www.dmperkins.com
Forty years ago this week marked the launch of Monty Python’s Flying Circus on British television. The show was later picked up by the PBS station in Dallas, Texas, and eventually spread across the United States and the rest of the world. Television comedy was forever changed. The Parrot Sketch was not part of the …
Continue reading “40 Years Ago the Flying Circus Came to Town”
Well, maybe it’s going to be Lindsey Graham, GOP senator from South Carolina, who will stand up and call out the “Four Horsemen.” Graham made news by saying what no other conservative Republican has wanted to say – the birthers are crazy. He also called them nuts. Should we hold out hope that this will …
On This Day – 1954, Elvis Presley released his second single on Sun Records, “Good Rockin’ Tonight” a song made popular in 1948 by Wynonie Harris. 1964, The Temptations begin recording “My Girl” which went on to be their first number one and the first of fifteen Top Ten hits. 1965, “Eve of Destruction” by …
With almost all Republican legislators, with any inclination toward statesmanship, having retired or planning to retire, who, in the Republican party, elected or not, will find the strength of character and the political courage to wrest control of the party from the clutches of the lunatic fringe and bring the debate, on the conservative side, …
If you’d like to keep an eye on your son’s or daughter’s every move while they’re away at college, here’s the advice you’ve been looking for. Caution: May be harmful to your relationship with your offspring.
Read this. Amaze yourself. And then give your brain a little pat on the lobe for being a remarkable machine.
If you’d like to know more about where Glenn Beck’s current conspiratorial political philosophy came from, meet Cleon Skousen, a fascinating revisionist historian who wrote the bible on which Glenn Beck rests his sociopolitical soul. The article below is excerpted from Salon.com. Meet the man who changed Glenn Beck’s life Cleon Skousen was a right-wing …
This guy has never taken my order at Taco Bell, but this just goes to show that there’s always hope.
I looked up cognitive dissonance in the dictionary, and it showed me this.
It comes to pass, in every parent’s life, that a child will begin preparations to leave home. Some will be off to college, some will go to the military or other national service, and many will just strike out to seek their fortunes in whatever field has captured their imagination. It’s at this moment, when …
This new Census Bureau report, I’m sure, will be met with cries of, “You lie!” by disciples of the Bush-Cheney regime. After all, they haven’t let facts cloud their judgment up until now. And everyone knows you can’t trust government reports unless their findings are in your favor. Republicans in congress generally regard the U.S. …
When I was about ten years old, I was having a conversation with my grandfather about all the wondrous places I would visit when I grew up. I talked, in particular, about Australia and told him that I might even move there. Other than kangaroos and koalas, I’m sure I knew nothing about Australia. But, …
Well, I guess the outrage from the right wing was justified after all. The speech President Obama delivered to our school children today was clearly designed to plant the seeds of socialism, so that they may grow up to create the Peoples Republic of America, and end capitalism once and for all in this country. …
I’d never heard of Rob Ickes until hearing a snippet of Road Song on radio a few days ago. (Yes, some people still listen to radio.) Ickes is the long time dobro player for Blue Highway, a contemporary bluegrass group who’s work had also escaped my attention before now. Road Song is Ickes’ fifth solo …
A new site is getting a lot of national attention for a new twist on a vintage theme; be kind to the planet. In the interest of full disclosure, the co-owner of Plum Journals (or co-plum, as she likes to call herself) is an old personal friend of mine, but that’s not why I’ve decided …
If you’ve ever wondered why people tenaciously hold on to patently absurd beliefs in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, a new study to be released in the September issue of the journal Sociological Inquiry documents a phenomenon called “motivated reasoning.” Sharon Begley of Newsweek explains in the following article. Lies of Mass …
Real health care reform is in danger right now because some Democratic senators like Montana’s Max Baucus crave “bipartisanship.” But in DC, “bipartisanship” doesn’t mean policies that Republican and Democratic voters back home support. It means “whatever watered-down reform insurance companies will let Republican senators vote for.” Chuck Grassley, the main Senate Republican negotiator, has …
The noise, and the half-truths, and the lies have taken a toll on healthcare reform. The provision for medicare to reimbuse for the cost of creating a living will, or other end-of-life counseling, has been removed from the draft under consideration by the U.S. Senate soley because of the lies that twisted it into something …
The inventor of the solid body electric guitar and multi-track recording, Les Paul, died today at the age of 94. Because of his hundreds of inventions and innovations, he is also considered the father of rock and roll which, if it existed at all, would certainly not have been the same without his contributions. He …
If we want to be charitable, about the best we can say is that we are uninformed. A huge majority of Americans, whether they are for it or against it, cannot describe what is actually in the health care reform bill now being considered by the congress. Most Americans, who are fortunate enough to have …
