Our Stupid Kids Are Stupid and the Future

That makes the future pretty damn stupid. Children in school are mostly stupid. Yes, that was a broad generalization, but you can you disagree with it? I dare you. I have first-hand and second-hand knowledge on the matter. Let me share a little of it with you. I spend time with a group of kids in an informal classroom setting where I am one of the adults that supervises/teaches the group. These are normal kids of various races who do not drool on themselves, but they do have one obvious deficiency. That can not speak. They can not say words clearly. If a teacher's name was Mrs. Johnson they would call her "mi jonsu." They do not know how to say all of the letters. Did these little shits not have phonics in first fucking grade? It frustrates me so because the kids I will have will grow up with little shits probably worse than these influencing them to drop various consonants and pronounce long vowels short and short vowels long in the wrong words. This isn't fahkin Baaaaahstaahn for faaaahhck's sake.
Funny story about Boston: I visited there when I was much younger with my grandmother, mother, and little sister. It was about as much fun as it sounds. We were just a weird southern family in the big city and one night we were getting a pizza and there was some jag-off employee talking loudly on the phone and this is what I hear, "Nancy, are you gonna go to the potty with me tonight or not?" I was young at this time, but I was old enough to realize this was not something that people normally talk about with strangers present so I got my mom's attention and give her a look and a nonchalant nod toward the potty-goer as if to say, "Mom, I know we are in the big city and everything, but why are people talking loudly on the phone about going to the bathroom with other people? Is this one of those times we see on TV when we should be scared in the big city?" My mom reassured me that everything was ok and once we were safe in the car she explained the whole Boston accent thing to me about dropping their "r's" and what not. Thanks to her I was later able to get that Mark Wahlberg joke in The Departed years later. Thanks, mom.

 

I doubt the girl I heard on the phone looked anywhere near this good. This is probably a paid model.

Back to what triggered me to write this post today, click read more below...

Tax-Time

Like many Americans, I approach tax time with a nervous anticipation akin to taking an aptitude test. I could be a genius. I could be an idiot. I could get some money back or I could owe the government more money. Americans become overwhelmed each year when they sit down to do their taxes (that is, the people who are not having their taxes done by accountants while they sit in their ivory towers) focused on compliance. I better make sure everything is correct or the big bad government may smite me, smite me right in the crotch. A few years ago I had to send the IRS money since they informed me I did not pay enough out of my check every week to keep our ignorant, lumbering, debt-incurring behemoth of a government provided with the cash-flow they needed to waste money and make their friends rich. Oh, I sound bitter do I? Well, this check I had to make out to the IRS was four figures. Now you understand my frustration. I finished my taxes this week and sent them off begrudgingly, but I thought I should channel my feelings into knowledge. In my internet endeavor to find out how much of a percentage we pay in yearly income tax I came across this page on the Now and Futures website. Their page has a good breakdown of what percentage we pay of our total income to taxes, and I think I just got sick to my stomach. This was way too infuriating of a topic. If you live in a state with no income tax you have roughly 25% taken out of your paycheck. That does not include sales tax, fuel tax, property tax, and other miscellaneous taxes. Wow, I have finally arrived. I have a spouse, a house, and $40,000 per year job. Let me see what I can buy or if I can have kids. Where is all my money going? I make $40,000 an effin year! You see, that $40,000 is really less than $30,000 after the government takes what they have earned by you breaking your back at your crap job. You are not really making what you think you are making. Bottom line: the government that gives us lip service about wanting to make this country great again and says they want to stimulate the country and see growth is really hurting us by wasting the money we do pay in income tax. Good, so we have a cycle that will only hasten the sun setting on American civilization. Way to accentuate the positive, huh?

Breaking News: Conan on Twitter

Breaking news/news of the day: Conan O'Brien is on twitter at http://twitter.com/ConanOBrien or @conanobrien if you prefer to find it that way. I got the link from the guy who managed Conan's web presence when he was on The Tonight Show, Aaron Bleyhart who can be found at http://twitter.com/BigBley, so I consider that a fairly reliable source. When I first clicked on Conan's profile there were only 567 followers and now he has over 25,000 so there you go.

Nonpopulist's Browsings of the Day

 

Quality link collection if I do say so myself. I meant to burn off some of these last week, but here they are now. Deal with it. If you are that mad about it then leave an angry comment. I will honestly take any comment I can get. I know people read this because I see the page views, but there are too many chickens with too little to add out there. That probably did not help, did it?

The phrase, "That's what she said," has been overused for several months, but somehow it is still funny to me. Sometimes I do not think things are funny until they are run into the ground, though. That is a me problem.[Huffington Post]

Roger Ebert interviews Leonardo DiCaprio.This is a great interview. Even though Shutter Island did well at the box office a lot of people are saying was not good. Good thing that does not affect me. I will see it because of the good will Scorcese and DiCaprio have built up over time and decide for myself. That is the nonpopulist thing to do. [Rogerebert.com]

Just like Grandma used to make. This seems like good news for bacon. Do I have your attention now? Interesting article by Harry Kreisler of Alternet. [Alternet]

U.S. troops being handicapped during Afghan offensive. After watching Generation Kill and knowing all the mistakes that have been made in Iraq and Afghanistan I understand it, but it is still very difficult for the soldiers. [MSNBC]

Liam being Liam. Liam Gallagher of Oasis fame (American translation- the guy who sang Wonderwall) made a twat of himself at the Brit Awards. What's new? I am an unapologetic Oasis fan even though I am an American. I definitely side with Noel in the breakup of the band. [The Telegraph]

Wow. Just read this. A college professor had his students dress up in a Muslim-style veil for a day. [Alternet]

Danny Glover dancing with predators. Nothing to see here. [FilmDrunk]

A touching passage of prose. Read it if you like quality. [Kelly Oxford]

Tom Morello or Rage Against the Machine is still raging against the machine- thank goodness. [OC Weekly]

Epic Beard Man Follow-up

So he may have PTSD and this video may make you a little emotional, but here is an update on the man the internet has dubbed "Epic Beard Man."


So what if he used the term chinamen and not whatever the damned term they prefer is, are you perfect? I did not think so. The best line- "I says, you're gonna get a Vietnam now, mother." But do not forget this gem- "And I whipped his butt so fast, so quick, so pretty." Yes, you did, Tommy Slick. Yes you did. Do not mind that he thinks just because he is 67 he can carry a shank on him. At best, Epic Beard Man (you damn well better capitalize his name) is a little off tilt, but he is like the character in a story that seems dumb, but really gives the moments of lucidity and truth. And remember, "Don't f@#$ with senior citizens. They may surprise you sometimes."

911 Is a Joke in Tracy, California

Tracy, California, I am sure it is a nice place to live, decent schools, nice people, a population of around 80,000, and hometown to MC Hammer according to Wikipedia. There is a problem with Tracy, though. The residents of Tracy will now have to pay to call 911 for emergency services. That is what inspired the above picture. I thought it was a joke when I first saw a tweet about it last week. Unfortunately for the residents of Tracy, CA it is not a joke. Residents do have options, however. They can pay a flat $48 fee for a whole year, pay $300 every time they use it, or the most unlikely choice of not calling 911 if they need emergency services. 911 service is surely one of the most essential services provided by local government, and raises a gigantic red flag if a city sees no other option than to begin charging for its most basic of functions. What are they spending money on if not 911? Is someone skimming? Are the people in charge just extremely bad at prioritizing? Something is amiss in the hometown of MC Hammer. Thomas Friedman, of The World is Flat fame, hypothesizes that this seemingly small news item signals a larger trend. I tend to believe what he has to write and say. I read The World is Flat and it was probably one of the smartest books I have read. He feels this is one of many coming measures introduced to get America through "the lean years." Read his story to get his whole take, but I think he is on to something. A city that charges for 911 is still ridiculous.

Conan Found a Way to Stick it to NBC

Breaking news via The Wrap: Conan O'Brien is planning a national tour of "several cities" as a creative work-around to the clause in his exit deal with NBC that he could not be back on television until September. I am crossing my fingers that he will come to a city near me. The story also points out that Fox is still the most likely destination for Conan when NBC quits lording over his life. Meanwhile, the stage show should be fun.

Tiger Woods: A Source for Jokes

Tiger Woods' prepared statement read in front of a group of 'friends' was in short, interesting. Tiger invoking Buddhism made Richard Gere poop the gerbil out of his ass for sure, but who am I to judge? I am an anonymous blogger, that is who, bitch. If he was really sorry and had perspective on the whole situation he would understand why the media had such a throbbing boner for stories about his... throbbing, drug-strengthened boner. He denied steroids and that Elin beat him up- whatever, I hate golf.
Here are some reactions I saw on twitter, a twurvey, if you will? You will not? Fine.

@twoeightnine Funny, my core values actually include banging everything in sight.
@BorowitzReport First impression: that third Ambien this morning was a mistake.
@ProFootballtalk At some point, Tiger drifted from buddhism to "booty-ism." (Icouldn't resist.)
@offendthis Tiger invoking Buddhism made Richard Gere poop the gerbil out of his ass. Last Tiger tweet.

 Elin is still hot, though, so there is that.

Please Excuse My Mess: Site News

I tried to update my template because my old one pretty much sucked but, it did not work out as smoothly as I had hoped. So I have been wrestling with html most of the day. I used to be serviceable at it , but now I am suckable at it. No worries, I should have it figured out in a few weeks. Meanwhile, keep raging against the machine. That reminds me, there was a RATM member sighting. More tomorrow. Meanwhile, enjoy some Mary-Louise Parker.

Must-See Fight Video

This video has it all, violence, profanity, echoes of racism in America... What shocks me is not that two people of a different race got in a fight, but that people are talking or even looking other people in the eye on a bus. Check the video:

Bull mess started, bull mess ended. That simple. When I saw that yesterday, the racial aspect is obviously the first thing that hits you. Then I rewatched the video and saw that the fight really began over a mumbling misunderstanding. That is what I tell kids all of the time, enunciate. Speak correctly. This video is a good example of why you should speak clearly. Do not be lazy with your speech or you may get your ass beat.

Talk About 'On the Grid'

CNN did a Fox News impression today releasing a story titled, "The Government Has Your Baby's DNA." Whew, does that not just send shivers down your spine? Brrrr... I was already aware of the baby testing part of this story since I heard an interview a few years ago with former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly in which he talked about infant testing for genetic diseases. Kelly is an advocate for increased testing as a result of his personal experience losing his son to Krabbe disease. On his website dedicated to the issue he has a state-by-state map showing the number of diseases for which each state tests at birth. The testing is obviously not the problem. I know I want my children tested when they (3) are born. The issue is the government keeping the samples indefinitely. That is some X-Files shit right there. Orwell imagined it, and now our government does it. This is not some conspiracy theory that you can look at and laugh that people actually believe "that crap." If I may paraphrase a line or two from one of my favorite movies, No Country for Old Men, "It is the dismal tide. It is not the one thing." A bunch of "isolated incidents" that keep stacking up are not as isolated. I know I am paranoid, but maybe you are not paranoid enough. I realize this was not funny, and I am going to attempt to quit taking myself so seriously.

Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Olympic Luger

I just watched the video of the Georgian (the country) luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili, crashing on the track at the Olympics. I was not watching the Olympics when it happened because I do not like the Olympics, but after hearing Colin Cowherd talk about the issue of NBC broadcasting the crash at length today on his ESPN Radio show I became intrigued. CNN has an extensive story and the video that a friend sent me. I have never been one of those 'faces of death' people. That is not what I do on the internet. I like my violence and gore fake and Hollywood. The real stuff creeps me out. You will not catch me watching UFC or other MMA events. It is just not my scene. The crash was brutal and your heart goes out to the family of the athlete, but I agree with the take Cowherd had on his show. He was talking about how it was really an easy decision to broadcast the incident. It is news. It was the topic of the day and once word spread that it had happened that would be the only reason people would be tuning in to NBC. It is a dramatic story. Think about it. The Winter Olympics this year was just going to be another hum-drum affair and now our attention is seized upon the games because of this story. The only thing I really have to add to the story that I have not heard yet is when I remember watching luge in the past I seem to remember the track being in a huge capital U shape and not just around the turns. That turn where Kumaritashvili lost control seemed really sharp and if the track had higher walls he probably still would have crashed, but it may not have been fatal.

Nonpopulist's Browsings of the Week

A shortened post this week, the blizzard 2010 is wreaking havoc on my internet. Currently wreaking havoc on my heart- Zooey Deschanel. Her character from season 2 of Weeds where she plays a crazy girl really stirred my pot if you know what I mean. It got me aroused. I was not sure if you were getting it.

From New York Magazine an interview with Nick Offerman (of Parks & Recreation) and Megan Mullally. Parks & Rec is one of the few reasons I turn the channel to NBC anymore. [New York Magazine]

Dan Le Betard of the Miami Herald wrote an interesting piece recently about tagging along with Bryant McKinnie for a night. He was the NFL Pro-Bowler from the Vikings who got kicked off of the team this year. [Miami Herald]

7 Obama quotes. And people made fun of President Bush. [Campaign for Liberty]

Stephen Colbert's poster for the 2010 Olympics. I do not watch the Colbert Report very much anymore, but he can be counted on for funny things such as this. [SB Nation]

An interesting discussion of fighting styles for fitness and self-defense over at The Art of Manliness.

Nonpopulist Music: New Sage Francis Album

I am pumped about this new Sage Francis album coming out in May and that is a big deal because I am old enough now where I am no longer keeping up with "hot new bands" and discovering new music. The last "new music" I discovered was Unknown Hinson, and I only found him because of Squidbillies. No, I am at the age where I am content mostly to listen to music I already know. That is how I know I am freaking old. Every once in a while there will be some new hipster band on Saturday Night Live or what used to be Conan O'Brien's show, and none of it appeals to me. I am just crotchety, I guess. I will just roll with the music I have now.
Sage Francis represents a rare thing, a rare thing I can not really do a good job explaining except he is a great artist. He has been rapping since an early age, won the freestyle battle at Scribble Jam, made one of the most hauntingly personal albums I have heard in my life in Personal Journals, changes and grows while still being true to hip hop each album, and now he is doing a concept album with indie rockers. I left a lot out in that description, but you can start to see how awesome he is. Here are a few youtube clips to help out my lacking description. The audio is not going to be high quality in all of them, but I dare you to watch these videos and then say you are not a Sage fan.

We Should Be More Like the Swiss

You may have heard the quote, "I would never invade the United States. There would be a gun behind every blade of grass" from the Japanese Admiral Yamamoto before, but what you may not know is Switzerland has a leg up on even us gun-happy Americans. I got this link to "Why No One Invades Switzerland" from a helpful reader tip. Here's the video embedded at that page from brasscheckv.com.

From that video we learn that the Swiss are required to serve in the military for a time like South Koreans and several other countries, and it got me thinking. Why do we not do that in America? I wanted to go into the military after high school before going to college, and if it was mandatory my mom could not have stopped me. It would help sagging recruitment numbers in our armed forces which have been buoyed some recently by the current recession. A year or two of mandatory military service would help our country by instilling some discipline in and giving a skill set to our young adults. And it would make our country even more unfeasible to invade.

9/11: Science and Conspiracy

I have had a morbid fascination with 9/11 since the events of that day in 2001 so I have a compulsion to record anything I see on my dvr relating to it kind of like Mel Gibson had to buy every copy of Catcher in the Rye in that movie. I watched one such recording recently on the National Geographic Channel titled "9/11: Science and Conspiracy." I realize that saying you believe anything other than the verbatim story of the 9/11 Commission Report makes you a fringe member of society who might as well eat paint chips and dress like Lady Gaga because you are effin crazy. I realize that so let me say this; I think the 9/11 commission answered questions, but only the questions that were asked of them or they asked themselves. Is that vague enough to keep any shred of credibility? No? Well, it does not matter because we will never know the whole truth about 9/11 and nothing more of any relevance will be revealed in our lifetimes. There is ample information available on the internet for either side of the argument you want to believe. And really, I think it comes down to what you want to or are able to believe and keep your sanity. And the show on National Geographic did a good job of driving that home. They gave both sides equal time in my opinion and allowed for rebuttal even though Nat Geo obviously could not allow anything resembling the validating of 9/11 conspiracy theories on their channel because they would lose all credibility. Some of the things in the show made me ponder my own views, but the experiments were not really that scientific. You really have to watch it to understand, but there were a lot of leaps and gaps in the various experiments they did to disprove 9/11 conspiracy theories. I try to look at things from both sides, especially something as important as this topic, but something the narrator on the show said revealed their bias and their disregard for being scientific. The narrator said, "The truthers are determined to belive that the official story is wrong." Well what does prove? The non-truthers are determined to believe the official story is right. Saying that does not prove anything. I am rambling now. Sorry, I am distracted. I just saw the commercial for some show on National Geographic called "Taboo: Strange Love" where this guy is pretending he is married to a life-like doll and saying that finding love with an organic woman is just too hard. Now I have seen it all. This is the kind of thing that terrorists see and then want to kill the "great Satan." Toward the end of the show is where the producers made a fatal flaw. They come up with their own conspiracy theory that is easy to disprove and somehow that makes all other conspiracy theories wrong. This really was not worth my time. This was just a silly exercise.

Super Bowl Wrap-Up: 3 Parts

I. It was great to see the Colts lose last night. I personally dislike Peyton Manning intensely. The story of the night was told in facial expression, his rigid, determined game face upon entering the stadium, the frustration and irritation of Manning on the sideline after the missed field goal of Matt Stover (he is no Vinatieri after all), and then the above picture snapped during Peyton's postgame interview. Poor guy, as much as I do not like him or his football team he is still the best quarterback of all time. You can not really fault a guy for trying to cement his legacy.

II. The Tim Tebow Super Bowl commercial was much ado about nothing. The outcry I heard from the world of outcriers led me to believe they were going to show aborted fetuses being vacuumed out of unwed mother's birth canals and then show a shot of an abortion clinic being blown up in real time. It was just a sweet little ad where Tebow's mom expressed how glad she was to have her son. Focus on the Family is obviously the shock jock of the Christian community and should be raided by the BATF, IRS, and the Department of Agriculture and indicted for their crimes against humanity. For an instance of despicable inhumanity view the ad below.

III. People who believe in a karmic ebb and flow of good and bad in the universe are simultaneously pointing at the Saints win as bandwagon jumpers pile on a vehicle that does not have the suspension to hold their collective weight and declare "New Orleans is back!" New Orleans did not rise above sea level after the clock hit 0:00. It was an awesome win, and hopefully it brightens some people's lives after their hangovers subside. Everyone's heart goes out to New Orleans in the wake of the devastation that will require decades to come back from, but Drew Brees crying and basking in the victory with his son did not make the levees in the city impenetrable. After the party, people who live in New Orleans still have a mostly fractured city to live in and fight for. I wish, wish, wish everything would be ok now, but it was just a football game. The Saints played an awesome game and should relish their victory. They are the best team in football right now, but there is real life to be lived in their city.

Nonpopulist's Browsings of the Week

 

Browsings of the week coming at you. These are good! Not as good as Christina Hendrick's boobs, though.

 6 Tiny Things That Have Mind-Blowing Global Impacts by David Dietle. Another gem from Cracked. [Cracked.com]

The Internet Meme Hall of Fame: Venn diagrams. This is hilarious. What is a meme, you ask? What do I look like, Wikipedia? [Nerve.com]

Timothy Geitner is the Secretary of the Treasury for the United States. In his confirmation hearings it was uncovered that he did not pay his taxes correctly. He said oops, everything was ok. Do you think that would work for you and me? lololololololololoolooololoooll. He is in charge of the IRS for goodness' sake! This article is by Les Leopold and Dylan Ratigan. [Alternet]

State Rules by Colin Perkins. Another bit of funny from McSweeney's Internet Tendency. [McSweeney's]

China Blames Dalai Lama for Lack of Progress in Talks. Article by Stephanie Ho. China is starting to think they can tell us what to do. *scrambles to learn Mandarin*

This does not sound good. The title, Top Intel Officer: U.S. May Kill Americans Abroad, just kind of rubs me the wrong way. The article by John Byrneis downright scary. [Alternet]

Things No One Else Is Talking About: Posse Comitatus

I know what you are thinking. "What in the hell is a posse comitatus? That sounds like a posse of Bolsheviks or a weird sex position." After reading that wikipedia article  you should know how important this may be in coming years. Posse Comitatus is a latin phrase meaning explicitly "Power of the county." What is means in American law is very important to you and I in regards to the ever-tightening police state noose around our necks. Before I start trying to pass myself off as intelligent I must admit that I first became aware of the idea of posse comitatus from the television show 24,which I love, but after that I have done my research, so there! To sum it up very simply the law states that the American military cannot be used for domestic law enforcement. I found an article on the subject and what it may mean in America's not too distant future by Jacob Hornberger on the Campaign for Liberty Website. It is an important read. Hornberger hypothesizes a scenario in which the ever-evolving war on terror evolves to where the same American military that has had to endure on-the-fly training to be police in Iraq and Afghanistan may become police here in America in the name of a "war" on drugs or terror within our borders. And I doubt the issue of posse comitatus will be broached with the same deference, much less trepidation, in which it was dealt in the hit Fox television show. The lines have already been blurred with the use of the National Guard overseas. The vice-versa of that would not be a good thing.
We need education. We do not need people to continue to be lazy and roll their eyes every time history or constitutional law are mentioned. Look at you, sitting and wallowing in your ignorance. 24.

The Underbelly of America's Immigrant Workers

I am excited about the new book, Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs Americans Won't Do. I caught an interview by Bill Berkowitz with the author of the book, Gabriel Thompson, on one of my favorites websites, Alternet.org, in which the author gives a good run-down of the book's subject matter. Thompson went undercover for a year doing the work that mostly immigrants do in America, or the dirty work as I like to call it. The work he details most in the interview is working for a chicken slaughterhouse in rural Alabama, and it was not a pretty picture. He also cut lettuce in Arizona and worked as a delivery person for a restaurant and at a florist shop in Manhattan. As a rule, I like absorbing anything that is going to give me a different perspective and challenge my thinking, and this book appears that it will do that to a tee. I plan to pick it up. It is going on my list right after the 87 other books I have been meaning to read.

Firearms Freedom Act

This lovely piece of legislation first introduced in the state of Montana, God love 'em, "declares that any firearms made and retained in-state are beyond the authority of Congress under its constitutional power to regulate commerce among the states." Why am I just now hearing about this? This is a beautiful thing. Let me go ahead and expound this to the furthest degree for you so you can see how cool this is. One could, in effect, manufacture and sell one's own automatic weapons or weapons that are currently illegal in America as long as they are not transported outside of the state lines in which they are made and purchased. Tenth amendment to the extreme! Of course there will be a lot of legal wrangling regarding the validity of this law even as a similar has already been passed in Tennessee and introduced in a number of other states. I think it is a wonderful idea. It is refreshing to see a change from the defense of a constant onslaught of gun control measures that restrict our freedoms to an expansion of those freedoms instead.

Oscar Nominations, Wank Motions

Award shows seem to strive nowadays to have the least relevancy in their respective industries, save the Tony Awards. I have no idea about the Tonies. What am I, a fruit? The list of nominees for this year's Academy Awards was released today, and a brief perusal yields no emotions. You should see my face after reading this list of this year's nominees via Roger Ebert's Chicago Sun-Times' website. I would destroy you in a stone face contest right now. If I need to win any stone face contests in the future I will reference my lack of feeling at this moment. Some of these movies are good, but there have been enough rumors over the years of people buying votes and enough actors and pictures winning awards that did not deserve it to help my mental addition total up the winners of The Academy Awards are rigged. Evidence: Sean Penn won for Mystic River. Kevin Bacon was better in Stir of Echoes, the Sixth Sense ripoff than Sean Penn was in crappy Mystic River. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King won best picture. Chicago won best picture. That was just a few examples. I did not even go into people who should have won instead. Which brings me to another point. Why did I post on this? Sandra Bullock was hot as a blonde in The Blind Side at least.

Super Bowl Commercials Are Gay Anyway

People who go to Super Bowl parties or watch the Super Bowl just for the commercials are infuriating enough, but the fact that people discuss commercials before or after the game... *pow, right to the moon.* Domestic abuse references aside, I hate commercials regardless of race, creed, color, political preference, or religion. The nauseating stir surrounding the Super Bowl ad space (which I will use to get food, beer, and relieve myself) this year is CBS is planning to air a pro-life ad featuring Tim Tebow while, at the same time, balking at showing an ad for a gay dating website. BFD! Is their money not green too? It is not as if the singular viewing of this commercial will turn all of our children into homosexuals thus ensuring the extinction of the human race. GLAAD is now calling CBS homophobic for their hesitation at running the ad. That makes me laugh. Have you ever thought about how homophobe and racist are two indefensible accusatory names? If someone calls you one of those two names, how would you defend it? "I have a gay friend" or "I have a friend of a different race than myself" are too cliched to work. CBS is in a precarious position, but not from me, I do not care what commercials you run because I will not be watching them.