Well, not quite

This funny, if long, song takes Barry Obama to the woodshed. The GOP is in desperate need to become more media savvy and hiring folks like this as part of a media strategy would be a great idea.

Which is probably why it won’t happen!

In any event, thanks to Goodies2Choose for putting it together! Great job!

• Barack Obama - about as ’scary’ as an ill tempered stockbroker
• Barack Obama mocks Joe The Plumber, Audience Laughs…
• Obama’s 10 year Presidency?
• Obama Selects Senator Joe Biden as his Running Mate
• Obama gets befuddled
• “Obama on your shoulder” by Mary Katherine Ham

Gnome Terrorizes some boys in Argentina

Fox News is suspicious…

Little Person Dressed as Gnome Caught on Video ‘Stalking’ Streets of Argentina Town

A town in South America is living in fear after

several sightings of a ‘creepy gnome’ that locals claim stalks the streets at night, The Sun reports.

The little person ”who wears a pointy hat and has a distinctive sideways walk” was caught on video last week by a terrified group of youngsters.

Teenager Jose Alvarez (who filmed the gnome) yesterday told national newspaper El Tribuno that they caught the creature while larking about in their hometown of General Guemes, in the province of Salta, Argentina.

He said: “We were chatting about our last fishing trip. It was one in the morning. I began to film a bit with my mobile phone while the others were chatting and joking. Suddenly we heard something “a weird noise as if someone was throwing stones.”

“We looked to one side and saw that the grass was moving. To begin with we thought it was a dog but when we saw this gnome-like figure begin to emerge we were really afraid.”

Alvarez added that other locals had come forward to say they had spotted the gnome.

He said: “This is no joke. We are still afraid to go out just like everyone else in the neighborhood now.”

“One of my friends was so scared after seeing that thing that we had to take him to the hospital,” Alvarez said.

• Swedish sea monster ‘caught on film’
• Haunted High? Video Captures Ghost at Asheville High School
• Bigfoot Near Las Vegas?
• Cylon Spacecraft filmed over Turkey
• Back To The Future: A Look At The Year 2000
• Angry Red Planet

Dragnet: The Missing Realtor

Enjoy this great episode of Dragnet 1968 - some good legwork by Joe & Bill, as a missing person’s case slowly becomes a murder case.  Keep an eye out for the legendary Scatman Crothers (sporting some stylish hair)!

• Dragnet on Radio: The Big Drive
• Dragnet 1952: The Big Cast
• Jack Webb on “What is a cop”
• The Perils of Blue Boy
• Jack Webb on “Alcohol vs. Marijuana & LSD”
• Jack Webb’s Dragnet Tells It Like It Is

32 Years Ago Tomorrow

Chicago Cub baseball player Rick Monday saves an American flag from would be flag burners during a game in 1976. This great clip includes insights from Monday, as well as comments by Tommy Lasorda and Steve Garvey.

The President roots for a Vet

• May-Treanor & Walsh Win The Gold and Thank Dubya

Politicians Contemplate The Squared Circle

• George McGovern Abandons Hillary, Endorses Obama
• And The Gaffes Start Early….
• Joe Biden’s 14 Debate Lies
• Hillary Clinton’s New 3:00 AM Ad
• Golden Girl Hillary Trips at Dem Debate
• Political Cartoon of the Week

Steve Allen’s Theme Song Done In Style

A BLT Always Hits The Spot

Care to spruce up the typical BLT? I was inspired to modify my own personal recipe for a classic Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato sandwich after I saw the film Spanglish. While not a particularly memorable film, the film features the main character fixing himself a snazzy BLT, so I tried to recreate it for my dining pleasure!!

The Vinnie Vegas BLT Classic

1. Take two thick slices of fresh bread - I use Italian Bolle. Lightly toast the slices of bread.
2. Cook 4 strips of bacon to your personal taste.
3. Cut 3 slices of a large, fresh tomato.
4. When the bacon is done, take the slices out of the pan and place them on a paper towel to drain.
5. Take one slice of bread and place some Monterrey Jack cheese on one side, and put it back into the toaster oven (or oven) for about another minute to melt the cheese.
6. Spread some mayonnaise on the other slice of bread.
7. Place the bacon on the slice of toast, on top of the mayo.
8. Place the tomato slices on top of the bacon.
9. Take a leaf of Romaine or Butter lettuce and place it on top of the tomato slices.
10. Fry an egg for about 45 seconds, and slide the runny egg on top of the lettuce leaf.
11. Take the slice of toast with the Monterrey Jack cheese and place it on top of the creation, assembling the sandwich.
12. Slice in two, and serve with a pickle, some hot peppers, and some potato chips.

It doesn’t get much better than the Vinnie Vegas BLT! Enjoy!

• The Vinnie Vegas Burger
• Baked Rigatoni a la Vincenzo

Just the facts, Ma’am

I came upon this neat story of the real-life Detective Joe Friday, courtesy of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Enjoy!

City was protected by the real Joe Friday

By AMY RABIDEAU SILVERS
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: Sept. 17, 2001

Little did Edmund and Hedwig Friday realize 75 years ago what a nuisance their son’s name would be for much of his life.

Joseph E. Friday grew up to be a Milwaukee police officer and detective. By the time he wore a badge, TV Detective Joe Friday had made the name famous, his deadpan “Just the facts, ma’am” a part of television history.

“That name always gave him trouble,” said Detective Jim Cler in 1986, as his partner retired after 32 years.

“I used to listen to him on the phone. He’d say, ‘This is Joe Friday of the Milwaukee Police. . . . Well, my name is Joe Friday. . . . No, I’m not putting you on.’ ” Cler repeated. “Sometimes it would take a little convincing.”

The real Detective Joe Friday died of lung cancer Tuesday, going quietly in his sleep while in hospice care at his Brookfield home. He was 75.

Born in Stevens Point and raised in Milwaukee, he served with the Army in Europe and Africa during World War II.

“During the Battle of the Bulge, he and a friend got caught behind enemy lines,” said his son, Paul J. Friday of Milwaukee. “They were hidden by civilians and made it back to our side.”

Also memorable for Friday, something of an amateur musician, was performing with the USO.

“He played guitar with Jack Benny,” said another son, Mark J. Friday of New Berlin.

After the war, Friday worked as a tool and die maker until switching to police work in 1954.

By then, “Dragnet” was one of the biggest hits of early television. The show began as a radio program in 1949, moving to television in 1951. Jack Webb continued acting in his Joe Friday role until 1959, later returning to the program in 1967 for two more years.

Soon after Friday was hired, he received a telegram from Webb.

“Very best wishes on your new job from both of us, Joe Friday and me,” the actor wrote.

In 1955, the two met when Webb stopped in Milwaukee to promote his movie, “Pete Kelly’s Blues.”

Webb “told me he had looked all over the country for a name he could use, and he thought there wasn’t anyone with the name Joe Friday,” Friday later recalled. “He apologized, and we went out to dinner. I enjoyed his company.”

The name also necessitated the unusual step of getting an unlisted phone number in the 1950s.

“I’d get phone calls all night long, at 3 and 4 in the morning,” Friday said. “Mostly kids who would sing, ‘dum-de-dum-dum,’ and hang up.”

(more…)

• The Tonight Show: The Copper Clapper Caper
• Jack Webb’s Dragnet Tells It Like It Is
• Sgt Joe Friday clips the wings of some liberal punks!
• Jack Webb on “What is a cop”
• Jack Webb Homage: Mr Bookman on Seinfeld
• Jack Webb on “A Quirk in the Law”

My Favorite Song From Phantom Empire

Last Thursday’s Gene Autry song ‘Don’t Bite the Hand That’s Feeding You’ was such a hit here at The Silver State Chronicles that I decided to post another great tune from the Autry collection!

This time, I looked into one of my alltime favorite movie serials, Phantom Empire. Now an extended discussion of PE would require a well researched book, but for now let’s just describe it as a Musical-Western-Science Fiction tale. Indeed, it’s quite an adventure - both mesmerizing and confusing at the same time.

Well, Gene Autry is the star of the 12 chapter serial, and in between episodes of fighting futuristic villains, he finds time to get back to the ranch for the daily live radio show. During one of those broadcasts, Gene (along with his posse which includes his longtime sidekick, the legendary Smiley Burnette) sing this classic little tune, ‘Uncle Noah’s Ark.’

Enjoy!

• Gene Autry, The Singing Cowboy, with a Special Message
• Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett’s Monster Mash
• Del Shannon’s ‘Runaway’ 1986
• Bugsy Malone’s Showstopper - “Bad Guys”
• Day By Day from Godspell
• So Long, Mr. Don Ho