Sunday, January 25, 2015

Phil Stellar: The Bob Hope Show- Diana Dors (1956)


Source:Phil Stellar- English Muffin on The Bob Hope Show in 1956.
Source:The New Democrat

Diana Dors showing her versatility as a comedian on The Bob Hope Show. Going toe to toe with one of the top lets says one-percent of comedians of all-time. I guess Bob is living out of his fantasies, perhaps drunk fantasies in having Diana Dors a goddess sent down from heaven as his partner and even wife on his show. Making every man in America, that is every man with a pair of eyes and vision and I’m sure some blind men as well jealous of him. Diana Dors certainly preferred Britain over America and her lovely adorable English accent is an example of that. And used America for her work and this is where she became famous. So coming to America was perhaps not something she loved doing, but her coming over here was gift down from heaven for millions of Americans.




Saturday, January 24, 2015

Classics Cinema: The Long Haul (1957) Starring Diana Dora, Victor Mature, and Patrick Allen


Source:Classics Cinema- English Muffin Diana Dors and Patrick Allen. Baby Girl dating a bad guy.

Source:The New Democrat 

"Classic British crime film. Mature stars as a truck driver who finds himself in the middle of  the corrupt low-lifes who run the business. It doesn't help when he becomes involved with the big shot's lady. " 

Take Diana Dors out of this movie, who is a hot sexy baby-face goddess, perhaps the cutest Hollywood goddess of all-time and The Long Haul is still a very good movie, because it has a very good cast and it gives you a very good look at not just organized crime, but organized crime in the trucking industry, but also organized crime in Britain over in England. And Diana does a great job in this movie as well. The first Princess Diana in Britain, at least as far as I’m concern.

Victor Mature plays a U.S. Army Corporal stationed over in post-World War II Britain in England. He’s already married with a son over there to an English woman. Harry wants to go home to America, but his English wife doesn’t. So Harry stays, but also needs a job in England and finds one as a truck driver. Linda played by Diana is the girlfriend of an English mobster who owns a trucking company. Harry gets a straight job as a truck driver and meets Linda who wants to leave her mobster boyfriend and takes her away. But the mobster’s gang just also happens to jack Harry’s truck on his first night.

That is how this movie really starts where Harry now needs a job to support his English wife and son, but can only get a job with this English gang in the trucking industry. He doesn’t want to do it. Linda wants to escape Joe (played by Patrick Allen) her mobster boyfriend and start a life with Harry. Harry is in between starting a new affair with Linda and staying with his wife because of his son and he still loves his wife. But he also needs a job and that is where this job starts moving real fast. Because now Joe is on the run for murdering his top deputy. And takes Linda with him and Harry helps him get away from the law.

This is not a great movie. I would give it an 8.5 I guess, but certainly a very good movie that you don’t need Diana Dors in it to make it interesting. But a woman like that can make a bad movie look good because of how great she is and how she looks. And then you throw in the plot and the movie has an excellent cast with Diana Dors, Victor Mature, Patrick Allen, and others. The movie takes place in post-World War II England where people there are trying to rebuild their lives and you have a very good movie.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Foreign Affairs: Anton Barbashin: 'The Eurasian Economic Union Is An Illusion'


Source:Foreign Affairs- President Vladimir Putin (Nationalist, Russian Federation) meeting with his fellow Slavic leaders.

Source:The New Democrat

"On the first day of 2015, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia officially launched the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a trade bloc that Moscow hoped would one day bring the former Soviet nations back together. The initiative, however, appears to be a failure. The EEU is nothing more than an illusion—and an unconvincing one at that.

For two decades now, Russia has called for the integration of former Soviet states as equal partners, as in the European Union. Several unsuccessful early attempts toward that goal included the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), now a largely defunct conglomerate of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan...

You might be able to read the rest of this article at Foreign Affairs

"The leaders of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan have sealed a deal to introduce a Eurasian Economic Union which will come into existence on January 1 alongside a joint security agreement.

As this was meant to be a meeting of minds in a friendly environment journalists stared  opened mouthed as Belarus President, Alexander Lukashenko, launched a stinging attack on Russia, while sat next to an amused President Putin." 

Source:Euro News

From Euro News

"Euronews (styled on-air in lowercase as euronews) is a European television news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. The network began broadcasting on 1 January 1993 and covers world news from a European perspective.

The majority of Euronews (88%) is owned by Portuguese investment management firm Alpac Capital[2][3][4] with the rest partly owned by several European and North African public and state-owned broadcasting organizations.

It is a provider of livestreamed news, which can be viewed in most of the world (with the exceptions of Canada, Turkey, Singapore, China, Cuba, and North Korea)[citation needed] via its website, on YouTube, and on various mobile devices and digital media players, including Fubo TV, Sling TV, Pluto TV and Haystack News." 

From Wikipedia

Eurasia (lets call it) the area east of the European Union with the first Slavic states and former Soviet republics, all the way over to the Arab states, will never be very successful economically as long as Russia is run by someone who simply wants to put the Soviet Union back together. Or bring back all of those republics back to Russia. And not so much interested in what is in the best interest of the people in these countries. Because decisions will always be made on how to obtain greater power and territory. And not what is in the best interest of the economies in these Slavic countries.

Russia will always be a potentially great country and new superpower, with its great and educated population, land mass, and natural resources and not actually returning to the world again as a superpower, but this time economically to go along with militarily and diplomatically, as long as Vladimir Putin is running the government there. Whether he has the official title as Russian Federation President or not. 

As long as Vlad is interested in obtaining more power and territory for Russia and not developing the economy so it reaches most if not all the Russian people, Russia will remain a developing power, if not country all together.

The Onion: 'John Elway Casually Mentions To Peyton Manning How Great it Was Going Out on Top'

Source:The Onion- John Elway to Peyton Manning: “I got to tell you Peyton, it’s much better going out as a Super Champion, then as a playoff failure. Trust me, I know this from personal experience.” LOL
Source:The New Democrat

“DENVER—Saying that it was the absolute perfect way to end his Hall of Fame career, Denver Broncos general manager John Elway casually mentioned to Peyton Manning just how great it was to go out on top as a Super Bowl champion in 1998, sources confirmed Friday. “You know, walking off the field for the last time as a world champion was really something else,” said Elway, adding that not much could ever top being hoisted onto his teammates’ shoulders as the last seconds of his career ticked away, not to mention the fact that it is the image most NFL fans will forever associate with him and his legacy. “Obviously, winning one Super Bowl was great, but getting two back-to-back was just incredible. And it felt especially amazing after always coming so close and hearing people say for years that I choked when it really mattered. Oh, and riding off into the sunset as a member of the same team that I played my whole career with? Yeah, I’d definitely say that was pretty special.” Elway reportedly added to Manning that walking away from the game on his own terms with perfect health was equally, if not more satisfying.”

From The Onion

"Doc and Kenny answer "fan mail" about terrible receivers in Denver, confusing NCAA-upset sex, and Bryce Harper's dickishness."

Source:The Onion- When you play in the Mile High City, the only way to go is down. Which is something that Peyton Manning has learned the hard way.

From The Onion

I’m going to be serious for a minutes, all right fine maybe two minutes just to say that Peyton Manning even if he is the best regular season quarterback of all-time, which would be like being the best team of all-time that didn’t win the Super Bowl in the NFL, Peyton who I respect as a great quarterback, is simply overrated. Peyton Manning is a fan favorite of the stats and now generation. People who judge athletes by their numbers and the fact that they are playing now, must mean they are better than players who played before simply because of that.

If you judge players especially quarterbacks by how well they play in the playoffs and their record in the playoffs and not how many times they threw for four-thousand yards and thirty touchdown passes, Peyton would be pretty far down on the greatest quarterbacks list. Even if he is the best regular season quarterback of all-time. And keep in mind, all of Peyton’s personal success as a quarterback as far as stats has not come in the passing age, which was the 1980s and the 1990s. But the Roger Goddell age where the NFL has simply decided that offense is more important than defense for financial reasons. And have made it very difficult for defenses because of the rules to be successful.

I mean how many great quarterbacks do you know of have losing records in the playoffs and are headed to the Hall of Fame if they are not already there? Peyton Manning would be one, can you name any others. Tom Brady could easily tell Peyton, “look, you have better numbers, but I have the numbers that count the most. I’ve won twice as many playoff games that you have and have won 2/3 of my playoff games. I’ve played in five Super Bowls, won three of them and have a winning record in them. But you look better on SportsCenter, YouTube, social networks and so-forth. So congratulations, but I’ll keep my victories and championships”. I doubt Brady has ever said that, but he could and would be right about that.

Is Peyton Manning one of the best quarterbacks of all-time and lets say that is top ten if not twenty, dumb question and he’s probably somewhere around ten for me, if not further back. And of course he’s a top two or three quarterbacks of his era. Only behind Tom Brady and Brett Favre, because of what Brady and Favre accomplished both in the regular season and playoffs. But I’m getting tired of hearing Peyton mentioned as the greatest quarterback of all-time and I’m not that comfortable about him as the greatest regular season QB of all-time. Simply because of the era he played in. And he’s certainly not the best quarterback of all-time and neither is Tom Brady.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Lyle Denniston: 'Is The First Amendment on The Side of a Pro Football Team’s Name?'

Source:National Constitution Center- the Redskins against their big NFC East rival New York Giants.
Source:The New Democrat

“I believe strongly in the rights of all Americans to celebrate and maintain their unique cultural heritage. Going forward, we will strive to maintain the ability of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to make its own judgment on these matters, based on clear authorities as established by law.”

Excerpt from a statement on January 9 by Joyce R. Branda, an acting assistant U.S. attorney general, announcing the federal Justice Department’s plan to join in a lawsuit filed in federal court by the Washington Redskins seeking to protect the team’s right to continue using trademarks based on its name and its logo. The Department’s role will be limited to opposing the constitutional challenge by the team to the nullification of its trademarks." 

You can read the rest of Lyle Denniston's article at the National Constitution Center

"Mike Ditka on Redskins controversy: 'It’s all the political correct idiots in America'" 

Source:US Sports News- former Chicago Beats and New Orleans Saints head coach Mike Ditka.

From US Sports News

I’ve sort of gone out-of-my-way to avoid getting into this debate because I quite frankly find it stupid. It’s now 2015 and Americans and the U.S. Government has just decided that the Redskins is a racist name. Even though the franchise has been around since what, 1933 or 32. Give me a break! (To put it mildly) If Redskins was a racist name, which is what Nigger would be for people of African descent, that it would’ve been thrown out a long time ago. Saying the Redskins is a racist name, is like calling Bill Maher racist towards Muslims because he criticizes Islam, even though Muslim is not a race, but Muslims are followers of the Islāmic religion. It’s not even worth considering.

But that is just the practical argument. How about this little thing called the First Amendment that protects all Americans right to free speech and allows for people to call themselves essentially whatever the hell they want to and that includes organizations. But even if you say the federal trademark law about profiting from names that some Americans may tend to find offensive, (again where was this 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 years ago) why is the name Redskins offensive in 2012-13 when this controversy started and not again decades ago. This is really nothing more than pop culture political correctness at its worst.

The Redskins are now getting the Bill Maher treatment from the Far-Left and being labeled as racists. Not by Bill Maher who I imagine is on the side of the Redskins here for First Amendment protections. But a man who just back in September was considered a hero on the Far-Left, is now considered to be a “White Devil” or something. 

But if you put all of the other nonsense (to put it mildly) aside, the fact that Congress is not very good at writing laws and people wonder why they are so unpopular, because even when they do pass laws, they don’t write them very well, but lets say the trademark law is constitutional for a second: The fact that they didn’t define what is racially offensive in a name, means the Redskins at the very least will probably, win on a technicality.

The only people that seem to be offended by the Washington Redskins nickname, are overprivileged, overeducated, hipster-yuppies, of European-American descent, Especially very young people and aging baby boomers of this background, who are still fighting the culture wars of the 1960s, who when they're not protesting the Redskins nickname, are protesting Columbus Day and calling that racist or are saying we shouldn't support Memorial Day because of all the people American soldiers have killed, are that July 4th is also a racist holiday, etc. 

Since when does any ethnic or racial group in America, have the right to do the speaking and protesting of another? You don't seen American-Indian organizations making any deal about the nicknames of sports franchises, simply because they have lives and important issues to concentrate on instead. 

The New Republic: Kevin Mahnken: President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch & Need For Succession Reform

Source:The New Republic- U.S. Senate Pro-Tempore Orrin Hatch (Republican, Utah)

Source:The New Democrat

Here’s a post that perhaps only political, Constitution and American history junkies would be interested. I just happen to be all three, so I’m more than qualified to be interested in this. But here’s something that I actually agree with a New Socialist, I mean New Republic author on and that is the need to reform U.S. Senate rules and perhaps even the U.S. Constitution itself. That is if the Senate simply couldn’t reform the President Pro Tempore position itself. And it might be able to since under the Constitution Congress writes its own rules. But I’m not a lawyer.

But what I would like to see done in the Senate and I’ll explain why assuming this could be done by the U.S. Senate laterally, is to add an amendment to the Pro Tempore position. The amendment would say that the majority party decides who the Pro Tempore is and that person doesn’t have to the longest Senator in the majority party. Actually I would go further than that and say the Pro Tempore or Leader of the Senate, whatever the title of the position is who would be the first ranking member of the Senate, would be an at-large seat and member. Mot elected by a state, but by the American people themselves, or at the very least the Senate majority members. But that is for a future post.
What I would do is essentially male the Pro Tempore or Leader of the Senate like the Speaker of the House for the Senate. The lead presiding officer, but also the person who appoints committee chairman, decides what bills come to the floor and up for a vote. And have that person in charge of the Senate floor. Because if we are going to even have this position, then it shouldn’t be signed to someone simply because they are the oldest or have been in the Senate the longest. If the Pro Tempore should ever become President because something happens to the President, Vice President and Speaker, that person should be ready to be President and healthy enough for the job.
I doubt Orrin Hatch ever wants to be President of the United States, at least at this point, he did run in 2000. He’s someone who I respect as a Liberal, even though he’s pretty right-wing and I’m not taking this position because he is currently the Pro Tempore. But just to point out that someone shouldn’t be the chief presiding officer of the Senate with real responsibilities, that is when the Vice President is not up at Congress and third inline for the presidency, just because they are in their late seventies or eighties and have been in the Senate for a long time.


Sunday, January 18, 2015

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) Starring Tony Randall & Jayne Mansfield


Source:The New Democrat

Jayne Mansfield plays Rita Marlowe in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter and I believe and have heard that Marlowe was one of the names that Jayne considered changing her last name to after arriving in Hollywood. But instead settled for Mansfield the last name of her first ex-husband. But anyway Rita Marlowe is a star actress and Hollywood goddess who goes to New York, because she wants to improve her image. New York is the advertising capital at least of America, so not a better city to choose from.

Tony Randall plays Rock Hunter a talented and semi-successful advertiser, who hasn’t hit it big yet in the business. The firm he works for is looking for a big account that would bring them a lot of money and future clients. Rock is looking for the that one big account that would jumpstart his career and take him to the top. It turns out that Rita and Rock are perfect for each other, because they both have what the other needs. Rita would be that account that would Rock’s firm needs. And Rock has what Rita needs which is an intelligent successful professional man who would make her look good.

That is what Rock Hunter is really about. Rita and Rock make a deal with each other and do favors for each other. Rita endorses products that Rock is trying to promote for his firm like perfume. Rock pretends to be Rita’s boyfriend and appear in public with her as a couple so she can be taken more seriously in Hollywood. This movie is also about people believing that they are obligated to be things that they don’t want to be and instead find ways to do things that they want to do instead.

This is not a great movie, but it is a very funny movie with a good message. That people don’t have to be the way that others be they should be and work in professions that others believe they should. That people can be themselves and do what makes them happy. And have to worry about their image so much. Tony Randall as usual in this movie is very funny and the same thing with Jayne Mansfield. Who is her usual adorable baby girl funny self, with all her funny and adorable mannerisms.

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