Keeper of the Clown Bell

Photo Bomb (literally) It's that wonderful time of year when the shops are bustling with Xmas shoppers pouring out their hard earned coin or laying it away on credit cards to buy gifts for loved ones, office workers, teachers, lawn care specialists and scores of other people in their lives. Personally, I love the hyper commerce of the holiday season and understand it to be an essential aspect of our consumer society. The eternal return aspect of everything that is Christmas frames the mind and brings back a torrent of memories from the festive past. The hard fact is that human beings love to shop - even communists because no matter how hard they try the Marxist can not rid themselves of the false-consciousness of consciousness. So when you're out and about, strolling the isles and perusing the display items looking for the perfect gift be on guard at all times because a terrorist might well be lurking right behind you. They might seem innocent but if you're aware of you

When  Gary Edward Keillor (AKA "Garrison" Keillor) gets booted from NPR for the "crime" of "Inappropriate Behavior" you know the sexual predator hype has spun hopelessly out of control and, like mass terrors of the past, the judges shall soon be killing their servants and, eventually, themselves. Not that the master storyteller is going quietly to la guillotine but as WaPo reports all the jabbering is coming from a head that's already rolling into the basket. “I put my hand on a woman’s bare back,” he wrote. “I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches. She recoiled. I apologized. I sent her an email of apology later and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it. We were friends. We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called .” Ah yes, that moment when the lawyer calls and your entire life's work goes down the drain. On the

21st Century children appropriate Puritan culture I travel 45 minutes every morning to drive my kids deep into the woods so that they might attend a country school that embraces "cultural appropriation" and understands it to be the primary strength of Western Civilization. The capacity for the western mind to pluck the best of other, sometimes opposing, world cultures and incorporated the views, dress, music, food and customs of these cultures into the ever churning mixing bowl of Western Civ. is one of the greatest things about living in Europe or America or Australia. I love the fact that I can wake up on a Sunday morning, do my Yoga practice, read a little KJV Bible and thank God for my blessings, watch my beloved Washington Redskins play some football and cook up some fried rice in my wok for lunch then listen to some Tuvan throat singing in the afternoon stretched out in front of the crackling fire with my dachshund. It's all part of the "western" exper

Malcolm Young died last Saturday at the age of 64 and I believe he squeezed a lot of life out of those years. AC/DC is always referred to as an Australian band but the Young brothers were born in Scotland and though they did emigrate down under as tykes they carried a lot of Glasgow right along with them (Bon Scott was also a Scottish immigrant) . Malcolm Young, who has died aged 64 after suffering from dementia, was the driving force behind AC/DC, the rock outfit that sold more than 200m albums over 40 years to become one of the highest-grossing bands of all time. His brother Angus, the band’s lead guitarist, may have been the most recognisable character in AC/DC, largely thanks to his habit of wearing school uniform on stage, but it was Malcolm whose inventive rhythm guitar and storming riffs formed the backbone of the band’s sound. Malcolm often took the crucial decisions about the band’s strategy, and he became notorious for abruptly firing various managers, producers and band

"Tell me, Mr. Harrigan. How does it feel gettin' paid for it? Gettin' paid to sit back and hire your killin's with the law's arms around you? How does it feel to be so god-damned right?" Answer: "Good." When I was a lad my loving uncle took me to the cinema where we watched Sam Peckinpah's epic western "The Wild Bunch" and I have to say that it was a pivotal event in my life - A film that I will never forget and one that, in hindsight, altered my perspective on life and death. I'm not sure that this "red pill" had an altogether beneficial impact on my young psyche but, like it or not, it certainly shaped my thinking and upon repeated viewings over the years I've come to accept the great directors vision as mostly true (as far as day to day living is concerned) and plotted my life according to its overall themes while allowing for some necessary restraint. So when I heard Steve Bannon quoting the films dialog a few

I was meandering down a back country road the other day and heard the most imperfect messenger , Glenn Beck, ranting about current events squawking from my pick-up truck speakers. Mr. Beck and his radio side-kicks were talking about... what was it again? Was it a terrorist attack? Sexual harassment? The DNC scandal? Uranium One?Pedophilia? Iran? NorkNukes? I just can't remember right now but I do remember Glenn's declaration that he "hardly recognizes the country he's living in anymore" and how darn confusing and scary everything has become (Note: buy a Liberty Safe and some Gold). And Glenn often says " I do not recognize my country anymore " but this time it struck me as a little odd because everything he was complaining about has been going on in our (formally his) country for the past 30 years. He is nominally a "newsman" having worked at CNN and Fox and, having lived and worked in the belly of the beast (so to speak), he should be aware

All hat - still chattel? I know the news cycle is pretty fast in the Twitterverse but when you consider all the ink and bits spilled over the antics of Rep. Rep. Frederica Wilson (Dumbass-FL) it makes you wonder, where did this bitch disappear to? One week she's all that anyone is talking about and now, poof, she's gone. I think Rex Tillerson might be responsible for the magic act the media performed in whooshing the rodeo clown off the national stage because his tweet distilled what was going through the mind of every sentient citizen of this great republic every time they saw the Gold Start widow story splash across their screen. Sure, CHAD is my 5 year old Rottweiler & EXXON is my $5 whore. CHEXXON is their 6 month old baby. He looks just like Rep. Frederica Wilson. https://t.co/JPsT6b7W94 — Rex Tilllerson (@RexTilllerson) October 23, 2017 This tweet was in answer to some snarky question (since removed) about our Sec. of States former job as CEO of Exxon and the

Years ago (20 years ago) I happened to be surfing cable television using my magic wand and landed upon the MTV music awards in time for the finale which the brass at Viacom decided to turn over to Marilyn Manson who sang one of his/her/its ditties to thrill the youngsters. The performance was so vulgar, seditious and evil (also not very good) that the awards show host, Chris Rock, admonished everyone watching to immediately go to church or risk eternal damnation just for witnessing what they had just seen (and what the multinational Fortune 500 media conglomerate had just broadcast to a world wide audience). This was 1997 dear reader or 5 years into the Clinton presidency and I challenge you to find an example of cultural rot over the past two decades that could equal the filth of this carny act. Say what you will about violent, misogynist, homophobic rappers or tattooed MS-13 street gangs or skin-head white supremacists but their antics, loathsome as they are, can't even touch

  WARWICK :  Who should that be? belike, unlook'd-for friends. SOMERSET:  They are at hand, and you shall quickly know. March: flourish. Enter KING EDWARD IV, GLOUCESTER, and soldiers KING EDWARD IV:  Go, trumpet, to the walls, and sound a parle. GLOUCESTER:  See how the surly Warwick mans the wall! WARWICK:  O unbid spite! is sportful Edward come?  Where slept our scouts, or how are they seduced,  That we could hear no news of his repair? KING EDWARD IV:  Now, Warwick, wilt thou ope the city gates,  Speak gentle words and humbly bend thy knee,  Call Edward king and at his hands beg mercy?  And he shall pardon thee these outrages. WARWICK:  Nay, rather, wilt thou draw thy forces hence,  Confess who set thee up and pluck'd thee own,  Call Warwick patron and be penitent?  And thou shalt still remain the Duke of York. One of the interesting things about writing a blog is seeing who reads your stuff and what they read. For years, " Hail to the Raljon Damn Dirty Apes! &quo

Have you ever wondered what someone who's hypocrisy and moralistic bile has bought them a fast pass ticket straight to Hell acts like when they're "off camera", so to speak, and the lie of their public persona gets tucked away in the anchorman desk for a few seconds? Well, if you have then here you go: Of course, Lawrence O’Donnell is more than just a news anchor - he's also a Film/TV producer, writer and actor. As Salon pointed out several years ago , we're talking about a real playa here who hates his own TV show and only does it for the money and fame: Salon : Do you try to import some of that moviemaking magic onto the set of your nightly show? LOLO : The comparison is tragic for me. What I'd love to have is a crawl at the bottom of the screen, reading: " You are watching an unrehearsed first draft. " Both of those things are just horrendous notions to me : To put something onscreen unrehearsed is just madness. To expose a first d