Fish slapping

I began watching Monty Python on WNET in New York when I was, oh, about eight. Which explains a lot about me.

The pinnacle of Monty Python’s sketch comedy was a 30 second skit called “The Fish-slapping Dance”. Here is the skit, and a few related videos.

The Fish Slapping Dance

Michael Palin on “The Fish Slapping Dance”

good afternoon

ABC: President Obama has crossed off 60 percent of his 2008 campaign promises from his to-do list, he told supporters in Los Angeles Monday as he asked them to help him check off the remaining items.

“I keep a checklist in my desk, and I kind of see, all right, I made a bunch of these promises during the campaign and let me see, yes, I got that done and that one, yes. No, that one’s not done yet. So we’ve got about 60 percent done in three years”….

The president listed health care reform, the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and passing consumer protections among the promises that he has fulfilled.

“A lot of the things that we promised we’d do, we’ve done… we’ve made great progress, but we’ve got so much more work to do” …. Items left on the president’s agenda include comprehensive immigration reform, passing energy policy “that makes sense” and, of course, fixing the economy.

To check off the remaining 40 percent, the president said lawmakers will have to put politics aside. “Obviously, in Washington, the politics that I think people are hoping for is not what they’re getting. It’s still dysfunctional, it’s still perversely partisan. You still have folks who seem to be more interested in the short term and the party and elections than they are in the long term and the future and the next generation”….

Read full post here – thanks Marlz

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From yesterday:

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Today:

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Thank you Tally 😉

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OFA

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Loop 21: Even though they can barely hear over the echo from their empty wallets, unemployed people are still shouting “Yes We Can!” apparently.

The Associated Press has found that President Obama still receives tons of support from the jobless, even as Republicans attempt to blame him for high unemployment and after blocking his jobs bill.

A study conducted by the AP shows that people living in the most economically distraught areas with the highest unemployment rates are still donating money to Obama’s re-election campaign. In fact, they are actually donating more than they were in 2008 during Obama’s first presidential campaign and right before the recession hit.

Detroit for example, even with a 14% unemployment rate, wrote more checks to the campaign than it did in 2007. Even though the amounts are smaller (Obama’s website allows people to donate as low as $10), they all still add up eventually.

Thanks Gobrooklyn

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Michael Tomasky (Daily Beast): Perry’s Ridiculous Tax Plan

….. his plan, like all flat-tax plans, is a gussied-up way of stealing money from the working and middle classes and handing it to the rich…..

…. whether Perry revives his candidacy or not, the real issue here is that a flat tax or something like it is getting ever so closer to becoming GOP dogma. Some years ago, it was just the messianic loons: Steve Forbes. Now the flat tax is mainstreaming within the GOP. Mitt Romney, who used to hate it, has recently opened up to the idea. It’s getting … respectable.

Simplicity is for simpletons: a handy slogan for the ruling class that wants more of your money. Don’t be that simple.

Full post here

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The Obama Administration is announcing two new initiatives to help create jobs for veterans – read more here

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New CBS/NYT poll

Wait til they see this, um, extraordinary ad, Herb will go up another 10 points:

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I thought at first this was a kitten watching a GOP debate on TV:

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More soon 😉

a good sport

NASCAR:

Gymnastics:

Cycling:

Quarterbacking:

Prize Fighting:

Pretend-golf:

Mind-reading:

Cow-taming:

Fencing:

Juggling:

Dancercise:

Aerobics:

International Ping Pong:

Trans-Atlantic paddling:

Sailing:

Orienteering:

Rodeo:

Stone-flinging:

Karate Chopping:

Long Distance Running:

Chess:

Ice-skating:

Hurdling:

Wave-riding:

High-Jumping:

Backwards Tennis:

Cricket:

Really Big Fish Catching:

Saber-swinging:

Soccer ball juggling:

Tiny ball-whacking:

Pocket Battleships:

Batting:

Ball-potting:

Weight-lifting:

Left-leaning (a popular sport in Communist Europe):

Snow-ploughing:

Hurling:

That ‘don’t-blink’ game:

Thumb-Wrestling (thank you gobrooklyn for the reminder about this great sport):

General Wrestling:

Fly-swatting:

The Secret Service……..gone fishing?

President Barack Obama and local fishing guide Dan Vermillion fish for trout on the East Gallatin River near Belgrade, Mont., on Aug.14, 2009. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)