No rinse cycle please


Since I moved and now use a different VA hospital, I have to do all of my medical tests over. I am leaving in a few minutes to catch the light rail to the Dallas VA Hospital. There I will have my second MRI this year.

It beats me if they will learn anything more from this MRI than the one I had earlier this year. I don’t particularly like getting an MRI. It reminds me of climbing in a washing machine and letting people on the outside of the washer beat it rapidly with sticks.

Oh well. I guess I better get it over with.

Blame this post on Bill Clinton


The GOP plans to blame miscues in governing the country on Bush 41 if the tactic of blaming Bill Clinton fails.

Who is to blame for the current crisis with North Korea? If you believe the Republican robo-talking points, it’s Bill Clinton. In fact, Bill Clinton seems to be the easiest target on which to shift blame when something is amiss in the U.S. Who started the War Between the States? Bill Clinton. Who caused the Hindenburg Disaster? Bill Clinton. Who caused the Great Chicago Fire? Bill Clinton. Who did Monica Lewinsky … oh, that really was Bill Clinton.

It is somewhat astounding that the GOP would use as a scapegoat for virtually any failure the U.S. faces a president who has not been in office for more than six years. It’s like the smug Bush “W” bumper sticker that says: “Get over it!” Perhaps people should keep in mind that what has occurred in relation to our country since 2000 took place under Bush’s “watch.” So get over it.

The hard core, right-wing gab machines are among the most prolific users of Bill Clinton — the excuse. I refer to Limberger, Hannity, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Bill O’Reilly and the others who have made their fortunes in the Clinton-bashing business.

Interestingly enough, it seems some of the right-wing radio twits have begun to criticize Gee Dubya for some of our problems. I’m sure if a solid Democratic majority comes to power this year and after the next presidential election, one might see a lot more right-wing talking asses join the bandwagon. After all, you got to follow the money, right?

Are Americans smart enough to realize they have been played like a worn-out fiddle by the GOP for some time now? One can only hope. But then again, Americans elected Bush and the Republican majority now in Congress. Maybe voters have learned their lessons. But we shall see.

"Oh the humanity"


It is downright amazing to where a wandering mind may lead. If you are on the Internets, your mind can take to just about anywhere or anything. For instance: I thought about novelty songs. This led to a list of the top 10 novelty songs. I didn’t necessarily agree with the list in that these songs were worthy of the top 10. So I found another list of the 100 greatest novelty songs.

Now it is very difficult to think about this list of the 100 greatest novelty songs without thinking about the songs themselves. “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haa,” by Napoleon XIV is at the top of that list and I also disagree that it should top the list. But it definitely is a novelty song. I remember once when I lived in Longview, Texas, a radio station in that area played this song over and over for something like 24 hours straight. I suppose that qualifies as a bonafide radio stunt but it didn’t particularly inspire me to listen to the station for more than half of the song.

Next my mind veered off course like a drunken ship’s captain onto the subject of radio stunts in general. About.com has a decent list of radio stunts. I read awhile ago about one of the jokes on that list. It involved the co-host of a Spanish-language morning show in Miami calling Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, pretending to be Cuban President, Fidel Castro. That’s definitely funnier than the old “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?” prank. Okay, if you don’t get the reference, it has to do with Prince Albert tobacco that was packaged in a tin. It may still be, I have no idea nor do I care to look it up on the Web because I have wasted way too much time today. Back to the Prince Albert prank, a kid would call up a grocery store and ask if they had Prince Albert in a can. If the store employee answered in the affirmative, the prankster would say: “Well you better let him out.” A lot of wasted words there for little effect. And I almost forgot the point to all of this.

Thoughts about radio stunts next plunged my wandering mind down a mountainside to my final tangent. That tangent was the best radio stunt ever which was not real. I refer to the classic “Thanksgiving Turkey Drop” on “WKRP in Cincinnati.” I found a clip of it on You Tube and for some reason I am not able to post it to my blog, but if you click this you should be able to watch the snippet.

My mind is tuckered out from all that wandering so I shall call it a blog day. I wonder where the expression “tuckered out” came from …