Am I being “age-ist”? Maybe. But maybe not. The world is a pretty complicated place right now and I’m thinking that it’s not such a great time to elect our oldest President ever. So sue me.
The six-pack is younger than John McCain.
Oddly, it took until sometime in the early-40’s for someone to come up with the brilliant idea of packaging drinks (”Dad’s Root Beer”, to be precise) six at a time. (The concern about the whole fish-killing thing, although widely overblown, didn’t kick in until the 1970’s.)
So, in other words, what we’re saying here is that John McCain is older than what amounts to little more than a system of counting. Fantastic.
(Thanks to Jimmy for the tip!)
The GI Bill of Rights is younger than John McCain.
Officially titled the “Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944″, what is now known as the GI Bill of Rights provided for college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans as well as one year of unemployment compensation. It also provided many different types of loans for returning veterans to buy homes and start businesses.
I don’t know if John McCain availed himself of any of the benefits of the plan but, given the lengths to which he likes to talk about his military service, it seems odd to me that he would initially oppose the 21st Century version of it (going so far as skipping the vote) only to later take credit for its passage.
But then again, he does have a long record of voting against the military:
John McCain voted against a bill to establish a minimum time period between deployments to Iraq.
John McCain voted against $20 Million to Department of Veterans Affairs for medical facilities.
John McCain voted against increasing Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.
John McCain voted to table an amendment for $322,000,000 for safety equipment for US forces.
(Thanks to Andrew for the tip!)
Rod Roddy is (was) younger than John McCain.
Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that I used to hate Wikipedia - both because I think the name is dumb and because so much of what’s on there is wrong or flawed. But I’m a convert now… thanks to the plethora of juicy tidbits I discovered about America’s best-loved (and best dressed) game show announcer:
He used to do the intro to “Soap” (a show that, along with “Match Game PM”, I was not allowed to watch as a child).
He was diagnosed with colon cancer on 9/11/01 (Talk about a tough day!).
Prior to announcing for “The Price is Right”, he was the announcer for “Press Your Luck” (”Big money, big money, no whammies, no whammies, STOP!”)
The announcer for “Press Your Luck”, Peter Tomarken, was a private pilot who was killed in a plane accident in 2006. I guess you could say he pressed…. oh, never mind.
Anyhoo - I’m really glad that the 1,100 pages of medical records that McCain recently released seem to indicate that he’s in good health and I sincerely don’t wish illness upon him in. the. slightest. I am, however, concerned about what happens next year and in subsequent years and really concerned about his choice of running mate.
And that’s the point of this blog.
I’m So Old, (Insert Punch Line)
By CHARLES M. BLOW
John McCain, when I was born, you were nearly six years older than my mother. Now, seven years into her retirement, you want a new job: the hardest job in the world. Wow!
Obviously, my mother isn’t running for president, but her age gives me a context for considering yours. And within that context, your age gives me pause.
Apparently, I’m not alone. In a Quinnipiac University poll of swing states (Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania) published last week, nearly a quarter of respondents said that your age made it less likely that they would vote for you. It wasn’t just the young who had an issue with it either. More than 20 percent of those 55 and older agreed. And, while one would expect a partisan divide, independents leaned more toward the Democratic point of view. That should give you pause. (more…)
“The Wizard of Oz” is younger than John McCain.
I haven’t really done much on the blog with regard to movies because, well, let’s face it, most movies are younger than JMcC. But I thought that I’d do “The Wizard of Oz” in honor of Gay Pride Weekend, where - at least in my neighborhood - there will probably be a lot of guys dressed up like Dororthy (no, really, there will be. Apparently - and I just learned this from a friend yesterday - the gay-equivalent of alcoholics recognizing each other as being a “friend of Bill W.” is to say that you’re a “friend of Dorothy”.)
So anyway, there’s a lot of trivia surrounding this movie - everything from Buddy Ebson’s allergies to the whole stoner-nonsense about “Dark Side of The Moon” but my new favorite has got to be the one that “Elvira” sent me… which is that the “munchkins” are credited at the end of the film as “The Singer Midgets”.
Nice. Midgets.
5 out of 9 of the U.S. Supreme Court Justices are younger than John McCain.
Put another way, 4 out of 9 are older… most notably, Justice Stevens clocking in at the ripe old age of 88 and the lovely and talented Judge Ginsburg at a mere 75.
Put yet another way, the clock is ticking on some of these geezers and we need to get a Democrat in the Oval Office so that ass-backwards and precedent-setting decisions like the one that came down today pertaining to the Second Amendment can get overturned tout de suite.
Think about it - there’s no way Stevens is on the bench for the next four years… and it’s just a matter of time before Ginsburg decides to head down to Boca for Mah Jongg and the early-bird special at H.R. McSnickitySnacks (or whatever the hell they call those god-forsaken chain restaurants down there) and then our favorite septuagenarian puts two new Justices up for nomination who - if confirmed - will no doubt bow to the NRA and get right to setting aside background checks at gun shows and waiting periods for gun ownership.
I don’t know about you but I always thought that if someone is complaining that they have to wait 48 hours to get a gun, then that’s pretty much the guy you don’t want to have a gun in the first place.
You know what? Find another f*cking hobby.
One that doesn’t kill people.
The funny kicks in at around the 2:30 mark…
(Thanks to Addie for the heads-up!)
I just Googled the blog to see what’s been linked to it lately and noticed that the McCain campaign has taken out a sponsored ad above the search results.
I’m no marketing expert but this doesn’t seem like the smartest media buy of all time. (Oh wait a second, I *am* a marketing expert… never mind.)
The Supreme Court has overturned the $2.5 billion in damages that Exxon Mobil had been ordered to pay for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska. According to the Yahoo News story, “it took the company just under two days to bring in $2.5 billion in revenue during the first quarter of 2007.”
Who appointed this Court? And, for that matter, who appointed the appointer?
Oh well… as the saying goes, “What’s good for Exxon Mobil is good for America.”… or something like that.
I found this floating around during the last election and thought it was time for it to see the light of day again.
Hope you enjoy (and please forward!):
Tom gets up at 6:00 AM to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot with good, clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.
All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical plan. Because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Tom gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast — bacon and eggs this day. Tom’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry. (more…)
Satellite Photography is younger than John McCain.
The first satellite photographs of Earth were made on August 14th, 1959. Had it not been for this landmark discovery, John McCain’s statement on June 17th of this year that offshore drilling is “safe enough these days that not even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cause significant spillage” would’ve been accepted as fact by people other than George Will, The Wall Street Journal, and Fox News.
The reality is that the spillage was so significant that it was visible from space and its environmental damage was on par with that of the Exxon Valdez accident.
Oops.
(Thanks to Preston for the tip!)
Or would you find it too annoying?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is younger than John McCain.
One of the more interesting and unexpected parts of this whole experience has been learning about things that have been completely off my radar - things like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Here are some of sections of this beautifully well-written and inspiring document that I find particularly moving:
Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 21.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
I wonder how many of these rights - and others not mentioned here - have already been trampled by the Bush Administration and have been left unchallenged by the (so-called “liberal”) media. I wonder how many more will fall by the wayside if we elect “Bush” to a third term.
(Thanks to Odd for the tip!)
Newt Gingrich is younger than John McCain.
Architect of the so-called “Republican Revolution” (you know - when the Republicans gained control of both the House and Senate and, thus, ended our long national nightmare of prosperity and relative peace) and noted hypocrite (loves a good affair scandal, our pal Newt, so long as it’s not his own), Newt Gingrich retired from politics about 10 years ago.
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