Why Won't He Go Away?!

This man could screw up a two car funeral.




I remember feeling lucky to get a home loan with only a 14% interest rate during the Carter administration.

I recall runaway inflation.

Who could forget his betrayal of the Shah of Iran and the nightmare of militant Islam ushered in by that wretched foreign policy ?

Remember our fellow countrymen held hostage for over 400 days?

How about the parade of inept gap-toothed goobers from Georgia installed in important positions in this man's cabinet?

Still have your case of Billy Beer?

I also remember most of us sending him a message in November of 1980...
Get out and STAY OUT!!

The only thing we need out of the peanut plantin' pantload from Plaines is SILENCE!

Okay...You're right! I forgot a few...

Food fight!!!!!







I know I'm hard to reach via this blog. For whatever reason, I'm told that it is difficult to make comments regarding content. Something about needing a password and other hoops you need to jump through in order to leave your thoughts... I apologize for that. Perhaps that is the price of having a "free" blog.
Anyway...I did get the following e-mail in response to my blog on favorite movies:

I see a lot of "Animal House" celebs on your site. Was it so great that you forgot that all time classic? Also, "Vacation", "Trains, Planes and Automobiles", and anything by "The Duke"...especially "True Grit".
Don't forget "Christmas Story" which we can relate to, wearing our snow suits and looking like penguins and dealing with bullies. One of my favorites was "Lake Boat" due to the fact that I was in the Merchant Marine and saw how he caught the true character of the fugitives from the fool farm. They don't need insane asylums, just get them jobs on Merchant ships. Some great actors in that obscure movie; some well known and unknown.
I don't fault you for this. After all you said it was off the top of your balding head. Great site. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous in NH

Absolutely! I did miss lots of great movies and hoped to hear from some of you about your own favorites. Another one that occurs to me right now is: "My Favorite Year" which featured Peter O'Toole in a role modeled after Errol Flynn. It was a wonderfully funny movie which I would recommend to anybody.

Sorry for the difficulty in adding your comments. If you would like to e-mail me for any reason, the address is: reppoc@pacbell.net.

Thanks California...No chair for Phil

It has come to my attention that it will be impossible to fry Phil Spector.
Apparently we don't have the electric chair in the state of California. I had forgotten that our dirtbags get to take the slide to hell via the more comfortable lethal injection method of extermination.
Too bad.
I'm now wondering what the state's take would be regarding an idea I had last night.
Hear me out. If I can get hold of two guys from my old Army outfit, 2nd platoon B Company 121st Signal Battalion/1st Infantry Division, we could take care of puss bag Phil in short order. I have left messages for Sgt. Rudy and Spec/4 Murphy and await their reply. It has been almost forty years since I have been in contact with them; so this may take awhile.

Should they agree, Phil could be dispatched swiftly though painfully by being confined to my garage with Rudy, Murphy and a case of Watties baked beans. Duct tape around the doors should insure Phil's speedy expiration.



Hey Phil...here's your wall of sound!

Ride the Lightning PHIL!

Phil Spector





End this idiotic trial right now!
Anybody who looks like Phil Spector should get the CHAIR! It's an automatic.

This rant has nothing to do with my not having yet received my "co-operation" and appreciation check from the Philster for helping push "Be My Baby" and other top 40 delights up the charts way back when. No, this is all about him looking like a damn doofus...and incidentally also being a murdering bastard.

About 50 kilowatts should do it.

Next....

Off the top of my head...Here is my list

One of the great old movie palaces somewhere in the wilds of New Jersey








You didn't ask, but I was thinking about some of my favorite movies. Actually, what prodded my reverie was a conversation with a friend of mine. We started naming movies that we loved and wouldn't mind seeing again real soon.

Here, with brief explanation, are the films that immediately made the cut. I'm sure I'll think of more just as soon as I finish this but, for now, this is it:

(In no particular order)

1. "The Fisher King"... This one does a great job of capturing the "ridin' high in April; shot down in May" aspect of the radio business and it's a great story.

2. " Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"...A movie with an outstanding cast that made me laugh out loud throughout.

3. "Shakes the Clown"...The "Gone with the Wind" of alcoholic clown movies!

4. "Blazing Saddles"...The funniest of all Mel Brooks movies.

5. "Parenthood"...A fun movie that all parents can enjoy. The best line belongs to Jason Robards who, when asked when parenthood officially ends, says: "It's like your aunt Edna's ass...it goes on forever and it's just as frightening."

6. "A Thousand Clowns"...My all time favorite movie! I completely identify with Murray Burns and, like him, have often been unable to cope with the harness of regular employment.

7. "Father Goose"...Cary Grant as a malcontent who has retired to the South Seas to escape humanity. He's a lot like Murray Burns. Am I hitting on a theme here?

8. "Good Morning Vietnam"... Yep, it's a theme! Another wise ass malcontent...but he's damn funny.

9. "Wonder Boys"... A feel good movie that is also very funny.

10. "Scent of a Woman"...Great cast; wonderful story with a terrific message.

11. "Kingpin"...How many screamingly funny bowling movies are there?? They have got to have this one running in a continuous loop at the Bowling Hall of Fame.

12. "Radio Days"...I love all of Woody Allen's movies, but this one is a valentine to the golden age of radio.

13. "Prairie Home Companion"...Another great tribute movie to the radio business.

14. "Saving Private Ryan"...A must see for all of us who live in a free America because of the sacrifice of the brave men and women who won World War II.

15. Anything from W. C. Fields or the Marx Brothers. If they don't make you laugh, it's time to check in to the Mahogany Hilton.

INFLATION? What inflation????

"I tell ya boy, it was just a couple of years back that you could get a whole meal in a fancy restaurant for 49 cents...AND get change back..."

I used to cringe when I would hear crap like that from my grandpa and other geezers when they would start to bellyache about how the world was going to hell in a hand basket..blah, blah, blah. (They smelled funny too!)
Now, I can't wait to have a grandkid or two of my own to serve as ground zero for the fifty mega tons of angst I want to unload regarding TODAY'S prices. As it is I nearly reach for my 45 every time some clown on TV relates that inflation is in line. In line with what?! I don't know about you, but lately it seems like just about everything is WAY out of line with the price that it ought to be.

I guess we all have certain prices in mind for various items based on our childhood or some reference point that seems logical to us. For example: when it was time for school to start in the Fall, mom would buy us a couple of nice "school" shirts for $2 each and a pair of new pants which the clerk would ring up for around $5. And now, here we are a couple of years later and I'm thrilled to find a pair of jeans at Costco that are on sale for $13. (They must be good too, they're made in China!) If I actually wanted to dress nicely, I might have to pony up a little more. But, in my mind a shirt should be $2 or $2.50 tops and a pair of nice pants...$5.

Groceries are another story. My reference for grocery items is from the early 60's when I was stocking shelves and bagging groceries for Oscar "The Watermelon King" at Swanson's Super Store in Spencer, Iowa. I'm cursed with the knowledge of what damn near every canned good, baked good, meat department item, and produce product sold for in those days and it makes me crazy, (okay, crazier) to make a trip to the market today. It's nuts! Up until a couple of months ago I was operating on a system where I'd look at what I had in the grocery cart and then take the amount I thought it would cost when the clerk scanned all of my selections and I would double it to estimate what I was going to have to pay. Now, that doesn't work. I'm usually off by 25 to 50%! It's just a damn good thing that all those places take credit cards now. Normal folks can't carry enough cash to function in today's marketplace!

Gasoline...well, I may now officially be a codger. I can remember getting 50 cents worth of regular for a Friday night date. Maybe this isn't a good example...I was always looking to "run out of gas" on a lonely country road in Iowa.

I don't know why I'm going on like this. Maybe I'm channeling grandpa. All I do know is that today I ordered this really cool cardboard stand-up of "The Duke" that I will be taking with me on my next trip to ANY store. When it come time to pay up, I'll point to big John and say, "He's got it."


"Ya wanna run those figures again for me, Pilgrim..."

Put them all together...they better not spell MA!

"Don't ever call me Ma!"
If my brother and I wanted to get our mother going all we had to do was call her "Ma" and it was an instant pass to the doghouse. She hated that word. I'm not sure why, but I think she somehow associated that appellation with being an ancient toothless hillbilly. It was bad enough that we were both usually "on notice" to await the return of dad from work to mete out sufficient punishment for our latest transgressions. We didn't need to add the "Ma" cherry to the top of the "whupass sundae" already in store.

Other than the "Ma" burr under her saddle, our mother was always supportive and loving to Steve and me. She encouraged us in most everything we tried...(well, maybe not the smoking and drinking), but the important life changing things like getting grades just good enough to make it through high school and out of the house. If only she had been able to talk the Army out of wanting me for cannon fodder it would have been a damn near perfect upbringing. As they say in the Midwest, "We were fetched up right!" Though, now that I consider it from a distance, she could have been a little more helpful in cluing us in on women. (On further consideration, I take that back. On the job training is BEST.)

Let's see... Where was I?
Oh yes, I was thinking about mom because this Sunday is Mother's Day. And, I do have a thought or two. First of all, I am grateful that my mom is still alive. She'll be 86 this August and though her mind isn't what it once was...Who's is? She still knows who I am and I think would still take me in if I needed a place to crash. Well, maybe not after getting a load of the snoring thing. She would probably even loan me money. Now that's LOVE!

I will call my mom on Sunday and be appreciative of the fact that most of my contemporaries are no longer able to do the same. I will send flowers too, even though I know this is a completely lame gesture. What are ya gonna do? It's MOTHER'S DAY! I'll even forgive her all the "Wait 'til your father gets home" stool pigeon crap she pulled on me. At least it gave me quality time with dad's belt. (If only he had lasted longer maybe we could have enjoyed some different belts together.)

My daughters will, I'm sure, do something nice for their mother this Sunday; probably a more classy gesture than flowers. (Hey, they're chicks.) I know that they're aware.... they got a good one too.