News

Alright, time for a brief sports break on the Out In Left Field blog.

As the state of Michigan gears-up for tomorrow night’s huge Game 4 match-up between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks, I caught this video about how CBC’s Glenn Healy doesn’t think Pavel Datsyuk has “all of the God Blessed hockey talent in the world.”

Here’s the video, which isn’t the best quality but you can hear what Healy is saying:

Is it safe to assume Healy had a couple of ginger ales before appearing on the set that day?  Because I can’t think of any other logical reason why a guy who gets paid to…watch HOCKEY…believes Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk doesn’t have much talent!

WTF!!!!

And it’s because of guys like Healy why I’m hoping Detroit can pull-off the upset.  The hockey media intelligentsia has it all mapped-out that the Stanley Cup Finals will feature their beloved Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins.  They can’t believe the Wings have any talented players to match Chicago’s.  Yes, Chicago is loaded with talent, and has more skilled players than Detroit.  However, is it wrong to say that Datsyuk might be the best skill player on either Detroit or Chicago?

It’s arguable, at the very least.

In case Healy doesn’t know that much about Pavel Datsyuk, and what he’s done with the Detroit Red Wings during the last decade, here’s a little video evidence he can chew-on:

This is something I started last year, but stopped doing for some reason.  So, I’d like to make it a tradition again on the blog.

Each Sunday on WSGW’s First Day with Pat Johnston & Hilary Farrell show, I have a segment called, “Pat’s Indie Pick of the Week,” in which I feature a song from the Independent/Alternative Rock genre.  It’s music you won’t always hear on Top 40 stations, although indie songs have been known to occasionally infiltrate the mainstream.  Passion Pit’s “Take A Walk” comes to mind as a recent Indie hit to also receive airplay on mainstream stations.

And the line between Indie music and mainstream music continues to get more and more blurry as time goes by, especially since Indie songs are becoming more prominent on commercials.

Serving as this week’s “Indie Music Wednesday” is a song that I featured on First Day last Fall, even though it’s about three years old.

It’s the title track to the Australian group/duo, Empire On the Sun, called “Walking On a Dream.”

If you need something with a nice, laid back groove, this song will do the trick.

Enjoy!

So says Ken Braun on MLive as he complains why “good men” like his conservative buddy–and AT&T of Michigan President–Jim Murray can’t be elected to the U.S. Senate:

But now he must persuade voters, not politicians and others who know his talent. The system is not built for millions of Michigan voters to appreciate his best features. Elective office is the only “profession” where the skills for winning the job – such as an ability to be popular with the masses, cash and a recognizable name – have no relation whatsoever to what makes one good at governing. Some win with both talents, but they’re happy exceptions. A representative form of government is the best system there is, but it needs people like Jim to make up for its failings.

 

Just starting his career in politics in the early 1990s, Jim was fired by a long-since-forgotten state representative. At the time, that politician said Jim wouldn’t amount to much in Lansing – a laughable notion just a few years later. That old boss knew how to be popular at home, yet knew so little about governing in Lansing that he didn’t recognize his weakness nor that he was kicking a solution for it out the door.

 

To his credit, Mr. Murray has never put being popular at the top of his agenda. But that’s why a notion like “U.S. Sen. Jim Murray” likely belongs to a previous century.

You see, life was great when poor people, middle class people, women, people of color, and people of certain religions couldn’t vote.  Since that’s no longer the case, Braun is left long for the days of when government belonged to the “Boys Club.”  Since we’ve allowed the commoners a voice, there’s always a possibility someone from the outside could sneak-in and ruin everything.

And who says powerful people in both government and the private sector are out-of-touch with the rest of America?

If you recall just a short five months ago, National Rifle Association President Wayne LaPierre blamed Hollywood movies for recent mass shootings in the United States.  LaPierre highlighted movies such as Natural Born Killers to explain the Newtown or the Aurora shootings because the NRA is obviously stuck in some 1990′s time warp (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

“The Godfather” encourages good gun behavior?

Ever ready to contradict itself, the NRA’s “flagship publication,” American Rifleman, has released its “Coolest Gun Movies” list.  Here’s the “criteria” on what qualifies as a cool gun movie.

Firearm enthusiasts are quick to point out the inaccuracies in Hollywood films featuring firearms. Can you blame us? Some of these movies, though, have affected our next gun purchase or made us think about situations for which we should be prepared. Many of these movies also take us back to simpler times, when dreaming of saving the day got us through that oh-so boring class.

 

As a huge fan of cinema, I thoroughly enjoy movies that feature gunfights.  I mean, I love Westerns, after all.  But movies are a work of art and fantasy, and you’re not supposed to treat art as real life.  According to the American Rifleman’s criteria, that’s not the case.

But I thought I Hollywood was to blame for gun violence?

My head’s starting to hurt trying to logically think through this.

Moving on.

The list includes some classic movies like The Godfather, The Alamo, Die Hard and The Terminator.  It also includes not so classic ones like Red Dawn and The Delta Force.

However, it’s the reasons these movies are picked as “cool gun movies” that puzzles me.

For example, here’s why Die Hard has been selected:

While few of us actually followed through and became police officers, which is probably best since this is very untypical in the life of most law enforcement officers, this movie reminds us that good can triumph over evil with skill, training, determination and a few well-placed shots. Yippee-ki-yay.

I spit-out my water after reading this.  Are they serious?  Is this some kind of off-the-wall satire that I’m not getting?

In real life, John McLane would’ve been…DEAD!!!  That’s what makes Die Hard a movie: It’s nearly three hours of pure adrenaline and entertainment, mixed-in with terrific dialogue featuring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman and the rest of the cast.  Plus, it’s an allegory of Jesus Christ, which is why I consider it a fantastic Christmas flick.

But if all you got from it is that you should practice-up to be a good shot because you never know when German bank robbers posing as terrorists will crash your Christmas party, then I’m afraid the whole point of the film is lost for you.

It’s wouldn’t mark the first time the NRA missed the point on something, though.

Bush’s “Swallowed” has been a song I’ve been running into a lot lately, and it’s going to serve as this week’s “90′s Music Nostalgia Break.”

I recall mocking this song with my roommates back in the winter of 1997 whenever it appeared on MTV, which seemed like it happened at least twice an hour.  But little did they know, I secretly loved this song.  As a good friend of mine says, “It’s a ‘Pat Song.’”  I tend to enjoy songs that have a morose, lazy, and slow style.  “Swallowed” fit perfectly in the “Pat Song” category.

From their 1996 album, Razorblade Suitcase, here’s Bush with “Swallowed.”

Bush – Swallowed by Tunashaker

On my “Pat Political Point” on WSGW’s First Day with Pat Johnston and Hilary Farrell yesterday, I had to address the “Scandal Fever” the beltway has been experiencing this past week.  It seems to me that while mistakes have been made and questions should be asked, conservatives are praying these scandals will lead to the eventual downfall of President Obama.

Click the link below to hear how I call-out some of the president’s critics for–to quote Andrew Sullivan–”losing it.”

 The Pat Political Point on “Scandal Fever,” which aired on WSGW’s “First Day” on Sunday, May 19, 2013

My Sunday “rant’ garnered a couple of listener responses.  Here’s one negative one:

Pat, it sounds like you are worried about the presidents lack of control on several issues which are currently swirling around Washington.  I heard some desperation in your tone when speaking on your show this morning.  Really are you blaming Bush still for the lack of common sense of some of the citizens of New Orleans to evacuate from the path of a hurricane?  You sound like you are grabbing for straws to rationalize Obamas character flaws.  Look for more reasons to try to explain his behavior (or lack of action) coming soon to a Sunday morning editorial.

No, I’m not grabbing at straws to rationalize Obama’s so-called “character flaws.”  Anyone who visits this blog knows I have attacked Mr. Obama on a whole slew of issues, including his embrace of The Banksters, drone program, Afghanistan War, and the bigger of the three recent “scandals,” The DOJ/AP story.  I am, however, agreeing with Andrew Sullivan on how rich it is to hear from Obama’s critics charge that either Benghazi! or the IRS scandal reach the level of Watergate.  It’s freakin’ ridiculous to suggest such a notion.

And, here’s a positive response:

Pat, How refreshing to finally hear some common sense opinion on President Obama….No president is blameless of wrongdoing, but we will go through 8 years of Obama bashing instead of putting aside politics for the good of all us Americans.  We have to pay taxes, some taxes, as a condition of our humanity, but the rich have gotten away with tax exemptions far more than the average taxpayer. Just watched some episodes of “undercover Boss” and it always amazes me that these bosses are surprised that their employees can’t make a decent living on one job with a paycheck of $7.00 per hour.

I’ve been meaning to blast away on that “Undercover Boss” show, too.  It’s hard for me to empathize for a CEO of a major fast food joint.

Thoughts?  Email me at pat@wsgw.com