Archive for March, 2010

If you didn’t catch the pilot last week, do yourself a favor and start watching Justified.  Watch the pilot on the computer, on demand, or read a summary of it, then pick up with the second episode, which airs tonight on FX at 9:00 p.m.

The show is based on Elmore Leonard’s novels Pronto and Riding the Rap.  Its main character is U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, played by the awesome Timothy Olyphant.  Givens gets transferred to his rural Kentucky, where he is originally from, after his style of justice gets him into hot water in Florida (he gives a bad guy 24 hours to leave town or he’ll shoot him).  He quickly finds out there is a lot going on in Kentucky.

An old work buddy, played by Nick Searcy, has become the leader of a white supremacist group that isn’t afraid to go beyond rhetoric. His character is awesome. You definitely get the sense he doesn’t buy the racism he’s selling, but just enjoys the crimes he commits and the money he gets. His introduction shows you he’s not fooling around.

We are also introduced to a possible love interest (who has just shot her abusive husband) and Givens’ ex-wife. They are both compelling characters and the chemistry is instant.

Givens’ boss has just the right level of tough guy so as to not be annoying and the rest of the U.S. Marshal crew seems good enough. The white supremacist group is well played and incredibly believable.

Givens himself seems to be pulled straight from the Wild West. He seemed out of place in Florida, but in rural Kentucky his old school cop fits perfectly. The series will be somewhat anachronistic but the setting makes it totally believable. Givens could be just another good over evil Old West sheriff, but the pilot continuously hints that he is less-than-perfect.

Plus there are awesome gun fights and action sequences surrounding all of this.

It was one of the best pilots I have seen in a very long time and I cannot wait to see where it goes.

Rating: DVR top priority

Enjoy the show.

Adam Feser

After her resignation as governor of Alaska, Palin claimed there were better ways she could serve the constituents of Alaska. Many of us wondered how she could help them more by not being their governor, but we were assured by her many (inexplicable) fans that she would get their back.

So at first it seemed she was going to help them by scaring the hell out of them and the country by lying about the government’s proclivity for granny-slaying. Then it seemed she was going to help them by contributing opinion at Fox News. Maybe she was just getting ready to make another horrifying and unsuccessful push at the White House. But none of this really seemed as though she was serving Alaskans.

Now we finally know what her big plan to help her constituents is: a reality television show. That’s right, Alaskans, don’t worry about your elected governor quitting on you because she’s had your bets interest in mind the whole time. And it’s only for your best interest that she shopped her reality show to networks to get the most lucrative deal.

Now, to be fair, the show has something to do with Alaska. That’s right, you’ll be better served by her making millions on a show about your state than by her governing it (this is probably actually true, though I don’t think that’s how she’d see it). So yeah, your welcome, residents of Alaska who voted for her to be their governor.

I only wish Ray was still around to spin this to show how she’s America’s last great hope. (Is Ray still around?)

Enjoy the defense of this move.

Curious George was one of my favorite characters growing up, and I’m glad to find out a little more about the series. There is currently an exhibit in the Jewish Museum in New York dealing with Little George.

The character was created by H.A. and Margaret Reys, who were German Jews living in Paris at the time of the Nazi invasion. They had been concerned for their safety and fled Paris on their bicycles, narrowly escaping dangerous situations along the way.

So the efforts of Curious George are somewhat autobiographical in nature. Pretty neat stuff.

Enjoy a little Curious George today.

Adam Feser

Biden pulled a great one today:

While letting the president know how awesome this is, Biden said, “This is a big f*#@ing deal.”

When he’s right, he’s right, which is the same sentiment shared by the White House.

Enjoy success.

Adam Feser

Senator John McCain, once a noted renegade maverick willing to go bipartisan, has decided to let sour grapes get in the way of doing his job.

“There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year. They have poisoned the well in what they’ve done and how they’ve done it.”

Mr. “Country First” has decided to put the country behind his hurt feelings, though he and other Republicans were provided plenty of opportunity to cooperate on this bill (and many of their ideas were included).

This is the type of crap you’d expect to see on the playground. He’s basically saying he will refuse to try and help govern America out of spite.

Or is it more like an old man yelling at kids on his grass? He certainly seems to be getting more and more crotchety. Perhaps it is time for Old Man McCain to retire.

You would think a statement like this would lead to a revolt, but, sadly, it will likely help him get reelected.

Enjoy the picture of McCain shaking his fist and waving his cane at those damned Democrats.

Adam Feser

Conservative writer David Frum has an interesting article on the passage of health care reform entitled “It’s Waterloo All Right: Ours.” His position is that Republicans screwed themselves.

They could have decided to compromise in the beginning, but they put all their chips on health care failing. They decided that if Obama and Democrats failed, 2010 would be looking pretty good. And now they’re in a pickle.

As Frum puts it:

At the beginning of this process we made a strategic decision: unlike, say, Democrats in 2001 when President Bush proposed his first tax cut, we would make no deal with the administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing. We were going for all the marbles. This would be Obama’s Waterloo – just as healthcare was Clinton’s in 1994.

On the possibility of a deal:

Could a deal have been reached? Who knows? But we do know that the gap between this plan and traditional Republican ideas is not very big. The Obama plan has a broad family resemblance to Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts plan. It builds on ideas developed at the Heritage Foundation in the early 1990s that formed the basis for Republican counter-proposals to Clintoncare in 1993-1994.

You wouldn’t know that this plan isn’t much different from conservative plans if you listened to Republicans, but the damn Heritage Foundation (more…)

If you hate health care reform, you should hate Mitt Romney.

Mitt Romney came out and said, “America has just witnessed an unconscionable abuse of power. President Obama has betrayed his oath to the nation…”

He has to do this because he knows he’s vulnerable on the issue. He’s vulnerable because he is the only governor that has passed reform almost exactly like Obama’s.

His plan, for instance, had an individual insurance mandate and provided help to those that couldn’t afford it.

Were you confused as to who that “His” referred to? Pick a name, because both of their plans fit that description.

If you read that salon article, they make a pretty strong argument that he helped craft and pass the MA legislation in order to differentiate himself from other Republican presidential contenders. So he did it to help himself. And now that it is a Republican bugaboo, he has to pretend to really, really hate it.

It’s hilarious, but the Heritage Foundation (hyper-conservative “research” group) gave Romney their blessing for that bill. Conservatives okayed that one. But now that a Democrat is in charge, it’s the worst thing in the world.

Oh hypocrisy, how rampant thou art.

Enjoy fantasy baseball season.

Adam Feser

First and foremost, Uncle Feser, congrats.

2nd of all, I do not know the bill in its entirety but these are things I would like to have seen in this program

1. Will there be drug testing. Any and all participants in government sponsored health care or any government program should be subject to drug screen.
2. Tax breaks for companies that choose to provide their employees with private insurance. It would save money in the long run
3. Do no penalize me for choosing not to have insurance, public or … See Moreprivate. Its my right.
4. Abortions: I am not going to debate whether abortion is right or wrong, what I am going to debate whether abortions should be paid for by socialized medicine. HELL NO!

I’m sorry for my lack of posts recently. I have been out of town for the last week and I haven’t spent much time on the computer. There is obviously a lot going on now so expect more from me in the next few days.

I’ll write about reform shortly, but I am just wondering if anyone who opposes it could tell me which part of the bill they do not like. If you hate it, tell me why, not just that you hate it.

Enjoy the madness.

Adam Feser