Keeper of the Clown Bell

Remember 10 years ago when Mark Foley was considered too inappropriate for Congress? Forced to resign his seat for texting sexually suggestive messages to young pages that worked on the hill his "crime" was investigated by the FBI and Florida police but the cops came up empty handed - not enough evidence to press criminal charges. The House Ethics Committee was so disturbed by Foleygate that it investigated the GOP Leadership in the House to find out why they had not picked up on Foley's dalliances with male pages sooner - before it blew up into a national scandal that tilted the off-year elections in favor of the Democrat party, but the internal investigation couldn't figure it out either. Now I think we know - the Speaker of the House was a " chicken hawk " himself and probably viewed Foley's shenanigans as just another perk of "public service". It never ceases to amaze me how upset the left wingers get over homosexual behavior by the h

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

As a tax paying citizen living in Manhattans Upper West Side in the 1990's it annoyed me that I was represented by fatso Jerry Nadler in the US Congress. In the mid-1990's I toyed with the idea of running a campaign against him for the privilege of serving NY's 8th Congressional District (now the 10th) in the 1996 contest. My strategy was to take positions diametrically opposed to any position Nadler supported regardless of my personal views on policy and then ignore the subsequent discussion of the issues but instead, embark on a withering attack on Nadler's personality and human characteristics - especially his weight and sebaceous physical traits. This was before Nadler had cut out most of his stomach in an effort to shed a few pounds and I think it would have been a hilarious battle - I even had a slogan: Jerry Nadler, he's too fat to represent NY . My placard and campaign literature was going to be a simple minus sign on white background symbolizing my decis

The KOTCB blog had it's first posting a week after the 2004 Presidential election and John Kerry has made regular appearances since it's inception. I've watched him from afar and flown with him on airplanes - read his speeches and and even found myself rooting for him from time to time. He's been a constant presence in my life as long as I can remember - my college days in Boston when he ran for the US Senate (and won!) against a wonderful businessman named Ray Shamie who would have made a great Senator. In Washington Kerry made mischief with Chris Dodd and Ted K with legendary stories bantered about the yuppie set that partied it up in G-town and the fruit loop - I know because I was there (not that I was following JFKthelesser around, I wasn't, it's just the way it worked out) and when you're a young post college striver it's pretty damn annoying to have your date get hit on by a drunken 45 year old US Senator with no moral scruples or impulse cont

The poet protecting his work from a thespian Being a committed Marlovian , I give a polite (but muted) clap to celebrations of Caliban - the thespian slave of Stratford-upon-Avon who masked the exiles work under the name of Shake-spear. Though the sonnets tell the tale of his departure from England and his anonymous exile it is The Tempest that gives the fullest reflection of what happened to Kit Marlowe and the key players in the greatest literary and political mystery of renaissance. I have been fascinated by the incongruities and, to my mind, impossible facts of Shakespeare's life since high school English class but about 10 years ago I read the Tempest again and I imagined it as a play written for a new King at a royal pageant explaining to "those in the know" what happened and offering forgiveness those who had betrayed the brilliant artist who wrote it. Reading it through this prism gave me a great appreciation for the story and makes the unusual characteristic

The Frank Zappa of funk has passed on to the other side but he left some amazing moments behind. Prince & Beyonce - Purple Rain / Baby I'm A Star (At The Grammys) (Live) (2008)

“Global Reach :30” CME Group—Commercial Spot from VSA Partners on Vimeo . Don't mind me, I'm just going to use the island of Manhattan as my own personal driving range. I'm  in the futures and derivatives game and you never know what's going to happen. "Opportunities aren't always obvious" as I like to say and they "drop in" unexpectedly. Sometimes it works out great . Other times ... And those poor souls with a lump on their head don't like the game or putting the driving range on top of the Pan Am building. Last nights election was a long par 5 for the Constitutional Monarchist in this years election and he shot a triple bogey. One of the reasons: "Unsurprisingly, it was Bernie Sanders who won the vast majority of the anti-Wall-Street Democratic vote." New York Democrats are crazy, but a majority of them are not dumb (in truth, a lot of the dumb ones have emigrated to Vermont ) so while they'll flirt wi

The O'Reilly Factor imploded last night with a full on "talking points" meltdown cratering the collective psyche in a toxic pit of "what happened?"at the opening that just went on and on and on until it ended like this: "The truth is that individual motivation is being destroyed by phony politicians seeking power by promising an endless series of entitlements to a population that is moving away from achievement and into the gimme zone … gimme, gimme, gimme. Until that deep cultural flaw is exposed, until the phonies, race hustlers and corporate greed heads are called out, we will continue to see big lies spouted by deceivers and enabled by a gutless media. God help America." Hey, I've lived in New York City and I know how election time can take a toll on ones sanity - especially if you're a reasonably normal person who grew up in a two parent (father and mother from different sexes, like for real, a male father with a penis, chest hair

Abbreviated and Annotated Best Day - Obamacare (CRASH - you should see what this did to my premiums! And my frigg'n deductable. Great day for you but a lousy day for me). Worst Day - Sandy Hook (SMASH - we're talking 7.5 years of Presidency here Barack - psycho murder of children is bad, but let's be honest, it's happening on a daily basis in the Middle East and you don't seem that upset about it). Biggest Accomplishment - Saving the economy (KABOOM - is running the credit card up to $21 Trillion the way to "save" ourselves? My kids will love this news. As will their children. As will their children's children). Worst Mistake - The day after in Libya (POW! - yeh, that was one crazy night, "what the hell was I thinking"? That was March 20, 2011 or something like 1,850 days ago so how do you feel about all those days of blood & terror? Okay, I guess). Will Miss - Air Force One (SHAZAM - the truth slips out. You bet your ass you&

People who want a crystal ball on the November Presidential election take polls and some of these polls are extensive like when  Morning Consultant canvased 44k people/citizens/voter(?) to give a synopsis of who's the best bet for GOPers to beat Hitlery - no surprise, it's Gov. K in a walk. More people in more States like the mailman's son and at this point, as all thoughtful people know, Kasich is the only Republican who can win. But there's one group of people that pollsters never seem to take into consideration when compiling winners and losers and ironically this group of simpletons are the ones who actually make the decision on who gets elected. I'm talking about the Americans who "Don't Know" or have no opinion on the matter - they just can't get it together to have a favorite candidate at this point in the campaign. They will decide some time in the nearish future - probably over the two weeks leading up to the first Tuesday in November b

Today is the anniversary of the bombing of Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC and the beginning of the Civil War. A review of events leading up to this fateful day resonates with our current political environment and the strong arm tactics employed by both major political parties to get their way. The Democrats met in Charleston, South Carolina, in April 1860 to select their candidate for President in the upcoming election. It was turmoil. Northern democrats felt that Stephen Douglas had the best chance to defeat the "BLACK REPUBLICANS." Although an ardent supporter of slavery, southern Democrats considered Douglas a traitor because of his support of popular sovereignty, permitting territories to choose not to have slavery. Southern democrats stormed out of the convention, without choosing a candidate. Six weeks later, the northern Democrats chose Douglas, while at a separate convention the Southern Democrats nominated then VICE-PRESIDENT JOHN C. BRECKENRIDGE. This Democrat

Let me take you back to the early years of the millennium when war fever ran high and though Sadam had yet to be pulled from his hidey-hole in ad-Dawr the shit was real and coming down fast. The Media before Fox News As luck would have it I was not trudging through the desert of Iraq at this time but rather kick'n back feet in the sand, limeade in hand at a fashionable resort on a leeward islands in the West Indies. Happy, heady days with the spring sun baking and aqua ocean beckoning the "war on terror" seemed a world away and pretty darn remote to me and my fellow swells vacationing in the middle of nowhere. It was a cosmopolitan crowd - not just Yanks but Englishmen and assorted Euros who had flown 7 hours across the pond to stroll the pink beaches and listen to the steel drum drift on the gentle breeze. "How do these Europeans afford these vacations?" I asked one of the financiers in my group knowing how our Continental cousins are taxed up the waz

When I was younger (circa 1982) I had a housemate from New Jersey and he loved, loved, loved Bruce Springsteen. They didn't call him "the boss" in those days, or at least my friend didn't, but he would wax poetical about the power and glory of Springsteen. I say this with all due respect and admiration but there are few popular troubadours with a more ardent and fanatical set of groupies than BS. In my opinion Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town and The River are great records all released between 1975 and 1980 - everything after that is different and, truth be told, not that good. So when he cancels a show in sad little Greensboro, NC choosing to not stand and not sing and not perform in "solidarity for those freedom fighters" who want to use the girls bathroom (and who can blame them - much cleaner) but to send a message by his absence I couldn't care less but his devoted followers must be crushed and, knowing the Springsteen fan as I do, t

The truth is out there (maybe) and if it is that ain't good . Fossil evidence has suggested life on Earth is mysteriously wiped out every 26 to 27 million years. Could happen any day now . So stop worrying about Zombies, Muslims, TransFreaks, Nuke War and the New World Order - we're all doomed to Deep Impact and no ET is going to save us (even Bernie can't save us) - Imagine the new stump speech... Bernie explains Planet 9 "I've been told that it's big. How big? I'm not sure. Nobody is, as far as I know. But it is big enough to destroy our economy and the associated meteors will likely have devastating consequences for life as we know it. It is the single biggest issue of this election. I know everyone wants a simple solution or answer but that doesn't exist. The truth is that neither one of my parents could ever have dreamed that I would be here tonight standing before you as a candidate for President of the United States. The fact th

Big win for the #NeverTrump forces tonight in Badgerland and let's face it - they needed a win. "Never means never" as they say which is the short way of saying not ever and by ever they mean at any time, at any point, on any occasion, under any circumstances, on any account; up till now, until now. An now is today! So these guys will never vote for the Elvis from Queens and they dumped everything they had on Wisconsin to make sure the good people of the State followed their lead. On the other hand, there are those who never say never (never never never) and like  Justin Bieber and Jaden Smith will keep on fighting to Make America Great Again. One of those die-hards is Donald J Trump himself and he did not meekly accept the Wisconsin returns. Trump campaign statement after Wisconsin loss: pic.twitter.com/p7nCuOmQVJ — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) April 6, 2016 This Trumpian response did not make the #NeverTrump crowd very happy - They never , never , neve

"The video was an unauthorized use of our IP," an EA spokesperson told Game Informer. "We do not support our assets being used in political campaigns." This unauthorized use refers to a video titled The Trump Effect which is now pretty hard to find on the internet because the lawyers at Electronic Arts are sending out Cease and Desist Orders to any web site that serves up the content. The Trump Emoji Why? I don't really think there's a legitimate answer to that question. The video was created by a Trump fan and used the Mass Effect 2 promo trailer from 2010 for some voice over (Martin Sheen:) and some souring (fascistic) music. But most of the content is Trump TV clips and fair use by any reasonable definition.  You would think the people at EA would love the publicity for a 6 year old video game. But this is Trump and so extraordinary measures must be taken. You'd also think the publisher of Mass Effect 2 would understand The Trump Effect bec