Revenue Neutral

We found out a little bit about math on the show, --- just a teeny tiny bit. Paul Ryan doesn't give specifics of Mitt Romney's tax plan because it would take too long to go through all the math. So, now we know why we don't know what everyone has been waiting to know. It was a great answer that Paul Ryan gave to Chris Wallace, but it would take Stephen too long to explain why it is a great answer so just trust Stephen and by default I imagine we should trust Paul Ryan.

Stephen informed us that President Obama is a net job creator, in other words, more jobs created than lost, so that's a nice thing.

In The Word, we found out that it is possible to get a jobs in manufacturing that pay 23 cents an hour! There is a catch, you need to be in prison to get these jobs. There is this law that dates way back to the 1930s establishing Unicor. In some ways, it seems good because it provides work and training for prisoners. Labor is very cheap, obviously, but prices don't have to be. The down side is that it makes it hard for other companies to compete with those kinds of labor costs. Sounds like no easy answers on this one.

In New York, it is the last day of the General Assembly of the UN. And you know what that means. Shopping!!! While Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in New York, his entourage has been snatching up great bargains at various stores around town. Stephen did have some concerns about this, but I think he may have been confused, so not as bad as he thought.

Everything on the show seemed to have a strong tie to math, or a strong time to not using math (see Paul Ryan above). Even the guest(s) had a mathematical leaning. The Musical guests were Ben Folds Five, which you would think would be a band with five people in it but actually, it's only three guys. They were there to talk with Stephen about the name of their band and other more interesting stuff. They performed "Do It Anyway," from their album "The Sound of the Life of the Mind." You know how you often can go over to Colbert Nation and hear a bonus song? Well, not so this time folks. The message at the bottom of the screen said, "For Bonus Song, go buy their album. There's nothing on our website."

So, go buy it.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice

Yes, another rerun. This time it's that episode after the Iowa Straw Poll - the one with Tim Pawlenty's TV ad from after he dropped out of the presidential race: Pawlenty 2012 - It Was Disappointing. So you can just read that post again if you want.

Also Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations was on this episode. Here's that link again for lots of info about the United Nations. And here's something fun for all of you. Go to that link, then under "the BRIEFING ROOM" click on Photo Gallery. Now, it is possible the photos could change when you look, but I found a very familiar face in photo number 1. I'm not saying who it is, but I'm pretty sure you will recognize the person sitting at a table with Ambassador Susan Rice. And I think it goes to show what is really important to the people at the U.N.

And a reminder from Stephen. Text AID to 27722 which gives $10 directly to the U.N.'s World Food Program.