Prediction: The next big McCain exploding-cigar-of-elitism flap: We now know the Jes’-Plain-Folks McCain’s spent $273,000 last year alone on household employees — what used to be called, in a less euphemistic age, ‘servants’ – but what isn’t mentioned is the hot-n-heavy rumor that they hired some, uh oh, undocumented workers amongst the various butlers, maids and nannies and, double uh oh, didn’t pay SS or taxes on the illegal imports. (Those without their papers have likely been canned and shipped back by now.) Gee, Senator, what’s your position on immigration again?
Quotable Corner:
“That’s right. The McCains pay $270,000 per year for butlers and maids–that’s $50,000 more than the median value of an American home.”
– Nitpicker, Aug. 21, 2008.
“If you had made last year as much money as John McCain spent on household help alone $273,000 — you’d be richer than 95% of American families.”
– Mark Kleiman
“When John Edwards was running for president, and the media were obsessing about his wealth, they linked his fortune to his policy positions. Surely John McCain — who can’t remember how many houses he owns, ‘jokes’ that you aren’t rich unless you make $5 million a year, and supports tax policies that would save him and his wife, Cindy, nearly $400,000 a year — should be held to the same standard?”
– Jamison Foser, Media Matters, Aug. 22, 2008.
And don’t forget to read the ‘Priceless’ McCain ad by davefromqueens on The Daily Kos.
Welcome to the Future, Comrade Zero: I suspect that when it all shakes out, NBC’s ratings for the Summer Olympics will be significantly less than the media giant anticipated. On a personal level, I met an awful lot of people who just didn’t give a rip which ectomorphic teen balanced on the beam or what Spitzy swimmer was strangled with medals. “Michael Phelps – isn’t he that singer with R.E.M. or something? That’s fine with me – the display of the Chinese providing ‘Protest Zones’ and then quickly jailing anyone who dared actually protest in them was Maoistically despicable as well as majestically boneheaded, and went nearly unreported by our Walmart smiley-face Big Media, studiously ignoring what a reeking dump of slave labor, crap-headed capitalism and Orwellian repression is China these days. “Hey, let’s not spoil the sweet multi-million dollar frosting by pointing out the cake inside is moldy.” Thanks for the wall-to-wall coverage, Winston Smith — I’m sure all of the proles were delighted.
– Can Wolf Blitzer possibly get any more annoying? First there’s his repeated use of the cringe-inducing term ‘working the story’ – I remember the days when journalists, even those wretches on the glowing Idjit Box, ‘reported’ a story rather than working it over with a rubber hose until it conformed to government fiat, but that was a time when Walter Cronkite was allowed to oppose that era’s trumped-up Patriotic War to Save Democracy live on air, America didn’t officially torture people in our custody, habeas still had a corpus with a pulse, and we impeached members of the Executive Branch for wrongdoing rather than pass bills to retroactively cover their criminal flanks. Then there’s Wolf’s breeze-between-the-ears interrogation of Obama campaign aide Greg Craig on The Situation Room, Aug. 22nd, regarding Obama’s then-still-unknown choice for Veep. After the guy told Blitzer he didn’t know a thing, Gray Beard the Wonder Reporter kept pressing him to the point of satirical absurdity on what he knew about Obama’s Veep pick. It was truly stupid, even for CNN. A shame Blitzkrieg doesn’t get this worked up when questioning White House sycophants, or the notorious degenerate gamblers, bilious manure-spreaders, and egregious Spin Cadets who regularly appear on his network disguised as ‘news analysts.’
– A Sure Sign That Your Brand Is Hated: Amway has taken to running TV ads where they tout they now “proudly operate as Quixtar in North America.” Yow! Americans must really loathe the Amway name! Having been a victim of their sleazy deceive-your-friends-and-neighbors sales tactics, I can understand why. Just remember this, courtesy of the Skeptic’s Dictionary: “In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission requires Amway to label its products with the message that 54% of Amway recruits make nothing and the rest earn on average $65 a month. No such labels are required in other countries, but the facts are clear. Most people who get involved in Amway will not make money.” Nothing has changed except the name.
The Tattlesnake – Toss It in the Potpourri and Heat with Steam Edition
Prediction: The next big McCain exploding-cigar-of-elitism flap: We now know the Jes’-Plain-Folks McCain’s spent $273,000 last year alone on household employees — what used to be called, in a less euphemistic age, ‘servants’ – but what isn’t mentioned is the hot-n-heavy rumor that they hired some, uh oh, undocumented workers amongst the various butlers, maids and nannies and, double uh oh, didn’t pay SS or taxes on the illegal imports. (Those without their papers have likely been canned and shipped back by now.) Gee, Senator, what’s your position on immigration again?
Quotable Corner:
And don’t forget to read the ‘Priceless’ McCain ad by davefromqueens on The Daily Kos.
Welcome to the Future, Comrade Zero: I suspect that when it all shakes out, NBC’s ratings for the Summer Olympics will be significantly less than the media giant anticipated. On a personal level, I met an awful lot of people who just didn’t give a rip which ectomorphic teen balanced on the beam or what Spitzy swimmer was strangled with medals. “Michael Phelps – isn’t he that singer with R.E.M. or something? That’s fine with me – the display of the Chinese providing ‘Protest Zones’ and then quickly jailing anyone who dared actually protest in them was Maoistically despicable as well as majestically boneheaded, and went nearly unreported by our Walmart smiley-face Big Media, studiously ignoring what a reeking dump of slave labor, crap-headed capitalism and Orwellian repression is China these days. “Hey, let’s not spoil the sweet multi-million dollar frosting by pointing out the cake inside is moldy.” Thanks for the wall-to-wall coverage, Winston Smith — I’m sure all of the proles were delighted.
– Can Wolf Blitzer possibly get any more annoying? First there’s his repeated use of the cringe-inducing term ‘working the story’ – I remember the days when journalists, even those wretches on the glowing Idjit Box, ‘reported’ a story rather than working it over with a rubber hose until it conformed to government fiat, but that was a time when Walter Cronkite was allowed to oppose that era’s trumped-up Patriotic War to Save Democracy live on air, America didn’t officially torture people in our custody, habeas still had a corpus with a pulse, and we impeached members of the Executive Branch for wrongdoing rather than pass bills to retroactively cover their criminal flanks. Then there’s Wolf’s breeze-between-the-ears interrogation of Obama campaign aide Greg Craig on The Situation Room, Aug. 22nd, regarding Obama’s then-still-unknown choice for Veep. After the guy told Blitzer he didn’t know a thing, Gray Beard the Wonder Reporter kept pressing him to the point of satirical absurdity on what he knew about Obama’s Veep pick. It was truly stupid, even for CNN. A shame Blitzkrieg doesn’t get this worked up when questioning White House sycophants, or the notorious degenerate gamblers, bilious manure-spreaders, and egregious Spin Cadets who regularly appear on his network disguised as ‘news analysts.’
– A Sure Sign That Your Brand Is Hated: Amway has taken to running TV ads where they tout they now “proudly operate as Quixtar in North America.” Yow! Americans must really loathe the Amway name! Having been a victim of their sleazy deceive-your-friends-and-neighbors sales tactics, I can understand why. Just remember this, courtesy of the Skeptic’s Dictionary: “In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission requires Amway to label its products with the message that 54% of Amway recruits make nothing and the rest earn on average $65 a month. No such labels are required in other countries, but the facts are clear. Most people who get involved in Amway will not make money.” Nothing has changed except the name.