working or changed jobs and of course the correct answer to that was, "I won two Emmy's." While she did need that information, she did not need Stephen's sexual history, which he would have been happy to talk about, but that was Too Much Information for the application. There was discussion about insurance choices and the ability to keep one's own doctor. Again, we found out Too Much Information from Stephen.

But in the end, he was able to go through the process and successfully get to a computer screen that said, "This webpage cannot be found." He was ecstatic! So much so that he left the building on Cloud Nine but soon found out why having insurance is so important.

Stephen's guest last night was two people - Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill. They are the anchors on PBS NewsHour. Stephen boasted, yes I think I can say that he boasted, about only needing half an hour to do the news. Gwen Ifill told him that on their show, they never run out of time. They do "in depth" coverage. As a matter of fact, they present the facts and let the viewers decide for themselves what it all means. Interesting tidbit about PBS NewsHour. Many college students explain to Gwen Ifill that they get their news from Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart. Gwen Ifill then tells these college students that Stephen and Jon use Gwen and Judy's show as their source for real news!

Midvale School For the Gifted

I decided a while back on a neat strategy to make myself exercise when I really didn't feel like doing so. I walked a mile after the first time the House voted to repeal ObamaCare. It went quite well. A mile is not that far to walk on a nice sunny day with a little bit of a breeze. Then they voted to repeal it a second time and I made myself walk two miles a day when they announced their vote to repeal ObamaCare. I figured that even if they should, for some strange reason, vote to repeal ObamaCare a third time, it would still be okay. The exercise was good for me and the weather has been great.

However, this plan of mine is not working out as well as I had anticipated. Who knew they would take it this far? Voting 42 times to try to get rid of some or all of ObamaCare?

You know what it reminds me of? That Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson, the one about Midvale School For the Gifted. It's the one with the kid pushing on the door to Midvale School For the Gifted even though the door handle says "Pull." No matter how many times he pushes on the door, he will not succeed in getting in to the building.

There must be a word for that. Something about doing the same thing over and over again.

Jay the Intern Panda or is it Jay the Panda Intern - Whatever

Yep the Government has shut down and Stephen is willing to help by taking on the duties of many of the government agencies. First off, the FDA. Stephen is willing to do drug testing and has started by taking some tiny little pills from a round pill dispenser that reminds me of a makeup compact. It belongs to his stage manager, Brenda, and I sure hope she won't have any problems from missing just a few of those tiny pills.

Panda Cam is also shut down. Even though it is run by volunteers, they are not allowed on the zoo grounds during the Government Shutdown. Just when I was going to start watching a cute little panda on a web cam, it goes dark. Jay to the rescue! Jay volunteered, or perhaps Stephen volunteered him, to dress like a Panda and perform in front of a web cam. Jay is so cute. No way could this ever turn out bad.

ObamaCare is Here! So are the glitches, the overloaded websites, the long waits for your computer to finally get with the show, and the error messages. While some are complaining, Stephen did point out that "Too many people signing up is always the surest sign that nobody wants it."

Stephen highlighted a glitch that no one else has thought of other than Sustern van Greta. "If I don't have a computer, what about me?" Good point because how could you possibly connect with someone in another city and communicate with them without actually being in the same place as them? Wow, there's another idea to make that work - it's called a phone. There are also Navigators to help you navigate your way to health insurance. Sustern van Greta admitted that she was clueless.

Stephen likened the ObamaCare Act, which need I remind you is the law of the land, to a scheme just like insurance. And we all now how insurance turned out, right? The White House has taken to tweeting adorable photos of animals and is calling it the Adorable Care Act. That is so cute. Meanwhile, the Koch Bros have hilarious ads of young people in examining rooms with a large headed Uncle Sam preparing to do the doctor examination. Wait a minute. Is that Jay the Intern under that Uncle Sam giant head? No, I guess it's someone else. Jay wouldn't do that.

Stephen highlighted some highlights of Hispanic Heritage Month, including the friendly folks over at Fox talking about Mexico not being our friend, or crimes committed by illegal aliens, or even Children of the Corn. Oh, those friends. They just can't help themselves, can they?

The good news is that there is actually a website, HispanicHeritageMonth.gov that has all kinds of wonderful information, I assume, about various aspects of Hispanic Heritage. I assume because I can't be sure. You see, it's the government shutdown and so that is not working now. But in this case, there is an alternative. You can go over to HispanicHeritageMonth.org and find some info there. Hopefully calmer heads will prevail, the shutdown will end and everything will get back to normal soon.

Stephen's guest last night was Daniel Radcliffe. One of the first things they talked about is that Daniel Radcliffe is short. Thanks Stephen for pointing that out. Next Stephen talked a bit about the work Daniel Radcliffe has done so far, such as Harry Potter, Equus and How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

"Are you afraid of being pigeon-holed as a young, attractive, successful actor who can also sing and dance?" asked Stephen. Wow. Ouch. Way to go right for the jugular after that comment about how tall he is.

The film that Daniel Radcliffe has been working on is "Kill Your Darlings." In it he plays Allen Ginsberg. Stephen put up a photo of Allen Ginsberg and for a few seconds I thought it was a mistake. The resemblance between Daniel Radcliffe and Allen Ginsberg is astounding. Interesting trivia here. Daniel Radcliffe is bilingual. He can speak British and American! A fascinating discussion of the two languages took place with lots of examples of different accents. Blimey.

After the legal obligatory utterance, "You're a wizard, Harry," by Stephen, he asked Daniel Radcliffe if he could take on Elijah Wood in a fight. (They are both about the same height.) A little bit of hesitation, and hemming and hawing, and then Daniel Radcliffe exclaimed, "Yes! Yes, I could."

Colb-Twerking

It really steams Stephen that Michele Obama wants people to drink more water, just so that they can be healthier. (Well, at least she doesn't want people to drink steam. Get it... steams Stephen... drink steam... Not funny? Well, okay. Sorry.)

Stephen also doesn't like that President Obama is still pushing Obamacare when some people want to defund it and repeal it and stick out their tongue at it. (And yet, it is unlikely that Obama would go along with getting rid of Obamacare.)

However, for a short time, Stephen had us thinking that Obamacare was dead. He did a Victory Dance. It reminded me of someone, of something. Maybe it was that large foam hand. I only wish he had been wearing skin-colored clothing.

But that was mainly an excuse for Stephen to show off his dance skills. Even though Michele Bachmann is convinced that this time Obamacare will go down, there are still a "few wrinkles to iron out before the brave act of extortion takes effect." But that doesn't stop people from trying.

Time will tell. October 1 is coming up soon. Will the GOP be able to stop Obamacare? They have tried. Stephen had advice for them.

"If at first you don't succeed,
  try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try,
  try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try,
  try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try,
  try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try, try,
 try, try, again."

Stephen's guest was singer, songwriter, and easygoing guy, Jack Johnson. (I find it interesting that he was born in Hawaii. Stephen should have asked him if he knows Barack Obama.) Of great interest to Stephen was how someone who is so laid back and relaxed when working finds something to do to kick back and relax.That brought a chuckle from Jack. Stephen had just the thing to relax a very relaxed type of guy. He had a feather and they spent a bit of time keeping the feather aloft in the air. Jack Johnson has some experience with surfing. I could see the possibility that some day surfing might be an Olympic sport. The feather thing, not so much.

Of course there was music. Jack Johnson played a song from his newest album, "From Here To Now To You", along with some musical help from Bahamas.

Is there a bonus song over at Colbert Nation? Do I need to tell you that? (If you are reading this Now and the song is not there yet, just wait a little bit until Then and I'm sure Stephen will have it up for you to watch and listen to.)

The Lumineers

We found out that under Obamacare, the health insurance premiums in 11 states and DC are down about 20% from projections for 2014. Obamacare is working!

Don't worry, Republicans have tried 39 times to (symbolically) repeal Obamacare and there's no hint that they will stop trying over and over to repeal it. (Mostly so they can go back home and say, like Michele Bachmann did, that we repealed Obamacare. Fine, except that the Senate didn't and so it is a moot point. It is not repealed.)

If that doesn't work, here's something that might work and it's from Freedom Works, so right there in the name it makes it sound as if it just might work. They are announcing a "Burn Your Obamacare Card Campaign to Resist the Compulsory Health Care Law. So, I'll stop for a few minutes and you go get your Obamacare card out of your wallet.

Music to listen to while I wait for you to get your Obamacare Card.

What?!? You can't find it????? Well, that's because there is no such thing as an Obamacare Card. Not to worry. Freedom Works is going to make up one and put it on their website or some such thing. Then you can use that, or as Stephen suggested, print it, cut it, laminate it, and then burn it.

Back in the 1960's, people, meaning 18 year-old guys, would burn their draft card. This was to show opposition to the Vietnam War. Some are suggesting there is a similar thing happening here, but Stephen wasn't buying it completely. To be in harmony with what they did way back then, you would also need to move to Canada.Which is a wonderful idea because they have a great health care plan there.

In order to clear up the whole Benghazi controversy, Representative Steve Stockman rolled out a 60 foot-long petition on the steps of the Capitol. Wow! Do you have any idea how many thousands of signatures would be on a petition that long? Well, actually, only 1000 signatures were on it, but they were very big signatures. Stephen Colbert has plans to do better than that. He has a 65-foot petition that is 2-ply and he's not just going to roll it down the steps of the Capitol, he's going to  drape the place with the petition.

We had a little bit of British culture and a little bit of North Carolina humor and then The Lumineers were on the show. That was Wesley Schultz, Neyla Pekarek, and Jeremiah Fraites. They are one of the few bands I know of that have made a point of emphasizing their Before and After talent. They had a subdued conversation with Stephen and then they played some music and of course if you go to Colbert Nation, there's a bonus song.

Update: I now realize that Stephen wasn't telling a joke about North Carolina, he was explaining existing or planned laws in North Carolina. Such things as making couples wait two years before getting a divorce, allowing North Carolina to declare a State Religion, deciding that Charter School teachers don't really actually need to have a college degree to teach core subjects, (let the 6th graders teach the 5th graders was Stephen's great idea) and allowing people to bring guns to bars and playgrounds. Then instead of kids in the playground playing Duck Duck Goose, they could play Duck Duck DUCK!

Good Source of Beta Carotene

Luckily for us and especially for new member of Congress, there will be yet another chance to vote to repeal Obamacare. This will be the 37th time. (I think the 37th time means a gift of Alabaster.)It just makes sense that each time there is a new Congress, everyone gets to vote on every bill that ever passed. Just because someone wasn't alive during Prohibition should not mean that they can't vote for or against it. And thus another attempt to repeal the law. Stephen showed us an amendment to be voted on.

I'm sorry to report that Stephen is not in Maxim's 2013 Hot 100. Last year he was #69 in the list of Hottest Women. Stephen is upset. I don't blame him. It is probably age discrimination as Stephen suggested. Nothing left for him to do but eat ice cream. The really really really embarrassing part of this debacle is that this year's #69 is Manti Te'o's Fake Girlfriend. How can anyone recover from that kind of embarrassment and disappointment. And just after he celebrated a birthday. What a slap in the face!

Stephen's guest was Dan Brown. His new book is "Inferno." (That's it... one word in the title. One. Word. !) And by all reports it is Hot. I don't think this book would qualify for a Reading Rainbow spot, just a feeling I have. Stephen as usual always comes out best when he interviews people. Stephen brought up puzzles which Dan Brown is fond of, specifically Dan Brown. In a segment that Stephen should call Anagram Time but doesn't, he told us and Dan Brown that the author's name is an anagram for "Brand Now" and also "Brand Down." Chew on that for a while!

G gle - What Were They Thinking?

Silly me. Stephen said at the beginning of the show on April 1 that "This is not The Colbert Report." And so I turned off the TV machine. Only when I looked at TiVo and found that a whole half hour had been recorded did I figure it out. I watched the show and realized it was his April Fools joke. Guess that makes me his fool. Mea Culpa. What can I say?

Turns out that Easter was not as blessed as it could have been for Stephen. Fox and Friends were upset that Google honored Cesar Chavez as their Google Doodle on March 31. Cesar Chavez was born on March 31 and thus that is why the Google Doodle was there on March 31. Sometimes I think Google just loves putting things up for a Doodle that people don't know about. You know, kind of a, oh what do they call it? Oh, yeah, a teachable moment. I mean, well, did you know it was Cesar Chavez Day?

Anyway, Foxy is upset and wonders "What they were thinking?" Stephen echoed her sentiment, even getting her voice right. What indeed? Imagine honoring the founder of the United Farm Workers who said this, "The truest act of courage... is to sacrifice yourself for others." (March 10, 1968) It was even suggested by Gretchen Carlson that people might boycott Google. I would give you a link to "Google Boycott" but then it wouldn't be a boycott, so there's no way to find out.

After complaining that the new Pope, Pope Francis, was annoying him by acting too humble, Stephen started ripping into Obamacare.  Congressional Republicans are doing what they can, in fact,  they "have voted 39 times... to repeal 'Obamacare,'..."


We learned a lot about health care, specifically TennCare in Tennessee. Under Obamacare, 180,000 people would be added to TennCare which is what they call Medicaid there. Here's what Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee said on March 13, 2013: "A lot of people say, 'hey, that's an easy call. Just expand three years 100 percent and then walk away at that point in time.' I don't think you can easily walk away." This points up the difference between telling people they are no longer getting health care versus telling them they are never getting health care. In Tennessee they do know a thing or two about health care because they have a health care lottery. Twice a year, residents who have high medical bills can call and ask for an application to the lottery. After about an hour, the lottery is over and if you didn't make it , you can try again in six months. If you don't win that lottery, Stephen suggested that you can call Nurse Brandy for $2.99 per minute.

About this point into the show, I was beginning to wonder if the whole show wasn't just one big April Fools Joke, but I will continue as if it was all sincere as any other day. Utah DNR is having an Earth Day Poster Contest. The theme is "Where Would WE Be Without Oil, Gas & Mining?" The contest is co-sponsored by the Society of Petroleum Engineers." One of the rules is "Do Not Use Glitter." That's right. If you spill that stuff, it is impossible to clean up. Stephen would know. He still has a bad case of Disco Lung due to an accident at a craft fair in 1998. If you want more information about Earth Day, you can look here, or here or here.

Stephen's guest on April Fools Day was Sigourney Weaver. They are mutual enormous tall fans of each other. When Stephen asked her what she topped out at, she told him, "Seven Four in flats." So taller than I would have expected. No wait, she was fooling with him. She's only Five Eleven. Stephen mentioned some of her more famous movies, the Alien series, Avatar, Ghost Busters. Of those, only Ghostbusters brought cheers and applause from the audience!

Currently Sigourney Weaver is in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. If you look around a little bit at that link there, you will learn that Sigourney Weaver plays Masha whose interests include jetsetting, signing autographs, and humility. Stephen did actually go to see the play and enjoyed it and even had the Playbill to prove that he saw it. He asked her why she would do theater - wasn't it a stretch to play a movie star since she actually is one? She admitted that it was difficult to play such a deeply shallow person.

Trivia fact. Sigourney Weaver's dad, Pat Weaver, started the Tonight Show. They talked a bit about the old days and Sigourney told Stephen that probably Johnny Carson would be impressed with Stephen Colbert. They talked a bit more about Hollywood, movies, TV and political involvement. I wondered if her views didn't tend toward a more liberal side than those of Stephen, a conservative, but he never tried to put her in her place.

Perhaps you can guess where that interview was headed all along and eventually Stephen did get there. He needed to ask her a question. She was a bit concerned but she let him ask his final question. As a journalist, he had to ask it. It's was a tough one, but a good question to end the interview with, so... "Sigourney Weaver, who ya gonna call?"

Rodents For Romney

President Barack Obama may have lots of Hollywood stars supporting him, but Mitt Romney has the all important squirrel vote. Sounds like a done deal to me.

I think this could be because Mitt Romney has an ambitious agenda. This is what Mitt Romney has been saying he will do on that all important Day One. (Not to be confused with One Day or someday.)

3/31 Repeal Obamacare
6/15 Americans back to work
12/16 Label China a currency manipulator
6/14 Get approval for pipeline from Canada
6/14 Put a halt to all regulations from Obama years

(Let me just put in a word about regulations. It can be cheaper to make things and sell things without all those pesky regulations getting in the way. Regulations such as food safety for example. None of us want to have exploding ketchup. Am I right or am I right???  So, let's not be so quick to get rid of regulations. Just sayin'.)

Stephen just happens to have Mitt Romney's Day One Schedule:

January 20, 2013
8:00 a.m. to Noon  ---  Inauguration
12:30 --- Appoint Cabinet
1:00  ---  Take photo for White House ID
1:07  ---  Retake Photo!!!!
1:45  ---  Repeal Obamacare
2:30  ---  Examine remains of Roswell Aliens
3:00  ---  Unwrap Oval Office label maker
3:15  ---  Label China a currency manipulator
4:00  ---  Pick nuclear launch codes: Zip code+Ann's birthday (?)
6:00  ---  Take down Biden's Old Eric Estrada posters
6:15  ---  Get everyone in America a job
8:00  ---  Activate self-deportation
9:00  ---  Immigration solved
10:00 --- With Presidency completed, resign and attend inauguration of President Ryan


Corn may be something you think of as eating with your meat loaf and mashed potatoes. But it is important for so many more reasons that just a food for supper. Stuff, lots of stuff, is made from corn, including candy. That is turning out to be a better meal option for cows. Yes, cows are turning away from, or being turned away from, corn and instead eating candy corn. It may seem appropriate at this time of year to be reporting about candy corn, but it is even more timely than that. Stephen took us to Mitchell, South Dakota and uncovers every kernel of truth about the Corn Palace there. Due to the drought, there is not as much corn, and as a result, the Corn Palace will not have as many colors this year. It's sad, so sad. I'm heartbroken.

Guests on the show Thursday night were The Killers. According to Wikipedia's entry about The Killers, their band originated in Las Vegas. Obviously what happens in Las Vegas doesn't necessarily stay in Las Vegas. (They have been traveling around to lots of cities playing their music and singing!) If you did not see them on The Colbert Report, you can always go over to Colbert Nation to view recent episodes.

Quick Get In The Car

There has been a lot of food in the news lately and not always in a food sort of way. (Chicken comes to mind!) Here's more food related stuff. Papa John's Pizza may end up costing us up to 14 cents more because of the improvements in health care as a result of the Affordable Care Act, you know, Obamacare.

And then there's pills that have potato batteries built into them and your skin patch sends a message to your smart phone and then every one of your friends know your pills are working. (I wonder if I got that right. It sounds a bit confusing now that I read it back. hmph.)

Stephen has better products made by Prescott Pharmaceuticals. For example, you can get Facelift Bungee for $25, but for a mere $24, you can get something just as good from Prescott. It's the Vacsa Strap - a prescription strength adhesive celluloid ribbon, undetectable at a range of 50 meters or more. Stephen demonstrated it. For sure he looked different, whether or not he looked younger is a not as certain. One thing I know for sure though, I really wanted to see him take that thing off! Unfortunately, he did it during the commercial break, so only the studio audience got to see.

More food again. Cheerios, that tasty oat cereal made by General Mills. (Ooh, there' recipes at their website. Yum.) It seems they are welcoming and inclusive of folks. This got Michael Leisner mad. He only wants to be accepting of some people, not all people, so his bright idea was to set some Cheerios on fire in front of General Mills in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Good idea. After all, what could possibly go wrong? Here's some info about the video and the man.

And here's the video, at least for now.

As a side note, when I looked at this page with the Michael Leisner video, up in the top left hand corner was a photo of Tim Pawlenty and this link to another story: T-Paw's Wikipedia on lockdown thanks to Colbert. Well, what did Stephen expect? Oh, right, he did expect that.

Liza Mundy was the guest on the show. Her latest book (half of which seems to be on the front cover) is "The Richer Sex, How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love and Family." You can read about the book over at New York Times. Both Liza and Stephen had interesting questions and interesting observations. We will have to wait until the future gets here to decide if this is a good thing.

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!

We Will Transform American Politics

Tonight's rerun was from August 16. You can see my post from then - Brilliant Not Manipulative to see more of what was on tonight. We heard terms such as:

estate tax = death tax
health care reform = government takeover of health care
energy exploration = oil drilling
climate change = global warming

It's amazing what you can do if you just change the words or even letters a bit.

Here's what Stephen got out of obamacare:

O Bam A Car, E!!!

In preparation for the astronauts, he played a clip of NASA's Greatest Moments which included Kirk and Spock, James Bond, Miss Piggy, Michael Jackson doing the Moon Walk, the Jetsons, Tang and the space bar on a computer keyboard.

It will be interesting in the weeks ahead to see how Dr. Frank Luntz helps Stephen learn to be a better communicator.