Category: Politics, Religion & Money

On The Beat In New Hampshire

Tom Moroney - Simply Put on Bloomberg RadioTom Moroney is host of a show on Bloomberg Radio called Simply Put. Prior to that he was a newspaper columnist. Kudos to Tom for succeeding in the two businesses I tried, but gave up! By chance Tom lives not far from here, and we cross paths every so often. My sister Jean and I went to high school with Tom. We were all in the drama club, along with a remarkable woman named Noreen Barnes, a dear friend who is now a college professor in Virginia. Here’s a picture of Tom and Noreen in a high school play together. I don’t want to say how long ago this was!

Noreen Barnes and Tom Moroney

Tom Moroney is up in New Hampshire right now, covering the Presidential primary. The surprise news at the moment is that Hillary Clinton is holding a lead over Barack Obama. Here’s a brief clip of Tom on the radio tonight.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JAN/Moroney.mp3]

Buffoon O’Reilly’s All Spin Zone

Few media personalities are more deserving of derision and ridicule than Bill O’Reilly. OK, Rush Limbaugh maybe is one.

There’s a video that’s been widely circulated today, and I’m about to circulate it some more. It was pointed out to me by a friend at work. Remember — they report, you decide!
[flv:/Video/2008/JAN/OReillyObama.flv 400 300]

Colbert Rapport

The Colbert Report is back for the first time since Stephen Colbert met me in New York! OK, OK, so I met him. Whatever. This is also the first time I’ve watched Colbert on the PANASONIC PT-AX200U (that’s for the benefit of Google Alerts) video projector. And I would like to emphatically state that JON STEWART AND STEPHEN COLBERT NEED TO GO HDTV!

Without his writers, Colbert stretched things out a bit, and he padded with some video clips, but it came off all right. The question is, of course, how many consecutive nights can even a phenomenally intelligent and funny talent like Colbert go, before the ad-lids and improv start to wear thin?
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Stephen Colbert On Larry King

As you perhaps know, on January 7 The Colbert Report will be back, as will The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, whether or not the writer’s strike has been resolved. In the meantime, to help you get your Colbert fix, here’s his appearance on Larry King Live, the least prepared interviewer in the business, from a couple of months back. It’s much better than I expected.
[flv:/Video/DEC07/ColbertOnLarryKing.flv 400 300]

A Spanking for Spangler

Spangler Candy Canes

Click to EnlargeSpangler Candy Company of Bryan, Ohio has been in business for just over 100 years. The company makes Dum-Dums and, for this time of year, candy canes. Carol bought a box of a dozen tall Spangler candy canes to hang on the tree. I love the clean, classic, old-fashioned packaging, but when I looked it over I saw the words, “Made in Mexico” (click picture to enlarge). Well, that’s disappointing, although I have to admit the box cost only $1, and online you can order a box of 500 little ones for only $15.76. But with Hershey’s now manufacturing in Mexico, I was hoping a nice family company like Spangler could have held out and kept production in the United States.