FARKEL FAMILY FUN

Recently, I was reminded of the Farkel family sketches on the comedy TV show Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in.  I loved the Farkel family, Frank (Dan Rowan) and Fanny (Jo Anne Worley), their kids, and their neighbor Ferd Berffel (Dick Martin).  The children in this sketch from 1970 are Sparkle (Goldie Hawn), identical twins, Simon (Teresa Graves) and Gar (Pamela Rodgers), and Flicker (Ruth Buzzi). I could not make out the name of the boy in the family, nor do I know who played the part in this sketch or the part of the suspicious boy brought in by police officer, Phil McCorkle, who is played by the wonderful Jonathan Winters.  The Farkel children varied in number and  names from season to season.  Enjoy.

THAT NICE ROMNEY LAD

BILL LUMAYE: I’m going to ask something I think a lot of people want to know, or at least I do. What is it like for you to hear the President of the United States call your dad a liar. How do you react to that? 

TAGG ROMNEY: Jump out of your seat and you want to rush down to the debate stage and take a swing at him. But you know you can’t do that because… Well, first there is a lot of Secret Service between you and him but also because this is the nature of the process.

As Melissa in the comments said:

Huh. I thought violent people weren't supposed to come from two parent households.

Seemingly, respect for the office of President of the United States was not high on the training agenda for the five Romney lads, or perhaps Tagg models his dad.  We all saw during the second debate that Mitt treated President Barack Obama like one of "the help".  Like father, like son? 

Full interview with Tagg Romney at Think Progress.

MITT ROMNEY'S TAX PLAN

The numbers...
 

 

PLEASE MOVE THE DEER CROSSING SIGN

This audio clip from Y94 Playhouse Fargo, ND radio station was too funny to not find a way for more people to hear it so thus, this video. A lady asks for help getting deer crossing signs moved to lower traffic areas. "The government can guide deer to lower traffic areas" ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! Kudos to Y94 Playhouse and Donna for the joy that you have given many through laughter.

And from the comments at YouTube:

Don't even get me started on where the government places icy roads.

Thanks to Marthe.

WHOM DO YOU BELIEVE?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Secretary Clinton has done an extraordinary job. But she works for me. I’m the president. And I’m always responsible. And that’s why nobody is more interested in finding out exactly what happened than I did (sic).

The day after the attack, Governor, I stood in the Rose Garden, and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened, that this was an act of terror. And I also said that we’re going to hunt down those who committed this crime. And then a few days later, I was there greeting the caskets coming into Andrews Air Force Base and grieving with the families.

And the suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the secretary of state, our U.N. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we’ve lost four of our own, Governor, is offensive. That’s not what we do. That’s not what I do as president. That’s not what I do as commander in chief.

No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for.  Today we mourn four more Americans who represent the very best of the United States of America.  We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act.  And make no mistake, justice will be done.

Complete video and transcript of the Rose Garden speech.

Yes, "offensive", Governor Romney.  Your comments were offensive.  You persisted in your claim that Obama did not call the attack on the diplomatic compound an act of terror on the morning after the tragedy, despite the video.  You persisted despite the fact that Ambassador Chris Stevens' father, Jan Stevens, requested that his son's death not be politicized.

Republicans and even certain of the MSM are spinning the exchange as a victory for Romney because on the morning after the attack, President Obama did not say "attack on our diplomatic post" and "act of terror" in proper sequence in his speech in the Rose Garden.

FOLLOWED AT NIGHT

 

A man was walking home alone late one night passing a cemetery when he hears a BUMP . . . BUMP . . . BUMP . . . behind him.

Walking a little faster, he looks back, and he makes out the image of an upright coffin banging its way down the sidewalk towards him . . . BUMP . . . BUMP . . . BUMP.

Terrified, the man begins to run towards his home, the coffin bouncing quickly behind him . . . faster . . . faster . . . BUMP . . . BUMP . . . BUMP.

He runs up to his door, fumbles with his keys, opens the door, rushes in, and slams and locks the door behind him.

But the coffin crashes through his door, with the lid of the coffin clapping . . . clappity-BUMP . . . clappity-BUMP . . . clappity-BUMP . . . on the heels of the terrified man. Rushing upstairs to the bathroom, the man locks himself in. His heart is pounding; his head is reeling; his breath is coming in sobbing gasps. With a loud CRASH the coffin breaks down the door, still bumping and clapping towards him.

The man screams and reaches for something . . . anything . . . but all he can find is a box of cough drops!

Desperate, he throws the box of cough drops at the coffin!

And of course . . .  the coffin stopped!


Cheers,

Paul (A.)

Yeah, ya gonna wanna get me for this one, but don't blame me, blame Paul (A.)

Besides Halloween is coming, which brings on the silly season, and, not only that, I may have already posted a version of this joke some time ago.  I forgot the punch line and laughed out loud, and I hope you will, too.

FAKE, FAKE, FAKE

Screen shot from WKBN video

The patrons were gone; the pans were clean, but Paul Ryan and his crew made their way into a soup kitchen in Youngstown, Ohio, and rewashed pans that had already been washed for a photo op.  But the opportunist congressman's plan backfired when Felicia Sonmez, a Washington Post reporter, told the story which highlighted Ryan's phoniness and faked concern for the poor.  I'm cynical enough about politics and politicians, but this staged attempt by Ryan leaves me shaking my head.  What about Ryan's children?  What did they make of the mini-drama?  

Brian J. Antag, president of the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society, said that he was not contacted by the Romney campaign ahead of the Saturday morning visit by Ryan, who stopped by the soup kitchen after a town hall at Youngstown State University.

"We’re a faith-based organization; we are apolitical because the majority of our funding is from private donations,” Antag said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. “It’s strictly in our bylaws not to do it. They showed up there and they did not have permission. They got one of the volunteers to open up the doors.” 

He added: “The photo-op they did wasn’t even accurate. He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining hall.”

In the process of staging the photo op, Ryan and crew could have put the charity in danger of losing funding, but then the entire operation was never, ever about the poor.

UPDATE: From Acolyte of Sagan in the comments:

I'm not saying he's dishonest,
But just like most right-wingers
If you should chance
To shake Ryan's hand
Be sure to count your fingers.

Excellent. Thank you, Acolyte of Sagan.

THE DRONES...THEY HAUNT ME

An MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft takes off from Joint Base Balad, Iraq. Photo: USAF

A new analysis from a global citizen advocacy group on the secretive U.S. drone campaign claims there is very little knowledge of the actual number of civilian casualties connected with each strike, despite official information to the contrary, according to a report on Wired.com.

The Obama administration has previously stated that civilian casualties from the Pakistan drone war were in the single digits, while the Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates the minimum death toll is closer to 450, according to the story.

Single digits?  The claim is laughable.  No one...no one knows the body count of innocents killed by covert drone attacks in the Middle East, not even the White House, not Congress.  The drones haunt me not only because of innocents killed, not only because of grieving families left behind, but also because of the toll on the living, the people of Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, who go about their daily lives in fear of the sound of drones, who can't sleep nights because they're frightened of a drone attack.

I've thought I should not write about the drones three weeks before a crucial election, because the reckless use of our military might would be much worse under the living nightmare of a Romney administration, but the haunting remains, and so I write.  The drone attacks are done in our name, in the name of each one of us who claims citizenship in the US, without discussion or accountability, and that's not right.  Attention must be paid.

H/T to Wired for the photo.

"IT WOULD...BE ABHORRENT..."

“It would really be abhorrent to make this into a campaign issue,” Jan Stevens, 77, said in a telephone interview from his home in Loomis, California, as he prepares for a memorial service for his son next week.

Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, has criticized President Barack Obama for not providing adequate security in Libya, saying the administration has left the country exposed to a deadly terrorist attack.

The ambassador’s father, a lawyer, said politicians should await the findings of a formal investigation before making accusations or judgments.

“The security matters are being adequately investigated,” Stevens said. “We don’t pretend to be experts in security. It has to be objectively examined. That’s where it belongs. It does not belong in the campaign arena.” Stevens said he has been getting briefings from the State Department on the progress of the investigation.

Do you hear, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan?  Will you respect the wishes of Jan Stevens?

H/T to Adrastos at First Draft.

JOE BIDEN: "THEY TALK..."

 

The Republicans running for president and vice-president talk trash and lies, and from what I see of Republican politicians all around the country, there are few who are willing to stand up to Tea Party politics and call them for the trash and lies that they are.  The concept of the common good, that we are all in these tough times together and that we should bear each other's burdens and help those who are most in need is lost in the noise of cries for a balanced budget - a budget that will be balanced on the backs of those who have the least and not by those who are rich in the world's goods.

At least once or twice a week people I know whine to me about undeserving freeloaders who get food stamps and SSI checks.  No doubt there are cheaters amongst them, but what kind of high living can you do on food stamps and SSI checks?  I think of the rich, like the Republican candidate for president, who pays an average of 14% tax on his vast yearly income, while mid-income people pay a higher percentage.  I think of the banks and financial institutions bailed out by the feds that, in turn, gave millions in salaries and bonuses to their top people, and the cheaters for food stamps and SSI checks seem like very small potatoes.  Sure, stop the cheaters, but let's set our priorities aright and get the rich guys and the corporations off the dole first.

And why was the Romney tax returns story allowed to die?  What about his 2009 tax returns?  2009 was the year of the amnesty when people with secret bank accounts in Switzerland had to own the accounts before their names were revealed to the IRS, whereupon they may have been subject to criminal prosecution for tax avoidance.  Did Romney take the amnesty?  He made public two years of tax returns, 2010 and 2011, but he asked Ryan for five years of tax returns.  What is Romney hiding? 

H/T to the goddess at First Draft and others for the picture.