Labor Day weekend potpourri

Mark and Irene Harris (left, frolicking in the Florida surf), delegates to the GOP convention, wrote this on their blog  Rock Star GOP : "Prior to National Republican Convention we visited Disney for three days.  During our time at Epcot we visited the different countries.  It was neat seeing each country and the employees were from that individual country.  Then we visited America . . . one would think you would find American employees.  We were offended to find a person from Mexico working in America.  Mark spoke up and told them he was highly offended after visiting the other countries and seeing employees from that country and then come to America and find a Mexican.  He was very civil but his point was well made."  They don't allow comments on their blog, but someone must have gotten to them, because a few days later, they posted: " For those of you who have not taken the Epcot experience, it is a trip well worth taken.  Epcot gives you a real world experience all in one day.  The shops, the buildings, the shows, and the food is all inherent to where you are. Each staff member is identified by a name tag, referencing their country of origin.  As  noted,  only in the country of the United States, within Epcot,  was a staff member representing and working, who did not have a name tag representing that country.  I would say being offended may been too harsh, disappointed or dismayed may have been a better choice of words."

Ya think?

The saddest thing about Clint Eastwood's embarrassing performance at the Republican National Convention is that it seemed so out of character for a man who always has been more nuanced and complicated than his macho film persona would suggest. In fact, many of his films have been more nuanced and complicated than many realize, often demonstrating a sensitivity to cultural diversity that is anathema to most Republicans, once making the case for end of life choice, and once even revealing the pettiness and empty false mythology behind the violent Westerns that first made him famous.

Eastwood has come out in favor of gay marriage, but he supports a presidential candidate who would ban it, and spoke to the convention of a party that is openly bigoted against the LGBT community. Eastwood last winter cut an ad that expressed appreciation for the auto bailout that Mitt Romney opposed and President Obama created. Eastwood is an environmentalist in a party that sees nature as nothing but a commodity to be exploited and exhausted. Eastwood in his speech decried the ongoing war in Afghanistan, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the Republicans oppose even the limited withdrawal President Obama signed. Eastwood mocked liberal Hollywood, but has a history of working well with noted liberal activists such as Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Hillary Swank. He has been known as a man of dignity, unpretentious, widely respected, well-liked.

Clint Eastwood is 82 years old, but there is no evidence that his mental faculties have been suffering. He still directs substantial films, and he still demonstrates wisdom in his choices of films to direct. If there is any lesson to be drawn from his public self-immolation it is that even a nuanced and complicated and normally respectable man cannot stand in the GOP spotlight without being soiled by it. This was a self-inflicted disaster, and Eastwood has no one to blame but himself. It was, nevertheless, sad.

From Bloomberg Businessweek:  On the final morning of the Republican National Convention, Karl Rove took the stage at the Tampa Club to provide an exclusive breakfast briefing to about 70 of the Republican party’s highest-earning and most powerful donors. During the more than hour-long session, Rove explained to an audience dotted with hedge fund billionaires and investors—including John Paulson and Wilbur Ross—how his super PAC, American Crossroads, will persuade undecided voters in crucial swing states to vote against Barack Obama. He also detailed plans for Senate and House races, and joked, “We should sink Todd Akin. If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts!”   Then Rove pleaded with his audience for more money—much more.

And finally, we admit to missing this story (We have an excuse. You don't want to know) and we thank those of you who kindly wrote in, asking us to post the information we have gathered:

"After 20 months, Fisher Communications’ KVI-AM Seattle is returning to its conservative roots. On 9/4 it will again become Talk Radio KVI, replacing “Smart Talk.” The current format has an emphasis on entertainment news, lifestyle and health reports, and local news. Programs include “Sunrise Seattle”, a Good Morning America-type program hosted by Mark Christopher and Elisa Jaffe, Clark Howard, Phil Hendrie, “The Buzz” with Scott Carty, the “Daily Wrap from the Wall Street Journal” with Michael Castner, and Don Imus, as well as paid programming on weekends.

The once and future format will begin at 5 a.m. on Tuesday with the familiar voice of John Carlson, 2000 Republican gubernatorial candidate who has lately been heard on crosstown KOMO radio. Carlson is a talk radio veteran and onetime communications director for the Washington State Republican Party.

Carlson will air until 9AM. Then it will be Laura Ingraham. Lars Larsen will occupy the 6-9 p.m. slot, starting 9/24, followed by Michael Savage from 9 p.m. until midnight."

Comments

[sparky]

Chris Rock on Twitter...The Dems should have an empty chair on the stage for the entire DNC, and when someone asks who it belongs to, they can say Osama Bin Laden.

[Coiler]

Ah, good one. Condi blew off the August Memo and Bush wasn't interested in OBL.

[KS]

The Dems will have nothing but their own tired rhetoric, scare tactics, distractions from the corruption in the State Dept., DHC and HHS and no new ideas. Give Ms. Fluke a year's supply of condoms so she won't have to mooch off the Government until after the election is over.

We will thank the Seals and the idea actually put forward by Mrs. Clinton to eradicate OBL. The book put forward by one of the Seals, disputes Obama's account of killing OBL. Just another sweetened up version of the crap sandwich he is feeding to his loyal subjects.

[Coiler]

Bush just wasn't interested in OBL, doesn't take a SEAL to tell us what we all knew.

[Walt]

You really suck in all the Fox News talking points dont you KS? You obviously still don't know what Ms Fluke actually said, you haven't heard the military's reaction to that book (fiction) blah blah blah.

[Coiler]

Obviously, Helen Chenowith was a slut when she was screwing married men in Idaho.

[KS]

Nice try, Walt. Just talking the truth - why do you have such a problem with it ? Actually I do know , but don't care about what Fluke said - she's a tool of the Democrats, but you are not bright enough to see that.

I pity you and your ilk for being progressive sheeple.

Hey Coiler - evidence please. Nice Goebbels impression.

[nameless]

There's one scary message commimg out of his administration. "If you are al qaeda, your ass is grass." Obama destroyed OBL. Get uesd to it.

[Coiler]

She was a critic of President Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal and was one of the first to call for his resignation over the affair, although she admitted that she had carried on a six-year illicit romance with married rancher Vernon Ravenscroft, when she worked for his natural-resources consulting firm during the 1980s. Chenoweth claimed that her case was different from the Clinton/Lewinsky case since she was a private citizen at the time, and claimed her case was different because "I've asked for God's forgiveness, and I've received it." and condoms too!!

[Walt]

KS if you "know" what she said about birth control, then why keep repeating the lie?

[12th Man]

Remember when KVI had the Mariners as well as the Cougs? Remember when they had a nighttime sports-talk show called "The Sports Page"? Remember when Bob Robertson was their sports director? Remember the days of Hardwick, Morton, Peter B, ect.? Remember when J. Michael Kenyon was on there? Remember when they took Larry King away from KIRO in 1980 before they lost it to the old KING-AM in 1985? Remember Tam Henry? Jim French & all the rest?